Logitech Alert 750i

First of all, the blurb.

See the following address for the publicity stuff

http://tinyurl.com/2b3p4mn

This is part of Logitech's range for the current boom in the video security business. Available in indoor and outdoor versions. Among its features are that it can store photos and videos locally, on a micro SD memory card. The 2 GB card supplied is enough for a week of storage.The software detects motion in your appartment and can send an alert to your email  or mobile phone as well as triggering a recording.
The camera can be installed anywhere and comes with a range of mounting accessories, such as a suction cap and a wall fixation. It connects to the internet via a powerline link to your broadband box. The camera power supply unit acts as an ethernet transmitter over the house's power wiring. Only a single cable - like a long thin black string of liquorice - links the power supply to the camera. It carries both the power and the data, so you mustn't use a regular ethernet lead in its place. Too bad if you break the plastic clip that I have always thought was the weak point of ethernet leads. The box contains a second brick, which looks just like the camera power supply unit except for a colour coding. This is the ethernet powerline receiver and simply connects to your broadband box.

Once it's set up, all you need to view your appartment is a web browser. No problem about which operating system you use. But you do need a Windows computer to set it up. You will have to borrow a laptop from a friendly neighbour if you only have Linux, but at least the setting up procedure only takes a couple of minutes. 

While the printed instruction sheet is multilingual, the software installs in the language of the main computer operating system. Too bad if you are an English speaker working on a French computer. Or a French user with a borrowed operating system in English! There wasn't an easy way of overiding this aspect.

I measured the power consumption with an in-line meter. It read 4.5 W for the camera PS and 2.5 W for the powerline reciever.
Power consumption: Camera psu, 4.5 W, CPL receiver, 2.5 W. As my power meter has a resolution of 0.5 W, I measured the power taken by the two units together, which hovered between 7 and 8 W. This doesn't sound like much, but it works out to an annual consumption of 61 KWH. So the amount it adds to my annual electricity bill comes to about €6 - not a lot in the security business. My DSL box takes about double that, and I have to leave it on all the time to supply bandwidth to the FON adapter.

To begin with, I found the powerline transmission rather unreliable. The reason turned out to be interference with the home's existing powerline system. Once I had identified the problem, the solution was easy: just use the Logitech powerline unit as the home's main powerline transmitter. The whole system then worked perfectly and I even found the performance of the home system had improved.


The CPL boxes update themselves online.

The camera has a rather bright red LED on the front.I didn't find it very useful for low light vision. Worse, it brings the camera to the attention of any visiting burglars. 

Setting up was incredibly easy. Nothing like the very complex procedure to set up a D-Link DCS 5300G  IP camera a few years ago. Just install the set-up software, give the camera (or cameras) names and set up an account. That's it. No DHCP configuration, or any of that. In fact, I never did get the D-Link to work in all the ways it should.  

One major security problem: after you have set your password, you can change it from wherever you have logged in. So, no anyone else you give the login details to, so they can monitor your flat while you are sailing in the Carribean out of reach of any network, can change your password. It would be easy to imagine two levels of access, one that can only view and one with full administrator privileges. A James Bond scenario maybe, but then we are dealing in a security system after all.

Bewan Powerline S200Maxx adapters

I've had a pair of Bewan adapters on test for the past few weeks.

On the face of it, they look like common or garden powerline adapters. But they do have a couple of advantages over the more basic models.
For one thing, the units have a "pass through" electric plug. That means you can plug the adapter directly into the wall socket and then plug a multi-plug power strip into the adapter's outlet. So the powerline adapter is connected closer to your home's power wiring.

The units worked straight out of the box. Just plug and play.
I tried to install the Windows software utility, but got an error message because a different version of the Microsoft Net software was already installed. No option of up/downgrading, it just refused to install.
So I grabbed the equivalent software from rival manufacturer LEA's web site. That worked fine and detected my whole home powerline network (DSL box, two routers, three computers, IPTV box, network printer, Fonera, Pogoplug). It also gives the option of renaming each gadget with a label that is easier to understand than a MAC address.Then I noticed that the Bewan software had in fact been installed, so I opened that too. It came up with all the network adapters


Readings and compatibility
200 MB Bewan and Netgear CPL units mixed together with no problem. There was a slight loss in overall performance but the speeds between pairs of the same make were better.
Power consumption was very low, under 2W in use or around 1.5 W disconnected (my power meter reads to the nearest 0.5 W). This is much better than the Netgear, which comes in at 3 W disconnected or 3.5 W in use.

SFR TV on Google phone

SFR lent me a Google Phone (an HTC Magic which came out last spring, not the new one that hit the headlines in January and is still being waited for in France) to test their TV application.

Verdict: it works, but... 
The idea is good. Choice of 3G or wifi to view streamed TV in pretty good quality. Anyone sceptical about watching TV on a tiny mobile screen will be pleasantly surprised. It can be viewed either horizontally or vertically (the accelerometer automatically switches to the right setting). The angle subtended by the 3 inch screen at handheld distance is in fact considerably bigger than watching a 29 inch TV at the other end of the sitting room, which the crystal clear picture suits well. Some 20 channels provided (TF1, France2, France3, M6, Direct8, W9, TMC, NT1, NRJ, France4, BFM-TV, Gong, Manga, RTL9, and 5 versions of MTV unless I missed some. No France5 though). Of course you can also watch videos from Youtube and other web sites.SFR have coupled this with a package providing unlimited access that really does mean unlimited - unlike their rival Orange, some of whose subscribers have had nasty surprises when the bills arrived. However, being a free trial, I was unable to check this for myself.

International use
I also tried to use the service while in the UK.  Roaming had not been activated on the demo account - but you would have to be really keen not to miss an episode of your favourite series to pay the kind of charges that would incur. Unless someone else is paying of course. The TV didn't work via wifi either. This may have been through checking the location of the IP address, or some other reason, as the same error message appears. For some reason Android forbids apps from changing the system proxy directly. While there are Android web browser apps (e.g. ProxySurf) that support it, they won't work with the TV app.


would have been a very expensive way of watching TV
The big but is the patchy nature of 3G coverage. Wifi coverage is even worse. So you can be antisocial and watch the TV while sitting in a cafe with wifi or 3G. But our attempts to watch on the French side of the Eurostar were a resounding failure. Completely impossible to watch Plus belle la vie. A couple of scenes flitted in, only to be cut off again with the message that there was no signal. Presumable the device is just as useless to try to amuse the kids on a long car journey. I didn't try it in the metro (the Paris transit authority has conveniently installed GSM antennas in the tunnels) because I didn't want to risk having it snatched.
Even static reception wasn't all that could be desired. A plane delay at Charles de Gaulle Airport should have provided an ideal use for it, but no. Probably to the releif of my fellow passengers, as SFR had not supplied an earpiece for personal reception and it was incompatible with any that I had, including recent bluetooth models.

So, finally, the only use I could find for it was as a second TV at home, to watch in the kitchen and the toilet.

Philips Digital Voice Tracer LFH0882

The idea is nice - a digital voice recorder in a mobile phone form factor. Might as well build it into a mobile phone, do I hear you say. Possibly, but this is a high end pro model, with facilities that most most mobile phone users don't need. And many mobile phones do have voice recorders anyway. But pro users will appreciate a stand-alone unit.
One feature I liked was that it uses two AAA batteries, rather than a Lion pack. So, if you do get caught short, you can buy spare batteries anywhere. The rechargeables can be recharged via the USB connector.

The main features are: zoom micro with two zoom settings. The idea is to make the microphone electronically more directive. Great when you're sitting at the back of the hall in a conference. It records in MP3 format and is supposed to work seamlessly with Dragon Naturally Speaking. I wasn't able to test that, as my PC which has Naturally Speaking on it was out of action during the week I had the LFH on test.
The built in 4 GB memory is plenty for long lectures and conferences. Apparently, some people have used it for college lectures, using Dragon to produce their notes. Not a publishable transcript, to be sure, but certainly adequate for course notes.
Stereo and mono recording is possible, so it can be used for music as well as conferences. You can also record from the built-in stereo radio. Recordings can be organised into folders.
The box states that it is compatible with PC and Mac. I found it worked with Linux too.

On the downside, I didn' t find the menu system very intuitive, having to refer frequently to the instruction manual. Also there is no way of naming files and folders, so ironically you would have to keep notes of where your notes are.

MSI Slim X340

A nice computer
My first comment: the MSI Slim X340 is a nice computer, apart from the fact that it runs on Vista. At 1.3 kg, it weighs in like a netbook, but it is a real computer. It's got a real screen - a 13 inch LCD with 1366 x 768 resolution - so there is no need for sideways scrolling when viewing certain websites. Plus a 500 gigabyte hard drive, although there is a model with 320 GB.
The keyboard is a real one with a good feel to it, unlike my Tosh Satellite 100 whose keys feel "plasticy" and work loose. Very good for anyone who touch types.

This is one "laptop" that can really be used on one's lap rather than really being a portable desktop. It is light in weight and runs cool. It is ideal for my favourite position for working - on a couch with the computer wedged between my tummy and my knees. It is also good in bed. The webcam, inbuilt mike and speakers work just fine with Skype.
Being an ultralight, there is no optical disc drive. I find that the only time I need one is for installing software. That is not something you need to do on the move, so a separate stand-alone USB optical drive fills the bill. I also used a 16 GB SDHC card obtained on ebay for 10 euros as removable storage.

Electricity consumption
Energy consumption is reasonable and the machine runs cool. I got a reading that varied between 14 and 24.5 watts, depending on what the machine was actually doing (wifi, bluetooth, using the hard disc, brightness, percentage of processor power used etc), using an in-line power meter and the computer battery removed. The reading dropped down to 9.5W when the screen switched off to save power.

The battery is a 14.8v Li-ion unit, with a capacity of 2150 mAh (which works out to 32 WH), which gives about 3 hours of normal usage with the wifi switched on. I understand a higher capacity model is also available. MSI has not gone down the path taken by the Mac Airbook, whose battery is built-in. It's useful to carry a spare recharged battery when travelling. Also the life of Li-ion batteries in general tends to be around two years - hopefully the computer will last much longer than that.
Unfortunately there is no restore CD - a recently imposed Microsoft requirement I believe.
But, it will not stay on its own for long. I've just seen the super-slim notebook Sony are bringing out soon,  weighing in at just 700 grams because it uses aluminium and carbon fibre.  I dread to think what the price will be. Pity Sony didn't put in a full size keyboard, even though there is room.

Techo stuff
Screen: 13.4 inch WXGA
Processor: Intel SU3500 1.4 GHz
Ram: 2 GB
Built-in webcam: 1.3 M
Connectors: 2 x USB, HDMI, mic inb, headphones out, VGA, ethernet, memory card
Pity there is no analog TV connector

Price: can be found for under 700€ if you look around on the Internet.

Nokia N800 Internet tablet

Yet another gadget to play with, if only for a couple of days.
It's a very nice tablet, in a PDA form factor but with a VGA resolution touch sensitive screen.

As time is very limited, here are a couple of jottings as they occur to me.

- The built-in wifi antenna is much more sensitive than any other I have come accross. I can pick up a lot more signals than with my laptop. I can also pick up my home wifi much further away than I can with my laptop. It's also much more stable than with XP.
Definitely a plus point.

- The navigation decidedly takes a bit of getting used to. I'm still trying to get used to it.


- It has a built-in multimedia player. But some web content plays on it, some doesn't. Probably needs some plug in or other, but no message comes up to tell you so. In the meantime, I couldn't even watch some of the TV content streamed over the net, like CNN or Direct8, although a few web sites with streaming video did work. No BBC Radio 4 either.


- I will try it out with Skype, Sip-telephone, ORB and others before I have to give it back. It does come with a multimedia streaming system of its own - but there was no manual or CD in the box. So it's not just a case of plug and play. There is also a proprietary internet video chat system (I particularly liked the webcam on a stalk that looks more like an old mobile antenna). No doubt it's very good, but it will be a hard job getting my contacts to install yet another chat system.

- Some e-mail messages get blocked when using the installed mailreader. I have to use the webmail to get them. And then it won't read attached files in Word format. You can display them in HTML, but it makes the task of modifying or working on the document something difficult if not impossible.

- It can cater very well for multiple connection profiles and passwords. But for some reason it won't connect to an open FON network. Must go and try it with an Orange or SFR access point.

Orange Liveradio

Orange have very nicely lent me a Liveradio to play with for a couple of weeks. I think the idea is great. But at a tad under 200 euros, the price is a bit on the steep side. I suppose it will eventully come down, it usually does. I know at least one other manufacturer (Sagem) has one in the pipeline and there are probably more.

It looks like an ordinary radio that you would have in your kitchen or on the bedside table. The difference is that instead of picking up FM (we don't have DAB in France) it links in to your wifi network and then picks up a huge number (I haven't counted them yet) of radios streamed over the Internet. It also has a USB connector (awkwardly placed on the back) so you can plug in a pen drive or MP3 widget and play your own files. I've opened a guest account on the Orange web site so that I can configure it, but am still working on the finer points. Will update this blog when I get round to testing them.

Now for some minus points.

First of all, you can only configure a single Wi-Fi account. So, when you move to a different access point, you have to rekey your encryption key. That's quite a big drawback as far as I'm concerned, because the walls in this flat are prety impervious to wifi and I've had to install a separate access point in the bedroom. Consequently, when I carry the liveradio from the bedroom to the sitting room, I have to reset the wi-fi key. Also, it can't work with FON access points. These use unencrypted wi-fi but need authorisation to surf the web. I presume the same would go for Orange and other access points. So there's not much point in taking this radio with you on holiday, as most hotels use this kind of technology.

Secondly, the list of radio stations has been selected by Orange. I haven't figured out how to add other stations, or even whether it is possible - the manual says nothing about this. Will report back. I suspect that in some cases (such as the BBC stations) it may not be possible at all to reconfigure. Nor does it apppear to be possible to configure it to take podcasts other than those selected by Orange. Certainly a very big minus. Nor streaming the audio content of my PC hard disc to listen in the bedroom, or wherever.

Finally: there is no on-off switch. It is true that on-off switches have all but disappeared these days, but at least there is a standby mode worthy of the name. In the case of the Liveradio, it continues consuming power at a hefty rate. According to the manual, the battery can last around 24 hours in this mode before it needs a recharge. So if you take it with you on a trip, the chances are it'll be prety well run down by the time you arrive anywhere. It is definitely designed as a radio for the bedside table (it does include an effective alarm feature), to be left plugged in for most of the time, occasionally taking it with you to the kitchen or the loo. In fact I wouldn't be too sure about using it in the kitchen or while having a bath, as the speakers seem rather exposed.

There are lots of other features to play with over the next few days - podcasts, live books etc, so I will have plenty to keep me busy in the next few days instead of getting on with my guide on smartphones.