New 180-hour TiVo HD DVR

Tivo came out with their new and cheaper HD box today. The main difference between this one and the Tivo Series 3 version is the price...$299 vs $799. That's a $500 difference! Tivo Series 3 always was overpriced. I mean...you can almost get a 42 inch plasma tv for that price.

Tivo HD - 20 hrs in HD, 180 in SD (Standard Definition?)
Tivo Series 3 HD - 30 hrs in HD, 300 in SD

Comfort Access by BMW

You know I love simple technological things that make everyday life more simple and convenient. Take for example, driving a car.

Here are the steps for getting in and out of a car everyday.

1. Get key out of pocket or purse or what have you.
   
2. Put key in door.
   
3. Adjust seating, mirrors, etc.
   
4. Put key in ignition
   
5. After driving to your destination, pull key out from ignition
   
6. Lock the doors.
   
7. Put key away.

w/ BMW Comfort Access

1. Push ignition start button
   
2. After driving to your destination, push ignition stop button
   
3. Lock the doors.
   

What is Comfort Access?

Comfort Access is an optional feature from BMW that allows you to get in and out of your car as well as starting your engine, without ever inserting your car key. Im sure Mercedes and other high end car manufacturers have a similar option. In any case, not only is it cool but it is efficient. The only thing that I could suggest is to eliminate the 3rd step of locking the doors (that would make it only a 2 step process!). With comfort access, you still have to place your finger on the a specific area of the door handle to lock the doors (see tiny grooves in above picture). Instead, as soon as you move a certain distance away from your car, it should auto lock. I believe this is how it works for some of the BMW cars only in Europe.

But how much would you pay extra for this option? Wait...remember that you will never have to insert your car key ever again. Okay, here is the price - $500. Worth it? You decide.

Below is the full explanation of comfort access from BMW.

"Also available for the first time on a BMW in this class is Comfort Access.All cars receive a newly designed key that replaces the conventional blade-typekey but with Comfort Access the key contains an ID Sensor that the carrecognises from a short distance away. On recognition, the doors are unlockedautomatically and the car can be started with one push of the starter button.The Comfort Access system also works in tandem with BMW's familiar key memorysystem to ensure that the seating position, door mirrors, personalised airconditioning settings and radio reception are automatically adjusted to thecurrent drivers' settings before they enter the car.Walking up to his BMWproperly locked and secured, all the driver has to do with Comfort Access ispull the door handle in order to open the door. Then, as he is taking his seatat the wheel, the Personal Profile functions serve to adjust, say, the driver’sseating position, the automatic air conditioning and the radio station accordingto the driver’s personal requirements.Over and above these three functions, Car& Key Memory (CKM) also sets the interior and exterior mirrors, the centrallocking and interior lights, the audio system sound effects and, in a carappropriately equipped, the presentation on the Control Display as well as thevoice entry setting.Once the driver is ready to go, he simply presses thestart/stop button. Once he has reached his destination, in turn, he presses thesame button to switch off the engine. Then, placing his finger on the markedsurface on the door handle after getting out and closing the door, heautomatically locks and secures the car without requiring any further action. Ifhe has forgotton the ID sensor in the car the doors will not lock and the driverwill receive an appropriate warning. And should the electronic key controlsystem ever fail to operate, the driver can insert the ID sensor into a slot inthe instrument panel in order to drive the car just as conveniently the“conventional” way."

Dell XPS m1210 and m1330

Remember my rule about new every two rule? Well my laptop was due. So I just got my new Dell XPS m1210 12.1 inch laptop *drool*. Its the laptop I've always coveted. XPS is the high end line of Dell desktops/ laptops and are hardly ever discounted or go on sale. Well...at least until Dell introduced and started selling its replacement - 13 inch Dell XPS m1330.


The decision for me was easy for me. I wanted a small 12 inch laptop that wont cost me an arm and a leg. There are only 2 Dell laptops that offer the 12 inch size - Inspiron 700m (which I have now)/710m and XPS m1210. The only thing about these small Dell laptops is that the batteries always stick out. Therefore, its not as clean as it could be. I dont like my fat battery protruding out on my small 12 inch laptop. Those batteries are so fat, that some of the Dell latitudes have the battery in front of the laptop, using it almost like a palm rest. UGLY. Maybe lightweight, thin, powerful laptop batteries dont exist, but I dont see the small Sony's laptops having that same problem. So Dell, let me give you some advice...start making your laptops more sexier by hiding the battery. Its that simple.


Speaking of sexy. Here is the new 13 inch Dell XPS m1330. No! No! Too sexy....! For a closer look check out the cnet video review.


One of the cool features of this laptop is the slot loading drive. I think its the first of its kind. Slot loading is the mechanism you see when you load a cd in your car. For really thin and lightweight (less than 3lbs) laptops, usually the laptop does not include a cd/dvd drive because it would add extra thickness and weight. But this slot loading cd/dvd drive solves that problem. Sick!

Anjelah Johnson: Nail Salon

iPhone - Hands on

I finally got the chance to get my hands on an iPhone. No I didnt buy it. I just went to an Apple store in the morning when it wasnt too crowded. They had like 10 on display. So is it worthy of all the hype?

YES! I played around with it for like 10 minutes and was drooling all over it. The screen is so sexy and delicious. Its definitely pleasing to the eye. The interface is responsive as I flipped through photos by swiping my finger across the screen. The onscreen keyboard is good and corrects your mistakes easily. Surfing the internet was cool because its not some scaled down phone browser version. Instead, its the real deal as if you were surfing on a laptop or desktop. You just need to zoom into the sections that you are interested in. Listening to music on it just like an iPod showing album art is oh so nice. The iPhone is what I expected and much more.

Paying $500-$600 for it, including a monthly fee of $60, and switching over to ATT from Verizon would be quite a jump for me. But my LG Chocolate phone stinks and my dial button is starting to break. *grin*