Publication History For : Paul Smart
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This is an inkjet unit that is unlikely to be any smaller if it was only a printer. Yes, the scanner is only a flatbed, but I doubt anyone would use an inkjet to scan dozens of pages as the cost per page would make it uneconomic.
The Canon Pixma MP280 all-in-one printer measures 42x30x15cm when the back paper tray is closed, open it and load in A4 paper and the last figure increases to 32cm and the second figure the depth increases to 36cm. The 32cm height is enough to lift the scanner lid to 45degrees plenty to insert anything to scan or copy if you were thinking of placing it onto a shelf.
While most eBooks are using eInk that causes battery power to only be used when a page is turned and I see that Binatone do one of those (higher price) I am looking at a model that uses a conventional display screen and has extra features.
It is 21x13x1cm and weights 305grams. It comes with a leather book style wrap over case that weights 105grams. The viewable screen is 13.5x8.5cm and in a reasonable sized (normal reading) font this gives twenty lines per page and in this font it’s between 40 and 42 characters per line when viewing in portrait mode. In landscape mode this changes to fourteen lines at around characters per line, I will explain how to do this in a bit.
Canon has two ranges of small cameras, the Ixus very much a pocket offering and the PowerShot slightly larger and using AA batteries rather than the solid rechargable type. This in itself makes the overall camera larger and heavier.
The Canon PowerShot SX130is measures 300grams and 11x7x4.5cm however the last figure the width can be doubled when the lens is fully zoomed out. 12 seems the number with this unit as it has an impressive 12x optical zoom and the pixel offering is 12.1MP. The right side has the anchor point for the wrist strap and above this a rubberised door hiding the A/V and USB out. The base has the door for the two ‘AA’ batteries and any SD card you might use as well as the tripod screw.
A small wireless laser printer that cannot annoy the lounge police as it can sit in a cupboard of behind the sofa and once you have connected it to a recent PC by a USB lead everything is done automatically no need even to insert a CD.
Installation can therefore be done on a Netbook without having to transfer files to a memory stick. It is just attach the printer via a USB lead the ‘device driver’ is recognised, wait a few seconds and it then installs the required files (on my Windows 7 system it was 10 minutes and 237MB of hard disc space) you are then asked to disconnect the USB lead and you then print a test page, it works, now that is for me finally is some good progress.
A name does not always help in explaining a product. This item massages the shoulders and gives massage and heat relief to the lower back, either can be used individually or together however I cannot agree with the all purpose part of the name.
The Oregon i-Comfort All Purpose Massager actually arrived in the autumn after I had some very long working days and together with carrying lots of items in my bag my shoulders were more than ready for a massage or three and it proved to be vigorous enough to help melt the pains and stresses of the day away. The parts it can’t help with are the legs, arms and the feet. It consists of a horseshoe shaped collar; this is quite large and reasonably heavy.
Two separate items the first from Edifier a small soundbar for use with a PC or any device with a 3.5mm output. The second Microsofts LifeCam HD-5000 for those without a web cam so probably for those using a PC rather than a notebook.
There are times when you want sound but earbuds or headphones are not wanted, maybe you are listening for the phone or the doorbell, possibly even you are baby sitting, the TV is too much so possibly the iPod but you need decent sound. It is triangular and 27cm long a maximum of 3.5cm going down to 1cm and 4cm deep. The left side has two connections a mini USB (for power) and a 3.5 to 3.5mm jack lead. The USB lead is 80cm with the 3.5mm lead is 90cm both ends are L shaped.
While most will say another iPod dock with radio but the Pioneer NAV1 is more than that. Us older people who still prefer our music on CD are satisfied as it also has a slot loading CD on the top and there are more features so read on.
The Pioneer NAV1 measures 37x21x18cm the second figure the depth is only 10cm for most as only the iPod dock centre front and power lead centre back increase it to the full width, 4cm could protrude over whatever you sit it on as that is the dock width. Mine was white and black but they also do all black. It weighs 3.5kilos. Before some get bored I will add the CD player can also play DVD’s so with the aid of leads and a TV you also have a DVD player.
Having looked at an earlier model (not HD) this was an eagerly awaited arrival. Very different in size and shape. My first check was the pass-through and that performed correctly, is this to be the unit I have been looking for?
The TVonics DTR-500HD measures 37x20x9cm but the last figure the height is only 3cm at the front. For me anyway that creates a possible problem. Tuning takes around three minutes mine found 72 TV 23 Radio and 11 Data channels. As with most such units almost everything is controlled from the remote control. Here a 52 key model that of course contains the ubiquitous five position joystick. As always various major buttons are in differing places but once used to the layout it’s easy enough.
The days of a household having a single iPod are no more so not only do you need the ability to charge more than one the ability to play the sounds from more than one through speakers is here with this double dock offering from Altec Lansing.
In simple terms the Altec Lansing Octiv 202 is two docks mounted side by side on top of a pair of speakers. However the ability merge playlists is something new and with a downloadable utility you can select what comes from which of the units. The shape is like a quarter of a round cake. It is 27cm across at the front and 3cm at the back. It is 8.5cm tall without whatever iPods inserted in their docks on the top. From front to back it is 14cm.
While these scales do tell your weight they also tell you your fat mass and even your body mass index. Unlike the only other device I have seen that did all this that cost into four figures this one only just creeps into three.
The scale itself is glass and either black or white. It is 32x32x2.5cm with a 6.5x4.5cm display window at the centre top. While the top is glass there is a circular disc in the centre and the back and sides are plastic. There are four plastic feet. The base has a 24x8.
Amongst other things the Logitech Squeezebox Radio is a rather good Internet Radio with the quickest connection (almost no buffering delays) whether you connect using Ethernet or Wireless. Plug In, turn on, select Internet Radio, choose you station and listen.
It is quite small at 21x10x13cm. Mine was black, unfortunately that shiny black that shows every finger mark. The right side has a headphone socket. The rear in an indent the power lead input, Auxiliary input and Ethernet port but even with items plugged in nothing protrudes over the stated 10cm total depth of the Squeezebox. The left side, base and the top are clear leaving only the front of the unit to describe.
Buffalo USB3 Blu-ray Drive and Lindy ExpressCard USB3
Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple
on
22 Dec 2010
Two solutions for those who do not have a Blu-ray player and those who do not have USB3 ports that are required to run the first solution. Buffalo provide the USB3 Blu-ray drive and Lindy provides the solution for those needing US3 ports.
This seems to be the main push in the UK for Packard Bell at the moment given the amount of advertising I am seeing in newspapers and magazine. So is it all hype or is the Easy Note a Notebook to go on a very short list.
It is 37x25x3cm, mine was red with creamy whiter surrounding the screen, wonderful as this does not show fingermarks. The viewable screen is 34x19.5cm giving the diagonal measurement of 15.6inches; the default display is 1366x768. The left side has power brick lead input, VGA outlet, Ethernet port, HDMI outlet, USB port and the two audio sockets for microphone and headphones. The front has a multi card port.
As the whole countrys population continues to age tools like these allow older members of the community to still lead an independent life. First a phone whose one number dialling is dependant on a picture. The second is a walkie talkie set that can work over several miles.
This consists of a slightly slanted panel with two columns of letters A-C and D-F, each has a cover that can be removed to be replaced with a picture and in this form then can be used to allow six numbers to be dialled with a single touch. It is 17x13.5cm with the height varying between 3and5cm (front to back). You can remove a door in the base to program these six numbers and indeed to use as a normal phone should it be required for that purpose at any time.
For those unable to justify the cost of the full Photoshop package then the Elements offering has a good percentage of the same content at a small percentage of the price of the full products. If you need both still and movie editing then save again by buying the joint package.
Today the space between Movie and Still editing is shrinking so while these are still two products they are closely linked. However it is still two different DVD’s and also separate installs. Photoshop Elements 9 took ten minutes on a reasonably fast PC and used 2,740MB of hard disc space. Premier Elements also took ten minutes but used only 1,412MB as there is some shared code, officially called ‘shared technologies’.
Unlike the T3 and T12 (reviewed in 2008) this is far more than a speaker unit. It does have a speaker as an output but this is an Internet, DAB, FM radio, iPod dock as well as being able to be used as an Auxiliary unit to project sound.
The Orbitsound T4 is also a lot smaller than any such units I have reviewed previously at only 10.5x10.5x14cm, the unit is matt black. The front has a 6x3.5window that shows up to six lines of information, white on grey and it’s very readable even from a distance. Below this is the single speaker but as you would expect from Orbitsound its good quality. The top has the iPod dock and there are fifteen buttons, five along each side and the other five along the front.
This is a small solid and good quality digital camera that can also take excellent quality video. It has good optical zoom at 7x and can take 14MP still images, perhaps best of all it is almost totally touchscreen for ease of use.
The Samsung ST5500 compact digital camera measures 10.5x5.5x2.5cm the latter figure can increase to 5.5cm when the unit is fully zoomed in. It weights 180grams. The right side has a door with USB and mini HDMI sockets behind it; further down is a wrist strap anchor point. The left side has nothing while the base has a door hiding a solid battery and a micro SD card slot, further along is a tripod screw. The face has the Schneider optical lens with the flash mounted above and to its left.
Just over a year ago I told you about my foray into buying a pair of boots by mail order. Yes I know its a man thing as most women I know delight in trying on every pair in the shop before buying the first they tried on anyway.
Here I purchased two pairs, a pair for best and a pair that will pass when trainers will not probably meet inspection. Like the rest of me, my feet are mature – ok old – so the main proviso as far as I am concerned is comfort. This rather goes against the name of the seller as it has leather soles; rubber heals and leather uppers to complete the shoe. This is perhaps the best shoe I have ever owned.
Unless you need to print colour pages this is a very efficient way to work, I often need to print single pages this has virtually no warm up time. I scan single pages to print again very quick and finally email the signed page once scanned also very efficient.
It has a small footprint at 36x30x22cm, you will need a little more space above the 22cm height in order to lift the scanner lid. 11cm of the 30cm depth is just at the base for the open input paper tray, face up input face down output. There are a total of nine buttons on the front top edge (in front of the scanner lid) but apart from the on/off button on the left of these you really only need to go near the unit to top up the input tray and collect the output when printing.
This Pace unit (badged Philips) was the first HD unit I saw in a presentation in the spring, here now the production unit. If you need HD recording then this 500GB digital unit may just tick all the boxes on your wish list.
The Philips HDT8520 Dual HD TV Recorder measures 24x20x6cm but you will need at least another 2cm behind the middle figure the depth in order for the cables to be attached. Installation is quite straightforward, the easiest is just to attach the supplied HDMI cable and tune to that channel. The screen should show a Philips Welcome screen. There are a few simple questions to answer before the scan for channels but everything is explained in Quick Start Guide.
This type of small camcorder has become very popular. The first I came across was the Flip with several incarnations. Then Kodak produced one and now Panasonic who are better known for high end cameras and camcorders. Panasonic call theirs a mobile camera.
The Panasonic TA1 measures 10.5x5x1.8cm and weights 110grams. Like most of these recent units it supports full HD and can capture still images. Mine was black and chrome, with the back and front black and the rest chrome. The face has the lens with the pin hole microphone just below. The base has a screw for a tripod. The left side has two doors in the chrome for A/V out and the slide out USB plug now favoured by most.
Unlike the unit recently reviewed from Tefal this does not require a stove just a 13amp socket to plug it into. These items used to be called pressure cookers as they cook quickly, now the name is a Multi Cooker as it is versatile.
The Tefal Multi Cooker is circular 29cm across where there are no handles and 34cm across where the handles protrude and close to 30cm tall. Plug the supplied mains lead into the rear of the unit read the instructions are you are ready to prepare a one pot meal. As with anything bearing the Jamie Oliver name there is a receipt book here it is a full colour 160 page offering. There is an instruction booklet with the first eleven pages in English.
Around 18 months ago I told you about the Kodak ZX1 their first foray in the very popular pocket (mobile phone size) camcorder arena. Here is - I think - their next offering the ZX3 which gives you the ability to capture movies underwater to 3metres depth.
The Kodak ZX3 measures 11x6x2cm and it weights 140grams. Mine had a cream front dark grey back and sides and it was black around the top. There is a substantial hole near the bottom for a wrist strap – very important if you swim – above this on the front four buttons in a semi circle and the ubiquitous five position joystick centered in the lower part of the front.
I requested to see this in the early summer, now shortly before Christmas after many delays it has arrived. I can see why a touchscreen notebook would be possible but unless short sighted I think reaching out to touch this screen puts it a little near.
The IdeaCentre B Series touch screen computer measures 56x42x8cm. The viewable screen is 50x28.5cm giving the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 23 inches. Behind the screen – in and around the support – are power input, two HDMI ports, Ethernet, SPDIF, A/V in, two lines of two USB ports and Co-Axiel socket. The rest of the connections are found on the sides of the screen.
This is described as a business inkjet. It is reasonably fast but its big selling point is that the cost per page is less than 1ppp when printing in monochrome. Mind you every plus has a minus it is unlikely to ever pass the lounge police.
Someone being less than polite could call it ugly, a more polite statement would call it boxy. The Epson 310N business inkjet printer measures 47x40x30cm with the rear paper tray closed. Mainly cream in colour with a mid grey back panel and various dark grey to black shades at the front. However as no style icon myself I am not really the person to criticise colours. There are two paper trays a built in one at the base that holds 500 sheets and a flip open near vertical one behind.
Gifts from Clairabella
Published in Homes and Gardens
on
28 Nov 2010
While this is only a smallish shop they do have a thriving mail order business. I am telling you about just two items from their wide range of gift items that are sourced from places around the globe and I understand the makers are paid a fair wage.
While panels over 20inches are becoming normal, 23inches is no longer regarded as large but this monster from Acer at a true 27inches must still qualify. Remembering the weight of my first 17inch monitor this panel is far less.
At this size I suspect it will be used mainly for those who connect external devices via the two HDMI sockets but as it has a VGA port you can still connect it to a PC, Notebook or Netbook and use the 1920x1080 resolution. The height when vertical is 64.5cm mounted on its base. The width is 47cm while the depth at the base is 20cm before you insert any cables so for those you would need around another 6cm of clearance at the back of it. The screen is 64.5x35.
This is another small Netbook this time from Samsung. Like the Acer one in the previous review it has remarkable battery life in fact I used wireless for a continuous review period of very close to seven hours use.
The Samsung N210 Netbook measures 26x19x3cm. These are the maximum as the last figure, the thickness, is only a tad over 2cm everywhere but at the back where the battery increase to the maximum. It weights 1280grams. It is black but only the face of the lid is shiny. This means that fingermarks only show on the lid, while the area around the keyboard and the screen do not show them. The keyboard has 84 keys with the alpha and numeric keys being fullsize at 1.5x1.5cm and .
This is a name that has been huge in lenses for longer than even I can remember. Here a small unobtrusive matt box that would not attract a second look. Will the images it takes move it up from the mundane to the yes please?
The Pentax Optio H90 compact digital camera measures 9.5x5.5x2cm however you can double the last figure the width when the camera is zoomed in. It weights 128grams. The colour scheme is matt black and matt silver, the face has the 5.1 to 25.5mm lens that gives up to 5x zoom and above and to the right of this the slit flash that is never nearer than 3cm to the lens. The only other thing on the face is a rubber strip down the right edge to improve grip.
Late this summer I discovered a charming gift shop not that far from London. It has a whole range of items at affordable prices. Just in case you do not live that near they have a web site and of course they do mail order.
Edutainment is a dirty word – among children – it describes products that educate as well as entertain, here two such items first a Kaleidoscope Making Kit, I certainly remember having one as a child here with the aid of the bits you can make your own. Second a Doodling Robot that once again a child can make so both have Educational value. This kit is described as suitable for children over eight years.
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