Erix Clix

I just purchased the BlueAnt V1 Voice Controlled Bluetooth Handsfree Headset and I must say so far it has been an amazing experience! I think BlueAnt is proving to be a real contender in the handsfree arena.  Lookout Plantronics and Jabra!

This is my 2nd BlueAnt product.  The first, also purchased not long ago, is their Interphone helmet mount bluetooth headset which I use while riding my F650GS. Both devices are happily paired with my iPhone 3G and playing well together.

From the packaging, to the easy to understand quick start instructions, the BlueAnt V1 is a class act.  The design is simple and elegant.  The V1 is comfortable and more feature packed than any other bluetooth headset I’ve seen to date.  BlueAnt loads you up with accessories.  From 4 different earbuds, 2 rubber gels and 2 foam tips, to the wall charger, a car charger and usb charger.  I’m not sure they could have packed this thing with any more goodies!

What about the speech recognition?  Ok, the next step is setting up the device.  After a quick, full charge, the next step was to pair the headset with the iPhone 3G.  BlueAnt made this step so easy, I’m not sure it gets any better than this!  They insert a little note into the packaging that says “BEFORE YOU TURN ON YOUR V1 FOR THE FIRST TIME”, on the note, they actually ask you to wear the device during setup.  This is because it talks to you and walks you through step by step, waiting for you to complete each step, then moving to the next automatically when it knows you’ve successfully paired the headset with your phone.

After politely and painlessly walking me through the pairing process (which happened quite seamlessly on the iPhone 3G), the device then proceeds to assist you with available voice commands.  The built-in male voice is friendly and pleasing to listen to.

This is where it gets cool (as if it’s not super cool already!).  From speed dialing home, work, office and even GOOG-411 (GOOG-411 is pre-programmed into the V1), to configuration preferences such as deactivating the blue LED light (so you can attempt to conceal your tech-dorkyness by minimizing the flashing lights eminating from various electronic devices on or about your person) the BlueAnt V1 will assist you during every configuration twist and turn.

The V1 sports dual microphone noise-canceling, this improves the sound to whomever you’re talking to as well as improves the accuracy of the speech recognition.  Overall, the command voice recognition, was near flawless.  And in a tiny, unassuming device like this, the “V for Voice” in V1 is well deserved.

Sounds great! Does it have any flaws?  Well, as great as this headset is, it typically retails for about $119, a little pricey, but quality, usability and prestige are all included in the box with this product that may be worth shelling out some extra clams for.

Limited voice support on the iPhone:  Even though the V1 supports a cell phone that takes voice commands, the iPhone 3G does not offer voice control at this time, therefore taking full advantage of the voice features of the V1 is not possible with an iPhone 3G (this isn’t really BlueAnt’s fault but does take away from the “complete” voice control aspect of owning the product).  You can, however, still speed dial iPhone Favorites, ignore and answer incoming calls by voice with the headset, so it’s not even near a total loss.

And finally, the phone’s firmware is USB upgradeable (foreshadowing possible future enhancements, bug fixes, new features) and the documentation says to find information and software for this firmware upgrade on their web site, which with a few minutes of digging on their site, I couldn’t even find mention of support for this.

Finally, I think this little guy is great, and my rating is: “Highly Recommended”.  The V1 will pair with up to 8 devices (other phones, PCs, PS3, etc).  And with potential firmware upgrades, who knows what comes next!

If you have any experiences with the BlueAnt V1 you’d like to share please post as a comment to this article.

BlueAnt’s website can be found at:  www.blueantwireless.com

We here at ErixClix.com would like to congratulate America’s first African-American President.  With the world and the country in turmoil, Obama’s policies, his vision and his calm yet confident leadership style are just the shot-in-the-arm America needs.

Again, congratulations, and God Bless America for having the courage to do the right thing…it’s about time!

More posts to follow!

In Florida this week, Obama, referring to the John McCain’s views on the economy said, “Instead of common sense solutions, month after month, they’ve offered little more than willful ignorance, wishful thinking, and outdated ideology.” I want to focus on Obama’s mention of ‘willful ignorance’ because I believe that is more of a universal theme and is at the core of most of the issues we are facing today.

Willful ignorance has lead us to times of war, economic failure, and further dissolution of the middle class.

Willful ignorance put us in Iraq.  By ignoring the facts…no real evidence of WMDs, we ended up fighting an open-ended war with a society and culture simply not ready for democracy, losing $10 Billion a month just to fight that war and most importantly now killing over 4,000 American Soldiers.

Willful ignorance destroyed the economy and greatly reduced opportunities for success and independence among the middle class.  To say that Wall Street, banks and corporate executives thought their excessive greed would last forever is simply a joke.

And, yes, I also blame the consumer, running up credit cards without saving for the future and applying for loans they knew were a stretch.  Those were all conscious decisions, and a conscious, willful choice was made to ignore the obvious ramifications of those decisions.

The ignorance continues…

Watching McCain and Palin, with their empty rhetoric and pointless, directionless, anti-Obama attacks.  I believe even the most clueless among us are feeling what’s wrong with this picture.  So, to ignore this, is again ‘willful ignorance.’

It’s also willful ignorance that we don’t acknowledge the realities of Joe The Plumber.  1) He wasn’t a licensed plumber, 2) He owes back taxes, and 3) The Plumbing business he wants to buy makes well under the $250,000 tax bracket that Obama’s tax plan affects, so ‘Joe’, in reality, will pay less in taxes under Obama.

Why are the very citizens of our nation, who are the most negatively affected by the policies McCain represents give the most support to those people and their now failed policies?  And “Joe The Plumber” being fully aware that his business actually would NOT even qualify for a tax increase under Obama, yet continues this charade (his name isn’t even Joe, by the way) simply to support the other candidate, is quite a definitive example of willful ignorance.

Why?  Obama is different, and ‘Joe’ is afraid.  Most willful ignorance is fear based, and it’s tearing us apart.  I gotta say people, with a clear head, a fearless outlook on the future, whatever that future may bring, the decision now, more than ever should be a clear one to everyone, including ‘Joe.’

I will do the right thing on November 4th…you should too.

I have something simple to say here…mind you I love America and believe this is still the greatest country in the world for many reasons. But I must stress that it will require a real leap of faith to keep it that way by what we call ‘mainstream’ voters.

People, isn’t it interesting that this mudslinging is an issue now that McCain has dropped in the polls? Another broken promise.  McCain told us before that he won’t throw character judgements in this campaign.  Today, he’s broken that promise, as every other promise he’s made to his Arizona constituents for the past 20 years, his balanced policies and positions have dissolved away into the empty, rhetorical, nothingness that is the Bush Administration.

Please bear with my harsh words in the rest of this article, but things are absolutely ridiculous, while news organizations are trying to be so “even-handed” in their reporting that they aren’t telling how uneven the behavior of these candidates actually is!  McCain’s campaign is launching massive character attacks and spewing what are now confirmed lies, while Obama’s campaign simply has not been utilizing the same degree of underhanded tactics.

Now I must say:  Anyone subscribing to these ludicrous claims that Obama associates with terrorists should be aware that this is ignorant, misleading, rhetoric and if the majority of voters are buying this load of horse sh*t then the country deserves everything foul it gets by electing this kind of leadership.

Voting out of ignorance is the most dangerous thing.  If the choice between these candidates isn’t a clear one for most people now…then what will be the fate of a democratic nation that doesn’t intelligently research and fairly judge their candidates for public office?

Top-level summary:  Very Entertaining…unfortunately, not much more to summarize, I wish I could have used phrases like “Spielberg’s best!” or “they’ve outdone themselves this time!”…but I can’t.

Aside from a few action scenes that were not only hard to believe but actually even looked as fake as they actually were (not Spielberg’s usual M.O.), the movie was fun and interesting.

Have blockbusters from this production crew been so successful in the past that our expectations are set so astronomically high they can never again be met by the same filmmakers?

Or did this movie fall short for many because of an overcooked storyline due to the fact that Indy’s aging and they wanted to squeeze too much of an “end-all” storyline into what is likely his last adventure? (referring to Harrison Ford’s character of course.)

Finally, I think it’s great to go to a real movie theater and see a new Indiana Jones flick.  That was probably worth the price of the ticket just for the nostalgia.

Internet Movie Database link to this movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/

The Phoenix Mars Lander has landed!  Another successful arrival on Mars by NASA.  We here at Erix Clix think 3D and Space Missions to other planets go together like chocolate and peanut butter.  So, since NASA released 2 black and white images from the stereo imager, we thought we’d process them (correctly) for Anaglyphic stereo 3D viewing (Red-blue glasses).  So here you go!  Enjoy!  We sure did.  Step back a little from your monitor and let your eyes adjust.  When it comes in clear it’s amazing.  This was taken minutes after it touched down!  Click to see full size.

The Phoenix Lander web site is here:  http://fawkes4.lpl.arizona.edu/index.php

I believe as a culture, we Americans have one thing backwards…sex or violence…which is worse?

It looks like Washington state has bikini wearing baristas at a few of the local cafes.  And it’s causing all kinds of raucous.  So what’s the big deal?  Go to the beach, and see the same thing, right?

I’m watching a video clip about this story.  And a woman complains about pulling up to a drive-thru with her kids (at one of these coffee places) and the next thing she hears is “mommy, look there’s a naked lady” (or something to that effect) from the back seat.  She looked up to see the barista wearing pasties on top and nothing else (she had bottoms on).  Of course as moral, conservative, decent Americans we are shocked!  The mother continued to explain how wrong it was that her child was subjected to this and that she should have been warned by some kind of signage or “Adults Only” warning.

Adults Only?  As in, inappropriate for young viewers?  Meanwhile, most American parents (and possibly that same woman) will go home tonight, sit in front of the television and watch whatever violent crime drama is on with their children sitting nearby, most-likely watching as well.  Someone getting stabbed, shot or raped most likely opens the show.

Now this is what I think is backward…  Is it more inappropriate for a child to see something completely natural (a woman’s breast), created by God and part of the human body?  Or is it more inappropriate for a child to see one human being committing violent crimes against another?  Blood and guts are ok, but a nipple is the end of the world.  Now I’ve seen some sexy nipples in my day, but nothing that I think would disturb a normal child, raised with decency, respect and family values.

Europeans figured at least this ONE THING out a long time ago.  And it’s our society that has a higher instance of violent crimes (including sex crimes).

Maybe it’s time to call up webster and change the American moral definition of the word ”Inappropriate.”