Went With Zune

It was a close decision, but I decided to order the Microsoft Zune Third Generation (8GB). I think the Zune Marketplace finally convinced me to pick the Zune, especially with the upgrade to Zune 3.0 earlier today. Articles like this one are also encouraging, and I like having the hardware and software so tightly integrated. So in the end the desire to take full advantage of Zune Marketplace convinced me to go with the new Zune.

There’s only the blue one available now, so I snagged that one. I strongly considered the 16 GB one, but I realize that I probably won’t be watching that much video and so may not benefit as much from the increased storage space. I ordered several film covers to protect the Zune, but I was not that impressed with the cases that are available. Since I cheaped out on shipping, it will probably be at least a week before I get my new toy. I’m pretty excited, though, especially since most of the purchase was funded through the sale of my previous iPod to DM.

Turn Left In Parking Lot

I finally got a GPS unit. I was so inspired by Kungfucius’ GPS that I decided I had to have one for myself. I bought a more reasonably priced ($199) Garmen Nuvi 350 after checking a bunch of reviews. So far, I am pretty pleased.

The Garmen updating software was simple enough to use, and I added some voices and car avatars (so that I could make the GPS car look like my car). We have given the “Jill” voice a chance to prove herself. The first test last night was to locate the McDonalds, but I think Jill got confused about which McDonalds we wanted, since she told us to go in the opposite direction. On the way back, however, Jill was excellent at directing us back home, and the route recalculation was speedy.

The one place Jill got completely and utterly confused was when we turned into the condo parking lot. I guess Jill thought we were ignoring her and driving around in circles, since we went in through the secondary entrance.

Edit: Doh, less than a week after I bought the Nuvi 350, it dropped about $34 in price! I’m trying to see if I can get the amount credited to my account instead of returning the Nuvi and buying it again at the sale price.

Edit 2: Success within one business day!

HP and the Lurking Brother

I’d had enough of HP and its worthless drivers. How can a company like HP still not have released printer drivers for its 1010-1020 line for Vista after all this time? I know most people prefer XP, but Vista still has to be one of most-used operating systems out there. The printer had problems from the start (not enough RAM to print certain documents either) and had a broken paper catcher (so you had to hold the papers as they printed). When I had to install XP HP drivers on the laptop and wirelessly print from the desktop to the laptop to the printer, I decided that was the last straw, because I wasn’t going to hook up the laptop every time I wanted to print.

Thanks to a surprising Best Buy sale, I was able to pick up the Brother HL-2170W laser printer for only $99 this weekend. I checked that it had Vista drivers and a lot of good ratings beforehand, and it was a reasonable size. The price was nearly unbeatable, and because it can be networked wirelessly, I was able to free up a lot of space on my desk. The printer is now hidden away, out of sight. Set up was fairly easy, although the AOSS did not seem to work. However, getting the fake IP address from the router and putting information in during setup was all it took to get the printer recognized, and everything is working great now. The print speed is fast, and I am very pleased so far.

Humidifier

I had been bugging Bunky to get a humidifier for the longest time, and so a few days ago we grabbed a smallish (less than 2 gallons) unit from Target. We’ve been using it for a few days now and have noted a few things:

• The tank is empty within 8 hours of operating on low/35% humidity. This is a pain, although fortunately the unit sits near the kitchen sink. However, we didn’t have space for a larger unit.
• Humidifiers are kinda loud, and the automatic setting is a little annoying since the machine keeps turning on and off as it reaches then falls below the specified humidity level. We just run it at night right now.
• I think the humidifier has helped, as I don’t wake up and feel completely dried out and miserable now.
• The instructions seem to hint that the maintenance for humidifiers is daunting. I highly doubt I will do the “daily maintenance” as the “weekly maintenance” seems bad enough. Several pieces are dishwasher safe, and I bought some distilled vinegar to de-scale the humidifier.