"I cannot go back home, Burke. It is too sunny in Los Angeles. It’s sunny everyday!"
-- Cristina Yang, Grey's Anatomy
About
- Age: 20something
- Sex: Female
- Location: The O.C, bitch
- Occupation: Engineer
- To know me is to understand my obssessions. Or keep up with it.
- Saabgirl can often be found racing through the canyons of L.A and O.C in her Turbo powered Saab, sipping a chai latte in one hand and listening to Morning Becomes Eclectic. Or reading a P.G Wodehouse book while stuck in L.A traffic on her way to a Indian classical concert or a tennis game. Her ardent nature to question things and her love of the ocean, often lead her to ponder about Cosmology while sitting at the beach. She believes in Karma and the enormous power of a Democracy that is caring and responsible. If you know of any, please let her know.
- Playlist (updated apr 2006)
Currently
- Listening: Andrew Bird - Imitosis
- Reading (Non Fic): The First Three Minutes
- Mood: sang froid
- Quote: The secret to closeness is to be separate.
- Watching: dot the i - James D'arcy and Gael Garcia Bernal in the same movie!
- Eating: Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Drinking: Rose Tea
- Girl Crush: Nicole Chamoun
- Guy Crush: James D'arcy
- Girl Crush 2: Anna Friel - From Beth Jordache in Brookie (way back in '93) to 'Me Without You' to Bella Wilfer in 'Our Mutual Friend', Anna has always had a scene-stealing presence. And weird crossing of crushes, she was Laura Fraser's flatmate in London during their wild child years.
Other Blogs
Spaced out like my life depends on it
Musical Discoveries
Linky Luv
Contact
- Email: lasaabgirl at gmail dot com
Archives
HBJ
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Gadget week
Amazon decided to be super nice and surprise me by shipping my Archos 605 Wifi and DVR Station a week before it is actually released (even though the estimated Shipping Date was 18th Sept and I hadn't ordered any special shipping) and people who pre-ordered months before me haven't gotten it yet. Simple Pleasures and all that.
Dell followed by shipping my shiny new Vostro 1500 Notebook (Intel Core Duo, with XP, 3GB of RAM and a nice nVidia graphics card that will stream my Netflix instant-watching movies) in just 3 days which must be some kind of record for them.
I popped over to Circuit City and upgraded my router to a Wireless-N Router.
I am in geek heaven. Oops, did I say that out loud? Turned out to be the right timing because my Labor day weekend travel plans (damn that passport office) fell through and it is a hot 107 F degrees outside.
Best just to stay home and fight over who has control over which gadget. |
| :: 9:07 pm - 27th August 2007 :: in :: Gadgets and Gizmos :: |
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Progressive Scan DVD Player
While we are talking gadgets, let me also recommend the Toshiba SD4000 Progressive Scan DVD Player that can play data discs (including DVD-/+R, DVD-/+RW) with video files and clips in DivX, AVI and MPEG4 formats.
So now you can watch all those home videos you converted from VCR tapes, yeah that's it. I mean, why else would you have video clips on your computer that you burn into data discs, right?
At my old job, they used to give out recognition awards with points that you could accumulate and use towards buying overpriced stuff from a catalog, that you would never use. I had three such awards and was stuck deciding between a dinosaur toothbrush (don't ask) , a coffeemaker (I don't drink coffee), a waffle maker (right, because I make waffles at home from scratch rather than go 2 blocks to Trader Joes), a Public Alert Weather Station (that will let me know that weather in California today is warm and in the mid 70s. Yet again. Everyday), a projection alarm clock (because I am so lazy that I can turn off the alarm but not look at the time and need it projected on my ceiling), a 4 person tent (which, I did get from this catalog 2 years ago and have never opened since), and the aforementioned DVD player that I finally decided to get, a couple of months ago.
Although, with the 605 Wi-fi, this just got rendered outdated and this whole entry is moot.
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| :: 11:53 am - 19th August 2007 :: in :: Gadgets and Gizmos :: |
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Archos 605 Wi-fi
I have been researching for months for a good music player now that my ipod is refusing to play without being charged while playing. Of course, I wouldn't go near an iPod again for a million dollars, so I looked at the brilliant Cowan A2. As is normally the case with these things, my requirements soon morphed and grew into a Personal Media Player.
I just pre-ordered my first PMP - to bridge that gap between the PC and TV using wifi.
The 605 Wi-fi and the DVR Station from French company, Archos, when it lands on my lap on 1st September, will let me:
1. Transfer my DVDs and videos on my PC (without any transcoding, with optional plugins) and music to the device to watch and listen on the go. That 24 hour plane trip to the Himalayas doesn't sound so bad now, does it? Or you know, that brisk 1/2 hr walk from the parking lot to my office.
2. Playback videos on TV - so I am not stuck in a hotel room watching videos on a 4.8" screen. Also, when at home, the family can watch cricket matches (that we pay $20 per match to watch online via PC) on the big-screen TV.
3. Record from any device (both video and voice) - this is really what I am after, so I can have all my videos in one place; record TV shows (even cable or satellite boxes if you have), transfer my archives on video tapes and camcoder to the Archos.
4. Use my favorite browser in the world, Opera, to watch that you-tube video while waiting for my tea at the coffeeshop with Wifi.
5. Stream video and access folders on my PC over the wifi home network.
6. Have ample space (160 GB of it) to store all my music and videos (atleast for the next year or so).
7. Buy the optional helmet camcorder for those canyon-driving moments or caving moments that I just have to record.
8. Carry my photos with me all the time. Just looking at those panoramas of Banff for even a minute during lunchtime at work, can relax me in ways words cannot explain.
9. Use the touch screen, stylus, virtual keyboard and external keyboard on the remote for easy controls. Just double-tap on the screen to zoom in!
10. View PDF and text files when I need to read up on papers while car-pooling to work in the morning, before that big meeting.
In addition to these:
11. It has a USB host on the mini-dock that will let you connect any USB device to the 605.
12. It has a built-in speaker in addition to the headphones jack, and a kick stand. It also lets you create Playlists and Bookmarks for your music and videos. It lets you drag and drop files from the PC or sync with Windows Media Player.
13. It seems like it is huge but weighs 9oz and is 4.8'' x 3.2'' x 0.75''. It comes with a rated battery life of 17 hrs for audio and 5.5 hrs for video.
14. Word is, there is a lastfm plugin in the works.
15. The basic 160GB device is a steal at $400, because they have most of the features as optional accessories (the DVR station, the plugins, battery dock etc) - this way you can pick and choose the ones you want. With all the accessories I chose for it, its price is comparable to that of the Cowon Q5 ($550) which doesn't have a release date or official specs yet, for the US Release.
The Archos 605 Wifi really promises to be the ultimate time-waster productivity-and-entertainment device I have so far, that's not just for travelling, but also for home.
Related Link |
| :: 11:13 am - 18th August 2007 :: in :: Gadgets and Gizmos :: |
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