It’s not enough that everybody and his brother has a camera/camcorder built into their mobile smart phones, and uploading their boring videos to Youtube, now comes this set of sunglasses that will automatically stream live video via your smart phone to your “favorite social media” website, according to ZionEyes.

It’s not out yet and although they are taking pre-orders, the business is using a donation system to fund their project so I’m not sure if this will ever come to market.

But if this thing ever makes it, you know people are going to be doing some bad things with it at concerts, strip clubs, and other places you shouldn’t be recording videos. But it could also get the next Rodney King video while you get your next ticket, so there’s that.

Since I have a dock for my iPhone 4, and the fancy wireless charging dock for the Palm Pre, the first thing I started to look for was a dock for my Samsung Epic 4G.

According to Amazon, the list price is $40, but you can get it from them for $24. You might be able to find it cheaper if you really look around. As you can see, unlike the iPhone dock, this dock is in landscape mode, so the USB connector is on the left side.

USB connector on left - slight indentations for camera and volume

The picture below shows the back of the docking station where you plug the USB cable into the unit. The other side can either go to your computer’s USB, or to an AC plug with the AC adapter.

USB cable plugs into back

As you can see below, you can dock the Epic with the keyboard open. It can also be docked with the keyboard closed. I’ve read other reviews where people complain that the volume button gets pushed when putting the Epic into the docking station. Although, this is possible to do, I really haven’t had this problem. First off, most of the time, I turn the Epic off (if not already off) before putting it in the docking station. This avoids any problems with the volume button.

Epic 4G shown docked with keyboard opened

By combining this dock with the free app Alarm Clock Plus, you’ll get a great clock and screen saver that works perfectly while charging your phone.

Although it’s not as cool as the wireless Palm Touchstone, this docking station works better than the iPhone dock for me because it slides in very easily. For anyone with the Epic, this is a no brainer purchase.

The time came to improve the security in my house but I didn’t want to have to carry more keys. After looking around, I found an electronic keypad door lock on the Schlage website and got it at OSH nearby. Just by chance, they had a President Day sale and I saved $50 off the MSRP, which according to Amazon is $278. It was $150 at OSH minus the 50 bucks.

Back baseplate with 9v battery

Installation was pretty simple. Just remove the old lock, place the keypad on the outside of the door, and the baseplate shown above on the inside. Connect some wires and plug in the 9V battery as shown above.

Front keypad

After screwing in the back onto the baseplate, it’s done. Instead of reading the paper instructions that comes with the unit, just watch the Youtube installation video, which shows you step by step, how to install the lock.

This particular model features a lever on the inside that activates or deactivates the lever on the outside. When deactivated, the lever on the outside does not open the door and the keypad must be used. If you want to disable that, you can do it with the lever on the inside. You have to be careful not to accidentally lock yourself out when you’re testing things.

The lock allows you to add new 4 digit passcodes or delete them using a master 6 digit passcode. There is no way to change the master code. You can also delete all passcodes if you screw up and want to start over. You can store up to a maximum of 19 codes, which should be more than enough for any normal user. Remember, there is no LCD or LED display so you have no idea how many codes you have added unless you write everything down.

There is also no way to know which code was last used to enter, or any other logging security feature. This feature would not be too difficult to implement if the unit had a tiny LCD display.

According to Schlage, with normal usage, the battery should last at least 3 years. I’m not sure what normal usage is but if true, would be a long enough time that it would not be annoying.

One thing missing is backlighting on the keys while you are typing in your passcode. There is actually a light there but I’m assuming that they don’t want to drain the battery by lighting up the keypad on each use. Basically, what this means is, you’d better have a flashlight if you’re trying to use this in pitch darkness. For me, since I have it inside, it doesn’t really matter but if you have it outside, it might matter to you.

It hasn’t been very long since I installed it so I haven’t used it much. So far, I’ve had no problems with it.

Sexy Mouse

My co-worker got this mouse which is in the shape of a female body. The body has no appendages, which is a little creepy if you think about it too much. Clicking on the breast/buttons is a little uncomfortable but this is a sure way to pick up some hot chicks. Not.

Sony has opened a brand new Sony Store in the Century City mall. According to workers there, this is the first Sony Store (as opposed to SonyStyle store) and the other stores will eventually all be converted.

Sony sells HDTV

I’m not really sure what the difference is between the stores but it’s interesting that this store is just a few stores away from the Apple Store. It’s obvious that Sony has styled the store after the Apple store in terms of looks and the way the employees try to interact with you.

Digital cameras, laptops, headphones and more

According to an employee there, all the new Sony products will be available first at this store in Century City before they are available at Best Buy or any other retail store. The employee seemed very knowledgeable about the Sony products and showed me the 2 laptops with keyboards with backlighting, and was even able to show the backlighting by covering the ambient light sensor.

Since I like this mall, I will be returning here a lot.

Sprint has teamed up with Google to offer Sprint users the ability to switch over their Sprint number over to Google Voice. Or, if you want to keep your Google Voice number, you can replace your Sprint number with your Google Voice number.

This offer is being slowly rolled out to some users, since it’s apparently still in the preview slash beta phase.

Sprint + Google Voice

The only small catch is this is in beta and Sprint will not be taking any support calls regarding this switching of numbers. And as you probably know, getting Google on the phone is basically impossible. So the bottom line is, you will be on your own with this one.

Although I already have Google Voice, I’m not sure if I’m going to use this feature because I really don’t use my Google Voice very much. The only time I use it is when I want to “hide” my real Sprint number. If I use this new feature, I won’t have both numbers anymore.

So for now, I’m just going to wait and see.

Now that I’m basically happy with my Samsung Epic 4G, I don’t really need my iPhone 4 anymore. I could try to sell it on Craigslist or auction it on  eBay but it can be a hassle and being the lazy person that I am, I really don’t want to mess with it.

Apparently, eBay figured out that there are a lot of lazy people like me and opened up their “Instant Sale” for electronics section.

Basically, all you have to do is find your phone, check off what condition it’s in, and they will give you a quote for what they will give you. Yes, in dollars. See below for what they said I would get for my iPhone 4.  Since I paid $200 for my iPhone, I could use the $300 extra to get out of my AT&T 2 year contract and maybe break even.

Sell my iPhone 4 on eBay Instant Sale

The quote I got above was a little while ago and you won’t get that same quote if you try it today. Like your car, the value keeps going down.

While I was there, I decided to see what my Samsung Epic 4G was worth. Apparently, a lot less than my iPhone 4. Actually, with the 2 year agreement and rebates, I only paid $200 so I would actually get all my money back, assuming I didn’t have to break my 2 year contract.

Sell my Samsung Epic 4G for $190

One more thing about this deal is eBay pays for shipping too! And as soon as they get your phone, they credit your paypal account. It all sounds great.

Well, I’d like to tell you more about this service but I ended up not using it and selling my iPhone 4 to a friend of mine for $500. But it’s good to know it’s there when you need it.

In trying to get a video monitoring system to work, I ended up having to purchase a new WiFi router. My old Linksys was getting old, so frankly, I was happy to get a new one.

Linksys E2000

Using my usual “pick up at store” from Best Buy, I got this puppy for about $70. Features include:

• 802.11 a/b/g/n – 300 Mbps data transfer rates with Wireless-N and dual-band 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz
• 4-port – 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet switch
• LEDs – power, Internet, wireless, Wi-Fi Protected Setup and Ethernet (1-4).
• Parental controls – Block specific websites and restrict Internet access during certain hours.
• Guest Network – Set up a separate, password-protected network to let visitors have access to the Internet without having access to your computers or data.

Back shows 4 Ports and reset button

Since my older router didn’t have Wireless-N, this is an upgrade. I haven’t done any scientific testing but the signal seems stronger. Unfortunately, my laptops are old and don’t have WiFi-N so I cannot test the speed increase.

The setup software and browser access makes configuration a snap, just like before. It’s really a no brainer.

The guest network is a nice touch since these days, everybody and his brother seems want to use my WiFi when they come over. You can just give them the temporary guest network password and change it at a later time.

Guest access screen

When the guest opens their browser, they will see the screen above so that they can enter the password you gave them to use. The screen looks like something you’d see at a hotel or coffee house when you try to use their free WiFi.

Lights on top

The lights on top are cool looking as well as the space ship shape of the unit. However, I’d like to have seen more than 4 ports in the back. It runs really hot so it’s probably not a good idea to put it on top of something that needs to run cool (like your computer). The other problem is because of it’s slick look and lights on top, you cannot put anything on top of it like the old Linksys units which were boxy.

Other than those small complaints, everything works without any problems. I’ve watched Netflix on my PS3 without any glitches and my laptops and mobile phones all work perfectly.

All in all, a slick device that works as advertised.

There’s a good chance you’ve seen the Chase TV ad showing a guy putting on his coat, only to use the Chase app to take a picture of his check to make a deposit, then sit right back down.

If that’s not the the lazy man’s app, I don’t know what is. When I got my Sprint rebate check from my Epic 4G, I decided to try using this app for the check deposit.

Note that this app is currently only available for the iPhone and Android operating systems, as far as I know. The picture below is from the Android version showing the initial screen after login.

Android check deposit

After you enter the amount, you must take a picture of both the front and back of the check. Then when you press “Next.,” the check images are uploaded to the Chase servers as shown below. Unfortunately, something was wrong with my connection on my Epic and I was not able to upload my check.

Android deposit failure

Upon receiving the error, I tried again using the iPhone version of the app, as shown below when I took a picture of the Sprint refund check.

iPhone check front

If everything works properly, after the upload of the check images, you should get a confirmation screen like the one below.

iPhone deposit success

Nice. They tell you to keep the check until everything clears, then you can destroy the check.

Have you ever gotten a check as a prize in a tournament or contest and wanted to keep it framed? Well, this lets you do that because you can deposit the check electronically, then frame the original check.

Don’t get any stupid ideas for committing fraud because that’s illegal regardless of what way you deposit the check.

For lazy people like me, this eliminates having to hire a personal assistant to do errands like this.

Last time, I reviewed the Epic 4G hardware, except for the camera. This time, I’ll dig into a comparison of the camera on the Epic versus iPhone 4.

Below is an outside picture of a structure in half sunlight and half shade (bottom), against a bright blue sky. The first one is from the Samsung Epic 4G using the default settings. Click on the picture to see the full resolution version.

Epic - Outdoor with natural lighting

The photo below is the same picture from the same spot, at the same time using the iPhone 4. Notice that the iPhone tried to compensate for the shade and bright areas causing a change in the color.  The Epic version is closer to the actual color, but the iPhone is better at getting more detail in the darker areas. However, because the iPhone tried to brighten the dark areas, the sky is washed out.

It’s hard to decide which picture is better. The Epic pictures looks more like the real thing, but the iPhone picture shows a little more detail under the roof.

For most people, the Epic version of the picture is probably what they want.

iPhone 4 - Outdoor with natural lighting

Next up, indoor pictures, with and without flash. The picture below is from the Epic using flash, taken indoors with very little lighting coming in from the window on the right. As you can see, the flash is very strong and goes all the way to the ceiling. In fact, the flash is so bright that it almost washes out the wall.

Epic - indoors with flash

The picture below is the same picture taken with the iPhone 4. As you can see, the flash is not as overwhelming as the Epic but plenty strong enough to reach the ceiling. Strangely, I’ve taken pictures with the iPhone where the flash was so strong, the face of the person was washed out. I’m not sure what causes this problem on the iPhone but it hasn’t happened to me on the Epic yet.

If you click on both pictures, you’ll see that the iPhone version is very grainy, and almost not acceptable if you were going to print it large.

This is harder to compare because the iPhone 4 flash looks better but it’s grainier. I’m going to rate this as a tie.

iPhone 4 with flash

Next, the same picture without flash. The one below is with the Epic and with the low lighting conditions, you see some grain but you can see the bike.

Epic without flash

The picture below is the same picture with the iPhone 4, and as you can see, it’s much darker than the Epic but you can still see enough to make out the bike in the picture.

As with the pictures with the flash, the iPhone version of the picture is incredibly grainy and not acceptable for printing purposes to blow up, in my opinion.

I’m going to give this one to the Epic because of the graininess of the iPhone version.

iPhone 4 without flash

Finally, a close-up picture of some flowers in ambient outside lighting shown below with the Epic. The Epic has a special macro focus mode, which I used for this picture. Unlike my Sony digital camera, to get the Epic into macro mode, you have to go into a sub-menu so it’s not something you will be able to use quickly. However, although the focus is slightly off in the picture below, the macro mode does work properly on the Epic.

Epic - Using macro mode

The picture below is the same flower taken with the iPhone. The iPhone is pretty much auto focus and works on larger objects but as you can see below, it had a really hard time focusing on the flowers. In fact, I had to keep trying over and over and took about 8 pictures to get this one below.

Clearly, the Epic wins the close-up challenge, as least for flowers.

iPhone 4 - Auto focus

Neither camera is as good as my point and shoot Sony digital camera, but both are good enough to take family snap shots for Facebook. If I had to choose, I think the Epic takes slightly better, less grainy pictures than the iPhone 4. Although some people may not like the more complicated user interface on the Epic, it does allow for more control over the “automatic” settings for the iPhone.

Next time:
Android vs. iOs