• On Tuesday I’m picking up the new E-Class Coupe from Mercedes for a test drive, and swapping it for the sedan on Friday. I’ll be writing a number of articles on the incredible technology in this vehicle. If you’re around Auckland on Sunday afternoon, follow me on twitter and you might get a ride.
• Wednesday is my TVNZ Breakfast gadgets day. This week’s topic is boating and fishing.
• On Thursday afternoon XBox is launching their new karaoke game Lips: Number One Hits, complete with an appearance from MC Hammer. My inner 14 year old is giddy with excitement. Not sure if I should wear my parachute pants though.

It’s a hard life being a technology reviewer.

• Digital Cameras
• Gaming (coming soon!)
• Mobile Phones (coming soon!)
• Cheapies! (coming soon!)

As promised, here’s the second in my series of 2009 Christmas present primers.

Who doesn’t like radio controlled gadgets? With a controller in hand, you can become a racing driver, a helicopter pilot, or even a submariner; all in the comfort of your own lounge.

Below I’ve listed a few of my favourite RC gadgets from 2009, right across the range. Feel free to post questions or comments if you’re stuck on the Christmas present front.

RC Car Gifts

RC Helicopter Gifts

E-Flight Blade MCX
Why?	I reviewed this tiny helicopter a few weeks ago, and fell in love with it. More stable than larger coaxial choppers, the Blade MCX is a blast to fly and easy enough to be operated by anyone who has used an RC car before. It’s perfectly capable of flying in a lounge, but you might find it more fun to try flying into each room in the house. It won’t handle any wind, so outdoor flying is not an option. You can read my original review over here.
RRP:	$209
Stockists:	Online or in person from RC Bandit

RC Plane Gifts

Parkzone Mustang P-52D Ready to Fly
Why?	Until recently, if you wanted to fly powered RC planes, you’d need to spend thousands on models and equipment, and join a club. These days, you can pick up a ready-to-fly model like this brilliant looking Mustang and have a crack at flying within minutes. Having said that, you might find a club is useful to teach you the basics and save a few dollars in glue and parts after crashes.
RRP:	$429
Stockists:	Online or in person from RC Bandit

Other RC Gifts

RC Mini Submarine (and other vehicles)
Why?	Do you sometimes get bored in the bath and wish you had a radio controlled submarine? Great! It’s not just me. I wrote an article this year about cheap Chinese RC gadgets in a general sense, and this sub was one of the items I reviewed. Take a look at my original article for a bunch of cheap gadget ideas.
RRP:	US$18 + shipping
Stockists:	BudgetGadgets

• Radio Control
• Gaming (coming soon!)
• Mobile Phones (coming soon!)
• Cheapies! (coming soon!)

It’s November – I’m just as surprised as you are – and you’re starting to scramble for presents for the tech freak in your life. Relax, I’ve got your back. Below is the first in a series of Christmas gift guides I’ll be posting over the coming weeks. Don’t worry if these ideas are too expensive for you: look for follow-up gift ideas for radio control, computer and console games, mobile phones, and more. There’ll even be a specific one on cheap gadgets.

I’m kicking this off with digital still and video cameras. Everyone needs a good camera, and with the rate of progress and price drops, you can almost afford a new one every year. So what’s top of the pile this year?

Digital Video Camera Gifts

Flip MinoHD Camcorder
Why?	Why fork out thousands of dollars on a high-definition camcorder that’s tricky to use, and so bulky that you hardly ever carry it with you? The Flip Mino HD takes the idea of “good enough for YouTube”, and packages it in a device small enough to fit in your jeans pocket. At $349 it’s a bargain, and cheap enough that you’ll be happy taking it to the beach or park. You can read my in-depth review here.
RRP:	$349
Stockists:	Noel Leeming, Dick Smith, and (just quietly) Amazon.

Digital Compact Camera Gifts

Samsung ST550 Compact Camera
Why?	The Samsung ST550 is the first digital camera that includes a font-facing 1.5″ LCD as well as a giant rear touch-screen. It might seem like a gimmick, but the practicalities are obvious for kids (they can’t stop smiling at themselves) and self-portraits. Samsung have also pulled out all the stops on usability. Most operations take place on the touch screen, including the ability to delete photos by just swiping an “x” with your finger. The camera also has an accelerometer so you can rotate and sort through photos by tilting the camera. And of course like most compact cameras today it takes HD video as well.
RRP:	$599
Stockists:	Call 0800 SAMSUNG for your nearest stockist.

Canon G11
Why?	The G11 is the bad-boy of the Canon “point-and-shoot” range. It’s capable of pushing out shots that compare quite well with a low-end SLR, but you can fit it into a (large) handbag. The photo geek in your life will be impressed by your taste in cameras if they find this under the tree. Update: Thanks to Simon’s comment, maybe the Canon S90 is a better high-end compact. Same sensor, much smaller, cheaper, and with a nifty control dial around the lens.
RRP:	$1099
Stockists:	Most department stores and good camera stores like PhotoWarehouse

Digital SLR Camera Gifts

Canon 5D Mark II
Why?	For those of you with piles of spare cash and a photographer in your family who doesn’t want to compromise on quality, you couldn’t go much better than the new Canon 5D. It’s a heck of a lot of money to spend on a gift, but this camera has been dubbed “life changing” by one review.
RRP:	$6499
Stockists:	Good camera stores like PhotoWarehouse

Geohot has now released his latest jailbreak and unlock – BlackRa1n – for iPhone 3.1.2. The difference with this against all prior 3.x hacks is that it unlocks the iPhone’s baseband, meaning the user has full control over all network and data settings. In theory at least, this would mean tethering can be enabled on the Telecom XT network.

Is anyone out there brave enough to try this?

At the moment, most of the internet protocol (IP) traffic heading to and from your computer makes its way, unimpeded, to and from its intended destination. There is however an undercurrent of discontent coming from a bunch of companies that operate the systems (the “backbone”) that carry IP traffic between you and your favourite websites.

Strangely, these companies are already being paid by all parties. Your ISP pays for the right to send your data to and from their systems – this is a significant part of your monthly bill. At the other end, a company like Google or Flickr pays one of these “backbone” companies to provide a large stream of data made up of thousands of data streams like yours. Even a small-fry like me pays my web hosting company to carry data to and from my server.

Yet apparently, these backbone service providers feel hard done by. Sometimes, due to the vagaries of IP routing, traffic from my PC to a destination website might travel over a third party’s network. These parties feel that if a company like Google is not paying them directly for carrying data to and from your PC, that they should alter the level of service. The little picture I have linked to gives you an idea of a world without IP traffic neutrality. Think Sky TV, but the “channels” are actually your favourite websites – who are already paying for the privilege of being connected to the internet.

It sounds far fetched, but right now companies are lobbying various governments for the right to impose different levels of service on different types of traffic, or different destination websites. Mundane yes; but definitely important. I hope that when the time comes to oppose such measures, you can do so with some understanding based on this blog post.

[via CrunchGear]

I have an iPhone question. I am moving from the UK to NZ in January. I will be living in Te Anau in Southland. I want to get an iphone 3Gs (16GB) but wonder if there will be any problems with reception down there. Will I end up frustrated by not being able to use the phone to its potential? Also do I really have to pay an extra charge to use the internet as much as I would like? I had an older model iPhone here and am used to paying 45GBP per month for unlimited internet, etc. on my iPhone. All I really want is to be able to check and send emails with attachments as much as I like, mainly to send and receive photos/videos. I will use it as a phone, but not much. I will surf net, but not much. Although that may change if I figure out facebook. Thanks. Emma

On Carriers and Coverage

First up, you have two (main) choices of carrier for your iPhone in New Zealand: Vodafone and Telecom XT. Vodafone is the only official carrier. The iPhone will work on Telecom, but you risk things not working perfectly – tethering for example doesn’t currently work on iPhone OS 3.1 and above.

The sad thing is that Telecom’s XT network is arguably a better choice for using 3G data on the iPhone. In order to understand coverage you need to check my original post on what frequencies each network uses. For the iPhone, you’re looking at the left and right columns in the table. You can see that Vodafone provides 3G data coverage for the iPhone in main centres only.

If you check Vodafone’s coverage map, the iPhone 3G coverage is shown when you tick the red “3G Broadband” option. You can see that Te Anau, Invercargill, and Bluff are pretty much the only coverage areas in Southland. The “3G Broadband Extended” option uses frequencies that the iPhone doesn’t operate on. Of course you’ll still be able to make calls and get a 2G data connection pretty much anywhere you care to travel.

Telecom’s XT 3G coverage on the other hand looks a hell of a lot more comprehensive.

So it’s a hard call: patchy 3G coverage but full phone support with Vodafone, or great 3G coverage with patchy phone support on Telecom. My suggestion would be to try Vodafone first to see if you have good coverage in Te Anau, and perhaps switch to Telecom if it’s not working for you.

On Plans and Pricing

Firstly: there is no such thing as an “unlimited” plan in New Zealand. Full Stop. The only thing that comes close it is Telecom’s $12TXT plan, that allows “unlimited” SMS messages (within the bounds of an “acceptable use policy”) as a $12 add on to your account.

For comparing Vodafone and Telecom plans, here is a nice Google spreadsheet that was put together recently.

For 45GBP, or about $100 NZD, you’re slap bang in the middle of Vodafone’s iPhone $80 and $130 plans. The key difference for you is that iPhone $80 comes with 250MB of data, and $130 gets you 500MB.

Both carriers seem to be settling on 250MB as a “reasonable” data cap for basic plans, but Vodafone has upped that to 3GB temporarily (currently till the end of November). I’m crossing my fingers that we’ll get a decent bump in “reasonable” data once that 3GB offer finishes. 250MB is ok, but it’s certainly not enough that you will be able to “check and send emails with attachments as much as [you] like, mainly to send and receive photos/videos”.

Another option is to go with a “standard” non-iPhone plan, and add Vodafone’s $50 1GB data add-on. But you’d need to pay full-price for your iPhone. Confused yet?

In Conclusion

In summary, New Zealand’s reputation as a backwater is unfortunately confirmed when it comes to smart-phone data pricing. Vodafone’s experimentation with 3GB limits is honourable, but ultimately probably a bait-and-switch attempt for a premium-priced data plan. It’s all about supply and demand. We just don’t have the population density to support pricing similar to the UK.

[via WristWatchReview]

I’ll watch from the sidelines to see how this plays out. If we start getting access to more recent episodes of international shows via CASPA, I might actually hop on the bandwagon. It’s difficult to see how TVNZ would go there, but perhaps it’s a legitimate transition from their flagging FTA advertising?

Full media release follows:

Auckland, NEW ZEALAND, 29 October 2009 – Hybrid Television Services (ANZ) Pty Limited, the exclusive licensee of TiVo® in New Zealand and Australia, today announced that the highly anticipated TiVo brand will reveal its new product and on-demand service for New Zealanders before any other country.

TiVo is the world’s most popular media device, giving viewers recording control and playback choice in one famously user-friendly interface. In addition to the TiVo device providing control of free-to-air digital terrestrial television (Freeview|HD compatible), the all-new broadband portal, CASPA™ On-Demand, will have its international debut in New Zealand.

CASPA On-Demand is a world of broadband entertainment including new release movies, hit TV shows for the whole family as well as music videos and concerts. As TiVo is not a subscription service customers can “pay-as-they-use” for CASPA instead of paying monthly fees for shows they do not watch. The broadband content on CASPA is provided as pay-per-view, advertiser funded or free of charge.

The New Zealand launch bundle, sold exclusively through Telecom from November 6, comprises a TiVo 320 Media Device and the Home Networking Package, which enables the customer to transfer TV recordings from their TiVo to their PC or portable device (i.e. PSP or iTouch), as well as view home movies, pictures and listen to their music on the TV.

“TiVo will provide the very best of broadband entertainment and allow Kiwis the freedom to enjoy top-rated movies on the television without impacting their monthly broadband data allowance,” said Ralph Brayham, Telecom director of home services.

“We are absolutely thrilled to premiere this new offering to New Zealanders. With the proliferation of digital free-to-air channels, New Zealanders should have more choice than ever before in how they view, pay for and enjoy their TV,” said Robbee Minicola, CEO of Hybrid TV.

“A key factor in our decision to obtain the licence rights for TiVo in these two countries was to enable broadband features on the television versus the computer. We knew that TiVo was the leader in controlling live television with its award winning features like Season Pass™ recordings and WishList™ searches but we sought to exploit broadband to take the product to the next level. We have achieved that with the CASPA On-Demand service.

“The relationship with Telecom ensures its broadband customers who use the CASPA service will not experience any impact on their monthly broadband data allowance. This is a significant benefit to consumers and explains why only Telecom broadband customers have access to CASPA On-Demand. New Zealanders who are not with Telecom for their broadband can still enjoy the TiVo product but will not have access to CASPA,” said Ms Minicola.

While they look very similar on the surface, philosophically, the Flip Mino HD and the JVC Picsio GC-FM1 pocket cameras are different beasts. They both take “HD video” (720p for the Flip and a bastardised 1080p for the JVC). They both fit in your pocket. They both come with software for your PC that can upload video direct to YouTube.

So let’s skip the basics and get down to the differences:

But what does it all mean?

The Flip camera – the progenitor of the pocket video camera revolution – eschews all dongles and baubles, and focuses on the purpose of taking basic video. The FM1 on the other hand appears to be a descendant of JVC’s existing camcorder lineup, and therefore retains some of the functionality demanded by markedroids: stills, removable memory, HDMI out. You’d perhaps think that the extra features of the FM1 make it a better camera. I’m not so sure.

To start with, you’ll need to purchase a large SDHC card on top of the FM1 price before you can do anything at all. That’s going to add at least $50 to the price. And we can discount the still photo option as nothing more than a gimmick. There’s no way the stills from the FM1 are going to displace anything but the cheapest, nastiest point-and-shoot digital camera. Call me picky, but the addition of the stills mode and multiple video resolutions just makes the FM1 more difficult to use than the Flip. I want to take video, not fiddle with settings.

And then there is the software.

Multitasking

Flip have taken the time to construct a gorgeous, simple little application in Flipshare. It is a pleasure to use, and just works. You can edit up short videos, add backing music (I’ve used one of their tracks in my comparison video below), and upload the results direct to YouTube. I was pleasantly surprised that the application quite happily undertook several processes at the same time, namely rendering a video whilst uploading a different video to YouTube.

JVC have opted to use a scouring pad on my eyeballs, instead of including software with their device. Ok so that’s not entirely true, but the MediaBrowser LE package might as well be a torture device. It is horrible to look at, difficult to use, and not a patch on Flipshare.

Additionally, when you connect the FM1 to your PC, it presents not one, but three drives. As an engineer, I can understand they’ve separated internal memory, SD memory, and the software installer; but as a user, I don’t really give a crap. Compare these two explorer trees, and tell me where to find my videos:

Flip Mino HD	JVC Picsio FM1

Yes OK, but REALLY, what does it all mean?

Regardless of my opinion on how the devices look and behave, the proof is in the pudding. Apparently. So here’s your pudding, re-compressed down to 720p (watch it in HD). Parental advisory: may cause piña colada:

The JVC has more pixels to work with, but on the indoor shots it’s fairly obvious to me that it is over saturated and having trouble with noise. For the record, that cloth on the ornament table at 00:15 is not dark red. The colour shown by the Flip is much more accurate.

Both cameras suffer horribly from “rolling shutter”, visible at 01:00, but there’s nothing you’re going to do to improve that on these pocket cameras. I could be biased, but it does look like the Flip deals with it a little better.

What it all means:

We’re still waiting on official New Zealand pricing, but I’m guessing the Flip Mino HD is going to be cheaper, or most certainly not a vatload more than the JVC. As Chris mentioned in the comments, Noel Leeming has jumped the gun and is advertising the Flip at $349. So, unless you want something that takes kinda noisy, over-saturated video, my choice would be the Flip Mino HD.

Just give it to me raw!

For those of you interested in the raw file output of the devices, here are the links to download the first segment of the video (outdoor, movement).

• Flip Mino HD [16MB]
• JVC GC-FM1 [23MB]