Geek Gestalt

For my Road Trip 2008 computer needs, I used a MacBook Air, from Apple. At one point, Apple sent me a second machine, so I had two.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

TAMPA, Fla.--And so it ends.

After driving through nine Southern states and crossing innumerable borders, Road Trip 2008 has come to an end.

What began in Orlando, Fla., ended 4,593 miles later here in Tampa. Along the way, the trip has taken me to a Space Shuttle landing, to the Corvette factory, to watch the Blue Angels practice at their home base, to being banned from Graceland, and much, much more.

Through it all I carried with me thousands of dollars worth of tech gear, aiming to road test it all. The list of gadgets included some of the coolest new toys around, as well as some that have been on the market for many months.

And, unfortunately, I wasn't able to try them all out. The vagaries of driving hundreds of miles a day on top of reporting stories and writing them left me with little time to test the gear I'd brought, something I knew intellectually after last year's journey of 4,891 miles through the Southwest on Road Trip 2007.

Still, I did manage to use almost every pieces of gear I brought with me, and if you've been following the trip, then you've seen some of my stories about them.

Already, I've talked about how I used two different devices for shooting low-fi video. The first was a service called Qik, which runs on a number of smart phones, such as the Nokia N95 I had with me. The second was a Flip Mino, a dedicated video camera that allows for easy shooting and simple--though sometimes slow--uploading to YouTube and other video-sharing services.

Of course, visuals being as important as they are, a huge piece of this whole project was the thousands of photographs I took. I ran 27 different photo galleries during the trip, and with a couple of exceptions, I shot every single photo with a Nikon D60.

Nikon lent me the camera, as well as two lenses, a 70-200mm telephoto and a 16-85mm.

In addition, because Nikon wasn't able to provide me with an ultra-wide angle lens, I rented one from RentGlass.com, as I knew that that would be the lens that I'd use more than any of the others.

And indeed, that's exactly what happened.

As I mentioned, the camera was with me pretty much at all times. It had to be in order to shoot as many pictures as I did.

And I'm a Canon guy. My own personal camera is a Canon Rebel XT, but this year, I thought I'd try Nikon's new D60, just to see what it was like.

I have to say: it was great. It was simple to use, it was fairly light, its batteries lasted forever and, I think, it took great pictures.

To be sure, if I knew a little bit more about how to use it, it would have taken even better pictures, but it did just great thanks.

The Nikon D60 and 16-85mm and 70-300mm lenses I used on Road Trip 2008.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

The D60 has a very satisfying shutter action, an intuitive menu structure, and a satisfying feel in my hand. It is easy to swap lenses on and off, and I did so fairly regularly.

The telephoto lens was great. As I wrote early in the trip, I showed up for the Space Shuttle landing, telephoto lens in hand, only to find that some of the pros there were sporting huge lenses. I thought I was screwed. Yet, the lens did just fine, shooting a series of very serviceable shots, maybe nothing that would work in a magazine, but just fine for online.

I'll be happy to return to my Rebel XT, but I wonder if I'm going to enjoy it as much as the D60.

It is worth noting, however, that one very odd thing happened with the camera.

I was in Pensacola, Fla., standing on the tarmac at the Naval Air Station there where the Blue Angels make their home, and suddenly, without warning, the camera's LCD cracked. Not the glass, mind you, but the LCD under it. This made it impossible to see the pictures once I'd shot them or to make any kind of menu changes.

Luckily, the camera itself still worked fine, and I was able to take at least a thousand or so pictures after this.

But no one I've talked to has ever heard of the LCD cracking on a digital SLR, and even now, I really have no idea what happened. My contact at Nikon is looking into it, I believe.

Sprint's Compass 597, one of the two EVDO modem that I used on Road Trip 2008.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

There's no question that the most important piece of technology I had with me was the MacBook Air I had with me. But rather than go into my experiences with it here, I'll just mention that I've already written a story about that.

Beyond the computer, though, there's little doubt that the next most important set of tech I had with me were the two EVDO modems I was carrying, one each from Sprint and Verizon.

On Road Trip 2007, I had one from Verizon, and I loved it. I would say the same this time around about both the Sprint modem and the new one I had from Verizon.

It's really hard to differentiate between the two of them, though there were clearly places where one worked better than the other. I had all the best intentions of keeping track of where each one worked better, but that was one of the logistical things that fell by the wayside as the realities of the intensity of my daily routine on the trip set in.

Suffice it to say that overall, I would say that they performed equally well: In most places, they both worked great, while in some one would work well, while the other wouldn't. Over the course of the 4,583 miles, I'd say it was probably a wash as to which one worked better at any given time.

Each has a simple software interface. In ideal circumstances, it takes no more than a few seconds to get online and get working.

To be sure, there were places where neither one worked all that well, and when that coincided with poor Wi-Fi reception, that made for some difficult situations, as broadband connectivity is a crucial component of a project that involves sending more than a dozen photos over the Internet every day, as well as tons of Web-based research.

The Verizon USB727, the other EVDO modem I used on Road Trip 2008.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

Of course, none of the trip would have been possible without a good car, and so the Subaru Outback 2.5 XT I had for every mile of the journey--except for an overnight round-trip flight from Nashville to Houston and back--was a great solution. But you can read my story about that.

And that leaves the last device I used: an Apple iPhone.

I had been holding out on buying one, but I definitely was interested in trying out the famous smart phone.

Did I think I'd get hooked? No. But one of my colleagues bet me $5 that I'd return from Road Trip ready to buy my own.

And I think she's going to win the bet, especially now that the iPhone 3G is out.

The Subaru Outback 2.5 XT that I drove around the South on Road Trip 2008. All told, I drove 4,593 miles across eight states.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

To be sure, the device--at least the original version--has problems. The AT&T Edge network is painfully slow, as everyone knows.

Yet, the ability to get what amounts to a rich Web experience on the go, as well as to use the mapping tools and the extremely well-thought out iPhone interface won me over.

Despite it having a form factor that I think is a little too big to be comfortable--for me, at least--I'm prepared to fork over the $199 for an iPhone 3G, if only because I know that it has become essential in my life to have Internet as often as possible. I don't know if that's a good thing, but it is what it is.

One odd iPhone experience I had was at Fort Benning, the Army base in Columbus, Ga. In truth, the base straddles the border between Georgia and Alabama, and thus the dividing line between the central and eastern time zones.

At one point while I was on the base, my host and I were driving around trying to find something, both of us clutching our iPhones. I looked down and noticed that my phone had switched to central time, while his hadn't. Or maybe it was the other way around. But the point is that both phones were on the same network, and yet were registering different times. I found that very interesting, and neither of us could figure out why.

It doesn't really matter, of course, but it is worth mentioning.

Ultimately, I used the iPhone constantly, to check e-mail, to figure out where I was, to make phone calls, as my morning alarm clock and more. And yes, I suspect I will be paying off my colleague within a matter of days.

The last device I had with me was a Dash Express car navigator. Unfortunately, I was never able to find the time to get it set up, and so I wasn't able to evaluate it. I hope Dash will be willing to let me hold on to it for a little while longer to try it out in my regular life. But I do apologize for not getting around to using it. I truly was looking forward to doing so.

In the end, Road Trip 2008 was a success. I visited some of the most interesting places I've ever been to, and saw very large parts of a region of the country I'd never been to before.

And without many of the gadgets I was ferrying around with me, I wouldn't have been able to share it with you, and that would have been a shame.

Thanks for following along with me. I really appreciate it. And stay tuned for Road Trip 2009. Now, back to your regularly scheduled Geek Gestalt.

The two MacBook Airs CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman used on Road Trip 2008.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

SAN FRANCISCO--After working on an Apple MacBook Air for the last month while on Road Trip 2008, it was a real shock when I returned home and picked up my regular work MacBook Pro for the first time.

Compared to the Air, which I'd really gotten used to as I drove around the South, the Pro was really heavy. Shockingly so. And thinking back over the countless hours I spent with the Air in my backpack on my back as I visited endless places, I'm eternally grateful for all that weight I didn't have to carry.

And there can be no doubt that the thinness and the very light weight of the MacBook Air are its major selling points. That and its very bright, very clear LED screen. Several times during my trip, people came up to me to say how amazed they were by how bright the screen on the Air was, even in direct sunlight.

I also heard plenty of people saying to each other as they walked by me in one place or another things like, "Wow, look how thin that is," or "Hey, look, it's that new super thin Mac."

So having spent a great deal of time over the last month using this loaner machine--I'm writing this on the Air--I can say that, on the whole, I really enjoyed it.

As I mentioned, the weight--or lack of it, really--was a seriously wonderful thing, especially since I was always carrying the computer in a backpack full of camera gear, notebooks, magazines, and other things. In that regard, this is definitely the most impressive computer I've seen in a very long time.

The MacBook Air that CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman worked on throughout Road Trip 2008 resting on top of his everyday MacBook Pro.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

Of course, it's a fully functional Mac, so that means it's a much better computer than just about any PC I can imagine. Sorry, folks, but that's just the truth.

I found it to be fast, for the most part, easy to use, great to look at, and generally a touch simpler to use on a day-by-day basis than my MacBook Pro.

It seemed to recognize Wi-Fi networks more quickly than other computers, and to shut down faster, as well. As I said above, its LED screen was consistently brilliant, no matter how much light was shining on it. This is a big improvement over what I've used before.

I did have a few issues with the Air, some which will surprise no one, and another which I think caught even Apple off guard.

The first is that the machine is definitely a bit hampered by its size. The fact that it has just a single USB port and no optical drive is limiting, despite easy ways to work around that.

For example, I bought a small USB hub, and used it often. But many times, I was in a hurry and didn't want to go digging around in my bag for the hub and wanted instead to be able to just plug my camera and my EVDO card in. No luck. Similarly, not being able to play DVDs without the external drive Apple lent me was a bit frustrating.

Still, these are not new issues, and I know that before too long, Apple will come out with a MacBook Air that has additional USB ports and an optical drive. Lenovo already has such a computer--it's not a Mac, though--so it's clear that it can be done.

The more troubling problem I had was what at first seemed like an inexplicable slowing way down or even outright freezing up that happened some days when I was trying to watch rented movies in iTunes or videos on YouTube. It got so bad when I first encountered the problem--shutting down the computer and rebooting didn't seem to solve it--that I freaked out a bit given the prospect that I wouldn't have a working computer to use.

I managed to get past the problem over the next few days by judiciously turning off the computer when I wasn't using it instead of just putting it to sleep. That seemed to help, and I thought maybe I'd solved the problem.

But eventually, the slowing down and the freezing up came back, and I couldn't deal with it. So I called Apple, and after explaining what was going on, we agreed that they would send me another MacBook Air given that it sounded like something was wrong with this specific machine.

So, after I left New Orleans, where I'd been writing about how that city has fared since Hurricane Katrina, I drove toward Pensacola, Fla., where I was going to watch the Blue Angels perform at their home base. Along the way, I stopped at a UPS Store in Mobile, Ala., and there, waiting for me, was the second MacBook Air.

That night, I downloaded a film through iTunes, and the next day, after leaving the computer on all night and most of the next day, sat down to watch it. But before long I noticed it was behaving the same way: it was slowing way down, and acting like it would freeze up.

I asked my colleague, Tom Krazit, who covers Apple for CNET News, if he'd heard of such a problem. He said no, but did a little research and then sent me a link to an online forum where people were discussing this very issue. It appears that the MacBook Air suffers somewhat from overheating, and the result can be the slowing down and freezing I was experiencing.

That made sense, since the problem always seemed to creep up after I'd had the computer on for a day or more.

As a result, I began making more of a point to shut down both computers when they were not in use, and to elevate them, say, with a book under each side, when trying to watch movies. That seemed work, lending more credence to the theory that this was an overheating problem.

This also seems like a good time to weigh in with my thoughts on the movie rentals program iTunes offers.

First, let me say that I think it's a great idea. While the selection of films needs to grow--and quickly--there were plenty of good films on offer. But the limitation that once you begin watching a film you only have 24 hours to finish it has got to go.

I would say that two-thirds of the films I rented I was not able to finish in 24 hours. Perhaps my Road Trip schedule was a little more intense than that of the average iTunes movie renter, but it seems that there must be plenty of people for whom finishing in one full day is not realistic.

I'm not sure, then, why it can't be 48 hours. What's the difference?

In the end, however, despite some problems with the MacBook Air, I would have to say it's a worthwhile machine, and something I would enjoy using as my primary computer while on the road again. I certainly am looking forward to a future version of the computer that solves the overheating problems--if that's indeed what it was--and that offers additional USB ports and an optical drive.

But this computer really is what Apple is marketing it as: A machine for the wireless road warrior. With a little bit of careful preparation, you can make the Air do what you want it to do. And your back will hurt a lot less than it does if you carry around a full-size laptop. Trust me on that one.

The Y.M. Wealth, a container ship flagged in Liberia goes under the Golden Gate Bridge on its way from Los Angeles to the Port of Oakland.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

MARIN HEADLANDS, Calif.--This is very surreal.

I'm sitting on a bench on top of a cliff here, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and looking straight at the Golden Gate Bridge.

For the last 15 minutes, there has been a steady stream of sirens from emergency vehicles, and I can see that all traffic on the bridge is completely stopped. I Twittered what I was seeing, and almost immediately, one of my followers replied with details of what seems to be a multiple-vehicle accident blocking most of the lanes on the bridge.

Before this happened, I was planning on starting this blog entry by writing that life is very good because here I am sitting in such a magical place, and I'm getting to do work from here.

But seeing and hearing what I know is some sort of tragedy has dampened my spirits a bit.

Still, it is a truly magnificent place to be, and I'm able to sit here and blog because I'm road testing a bunch of gadgets for my upcoming Road Trip 2008.

That trip, which will begin on June 10 in Orlando, Fla., is this year's version of Road Trip 2007, my journey around the U.S. Southwest. This year's voyage will take me around the American South, visiting a series of destinations and attractions, such as Disney World, the Corvette Factory, Space Camp, the Kennedy Space Center, and more. I'll also be carrying a bunch of gadgets with me.

On Wednesday, I spent most of the afternoon at the only restored Nike missile site in the United States.

A Nike Hercules surface-to-air missile at the only restored Nike missile site in the United States. The site is in the Marin Headlands, near Sausalito, Calif. The missile could carry a nuclear warhead of up to 40 kilotons.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

I will be posting a full story and photo gallery on this, most likely on Friday, so stay tuned for that.

Suffice it to say, it's quite a thing to realize that just a few miles from San Francisco there were several active sites capable of firing nuclear-tipped missiles at incoming bombers or other threats.

As my tour guide mentioned, many people from San Francisco had no idea that the site even existed, and being from the city myself, I can attest to the truth of that statement.

After I finished my tour, I pulled out my gadgets--an Apple iPhone and two EVDO modems, a Verizon USB727, and a Sprint Compass 597. The idea was to test which had the best connectivity out here in the middle of one of the most spectacular pieces of land in the world.

Sprint's Compass 597, an EVDO modem that I will be using on Road Trip 2008

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

At first, just above the Nike site, only the iPhone got any kind of signal. It was spotty, but I was able to load a Web site containing information on Nike missiles. The Sprint and Verizon modems had no signal at all.

So I decided to move on and drove over the hill until I ended up where I am now. I stopped here because it was the first place with an open view of San Francisco, but which was still very much in the Headlands.

After getting the Apple MacBook Air I'm also using on Road Trip out, I processed some photos and began plugging and unplugging the EVDO modems into the computer. It quickly turned out that, because I am in plain view of San Francisco, both are producing high-speed connectivity.

The iPhone, however, seems to be performing rather sluggishly.

Another thing I wanted to do while I was here was see if I could use the Internet to figure out the provenance of a huge container ship that was sailing under the bridge.

Seeing the name of the shipping company emblazoned on its side, Yang Ming, I figured I could do a quick Google search to discover shipping traffic information.

What I ended up finding out is that in order to get that kind of information, you have to be a member of the Maritime Exchange of the San Francisco Bay Region.

But, pulling out my reporter card, I called the exchange and the nice man on the other end of the phone told me that the ship is called the Y.M. Wealth, is flagged in Liberia, and was on its way into the Port of Oakland after sailing from Los Angeles. He couldn't tell me the cargo, other than that it was carrying a lot of containers--duh--or where it would be heading next.

The Verizon USB727, another EVDO modem I will be using on Road Trip 2008.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

Anyway, the bridge is still totally blocked, the view is still otherwordly, and the technology that is allowing me to share that all with you is rather impressive.

Please keep watching this space for both my story on the Nike missile site and for the entire Road Trip.