Late to the Party

I saw a story on Gizmodo about how there is a recap show for Battlestar Galactica available as a free download. I was very interested about this because Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorite shows, and it’s been on quite a long hiatus. I was also wondering if it would be in HD, since there are a bunch of HD videos available for download in the XBox Live Marketplace (mainly movie trailers). Much to my dismay, not only was it in standard definition, but it also had rather poor video and audio quality — we’re talking like watching an old VHS tape. I guess I’m not that surprised, since the broadcasts on the Sci-Fi Channel were pretty horrible anyway. It’s just a bit frustrating when companies just repurpose some video content without at least cleaning it up first, like some movie DVDs.

I was glad to see the content being offered, though, because it’s another step towards offering video content for downloads, and bypassing all this Blu-Ray v. HD-DVD nonsense. iTunes may have been first, but I feel like XBox Live Marketplace has a very good system in place for offering up higher resolution videos for download to compete with iTunes. A lot of their video content (awesome HD trailers and Red vs. Blue episodes) looks a whole lot better on my HDTV than the small iPod-formatted videos from iTunes, that’s for sure.

I’m looking forward to more video content on the XBox Live Marketplace. The XBox 360 could evolve into a Media Center computer that is even more user-friendly than current incarnations of living-room PCs with Windows Media Center software installed. Combine it with what the Zune could be (don’t screw it up, Microsoft!), and the next-gen, “true” video iPod could have an actual competitor.

(via Gizmodo’s giveaway)

OH BOY! This new beta of Ed Holloway’s Ink Blogging plug-in for Windows Live Writer has dropped, and it is awesome. If you want all the details on what has been updated, check out his site. Personally, the following features are what I really like:

1. Customizable pens — colors and line weights
2. Support for erasing with the eraser tip of the stylus
3. Vertically expandable text area (no more pasting together blocks of inked text)
4. Rule lines that can be shown/hidden — I usually didn’t use rule lines when I ink blogged from OneNote, but this feature definitely comes in handy (using it right now ).

There are tons more features, like the ability to recognize your handwriting as text, shape recognition, ability to re-edit your ink before publishing, and more. I’m definitely going to enjoy exploring these new features!

Hey Ed, where do I send my donation?

Well, Kids, here’s an ink blog post from the Q1. Ugh, this ink is super ugly… That’s one thing I’m not enamored of with touchscreen devices — I have yet to see one that doesn’t have vectoring issues if I try to rest my hand on the screen. And the ink is ugly.

But just being able to do this stuff on such a compact device is a cool concept in itself.

I tried out the Logitech keyboard with the Q1 this evening while IMing back and forth with the hubby (who’s away on business, for those of you who aren’t regular readers ). This keyboard was much improved over the Solidtek ultra-mini keyboard I got yesterday. Since the keys are basically full-sized and in the same layout as a regular keyboard, it was no problem to regularly touch-type. I would have no reservations using this keyboard with the Q1 to type out an e-mail, blog entry, or even something longer, like a report. The keys felt solid and were easy to type on (didn’t require any more pressure than a regular keyboard), if a bit louder than a standard laptop keyboard. The keys are thicker (taller) and have a little longer distance to travel than the keys on my M200 keyboard, which accounts for the louder sound. But the keyboard is solid, well-made, and well laid out. Although it is thicker and larger than the Solidtek keyboard overall, I don’t think it would be hard to transport in a small bag along with the Q1. It’s still well within the range of the ultra-portable category. The Logitech keyboard seems like a very good contender against the official Samsung Q1 keyboard. Its price of $19.99 at Fry’s (you can also find this cheaper online) makes it hard to buy the Samsung keyboard over the Logitech (the Samsung keyboard is $99). The only thing I would really ding it for is the lack of a carrying case, but since it is meant to be used with a Playstation 2, I’m not surprised that it lacks a bundled slipcover.

Below are some pictures of the Logitech keyboard: