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Is the Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 too much? It depends…

Last year I posted an entry on how to choose the best computer which included an article by Mike Himowitz, columnist at the Baltimore Sun.  Himowitz wrote the article “Sticker tells shopper key parts of a laptop” which covers “the specific components of a portable PC.”

Overall, I like Mike’s advice: I’ve found it to be direct and to the point, with few sidetracks.

Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000Last week, I walked by the new Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 at the Microsoft Company Store.  I use the Wireless Laser Desktop 4000 at work and at home with the comfort curve key layout, and I thought that it would be a nice addition to our home Media Center set up.  Heck, the 8000 would look great on the desk of our home office, too.  The web site touts that the 8000 is “designed to make it easier than ever to control PC media from your desk, your lap–or even from the comfort of your couch.”

Opening the paper this morning, I found that Himowitz has a review of the Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 reprinted in today’s Seattle Times (originally from his article in the Sun, “Tinkling these keys isn’t worth $260“).

“Reality check — $260 for a keyboard and mouse? That’s almost four times as much as I spent for the wireless combo I use with the computer that’s hooked up to our HDTV set. What could you possibly get for that much money?

“As it turns out, you get the same thing you get when you buy a Mercedes instead of a Camry: more luxury and styling and gimmicks. There’s a somewhat bigger payoff for couch potatoes, but is it enough to justify almost $300?”

In short, Mike said that the answer is no.

Unlike Mike’s experience, where had trouble getting used to the Comfort Curve key layout after more than a week of use, I find that the design is my preferred layout.  After I used the keyboard for about a month, I found that the design fits my hands quite nicely. In fact, I have difficulty going back to a laptop after spending time working on my desktop system.

Mike asked the real question, and offers his answer:

“But are all these features worth close to $300?

“Bottom line: I wouldn’t pay that much. But if you (a) have the money, (b) think you can get used to this lap-friendly, wireless keyboard and (c) want it packaged with a superb laser mouse, you won’t be disappointed.”

Once again, I agree with Mike. $300 is a lot for a keyboard and mouse, even if you do have the money.  It’s certainly a nice improvement over the older (and retired) Microsoft Remote Keyboard for Windows XP Media Center

Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000There are several other Comfort Curve design mouse and keyboard sets available, including the equally svelte Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 (which CNET reviewed and ranked sightly lower than the 8000).  I think that the backlit keyboard and four USB Ports make the 8000 a better choice for a home theatre, but the 7000 is a good addition to any Media Center setup for the US$129 street price I’ve seen recently.  For home office use, the Wireless Laser Desktop 4000 and Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 are both good, affordable choices.

CNET has a review of the 8000 mouse and keyboard bundle, giving it a 7.0 out of 10, highlighting that the system is rechargeable, and easy-to-use with smart backlighting.  But CNET disses it for being “expensive…” and for having a “clunky recharging station.”

I’m still thinking about that investment… so far I have not brought one home, as elegant as it is.  But with a street price of around $249, it’s nearing what I consider a reasonable premium over the 7000.  If you’ve invested a hefty sum into a Media Center PC and home theatre setup, the 8000 is probably a small portion of the overall cost of the setup.  And it could be an easy to appreciate premium: with your remote control, the keyboard and mouse are pieces that you use with your Media Center system nearly every day.

Tags: tips, Windows Vista, Media Center, hardware, keyboard, mouse, Mike Himowitz.

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Forget Y2K, DST and Time Zones: this weekend, it’s the Y2.038K bug

This weekend will mark another interesting milestone in Time and Date, oone that actually doesn’t occur for thirty more years, in 2038.  

Also known as the ‘Friday the 13th’ bug, the 2038 issue is due to the way 32-bit systems note time in seconds rather than by an actual coded date.  The full impact will be felt on January 19, 2038, when systems many not work accurately, or even crash.  The initial wave of the challenge would likely impact customers in the financial sector, particularly those with (pardon the pun) an interest in long term products (mortgages, investments, bonds) with maturity dates post Jan 19, 2038.  But those with longer maturity instruments would’ve seen an impact years ago.

As this involves dates and times, Wyn asked today about this impact, as this smacked of an issue similar to what we saw last year with the various DST and time zone changes around the world… 


“I have not found too much on this and I am not sure if anything is know or being done to avoid the problem…”


Good question.  I asked several of our product groups if any of our products will be impacted by the date.

A nod of thanks to Geoff for noting this MSDN article from way back in 1998, “All Ready for 2000 and the Euro? What About 2038?” (September 7, 1998).  If Y2K did anything for the industry, it was to spur an analysis of any date and time issues that could impact the operating system and software products…



First it was Y2K. Then the Euro conversion. And now, as if the Y2K and Euro problems weren’t bad enough, there’s the year 2038 bug. Dr. GUI got a letter from Mahmoud Saleh alerting him (reminding him, actually) of a similar problem that will face C and C++ programmers in coming years: we can call it the Y2.038K bug.

The problem stems from the common definition of the time_t as an integer containing the number of seconds since midnight, January 1, 1970. Most C/C++ runtime libraries define time_t as a long int. On most systems, long int is 32 bits, which means that we’ve got a range of 2^31-1 (2,147,483,647) seconds—until sometime on January 18, 2038. (Assuming Dr. GUI’s Windows CE Palm-size PC has it right, that’s a Monday. Figures.) When the clock rolls over, it’ll be back to the ’70s for everyone. Get your leisure suits ready ‘cuz you’ll be catching Boogie Fever and Nixon will be President again. Four more years indeed!

Anything that uses time_t is also in trouble. That includes the time_b structure (not commonly used, anyway) and, very unfortunately, the MFC CTime class. Code that uses time_t, directly or indirectly, will need to be changed sometime before you start dealing with dates after 1/18/2038. (Note that if your program deals with, say, 40-year bonds, you’re in trouble today.)


As Geoff pointed out, SYSTEMTIME has no problems and can go until the year 30,827, and FILETIME, a 64-bit integer (two DWORDs representing LOW and HIGH values) since January 1, 1601 (Julian).  It too can represent a 30,000 (or 60,000 unsigned) year interval.  From the MSDN article:


…the Win32 SYSTEMTIME structure… stores the year part of the date as a 16-bit integer, and the Win32 FILETIME structure, which stores the date as the number of 100-nanosecond intervals since 1601. The problem is that neither of these structures have many supporting functions.

Better yet is to use the automation DATE object. DATE is typedef’ed as double, so there are 53 bits of precision—enough for your program’s lifetime. The whole part of the double number represents the number of days since midnight, December 30, 1899. (Negative numbers are before 12/30/1899.) The absolute value of the fractional part represents the time in the day: midnight is zero, noon is 0.5, etc. You can convert the automation DATE objects to other formats with various variant API functions.


Overall, the advice is that if you have custom applications you might want to check to see if they are using C/C++ time_t, which will run out in 2038.  Just as I noted previously on how Windows handles historical events, you might want to check any custom or ‘home-grown’ line of business applications that use time_t.  Looking quickly at Windows, the core OS appears to run just fine with dates far into the future. 

I will have to check one of my old Apple systems at home running (quite reliably, I might add) System 9, which according to Apple, is good up until February 6, 2040; the current Mac OS up until 29,940… Windows will be accurate for an additional 887 years after the latest Mac release fails, but I’m sure Apple will have an update long before 29,940 rolls around. 😉 

(Interesting factoid that stuck in my mind: in the H. G. Wells classic novella, The Time Machine, the hero of the story travels to the year 802,701 A.D.  I’m hopeful in that future, the downfall of mankind will have nothing to do with the failure of the modern OS to cope with dates past the 301st century.)

For more information, please see these articles courtesy of a quick MSDN search

Tags: Apple, Microsoft, Vista, Windows, Time, 2038.

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PC Magazine’s CES photo slideshow available online

 

CES 2008 Coverage

Lunch time post: check out PCMag.com’s CES 2008 Photo Blog, PC Magazine’s “slideshow of the sights and technology on display at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. 

It would be nigh-on impossible to explain the vastness of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, so we’re not even going to try. Instead, we’ll show you with our CES 2008 Photo Blog, with pics of the crazy events, technological miracles, and eye-popping booths. Click on the slideshow to the right to learn what we learn and see what we see, and check back often for new images.

Link to the slideshow is here.

Tags: CES 2008, CES.

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MSN Tech & Gadgets’ CES 2008 Innovation Award Winners

As a kickoff to CES, check out the slide show on MSN Tech & Gadgets as they cover CES Innovations 2008 Awards Honorees

“The Innovations Design and Engineering Awards program recognizes the most innovative consumer electronics (CE) products in the industry’s hottest product categories.”

imageIf you have an extra US$25,000 burning a hole in your pocket, the new ITC One System from SE2 Labs should fit the bill and leave you with $5 in change.  The ITC (Integrated Theater Console) is, as SE2 notes, “the world’s first personalized, compact, all-in-one, plug-and-play home entertainment system” complete with an integrated Xbox 360, HD PVR, a full AMX system control system, advanced digital surround sound, front touch screen, external docks and more.  All this in one sleek, compact box less than 18 inches wide and two feet tall (roughly 17 1/2″ x 22″ x 24″ wdh). 

But a favourite innovation on this system is found on the rear panel: the illuminated LED task lighting allows you to get a clear look at the connectors that are logically laid out with one side for inputs and the other side for outputs.

OWLink Technology HD Digital Light Link (© 2007 OWLink Technology, Inc.)And the $600, OWLink HD Digital Light Link, Model: FO2850 (as noted here)
allows transmission of high-definition digital video, audio, and control signals over a tiny fiber optic cable up to 300M away from the source with no compression.

“By using an external A/V switch, one set of source devices can be accessed by multiple displays located in various places throughout the home. Each display can access a separate video and audio source, making it possible, for example, to watch a sports event while listening to your music.”

SlingCatcher™ © 2005-2007 Sling MediaSure to be popular is the new offering from Sling Media, which announced the SlingCatcher a “reverse Slingbox that distributes web and PC digital media experience,” coupled with the SlingPlayer to view your TV on another TV…

“While the current Slingbox enables consumers to placeshift their favorite TV programming to a PC, Mac or mobile phone, one of the most requested features from the Sling Community has been to provide the ability to sling that same programming to another TV located in the home or to a TV in a remote location. The SlingPlayer for TV application built into the SlingCatcher delivers an easy, familiar way for customers to move TV content around the home or access content from the home remotely via a TV, without the need for a PC or Mac in the process.

This will be helpful for watching the DVR or HD-DVD in the living room on every TV in the home.  And for less than $200, this should be a popular addition to the Sling family.

More info: MSN blogs on CES 2008…

… and in general, this slide show on BusinessWeek, Gadgets to watch in ’08, as Arik Hesseldahl says that “this year promises to be an exciting one for the gadget geek in all of us.”

Tags: Microsoft, Xbox 360, CES 2008, CES.

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A few Microsoft DST and Time Zone Blog Posts

A few posts on DST and time zones on a few MS blogs…

When in doubt, check out http://www.microsoft.com/dst2007