dvspot review: Sony DCR-HC40
I like the DVSpot reviews. They're confirming what I gather from the Amazon user reviews and other sources. 2004 cameras were in many ways a step down from 2003 cameras, and 2005 may be even worse. I wonder what's going on.
Nobody has great quality, but sadly both Amazon and Consumer Reports are very critical of Canon quality. Sad. I'm no SONY fan, but they seem to have better quality -- at least for camcorders
Higher priced is not necessarily better. The money buys crummy still photos -- I'd rather use my quite nice digital camera.
One warning sign seems to be > 12x optical zoom. It seems to be a marker for a badly designed camera.
This DCR HC40 seems to be less of a step backwards than some of its peers. Otherwise I'm leaning to a Canon Elura 65/70 or a (mere) Canon ZR.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Index to reports of the Congressional Research Service
Congressional Research Service [CRS] Secrecy and Security Documents Index
Congress chose not to make these available via the web. They are public, so the Federation of American Scientists has made them available.
Congress chose not to make these available via the web. They are public, so the Federation of American Scientists has made them available.
Securing an iBook: Open Firmware password protection
Setting up Open Firmware Password Protection in Mac OS X 10.1 or later
If you reallly want to protect an iBook, or make it useless to most thieves. Sure they could pull the drive, but most won't bother. If you use this and an encrypted disk image for vulnerable data you have pretty good mobile security. That combination wouldn't defeat a real guru, but it'll take care of everyday thieves. (Probably a good idea to put one's address info on a biz card taped to the inside of the battery, an honest person won't be able to get at your data so they can return your lost iBook.)
If you reallly want to protect an iBook, or make it useless to most thieves. Sure they could pull the drive, but most won't bother. If you use this and an encrypted disk image for vulnerable data you have pretty good mobile security. That combination wouldn't defeat a real guru, but it'll take care of everyday thieves. (Probably a good idea to put one's address info on a biz card taped to the inside of the battery, an honest person won't be able to get at your data so they can return your lost iBook.)
SONY CLIE PEG TJ-27: lessons in PDA reliability
Society for the Preservation of the True PDA (SPTPDA): May 2004
Last May I started using a SONY CLIE PEG TJ-27. It often lives in my front pants pocket. This is a very inhospitable environment for an electronic device, but for me the entire value of a PDA is portability and availability. I don't carry a purse, and it's useless in my backpack. I've had phones on my belt, and that's at least as bad.
The Palm III and Palm Vx devices I had survived in this harsh environment for years. Even the Tungsten T did pretty well.
Today, seven months after buying the CLIE TJ-27, I happened to notice that 3 of the 4 screws that hold it together were missing. In other words, it's about to come apart. It's design is not suited the pocket environment. It's too bulky, and screws don't work when a device is subject to regular flection stress. Fortunately I have an old JVC "walkman" tape device that died about 20 years ago; it's a rich source of small screws. They will substitute for the missing CLIE screws. (BTW, some of the original SONY CLIE screws cannot be tightened with a conventional tool. Ahh, genius at work.)
The phone or PDA vendors don't have a handle on the portability issue. There are versions of the Blackberry that might have the belt problem licked, but I've no personal experience with them. The last device I had that solved the portability issue, other than the Palm Vx, was my old pager.
Fundamentally this is not a priority for most of (dwindling) base of PDA customers. The PDA, might be a "Personal Digital Assistant", but at least for men resisting purses it's not a "Portable Digital Assistant". The same can be said of most cell phones.
Last May I started using a SONY CLIE PEG TJ-27. It often lives in my front pants pocket. This is a very inhospitable environment for an electronic device, but for me the entire value of a PDA is portability and availability. I don't carry a purse, and it's useless in my backpack. I've had phones on my belt, and that's at least as bad.
The Palm III and Palm Vx devices I had survived in this harsh environment for years. Even the Tungsten T did pretty well.
Today, seven months after buying the CLIE TJ-27, I happened to notice that 3 of the 4 screws that hold it together were missing. In other words, it's about to come apart. It's design is not suited the pocket environment. It's too bulky, and screws don't work when a device is subject to regular flection stress. Fortunately I have an old JVC "walkman" tape device that died about 20 years ago; it's a rich source of small screws. They will substitute for the missing CLIE screws. (BTW, some of the original SONY CLIE screws cannot be tightened with a conventional tool. Ahh, genius at work.)
The phone or PDA vendors don't have a handle on the portability issue. There are versions of the Blackberry that might have the belt problem licked, but I've no personal experience with them. The last device I had that solved the portability issue, other than the Palm Vx, was my old pager.
Fundamentally this is not a priority for most of (dwindling) base of PDA customers. The PDA, might be a "Personal Digital Assistant", but at least for men resisting purses it's not a "Portable Digital Assistant". The same can be said of most cell phones.
Webstractor: transform web pages into documents
Softchaos - Webstractor
The one thing I like from IE is the web archive (mht) format. I think it's even a net standard file format. I don't know why noone else has done it.
This is the next best thing.
The one thing I like from IE is the web archive (mht) format. I think it's even a net standard file format. I don't know why noone else has done it.
This is the next best thing.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Digital camcorder: Sony DCR HC40 MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom
Amazon.com: Camera & Photo: Sony DCRHC40 MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom
I will give SONY credit, however, for the best lithium ion batteries in the business. I think they must have some unique patents. My old analog SONY monster camcorder has a battery that seems to last for weeks -- and its about 6 years old!!
Another good thing in favor of this camera: low zoom numbers! Most vendors cameras are going to absurd zoom numbers; and sacrificing wide angle support.
Analog To Digital Conversion with Pass-Through: Convert and/or record any analog NTSC video source to digital video via the analog inputs. Analog NTSC video can also be passed through the digital Handycam camcorder directly into a PC via the i.LINK interface in real-time for easy PC editing of your analog footage.I wanted to find a Canon digital video camera. Alas, Consumer Reports documents a poor reliability record with Canon digital video. SONY is substantially better. This is most unfortunate, because my general impression with SONY has been that they truly dislike their customers.
I will give SONY credit, however, for the best lithium ion batteries in the business. I think they must have some unique patents. My old analog SONY monster camcorder has a battery that seems to last for weeks -- and its about 6 years old!!
Another good thing in favor of this camera: low zoom numbers! Most vendors cameras are going to absurd zoom numbers; and sacrificing wide angle support.
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