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A company I think of for notebook bags have produced a three in one device, a pen, a stylus and screwdriver. Second another multi use item this time aimed at keeping you fit and apart from counting steps it also takes your pulse among other features.
This is 12.5cm long and circular at .7cm, 2.5cm from the top is a standard clip to allow it to sit in top or inside pocket. The total weight is 26grams; this had me weighting the more normal plastic offering which came in at just under half that weight. The Tracer deluxe is far more rugged being made of aluminium.
It is Big Red Bus time yet again as two similarly specified devices arrive from different companies.
Every so often a Big Red Bus moment occurs and this is one of those situations. Recently two products arrived within a week or so of each other with similar functionality. No sooner had I completed my look at the Kingston MobileLite Wireless product than the Verbatim MediaShare Wireless offering arrived for review.
As part of its Hidden Mystery Collectives series, Focus Multimedia has bundled together a couple of Echoes of the Past titles. Belonging to the Hidden Object Adventure genre, these titles are entitled The Citadels of Time and The Revenge of the Witch.
In fairly standard fashion, The Citadels of Time allows you to adjust the volume levels of both the background music and sound effects which does include the spoken dialogue that occurs during the various cut-scenes linking together the various parts of the story line. There are also options to play the game in full screen, wide screen and using a custom cursor. Two modes of game play are available.
Here I am looking at two ways of extending the reach of your Network, until now most solutions have required two plugs to get one extra connection, here I am looking at one that gives three and the other two both at up to 500mbps.
This is really simple to setup just remember two things both connections must be on the same ring mane and second do not connect one to a surge strip and if you do those two things then it really should be 'plug and play'. While there is a mini CD in the box this only has .PDF files in various languages.
Giving you the freedom to listen, communicate and adjust a variety of settings are features on offer from an over-the-ears style of headset from Creative.
The Evo Zx is a member of Creative’s Sound Blaster range of headset products. As with the other models in this product range of stylish looking headsets, the Evo Zx features a choice of connectivity options. Not only do you have Bluetooth with NFC (Near Field Communications) capability but also wired options either via USB or a standard 3.5mm audio link.
Finally manufacturers seem to be releasing a good range of touch notebooks. As far as my tests are concerned this is the only real reason to upgrade to Windows 8. While I have reviewed large panels with touch why would you sit so close as to be able to use it.
This is probably a desktop replacement as it weighs 2.43kilos. It can work on batteries in my tests I got over four hours with a good amount of Wi-Fi use. It is 38x24.5x2.5cm. The last figure the thickness is at the back this reduces to 1.5cm at the front. The viewable screen is 35x19.5cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 15.6inches.
Here something that I have not looked at recently a couple of MP3 players, both from Sony. The first is a water resistant offering mine was white. The second in more normal black a unit that claims a quick charge time of only three minutes.
This is an all in one unit with the earbuds fixed into the player unit. With some earbuds you can choose to hang them directly from the ears of to take them round your neck, here there is no choice as the ‘C’ shaped band will only locate in the ear if you then go behind your neck. The stretched out length of the band connecting the two buds is 33cm but is will always return to two ‘O’ shapes.
When a game has the title of Fairway then there is an excellent chance that golf will be involved in some way. In the case of this next title that involvement is based around the Solitaire card game that is known as Golf.
This is no bigger than a medium sized digital camera; it is however a DSLR offering so that those intent on improving can hone their skills at a reasonable price and the still images they know were captured by their skill level.
This is no bigger than a medium sized digital camera; it is however a DSLR offering so that those intent on improving can hone their skills at a reasonable price and the still images they know were captured by their skill level. It is 12x6.5x3.5cm with a lens attached. The one I was sent was an 18-55mm offering so this adds a minimum of 7.5cm to the last figure the width and another 3cm when fully extended.
As data files become larger we need larger capacity portable devices to store the items we need to take with us between locations.
Along with its JumpDrive S23 flash stick family of products, Lexar has also developed the JumpDrive P10 flash stick range. Whereas the JumpDrive S23 range is being promoted as being one of the smallest USB 3.0 drives currently available, the JumpDrive P10’s claim to fame is with regards to it being one of the fastest USB 3.0 flash drives that you can currently purchase.
Put on your investigative hat and be prepared to enter the world of the supernatural as you take on the challenge of three Big Fish games.
Until now all the personal weather stations I have reviewed display the results. Here you have two cylinders with no apparent displays, press the top of the larger one and a line of colour appears down its side nothing else is shown.
These are designed to display via Wi-Fi to your ‘i’ or Android device, both allow you to download a Free App to show the results. I know that you can also display results on a PC when you link to your free account as all information remains on their servers. What you get in the box are two cylinders, the larger one is 15.5cm tall and 4cm across. This needs mains power which is supplied by a USB lead, it can be from a PC or notebook or via the supplied USB to 13amp plug.
I first came across the Animal during a visit to Berlin last year. This encounter happened while walking around the citys massive IFA exhibition. There it was, this Animal, trying to look inconspicuous among the various displays and visitors. My second encounter was earlier this year in London, close to the spot where G8 protestors were making their feelings felt despite being outnumbered by the presence of the police. On this occasion, the Animal preferred to stay in the corner of the room. This brings us to our third meeting as the Animal arrived for me to check out how well this device would cope with the demands of my household.
The Animal is the title given to a vacuum cleaner developed by Bosch. If you are wondering why this device has the Animal title, it is because this vacuum cleaner has been designed to cope with the demands of those households that have both human and pet occupiers. In my case the pet is a tom cat who can be over-energetic when using his litter tray, an untidy eater and one that enjoys showing me his rodent captures when he is not busy tearing up paper into shreds.
This is a four in one item often called a multi function device. It can print either from a PC or memory stick, it can scan either to a PC or memory stick, send and receive faxes for those who still use this feature and it can also copy.
It is 44x34x20cm. It features the modern idea of a drop down flap at the base that is the multi paper input tray. However a feature I not keen on is that the output tray – by design – only partially drops and more than once when I want to do a quick print or scan I get told that the paper output tray is not open, why can it not fall fully open when you drop the input tray down and load paper, of course if you leave it loaded with paper you will add around 12cm extra to the depth.
The PCTV T2 290e Nanostick supports both ordinary Freeview and Freeview HD. Connected via a USB2 port it is a convenient way of adding TV and PVR facilities to a PC. Being both small and light it is ideal for those with limited space who would like their PC to double up as a TV and as a PVR.
The kit, which is designed for light weight and portability, consists of the receiver, remote control, a simple telescopic rod antenna and the installation disc the total weight of which weigh less than 200g. The receiver itself is a somewhat bulky USB stick 6cm long. It is connected to a USB port on the computer using the provided special 34cm cable which has a metallic braid screening. At the opposite end to the USB connector there is the micro-coaxial antenna connector.
In the past the things I have looked at from Oregon have been medical and or Weather Stations. Here I suppose the first the Slimfit 3DPedometer is medicalish. The second is pure entertainment as it is a Wireless Speaker but you could exercise whilst listening to it.
Exercise and me are not the best of buddies, the nearest I get to a run is a trot the last 50metres to a bus stop or train station if it will avoid a long wait. I do walk a good bit but again not often at a pace that would be deemed 'rapid'. The unit is 5x3.5x1cm without the belt attachment fitted. Unlike a lot of other such units it can count your steps without it being fitted to you your bag or purse will work just as well as it tracks movement in three dimensions.
Adding wireless capability to your SD memory cards and USB flash sticks is just one feature found in a device from Kingston.
Like many others, I struggle to fit my favourite music, video clips and photos on the limited storage capacity offered by my smartphone and/or tablet. No matter how hard I try to squeeze this content into my mobile devices, I always end up with several items waiting in a queue for space that never appears. However I do have a number of flash sticks and memory cards that are generally underused, being tucked away in drawers or gathering dust on my work space.
It is only when I test a TV or PVR that I tend to see the various product advertising channels while I flick through to test reception, here I found a product that has been given regular use in my kitchen over the past weeks.
The recipe book and manual makes the bold claim of ‘10seconds’ quite often and indeed from preparation to finish for certain chopping jobs it is possible. However unlike most demonstrations people do not tend to have everything nicely prepared and within easy reach however this is certainly a good way to chop and prepare vegetables and fruit and indeed I have never made a smoothie or other types of iced desserts so quickly.
Every so often, and it does seem to roll around far too frequently for my liking, I have to venture into the cupboard under the stairs and remove the various house-keeping paraphernalia that can only mean one thing. It is time to face up to the pile of freshly laundered clothing and bedding by making use of the ironing board.
With its extensive range of white goods, it is not surprising that our friends at Bosch have a number of irons within their product catalogue. Included in this particular product range is the Bosch Sennixx’x DA50 EditionRosso model. My review sample of this steam iron is predominately black in colour with red highlights and flashes to embellish the product.
Over the years I have played, and enjoyed, a large number of games that belonged to the Match 3 genre. In the most part, these games took various approaches as they set out to make the playing experience as challenging and enjoyable as possible. Unfortunately sometimes there were exception and this next Match 3 title was one such offering as it failed to engender any semblance of enjoyment when I was checking out the product for this review.
Match 3 Mega Pack, as its titles indicates, brings together a collection of Match 3 titles. In fact there are eleven games in total. I almost wrote “eleven different games” but thought better of it. What the title of Match 3 Mega Pack does not make clear is that all the eleven titles making up this collection have all come from the same source. The development team at Anawili Condento Medino were responsible for all these games.
Kingston are a large supplier of memory, here I am looking at a large capacity micro SD card, but first a card reader for a range of cards. A lot of people do not know that certain versions of Windows will not read USB3 card devices.
In fact Windows XP will need a new driver to be able to read the larger capacity – over 8GB – devices. Today with huge file sizes 8GB is often too small, a word that was popular a few years ago when things fitted in less than 1GB was bloatware, now of course its large video files that are the main culprit. Externally this Kingston product looks like a lot of other multi card readers.
For those looking for a large widescreen television, but lack enough space to accommodate the 55-inch UE55F8000 model I reported on recently, the Samsung UE46UF7000 product may be a viable option.
As with its larger sibling, the 46-inch UE46UF7000 SmartTV is not the kind of device that you could hide away in a corner. It will tend to dominate any normal household room in which it is sited. Although it is possible, as I proved despite the protestations of my back, to unpack and set up this widescreen television on your own, the operation is recommended to be carried out by two people.
A small but powerful Digital Camera, ideal for a pocket or handbag for those who want more than that normally on offer from the camera in a phone or smartphone but without the size and weight associated with most DSLR units.
The Canon PowerShot S110 measures 9.5x6x2cm and weighs less than 200grams. It can take images up to 12MP and has an optical zoom of up to 5x. The face has only the 5.2-26mm lens, the right side has a rubberised bung over the A/V and HDMI out ports. The left side is clear, the base has a tripod screw and a door behind which the solid battery and any SD card you use goes. The top has the automatically raising flash module that is above and to the left of the lens and never closer than 4cm.
Having looked at several security/surveillance cameras this offering by D-Link seems to offer a lot more out of the box and not only can you view from any PC but also from iPad/iPhone and Android devices and data can be stored in the cloud.
The D-Link DCS-5020L web camera can be fitted on the supplied holder or used flat on a surface meaning it is a lot easier to move from place to place. Without the fitment it is 17cm tall, 12cm wide and 11.5cm deep with power lead inserted. Unlike most other fixed units that you adjust to view at a certain area this can pan and tilt, in fact it can also zoom in all from the ‘i’ device or Android controls on the viewing screen.
Taking advantage of the latest USB technology, Lexar has released a range of flash drive devices with the promise of speedy operations.
Lexar, a leading company in the development and manufacture of award-winning memory solutions, has recently added two new offerings to it JumpDrive range of flash drive products. Both of these products support the latest USB 3.0 technology. These recent additions are the S23, which is claimed to be one of the smallest USB 3.0 flash drives currently available, and the P10 which comes with the tag line of being one of the fastest USB 3.0 flash drives available for purchase.
These items seem to develop as the first one I saw was a very basic offering, then a rather nice solar one that even works through the winter with no external power, here an offering that gives barometric readings as well as a UV option.
As we finally seem to come to the end of the longest hot and dry spell for a very long time perhaps a weather station will start to give useful advise rather than hot and dry. It is 17.5x9.5x1.5cm the exception is that it sits on a circular base so for the first 1.5cm it is 9cm round. The base contains three ‘AAA’ batteries which are there to maintain readings when power is not on however the unit will not display anything when mains power is not available.
Well known for its audio products, Creative has developed a 2:1 speaker system with a difference.
While the Creative T3150 speaker system has the familiar look of your standard 2.1 speaker system, it does possess a feature that I had not normally associated with such a product. This combination of a subwoofer and two satellite speakers have gained an attribute that I have been advocating to be included for a number of years.
Real characters, ghostly apparitions and live jigsaw type videos all come together in a Mystery Case File title.
Shadow Lake, part of the Mystery Case Files series, is a Hidden Object Adventure game. Originally published by Big Fish Games, this title is now available from Focus Multimedia in Collector’s Edition format. Usually when a game is released in this type of format, most of the bonus items, apart from the immediately available Strategy Guide, are locked until the main game has been completed. Shadow Lake is, in some ways, an exception to this rule.
The first is a rather nice shower proof Bluetooth speaker set at a not outrageous price. The second is a method of saving your USB device be it phone or tablet from having a flat battery when you are away from power.
Any Bluetooth speaker unit that can play for 18hours and 11minutes between charges is certainly worth a second look. It is small and easy to walk around, it does have the ability to play via a 3.5mm lead, but the main focus of this unit is as a Bluetooth device. It is 17.5x6.5x5cm. My unit was black and as there are no open paws and everything being rubberised their claim of it being splash resistant or even showerproof should be true.
As one of the original market leaders in the mobile phone sector, Nokia is now facing a massive battle from the forces of iOS and Android. As part of the Nokia offensive is a new Lumia model.
Like other models in the Nokia Lumia series, the Lumia 620 smartphone offering is a Windows Phone 8 device. This latest model is being targeted at the more youthful, fun-loving market sector. To this end, the Lumia 620 will be available in a range of colours that could include, depending upon your location, lime green, orange, magenta, yellow, cyan, white and black. My review unit was the white model.
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