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Okay, so the used laptop I bought gave out not long after returning from my "National Parks of the West" road trip. Apparently, it didn't hold up to the jarring of the ride while serving in its role as GPS navigator. But, it lived a long and productive life, and it was time to move on.

So, I picked up a 15" PowerBook G4 - the widescreen Apple laptop in the Aluminum case. Like most Apple products, it is top notch. It's aesthetically gorgeous, has a very solid build quality, and all the features I was looking for (1.25GHz CPU, 80GB Disk, 512MB RAM, DVD-R, Backlit keyboard, Bluetooth, 802.11G, Firewire800, USB2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and a DVI port).

Aside from the hardware, MacOS X is a slick OS. A nice combination of a consistent user interface, and a unix OS underneath. Although, I still think BeOS would have been a better basis for MacOS X, the end result of the migration from NeXT Step is not bad.

My only complaint is the damn one button trackpad. Learning all those key combinations is a pain in the ass. I need to get a two button bluetooth mouse..

After monkeying around with it for a couple weeks, I've got most things worked out. I modified some scripts to get IPSec working with my home Linux gateway using certificate authentication. I have mirrored most of my files from my Linux server onto the PB - but I still need to find a good synch tool.

I have become fairly dependant on my iPod for musical enjoyment. I plug it in to my computer speakers when working at home, I use it with headphones to drown out the chaos at work, and it makes those long flights bearable when used with the Bose noise cancelling headphones.

The only place I haven't been able to use it is in my car. I have tried it with one of those "Transpod" FM transmitters at the Apple store in Palo Alto. But, it sucks ass.. It was very difficult to find an open frequency to use, the sound quality was poor, and it constantly required fine tuning to keep the audio. So, I never used it.. $100 down the drain.

Just when I thought I was stuck juggling CD's on those long drives to Tahoe, I found the "P.I.E. Digital Protocol Converter". It hooks into the CD changer input on my car stereo, creating an AUX audio input. Even though my radio has an in-dash 6 disk changer, for some reason it also has a rear connector for an external changer. Once the adapter is connected, simply press the "CD" button twice, and it activates the AUX input. It sounds great! Maybe it's just my imagination, but I think the sound quality is much better when played directly from my iPod than it is when using the same song burned onto a CD through iTunes.

The installation was relatively straightforward. (This was done on my 2001 Ford Explorer Sporttrac (four door explorer with the small truck bed)). The basic install process was:

- Remove radio. If you have the special tool to release the radio, this is probably trivial. I don't have the tool. I removed the plastic console holding the radio, then spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to release the metal pressure tabs holding the radio in. Would have only taken five minutes if I had someone to help.
- Unplug cd changer input. Plug adapter into the vacated input, then plug the old input into the other end of the adapter.
- Connect the adapter's ground wire to the back of the radio
- Disconnect the Power/Speaker connector from the back of the radio. Splice the adapter's power connector into the wire leading to pin 9. The adapter was supposed to have a "T Tap" to easily splice into this.. mine did not. So, I stripped a segment off of wire 9 and wrapped the power into it and covered it with electrical tape.
- Pull the audio cable through the gap between the dash and console ( this was a pain in the ass ). It was an awkward angle to reach the gap through the dash, and a tight fit to get anything through. I ended up prying the two pieces apart far enough to get the audio cable through.

- Turn on the radio, hit "CD" twice, and crank the iPod.

DirecTV recently began offering an expanded HDTV package, for about $11/month. This package includes Discovery HD, ESPN-HD, HDNet, and HDNet Movies.

At this point, it's a mixed bag.

Discovery HD has the nature documentaries that you would expect from the Discovery channel. They look amazing in HD. But, the selection is relatively small, so they repeat shows very often.

ESPN-HD mirrors the programming of the standard ESPN channel. So, most of the content, including the many hours of Sportscenter, are standard definition. They show 2-4 games per week, in 720P60 high definition, and they look great. ESPN just needs to increase the amount of available programming.

HDNet is the same HD demo channel that has been free for the last couple years. Not only is it now a pay channel, but the quality keeps going down. With the new entrants into the HD field, HDNet was not able to broadcast MLB games this year. They still had NHL games this year, but with ESPN now doing HD, I would be surprised if HDNet can still do hockey next year. In general, there is not much programming of interest on HDNet.

HDNet Movies is a new channel, with full 1080i movies, all the time. All movies are shown in their original aspect ratio (not modified/cropped like some other networks do). Unlike HBO-HD, they don't mix in a bunch of 4:3 standard definition material. Whenever you turn on HDNET Movies, you can be sure it will be HD. This is probably the best part of the HD package thus far.