Vonage delivered

Our Vonage broadband phone adapter was delivered yesterday. The installation was pretty easy. I decided not not install it as the Vonage documentation instructed me. I plugged the adapter directly into my dsl modem, which has 4 ethernet ports. I have saveral static ip addresses, so I allocated one for it directly. I decided that I didn't want to plug my current firewall into the adapter itself because I wasn't sure about how well the modem adapter would route my non-phone traffic. Also, I didn't want to put the adapter in my internal network, becase if I had a lot of network traffic, it could interfere with the bandwidth for it.

HUSH ATX Media PVR

Hush Technology is coming out with another cool product. Their Hush ATX Media PVR is a silent Microsoft Windows XP based PVR and media center, that looks like it does a lot of cool stuff. Here are the specs of the hardware:

• Hush ATX Aluminium Case with 3 Heatpipes,
• 240 Watt Power Supply, Fanless,
• Mainboard FIC P4-865PE, Socket 478, Intel Chipset 865PE, FSB 800
• 2.8GHz Intel® Celeron® Processor,
• 512MB DDRAM PC400 (2x256MB),
• 160GB Samsung HDD, 7200 RPM,
• Teac DVD-R / RAM / CDR-W Combo, DV-W22E, Slim Line,
• Radeon 92V, 128MB DDR SDRAM incl. Graphic Card-Kit
• DVI+CRT+TV out, Fanless, AGP 8X RiserCard,
• Hauppauge NOVA-S, Digital SAT TV Card PCI,
• 4x USB 2.0, 2x IEEE 1394 FireWire, RS232, parallel, Mouse and Keyboard Ports,
• 6 channal Audio Realtec ALC650 Sound 5.1, SPDIF out (Optical/RCA)
• 10/100 LAN Ethernet on Board,
• USB / FireWire Panel in Front, for 2xUSB + 2xFireWire in Front,
• ATI Remote Wonder - Remote Control

Since the only input looks to be the Hauppauge NOVA-S, Digital SAT TV Card, I don't think that this will work in the US, without some modification. I wonder if it could be replaced with a NTSC or ATSC card, and the software would just recognize it.

Also I am not sure about how much this will cost when it does come out, and if it comes out in the US.

HUSH AVX Music Server

While looking at the HUSH ATX PC case, I saw that Hush Technololgy makes a Media server. It seems pretty cool. It is a component size device that has a CD drive, in order to rip CDs. The interesting features is that it comes with a Dell Pocket PC device, with a 802.11 card. They have installed software that automaticalllyy finds the music server on the network, and then allows control of it. The interface on the PDA, also allows you to search for your music on the server.

The AVX Music Server has a 160Gb drive, and what I think is the coolest features is that it is fan less, so that it should be silent, except for the drive. A couple of things that I would love to see are digital audio out, as well as video out, so you are not tied to the PDA based remote.

Hush ATX

/. mentions the Hush ATX which is a Silent PC, made by Hush Technologies. The whole case is made from a bunch of aluminum heat sinks, and it is fitted with heatpipes. Here is a review from TrustedReviews.

Logic Supply has them for sale for $1675, for a 2Ghz Celeron model. It looks like they are out of stock now.

Local Number Portability for Campbell

When we get the broadband phone from Vonage, I will want to transfer our current number over to it. According to Vonage's web site, it is not possible in my area, but looking at the California Public Utility's web site it should be possible. Here is a link to a page that is supposed to remind consumers that Local Number Portability is available.

Portable/Car DVD player

Gizmodo has a post about an neat DVD player. It is the usual portable DVD player, that plays DVD with it's internal batteries. When you get into the car, you just have to connect the player to the dock on the roof of the car, and the picture on the screen automatically flips and the DVD will continue to play. When the player is docked, the audio can go to the cars sound system, so you can get better sound.

Tom Tom Go

My friend Steve (blog) sent me an email about a pretty cool car GPS navigation device. The TomTom Go, is a portable in car navigation device that incorporates navigation software, maps and GPS receiver in one device. It has voice prompts, 3D maps, and a touch screen.

It looks like it is not CD or DVD based, so I assume that there is a USB connector or it takes some flash media to load the maps. The map for the state of California is about 66Mb, according to their web site, and they do offer regional maps.

A car kit is available which offers Power supply, audio out, audio mute, audio in, and disconnect signals, so it seems like it could be integrated pretty well with a pre-existing head unit.

The one downside for this product, is that it doesn't appear to be a double din mounting kit. I would love it if this could be integrated into the dash, as opposed to sitting on top of the dash