The last few months, we invested quiet a large amount of money, in “high-tech” gear 🙂 (No, we don’t feel like there is any financial crisis out there !)
We bought:
- 2 smartphones (with windows mobile)
- a 42″ Full HD screen (which I use as a computer monitor)
- 2 digital photoframes (which we are going to use as a “name tag” at our front entrance)
- 2 Acer Aspire One netbooks (one already “modified”)
- a Playstation 3 (which we initially bought as a Bluray player, for games we already have 2x Xbox360 and a WII)
- a Bluray burner
2 smartphones – LG KS20
We both have a smartphone now, in combination with a “Mobile Vikings” Sim-card. (take a look at http://www.mobilevikings.com) With every top-up of 15 euro for making phonecalls, we get 1 gigabyte of free data-traffic for use on the Edge network of base. This device is running windows mobile 6, does have 2 camera’s, built-in UMTS/EDGE/GPRS, WIFI, bluetooth etc … (in combination with our GPS logger (see the item of 2008-07-06, more down on this page) and TomTom, we can also use it as a GPS 🙂 I have MSN open all the time, it also checks my 6 mailboxes every 2 minutes, updates weather-info and RSS feeds on a one-minute-interval etc … We also twitter and update our facebook on those little nifty devices, and ofcourse, we can also use it to make phonecalls 🙂 (We both “generate” about 800 MB data-traffic every month with this smartphone)
a 42″ Full HD screen – LG 42LG5500
Recently, I removed the 2 monitors from the “middle” computer at our desks. I replaced those screens, with a 42″ Full HD, which acts as a monitor (perfect for AutoCAD and other plan-drawing software !), but is also used to watch TV (when I’m working on my “main” computer), and I also use it to play Xbox360 games, when the “large TV beamer” is occupied. It does have a 1920x1080p resolution, with 3 HDMI inputs, a component input, a VGA input, and 2 scart inputs.
2 digital photoframes
The LG phones and the HD screen came from Pixmania, and when browsing the Pixmania website, I also did see a promotion about a digital photoframe. So, I ordered 2 of them, with the idea to take them apart, and give them another purpose. I’m going to use them as “name-tags” at our front entrance. They are not only able to show pictures, but they can also play movies and MP3’s 🙂 (so, during the year, we will simply put a JPEG onto the SD card, with our names on it, but during Christmas and New Year, we have the possibility to show some animated seasons greetings, and to even play a “tune” along with it 🙂 (No need to say that due to my long period of illness, this project still needs to be started)
2 Acer Aspire One netbooks
Everybody knows them by now: Netbooks ! We bought 2 of them (one for me, and one for Christel ofcourse !) The first thing I did, was to remove the pre-installed windows. We are totally into Ubuntu right now … After a week, I even did take apart my Aspire one completely, and I did put in a touchscreen ! (you can buy these touchscreens as DIY-kits on Ebay) Also, we ordered some “decals” trough Ebay, and “fitted” them onto the notebooks (ooh well, it wasn’t that hard, they were designed for Aspire One’s, lol) Those things do have an Intel Atom processor onboard, and SSD (so, no moving parts in the device, not even a fan !), 2 GB Ram, 1024×600 resolution, Wifi, bluetooth and an UMTS/Edge/GPRS module onboard !
a Playstation 3
Because we already are “into” High-Definition (we have a HD beamer and a HD videocamera), we decided it was time for some BluRay investments … First of all, we needed to play Bluray disc, so we decided to buy a Playstation 3, which can play BluRay movies, and even can be used as a multimedia center.(I stream movies/music/pictures from my NAS, over my network, directly to the PS3)
a Bluray burner
We own a HD videocamera, which we use on a regular base when we go on holidays, or when we visit modelrailroad exhibitions. So, the next “logical” step, was to buy a Bluray burner, to enjoy our own movies in the highest possible quality. Recently, those burners crossed the 200 euro border, and are actually “cheap” ! (That’s what I think about the price anyway) So, I bought an LG GGW-H20L … It does burn Bluray, DVD & CDR and it can also read al those formats, including HD-DVD !