Wii - Nintendo game console

Wii has finally managed to make me get my butt out of a chair while playing games. I simple love playing bowling and tennis from the Wii Sports disk that came along with the console. Have yet to try playing Zelda and Redsteel about which I have been hearing rave reviews about how the games have been developed to take advantage of Wii's innovative controller. Finally I have found a game console controller that I have no trouble using. Having grown up on PC games played using a keyboard, using a console controller like the SIXAXIS that comes with PS3 was a problem.

I just wish Nintendo had put more thought into the Mii channel, right now it just seems like other than using it to create an avatar and assign it to your remote there is little else that they do, I yet to see any Mii in the parade. It would also have been nice to be able to play audio Cd's or movie DVDs on the Wii.

I have never managed to get onto the Wii Shop channel. It just seems to hang every time, I click on the Shop channel.

I like the way the Forecast channel works. Dragging the globe around to check weather forecasts in different parts of the world is awesome.

The News channel is interesting in the sense you get to see the location on a world map about the place you are reading about.

Photo channel was not interesting at all because of the low resolution that the Wii supports (especially after you get used to watching your high-resolution photos using the PS3 hooked up to a 50" Panasonic Plasma Monitor).

Sony NW-S205F 2 GB Flash Sports Digital Music Player

A few weeks back Circuit City had a good deal on the Sony NW-S205F 2GB music player which had it on sale for $59.95 and I could not resist buying it. This is a very sturdy aluminium clad lipstick sized (and shaped) music player that includes a FM Tuner, Calorie Counter, Music Pacer and a Stop Watch. It can be quick charged in 3 minutes to provide up to 3 hours of playback, which is very convenient for that train ride to work and back.
I like the fact that most of the recent personal devices like the iPod, Sony Erickson Walkman cell phones and this music player provide charging using a USB connection. I am very impressed by the accuracy of the G-Sensor that provides the calorie counter functionality. Irrespective of whether you are carrying the NW-S205F in your backpack, shirt pocket or pant pockets it still accurately records the number of steps taken and on that basis calculates the calories burned. I also like the neat setup feature which allows you to have the calorie counter reset daily.
If only Sony does away with the SonicStage software that is required for transferring music to its music player and lets users simply drag and drop music from their computer drives to their music devices. Alternately Sony should at least strive to improve SonicStage and bring it to the standard of Apple iTunes.

Honda Odyssey

I recently purchased a 2007 Honda Odyssey EX-L with Rear Entertainment System (RES) and was extremely disappointed with the fact that neither the 6 CD in-dash changer nor the DVD player could play my extensive collection of mp3 Cd's.
These days anything and everything that has a speaker is capable of playing mp3's whether it is the GPS navigator - Garmin Nuvi 350 or a digital photo frame let alone my 2 year old Motorola V330 cellphone or a cheap Sony portable CD player.
The 9 inch widescreen DVD screen has extremely poor resolution which makes store bought DVDs play like some low-res downloaded movie. The RES does come with A/V inputs which are inconveniently located near the 3rd row window seat. I was however able to play mp3 music as well as video from the iPod using these A/V inputs.

iPhone

Well, with all the hype about the iPhone, I know I will want one when it becomes easily available even though I am not willing to switch my mobile network from T-Mobile to the "new AT&T", I hope the iPhone will still function as an expensive glorified iPod without the network service for the phone. A few years back I would have embraced the iPhone without any hesitation. However based on past experiences with multi-functional gadgets, I have realised that any multi-functional gadget though very high in geek value does little to enhance the value of the individual functions. A camera phone though useful in a few cases (like talking photos of your vehicle after an accident for insurance purposes etc) does not take as good a picture as you would like during your vacation to some exotic locale like Hawaii (and no I have personally never been there yet, hopefully soon) The iPhone according to a lot of reviews I have read about the product has the following shortfalls: too big of a screen area to get smudged with fingerprints and the oil from my face while using the phone. Very little storage space for holding all the photos, movies, and music collected over the years.