Posts tagged Hardware
Jaybird Announce Freedom Bluetooth Earphones
0Heaphone manufacturer Jaybird have announced the UK release of their latest bluetooth headphones, dubbed “Freedom”.
The Freedom headphones extend Jaybirds existing lineup of Bluetooth devices, this time with in-ear headphones at the heart of the design.
The design of these phones is absolutely flawless, with minimal controls (volume, on/off) allowing the phones to feel incredibly light in the ear. Charging is via USB using a bundled lead connecting to a port on one of the earpieces
I usually have problems with in-ear phones fitting properly, but experienced no problems at all with the Freedom headphones due to both the reduced weight and the excellent rubberised buds. They also come with a pack of different sized tips to accomodate those who find the standard ones uncomfortable or difficult to keep in place.
In terms of sound, I was blown away by how such a small set of phones could produce such clear and powerful tone, it really was incredible. The noise isolation works well, and even in a packed NEC hall I was able to listen to music streamed from a phone via Bluetooth with absolute clarity, something my wired Sennheiser headphones couldn’t manage on the same day.
Jaybird are aiming these earphones towards athletes as well as those on the go, the connecting cable sits comfortably behind the neck and shouldn’t offer any discomfort for those persuing an active lifestyle. I was also told that the earbuds and speakers were 100% sweat proof and should stay in place even in the face of the repetitive movement associated with things like jogging.
The Jaybird Freedom earphones are available imminently (currently awaiting stock) for UK buyers for the reasonable price of £99.
Overview: Gadget Show Live 2011
0The annual Gadget Show Live is back at the NEC for another year, and once again the latest and greatest in technology is on display for all to see.
There are more products and services on offer this year than I can shake a stick at, but here ar the top 5 new technologies on show.
1. 3D TV / games
Panasonic, LG and Sony have all brought with them their latest 3D TV sets. This was the first time I’d experienced 3D outside of the cinema and the results were better than I was expecting. It takes a minute or two to settle in to it, and the middle of a convention hall is hardly the best place for it, but once you get over this it was a joy to watch. James Cameron’s Avatar was a wonder to behold in 3D as were any of the demo videos being shown.
I was always sceptical of 3D, it seemed to me to be a technology that will persuade movie studios to produce rubbish films for the sake of them being in 3D, but I have to concede I was wrong, the technology itself is fantastic, but the films and demos weren’t what truly blew me away, the games were.
Alienware, Asus and others were all demonstrating HD gaming, mostly through titles such as Crysis 2 which looked absolutely fantastic in 3D, I’m not sure of how it will affect game-play though. Personally I was too busy taking in the immersive scenery to notice the guy shooting me in the head repeatedly.
2. Tablet PC’s
There were more Android tablets this year than I could count. Lenovo, Packard Bell, Elonex, HP and others were all touting their own devices, with Big differences in specs and even bigger differences in price.
Elonex’s offerings were firmly in the budget end of the market, featuring resistive screens, old versions of Android and slow processors.
Packard Bell seemed to offer one of the most powerful tablets to see the light of day yet, though when I asked they confessed that the model on show was a dummy as the only real prototype in existence anywhere is stuck in Germany. I was assured that the device would be ready to ship in June, and if so then it could offer real competition to the iPad 2. It features an Nvidia Tegra processor, a 10″ capacitive screen and will run Android 3.0 (designed from the ground up with tablets in mind). With specs like that it’s hard to imagine much beating it, but I remain sceptical that they didn’t have a working model, or even any promotional material, for me to see.
3. Streaming And Internet Media
This is an area of the Market near to my heart, I’m a keen advocate of digital media in the home and this time round I wasn’t disappointed. It really seems that the Market is catching up with people’s expectations.
A few vendors were demonstrating Internet connected TVs and set top boxes, but the big announcement was the UK launch of Popcorn Hour boxes. Popcorn Hour offer two separate set top boxes, the first allows you to stream media from other sources on your home network (PC’s, NAS drives, etc.) to your TV, as well as allowing streaming from internet sources such as YouTube and on-demand video services.
The pricier of the two, the C-200 does all of this and also includes a built in hard disk for local file storage and a nicer display to boot.
We love the idea, but it could also be too little-too late for Popcorn Hour to bring this idea to the UK. Many users have already made the leap to internet connected TV’s or to home media PC’s running open source software such as XBMC.
4. Mobile Device Accessories
There were plenty of vendors who were at GSL purely to flog a few cases and adapters for iPhones, Android handsets and Blackberry’s, but there were a couple of stands that stood out atop the others.
The first is Who’s On Your Case who offer personalised accessories for iPhones and Blackberry devices, they’ll take any image, logo or photo and churn out a personalised case for your device. Currently only 4 models are supported; iPhone 3, iPhone 4, Blackberry 9700 and 8520′s, but support for iPads, iPods and other smart-phones is promised shortly.
The second was the DAD (Digital Audio Distribution) stand which had audio accessories such as portable speakers and headsets. In particular we enjoyed testing their new bluetooth earbuds which offered excellent levels of comfort and sound quality. They weren’t cheap, at £99, but they won’t break the bank either, and they’re a lot cheaper than some other products offering similar sound reproduction.
5. Firebox.com’s Angry Birds Shy
Ok, so it’s not strictly technology, but Firebox found an ingenious use for their Angry Birds plush toys, a coconut shy where the the nuts were pigs and the balls were our avian protagonists. Yes, we are talking about a real life version of Angry Birds.
Not only that, but the prizes for winning were keeping your missile or your target with no obligation, possibly one of the best giveaways at Gadget Show Live. Firebox were certainly getting into the spirit, even passers by were getting free Angry Birds thrown at them, though by the time we got to the stand they were throwing the last of them out for the day, so if we want one (and we do) we’re going to have to shell out £9.99 like ordinary people.
sWaP Bring Wearable Phones To The Masses
0It wasn’t long ago that wearable mobile phones where a thing of science fiction. Then LG gave it a go and the result cost £600 and frankly, wasn’t that good.
Step forward a couple more years and sWaP (Smart Watch And Phone) are bringing wrist-watch phones to the masses. As you’d expect, these watches, uh, phones, uh, whatever, don’t have the latest features of smartphones such as the iPhone or Android handsets, but they do operate as a phone and have a few other features to boot.
The base model, the Rebel, comes with a 1.46″ touch screen and features SMS, MMS, Calendar, World Clock, Calculator, WAP, File Manager, 300 contacts and supports audio and video recording. One assumes it functions as a phone as well!
It’s quad band, features a camera, a microSD slot, bluetooth and voice recognition. Joe 90 eat your heart out.
In terms of looks, the Rebel does look a little cheap, so if you’re feeling a little more upmarket sWaP have your back with the sWaP Signature phone:
With essentially the same list of features, the Signature offers a slightly more grown up approach to wearable phones. And if you’re one of those people that only has a phone for, you know, calling people, then this could be the handset – uh, wristset – for you.
The Rebel comes in at £189, no price available for the Signature at this time, but sWaP tell me it will be slightly more due to the extra level of finish.
Nintendo 3DS Console Goes on Sale on March 25th
0After what seems like a lifetime of publicity and public demonstrations, Nintendo will finally release the next version of its portable games console in Europe this coming Friday, the 25th of March.
The latest version of the DS features a 3D screen which requires no glasses or accessories to use. Those who have had a go on one seem to be mostly blown away by the 3D graphics, though there have been some concerns that the type of 3D screen used can damage younger users eyes.
Nintendo themselves have gone on record saying that parents of users under the age of 6 should not allow their children to use the 3DS in 3D mode, instead opting to display graphics in “normal” 2D. They’ve also said that even adult readers should not play for more than 30 minutes at a time if they want to avoid any side effects or damage to their eyes. You try telling that to a gamer though.
Check out the links below to pre-order your 3DS now.
Fallout: New Vegas – The Missing Brotherhood Laser Pistol
0Inside the Brotherhood of Steel Bunker in Hidden Valley there is one of the longest and most difficult story arcs.
Aside from that there are also some unmarked quests, one of which revolves around Knight Torres, the Quartermaster, and a missing laser pistol.
To start this quest, approach Knight Torres at the shooting range on level one of the bunker.
- She’ll inform you of the missing pistol and how she’ll be in trouble should it not be recovered.
- Next speak to the Paladin sat at the shooting range, he’ll tell you that the pistol was checked out to Initiate Stanton.
- Locate Stanton on level one of the bunker and talk to him, he’ll tell you that he and another initiate snuck out and went for target practice at Scorpion Gulch, when they were ambushed by Radscorpions and abandoned the pistol.
- Head out to Scorpion Gulch, down into the pit and you’ll find the pistol sitting on a rock near the middle.
- Head back to the BoS base and hand the pistol over to Knight Torres, you’ll be rewarded with XP and a Tri-beam Laser Rifle!
The video below shows how to achieve this:
How To Play PC Games Without The Original Game Disk
0Most PC games released these days require that the game disc be in your computers CD/DVD drive in order to play it. It’s easy to see the reason for this, games producers want you to buy and own the game in order to play it, which isn’t unreasonable.
I’ll start off by saying that I don’t condone the pirating of games, or any software for the matter. But I do believe that people who own the games should be able to play them without too much trouble.
Unfortunately, if your computer doesn’t have a built in optical drive (such as some laptops) it can be very difficult to play your games or use your software. External DVD drives are one option, but who wants to carry more equipment around with them all the time?
The solution is to use a software package to create a “virtual CD drive” on your system which appears to Windows as if it were a normal CD or DVD drive. You can then load a disc image into that virtual drive and play your games without the original disc.
There are a number of packages that can do this for you, one of the most popular of which is Alcohol 52%. This is a cut down version of a fuller featured package called Alcohol 120, but the free version is more than enough for our needs here.
Download and install the package and you should be presented with a Window similar to this one:
The bottom part of the window shows your current (real) DVD drive, but for those of us who don’t want to walk around with an external drive, you’ll need to create a virtual drive. To do this, click “Virtual Drive” from the “Options” menu on the left, you should see a window like this:
To add a virtual drive, click the drop down menu and select a number (most people will only want one) and then click ok. When you return to the main window you should see a virtual drive at the bottom of the window as well as the actual drive.
Next, we need to look at creating image files for the CDs and DVDs that you’ll want to use with your virtual drives. To do so, select “Image making Wizard” from the “Main” menu on the left, you’ll then see a window like this one:
Make sure that the “DVD/CD Device” is set to your real DVD drive, then insert the disc that you want to virtualise and click “Start”, you should then see Alcohol create an image of the disk, this will take quite a while, around 15 minutes for a DVD, as below:
Once the disc is copied, click “Finish” and you’ll be returned to the main Alcohol page, only now the disc image you’ve created will ne shown in the main part of the window:
From here, it’s simply a case of right clicking the image file and then clicking “Mount on Device”:
As soon as you click this the computer will behave as if you’ve just inserted the disc into a real drive, meaning that the PC will probably autorun the disc. But if not, have no fear, the disc will appear under “Computer” as a physical drive:
So there you have it, provided you have the hard disk space you can carry as many discs around with you as you like. Some modern games will be able to detect the virtual drive and still won’t function, but for the majority of games you should be alright.
How To Centralise Your Digital Media Library
1If, like me, you’re keen to make the switch to digital copies of all of your music, photos and video then you’ll undoubtedly have some questions as to how to go about it.
In this guide I’ll give some quick musings on how to digitize each of these types of media and then talk about how you can store it safely and access it from around the home.
Photos
Chances are that you already have a digital video camera and if so you already have digital copied of all of your photos. if you have “old school” paper photos then the only thing you can really do is scan them into your computer with a document scanner. There’s no two ways about it; this is going to be a pain in the butt, but once it’s done you’ll have immortal copies of all your best bygone memories. When I scanned in all mine it took an entire week of sitting in front of my PC in the evenings and scanning them in, so be prepared for a lot of waiting around if you choose to do this.
If all you have at your disposal is the old 35mm negatives (remember those) then you can buy something like this to get you up and running.
Music
Most peoples music libraries are almost entirely CD based, which is great, because 99% of home PC’s and laptops have a drive capable of reading these disks. What’s more, Windows, Mac and Linux all have built in methods for converting those music CD’s into MP3 tracks which will play on any number of devices. Like the photos, it’s simply a case of sitting down and going through your disks one by one to convert them to MP3′s.
In Windows you can use Windows Media Player, Mac’s have iTunes by default and for Linux you can check out a free program called Banshee which will take care of this for you.
If you have other formats of music, such as tapes or vinyl, then the task is made slightly more difficult (but far from impossible). The problem is that these formats are analogue, so the only way to capture the sound is basically to play it and turn it into an MP3 in real time. Devices such as this USB record deck and this USB tape deck will help by allowing easy connectivity to your PC, but it will still take a long time.
Video
Like CD’s, DVD’s can be transferred to your PC with relative ease. There are applications available for Windows, Mac and Linux to enable you to convert a DVD film to a video file that will play back on your PC or some other device. I’ve written articles about this before so I’ll just link to them here:
For TV shows and movies that are stored on old VHS cassettes; it’s back to the shops for you, you’ll need something like this. Be warned though, VHS picture and sound quality wasn’t that great to begin with, so converting these to video files might not be worth the time, effort and money.
How To Store All This!
Well, first of all, if you’ve just spent a load of your free time converting all of your media you’re not going to want to lose it all, so make sure that you take a backup of everything on a separate hard disk and leave it with a trusted friend or relative. That way, if something happens to your data, your drive, or god forbid; your house, you’ll still have a copy of everything. The best thing to do is invest in a large USB hard disk such as these and then make a copy of everything on to that. Having lost 250GB of data before now, I can tell you it’s no fun having to sit down and transfer it all over again.
There are two main ways to store all of this information. The first is to stick it all on a large hard drive inside an existing PC. The disadvantage of this is that you have to leave that PC on when you want to access the information from another device, which could prove expensive in terms of electricity costs (as well as being quite loud as well in some scenarios).
The other way is to invest in a network hard drive such as the ones available from QNAP and Netgear. Both of these devices will connect to your home broadband router and data can then be shared between multiple devices on your network, such as PC’s, games consoles and other home devices.
With either solution, you’re going to need a method to advertise all of your media to the other devices on your network. Fortunately this has been catered for by something called DLNA, the Digital Living Network Alliance. DLNA allows for the quick transfer (known as “streaming”) of media to devices that are capable of playing it. A lot of home electronics being sold today, such as TV’s, set top boxes and games consoles are DLNA compliant, so will be able to playback most media that is advertised on your home network.
Both of the network drives mentioned previously have built in DLNA server capabilities, which means that they will be able to advertise your media content to compatible devices on the network. And if you have a Windows PC then you can use Windows Media Player to advertise your media collection, as explained here.
Whichever solution you choose, the result should be that you are able to store all of your media in one place and then stream it to any compatible device that’s connected to your home network (including via WiFi). It may surprise you exactly how many home devices are now DLNA compatible. Most “internet ready” TV’s are, as are both the XBOX360 and Playstation 3 games consoles. There are also a whole bunch of set top boxes and media players available that will pick up your DLNA server and stream any of your home media.
Final Thoughts…..
There are a couple of things worth mentioning now, before you begin on the long journey to digitize your media collections.
- Although DLNA is becoming the standard as the method of streaming media, it’s still important to make sure that the devices that you intend to use can read the files that you create. It’s no good converting all of your DVD’s to a certain file type if your home device cannot play that particular file type, so check which file types are supported before you begin. For music, MP3′s are pretty universal and for video you can more or less rely on AVI files as these will playback on almost all devices.
- Make sure that your data is secure and backed up. Converting DVD’s for home use is technically still illegal (in the same way that recording TV onto VHS cassettes always was). No one has ever been prosecuted in the UK, but if you share your video with other people (even if it’s not on purpose) then you stand to be prosecuted for copyright infringement. What’s more, it’s important to maintain an up to date backup of all of your data so either keep a second copy on another hard disk or utilise the RAID capabilities of either of the above network drives to make sure that there is a second copy of your data.
Tablet Troubles: How To Find The Perfect Tablet PC For You
0The UK consumer market is being absolutely flooded at the moment with as many different models of tablet PC as you can shake a stick at.
It seems that every major high street retailer is fixated on flogging you a device that they guarantee will change your life for the better.
The truth is that a tablet PC is far from a necessity, people got by for thousands of years without them, and not owning one isn’t suddenly going to leave you in the dark ages. That being said, they’re fun to use and can help you in any number of ways whether it’s work, rest or play that you’re interested in. Here are my top tips for buying a tablet PC:
1) Consider Size
The apple iPad has a 10″ screen, which is great for consuming media and browsing the web. But it does make the device a bit large and heavy to carry around everywhere. Most Android tablets come in 7″ versions, which are surprisingly smaller and lighter than the iPad, while still managing to offer much the same in terms of functionality. There are even some devices that are even smaller, around 5 inches, but I wouldn’t really call those devices tablets.
Have a think about what it is that you want the device for, then make a decision on which size would be best for you.
2) iPad or Android
People have polarising views when it comes to Apple, many people will buy a device purely on the strength of it being made by the company, others find the idea of owning an Apple product ridiculous and will buy anything before they visited an Apple store. The truth is that both platforms work well. Apple’s iPad is largely tied down to media formats that Apple supports, meaning that you can’t simply drop your video files onto it and expect them to play, but if you already have an established media collection in Apple formats (say for an iPhone) then this isn’t too much of a problem. Both platforms also have an immense catalogue of applications, and though some need to be purchased, there are a lot that will increase the functionality of your device for free.
In the end, there is no right or wrong answer, some will prefer the openness of Android, while others will enjoy the fluidic and well presented allure of iOS. What’s important is to try both platforms before you buy, so head to your nearest shopping center and try both versions before you buy.
3) Storage space.
Depending on what you want the device for, you may need more or less space than some of the tablets on sale currently offer. The iPad has a fixed amount of storage; either 16GB, 32GB or 64GB, and it cannot be upgraded, so making sure you know your needs is imperative. As an iPad owner I never thought I would need more than 16GB at a time but, after buying a few games and watching a few TV shows, I’m now constantly swapping apps and media files on the device as it’s full. With other tablets this may not be too much of a problem, many will support external storage, either on Micro-SD memory cards or via USB memory sticks. That’s not to say that storage space isn’t important on these devices; you don’t want to rely on multiple memory cards if you can help it.
4) Capacitive or Resistive.
There are two main types of touchscreen technology available on tablet PC’s. The older type, resistive, are a lot less sensitive and usually require a stylus to function properly. The advantage of this is that’s it’s a lot easier to be accurate about which part of the screen you’re pressing. The disadvantage is that it can be a nightmare for casual use and requires that you carry a stylus around everywhere (which you’ll inevitably lose).
The more recent type of touchscreen, capacitive, is a lot better suited to devices such as tablet PC’s as their responsiveness is a lot better, meaning that you can simply use your fingertips to control and interact with the device.
Capacitive screens are more expensive to produce however, so expect devices with these screens to be more expensive.
5) Processor Speeds
When it comes to Android tablets there’s a variety of different processor speeds on the market. The faster the processor then the quicker and more responsive the device will be. There a lot of devices entering the market at the lower end which have surprisingly slow processors and these are best avoided, after all; what’s the point in a device designed to make your life easier that has you sitting around waiting to open any applications? The higher end Android tablets have processor speeds of around 1GHz, but there are some out there with speeds as low as 300MHz, and these are just best avoided.
6) Camera
One big drawback of the iPad is the absence of a camera. Many people see a tablet device as a way to communicate with friends and family, and what better way to do that than with a video call? A lot of other manufacturers have learnt from Apple’s mistake and an increasing number of devices are hitting the shops with built in web cameras. It’s rumoured that the iPad 2 will be announced sometime in January and will feature a camera, so if you’re interested in video calling it may be worth waiting a few weeks before splashing out on yourself.
7) Subsidised Tablets
A few tablet devices are available with 3G connectivity as well as WiFi, and subsequently a lot of mobile networks are offering cut price devices on the agreement that you take out a two year contract with them. The problem with this is the same as with mobile phone contracts; yes, the device is cheap, but you’re going to pay for it over the next two years. It’s often not as good a deal as it seems, but if you don’t have the cash up front and can afford the monthly usage charges then it may be one option for you. Personally, I would avoid this though and instead purchase the device up front in favour of a lower monthly charge.
Conclusions.
Hopefully these insights will give you a steer towards the tablet PC that’s right for you. There are no right or wrong answers, there will be those looking for the best and brightest and those who are on a very tight budget. The good news is that there is a tablet PC for every price point along the way.
More importantly, you need to ask yourself whether or not you really need a device such as this. In a world of laptops, netbooks and smartphones, can you personally justify another platform?