The Parrot folks were great about covering this issue under warranty and were very polite and helpful on the phone. The tech said for some reason the iOS location services might be causing this issue. So if you absolutely can’t wait to buy one, I’d suggest turning off location services before you fly.

Read more of my review at Amazon.com (affiliate link)

Just when you thought more features couldn’t be crammed into a camera, Sony managed to come up with a few things that make this handycam worthy of serious consideration.

The 30x zoom has some real utility and stands out of the pack as compared to other cameras at this price point. I did a head-to-head comparison with my Nikon D7000 with a 400mm lens attached and the Sony was able to zoom in a bit further. Images softer at 30x but it’s still quite impressive for a small camcorder like this.

Read my full review at Amazon.com (affiliate link).

The only challenge is how to attach a Hype produced ad to an ad server that can track impressions and clicks. We use Google’s Double Click for Publishers (DFP) platform at the Independent Media Network. It’s great for showing flash ads or static images (both of which are flat files) but anything else is slightly more challenging.

UPDATE: Tumult’s tech support contacted me last week with an easy to follow set of instructions. My method (at the bottom of the post) worked, but this seems like it’s a better way to implement it:

Step1:
All of the files/libraries need to be in the same folder. DoubleClick doesn't allow sub folders. So both relocate all of the files, along with updating the main HTML file to not look for any files (JS, CSS, Images, etc) in a sub folder.

Step7:
DoubleClick's Studio requires an instance of their "enabler" being used somewhere to be uploaded. So as long as there's some sort of "counter" or "exit" setup in any of the files, everything should be accepted. I just added an "exit" when you click on one of the elements, example:
var javascripts = [{name:"onCTAClick",source:"function(hypeDocument, element, event) {\n\tEnabler.exit('HTML5_CTA_Clickthrough');\t\n}",identifier:"12"}];


Here's my old workaround:

After a good deal of poking around we found a workaround. This is probably not kosher with the Javascript elites, but it does the trick for us. Here's what we did:

<div style="position:relative;">
<iframe src = "http://URL_TO_YOUR_AD.HTML" width = "300" height = "250" frameborder = "0"></iframe>
<a href= "%%CLICK_URL_UNESC%%http://DESTINATION_LINK" style="position:absolute; top:0; left:0; display:inline-block; width:300px; height:250px; z-index:5;" target="_blank"></a>
</div>
</div>

Essentially what we did here was make an iFrame clickable by overlaying some transparent CSS over it. Or at least I think that's what we're doing here. The %%CLICK_URL_UNESC%% macro that's appended directly ahead of the URL is what DFP uses to track the click.

We're not yet comfortable enough with this solution to roll it out for a production advertisement, but our house ad has been delivering (and clicking) flawlessly on every modern browser as well as mobile devices.

I'd love to hear from you as to whether or not this is a good practice with DFP or in general.

There are three different versions of this device, and this one is the least expensive of the line. It lacks a few features the more expensive units have, including some of the fancier DVE effects that the others bring. But for my purposes (covering news events mostly) this device fits the bill. It can do basic chroma keying and titling but won’t be able to run multiple tracks of video simultaneously.

Continue reading my review at Amazon.com (affiliate link)

My reason for purchasing the new Apple Thunderbolt display was for the image quality which is definitely worth every one of the 5 stars I’m rating it.

Like all Apple products the Thunderbolt display is exceptionally well built and designed, offering the same display components as the beautiful 27″ iMac.

Read my complete review at Amazon.com

You can see my original post on the Kagi / VisualHub saga here: here.

I’m running out to a meeting but wanted to get a quick update in.

Kagi CEO Kee Nethery reached out to me via telephone a few minutes ago. Kagi was the payment processor for Visualhub when it was being sold as a product. Kagi processes payments and distributes serial registration codes that would unlock the software for unlimited use.

Nethery said sales of Visualhub were in the ‘thousands’ before author Tyler Loch decided to shut the product down in 2008. When OS X Lion came out Visualhub stopped working and many remaining users of Visualhub contacted Kagi for help. Kagi often answers simple questions that users ask of the payment processor even though the individual software developer is ultimately responsible for maintaining their product.

“What we initially did was forwarded people over to Tyler’s update page that has three applescripts [posted],” Nethery said, “Personally I don’t find that to be a problem. Most of the people we deal with did have a problem and it’s way past their comfort level.”

In the case of Visualhub, Nethery said they had a “support nightmare” as some users had difficulty installing the update that required digging into the Visualhub application file.

Nethery said the company took the unprecedented step of issuing the $4.99 updater to automate the process. It takes the three scripts that Loch provided on his website and automatically backs up and modifies the Visualhub application, leaving a new patched application called “Visualhub Lion” that works with the new Apple operating system. It also includes an additional update Loch made available to the underlying video processing engine that powers the product.

Kagi has not updated a product before, as Nethery says these kinds of functionality patches are “trivial” for someone who is maintaining an active product. Nethery expressed some frustration that Loch walked away from a product that was selling well and was quite popular in its day (and still is).

“We’ve never had someone walk away from a business before,” he said.

In a statement, Loch says that he did not authorize Kagi to issue the patch.

We used Kagi as our official reseller for all Techspansion sales. We had a good working relationship for the years Techspansion was active.

Although VisualHub had not been offered for sale in years I thought it would be a nice gesture to fix some issues that caused it to fail on Mac OS X Lion.
I quietly released some replacement components for free on techspansion.com a month ago for people who still used VisualHub and AudialHub.

Last night, a former customer e-mailed me very confused. He had received an e-mail from Kagi about a Lion updater for VisualHub. For $4.99.

Then my father-in-law calls, asking if I’m going back in business, and just forgotten to mention it to him…

More and more friends, family and former customers began to contact my wife and I last night, wondering what’s going on.

We began to realize that our entire customer base (or close to it) had been contacted with an advertisement for the $5 “vHub Updater”, something I’ve never been involved with, which touts our software’s name and company name — front and center.

Though FFmpeg and the inner workings of my programs are open-source (FilmRedux, ReduxZero, etc), VisualHub as it exists in the world, is not. I gave no permission and had no prior knowledge of Kagi hosting, redistributing, and indirectly selling the components I wrote in their product.

And I definitely did not (and would never) use the contact info of my company’s customers to solicit business like this.

So, here’s the gist of it:

A former trusted business partner appropriates my copyrighted code…

…Packages it up and makes it available through an updater…

…Offers it up for sale…

…And mass-mails my customers about it.

Loch said he’s in touch with Kagi now to try and resolve the situation.

I’m a huge fan of VisualHub. The video conversion application, a “swiss army knife” of video codec goodness, was one of the first pieces of software I bought when I switched to the Mac in 2006. It was sadly discontinued a few years ago by its author Tyler Loch, but it still worked through two subsequent OS X upgrades. It stopped working with the release of OS X Lion a few weeks ago.

Last night I received this exciting email for what I thought was the first official VisualHub upgrade in years:

A quick look at the fine print made it clear this was not an official update, but an opportunity for Kagi, the payment processing system that Visualhub used when it was an active product, to cash in on their former client’s success. What’s more, a quick visit to the VisualHub website revealed that the update was actually available for free. Loch put in some time to fix his original piece of software and make it available to prior customers so it can keep working.

This morning Loch updated his site with the following warning message:

I’ve reached out to both Loch and Kagi to figure out what’s going on here. On the surface it appears like a really lousy thing on Kagi’s part to take the work of a software author, email his customers, and try to profit on his labor. Not cool.

My advice: skip the $4.99 Kagi payment and go directly to the Visualhub website to download the updates. I’ll post more at CTTechJunkie.com once I hear back from the parties involved.

UPDATE 12:00 p.m. EDT:  VisualHub author Tyler Loch emailed me this morning to say he has a statement prepared but is waiting to hear from Kagi first.

As expected pro video editors are freaking out over the new Final Cut Pro X released this past Tuesday.

While I don’t blame them given their livelihoods depend on the software tool, I do think people need to calm down a bit. After all, it’s not like the current version will stop working now that a new one is out. And this new one is going to revolutionize an industry that has grown too comfortable dealing with inefficient workflows that ultimately only increase billable hours to the client.

This new version of Final Cut is incredibly fast, and it’s not just the rendering capabilities. Log and transfer? Gone. Transcoding H.264 digital SLR files to Pro Res? No more. Sync up external audio to video? One click. The ability to add and adjust clips without destroying timings elsewhere in the edit? Priceless.

I have already been using iMovie for the better part of three years now to churn out quick content (a majority of what I do). I’ve wasted countless hours working through numerous Final Cut Pro glitches with LocalOnlineNews.TV freelancers. I spend hours most weeks remotely assisting reporters who accidentally clicked the wrong button that blew up their timeline, or some other innocent misconfiguration that caused them to have to spend hours fighting with archaic software instead of producing quality content.

For the business I’m building, time is money. And Final Cut Pro X is going to save me a lot of both. Beyond the dramatically reduced workflow complexity it also costs $850 less per seat than before.

It’s a winner and for those who prefer to waste time with an inefficient workflow, look out. There’s going to be a lot of competitors out there who can get the same job done in far less time and for less money.

Astronaut Ron Garan had some advice for the 150 would-be space explorers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center launch Tweetup in November: Don’t look up when arriving back to Earth.

Astronaut Ron Garan

Garan, 49, will have plenty of time to get his space legs back. He blasted into space last night from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kasakstan for a six month mission aboard the International Space Station.

The experience will be significantly different from his first voyage to space on the comparatively spacious Space Shuttle Discovery in 2008. Garan will be crammed into a Russian Soyuz capsule, sharing the vehicle’s 318 cubic feet of living space with two Russian Cosmonauts for the next three days. The Shuttle has seven times the living space.

Garan began his aviation career as an F-16 fighter pilot, trained to combat some of the former Soviet Air Force pilots he now serves with. He later became a test pilot logging thousands of hours in dozens of aircraft. But he never lost site of his ultimate goal.

“I wanted to be an astronaut since July 20, 1969,” Garan told the audience.

He graduated high school in the time between Skylab and the Shuttle program and hopes kids will stay inspired as the United States transitions away from the Shuttle to the next space vehicle.

He joined NASA in 2000. His first mission wasn’t into space, but in the Atlantic ocean aboard the Acquarius – an underwater research lab. He spent eighteen days underwater near the Florida keys testing long duration spaceflight technology. He finally reached space in 2008 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery where he logged more than twenty spacewalking hours.

When asked what he’ll miss the most of his spaceflight experience, Garan talked of looking down at the Earth, seeing the moon rise, and watching the transition from night to day from orbit. He also was looking forward to seeing things he didn’t have time to see on his busy Shuttle mission, including looking out the panoramic cupola that was recently installed on the station.

Garan will tweet his experiences throughout this six month mission. Follow him at @astro_ron.

The D7000 shoots 1080p h.264 encoded video at 24 frames per second. It can step down to 720p and lower frame rates as well. It is light years beyond the D300s / D90 movie mode, which shot only 720p using a motion JPEG codec.

My biggest complaint with the D300s was the rolling shutter. While extreme movements will still result in noticeable rolling shutter issues (something no DSLR is immune from so far), the “jelly effect” from going handheld is largely gone. Here’s a video I shot completely handheld with a 50mm 1.8 lens. Select the 1080p resolution and go full screen:

Here’s another spontaneous handheld shot from NASA’s last launch of Space Shuttle Discovery. We had an opportunity to watch the astronauts be driven out to the launchpad shortly before liftoff. This would have looked like mush on the D300s given all of the motion:

Low light has also vastly improved in this camera both for stills and video. Check out this time lapse I shot alaunch complex 39A on the eve of Discovery’s final flight:

And you can’t beat a locked down shot. I combined footage from a bunch of cameras below, but the close up shots of liftoff were shot with the D7000:

Nikon fans can rejoice that we’ve finally caught up with our Canon rivals on video. People can nitpick over the video quality from one camera to the next, but the D7000 truly is a cinema-quality video device on par with the 5D Mark II and other Canon SLRs.

So somehow you beat the odds and got picked for one of only 150 spots for the next #nasatweetup. Congratulations!  It’s a tremendous honor, especially given we are just two launches away from the end of the program.  And yes, by the end of the two days you’ll be ready to quit your job and work in the space industry.  It’s that transformative.

Here are my thoughts and tips for how you can make the most of your experience along with suggestions of how and what to cover while you’re there. If you have questions look me up on Twitter or leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

You’re a Guest
This should go without saying, but know that you are a guest of NASA at the Kennedy Space Center. Drive carefully when you’re on the KSC grounds (no tweeting and driving), and follow instructions from the NASA staffers assigned to the tweetup.  Also know that you will be sharing the NASA press site with working journalists who have a job to do.  Be respectful and give them space to do their work.

Stephanie Schierholz is the NASA staffer who will likely be in charge of activities while you’re there. She’s wonderful and works extremely hard to make this experience possible.  It’s not easy coordinating 150 people in any situation, not the least of which at a working outdoor press venue!  So please do not make her life difficult.

Alert the Media!
Has your local newspaper ever covered the space program?  Probably not because there’s no local angle. But now, thanks to you, there is.  Send an email to news organizations covering your community to tell them about your upcoming trip.  Ask if they’ll let you blog your experience on their website.  It’s important for the future of manned space flight that your experience is shared as far and wide as possible.  Local outlets are very influential, be sure to reach out.

What You’ll See
When you check out the Google Map of the space center, you’ll notice the launch pad is three miles away from the press site.  While it may seem far away, you are very, very close to the shuttle at liftoff.   It’s bright.  It’s loud.  And it’s amazing.  Check out my video from STS-133 to get a sense as to what you’ll see on launch day:

Be Flexible with Travel Arrangements, Rent a House with Strangers!
This is rocket science and things don’t always go as planned.  Plan to stay a few extra days and book a refundable airplane ticket if possible.  STS-133 had so many delays that I changed my flight four or five times!

One thing I regret was not sharing housing with other NASATweetup participants. So much of the experience is what you share with your fellow tweeters and I missed out on quite a bit not being part of the fun.  If you have an opportunity to share a house rental do it.  It’ll be less expensive and give you additional travel flexibility if there are delays.

You Don’t Need High End Gear to Make an Impact
Some of the most popular photos and videos from prior tweetups came from flip cameras and cell phones.  Why?  Because it’s authentic.  People are following you for what it’s really like.   Keep that in mind and tell your story throughout the week.

Share Only The Best of the Best
You’ll probably take 1200 photos throughout your two day visit, but your contacts don’t need to see every single shot.  Pick the best of the best and share those.  Create a photo essay describing what you saw and experienced at the time each photo was taken.  If you’re on Facebook check out my gallery from the STS-133 Tweetup.

For video, do some quick edits if possible.  Twelve minutes of shaky b-roll footage just isn’t compelling. Cut it down, combine clips together, make it interesting.  Look for the little things that you find interesting that have not been reported in the mainstream press before.

Tell an Untold Story
What impressed and inspired me during my NASATweetup experience was the intense dedication and pride that goes into our manned space program.  There are so many untold stories that you can help get out to the world.  Here are a few ideas:

• Write about something that you the space expert didn’t know prior to Tweetup.
• There’s thousands of people and hundreds of thousands of working hours that go into prepping the shuttle for launch.  Tell the story of one of those workers, many of them are on Twitter and follow tweetup participants.
• Maybe there’s a local connection between the space program and your community.  A person, company, etc.  Talk about how their work impacts the program and how it might change now that the shuttles are retiring.
• So much complex engineering goes into the Shuttle, pick a few obscure engineering challenges that had to be solved to get the Shuttle to orbit.

Call Your Congressperson
The Shuttle program is ending with no clear replacement in sight.  Who would have thought we’d have to rely on the Russians to get Americans into space?  With the future of manned space flight effectively in limbo at the moment, it’s important for your representatives to know you feel this is an issue worth addressing.  Put together a packet for your Congressperson and Senator.  Find out who on their staff is responsible for space issues and share your tweetup experience with them.  Hint:  most Congressional policy staff work out of their Washington DC offices.

Market Your Content Before and After
Make sure your stuff gets seen.  Email your photos and videos to the press and associates, cross-post on Facebook, and share interesting things other Tweetup participants share.  Also be sure to submit content to some of the citizen journalism sites like CNN’s iReport.  MSNBC and Fox News also have citizen journalist submission opportunities.  Wifi is pretty good at the Tweetup tent so you could also do a live video chat with a local media organization.  Here’s one I did with Dane Golden:

Don’t stop when it ends either.  When you get back, reach out to local service clubs like Rotary and Lions and ask to make a presentation on your Tweetup experience.   Local organizations are always looking for speakers and you’ll have a great story to tell.

Take in the Experience
Most importantly be sure to really take in what you’re about to experience. So much of effectively communicating what you’re about to experience involves actually putting the camera and cell phone down and observing. Don’t get too caught up recording every moment and miss experiencing the experience!

Got Questions?
I’m happy to answer your questions. Leave a comment or send me a tweet!

I am a member of the Amazon Vine program. Each month Amazon.com sends me products to review for their site. This month I received the Epson Workforce 635 multifunction printer.

I loved the Workforce 600 for its simple but effective “scan to memory card” feature. That feature continues with the 635, but goes a step further now with better network configuration, automatic network file sharing, and a new scanning mechanism that will scan a double sided document automatically. I detail that feature in the video.

What really impressed me is what happens once the device is added to the wireless network. Every Mac in my house sees every function of the printer immediately. Image Capture scans over wifi with zero configuration, the memory card I have plugged into the 635 shows up instantly in the finder on every Mac on the network, and each computer automatically installs printer drivers with a simple two click process. It does not appear to work with Apple’s iPhone/iPad Airprint protocol.

Printing speed is very fast, certainly on par with a laser printer for text. Photo printing quality is adequate but this is really more a business graphics product than a photo printer.

Scan speed is comparable with other scanners in its price range. This is not a high speed scanner but it’s also not the price of those devices either!

For a home office looking for a compact all-in-one this is a great value especially given how easy it is to get set up and operating. It’s a nice improvement over the 600 which was already a great product.

The past several months of net neutrality and Internet kill switch discussions renewed my interest in the online communication revolution I grew up with – dialup computer bulletin board systems. These were hobbyist run online services (usually free), and just about every community had one or more.

I ran a small BBS called “The Matrix” back in the early 90′s. It initially ran off of my Apple IIGS, a 1200 baud internal modem, and a floppy drive. I eventually upgraded to a PC based system, taking the phone off the hook when I needed to do my homework (back then my computer could only do one task at a time).

The Matrix was connected to a network called FidoNet, linking my system to tens of thousands of others throughout the world. Every night “The Matrix” connected to a BBS in Killingworth, Connecticut called “The Hub,” transmitting mail generated on my system and receiving mail from the network. The Hub would in turn upload its mail to another regional system, and over the course of 24 hours those messages would work their way around the world and back again. I was an active participant in the FidoNet message boards, even becoming the moderator of the International Apple II Echo.

BBSing saw a rapid decline in popularity with the advent of the commercial Internet and the World Wide Web around 95/96, but it’s still alive and well in the 21st century. Most systems are now accessed via the telnet protocol as opposed to dialup modems, but some System Operators (SysOps for short) keep those phone lines available for those who are not ready or able to get broadband connections.

FidoNet technologies were even put to use during the recent unrest in Egypt after authorities shutdown Internet access. Protestors used WIFI and good old fashioned “sneaknet” connections to get electronic messages and attachments out to the rest of the world.

Over the holidays I brought “The Matrix” back to life and rejoined FidoNet. I even found a great flash plugin that brings the full BBS experience without the technical hassles.

Click the connect button above (if you have a flash client) and set up an account. It’s not much by today’s standards, but this is how millions of geeks communicated with each other before the Internet changed everything. Hop in and have a look around!

Your SysOp,
Lon

I am a member of the Amazon Vine program. Each month Amazon.com sends me products to review for their site. This month I received the Audiovox Zentral ARRZ300IP.  This device controls multiple home theater components through an application that runs on an iPhone/iPod or on a Blackberry.  The phones connect to the Zentral via bluetooth.

The Zentral ARRZ300IP has a lot of potential thanks in large part to its entire interface being software based, but it’s unfortunately not quite ready for a mass audience yet.

Installation & Configuration
The Zentral gives users the choice between using included IR “blasters” that can be attached directly to each device, or the unit’s built in infrared system to send commands home theater devices.  I opted to use the unit’s internal infrared light and positioned it across the room from my audio/visual components.

The first step is to download the iPhone application that controls the Zentral app from the iTunes application store.  The app is free.  After downloading the app, I navigated through my iPhone’s Bluetooth configuration screen to locate the Zentral device.  It took nearly twenty minutes for the Zentral to appear on the list of available Bluetooth devices after plugging it in.

Once connected, the process of adding devices begins.  It was initially trouble free as I was able to quickly find my television and blu ray player by using plain english search terms in the app.  My circa 2004 Comcast HD DVR proved to the most problematic, requiring a number of different devices until I finally got it working using a cable box profile.

Annoyances
I experienced no problems with the device situated ten feet away on the opposite end of my living room.  Each device picked up the IR signals from the Zentral box 100% of the time.

As great as the hardware works, the user interface on the software side is clunky and not very intuitive.  For example my television controls are spread out over five different screens, requiring a lot of “swiping” between screen pages to perform simple tasks like switching to the input my Blu Ray player is plugged into.  The application does not allow for frequently used buttons to be moved up to the front.

The Zentral does support the use of macros to automate certain tasks, such as creating a one touch option for turning on the television, blu ray player, and home theater receiver.  The problem is that the macro creation process requires perfection: although the software will detail each step in the macro, it does not allow editing.  So if a mistake is made you have to start over again.

Once a component is added to the list of devices, it can’t be removed.  I accidentally added my cable DVR twice during my configuration struggle and see no way to remove the extra one from the device list.

The only hardware flaw I see is the decision to use Bluetooth instead of WIFI.  Once the iPhone goes out of range it will not automatically reconnect to the Zentral.  This forces the rather onerous process of going through the iPhone’s four step procedure to re-establish the bluetooth connection to the Zentral.

Conclusion
It’s a shame this product was released in its current form, as it has a ton of potential to give more established premium universal remotes like the Logitech Harmony a run for their money.  A little polish on the application by some user interface experts would really make this something special.

For just a few dollars more, check out the Logitech Harmony 650.  It too can control multiple devices with macros with a far less frustrating interface.

The Roku HD

Two years ago upstart Roku started selling a set top box that did nothing but stream Netflix to televisions. Early this year the company rolled out an update that added significantly more new content to the device, with 50 app-like “channels” already out and many more on the way. Roku is just one of many startups selling devices that bring Internet content to televisions.

Everyone expected Apple to throw the gauntlet down this week on the fledgling IPTV industry’s scrappy startups with a long awaited update to the AppleTV.

The online rumor mill buzzed with anticipation as yesterday’s announcement drew near, with many “in the know” claiming the next version would be a revolutionary departure from the current product, running the same software that powers the iPhone and iPad. Geeks throughout the world were already dreaming up the television-based apps and using phrases like “[this] will change everything.”

That turned out not to be the case.

The new AppleTV

Apple CEO Jobs instead introduced a less expensive and scaled down product that removed the internal hard drive found in the original and switched to a rental only model for purchasing content that alienated most television networks. The only new feature added was Netflix streaming capability. Yawn.

The new device will sell at $99, half the price of the old one. And while that’s a great deal for an Apple product, it’s more expensive than the innovative Roku.

Is the AppleTV a total dud? Definitely not. It’s almost a no brainer for those with large content libraries purchased through iTunes. It will stream previously purchased content off of Macs, PCs, and even iPads and iPhones to an HDTV.

But for those without much purchased content, the $69 Roku HD is worth serious consideration. The Amazon streaming service works wonderfully on the device and is priced competitively with Apple’s iTunes.

And there’s more competition on the way. The makers of Boxee, a free software based TV product for computers, will offer the aptly named the “Boxee Box” later this fall, and Google will have an IPTV product available from a number of manufacturers later this year and next.

For once Apple is finding itself behind the rest of the market. While the industry stakes are high, these sub-$100 devices take out much of the risk for consumers. This will be a fun battle to watch.

The Roku HD is available now for $79 through Amazon (affiliate link). The new $99 AppleTV will be released later this month and is available for pre-order at Apple’s website.

One of the key new features of the device is its new design, replacing the plastic shell of the previous model with glass and a stainless steel band that wraps around the device. The stainless steel component also doubles as an antenna, something Apple CEO Steve Jobs boasted as “brilliant engineering” in his June 7th keynote address to software developers.

And while audience members responded to the new antenna design with ooh’s and ahh’s, reality sunk in quickly on launch day as YouTube videos surfaced demonstrating the phone dramatically loses signal when a hand covers the bottom left side of the unit. Watch one of the first demonstrations of the issue below:

My own experiences mirror those findings of the video author. Holding the phone with my finger or hand on or near the bottom left of side of the unit is enough to quickly reduce a strong signal to a weak one. The phone dropped significantly more calls this evening in my home as compared to the previous model, the 3GS.

As early adopters flooded the Internet with complaints throughout the day, Apple acknowledged the flaw in a statement released to popular gadget blog Engadget:

Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.

Jobs, who of late is known for responding directly to customers who email him, advised a disappointed customer to “just avoid holding it in that way” according to the Engadget article.

A solution may only be an additional $29 away. Other iPhone 4 owners today reported that adding Apple’s new rubber “bumper” accessory was enough to prevent a user’s hand from interfering with the antenna. This of course adds some additional bulk to what Job’s describes as “the world’s thinnest smartphone” but should correct the interference issue.

That major gripe aside, the iPhone 4 is an impressive and well built product. Its new high resolution display is exceptional, and the phone’s ability to shoot and edit HD video complete with motion graphics is simply unmatched in the industry at the moment.

New AT&T customers and those eligible for an upgrade can purchase a 16 gigabyte iPhone 4 for $199, or a 32 gig version for $299. Supplies will be short for the next several weeks.

I am a member of the Amazon Vine program. Each month Amazon.com sends me products to review for their site. This month I received the Logitech Harmony 300 Remote Control

It’s nice to see Logitech taking their successful Harmony line to the low-end and introducing a more affordable version for people who don’t need all of the bells and whistles of their higher end remotes. It’s basic transportation, but far beyond any of the similar remotes in this price range – especially in how easy it is to program.

Read my full review at Amazon.com (affiliate link).

One of my favorite desktop apps to accomplish this task is Hazel, recommended by my favorite virtual organizer Merlin Mann. I set Hazel to automatically delete files on my desktop or downloads folder after 3 days of inactivity, forcing me to keep things organized.

So I was excited when Merlin espoused a similar app for Gmail on Mac Break Weekly recently called Syphir. While it doesn’t yet have all of the bells and whistles of Hazel, it is well on its way to enforcing rules that can keep inboxes tidier than Google’s filters can do. There’s just one problem. Take a look at this:

Google recently implemented new security safeguards that give users a better idea as to where accounts are being accessed from.

I was alarmed this morning when I noticed my account was being accessed from a half dozen IPs all over the country, including one that resolved back to MIT and others that resolved to Amazon EC2. After momentarily freaking out, I came to the conclusion that this was all Syphir traffic. Sure enough, once I disabled the Syphir service my account returned to normal.

In fairness, Syphir is handling user security responsibly. They utilize Oauth and OpenID linked to a Google account so passwords are not stored on their servers. Nevertheless, the fact that my account is being accessed from any number of servers throughout the United States simultaneously makes it next to impossible to detect unwanted visitors.

I will keep an eye on Syphir’s progress, but this flood of IMAP requests to my Gmail account is a deal breaker for me.

I am a member of the Amazon Vine program. Each month Amazon.com sends me products to review for their site. This month I received the Flip MinoHD Camcorder 2nd Generation.

As an owner of a small hyperlocal video news outfit, we bought a bunch of Flip Cameras last year to hand out to folks in town doing interesting things. For the price the Flip cams deliver exceptional video that works very well with our editing workflow (we use Final Cut Pro).

We started with the original Flip Mino but found the larger Flip UltraHD model to be a better product both in terms of functionality and durability. After spending the last few hours with the 2nd Generation Flip Mino, I believe the new MinoHD is now the Flip Camera to get.

Read my full review at Amazon.com (affiliate link)

I am a member of the Amazon Vine program. Each month Amazon.com sends me products to review for their site. This month I received the Western Digital My Book Studio 1 TB FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

Let me echo the thoughts of some of the other Amazon reviewers: The addition of the ‘smartware’ in such an intrusive way is not Mac-like and completely unnecessary. I did see the mandatory virtual CD disappear after I installed the smartware software on my Mac, but having to install anything to use an external hard drive is completely inexcusable. Western Digital loses two stars on this ‘feature’ alone.

Once installed, the included smartware software adds an equally unnecessary menu bar icon that does nothing but take up system resources. I was able to remove it from loading by going into user settings under system preferences and removing it from my startup items.

Features & Operation
Beyond the major software flaw, this is a good external storage device. There are few first party firewire 800 drives directed at Mac users, so this drive might be attractive for those looking for an easy solution to adding a high-speed time machine backup drive to their system. It is also compatible with Firewire 400 and USB 2.0… Read the rest of my review at Amazon.com (affiliate link).

I can’t wait for GM to finally get this car rolling off the assembly line. From watching the above video, it looks like they are getting very close to production. Jay Leno had the opportunity to test drive an advanced prototype that looks to be what next year’s mass produced version will look like.

The big takeaway? GM has produced an electric car that’s practical and won’t leave its users stranded at the side of the road. It’s sellable.

Some new things I learned from the video:

Hat tip to GM-Volt.com for the link.

I am a member of the Amazon Vine program. Each month Amazon sends me items to review on their site. This month I received the Western Digital My Book Studio 1 TB External Hard Drive.

Western Digital’s My Book Studio is a Mac formatted external hard disk that includes a high speed firewire 800 interface. While the product is good, Western Digital’s foolish decision to make their ‘Smartware’ an intrusive part of this product is not Mac-like and completely unnecessary. The Smartware software will present itself as a ‘virtual CD-ROM’ that will not go away unless it is installed.

Once installed, the included smartware software adds an equally unnecessary menu bar icon that does nothing but take up system resources. I was able to remove it from loading by going into user settings under system preferences and removing it from my startup items.

Read more of my review at Amazon.com.

I have long been a fan of Western Digital’s bus powered external drives and own a bunch of them for my online video news startup. Their drives are workhorses and have withstood a ton of abuse my reporters have inflicted upon them. What I liked most was the drives’ simplicity – plug it in, format, and get to work.

Unfortunately Western Digital has made a mess of their newest generation of bus powered hard drives by forcing users to install unnecessary drivers and the addition of a persistent `virtual cd` that can only be removed through a lengthy process hidden on their support site.

Read my full review at Amazon.com to hear my experiences using this drive on both Windows and Mac.

I am a member of the Amazon Vine Program. Each month Amazon sends me products to review on their site. This month I received the Lowepro Magnum DV 6500 AW Shoulder Bag.

The Magnum DV 6500 AW is a very serious bag for serious content creators. It makes efficient use of space while offering adequate protection for expensive gear. Lowepro makes every inch of the main compartment configurable with a number of extra padded “walls” included to provide extra protection as needed.

This bag is perfect for a pro with multiple cameras and lenses. I was able to fit my SLR, two lenses, and a small “angel” tripod in the bag with some room to spare for additional accessories.

My only disappointment was that I couldn’t quite fit my unibody 15″ Macbook Pro in the bag comfortably. I could zipper the bag closed, but the computer was just too close to the zipper for my taste, leaving a portion without padded protection. A smaller 13″ plastic Macbook fit perfectly.

Beyond that gripe this is a great bag that can carry a lot of expensive stuff safely and comfortably.

See my video review, which includes the Macbook Pro difficulty, on Amazon’s site.

I am a member of the Amazon Vine program. Each month Amazon sends me products to review on their site free of charge. This month I received Philips SWW1800/27 Wireless HDTV Link

The Philips SWW1800/27 Wireless HDTV Link actually works as advertised, transmitting the output of up to four high definition devices across a room without wires. It is simple to install and requires absolutely zero configuration. Plug it in and it works.

/>Philips gets bonus points for including an HDMI cable. This the first high definition device I’ve used that actually comes with one. I hope other manufacturers follow their lead.

I tested the device in my home, transmitting the output of a high definition camcorder and a few other devices approximately thirty feet across my living room to a plasma television.

See my full review at Amazon.com.

Let me start by saying that I have never been a fan of Best Buy. Whether it was their practice of not honoring their own website pricing or how they swindle unassuming people with ridiculously overpriced cables, they’ve never been very reputable in my book.  Nevertheless I am a customer.   They beat me up and I keep coming back. So I guess it’s partly my fault.  But I have continued shopping there mainly because I like their in-store pickup service.  It’s convenient and nice to know the inventory is reserved before I make the 20-30 minute trek up to the nearest Best Buy retail store.

For a few months now Melissa and I were thinking about picking up a new television for downstairs. This weekend Best Buy had a great price on a mid-range TV that was even showing up in stock at the store closest to us.  I happily ordered it and was all set to run up there this afternoon and avoid the hassle of delivery appointments and logistics. But unfortunately I was notified this morning that the unit was out of stock at my store and that I should call customer service.

Screenshot from Best Buy's customer service page

No problem.   Another nearby store had stock, so I was planning to have them re-direct the order there.   After all, their website says customer service is “staffed up and ready to assist” so it shouldn’t take long.  Right?  Wrong.

After sitting on hold for over ten minutes, I decided I wasn’t going to waste time on this holiday weekend begging Best Buy to take my money.  So Twitter to the rescue.   I shoot off a Tweet to @twelpforce – the Best Buy presence in the Twitterverse – right before I got disconnected from the customer service center:

LonSeidman: @twelpforce Annoyed. why no cancel button for in-store pickup orders that end up not in stock?  Twenty minute hold time is unacceptable

And a few minutes later I get a reply from a member of their Twitter team:

ApplExpert50: @lonseidman #twelpforce An in-store pickup may be canceled at anytime by calling 1-888-BESTBUY. Sorry for the hold time. ‘Tis the holidays!

Huh?  Did I not already do that and complain about the fact I couldn’t get through to anyone?  But it gets better, as this message came over ten seconds later:

ApplExpert50: @lonseidman #twelpforce If you’d like to see a different process for canceling orders adopted, suggest it at our IdeaX:   http://is.gd/56Y8u

Yeah thanks.  Submit your idea to our customer suggestion box black hole.   Like that’s going to solve my problem.  But Best Buy isn’t done yet.  Their official Twelpforce account retweets the exchange to give the impression that they’re actually helping me. I’m livid, especially given that I was hung up on twice in the intervening minutes.  So I then tweet:

LonSeidman: @ApplExpert50 Forget it, third time I got hung up on.  The order will sit.  If it charges my card you can work it out with American Express.

And that’s what finally prompts the response I was hoping for all along:

ApplExpert50: @lonseidman #twelpforce I apologize for the poor phone experience. Email details and Ord # to twelpforce@bestbuy.com so we can look into it.

See what’s wrong with this picture?  If a customer is upset enough that they’re tweeting about it, why not have a process in place to help keep the business?   I surely don’t expect the website to get re-engineered in ten minutes, but finding a solution to a customer problem should have been their first instinct.  If they’re paying people to monitor Twitter why not empower them to solve problems?

Comcast, believe it or not, is the shining light in the Twitterverse.  They have a very active presence that combs through millions of tweets a day looking for those having issues with their services. When there is a problem, they respond immediately and begin offering customers options to get things fixed.  What’s more, they direct those company resources to the customer as opposed to asking the customer to make phone calls.  In my experience they solve service issues faster on Twitter than they do over the phone.  Very impressive.

The lesson?  Just being on Twitter isn’t enough.  Business in the 21st century is about engagement and fixing problems, and doing whatever it takes to keep the business.  Small businesses have known this forever: an angry customer in a small community can easily escalate into a bad reputation.  Big business knows that now even the smallest customer might have 75 Facebook friends.  I have nearly 1,300 who will be reading this shortly.

This blog post would have been considerably different had somebody worked to solve the problem.  Instead Amazon got the business.

UPDATE:  Apparently the head of social media at Best Buy  finds the above post insulting.  Can these guys be any more out of touch?

UPDATE:  I received an email from a ‘twelpforce’ representative today.  This confirms my assertation that “Twelpforce” really is not a vehicle for customer service but more for driving sales.  Here’s an excerpt:

..in general Twelpforce is meant to resolve product inquiries. In reality, most of our Twelpforce representatives are sales associates who are working in stores, or departments that may not have access to the proper systems to assist with changing your BestBuy.com order. In this case, the options they have is to either direct you to call in or email us directly.

Comcast resolves issues directly through Twitter, directing company resources to help the customer get the problem resolved.  Best Buy clearly doesn’t, and will continue to funnel customers into overloaded customer service centers.

What they need is to have a staff of “twelpers” who are equipped to solve these customer issues.  In the meantime I took my business elsewhere.

Review:
Apple is known for elegantly designed products, but unfortunately its input devices have fallen short over the last decade or so. That all changes today. The Magic Mouse is the first Apple mouse in probably twenty years that lives up to the elegance of the products it will be connected to.

The entire mouse is touch sensitive, and surprisingly it actually works without many ‘false’ reads. The Magic Mouse is smart enough to detect finger movement for scrolling even when my palm is resting on the device.

A ‘momentum’ setting in the software driver gives your Mac the same type of scrolling behavior as the iPhone. Fast flicks of the finger scroll faster, while slower movements give finer control. It gets a little flaky when a scrollable form is embedded on a webpage, but these are things that can get worked out with future driver releases. Best of all most of the mouse behavior works in virtual environments like VMWare and Parallels.

Magic Mouse also has a very satisfying mechanical clicking system. Like the trackpad on the new Macbooks, it just feels right. Right clicking is available, but it must be configured first in the control panel.

I am puzzled that while Apple prides itself on designing non-replaceable rechargeable batteries into its products, the Magic Mouse runs on AA’s. Batteries are included, but they are not rechargeable. You’ll need to get your own charger and batteries if you wish to use rechargeables. Battery life is decent, and after three full work days I’m still at 90%.

PROs
Beautiful design with an innovative touch sensitive surface
Satisfying clicking mechanism
Seamless bluetooth connectivity

CONs
Only has two possible button combinations (click and right click)
Apple software update required before the mouse is fully functional (as of 11-3-09)
Right clicking needs to be configured in the control panel first
You’ll need a seperate battery charger if you wish to use rechargeables
Windows users won’t get the same functionality as Mac owners at this time