Omar Shahine's WebLog : Gear

I'm not alone with my Comcast DVR woes

omars — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 06:21:01 GMT

I'm not the only one who thinks the Comcast DVR with TV Guide software is buggy. I should call Comcast and ask for a refund. That will surely get them to notice the issues. Money talks...

So long MPx

omars — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 07:19:01 GMT

Motorola finally cancelled the MPx [via Steve Makofsky]. I just pulled up this post I wrote last year on the subject:

I remember when I used to see announcements or rumors of Pocket PC and Smartphone devices and I would get so excited. I'm at the point now where I just don't care any more.

I've been dreaming of a smartphone or Pocket PC device like my wife's Treo 600. I desperately want a thumb keyboard since most of what I use my phone for is e-mail. So when I saw the Motorola MPX I was extatic, then today when I saw this new BenQ device I was, initially happy, then just plain depressed.

...

Hopefully in 2005 I can get a Windows Mobile powered device with a thumb keyboard for less than $500 dollars. I can dream can't I?

That was over a year ago that I wrote these words. Has the world changed in that year? Not really, except that I no longer use Windows Mobile and am loving my Treo 650. It's going to take a sub $500 device with a keyboard and a 320x320 screen that is as small or smaller than the Treo 650 to win me back.

Greg on PDA/Phone devices

omars — Sun, 17 Apr 2005 03:41:46 GMT

Greg Hughes has a great write up on a bunch of "smartphone" PDA type devices. I have never used a Blackberry, and probably never will because it requires that middleware be installed, and Microsoft just isn't going to do that. So I am stuck to chose between Windows based Mobile devices and devices that support Exchange ActiveSync (The Treo 650 is one).

I think Greg raises excellent concerns about the Audiovox 5600 and the Siemens SX66 (or whatever your carrier calls this thing, there are at least 3 different companies hocking this device, and none of the companies who place their name on the device actually make it).

Greg has this to say about the Audiovox 5600:

"But the software apps are a little glitchy, and I lost count of how many times this thing either reset itself or required me to pry the battery out of the back and replace it in order to get it started and working again."

"Audio quality was good. It's small and compact and has a certain "neato" quality. But it doesn't allow me to quickly and efficiently communicate, except via voice calls."

And this to say about the Siemens SX66:

"Bluetooth worked better than any of the other devices in hands-free mode, and the keyboard makes it more accessible and usable than the Audiovox device by far. But the keyboard's pimple-style chicklet bubble layout was painful to use in the real wold - keys are tiny and way too close together unless you;re six years old (probably not the target market). Battery life was pretty awful, especially if you use the WiFi at all.

"To top it all off, this morning I grabbed the device and went to turn it on, but it did not respond. Yet, the little green service light was flashing so I knew it had power to it. I pulled the battery put it back (the Windows Mobile version of CTRL-ALT-DEL), but still no response. I started driving to work and tried it again while I was stopped for coffee at the local store. Voila! Up it comes, but totally reset, nuked, blown away, default ROM settings - everything I had set and stored before was gone. Good thing the important stuff was on my SD card... I've read and heard rumors of serious software problems with this phone, and when you combine that with the lame keyboard that looks cool but isn't at all usable, well... Returned, with prejudice."

And this is my point. These devices are not reliable enough to use as a phone. My Treo has missed a single phone call in 30 days and that was due to some third party application that I run that is buggy (but I can't live without for now).

Greg was not a fan of the Treo 650, and I agree that they keyboard is a bit cramped, but the Blackberry is no option for me, and I happen to like the 650. The number of excellent applications available for the device + the form factor are what hold the device ahead of every available Windows Mobile device.

I do agree that the usability of the Palm OS could be better. It takes to may steps to do simple things, and the OS constantly launches and quits applications since you can only run one at a time. This makes multitasking or even doing a single task across multiple apps take longer than it should. Windows Mobile is much more efficient across applications.

PSP

omars — Sat, 16 Apr 2005 03:37:19 GMT

Nooooo!!! I could not resist (sorry Steve). I had to have one. Must purchase. Well, I was walking back from a Dr. Appt near Union Square 1 hour ago, and I figured I would stop by the Sony Store at the Metreon. If you are in need of a PSP and you live in San Francisco, the Sony Store got a shipment yesterday.

I don't have any games yet though. That's a problem I need to fix.

BTW - this device was $249. I never did purchase a Portable Media Center. $500 to essentially play audio and video seemed too steep for me (I don't have kids, and my tablet can play tv shows from my MCE box). But the price for this gizmo is in line with what a Creative Zen Micro or iPod mini costs. Compared to the PMC, the device is sexier, screen is more beautiful, and the entertainment is limitless. With WiFi built in, this thing will be cool. Now, I wish it could nativley play WMV so that I could more easily get my MCE TV shows on there.

Uh oh

omars — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 06:12:16 GMT

I just played with a friend's PSP. OMG it rocks. I have an Xbox and I play it like once a month. I have a feeling I would use a PSP a lot more. I could play in bed, on the plane or on the train. The last portable game device I used was an Atari Lynx. Great device but horrible battery life. I was also a gameboy addict (the original version). But I quit video games cold turkey after high school.

Oh, well, there goes a bunch of dough.

Get Perpendicular

omars — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 01:52:13 GMT

From a co-worker:

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/research/recording_head/pr/PerpendicularAnimation.html

A funny flash video of Hitachi's new Perpendicular drive technology. Very funny.

I can't wait till I can purchase a 1 TB drive.

Treo 650 Review Part 2

omars — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 09:39:24 GMT

It's been a month now since I received my Treo 650, and I couldn't be more happy. There are some minor warts on this device, but I firmly believe this is the best and most usable PDA/Phone device I have used. It easily meets my needs better than any of my previous Windows Mobile devices, and while it has a few shortfalls, they pale in comparison to the positive features I've come to rely on.

If you missed it, here is Part 1

PIM

The PIM applications are probably the one weak area of this device. I have a rather high bar for these types of things as I like my data to round trip from desktop to device and back. The most frustrating aspect of the device has been that not all the data in Outlook maps to the Palm. The specific shortfalls are mentioned below. In part 2 I will talk about some third part applications that circumvent some of these issues.

Dear Comcast

omars — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:01:47 GMT

Dear Comcast,

I have been using your new fangled High Definition PVR with two tunes for a few months now. Let me tell you, this is the buggiest piece of consumer electronics I have ever used (note: this is the version with the TV Guide Software, not the Microsoft Foundation). I can't believe that you are making me pay to use this device as it does not function most of the time. Here is a list of my complaints:

Every so often, the devices forgets that I get ABC in high definition and proceeds to record shows like Alias in Standard Definition. To correct this I must delete the recording, and create a new one. Of course I'd rather hurl the box from the window before going through the 20 step process to do this.
At least 3 times a week, the box records a show for 0 minutes, 5 minutes, or 49 minutes, but not the full hour. The box has no idea that it did this.
At least once a week, there is no audio that comes out of the box, so I must powercycle it. If it is recording something, I must wait for it to finish before being able to powercycle and hear the audio.
If I use the power on/off feature of the box, 99% of the time, there is no video or audio when I turn it back on. I need to start a pre-recorded show then go back to live tv
The UI is HORRIBLE. Who designed this software? It sucks.

Adding a new recording is like a 20 step process.
Anytime you make a mistake you have to start over
None of the controls for the PVR (to go to the recorded TV list and start a show) work from the on demand application

The box can't deal with some really basic conflicts
I have no way of knowing what shows I actually watched from the recorded TV list
Your box didn't even handle Daylight Savings time correctly. It updated a day late!!!

It's truly appalling what a buggy product this is. If TiVo shipped this product back in 1999, they would have gone out of business in their first year. It's amazing that 6 years later, you have produced a product that is 100% worse than TiVo or Windows Media Center. This box is so unreliable, that I cannot count on it to be anything fancier than a dual HiDef Cable box. I actually have to watch the shows I really care about when they are on TV.

One day, I hope to have support in my Windows Media Center box for CableCard so that I can go back to my trusty and reliable Windows Media Center to record TV. When that day comes, it will be a joyous one. I cannot wait to call you up to come pick up this box.

Wither the Audiovox 5600

omars — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 20:23:21 GMT

Now I understand why Cingular hasn't launched the Audiovox 5600 Smartphone that AT&T was selling. Audiovox is exiting the mobile phone business and selling to UTStarcom, Inc.

Now I've never heard of UTStarcom, and I'm not sure this helps our effort to increase sales of MS Smartphones as consumers are brand focused, and probably know Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung, but also never heard of UTStarcom.

Think Outside Bluetooth Stowaway Travel Mouse

omars — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 20:05:01 GMT

I picked up this little gem from amazon a few days ago and love it. Since my laptop has built in bluetooth, I was looking for a small travel mouse that also had a little switch so that I could turn it off when not in use (something that the Microsoft mice don't currently have). The device was painless to set up, and is a great travel companion.

The device does not appear to work consistently as a phone

omars — Sat, 26 Mar 2005 16:39:00 GMT

That title is one of the main reasons I seriously considered a Treo 650 (and ultimately got one). If you wish to purchase a Pocket PC Phone in the US, you have four choices (that I am aware of).

HP H6315 (T-Mobile)
Audiovox 4100 (AT&T)
Audiovox 6601/XV6600 (Sprint/Verizon) & Siemens SX66 (Cingular)
Samsung i700 (Verizon)

Not a lot to chose from. All these devices are quite large with the exception of the 4100 which is pretty small. But all are bigger (some more) then the Treo 650. The HP has been around since July 2004 and T-Mobile is the only carrier that sells it. Other carriers were supposed to pick it up but none did (T-Mobile had a 3 month exclusive on selling it). I guess the reason lies in the fact that, well, it does not appear to work consistently as a phone.

I owned the Audiovox 4100 for a few brief weeks. At first it was love at first sight. Then a few weeks later I realized it sucked. Not only did it not reliably work as a phone, but it did not reliably work as a PDA!!! Sometimes it would not turn on after I locked it, most of the time I had trouble answering calls, and generally speaking it was flaky. I loved the idea of a Pocket PC phone, but ultimately it's size, problems, and quirks had me return it. Additionally, dealing with Audiovox was not fun. They do not make this phone and know very little about it, so getting support was problematic. I ended up trading the 4100 in for an Audiovox 5600 Smartphone which was much more reliable and small. Of course I lost the PDA functionality and doing email on that device was problematic. It was a great read only device though. But I was never satisfied due to the form factor I really wanted (keyboard), and the minor phone problems with the 5600 (I also had problems answering calls, but no lockups).

I thought my 4100 problems were just limited to that device but it appears that even HP is having such problems with their H6315 that T-Mobile stopped selling it more than 6 months after it was released. That is a vote of no confidence IMHO. I mean if HP can't get it right who can? Their products are usually top notch!

"The H6315 was released last July as HP's answer to the popularity of palmOne's Treo smart phone. HP added phone capabilities to one of its iPaq PDAs (personal digital assistants) with a GSM/GPRS (Global System for Mobile Communications/General Packet Radio Service) modem, and also installed an 802.11b wireless chip and Bluetooth connectivity. Early reviews were kind, in part because of the device's ability to shift seamlessly between GPRS and 802.11b networks.

However, since its release users have been underwhelmed by the device's phone capabilities, according to numerous posts on handheld-enthusiast Web sites and user-review sites. The device does not appear to work consistently as a phone, as many users reported having to frequently reset their units after software lockups."

[PC Magazine]

This is not good. Especially because HP will also be releasing the iPaq Mobile Messenger sometime this year. If I were a telco I'd be hard pressed to sign up to sell one of their devices. I do not like to frequently reset anything. Especially not knowing that my device is locked up till after some one has tried to reach me.

Now, with the palmOne Treo 600/650 you will find it's sold by:

Cingular (650)
AT&T (650)
Sprint (650)
Verizon
T-Mobile

Not only that but you can buy directly from palmOne, call them for support, if the thing breaks they will send you a unit in advance or returning yours (not something Audiovox would do for me when I complained about my 4100), send them email. Not to mention the fact that you can buy accessories and software for the 600/650 almost anywhere phones and PDAs are sold. But best of all, the 650 does appear to work consistently as a phone.

Treo 650 Review Part 1

omars — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 04:23:00 GMT

I've been thinking how to best structure my experiences with the Treo 650. I have a lot to say on the topic, too much to write in one sitting and too much for a single blog post. As such I'm just going to start now. Expect a Part 2 later this week, and a Windows Mobile vs Treo at some point. I'll also write about all the programs I'm using.

Ordering

I ordered the Treo 650 unlocked. Because I am an ATT Wireless subscriber, I was unwilling to change my calling plan (breaking my shared plan) to get the carrier subsidized version (it was $399 from ATT, $599 from palmOne (locked)). Plus if I ever change my plan over to Cingular I would have to get a new phone. So, I ordered the carrier unlocked version ($699). Of course that left a crater in my checking account. My Treo 650 arrived 2 days after I ordered it. By the way, Cingular/ATT have royally screwed up this acquisition.

Along the way palmOne would send me lots of updates in mail. This included a final email the day I received my Treo that was pretty helpful in getting started. Nice touch. Free FedEx shipping and no tax made the purchase less painful than it could have been.

Out of Box Experience

The Treo 650 comes in a nice box, with a charger, cable, installation CD and manuals. The first thing I ever do when getting a new PDA type device is order a screen protector from BoxWave. This ensures that I don't inadvertently damage the screen as I tend to keep my phone devices in my pocket.

The first thing I did was start charging the device. I also installed the Palm Software from the CD. Installation was smooth, and I configured synchronization with Outlook. One nice thing is that the conduit is now provided by Palm, and not by a third party.

Synchronization Setup

Before synchronizing with my computer using HotSync, I decided to configure my Exchange account in VersaMail. I found it a bit strange that Exchange ActiveSync configuration is managed through VersaMail. Once you configure the account, you get mail and calendar Synchronization. I wish that contacts also synchronized as well, but if I were to pick I think I would have gone with mail and calendar. More on Exchange support in Part 2.

After entering my account settings I sync'ed to Exchange. I have to say, EDGE makes sync much faster than using GPRS. After I did this I connected the Treo to my laptop using the sync cable and got my contacts, tasks and notes on the device. So far so good.

Bluetooth Synchronization

Bravo palmOne for not making Bluetooth sync suck. It took me < 2 min to sync via Bluetooth and this is the only way that I sync now. Contrast to ActiveSync which throws an epileptic fit when you try and use Bluetooth. It's some sort of punishment to try. In fact, I managed to get Bluetooth sync on my 5600 working once in 6 months. It required enabling 2 checkboxes on my phone, a horrible pairing experience, and thousands of dialog boxes from ActiveSync whenever I rebooted or resumed from standby. Constrast to HotSync which only throws up one dialog box. This all stems from the fact that the bluetooth stack in XP can take a long time to boot, often after ActiveSync or HotSync have already decided that something has gone horribly wrong and annoys you about it. Thankfully though, HotSync will continue to work after things have gone back to normal.

Hardware

What can I say about the hardware. I LOVE the device form factor. For a while I thought that maybe it was a bit large, but after using it for a few days I cannot imagine it being any smaller. I can operate the device one handed very easily. In fact, it was much easier than my Audiovox 5600. And light years better than any Pocket PC device. I have only used the stylus in my Treo 3 times in a week, and that was just for applications that didn't support the keyboard navigation on the Treo.

The screen is bright and beautiful. Its resolution is 320x320 which is 4x greater than the old Treo and way more than my Audiovox 5600. This makes reading emails, browsing the web etc a pleasure. Everything looks really nice due to the pixel density on this device. If only palmOne would license ClearType so they could have some nice anti-aliasing.

The keyboard is wonderful. I can't believe I ever used a device w/o a keyboard. I am much more efficient. And it's not just about writing emails, but writing sms messages, entering URLs in the browser, configuring my account settings, entering passwords. Its a million times better with the keyboard.

I keep the Treo in my right pocket, and to be honest, I don't feel like I have a PDA in there. It's probably 30% larger than the Audiovox 5600, but much smaller than every other Pocket PC device I've used.

Operating System

This is an area that took some getting used to. And to be honest, this is an area where Windows Mobile kicks Palm butt. This device comes with Palm OS 5, which is really a hack built on a long old foundation of hacks. The OS is not multi-threaded, on occasion has crashed and rebooted spontaneously, and does not have some of the basic things I'd expect from a PDA operating system. The navigation is a bit strange, you are constantly launching and quitting programs, there is no back button (which I like). If you are doing a HotSync you cannot receive phone calls, practically everything is "modal", which is very annoying. It's like using Windows ME after using XP for 3 years.

However, because of some of these limitations, some things actually work better. Phone calls work 99% of the time. I have never gotten "Unable to answer call" or any other lamo error message about the fact that the phone part of the device wasn't working. Because Windows Mobile is multi-tasking I've always believed that the radio stack had to fight to get any attention from the OS. On the Treo it feels as if the radio stack can hog the device as much as it wants, which is a good thing on a phone device. Actually, when I call my device from any land line it rings on the first ring that I hear on the phone. My Windows Mobile devices had this 1-2 ring lag, which always resulted in me answering my phone towards the end of the ring sequence, and missing calls a lot.

Telephony

Generally speaking, the address book integration is great, dialing, answering, switching to call waiting etc are all great. I don't have any complaints about the phone features. I will also add that the default ringtones are all excellent, and Palm has done a fantastic job picking different and unique tones for different events. For some reason, the Windows Mobile devices use the same tones for 80% of the events, so you never know if that was an SMS, Voice Mail, System Alert etc.

The audio quality of phone calls is good, and for some reason it works much better with my ETY*COM headset. Another nice touch is that the device will sync the time with GSM services that provide time synchronization (Cingular and ATT). I can't stand any "network" device that cannot do this basic functionality. Windows Mobile does not do time sync over GSM and I believe this is because it's implimented in an operator specific manner. Whatever, I just want it to work.

Finally, the Treo does not cause the super annoying radio interference that my 5600 caused. That phone could make speakers in any room start to make strange noises. I assumed this was due to my constant syncing with exchange, but it doesn't happen with the Treo 650.

SMS

This is where the Treo shines. SMS integration is sweet. I love how they make everything a conversation. For SMS'ing my wife it's wonderful. I am using SMS much more than before because it's so darn easy and convenient. It's also much faster to SMS some one from the phone book then it is on my Windows Mobile devices.

To Be Continued... (PIM, Exchange, Applications, Battery Life, Camera, IM)

Got my Treo 650

omars — Sat, 12 Mar 2005 08:54:00 GMT

Yesterday I received my Treo 650. I'll post a full review later on (compare it from the perspective of some one who has used Pocket PC from 1.0 to 2003 SE and SmartPhone 2002/3). The last Palm I used was a Palm V many years ago. And before that I used the US Robotics Palm Pilot 1000 (upgraded), a Palm III and finally a Palm V and Vx.

My intial thoughts:

Form Factor ROCKS
Not much bigger than my Audiovox 5600
Much more stable when making/receiving calls than Windows Mobile
Exhchange Mail Sync/Calendar Sync mostly works. Lots of missing features, and some that are better.
The screen resolution rocks
Not having a multi-threaded OS sucks
Having 1 bagillion apps to chose from is good. Everything I used on the PPC is available on the Palm.
Limiting Categories to 15 characters SUCKS! Common Palm!!! you fixed Contacts by adding support for 3 addresses and more than 5 phone numbers but you left this part BROKEN.
Bluetooth Sync with my Tablet PC is 5000% better than trying to make Bluetooh + ActiveSync + Audiovox work. In fact I never did get it to work and I spent an hour on it. With my Treo I spend 2 min.

I already love the device. But, it's 4:53 pm, and it's 85 degrees in San Francisco. I'm out of here!

Treo 650

omars — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 11:32:00 GMT

The last time I owned a Palm device was in 2000. Since then I have used a variety of Pocket PC devices, and for the last few years I've tried one Pocket PC Phone and owned two Smartphones. My friends laugh at me cause the most important function of my phone is not to make calls, but to do email and sms. That sort of works out well because my experience with all Windows Mobile devices is that they suffer from enough problems and idiosyncrasies that at least a few times a week I get the dreaded "Unable to answer call" or I can't dial numbers. I assume that these are just core architectural problems with the platform, or buggy hardware firmwares that I can't do anything about. Geting bug fixes for these devices requires you to buy a new device running the new OS, and well, that happens infrequently and you are still at the mercy of the wireless carrier.

My wife has used the Treo 270 and now owns a Treo 600. I've always loved the form factors of the device but loathe the Palm OS as a PDA and Email platform. For one thing, the Contacts application was limited to the same schema that existed on the Palm Pilot 1000 (which I was a proud owner of). Most of my contacts have more than one address, and more than 5 email addresses/phone numbers. Additionally, the Palm was incapable of connecting to my work email server over the air. This is the killer app of the Windows Mobile Platform, but alas, it now exists in the Treo 650. Palm also updated the new OS to support the same contact schema as Outlook. Finally! Plus having a hardware keyboard and square screen is a new requirement of any device I plan on getting. T9 just sucks.

I was browsing around in the AT&T Wireless store today and found myself quickly getting the device itch. The Treo 650 is much sexier than the Treo 600. The screen is beautiful, the keyboard is even better, the camera takes great pics, and best of all, the email and calendar can sync to Exchange over the air. Sadly, it will not synchronize contacts, but that's ok as my Inbox and Calendar change with greater frequency then my Contacts.

So here is the thing. I could get this device now or I could wait an indefinite amount of time for the iPaq Mobile Messenger. The Treo has a better screen with more resolution (I can see more of the email), is smaller, and likely does not have the issues making and receiving phone calls that the Windows devices do. My wife's Treo has never said "Unable to answer call". I can't believe that there is even an error string in the Windows Mobile OS for that. For a while now I was thinking the Motorola MPX was going to solve all my needs, but that device is vaporware. If it does ever ship it won't matter cause it's a joke. Motorola never should have announced it.

Am I crazy for thinking of getting a Palm device? I won't be able to write .NET Compact Framework apps, but that's fine, cause the only one I ever wrote silly. Unlike Scoble, I have no intention of ever carrying around a PDA that cannot make and receive phone calls or check email wirelessly. If I am going to carry around a device it sure as heck better do it all. The last thing I need is a PDA, that was soooo 2002.

Etymotic ER6 vs. Bose QuietComfort II

omars — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:46:00 GMT

I’m sitting on an Alaska Airlines flight up to Seattle right now and figure it’s a good time to put my two headphones to the test. I’ve owned both the QuietComfort I and II headphones for the past few years. Recently I purchased the Etymotic ER6’s and love them but I have not had a chance to test out Etymotic’s claims that they perform better than active noise canceling headphones (like the Bose). In short, they are right. The ER6’s kicked Bose but.

Even though the ER6’s do not produce any kind of active noise canceling I found them to reduce the airplane noise more than the Bose QuietComfort IIs when no music was playing. However, where they really excelled is when I turned on my tunes. The ER6’s produced a much cleaner sounds that was not distorted, amplified, or distracted from anything else. In fact with the volume set appropriately I completely forgot about the cabin noise. With the Bose I have always felt that there was some sort of background noise that I could hear.

The trick for me was really spending a few extra seconds to make sure that my ER6’s had a good snug fit in my ear. In the Etymotic manual they recommend yawning while inserting the earplugs. This actually works fairly well as it expands the ear canal enough to allow the earplugs to get a good tight fit. Additionally, after a few minutes of being in your ear, the snug fit seems to improve a bit.

The best part about all this? Well the ER6’s weigh 1 oz and fit in my pocket. The Bose headphones are huge, require batteries, and are very difficult to sleep with (which is what I tend to do on long flights).

Ever since I started using noise canceling headphones I’ve found that they SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the amount of stress on the body when flying. This is especially true for flights over 4 hours. When you arrive at your destination you don’t feel the wear from the drone of the engines.

Now, here is the thing. Bose has sold thousands of these headsets to people like myself because they flew on an American Airlines flight where they give out the headsets to Business and First Class passengers on International flights. I purchased my first headset when I returned from a 1999 trip to Japan. I was upgraded to first class and they gave me these headsets. Having used them the entire 9 hour flight, I almost cried when I had to return them. Since then I purchased the QuietComfort IIs and gave my wife the Is. You see a lot of frequent flyers bring on their own pairs of these headsets, and since I only fly American/Alaska I see them everywhere. Furthermore, Bose does a lot of advertising in all the in-seat magazines like Alaska’s and American’s. They even price the $300 headsets in installments of $30 a month with zero interest. I bet that they sell like hotcakes to frequent travelers.

The Etymotics earplugs are a better product. I wish they sold to more folks. The problem is: 1) it’s hard to notice people have them, so they aren’t going to sell themselves, 2) since they are earplugs, you can’t really hand them to a friend to try them out. That makes it rather difficult. I think they could improve their “reach” by:

Partnering with an OEM to include their headsets. Figure out a clever name and brand them as such. Call them noise canceling or whatever.
Give your users lots of extra earplugs. This will allow them to let their friends try them out.
Give you users little information cards to hand to their friends like Bose does. My QuietComfort II case includes 15 pre-printed information cards to hand to people who ask about the headphones. Clever.
Make your headphones look different. Put some bling bling on them or something. Get people to notice that they are not your normal headphones. Sony does a decent job of this. How about making the cable metal? What about a cool case for them? I notice Apple's White headphones, all they did was change the color.

Anyway, if you fly at all, spend the dough and get these puppies. If you were thinking about getting the QuietComfort or other kinds of Active Noise Canceling headphones think twice and try the ER6 or ER6i. However, if you are one of those people that does't like putting things in your ear, then maybe these aren't for you.