Frequent Business Traveler » Personal Tech

Dyson Hot Fan Heater Review

Paul Riegler — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:01:37 +0000

Space heaters are ubiquitous – and necessary. One finds them in homes, offices, kiosks, and even hotels.

Space heaters are also source of great concern. Most people simply don’t feel comfortable leaving a space heater on in an empty room or where pets or children are around, for fear it will fall over and cause harm.

Dyson has applied the same thinking to its Hot fan heater as it did to the company’s AM01 table fan. Just as the fan, it uses the company’s Air Multiplier technology to move air without the typical buffeting of a standard blade fan. Instead, the fan uses an airfoil-shaped ramp to amplify the airflow. Unlike the fan, it also warms the air.

SETUP AND USE

Setup was simple and easy. After removing it from the box, I attached the plastic stand, removed the protective plastic film around the base and plugged it in. A small remote is included. I found it easy to use but my mother found the buttons too small and the red and blue (for hot and cold) markings too unclear (I have to agree on the latter point). You can attach the remote to the top of the fan via a built-in magnet so you won’t lose it.

Operation is very simple. Turn it on (either with the remote or the power button on the unit), set the desired temperature and speed, determine if you need it to oscillate (its oscillation range is impressive and oscillation itself is silent), tilt it as necessary, and you are on your way to lots of hot air.

We generally found it would warm a room quickly and it was easy to set and forget as the built-in temperature control seemed to work well. Most importantly, it was not a safety hazard.

BOTTOM LINE

The Dyson Hot fan heater projected heat farther than other space heaters I’ve used and took the chill out of a room faster than the others as well.

The only issue some might have is the price. It sells for $399 in blue on amazon.com although at least one amazon.com partner is selling the white model for roughly $40 less. Most space heaters sell in the $30-$50 price range although I did find a few that were close to $200. Nonetheless, if you have had trouble keeping a room or area warm, the Dyson Hot may be very well worth the investment on a cold winter’s night. We’ll continue to test the Hot throughout the winter to see how it does.

Symantec to Users: Stop Using pcAnywhere

Paul Riegler — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:47:15 +0000

Symantec told its customers to immediately stop using its pcAnywhere software while it addresses a security breach and an undisclosed number of bugs.

The pcAnywhere program is a popular program that allows users to remotely access and use another computer, such as a home or office computer.

In a prepared and rather blunt statement, the company said: “At this time, Symantec recommends disabling the product until we release a final set of software updates that resolve currently known vulnerability risks.”

The move stemmed from a leak of the product’s source code in 2006 and the subsequent involvement of a group of hackers operating under the name “Anonymous” with the leaked code. A spokesman from Symantec confirmed that the breach occurred in 2006.

Last week, Symantec said the leak would only impact users of older versions of the software but amended its recommendation this week. The current version of pcAnywhere is 12.5. Version 12 was introduced in 2006.

While the software code for several other Symantec products was also stolen, Symantec said that the pcAnywhere theft put users at the greatest risk.

“The encoding and encryption elements within pcAnywhere are vulnerable,” Symantec wrote in a report published earlier this week. “It is possible that successful man-in-the-middle attacks may occur depending on the configuration and use of the product. If a man-in-the-middle attack should occur, the malicious user could steal session data or credentials.”

Using Your Own Mobile Phone in Japan and Europe

Jonathan Spira — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

4G Data and Wi-Fi Hotspot Keep Costs Minimal

While planning my most recent trip to Japan, I stopped to think about the fact that my GSM mobile phone wouldn’t work there. On past trips, I used an inexpensive Panasonic mobile phone purchased in Japan that worked with Japanese PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) technology. (Japan uses three incompatible mobile phone technologies and GSM isn’t one of them.)

This time I had a plan to allow me to use my GSM phone, thanks to its UMA functionality. UMA is unlicensed mobile access. T-Mobile calls it Wi-Fi Calling, but regardless of the name, it allows users to attach a mobile phone to the mobile network via Wi-Fi and place and receive phone calls. An added benefit is that calls placed to the U.S. made from anywhere in the world using UMA are charged as local calls, as are incoming calls from the U.S.

All I had to do to use my phone in Japan was to set it to Wi-Fi Calling and carry a portable hotspot with me. But my Clear hotspot that works in the U.S. won’t work in Japan so I once again contacted Xcom Global and rented a MiFi Hotspot that would work in Japan, along with an extra battery.

I’m accustomed to having Wi-Fi everywhere I go in the U.S., primarily because I either carry around a portable hotspot or, more recently, use a 4G mobile phone that also acts as a hotspot.

Using your own portable hotspot is also far more secure than an open Wi-Fi signal at a hotel or conference facility and this is something of increasing importance to business travelers.

Once I got the MiFi device to see the network, with the help of a tech support representative from Xcom Global’s parent company in Japan, my plan worked flawlessly.

In the course of my eight-day trip, during which I was in Tokyo, Karuizawa, Okayama, and Kurashiki, I had reception everywhere, including on the Shinkansen (bullet train) and the Tokyo Monorail. Speeds were generally more than sufficient to support simultaneous voice and data, although I noticed significantly slower speeds, sometimes as slow as 0.25 Mbps, in smaller towns such as Karuizawa and Kurashiki.

Even with lower bandwidth, I was still able to make and receive phone calls (there were occasional gaps where I missed a word or two) but Web surfing was painfully slow and, in Karuizawa, I relied on the hotel’s wired Internet connection (fortunately it came with a very long cable).

By comparison, I had used Xcom Global’s European MiFi hotspot on several trips covering Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands and speeds were typically 1 Mbps or higher, even in small villages, and consistent speeds of 5 Mbps were not uncommon.

Click here to continue to Page 2 – How it Works

Glashütte Original Senator Perpetual Calendar Watch – Review

Jonathan Spira — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:00:20 +0000

In an age where we carry myriad devices that tell us the time (think smartphone, tablet, or laptop, just to name a few) and time is all around us (look around the room, from the microwave and stove to the DVR/settop box to the clock on the wall), some pundits have gone so far as to say that wristwatches are passé. Indeed, ask someone the time: that person will most likely pull out his mobile and glance at it to answer.

While watches first appeared in the 17th century, wristwatches are a relatively new development: during the First World War, soldiers fashioned them as they found pocket watches inconvenient on the battlefield.

A watch tells time. That’s just as true for a $20 watch as one that costs $20,000.

But some watches do much more than display the hours, minutes, and seconds. Other fairly common features include a day/date display, chronograph, or automatic winding mechanism. However, any feature beyond these is typically referred to in horology as a “complication.” Some of my favorite complications include a perpetual calendar and moon phases. The more complications in a watch, the more difficult it is to design, build, and maintain. While a watch with day-date functionality may only have 250 parts, a complex watch can have as many as a thousand, if not more.

To find out the difference between more and less complex timepieces, we must go to Glashütte, a town in Sachsen (Saxony) Germany and the birthplace of German watch making.    In this town of 4,700 people there are six watchmakers including A. Lange & Söhne and Glashütte Original. Both firms were part of VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe, an East German company commonly referred to as GUB that took over all watchmaking companies in Glashütte after the founding of East Germany . While both A. Lange & Söhne and Glashütte Original trace their roots back to 1845 and Ferdinand Adolph Lange, who started making quality pocket watches, Glashütte Original was founded in 1994 as part of the privatization of GUB and A. Lange & Söhne was re-founded in 1990.

At the Glashütte Original factory, everything from the tiniest screw to the most complex mechanism is made on-site, and much of the work is done by hand.

Click here to continue to Page 2 – The Glashütte Original Senator Perpetual Calendar

The Book Depository: A New Online Place to Buy Books

Greg Spira — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:26:20 +0000

There’s a “new” online bookstore that I suspect is going to become more relevant somewhat soon. It’s The Book Depository, at www.bookdepository.com.

It’s been around for a few years but only last year started to sell to U.S. customers. And even then, for many U.S. titles, it just sent customers to Amazon.

This past summer, it started selling all its titles directly to U.S. customers. Its prices are attractive; for U.S. books it offers similar discounts to Amazon but the discount varies from book-to-book much more than Amazon’s discounts do.( for example, you are more likely to find discounts of 25% and 40% off retail where Amazon discounts are 30-37% off retail). What distinguishes its pricing from Amazon’s is that it offers free shipping on every title, no matter what the price is. So for those who just want to order one book under $25 or send a gift of a book, it will almost always be the less expensive option (except if the Amazon customer subscribes to Prime).

Right now, the more important difference between the two online bookstores is that bookdepository.com is a world bookstore, and thus has a much wider selection of books than Amazon, which only carries American books. So for any English-language book from England or Australia or even Canada, it’s likely to be the cheapest and easiest bookseller to obtain it by far.

Anyway, this past summer Book Depository, which was started by ex-Amazonites, was purchased by Amazon, which plans to keep it as a separately run subsidiary   There was a bit of a ruckus about competition being eliminated from customers on the net who don’t like Amazon and have been using Book Depository as an alternative, but while book depository is a fairly significant bookseller (though nowhere near Amazon) overall, it didn’t have enough market share in any one country (3% in the UK, for example) for any individual government to object to the combination.

This deal went almost completely unnoticed in the U.S; the few people who knew about it probably thought “so what.”

But I think a lot more people in the U.S. are going to become familiar with it, because as an international subsidiary – a company not based in the U.S.- Book Depository will (as far as I know) never have to collect sales tax for any state. Amazon has long had this passive-aggressive attitude towards sales tax. It’s long fought against having to collect sales tax on a state-by-state basis, while at the same time officially supporting a Congressional bill that would allow states to require out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax under certain conditions. Amazon surely knew that the latter would take many years to pass through Congress. With the economy the way it is, Amazon now expects that such a bill will inevitably pass Congress sometime during the next few years. The only part of the bill that is still being fought is the level of revenue below which small businesses will be exempt from having to collect sales taxes. Amazon is pushing for that line to be set low, at $500,000 or at most $1,000,000. Others, led by Ebay, want that line to be set much higher, say at $10,000,000. Everybody involved is proclaiming that they’re fighting for what’s fair while fighting for their company’s self-interests

Regardless, my point here is that Amazon has now accepted the inevitability that they’ll be required to collect sales taxes in most states. However, states will never have the authority to require companies that are not located in the U.S.to collect sales tax, at least not until we have a world tax organization, and that’s not going to happen in our lifetimes.   So I don’t believe that’s it’s a coincidence that Amazon now owns a foreign company that can sell books to U.S. residents without needing to charge and collect sales tax. Now, Amazon doesn’t see having to collect sales tax as a catastrophe, but it does know that a certain subset of its customers is very price sensitive, especially to taxes, so being able to provide an alternative outlet for those customers is important. If Amazon hadn’t created such a company, others would have, and Amazon would have to face new competition. Right now, bookdepository.com only sells books, but there’s no reason that it couldn’t expand to offer other products later. Given Amazon’s track record, If I were the person who owns the domain name musicdepository.com (that person, possibly coincidentally, actually lives in the state of Washington, although several hours from Seattle), I’d expect to hear from lawyers with an offer from a shell company no one’s ever heard of.

Stem Innovation iZon Remote Room Monitor Webcam Review

Paul Riegler — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:34:19 +0000

The problem with most webcams is that they require a computer of some kind in order to function. Enter Stem Innovation, a company that makes a smart alarm clock and, drum roll please, a smart webcam of sorts.

The iZon Remote Room Monitor needs electricity – and Wi-Fi. No computer or cabling is.necessary.

The iZon, a nicely designed white plastic cylinder, which could pass for a very large lipstick container, has a magnet in its base and this allows you to attach it to a white dome that supports swivel and tilt.

It comes with a USB-to-Mini-USB cable, a small cylindrical power supply that connects to the included USB cable, two screws and wall anchors in case you want to mount the unit somewhere, and the aforementioned shiny white base.

Setup was easy. I downloaded the free iPad app and followed the easy steps. First, I plugged the iZon into the wall outlet. I then told the app I was ready and it instructed me to point my iPad temporarily to a network called Stem. The app searched for any iZon cameras in the area and it immediately found mine.

I entered my network’s passphrase, clicked on “save,” and switched the iPad back to my normal Wi-Fi network.

Meanwhile, the iZon’s LED began to blink green and then turned solid green.

Shortly thereafter (but not as quickly as the instructions promised), the iZon appeared in my app. I had to stop my app and restart it in order for the iZon icon to appear on the screen.

Image quality was surprisingly good, even in low-light conditions, as was the audio. I had a terrific view of my living room from my dining room and could even record anything that would transpire there (pressing the record button causes a 35-second clip to get recorded and the system posts clips directly to your YouTube account).

The iZon has a built-in motion and sound sensor. When it senses movement – or hears something – it records and uploads the recording automatically. It can even send your phone an alert. This feature is adjustable to prevent an overload of iZon alerts.

It’s rather reassuring to be able to take a look at your home – or an elderly relative’s home – from anywhere in the world you have a Wi-Fi signal. For the frequent traveler, although I haven’t tried this yet, there’s no reason you couldn’t leave this on in your hotel room to see who enters, especially if you are like me and leave the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.

Currently you can watch video for five minutes and then the app shuts the channel down. You can restart it immediately but this “feature” is probably in place to conserve bandwidth in case the app were to accidentally be left on. There seems to be a few seconds of lag time in the video as well, which is something that the company needs to address.

Regardless of these issues, any other consumer webcam solution requires a more expensive camera (Logitech’s Indoor Master high-def solution lists for $299) and a computer attached to a network, making the iZon a great choice for starting your home’s first broadcast facility.

Available for $123.25 at www.amazon.com

Dyson Air Multiplier AM01 Table Fan Review

Jonathan Spira — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 05:01:42 +0000

The table fan is a simple device, typically consisting of rotating blades, driven by a motor, that act on the air. The first electric fan was invented shortly after the introduction of electricity in the late nineteenth century and the underlying design and concept has changed little in the ensuing period. That is, of course, until James Dyson a British industrial designer who is best known for his bagless vacuum cleaner, decided to reinvent it.

Dyson developed what he calls air multiplier technology to move air without the typical buffeting of a standard blade fan. Instead, the fan uses an airfoil-shaped ramp to amplify the airflow.

The Dyson AM01 Table Fan has a 10.5” loop.   Its overall dimensions are 19.5” x 12” x 6”. It comes in an attractive gloss white finish that did not seem to attract dust or fingerprints.

SETUP AND USE

Setup was minimal. After removing it from the box, I removed the plastic film around the base and plugged it in. I looked to see if there was a remote in the box but, unfortunately, it does not come with one (a remote is included with the larger Tower Fan).

Operation is very simple. Turn it on with the power switch, use the potentiometer to set the speed, determine if you need it to oscillate (it’s oscillation range is impressive and oscillation itself is silent), tilt it slightly if necessary, and you are on your way to cool air.

At higher flow settings, it is quite loud but the low setting is more than sufficient for almost all conditions unless you need to create a wind-tunnel effect.   In fact, the lowest setting still moves a lot of air so it’s not a good fit if you want a fan close by, it would probably be too powerful.

Unlike fans with blades, where the blades tend to become dust-encrusted over time, the Dyson fan stays clean. The base needs to be wiped off every once in a while as that is where the air intake is.

BOTTOM LINE

One of the things I like about the bladeless design is that the fan itself blends into the background.   I hardly notice its presence. The fan is also safe for children and pets and knocking it down won’t cause an injury unless it falls on you.

The only issue some might have is the price. Dyson sells it for $299.99 although Amazon currently has it available for $149.99.   While both prices exceed what one might typically expect to pay for a fan, it does deliver what Dyson promises and looks good while doing so.

Available for $149.99 at www.amazon.com

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Review and Test Report

Cody Burke — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 20:15:58 +0000

The Other Tablet: More Than Just an iPad Clone

Believe it or not, there are other tablets on the market besides the iPad. Some of them may even be quite capable devices. Android tablets have yet to make a real splash in the tablet world; they have been held back by a lack of quality applications, concerns over the fragmentation of operating systems, and the inability of manufacturers to compete with Apple on price. Despite these shortcomings, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has emerged as a legitimate contender.

HARDWARE

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 looks almost identical to the Apple iPad 2, until you pick it up and start to use it. That’s when you notice that it is lighter and thinner (6.9 by 10.1 by 0.3 inches and 19.9 ounces). The shape of the Galaxy Tab resembles other Android tablets on the market, namely the Motorola Xoom, with its widescreen shape.   Essentially, it is taller and slimmer than the iPad 2, more like a widescreen TV.

The similarities between the iPad 2 and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 have not escaped Apple’s notice, and the company has fought tooth and nail to prevent Samsung from selling the devices in various countries. After using the Galaxy Tab 10.1, this is no surprise; it is clearly an imitation of the iPad 2, and done well enough for Apple to take notice.

The Tab’s hardware is solid and satisfyingly slim. It feels light enough to hold with one hand for reading, at least for short periods of time such as a 15 min subway ride or while waiting in line. For longer periods of use, you will want to lean it on something or balance on your knee, but this is true of any device of this size.

The back of the tablet is a white plastic with the Samsung logo, so not as industrial or solid looking as the iPad 2’s metal back, but sturdy nonetheless. There are three buttons on the side of the tablet, a power button and volume controls, as well as a 3.5 mm headphone jack. A pair of headphones is included. The tablet has two stereo speakers on either side, which put out surprisingly good sound. It lacks USB or HDMI connections (as does the iPad), and uses a proprietary charging system. The charging cable and plug are the only exception to the quality design and construction; both feel really cheap and seem like a bit of an afterthought, I have no trouble envisioning them breaking in regular use.

The Tegra 2 processor in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 delivers amazing graphics and fast performance, with no visible lag time when opening apps or switching between screens. It is a fast tablet, and I noticed no real issues with apps freezing or taking time to load. Switching between apps was smooth, and there were only slight lags in video playback when watching Netflix movies. Video chat was decent using Google’s included Google Talk app, with only a slight delay.

Click here to continue to Page 2 – User Interface, Honeycomb, Apps

Grabio iPhone App Review

Jonathan Spira — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 17:01:04 +0000

Is it possible to compete with Craigslist and eBay? A new company, Grabio, certainly thinks so and its eponymously-named app is now in beta.

Grabio is available for iOS devices including the iPhone and iPad. An Android version is planned.

Grabio is a location-based marketplace that is designed to locally connect a buyer with a seller. Search results are localized and the app shows you where the seller is on a map, which also indicates the distance from your current location to the seller.

Listing an item for sale is easy. Enter a title for the listing, typically the name of the item you are selling, some tags, the price, expiration for the listing, and an in-depth description. You can also share your listing on Facebook or Twitter during this process.

Once your item is listed in the marketplace, prospective buyers will contact you via the Grabio messaging system by clicking on “Send Message” at the bottom of every listing. This is the only area that I see a need for improvement in that, with listings with longer descriptions, the Send Message button isn’t visible at the bottom of the screen and the user would have to know to scroll down to it.

Unlike eBay but more like Craigslist, there is no transactional aspect to Grabio. You can agree to meet the buyer in person or ship an item, agreeing on payment terms via the messaging system.

I listed my book, Overload! How Too Much Information Is Hazardous To Your Organization, as a signed copy, and it took me under a minute to create the listing. There are four buttons on the very bottom of the entry screen that allow for the inclusion of images (you can either use an image already stored on your device or take a photo) although I didn’t see this option when I created my listing.

The next day, another Grabio tester messaged me about buying the book. I received an e-mail alert telling me that there was a message in my Grabio inbox (Grabio also sends the entire text of the message via e-mail, a nice touch).

After that, it would be up to me and the buyer to message back and forth and finalize the sale. The buyer later e-mailed me that he was ordering the book via the amazon.com link I had provided.

As a location-based service, Grabio differs from other marketplaces in that it clearly displays how far a buyer or seller might be from one another.   This is important if, for example you want to purchase concert or baseball tickets and you are looking for a seller near the venue or, if you are selling a bulky snow blower (there’s one for sale in Teaneck, New Jersey right now), near your home. Another great use would be to find or sell items in a campus-like setting, be it a university or one’s workplace. Textbooks and used cars come to mind, but the possibilities for Grabio are endless. Available at no charge at www.grabio.com or the Apple App Store.

XCom Global MiFi Hotspot Review

Jonathan Spira — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:57:54 +0000

Over the past few years, I’ve become accustomed to having Wi-Fi everywhere I go in the U.S., thanks to the various portable hotspots my colleagues and I have been using. But I spend a considerable amount of time in Europe and I need to stay connected for work while underway. In addition, using your own hotspot is more secure than using whatever Wi-Fi signal happens to be coming your way, even if you happen to be in a hotel or café.

If only I could borrow someone’s portable hotspot. Fortunately, there is a solution: the XCom Global MiFi Hotspot, and it’s available for you to rent.

I recently took the MiFi on two trips, covering a total of five countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands). Xcom Global provides a single hotspot that can work just about anywhere and it’s smaller and lighter than a mobile phone. It comes with the company’s Unlimited aXcess data plan. The company sends you the hotspot, an extra battery (optional), a power cord (it uses Micro-USB) with adapters for local power outlets, and instructions, all in a carrying pouch.

How It Works

I didn’t need the extra power cords or plugs so I just carried the hotspot and the battery along on my trip. I charged the MiFi before each trip in case I needed Internet access en route.

Using it is as simple as pressing the power button and entering a password. It can support up to five users or devices at once, which came in handy for me during meetings, but I typically used it only with my ThinkPad laptop and iPad.

In one hotel room where mobile phone reception was particularly bad, I used the UMA feature of my mobile phone to place calls and call quality was excellent. UMA, or unlicensed mobile access, which T-Mobile calls Wi-Fi Calling, allows users to attach a mobile phone to the mobile network via Wi-Fi and place and receive phone calls, with an added benefit that calls to the U.S. made from anywhere in the world using UMA are charged as local calls.

In my hotel room, I kept the MiFi plugged in to provide 24×7 Wi-Fi. The first device I had required frequent rebooting but the second device (on my second trip) worked perfectly. In both cases, connection speeds were quite fast and, as an example, I regularly saw over 5 Mbps download speeds in Maastricht in the Netherlands. My experiences in other hotels in other cities as well as on the road were similar. Of course, a lot of this has to do with the local network provider but the service was faster than the DSL service many people have at home even today.

On these two trips, I only used the MiFi in five countries but it will work in 42 European countries, 16 countries in the Asia Pacific region, three Latin American countries, as well as Israel, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. Speed will vary by location.

It’s $14.95 per day for members, $17.95 without membership, and other fees may apply. Considering that some of the hotels I stayed in charge €30 (roughly $40) for 24 hours of connectivity, I consider the rental price to be a bargain as well, with portability thrown in to boot.