Publication History For : Paul Smart
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Here I am looking at two useful accessories from different manufactures that work well together. First an item to clear up the clutter of wires for everything that connects to a notebook. The second provides that light just where you need it courtesy of a USB port.
Space Station This is a laptop dock, USB hub, cable management system and a desk organiser. It is black, 65cm long, 11cm wide and 4cm tall at the rear and 3cm tall at the front. The top is covered with rubber while the sides and back are plastic. Turn it upside down to reveal a four port USB hub (power supply is supplied should it be required) and there are sixteen clips in two shapes and sizes to secure cords.
This looks like a small DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera while is not it does have a range of features such as a decent continuous shooting mode only normally found on DLSR units.
click to enlarge It is 10x7x7cm when switched off, the lens can jut out by another 3.5cm. It is of course black and it weights around 360grams with - shock horror - the supplied 4x 'AA' batteries inserted. It is supplied with a neck strap partly as most wrists would soon get tired with that weight and probably partly as DSLR units always come with neck straps.
This is a top quality DAB radio, it also allows you to play CDs using a lot loading drive. Various colours are available, mine was shiny black but most things can be done using the 32 key remote control.
The Tangent Cinque DAB radio is 23x21x12.5cm, as stated mine was shiny black that will normally show all the fingermarks but once in place you really only need to touch it to insert or remove CD's and as that is a slot loader not really even then. It looks magnificent with the black mirror finish. The rear has the various connections and an eight piece (67cm) rod aerial.
This is a rather different phone with a camera in fact although it will do everything a modern mobile phone does I think a more accurate description with be camera phone as it is a 5MP camera with both auto and manual focus as well as flash.
click to enlarge This phone has a huge TFT and as soon as you use it you think why don't other phones work this way. The controls are minimal and that means the screen icons often have more than one level of action. However most actions are intuitive so you should - even without a manual - manage to find you way about. The dimensions are 10x5.5x1.5cm and it weights just under 100grams. As stated there are few buttons. The face has three answer, cancel and end.
Here I will tell you about two of the board games I was promised at the Toy Fair in January that have recently arrived. First About Time a game stated to be for 14+, second one for 8+ Cat Attack.
About Time First the 14+ claim this is I think simply because the questions are not that easy - well I did not think so anyway - and to have a chance to enjoy the game you need to be able to get a percentage correct. It is all about 'Iconic Events' and when they took place. The game is for at least two players but it states 2-20 players. You could play in teams with teams always being able to confer.
A 12MP mass market digital camera is still rare, a 5x zoom one even rarer, this offering from Kodak is both. Even with both those advantages it looks like a standard small digital camera.
This is a very dark grey unit with a silver flash and silver ring round the lens, it is 9x6.5x3.5 when switched off. The 3.5cm width doubles when on full zoom. It weights around 175grams. For a camera with potentially so many plus points to find it is powered by two 'AA' batteries is unexpected.
Back in the days of 1.44MB (or less) floppy drives Iomega gave you huge storage on a cassette that was only a little larger than that 3.5inch floppy. Now with 250GB and larger USB drives does a 120GB Iomega cassette still have a place?
As always first the dimensions, the Rev120 is an external USB2 unit but it will work on USB 1.1 drives. It is 19x10x2.5cm with the USB lead and power lead inserted. The actual cassette that pushes in the front of the unit is 1cm thick and 7.5x7.5cm. Like all drives the actual and stated space differ, it is stated as 120GB but the actual available space for files is 111GB.
This is a far better camera than it looks, yes it does use a pair of standard AA batteries and the shape and styling is far from up to date but the resolution is fine and the zoom good.
The Canon PowerShot A580 is 9x6.5x3.5cm, the last figure is maximum and only applies at the right side where the pair of 'AA' batteries are. When the lens is extended in use the total width is 6.5cm. The plastic case is a silver/grey colour with the shutter release and lens surround in chrome. Quite unusually for a small digital camera it has a viewfinder and for those who still prefer this there are not many near entry level offerings that have them.
I used to play many years ago in a snooker team local league division three and one of the team members always used to say you cant beat a good w#*$ here my opinion differs slightly, its that you cant beat a good read.
Visual Basic 2008 Even for a speed reader this tome will take a while as this Programmer's Reference by Rod Stephens is - wait for it - 1262 pages long. Although it is published in the UK by the same company that produces the Dummies series this certainly is not a book for anyone who does not know a good deal about Visual Basic. To give you what I consider is a good example the first 908 pages (covering 40 chapters) are the meat of the book.
From the same company that recently supplied the 19inch offering for a prize draw, this is a Digital and Analogue offering that has all the possible external connectors you might want and its HD Ready and widescreen with 16:9 viewing.
Most of the modern breed of Digital TV's are more of less the same to operate. Plug in the mains lead and your aerial and then switch on. If it's new then it should offer you the chance to scan for channels, if not you need to enter the menu and maybe search a bit for the option. Some scan both Digital and Analog at the same time others like this you need to scan twice.
A small notebook with a great number of extras. If you want a full featured small notebook then providing you are not on a small budget then you should certainly give this a look.
click to enlarge The Acer Ferrari 1100-704G25Mn weights a tad over 2 kilos, it is 30x22.5x3cm and totally matt black apart from the silver Acer name and of course the yellow Ferrari logo on the lid. The screen is 26.5x16.5cm giving the diagonal 12.1 inch screen measurement. A quick tour round the unit finds two USB ports, Express Card slot and an Ethernet port on the left side. The rear has AC adapter input, VGA output and a PS/2 port.
Few mobile phones today are simply that, and, the LG KF600 is certainly no exception. The surprise is often that they still make and receive phone calls. It has the Internet, plays MP3s and video, however annoyingly so far it refuses to do the housework.
click to enlarge For a slide phone the dimensions are not unusual at 10x5x1.5cm when closed, open the slide and nearly another 4cm is exposed. Initially this seems a little tall but that's because it has two displays. The top 4.2x3.2cm and after a .5cm blank area there is a smaller 2.5x3.2cm touchscreen area. The weight is just over 100 grams and mine was black with silver edges.
Both these clocks come from a company whose message is stuff you dont need
. but you really really want. The first an analogue clock in three books and the second a cheeky digital offering.
Book Clock A very simple outline of three books each 6.5cm wide, 20cm tall and 14.5cm deep. So the total width is 19.5cm. The dummy books are black the one on the left has Nine in silver as the title and the one on the right has Three for the title. All three have the small Karlsson as the publisher near the base. The simple clock mechanism is fitted behind the centre book. It is powered by a single 'AA' battery.
This is quite a heavy camera but it is also a lot more as it also is an MP3 player and capable of displaying videos, it can also be a guide book, so far it has refused to do the washing up.
As often the cameras I get to look at are not totally new and sometimes the previous reviewer has managed to do strange things, I remember one where the colour balance was terrible with whites looking almost yellow. This one had a problem that it would only write to an SD card where it had made the DCIM folder and then only provided no other sub folders were present.
This is a very good Internet radio that can work wired or wireless, stereo not mono as some are and the first plus is that it can also be used to play the content from your iPod. The second plus you will need to read on to find out about.
This WiFi Internet radio from Goodmans is 25x11x14cm and shiny black with a matt black front grill that has the 6x4cm four line LCD display sunk into it. The top has two rows of six push buttons with a large touch wheel at either end. All are clearly labelled and unless you are a total novice setting up will be simple. The other connections are on the back outputs for earbuds and a stereo along with the Ethernet input.
This is a music player and not as you might think a phone. In shape and size you could easily mistake it for a phone. To be precise it is a digital media player as it will play video as well as audio and of course it will display .jpg still images.
click to enlarge The new Sony Walkman NWZ-A829 is 9.5x5x1cm and weights around 80grams. It has a TFT screen of 5x3.8cm. It has two buttons below the TFT screen as well as the ubiquitous five position joystick arrangement between them. The base has input for earbuds and the proprietary USB lead. The left side, the top and the back are all clear apart from a small indentation in the rear for a stand (not provided in my sample).
Two games from Drumond Park, the first Bubble Buster aimed at 4+ and the second Lyric aimed at teenagers and adults, so I suppose the latter should not be called a game!
Bubble Buster It is the old blow a bubble and try to burst it. The difference here is that the bubbles are blown by a machine and you have to burst them with a wand that has two rounded prongs on the end. It's not just shoving the wand at a bubble it's how you do it as you need to make the wand ping and it will only do so if you connect in the correct way. The object is to get 20 pings, each ping becomes slightly higher.
This is the first of the cameras from the GE camera launch in January. A new name in cameras so how will the units work out in practice, especially as they are the only manufacturer to promise one manual for all the models.
click to enlarge The General Electric E840s digital camera is 10.5x5.5x2cm the width the last figure can increase by another 2.5cm when it is fully zoomed. It weights 130grams. My unit was black and silver. This is described as an 8megapixel unit and it 4x optical zoom. In macro mode you can focus as close as 6cm and in normal (wide angle) 60cm and with telephoto 80cm. Going round the controls the from has the lens 6.05-24.
A 15x10cm photo printer with a tiny footprint. It does not use conventional printer ink so the output is always dry when it emerges, it also prints onto postcards remember them so ideal to send from your holidays.
It is 19x13x8cm when closed up. There is a 5x3.5cm TFT on top of the unit and this can be at any angle from horizontal (when it takes no space sitting on top of the unit) to vertical.
This camcorder is one of the latest versions that record to an internal hard drive, thus increasing the capacity vastly over other storage methods. It can of course also record still images onto an SD card.
The total weight of the Canon HG10 is 570grams. The dimensions are 12.5x7.5x7cm. The middle figure the width can increase by another 8.5cm should you choose to use the TFT screen while capturing images and have it at 90degrees to the unit.
As with a lot of these gadgets they (or something like them) were first shown in films like various inventions developed by Q in the James Bond films. However I doubt at that time they ever actually worked.
The box contains a pair of Freetalkie XFD-008 wrist watches. They are chunky and you need to wear one for awhile before you get used to it. Yes it does tell the time but the main point is that the watch is a walkie talkie. After a couple of days of wear you get to the bulk. The weight of each unit is 80grams so it's not that heavy just bulky. The stated range is 'about 1.
In the coming weeks and months you will get a real alternative to Sky or Virgin that has only a one off payment to buy the box and fitting for your own satellite disk to view -at launch- 80 TV/Radio channels. In the coming months this will rise initially to 232 including (with the correct box) HD offerings from both BBC and ITV (the ITV is exclusive) and others as they become available.
Freeview has opened the market and with the immanent turning off of the Analogue spectrum we all have to find a way of getting digital TV. If you live in a good reception area this may just involve upgrading your loft/roof aerial. However there is a solution that is stated to work for 98.5% of the country and that is Freesat. Not only do you get all the free channels currently on Freeview but a lot more.
This is far more than a standard photo frame in a body not that much bigger. It is also a wide angle frame so images taken in the newer formats display full screen, however standard images can be enlarged.
The Polaroid frame itself is black and 25x18x3.5cm. The screen itself is 15.5x8.5cm this gives the 7inch diagonal measurement. Under the screen is an LCD display 15.5x1.5cm that displays indoor temperature and humidity as well as outdoor temperature and the likely weather. I found the latter was not that believable but the outdoor temperature was correct as this was sent by the provided wireless sensor that you place somewhere outside.
This is a small All In One unit, meaning it can scan, copy and print. It has a small TFT screen so it is possible to print images direct from either of the two card slots or even from a USB stick.
This review has not been without it's problems. Initially I got a lot of paper jams, I thought I could see the reason as when the paper was stacked in the paper tray it was very slightly convex, the paper guides however seemed to be fully open. I eventually managed to get another few millimetres and from then on no more jams.
I am a lucky chap because just occasionally I get the chance to combine my job, my hobby and my passion all together as I do here while telling you about the latest CD from Georgia Mancio whose voice is a joy.
Twice recently I have had the great pleasure of hearing this young lady sing live, once with a quintet very like the sextet on offer on this CD and the second occasion with four of the five in a quartet. Both occasions were amazing and although artists usually supplement their wages by selling their latest CD's Georgia was having more success than most and what you will hear here on a live gig a true representation of what you hear on the CD.
Can you imagine frying chips in less than a teaspoon of oil and getting lovely crisp chips? Well with the Tefal Actifry you can and you do.
I was to say the least sceptical deep fried chips to be crispy require double frying and that requires them to be cooked at a lower temperature and then recooked at a higher temperature to crisp them. So following the instructions I picked a medium sized potato which if it is 250 grams is stated to be a single portion. I weighed a few and found one at 260 grams. 13x13mm and up to 9cm long. I know we have been metric for umpty six years but to me that is still ½inch.
Photo frames that can view content from SD cards are not uncommon however this offering from Parrot does not only that but it can also -via Bluetooth- view images on your phone, PDA or other such device.
It is 20.5x16.5x2.2cm. The unit I had was white with a couple of blue horizontal stripes across the front. The centre part of the front is the display screen and this is 13x8.5cm and this gives by my mathematics a diagonal measurement of 6.2inches so I am not sure where the stated 7inches comes from. In another of life's situations if you told a lady to expect 7inches and you delivered 6.2inches she would almost certainly notice the difference.
Three items from Belkin all sold as accessories for the iPod. First a clear Acrylic and brushed metal case. Next TuneBase FM that lets you listen to your iPod through your car stereo and finally a dock that allows you to charge and Sync your iPod. Is this iPod heaven?
Clear Acrylic and Brushed-Metal Case The model I was sent works with iPod's with video. The dimensions are 10.5x6.5x1.5cm. The front was blue brushed metal with the rest acrylic apart from the area over the click wheel that is a thinner plastic that enables protection for the wheel while at the same time enabling you to use it. The area over the screen seems to cause no distortion to the image displayed.
My school days were an awful long time ago and almost the only thing I remember about French is that the teacher had the most terrible case of halitosis I have ever come across.
French words are also in everyday use over here so they don't seem strange at all.
I have quite enjoyed using this French 'Beginners' course, it is certainly my level, it appears easy and yet you are learning. It consists of a plastic case like an oversized DVD one that has two CD's on the left inside cover and a 212 page paperback book inside the right cover.
No I am not going to tell you about my girlfriend. The Cherry Marlin is wireless cordless desktop (keyboard and mouse) set, that I can honestly say took less than two minutes to setup.
Open box, remove items from plastic bags. Plug the charger into the mouse and a USB port, plug the receiver into a USB port and that's it. No linking required, most keyboard mouse sets need you to get the devices to pair but none of that here. There is a CD (to get the most from them) but as they come out of the box the mouse works (until charged, via the USB lead) and so does the keyboard. So as far as ease of use goes that could not be easier.
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