My Boxee Box
I was always fighting with my perfect home-theater idea, most of my setups based on low end devices that suppose deliver something always were failing here and there. On the other side I've always want to have a development server that I can upload my small projects (a real *nix box sitting in the corner) and maybe a backup then as well (through rsync). In the last year I was looking at couple projects like MythTV and XBMC, but still part missing here was hardware. Having desktop kind PC, just blowing air is not something you would like to have your livingroom (and it's not making your family happier) but rather on desk or hidden somewhere in the cabinet.
But finally I've found a box and a software that fulfill my needs with Boxee and Asrock ION 330 nettop.
Why Boxee? First of all I was looking only on open source software and basically there are two good players left on the field Boxee and XMBC as I see now. Well... almost, cause they are basically the same software (Boxee is build on top of XBMC). Boxee looked like most straight forward, plays any format I can think of, do video & audio rss and have tons of apps. It caught my eye for some time as I was waiting for original Boxee Box which look pretty awesome. But still time will come to check out XBMC and possibly Moovida (previously Elisa, Fluendo project). I'm not taking MythTV under consideration cause I'm not interested in recording.
Why Asrock? It's a slick device, small, quiet but still powerful for this particular need. Easily handle 720p and possibly 1080p video files ( can't test it, my TV can do only 720p ) and HDMI output. My version ION 330 HT comes with 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD and ... ir remote. Enough and remote is nice extra feature that I would buy anyway. All for less than 300E.
Why Google Chrome ?
For many years, Firefox has been the only browser I use regularly, even in ancient times when it was called Phoenix. I've tried to make things work with other browsers ( well, Opera only ), but I always drifted back to Firefox. The community and the variable plugins, make of it one of the kind. Well, no more. As of new year, I've dumped Firefox. I have a new love and after two months of heavy testing I'm sure that I'm going stay with it for long time. My new browser of choice became Google Chrome.
For all of you, long time Firefox users, here is a list things I like about it:
- Stability - a major selling point for me, even as I'm using dev version for Linux ( 4.0.302.2 ) it never crashed on me, process per tab is very nice especially when you have unstable flash, as addition each of the extensions is separate process as well, you need some more resources but it's worth it, at this moment I have 27 chrome processes (it's another discussion is it good for you or not)
- Speed - starting in a second ( my laptop is 2Ghz Core2Duo and 3GB of Memory ), JavaScript VM V8 it's performing nicely ( especially important if you are heavy Google user ) and generally when you have more than 20 tabs open and you open another tab it's starting and loading pages as quick as before ( if you have enough memory ) where Firefox with more than 20 tabs is having major difficulties, try two pages side-by-side in Firefox and Chrome and see for your self
- Privacy - incognito window ( so called porn mode ), you can have it open all the time next to your regular tabs where in Firefox you have to switch completely loosing all regular sessions
- Omnibox - referred as the address bar in Firefox, merges both address bar and Google search, meaning you can type in either an URL or a search term
- Extensions - what was a killing feature of Firefox came finally to Chrome and it's impressive, after being there just for couple months I've managed to find and replace all of my extensions from Firefox which I've never though it would be possible
- Overall Usability - i can in simple and efficient way detach and attach back tabs from main window ( handy with multiple spaces and screens ), it remembers settings for pages ( scale down gmail.com to 80% of regular size and it will stay like that permanently ), tab management with pining or closing unwanted build in ( features such as “close all other tabs” and “close tabs on the right“ ), recently visited pages and just closed tabs easily accessible
Feature for Chrome looks bright, Open Source development powered by Google Engineers, multi platform support and vastly growing user base. One thing that bothers me is security, the only trustworthy browser ( at least at this very moment ) is Firefox, mostly because is not using shared libraries ( like broken CryptoAPI ). Well you can't have everything.
Ebook readers model fail ( again )
Last year I was heavily considering buying an ebook reader as my private library was growing to quick ( and I'm renting, so it's mother of time as I would have to move out ) and some books that I was carry around had over 500 pages! I was lucky enough in some ways, cause I didn't have to buy blindly as my friends who have already bought Sony PRS, Amazon Kindle and Barnes&Noble Nook let me to fiddle around with all of them and I must say I'm pretty disappointed.
As you see pictures on manufactures websites, all those devices look incredibly sexy, but when I took for the first time Kindle in my hand it felt clunky and ugly. This is quite amazing in "iPhone" times, where people are looking for sleek gadgets. On the other side you getting 6-7 inch device and would you expect that for 6-7 inch device is 6-7 inch big, right ? Cause what matters it's the screen. No, no! We have everywhere a big border around screen which making those devices fell more like 9-10 inch. WTF ? So basically you buying nicely advertised a small reader and in reality you getting a A4 book format which BTW can't do A4. Ohh... and there is Kindle DX which is just.. huge.
All those devices, especially when booting up, accessing a book, can be very slow. And, I'm sorry, E-Ink it's not there - still. Flapping pages takes literally seconds. That's not a big deal if you reading new Dan Brown book but for that there is a handful of companies are rethinking the book for the digital age like Audible. I usually carry a technical books and quite often I'm looking for something or going back and forward through the pages. Thanks good at least Kindle has international whispernet ( no, I'm not based in States ), which is very cool and helps it a little bit. That I can't say about Sony and Nook ( at least for now ).
Huge deal for me is lending books that you own. I was trying to understand what it's all about. Sooo confusing, some say you can buy and lend but it's against their FAQ ( Amazon ) where others are making that extremely uncomfortable ( Sony ) with their idea of authorizing and de-authorizing to your account.
In the end all those readers are just paper and ink imitation and this what you get. You never gonna have a National Geographic subscription on them. Black and white that's the buzz word here. Sounds soo 1970. And you know what, you just fell a sleep reading Kathryn Stockett with your Kindle and here it slips from your hand and fails down crushing to the floor your 300E ( at least ).
The most exiting part is the color Android screen on bottom of Nook. Ring a bell ? Maybe the whole device should be like that ? Yeah, but You would say: E-Ink is power efficient and eye friendly. Well not totally true, Kindle owners admit that every day charging it's normal after a while and yes paper it's better for your eyes than regular lcd/oled, but hold on, are you already spending at least 8h a day looking on your laptop screen ?
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Blip ( polish )
- (2010-03-08 14:48:42) Google as HUNGRY BEAST - http://rdir.pl/6ufz1 , very true.
- (2010-03-05 11:49:18) Pretty funny, who's suing who :) http://rdir.pl/6n7nr
- (2010-03-02 20:32:48) My Boxee Box http://rdir.pl/6gjhn
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