You’ve probably heard about a hard-to-get, hugely new service called Google Wave. Lest ye forget, there are plenty of web-based collaboration tools that don’t require learning a new way of speaking. Here are a few of our (mostly free) favorites.

Photo by woodleywonderworks.

10. Cc:Betty

This email-organizing service is openly pitching itself to those left out of the first round of Wave preview accounts, and not entirely without reason. It doesn’t do half the things that Wave claims to do, but it does free your coworkers from having to read through freakishly long “RE: FWD: FWD:” letters just to understand what the original question or discussion was. Add CC:Betty to your cc: list on a topic you want to get started, and the webapp does the work of organizing each person’s contributions, different attachment types, chronology, and who’s been left out of the chain. Even if everybody doesn’t bother to check in at the Betty page for the discussion, the person trying to make sense of it all will be glad they can do so. (Original post)

9. MediaWiki

It is, of course, the software that powers Wikipedia, and might seem a bit dated in the light-speed-paced world of webapps. Still, MediaWiki’s power lies in how easy it is for multiple people to make and commit changes to a document, link inside and out of other pages, create page structures and hierarchies on the fly, and work from pretty much any browser on Earth. Nobody needs to sign into any account unless mandated by the administrator, and everybody gets the information they need without having to fiddle any knobs. (Original post)

8. TimeBridge

This meeting facilitator aims to eliminate the mess of emails and mass confusion over whether it was meeting room 130 at 2pm, or room 230 at 1pm. Create an account, plug in your coworkers’ emails or SMS numbers, plug in a few times that work for you, and TimeBridge takes on the work of contacting them all and asking which of those times work, then presenting the results for your consideration. The webapp also reminds participants of the details by email or SMS, and a just-released iPhone app helps you keep things moving along with an agenda and details view. (Original post)

7. Google Groups

“Isn’t that the thing that Google turned Usenet into?” Yes, but Groups lets a, um, group of like-minded folks hash out arguments, answer questions, and point to helpful resources without software or constraints. Users of a group can rate posts for helpfulness, search out answers across their own groups or other similar-themed topics, and get their answers and responses delivered from an easily filtered email source. It’s an oft-overlooked tool in an age of fancy-pants social tools, but it gets everyone hooked up and talking pretty quickly. (Original post)

6. TextFlow

It’s easy to ask everyone’s take on a piece of text, but much harder to actually incorporate their ideas, revisions, and word choices without spending twice as much time as on the original. TextFlow, a free Adobe Air app that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux, takes in all the documents spawned from an original, analyzes the changes, and presents them to you to show what’s different, accept what you want to change, and make it easy to see how far you’ve moved off the original draft. For a certain kind of work, it’s a real time saver, and it makes it easy to respond when your collaborators ask why their masterful lead-in sentence didn’t make the cut. (Original post)

5. DimDim

Makers of “webinar” software are feverishly pitching the idea of at-your-desk conferences as a money-saving alternative to travel these days. DimDim, an open-source meeting platform, offers web users a truly money-saving experience, with up to 20 users able to view a presentation, three of them with microphone access, with no software installations required. It’s a nice step up if you need something a little more professional than a social video chat room, and is surprisingly responsive on freehand drawing, text, audio, and even screencasting across a variety of connection speeds. (Original post)

4. MindMeister

How many 10-minute verbal explanations would have worked much better as a one-minute cocktail napkin sketch? Plenty of them, we’d suspect. For ideas and projects where drawing a line through your thoughts helps keep them together, MindMeister is a great helper. Not only does their web-based design tool allow for easy branching, notating, and organization, but if you just want to jam in a few ideas to be molded into shape later, it allows for email additions. You can, of course, share, publish, and collaborate on your mental diagrams, and doing so might just save you a really unnecessary phone call or stop-and-chat. (Original post)

3. present.io

File-sharing service Drop.io is really convenient because it lets you store up to 100 MB of files without a sign-up, password, or software. Present.io, a group-focused tangent, lets you gather a team of chatters around a set of images, text, audio, or even video files and let them tell you what rocks and what stinks about them. Those away from a computer can call in mid-stream and leave MP3 voicemails for all to hear or join in a phone conference call. Meanwhile, the "drop" administrator keeps the show moving by queuing up new files on viewers' screens, and nobody has to log in or be accepted to join in—they just need the right URL. (Original post)

2. Campfire

Not that we aren’t at least thinking of holding our Lifehacker chat and brainstorming sessions in Wave, but for the time being, Campfire does a remarkably good job of letting multiple people yak it out and learn from each other. It’s searchable, it makes uploading files to everyone easy, it can be a walled garden or open to those you link in, and it sits nicely in a browser tab, changing its page title when new chats arrive. There’s a fair number of third-party clients and input tools available for 37Signals’ collaborative chat platform, but it works just fine as a quiet spot to talk. (Original post)

1. Zoho

It’s hard to jump in and describe the best features about Zoho’s vast suite of online editing and group organization tools, because so much changes on a week-to-week basis. That said, if you find Google Docs to be impressive for a single user, but not a great back-and-forth facilitator, Zoho is where you should look next. It’s able to handle both the lower-level tasks of group editing, document sharing, and other work, as well as the milestone tracking, group chat, invoice creation, and other tasks needed by teams that aren’t sitting right next to each other. It’s good stuff, and it’s free. (Original post)

---

Aside from the obvious entry, what did we leave off the list that helps you work with others and not want to strangle both them and your mouse? Tell us what you’re using to collaborate in the comments.

BitTorrent weblog TorrentFreak reports that Google has removed the front page of popular BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay from their search results due to a DMCA takedown request, regardless of the fact that there are no torrents available to download on TPB’s front page.

Megan Fox may have been sexy enough to use the 3K resolution Red Epic video camera to shoot with, but the sexiest woman alive needs 5K. Kate Beckinsale is an extra 2K sexier than Megan Fox.

It's technologically interesting since, with both the 3K and the 5K Red cameras, they're able to take video and strategically take out frames to use as stills. This makes it a lot easier on the photographer since he doesn't need to know, intuitively, when the best few seconds are to snap a stream of shots—he can just point the thing and tell Kate to be sexy.

It’s too bad for Kate though, because in order to crown a new Sexiest Woman Alive next year, Esquire will have to have her put down. [Esquire]

Canada has some of the poorest-quality broadband among advanced countries, according to a study of global internet infrastructure.

Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie confirmed Wednesday he won’t appeal Judge Redfield T. Baum’s decision to reject both bids for the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes.

General Motors Co. is phasing out its Saturn division and its 340-member dealer network after talks to sell the unit to retailer Penske Automotive Group Inc.

Mats Sundin announced his retirement from hockey on Wednesday, ending a professional career that spanned nearly 20 years.

CNET’s Josh Lowensohn used his own mug as a standard to measure the facial recognition prowess of iPhoto, Windows Live Gallery, and newcomer face-finder Picasa 3.5. The verdict? Picasa 3.5, because it’s all about the workflow of approving or denying face matches, which Picasa makes easiest. Do you see face-to-face with Lowensohn’s assessment? How accurate is your own photo organizer at recognizing your features? [CNET]

Mike Keenan — despite many, many, many off-season requests from Calgary media — held his tongue this summer.

Refusing to talk, of course, is his right. In Keenan's case, however, it had been an uncharacteristic stretch of silence.

Tuesday, though, Iron Mike finally cleared his throat, choosing a Toronto radio station for his coming-out.

The FAN 960 replayed clips of his excuses, I mean, explanations.

For what it's worth, here's a couple of them:

* Did Keenan think he'd be fired after two seasons in Calgary? "No, I didn't, particularly when you look at the context of the season. We had more wins than Vancouver, two points short. In the last 10 games, we played shorthanded. As everyone knows, we ran into cap problems and a plethora of injuries, particularly on defence with Regehr, Giordano, Sarich, and Phaneuf in the playoffs. Bourque was a big injury for us in the playoffs as well. To answer your question, though, I didn't think it would go to that extent because of those extenuating circumstances. Particularly (when we were) vying for that first place in our division with a shorthanded roster. A little impatient. They gave Bowman four years to get a Cup in Detroit . . . but we only had two years and I didn't know it."

* About being fired? "The business part of it is unexplainable at times. That's what you do — you take your medicine, you move on, you try to dust yourself off, and away you go."

* About Dion Phaneuf's performance in 2009-08? "Phaneuf adds a lot to that hockey club. Even though it's perceived that he had a bad year, if I had to identify problems or people that didn't have great years, Phaneuf wouldn't be the first guy I'd point out."

So there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In July we mentioned that Google Wave would open up to 100,000 new users tomorrow, September 30th. Despite reports that those 100,000 invites go out today, Google confirms on their blog and via email that tomorrow’s still the big day.

We’ve contacted Google for clarification, and they’ve assured us that reports that invites are going out today are simply misunderstandings, and that invitations won’t go out until tomorrow. Either way, if you want to get up to speed on Wave in hope that you’re on the short list for tomorrow, check out our Google Wave highlight reel and Wave QnA.

Beyond that, stick around tomorrow for an even fuller examination of what you can expect if you’re lucky enough to get in on the limited Wave preview. If you don’t get an invite in the first go-round, you’re not entirely out of luck. Google says they’ll “ask some of these early users to nominate people they know also to receive early invitations.” In the meantime, if you happen to get an invite before tomorrow, let us know in the comments.

Windows only: We took a first look at Microsoft Security Essentials, the free antivirus application from Microsoft, back in June, but today Microsoft Security Essentials has left beta and is ready for your PC.

The application hasn’t really changed much since we took our first look from what we can tell, meaning this release is most likely filled with bug fixes and stability improvements rather than new features.

We’ve been impressed with Security Essentials so far, though it may not be enough of an improvement or change that’ll make it worth switching to from your current favorite antivirus application. If you’ve been testing it out since the beta release, or you’ve just played around with it a little this morning, let’s hear what you think of it in the comments.

At last, here’s a GPU-accelerated Flash player. That means two things: One, my laptop won’t melt every time I run freaking Hulu. Two, since almost every Nvidia GPU is supported, even smartphones will be able to play HD Flash video.

Nvidia has been demonstrating builds of the GPU-accelerated Flash player around, and it’s making an announcement on October 5. According to those who have seen it, it provides ultra-smooth high definition video playback, even on portable Tegra platforms.

About time. [Notebookjournal.de via Hexus]

ComputerWorld is reporting that online retailer Newegg.com has unveiled Windows 7 OEM pricing. Newegg.com has priced the OEM version of Windows 7 Home Premium at $99.99 which is a price reduction of 50% down from the recommended retail price of $199.99. Other savings are available for Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate at $134.99 and $174.99, respectively. This is a saving of approximately 50% on each version from the list price. OEM editions are priced lower as you typically do not get retail packaging, little official support and you're not able to transfer the operating system license from one PC to another.

Read full story…

Well, well, what’s this? We were just sent what looks like a rough draft of HP’s Winter 2009/2010 consumer catalog, and it’s got details on three as-yet-announced machines. The most interesting is the Pavilion dv3 with TouchSmart, which has a 13.3-inch touchscreen, but there’s also confirmation of that previously-leaked Pavilion dm1 11.6-inch CULV thin-and-light and the monster Pavilion dv8 with an 18.4-inch screen and a new mobile Core i7 processor. That’s a pretty strong lineup to back the new Envys, we’d say — and for whatever reason, we’re fascinated by this new trend of sticking touchscreens on regular laptops. We’ll see if the dv3’s TouchSmart 3.0 build is any more usable or sensible than Lenovo’s take on the idea soon enough, we hope — for now, check out the whole catalog in the gallery.

[Via Engadget Spanish; thanks, Marc]

Filed under: Laptops

Touchscreen HP Pavilion dv3 leaks out, brings dm1 ultraportable and Core i7 dv8 along for the ride originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Calgary hopes the additions of rock-solid defenceman Jay Bouwmeester and no-nonsense coach Brent Sutter can shore up a shaky defence and help snap a streak of four straight first-round exits.

We heard the Archos 9 tablet was due alongside Windows 7, but just in case you were worried that preposition would be stretched to the limits of its definition, the company made clear at IDF that October 22nd was the target, making it day and date with Microsoft’s latest OS. As for US price, it’s a better-than-expected (at least as far as UK currency conversions go) $499 for the ultra-thin tablet. Mark your calendars accordingly, the diehards in the audience have less than a month to prepare their bank accounts. Now if only Archos would do something about that maladjusted resistive touchscreen…

[Thanks, Anthony]

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Archos 9 confirmed for October 22nd with $499 price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

A claim seen commonly online is that only peer-to-peer uploads break the law, but it’s not true—in the US, downloading copyright music is infringement. The Canadian situation, though, is significantly more murky.

The 2010 Ford Taurus gives you many of the high-technology pieces of a full-size $75,000 European or Japanese luxury sedan for half the price. For about $40,000, you can drive a big, comfortable highway cruiser with active cruise control, blind spot detection, rear cross traffic alert, butt-massinging seats, the excellent Sync Bluetooth and music control system, and free Mayday calling. What you don’t get is BMW-crisp handling on back roads, or Lexus-perfect fit and finish in the cockpit. In a week driving the Taurus, I found it poised on long trips and got mileage in the upper 20s.

The 2010 Ford Taurus is a slab-sided, high shouldered vehicle with a fussy front grille measuring 203 inches long (the photo above is about the best angle possible), a bit longer even than a Cadillac Escalade. This is the sixth generation, the previous one being the short-lived 2008-09 model called the Ford Five Hundred (the name was based on Ford's sales expectations). This is a vastly better car than the Five Hundred in every way except that the back seat is now slightly less spacious, since the roof was lowered two inches and the rear seat was also lowered two inches.

High Tech, Moderate Prices
Much of the technology Ford has developed or licensed this decade is on the Ford Taurus. Some you can’t see, such as high-strength steel for better crash protection and even more effective sound insulation. Here are other key pieces of technology:

Adaptive cruise control with collision alert. This $1,195 option developed in conjunction with Delphi paces the car ahead of you, speeding and slowing as it does, but never exceeding a pre-set speed. There are only two downsides compared to ACC on other cars costing $2,000-$2,800: Some not all high-priced ACC cars use two radars, one for low speeds and short range, that lets the car go all the way to zero and then back up to speed. The Ford active cruise control  stops at 20 mph (Ford earlier said 35 mph, but I found it works down into the teens). Also, the ACC active and radar lock indicators are small and buried in an instrument panel that is hard to read in daylight. If a car ahead decelerates faster than ACC probably can handle, a 14-LED panel flashes a collision alert, which translates to meant that you usually can avoid a collision by braking hard.

Blind spot detection. Ford calls it Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) with Cross Traffic Alert. As with other systems, if a car comes up in your blind spot, an indicator flashes in the outside mirror, more vigorously if your turn signal is on (suggesting you're about to change lanes). CTA uses the same sensors to look for oncoming traffic when you're backing out of a parking lot; a loud alert sounds if it sense cross traffic.  Ford BLIS offered no audible alert (their being annoying but hard to ignore) or a steering wheel shaker (not annoying to most people, equally hard to ignore). It's only part of a package where it adds an estimated $400-$500 in cost.

Fillerless gas cap. A self-sealing flap inside the filler neck (that is pushed aside by the gas nozzle) and a rubber gasket around the filler door eliminate the need for a screw-off gas cap. This sounds minor. It is. Until you drive away and leave (left) the gas cap on the roof, or failed to secure tightly. Without a fully sealed gas cap, the check engine light comes on and the car runs poor.

Navigation. Ford’s $1,995 navigation system sourced from Xanavi includes voice input (of course), traffic information, weather, sports scores, ski conditions, gas prices, and movie listings. The navigation part works quite well, with one exception: The system is slow to update, so if there are quick turns one after the other, the display doesn’t keep up. Before the first turn, memorize the next one as well. If you don’t order navigation, Sync provides a rudimentary navigation feature of just text prompts and voice commands: better than nothing when you don’t know where you’re headed. The display does a good job integrating multiple bits of information on one screen (map, audio settings, entertainment information) though the Xanavi systems on Nissan and Infiniti do it better still. And some views gave you the music source and satellite channel but not the name of the song being played. There’s a nice split screen view that gives you most a map, plus smaller screens for audio and climate control.

Multi-contour active motion seats. One of the options packages provides ventilated as well as heated front seats, which is a blessing on warm days (no matter how good the air conditioning), and I’ve also found it an effective tool to help your overall comfort and alertness on long drives. More exciting is the active seat feature, which you don’t see on many cars outside the high-end luxury category. Ford calls it Multi-Contour Seats with Active Motion and charges just $595; BMW has a similar feature, driver side only, on its awesome BMW 750Li. It massages your thighs while you drive, which eliminates the frozen butt syndrome when you drive too long without stretching.

Ford Sync. It's standard on the two upper models, Limited and SHO, and includes an evolving list of Sync features: handsfree Bluetooth phone calling, USB access to iPods and other music devices, voice control (which continues to improve), and now 911 Assist, which calls for help (no monthly charge) in a crash if your Bluetooth phone is connected and survives the accident. As I've used more Sync cars and as Ford has improved  Sync, the continuous speech commands work quite well. Say, "Play Artist Kings of Leon," and Sync knows what to do.

My Key. My Key lets you program a key given to teens to restrict the top speed, limit the radio volume, and set speed-warming chimes. It also limits access to the radio until after seat belts are buckled.

Not every Ford innovation is on the 2010 Taurus. Of particularly interest to urban dwellers is Active Park Assist, which lets you drive slowly down a city street. Press a button on the console and the car sense for and alerts you when it passes a space big enough to get into. You pull up ahead of the spot, put the car in reverse, put your foot on the gas, and the sensors and Ford’s electric power steering do the rest. It debuts on the Lincoln MKT and MKS.

Driving Impressions vs. a $110,000 BMW
The week before I drove the Ford Taurus, I drove a BMW 750Li that was chock full of options, cost a bit over $110,000, and is probably the world’s best car, certainly the best when it comes to having the most technology. Ford comes up short in three areas: handling on twisty country roads, the quality of the instrument panel and switchgear, and the seats. Nobody’s going to knock off BMW on ride comfort with a $30,000 car, especially on back roads, and when you stepped on the throttle, the BMW leaped forward, supremely poised, while the Ford lurched ever so slightly sideways at first, owing to so much power on the front as well as rear wheels. (On a front-drive car, this is called torque steer, and I felt a bit of it even on this all-wheel-drive model that appears biased toward power up front.) Ford’s instrument panel suffers from reflections, poor contrast between needles and backgrounds, and the steering wheel buttons (the same on every Ford and Lincoln) are same-size chiclets you can’t tell apart. These are things that don’t cost a lot of money to fix. The Ford seats without the massage feature on long trips felt passable but never awe-inspiring; the best asset of the seats is that they’ll fit virtually all American backsides no matter how large.

Cruising the highway, the 265-hp V6 engine and six-speed transmission provided plenty of power without stepping up to the turbocharged 365-hp Ecoboost-engined Ford Taurus that raises the price by $4,000, or $6,000 vs. the costliest front-drive Taurus Limited. The center stack LCD display was competent except some of the text was small and poorly contrasted (orange on blue) and this was no match for BMW’s 10.4-inch display. But then the Taurus had paddle shifters; this BMW didn’t. BMW’s back seat room was only slightly better. BMW’s rear sunshade option provides shades in each rear door plus the back window; Ford still offers a rear sunshade. Also, no surprise, it was a lot more fun getting in the BMW each day, where the Taurus was one more nice, new car with no rattles and clear carpet mats. One is transportation, the other shows you’ve arrived even before you get there.

Both provide Sirius satellite radio. Ford’s came free; BMW’s was $595. I could not, for the life of me, notice better sound coming from the BMW satellite radio chipset and decoder. I bet you couldn’t, either. Both use Nuance algorithms for voice control. With Ford Sync, you can speak commands in sentences; BMW gets that (called one-shot destination entry) beginning with 2010 models, as does Mercedes-Benz, which decided to offer it only in Europe.

There’s no way the average buyer would have these two cars, Taurus and 750Li, in the same consideration set. But still: Ford especially among American automakers is bringing down the cost of technology that buyers want for comfort, entertainment, and safety.

Ford’s Web Site: Your Kid Could Do Better
Buying a Taurus can be confusing if you want to shop online. Equal blame accrues to the site design and the disjointed way Ford sets up the online build-your-own process. With Taurus, you have to choose among four models – SE ($25,995 with freight, no options), SEL, Limited, SHO – with increasing features sets, and then choose among four grab-bag options packages rather than individual options. One such option pack, called Rapid Spec 301A, comprises branded floor mats, heated and cooled front seats, a rear power sunshade, and heated rear seats, and you’re left to figure the linkage among floor mats, heated front seats, and a sunshade for the rear window. Finally, in a small section of the web page, you fine-tune by choosing individual options that aren’t parts of packages except it also lists options you don’t to choose since they were parts of the packages, and every time you choose an option, the list animates, bounces around, and a couple seconds later settles down, Tetris style. If websites could be diagnosed for attention deficit disorder, ford.com should be started on 30 milligrams of Ritalin immediately, with a follow-up visit in six weeks.

A fully equipped, ford.com-built, all-wheel-drive SEL much like the one I tested ran $41,025 albeit, I thought, but without the blind-spot detection and cross-traffic alert that I believed I ordered as part of a package. Wait, it was included. It’s just that the final view doesn’t detail the parts of Rapid Spec 303A (where the BLIS option resides) but does have zero-dollar amount on a line you do see for BLIS (better perhaps to say PKG or INCL than wonder if a $0 price means it’s not ordered). This web site confusion is trouble for Ford because an increasing number of car shoppers don’t like the baffle-the-buyer atmosphere that pervades too many dealerships, so they do their pre-buying online and only for the final step set foot inside a showroom. A confusing website may send shoppers elsewhere. Incredibly, Ford ranks slightly above average (15 of 36 brands) on the latest J.D. Power Manufacturer Web Site Evaluation Study.

Should You Buy?
The 2010 Ford Taurus is one of Ford’s finest offerings in years. Combined with the Ford Flex crossover, Ford Fusion especially in hybrid form, and the long-overdue 2010 reworking of the Ford Focus for the U.S., Ford has a credible lineup. Add to Ford’s value proposition the first-class cockpits of the sibling Lincoln offerings, and you can see why Ford didn’t need federal bailout money.

As to whether you should buy: A Taurus provides a lot of creature comfort, technology, and safety, at a reasonable price, especially if you stick with the front- not all-wheel drive versions and save $2,000. With its high shoulder line and smallish (not tiny) side windows, it’s an attractive and winning alternative to the Chrysler 300. It’s also a valid competitor to the spacious Buick LaCrosse. Most buyers will find the 2010 Taurus roomier in back than a Honda Accord and about the same as a Toyota Avalon. (Up front, they’re about the same.) The toughest competition for the Ford Taurus will be against the full-size, rear-drive Hyundai Genesis sedan, which has plenty of passenger room, Lexus levels of fit and finish, lots of technology options (Ford has more), and a price that won't top $40,000 with a V6 engine.

If you target the Taurus and it’s for highway cruising, consider the active cruise control, the package with blind spot detection, and the active seat option. The extra price you pay — $41,025 tops for an all-wheel drive SEL if you find (it’s not easy) and check every option — will be quickly repaid on comfort over the life of the car. If you owned some of Ford’s less leading lights a decade ago – say the Ford Windstar or Ford Escort, as I did – it’s hard to believe this is the same car company. Ford has bailed itself out.

Chances are, your phone—yes, even your iPhone—supports Stereo Bluetooth, but not that many people actually use the feature. We’ve gathered up the best A2DP headphones to either a) figure out why, or b) ask, why not?

The Problem

Honestly, there are plenty of reasons to be uneasy about Bluetooth headphones: They run off battery power, so you need to be mindful of keeping them charged; they’re often styled strangely to accommodate the necessary wireless hardware; they’re more expensive than equivalent wired headphones; and most of all, they sound like crap. Or, so you’ve heard. You know, from other people, not with your ears. The colloquial “heard.” Er, you know what I mean.

Perhaps even more than choosing the best Bluetooth headphones, the point of this little exercise is to figure out if A2DP, the technology, is even worth your time. After all, it isn’t really worth going to the trouble and expense of untethering your headphones if they barely qualify as headphones. So first, some background:

The Advanced Audio Distribution Profile, or A2DP, is an umbrella term for the modern Bluetooth audio profile, meaning the standards by which Bluetooth devices send a receive audio. It complements the Headset Profile (HSP), which takes care of low-quality mono transmissions, like those to single-ear Bluetooth headsets, to provide the capability to listen to music without too much distortion. And that’s the crux of the A2DP problem, both real and perceived: It’s better than mono Bluetooth, to be sure, but is it as good as a wired headset? Or more realistically, is it close enough that it doesn’t really matter?

Since A2DP audio is encoded and recompressed at the source, leading to (sometimes drastically) differing audio quality betwen devices, I paired a number of sources—an iPhone 3G, an HTC Hero, a unibody Macbook Pro—with a veritable stack of headphones to see if the end result, the sound that actually hits your ears, is worth the trouble. Here are the best five:

The Headphones

(Click the chart to enlarge)

Sony DR-BT50

Street Price: $125

The only cup-style headphones included in this roundup, the Sonys serve as a sort of reference for sound quality, features, fit and comfort. Also: impracticality. If you’re planning on using a Bluetooth headphones as they’re generally understood to be intended, you’re probably not looking for bulbous headhuggers like this.

That said! They’ve got by far the bassiest, clearest sound of the lot, and the included controls, though they can take a while for your fingers to map out, are more complete than any others. Using these headphones is a joy compared to most others, but only in a situations where they’re appropriate: Sitting on a sofa? At a PC? I don’t really know. Whatever they’re meant for, the lack of a USB charger corroborates the theory that they’re not really intended to be that portable.

Far and away the best, most balanced sound; moderate noise isolation

Wider set of controls than any other headphones, but probably more than you need, or your handset even supports

They’re too big to exercise or travel with

Motorola Motorokr s305

Street Price: $40

Something about this headset is immediately alarming. It feels cheap, it comes with very few accessories, it even looks a bit dated—it sort of feels like you've accidentally been handed a stray accessory, dropped out of a Motorola Rokr box, yearning to be reconnected to its parent phone. But seriously, give it a minute.

You could find plenty of things to complain about with the s305s, but hell, I just don't want to: With these cheap, stripped-down headphones, Motorola shows that they understand the draw of A2DP better than anyone else. They sound fine—solid mids, relatively clear highs, adequate bass—without sounding overequalized; their fixed fit works well enough on most heads, without sacrificing weight or durability; they connect with ease, and offer minimal, though adequate, controls; they charge quickly via USB, for a playback period that'll outlast any workout session. And most of all, they're very, very cheap.

Minimalist: easy to use and set up

They’re gloriously cheap

It feels light in the hand and on the head; it also feels a bit flimsy

Jabra Halo

Street Price: $120

Nobody's going to dispute the Halo's stylishness, especially in this company—most of these headphones looks like they were designed in the late 90s (Why? No really—this doesn't make any sense) and many come in form-factors I haven't seen since I carried a Discman. For what it's worth, the Jabra's matte black, ultra-thin headband take on Bluetoothery is eye-catching, and there's nothing expressly wrong with it.

Nor is there anything terribly wrong with the sound: It's abundantly clear, though not very bassy—something that could be pegged as much on the sometimes awkward fit of the Halo's earpads as on their actual drivers. I had the most pairing issues with the Halo, but they all mysteriously resolved themselves eventually—par for the course with Bluetooth, and less of a concern than you might think, since one they're paired to a device, they're paired to a device. Controls, aside from volume, which relies on a jumpy touchpad on the earpiece, were simple and intuitive. The price, I guess, is the only real kick in the balls from Jabra’s headphones: The street price is a hefty $120

HEADPHONES FROM SPAAAAAAAAACE

They’re comfortable, and it’s easy to forget you’re wearing them

Too expensive for what you get

Logitech Freepulse

Street Price: $90

Logitech's gone all-out with the Freepulse, and you'd be hard pressed to find a hardware feature—aside from USB charging—that these things don't list on their spec sheet. They've got by far the most versatile Bluetooth transmitter, meaning that they can be paired with just about any device comfortably. Controls are subtly built into the earpieces, but once they've been explored, they're easy to reach and utilize during exercise.

I found the fit to be a bit strange, since these particular headphones, despite looking like a traditional wraparound headset, actually hang on your ears by means of floppy little rubber loops. They’re secure enough, sure, but they don’t exactly cram the drivers against your ear holes; hence lack of great bass. Oh and hey, no mic! These things aren’t cheap, so, uh, what the hell?

Best Bluetooth transmitter of the bunch—fits just about any device

They fit everyone fine, but nobody particularly well

At this price, where’s the mic?

iLuv i222

Street Price: $60

In a lot of ways, the i222 is a cheaper, newer equivalent to the Freepulse: Its design looks newer, albeit a little Bluetooth-headset-y, its feature set matches the Logitech’s almost point for point, and, crucially, it has a mic, because almost every A2DP-enabled playback device is, let’s face it, a phone.

Interestingly, the iLuv’s battery life trumped even the most expensive headphones in my limited testing. My main cause for concern is a generally plasticky feeling: I can already see multiple areas of concern on the headset, and online reports go some way to confirming my worries about durability.

Tons of features for the price, including a Bluetooth transmitter

Build quality is a concern

Post-Game

If all these evaluations sound a little bit tentative, that’s because they are. Each headset evaluation was underscored by a fundamental discomfort with A2DP because, well, it’s not that good.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s better than I expected, and a far sight better than you might predict if you were weened on Bluetooth earpieces. But the sound is flat, lacking in bass range and sacrificing detail on higher tones. And even if these headphones are specifically tuned for playing back Bluetooth streams, the few that include direct line-in support, like the Jabra Halo, give you a ready-made comparison between wireless and wired sound. Spoiler: It isn’t all that flattering for the ol’ toof.

This casts A2DP headphones in a different light, not as a viable, wireless, futuristic alternative to regular headphones, but as a degraded, battery-hungry, expensive compromise. You buy them because you need something wireless—that's it. There's no other reason.

The Winner

As such, the headset I'm most comfortable telling people to buy is also the cheapest. There will be people who'll want something else—the Sonys are the best bet for, say, a PC gamer, and the iLuvs are an obvious choice if your music-listening devices don't actually support Bluetooth. But more than anything, I see A2DP headsets as a way to listen to music during a run, or on cable-averse exercise machines, as a way to listen to a charging device while you wander around a room, or as a way to merge your everpresent Bluetooth headset with your earbuds.

For this, the Motorola s305s fit the bill: They’re light, functional and simple. They sound fine. They look OK. They sync with almost anything. They win because they do as much as you can ask of Bluetooth headphones, and they do it on the cheap.