Review

Mini-Review: Sennheiser CX300 Earphones

In Gadgets, Review on 27 August 2009 with no comments

A few weeks ago, I bought Sennheiser CX300 earphones to replace my pricey Shure E2c in-earphones. Wait, why? The cord that wraps around the ears frayed out. It’s the second time it happened, and my warranty has run out.

I knew I’d be taking a hit in quality, but I just needed to isolate myself from the sounds of the subway, light rail, and people chatting loudly on their cell phones.

Once I stuck them in my ears, I was able to zone out just like before. Wailing babies? What babies? I can’t hear the random preacher on the subway. The sounds of Nine Inch Nails, The Mars Volta, or Rx Bandits engulfed me.

Verdict: the Sennheiser CX300 earphones are a fantastic, cost-effective, and necessary replacement to basic earphones supplied with MP3 players.

Sennheiser CX300-B Earbuds (Black)

Sennheiser, Accessory, $14.00

Thoughts on the Shuttle SA76G2 barebone mini-PC

In Computers, Review, Tip on 7 August 2009 with 19 comments

I’m helping my friend at work build a new computer, which will replace an aging system at home. It’s based on the Shuttle SA76G2 barebone mini-PC.

Components:

In case you’re about to build a new system based on this, you need to know something.

For the Shuttle SA76G2, the CPU power consumption (TDP) has a maximum of 105W. We actually ordered the AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor.

Why? The Shuttle SA76G2 specifications at Newegg doesn’t list this. I didn’t find out until I and saw the sticker on the CPU socket. Now we have to return the 125W processor and order the 95W processor.

It gets worse. At Mwave, you can configure the system with a AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz processor — but that runs at 125W!

Newegg, Mwave, and other resellers that sells barebone systems and motherboards that have a CPU power consumption (TDP) maximum: please add that specification to the item page!

Alright, so I don’t have too many thoughts about this system yet. Aren’t you glad I shared this information before you got an incompatible processor?

Give me until ~~Tuesday~~ Wednesday for more thoughts on this. Hopefully the replacement processor arrives Monday and gives me the chance to finish putting the parts together. If I’m somehow wrong with all this information, please leave a comment and explanation. Thanks.

*****

Update 2009-08-10 — At Mwave, they let you configure a Shuttle SA76G2 barebone mini-PC with the OCZ OCZ2RPR10664GK 4GB Kit.

The problem is that the heat spreaders for the memory sticks are too tall for the case. How would they have tested the system? Why is it an option?

Two strikes on Mwave.

So, the beastly memory kit is heading back and the OCZ Fatal1ty Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2F10664GK will hopefully arrive tomorrow.

If you follow me on Twitter, I was griping about something else. An error on my part is that I forgot to buy thermal compound. Fortunately, Radio Shack had Arctic Silver® 5 and Arctic Silver® Céramique. I went with Céramique.

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, 3.5 Grams

Artic Silver, $2.95

Arctic Silver Ceramique Premium High Density Thermal Compound 2.5g

Arctic Silver, $3.95

*****

Update 2009-08-10 3pm — Wait, the barebones system did come with thermal compound! Stars Heatsink Compound, to be exact. It was hiding behind the CD. Oh well, it’s cheaper stuff that definitely wouldn’t perform as well as Arctic Silver®.

I am idiot.

Update 2009-08-12 5:30pm — Memory came in two days later because he went with Egg Saver (free) shipping.

I snapped the two sticks into the motherboard, plugged in the hard drive and DVD burner, and powered on the computer.

The Windows install — from partitioning the hard drive to Windows desktop — took about 15 minutes.

A detail (Mwave) overlooked is that the Shuttle SA76G2 only supports memory types DDR2 533/667/800. Buying DDR2 1066 was overkill. Fortunately, there isn’t even a price difference. Of course, it runs fine at DDR2 800. Nothing to worry about.

Windows 7 didn’t need me to install additional drivers. Nice.

My friend is taking the system home tomorrow because he won’t get a chance to use his new computer tonight. Then, he’ll run it through the paces. (He’s a graphic designer.)

Had my sensor cleaned by Canon

In Business, Review on 23 January 2009 with 4 comments

While I was in Irvine yesterday, I stopped by Canon Factory Service Center to get my 40D sensor cleaned for free. (via Chris Lin)

The process was a breeze. They told me I could pick it up in two hours, which wasn’t a problem.

I returned a few hours later and it was ready to go, wrapped inside a bag with a plastic temporary body cap and a tag with the technician’s initials. Attention to detail has to mean it’s pristine, right?

When I got home to check out the sensor:

View on Flickr
50mm, 3.2 sec at f/22, ISO 100

Um, what happened? If I had to ship my camera in for this service, I would be way more upset.

It looks like I’ll be going the DIY route in the future. (Marcus recommends the Copperhill method.)

Mini-Review: PG Tips Black Tea

In Review on 12 January 2009 with no comments

A friend at work sent an “all staff” email, announcing the arrival of PG Tips Black Tea to our General Store.

It’s a bold, strong, black tea from the UK. Strong black tea. [It's] also called “diesel fuel” or “builder’s tea” by those who know and love it!

Treat it well — 3-5 minutes of steeping, then [remove] that lovely little pyramid bag [from] the water before it goes bitter and nasty. Milk and sugar go well with this brew.

If you drink it after 3pm, I can’t be responsible for your insomnia.

I’m not sure how to measure its strength, but it tastes good. Really good. While it won’t replace Dunkin Donuts coffee and my AeroPress, it’s a great alternative if coffee isn’t appropriate and water is too bland.

PG Tips Black Tea, Pyramid Tea Bags, 40-Count Boxes (Pack of 6)

PG Tips, Grocery, $10.95

Review: Netflix Player by Roku

In Netflix, Review on 7 January 2009 with no comments

I ordered the Netflix Player by Roku as a late Christmas present for my mom. I’ve had Netflix for over a year, but sometimes we have those days (weekends) where two movies won’t cut it.

The appeal to this device is simplicity because my mom is completely illiterate when it comes to technology.

It took less than five minutes to plug in, connect to my wireless router and enter the activation code on the Netflix website. I had already queued up a bunch of movies I thought my mom would want to watch. She mentioned “The Bone Collector” the other day, so that christened the Netflix Player.

Quality

We have a flat screen tube television. I connected the Netflix Player using the composite video and stereo inputs. We don’t have a LCD high definition TV or surround sound. Our internet connection is 3 Mbps (minimum 1.2 Mbps required).

Considering what we’ve got, I’m very pleased with the quality.

Interface

Wow. The user interface is amazingly simple. Queue movies into the Instant queue through the Netflix website, then they’re available to watch from the Netflix Player. Instantly.

After watching a movie or TV show, I can just remove it from the Instant queue without needing to visit the website.

Speed

Once I pick a movie and press play, it took 45 seconds to buffer. After that, I didn’t notice any stuttering. To try the resume feature, I paused once in the movie and went back into the main menu to navigate around for a bit. Resuming play took about 45 seconds.

I paused the movie to go back a few seconds in the movie and it took 20 seconds to resume play.

To pause and resume, it’s instant.

Selection

At the time of this writing, Netflix has 100,000 DVD titles and 12,000 choices that can be watched instantly. Most of those 12,000 are older movies, but there are some new ones.

I’m not sure why some movies are available while others aren’t. Spider-Man 3 is available, but Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 aren’t. National Treasure: Book of Secrets is available, but National Treasure isn’t.

In any case, I figure that by the time I see those 12,000 titles, hopefully 50,000 more will be available.

Final thoughts

This is the simplest and least expensive way to have access to lots¹ of on-demand movies and TV episodes. Although you’re tethered to $8.99/month (the cheapest unlimited Netflix plan), that’s much cheaper than cable or satellite. Sure it’s only been two days, but I think the Netflix Player rocks.

I didn’t say comprehensive. ↩

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