Cheap Tech

Don't let that old Xbox gather dust!

My wife and I broke down and bought an original Xbox for our two sons several years ago.

The boys were ecstatic when they unwrapped their prize and saw the neon green X that promised worlds of adventure and teenage RSI.

But alas, like all technology, the Xbox was soon usurped. Microsoft molded a new, translucent object of desire, and the black plastic box was shoved into the corner, crowned with a tangle of old-school corded controllers encrusted with dust.

That's when I claimed it, dusted off its crown and once again made it king of our family room.

Using some straightforward soft-mod instructions from the ever-resourceful Gina Trapani at Lifehacker, I transformed the old Xbox into a Linux computer and loaded it with XBMC (Xbox Media Center) software. Instead of Splinter Cell and Halo, I was going to use the Xbox and my Internet connection to get "Family Guy" and "Battlestar Galactica."

While there's no sense recreating Gina's instructions (I'd never do it as well), I did stumble on a few things:

-- Getting the hack through IRC was an incredible hassle. My FTP client (FileZilla) kept getting booted when I navigated to the proper directory for the download. Since the "super-secret" FTP username and password work only once, I couldn't log back in. After hours of frustration, I learned that if I left FileZilla pointed to the proper directory, then asked again via IRC for a password (using the same name), I could start the download without getting kicked off. This took me hours to noodle out.

-- The latest build of the most popular XBMC distro is freely available at T3CH. You want to grab the "bleeding edge" version. (I started with the "stable" version, but soon updated it).

-- The Action Replay software that I received was buggy. The software presents you with three panels, which represent the three locations (memory card, PC and online) available for game saves or exploits. The Lifehacker instructions say to drop the exploit on the PC panel, then drag it to the memory card. I got the exploit into the PC panel by dragging if from my Windows desktop, but the software would not allow me to drag it from one panel to another. After considerable frustration, I simply dragged the exploit from my desktop onto the memory card panel and it worked!

-- The Lifehacker instructions say to "install the softmod" but they don't say where. The Xbox hard drive is partitioned into several drives. I guessed C:/ and it worked.

Once the installation was done, I went in search of scripts and plugins to extend the capabilities of my reborn wonder. I started with a plugin to stream video from the popular Web site Hulu, which hosts thousands of TV shows and movies.

I was disappointed when the plugin didn't work. I could navigate the directories, but the videos wouldn't play. I spent hours online looking for answers (documentation for this stuff is sparse to non-existent). I eventually just updated the XBMC software. Once the new "bleeding edge" software was installed, the Hulu plugin worked like a charm. I spent the next 90 minutes watching "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels."

Spurred on by my success, I downloaded the Navi-X Media Browser, which essentially puts another media player inside XBMC. The Navi-X package includes scripts for dozens of online media sources, including YouTube, Adult Swim, Flickr and others. In my experience, some worked and others didn't, but there are more than enough to keep you busy for weeks.

Next up, I'm going to custom keymap my universal remote (I already have an IR adapter) so that I can shed the old-school controller.

All this for less than $30. W00t!

Who needs an iPod?

Sure, those white earbuds look cool on Bono, but I think they're downright uncomfortable. And that dangling cord? Might as well put a sign on your back that says, "I've got $300 in my pocket!"

I have an eclectic taste in music, running the gamut from John Coltrane to Frank Sinatra to Talking Heads to Korn. One of my first investments in high school after getting a job at the local grocery store was to purchase a kick-butt audio system that my parents would never let me dial up past 3. It was awesome! And a colossal waste of money.

But here I am, 30 years later, looking at an iPod? Tempting, but the Reward Zone card stayed in my pocket.

When MP3 players first hit the shelves, I went out and spent $25 on a portable CD player that could play MP3 files on CD-RWs. I spent another $15 for a tape adapter for the car and made it convenient with a strip of Velcro tape. For $40, I had the equivalent of an iPod and an iTrip. Not quite as stylish nor as sleek as Apple, but for me it was just peachy.

Then, when I signed up for a new cell phone plan, I noticed my free-with-contract phone (Alltel's Hue, also known as the Samsung SCH-r500) had a music player.

Hmm.

The phone also had a slot for a microSD card.

Hmm again.

And, it had Bluetooth.

Eureka!

With a little Googling, I found a highly regarded stereo Bluetooth headset (the NS-BTHDP from Insignia, Best Buy's store brand) for $50 and picked up a 2GB microSD card for another $20 (they're even cheaper now).

Now I have music in my pocket and wireless headphones, and it cost much less than a comparable MP3 player. An added bonus is that the headset has a microphone and pauses the music when I answer a call. All without opening  the phone.

Where you want Bach or rock from your cell phone, there are some caveats to consider:

• While I got lucky with my phone, some Bluetooth phones don't support the A2DP profile that enables stereo sound (my son's LG Scoop, for example, wouldn't pair with my headphones)
• Don't expect to get the Apple user experience from your cell phone (unless you have an iPhone -- in which case shouldn't be reading this blog). The interface can be clunky. 
• The media player on my phone doesn't support the latest version of ID3 metadata. That's geek-speak for the description attached to your audio file that tells your media player what it's playing. There's a way to work around this with the right FREE software, but that's for another post.
• There can be limitations on the size of the microSD card your phone can use. The manual for my phone says it has a 1GB limit, but my 2GB card works fine (the initial file listing just takes a while).

So, back to the question at hand: Who needs an iPod?

Not me. I'm cheap.