I picked up this little guy (aka the Toaster) recently after seeing Peter’s success with it.
It’s a network connected storage device. What does that mean? It means that you can put two SATA hard drives inside it, plug it into your network and access those drives anywhere on your local network.
Until recently, I had two 500gb SATA drives inside my PowerMac G5 tower that I was using as a file server. Unfortunately, the videocard (among other things) seems to be dying and a replacement is pretty expensive. I can’t even remote into the box anymore. Actually the replacement seems to be about the price of the DNS-323 (around $150 Cdn which doesn’t include any drives) so it seemed like a sensible way to upgrade. You can setup the drives to work as one giant drive or in a number of other Raid configurations. I’m currently only using one drive in there until I get a chance to clean off the other 500gb drive I have. I haven’t read any limitations on drive size but I’m sure they exist.
The main (big) selling point for me is the fact that it has a built in bit torrent client with a web based interface that you can interact with from any device on your network. This completely replaces the PowerMac for me - at least how I was using that machine as primarily a file server and bit torrent client box.
Unfortunately, the downsides I’ve come across so far include crappy Safari support so I have to use Firefox to initiate torrents. Also, the firmware likes to forget some settings when you reboot the device. Fortunately, the firmware seems to be actively updated and the settings bug is an acknowledged issue that will be addressed soon. The initial setup also required a PC to configure. I did this via VMWare but had to tweak my network settings so that the bridged connection could actually see the DNS-323.
Once it was all setup though, it worked like a charm. It just pops up as a network server on all my Macs and fully accessible. I’m not currently using it as my Time Machine backup system but I could easily set it up to do it.
The device also has a USB port but that’s reserved to function as a wireless printer port only so you can’t plug the toaster into your computer and access files via USB.
I haven’t set it up yet, but it also can run as an iTunes server which might be handy for those with multiple computers and one giant library.
Overall, I’m very happy with the DNS-323. It does what it says it will do and after a little setup, can literally be left alone like a toaster. Check out the manual, driver and firmware details on the D-Link support site.
I’ve been thinking about upgrading my clock radio for awhile now and have been looking at the various units with iPod docks built in. I knew that the iPhone had issues with many third party docks/clock radios because of the interference the GSM radio puts out. Not to mention the issue of incompatible docks meant for iPods that could fry your iPhone.
I came across the Sony Speaker Dock/Clock Radio at both London Drugs and Future Shop. The fact that the box specifically states that is made for the iPhone (complete with official logo) seemed like a good thing:
I also came across a similar unit at Costco but there is a very subtle difference in that the model at Costco (and the display model at Future Shop) are the older version that isn’t certified for the iPhone so make sure you get this model number: ICF-C1iPMK2 (MK2 = Mark 2).
Here’s a couple of points about the device:
Pro:
- very nice sounding and can go very loud without distortion - almost too much for a clock radio
- comes with a small remote that lets you easily navigate your iPod/iPhone menus, choose playlists, etc as well as control volume.
- iPhone playback works through speaker dock regardless of whether or not the mute switch is on or off the iPhone
- you can set independent volume levels for each of the two alarms. You can have the radio alarm volume at one level and the iPod/iPhone level at another when used as an alarm
- you can play the iPod at night and put a sleep timer on it and everything shuts down nicely when specified
- it’s cheap! I got my unit for $79 during a weekend sale. Regular price is $99 everywhere which is still cheaper than other similar units with less features
- the dock can even accommodate my iPhone in it’s Speck Pixel case which is probably one of the bulkiest covers you can get
- it has an AUX In so it can be used with my Zune ;)
Cons:
- the clock display is too bright - despite having three brightness options, the lowest is too much in a dark room
- the snooze button is behind the iPhone - not a huge deal but a little awkward to reach while half asleep
As you can see, there is a lot to like about this dock. It would make a decent kitchen radio as well and comes in black or white too.
I was wondering how you use the iPhone with the alarm feature. Previous iPod’s had a wake/sleep to music option but the iPhone, strangely, does not. If you don’t already have something selected, the alarm will simply play the first song in your library. If you select a playlist the night before, the alarm will start up on whichever song/playlist you left off at which is pretty slick.
Check out the full specs on the Apple Store as well as the positive reviews.
Tonight I attended the launch party for the Samsung Instinct phone. I wanted to personally check it out to see if it lived up to the ‘iPhone killer’ label that has been floating around. Unfortunately it doesn’t but that doesn’t mean I hated it.
Here’s my quick take on it which is appropriate since I only had it for about 20 minutes to play with:
Things I liked:
- smaller than an iPhone and feels nice in the hand while holding it to use as a phone
- has haptic feedback (vibration) so when you press on a button or type on the touchscreen, you get tactile feedback
- turn-by-turn GPS navigation although I couldn’t truly test this out inside a bar
- no configure voice commands to launch apps and services as well as dialing
- nice roomy landscape keyboard made it easy to thumb type
- a couple of slick games included (albeit demos) including a nice version of Scene It (movie trivia) which was fun to play - not sure of other game purchase/download options
- very cheap unlimited data plan from Bell or Telus ($10) but that may also be a negative since there are no 3rd party apps (yet)
- the phone dialer and related features seems simple and intuitive although some elements of the UI seemed Apple-ish (swipe to end call)
- beefy, removable battery
- much better weather app than the iPhone
Things I didn’t like:
- no wifi - maybe the thinking is you’ve got unlimited data, why would you need wifi?
- somewhat clunky touchscreen - perhaps due to a calibration issue on my demo unit but haven’t we moved beyond calibration?
- non-standard browser which seems to have trouble loading/sizing images and rendering basic css
- I was under the impression it was Windows Mobile under the hood - it’s not (it’s Samsung’s own creation) which actually makes things worse since there isn’t access to that library of (WM) software available to users although the Samsung rep did say that 3rd party apps ‘were possible’ but would most likely have to come from the carrier
- the IM button launches Windows Live….mmmkay.
- the camera was about the same as the iPhone (2 megapixels) so it looked like crap inside the bar with low light
- in my limited time with the device, multiple times I was holding it portrait and while using it, would be forced to use the keyboard in landscape mode. I later found out there is a button to change the orientation on the keyboard itself but it was clunky when compared to the iPhone’s auto-rotation depending on its orientation
- Stylus? McFly?
- again, I’m not sure if it was just my demo device or not but it seemed that whenever I did anything related to the internet, I’d get some kind of warning screen that I was about to incur data charges. I would assume the demo units were on the cheap data plan but maybe not. I would also assume that if you were on said plan, you wouldn’t be told this over and over again
- no camera flash but the iPhone doesn’t have one either so not a huge deal to me
- playing back some of the demo videoclips on my device looked like crap and weren’t full screen - the media player seemed lacking
Overall it wasn’t a horrible device and I probably could have used more time with it to fully explore it’s features…it just seemed like it was designed in a world where the iPhone didn’t exist (CDMA land?). I really was hoping it would offer more competitive features but unfortunately, the Instinct comes across as a Windows Mobile clone that is trying to look as slick as the iPhone.
I could see this phone being ideal for someone that is stuck on a CDMA carrier or that possibly doesn’t need or want the expanded options the iPhone has (which come with a higher sticker and data-plan price).
I’m still amazed that (in my opinion, of course, since this is my blog) none of the phone manufacturers have managed to actually create an iPhone killer yet. Not even close. Which is really too bad…competition is always good and only benefits the consumer in the end.
One final note about Samsung: I think the person behind @theinstinct on Twitter has been doing a great job at responding to the detractors, helping spread the word about the product and answering questions in a positive and professional manner. It is refreshing to see bigger companies using social media to try to engage an audience…even if it may seem like an uphill battle against strong competition. Perhaps Samsung just hired the right people to promote the Instinct.
A few people have been asking me about car chargers for the iPhone 3G so I thought I’d post a quick note about what I’m using.
First of all, be careful what you plug your shiny new iPhone into! Plenty of things are meant for iPods only and can actually fry your iPhone. Many iPod accessories do work with iPhones but unless you want to try out the warranty replacement program, do a quick google search about whatever device you are hoping is compatible. You’ve been warned!
Secondly, many old iPod accessories (and some 1st gen iPhone ones) use firewire as their method of powering/charging. Apple switched to USB power fairly recently so this is why many of these older devices won’t work with a newer iPod or iPhone. You will most likely get some variation on this message “This accessory is not compatible with your iPhone”.
You should be able to use any USB based car charging device - basically it’s a cigarette adaptor that has a USB port on the end. These tend to come with many gadgets these days - one came with a kit for my Nintendo DS, another with my GPS, etc. Simply plug in the USB cable that came with your iPhone 3G and you should be good to go. I didn’t want to have to lug that cable around so I simply picked up the Griffin PowerJolt (version 2) on my last trip to the Apple Store for $20. It comes with the USB plug and a black USB to Dock cable.
The ring around the USB port lights up green when powered.
and red when charging.
and here it’s connected in the car to my iPhone which is sporting my new green Speck PixelSkin cover and sitting in my Palm ‘Universal PDA holder’ which previously held my Treo 650.
So far so good…it completely charged my iPhone while driving home tonight.
