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In the past I have checked out various digital voice recorders from different manufacturers but this is the first time that the voice recorder bears the LINDY brand name.
It was certainly not what I expected when I requested a review unit. Unlike the other voice recorders, this LINDY Wireless Voice Recorder requires to be connected to a computer running appropriate software before you gain access to its functionality which is rather restrictive when compared to some other voice recording devices.
Remote control flying devices come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The latest offering to fall into my hands is a mini-helicopter.
My skill, or perhaps lack of skill would be a more appropriate description, as a helicopter pilot is renowned in my family circle. Amusement is rife as I make valiant attempts to perform even the most basic manoeuvres of flight with various remote control flying machines. In my defence I do try to claim that I am testing the crash capabilities (of which I am an expert) of the current device but this feeble attempt at justification rarely succeeds.
This is another in a growing band of phones with a 5mega pixel camera. While I doubt this will ever replace a digital camera for a photographer but, as everyone always seems to take their mobile phone with them it can be where a digital camera is not.
This phone certainly has a solid feel. It is 10x5x1.5 when closed and this increases by another 3.5cm when the screen is moved up to reveal the 12 key keypad. The phone weights 90grams. The screen on the KC550 is 4.9x3.8cm and is clear and easy to read. The first unusual thing is a slide on the rear that hides/exposes the 5 megapixel auto focus camera lens. When pulled down it exposes not only the lens but the flash and the self image mirror.
As your hard drive is probably the slowest component of your computer system, it certainly makes sense to ensure you are getting the maximum possible response from this device.
One way to help is to ensure that the drive is regularly defragmented so that files are stored contiguously rather than being scattered willy-nilly in different locations. The situation of files being broken up and scattered to various locations on your drive occurs through the normal use of the operating system. Rather than spend time looking for a space large enough to accommodate a file, the operating system will fill up spaces with portions of a file.
This new Personal Video Recorder (PVR) from Humax provides 160Gbytes of storage, enough for around
100 hours of recorded TV.
The PVR-9150T joins the established
and the PVR-9300 product. We were impressed with the 9200 - it was the products stability and reliability that made
it stand out from the crowd as much as price and features. Connections on the 9150 have been significantly simplified from those of it's older stable-mate and it's clear
that this product is aimed at the majority of people that want an easy to use, no fuss video recorder that
attaches to their TV with the minimum of hassle.
Here I am looking at the latest offering from Pure Digital the One Mini. Just as this arrived Pure announced they had sold 2,000,000 DAB radios this is of course DAB but also FM and you can connect an iPod or portable CD.
It is 14x13x6cm a lot smaller than most DAB/FM units, probably the reason for the name 'Mini'. It has an eight piece rod aerial that increases the second figure the height by 44cm if it is extended vertically. The rear has input for the A/C adapter, there is a battery bay but this can only accept a 'ChargePAK' and not standard alkaline batteries. The top has six silvered buttons, the large one on the left on/off and the other five all labelled as to their job.
Yes now with this rather good quality webcam and microphone on a stand you also get an electronic fan to keep you cool while you have your video conversations. You can of course use either one individually.
It looks rather futuristic on its chromed articulated arms that can be bent to whatever position you require. The camera can be as much as 18cm from the base. While the microphone that emerges on its own chromed articulated lead from the base of the camera and is 12cm. Yet another chromed articulated lead emerges from the base and this is 12cm with the fan on its end there is a small push button to operate the fan on the base. The base is 6.
While headphones are a very convenient way of listening to your music it's good sometimes to
go for the more traditional approach and listen through speakers. The EQ5 from Motorola
are a small set of stereo Bluetooth speakers that double up as a speaker-phone.
The Motorokr EQ5 definitely fits into the portable category measuring 115x65x15mm (WxHxD) -
almost identical to the iPod Touch. Very easy to slip into a pocket or bag. Build and design
quality are both very good with a black fascia and silver trim and this is matched by a pretty good, although bass-light sound. A small but surprisingly stable wire stand folds
out from the rear.
Rather than upgrading your notebook to one of the all-singing, all-dancing models, you could opt to improve its audio quality with the addition of a small device from Terratec.
Adding to its extensive range of TV, video and audio based products,
Terratec has recently introduced a USB media card as part of its Aureon
brand range. This new product is the Aureon Dual USB device which
has been designed to add multi media centre capabilities to your
desktop/notebook system. The kit consists of an 82mm USB stick, black
in colour, and a small adaptor for use with optical digital output.
Often taking notes is discouraged simply because to make then permanent needs transcribing. One solution is a notebook or even a Tablet PC. These however are heavy and normally quite expensive. The Zpen from Dane-Elec is another somewhat cheaper option.
You write on a sheet of paper with the special pen and all your strokes are recorded in what looks like a paper clip, plug this clip into a USB port and then you can see what you had written on the paper on a PC screen. At this point it can be saved as a graphic or even a PDF file. Run another piece of provided software and it could even turn into text. This last piece of software works a little like OCR software works on printed output works on scanned input.
Giving my trusty old electric kettle a holiday, allowed me the opportunity to check out a new stainless steel model from Rowenta.
Whether you favour tea, coffee or maybe a combination of the two (although not at the same time or in the same cup), a supply of hot water is essential to satisfy your choice of beverage. One possible solution to supplying this hot water could be the Rowenta Prelude. This stainless steel kettle has a capacity of 1.7 litres. Its description as a cordless kettle does raise the question of how the water is heated if there is no cord to connect to a power source.
If certain products can help improve your memory then perhaps something similar could be used to benefit your computers memory and its way of working.
Based in , O&O Software has been in the business of developing tools for use with Windows since 1997. Sold in over 50 countries, these tools cover various aspects of Windows operating system including cache management and the use of memory with its O&O CleverCache product which is now up to version 6.
Here two items the first a quality speaker that runs of three AAA batteries and the second a headset that enables your phone to remain firmly in your pocket or bag and thus saves you from becoming a target for thieves.
This is a single battery operated circular speaker for anything that has either a 3.5mm or 2.5mm output jack. It is described as a 360 degree speaker and that the battery life is stated to be 24 hours so is ideal for a small group to listen round. While it is likely the 'group' would be young people, I found that in a normal room environment this speaker gave plenty of volume from an MP3 player.
Oh how circumstances have charged with more resources and an improved enlightened attitude towards the presence of IT within the school curriculum.
During my time working at the chalk-face, admittedly several years ago, the prospect of one computer per child was considered little more than a pipe-dream. The allocation of a school's computing resources, especially in a multi-storey building, was one computer per floor.
It's september so as (recent) history dictates it's time for Steve Jobs to take
to the stage and show us what he hopes Santa will be delivering this year.
The changes this year though are more cosmetic than substantive. gave
us the innovative and totally cool iPod Touch and the video capable iPod Nano. This year
we have a new slimline Touch and a new nano that seems to have slipped back a generation
in design from that launched only 12 months back. Let's look at the new Nano first. Last year saw a migration from long and thing to short and squat.
This year sees a complete reversal of that back to tall and thin measuring 90.7x38.
LinkSys, a division of the networking giant Cisco, have taken a bet on the success
of 3G 'mobile' technology with the release of this hybrid gateway/router product.
There are many devices around now that allow you to share a broadband Internet connection with computers and other devices in your home or small business. The LinkSys WRT54G3G adds to the standard broadband connection the ability to slot in a wireless 3G data card. The device can effectively connect your local home/business network to both a wire broadband connection via Ethernet and/or to a 3G mobile network using 3G/UMTS data card (standard PC-card format).
To describe this as a hand blender is a vast underestimate. Not only is it that but with the various containers it becomes far more with the ability to be quickly attached to turn it into a variety of useful kitchen gadgets.
First as the hand blender it is 36cm tall, holding it at the thickest part of the rubberised grip it is 15cm round just about comfortable for an adult hand. The top 19cm is the rubberised piece and this is where the powerful 700watt motor lives. There are two push buttons on/off and turbo but above these near the top is a control wheel with speeds from 1 to 5 for various tasks.
The first is a conventional watch with a plus that it can also be used as a Wi-Fi finder. The second is perhaps a clock that is a talking point more than something to tell the time but it does that as well.
Wi-Fi Finder Watch The instruction manual calls it rather grandly an Alarm Chronograph Module. Well I suppose it is as it can be used as a countdown timer, Chrono Timer, Regular Watch with Calendar, Alarm Mode and by pressing a button at the base of the face finds any Wi-Fi networks in range. The watch is 3.8x4.2x1.5cm and comes with a fitted rubberised strap.
As I mentioned last week, manufacturers and developers already have Christmas product line-ups in place.
This week the spotlight falls on Disney Interactive Studios, the interactive entertainment affiliate of
the Walt Disney Company, with its range of multi-platform video games and entertainment products for
the young and young at heart.
This is the largest of three models that give a truly improved sound from the otherwise rather bland output available from the Apple iPod. While Orbitsound T12 unit comes with a sub woofer the really exciting stuff is developed in the main unit.
It is 53x13x10cm with leads inserted. The only thing I have not included is the height of your iPod above the top of the unit, simply because this will vary according to the model you use. The Orbitsound product produces 'airSOUND' from a single speaker giving not only an ordinary stereo effect but also a wide stereo. The nearest thing I have heard previously to this is a product devolped by Yamaha a few years ago but this was huge in comparison and was solely to give a decent output from a TV.
Cloning your hard disk by using appropriate software could come to your rescue in the event of disaster striking.
Like going to the dentist, making a back-up of your valuable data is often a task that is put off until a later date or perhaps forgotten about altogether. Even knowing that the results could have dire consequences seems to make no difference as many feel that disaster would never happen to them so why take the time and trouble to perform a backup.
Giving your table lamp a helping hand is easy and possible with a product available from Prezzybox.com.
Recently I had the electric lighting system in my home rewired. The positioning of some lights, which I am still adjusting to, was moved while, in a couple of cases, cord-pulled switches replaced other types of on/off methods. One innovative technology that I did not consider as part of the rewiring process was the use of hand movements to control various lighting conditions.
This is a 500GB external hard disk but that is far from all of its abilities, apart from connecting to a PC it can also connect to a TV, DVD player or set top box and it can store your own digital movie and music library for playback on your TV or PC.
It is 19.5x16x5cm with cables connected and it is shiny black but as this will never pass the lounge police it could happily sit in a draw of cupboard with only a trailing wire to tell it was there. The front has an on/off button and a .5cm thin strip window that shows various LED through it. The left side base and top have nothing while the rear has four connections power input, A/V in and A/V out and a USB port.
As we become increasingly mobile with our computing activity, we do need to be sure we are protected at all times from malicious threats.
I first came across and wrote about DriveSentry last year ( ). In the intervening period, the company has been busy developing a new product which is currently available exclusively from the PC World chain of stores. This product is DriveSentry GoAnywhere. It has been developed to safeguard removable devices from the one million plus Internet viruses that have been identified by computer experts.
As a radio lover I was very interested to get my hands on this pocket DAB radio from Goodmans. Billed
as the "smallest personal/pocket DAB radio in the world" this could be exactly the replacement
for my pocket FM radio.
Despite being a great fan of radio (I admit it - a Radio 4 listener) - I actually have very little time in which to listen. The best times for me are either when gardening or when running, and with the weather this year precious little gardening has been done! The Goodmans GHDAB101 measures 69.5 x 44 x 21.4mm and weighs a mere 68 grams. Power is provided by two AAA batteries, something I fully applaud.
Not as you may think power tools but a couple of high powered torches and then all you need to keep stuff cool or warm providing you have a cigar lighter socket nearby so ideal for days out in the car.
Black&Decker Light Bar BDLB14 Now summer is officially over maybe we will have some decent weather for those outdoor activities, the only problem is nights are drawing in so light is needed, while an ordinary torch will light you way its probably a pain to read with and certainly for things like eating not really enough. Here a 26.5cm tall light bar, it can be hung or stood on any flat surface.
While this is a digital photo frame it also plays music and can even play .AVI movies both sound and video, in fact it is a rather nice product all round. There has to be a minus point and my tests have produced two.
It is 32x21cm around the outside, if you have it flat against something it is 4cm thick if you use the fold out flap stand this adds another 11cm. The viewable area of the screen is 22x13cm giving the notional 10.2inches. In theory it can be controlled from the buttons on the rear of the unit, in fact to start a screen show you need the supplied remote control. This is the watch/clock battery type with ten buttons and of course the ubiquitous five position joystick.
While in our time zone it may be at the end of August as we ponder on what became of summer this year; manufacturers and service providers seem to exist in a totally different chronological time period.
Companies are already well up to speed with their Christmas push of a range of offerings aimed at tempting us to part with our disposal income. Increasingly I am being asked (coincidentally the writing of this sentence was interrupted by a phone call from a PR agency attempting to make a pitch on behalf of one of its clients Christmas plans) what my plans are for Christmas features.
This review has taken longer than usual, partly as I have had a few computer problems, but probably mainly because it is rare for me to be challenged by such a good camera as I rarely get to review a DSLR.
I think the majority of professional photographers use a Canon unit of some sort. This is quite light and a semi professional photographer friend of mine was quite envious. Of course the real professionals have umpteen lenses and numerous tripods. What I tested was with a single 18-55mm lens. I rarely start with the weight but this was only 770grams with neck strap attached, the only extra a professional would need to use would be an external flash gun.
While Microsoft is better known for its software products, the company also develops various hardware items including a webcam.
Webcams tend to come in various shapes and sizes, often depending upon the whim of a design team. In the past I have worked with webcams that resemble a large eyeball, a cylindrical tube, and even an Egyptian-style statue. The latest webcam to emerge from Microsoft hardware department, the LifeCam VX-7000, reminds me of a metallic name badge, especially when viewed from front on, worn by company representatives.
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