It was time to upgrade various technologies, and given that I’m not spending the summer on retreat as is my usual, I got going.
First: HDTV. There is now a Samsung 46“ LCD television in the living room, hooked up to cable. Simply gorgeous, wonderful set with a beautiful picture.
Second: Blu-Ray DVD player. Yes, I know the feathers are still flying about HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray, but I decided to join the fray and put in my two cents’ worth. I couldn’t keep from noticing that Borders has about twice the number of Blu-Ray discs, and that a lot of people are predicting that Blu-Ray will eventually win. (Blockbuster is adding only Blu-Ray in the future, no more HD-DVD beyond what they already have.) Also I like that I could get a Samsung Blu-Ray player, which interfaces gloriously well with aforesaid Samsung TV. I’ve become quite the Samsung fan; I have quite a few products which have been uniformly excellent, trouble-free, and reasonably priced. All this said, the picture quality is wonderful; I indulged in ”Planet Earth“ on Blu-Ray, which is spectacular. But there are other terrific discs as well–”The Untouchables“ is really almost like seeing it for the first time, at least since I saw the original release in the movies.
Third: this is the big one: I got an iPhone. I just wasn’t going to let this sit there for very long. I’m a hardcore, bonafide Macintosh fan and a strong Apple supporter; I have three iPods, an iPod Hi-Fi, two Macs (currently, after a long series previously) various Apple accessories, an Apple 30” Cinema Display for my main computer. Heck, I even use an Apple Airport Extreme at home for my Wi-Fi and router. All of them work perfectly, no problems, no hassles. And the iPhone is precisely the same; it does what it says it does, beautifully, without any hassles. It invites exploration and use. I haven’t had a gizmo insinuate itself into daily usefulness this fast in a long time. Terrific, terrific product and every bit as good as the hype says–which is saying something.
In an aside I moved from DSL to Cable Internet service, and at least here in the Castro district of San Francisco, I can say that the difference has been profound. I’m getting great speeds both download and upload, and so far not a single drop of downtime.