Category: Peripherals

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Get a Snowflake for Podcasting on the Go

I recently spent a lot of time reviewing various desktop USB microphones for podcasting. Recently I've been traveling a lot for business and I'm not always able to use my favorite desktop mics on the go. Although I've had the Blue Snowflake mic for a while now, I've really been using it a lot lately and I'm reminded of just how great of a Mic this is. I recorded my last two episodes of the Adobe Creative Suite Video Podcast with it while on the road right in my hotel room. As a matter of fact this Mic lives in my suitcase. That way I know I always have a great mic with me when I'm on the go. 

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Finally! A decent Stereo Mic for my Kodak Zi8 HD camera

ecm-cs10

I went in search of something that I thought would be pretty easy to find and that I would have a ton of options to choose from. Boy was I wrong! All I wanted was a simple wired stereo lavalier style microphone to use when traveling with my Kodak Zi8. I wasn't looking for anything super expensive since the camera itself was less than $200. Should be easy right?

zi8small

The first Mic I tried was the Audio Technica ATR-3350 Lavalier Omnidirectional Condenser Micrphone and while the sound quality was OK, I hated two things about it. First and most important is that is wasn't stereo.  So I was only getting sound on one channel and while I could fix that in post using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 it would mean doing it every time I used it. The second thing was just bad design of the battery compartment. There is an On/Off switch, but no LED light to tell you if it's on or not or the status of the battery. So you could start a recording and have the battery die half way into it and never know until it was over. 

 

The Sony ECM-CS10 Stereo Microphone

This is the Mic I was looking for. It's a stereo wired lavalier mic that doesn't require a battery, sounds good and just works! I plugged it into my Zi8 and did a quick test. I brought the video clip into Premiere Pro and low and behold I had stereo audio. That's all I wanted from a travel Mic. 

The only thing I would ask for now is slightly longer cord. It's a minor thing, but it would be nice to have to interviews where I want to have the subject a little further away from the camera. So if you're looking for an inexpensive stereo mic that just works without any fuss, this is it! It's "plug-in power" based and therefore it may not work with everything. The cord length (which I dare you to find listed anywhere on Sony's site) is approx. 1 m (39 7/8 in.)

Get it here for about $31 (list price $50)

 

Quick samples here from that first recording. Nothing special just wearing the mic on my t-shirt and speaking at a normal tone:

MP3 sample here. AAC sample here.

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Shorter cables are better for travel

short usb

As a frequent traveler, one of the things I'm constantly trying to do is to reduce the amount of time it takes to get through airport security. One of those ways is to either reduce the amount of electronics I travel with (not likely to happen) or make them more TSA friendly.

If you have a cable mess in your bag it's going to be harder to xray therefore likely yield you a "bag check" so that they can take a closer look.

 

Three Cables I Can't Live Without
 

I've narrowed my cable usage down to 3-4 cables that I can't live without. One is a Firewire 800 cable and the other two are a USB Mini Cable and a USB Micro cable. There is actually a 4th cable and that's an iPhone/iPod sync cable, but I haven't found a short one that I really like yet. However, I was able to find all 3 shorter cables (in most cases 6 inches or less) at usbfirewire.com
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You’ve chosen a winner! The best USB mic…

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Last Monday I asked for your help in choosing the USB mic that sounded best to you for my podcasting. I already had my favorite choice, but I figured my choice isn't as important as what sounds best to my listeners. Well as luck would have it, my favorite choice was your favorite choice too 🙂

podcaster

You chose the…Rode Podcaster Studio Kit (Sample 1)

I have enjoyed using this mic since day one. My only complaint has been that the volume/gain level isn't as high as I would like. However, I did think it was the best sounding and apparently so did many of you. However, it's also clear to me that different ears have different tastes. So although the Rode Podcaster got the most votes, it doesn't mean that the other two choices aren't good. Apparently they are because they each got votes too.

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International Power!

Frequent international travelers have got the power thing figured out. When you travel from the US to another country the question becomes what do you need to charge/use your electronic devices. My friend Michele who was headed to the UK asked me this very question. So I thought I spend a few minutes here giving you some tips along with my favorite power adapter.
 

Converter vs an Adapter

Many of the electronics designed to be traveled with (like notebook computers, iPods, iPhones) are already geared to be used in different countries. An easy way to know is to look at the description on the power adapter for your gear. If it says that it can handle 100-240 volts then you're all set. All you need is a plug "adapter" so that you can plug it in the wall of the country you're going to.
However, if your power adapter has a max input of 120 volts. That means that it was designed to work in the US only and in order to use it in another country that has 240 volt wall outlets you're going to need a power "converter" something that can regulate the 240 volts down to 120 volts. Or you might just go with a compatible 3rd party adapter like the ones from iGo.
 

For your Mac, iPod or iPhone

appleworldtravelkit

If you have a portable electronic device from Apple, your supplied adapter already works in other countries. All you need is an adapter and Apple sells a nice kit called the Apple International Travel Kit. This kit has everything you need to adapter your MacBook/PowerBook adapter as well as a USB power adapter (actually it's there older version with the removable prongs) and sync cable With this kit you'll be all set in the US, UK, Australia, Korea, etc.  You can get the Apple kit here.

appleintl
 

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A New 13 Port USB Hub

13porthub

I'm always on the look out for the perfect USB hub for my Mac Pro. I just came across another 13 Port hub. Being able to plug in up to 13 devices into one hub may sound like a lot, but honestly I have close to that now without even trying hard, so it's not too far fetched to think that many of you do to. However, there are some advantages and disadvantages to this approach.
 

Advantages

13 ports is the biggest advantage. You plug the hub into one of your built-in USB ports and now you have 13 more. Great! There is also a flip up 13th port on top for quick access to things like thumb drives.
 

Disadvantages

The design of this particular hub creates a cable mess pretty quickly since the wires go in all four directions. The other disadvantage is that you are dividing up the throughput between 13 devices. Now this isn't really a big deal if most of your devices don't do a lot of data transfer like hard drives do. So for pointing devices, keyboards, tablets, printers, etc. you'll be fine. However, I wouldn't string more than a couple of hard drives off one port if speed was a factor.
 

The Bottom Line

If you need to have a lot of peripherals connected at once and you're short on built-in USB ports, this is a great option. If you can keep it off your desk from a cable management standpoint, that's even better. You can get it here for $33 in black or white.

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Skooba TSA Friendly Laptop Roller Bag Review

skoobaonbed

Being a frequent traveler means that I get to go through the TSA airport security line quite a bit. A few weeks back I wrote a post called "Avoiding a TSA Bag Check." Basically it's about reducing the clutter in your bag so that the person looking on the xray screen can identify the contents. If you've got a bunch of electronic devices and cables all piled on top of each other and they can't make heads or tails of what it all is, they'll just say "bag check" for someone to walk over and take your bag to a table to examine the contents by hand. This of course means an extra delay for YOU! Remember they've got all day, they're at work. Even though the bags of cables and drives that I pull out certainly reduce the chances of having a "bag check", I also have to pull out my laptop too. That's just one more thing to have to unpack and pack on every single trip.

I was excited when they announced "TSA friendly" bags that opened flat so that your laptop can be in a compartment all by itself and go through the xray without having to be taken out of the bag. However, I'm a roller bag guy and there was no way that I was going back to a shoulder bag for my computer. So I waited until someone figured out how to make one of these TSA friendly bags in a wheeled configuration.
 

I got the Skooba Wheeled TSA Friendly Bag

skoobainside

I happened to see an ad for this bag in the "Laptop" magazine and I ordered it immediately. It was just what I was looking for. They even took it one step further by designing the notebook compartment with a see-through panel so that when it is unfolded the TSA agent can "see" your laptop as well as xray it.
 

My first trip with the Skooba

skoobaonTSAbelt

Last week I had a business trip and was anxious to see if my new bag would work. Keep in mind that TSA can still ask you to remove your laptop. Having a bag like this doesn't give you any special rights. Just to be on the safe side I still removed my cable pouch and my HyperMac battery (they always pick it up and give it a once over anyway because they don't know what it is). Success! My bag, and 15" MacBook Pro went through both ways (DTW and SFO checkpoints) no problem. The 2nd TSA agent on the other end at DTW said "neat bag".
 

There is one downside

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Is home printing becoming obsolete?

print

image above compliments of istockphoto.com

Recently two different people asked me about printing apps for the iPhone/iPod touch. Another person asked me about hooking up a multi-function printer to their Mac OS X Server. I get printing questions all the time. I have some really nice printers here at home. The printer that gets used the most is the Xerox Phaser. I have assorted Epson printers and a Dymo Twin Label Printer that I love for my one-off label needs. With that said, my printing volume has gone way way way down. I easily go for weeks without printing anything. While I'm not quite ready to head to eBay with my gear, I'm wondering is printing becoming obsolete?

 

What About Printing Photos?

I was never really that into printing photos at home to begin with. Sure I have an Epson Color Stylus Photo R1800 that does a fantastic job. When the R1900 came out I had no reason to upgrade. I'm always amazed by the quality I get when I do a photo print. However, I can probably count on one hand the number of photos I printed in 2009. I'm certainly taking tons of photos, but the reality is that I do most of my photo sharing online. If someone really needs/wants a print of a photo I've taken then I'll usually upload it to one of my favorite labs like Costcophotocenter.com, MPIX.com or Kodakgallery.com and have the print mailed directly to them. I just can't print my own prints cheaper than Costco's prices! So the only time I print a photo is I need it right then and there and can't wait or drive to pick it up. As you might imagine those times are far and few between.

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DYMO LabelWriter Twin Turbo Review

dymotwinlg

I've been a fan of the DYMO brand of Label Printers for years. I can't really remember a time when I didn't own one. If you ever saw my handwriting you would understand why I don't handwrite address labels. My packages would never get there. 🙂 I had been using the LabelWriter Turbo 400 for over a year and I absolutely love it. However, when I saw that the LabelWriter Twin Turbo had been marked down to less than $100 I couldn't resist! That was less than I paid for the single LableWriter Turbo 400. I had always wanted the Twin Turbo, but couldn't justify the price. Why so cheap? Dymo introduced a new model: Twin Turbo 450. Now you can save on the older model while supplies last. That's exactly what I did.

 

How does it work?

Forget about buying toner/ink. The DYMO printers use a technology that has everything you need in the actual labels themselves. So each label prints as crisp as the first. There is no inkjet to dry out or clog. I wanted the Twin Turbo so that I could have the larger shipping labels that I use all the time AND the smaller single address labels loaded at the same time. The printer is a standard USB printer and therefore can be printed to from just about any app. Since I'm using this primarily for address labels I just use the app that DYMO supplies.  DYMO makes a wide variety of different labels for these printers.

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Two New Drobo Storage Robots

Drobo_S_left

As you know I'm a fan of Drobo! I currently have two Drobos serving up my data here at home. (see my original review here) One is connected to my New Mac mini OS X Server and the other is connected to my iMac iTunes Server. I've been very happy with the products and the performance. However, Data Robotics isn't resting on their laurels. Today Drobo is announcing two new members of the Drobo family:

 

The NEW Drobo S

Drobo_S_Open

This is the one that many of you have been waiting for. Although the current Drobo with its Firewire 800 connection is fast enough for my regular data storage needs, those of you who would like to use a Drobo for more intensive work such as digital video have been craving eSATA support. Well it's here! The NEW Drobo S offers USB 2, Firewire 800 AND eSATA connectivity. It also has a 5th drive bay which means it can support up to 10TB's of storage/protection (using the current 2TB drives that are out today). 

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