A few months ago when the local utility guilted me into conserving more energy, I bought an APC 4 Outlet Power-Saving Timer SurgeArrest and a APC 6 Outlet Power-Saving Timer SurgeArrest to shut off components of my media center at night. The surge protectors are your basic surge protectors, but have a built in timer that allows me to set times for the strip to turn on and turn off. I set up one timer to basically turn off from 11:30 pm to 5:30 am and the other to turn off from 10:30 pm to 6:30 am. Setup is extremely simple and I have already seen a reduction on my electricity bill. Some of the media center components sucked a bunch of juice and by turning things off for 1/3 of the day, it’s no wonder I’ve already seen a slight reduction in my electricity!

There isn’t a whole lot to say about the power strips. If you can arrange your components to turn off for long periods, they can pay for themselves pretty quickly and then some.

Pros

• Easy to setup.
• Pays for itself quickly.

Cons

• More expensive than regular surge protectors.
• Battery life for timer is unknown.
• Timer LCD is not easy to read.

Summary

If you’re looking for a way to save some money and reduce electricity, the APC SurgeArrest devices are a great addition to any media center or computer workstation. Once you setup the timers, you can forget about them and start saving money. There is no downside to getting this surge protectors.

About 2 years ago, I replaced our TiVo with a Mac Mini with 2 Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus HD tuners. The system has worked pretty well, but occasionally I had to reset the boxes (they were connected via USB and each had a power supply) and that caused some shows to not record. I tried to alleviate the problem by scripting the EyeTV software to quit and restart each day. In addition, I tried using a Sophosticated Circuits PowerKey to toggle the power supplies on and off, but that didn’t work well either. The PowerKey software was basically abandoned several years ago and kept crashing. In addition, it didn’t helped. I tolerated it up until recently and finally decided to look for alternatives. To make matters worse, the Signal Strength meter on EyeTV never registered over 30% despite me getting a coax amplifier (the tuners worked worse without the amplifier).

I had read about the SiliconDust HDHomeRun dual tuner device. My hesitation with the device was that it only handled HD channels; however, I realized that we’ve pretty much only watched HD channels in the last 2 years.

I bought the HD HomeRun to give it a try as it was fairly inexpensive. Hooking it up was easy and setup wasn’t difficult either. Plugged it in, connected the coax and the Ethernet cable. Silicon Dust shipped the software on a mini CD which, of course, wouldn’t work on my Mac or any Mac I’ve had in the last 10 years. I downloaded the software from the web and did the basic configuration; the software was pretty basic and awful looking, but good enough to get the job done and I’d never have to see it again. The box has been working flawlessly and even better, I was able to disconnect the coax amplifier and still get a very clear picture. This also let me go from 3 power bricks to 1 power brick.

The only downside to the box and not really a flaw in the box itself is that I went from using the EyeTV remote with over 50 separate buttons to using an Apple remote with far fewer controls. (I programmed my Logitech Harmony 880 remote for the commands I needed.) This means that I lost some of the skip features and a few other functions; however, it’s working pretty well.

Pros

• Inexpensive.
• Easy to setup.
• Good picture quality.
• Reliable.

Cons

• Is not a standalone device; requires a computer to view TV or record.

Summary

The HD HomeRun was a very nice replacement for the EyeTV 250 Plus devices. If I was looking to setup a Mac Mini again, I would have gone with the box as it was significantly cheaper ($100 vs $320 for the 2 EyeTV 250 Plus boxes). I’m very pleased with my purchase and would definitely recommend it to anyone setting up a DVR. I’m still not ready to drop regular TV (we still have basic cable as I haven’t made the leap to an antenna), so this is a great solution to keep us loaded up with content.

Just about every time I’ve gone on vacation, someone is missing from the pictures we take. Self timers are great, but you have to put the camera some place stable and that typically requires carrying a tripod. Small tripods such as the Joby Gorillapod are great, but I don’t always remember to take mine with me. I saw the tiltpod and just had to give it a try. It’s an interesting product that always gives a stable base to set a camera. I took it on my recent vacation and was able to take a few pictures using it; it was always attached to the camera, so using it wasn’t a problem. Unfortunately most of the pictures I took were out of focus and difficult to set up. As the tiltpod makes the camera sit on a flat surface (or so), it’s kind of hard to put my head behind it. I think part of the problem may be that I need to read up on some of the auto focus settings on my camera, so I’ll have to play around with them and see if I can get better at taking pictures.

The tiltpod is quite simple in that it is a magnetic base with a numb that screws into the camera. I really like the concept and had high hopes for it. I’m going to keep the base hooked onto the strap and use it every once in awhile; if I can get the auto focus working better, then the tiltpod will be immensely useful. As of now, it is kind of an interesting product, but has limited utility for me.

Pros

• Easy to use.
• Convenient.
• Stable.

Cons

• Hard to put head behind camera when on flat surface.
• Potentially limited utility.

Summary

The tiltpod does everything it purports to do and does it well. While not a flaw in the product itself, putting a digital camera on a flat surface makes it almost impossible to put your head behind it if set on a rock, or something else that you can’t crouch behind. I did find it convenient when I set it on a metal chair and was able to easily get behind it.

The tiltpod is not that expensive and if you understand the limitations, I’d recommend getting it. If you expect it to completely replace a tripod, then you’ll be very disappointed with this.

Almost two years ago, I wrote about my experience with Ooma and how disappointed I was with it. I decided to give it another chance and did so in June. After 2 months of testing, my wife and I were satisfied with the voice quality and features, so I ported our number over to Ooma and dropped the $62 a month landline.

The price for Ooma can’t be beat even if you pay the $120 a year for Ooma premier which I chose to do. The premier service got me a free number port, enhanced caller ID (without this you just get the number and it matches it with your phone book to show the name), a second phone number/line, voicemail sent to email and text, Google Voice extensions and ability to forward all calls to a cell phone if my Internet connection goes down.

The basic question is if the voice quality is good and is it reliable. So far voice quality has been much better than it was last time I tried. This could be due to newer hardware, a different router, or any other number of factors. We’ve had a few blips, but overall the quality is more than acceptable. Reliability is a little different story. Last week they had a major outage that lasted a few hours that was blamed on a power outage. It made me question my decision, but considering we have cell phones for backup, it wasn’t a hug concern.

Pretty much everything else is gravy to me. We had a basic answering machine, so voicemail that sends to email is a great feature, but takes the excitement out of coming home and seeing the light flashing on the answering machine!

I picked up a Telo handset a little over a week ago with the intention of using it as a work line. The phone would allow me to be on a call without tying up the home number. After a few missteps setting of Google Voice extensions, I managed to set it up such that the handset is my work line for both incoming and outgoing calls. When I call out, it shows my Google Voice number. The handset is mediocre in that it is slow in scrolling through the numbers and doesn’t have a headset jack. However, it is good enough for my needs. I’ve used the speakerphone for a number of conference calls without any problems.

The only gotcha with any VOIP solution is what happens when the power woes out. I plugged my router, cable modem, Ooma box, and cordless phone base station into a UPS. That should be good enough for a few minutes. With cell phones easily reachable, this isn’t a big concern.

Pros

• Inexpensive even with the premier service and $3.50 in monthly fees.
• Voicemail works well and sending messages to email is useful.
• Google Voice extensions makes it convenient to have a work phone.
• Decent voice quality.

Cons

• Recent outage is a little disconcerting.
• Steep initial cost, but cost recovery can happen in about 7 months.
• Telo Handset is a mediocre cordless phone.

Summary
For those looking to keep a home phone, but want to reduce cost, Ooma is currently a decent option. As long as Ooma stays in business and the voice quality remains good, I’ll be happy. With the initial cost of $180 + tax (from Costco), the $120 Premier service for the year and $3.50 per month the first year cost is around $350. I will be able to recoup the entire first year cost in less than 6 months. After the first year with the premier service, I’ll be paying about $14 a month which is $48 a month less than I was paying.

When I saw Alfred available in the Mac App Store, I grabbed a copy and was pretty impressed. I’ve used a number of launchers over the years including Quicksilver, LaunchBar, Google Quick Search Box, and Butler. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses. The biggest downside I found to all of the launchers was the UI.

Alfred does basically the same thing as the other launchers, but the UI I find to be quite elegant. The free version of Alfred has handled just about all my launching needs as I’m primarily a keyboard person and the less I have to use the trackpad, the better (with some limitations). Just yesterday, I saw a new version of Alfred had come out and the PowerPack (£12) had some features that I found cool including entering Terminal commands and file navigation. I plunked down my ~$20 and have been happily using Alfred all day.

I really have no complaints about Alfred and find that it is easier to use and more visually appealing than its competitors.

Pros

• Easy to use.
• Clean user interface.
• Preferences are easy to understand.
• Quick Terminal command entry is slick. (PowerPack Only)
• File Navigation is a quick way to find files. (PowerPack Only)
• Clipboard history eliminates need for a separate app. (PowerPack Only)

Cons

• Searching for files could use a bit more narrowing down. For instance, I want results from my home folder, but not in my Library folder.

Summary

Without buying the PowerPack, Alfred is well worth using. The user interface is clean and the application works well. Adding the PowerPack, if you need the extra features, is worth the small cost. I find that without a launcher of any kind, I spend far too much time looking for applications; I don’t like a ton of applications on my dock, so a launcher is needed. Alfred, for me, is the best of the current crop of launchers.

Everyone has a favorite launcher and switching launchers is much like the debate about which is better, Mac or Windows. Giving the free version of Alfred a try is a no brainer. If you don’t like it, go back to using another launcher.