gadget news and reviews

Shure SE310 Earphones (Review) +

Walk into any recording studio in America and you’ll shurely find the name Shure scattered around you on various pieces of professional equipment. Bad jokes aside, since 1925, Shure has been synonymous with high-end audio products and has seen great success from microphones to personal monitoring systems. To offer the common audio lover their professional sound, Shure released the SE series of IEMs (in-ear-monitors) derived from their professional e-series, now named SCL. Today, I’ll be looking at the SE310 earphones placed right in the center of Shure’s SE-series lineup.

Shure includes a comprehensive package along with each pair of SE310s to offer customizations and modularity for each person. The items include a rugged carrying case, a cleaning tool, a cable extension, and a plethora tips: rubber, foam, and tri-flange tips in small, medium, and large sizes. The packaging is professional and inspires confidence for a quality product. The included tips prove very versatile and comfortable, plus they help dampen out a significant amount of outside noise. The excellent isolation will let you listen to your music in peace on public transit, at noisy family events, or even help on stage to drown out the crowd so you can focus on your live performance. (Keep in mind, it’s illegal to operate motor vehicles and bicycles with both buds in.) The cable extension is a clever way to meet the needs of those looking to hide their cords or to eliminate all the excess cables if you prefer to mount your digital audio player on an armband. Finally, the cleaning tool is quite handy when it comes to removing nasty ear wax from the sound tube of the IEMs. This helps ensure clear and unobstructed sound. Read More

Dell Refreshes Mini 10 For 2010 +

Although analysts keep debating whether Netbooks are a brief trend or whether there here to stay, they’ve still been fairly good sellers. The current generation of Netbooks running on Intel’s Atom N270 have a few drawbacks. While they are highly efficient when it comes to conserving battery life, they begin to choke during media playback. These are great for web browsing, word processing, but often can’t handle much more. That’s all about to change. Intel’s new N450 Atom processor will become available in netbooks in early January. Paired with a new graphics chip, the new processor will run faster and consume even less power. Dell’s new Mini 10 will be sporting that processor.

In addition to the new Atom processor, the 2010 refresh of Mini 10 claims up to 9.5 hours of battery life (6-cell), a new Broadcom HD media accelerator, surround sound, an optional built-in HDTV tuner, Bluetooth, and  WiFi with a GPS module. The Mini 10 is also available with Mobile Broadband as well. The current lineup looks like it will be available in 6 colors: Blue, Red, Pink, Green, Black and White. Read More

Palm Touchstone Charging Dock (Review) +

One of Palm’s special accessories for the Pre and the Pixi is the Touchstone Charging Dock. It’s quite unlike most docks. It’s wireless. Just place the Palm Pixi on the Touchstone and it begins charging. No cables or hassle necessary. It’s actually quite similar to the Powermat Wireless Chargers we recently reviewed. It charges phones through electromagnetic induction. It may all sound great, but there are other factors including price I’d recommend considering before picking one of these up.
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Building a Workstation – Part 1 6

Whether you’re performing engineering simulations, rendering CG scenes, or you just want a beat all gaming rig, there are times where your average desktop computer just doesn’t cut. For these times there’s the workstation. With similarly specced systems from HP and Dell costing upwards of $6000, we decided to build our own, and Project Colossus was born.

Project Colossus
To meet our needs, The Colossus had to be a versatile powerhouse that could multitask like no other with an emphasis on CPU rendering, all within my budget. I decided to go with a dual-socket Intel e5500 platform, keeping the cost to performance ratio in mind to avoid diminishing returns. Data redundancy was a must and extra scavenged hard drives are used to help keep costs down. After putting a plan together, it was time to do some shopping.
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Change Windows 7 Login Background +

Let’s admit it, Windows 7 has a pretty good looking login window. However, that won’t stop tweaks from figuring out ways to modify it. The setup usually requires messing with the system registry and messing with system files. Fortunately, Tweaks.com created an awesome little tool to solve the problem. You don’t even need to install it. Just download and run. So here’s what you do:

Program Method:

1. Download: ‘Logon Changer‘ (242K)
2. Launch the application
3. Click ‘Change Logon Screen’
4. Browse to the image you want
5. A preview of the logon screen appears

And that’s it. It’s that easy. The tool automatically re-sizes and makes the image you provided look right. There’s no further hacks needed. If you ever want to revert back to the original image provided by Microsoft, just launch the Tweaks.com program again. There’s a one-click “Revert to Default Logon Screen” button. Press it and everything should be back to normal. Enjoy!

Links: Tweaks.com Post

Palm Pixi – Sprint (Review) 2

I recently received the the Palm Pixi, the younger sibling of the Palm Pre, courtesy of Sprint. It’s Palm’s second webOS device and just like the Pre, the Pixi supports Synergy, multi-tasking, has a full QWERTY keyboard, and the gesture area. However it is still is a notch down from the Pre. Most notably, it doesn’t have WiFi, rather running solely of Sprint’s 3G network. While it may not be a powerhouse compared to other Smartphones, the Pixi looks good, is affordable, and compact.

Palm Pixi Specifications:

• Provider: Sprint
• Operating System: Palm webOS
• Display: 2.63-inch 320×400 multi-touch
• Camera: 2.0 Megapixel Camera + Flash
• Music: MP3, WAV, AAC/AAC+
• Video: MPEG4, H.263, H.264
• Memory: 8GB internal
• Dimensions: 4.37L x 2.17W x .43D inches
• Battery: 5 hours talk time | 350 hours stand-by
• Other: Bluetooth 2.1+ | 3.5 mm Audio Jack

The Body: 4/5 stars
The Pixi weighs only a few ounces, looks thin and sleek. The body has a soft feel and offers a good grip. It’s probably one of the better looking phones I’ve come across. There’s a volume rocker, a switch to silence your phone, and a microUSB port on the right side. Accessing the charging/data USB port was a bit of a nuisance. There’s only a tiny sliver of space between the flap and the body of the phone. Even if I did manage to get it open, it immediately snaps back due to stiffness and the magnetic piece. After about a week of struggling with this, the magnet actually just fell out, now the flap doesn’t even close properly. I think it’s Palm’s plan to get us to buy their Wireless Touchstone charger. The back of the phone is essentially a rear “face-plate.” Palm offers various artistic designs. There’s no microSD expansion and the only thing under the rear cover is the replaceable battery pack. The 2 megapixel camera, flash, and speakers are on the upper rear portion of the back side. The power button and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack are on the top. The front face of the phone sports the QWERTY keyboard, a gesture area, and a 2.6 inch display from bottom to top. Overall, it’s a great design and Palm has truly reinvented themselves with a new generation of hardware. I hope to see more device following this cue. Read More

Holiday Gift Guide: Smartphones 1

This year has been all about Smartphones. Every major cell provider has one whether it’s running on the iPhone OS, BlackBerry OS, Google Android, Palm webOS, or Windows Mobile. While availability is no longer an issue, picking the right one for you is the difficult part. Since most of you out there usually wish to stay with your current provider, here’s what’s best for each provider:

Verizon Wireless: Motorola Droid

The Motorola Droid is probably the most powerful phone offered through a domestic cell phone carrier. While there may be a few critics, the majority of reviews are favorable about the Droid and tout it as superior to the famous iPhone. While I could go on about the features it sports, here’s a few for starters: Touch Screen, QWERTY Keyboard, WiFi, GPS Navigation, Camera, and plenty more. While that’s my number one choice, if you’re looking for another good alternative on the Verizon Wireless network, check out the HTC Droid Eris. It’s lighter, looks friendlier, and costs a fraction. The Eris will be receiving the Android 2.0 update that the Motorola Droid uses early next year.

Buy: Motorola Droid $150 | HTC Droid Eris $10
Links: Motorola Droid Review | HTC Droid Eris Review

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Best of YouTube 2009 1

It’s been a long and difficult year, from the worsening economic crisis, Michael Jackson’s death, swine flu, and the Tiger Woods media blitz. Despite that, YouTube kept us entertained. If you’ve been on the ‘internets’, you’ve probably seen all the videos below. But we’ve rounded up the most popular videos and search terms on YouTube for the year according to the owners Google.

Most Watched Videos (Global):

1. Susan Boyle – Britain’s Got Talent (120+ million views)
2. David After Dentist (37+ million views)
3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33+ million views)
4. New Moon Movie Trailer (31+ million views)
5. Evian Roller Babies (27+ million views)

Most Watched Music Videos (Global):

1. Pitbull “I Know You Want Me” (82+ million views)
2. Miley Cyrus “The Climb” (64+ million views)
3. Miley Cyrus “Party in the U.S.A.” (54+ million views)
4. The Lonely Island “I’m On a Boat” (48+ million views)
5. Keri Hilson “Knock You Down” (35+ million views)

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Google Goggles: Augmented Reality 3

While taking a second look at the Motorola Droid, I stumbled upon one of the most interesting projects I’ve ever seen from Google Labs: Goggles. This application, available through the Android Market, allows searching Google using your Smartphone’s camera. (Android 1.6+) Simply take a picture of a book, DVD, video game, business card, logo, or similar objects. Google Goggles will process the image and bring up results based on the contents. Let’s say you are buying DVD’s and you want to see if you can find a better deal online. Whip out your Android phone and take a picture of the cover. Goggles will bring up the search results, plus the option to compare prices between other stores with Google Shopping.

DVD’s, Books, and Games
Google Goggles picked up results for Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii), Caddyshack (DVD), and The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Book) with ease.

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Samsung Moment – Sprint (Review) 15

Earlier this quarter we had quite a show of Android based phones. Our previous reviews for the Sprint HTC Hero, Verizon Motorola Droid, and Verizon HTC Eris have definitely drawn in a lot of interest towards Google devices. The Samsung Moment is the latest addition to the growing trend. This smart phone sports Android OS (v1.5) with both a touch-screen display and a physical slide-out keyboard. There was plenty to like, but read on to find out if Samsung did the Android right.

The Hardware – 4/5 stars
I was quite interested with the Samsung Moment since I first noticed the large display and the physical slide-out keyboard when it was announced. Initially it does appear to be bulky, but once you get handle it for a bit, it’s not too bad. It’s actually not that bulky and relatively light weight too (5.67 oz.) The Moment is coated with a metallic chrome finish that complements the black trim well. Sliding the phone’s keyboard out feels solid, however it is a bit flimsy when slid-out. The two different pieces wiggle slightly. I’m not sure if it was just my unit, but other slide out devices such as the Motorola Droid didn’t have this issue. On the front face you’ll find a physical Call and End button. There’s also the Home, Menu, and Back keys right above a touch pad. It’s a well appreciated alternative to the trackball found on BlackBerry and HTC devices. The optical joystick registers your finger’s touch just like a regular touch pad. I found it worked well and at times more preferable to use than the touch screen. There is a dedicated button on the right side of the phone that brings up voice recognition as well as the camera. On the left side there’s a volume rocker. I was glad to see a standard 3.5mm headphone jack at the top and a flash included with the camera on back. Overall, the phone is definitely a bit larger than other smart phones, but won’t make much of a difference when carrying it around.

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