iPod Touch Killer

Wow. With Steve Job’s iPod related announcements at the Wednesday, September 5th keynote (View it HERE), everyone has been stopping me in the halls asking “Hey, what do you think about the new iPod <insert model name here>?” Well, I think that the new iPod models are all great as long as you are willing to tie yourself to both the iTunes software and the iTunes Store. Do not get me wrong, I have owned several iPods that I have teamed with my various Macs and the experience has been as seamless as it has been enjoyable (Note: About.Com has posted this comparison grid providing a quick ‘Tech Specs’ overview of all the new iPods). However, the focus of this post is to provide a ‘buyer’s guide’ comparison of sorts between the newly released iPod Touch 16GB and the Archos 605 WiFi 160GB, both retailing at the $399 US price point.

iPod Touch 16GB

Retailing at $399 US, the iPod Touch 16GB is basically the iPhone sans the phone, bluetooth capability, camera and built-in speakers. The iPod Touch includes the revolutionary multi-touch interface, 3.5 ″ high-resolution display, wifi web browsing and wireless music downloads from iTunes and Starbucks (Full technical specifications are available HERE). There is also a rich aftermarket of accessories for the iPod Touch, with particularly beautiful and well-crafted options from Griffin Technology.

Archos 605 WiFi 160GB

The 5th Generation Archos 605 WiFi 160GB retails for $399 US MSRP – just like the iPod Touch 16GB. Is it as slim and beautiful as the iPod Touch? No, but of course neither am I…

My point is that the Archos 605, when viewed from the perspective of end-user usability and versatility is a clear winner when positioned at exactly the same price point. I linked to the iPod Touch technical specifications above. Open that page in a new browser tab. Now, open the Archos 605 WiFi Tech Specs page in a new browser tab. Take a few minutes to objectively view the specs side-by-side and look at how much more dollar value the Archos PMP (Portable Media Player) provides. In particular, note the range of supported file types, media sources and functions the Archos supports.

Archos Recommended Accessories

Following are the accessories I own and recommend for the Archos 605 WiFi 160GB:

• DVR Station Gen 5
  • Turn your ARCHOS into a DVR
  • Record TV and most video sources in MPEG-4 format
  • Play back on TV in DVD resolution.
  • Stream media from your PC to your TV using your WiFi home network (for WiFi devices only)
  • $99.00 US MSRP

• Plugins
  • Video podcast plug-in (H.264, AAC Audio) Gen 5
  • Cinema plug-in (DVD, MPEG2 video, AC3 audio)
  • Gen 5 Web Browser plug-in
• When released for the 605 Gen5, the 5V Car Lighter Adapter.
• When released for the 605 Gen5 160GB, the Archos stand case.

My solution: The iPhone/Archos 605 WiFi Combo

My personal (not business) communications/entertainment solution for day-to-day operations is to utilize the iPhone along with Griffin Technology’s iClear, Streamline and PowerDuo Travel products as my ‘all-in-one’ smartphone for integration with my web-based email accounts, contact lists and calendar applications. The iPhone’s 8GB of on-board memory is enough for me to load a few iTunes Smart Playlists for use while I exercise or for listening to while I work.

Now, since I travel quite a bit to our own branch offices, client offices, speaking engagements, and so forth, I prefer to carry my Archos 605 WiFi 160GB as my primary portable entertainment device. I can load it up with various formats of audio and video from multiple sources as well as carry backups of critical documents and presentations in the event my laptop and/or flash drive should fail me at a critical juncture. The included stand works wonderfully on an airline/commuter train tray table, a hotel room night stand, or any available flat surface. Irregardless of the form-factor comparison to the iPod Touch, the Archos unit is really not so bulky as to be uncomfortable when handheld.

Conclusion

As with all electronic devices, especially in the handheld arena, what is best for each individual is a very personal choice. Apple’s products clearly dominate in industrial design as well as form and function. They are not perfect by any means, but they are as good as can be expected when viewed from the business perspective of designing products that will succeed in a specific, targeted market segment. I hope this post will at least spur the reader to avoid marketing hype and take the time to research product alternatives prior to making a purchasing decision.

Safer, Faster Surfing With OpenDNS

Question: I have noticed that load times when viewing a web site at work are much faster than what I experience on my home broadband connection. How can I improve the performance of my personal connection to more closely match what I get at my office?

Answer: At IOStream, we deploy our own DNS and WINS caching servers for all clients on the network, thus speeding access to computers, peripherals, or resources located on the Internet as well as the LAN. Furthermore, we utilize Microsoft’s Internet Security and Acceleration Server to filter and secure our network environment from internally- and externally-originating Internet-based threats. Obviously, this configuration is overkill for the typical home or SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) setup. So what is the answer for the target audience of this blog post? OpenDNS. To quote:

“OpenDNS is a safer, faster, smarter and more reliable way to navigate the Internet. Our service is free and requires nothing to download.

OpenDNS is safer

OpenDNS protects you from phishing – bad websites trying to steal your personal information. When you try to go to a phishing site, we let you know. We also let you optionally block adult sites as a category, or individual websites of any type. These services help you better protect those on your network from websites they shouldn’t be visiting.

OpenDNS is faster

You use DNS every time you use the Internet. The speed of your DNS service determines how quickly websites load for you. That’s why you want your DNS service to be blazing. OpenDNS is so fast because we run some of the largest DNS caches around and do it on our own high-performance network.

OpenDNS is smarter

The address bar is how you navigate the Internet. We make your address bar more intelligent. With OpenDNS, you can create shortcuts that let you type something easy-to-remember into your address bar and leap straight where you want to go. And we’ll correct your common spelling mistakes, on the fly. That means when you are typing fast and type yahoo.cmo instead of yahoo.com, you still get there.

OpenDNS is more reliable

Little is more frustrating than intermittent Internet outages. When your DNS service isn’t working, you can’t access the Internet. When you start using OpenDNS, your days of dealing with DNS-related downtime will be over. We know reliability is important, and we stand behind ours.”

The OpenDNS site maintains this page with links to configuration instructions for all devices and operating systems. Also, this PC Magazine review of the OpenDNS service provides even more in-depth information regarding this service.

Meet Your New Mac Toolbox

Many of IOStream’s employees are using Macs as their primary home computer. As a result, we are often asked what tools and utilities we utilize to support the Apple systems used on our corporate network. So I thought I would focus on two pieces of software and one hardware device that I consider indispensable for keeping any OS X based system running at peak performance.

TechTool Pro

For the typical home or SOHO (Small Office/ Home Office) user, MicroMat’s TechTool Pro 4 is an all-in-one utility suite that can both repair and optimize any OS X installation. To quote MicroMat “TechTool Pro 4 is a complete Macintosh repair shop in a box. In fact, it’s so good that Apple includes a copy of its sibling, TechTool Deluxe, in its AppleCare Protection Plan. If you have ever experienced a system bomb, freeze, crash, or indecipherable error code, TechTool Pro 4 can help you get your computer running smoothly again.”

TechTool Pro 4 is $98 US for new users or $25 US for those upgrading from an earlier version.

DiskStudio

MicroMat’s DiskStudio is the only reliable, non-destructive partition manager I have found for OS X. Quote: “When a hard drive is first set up for use, it is partitioned into one or more logical volumes. These appear on your desktop as though they were separate drives. Using the standard disk tools that come with the Macintosh, there is no way to change this partitioning scheme without completely erasing the entire drive and starting over. With DiskStudio, this is no longer necessary.”

With DiskStudio you can:

• Add new partitions to your hard drive.
• Delete partitions previously created by Apple’s Disk Utility or DiskStudio.
• Erase and reformat existing partitions in a number of standard formats.
• Completely erase and repartition an entire hard disk.

Use DiskStudio to:

• Install a new copy of Mac OS X, but keep your original copy intact.
• Install a completely different operating system, such as Mac OS 9, on a new partition.
• Create a partition to hold special projects, such as audio or video files.
• Create a partition to hold scratch space for programs such as Adobe Photoshop.

DiskStudio is $49 US for new users or $25 US for those upgrading from an earlier version.

Protege

Okay, now this is my favorite tool for the Mac OS. MicroMat’s TechTool Protege is a Kanguru Portable Firewire Flash Drive with full versions of TechTool Pro 4 and DiskStudio! Again, quoting MicroMat:

“Introducing Techtool® Protege. The pocket-sized toolbox for the Macintosh professional. This tiny FireWire-based device contains 1 gigabyte of memory and comes complete with the latest version of Mac OS X, the latest version of TechTool Pro and our latest drive utility DiskStudio. And there’s still room left over for your other utilities as well.

That means the next time you need to work on a Macintosh, you can plug in TechTool Protege, boot very quickly and get right to work. No messing around with CDs, portable drives, installers and the myriad of other items you’d usually keep in your toolbox.”

TechTool Protege comes with everything you need to start troubleshooting and repairing any Mac system:

• TechTool Protege FireWire flash drive
• Latest Mac OS X Boot System
• TechTool Pro User Manual
• TechTool Protege Backup & Restore Application on CD
• TechTool Protege Quick Start Guide

MicroMat’s TechTool Protege runs $229.00 US which is quite a bargain when you add up the cost of a 1GB Kanguru Portable Firewire Flash Drive [~$99] plus the cost of full versions of TechTool Pro 4 [$98], DiskStudio [$49] and the latest Mac OS X Boot System [$129].

Protogo

Now, for you DIY’ers (read: Hard Core Nerds) reading this post and wondering if you could easily build your own TechTool Protege thumb drive – why yes you can! MicroMat’s Protogo software allows you to build your own customized, bootable diagnostic and repair toolkit on any portable hard drive or flash drive.

“TechTool Protogo ships on a DVD that includes the Protogo configuration application, TechTool Pro Classic (for Mac OS 9 systems and below), TechTool Pro 4 (for Mac OS X), and DiskStudio. Protogo includes several profiles for standard system/utility configurations so that you can easily set up a device for your particular needs.”

The MicroMat Protogo DVD lists for $135 US, but is only $87 US for TechTool Pro 4 or TechTool Deluxe (AppleCare Protection Plan) owners.

Calibrate Your Monitor Online for Optimal Viewing

My IT team is often asked about how we calibrate IOStream’s displays and networked printers to achieve true color representation both on-screen and in the hard copy output. Well, the short answer is that we utilize ColorVision’s PrintFIX Pro Suite 2.0 to accomplish this task. This package is composed of the PrintFIX Pro 2.0 software along with the excellent Spyder2 colorimeter device. The PrintFIX Pro suite retails for $649 U.S., but less expensive Spyder2 packages are available (Click HERE to run a price comparison search at PriceGrabber for the Spyder2 Suites and HERE for the PrintFIX Pro Suites).

As IOStream’s employees know, I am a big proponent of running ‘lean and mean’ systems. This means taking advantage of either downloadable tools that can be run from a thumb drive/single executable or taking advantage of web-based applications. Regarding the latter, I wanted to feature two online services that allow for good, basic monitor calibration.

The first of these services is “DisplayCalibration.com“. This tool allows you to:

• Calibrate Brightness And Contrast.
• Calibrate Color Depth.
• Calibrate Screen Resolution.
• Access downloadable versions of the tools if desired.

The second service (and my personal favorite) is the flash-based “Online Monitor Test” sponsored by vanity.dk and flatpanels.dk. The OMT tools can be run directly in 3 different modes:

• An ordinary HTML window.
• A full screen HTML window.
• An executable fullscreen program for any resolution.
• An input lag test to test for input lag if you have 2 monitors connected (You will need a camera to record the counter).