Tag: gadgets

Skype Part II

So I am talking to my friend from the U.K., Simon, over Skype right now. He is in New Zealand on 55.6kbps dialup connection and the sound quality is very good. There are occasional break up in sounds but that’s probably because we were both using the internet while we talked. Also sometimes the echo comes through and I can tell there is some delay in hearing myself. I am sure if Simon is using broadband the quality will be excellent. Pretty nifty for talking to someone half way around the world for free (more or less)!

Also, it seems that there is a weird interaction between Skype and ecto. Whenever I sent a post from ecto, Skype will drop my call. Weird…

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Film Camera for Sale

I’ve put my film camera body, a Canon EOS 30/Elan 7E, up onto eBay. If any of you are interested, bid away!

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Used iPod for Sale

Now that I have a new iPod, that means I need to sale my old 2nd generation 10GB iPod. This will be my first sale on eBay in nearly 5 years (last time I sold a camera lens on eBay in the U.K.).

If anyone is interested in an old iPod in almost pristine condition (no scratch on the back and only very, very minor scratches on the front) with used Apple headphones and remote, battery still last 4+ hours, one light blue iSkin case and a Timbuk2 case, visit the eBay auction.

Update: Wow, that was quick! The iPod was sold within 30 minutes of the listing being online. The buyer hit the “Buy It Now” button without even bidding for it. I guess my “Buy It Now” price is lower than what I could have gotten. I think next weekend I will put my two film camera bodies up for eBay!

Savings

Last year I told myself it would a year of saving. And I ended up buying a laptop and a digital SLR camera! Is this year going to be different? I hope so and I am restricting myself to a few known gadget purchases and big expenses.

First up is the PalmOne’s Treo 650. It is going to be released to Cingular/AT&T this week, according to rumours. Apparently the unlocked version will also be released at the same time. From all the earlier orders it seems like if I buy it from AT&T I would have to convert my account (back) to Cingular then be forced to take a data plan which I don’t really need. So I am going just buy a unlocked Treo 650 and then add a low usage data plan when I have the phone. Cost more initially but I reckon in the long run it would save me more since I am not that data intensive with my cell phone (yet).

Another gadget that I may buy this year is a DVD writer. It would let me back up to optical disk a lot more data as I am using CD-RW right now. Then I can also burn TV shows that the TiVo has recorded using TiVoToGo for archiving or just sharing. Right now I can’t really share any of my TiVo shows unless I transfer them to VHS. Mmm no thanks!

That’s all for gadgets but then Leah and I have two weddings in the U.K. to attend so more money to save for flights, etc. Then there is the apartment moving cost. Leah and I are moving back to Manhattan after two years of ‘exile’ to Hoboken. We got a great deal for an apartment in Battery Park City from a friend who owns one there. We will be moving in March and this time I am not going to move ourselves! We are going to get a moving company to do it for us. So that is another expense! Still I think it is well worth it. Finally we can get decent cable TV (BBC America and SpeedTV especially) and groceries from FreshDirect!

That’s it for the planned expenses so far. Hopefully there won’t be any surprises this year and I can save some money.

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Skype Me

I’ve heard a few good things about Skype recently so I downloaded a copy for my PowerBook. Very nicely designed UI but with a lack of willing and capable participant on the other end of the connection I haven’t been able to test out the actual speaking part yet.

The last time I tried VoIP was when I was working in Portland and Leah and I talked over the net using iChat. Pretty good quality but with a slight time delay. Perhaps Skype will be better, especially with its cross-platform nature (i.e. more potential users)?

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