Experiences with the Netgear ReadyNAS NV+

As part of the new multimedia setup here at our new house, I decided I had to get a new NAS to keep my media files safe and stored somewhere which didn’t require a complete computer running (to save power and keep the noise a bit down). As I’m using the Squeezebox (v2) as my main source for playing music, the ReadyNAS from Netgear seemed like a good choice as it’s the only NAS on the market with the Squeezecenter (the server software for the Squeezebox) integrated into the appliance itself. A bit pricey, but it has proven itself to be of good value.

People were very amazed with what the Drobo could do, but as they only deliver USB / Fireware disks that need a host computer, they were out of the equation early on. I was however very impressed by the ReadyNAS and it’s no-disk-configuration-needed-we-just-raid5-and-journal-it-for-you approach. Netgear uses their own X-RAID configuration which allows you to shrink and grow the raid as time goes by, and the NAS configured itself to a RAID5 like structure. The web interface to the appliance has been a bit wobbly at times, but I think this is just because I were a bit impatient with getting everything up and running. It even runs on gigabit ethernet, so it’ll be a great storage location for all digital media here. Recommended!

Vincent Laforet Shows The First Shots from the Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Vincent Laforet has a very, very interesting post up about the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. It features the first shots from the camera, and while they are stunning in their own right (Vincent shoots some of the best photos on the planet, so no surprise there), the most amazing thing is that they’re shot while in video mode. That’s right. They’re straight from the RAW .mov file that the camera produces when recording 1080p video. Simply astounding. I’m getting one. Hands down.

For more information about the EOS 5D Mark II and the video mode, NRKBeta has a long article analyzing the video output from the beast itself. I can’t wait. Too bad the price here in Norway is above USD 4000, so it’s actually cheaper to fly to the US, buy it and fly back to Norway. NRKBeta gives you even more images of the EOS 5D Mark II, an incredible piece of engineering. Time to start drooling!

Describing the Optimus Maximus 17 Years Early

Many people looked in awe when the first saw Art. Lebedev Studio’s Optimus Maximus keyboard – a keyboard with small OLED screens attached to each button. This allows the currently active program on your computer to switch your keys with whatever keyboard layout or shortcut layout you are currently using, and suit the visual appearance of the keyboard to what each button actually does. I’m not going to discuss the apparent problems with this and the Other Attempts at LCD Based Keyboards, but I’m going to quote a few sentences from “The Design (Psychology) of Everyday Things” which I happened to come across the other day:

Someday key labeling will be done by electronic displays on each key, so changing the labels will also become trivial. So computer technology may liberate users from forced standardization.

I guess Donald A. Norman were going “Yeah, I know.” when Art. Lebedev Studio released their first concept shots.