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| Wednesday, March 1, 2006 |
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iPod Minimum 
| | Ever since I invested a pile in Sonos' remarkable audio system, I've been a little worried that Apple would knock it off. (So has Sonos, I would suspect.) |
| | Essentially, the iPod Hi-Fi is a portable Bose Wave Radio without the radio. Without the iPod too. You have to supply that. |
| | I'm sure it looks and sounds great. But no matter how well-designed the sound stage is, the stereo separation can't be any more than you can get from two channels in one box. Go more than a few feet away and you're hearing mono. |
| | There's also no way to connect it to your computer, or to the Net. There's only an input port for an analog minijack or an optical miniplug. That's it. |
| | Want a great stereo for your house, that plays your music as well as Internet radio and other stuff, very nicely, in multiple rooms, with one killer controller? Here's my review of the Sonos system. |
| | Or, if you're looking to get real stereo for your portable MP3 player (or radio, or whatever has a mini-stereo jack),  with real stereo separation (up to 30 or more feet), check out the Cambridge SoundWorks PCWorks® Amplified Multimedia/Computer Speaker System. It consists of a bass unit and two little 3" square midrange/tweeter speakers, all three of which fit in a bag if you like, and can run off external battery or AC power (it has a brick adapter). It comes in a choice of black or white, and costs a whopping $49. The sound rocks. I have three that I bought for $39 each, and everybody is always impressed by them. One has been working outdoors, in heavy weather, for two years, without fail. And it's not even promoted as "weatherproof". |
Beyond the sea
| | I met John Pharr yesterday morning, when Pat Tack brought him through to show some of the work our house still needs. Pat's our builder, and John is a sailor picking up a few bucks before heading off in his boat for a solo trek around the world. |
| | John's story was too interesting to let pass without a visit, so after school the kid and I came by John's slip down in the harbor here in Santa Barbara. Pat was there, along with some other friends — including Gary (whose last name I forget), a sailor from New South Wales who will be sailing solo alongside John between here and Australia, by way of Hawaii. |
| | A few weeks back we had met John's son Derek, who was also picking up a few bucks working on our house. I don't know how old Derek is, but John is 43. What impressed me about Derek was how he talked casually about his own solo sailing between here, Hawaii and Panama. "I'm proud of him", John said. |
| | "John's an authentic wild man," Pat told me. And Pat knows, having grown up with John. I didn't get too many details, though a story about a Ferrari driven through the front door of a Montecito fire station stands out. |
| | John's friend Mike, who graduated from Lakeside High School in Seattle a generation earlier than its most famous alumnus, described John to me as "a dreamer", adding "All real sailors are dreamers". |
| | In the boat John gave us a rundown of what life is like on board a 37-foot sailboat in the middle of the ocean. His tech included a high-end GPS, radar, shortwave (for getting weather reports, via slow fax, over single-sideband), and a computer stocked with movies and nautical charts, driving two flat screens, including one intended mostly for entertainment. |
| | He showed us how at sea he's lashed to the boat at all times, via a harness that also serves as an inflatable life vest. I asked him if he'd ever fallen overboard. "No", he said. |
| | Afterwards the bunch of us went to Endless Summer to drink, eat seafood, play pool and talk sailing until those of us with kids had to get home before bedtime. |
| | John's dream, for this trip, is to establish relations with coffee sources in the South Seas, which he says has the best-tasting coffee he's ever had. Eventually he'll set up a coffee business back here on the mainland. If I can, I'll track John's progress in both its travel and business dimensions. |
Showplace(s)
| | Just occurred to me that, on the listening side, "It's showtime" doesn't quite apply to podcasts. Listening is more a matter of where (on the Web, on your player) than when. |
| | First, the latest Gillmor Gang, with guest Dan Bricklin. Talk centered around Dan's latest essay, When The Long Tail Wags The Dog, an important and highly informative antidote to single-minded thinking about power curves formed by population distributions — when the importance of individuals within that population cannot be discounted. In an unrelated matter, I was lopped off the Gang's tail within a few minutes of the show's start, when it became clear that even a special headset in a quiet car could not overcome the problems inherent in cell phonery. |
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