Fireman Review

Fireman is a disk burning application for both CDs and DVDs. It is very well laid out in terms of functions and function types, such as data, audio, video, and backup for the different types of disks you can make. Under these are options that differentiate DVDs and CDs. Here are the different functions of each section:

Data:
Make data CD
Make data DVD
Make audio and data CD
Make bootable CD
Make bootable DVD

These are very thorough options to choose from. Data CDs and DVDs are initially for backups, or storing files and folders on them for transfer between computers, but are not saved in such a format that they can be played in a consumer CD player. Audio and Data CD I had problems with, in the sense that I could not get ANY of my files to load on there, text, audio, jpeg, wmv, etc. until having to consult the user guide, which told me that only WAV and MP3 files can be added to the disk. This did not benefit me in any way, seeing that my audio files are all in WMA format, and this should be supportive of it.

The name was very misleading, though, because I thought that what it meant was to solve a hassle that I often had, and that was to put both backups as well as music for playing on a CD player, all in one CD just so that I wouldn't have to waste a second disk to do so. The bootable disk options, however, I find to be extremely useful seeing that many disk formats are not seen as bootable for options such as rescue from viruses that move system files to hinder bootup (I know... extreme geek language... I'll stick to what you can understand!)

Mind you, the audio and data CD disappointment isn't THAT much of a setback, because remember, we are still in the data section of the software. There is still an audio section, that covers much more of what we expected from this option.

Audio:
Make Audio CD
Make MP3 CD
Make MP3 DVD
Make WMA CD
Make WMA DVD
Make Audio and Data CD
Import Audio from CD

Ahh... what's this? The audio and data CD option emerges again, but this time in the audio section. This definitely foreshadows complete recovery from our previous quibble. Unfortunately, to no avail. This is one of the things I find confusing about this software, but let's focus on the positives of this section. The make audio CD function is a disgrace; once again only WAV and MP3. My saviour is the make WMA disk options, because I, along with many other people use mostly WMAs, so this software has redeemed itself into my good books.

The key here is also that MP3s and WMAs can be made into not only CDs, but also DVDs. This, I feel is a revolution. Many people have stopped using standard CD players such as Walkmen and boomboxes, and used their DVD player to read the disk, with their TV's speakers to hear the sound. Using this, however, by playing regular CDs, they are limited to the 750 megabytes that a CD can hold, but seeing that a DVD can hold about 7 times that amount, you can put a whole box set on a WMA or MP3 DVD, so you don't have to constantly switch disks! This also helps if you're using them on your computer and don't wish to store them on your hard drive. Finally, you are able to import audio from other CDs to your computer's hard drive, showing that this isn't just burning software, but ripping software too.

Video:
Make Video CD
Make Super Video CD
Make DVD
Burn DVD-Video folder

Soon as I saw the first option, I knew that this was a Swiss Army Knife for media production. Making video CDs are a much cheaper and more economical option as opposed to video DVDs, if you are only burning less than 750 megabytes of video, it will still work on any DVD player, but the main purpose other than conservation is the fact that some older computers do not have a DVD compatible disk drive, but since the data is still there, the operating system can still recognize it as video, on a storage format that it can read. Of course, the make DVD function does the same thing, but burns to DVD, so the storage capacities are about 7 times as great.

Backup:
Backup Files
Restore Backups

Backup. Sound like a familiar word to you? The thing that you see and hear everywhere. Antivirus software, popups, the newspaper, computing magazine, etc. You're supposed to make backups once a week, you know it, but you never do it, and keep putting it off. And off. And off... Until it occurs to you that you have NEVER made a backup, and, actually, don't even know how to. You're not alone. But if you're really bored one day, have a few extra blank disks lying around, and realize that you should really make a backup, “just in case even though it'll never happen”, Fireman's backup utility offers a comprehensive step-by-step backup process, that even a 5-year-old could use, and a just as easy to use backup restore utility.

Utilities:
Erase CD
Erase DVD
Disc Info
Make Label or Cover
Photo viewer
Make image
DVD Player
Burn image

This is where all the good stuff is, especially for my fellow ubergeeks out there. We'll start with the erase utility. You know those free trial AOL disks that you get in the mail but do no good to you? Well, by erasing them, they become blank, and if you don't care about “6 MONTHS FREE INTERNET” being on the cover of the CD, you have yourself a free CD! You can do this by erasing old DVDs that you don't care about too, and use them for backups, etc. However, only certain types of CDs are erasable, so be careful to make sure that your disc format is compatible. Disc info provides information about the disc currently in the drive, such as its erasability, its total space, free space, and its type (CD-R, DVD-RW, etc.) as well as options to refresh status and eject.

Make Label or cover is for making the visuals for the disk, so you can insert images, and it will show you exactly how it will appear on the disk, in terms of sizing and obstruction from the inner circle, etc. The cover option is to make a cover that will fit on a standard CD case, so you can insert images and text there too. To print the label, you have to have either stickers to print on, peel off and then put on the disk, or printable disks, and a compatible printer to print them directly onto. Photo viewer, I'm not even going to touch. It's a stupid feature, because not only is it disk burning software, but also, Windows XP, as well as Vista has a built-in photo and fax viewer, so what's the use? Unless you're running a previous version of windows that doesn't have this, this is a useless feature.

Make image, isn't what you think it is. An image is an exact copy of a storage device, so, if, for example, I want to copy a music CD to my computer, then I can do so with this utility. To burn an image, which would be used for copying data from one device to another (this is commonly used to illegally copy DVDs, and write-protected DVDs are usually prevented from making images of) you just take an image from your hard drive, and burn it onto a disk. You can cross-image in the sense that you could copy data from a hard drive onto a DVD, or from an MP3 player, USB drive, etc. Finally, this program has a DVD player, which, in my opinion isn't much of an improvement over Windows Media Player, so I say it should just remain a pyro, and specialize in burning.

Wired: Easy to use, simple interface, takes a little warming up to. Comprehensive “wizards” to complete common tasks. A Swiss Army Knife with many different tasks that it can complete, for a variety of purposes, and very useful utilities.

Tired: Interface I didn't feel was exactly “welcoming” the first time I used it. Misleading names for certain tasks. File formats are limited. They try to cover too many bases with one piece of software with useless features like Photo Viewer and DVD player.

Bottom line: Requires some advanced knowledge of software. If you have this, get it. If you are a very simple user, this software is not for you.

Next Steps: Give the interface "Curb Appeal" so that it looks good, and easy to use right from the start. I would recommend giving it a quick launch list for the most common tasks. Add more formats to save in, change the names to be more direct and less complex. Develop more on the basic features until going to advanced ones, such as audio and data CDs, or don't bother at all, and like I said above, SPECIALIZE.

Nokia N800 Review

When I got it, I was stunned. It's beautiful. It's sleek, has a huge widescreen display with brilliant colour on it, the silver finish contrasts perfectly with the rest of the design, speakers covering half of the front cover, a touch screen and directional buttons give clues as to what this phone can do. Makes you think... I have to have that thing! You start using it, you look at its beautiful operating system, perfectly laid out with a Google search bar, volume control, Internet radio toolbar, and news highlights... you know this is the one!

This is the kind of thing that you really like on the way it looks, and all the most prominent features are shown to you, and then figure you have to have it, and then after you really start to use it, you realize this thing SUCKS! This thing isn't even a phone first of all (all implied by order of the name Nokia). It is a phone ACCESSORY. Jeez, the size of this thing is about the same as 3 Nokia 6103s (folded of course), and seeing that the phone I use 5 out of 7 days in a week is that very phone, when I do use this accessory (not at school of course... gonna get jumped!) it will be like carrying around 4 of them!

Why is it that one would need this? The main reason is that Internet use on cell phone is not very sought after for 2 reasons; one is that it has a massive cost of 30 cents per minute, and two, browsing is very slow and cumbersome because of the small screen. So what this does is piggybacks onto the cell phone using its network resources, sends them to the N800 via Bluetooth and utilizing those resources on a large, brilliant touch screen that is optimized for Internet use. This, of course is useful for people who don't mind footing the large bill for it, unless, of course, you're in a hotspot, and everything changes.

The N800 has a WiFi card built in, so it can pick up a wireless signal and browse even faster than a cellular network. You can type in any URL on the browser, every site I tried worked; my business site, my blog (as you are seeing it now!), and even YouTube worked with streaming videos (VERY choppy sound and video) but it still works, and thats what counts, right? The first website I went to before I knew how to type a URL, was from the favourites list, and was ignited by one thing and one thing only; Nerd Instinct, and that was to go to the one and only, Wikipedia. Soon as I saw the famous globe and 10 different languages, and was able to read all text without any awkward scrollbars or distorted text, one word describes my feeling... nerdgasm!

The browser is able to copy and paste as well, it's just that the browser is a little awkward to use because to enter text you have to tap on the text field, and type on an onscreen keyboard, which is hard to use, and no enter button, so you need to reach all the way over to where you typed and click “submit” (brings me back to my days before knowing the magic of the enter key). The back and forward buttons are at the bottom, which is a hard switch to make for use, and functions like refresh and stop can only be accessed through the drop-down functions menu.
This phone's functions are not just limited to web browser. It's got a full-fledged operating system too. The home page has a Google search toolbar, frequently updated news headlines, AccuRadio HitKast streaming Internet radio, a contact list, and utility bar at the top giving your power status, wireless connection status, volume control, and display brightness. By default, this is how everything appears, but this kind of reminds me of a spy kids movie with a really dynamic watch that can do everything; watch tv, say the weather, play games, etc., do everything EXCEPT tell the time, and this is the case with the N800 too... doesn't have a clock by default. You can set it, but it seems pretty stupid that something so simple isn't there.

On the left side lies 3 buttons; contacts, web browser, and sort of a start menu. The start menu allows you to access basically everything in the device, much like Windows' start menu (one of the first OS's on newer devices that I've seen that hasn't taken after Mac OS X). You can see in here file manager, access applications, the web, contacts, utilities (calculator, clock, notes, PDF reader, and sketch), games (chess, blocks, mahjong and marbles) and other tools like control panel, backup and restore, and a function so that you can teach the touch screen to recognize your stylus handwriting.

I find it VERY innovative that there's a sketch program, for those people like me that like to do diagrams of things to explain them, rather than trying to use their words. Visual is so much easier. The PDF reader is always helpful, and I also find the large array of games interesting. I've tried all of them, and they are higher quality than most other cell phone games, but I would just say a little more than above average.

Wired: Big, brilliant display. Stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone port works with any headphones, stand on back allows device to be propped up at a 45-degree angle handsfree, smooth Internet browsing seamless Bluetooth connection with cellular phone.

Tired: Battery life kind of pathetic. Notorious camera quality, can only be used for video calling – not taking still images or videos. SD card reading takes way too long. Laggy OS. Start-up time too slow, graphics are choppy, about the size of 3 cell phones, and for what? Confusing button system. No touch-lock for screen, so things may be accidentally tapped while in pocket (happened to me!)

Bottom line: Although it is intended as a cell phone companion, this could be used as just an Internet browser, game player, photo viewer, media player. Otherwise, this is an alright companion for a cell phone to be able to make Internet-based calls, both voice and videos. It all comes down, though to one thing and two options; Internet access, and how you get it. You can get it either through WiFi, or your cell phone carrier's moblie Internet service (which can go anywhere from 10-30 cents per minute, depending on your carrier). If you have WiFi available, this will work for you, but if not, you must pay your carrier's expensive fees to make use of this.

Next steps: Make it smaller. Stereo speakers are a little excessive, and contribute quite a bit to its size. Let people use the camera to take at least still pictures, and put the megapixel measurement as a whole number. It currently looks about 0.3 megapixels. Make the operating system less graphically demanding, which would not only improve the phone's speed and picture clarity, but also improve the battery life. Also provide an option so that this can be a phone on its own, with an external headset to act as the earpiece and microphone so you don't have to build one in.

Also, a video clip of me reviewing the product with my father, Jon Arnold is available for viewing here.

And it seems kind of stupid to be showing off a product when you don't even know what it looks like, so here is the phone in propped-up position: