Finished work to find this gorgeous scene.

In the past, getting a full year out of my laptops was always a problem. Something newer and cooler would always be just around the corner just screaming, “buy me!”

After a little over a year with my current last gen 12″ classic, I was thinking it was time for an upgrade. That purchase is now shelved, as I just got a new 320gb IDE harddrive, well two actually.

Combined with a second new battery courtesy of the Apple battery recall, I should be content for a few more months, or at least until Snow Leopard is released.

I definitely have a gadget addiction, I can’t get portable computers out of my head. Last week, I took a trip to our local electronics shop with a nice selection of used computers and saw a sweet Vaio P for sale, the black 1.83 ghz version. Mustering up the strongest willpower I could,  I was able to pass up the $700 steal even with a wad of cold hard cash slated for savings in my pocket. Today, I went back there just to see… and it was gone.

Really, I’ve been contemplating getting a new toy, but have been put off my most everything on the market. Today I played with the Dell Mini 10v and Toshiba NB200 (UX series in Japan), my two most promising choices. Regarding the 10v, I didn’t like the keyboard, although the US keyboard might be a little better. The UX doesn’t have bluetooth, but seems ok in most other respects. As for those 10 inch, 1024×600 screens… frankly I can’t stand them… everything just looks huge!

Enter yesterday’s announcement of Sony’s entry in the netbook market, the Vaio W. I’m sure the keyboard will be acceptable if it’s like the Vaio P’s. It has the newer 1.66 Atom processor, and other standard netbook specs, including bluetooth and the high-res screen. If it’s easy to replace the ram and harddisk, this puppy might be my next toy.

What I wanted….

• Headphones that sounded decent, not audiophile quality.
• Remote control for the iPhone with a mic.
• Portability.
• Cans that wouldn’t fall out of my ears when I turn my head.

The stock iPhone headphones provided 75% of my needs. They would just fall out of my ears whenever I turned my head or moved. So I bought a $30 pair of inner-ear cans, which also provided 75% of my needs. Every time the wires moved (97% of my listening time), it was annoying beyond usability. Inner-ear headphones can go to hell from now one.

Was there a 100% effective solution for me at a decent price? I think yes!

A trip to the “dollar store” (100 Yen store here on this side of the Pacific), led me to a package of foam earphone covers. With these babies applied to the stock headphones, I get my decent sound (some will argue), mic, remote, portability, and they don’t fall out of my ears!

I thought I had outgrown this phase, but I’m beginning to create another headphone graveyard. I had a headphone graveyard back in Sea-town, and now I’m making another one here in K-town. These will have to do until I can afford my Sennheiser HD-25-II’s.

Ever since I upgraded to iComic v1.4, my manga got wiped out and I couldn’t download. I think the problem was with the new directory/folder structures… who knows. We’ll today I got my manga back with the iComic 2.0 upgrade. It has a new interface. It seems to still be a bit buggy, but I can deal with it. I’m just so happy to be able to read my manga on the bus again.

Hate you.

So I just bought a new pair of in-ear headphones for my iPhone, they were not my first. Several years ago I bought a pair of Sony’s that sounded really nice, but bit the dust after a couple months.

My new cans, just like my old Sony’s had a problem… a freaking annoying problem that I believe occur with any in-ear headphone. While they suppress ambient noise very well, they operate like stethoscopes. Every step I take, every move I make [sic]… freaking sends sounds through the cable into my ears!!! What’s a worse distraction when listening to Sting, ambient noise from cars driving by, or crunching on a potato chip with your ears plugged. I really can’t imagine those $300 – $1000+ varieties to operate any better, either.

I don’t want to say it, but I will… I’ll never buy another pair of in-ear headphones again. Now I have my eyes set on these babies.

On the news tonight was a story about an 80 year old man who lost over $4 million dollars (JYP 360,000,000). Over a period of 40 years, he burried his stash… all cash moolah, in several places in his backyard. All of this $$$ was stolen, and apparently, the police have been investigating since late last year, and the story is just breaking now. The crazy thing is that the man passed away recently. Anyway, this news will probably be plastered all over the internets tomorrow.

Vaio P hands on

Would you believe that I pulled the trigger on the Vaio P? This baby is hot, check it out compared to my 12″ PowerBook, it’s smaller than the entire keyboard!

Vaio P vs. 12" PowerBook

Vaio P vs. 12" PowerBook - open screen

Alas, it was only a dream, but it felt so real!

Vaio P Battery

Japanese electronics advertising is all about brochures. Most I’ve seen have just been the normal pamphlet style, however I really think Sony did a great job with the P’s brochure. It’s a 1:1 lifesize foldout, so you can pretend to own a P, like me!

Vaio P pamphlet front foldout

Vaio P pamphlet back foldout

Pretty cool, eh? Any plans on buying your own?

After giving up on waiting for the new Apple in-ear headphones, I decided to settle on a cheaper pair. Enter the Rad headphones for iPhone. At less than 3000 Yen, I hoped they would provide the functionality I wanted without having to shell out 10000 yen. These cans feature an in-ear design, remote control, and mic. The sound is not the best, but for my day-to-day usage it’ll do fine. The remote functions and looks just like the normal Apple remote. Most importantly, the in-ear design keeps them in my ear without having to adjust them every minute like the stock ones. I’m sure I’ll outgrow these soon, maybe by then Apple’s new ones will be in the stores.

I went to Yamada Denki yesterday and they happened to have the P on display. The size is nice, screen readability is good, and keyboard felt good. The system just seemed bogged down with Vista… I’d like to see it on 7.

The most impressive thing for me was the power adapter. Sony has really made it small, good job!