I have been asked by several friends now what I have put into my home theatre setup and why, so I figured I would answer definitively:

• Television: Sony KDS-60A2000 60″ SXRD television – the Liquid-Crystal-on-Silicon (LCOS) style televisions work well with my lighting environment (as opposed to front projection). Size-wise, they are more price competitive than LCD or Plasma. And – for me- they do not suffer the viewing irregularities of Digital Light Projection (DLP) sets – namely wobulation and rainbow effects. If I had a larger room, the Sony Ruby projector would be my choice. Or if doing the TV today, I’d do the 70″ XBR2 set which was not available at the time I purchased.
• Speakers: Totem Acoustic Forest (Left/Right), Model 1 Center Signature, Thunder subwoofer, and Lynks (surround) – speakers are a matter of personal preference. I wanted something that would work well for the average apartment/condominium sized room, look good, and work equally well for cinema and music. If I had a larger room and budget, I would probably go up to the Wind/Shaman left/right speakers and go with additional Lynks for a 7.1 (vs 5.1) surround setup.
• Pre-Amp/Processor and Amplifer: Outlaw Audio Model 950 and 5100. Outlaw makes great equipment for the money. They are getting a bit dated in terms of lack of HDMI support – but otherwise they are hard to beat. I get around that by connecting the HDMI devices directly to the television. If I were to do it over today, I’d probably go with Anthem.
• Optical Media: I opted to bet on both camps and go with the high-end offerings from Toshiba (XA1) and Sony (BDP-S1) for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray respectively. The Toshiba HD-DVD players I have found – subjectively – play standard DVDs much better than the Sony Blu-Ray players.
• Cabling: I went with BetterCables.com and bought their high-end cabling. They aren’t a name brand, but the electrical specifications and build quality are outstanding – and I saved a lot as a result.
• Other Stuff: I use the latest Comcast Motorola HDTV DVR cable box and an AppleTV for other programming. The AppleTV provides a great way to leverage my iTunes investment and huge media library. I tried a Windows Media Center PC, but found it not worth the trouble and complexity given that it cannot record over HDTV digital encrypted cable.

I chose these components after 6-9 months of research in every category based on best-of-breed performance and best bang for the buck. For more details:

• Sony (TV, Projector, & Blu-Ray) – http://www.sonystyle.com/
• Totem Acoustic (Speakers) – http://www.totemacoustic.com/
• Toshiba (HD-DVD) – http://www.lookandsoundofperfect.com/
• Outlaw Audio (Pre-Amp/Processor & Amplifier) – http://www.outlawaudio.com/
• Anthem (new choice of Pre-Amp/Processor & Amplifier) – http://www.anthemav.com/
• Cabling – http://www.bettercables.com/
• Comcast – http://www.comcast.com/
• Apple TV – http://www.apple.com/appletv/

Although not an official endorsement of any kind, I have been very happy with my setup and met my goal of getting the quality I desired for ~$10,000 investment.

I was expecting not to like the iPhone. And expecting to see it flop. I was wrong.

Apple has another winner on their hands (as evidenced by massive sales thus far and amazing lines unlike anything I have ever seen – including the Windows 95 launch) and the product itself delivers. Apple has demonstrated once again how to enter a saturated market, deliver an outstanding V1 product, and get people to buy it – including the non-technically savvy masses.

I personally am still using a Palm Treo 750 running Windows Mobile – as it more than adequately meets my work needs. The iPhone, given lack of ActiveSync support, is not there yet as an everyday tool for me. However, for people like my mother – it’s an amazing device – as the one I purchased just went to her as a late birthday gift (given that her birthday came a few months before iDay on June 29th).

I have been attempting to convince my mother to get a mobile phone for some time. She has historically expressed zero interest. When she mentioned that she thought the iPhone looked interesting, I thought I might have a potential winner. If not, the return policy is pretty liberal. I gave it to her – and she is hooked.

In a matter of hours she has figured out the Weather application, the Maps/traffic application, e-mail, viewing photos, playing music, sending SMS messages, navigating the Web, and, of course, placing calls. To say she is hooked is an understatement – it is her new can’t-go-anywhere-without-it (including around the house) accessory. All this from a person who has spent the better part of a decade avoiding cell phones, let alone anything resembling a PDA.

My take is that the user interface is amazing, the hardware build quality and battery life is phenomenal, and the display is the best I have ever seen on a handheld device. The one area I expected to be awful – the on-screen keyboard – is actually very friendly once you figure out how to use it properly. The only problem I see is not being able to navigate based on tactile touch. The lack of removable battery is a myth – iPods have never had removable batteries and it has not seemed to cause much of an issue.

In short: the smart phone for the masses has arrived and redefined the segment. I can’t wait to see what lower-cost, next-version offerings bring…