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Here I am looking at two items that come from the company that charges $3 US shipping no matter how large your order. Fist an MP3 player that looks like a largish Lego brick and then an Alarm Clock radio that takes SD cards so you can wake to your choice of music guaranteed.
BB5003 MP3 Player Lego Brick This is a MP3 player but instead of using either internal memory or that of a USB stick it uses a Micro SD card (the ones most mobile phones use) this also gives you another way of transferring content from your phone to a PC or visa versa. It is 5.5x3.x1.5cm and mine was yellow but I think there are other colours.
The recent launch of six new Intel Centrino 2 processors, with a further eight to follow over the coming months, has provided the impetus for notebook manufacturers to refresh their range of offerings.
click image to enlarge Acer Aspire 2930 One of the first companies to take advantage of the new technology behind the Centrino 2 processors is Acer. The company has launched various business and consumer models in the TravelMate and Aspire ranges. Several enhancements have been made to the TravelMate range of business notebooks.
Flash drives have traditionally been fairly slow devices, but like all things to do with computers
performance continues to improve over time. Here we compare two high-performance USB flash drives
from Kingston and from Imation.
From Imation we're looking at the new "Atom Flash Drive", available in 1G, 2G, 4G and 8G bytes sizes. Our
test sample is 1Gbyte. This is pitted against the Kingston Data Traveller 100, available in the same sizes.
This is a rather good iPod playing device, that just for good measure can play CDs of various types has an FM radio and an Aux input to play anything that can connect via a 3.5mm jack plug.
The first unusual thing about this 'box' is that it had no controls on it at all. Everything is done via the remote control. It is 37x26x19cm with leads plugged into the rear. Mine was white with a white grill on the front, at the top right of this- behind the grill - is a six character red LED display that displays what, where and how. The top has the name Geneva on the front edge and in the centre a slot loading CD.
Taking the see-through packaging route, Symantec has lunched the latest version of its Norton 360 product.
From the back and side, the box certainly looked like the standard packaging used by Symantec for its utility products. However turning the box around revealed a see-through panel showing the software CD as if indicating that the enclosed product could see through any malicious attack made on your system. This product is Norton 360 version 2.0 which arrives with the promise of providing all-in-one security with comprehensive, automatic protection.
Seek and ye shall find could well be your mantra in the latest game to appear from PopCap Games.
Entitled Mystery PI: The Vegas Heist, you are cast in the role of the enigmatic, never-give-up, clue seeking private investigator who takes on the task of discovering the missing money. This being , the recovery of the money is regarded as being far more important than apprehending those responsible for the heist. Presumably less-savoury characters will deal out the punishment to those involved but that plays no part in this game.
Those who read my launch report at the start of the year will know the A series are what GE consider to be their entry level offerings. It is a nice simple to use camera.
click to enlarge The GE A835 digital camera is small at 9x6.5x2.5cm the last figure can increase by 3cm when the zoom is fully out. It is silver grey in colour with a chrome strip along the top and sides and it weights around 170grams with its 2x'AA' batteries inserted. The front of the camera has the lens with the flash above and to the left, at the nearest it is 1cm from the lens. The right side has the anchor point for the wrist strap.
Kodak combines images and music with touch border technology in its new digital picture frame series.
With its long standing reputation and experience in the field of photographic development, it was a natural progression for Kodak to get involved in the manufacture of digital displays. The result is the Kodak Easyshare Digital Picture Frame series currently consisting of 7, 8 and 10-inch models.
A small pebble like clamshell, the U9 is available in pink, purple or graphite (black) with a glossy smooth finish and curved edges this
phone feels great to hold.
The pink and purple varieties are most definitely aimed squarely at the female market, and in case you're not convinced Motorola provide a Pink or Purple test to help you choose your colour - question two asks whether you'd rather date Prince William or Prince Harry ( ). you can take the quiz here! The Motorola U9 is a quad-band phone that comes with a raft of features for those that prefer the clamshell format. Measuring 90 x 48.
Quality Earbuds : m-JAYS Stereo Handsfree Headset/ Stereo Music Adapter ; Ear-Fit Headphones ATH-EW9
Here I will tell you about two different companies with wonderful earbuds that shall we say are not cheap. In fact both could probably cost more than the unit you plug them into.
m-JAYS Stereo Handsfree Headset/ Stereo Music Adapter This can be used two ways. First as a standard set of earbuds and second as a hands free setup that can work with a mobile phone. It is one of the new range of headsets that work with the Apple iPhone. It is in fact two items that can be used only as earbuds (60cm) or you can plug them into the second longer extension lead (80cm) that has the microphone.
First the Wireless Notebook Microsoft Presenter Mouse 8000 that comes in some very novel packaging. Second the Belkin offering that I first saw last August as a prototype a washable mouse.
Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 This is the first mouse I have reviewed that comes in its own carrying case, and more than that, it swivels in the packaging so you can view it 360 degrees while still on the dealers shelf.
The merger between Mio and Navman has seen a division of targeted territories with the Navman branded products taking care of the UK. The companys entry-level product is the S30 model. This particular device has a suggested retail price of £149 although the more experienced shopper should be able to find the S30 listed at a more tempting price with the minimum of effort.
Included in the box with the SatNav device is a mounting bracket that can attach to the windshield using a clip-down sucker. You also get a cigarette lighted power adaptor and a mini USB cable for linking to a computer.
The boss of LG in the UK made a great joke of telling journalists prior to the announcement that the name of their new phone was Secret. He was of course correct it is called Secret.
click to enlarge It is 10x4.5x1cm when closed, when the screen moves upwards to reveal the twelve key keypad this increases the first figure by 3.5cm. The phones weight is 110grams. It is matt black with a silver band and controls and the back is a fine checkerboard pattern of grey and black weaved to look like tweed. The viewable screen area is 5x3.7cm. The left side has the dual headset and charger port.
Although a number of institutions provide power sources for your mobile devices, there could be problems with other locations. Kensington offers a possible solution with its latest power adapter.
Kensington has updated its range of Notebook Power adapters. Consisting of three different models in the series, this review is based on the K33403 product. This particular item provides a combination of wall / auto / air functionality plus USB connectivity for various mobile devices.
In real life buses can sometimes appear in convoys. However a move to a virtual environment results in a bus becoming a solitary vehicle.
I have to admit, that as a child, the job of being a bus driver, or any type of driver for that matter, did not feature to high in the list of possible future careers that I considered in any moments of wishful thinking. Buses were merely a mode of transport for my own convenience rather than an object of affection such as my collection of cigarette and bubble gum cards.
This piece of software in various guises has been on my PC for many many years. So what is in version 14 sorry X4 to make you upgrade or indeed what has it to offer for those who have never succumbed to its charms.
When reviewing hardware I usually start with the dimensions and I suppose the equivalent for software are it's system requirements. Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista (either 32bit or 64bit). After that it's 512MB of Ram, 430MB of hard disc space, a 1024x768 or greater display, a mouse or tablet and a DVD drive. There are four main applications in the box all with the X4 suffix, CorelDRAW, Corel PhotoPaint, Corel PowerTrace and Corel Capture.
Computer protection should be automatic and should not be intrusive. Symantec believes its Ghost product fits the bill.
Although the Concise Oxford Dictionary lists definitions that include "Soul of dead person in Hades" and "bright spot or secondary image in field of telescope due to defect of lens", Symantec would like you to think of Ghost as the preferred method of protecting your computer with advanced backup and recovery technology.
If you're one of those people that have to interact with virtual 3D worlds it's quite possible that
you'll find using a mouse and keyboard either frustrating, limiting or both. A 2D pointing
device just doesn't give enough flexibility to move in a 3D world.
The solution proposed by 3Dconnexion, a division of Logitech best known for their mice and keyboards, is the SpaceNavigator, described as a 3D mouse. We reviewed the SpaceNavigator back in September 2007 ( ). you can read that review here 3Dconnexion have now released a smaller, lighter Navigator - for notebooks. To recap - the SpaceNavigator in a single hand control allows you to : pan, zoom, tilt, spin, roll, move.
One of the latest batch of Digital Cameras from Kodak. Having recently (06-07-08) looked at a quite reasonable offering from them can this pocket offering match up.
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Certainly an item aimed at the novice user but this is not helped by a user guide (12 languages) that
does not go into enough detail. There is help on the camera that would be enough for the intermediate
user but would they be using it? The Kodak M893 digital camera measures 9x5.5x2cm, the last figure the width can double under zoom.
First certainly the smallest thing I have ever reviewed, something for those of us with older notebooks without Bluetooth. Second higher power rechargeable batteries and multi charger from Energizer.
MoGo Laptop Compact Bluetooth USB Adapter I would certainly not advise sneezing near this tiny device or it could easily get lost. My electronic kitchen scales failed to register when I put it on them and they happily weigh as little as a single gram. It is 2cm long but only 1cm of this will protrude once inserted into a USB port. It is a maximum of 1.5cm wide and slightly concave so you can grip it should you ever want to remove it.
It was a rainy morning, more like an April downpour really but this was July, as I avoided the puddles on my way to check out the new products from Tefal, Krups and Rowenta under the banner of Beyond Innovation 2008.
Situated in , within a stone's throw of Oxford Street and
Bond Street, the Music Room is one of those locations that are often used by companies
to show off their wares to the press and trade customers. My previous visit had been to
check out new products from Sony Ericsson and now I was faced with various household gadgets
bearing the , Krups and Rowenta brands.
This software is designed to work out if your PC (or stick drive) is under threat. Its job is to stop malicious software from getting to anything that your stick or drive is trying to protect.
So what I am looking at is two different anti virus programs from the same maker. Drive Sentry and Drive Sentry Go Anywhere. The first sits on your PC and the second resides on your stick drive so you can safely insert it into another PC which may or may not be infected by a virus or three. I have used both the full PC package and the stick drive version. My problem is that unless you get a virus you will never know if the products work.
Storing your digital images in a box could save you a great deal of disk space.
Digital photographs do have a tendency to be rather large in size. You only have to look at the ever increasing megapixel ratings of the latest cameras, and even the new crop of mobile phones, to see the reason for the demands that digital photos put on certain activities. Digital images can quickly devour storage space and are hardly the sleekest when it comes to being sent via the Web even for those of us with access to a fast Broadband connection.
Bringing back memories of the games played in my younger days, a new offering from URSE Games contains plenty of high speed action.
Take a distinct flavour of the old Wild West, throw in some unusual, some might say gruesome elements, and then mix them with a modern computer game. The result is CowBall, a game from URSE Games, developed by a team led by Sergey Kuzmichev and Juriy Aliev who were responsible for titles such as Gem Ball and Nuclear Ball. As already mentioned, CowBall is set in the Wild West of cowboys and Red Indians.
While many digital cameras can equal or even better the 10MP image size of this FinePix S8100 I cannot think of any that come up to the 18x optical zoom that it offers.
click to enlarge It is 10.5x9x7.5cm when off in your hand or hanging round your neck however when fully zoomed you need to add another 6cm to the 9cm width. It weights a tad under 500 grams. It comes with a 68 page Basic Manual and while this does very little to explain all the 'bells and whistles' it will get even the novice going.
PowerPoint is not the only method of delivering a message. Software from Reallusion allows you to put words into the mouth of an animated head.
Getting your message across to your targeted audience can be difficult as the best of times. It does help if you are able to apply a certain amount of pizzazz to the actual presentation of your message. One method of achieving this pizzazz, or audience-appealing gloss, could be through the use of a program entitled Crazy Talk from Reallusion. Now up to version 5, Crazy Talk Pro is face puppet animation software with a number of new and enhanced features.
Flip is not an expletive but rather a nice handheld camcorder that costs less than £100. The most important points are that the quality is superb and it is extremely easy to use and transfer or watch the output.
click to enlarge The Flip Video Ultra is 10.5x5.5x3cm and weights only 140grams. It comes in four colours, mine is a creamy white with orange sides. It is powered by two 'AA' batteries (supplied) and it's internal memory can record an hours action. It comes with a drawstring bag and a wrist strap. There is a folded card for the instructions and delving in the box will find the leads to connect the Flip Video to your TV.
Two forms of storage memory. The first from Dane Elec that looks exactly like a casino chip and the second from San Disc a Micro SD card reader. Both these items fit directly into a USB port.
Poker Mate USB Drive It is 4cm across and .5cm thick. It is red and white with 12 alternate sections the six white ones are plastic and the red ones rubber. This gives a distinct feel in the fingers. There are various capacities available, mine was 1GB and this is clearly written on both sides of the chip.
Surprisingly, as the chosen location was known as The Music Room, Sony Ericsson did not include any new models in its Walkman range.
It doesn't seem all that long ago since I last reported on the latest announcements from Sony Ericsson. Actually it was just over four months ago - doesn't time seem to fly by or maybe it is as a result of the onward drive to pump out new handsets and accessories by mobile phone companies. This time Sony Ericsson's product announcements cover new handsets, modems, headsets, gaming and a photographic competition.
With the MFU (multi function unit) or AIO (all in one) taking up little more space than a scanner and providing the functionality of three or four products then the scanner needs to do extra things to consider a stand alone product. There are units that read vast numbers of textual pages at 16 or 20 PPM. Here it can read slides and transparencies.
click to enlarge
First the all important dimensions it is 44cm long, 26cm wide and 9cm tall. It is a very dark grey in colour and has the power input and USB close together on the back and the on/off switch on the right side. There are four buttons on the front edge but everything can be managed from within Windows.
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