http://www.viewpoints.com/aboutme/Barksfan Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:29:38 GMT Reviews by Barksfan http://www.viewpoints.com/Creative-Technology-ZEN-4GB-Digital-Media-Player-review-e3120 I purchased a 32GB Creative Zen and added a 16GB SDHD card for a whopping 48GB of memory in a device that is the size of a credit card and is as thick as a CD case.  No hard drive means no moving parts that suck the battery dry as well as beign susceptible to shock. — Easy to use - downloading is a cinch.  I've added about 300 photos and 3000 songs.  I've also added about 75 hours worth of books on CD.  Still, the device is less than half full (my music is typically 192 or 256 Kbs, MP3 format while the books are 96kbs WMA - don't need the same resolution quality for speech)   Soon, I'll add some video but I need to acquire the appropriate ripping software first. — This device has a built in FM tuner and voice recorder, calendar, and alarm clock.  My biggest compliants - no removeable battery (just like the ipod in this category) and, like most mp3 players nowdays, includes very few accessories (case, car... Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:29:38 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Creative-Technology-ZEN-4GB-Digital-Media-Player-review-e3120 Barksfan 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/US-Gvt-CIA-World-Handbook-for-PDAs-review-2dfe1 Well, I travel a lot so I like to have lots of information and games along with access to the internet wherever I go.  I already reviewed some PDA software on movies that reside on my Treo 700P.  Here is another program that is remarkably comprehensive, updated annually and is best of all.........FREE! — To down load this little gem, go to memoware.com and type in "CIA" in the search area.  You will be taken to a page that lists a dozen or so versions of this program that all can be  obtained for free.  File size range from 5 to 10 MB depending on format, resolution and whether you want color or not.  I use the Plucker version - so i had to download a free ware version of Plucker to read the CIA World Handbook.  The easiest way out is to go with Palm Reader which I believe is already resident on all Palm OS PDA's out there.  By the way, I would think that you would want to put this on your external card to keep the phones memory freed... Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:05:15 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/US-Gvt-CIA-World-Handbook-for-PDAs-review-2dfe1 Barksfan 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Landware-The-Leonard-Maltin-Movie-and-Video-Guide-Electronic-Version-review-33842 I love movies!   Earlier, I reviewed the Video Hound Movie Guide for Palm (they have it for Windows devices as well) and now it is time to give a nod to the other PDA/smartphone movie software, Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide for 2008. — While a few thousand movies shy of what the Video Hound gives you, and more business like ( no audible "Woofs" for bad movies) It sill does a great job of giving you a concise movie synopsis while you are at the video store or at Best Buy rummaging through the DVD bargain bin.  The software ranges its ratings from "Bomb" to 4 stars in half star increments.  It also allows you to look up the body of work on 5840 directors and 34,547 actors.  From Will Farrel to Errol Flynn, you want to know all the movies they were ever in?  This works great!  Just tap on their name from an alphabatized list and zing, there you are - a complete compendium of their lifes work.  Tap on a movie... Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:00:00 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Landware-The-Leonard-Maltin-Movie-and-Video-Guide-Electronic-Version-review-33842 Barksfan 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Pocket-Sensei-Video-Hound-for-Palm-OS-review-2193 Are you a movie afficiando?   Tired of guessing about what movies are good while at the video store?  Forget who starred in your favorite movie?  Want no know who directed it?  You are a candidate for Video Hound!  You may have seen the book (big and heavy)  but you can carry the complete contents in you Palm Treo or Centro phone (or regular non-phone Palm Tungsten, etc as well). —  It will cost about $25.00 for the two necessary components (Video Hound has the movie title and a rating from "Woof!" which is really bad, to 4 bones, which is wonderous)  but you will need (and want) the companion software called REX which has all the reviews as well as who starred and directed the movie.   One thing that I really like is that most of the names associated with any given movie (actors, directors, writers, etc) are active links so if you like Tim Burton, who directed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, for instance, tap... Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:07:11 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Pocket-Sensei-Video-Hound-for-Palm-OS-review-2193 Barksfan 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/2008-Nissan-Altima-Sedan-review-079a3 After much reading and driving, I finally arrived at a decision regarding what car to buy.  The contenders were the Honda Accord, Chev Malibu, Toyota Camry, and the Mazda 6.  Rather than discuss the other vehicle attributes, I'll stick with the Nissan. —  First off, the engine that I went for was the 2.5 litre 4 cyl (according to Car and Track, they got an all-around 25 MPG over 1000 miles of mixed driving - not bad for a car that can go 0-60 in 7.9 seconds and puts out 175 HP)  It has a CVT (continuous variable transmission) rather than traditional gears.  This means that the engine rpm and gearing are always best suited for performance and gas economy.  — The one dissapointing thing is that the 4-banger has no traction control - you have to move up to the 3.5 litre 6 to get the little goody. — Interior wise, it was very comfortable and had plenty of leg room (I'm over 6') but lacked a bit of head room in the back seat due to the... Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:34:34 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/2008-Nissan-Altima-Sedan-review-079a3 Barksfan 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Three-Stooges-Vol-1-review-b77d0 If you like slapstick comedy, you certainly are aware of the 3 stooges.  Over the years, their videos have been packaged and repackaged and thrust into the publics hands -often with overlapping episodes,  attrocious film quality, Curly mixed with non Curly episodes, and an opportunity to spend a lot of money in an attempt to secure the whole run of the series and usually failing — This 2007 release contains 19 episodes (340 minutes) in order of release from the years 1934, 1935, and 1936.  Nothing missing, and nothing stuck in from 20 years later (nothing against Shemp but I love Curly).  The quality of the film is excellent - clean and sharp with good contract and okay sound (certainly not THX dolby but not bad considering it is over 70 years old).  The price is very good - on sale for under $20 (I paid under $16) if you hunt around.  At this rate, it will take approximately 5 sets to complete the Curly run.  I don't know if they plan on... Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:00:01 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Three-Stooges-Vol-1-review-b77d0 Barksfan 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Nokia-BH-800-Wireless-Headset-review-2b131 Still one of the best bluetooth earpieces (see CNET) is this device, it is very compact and has excellent sound.  One of the best things (and causes the most comments) is the slick little necklace that you are given to hook it into for storage.  Hard to loose and no chance of leaving it in your pants pocket and washing it.  The mic for sound pickup is very sensitive so if you are in a particularly noisy environment, the person on the other end may complain that you are hard to hear (like standing at the back end of a rental car bus next to the engine compartment).  Otherwise, people comment (when I ask) that the sound is clear and clean. — Pros - small, good battery life, great method for carrying, good sound quality — Cons - expensive, hook that goes around ear broke off after about 8 months - still works fine without it.  Doesn't appear to have a user replaceable battery —... Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:57:07 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Nokia-BH-800-Wireless-Headset-review-2b131 Barksfan 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Ion-Ittusb-USB-Turntable-review-a1442 I have several hundred LPs - many of which will never be available via i-tunes, Rhapsody etc due to their obscure nature.   The answer to this dilemma is the ION USB turntable.  I have used this $110 device to salvage nearly 70 tracks from vinyl into MP3 files that can then be transferred to CD or an MP3 player.  — The turntable comes with easy to use freeware called Audacity which allows you to edit and manipulate the tracks.  You will need to down load a free converter from LAME to transfer the WAVE files that Audiacity creates (which are lossless and huge - a 3:40 song may be 39 MB in size for WAVE as compared to the same track in MP3 which is around 3.6MB)  Just follow the step-by-step included directions and you are in business.  — PROS - go in with some friends on this item and for relatively small financial outlay, you can add a lot of tracks to your MP3 player,  decent sound most of the time, Audacity is very powerful... Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:47:43 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Ion-Ittusb-USB-Turntable-review-a1442 Barksfan 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Palm-Treo-700p-Cell-Phone-review-2d372 I've had my Treo 700P for over a year and am very happy with it.  I did by a larger after market battery (2400 mah as opposed to the 1800 Mah that it comes with) and have extremely good battery life for surfing the web as well as talk time. —  After a stint of using a Windows based mobile device, it was a relief to come back to the effeciency of the Palm operating system.  Granted, it cannot multitask, but it is far less of a resource hog and more intuitive to use.  — Features that I appreciate include a standard SD card slot that can accomodate up to an 8Gb Sd card (assuming you did the ROM update), 3G internet - faster than what the I-phone is capable of, and a touch screen - so easy to manuver around. — When not using the web, I use it for my GPS device - no cost.  I use Tom Tom and a blue tooth antenna along with an SD card loaded with maps of both the US and Canada.  The Treo can look into my address book and navigate my to any one... Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:27:10 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Palm-Treo-700p-Cell-Phone-review-2d372 Barksfan 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/SanDisk-e280-8GB-MP3-Player-review-60b60 With a price point in the $110 to $130 range, this item is an exceptional deal.  I added a 2GB micro expansion card and now have a total of 10Gb - all flash memory, no hard drive.  This makes for exceptional battery life. — Not recommended for video playback as the screen is so small. But I do recommed the Altec Lansing docking station for music playback.  It sounds excellent, I also added a subwoofer (fairly hard to find) and really am pleased at the sound. — Pros:  Built in FM tuner, expandable memory slot, bigger screen than ipod, user replaceable battery, much cheaper - than an Ipod.  — Cons - not as many accessories as the Ipod, I wish they would do a software update to allow for the newer 4GB micro sd card (I've already filled everything to the brim).  —... Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:03:19 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/SanDisk-e280-8GB-MP3-Player-review-60b60 Barksfan 4