Hands-Free Headsets

When people ask me for hands-free headset advice, my first question is if they prefer wireless (using bluetooth) or wired (plugging a headset into the phone). Each have their pros and cons.

Wired:

  • cheaper ($10-$25)
  • no loss in audio quality
  • simple
  • no battery to charge
  • needs to have correct adapter for particular phone

Wireless:

  • More expensive ($80 for my favorites)
  • No wire to get in the way or take up room
  • Allows you to walk about 20 feet from the phone (helpful if your phone only gets reception in one spot)
  • Works with any bluetooth device, including computers (so you can use it for Skype calls)

Favorite Models

The exact model of headphone is a matter of preference because ears are different shapes and sizes. My current favorites are from Plantronics.

  • The Plantronics MX-505 (pictured) is an excellent wired headset. Make sure to get the correct version for your phone. Plantronics now also sells the MX-500i which includes both a 2.5mm adapter for most mobile phone and a small USB adapter for computers.
  • The Plantronics Discovery 925 (pictured) is a great Bluetooth headset. It has a case that has a built-in battery to charge the phone. As bluetooth headsets go, it sounds good and is simple to operate.

Your Preference

Much of the wired/bluetooth decision is preference. I think that both look dorky and I prefer the lack of any audio degradation by a wired headset. But seeing people on phones around D.C., Virginia, and Maryland, I think that I’m in the minority at this point.

Because of Washington D.C.’s hands-free headset law (July 1, 2004) and just to be safer, you should have a headset that you feel comfortable using.

IT Conference for Intelligence Community

The Washington Post writes Even Spies Go to Trade Conferences about yesterday’s Open Source Conference 2008 organized by the DNI (Director of National Intelligence) at Washington D.C.’s Ronald Reagan Building. The “open source” here does not refer to open source code for developers, but to open sourcing of intelligence by using the Internet and other publicly available sources to gather information.

Unlike Cold War-era spies, intelligence analysts and government policymakers can no longer rely primarily on cloak-and-dagger operations to keep track of global threats. Now, like businesses and other organizations, they’re increasingly turning to the torrents of information available on the Internet and through other non-classified sources.

Booz Allen Hamilton offered a service called InTrack to help collect, monitor and process data collected from the Internet and other sources. LexisNexis promoted a system for sending automated warnings of trouble abroad. There were companies selling translation systems, Web search tools and data-mining supercomputers. One of the more popular booths was Google’s.

The Google booth displayed a high-definition video of a virtual car driving through an exact digital representation of San Francisco — streets, buildings and all. But Google exhibitors said they were not allowed to tell a reporter why the company was there or what it did for intelligence or anything else.

Zebralight H50-Q5 Headlamp

I was recently asked by a Washington D.C. customer about the headlamp that I wore when replacing a hard drive inside his computer. It’s the Zebralight H50-Q that I got from 4sevens.com.

The Zebralight H50-Q is amazingly bright and uses one AA batteries. I use it on lots of hardware projects where I need to see small parts clearly. It’s a great addition to any toolkit.

4sevens.com is the same company as fenix-store.com which provides Fenix lights such as the L2D. These have the latest high lumen Cree LED bulbs.

These lights are expensive at $50-60. You can find coupon codes such as CPF8 for readers of the Candle Power Forums.

If you need a bright light, give one of these a try.

iPhone App Follows the Presidential Election Polls

Living in the Washington D.C. area, I meet a lot of political junkies. A great application for them is Election ’08 for iPhone & iPod Touch by Aaron Brethorst. It costs $0.99. While the information it provides is freely available from electoral-vote.com, Election ’08 displays the information well and is easy to browse. It gives you the polls and trends by state, as well as historical data for past elections.

I’ll be watching my state of Virginia because it is a close swing state. Election ’08 shows that Washington D.C. is the most skewed state with 90 to 9 currently for Obama.

If you are interested in the election poll results as they come in and you have an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch, Election ’08 is worth the $0.99.

Watch Your Home Team with Slingbox

Slingbox is a device that hooks up to your cable, tuner, or DVR. You connect to it remotely using the SlingPlayer software to watch TV from wherever you are on the Internet. It costs $150 to $240 depending on the version you want.

Because it is a one-to-one connection and not a broadcast, it isn’t illegal. So if you want to watch your home TV while you’re on the road, or if you want to watch the football team that isn’t shown where you live, Slingbox is a great solution.

The quality isn’t perfect. It depends on the upload bandwidth at the Internet connection where the Slingbox is located. Sports programs unfortunately will suffer the most from the video compression because they have a lot of action. Sometimes you just need to listen to the announcers to figure out what really happened.

If football is very important to you, then consider purchasing DirecTV and then adding the Sunday Ticket for $300. But if you can handle the reduced video quality, Slingbox is a great solution.

UPDATE: Slingbox just released the Slingbox Pro-HD, their new top-of-the line version. This box can now send high definition video over a local network.