Domestic robots - an established fact

They exist since many years, but only now I can say there could be one of them in each house. I’m talking about robots: still not the one whose talks and carry out the housework, but very strange and specialized devices.

Out of all different models available at www.irobot.com, the vacuum cleaner impressed me because it moves autonomously in the house, it can cover all the surfaces of the rooms and it can turn back to the base to recharge itself.

Actually, I’ve first noticed it in the pilot episode of Knight Rider 2008 (broadcasted in the USA) and then I found it again in the Net.

The prices go from 200 to 500 Dollars, about from 200 to 500 Euros if you are willing to buy it in Italy (with the actual rate change it is better to buy in Euros from Italy, but if there is no one that can bring it for free, you have to pay high duty taxes).

It could seems strange, but I’m sure that soon we all be surrounded from these “things” that carry out the most common, boring and repetitive housework while we are at work or on holiday...

Here you can find a demo video or try with a search

Mp3/Mp4 and Multimedia players – travelling and relax

They are many, they are different and there is an embarrassing wealth of options: by now Mp3 players reached reasonable prices and they are part of our daily life.

Starting from the cheapest ones that seem like common USB Pen Drives with small LCD displays, to those more expensive and thin, with modern design and high storage capacity.

In general you can distinguish players with integrated flash memory, more resistant but with small storage capacity, and those with hard disk that can store many songs and videos.

If in the player details there is also Mp4 format, it means that the player can play videos and display size is really important.

Other than Mp3 (audio) and Mp4 formats (Mpeg4, audio and video), there are WMA, AAC, OGG, ASF and WAV formats; the former two are more important, but if the player supports the other ones, you have more choice.

Players evolution has been very fast, even if limited by the small dimension and lightness constraints; however the market demand brought about stronger developing of this kind of products, allowing greater sizes, all to the good of comfort and quality claimed by the user that in this way have the use of a mini portable tv set.

That’s why Multimedia players are born, more expensive than the above ones, but they offer integrated multimedia experience: watch video, movies, pictures and listen to the music.

You should have a look at Euronics, Unieuro, Expert, Mediaworld and I advise to pay attention to the Creative Labs. Mp3/Mp4 players.

If you need help, contact me.

Little tips - E-Mail recipients

With this brief post I wish to explain the mean of all those unknow fields to whom is not friendly with the emails: Cc and Bcc (or Ccn); they usually are placed after the field To.

Cc means Carbon Copy or Courtesy Copy and it is used to indicate the recipient that should know who sent what and to who, even not being the direct recipient.

Bcc means Blind Copy Carbon and it has the same function of the Cc field, but the To receiver is not able to understand if the message has been sent to another recipient too.

So, if my address is zzz@...com and I wish to send a message to xxx@...com and let read it by another recipient yyy@...com (only for informational purposes) I have to write:

To: xxx@...com
Cc: yyy@...com
Subject:
Body of message

The "To" recipient will read:

From: zzz@...com
Cc: yyy@...com
Subject:
Body of message

Otherwise, if the sender use the Ccn: yyy@...com not the Cc, the receiver will read:

From: zzz@...com
Subject:
Body of message

Who receive this email will NEVER be able to know that it has been also sent to yyy@....com

For the Privacy of your contacts and to avoid SPAM due to the spreading of the E-Mail addresses, I advise to use ONLY the Bcc field and NOT the To one for all those funny files that travel the Internet being forwarded; otherwise they would allow the reading of all the recipients to whoever receives that E-Mail. ;)

LCD vs Plasma - now you can choose

I will try to lead you in this choice, writing down some distinctive characteristics.

At first sight, the difference is the price: a Plasma TV set is usually more expensive than an LCD TV set (with screen dimension being equal). If you need a little device, it’s more easy to find an LCD TV set, rather than a Plasma TV set that has medium-big dimensions.

In general LCD TV sets are right for personal view, in fact, given the limited angle view, the quality can decrease on the basis of the position of the observer.

LCD tv sets are backlit and right for bright environments and they don’t feel the “reflex effect”. The pictures are very detailed, even if the color contrast depends from the angle view and the black is not much deep because of the backlit. They are recommended to people that own a game console like Xbox or Playstation or for the view of static images like the photos, while there is a smoothness effect for speedy images (like in a football match).

Plasma TV sets have a wider angle view and this let more people being able to watch the screen with high quality. They feel the effect of the light reflex but the image quality is very high, realistic and suitable for sport broadcast, action movies and etc.

In general, Full-HD TV sets have an higher resolution than the HD-Ready ones (that you can now find on sale). Many of them have integrated digital terrestrial (DVB-T), but pay attention: it is not possible to watch pay per view channels because they missed a CAM interface, unless specified.

If you are still undecided about the two technologies, I advise to go to a shop and look at two different TV sets that transmit the same movie and make the choice on the basis of your own flavors.

For every question or if you need help to purchase, send a comment.