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As mobile devices tend to depend on memory cards of carious types, you do need the means to transfer any stored content to your computer.
When it comes to memory cards, it could be said that you are almost spoilt for choice. However you could also be confused over the various formats when it comes to accessing the data stored on the different card formats. Fortunately most modern systems come with multi-format card reading facilities built-in as standard.
Windows 7 is now in public beta for anyone to download. I was told in a briefing earlier this week that Windows 7 will run on a Netbook in only 1GB. No release date is yet available but I am informed it will be within twelve months.
I was told that the public beta became available on the 9 January. No exact size is currently available but an ISO download done by the presenter earlier this week was 2.7GB, it is expected that this will probably be smaller by launch date. This should use the same or less resources than Vista and you should be able to install it on top of a Vista installation. When I asked about XP I was told you would need to do a full install so you would need to reinstall all your applications afterwards.
If you need a set of kitchen scales that are supremely accurate and look great as well, then take a look at the Salter Mix 'n' Measure
January is still shiny and most of us haven’t had the chance to break our resolutions yet. If you decided to lose weight or spend more time cooking gorgeous meals from scratch, I have just the product for you – the Salter Mix ‘n’ Measure scale. Now if you thought weighing ingredients was just a matter of chucking some flour or sugar in a bowl let me enlighten you. Most scales either leave you peering at a dial or work in increments of 5 grammes.
Sometimes a products title gives you an excellent idea as to its functionality. However I am not sure this particular product falls into this category.
Trends, whether they are fashion-based or of a more environmental orientation and social awareness, tend to come and go over time. Currently the trend is to emphasise the importance of implementing a Green approach especially with regards to power consumption. Add into the mix the demands made by various portable devices and you have the rationale behind the rather unusually named powermonkey-eXplorer product. Developed by Powertraveller Ltd.
It was like a trip down memory lane when I received a copy of Etch A Sketch. No, this was not the drawing toy of old with vertical and horizontal controls encased in a red box. Instead it was a computerised version.
Fancy a piping hot cup of water in three seconds, yes three seconds, then this could be for you. Of course its up to you to decide if you want water, tea, coffee, soup or many other beverages this just heats the water very quickly.
This is really two products in one. First something that heats or dispenses tap water quickly and second one that heats and dispenses filtered water quickly. The Tefal Quick Cup is 21cm tall and 15cm round at the base it gradually gets wider towards the top and at the protruding spout it is 25cm from front to back and 18cm wide. The 70cm long 13amp lead comes out of the base at the back.
Your social mobile phone is not always suitable for a more energetic lifestyle which is where Sonim Electronics might be able to help.
While the design concept followed by for the greater majority of mobile phones manufacturers concentrate on aspects of size, weight and features with varying degrees of style, there is a place for a more rugged approach for both industrial and outdoor use.
It is not always possible to map items together in perfect harmony. For a start this is not a computer mouse but a sanding device. The second item is a small tabletop Tripod ideal for anything (not only cameras) that need to be kept steady. They do have one thing in common they both work extremely well, also both make ideal ways of spending Christmas money.
While this of course can sand wood it can also clean old paint and rust from metal. It also has the capability to be used as a polisher. It is 18x8x10cm with a shoe like the base of an iron 17x9cm. The pointy nose is the secret of being able to get into places that a standard sander cannot. It seems to come with a kit that includes a range of sander discs and even a case to keep it in. The reason that a fabric case ids required is that you virtually have to destroy the box to remove it.
With the pound seeming to fall a lot, these purchases need to be checked more carefully as you are buying in dollars. Here a keyboard ideal for limited space and second a dual slot MS ProDuo adapter to allow your Micro SD cards to be read from the same adapter on a single read.
This comes with what looks like a standard USB stick that is the wireless adapter. The keyboard is 25.5x11x2cm (this is very different from the measurements stated on the package). The required two ‘AAA’ batteries for the keyboard are supplied. This is a seventy eight key keyboard with the alpha numeric keys being the largest at 1.5x1.3cm each. However there are also four volume keys on the left edge.
Have you ever wondered how much activity you do in a day? Do you want to set yourself targets to achieve better all round fitness? Polar have a new, easy to use gadget that is worth checking out.
Polar FA20 £94.50 January is the busiest time of year in gyms all over the country as those of us that were found face down in the Quality Street over Christmas try to get fit again. I have to be honest but I hate going to the gym so I am always looking for gadgets that make getting fit easier. This year I have been testing a new fitness device from the nice people at Polar which looks like a neat watch but is in fact my conscience.
Adding a more personal touch to interaction with your computer is often the main reason for using a headset.
While you may enjoy listening to music, watching videos and playing games with enveloping sound effects on your desktop or notebook computer, the audio output will not necessarily appeal to others who are in the vicinity. Of course you could turn down the volume level so as not to disturb others but this might reduce your listening pleasure and all-round entertainment of the current activity.
A 15x10cm (post card) sized printer, however instead of the normal box shape this is rather like a radio or cassette player as it has a built in handle and is a very thin shape the card (printing stock) handling is unique.
The Canon Selphy ES30 measures 22cm wide 23cm tall and 12cm deep. You will need maybe 10cm clear in front of the unit as the card stock is turned in mid air from its landscape stored position to its portrait printing position. It weights less than 2.4kilos even when it has a full pack of 50 cards stored inside. This can be connected to a PC using a standard USB cable or direct to a camera using Pict Bridge both these sockets are towards the base of the left side.
While Windows Recycle Bin does a reasonable job of providing a failsafe when a file is accidentally deleted, sometimes a more powerful tool is required.
Mistakes can happen and, as is usually the case, they occur at the most inappropriate times. When the mistake is an accidental deletion, or in certain cases the overwriting, of an important file from your hard disk, then the results could cause a great deal of trouble and heartache. Diskeeper, best known for its defragmentation software, has turned its expertise on file management towards the task of rescuing files that have been deleted by mistake.
Have you thought about the visual quality of your favourite music tracks? Audiosurf has!
Games generally slot into genres such as Adventure, First Person Shooter, Puzzle or Simulation. Occasionally, however, a title comes along that ventures into new territory either in the form of game style or the resources required by the software. A recent example of this is Audiosurf, a game developed by Dylan Fitterer and published by Ascaron Entertainment. Audiosurf has been categorised as being a puzzle racer which is really only half the picture.
On the face of it this is just another of the huge range of devices to tell your where you are and how to get to where you are not. However after a few days of use I soon realised it did lots of things that other such devices do not.
The TomTom GO930-T is 11.5x8.5x2cm and has a landscape screen 10.7x5.8cm. While most will of course use it in a car I suggest unless you are a passenger then you first try it on a bus or a train where or course you are a passenger as there is so much to absorb from the screen display and unlike a lot of other units it shows things in different places and often in different ways.
Hands-free mobile communication is becoming a more popular judging by the number of people who appear to be talking to themselves as I walk past. Sometimes I feel tempted to join in the conversation.
While you may consider a jawbone to be part of your skull, Aliph, a market leader in noise cancelling Bluetooth headsets, prefers to regard the Jawbone (note the capital letter) as “earwear”. In other words the Jawbone is an ear-piece style headset for hands-free communication when linked to an appropriate Bluetooth-aware device. Aliph has now upgraded the original product with its replacement being entitled, not surprisingly, Jawbone 2.
Another rather nice 32inch Digital TV this one from LG. Called scarlet simply because the back of the unit is err scarlet. It has an intriguing hole below the screen but above the stand, place your finger in it and it turns the unit on/off from/to standby.
What I received was the TV with mains lead, its stand that screws into the TV, the remote control and nothing else. So everything I am telling you about has been by experimentation as it had no instructions. Later I was sent a PDF file, I find searching through 140 pages of a manual designed for 12 different models not that easy, especially when the TV is in a different room to the PC. I printed only a couple of pages; you of course will have the printed manual when you buy a unit.
Here I am looking at two items from John Adams; either have a good chance of the childs parents having a good period of peace. The first can encourage the drawing skills while the second encourages the creative genes. Wonder of wonder two different toys and neither need a single battery. Possibly even better value now and a good way to spend that Christmas cash.
This is a toy that has been around in one form or another for many years. Here however John Adams have gone one further by not only allowing the drawer to capture static objects on the unit but also things far further away. The base is 30x38cm and it grows to about 34cm tall forming two thirds of a triangle. The whole secret is two (unbreakable) mirrors that allow anything in the right area to be captured and therefore drawn on an A4 sheet of paper.
Now up to version 12, Pinnacles video editing Studio software is available in three flavours. These are the basic Studio, Studio Plus and Studio Ultimate.
This review is based on Studio Plus 12 which consists of a DVD, 300+ page User Manual and a Getting Started Guide. The installation routine supplied with this product offers you the options to install the main Studio Plus software and select from additional titles that include Instant DVD Recorder, SureThing Labeler and Adobe Reader 8.1.2. As part of the Studio Plus installation you will need to enter a 25-character serial number.
3-Mobile continue their trend of launching innovative, feature rich own-brand mobile phones
targeted at the consumer market with very competitive price points. The INQ1 is the latest
product touted as a social networking phone.
As I saw recently when I reviewed the from 3, the company doesn't compromise on the hardware to deliver these products. The INQ, like the S2, feels well made. Closed the front brushed aluminium facia looks good and frames the 2.2" QVGA screen. The front slides up to reveal the traditional phone keypad. Despite being a budget phone the INQ1 sports a 3.2M pixel camera which takes reasonable pictures in good light.
Having just finished the monster 28inch offering from Hanns-G this big unit seems almost normal in size. It has exactly the same resolution but instead of the notional 27.5inches diagonal measurement it is 25.5inches.
Transferring notes and illustrations to your computer is the task undertaken by this next product supplied by Selwyn Electronics
Earlier this year I took a look at a digital device that allowed you to make notes and draw diagram using a pen and pad. The data could then be downloaded onto your computer with the minimum of effort. This product was the DigiMemo A402 developed by AceCad and supplied by Selwyn Electronics.
In the beginning Bejeweled was a Match-3 puzzle game that build up an impressive reputation. A follow-up version, Bejeweled 2, help add to the franchises reputation for addictive game play. Now Popcap has added a new twist to the game.
Not a photo frame that currently seems in vogue but a device solely for the display of images. What has an object not that much larger than a camera have that a decent photo frame does not?
The Epson P-3000 measures 14x5x8.5x3.5cm and weights 420grams. The display window is 8.3x6.1cm giving the notional 4inch display. It runs on a solid rechargeable battery. The top has earbud socket, SD and Compact Flash card slots. The right side has on/off hold slider as well as a Kensington Lock connector. The base has the entry point for the solid battery, while the left side has two rubber bungs covering the power adapter and A/V outlet and USB sockets.
While some prefer a shoulder bag for transporting their notebook, others plump for a backpack style of carrying.
Although notebooks are sometimes regarded as desktop replacement units, they are designed to be easily portable. However the means to carry the notebook is not considered to be part of the standard package. This omission has given the opportunity for various manufacturers to come up with cases and bags for carrying notebooks of different sizes. One such company is Brenthaven which based in Bellingham, Washington.
A flexible compact digital camera with a 10M pixel sensor and some impressive
features, all at a reasonable price. The R10 is aimed at the amature photographer
that wants to go beyond point and click photography.
Measuring 100 x 60 x 27mm (WxHxD) and weighing around 200g, including battery the R10 feels very solid and is large enough to sit comfortably in the hand. Internal storage is very limited and generally you'll want to insert a separate SD card. The camera supports both standard and the more recent SDHC conformant cards up to a maximum capacity of 16G bytes. Optically the camera has an impressive 7.
Many months after the launch I finally get my hands on one, and yes it was worth the wait. Nice small machine that does not cost the earth and if you only want word processing, email and Internet then why look elsewhere.
It weights under a kilo (984 grams) and is 24.5x17x3cm. Mine was cream with the inside of the lid black. It has an 84 key keyboard with alpha and numeric keys being near full size at 1.5cm square, I say near full size as the space between is of course far less than a standard keyboard. The left side has power adapter input, VGA out, Ethernet, USB and SD card slot. The front has only the slider switch to turn wireless connection on/off.
Not perhaps obvious items to be put together but either or both could make a great present. The first something for that frustrated drummer I am sure you will have heard or Air Guitar but how about Air drums? The second a twist of a jigsaw that is made in the shape of a globe.
Not a skin in sight, it is basically a pair of drumsticks with thin leads going to a small box, while there are a couple of smaller boxes that is it. Insert 4x‘AA’ batteries in the box and start learning the movements and hear your efforts either from the inbuilt speaker or once you have things perfected pipe it out through external speakers. Annoy the neighbours without even ever bringing anything larger than 43x26x6cm cardboard box into your home.
Using resources that are renewable is advice we could all follow. Unfortunately sometimes the required resource is not always available.
Reviewing kit, of whatever type (software, hardware, toys, kitchen equipment, etc.), can sometimes involve the need for additional resources. For example to test a printer you will need plenty of paper; a flight simulator product cries out for a joystick as the preferred method of control; while electronic toys often arriving bearing the “Batteries not included” warning. Generally supplying these resources is well within the scope of this reviewer.
Physically the largest iPod docking stereo system I've reviewed the iLuv uses this
size to good effect to provide sound worthy of your music collection.
Measuring 500 x 200 x 180mm (WxHxD) the iLuv i399 is by no means a shrinking violet. Despite it's size and indeed weight (around 6Kg) the manufacturer has decided to provide battery power as an option. I'm not entirely sure why you'd want to be lugging this around or using it away from mains power, however should you wish to so do you'll have to acquire eight 'D' sized batteries.
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