Twisted Kites

Finally Windows Vista is back on and back working. At least the system is entirely clean now, and I’m not going to try and dual-boot anything again! Making good progress setting it up again, and at least now my important files are now on a separate drive they are no bother (moving them around is so time consuming).

Just ordered myself a USB modem so I can get my Macbook online easier. I have been using my Nokia N73 as a modem for months, which works fine, although there are a few probs with that. 1; the T-Mobile network is not the strongest (downstairs at home is poor, upstairs is top notch, same at Nicola’s house) and it’s easy for signal to drop. 2; obviously using the bluetooth modem on the phone draws lots of power out of the battery. 3; if I get a call or something the connection can drop. 4; as it’s bluetooth, if I leave the phone in my pouch and walk too far away the connection will drop.

So went to the Three (3) website and ordered a free USB modem, which is the best deal of the three that offer it (3, T-Mobile and Vodafone). 3GB allowance for £15 a month (the other networks charge £20 and £30 plus possible modem fee), which I think is brilliant. Would also be a good back up for at home if Be Internet ever goes down (although they’re very reliable).

I know that Three aren’t the best network in the world, but at least their 3G signal is strong and the Turbo 3G sounds good. Wouldn’t use it for my phone network again though, nobody out there can beat T-Mobile’s Flext for value. Speaking of which I’m due an upgrade shortly so need to decide on a nice shiny new phone to ask for.

Here’s the new music player for the car. Decided to upgrade, and it’s a treat for the car for behaving well this year.

Decided to get an Alpine iDA-X001 from Elliotts in Coventry and it’s a lovely bit of kit. This unit has no built in CD player, it must be one of the first, if not the first, unit with no moving parts inside. As it comes it has the usual RDS radio tuner (FM/MW/LW) but in addition is the main feature; it’s fully iPod compatible.

A USB comes out the rear which plugs into 5th generation iPods and also certain Nanos I think (other iPods can be used with a different cable not included). The beauty of this is flawless control and browsing, top sound reproduction (bypasses iPod’s DAC for Alpine’s own), the ability to display album art and also charges the iPod at the same time. I’m going to get nother iPod and leave one exclusively for car use. The iPod fits nicely into a car cassette holder and can be safely stowed there permanently.

Also a standard USB memory stick can be used (although without fancy album art), and a CD changer is available as an accessory. The faceplate detaches, as they all do, but is only about two-thirds of the normal size, handy for carrying around. The illumination can be red or blue, although as the 6 grid buttons are actually transparent blue, with red light shining through in some light seem purple, which matches my car. Bonus.

Sound tuning is simple (Kenwood had a myriad of audio tweaks!) yet sounds amazing, well as good as the standard speakers will allow. Menu and navigation is good (apart from the search/enter buttons should be the other way around, read the review linked at the end to see what I mean). Various wallpapers can be set with others downloaded from Alpine website, a nice touch.

One thing was that the dimmer cable isn’t attached on this (my JVC and Kenwood were pre-wired) so I had to plug the loose cable into the spare ISO socket. That meant buying a spare ISO connector from Halfords at a silly cost, take the orange wire out of that and put it in mine, simple to do. So now when I put my headlights on the unit dims (3 levels), making night driver better.

And now for some pretty pictures:

1: Simple install on my centre dashboard. 2: Ipod sitting in the armrest cassette holder.

3: Main panel lit. 4: Alternate blue illumination. 5: With main panel removed.

6: Clock-view mode. 7: Main menu front screen. 8: iPod album selection screen.

9: Radio title-view mode. 10: iPod main-view mode. 11: Main panel detached (size compared to payment card).

12: Illuminated at night (before dimmer-wire connected). 13: A home-made faceplate protection case (Police sunglasses case and spare Alpine sticker, I’ll make a smaller one sometime).

Links: (new windows)

Alpine product page (UK) / Alpine product page (US) / ZDnet Review