Show C2 —The Herald Journal Logan Utah Wednesday February 4 2004 Draft SftaunmDsurd Siimpllndfty By May Wong AP Technology Writer Barry Jaruzelski would have never imagined he’d need to consult a 146-paowner’s manual just to learn how to turn on his new cell phone The New York tech industry consultant had tusked for the simplest handset available to replace a lost phone But where was the power button? Turned out Jaruzelski had to push the red “end’’ button twice to power up the handset ' Honestly Not only are the latest gad- -' gets packed with more features than ever they're also harder than ever to figure out Culprits span the gizmo gamut from DVD players to digital cameras and wireless devices Even televisions are increasingly acting more like computers those notoriously confounding beasts Janizelski’s shiny new communicator incidentally turned out to be loaded with features he said he'd never use: games text messaging Webrsurflng and customized ring tones Larry Sherby SO of Palo Alto- Calif also eschews frilly gadgets Sherby got a digital camera from his wife a year ago but only uses its most basic fea- tures to point and shooi Forcing the flash? Timer? Long exposure? No way “It’s a computer that’s what it is It’s got menus and menus I have to consult a manual anytime I try other features and then I forget how to do it” Sherby said “If it mew eDecftiramfics odd handle the VCR and DVD player hookups She just cheat sheet keeps a they drew up by the TV so she knows which remote control buttons to press Some consumer electronics companies are trying to' make it easier on customers One example: Epson introduced a television this month that has a built-i- n photo print- er drive and mem- ory card reader The company tested prototypes first and found the original designs sent users scrolling through too many screen menus to print a photo The result: a simple print button ontheTV remote con- -' trol Still companies in the past " few years have focused more on adding performance and features than on making products that are easy to use and ' play well with other' machines A typical home’s entertain- ment center has become an ' Sherby a laser equipment salesman has three computelectronic Tower of Babel ers a wireless router and given all the competing and d Internet access at sometimes incompatible for-home but all are working fine mats and standards thanks only to the help of his With digital music songs son’s friend encoded in the Advanced Others like Nina Bums of Audio Coding format are not Redwood City Calif pay playable on devices that sup- extra for installation or service port only Windows Media warranties Audio format Burns the founder of a parRecordable DVDs have four enting advice company existing formats — and more recently made use of her comcoming — frustrating people who purchase blank discs only puter’s $200 service warranty when she couldn’t get the to find out that their DVD external DVD-writto burners won’t accept them Harold Garland 55 of Sail backups Bums also lets her husband Jose Calif1 nearly plunked gripes The fact that some people still have blinking displays on their VCRs because they couldn’t figure out how to program the machines is a joke Qut really aren’t a laughing matter Time is wasted on poorly written Bible-size-d manuals Patience is lost on customer service calls Extra trips are made to the store Consumers pay for bells and whistles they never use Neil Catty ah independent filmmaker and admitted gear- head in New York hates the snags in getting his gadgets to run properly “You want to play with it as soon as you get it and you don’t want to find out that you have to go and get something else like an adapter!” he said Often consumers make do Some rely on geeky relatives or friends to install or ge long-standi- one-pa- ge techno-h- ng urdles ' r -- vfyy "t- y '4Vi ‘ CD-RO- M v rf down $500 for a at recorder an elecdigital tronics store — until he saw the fine print warning that the gadget’s software would not be compatible with his Macintosh computer Garland walked out with an ' $50 cassette recorder instead “I probably would have wasted hours and hours trying to figure out the digital recorder and how to master it anyway” Garland said with a bittersweet sigh There are some signs of a : changing mindset among manufacturers At this month’s Consumer Electronics Show the industry’s largest trade show the need for simplicity was a repeated theme during speeches state-of-- ed Westatcs THEATRES - - trou-blesho- ot : high-spee- AP photo Larry Sherby uses his Olympus digital camera to photograph a only its scene near his home in Pak) Alto Calif Sherby says he uses most basic features because the rest are too complicated takes that much effort to learn what to do forget it” y Even users manto frustrated by gad-- ' age get with features automatic gets or steps ‘The more a product could do the more that could go wrong” observes usability expert Jakob Nielsen a princi tech-savv- one-butt- on pal of the Nielsen Norman ' Group consulting firm Nielsen has a postdoctorate degree in computer science yet struggles with the 35 buttons on his DVD player’s remote control “The button I use the most — pause — is the smallest and in the middle of five other buttons” he - do-fil- e er j-a- kyTdaQtnd v Hut Lina —id mm ii 900 1 WbdhafcyDtonunlNtf94Stal$4J0 I LOGAN ART CINEMAI 795 North Main Cold Mountain m —mzmzsw 335 W lOO N Providanca m Rultarfiy133 iHdcl 410 300 920 PoSy Along 30Como 330 3:30 7 30 9:30 po-ia- i' ' I Mg FishI IO 90-1- 3 ' 4430 ' 40 700 13 3 00 ' 7 IO 913 Lord Of Tfw Rings 4X 400 900 po-1-3 1 iig Bomics U “ 403 M-1- 3 I — 76S t96S HdMa Girla om Calandar 1:90 AOS 9 15 7JOO Video projector charms audience UTAH 3752-307- 2 'ADULTS S3 00 t CHILDREN tot image it casts is created by filtering light ' Associated Press h through three pixelated glass panels A superior and at least for now more expensive projection technology is NEW YORK — I haven’t been to a movie theater since we resumed the famiDigital Light Processing If uses a chip composed of thousands of tiny mirrors to ly subscription to Netflix the online ' produce the projected image emporium The Mitsubishi HC2 ($1800 street) has So why not get in on this home theater ‘ craze' I reasoned got all someone like me could ask for (or I'd always been intrigued by the idea Of perhaps more accurately afford) The images cast by the loaner projector a digital video projector Umbilicalled to on the Draper Technologies screen (about APphoto $250) that Mitsubishi stripped with it Mitsubishi's HC2 model projector were bright the contrast excellent and the The HC2 is capable of projecting 600 colors remarkably vibrant considering receiv- the DVD player and audio-visu' lines The best progressive- horizontal this is we’re class it er would convert our family room into economy flying The LCD panejs you see are only 800 scan DVD players are capable of 720 a private cinema screening room horizontal lines though most DVD discs by 600 pixels in resolution (known as Alternately with the projector mainlinSVGA in Suning cable TV sports we could watch Computer display lingo) Which don’t produd: near that quality! Remember the quality of the image wide-means a afternoon on you won't get true ' gladiators joust day ' that comes out of your projector is only television quality with the HC2 screen as good as what’s fed into it What you will get is images far crisper There was another good reason to samtelevithan standard ' That said DVD movies from the HC2 definition Unlike cathode video ray projector ple a h screen : looked terrific on the sion which is! what we’ ve been living tubes liquid crystal displays or plasma' ' with for the past half century especially when served by a progressive- sets they are pleasantly portable That ' scan DVD player The Mitsubishi projecThink of it this way: a standard tradi-- " means I could also which digital video in filled the screen from & distance just tor that TV lines 480 tional has horizontal the when basement ofiice family ' my shy of 7 feet away room got full or take the projector on the ' refresh once every l30th of a second' You can project an Image of up to 105 But that refresh is really a series rtf two v! roaJ Digital projeclors for the inches first the and the odd home then lines in even level’' market diagonally without losing picture ranging “entry The HC2 has the standard TV uses This are now to 000 quality $1 from $2000 projector price screen image ratio of but also sup-technology same as computers remarkably good n the of I sampleid:Mitsubishi's HC2 model That means that every horizontal line is variety ports ' used movie theaters ip It's an LCD projector which means the refreshed in a single pass ' By Frank Bajack Win A Data WMh Hamilton ro-i- 07-inc- DVD-by-mail (II I $200 Till) u’iirv's lUX IliiS BB BpCREiThrnunl REi’S SOJSDB PiCTjPE Kmp 7 GRE1T PETER RAN r440-7:l- 0 n Lord Rig Bounce 4 73 SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE po-i- a Daily - ' Matinees All Tfm Rings ro--' i Of SUN 12 30 4 90 po-1- s UK 706 By Th Qwopor m roi 80 7 IO 9 75 700 SUN iCACHE iVALLE Ya3i Seats S2 00 1300 North Main Bahind Ihs MoS ro-i- a SUN 4:X Hfed h SUN 4:25 780 9:70 Review BuNarfly 7:05 9:25 ' al high-definiti- on : - : so-call- : 66-inc- You Got Survud 700 'HaafrtttimtMUmiastt BffQ inraainn 7imts - RMWIO smmrumtm KlRMNfQ MIMUI2M2I5 snnoNiajicu HMNIDMMDNPQ MS SOMBHNGOIU WM ICQ t OO North 60 pow Along Cmnm 905 704My Win A Dote WHti lbd HomiRon Moitor H0MERMMB5IQ Gill po-1- 3 And- S7:WMtfl2M22i ' yo-taf- SUN 4:35 1 JMOtafHdlUNf) BMffUOI28 9:10 r ro-- loob Anaiabb at Movin - 9- and Stadium B tsm : so-call-ed - - so-call-ed prpgres-sive-sc- an -3 : : wide-scree- EllenEccles Tptre Presents 16-to- -9 - : The Herald Journal and Eccles Ice Center invite you to a special showing of (Miracler tMii r u s s T LL-:- df local hcidoey fims at a special showing of ‘Miracle’ Join hundreds : Perfect Valentine's Date for jut Purchase your special showing tickets) ? v at The He Journal Q : t subscribe to The Herald Journal sj or convertyourHerald Journal subscrip&n over to the £Z Pay program and receive TWO special showing tickets ticket supply is limrted h H&ald itsM Journal bleated st75 Wert 3MNirth Saturday Fcbruaiy 14 2 pm and 7:50 Tiehtttt T- pjn $10$I6$20 ' v 435-752-00- f52-21- 28 26 Grater (or the Arts 43 S Main Logan THtATDt |