Joi Ito's Stuff

Slide rule on my watch - Seiko Prospex SBDR001

I just bought a Seiko Prospex SBDR001. I bought it mainly for the well integrated digital world clock and the analog watch. It allows you to easily transfer the time from the world clock to the analog watch and the navigation in the world clock is simple. The daylight savings is manual, but I've finally decided after being screwed by daylight saves one too many times that many I should keep my head around it, rather than trying to get my watch to keep track.

This watch has a slide rule. It allows you to multiply, divide, solve simple equations and do conversions very fast. I started fiddling it with it during take-off and landing when you can't use electronic devices and I discovered that I really enjoyed my first experience with a slide rule.

It also explained in the instructions that if you point the little hand at the sun, the point between the 12:00 mark and the little hand is South. (To the left in the morning and to the right in the afternoon.) That makes sense in retrospect, but I didn't know that.

My Nokia 6680

After some begging, Nokia sent me one of their new 6680 phones. (As one of my business partners used to say, "never beg... unless it helps.") Thanks! I'd been trying to get my hands on one because it runs Symbian, is fast, and works on 3G networks. (My old 7600 worked on the Japanese 3G network too, but it wasn't Symbian and was a bit clunky to use.) Since J-Phone/Vodaphone and NTT DoCoMo have rolled out 3G in Japan and have roaming agreements with carriers like T-Mobile, which I use, I've been hoping that I could get a good phone that would finally allow me to have a single phone number everywhere.

So far the phone is great. It's faster than my older Symbian phones, has a application that imports data from your old phone (yay!), has 2 high quality cameras and a logical keypad. (The keypad on my 7610 was a bit too "fashionable".) The main camera has a sliding cover, which I think is a good thing. The only thing I don't like about the design is that it looks a bit like a small Treo.

I just looked at the international coverage information for Japan at it says that the "Voice Rate" is $1.99. I assume this is $1.99 / min. Hmm... Then it says the "Internet Rate" is $1.50. I looked around and haven't been able to figure out what that means. Does that mean $1.50 per packet or something? It's still expensive and I'm not sure if I'll use it much, but at least I know I can. A friend of mine mentioned that if Japan had gone with GSM instead of DoCoMo's funky PDC protocol, Japanese handset manufacturers may have had a better chance competing internationally. As it stands, the foreign markets are dominated by non-Japanese handset companies. Maybe with NTT DoCoMo's announcement that they are going all 3G by the end of the year, we'll see some of the handset guys in Japan start making cooler phones for the global market. On the other hand, I have a feeling that DoCoMo will continue to force the handset guys to cripple their phones. Right now you can't SMS anyone outside of DoCoMo from a DoCoMo phone, even though they are finally using the UMTS standard. According to a friend of mine, this is very difficult to do. You actually have to spend a lot of energy to break the system and limit SMS to your own network.

Here is a matrix comparison of the various Nokia phones. As you can see, only the 6630 and the 6680 do WCDMA 2100 which is the 3G protocol that works in Japan.

The other thing I just noticed is that I was able to navigate bluetooth and the email setup and get all of my data moved over to the new phone in minutes. I thought about how much easier things have gotten, but then I realized that the jargon and the interface were practically the same. I remember only a little while ago when I couldn't make heads or tails of any of this. I was the one who had adapted to the phone. Eek. Lock-in.

Sensaphonics ear molds and my new ProPhonic Soft 2Xs

Last week I received my custom Sensaphonics ear molds for my Shure E5cs and a new set of Senasaphonics ProPhonic Soft 2Xs with custom ear molds. On May 28, the president of Sensaphonics, Michael Santucci, was visiting Japan and he took the molds himself. He was in Tokyo meeting with audiologists training them to take ear molds for Sensaphonics. Michael sent me molds for my Shure E5cs and a new set of ProPhonic Soft 2Xs.

As I've described in my posts about my E2cs, my E5cs and my post about hearing conservation, the idea of in ear isolation ear phones is that you isolate your ear from outside side and increase the quality of the sound while being able to listen to the music at a much lower and less damaging volume. It's a totally different technology than noise canceling. I've tried many types of noise canceling headphones, and if you can afford them and can deal with the weird sensation of having something stuck deep in you ear, the sound with in ear isolation ear phones is MUCH better.

Anyway, I started with the E2cs and declared them "the best headphones I've ever used." Then when the E5cs came out with the dual inducer + cross over it improved the range and quality so much, I declared "I'm in sound heaven." Now I struggle for a new phrase. It's like fine wines or teas. You think you've had the best, and then you're surprised when the next level is even more amazing. Like fine wines and teas, the price keeps getting steeper. The E2cs will set you back $100, the E5cs $500, the ProPhonics 2Xs $900 and the custom ear molds cost about $50. These prices may vary depending on where you get them. (Thanks again Michael for letting me try these out.)

I must say, that the quality of sound increase from the E2cs to the E5cs was much more noticeable than from the E5cs to the ProPhonics. The biggest improvement is the comfort of the soft silicon ear molds. They are amazingly comfortable and shut out the outside sound much better than any of the sleeves available. I had been using the triple flange sleeves for the E5cs because they went the deepest, but they were uncomfortable and I had to keep pushing them in. The silicon ear molds just fit.

Michael has used a very thing, but very strong teflon cable for the ProPhonics so the whole package is much lighter and less visible than the E5cs. In addition, because the molds for the E5cs have to wrap themselves around the E5c casings, the whole thing sticks out of your ear, whereas the ProPhonics inducers fit inside of the mold itself and everything is hidden in your ear, making the whole setup almost invisible. (Not always a good thing if someone is trying to talk to you.)

For a more thorough review an comparison of the ProPhonics with ER-4s and E5cs see:
REVIEW: Sensaphonics ProPhonic 2X-S - Comparison w/ ER-4 and E5c

WiSIP WiFi SIP Phone

I finally got my WiSIP WiFi SIP Phone from pulverInnovations. It's the first WiFi SIP phone that I've seen. Someone on #joiito told me about it, but now I forget who. Anyway I got one.

Basically, the idea is that anywhere there is a WiFi, you should be able to call anyone you can access via SIP. Just like a cell phone. Except... for free.

It's a bit "prototypey" but it seems to work... Although I don't have anyone to test actual calls with. It comes with a Free World Dialup number, but I don't have any friend who use SIP. I heard that they are currently working on a deal with Vonage, which will let you receive your normal phone calls on it, but I'd rather have everyone using SIP. I got a few other friends to order them so I'll let you know how it works when I have someone to call. ;-)

My new P900i

I just got my P900i. It is an NTT DoCoMo phone made by Panasonic that works on NTT DoCoMo's FOMA 3G network. The coverage of the FOMA network has increased slowly, but their phone designs have been pretty crappy and overall the uptake of the FOMA phones was not very good.

From this series, they took the design/marketing away from the older FOMA team and the hipper and more successful i-mode team was in charge. I think this is the first FOMA phone that I might actually be able to use.

Feature-wise, it's a 1.28 mega-pixel camera pointing out and a 100K pixel camera pointing at you. The camera has auto-focus, so no more of this "macro" stuff. Which is good since the camera has OCR to scan email addresses and phone numbers as well as a bar code reader. There's a bit of politics around the barcodes, but I'll talk about that some other time. It takes MP4 movies and has a mini SD slot.

It has a 240 x 320 TFT display on the inside and a color 96 x 64 STN display on the outside.

Theoretically, it goes 384K and the i-mode browsing and email are noticeably faster. It has a bunch of other new features like multi-tasking, being able to download TV shows at home and watch them on the go, replaceable covers for the "customized look". It has Flash and Java and comes with Final Fantasy built in.

I was able to move my number from the DoCoMo PDC network to this new phone and have it configured to allow me to switch back to my PDC network and my old phone when I don't have FOMA coverage, but this is a clunky solution. It has a button to flip open the flip phone face, but it opens kind of sloooow. It's a bit "boxy" looking too.

Anyway, it's miles better than any FOMA phone I've ever had, but it don't love it like I love my Nokia 6600's. I haven't gotten the camera to work with the moblog yet, but the auto-focus might end up being a cool feature.

HP 12C

The HP 12C is my favorite calculator that I've ever owned. I LOVE the touch of the HP keys, I LOVE reverse polish notation (RPN), I love the simplicity. The HP 12C has just about every function you need and very few function you don't need. It is also the perfect size. It's a pretty standard tool so I feel a bit silly writing about it, but just in case you don't have one, I decided that maybe I should blog about it.

First of all, RPN makes more sense once you get used to it than any other way of talking to a calculator. You hit the keys the way you actually think of equations. For instance, to calculate 1 / ( (2 + 3) * 3) on a normal calculator you would do something like 2 + 3 = x 3 MC M+ 1 / MR = probably. With the HP you would do something like 2 ENTER 3 + 3 x [1/x]. In other words, enter 2, take 3 and add it, take another 3 and multiply it, then invert it. You sort have have to get used to it, but trust me. It's more natural.

The HP 12C also has a bunch of very useful financial functions for dummies like me. You can listen to an entrepreneur give a pitch and punch in... 5 years, projections for the first 5 years, starting cash, then pow you get expected cash at the end of 5 years and pow, you've got your internal rate of return (IRR). Or if you're buying a house, punch the interest rate, how much down payment, how many years, how often you pay, and pow, you've got your monthly payments. You can do date calculations and some simple programing too.

Anyway, I can't live without it and I have software on my palm and my PowerBook that emulate the HC 12C.

Zip-Linq USB chargers

From my favorite gadget site, MobileWhack:

Just as Bluetooth is finally coming into its own as dongle-replacement (USB-replacement in particular), I've been coming to see USB as Bluetooth with power-replacement, suffering only from a mild but tolerable bit of tethering.

For a few months now I've been carrying a lighter load, a fist-full of Zip-Linq cables rather than lugging all the heavy charging bricks for mycellphones, PDAs, Firewire drives, and other assorted gadgets. There are both the additioonal dimensions and weight to consider -- and when you tote as many gizmos as I've come to, these count in large amounts. While of course there are various brands of these dongles, the Zip-Linq is retractable, taking up only 3 inches or so in a cargo-pants- or laptop bag pocket.

I have always been a big Zip-Linq fan, but I hadn't gotten into the chargers. When I saw Rael whip this little guys out, I was instantly in love. I just ordered them and am waiting for them to arrive.

My Nokia 6600 vs my Sony SO505iS

I know this is comparing apples and oranges, but that's what I've got: apples and oranges.

The Nokia 6600 has a 65,536 color 176 x 208 pixel display and a 640 x 480 pixel camera whereas the Sony SO505iS has a 262,144 color 240 x 320 display and a 1280 × 960 pixel camera. Both displays are bright, but the Sony display and camera win.

They're about the same size and weight, but the 6600 feels much more comfortable in my hand. Warm, round and buttons in the right place. The SO505iS is cold and a bit awkward (as if a digital camera and a phone got merged in the machine in "The Fly"). Having said that, the SO505iS is much better than the SO505i that it replaces. It's thinner and generally better designed. (The antenna doesn't stick out of your chin, the camera turns on when you open the camera cover, etc.)

The SO505iS runs J2ME and Flash applications whereas the 6600 runs J2ME and Symbian applications. The UI on the 6600 is utilitarian and simple whereas the Sony sports an animated background and a OS X sort of zooming icon wheel. The Sony has a two speaker stereo system and a stereo mini-plug for headphones where you can listen to music and watch videos from the proprietary memory stick in their proprietary media format. (You can record your favorite TV shows onto your memory stick and watch them on the train.)

The biggest difference is that you have to be a rocket scientist to figure out all of the message and data modes on the 6600. The blessing and the horror of the open system is that 6600 has to deal with all of the carrier inconsistencies and trying to figure out how to get online with the 6600 reminded me of just how screwed up the telco standardization process is. The SO505iS, on the other hand comes from the dictatorship of Docomo so what it lacks in flexibility and openness, it benefits in simplicity. Shoot a photo, click and send. Moblog away. I have yet to be able to send a picture via email from my 6600.

Both phones have lots of applications, but the Symbian applications are impressively Internet aware. There is an IRC client and IM client. Docomo, with it's rather closed architecture regarding networking has some cool applications, but they are really focused on providing content and services.

I would probably have a different opinion if I still used my Vaio, but the SO505iS really doesn't want to have anything to do with my Mac. The 6600 on the other hand, loves my Mac, talking to it in Bluetooth and even happily becoming a gprs modem for it. Zooming in a cab in San Francisco with my 6600 in my pocket and my PowerBook on my lap online was a great feeling. (Thanks for showing me how to do this Rael!)

Having said that, this is a totally useless review because you can't use the 6600 in Japan because we don't have a GSM network and you can't use the SO505iS anywhere outside of Japan because it uses Docomo's proprietary PDC network, or rather Docomo uses the SO505iS. Thus apples and oranges.

Sorry, this is a dupe from my main blog.

Shure E5c - I'm in sound heaven

I wrote that the Shure E2cs were the best headphone/earphones I've ever had. Well, today I just got my E5cs and they're better. There's this amazing feeling when you think you're in heaven and you find there is something better. I've had similar experiences with wine and Chinese tea. When you taste the good stuff, you can't go back and then you start wondering if there is anything better.

Anyway, the details...

The E5cs main difference is that it has a cross-over circuit and fits 2 drivers in each earphone so you get an amazing dynamic range. The bass reverberates through you head like you're in a disco or something. The E2cs were great on the high ends, but these E5cs do the whole range amazingly well.

The cord is shorter and lighter, not exactly sure why. You can use the triple-flange sleeves which seem to go deeper into your head. They feel a bit weird, but I think I'm going to like them better than the normal flex sleeves.

The only thing is that they're $500 vs. $100 for the E2cs. Are they 5X better than the E2cs? Well, think of the power law and wine. It costs more and more as you get closer and closer to the peak. It's a matter of your priorities I guess. I don't think that they will be worth $500 to some people, but I'm happy. You could get a round trip ticket between SF and Tokyo for $600 or you could go and buy a few expensive Japanese musk melons. it all depends on what makes you happy I guess. ;-)

You can buy them on Shure's site. And, no, they don't pay me to do this. ;-p

UPDATE: Matt from Shure has started a blog. Check it out!

Original entry in Joi Ito's Web