Random thought

Quite randomly I noticed today that of my three blogs on blogspot.com, two of them have the blogger.com url bar logo but this blog has a generic internet/world logo given to it by Firefox. Strange.

iTrip ban

I don't know why this has been receiving much interest of late because it seems like everything that is being claimed to have been said by Ofcom has been in their FAQ's for a long time now!

A little late on the news here - but relevant to my previous post's concerns - is the update on the situation with iTrips (and similar devices) currently being banned in the UK. According to Trusted Reviews (and also confirmed by Ofcom's FAQ pages for iTrips and FM devices) there is current work underway to standardise some form of the iTrip so that everyone agrees that its not posing too much of a threat to a fellow Radio user sitting in the room or car next door.

Unfortunately it doesn't look like it will be happening for a while - so for now all you illegal users had better hope that the next cop car pulling up next to you isn't listening to white noise on an untuned radio!

Nike+iPod

Just seen the news about this latest innovation from Apple (oh and Nike as well). Apparently its some kind of pedometer/broadcasting unit that fits in the sole of your Nike shoe and sends information back to your iPod.

Sounds like a good idea I guess. I was initially worried that the "wireless" feature would be illegal in the UK... what with our bizarre broadcasting laws and all! But luckily its in the 2.4GHz range and so has no legal problems.

Its not been released yet, but I don't think it will be too long a wait. There's a couple of sites where you can glean some more info:

• Nike+ Site - which is nice and fancy but generally rather useless and contains next to no real information
• Apple's site - quite a bit more detail and tech info to be found here

One thing I would say is that Nike haven't really done themselves that many favours with me with their movie clip... the American computerised voice is already getting on my nerves... hmmm... I wonder if they'll put in the option to change the accent (or language for that matter) of the voice?

Logitech Bluetooth Pro Headset + PowerBooks

Ok - So this headset is not particularly new... but I haven't seen many reviews on its use with general computers, let alone a Mac.

First of all - a bit of history on my experience with bluetooth headsets. I originally bought a headset designed for use as a peripheral for mobile phones. Luckily it worked and paired quite easily with my powerbook. Unfortunately the sound quality was quite poor and it was quite cumbersome to switch to the bluetooth headset when I wanted to Skype. The re-pairing of the device was also a pain in the arse, to the extent that I sometimes missed calls completely whilst waiting for it to be paired and configured.... so I gave up on the idea of bluetooth headsets.

Then I came across the Logitech Bluetooth Pro Headset:

Ergonomics

Even allowing for various tastes I think I can safely say that it has a rather nice and sleek look about it! When clipped onto your ear its very comfortable and I even find myself forgetting that I'm wearing it - which is probably in no small part due to the rather comfy cushion on the earpiece. Two prongs help secure the headset by clasping around the back of the ear. The microphone stalk folds around if you want it out of your way - but I think this function is primarily designed for when your storing the headset as it looks rather stupid when you do this whilst wearing it!

Setting Up

Setting this piece of kit up is a doddle. Turn on the pairing assistant from the bluetooth dropdown menu, follow the pairing instructions provided onscreen and also in the getting started section in the headset manual and in less than a minute your done! The headset has a power-down feature to prolong the battery life, so every now and then you'll find that it has been disconnected from the Powerbook.... no problem - just click the main function button on the top of the headset and it powers up and gets automatically reconnects itself!

Usability

Ok - but how useful is it? As you should probably be aware, any bluetooth headset would not be a suitable substitute for situations that require good sound quality. This is due to a limitation in the amount of streaming data that Bluetooth can handle. Following on from this I think its safe to assume that you'll only really be using this device as a headset and not as a replacement to headphones!

I tend to use the headset only when I'm in a Voice Over IP conference using applications such as Skype. This is where Skype/Mac/Logitech combo comes into its own. To be honest I'm not sure if which of those three is doing the nitty gritty work... but at the end of the day it works like this... Before an incoming call I may be listening to iTunes via the Audio Out/Headphones socket. Then a call comes in and I clip on my headset and press the main function button to connect. A few seconds later and its connected and I can then answer the call. iTunes is then paused, and audio for the phone call is routed through to the headset!! All this is done automatically! When the call finishes the audio is re-routed to the headphones and iTunes starts playing again.

Absolutely brilliant.

Sound Quality

The quality of sound is as good as you can expect from a Bluetooth headset. Its the kind of quality you would expect when in a strong signal area on your mobile phone. The only times I've ever had mild problems is when there seems to be some interference - which at the moment I've put down to me also connecting 3 to 4 other bluetooth devices to the Powerbook at the same time....

Extra Goodies in the Box

An added bonus to this headset is the charger/storage case that comes bundled in. The charger doubles up as a hard plastic storage case - which is an absolute gem for people like me who go travelling a lot.


Summary

Overall I would give this a 9/10 for looks, ease of use, and sound quality. The only reason it really lost a mark in my rating is that I sometimes have quality issues - which as I said earlier seem to be an interference problem related to connecting too many other bluetooh devices. Cost-wise it works out just slightly more expensive than your average mobile bluetooth headset, but I think this is easily justified by the sturdy case. The best place I found to buy it was (strangly enough) direct from Logitech themselves as they have an online shop reachable from their main website. Everywhere else I tried to get it from was sold out and waiting for a backorder of stock to come through!

Finally jotting it down...

Well after several years of finding random websites and blogs for all sorts of techy help I've finally decided to start my own blog!

Considering there is an average of 1 blog started every second I'm pretty certain that the creation of mine will go relatively unnoticed... but have no fear, this blog will soon be sprouting topics and wise musings.