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Chad Criswell's BlogPosted by Chad Criswell Buying rechargable batteries is a great way to help conserve resources. Instead of tossing used batteries into the trash bin you can recharge and reuse the battery dozens of times. The problem with such batteries (until now) is that you had to carry around a recharging station with you otherwise you would be left with no other option than to go buy a new set of dry cells at the local convenience store. With the USB Powercells you never need to worry about taking along a charger, the charging mechanism is built into the battery itself! By flipping open the positive end cap on a USB powercell you expose a standard USB device connector. By plugging that connection into your computer the computer will then recharge the NiMH battery to full power in an hour or two. The web site claims that even a short recharge will allow you to power your AA devices for several hours. Cool! Posted by Chad Criswell Lower power, lower carbon footprint, and ecologically friendly materials go together to make the Simpletech [re]drive a star for the green minded geeks among us. Sporting a recycled aluminmum and bamboo (yes, Bamboo!) enclosure and a 150gig capacity the [re]drive is impressive yet also very expensive by comparison. Still, for those that want the most environmentally friendly PC components, this new hard drive bears some attention. Posted by Chad Criswell Musicians that use a single MIDI device with their computer will normally purchase a USB powered MIDI converter to connect their keyboard or other musical instrument to their PC. For more advanced artists that have multiple instruments this may not be the best bet. Brando has introduced a very economical four port standard MIDI cable based interface (with a single USB connection from the box to the PC) that allows amateurs to pump up the instruments without pumping up the budget. It sells for $38.00 and is available now. Posted by Chad Criswell No need to carry around a bunch of different gadgets when the USB 4-in-1 Web Cam rolls four often used toys into one convenient, if moderately ugly, package. The device uses a single USB connection to supply the user with a web cam, an LED light bar (for lighting up your smiling face), a small fan (to keep you cool of course), and of course, a microphone to record the hum of the fan whirring next to it. While it is not a gadget that will wind up in everyone's shopping basket it is still a very novel and useful rethinking of some very common USB accessories. It is currently selling for $23 over at Brando.com. Posted by Chad Criswell Okay, I don't think I would want this giant thing sitting in front of my computer all day long, but the idea is in general a good one. This high tech treadmill connects to a PC to allow a user to walk through the environment of your favorite games while still being able to control the various parts of the game by using attached hand controls. It is similar to an idea called the GamerSize PC Sport that fits quietly under your desk, but unlike the FPGameRunner the GamerSize PC Sport does not provide you with the ability to interact with any games as yet. It will, however keep track of your exercise routine and is a lot easier to move around the office. Posted by Chad Criswell There is nothing worse than the horror of having a hard drive fail and losing all of your precious digital photos or videos that were stored on it. Backing up is not a huge hassle, but for many people remembering to do so and then followign through with it are still difficult to do. Memorex has now come out with a special DVD that they are calling the SimpleSave which has backup software already on it. When a user pops the SimpleSave disc into their computer the backup software automatically loads and begins to copy all of the photos and videos on the hard drive to the DVD. The disc can hold thousands of photos or hours of compressed video files. For those who have trouble remembering to back up their hard drive the new SimpleSave may be just the ticket to save those previous memories with little or no hassle involved. Posted by Chad Criswell HP is a great company that has come out with many useful innovations over the years. They are most well known for their printers (and a dismally unsuccessful PC line) but now they have come out with a printer that has one more feature that you will be hard pressed to find anywhere else. They have combined a traditional multifunction printer with copy, fax, and printing capabilities with a high speed, dual layer DVD burner. All of which are controlled by buttons on the printer or through software on the connected PC. The burner is able to use Lightscribe technology to burn labels onto specially designed blank media discs. It also has ports for all of the common media card formats as well. No idea if you can burn directly from these cards to the burner or not. Although it may seem strange at first the idea of combining all of these devices into one is actually a very good thing. I'd love to get ahold of one to do a review on it, but sadly I bet these are going to be a very hot commodity over the next few months. Posted by Chad Criswell Each time a new generation of media storage comes out it takes a while for the technology to mature. In the case of Blu-Ray DVD burners, until now 2x write speeds have been the norm. At that rate it takes as much as 45 minutes to burn 25 gigabytes of data to a standard Blu-Ray recordable disc. Now a few manufacturers have come out with 4x burners, effectively halving the amount of time it takes to burn a full BD-R disc. LaCie is one of the most recent, with their new "d2" drive burns both 25 gig and 50 gig Blu-Ray Recordable discs and comes with ports for both Firewire and USB connections. Of course, that degree of speed and convenience will cost a pretty penny. Street price at the moment is in the neighborhood of $649.00. Source: Lacie.com Posted by Chad Criswell One of the easiest ways to use a traditional telephone with Skype is to use a USB based adaptor such as the CU Free Echo Free USB Phone Adaptor. This matchbook sized USB key has two standard telephone ports on one end, allowing the user to connect a traditional telephone as well as connect to an incoming land line circuit. Using the adaptor and included software, calls coming into the home on the old land line are routed to the telephone handsets as normal, but outgoing long distance calls are automatically routed through the computer and the Skype service. The Echo Free adaptor also includes other useful functions such as 3 way conference calling and call forwarding to a cell phone or any desired phone number. Posted by Chad Criswell Skype and other Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services use a person’s computer to make cheap long distance telephone calls using a high speed Internet connection. New accessories are now available that allows a person to use their traditional land line phone in conjunction with the computer based Skype services instead of a computer headset or dedicated Skype phone. There are many different options available for users that want to connect a land line phone to a computer, all with varying degrees of features. Posted by Chad Criswell Have you ever had the problem of running out of space on your DVR's hard drive? Having to make the choice between continuing to record Oprah each day or deleting your husband's classic Indiana Jones movies can lead to frustration and possible divorce. Seagate announced today a new device that one might call a long overdue accessory for many different DVR systems. A one terrabyte external storage drive that will plug and play with many existing DVR units adding days of additional recording time to the unit. Seagate is calling the new storage drive the Seagate Showcase, and is working with manufacturers such as Motorola to update software to be able to utilize the new drives simply by plugging in an enhanced serial ATA cable into the back of the existing DVR. Seagate hopes to ship the unit sometime after June of 2008. Posted by Chad Criswell Using a media center computer with a full sized keyboard and mouse is not the most convenient solution. Even wireless keyboards can be difficult to deal with as their size and useful range can be a great hinderance on someone who simply wants to watch a movie or play a quick game of solitare on a 42 inch LCD screen (who wouldn't?) Now Logitech has come out with a great solution that fits in the palm of your hand. The Logitech diNovo Mini is a small, clam shell style keyboard with a built in mouse that connects via Bluetooth to a computer. The convenience and small size of the DiNovo make it a great choice for anyone that has a media center computer. Moreover, because it works with Bluetooth it also works with portable devices as well. Windows Mobile computers and smartphones can connect with the DiNovo to allow the user to quickly enter information on a keyboard that is actually comfortable to type on. The price is a rather hefty $145 from vendors such as Brando, but you can't put a price on convenience, can you? Posted by Chad Criswell For amateur podcasters, musicians, or anyone that needs to record high quality digital audio and download it quickly and easily into a computer, the PockeTrak 2G from Yamaha is an excellent choice. I've been playing around with a demo unit for a week now, recording conversations, meetings, and professional music concerts and have been very impressed with not only the ease of use but also the overall quality of the recording that comes from the unit's diminutive stereo speakers. The PockeTrak is only slightly longer than an iPod nano and about twice as thick. Inside this small package can be stored up to three hours of high quality WAV format recordings recorded either through the built in microphones or through an external microphone using a 1/4 inch jack. The unit has multiple folders built into the software, allowing a user to file recordings in different places according to their subject. Users can also use the recorder as a portable media device, uploading MP3 tracks to the unit for playback either through the tinny sounding internal speaker or through external headphones or a stereo system. Music can be played through a computer's media software directly from the drive which includes a slide out USB connection. Posted by Chad Criswell Podcasting is incredibly popular these days and getting started as an amateur broadcaster could not be easier. Using the equipment and software that comes bundled with your computer a person can produce a decent quality podcast with almost no difficulty. For those that want a little more quality and control however, Behringer has released its Podcast Studio, an all-in-one podcasting package that includes headphones, microphone, stand, mixer, and cables for around $150. The audio quality is probably far better than what a user would get with Microsoft Sound Recorder or if using the cheap microphone that comes with most PCs. Posted by Chad Criswell There are hundreds of things that should and can be incorporated into USB based devices. There are also many hundreds of things that shouldn’t be, and the USB Pregnancy Tester is one of them. Perhaps borrowing a cue from the latest in electronic pregnancy tests that are now available at your local pharmacy, the O-Tec USB Pregnancy Test costs less than $20 but works the same way traditional tests work. Now the question is, do you really want to put this thing in your thousand dollar computer after you have done your business on it? Posted by Chad Criswell With all the high technology that went in to creating the first thumb sized flash drives a person would think that someone would have considered just how vulnerable they are to losing the cap. I carry an Ultra FlyDrive with me everywhere I go, and on more than one occasion I have lost the protective cap that goes over the connector. Without the cap a flash drive is vulnerable to dust, dirt, and accidental damage so it is really important to keep the cap on it when not in use. For those of us that seem to lose the caps on a daily basis a company named RooKaps has come to the rescue with stylish and vibrantly colored replacements. The RooKaps come in multipacks of four for as little as $6. Other options are available including caps that come already attached to lanyards. While the caps are cool, the lanyard idea leaves me worried. I would rather have a cap fall off of my thumb drive and be lost forever than my thumb drive fall off of the cap. They are also quoted as being made from an electrostatic disapative material, to help prevent data loss due to static discharge, but to my knowledge I have never seen this as a problem with thumb drives. Still, if you need a replacement usb drive cap these little caps will help keep the lid on your precious data. Posted by Chad Criswell Most thumb drives come equipped with a small cap to protect the USB connector from damage while not in the computer. The problems with these little caps is that they are so... LITTLE! It is very easy to forget about the cap or have it fall off entirely as it hangs around your neck. I have used several different methods of preserving my caps (such as supergluing a small piece of string between the cap and body of the thumb drive). None of these methods work for very long and eventually the cap goes missing. Not long after the end of the thumb drive inevitably gets damaged. SanDisk and other vendors are now coming out with thumb drives encased in a retractable shell (similar to a utility knife setup) where the USB connector can be pulled back into the body of the drive when not plugged into a computer. The SanDisk Cruzer Titanium comes with the U3 software suite installed on it to provide quick and easy access to portable applications such as your email and browsing software. The Cruzer sells for more than thumb drives of comparable size, but the durability of the unit adds to its value and overal attractiveness. Posted by Chad Criswell For anyone to be willing to pay $100 for a computer mouse it must be packed full of features that go beyond simple scrolling or page navigation. The new Microsoft Mobile Mouse 8000 does its best to make the buy a good deal, but even so, it still may not be worth a Benjamin in order to put this thing on your desk. The Mobile Mouse 8000 does have some very interesting additions to it's package. The small, ergonomically designed wireless mouse is comfortable while still offering a variety of user assignable buttons and rechargable NMH batteries. Unlike many other wireless mice the batteries are recharges through a magnetic dongle that retracts into the 2.4 gigahertz receiver. To bolster the high price tag Microsoft has incorporated optional Bluetooth connectivity into the unit as well as the ability to mouse on almost any surface including glass. Posted by Chad Criswell Silly and idotic uses for USB computer connections abound. I have written in the past about such mindless diversions of a person's time and money, items such as the USB aromatherapy diffuser and the all important USB beverage warmer. But at least these items had a purpose... The new USB Punch Head is a device that claims to help you release some of that ugly stress that is clogging your life, but in truth it is just plain ugly. Punching the little plastic head sends a signal to the computer which in turn lets out a shreek of pain and distorts a photo of your choice. The web site includes a video demo and shots of Bin Laden and Bush as examples. All in all a complete (and ugly) waste of time. Still, you have to give the company credit, it is definately a "unique," little gadget. Posted by Chad Criswell Not too long ago I blogged about a new accessory called the Eco-Button, essentially an external sleep button that when pressed tells your computer to go to sleep to conserve energy.In that post I pointed out that most keyboards now have a sleep button on them somewhere and to be honest, a special hotkey combination will do the same thing.Now however there is a new cousin to the Eco-Button that might actually have some merit to buying it. The ProxMat USB Mat can perform the same function as the sleep button on your keyboard (or Eco-Button) but it does it automatically when you get up from your computer.The mat rests under the user's feet and is pressure sensitive.The mat can be set to send almost any keypress or sequence to the computer when the mat is stepped on, and a different combination when the user leaves.This would be incredibly useful for public access computer terminals to prevent identity theft.When a user leaves the station the ProxMat can automatically log them out, preventing someone else from walking up and having access to whatever programs or files they forgot to close when they left. Posted by Chad Criswell Now that the Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD war is over with companies are beginning to push to market the latest and greatest in PC based high capacity BD-Rom drives.The newest Blu-Ray burner from Buffalo promises to be able to burn a full BD-R disc in around 50 minutes, and is capable of using rewritable media as well.Other new Blu-Ray drives are also being shipped by companies such as Phillips and Lite-On.The Phillips drive is not a burner, but it can read Blu-Ray and standard DVD-Rom discs at comparable speeds to the Buffalo model. Posted by Chad Criswell For anyone that is considering buying a new keyboard and has over $1500 to spend on it you might want to take a look at the new Optimus Maximus keyboard from Russian artist Art Lebedev. Each of its 113 keys is a tiny 32x32 pixel OLED screen. The images on the keys are controlled by a memory card that is inserted into the back of the keyboard. In this manner the keyboard can be reformatted for almost any application or use. As of right now no one but the people that preordered the keyboard will be able to get ahold of one except for those willing to pay an even greater premium for buying one off of Ebay. The keyboard itself sells for $1564 but one unit recently sold on Ebay for $2700! Posted by Chad Criswell Following on the heels of products such as the Eco-Strip and Belkin’s new green oriented power strip, the Eco Button is being marketed as a strong visual reminder to help you save electricity every time you leave your computer sitting idle. Although the Eco Button is quite eye catching it is essentially a glorified Sleep button which performs a function similar to the sleep button that is already built in to most computer keyboards. One has to wonder if in the future keyboard manufacturers will seize on this obvious point and begin tailoring their sleep buttons in a more eye catching manner. The Eco Button web site provides a very eye catching flash movie showing just how much CO2 it believes could be saved if everyone in Great Britain used its product. On a global scale the estimates are even more impressive yet one has to wonder just how much of a carbon footprint the manufacture of these devices would have on such a global scale? In the end, it is probably much more effective to make a nice big colored sign to remind you to hit the sleep button rather than shell out a penny on such a redundant device. Posted by Chad Criswell If you are tired of the boring old box style speakers sitting atop your computer desk or if you just want to make a statement that your musical tastes are more stylish than all of your friends, take a long lucious look at the new MidiPod speakers from Scandyna. Your guests will definately notice the smooth, curved lines and cool colors put the MiniPod speakers in a class by themselves. Each unit comes with a wallbracket and stand, and is available in white, black, blue, silver, yellow, or red. The active version of the Micropod speakers includes and integrated amplifier and sells for $299 a pair. The standard Micropod comes without the amplifier and sells for $199 per pair. Posted by Chad Criswell Traditional hard drives waste energy by keeping the platters inside them spinning, even when the drive is not actively accessing data. New solid state hard drives that are based on newer high speed flash memory chips remove this mechanical problem and also require less power to transfer data. These new drives are already showing up in the newest laptop computers due to their promise of extending battery life in those devices. Other Green Technologies on the Horizon The future of green computing may lie in OLED displays as well as in other technologies not currently on the radar screen. In any case, it is obvious that consumers are demanding energy efficiency and are willing to pay a premium for it. As long as this trend continues we will continue to see manufacturers invest in green technology research and development. Posted by Chad Criswell One can only wonder how much energy the computer sitting beneath their desk wastes each day. When not being activly used it sits there sucking electricity, even when it is turned completely off. Manufacturers have begun to respond to the desires of both corporate and private America by producing new, highly efficient computer products. While change is occuring across the board, several developments stand out from the pack. Killing The Energy Vampires Almost every electonic product, even when turned off, consumes energy. When a computer is off, power still flows to the circuit boards to power the ethernet card and internal clock. Other peripherals such as the printer, scanner, router, and cable modem all draw power even when the computer is not in use. The most effective way to combat this problem is to use a power bar to completely turn off the electricity at the source. Rather than dealing with this hassle, some companies are now producing "green" power strips that automatically shut off power to all unneccessary appliances when the computer enters the shutdown process in Windows. When the computer is turned on, the power strip restores power to the peripherals. Communication is maintained between the power strip and computer via a USB port. Posted by Chad Criswell Why do technology companies continue to innovate while their current technology offerings continue to sell like crazy? Once again supply and demand makes itself known, but not in the way one might think. You see, as more and more companies begin to offer the same or similar products the price for that kind of produce begins to drop. This is why prices on such products as HD-DVD and BluRay players are falling as more and more companies churn them out for the masses to purchase. As the prices drop, the profits that these companies receive begin to drop as well even though they are selling more of them. In order to boost their bottom line a company has to innovate and push forward with new technology to get the public to buy into the next big thing. One of the more recent examples of this has been detailed by Infoworld. It was recently published that many flash memory companies are seeing the bottom fall out of the prices for their memory chips that are used in digital cameras, recorders, and a host of other portable devices. At about the same time, Micron and Intel recently announced that they had designed a new type of flash memory that is up to four times faster than current flash memory designs for both reading and writing speeds. With all of the talk these days about green technology (low power usage) this advance could make solid state computer hard drives an even more prevalent part of mobile computing. Because of this big jump in capabilities expect the new memory chips to be sold at a premium once they hit the market. Thus the cycle begins again, at least until other companies start cranking out their own knock-offs. Posted by Chad Criswell Motionbox is an online provider of video storage and streaming. Their streaming product has been reviewed here on Suite101 and in general is a good alternative to YouTube, especially for those who want to share videos privately and be able to edit them as well, all on the same online web site. Today, in the spirit of Valentine's day, Motionbox has announced a special contest titled "Motionbox Video Valentine Contest: Your (Not-So) Secret Admirer." By going to the Motionbox web site and opening a free account a member can then upload raw or edited video of their significant other that hopefully shows their mate in the best possible light. Beginning on February 1st and running through the 29th (yes, this is a leap year!), the site is requesting that users upload video clips such as:
So if you are a shutterbug that would REALLY like to get in good with your honey this Valentine's Day, check out the contest and you might win big. Posted by Chad Criswell In the electronics world smaller is almost always better, but I doubt that many people considered that one day we might be able to carry a cell phone with an embedded video camera. The 3M company recently demonstrated a new prototype video projector that can be fitted into portable electronic devices. While the unit is not incredibly bright, it sounds as though it might be ideal for showing a stored video or other program to a small group of onlookers instead of having them view it on a tiny cell phone size LCD screen. Other reports state that several electronics companies are interested in the technology and that cell phones with embedded video projectors might be available as soon as late 2008. Source: InfoWorld Posted by Chad Criswell The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the largest and most well known of all electronics exhibitions. The vast majority of new product announcements and major press releases come out around and during the CES convention, usually during the first weeks of January each year. At the convention over 2700 electronics exhibitors from thirty different categories pack into Las Vegas to display their wares and get a little free publicity from the thousands of reporters, analysts, and freelance journalists that swarm the booths that cover the floors of the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Venetian Hotel, and the Las Vegas Hilton. What's the catch? You probably can't get in. The Consumer Electronics Show is generally closed to the public. The convention is aimed at media and members of the electronics trade. Registration and costs for some of the events that occur during CES can run into the thousands of dollars, not including lodging and meals. Still, for those that make a living on the electronics trade, CES is akin to making a pilgrimage to Mecca. Nowhere else on the planet will a person be able to find so many exhibitors and so many new gadgets to look at at one time. Don't feel bad though if you can't get in the door. For the next several months the media will be avidly discussing and displaying the newest and greatest in gadgets gleaned from the booths at the Consumer Electronics Show. All you have to do is look around on the web this month and you'll be able to get at least a peripheral glance at what is truly the biggest geek convention on the face of the planet. |
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