GadgetSpeak Articles
GadgetSpeak has close to 5,000 product reviews and other articles. You can use this page to find others opinions on anything from mobile phones to computers to the latest kitchen appliance
A childhood recollection and a computer offering come together with a new game from Popcap.
Growing up near a seaside holiday resort meant I spent some of my formative years trawling around various slot machine arcades spending my meagre pocket money. I have a clear memory of one particular machine where you could direct a coin to avoid pins and obstacles so that it fell into a column containing other coins that, once filled, would reward you with its content.
In our continuing series reviewing the world of home coffee machines we're taking a look
at a stylish espresso machine from Illycaffè.
We've now covered a wide range of coffee machines - now is the turn of the FransisFrancis X6 Trio - designed by Italian architect Luca Trazzi for illy. This machine makes use of standard ESE coffee PODS. ESE standards for 'Easy Server Espresso'. Each pod is very similar to a tea-bag - except hard. Each pod contains compressed coffee between tow pieces of filter paper. Each pod is suitable for a single cup and are available from a number of companies.
Why you may ask did I not put the name in the title, simple reason its just too long. Its a CD MP3 DAB Micro System with iPod dock. It also has FM and SD card support.
This is a rather smart gun metal grey box 21x28x16cm. It comes with two speakers 16x22x23cm these are also grey with a different grey mesh grill. The speaker leads are the fashionable bare leads but the claw grab fittings lock onto the leads. Fifteen pages of the manual are a must read as it does a lot of things differently to other units I have used. Some appear - to me anyway - to be illogical.
No not a keyboard and a hub but two separate items both at a good price with this firm charging only a flat low shipping charge for any order, something other Internet vendors might like to investigate.
Illuminated Keyboard According to the blurb they do several colours and I just happened to get the pink one. I have used it for some time and while the colour would perhaps suit a lady I am not keen on it however the things it does I do find interesting. First a button on the top right of the 109 key keyboard lets you turn the illumination on/off.
Putting on my directors hat, it is time to check out a new CD & DVD creation suite from Avanquest.
Digital content, whether still images, video or audio based, continues to grow and take over our hard disks. While you could opt to delete less popular items to ease the storage pressure and release space for newer content, there is another alternative that could be considered. This would involve transferring data to optical media using software such as that available with MediaNow CD & DVD Burning Suite.
For those that like DAB radio and looking for something more comparable in size to a classic portable analogue FM radio may like
to take a look at this product from Intempo.
The Intempo TRS-01 is available in five colours : black, violet, claret, grey and blue - in a compact 205x38x105 mm (WxDxH) package weighing only 40g (excluding batteries). The unit is delivered with a mains 6V 800mA rats-lead power supply and can also be powered by battery. All the controls except volume are provided on the front surface - which also includes an illuminated LCD display. Reception is via a 60cm, six element telescopic aerial.
A camera that surveys its surroundings if it detects movement a text message can be sent to your mobile phone. You can then view whatever movement the camera detected.
This should have been something that had me jumping up and down, instead it did not work like that. I had numerous conversations with the lady at 3rdi and eventually it did work. The camera costs £199 and it charges from the mains but can then run for around six hours even without connection. So even if the intruder realises he/she is being filmed it's too late as the images are sent back to the server at 3rdi.
Continuing our series reviewing the array of coffee machines available, this time
we take a look at a well made espresso machine from Kenwood.
The Kenwood Retro is available in three finishes : red, silver and cream. Unlike many
of the machines we've looked at, the Retro takes a very manual approach to preparing your
coffee. Other machines we've reviewed attempt to correctly measure a perfect espresso. This then
leads to complicated 'programming' options to allow you to alter that amount of water used.
With the Kenwood Retro, you get none of this.
While protecting your computer is optional, it is a task that you should seriously consider as a top priority.
The Internet is a veritable cornucopia of information and source material whatever your interests. However it can also be an extremely dangerous place to venture unprotected, as well as being the portal through which attacks can be launched against your computer and the personal data it holds. System Shield 3 Internet Security is a product from iolo technologies that is designed to help protect the user from such dangers.
While not suitable for walkies or even a game of fetch, this Tomy dog can amuse you with some tricks.
Sometimes it feels like I have walked into a menagerie or perhaps pet shop would be a better description. Recently my attention has been grabbed by a guinea pig (Gupi by name), a white cat and parrot (both belonging to the FurReal Friends family) plus, last but not least, a dragonfly of prehistoric proportions. Now it is the turn of the recently deposed " 's favourite pet" to take centre stage.
On the face of it this is a similar device to the recently reviewed Mio A501 but there are subtle differences. This is first a communications device and only then a device that has GPS capabilities indeed they do a model without the GPS.
Firstly the dimensions of the T-Mobile MDA Compact III, 10.5x6x1.5cm, the screen is 6x4.5cm. The weight is around 150 grams. It seems PDA manufacturers do not have the same restraints foisted on them that digital camera manufacturers do by the large retail chains as there is a pouch to protect the screen and indeed that of the 2 mega pixel camera.
We've had a big focus on kitchen gadgets in the last month, and here's a neat little idea from Tefal and Jamie Oliver. In such a very small box, roughly the size of just one medium casserole dish, we received a 6 piece set of aluminium non-stick pans. This is the Jamie Oliver Survival Kit, and it's a fabulous range of cookware for anyone with limited space perhaps those in their first studio flat, or students at uni.
Six pieces actually means 3 pans (wok, saucepan and frying pan), two lids and a handle which interchanges between the three pans. All the pieces slot nicely into like Russian dolls. Made by Tefal, they have a lovely non-stick surface and are very easy to use. Each pan has the Tefal thermostat red dot in the middle to tell you when they are hot enough to fry in.
Instead of phoning for directions you could use your phone to display the directions via SatNav.
Although it is not the first Nokia phone to be released with GPS facilities, the 6110 model is the first unit to have bestowed the category of "Navigator" as part of its title. The Nokia 6110 comes with Route 66 software in conjunction with Assisted GPS (A-GPS) for determining location faster. I will return to the GPS feature a little later. This black and silver slider phone measures 102 x 49 x 21mm (H x W x D) when in a closed state.
Continuing our series on up-market coffee machines, today we're reviewing the elegant 'Le Cube' from Krups.
Krups has a long history in the coffee business, being formed back in 1846 as (according to their web site) 'a brand dedicated to precision and technical perfection'. They moved into coffee in the 1960s, giving them over four decades in which to hone their craft. They should know a thing or two when it comes to coffee and in this case they have leant their name to this Nespresso machine.
This is a USB2 CD/DVD recorder/player. For anyone with only a CD or a DVD only player this is All Modes for recording and playback. should you not have suitable software it comes with a variety.
It is small and quite stylish and is automatically recognised so unless you need some of the software just plug it in. I found that the power drawn was low enough not to require a power supply however one of the extra USB leads that also draw power (takes two USB ports) is supplied if necessary. It has a 2MB cache and of course under run protection. It is 16.5x15.5x2cm, add 2cm to the first figure to insert the mini USB lead and that's it.
Two items for the older child the first a remote control helicopter with Auto-Stable technology and the second a toy of the year from the Science Museum Electro Mag. This is the first of my articles from this years Dream Toys event.
PicooZ Helicopter The Picooz Helicopter is 16x3.5x7cm constructed from plastic and expanded polystyrene so is amazingly light. Looking at the box it seems there are three different coloured models in the PicooZ range. The one I have white/red, there is also white/blue and white/yellow. Having recently got some digital scales I can tell you the exact weight 9 grams. So do not sneeze near it.
The future could be said to be a combination of an infinite number of possibilities as seen through the eyes of movers and shakers. One outcome could be...
Normally when a large company, especially one in the highly competitive IT industry, puts
on a show for the media and business partners, the focus of attention is aimed at a specific
product or products already rolling off the production lines or those in a well-advanced
state with an imminent arrival expected.
Heading towards Christmas Alcatel has launched a range of very reasonably priced Pay as You Go mobiles which look to be aimed at the mass market. Here I'm reviewing hte OT-C701 - a lovely looking mid-priced phone. And for good measure a few more of Alcatel's recent range are detailed below.
The OT-C701 is a Pay as You Go slim
clamshell. As with any decent mobile these days, the OT-C701 has all
the gubbins, music player, video, camera, directory, SMS, MMS, WAP,
calendar, alarm, etc. So here's a quick run down of the
differentiating features. The look of this phone is very nice -
a clamshell with a brushed metallic finish and smooth and light to
hold. The one I reviewed was a stylish grey-blue.
A colour laser printer is not necessarily a large offering, while it is course larger than an inkjet it will of course be a good deal heavier but full colour pages even one offs can take around 15 seconds.
First the all important dimensions. The Brother HL-4040CN is 48cm deep with power plug inserted, 41cm wide and 30cm tall. It is close to 30kilos when the toners are inserted. Some recent units state fast warm up or time to first page, no such luxury here it is at least 90 seconds before you get 'ready' from first switch on and then the first job will print quite slowly maybe only 6ppm but from then it is all systems go and colour or black/white is 20ppm.
We're now half way through energy saving week and are taking a look at a DAB radio with
extended battery life. For anyone that's tried running DAB radios on battery know exactly
how power hungry they can be - so any improvement is to be welcomed.
The is a stereo DAB and FM radio with an output power of 3W in total.
The FM portion benefits from RDS (Radio Data System) which will identify your FM station
for you rather than have to guess. Sound quality is very good as we've come to expect
from Roberts products. Unusually the unit comes with separate bass and treble controls,
which can enhance listenning is various surroundings.
While wandering around a cloud kingdom, I came across a game of Mahjong that including a points total and the chance to collect artefacts.
High in the Clouds While wandering around a cloud kingdom, I came across a game of Mahjong that including a points total and the chance to collect artefacts. Originally developed in as a game for four players involving 144 tiles, Mahjong is usually presented as a solitaire type game when appearing in the computer environment.
Is it an illusion? Is it magic? Or maybe it is just a box. The answer will soon be revealed.
Like many, magic has always held a fascination for me. The combination of the overall illusionary effect and the challenge of trying to work out how it was achieved makes a mixture that I find very hard to resist. As a result I was keen to dip into the box labelled Marvin's Magic Freaky Body Illusions.
This is a 2.1 speaker set mainly for the iPod but not just another set of speakers to dock your iPod. However you could connect almost any MP3 player via a lead, the high quality sound through the twin speakers and sub woofer is the thing.
Firstly the dimensions it is two items the first like a small French bread stick the second the sub woofer. The French stick has two sets of speakers at either end and is 40cm long a maximum of 8cm wide and 6cm tall without and iPod inserted. The sub woofer is more of less round at 19x19cm and around 25cm tall. The woofer is of course down facing a few centimetres above the base.
Here is a fascinating game with myriad possibilities for kids through to adults - a chequerboard puzzle of 18 pieces which cover 64 squares in 101 different challenging combinations.
The Kaleidscope Classic is part puzzle, part strategy game, and can be played by an individual or up to 3 people. It has taken 20 man-years to develop and is the work of two Australians: Inventor / psychologist, Dr. Mark T Wood and mathematician / physicist, Frank H Dyksterhuis. When you unwrap it, the Kaleidoscope Classic looks like a chequerboard of black and red squares.
Following the trend of merging different technologies into a single device, Kingston Technology adds a new offering to its product portfolio.
Over the last few months we have covered a number of memory card offerings and USB flash devices. Now it is the turn of a product that combines a memory card with a USB stick device that takes over the functionality normally provided by a card reader. As the world's largest independent manufacturer of memory products, it is not too surprising to know that this new approach to memory cards and USB connectivity should come from Kingston Technology.
We're all aware of the impact of carbon dioxide on the environment causing global warming,
climate change, flooding and worse is to come. We can reduce that impact by reigning in the release of CO2
into the atmosphere. The boffins are looking at some very clever ways of doing that, but in practice this
means using less energy! As we enter "Energy Saving Week" we're looking at a little gadget that
may help you change your energy burning habits.
Dubbed 'The OWL' this device comes in two parts - a sensor unit and a large display unit. It allows you to wirelessly monitor your households electrical energy consumption. The argument being that if you can how much energy you're using you're more inclined to do something about it. The sensor is very simply installed around the incoming live mains supply just before your fuse box (or consumer unit).
This is far more than an average web cam, to start with its 2mega pixel and it has a Carl Zeiss lens. It works well in poor light and it has a great auto focus capability.
The camera is quite small it can sit on top of a monitor, clip over a panel or even clip over a note. However they do an either smaller model (with the same 2MP resolution) especially for notebooks that I hope to tell you about later in the year. It is 10cm long between 3cm and 4cm (at the lens end) wide and around 3cm deep if you ignore the gripping arm that swivels to different combinations to suit monitors, panels or notebooks. There is a 1.
Want to do business on the global stage? Need to be able to communicate with people in other languages? Juliet Bernard shows how tranlsation software still has a long way to go before it can replace a highly skilled interpreter.
Translation from one language into another is fraught with misunderstanding and
misinterpretation when using a human being let alone a computer. I have always
been a little suspicious of software companies that claim they are able to offer
packages that will help you communicate with people from a different country,
either as a private individual but more especially as a business.
This is an updated version of the All Tests product I reviewed last year. The driving Theory test has recently been made harder and now you need to answer 50 rather than 35 questions.
Yes it is now harder to pass the theory test, the questions to answer have increased from 35 to 50 and the cost to take the test has risen from £21.50 to £28.50. All the changes including the new questions are contained in Driving Test - All Tests - 2007/2008 edition. You can now learn on the move as the theory test questions can be downloaded to your iPod or other portable media player.
Not everybody wants or needs all the functionality and style of a high-priced mobile phone. The Sony Ericsson W200i model is aimed at such users.
Described by Steve Walker (Head of Product Marketing at Sony Ericsson) as "an affordable music phone that compliments your existing MP3 player", the W200i phone is a candy bar unit aimed at the budget-conscious area of the marketplace.
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