{"id":3278,"date":"2009-12-17T18:15:15","date_gmt":"2009-12-18T02:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lee.org\/blog\/?p=3278"},"modified":"2013-04-23T11:24:12","modified_gmt":"2013-04-23T18:24:12","slug":"lee-recommends-toys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/2009\/12\/17\/lee-recommends-toys\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee Recommends Toys"},"content":{"rendered":"

Man, time flies… When I wrote this 8 years or so it was useful, fun stuff. But now I’ll just relegate it to the data pile. I updated it in 2005 but… feh, don’t read this, it’s old and most of my recommendations don’t hold true any more.<\/p>\n

Lee Recommends Toys<\/h1>\n

[last reviewed (poorly) 9-16-05 – Lee]<\/p>\n

Here’s a list of many of the “good things” I enjoy.<\/p>\n

Tivo <\/strong><\/a>– bought 11-01 – It just plain works. This thing has allowed me to watch exactly what I want, exactly when I want. The recorded picture quality is indistinguishable from live tv… Did you hear that? A perfect playback of tv. Your old VCR is going to start gathering a lot of dust. And the program guide is…. why didn’t they come out with this thing 50 years ago?! It’s so intuitive and easy and… gush gush gush! Suffice to say, I like my Tivo. I bought a suped-up one on eBay. It has an extra 80 gig hard drive giving me 80 hrs or recording time on “high” quality. I would get 200 hrs on “basic” but the picture quality there is ucky. I’d say that 50-80 hours of recording time is the minimum you’d want to get your Tivo with. You think that sounds crazy but it isn’t. It’s important to have enough space on it so that you don’t have<\/strong> to watch your favorite programs before they expire… and have some space left over so you can sample new programs, record entire mini-series, movie marathons, etc…
\nBread maker<\/strong> – bought 12-96 – Breadman Ultimate. See my cooking page<\/a>. I -still- use it all the time.<\/p>\n

Sharper Image Quadra air filter<\/strong> – bought 1-01 – It really works to reduce allergy problems, it’s quiet and saves money over filters. I sold mine a while back and haven’t bought another because I don’t feel like I’ve needed it.<\/p>\n

Pocket PC Cassiopeia E-125<\/strong> – bought 5-01 – I used to have a Palm III but I got tired of my eyes getting tired with the crappy screen. I’m happy with it. I use it 10 times a day every day. With Avantgo, I get to read the newspaper while I’m on the train every day. That’s cool. 9-9-07 update: I haven’t used it in a while. I just use my cell phone or my home computer. I’m -still- waiting for a cell phone\/PDA that fits in my pocket. :-(<\/p>\n

Avantgo<\/strong><\/a> for the Pocket PC. So there I am reading the newspaper every morning on the train, but my “paper” is this tiny (but legible) thing! The electronic newspaper has arrived! 9-9-07 update: I haven’t used it in a while only because I only used it on my Pocket PC.<\/p>\n

Vindigo<\/strong><\/a> for the Pocket PC – started 12-01 – Vindigo was the best thing I had for the Palm… now it’s available! Wee! It’s great! 9-9-07 update: I haven’t used it in a while only because I only used it on my Pocket PC.<\/p>\n

Canon Ultura mini-DV video camera<\/strong> – bought 12-99. 9-9-07 update. I’m still happy with it. Though I use a digital still camera far more often. I use the still-mode and video mode on the digital camera. It is just more convenient.<\/p>\n

Nikon 775 digital camera<\/strong> – 9-9-07 update. This camera went wonky on me a little while back so I bought the 5 megapixel Canon Powershot. That one got accidentally left in the Albertsons in El Cerrito just before Burning Man so I’ll be shopping for another soon. The Nikon 775 was a good camera.<\/p>\n

Here’s my original review (with updates)<\/p>\n

bought 12-01 – I figure that what I really<\/strong>
\nwant is a 35 megapixel camera (1200 dpi 3×5 photos… a real film camera) and they’ll be available in 5 years, Moore’s law (5 years later and we’re only up to 7 megapixel :-( ). This 2 megapixel camera works quite well enough for now. After having this camera for a while, probably the most important features are:<\/p>\n