Fitbit Aria WiFi Smart Scale Review

As part of my New Year's Resolution, I decided to try to be healthier and lose a bit of weight. One of the things that caught my eye when it went on sale was the Fitbit Aria WiFi Smart Scale.

Prior to purchasing it, I did a bit of research on the scale and the reviews for the most part were positive. The only 2 negative things that I read about the device was the price and the accuracy of the percentage body fat. There were a few WiFi scales that I saw but since I was planning on getting one of the Fitbit wristbands at a future date and the Fitbit Aria scale was on sale, I decided to purchase it.

I've been using the scale for approximately 3 weeks and my thoughts on it are positive.

One of the things that I like about it is that it uses four (4) AA batteries. My previous scale (a basic scale) used a single 9V battery which I wasn't very crazy about because when I used rechargeable 9V batteries in it, it would not last very long (oftentimes less than 1 month). With the Fitbit Aria WiFi Smart Scale, it came with four alkaline AA batteries but I tried four rechargeable NiMH batteries and they worked without any issues. The rechargeable batteries also last and since I have multiple NiMH rechargeable AA batteries, it isn't an issue for me to recharge/replace them regularly. I really like that when the battery is low, the device can be configured to send an e-mail and/or notify you via the Fitbit application on your smartphone. You can also monitor the battery life by logging onto your Fitbit account online or checking the Fitbit application on your smartphone.

Set-up of the scale was simple. I used my Android tablet to set it up which involved me first connecting my Android tablet to my wireless router and going to the website: https://www.fitbit.com/scale/setup/start on my Android tablet. I basically followed the instructions on the web, giving my scale a name and then removing one of the batteries, waiting a few seconds, and then reinserting the battery in order to get the scale to display "Setup Active". At this point, I changed the wireless connection on my Android tablet so that it connected directly to the Fitbit Aria scale. The rest of the instructions after this were just as straightforward.

After setting up the scale, I created a Fitbit account for myself as well as my family members. During set-up, the scale was under 10 feet from my wireless router but after the scale was set up, I moved the scale to my washroom which is ~25 feet away from my wireless router (and the direct route between the router and the scale goes through a wall in the house). With this set-up, the scale has no issues connecting to my router and uploading/synchronizing the weight and percentage body fat onto my Fitbit account.

I can't speak about the accuracy of the percentage body fat since there are only 2 settings or body types when configuring your Fitbit account (Regular or Lean). I use the percentage of body fat measurement as a gauge and use it to compare the values that I obtain on a regular basis. The scale measures percentage of body fat by sending a small safe signal through the body and measures the impedance. Because of this, there is a warning about not using the scale if you have a pacemaker or other internal medical device, or are pregnant. In order for the percentage body fat measurement to work, the person on the scale must be barefoot when standing on the scale.

The scale remembers up to 8 people and will accurately synchronize the measurements to the proper person's Fitbit account provided that the weight is significantly different between the 8 people. If the weight isn't significantly different or the scale can't determine which account to synchronize the measurements to, it is very easy to change/pick the correct person.

You can download/view the manual *HERE*.

One of the things that I don't really like about the scale is that in order to properly log/record the weight of a person, this person must have a Fitbit account and email address. Not everyone in my family has an e-mail address so I had to manually create an account for the people in my family who didn't have an e-mail address and then create a Fitbit account for them. I would have liked to have a "family" option where all measurements appear under 1 Fitbit account without having to create a Fitbit account for each individual person in the household.

Whether I would recommend this device or not, I would recommend it based on the convenience of use and the instantaneous recording of your weight. However, if price is an issue, you can accomplish this with a regular scale, a piece of paper, and a pen/pencil and then manually entering the information into a fitness website like Fitbit.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Android on HP TouchPad Tablet

I wasn't sure what to write this week's main blog entry. I had received a comment from one of my friends regarding last week's blog entry about things that I don't like about the Blackberry Q10 which I wanted to address but I thought that I would write about what he said at a future date (probably as an interim blog entry or next week's main blog entry).

Instead, this week I will wrote about my experience having installed Android on my HP TouchPad last week. At least three of my friends had Android on their HP TouchPads and they recommended that I "upgrade" my HP TouchPad so that it would run a version of Android.

I had some problems installing Android on my HP TouchPad using my home computer for some reason (computer would not recognize my HP TouchPad when I connected it to my computer via the USB cable). I spoke with a co-worker and he informed me that it should work. During one of the off-periods at work, he helped me with the installation of Android on my HP TouchPad. I had attempted the same start-up steps at home but it didn't work for whatever reason. I did run into an issue after I installed Android onto my HP TouchPad which I managed to fix by going to an earlier version of Android (a version of CyanogenMod 9) as opposed to using the latest version (a version of CyanogenMod 10). For me, all the Android programs that I want to use work with CyanogenMod 9 (Android ) so for the time being I don't see any point in attempting to upgrade to CyanogenMod 10.

There are many websites on how to install Android on the HP TouchPad. Since I used a Windows PC to install Android on my HP TouchPad, I will obviously only write how to do this using a Windows PC (although I've heard that it is possible to do this also on a Mac). I will outline what I did and will include the files that I used in the comments section sometime this week. Prior to attempting these steps, my HP TouchPad was running an unmodified version of HP webOS 3.0.5. If your HP TouchPad is not running this version of webOS (or it has been hacked previoulsy), I recommend reverting to a clean version of HP webOS 3.0.5 on your HP TouchPad.

My instructions are geared towards people who are somewhat familiar with computers and know how to troubleshoot simple installation issues or go into certain directories using the command prompt. Regardless of whether you are or aren't such a person, I am including the usual disclaimer that I am not responsible for anything that might go wrong when you follow my instructions or use my files. These instructions and files worked for me and they should work for you.

The first thing that you have to do is to make sure that you have Java installed on your computer. You can get Java at their official site *HERE*. Depending on the version of Windows that you have on your PC, you can see if you have Java installed by going to Control Panel. For example, on Windows 7 computers, one of the ways of seeing if you have Java installed on your computer is by going to Control Panel, and then switching to the "Small Icons" view and you should see a Java icon. If you did not have Java installed on your computer and you installed it via the link above, I recommend that you reboot your computer regardless of whether you receive a prompt asking you to reboot since it is always good practice to reboot after any program is installed or uninstalled from a Windows-based computer.

Once you have Java installed on your computer, you will need to install/run a program called "Novacom". You can get the Novacom Universal Installer *HERE*. After installing the Novacom Universal drivers, I recommend rebooting your computer again. The Novacom drivers/programs should be installed in a directory similar to C:\Program Files\Palm. I tried to save some time and didn't reboot my work computer initially and my work computer wouldn't properly detect the HP TouchPad when I connected it to my computer using a micro-USB cable.

The next thing that you will have to do is put the ACMEInstall3 file into the directory containing the Novacom drivers/programs (in my case, it was in C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc).

At this point, connect your HP TouchPad tablet (which should already be powered on and in the standard HP WebOS desktop) to your computer using the micro-USB cable that came with your HP TouchPad. I used a 3rd party micro-USB cable and it worked without any issues (so results may vary). You should receive a prompt on the upper right corner showing the USB symbol. Tap this symbol and enter USB drive mode. After a few seconds you should see your HP TouchPad (as a USB hard drive or USB storage device) on your computer. When you see this, you must create a folder called "cminstall" on the root directory of your HP TouchPad using your Windows PC.

You will place all the files that I have in the cminstall folder (do not unZIP/uncompress the ZIP files which are contained within the cminstall folder) on the cminstall directory of your HP TouchPad. There are 4 ZIP files that must be in the cminstall directory of your HP TouchPad. If you are using Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 (and possibly Windows 8), you can simply just double-click on the ZIP file mentioned in my comments section later this week in order to view the contents of the ZIP file and drag and drop the cminstall folder onto your HP TouchPad storage device/drive (from My Computer or Computer)

After these 4 files are on your HP TouchPad, unmount your HP TouchPad from your computer by clicking on the "Eject media" icon on the bottom right corner of your Windows computer and selecting "Eject" for the device corresponding to your HP TouchPad. Leaving your HP TouchPad still physically connected to your computer, reboot/restart your HP TouchPad. To do this, tap the "Home" button on your HP TouchPad and then go into the Settings menu, click on "Device Info", then click on "Reset Options" and then finally click on "Restart". If following the above instructions, the "Home" button doesn't bring your HP TouchPad into the HP webOS home screen, it might be necessary for you to temporarily disconnect your HP TouchPad from your computer (and then wait until you are able to get the WebOS home screen and then plug your micro-USB cable back into your HP TouchPad and follow the rest of the steps to restart your HP TouchPad).

The moment your HP TouchPad begins to restart, the screen will go black. When the HP TouchPad screen goes black, press/hold the volume up button on your HP TouchPad. If you did it at the proper time, a large USB icon will appear on your HP TouchPad. When you see this USB icon, release the volume up key. Your computer at this point might install any necessary drivers. If it does this, wait until the drivers are successfully installed before proceeding to the next step.

On your Windows computer, call up (start/launch) a Command Prompt window and go to the directory where you placed the ACMEInstall3 file (probably in C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc). Now type: novacom.exe boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller3 and press the Enter key on your keyboard. In case you can't make out where the spaces are in the above command, the syntax of the command is novacom.exespacebootspacemem://space<spaceACMEInstaller3

At this point, the USB icon should disappear from your HP TouchPad screen and you should see a lot of scrolling text (with 2 Linux Penguins on the upper left of the screen). After approximately 10 minutes, your HP TouchPad should reboot and you should get the Moboot screen similar to the screen below. The Moboot screen only lasts for ~5 seconds before defaulting to the running of CyanogenMod/Android.

After your HP Tablet reboots and you wait for the CyanogenMod boot-up to finish, you should see the familiar Android homescreen. If you've used the files that I will include in my comments section below, your HP TouchPad should be running a rooted version of Android 4.0.4 with CyanogenMod 9 (9-20130512-NIGHTLY-tenderloin).

All the programs that I would normally use on my Android phone or Android tablet (GoogleMaps, Gmail, ClockSync, Twitter, Facebook, Angry Birds, LinkedIn, Titanium Backup, & Google Play store) worked without any issues. Most importantly Netflix worked without any issues. I was also able to run the Unblock-Us Manager Android Application. With my configuration, I didn't have any issues watching the Netflix offerings from the different countries (Canada, US, Mexico, Brazil, UK, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, & Finland) using the Unblock-Us service. The XMBC application also worked without any issues (it wouldn't run on my Acer Iconia Tab A101).

In terms of the performance of Android on the HP TouchPad, I find that it works very well. I would say that it is more responsive/faster than what I get with my Android tablet (Acer Iconia Tab A101).

In the one week that I've been using it, the only thing that didn't work well is the Android Face Unlocking feature. I believe that this might be because of the HP TouchPad's somewhat unusual dimensions/resolution.

After you have CyanogenMod/Android installed on your HP TouchPad, if you want to boot up into HP webOS, you only have to reboot your device and then use the volume buttons on your HP TouchPad to scroll to the "boot webOS" option in the Moboot screen. Once the "boot webOS" option is hi-lighted, you would then use the HP TouchPad's home button to select it.

The HP TouchPad will charge using the HP Touchstone Dock regardless of whether the HP TouchPad is booted up into webOS or Android.

A good link for more information of installing Android/CyanogenMod on the HP TouchPad can be found *HERE*.

As mentioned, I ran into an issue when I tried to install a version of CyanogenMod 10 (Android 4.1) on my HP TouchPad. There wasn't an issue with the install but when I tried to manually install the Google Play store (because it didn't install it automatically), I picked the incorrect Google Play store (gApps) and the keyboard application would keep crashing and restarting making the virtual keyboard on the Android OS useless. I tried to manually install an earlier version of gApps but this didn't fix the keyboard issue. Rather than spend the time to try to troubleshoot it, I decided to revert the HP TouchPad back to as much as I could to factory defaults using the HP webOS doctor and then starting from scratch using the CyanogenMod 9. You can download the HP webOS doctor from HP's webOS website *HERE*. I will include the HP webOS doctor program along with all the files/programs mentioned in this blog entry in the comments section below later this week.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment which contains a URL link (whether it is embedded or not) will automatically be labelled as spam and will not be posted.

Rikomagic MK802IIIS Android Mini PC Review

I was searching for a device to use on my HD televisions since I had the LG Smart TV Upgrader ST600 Box connected to my main television set (I purchased the TV Pad for my parents). I was using my Acer Iconia Tab A100 on my HD television (using a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable) when I wanted to watch Netflix programming outside of the Canadian and the US Netflix selection using the Unblock-Us service but I thought that there must be a better solution.

Enter the Rikomagic MK802IIIS Android Mini PC. The device is slightly larger than my USB SD card reader and my Nokia CS-18 Internet Stick.

The device plugs into an HDMI port on your HD television/monitor. The unit comes with a small HDMI extension cable, a micro-USB male to USB male cable, and a micro-USB male to USB female adapter. The Rikomagic MK802IIIS includes a small HDMI extension cable in case it is difficult to plug the device into your television's HDMI port. The included micro-USB male to USB male cable is provided since the device is powered by USB (micro-USB port) and most HD televisions have a USB port that it can be connected to in order to supply power to the unit. In my current set-up, I don't use the micro-USB male to USB female adapter but it can be used in order to plug an external memory/disk drive to the unit or a wired mouse/keyboard to the unit. The Rikomagic MK802IIIS also has a port for adding a micro-SD memory card. The device is wireless and there isn't a port for wired ethernet connection but I suppose that you can perhaps use a micro-USB (or USB) to ethernet adapter. I will probably purchase such an adapter and test it on my unit in about a month.

According to the specs on the MK802IIIS, it has a dual-core CPU and a quad-core graphics processor. I find the MK802IIIS to be very responsive. As mentioned, I use the device mainly to watch Netflix and YouTube videos and I find that the MK802IIIS does this very well.

Here is a list of some of the things that I don't really like about the Rikomagic MK802IIIS:

1) On one of the HD television that I tried, there was either something wrong with the unit itself or the USB port on the HD television did not supply enough power for certain tasks and the unit would power off. For example, when I went into the Google Play store, the unit would immediately power off or when I went to Netflix, it would power itself off immediately. When I plugged my micro-USB AC adapter to the unit and performed the same task, it didn't power itself off. On another HD television that I tried, the unit did not power itself off when it was powered by the television's USB port.

2) The ability of the Rikomagic MK802IIIS to lock onto the wireless signal (even when my wireless router was within 2 feet of the device) was sometimes problematic. Whenever it didn't connect to my wireless router, I would sometimes have to reboot my wireless router (although my other devices were able to connect to this wireless router without the need to reboot it occasionally). This is why I am looking for a wired solution for it although it isn't a high priority for me. When the unit locked onto my wireless signal (remember that my wireless router is within 2 feet of the television that I wanted to use), there was no problems maintaining the signal.

3) The included version of Android (v 4.1.1) on the Rikomagic MK802IIIS doesn't come with the Android default screen locking feature. This is a problem because if you configure the device to use your Google account (for Gmail, Calendar, and the GooglePlay store) and later lose the device (or it is stolen), the person has access to your Google account on the device. To prevent this from happening, I downloaded a program/application locking app so that in order to launch any particular app on the MK802IIIS, a password was required.

4) The first time I connected the device to the internet, the device immediately updated/downloaded the GoogleMaps and StreetView application but after the download, there was no GoogleMaps application on the device nor can you launch it or redownload it for the device.


Here is my list of the Rikomagic MK802IIIS positive aspects:

1) As stated previously, it plays Netflix videos very well. I find the video quality to be amazing. This is of course dependent on your internet connection speed as well as the type of HD television you have.

2) It includes the actual Google Play store as opposed to some third party Android application store.

3) The MK802IIIS has multiple resolutions. I'm not sure what the maximum resolution is but on the television that I was using I was provided with resolutions of 1920x1080p-60, 1920x1080p-50, 1280x720p-60, 1280x720p-50, 720x576p-50, & 720x480p-60. On another HD television that I tried, I didn't see as many resolution options so it is probably dependent on the television used.

4) Rikomagic included an application called eHome Media Center on the MK802IIIS which allows the MK802IIIS to either function as a media server (enabling you to play videos stored/connected to the MK802IIIS) or a media player (enabling you to play videos onto the connected television from a media storage device such as a media drive or a media computer). On a secondary note, I tried to copy this program onto my other Android devices (Acer tablet, LG Nexus-4, and Samsung Nexus-S) and even though the program installed on these devices and ran, it was not able to see my media drive or my media computer on the same network.

5) The MK802IIIS comes pre-rooted so you can run applications requiring root access. The only thing that you might want to do is to download SuperUser from the Google Play store so that you have control over the which programs have root access to the system.

6) There is a free Android application called MK802III Remote Client available at the Google Play store that will allow you to remotely control the MK802IIIS device via your internal network (both your Android device and the MK802IIIS must be on the same network).

I'm not sure if this was an issue with the television that I connected my MK802IIIS to or the resolution that I selected or a problem with the MK802IIIS unit itself but occasionally/randomly (maybe after ~5 hours of viewing Netflix, the television would turn black for ~1 second and then would resume the Netflix playback.

Overall, even based on some of the issues that I mentioned above, I have no problems recommending the Rikomagic MK802IIIS unless the issues that I mentioned above is a show-stopper for the person (ex: the person wants to use Googlemaps on the device).

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment which contains a URL link (whether it is embedded or not) will automatically be labelled as spam and will not be posted.

LG Nexus-4 Review

I managed to get my hands on a LG Nexus-4 a few days ago and decided to write my review this week on my experience and my thoughts on it.

For the last few years, I've been skipping at least one generation in terms of phones instead of getting each new upgrade that the phone manufacturer comes out with (which I was doing with the Handspring/Palm line of products... Handspring VisorPhone, Treo 600, Treo 650, & Treo 680). My Android phone of choice a few years ago was the Samsung Nexus-S. There was nothing really wrong with my Samsung Nexus-S but it was starting to show its age (1 cm scratch on screen, battery not lasting for an entire day based on my limited usage, and it being somewhat sluggish) and when the opportunity came for me to get the LG Nexus-4 at a good price, I went for it.

I like the Nexus line because it is pure Google Android without any bloatware from either the carrier or the phone manufacturer. I didn't get the HTC Nexus-One, purchased the Samsung Nexus-S, skipped the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and purchased the LG Nexus-4. The Nexus line also comes factory unlocked regardless of which carrier you purchase it from which is another thing that I like about it.

There are a lot of reviews that compare the LG Nexus-4 with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Since I never actually handled a Samsung Galaxy Nexus but did read about it, I won't be comparing the LG Nexus-4 with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

What I like about the LG Nexus-4 is that it is fast. I probably find it fast because I skipped a generation in terms of the Nexus line so the speed improvement and the responsiveness of the operating system is definitely the first thing that I noticed when I started using my LG Nexus-4. In fact, if possible, I find it a bit too responsive/fast. The Nexus-S had a single core processor whereas the Nexus-4 has a quad core processor.

The screen resolution is very good (1280 x 768 compared with 800 x 480) and I find that the camera takes very good pictures (8 megapixel compared to the 5 megapixel resolution of my old Samsung Nexus-S). I didn't really use the front facing camera on my Samsung Nexus-S but the LG Nexus-4's front facing camera is also better.

Something that was introduced in the Nexus line with the Galaxy Nexus is the ability to unlock the phone using the front facing camera (Face Unlock). This is something that I find amazing and use to unlock my phone. As a back-up in case the camera doesn't recognize the face of the owner, it can be set to unlock either via PIN or via pattern unlock. Just in case someone tries to use a picture of the owner in order to unlock the phone (or unlocking the phone while the owner is asleep), the phone also has a setting requiring the owner to blink before it will unlock. I find the face recognition to be very good. I set the phone to unlock only when I blink and I find that the blinking is a hit-or-miss in that the phone will sometimes not detect whether I've blinked or not and will not unlock.

Something that I like about the LG Nexus-4 is that it is pentaband 3G (850, 900, 1700, 1900, & 2100) and quadband GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, & 1900). In Canada, this means that unlike the Samsung Nexus-S where a Videotron/WindMobile Nexus-S would not work on the 3G network on Rogers/Fido (but would work on the 2G network to make/receive calls as well as data) and would not work at all on the Bell/Telus network, the LG Nexus-4 will work on whichever Canadian carrier (Rogers, Fido, Chat-r, Bell, Telus, VirginMobile, Koodo, Videotron, PetroCanada) regardless of which carrier you originally purchased it from. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus was also pentaband 3G so in Canada, it would work in the above SIM operated Canadian wireless provider's network regardless of which carrier the phone was purchased from (especially since as mentioned above all Nexus phones are sold factory unlocked). What I'm not really crazy about is that it doesn't use the mini-SIM card (like the older phones and like my Samsung Nexus-S) but uses the micro-SIM card. The other thing that I find lacking in the phone is that it doesn't support LTE when most of the new phones coming out support LTE.

Something else that I like about the LG Nexus-4 is that it has Gorilla Glass whereas my Samsung Nexus-S didn't which is why it probably has a 1 cm scratch on the glass.

The LG Nexus-4 doesn't have a user removable battery unlike the Samsung Nexus-S which is somewhat of a drawback. However, I've been using my iPhone 3GS and didn't have any problems with wanting to change the battery or swap the battery. In my opinion, having a user replaceable battery would still be good and it is somewhat of a drawback that the LG Nexus-4 doesn't have this.

One somewhat annoying thing for me (but it probably wouldn't bother most people unless they switch SIM cards a lot) is that the SIM ejector hole requires a very thin ejector tool (included). The edge/end of a paper clip won't fit into the SIM ejector hole and neither will the iPhone SIM card ejector tool (at least with the tool included in my iPhone 3GS and the tool from an iPhone 4). The Nexus-4 does include the special/thin SIM card ejector tool but for someone who switches SIMs a lot, it is an annoyance that I can't easily eject the SIM card with a paper clip like I can for my iPhone 3GS.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and an comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

D-Link SharePort Go Mobile Companion DIR-506L Review

I had the opportunity to test out the D-Link SharePort Go DIR-506L a few days ago and I thought that I would write my thoughts on the product.

The SharePort Go Mobile Companion is portable and slightly larger than a deck of playing cards. It is powered through USB port (mini-USB) or by battery with the included removable proprietary battery. Included with the unit is a USB cable, the battery, and a very small instructional booklet.

I charged the unit using an AC to mini-USB cable from one of my other devices for a few hours. According to the documentation, it takes ~4 hours to fully charge using the USB cable when attached to the USB port on a computer. Charging it fully via my AC adapter was obviously a lot faster. According to the documentation, the battery lasts for 4 hours on a single charge, however like with all electronic devices this number probably depends on how the device is used.

The unit configures via either a WPS set-up button, by connecting to the device via http://192.168.0.1 (either wirelessly or wired), by using an Android/iPhone application. Not being a real fan of WPS since I prefer to configure my wireless devices manually, I configured the device using the free Android application. I also wanted to try it also using the iPhone application but unfortunately, the application only works with iOS 4.3 and above and my iPhone 3GS is still at iOS 4.01. The configuration was straightforward on the free Android application (called QRS Mobile) for basic set-up. The only problem that I experienced was due to the fact that this device's internal IP address matched the internal IP address of my existing wireless router.

Because my home network isn't very straightforward and the very small instructional booklet (Quick Installation Guide) was written for very basic network configurations, I had to download the user manual from the company's website to get some added information about setting up the device as an Access Point. At the same time, I checked to see if there was any firmware updates on the company's website and applied the latest firmware on the device.

Accessing the device's configuration directly via a browser allows for more advanced configuration options. The options available when configuring the SharePort Go Mobile Companion are similar to most advanced router configurations including MAC address filtering, opening network ports, etc.

The company's video below from YouTube outlines some of the features of the device.


I tested to see whether the device would charge my iPhone 3GS and my Android phones (Samsung Nexus-S & LG Nexus-4) and according to the phone display, it was charging without any issues. It was unable to charge my Blackberry Bold 9700 but then again my Blackberry Bold 9700 will sometimes charge using some cables and sometimes it won't charge using the same cable so I'm not sure whether it will charge Blackberry phones. I didn't let the device fully charge my phones, I just looked at the message or icon on the phone to see whether the phone was actually charging.

I tested the device's SharePort capability by plugging in my USB memory stick (with some photos on it) and I was able to watch them without any issues on my Android tablet with the free SharePort Mobile Android application. I also tested it with some MP3 files and didn't have any issues either. Unfortunately, I didn't have any quickly accessible videos in MOV or MP4 to test.

I find the device good and useful but here are my negative comments about the device:
1) Even though I like the fact that the device has a removable/changeable battery, I would have preferred it if the device used standard batteries or batteries used by some other devices (like camera batteries) but then again, the required voltage/amperage probably makes this very difficult.
2) Unlike a laptop which can be powered with an AC adapter without having the battery plugged into it, the device requires the battery in the unit even when it is being charged/powered by an AC adapter (similar to how cellphones behave). For users who don't need a battery powered device, the non-battery powered SharePort DIR-505 might be a better option.
3) Since most cameras use SD memory cards, having an SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot would have been nice (but I basically have a USB SD card reader stick so it isn't really a big deal).
4) Only supports USB devices that are less than 500 GB
5) I find the video file format that the unit supports limiting. However since I believe that the primary market for this device is for users/consumers to share videos taken from their digital cameras, this might not be a big issue for most people.

All in all, even with the negative comments mentioned above, I like the D-Link SharePort Go Mobile Companion DIR-506L device and don't have any issues recommending it for any user who needs the functions of such a device.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and an comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Dell Vostro 2420 Review

I've been taking care of a bad cough which is one of the reasons why I didn't write a blog entry last week. I'm still coughing but it isn't as bad as it was last week so I've decided to resume my blog entries.

A friend asked me to install Windows on his Dell Vostro 2420. The version that he purchased had Ubuntu 11.10 pre-installed on it. I got the chance to test it out for a few hours before reformatting it and installing Windows on it.

Hardware-wise, the Vostro 2420 sports a 14" screen and is about twice the thickness of my Samsung Chromebook. It is roughly the same thickness as my Acer Netbook (but obviously larger). It has a full-size keyboard (minus the numeric keypad). I find the keyboard to be quite good and I like the fact that it is easy to clean since the space between keys is "filled" so hair and dirt/dust can't easily slip inside the keyboard (and it is just a simple matter of vacuuming the keyboard). The trackpad is also very responsive.

The Dell Vostro comes with an HDMI port, 3 USB ports, a VGA port, and ethernet network port, a DVD-RW drive, an earphone/microphone jack, a built-in webcam, and an SD/MMC/MS memory card slot. I tested out the HDMI port on my HD television and it works very well, although with the resolution set on the laptop, part of display didn't appear on my television set. I've also tested the wireless connection and I found that it worked very well. The version that my friend purchased came with an Intel Core i3 CPU so it was relatively fast with Ubuntu 11.10 as well as when I reformatted it and installed Windows 7 on it.

The system boots up fast in Linux. I didn't get a chance to test out all the features of the Ubuntu 11.10 operating system but I didn't have any issues with it nor did I have any issues configuring it to work with my wireless router.

When booting up the system initially, it would go through a set-up and then prompt you to save a recovery disk. I opted to do this onto a USB thumbdrive and found that it worked well. I tested reformatting the machine with the USB thumbdrive and didn't experience any problems.

After trying the Ubuntu 11.10 for about 1 hour, I reformatted the laptop and installed Windows 7 onto it. The Windows 7 installation was very straightforward. After the system rebooted with Windows 7 installed, it didn't detect a few of the devices (video adapter, sound card, network card, wireless, & chipset). This was all available on Dell's website. For this laptop model, Dell has the drivers for Windows 7 (32bit & 64bit), Ubuntu, and Windows 8 (32bit & 64bit). The entire installation (with the drivers) took under 1 hour. What took long was downloading all of Microsoft's updates (I didn't time this and it would depend on the network speed as well as the version of Windows 7 that is being used for the installation but I would estimate that it took 1.5 hours to download/install all the Microsoft updates).

I used the laptop for a few hours with Windows 7 installed on it and I found it to be very fast/responsive. Since there was nothing installed on the laptop (excluding the operating system, the drivers, and a few standard applications that I installed for my friend (Adobe Flash, Acrobat Reader, HP Officejet Pro 8600 drivers/files (since he has the same printer as I do), and Google Chrome), I didn't really expect it to be slow.

In the short time that I used the laptop, I find it to be very good. I don't know how much my friend paid for it but the price will determine whether I would recommend it or not.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether or not it is embedded) will automatically be flagged as being spam and will not be posted.

Kobo Mini Review

I purchased a Kobo Mini on sale during the Black Friday weekend sale last week and I've been using it for a few days (enough so that I can write a review about the product). Even though I use my various tablets (Android tablet, Acer Iconia Tab A100 Android tablet, & HP TouchPad) and my various phones to read my PDF documents/books, I heard good things about the dedicated e-readers so I decided to purchase the Kobo Mini when it went on sale.

Since I had a lot of PDF documents/books, I wanted to be sure that whatever e-reader that I purchased would accommodate the PDF file format. The Kobo Mini specifications mention that it does support PDF.

After charging my Kobo Mini, when I turned it on, the first thing that it asked me is what language I wanted. It then asked me whether I wanted to configure it using a computer or whether I wanted to configure it using the wireless connection. I opted for the wireless connection. It then asked me to configure the date/time/timezone and then prompted me to connect to my wireless network. Because of the added security of my wireless network, I did have some problems with connecting to my wireless router but most people won't have an issue. The one thing that I did find difficult was typing my password on the Kobo Mini touchscreen. The touchscreen is not particularly sensitive (not as sensitive as on any of my smartphones or my tablets) and it sometimes required pressing the screen multiple times for a single letter.

After connecting to my wireless network, it automatically detected that there was an update available and it proceeded to download the update and update my device. The entire update process took ~15 minutes. Once it finished updating, my Kobo Mini rebooted and I was prompted again for whether I wanted to configure the device using the wireless connection on via a direct connection to my computer. I opted again for the wireless connection and I had to re-enter my wireless connection password. Although I only had 2 books available to me on my Kobo account, I then connected to my Kobo account and the 2 books downloaded via wireless to my Kobo Mini.

In order to transfer my PDF documents/books to my Kobo Mini, I connected my Kobo Mini to my computer. The Kobo Mini then appeared on my computer (similar to an external hard drive) and I dragged/dropped my PDF documents/books onto my Kobo Mini (without placing them into any subdirectory). After doing that, I "ejected" the Kobo USB device from my computer and removed the USB cable from my computer as well as from my Kobo Mini. The Kobo Mini then processed the files that I dropped onto it and within a few seconds I saw my PDF documents/books on my Kobo Mini's home screen.

The Kobo Mini displays the 2 Kobo ePub books from my Kobo account very well. The font is large enough to be readable. However, I find that because of the size of the Kobo Mini, it doesn't really do that great of a job with my PDF documents/books. The font size is extremely small. Even though I can still read it without magnifying the font/page (which the Kobo Mini does allow you to do), I prefer reading the PDF documents/books on my HP TouchPad because of the larger size or on my Acer Iconia A100 Android Tablet.

In proper lighting (similar to the amount of light you would need to read any real book), the Kobo ePub books are extremely easy to read and easy on the eyes because of the e-ink.

I find the speed at which the pages turn on the Kobo Mini to be somewhat slow. It is faster with the Kobo ePub books than with my PDF documents/books but I still find it to be somewhat slow with both.

The Kobo Mini also has 3 applications in the "Extra" menu within Settings (a sudoku game, a sketch pad, and an extremely limited web browser). I can't really recommend any of these. The browser is extremely slow and limited to the point of being frustrating since for example, it required me to entire the URL for my blog about 10 times before it finally went to my blog. The sketch pad will allow you to draw/doodle on the Kobo Mini's touchscreen and save what you've done but once saved, the only way of deleting the PNG image is to connect the Mini to your computer and then manually delete the file using your computer. I can't really comment on the sudoku game since I don't play sudoku.

All in all, I would say that the Kobo Mini is okay for the Black Friday sale price that I paid for it. I would not purchase the device at its regular price of ~$80+taxes. The 5" screen is too small for reading of PDF documents/books but fine for the Kobo books that I've previewed. The Kobo Mini is extremely light (obviously lighter than my ~10" screen-size of my HP TouchPad or the ~7" screen-size of my Acer Iconia A100 tablet). It is also lighter (or feels lighter) than any of my smartphones. The battery life is also very good. The 2 things that I find lacking is the speed of the device and the responsiveness of the touchscreen when using the virtual on-screen keyboard.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave your question/comment in the comments section. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment that contains a URL link (whether or not it is embedded) will automatically be flagged as being spam and will not be posted.

Netgear Universal WiFi Range Extender (WN3000RP) Review

I got the opportunity to test the Netgear Universal WiFi Range Extender (WN3000RP) and since there were a few deadspots within my place and slightly outside of my place, I decided to give it a try. This universal WiFi range extender supports B, G, and N routers.

To configure the device you have to locate (or roughly locate the half-way point of the range for your wireless router) and plug the extender near this "half-way point." You would then connect to the extender and configure it to access your router. After doing this, you can then configure your devices to access the Netgear Universal WiFi Range Extender either via the 1 ethernet port on the device or via WiFi. I've tested it using the network cable (hard-wired) connection and I found that it was "okay" (not great but not what I would consider bad either).

My problem with the device isn't really a problem with the device itself but my place doesn't seem to be ideal for such a device. The reason for this is that there is no power outlet at the half-way point between where my wireless router is situated and where I have a very weak wireless signal. As a result, I have to plug the WiFi Range Extender somewhat close to the wireless router. Because of the distance between the WiFi Range Extender and my wireless router is only about 5 feet, the improvement in the wireless signal near my deadspot/weakspot is not that big of an improvement.

The extender documentation mentions that if both the extender is detected and the wireless router is detected by your wireless device (and the wireless router signal strength is decent), it is preferable to connect to the wireless router since the speed of the extender is slower than the speed that can be obtained from the wireless router.

In terms of whether I can recommend this device, I guess it would depend on whether you have a power outlet near the half-way point of your desired deadspot/weakspot and the wireless router. If you do have a power outlet located in the proper place, I think that this device is a good buy if you can find it on sale.

If you have an questons/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section. Please note that comments are moderated and any comment that contains a URL link (whether or not it is embedded) will be automatically flagged as being spam and will not be posted.

HP Officejet Pro 8600 e-All-in-One Printer Review

I had an ink jet printer (Canon) over 15 years ago and after using it for about two years, I stopped using it since at the time I had access to a laser printer and was using that. Eventually, the inkjet printer nozzle got clogged since I wasn't using it and after fixing it one year, I eventually sold it.

I found myself needing a printer again recently and decided to purchase an all-in-one printer. For me, I didn't really care about faxing (although it would be a nice feature to have) and I was interested mainly in printing, scanning, and copying. I did some research on the internet and solicited some advice from friends on my Facebook. It just so happens that one of my friends had purchased an HP Officejet Pro 8600 e-All-in-One Printer and he had very good comments about it. One of the things that he mentioned was that it uses less ink than the other ink jet printers and he personally vouched for this since after a few months of printing every day, he was still using the original ink cartridges that came with the printer. He mentioned that there were 3 HP Officejet 8600 printers (Pro, Plus, & Premium). I opted to purchase the Pro version since it was the one that my friend had, it was the least expensive, and the additional features in the Plus & Premium version although nice to have, I didn't consider the additional price to be worthwhile based on my usage.

First of all, the HP Officejet Pro 8600 e-All-in-One Printer is considered to be a home-office type of device so it is somewhat more expensive than a lot of the entry-type (home) all-in-one printers on the market. It is larger/bulkier and seems more sturdy than the other printers that I saw while I was shopping for a printer in the store.

What I like about the printer is that it is wireless and supports both wired and USB connections. Since the printer is away from my computer (and away from my wireless router), I opted to use mine in wireless mode.  According to the documentation, it supports B, G, and N. I had no problems connecting to any one of my three wireless routers using WPA encryption. Another nice feature that I like is that the printer can upgrade/update its own internal software/firmware without the need of a computer. This is different from updating the computer's printer software drivers/application.

One other thing that I like is that it has an enclosed paper tray as opposed to some of the other inkjet printers where you put the paper standing up into the paper slot. I'm not sure how much paper it accepts into the tray but according to the documentation, it says that it supports 250 sheets.

It supports direct printing from memory card (SD/MMC, MS/DUO) as well as USB memory stick. There is an LCD display touchscreen which is used to preview images as well as to navigate through the menus.

The Pro version (which is what I have) supports automatic duplex printing. Unfortunately, it doesn't support automatic duplex copying (the Plus & Premium versions support this along with some additional features).

The HP Officejet Pro 8600 has 4 independent/separate ink cartridges so that if one of the cartridges runs low, all you have to do is replace that one cartridge as opposed to replacing a cartridge that has all the colours. The cartridge types that it uses is 951 (or 951XL) for Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow whereas for Black it uses 950 (or 950XL). The XL cartridges print ~2x more pages. For example, whereas according to the specifications the HP 950 ink cartridges prints up to 1000 pages, the HP 950XL ink cartridges prints up to 2300 pages.

This printer also supports HP's ePrint and Google Cloud Print. What HP's ePrint allows you to do is to print certain types of documents (mainly Word, Adobe PDF, Excel, JPG, and PowerPoint) from any internet device that is capable of sending an e-mail since the printer is assigned a unique HP ePrint e-mail address. I've tested the ePrint feature (printed a photo while I was at work to my home printer) and it works very well. After adding the printer onto my Google account as a Cloud Printer, I was also able to print from Google Chrome on my PC as well as on my Chromebook to my HP Officejet Pro 8600 at home while I was physically at work.

I tested the scanning, printing, and photocopying and they all performed relatively well. Printing is relatively fast although I'm not sure about quoted/documented speeds of 13 to 32 ppm depending on print quality. I tested the printing a picture to the printer and to be honest, I was not overly impressed with the colour print quality for pictures. However, perhaps this was due to the paper that I was using. Another thing to mention was that when the picture print-out came out of the printer, the paper was not "flat" and the shape and texture was similar to a piece of paper being sprayed with water and allowed to dry. This obviously was not the case when printing regular printouts where the colour/ink does not encompass every square centimeter of the paper.

The device scans in either JPG or PDF and will either store the files onto a computer (where the  HP Officejet Pro software is installed) or it will store it onto a USB memory stick. I did have issues scanning directly from the printer onto my computer but I believe that it is probably a problem with my computer as opposed to the device (since my friend who has the same printer informed me that he did not experience this issue). The error message that I would receive on the LCD display would be a connection issue even though my computer was connected to the same network/router that the printer was connected wireless to. I would also occasionally get a small warning on the task bar indicating that the connection to the scanner was lost but then it would reconnect a few seconds later. When scanning from my computer using the HP Scan software, I didn't experience any issues.

I downloaded a copy of the user guide (which describes some of the HP Officejet Pro 8600's features as well as troubleshooting instructions) and stored it *HERE*.

All in all, I'm satisfied with my recent purchase of my new HP Officejet Pro 8600 e-All-in-One Printer. The only thing that I would have liked is that if it had some of the features of the Premium or Plus versions at the price of the Pro version. I also find the ink cartridges to be a bit expensive but I'll see how long the current ink cartridges last (since the printer is supposed to use ~50% less ink and most of my copying/printing is mostly in draft mode).

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that comments are moderated and any comment which contains a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as being spam and will not be posted.

Google Play Store selling Nexus-7 Tablet to Canadians

I was looking at the upgrade for my Samsung Nexus-S (Galaxy Nexus) at the Google Store and noticed Google is accepting orders from consumers who want to purchase their new tablet the Nexus-7. Surprisingly when I went to the Google Play Store, I noticed Google was actually shipping this product (once it is available) to Canadians as well as to some other countries outside the US. This is somewhat unusual because generally a lot of the other products that Google releases isn't available in Canada (ex: Chromebook, Google Voice, Google Music, etc.)

I already have an Acer Android 7" tablet (Acer Iconia Tab A100) that I use but having something that is pure Android (without the customizations of the manufacturer) is something that is appealing to me. The Acer tablet doesn't have a lot of Acer customizations but I prefer using devices (cellphones, tablets, etc.) that don't have the carrier add-ins or the manufacturer's add-ins. It was actually one of the reasons why I opted to purchase a Nexus-S as opposed to purchasing another Android phone.

The Google Play Store seems to be using UPS to ship the item to Canadians and if the item is actually being shipping from the US to Canada using UPS, I will definitely not purchase it because of UPS's high brokerage fees when receiving items that were shipping from the US.

I'll continue to read the reviews about the Nexus-7 before I decide whether to purchase it or not. The hardware specifications look very nice and are better than my current Acer Iconia Tab A100 but then I've never really ran into a problem with my Acer Iconia Tab A100 (except that I consider the battery life to be somewhat on the weak side). The expected battery usage for the Nexus-7 seems good but normally I don't trust the values posted by the manufacturer since I often find these values don't represent real usage. If I do manage to get my hands on one either as a testing unit, I'll probably write a blog review on it.

If you live outside the US and you're interested in purchasing the new Google Nexus-7 tablet when it becomes available, check it out the Google Play Store. They have 2 models (8 GB & 16 GB). In my opinion, the price point for the 8 GB model ($210+taxes) is also good.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to place a comment in the comments section. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment that contains a URL link (whether or not it is embedded) is flagged as spam and won't be posted.

HP TouchPad Review

I've had my HP TouchPad for almost 1 year now and people have asked me what I thought about it and why I haven't written anything on it

I wasn't planning on getting an HP TouchPad when it first came out. After it came out for a few months, because of the dismal sales, HP decided to abandon the product and sell it at a huge discount ($99.99 for the base 16GB model compared with the original price of ~$499.99 for the same unit).

Even though it quickly sold out in stores across Canada and the US when HP discontinued the product and slashed the price to $99.99 for the 16GB unit, a friend of mine who worked for HP managed to get me one. From what I know, they were allowed to purchase 2 at the heavily discounted/discontinued price.

As of the date of this blog entry, the current firmware/OS on the HP TouchPad is v3.0.5. The tablet runs HP's webOS (which they purchased/got when they purchased Palm).

For me, the price that I paid for the HP TouchPad is probably the highest price that I would pay for it considering that there is very little application support/products for this tablet. I use this tablet mainly for quick browsing to check various news stories, check my e-mail, get PDA (calendar/contact) information, and read my PDF documents.

One of the things that I like about this tablet is that it supports Flash videos so I am able to watch videos from various news sites (CBC, CTV, etc.) on it. It also plays YouTube videos very well.

One of the things that I don't really like about this tablet is that the included Maps program is Bing maps and not Google maps. Google Maps does work on the tablet but this is obtained using the browsing experience and not a separate application. The tablet does support Google synchronization for contacts, calendar, and Gmail which I find to be very useful since I store my contacts and calendar items using Google and it synchronizes across my various gadgets (Android phone, iPhone, Blackberry, & Android tablet).

I find the battery life to be okay and based on my usage, I need to recharge it every 2 days or so. As I mentioned, most of what I use it for is to verify my e-mail, check my Facebook account (maybe update the status using it), get PDA information, and read my PDF documents.

The HP TouchPad charges using a standard microUSB cable but this cable must be plugged into a special adapter (roughly the size of a D-type consumer battery). The HP TouchPad won't charge by plugging it into most standard USB chargers that I've tried.

About 2 months after I purchased the HP TouchPad, I hacked it to increase the speed (overclock it) and disable some features that made my HP TouchPad seem snappier. However, earlier this year, I decided to revert back to using it non-hacked since I has having problems updating the firmware/OS.

I am currently considering putting Android on my HP TouchPad. There is a lot of information/instructions on the internet on how to do this and as long as it is stable and most of the HP TouchPad's hardware (Wi-Fi, speakers, etc.) still works properly, I would prefer using an Android device over a webOS device mainly due to the lack of 3rd party applications.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that comments are moderated and any comments that contain a URL link or hyperlink will automatically be flagged as being spam and will not be posted.

Netflix on LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600 (Part 2) Review

With a few topics/reviews that I wanted to write about this week, I wasn't sure what topic I should pick. Rather than pick a new topic/item to write about, I've decided to write some additional comments that I had regarding watching Netflix using the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600.

I could have modified my first blog entry on this topic but thought that it was a better idea to create a new blog entry this week for it. You can click *HERE* for the first blog entry/review that I wrote about using the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600 to watch Netflix.

As of the date of this blog entry, the firmware on the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600 is current (up to date) and is at ST.8.79.202.

One of the problems that I've been noticing a lot lately regarding using the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600 to watch Netflix is that when watching television episodes, sometimes the program will not be available for viewing. This generally happens after I've watched a few episodes from the program already.

Previously, to fix this problem, what I did was I simply rebooted/restarted the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box and the problem would go away but now (or at least with this current firmware), restarting the unit more often than not does not fix the issue. The only time that I've noticed that this problem will go away is by waiting a few days (or sometimes weeks).

What appears on the television screen during this Netflix episode "weird" state is when the television program is selected, the option to play the television episode will show a strange message such as "Resume episode undefined." Also, the number of episodes will not be displayed for the particular problem television series and you will also not be able to go through the television episode listing.

The problem only seems to happen when using the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box to watch Netflix since when I use my phone (iPhone 3GS or Samsung Nexus-S) as well as my computer, I'm able to watch the program/episode without any problems. Since I have access to two LG Smart TV Upgrader Boxes, I wanted to see if it happens with both boxes and when the television series is in this "weird" state where you can't watch it, it seems to be account related because on the other LG Smart TV Upgrader Box, the particular television series experiences the same issue.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comments in the comment section. Please note that comments are moderated and any comments that contain a URL link or hyperlinks will automatically be flagged as being spam and will not be posted.

YouTube on LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600 Review

I've decided to make another blog entry about the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600. This time I wanted to write about the/my YouTube experience using this box.

When I first got the box and used it to watch some YouTube clips/videos, I was not overly impressed with it. The videos would pause/buffer often even when I was sure that my internet bandwidth was more than sufficient to support the stream because I didn't have the same pausing/buffering experience with watching NFB videos or Netflix videos using the same box (and the same internet connection).

However, after upgrading the firmware to ST.8.79.202, I would like to say that I'm satisfied with the video/audio quality that I'm getting when I'm watching YouTube videos with the box.

The YouTube screen has a menu on the top of the screen which shows 8 options: Featured, Recent Videos, Most Viewed, Top Rated, Search, History, Sign In, and Local Site.

I don't spend a lot of time using my box to watch YouTube videos. I will do the occasional search on a specific video or topic such as "Nikon D5100" and I will watch a few videos on the topic. The video and audio quality that I've experienced with the box and the ST.8.79.202 firmware update is very good. It used to buffer/pause a lot with the older firmware but now, the buffering/pausing that I used to get is as rare as what I see with NFB or Netflix. You can either watch the video fullscreen or using ~40% of the screen where the remaining 40% of the screen is the video description with 20% of the screen shows some of the LG Smart TV Upgrader box's menu options and titles/headings).

I've tried to watch some of the free movies available on YouTube that I've seen on my computer using the LG Smart TV box but these movies are apparently not supported since they don't show up when I try to search for the movies. The pay movies also don't show up in the search.

I've logged in using my YouTube account (actually using my Google account) and it doesn't seem to give me any additional functionality except to give a different history list. The videos that I watched on my computer were not reflected in the history list on on the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box even though I was signed in using the same account. The only thing that I think that signing in might allow for (although I haven't tested it) is the ability to watch videos that have a more mature rating.

I've also changed the Local Site setting from "Worldwide" to "Canada" and I didn't notice any difference in the menu or the items found in the search or videos selected in the other menu options.

Overall, I would say that I'm satisfied with watching YouTube videos using the LG Smart TV Upgrader box (although as I mentioned, I don't use it a lot for watching YouTube videos).

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below.

National Film Board of Canada on LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600 Review

I've decided to post another review (3rd review as of the date of this posting) about the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600 but this time dealing with using it to watch material from the National Film Board of Canada. The first review that I posted was a general overall review and the second review that I posted dealt with using the LG Upgrader box to watch Netflix content.

Please note that I am basing this review from Canada so depending on your location, the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box might not allow you to access material from the National Film Board of Canada.

As of this review, the firmware/software on the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box is ST 8.79.198.

Before getting an account on Netflix, I used the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box to watch material from the National Film Board of Canada.

In terms of the video and sound quality, I find it to be very good. I would say that it stops/buffers less than both Netflix (which rarely stops/buffers) and YouTube. I believe that all the material available on the National Film Board of Canada's website is available using this box.

I've watched mainly political documentaries but there are also a lot of cartoon shorts including the famous "The Sweater" by Sheldon Cohen which is a cartoon from Quebec about a boy much to his dismay whose mother buys him a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater to replace his Montreal Canadiens sweater. Something that I was surprised to see was "Hitman Hart - Wrestling with Shadows" by Paul Jay.

If you enjoy content from the National Film Board of Canada, you shouldn't have any issues with using the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box to watch the content. My main negative comment is only the amount of content available and the type of content available. However, it is the same negative comment that I had regarding using the box to watch Netflix Canada content.

I find the NFB search feature of the LG box to be very good. It is much better than what is available with the box for Netflix content. The NFB search on this box will search keywords whereas the Netflix search feature using the same box doesn't do this.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with the video/audio quality that I get with the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box when I am using it to watch material from the National Film Board.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.

Netflix on LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600 Review

There seems to be a lot of interest on the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600 based on the number of hits I'm getting for that particular blog entry so I thought that I would write a few separate blog entries for each of the services that I use it for... and even though I have a few electronic gadgets that I've tested/used, I'm at a lost of topics to write   ;-)

As of this review, the firmware/software on the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box is ST 8.79.198.

One of the main reasons that I purchased the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box was to try Netflix and after trying it, I can definitely say that Netflix works very well with the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box. With my internet connection (the speed varies dramatically but the average speed is ~2 Mbits/s download), the pausing/buffering happens very rarely once the movie or television show starts.

After selecting the movie or television show, the video starts after approximately 30 seconds (based on the internet connection speed) and rarely buffers/pauses during playback of the video. Based on my experience, I would say that it pauses less than 5% of the time which is far better than the results that I've gotten with using this box to watch some YouTube videos.

The Netflix's video and audio quality using this LG box is very good. Since I have an unlimited download/upload internet connection, I set my Netflix video/audio settings (done on the account settings page after logging onto your Netflix account on your computer) to "Best quality (up to 1 GB per hour, or up to 2.3 GB per hour for HD)". I've seen some of the Netflix offerings in HD and the video/audio quality is very good with this box.

Excluding Netflix content (which has nothing to do with this box), I only have 3 negative comments regarding using the box to watch Netflix content. The first negative comment that I have regarding watching Netflix on the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box is that the search feature is very limiting. You can only search based on the title of the television show or movie. You cannot do a search based on the actor or actress. The second negative comment that I have regarding watching Netflix on the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box is that sometimes you will not be able to watch a particular television show since the entire episode listing for the television show will be blank. I'm not sure if this is because Netflix is doing an update but within a few hours, the television show episode listing is back to normal and you will be able to re-select the episode that you want to watch. The third and final negative comment that I have regarding using the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box to watch Netflix is that sometimes after stopping, you will not be able to continue from where you left off and you have to start at the beginning of the video again. This seems to happen more with television show episodes than with movies. It is a minor inconvenience since you can easily fast forward to the point where you left off and continue watching from that point onward.

Speaking about fast forwarding, when fast forwarding, you get a preview of the video (no audio) so you are able to estimate where you want the video to start. You also get a "time bar" on the bottom of your screen so you can also use this to estimate what point in the video you want it to start.

The interface when selecting a movie or television show using the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box is very similar to what appears when you select a movie or television show on your computer. You are presented with what you recently watched, the top ten items that Netflix assumes you will like based on what you've previously watched/rated, some of the genre categories, some selections based on particular movies that you've liked, etc.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with the video/audio quality that I get with the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box when  I am using it to watch Netflix.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.

CradlePoint MBR1000 Review

After my old CradlePoint CTR-350 (reviewed in an earlier blog entry) abruptly stopped working after a few years, I started shopping for a new replacement router that would accept my USB data modem. Since I had a good experience with my CradlePoint CTR-350 (see my review of the CTR-350 *HERE*), I opted to take a look at the CradlePoint line of cellular wireless routers and came across the CradlePoint MBR-1000.

CradlePoint no longer sells the MBR1000 model so I managed to find one at an excellent price. I've been using the CradlePoint MBR-1000 for a few months now and I find that it works very well with both my USB data modems (Novatel Wireless MC950D & Nokia CS-18).

Like the CradlePoint CTR350, the MBR1000 router has the standard configurations that most wireless routers have. It also has a few configurations specific to cellphone carriers as well as some configurations that aren't part of most router configurations that I've seen. One of the features that both cellular routers have which is not cellular specific is it has the ability to scan the wifi channels in the area and use the wifi channel that will offer the least amount of interference. For example, if a nearby router is broadcasting/transmitting using channel 6, the CradlePoint MBR1000 router (as well as my old CTR350) can be configured so that it automatically won't pick the same channel of nearby routers. Using software, I've tested this and it does do this.

In addition, there are 4 ethernet ports on the router that can used by devices that only have an ethernet port and there is an additional 1 ethernet port which can be used for fail-over (internet backup) purposes. One of the features that the MBR1000 router has which the CTR350 doesn't is the ability to load balance between the "land based" internet provider and the cellular provider (or any of the other connections (USB port & Expresscard port for example). There are 2 USB ports on the MBR1000 which can be used to plug USB modems. There is also 1 Expresscard port.

In terms of the signal strength, I find it to be very good (much better than what I was getting with the CTR350). According to the specifications, the router's range is approximately 750 feet (compared with the 200 feet for the CTR350). The router has the standard security settings and supports 64/128-bit WEP, WPA/WPA2 and WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK Encryption Protocols. Unlike the CTR350, the MBR1000 also supports the N standard.

I find the cellular router to be very good. It allows me to use my carrier's data network on my various WiFi devices. I'm also not limited to using only 1 connection with my cellular carrier's data network (which was a limitation with the USB cellular data modem). I've tested it with my WiFi Skypephone as well as my PDA and I've connected a few items to it at the same time. According to the specifications for this model, this cellular data router is capable of connecting up to 64 devices to the internet at the same time via WiFi and an "unlimited" number of devices via ethernet connection).

The company also updates their firmware on a regular basis, fixing bugs, adding features, and adding support for more cellular data devices.

Some of the things that I like about this cellular data router:

1) I find the range to be very good.

2) It is easy to configure (or as easy to configure as a regular wireless/wifi router).

3) It is able to change the wireless channel automatically when it powers on.

4) It can be configured to automatically enter your SIM or your device's security PIN.

5) Has some nice (non cellular carrier) features not available/found in regular consumer routers from D-Link, Linksys, etc.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section. 

LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600 Review

I've been using an LG Smart TV Upgrader ST600 box for a few months and decided to write a review on it. Since there are different programs/features accessible in different countries, my review will be based on the box being used in Canada.

This box upgrades an existing HD television to a "Smart TV" by allowing you to stream video through such services as YouTube, NetFlix, and Canadian National Film Board onto your HD television. In the US, you would be able to stream/access services such as Pandora (which isn't available in Canada). The Smart TV Upgrader box also allows for web browsing/surfing as well as streaming video, audio, and photos from your PC or associated network capable device (such as a NAS drive). There are some games available via the LG Apps Store.

In Canada, the online content includes NetFlix, YouTube, The National Film Board, Accuweather, Picasa, Ameba (Smart Kids TV), Tou.tv, Funspot, Karaoke Channel, Vtuner, NHL, MLB.tv, Viewster, I-play7u, Dailymotion, and Googlemaps.

The first thing that I did after plugging in the LG Smart TV Upgrader box and connecting it to my television is to update the firmware/software on it. As of this review, the firmware/software is ST 8.79.198.

The box connects to the network either using a standard network cable or using Wi-Fi. Setting up the box to use your home network's WiFi is very simple and I didn't have any issues connecting to two of my routers. I opted to connect to my network using a standard network cable since my television is in close proximity to one of my routers and I felt that the streaming would be better with wired over wireless. However, I did use the box over my wireless network and didn't experience any major issues.

The box uses a standard HDMI cable to connect to your HD television. If your television doesn't include an HDMI port, you are out of luck (unless you purchase or get some type of HDMI converter). The HDMI cable is not included with the unit and you will have to purchase one if you don't already have one. There is also a port for digital audio but I didn't use it.

There is also a USB port that supports external storage (playback) or a USB keyboard or USB mouse. I was able to use a USB keyboard that included a USB hub and then plugged my USB mouse into the USB port on the keyboard and didn't have any issues.

I use my LG Smart TV Upgrader box mainly for watching NetFlix, YouTube, National Film Board, and streaming online content from my PC. I will also use it quickly for Accuweather or to view some of my pictures on Picasa. The box supports almost every video file format that I tried (AVI, MP4, MKV, WMV, DivX). The only video format that I had which it didn't support was FLV. The streaming from my NAS drive and my PC was seamless. There was no buffering or stalling when accessing the media files over my internal network or when accessing Netflix and the National Film Board. However, with YouTube, the videos did occasionally stall. I did notice that it does sometimes abruptly exits Picasa and goes back to the LG Smart TV Upgrader box's home screen. I've read reviews where some people have experienced problems streaming internal videos as well as external videos but excluding the buffering/stalling that I've noticed with YouTube videos, I have not had the issues that these people have had. I'm not sure if it is because I'm using a different firmware version or whether it is because I'm using a wired network connection.

Another issue with viewing YouTube videos with this device (excluding the buffering/stalling which is probably related to my internet speed) is that you can only view YouTube videos, you can't view YouTube movies. The search feature with YouTube sometimes doesn't work immediately and I would have to enter the search string more than once.

The other thing that I find that happens occasionally is that the Smart TV box will sometimes not be able to see my computer on the network using the included Nero Home software. Rebooting my computer normally will fix this or waiting/refreshing the connections list on the Smart TV box will also sometimes help fix this problem. My NAS drive is always seen by the Smart TV box without any major issues. The only issue that I have experienced with my NAS drive and the Smart TV box is viewing my JPG pictures. Occasionally some pictures for some reason are not viewable on the Smart TV box (even though they were taken from the same camera and in the same format). These same pictures are viewable on my PC without any issues.

In terms of the browsing experience, I find it to be a bit lacking. It is extremely slow and the support for more advanced websites which require either java or Flash is extremely limited. I rarely use my Smart TV box to browse the web.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with the LG Smart TV Upgrader box. It could be better but it does what I want without any major issues.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.

*UPDATE: If you want to go to my blog entry on my review of watching Netflix with the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600, please click on *THIS* blog entry.