Tech Tuesday – What Was That!

On todays episode of Tech Tuesday, we had Jim Barry from the Consumer Electronics Association stop by and show off some very cool products from CEA members. The Digital Answer Man tour takes Jim through 72 cities in about 52 weeks, thats a travel schedule! On this mornings episode he featured a couple of products that I have received quite a few emails about. The first was a Watch that could store about 200 songs or MP3 audio files, depending on the size of the file of course. The neat trick about this watch was that it can be easily paired to a bluetooth set of headphones and play the files in stereo. I tried these on and was amazed at the quality of the sound of these comfortable headphones.

For those that want to take a look, the product was the Gold Lantern BlueX Bluetooth Watch which can be found at http://www.goldlantern.com I am thinking about putting together a segment where we take this technology out on the road and give you a chance to come out and try it out and give us your thoughts. Let me know if you would like to give it a listen! The picture on the right displays a Mens fashion watch, a womens model is also available.

The other product was a handheld High Definition video camera that fit in the palm of the hand. It was amazing at this years Consumer Electronics Show that had Panasonic with the largest plasma TV at 150″ and the ultra small HD camera on the same stage! While the camera doesn’t shoot at 1080p but instead 1080i, still high definition, the Panasonic HDC-SD9 records directly to SD Memory cards and features a 3CCD system for great video!

While it might not be too technical, the 3D film industry has been on a upswing lately with concert films such as Hannah Montana and U2. The technology has come a long way since the first 3D film shot in color Bwana Devil came out in 1952. One year later, Hondo starring the legendary John Wayne was released. Hondo was originally filmed in 3D and now Tucsonans get the opportunity to see it on the big screen at the Fox Theater. One of my favorite Directors John Landis (Animal House, Blues Brothers) is slated to be among other film industry icons at the screening on Saturday March 1st at 7pm. The director of Desperation , Mick Garris, is also slated to be on hand. I talked with Mick recently who told me he enjoyed Tucson so much when he was filming Desperation in downtown tucson that he makes it a regular vacation spot. It’s a rare opportunity to see this classic on the big screen!

While John Landis has a regular trademark “See You Next Wednesday” in his films, I’ll see you next Tuesday for Tech Tuesday.

Dell announces ProSupport for IT, and good news it is!

“Dell Breaks the Mold of Tradional Support” reads the headline out of Round Rock, Texas, as they announced ProSupport for IT in hopes of “Breaking the mold of tradional, one size fits all, services offerings…” (For the full Dell press release click here.)

As an IT professional whose employer uses Dell workstations, servers and other periphrals almost exclusively (we have a few Mac’s, a workroom full of Xerox printers, etc.) it has been a love/hate relationship when it comes to getting Dell Customer Service Representatives (DCSR) to provide what I need and in the time frame I need it.

Either the experience is unbelievably easy and quick or I end up wishing I was chewing broken glass rather than spend another moment with an unresponsive, sub-human being whose singular goal appears to get me to hang up out of frustration. (The later scenerio has become quite rare in the BUSINESS world, but still prevalent in the HOME user enviroment.)

The ProSupport for IT website seems intuitive and rich in content…it is my intent to report my personal experiences in depth as I ‘test’ the site AND when next I need IT support from Dell.Stay tuned!

Hands On: The Dell XPS One

The hardest thing with any review is being objective and impartial; usually I find myself emotionally attached – either positive or negative – and wanting to either rave or berate a product based on how I feel about it…and the Dell XPS One makes it very difficult for me to don a Mr. Spock-like attitude for this report.
The 20” XPS One , an All-in-One computer system, is the newest in the Dell XPS lineup, and debuted in November 2007, alongside another first, The Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC. (More on that when I can get my hands on one!)

The Techie’s Techie Guy blog up and running

Diamond Dave, a long time friend, listener and contributor to Tech Talk Radio, has finally decided to ‘go public’ with his reviews on tech related tools, toys and more. To this end “The Techie’s Tech Guy” blog was born and DD is looking for as many people to review and comment on his findings as care to add their two-techie-cents! Check it out and feel free to send suggestions of stuff that you’d like to see reviewed to DD as well.