LG Electronics 47GA7900 47-Inch Cinema Screen Cinema 3D 1080p 240Hz LED-LCD HDTV with Google TV and Four Pairs of 3D Glasses – Product Review

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I got this TV a few weeks ago, and have been really enjoying having it. I was not in the market for a new TV, but I am definitely really glad that I got this one. Below are some of my experiences and observations thus far. I may add some more info as I get to know this TV more in the upcoming years.

***** Setup *****

Despite it being a fairly big 47″ TV, setting this device up was a breeze. It is remarkably light, and even though you are supposed to set it up with someone else helping you out, a reasonably strong person could do it by himself. The connections and all the other setup features were also reasonably easy to figure out and configure, although this could be just my bias – over the years I’ve set up a fair number of TVs and other “screen”-based devices, so I am very familiar with all of its ins and outs. If, on the other hand, you don’t know the difference between, say an HDMI and component cables, then you might want to have someone a bit more technically savvy helping you out.

***** Picture Quality *****

Despite all the advances over the years in various features of the “smart” TVs, for me the number one consideration when buying a new TV is the picture quality. Fortunately TV manufacturers have been more than obliging in this department in recent years, and each year we are treated to some new improvement. Today most TVs made by the top brand manufacturers more than meet my minimum requirements. Even so, the visual quality of the content that can be viewed on this LG TV is just stunning. The colors are crisp and vibrant, and the contrast is very impressive as well. The TV features very wide viewing angles, and it can be enjoyed throughout even a larger living room.

This is the first TV that I’ve owned which features the 240 Hz refresh rate. Personally I am a bit ambivalent about it. Yes, it makes the picture seem much smoother, but this effect can be look petty unnatural when you see it for the first time. It almost has the feel of a homemade video. You get used to it after a while, though, and the “normal” TVs start looking choppy.

***** 3D *****

I am not a huge fan of 3D TV, but given a chance I don’t mind watching that kind of visually enhanced content. When it comes to movies, I guess I am still very much “old school.” A few action-packed and/or visually enhanced movies that came out in recent years do make the 3D worth having around. The same goes for the few sports channels – watching high-level athletic competition in 3D is definitely a great experience. However, for the most part, I still don’t see the 3D technology as a make-or-break for my TV experience.

This TV comes with four pairs of 3D goggles. This is enough for your typical nuclear family these days, but you may want to get a few extra ones if you are planning on watching some 3D content with guests. This TV uses the passive 3D technology, which in my experience is much easier on the eyes and makes for cheaper and lighter goggles.

***** Sound Quality *****

Unlike the picture quality, the sound quality of the TVs in recent years has not been showing nearly comparable improvement. The sound of this TV is more than adequate for your casual watching, but if you really want to make the most of this TV – be it for amazing sports or movies – you will certainly need to invest into a better external sound system. This is fine as far as I am concerned – I already have a pretty good sound bar that I’ve been using from before. But if you are trying to determine your total budget for a new TV, then this consideration should be another thing to keep in mind.

***** Build and Design *****

This is a very elegant and svelte looking TV. It is very light, but it feels very sturdy and well built. The lack of thick bezel makes the TV look almost like a stand-alone work of art. It also makes it seem smaller than it really is, something that I am not too bothered with.

***** Online Content *****

These days I primarily rely on Netflix for my content, so I have come to expect from a TV to provide an easy Internet access. However, in the past, aside from a few very specific TV “apps” I’ve had the hard time accessing most of the online content. With this Google TV I’ve been able to access more content than I ever did before, aside from accessing it all on my computer. Furthermore, the Google search function makes finding things to watch incredibly easy and intuitive.

***** Live Primetime Guide *****

One of the biggest frustrations that I have with TV in general is the difficulty of finding the right programing. Most TV systems still rely on a cumbersome set of menus and scrolling which gets incredibly tedious when you have to deal with hundreds, if not thousands, channels. Some Cable systems (including TiVo for instance) have a more manageable search features, but even these are far from ideal. The inability to find the right kind of programming on demand is particularly frustrating when compared with the almost magical ability to find stuff online. A Google TV seems like an ideal solution to those woes.

The LG keyboard remote is pretty good interface solution for accessing the guide. The keyboard is diminutive and you would not want to use it for any kind of extensive typing, but as an access point for text input it is more than adequate. The keyboard also has a voice-input functionality. So far I have only used it sporadically, and if my use of Siri is anything to go by, then I don’t see myself using it a lot in the future. However, for all those who prefer this kind of input it is a very convenient feature to have.

***** Conclusion *****

This is a truly very beautiful, functional, and glossy TV with a lots of “smart” features. After using it for a few weeks I am more than happy with everything that it has to offer. However, if you are “only” concerned with getting the best picture quality for your money, and all those other higher-end features don’t impress you all that much, then there are many other much cheaper TVs available right now.

Inside Apple – Book Review

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As a longtime fan of Apple’s products, I’ve read a lot about this iconic company over the years. Apple’s willingness to break with the traditions is legendary, and it’s this revolutionary aspect of its products that has earned it the iconoclastic reputation that it has. Most of this revolutionary zeal, and Apple’s overall approach to business, was, of course, based in the particular vision of Steve Jobs, its founder and the CEO during some of the company’s most successful days. My own understanding of Apple’s esthetic and business approach was too based on numerous articles and books on Steve Jobs that I’ve read over the years. However, with his passing, the questions of how well will the company be able to carry on with his legacy and success will persist for some time. In order to better understand what is at stake, it’s important to take a closer look at the Apple itself, going beyond the man that was synonymous with it for many decades of its existence.

“Inside Apple” is a book that, as the title suggests, pulls the curtain ever so slightly away from Apple’s recondite inner workings and exposes those innards to the wider world. Apple is notoriously secretive about all aspects of its work, and this attitude of secrecy has a spell even over its former workers. Consequently, it has not been easy to gather valuable and verifiable information about the inside workings of Apple. This book, however, manages to present a very convincing and cogent view of what makes Apple unique. It shows how Apple’s business and management styles go against almost all business school wisdom that has been taught over the past several decades. Apple has often been accused of being extremely rigid, and it’s surprising that anyone form the Silicon Valley would ever want to work there, and little less actually thrive. However, this book makes the claim that the rigidity of Apple’s structure and the extreme compartmentalization of different divisions and subdivisions within the company, all serve the purpose of fostering a sense of small teamwork that most big tech companies eventually lose. It is debatable if that sense of teamwork can last, especially now that the visionary input of Steve Jobs is gone.

This is a very well researched and extremely readable account of one of the world’s most intriguing, successful and iconic companies. It will be of interest to anyone who wants to know more not only about the current technological trends, but also about how big corporations work. I enjoyed this book immensely and would highly recommend it.

Rooting an Android Phone and Mobile Kangaroo

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These days I’ve been working on a small Android project, and I finally decided I needed a “decent” Android phone on which to test some of my work. I bought an old, used, Samsung Galaxy S II in hopes that it would work with my hacky application. Alas, in its “natural” mode it would not do what I wanted it to do, so, of course, I decided to root it. Rooting of the mobile phones has become very commonplace these days, and since it has been ruled legal in the US there has been a mushrooming of sites and applications dedicated to this activity.

I am primarily an iPhone user, and even though I have never rooted an iPhone of my own, I’ve heard that it has become an almost automatic procedure, especially on some older phones. I was expecting at least that level of ease with Android phones, especially since Android is essentially based on an open source software (at least in theory) and there seems to be a large degree of overlap between the Android and Linux communities. So anyways, I start looking into various options for rooting my S II, and after a few futile attempts to accomplish this through “one click” software solutions, I start delving deeper into the Android developer world. And deeper. And deeper.

What I discover isn’t pretty. Not only is there a major difference of which subversion of Android your phone is running, but very different approaches are in order depending on your phone manufacturer and carrier. Not to mention the country and region in which they operate. So what started as a small side-project, and was promising to be a good educational experience, turns into a total nightmare. A couple of days later, after I’ve almost completely made my phone useless, I am ready to throw in a towel and declare a defeat. That’s when it occurs to me: there’s got to be a better way of going about this.

Since I am in the heart of the Silicon Valley this year, the first thing that comes to my mind is that someone else must have had this same problem before. In fact, many other people must have, just based on the sheer number of techies and half-techies that populate this region. And one of my favorite things about this place has always been the fact that if there is a problem out there in a real world, someone somewhere  has probably come up with a startup or a small business that addresses that particular problem.

So I Google the local business directory (what in the old days would have been known as “looking up in the phonebook”), and not entirely unsurprisingly, there are no real businesses that advertise smartphone rooting as one of their services. However, there are quite a few mobile phone repair shops, and I make an educated guess that they might be dealing with my problem in at least one of those. I drive to one such establishment, but after half-successfully trying to explain to the proprietor what I am ater (he spoke less-than-optimal English), I decide to drive somewhere else. However, I notice another shop on the same street named Mobile Kangaroo.

I go inside and am greeted with a very hacker-looking dude. The shop is far from ostentatious, but this to me is reassuring: these people are used to dealing with non-standard job requests. Sure enough, the hacker-dude assures me that he’s rooted many Android devices before, and uses an S II of his own. The charge for rooting a phone is just $20. I leave my phone there and come to pick it up in a couple of days. I get my cleanly rooted Android phone, and am happy as a clam. I wish I had explored this option from the get-go, but overall I’m happy with the final result. I am writing this blog post in hopes of helping someone else with the info on how to “professionally” get your Android phone rooted.

Palo Alto Hackathon

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This weekend we attended the Palo Alto Hackathon. It was held in the downtown Palo Alto as a part of the “National Day of Hacking.” It featured several exhibits dealing with some aspects of hacking. The quality of exhibits, however, greatly varied. Most of them seem to have been geared towards kids. A few were interesting to adults as well (like this walking spider-like contraption) but overall the event was a bit of a letdown. The really hot weather didn’t help either.

Pocket Chainsaw – Product Review

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This pocket chainsaw was a new one for me. I never heard of such a product before I was contacted to review it, but it immediately appealed to the non-tech gadgety side of me. I don’t spend nearly as much time in the wilderness as I wish I did, but I have been going hiking on a weekly basis in the recent months. Inevitably while hiking I come across fallen trees that block the path, or I see old dried-up trees that need to be taken down in order to make room for the new growth. For all those situations (and many others that I could not foresee right now) a compact pocket chainsaw seemed like an ideal tool to have around.

So far I’ve tested the chainsaw on a couple of old trees deep in the forest. They were about three to four inches in diameter. The pocket chainsaw is very intuitive to use, but you have to pay attention to the right orientation of the sawing. I was able to completely cut down those trees very quickly. It took me less than a minute to accomplish those tasks, even with a short readjustment break in the middle. As far as the efficacy of this chainsaw is concerned I couldn’t be more happy with it.

The chainsaw is fairly light and compact. It indeed fits easily in your pocket. It weighs less than my set of keys, but that perhaps says more about the amount of stuff I carry on my keychain. The chainsaw comes with a handy and fairly sturdy carrying case. However, the only issue that I did have with this product concerns the quality of one of the straps on the case – it came apart the very first time I tried to use it. It could be easily reattached with some quick needlework, but it’s disappointing that it wasn’t of a higher quality to begin with.

Wired @20 – Book Review

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I’ve been a longtime fan of the Wired magazine, and for the past few years a regular subscriber as well. In my mind no other publication properly captures the excitement, the ethos, and the aspirations of the digital world and culture, especially the way they are embodied in the Silicon Valley. Even though technology in all its manifestations is at the core of what Wired (and the Silicon Valley) is all about, the mindset to which it belongs far surpasses those confines. In a way Wired is about innovation and entrepreneurship applied to all aspects of our modern life, including the economic and social spheres.

One important aspect of the Wired magazine has always been good, in-depth, writing. Many of their articles over they years have become intellectual reference points for our understanding of the entirety of digital economy (terms such as the “long tail” and “crowdsourcing” first appeared on the pages of this magazine). Most of the articles in this collection indeed reflect this high standard of tech penmanship and insight. The articles are exhaustive in their breadth and depth, and sometimes even exhausting to read – the article on Microsoft antitrust case alone reaches to hundred and twenty magazine-sized pages. Many of the articles could have been turned into short books in their own right, and all of them could have been published today separately as eBooks (or Amazon Singles for instance).

Even thought the writing in this publication is invariably extraordinary, and the stories themselves give you a great glimpse into the tech world over the past two decades, not all of the content is equally interesting. While some of the articles have retained their freshness and relevance even today (a testament to the quality and the timelessness of their insight), some are quite onerous to read and feel like an exercise in navel-gazing. Well over a decade after the bursting of the 1990s tech bubble, it’s more than obvious to anyone how shallow and self-absorbed many of the most hyped products and services of that era were. A couple of articles that cover the “irrational exuberance” of that era are annoying to read today, but serve as a powerful reminder to be weary of the unfounded hype. They indirectly validate the common-sense notion that what ultimately works is the honesty, integrity, and products and services that are based on something that is solid and real.

A couple of articles in this collection were truly inspiring. The article about the crazily optimistic people who are drawn to the Silicon Valley from all corners of the world reinforces the notion that if you are really smart, willing to work hard, and can stomach the unparalleled levels of risk then you can still make it over there. The story of the illegal-immigrant high-school kids who built an award-winning robotic submersible that bested even the most sophisticated teams from places such as MIT is such an all-American underdog tale.

This is a wonderful collection of articles that can enlighten and inspire anyone who is interested in the ever-advancing digital revolution that we are a part of.

Runtastic Speed and Cadence Bike Sensor with Bluetooth Smart Technology – Product Review

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Let me first tell you a thing or two about my background. I am not really a “die hard” biker, and only within the last year or so have I gotten more seriously into road biking. I go on a longish weekly ride as an edition to my exercise routine. For a few years now I have been seriously tracking my exercise though, and so far I’ve only relied on GPS tracking using the alternative app called Run Keeper. This is my first experience with Runtastic – both the software and the hardware. My overall experience has been really good.

Like the other reviewers I’ve had some issues with pairing/syncing. This is the aspect of the Runtastic experience that could certainly use some improvement. However, once I had the app paired it worked really well.

Adding the sensors to my bike proved to be relatively straightforward. The short instructional video and the description in the box were more than adequate for this purpose. I was actually surprised how small the sensors and the transmitter were. I was initially apprehensive about leaving the sensor on the bike during the ride as I was afraid that it might slip and get into the spokes, but after a few (admittedly relatively short) bike rides so far I have not had any problems with it.

Using this sensor and the app for biking, especially during the bike ride itself (as opposed to checking the details of your ride afterwards) has been a bit of a revelation to me. Getting the accurate relevant information about your exercise routine while you are engaged in it can be a very powerful motivator, especially for the numbers-driven geek like me. It really pushed me to get the most out of my ride I think. The relevant metrics that it covered (speed, distance, etc.) that I used to get from the GPS measurements before seem to be much more accurate with this sensor/app. Now I am seriously considering using sensors to help me with my running as well.

Overall, this is a very cool little gadget that can transform your exercise routine. However, if you are not too serious about your biking it might be a bit of an overkill – just use your smartphone’s GPS tracking instead.

QQ-Tech Mini Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard – Product Review

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One of the main obstacles to the wider adoption of “smart” TVs and entertainment center PCs is the lack of convenient and accessible user interface. The traditional remote controls are very limited in their capacity, the touch-screen input is obviously out of question, smartphone apps tend to be buggy and slow, and we are still some time away from a truly effective voice input. There are several good wireless keyboards on the market right now, but most of them tend to be too big and bulky for the intimate space of one’s living room. This mini Bluetooth keyboard seems to be as close to the ideal solution as they come. Indeed, it has a lot going for it, but it’s not entirely without its problems.

I’ve tested this keyboard with a couple of devices: Mac Mini and iPad. Pairing with both of those devices was smooth and quick. However, my Mac did not recognize the keyboard in its own right – I guess this is still a pretty obscure company and Apple doesn’t have them listed in their system. Nonetheless, even though it was not “officially” recognized, my keyboard worked well with my Mac. Pairing it with the iPad, on the other hand, was even smoother and it didn’t cause any issues.

The keyboard’s layout follows more or less the standard QWERTY configuration. However, the keyboard includes both Mac OS as well as Windows specific keys. This causes the keyboard to feel a bit cluttered, but it still more or less works as advertised.

The trackpad on the right side of the keyboard is big and effective enough to use with just your thumb. Obviously, this keyboard is not very lefty-friendly, but even so it’s not hard to get used to this mode of navigation with either thumb. The only slight problem I noticed with the trackpad was the occasional random highlighting of text as I hovered with my mouse over it.

The biggest issue with this keyboard is the relative location of the trackpad compared to the rest of the keyboard. I found that it’s almost impossible to “thumb type” with my right hand. I would definitely not want to use this keyboard to type in any extended amount of text, but for quick textual entry it works more or less fine.

The keyboard feels well built. It looks elegant enough and it’s also very lightweight. It will definitely feel at place in any living or entertainment room. It might fit all too well though – you may have to worry about yet another “remote” getting lost or misplaced all the time now.

Cool little accessory/gadget that, despite its shortcomings, has an important role to play in the modern hyper-connected home.

Satechi 7 Port USB 3.0 Premium Aluminum Hub – Product Review

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I have way too many USB peripherals, and I never seem to have enough free USB ports on my computers. I am primarily a Mac user, and have, among other things a MacBook Air. This computer in particular is severely deficient when it comes to the availability of USB ports. The latest model of that computer comes with two USB 3 ports and one Thunderbolt port. This is sufficient if you are traveling or have just a few devices that need connecting, but since MacBook Air has very limited specs (relatively small HDD and no CD/DVD drive) I end up using those ports at home quite a bit. I’ve used one USB 3 hub so far, but that one turned out to be pretty bulky and unsightly.

 

This Satechi 7 port hub pretty much resolved all of my misgivings about such devices. It is pretty compact for a 7 port hub, and it looks right in place next to my MacBook Air. The design itself is pretty innovative, as well as functional. The slanted front face makes it easy to plug and unplug your USB devices. The hub is definitely USB 2 back compatible, although even for such devices you will need to plug the hub into the power outlet. The power brick is pretty small and it can remain hidden underneath your work desk. The hub is pretty lightweight, but it’s not quite as elegant as the Apple devices – its plasticky parts don’t feel quite as flush and sturdy.

 

When it comes to performance, I was pretty pleased with this hub. It achieved the advertised USB 3 transfer rates, even when I used it to connect to a couple of separate devices. If the data transfer performance is your main criterion for choosing a USB hub then this Satechi hub will definitely meet your needs.

 

Overall, I find this to be a pretty well designed and effective USB 3 hub.

 

 

Higher Education in the Digital Age – Book Review

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Higher education, particularly in the US, is on the verge of a major structural change. There has been a lot of speculation in recent years about the ever-increasing cost of higher education, the mounting student college debt (which has surpassed one trillion dollars this year), and the growing uncertainty of the job prospects even for college graduates. Hardly a week goes by without another major story in the media about some disconcerting aspects of the higher educational ecosystem. Books and articles (such as this one) proclaiming the existence of the higher-educational bubble pop out on a very regular basis. Rarely, however, have I had the opportunity to read an account of the current state of higher education from one of its more distinguished leaders. “Higher Education in the Digital Age” promises to be just such book.

 

The book is based on the Tanner Lectures on Human Values delivered at Stanford University in the fall of 2012. The main lectures – and the bulk of this book – are written by William Bowen, former president of Princeton University. The rest of the book is comprised of the responses by some equally distinguished higher educational luminaries, including the current president of Stanford University. All of the contributors to this book are clearly very familiar with the virtues and the problems of the higher education. Stanford in particular has in recent years been investing a lot of time and resources on trying to make education more affordable and accessible – from increasingly more generous student financial aid packages, to the launching of its own online educational initiative. The online education seems to be one of the main directions in which the future of education is headed, and this book makes an assessment of its potential and pitfalls. It gives many interesting insights and “rebuttals” of the criticism of higher education. Its definitely worth reading in order to get the sense of what academic leaders are thinking right now as far as their own profession is concerned.

 

So what is the conclusion of this book? I don’t have the nitty-gritty economics expertise to do the full justice to the arguments presented in it. However, I have spent most of my professional life in the academia, and together with many years of undergraduate and graduate training I have a fairly good idea of the ills and the shortcomings of this system. My sense is that the “correction” to the higher-educational bubble is inevitable, and it’s more likely to happen sooner rather than later. Its effects, in turn, will probably be much more dramatic, in ways that we can’t fully appreciate right now, than what most people expect. With that in mind I think that this book is grossly underestimating the extent of the upcoming crisis. It proposes palliative measures where much more structurally radical changes are in order. After reading this book I was left with a renewed sense that the leaders in the Ivory Tower have managed to thoroughly immure themselves in their world and are largely impervious to the economic forces that affect all the other aspects of the modern world. They might present this as a virtue, but more and more people are increasingly viewing it as a potentially devastating defect. Their analysis of the current system may be correct as far as it goes, but I am afraid that we are on a verge of a truly radical educational revolution. I was reminded of what Henry Ford’s quipping that if he had listened to his customers he would have built a faster horse. Alas, after reading this book I got a sense that it was a valiant attempt to make a case for a faster higher educational horse.