I've recently been thinking about how interfaces and standards are so important.

One challenge we have as a family with a huge number of kids is playing media when we visit various grandparents or in-laws. During the winter this is even more important.  There are only so many DS games,  episodes of iCarly or y8.com games they will play. The same is true when I'm travelling and I want to chill out with a movie in a hotel and not be gouged.

For the past year I've tried to do this with a laptop and VGA to Scart adapter.  The picture quality is pretty awful but it does work.

Something like the new Apple TV initially looked interesting due to its small size.  Then I saw the interface specs. No composite out ,  streaming only, no usb port,  no sdcard.

So forget that. I then looked at some of the cheap media players on Deal Extreme.  They didn't look too bad but reviews were patchy. Then I heard about the Nationite HDVP-2.  http://mp4nation.net/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=60&products_id=386

Wow.

1080p playback,  composite/yuv/hdmi out, LAN, can take internal HDD, USB port,  Sdcard slot,  optional WiFi,  streams from across network or uses local media,  remote control,  small size. And the real killer? $79!

We've used it a bunch of times recently and it just totally rocks.

The best example of why a product like this, which only uses industry standard interfaces,  is so useful, happened last weekend.

My sister wanted to show her daughter's school play which was on their very cool JVC HDCam. Unfortunately the JVC uses some idiotic proprietary connector for TV-Out and she had forgotten the cable so my usual bag of wires was no use. 

We were about to shrug and give up when I suddenly thought "wait a sec,  what does it use for storage? ".  Aha,  Sdcard!  I popped the card out,  stuck it in the side of the HDVP-2 and voila,  my niece on the old CRT TV.

Whether it's usb for charging , sdcards, audio jacks, rca jacks, sims, Bluetooth or cigarette lighters,  standards and interfaces make your life easier.

I got an iGo Stowaway Keyboard nearly three years ago for my Nokia N95-8GB and N770 at a knock-down price. I still think it is one of the greatest pieces of industrial design out there. It never got huge use but was invaluable when I really needed it. For the past few months I've used it as the keyboard for our Boxee PC.

I spotted this on one of the Android forums earlier. It’s a way of ordering things from abroad from vendors who won’t ship outside of their own country. I’ve heard of similar in the US for years but I didn’t know it was here in Europe too.

The service is called Borderlinx and appears to be facilitated by DHL. So you order something from the UK and give the Borderlinx UK address for delivery. Once Borderlinx gets it, you tell them where you really want it shipped to and when. The example I read was ordering a mobile phone in one country from Orange in the UK. Normally impossible but supposedly it works with Borderlinx.

Anyone use them? Thoughts? Good value? 

One potential problem I see is that many sites will only deliver to the address associated with your credit card.

My feelings about the iPad remain little-changed since launch despite having played with one several times. Having said that, if I had lots of disposable income and bought XBox360s, PS3s or the latest laptop on a whim, I’m sure I’d have dipped my toe in. But as a must-have device, it ticks no boxes for me.

The one area where tablets make complete sense for me is with kids. When I saw them play Angry Birds or watch videos on an iPad and then when I read people’s comments about tablets replacing the horrendous stack of books they have to drag to school, I finally got the tablet niche. But it’ll never be the iPad for us. I want something with crazy features like USB ports and memory card slots and the ability to install whatever goddammed apps I choose and the ability to sync everything to the cloud without needing to wire it to a real computer.

So imagine my excitement when Paul O’Brien over on Modaco posted the details of the new DSG Group (Dixon’s, Curry’s, PC World) Advent tablet. The specs are awesome:

• Nvidia Tegra 250 1GHz SMP dual Cortex-A9 40nm Enhanced 3D
• RAM: 512MB and ROM: 512MB
• Screen resolution: 1024 x 600
• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• microSD card reader
• 1.3 MP Webcam
• Capacitive Multi-touch screen
• Android 2.2 Froyo
• HDMI out
• 1080P Video Encode/Decode ULP Audio Decode Streaming HD Video ~4x vs APX 2600
• USB x 1
• SIM card slot
• USB interface
• G-sensor

And then there is the price……………….£250. Holy cow.

The video isn’t a mind blower but if you have used an Android phone you can imagine the possibilities on a bigger screen.

But I had forgotten the kids again. I showed the video to my 11 y/o son. He immediately dismissed the iPad and said he wanted one of these. He realised that this plus a keyboard could replace the horror of a laptop he uses now (6 years old, big chunks of screen dead, keys missing etc etc). And the fact that Android does Flash means that all those silly online games are still playable. He was imagining taking it to his friends house to play games and watch movies either on-screen or connected to their TV. He was thinking about reading books on Kindle. He suddenly forgot all about a Nintendo 3DS.

He is now trying to figure out how to raise the cash to get one for christmas. I have to say it even has me tempted now.

I'm assuming they are tildes and not minus signs. 

I had the Dilbert "Utilize Synergy" strip pinned to my cubicle from the mid 90s to 2001. 

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