Setup Process - 5/5 stars
This is where set-top boxes usually hit the first hurdle. Customers often have no choice but to return a product when they can’t manage to get it running due to overly complicated diagrams and wordy instruction manuals. Fortunately, getting the SlingBox started took just a few minutes with a simple step-by-step process accompanied by clean visuals. The package included the bare essentials: the SlingBox Solo, a power supply, composite video cables, an Ethernet cable, and an IR dongle.

The instructions walked me through wiring the SlingBox with Composite video cables from my Cable/Satellite box or DVR, draping the IR dongle over my TiVo, and wiring an Ethernet cable to my D-Link router. After powering it up, I headed over to my WiFi-enabled laptop and launched Firefox. I visited SlingBox.com, created an account, and installed their required Firefox plugin. The browser soon restarted and automatically detected my SlingBox on the network. I didn’t have to forward ports or do anything remotely technical. There was a notification regarding a new firmware upgrade for the SlingBox and with one-click, it began updating. After a few minutes, I was ready to continue with the setup process.

A walk-through wizard guided me through selecting the video source, picking the model of my TiVo, and keying in my ZIP code for a digital TV Listings Guide. There was even a live video preview and a virtual remote that let me switch channels during the setup process. Within just a few minutes, I was ready to go without any obstacles. If I had to suggest an improvement, the inclusion of Wi-Fi would have helped since my router was on the other end of the room. Also, despite the box advertising support for HD inputs, they didn’t include a set of Component video cables. However, on the bright side, the getting the SlingBox working will be easy and quick for the average consumer. Plus, if anyone needs help, SlingMedia even offers a phone number, email address, and website for support inquiries.

Streaming Quality – 5/5 stars
I spent a couple of hours streaming TV from one room to another at home on a high-speed local area network. Live content had about a 5 second delay and came in at nearly 5,000-6,000 kbps with both audio and video being crisp and clear. There were no pauses due to buffering and I never faced jitters or choppiness, which are generally common problems associated with streaming technologies. Switching channels or performing navigation commands took about 2-3 seconds on average and requires a good amount of patience if you enjoy channel surfing. Fortunately, once you lock onto a show, it’s no longer a problem. The picture quality is definitely a small step down from what you’ll see on your TV, but still quite watchable with a hint of “graininess” and “pixelation.” I was glad it worked, but I was cautiously optimistic as the true test would be streaming from a remote location.

Over the next few weeks I tried tuning into my SlingBox feed located in Davis, CA from a couple of locations: from the UC Davis campus with a super fast 80 Mb/s download speed, from a friend’s place with a 12 Mb/s cable service, and from my parent’s place nearly 150 miles away with a slow 1.5 Mb/s DSL line. While download speeds are important, I should mention that getting the best quality is highly dependent on the upload speed of the broadband connection powering the base unit. SlingMedia’s servers only take care of the technical aspects of forwarding ports and getting you connected to your SlingBox, not transferring video content. Fortunately, my upload speeds are about 4-5 Mb/s on average, which is plenty for handling streaming my TV content. After running tests in all three locations, I was surprisingly able to receive a high quality video stream despite varied incoming speeds of 1,700 to 2,500 kbps right in my Firefox browser.

As a geek, I naturally wanted to push streaming tests even further so I decided to give it a shot over Sprint’s new 4G network in Seattle, WA and on Verizon Wireless’s 3G network in the San Francisco Bay Area. After pairing Sprint’s 4G Overdrive mobile Wi-Fi hotspot with my Dell XPS Laptop, SpeedTest.net calculated my download speeds just short of 4Mb/s. The next generation of mobile broadband was more than enough to bring in my SlingBox stream at 1,500 kbps. I then took a step down using a 3G card that generally averages 2 Mb/s download speeds and it also surprisingly managed to open and maintain a steady stream at about 500 kbps. Although video quality become somewhat more pixelated, it was still decent enough to get a dose of TV when needed. On-screen text was most affected, but general video blending wasn’t at all an issue.

I am quite impressed with SlingMedia’s work to create a scalable technology that literally overcomes performance issues even with the bottleneck of slow bandwidth. I was further astonished to realize that both Hulu and YouTube often had to pause to buffer while my SlingBox live stream didn’t, though the quality is a step down. I don’t know the secret behind the SlingMedia compression code, but it works like magic. Even when you are on a slow connection, both video and audio keep running strong.

SlingPlayer iPhone App – 5/5 stars
If you are on a PC or a Mac, you can use a desktop SlingPlayer client or enjoy your SlingBox content right from your web browser. Both are free and fully functional solutions. However if you own a BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm OS (not webOS), iPhone/iPod Touch, or Symbian smartphone, you’ll have to pay a one-time $30 fee to grab the mobile SlingPlayer App. If it’s something you plan to use quite often, that’s a small price to pay considering there’s no monthly or yearly fees of any sort associated with any SlingBox service. The convenience of being able to access your TV broadcast and recorded shows from a DVR on a mobile device is quite frankly fascinating.

Streaming over 3G networks was initially disabled due to contractual reasons with AT&T when I first was given access to the App. Being restricted to a WiFi hotspot was quite restricting and a major setback for SlingMedia. AT&T made it sound as though the iPhone SlingPlayer App wasn’t optimized enough for 3G streaming, but it seemed to run smoothly with my Verizon Wireless 3G MiFi. A few weeks later, SlingMedia released a minor update in coordination with Apple and AT&T that enabled 3G streaming. I found that whether I was within the city of Davis, CA or hours away, the program was quite reliable. The video and audio quality was almost always clear enough to comfortably enjoy a show.

Each time you launch the App, there’s a few second delay since it assesses bandwidth speeds and optimizes the stream for the best performance. Once viewing your feed, switching channels is an easy swipe down or up. There’s a convenient favorites menu that allows bookmarking channels for quick access. A double tap brings up the DVR controls to play/pause or forward/rewind a show. There’s also a D-pad, numeric keypad, and a full menu of commands to control your TV. I wasn’t too particularly satisfied with the messy menu organization and found it to annoying to navigate. There’s also a fairly long delay after each command which requires plenty of patience. I was also disappointed to learn that there wasn’t a local digital TV Guide as found on the Mac and PC versions, but that I had to resort to using the TiVo Guide which was difficult to use on a small display.

Conclusion:
When it comes down to the bottom line, the SlingBox is an amazing device if you have times you need to get a dose of TV when away from your home. With support for both Macs, PCs, and mobile devices, it’s everywhere. The only major disappointment was when I learned that both the SlingBox Solo and Pro-HD only support streaming to a single device at a time even if they are on the same channel. However, with no monthly or yearly fees, a one-time hardware purchase makes this an amazing deal. If you have a broadband connection and a subscription to Satellite or Cable TV at home, this is a prefect solution to getting free access to live TV anywhere. While many shows are beginning to legally hit the internet through distribution mediums such as Hulu.com for streaming or iTunes for paid downloads, episodes often don’t appear for a few days after broadcast. In fact, sports fans have little to no options of when it comes to watching their favorite professional sports event live online whether it’s football, baseball, or basketball. The SlingBox is a perfect solution and when it comes down to the bottom line, it’s affordable, easy to setup, and simply works. I’ve never been able to watch TV this easily from so many places.

Links: SlingBox.com Solo
Buy: $149 for SlingBox Solo (ships free + no tax)

Microsoft Arc Mouse Specs:

• 2.4 GHz Connectivity
• 30 ft. Wireless Range
• Snap-in Transceiver
• Scroll Wheel & Back Button
• Battery Indicator

Design and Build ★★★★✩
The “arc” design, hands down, makes this device stand out against competition. The rear portion of the mouse folds into itself becoming only 60% of the original size, which is great for travel. Fortunately, when expanded, it’s large enough to rest your entire hand. The USB transceiver stows away under the mouse and is held in place magnetically. When folded, the mouse automatically shuts off to save power and fits into the included travel sleeve. The transceiver is unfortunately quite larger than the one found on Microsoft’s Mobile Mouse 4000. I wouldn’t suggest leave it plugged in when transporting as it will likely snap or damage a laptop’s USB port. As for the mouse, despite appearing a bit flimsy, it’s actually quite sturdy with little to no flex even when exerting pressure. The Arc Mouse is light enough for travel, but weighs enough to overcome possibly appearing cheap. In terms of hardware, there’s not much except for the standard left and right-click, a scroll wheel, and a ‘back’ key. Asides from that, the mouse is available in Red, Purple, While, Blue, Green, and Black. Some colors are also available in glossy editions, however I wouldn’t recommend those as they’ll likely be fingerprint magnets.

Comfort and Accuracy ★★★★✩
The curvature offers the comfort of desktop mice while the symmetrical design will allow for ambidextrous use. While the scroll wheel and left/right-click have a comfortable feel, the ‘back’ key on the front left side isn’t within reach of the expected position of your thumb. I found myself awkwardly reaching forward to press the key. The flawed positioning will be further irritating for left-handed users as they’ll have to use a pinky to reach it. Unfortunately, the Arc Mouse also lacks an additional ‘forward’ button which is even more disappointing. Despite that, the mouse still offers a great grip with a rubberized matte finish and slides smoothly over most surfaces with durable Teflon pads. The Bluetrack sensor is a step up from most laser mice as it can track on a variety of surfaces including glossy magazines. It’s still a step behind the Darkfield technology found in Logitech’s MX Anywhere that even works on glass. For the most part, the sensor is precise and responsive enough for most tasks even over a wireless 2.4 GHz connection and should meet the need demands of most consumers.

Features and Customizing ★★★✩✩
The functionality of the Arc Mouse and Mobile Mouse 4000 are nearly identical. As both have left and right-click, a scroll wheel, and a side button, the only difference is the shape. After plugging in the transceiver, Windows 7 automatically fetches the latest IntelliPoint software from the internet. All the keys work right out of the box and installing the program isn’t required, however the software allows for further customization. The program’s user interface is quite friendly and let’s you visually pick different actions per component. For example, the scroll wheel can initiate the 3D flip for Windows Vista and 7. While on the topic of the scroll wheel, I should mention that it’s a “notched” type. There’s no free scroll or flick mode available. It works fine, but including that mode and maybe even a ‘forward key’ would have gone a long way to improve functionality especially since IntelliPoint offers plenty of custom settings. I was also glad to see a simple power indicator on top which changes colors as it gets closer to running out of power. With power conserving standby feature, Microsoft claims a six month lifespan on two AAA batteries. While I can’t testify to that claim, it’s been running at full power for the past two weeks.

Conclusion
When it comes down to it, Microsoft’s Arc Mouse offers a lot for its price tag. But, is it enough? Unfortunately, I definitely feel it looses value since it lacks a ‘forward’ key and since the positioning of the ‘back’ key renders that function useless. On the bright side, it offers the comfort and feel of a larger desktop mouse and even folds away for transport. Microsoft’s Bluetrack technology is likely the second best on the market and will work on most surfaces. If you are looking for a companion for your netbook or laptop when you travel, this will get the job done. It’s available for around $40 while some colors are even cheaper if you shop around. And if you didn’t browse through the images, it’s actually one of the better-looking mouse out there. While it does lack on some features, the Microsoft Arc Mouse won’t disappoint.

The Good

• Portable Build
• Sleek Appearance
• Strong Connectivity

The Bad

• Awkward Side Button
• Bulky Transceiver
• Lacking Extra Button

Buy: Microsoft Arc Mouse $40-25
Links: Check out Microsoft’s Arc Mouse

The Specifications:

• Processor: 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270
• OS: Windows XP Home with SP3
• RAM: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
• Screen: 10.1-inch LED Glossy 1024×600
• HDD: 160GB at 5400RPM
• Video: Intel GMA 950
• Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g
• Battery: 6-cell Lithium-Ion
• Card Reader: 4-in-1
• Ports: 3x USB, VGA, Ethernet
• Weight: 2.65 lbs with 6-cell

The Hardware – 4/5 stars
When consumers generally think of Lenovo, they imagine an ugly business-oriented machine with that infamous red-stub mouse. That’s no longer the case when it comes to Lenovo’s new lineup of IdeaPad Netbooks. The black edition we received features rounded edges and a glossy finish that evokes friendlier feelings. Plus, with an artistic pattern on the lid, it’s clear that the IdeaPad appeals to the mass consumer market. Opening the lid has a smooth motion that reveals a simple inner layout. The power button and mouse keys have a sliver finish offering a sharp contrast from the black body. There’s three stickers representing Intel Atom, Windows XP, and Dolby Audio that I would have removed immediately for a cleaner look if this wasn’t a review unit.

For the most part, weight is evenly distributed throughout the body. Unfortunately, the 6-cell battery offsets the balance towards the back of the unit. I generally despise any unit that has an accessory that departs from the general aesthetics and style of a gadget. Fortunately the 6-cell battery isn’t required, but rather is an upgrade from the 3-cell that sits flush with the casing. The extended battery also raises the netbook at an angle making it appealing for typing on a desk, however it ends up causing discomfort when on your lap. Plus, the bulging battery is always an awkward fit in backpacks, cases, or sleeves.

I generally would complain about the glossy finish since it’s a fingerprint nightmare, however that’s the trend just about every gadget manufacturer has taken. The chassis of the IdeaPad S10-2 is quite robust. It’s definitely heavier than the Dell Mini 9, but seems stronger and definitely won’t warp under pressure. I found the “feet” on the bottom and sides of the netbook a bit obtrusive and rugged. With some tweaks, the IdeaPad could have been as clean of a design as the Dell Mini 9. I was also glad that Lenovo kindly offers easy-access to replace or upgrade hardware components such as the RAM and Hard Drive which are hidden under two screwed in panels on the bottom. Overall, it’s a great layout and from what I’ve seen at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, the IdeaPad S10-3 only gets better.

Connectivity – 5/5 stars
The S10-2 netbook offers a standard set of ports that are found on most netbooks. There’s a total of three USB ports: one on the left and two on the right side. That’s a great idea to prevent too many cables from cluttering a single side. Ethernet and VGA connectors are on the left side along with a line in for microphones and line out for headphones. On the front there are some standard LED indicators and a 4-in-1 reader that supports cards including Secure Digital (SD) and Memory Stick (MS). The AC power connector, Kensington lock, and WiFi switch are on the right side. The IdeaPad is completely on par with most netbooks on the market, there aren’t any extras or anything missing.

Keyboard & Touchpad – 2.5/5 stars
I wasn’t exactly too impressed with the keyboard and touchpad. While it’s expected that a smaller body requires reducing the size of keys, there are some issues that are worth mentioning. Lenovo decided to take a regular keyboard and shrink it proportionally until it fits on this 10-inch netbook’s body. This makes typing especially difficult for those coming from a regular keyboard and for those with large hands. I should also mention that Lenovo laptop keyboards interchange the “Fn” and “Ctrl” keys, which may take some getting used for those who aren’t familiar with their ThinkPad products. (You can apparently tweak that setting in the BIOS to switch the functionality.)

Dell, for example, tried to keep the keys as large as possible on the Dell Mini 9, but ended up running out of space and removing the entire function key row. That was a diaster for Dell, but they fortunately took a fresh approach on the new Mini 10 netbook with a keyboard that runs nearly edge-to-edge with the frame. Lenovo seems to have struggled on this S10-2 netbook, but has cleaned up their act on the new S10-3 model which features a 98% full-size keyboard. Other than those layout quirks, the keyboard does offer a quality feel and it’s still comfortable to use once you figure out where the keys are. There’s a decent amount of tactile force feedback which is an important aspect of a great typing experience.

I am also disappointed to say that I found myself frustrated with the touchpad. Even I’m aware that this is a small device, the touchpad simply seems too small. Even the Dell Mini 9, which has a frame that’s an inch smaller than the IdeaPad S10-2, sports a larger touchpad. I often felt constrained and ran into the small raised border surrounding the touchpad when making quick movements. There’s support for the pinch multi-touch gesture to zoom in or out, which is an appreciated addition. The dedicated scroll region unfortunately limits the area available for regular movements even further. Implementing a two finger scroll could potentially have saved some space. The left and right-click keys were thankfully the best part of the touchpad area. They offer a nice quick click for feedback when pressed. Both the keys are large enough for regular use and are easily accessible. Lenovo should have allocated more space for the touchpad as they have with the new IdeaPad S10-3.

Display – 3/5 stars
The display on the IdeaPad S10-2 isn’t too extraordinary. It’s an average 10.1 inch glossy screen with LED back-lighting running at a 1024 x 600 resolution. There’s nothing that truly sets it apart from other netbook screens. The display is recessed into the casing with a thick surrounding bezel. Most new laptops and netbooks manufacturers are opting for the cleaner look of an edge-to-edge display with a single piece of glass. Although this display is glossy, it isn’t too difficult to use in bright rooms, but will almost always look dull under direct sunlight. The blacks are also brought out further due to the glossy screen. If you look closely, the grid-line appearance of the pixel arrangement is more noticeable than on other displays. The viewing angles are not a problem if the IdePad is on your lap or on a table directly in front of you. However, the colors quickly begin to deteriorate if the screen is tilted forwards or backwards. Fortunately, horizontal viewing angles are good enough to accommodate a person sitting besides you.

Speakers – 2.5/5 stars
As with most netbooks which are tight on space, the speakers on the IdeaPad are into a poor location. Instead of facing the user, the speakers are currently pointing downwards. Everything sounds muffled if the netbook is on your lap, on a bed, or a sofa. However, it wasn’t much of a problem if it’s on a desk since the netbook’s “feet” create enough of a gap. But the speakers could have definitely been outfitted in a better location. There’s nothing spectacular about the audio quality and the midrange is mediocre, but it’s not a problem for enjoying Hulu, YouTube, and other web video content. They get loud enough and get the job done. The audio card is decent and if you plugin a decent pair of headphones, everything sounds vastly better. Plus, you won’t be disturbing others either.

Webcam & Microphone – 3/5 stars
There’s no better way to put a webcam and microphone to the test without using Skype. I opted to use the 4.2 beta version that supports HD-like video quality. Although this laptop only has an underpowered .3 megapixel resolution camera, I hoped to stream some quality video. Unfortunately, I found myself quite disappointed with the quality. Images were dark, grainy, and pixelated even in a bright room. It’s definitely a problem if you can’t make out a face easily. After using this, I couldn’t possibly appreciate that improvements a decent 1.3 megapixel camera offers more. As for the microphone, it was actually fairly clear for conversations. If you want a better microphone, you can always plugin either a USB microphone or an analog one into the line-in port. But for the most part, the microphone will do just fine for having a voice conversation with someone from a quiet office setting.

The IdeaPad S10-2 also came with a VeriFace facial recognition login security software. I programmed it to myself to give it a run. Although I had never tried it, I was quite impressed with the convince factor. Just sit in front of the laptop and it jumps past the Windows XP sign-on screen in just a few seconds. To test it further, I had a few friends try their faces in place of mine. I’m Indian and I was glad to see that the software immediately dismissed all three friends who were Vietnamese, Palestinian, and Caucasian respectively. I then had another Indian friend try logging in and after a few failed attempts, it randomly decided to let him in. We attempted to reproduce the occurrence, but weren’t able to do so. While VeriFace was convenient, I don’t know all the details on the platform’s security precautions and I feel we should probably give this technology some more time in the oven.

Operating System – 3/5 stars
When the IdeaPad S10-2 came in from Lenovo, it furnished a bloated version of Windows XP Home. There were nearly 55 processes running and it was a mess. Some of these apps included an older version of Symantec Anti-Virus, a trial version of Microsoft Office, MSN Messenger, some browser toolbars, and a few often unused Adobe programs. A clean install of the same operating system on a netbook generally has about 30 processes running at startup with drivers and essential programs installed. For an experiment, I opted to install Windows 7 Professional for further tests. It installed surprisingly quickly and worked seamlessly. Just about all the drivers were automatically configured. Although the Windows Index Rating was a minimal 2.0, it still managed to run Aero for translucency and effects. Surprisingly, even Windows Media Center 7 ran fairly well. The largest downside of Windows 7 is RAM consumption, nearly using twice as much as XP, there’s not much left over for programs. I would highly recommend stripping out the 1GB dimm and upgrading to 2GB if you want to run Windows 7. For the most part, Windows XP still works great for netbooks and should be able to accommodate the average user’s needs. Although manufacturers are loading Windows 7 Starter on new netbooks, I would have been happy to use XP on this netbook if it weren’t filled with nearly as much bloatware. Lenovo should consider the toll bloatware takes on a netbook’s performance and battery life.

Performance – 4/5 stars
The IdeaPad S10-2 performs on par with most netbooks on the market. The lack of a SSD might make it take slightly longer for startup or shutdown, but it was still faster at both than my Dell XPS M1530. The laptop recovers from standby in just a second or two at max. Firefox played fairly well, but would often freeze up while the CPU catches up if I had too many tabs open. The currently stable version of Adobe Flash doesn’t have GPU acceleration so 480p Hulu videos were often hard for the netbook to digest. It would begin to jitter for a few seconds every few minutes. Although programs like VLC were able to handle playing large video files smoothly, the laptop really can’t handle Full HD 1080p content yet. However this netbook works great for word processing, web browsing, and a lightweight entertainment.

In terms of raw performance, the Atom N270 processor performed on par with just about all the other netbooks we’ve tested using the same CPU. See the image above for numbers. To my surprise, the 160GB 5400RPM hard drive was faster than the 200GB 7200RPM one in my Dell XPS M1530, so no complains there. The device did begin to get somewhat warm near the HDD when stressing it with resource intensive applications, however wasn’t anywhere close to being unbearable. That fan is to take credit for that and thankfully it was fairly silent as well. Some netbooks I’ve tested have gotten awful warm and become difficult to hold.

Battery Life – 5/5 stars
I was quite impressed with how long this laptop would keep running for. With Windows 7, I achieved a little over 6 hours with brightness lowered to about 25%, volume off, and WiFi on. I spend most of the time typing documents and browsing the web. I also achieved close to the same amount when I took this along with me to the Consumer Electronics Show to live-blog a few press conference using a Sprint 4G USB modem. I should mention that the original operating system, Windows XP, offered even more efficiency clocking in at 7 hours. In contrast, my Dell Mini 9 with a 4-cell battery only offers about 4 hours of battery life. If you plan to watch a CPU intensive flash video on Hulu or heavily multitask, the 6-7 hour run-time is not realistic. But for the most part, the 6-cell 47WHr battery is quite impressive. As the next generation of netbooks are beginning to reach the 10 hour mark, I couldn’t be more excited. However, I’m still turned off by the fact that this battery obtrudes from the shape and design of the IdeaPad S10-2.

Bottom Line
A netbook is by no means a replacement to a full computer. The IdeaPad S10-2 is a great complement for students to take notes in class, for business users to take on trips, and for young children to play around. I was quite satisfied with the style, durability, and quality of this netbook. With a superb battery life, you won’t be disappointed or looking for an outlet on those long commutes or trips. While the extended battery is a bit obtrusive, the benefits of the added run time outweigh the bulk. I was upset to find excessive bloatware and would highly recommend performing a clean install with the latest drivers and programs. The IdeaPad S10-2 price starts at just $330 through Lenovo.com and the specific configuration we reviewed is available for $300 on Amazon. The laptop is available in a few colors: Grey, Black, White, Pink and designer covers. Upgrades including a boost to Windows 7 Starter, a slightly faster CPU, Bluetooth, and a few other features are available. When it comes down to it, if you need a laptop that’s compact, affordable, and durable, you won’t go wrong with Lenovo’s IdeaPad S10-2.

Buy: IdeaPad S10-2 Netbook
Links: Lenovo.com IdeaPad S10-2

“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way”

The Hardware
The Apple iPad is about a half-inch thick, 9.56 inches tall, and 7.47 inches wide. The WiFi-only model weighs just 1.5 pounds. It sports a 9.7-inch capacitive touch screen IPS display with a 1024 x 768 pixel resolution. There’s plenty of connectivity as well, with support for WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1. It is also offered in a 3G flavor for AT&T’s network. It works well with mapping software since it has an assisted GPS module and can also use cellular towers for better accuracy. The unit comes in four storage capacities: 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash storage. It runs at 1 GHz on Apple’s own A4 custom-designed processor. Like the iPhone, it of course features an Accelerometer to detect when rotated and an Ambient light sensor to automatically control display brightness. For video formats, it should be able to play just about all the formats that the iPhone and iPod Touch support, but in HD quality. Just like the iPhone OS, it supports display all the office file formats that the email client currently supports. (e.g. jpg, pdf, doc, xls, ppt) There’s no physical keyboard, but rather an on-keyboard that’s apparently large enough to type on with two hands. Apple did demonstrate a special keyboard dock accessory. There’s a built-in non-replaceable battery that Apple claims will offer 10 hours of productivity on a full charge. A regular Apple USB cable charges the device with an AC adapter or with a computer. Other than that, it has a regular 3.5mm headphone jack, speakers, a microphone, but no webcam.

The Apps
The iPad’s OS isn’t the same as the iPhone OS or even Mac OS X. It’s a special version that stands between the two. If anything, it’s more like the iPhone OS. That’s because it can run just about any App that’s currently available for the iPod Touch or iPhone. If you didn’t notice the screen’s quite larger. That means that an iPhone-optimized App won’t fit properly. Apple lets you run the App surrounded by unusually large black border in the center of the screen. If you prefer, there’s a magnify button that doubles the size of the App, however leaving you with a low-resolution program. It doesn’t seem to support multi-tasking or running multiple programs simultaneously. While that might take previous iPhone and iPod Touch owners some getting used to, the built-in programs are fortunately redesigned and well polished. Everything from the Safari web browser to mail client, photo viewer, maps, notes, calendar, contacts, and more have all be optimized for a 9.7-inch display with plenty of new features. Even multimedia support has improved with an improved iTunes browser interface for browsing and purchasing content on the go. The iPod app now has an interface that looks somewhat of a mix between the desktop version of iTunes and the iPhone player. It all seems a bit risky of a play on Apple’s part, however we’ll see how it holds up and if it plays well with customers in sometime.

iBooks
Yes that’s right, Apple did just take a stab at the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook. The iPad makes for a better device than the iPhone for reading books since it has a larger display. As expected, all books will be available for purchase through a new section in the iTunes Store. Books from both independent and major publishers will be available. Apple demonstrated a “Bookshelf-like” interface for browsing through a collection of downloaded titles.

Notice: Sorry for the delay, we were having some server issues, we’ve updated the content below.

iWork
Apple also ported the famous productivity suite, iWork, over to the iPad’s keyboard-lacking touch-screen interface. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers won’t just be document viewers, but rather will allow creating and modifying documents. And of course, the entire package works seamlessly in a multi-touch environment. It supposedly supports handling Microsoft Office documents as well. Each of the iWork Apps will run you $9.99. It’s hard to tell whether being truly productive and working at a fast pace with solely an on-screen keyboard will be possible.

Pricing
As mentioned previously, the iPad will be available in two versions. The WiFi-only model will be available worldwide in late March at retail price of $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for the 32GB model, and $699 for the 64GB model. The WiFi + 3G model will become available in April at a slightly higher cost: $629 for the 16GB model, $729 for the 32GB model, and $829 for the 64GB model. The 3G version will surprisingly sell without a AT&T contract with two data plans offered. A $15/month plan has a 250MB data transfer cap while $30/month plan offers unlimited data. As a bonus, iPad users will have free access to AT&T’s WiFi hotspots as well if subscribed to a plan.

Links: Apple.com iPad

The New Mats:
When we last reviewed the Powermat, they had two offerings: the “Home and Office” and a “Portable” version. While we didn’t particularly have an issues with the Mats, they came up with new ones anyways. The new Home and Office model is offered in three sizes: 1X, 2X, and 3X. They can charge one, two, and three devices, respectively. While I didn’t have the chance to spend too much time with the new model, it was noticeably sharper looking and slimmer. I felt that a single charger defeated the purpose of advertising a cable-free solution since a cable would need to go to the mat anyways. You could save some cash and just plug in a single device if that’s all you need to charge. However, the dual and triple Powermats make sense.

Powermat also introduced some new Portable Mats. Unlike its predecessor that was simply a foldable version of the Home and Office model, these have a built-in high-capacity battery pack. That means you’ll be able to charge your devices without needing to be near an outlet. These will be available in single and dual capacity flavors. That’s probably as wireless as it can get with today’s technology. Powermat also mentioned that it comes with a carrying case and includes international pins to recharge anywhere.

The New Receivers:
While the Powermat is an awesome idea, it was quite disappointing to learn that you’ll need to have a special sleeve over your device. I didn’t like the idea of having an ugly bulky case over my iPhone or any device for that matter. Fortunately, Powermat has a new product that aims to solve that, the Powerpak. It’s a simple replacement battery for your current phone. You just pop out your current one and throw in the Powermat branded version. Unlike your old battery, this one is enabled for wireless charging. They will be offering batteries for HTC, BlackBerry, Nokia, LG, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and more devices. That means you can just place your device on the Powermat to charge without needing a sleeve or any attachments.

Powermat also announced new cases for the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Apparently feedback from customers wasn’t too positive when it came to their bulky cases. Therefore, they designed a silicone receiver that’s significantly more compact. They also showed off another model that sports an extended battery in addition to wireless charging capabilities into one case. Both offer access to the USB port for syncing with a computer without having to remove the case. The extended battery case will be available in June 2010 for $79.99 and the Silicone receiver will cost $40 in April 2010.

What’s Next?
While the Powermat was a great idea, I wasn’t too sure about the future of the company after I had a chance to play with last year’s model. That was partially due to the fact that companies such as Palm were integrating the technology directly into their devices such as the Pre and Pixi. That would leave Powermat’s accessories unnecessary if other companies followed the trend. However after seeing the new Powerpak battery replacements first-hand, Powermat has renewed my confidence. They have a creative team and I can’t wait to see what other ideas they’ve got in the works. We’ll be getting these review units in the near future, so please stay tuned.

Links: Powermat
Related: Powermat 2009 Review

Who knew raising a powerful dark lord from the dead wouldn’t require me cutting off a hand after all? While not the most powerful and costly wizard on the block (see: Harry Potter), raising Voldemort didn’t require boatloads of money for great performance. All in all, the roughly $1800 spent on this system (including peripherals, shipping, and taxes) was a pretty good deal, especially when you consider that the components had an MSRP total of $2399.45 (not including shipping/taxes). So what makes this dark lord a great bang for the buck? Let’s fly through the details.

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz
The Core i7 line of CPUs is the first line of chips by Intel to have an integrated memory controller. This new memory controller dramatically decreases latency times by connecting the CPU directly with the memory without having to go through a northbridge first. Core i7 also offers triple channel memory capabilities, which increases memory bandwidth over the more common dual channel standard. Four physical cores and four virtual cores, from Hyper-Threading, give the Core i7 immense computing power. Intel currently has two variants of the i7 line of CPUs, one for socket 1156 and the other for the superior socket 1366.  The i7 920 is the lowest rated processor you can get for socket 1366. And why would such a powerful Dark Lord go for the lowest CPU in its class?  Because the i7 920, while the lowest 1366 CPU available, offers incredible value in its common ability to overclock to more expensive i7 speeds. Pair it with a good heatsink and even after the extra cost you’re still paying less than a more expensive model while getting the same, if not better performance.

Heatsink:

• COGAGE TRUE Spirit
• Thermalright 1366 bolt-through kit
• 1850rpm Scythe Gentle Typhoon
• Arctic Silver 5

To ensure that the Dark Lord stayed cool while lingering in the shadows I enlisted the help of the COGAGE TRUE Spirit CPU heatsink. If you’re thinking that the TRUE Spirit looks an awful lot like the Thermalright Ultra Extreme (TRUE), you’ll be comforted to know that the TRUE Spirit is the TRUE’s little brother. Compared to the TRUE, the TRUE Spirit features two less heatpipes (for a total of four), a smaller size, and most importantly, a significantly cheaper price. Performance wise, the TRUE Spirit has just slightly less cooling ability. Included with the TRUE Spirit is a 120mm PWM (pulse width modulated) fan that’s rated to move from 35-66.5CFM of air at 19.6-37.4dBA.

The Thermalright 1366 bolt-through kit offers a more stable and secure mounting solution for Thermalright and COGAGE TRUE based coolers. It helps apply more pressure ensuring better contact and heat conductivity between the CPU and heatsink. As the TRUE Spirit is far from a small cooler, the bolt-through kit offers one a good peace of mind.

The name Gentle Typhoon actually describes Scythe’s latest line of fans quite well. Despite the irony (who’s ever heard of a “gentle” typhoon?), these fans put out a strong amount of airflow at a quiet noise level. Utilizing a dual ball bearing design, the Gentle Typhoon fan series has a long lifespan as well as the ability to be mounted horizontally, which can quickly kill conventional sleeve bearing fans. High pitched fan blades give the Gentle Typhoons good static pressure, which is essential to keep the air flowing through obstructions such as tightly packed heatsink fins or filters. Some innovative features of the Gentle Typhoon fans are the ring of weights around the motor as well as small notches at the base of each propeller. The ring of weights reduces vibration and noise, while the notches create a different sound pitch that’s less noticable and thus less annoying. While these fans aren’t cheap, they live up to their name by moving lots of air at very quiet levels. I’ve chosen the 1850rpm model for my heatsink, which is rated to move 58CFM at only 28dBA.

When it comes to high performance thermal interface materials none has had as long a reputation as Arctic Silver. Now in its 5th iteration, Arctic Silver 5 effectively uses silver atoms in its paste to better transfer heat from the CPU to heatsink. Why do you need this paste between your CPU and heatsink? Unfortunately CPU heat spreaders and heatsink bases aren’t 100% flat or smooth due to machining processes. Thus a thermal paste is needed to fill the microscopic ridges and valleys for better surface contact and heat transfer.

Motherboard: Asus P6T6 WS Revolution
Asus has been a  longtime high quality manufacturer of motherboards and one of the worldls largest computer hardware OEMs. Known for their innovative designs and features, reliability, and performance Asus was very appealing for me. I chose their “WS” workstation grade P6T6 WS Revolution motherboard. While the P6T6 is pegged as a workstation board, it offers incredible enthusiast performance as well. High performance and robust overclocking abilities make for a great combination. The P6T6 utilizes an advanced phase voltage regulation design offering 16 clean and stable power phases for your CPU cores and an additional two phases for the uncore (QPI, memory controller). This is important for high overclocks. Another prominent feature is the six PCI-E 2.0 16x slots, which let you run up to three video cards in full 16x mode. PCI-E 16x slots will also accept PCI-E 8x, 4x, 2x, and 1x cards. One thing the P6T6 does not have is legacy support (no IDE, only one PS/2 slot). Other features include six SATA ports, two Marvell controlled SAS (which will also accept SATA) ports, integrated 8-channel high-definition audio, an external SATA (eSATA), crash free bios, helpful quick diagnosis card,  and a host of other innovative features.

RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 CMX6GX3M3A1600C9
Ask any computer enthusiast what a great performing, stable, and reliable brand of RAM is and Corsair is sure to be one of the answers. I picked up a 6GB (3 x 2GB sticks) kit of 1600MHz Corsair XMS3 RAM in order to utilize the i7’s triple channel capability. Corsair’s XMS line has always been a high performance product. With timings at 9-9-9-24, this particular kit wasn’t the absolute fastest, since lower is better, but then again Corsair tends to rate their products conservatively. So why did I get a 1600MHz kit when the i7 920 only runs RAM at 1066MHz? The answer is expandability. When overclocking a CPU you also alter the RAM speeds. Running higher RAM speeds results in higher performance.

Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD5850
ATI left their competitors in the dust when they unleashed the HD5800 series of graphics cards. It’s impressive that the HD5800 cards have lower idle power requirements, and similar load power requirements compared to the previous HD4800 series of graphics cards, which had about half the transistors of the new HD5800s. These new cards are the performance kings being the first DirectX 11 (DX11) capable GPU’s to the market. The only drawback are the cards’ huge sizes as my HD5850 comes in a a whopping 10.5 in. Another smaller drawback is the poor yields, which pushes the prices of these cards at MSRP or higher. Even though Voldemort’s HD5850 is out-wanded by the $379 HD5870 and $599 HD5970, it’s more than powerful enough to run any game at full settings at a 1920×1080 resolution. Spending the additional money for the more powerful graphics cards wouldn’t have given me any tangible benefits. The HD5850 features 1GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit ring bus which can travel in either direction, allowing for full AA and AF effects. Overclocking the HD5850 to HD5870 levels of performance shouldn’t be very difficult as this card is a HD5870 with some stream processors disabled and a slightly lower clock speed.

Hard Drive Disks: Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB
The Dark Lord called upon Western Digital’s Caviar Black line in order to remember all the people to exact revenge on. The Caviar Blacks outperform virtually of their competition with their low access times and high read/write speeds. Bundled with the Caviar Blacks is a comforting five-year warranty. I decided on the  750GB models for a RAID 0 configuration because Newegg.com had an amazing deal at the time of purchase. RAID 0 is when your computer treats both drives as one large drive (750GB x 2 = 1.5TB drive). Half the data is processed from each drive when the computer is in this configuration allowing for almost double read/write speeds. Caviar Blacks should not be used for data redundancy RAID modes such as RAID 1 or RAID 5 as their time-limited, error- recovery (TLER) cannot be adjusted. This results in less stability in those RAID modes compared to enterprise-grade drives.

Power Supply: Corsair HX 850
Like it’s memory, Corsair has made a big name for itself in the power supply arena since its entry in 2006. Over the past year Corsair power suppliess have been getting rave reviews for their price, performance, and ease of use. I purchased the HX850 modular model, which achieves 80-Plus Silver levels of power efficiency. Even though many HX850 units achieve 80-Plus Gold levels, and are rated Gold level by the 80-Plus organization, Corsair decided to be conservative and only advertises 80-Plus Silver. Included with the HX850 is a velvet bag for the unit itself, as well as a plethora of quality modular cables in their own hook and loop storage bag. The modular interface of the HX850 means you can attach just the cables you need, allowing for a cleaning looking interior. Essential wires are hardwired to the unit for maximum performance. Cooling this high-powered unit is a large 140mm fan. Pricewise, the HX850 is a hard product to beat.

Case: Raidmax Smilodon Extreme
Dark and intimidating looking, the Raidmax Smilodon Extreme had all the features the Dark Lord was looking for in a body. The matte black exterior with eerie green LED’s provided just the aesthetic atmosphere I was looking for. The Smilodon Extreme features a full front door that opens to the right. Behind this are four 5.25 inch bays, two 3.5 inch bays and a 120mm fan. For my build I stuck my optical drive in the top 5.25 inch bay and installed a Mountain Mods 120mm fan holder in the remaining three 5.25 inch bays. The center of the door contains a metal mesh running vertically allowing airflow to the fans. The side doors fold out with the pull of a latch near the top of each door. Additionally, the door with the motherboard features a removable motherboard tray. However, users beware: should you install a heatsink too tall to clear your power supply, folding out the motherboard side door will not be an option. All drive bays utilize a tool-less mounting method for quick installation and removal of devices. Additionally the hard drive cage is also removable. I had to make some modifications for my Smilodon Extreme, which will be explained further in the modifications section. I chose not to include the crossbar “dirk tooth” piece because it wouldn’t fit with my hardware, and because it was an obstruction to the case window. Luckily this piece is easily removed.

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS-324 Dual-Layer DVD-RW Drive
The Lite-On iHAS324 is a versatile DVD-RW drive with many capabilities. It can read/write all the latest formats except for Blu-ray. Lite-On has always provided quality drives at a good price giving the buyer great value. The iHAS324 uses SATA connection and power adapters for faster data transfer and less cable clutter.

Keyboard: Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000
Microsoft’s Comfort Curve 2000 keyboard combined all the features I wanted for my keyboard. I desired for an ergonomic design as well as media and functionality keys. The Comfort Curve 2000 places your hands at a more natural angle. I liked the seamlessness of the main keypad as opposed to the break in the MS Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. The Comfort Curve 2000 includes media and web buttons up top as well as an extremely handy calculator button to the right above the keypad. While the key’s aren’t the quietest, they aren’t obnoxiously loud either. This keyboard connects via USB connection.

Mouse: Logitech G5 rev.2
Even though the Logitech G5 has been discontinued and replaced by the G500, it is still an outstanding mouse. With a plethora of buttons such as very handy forward and back buttons, to a side tilt scroll wheel, the G5 offers quick access to many controls. Underneath the G5 is an adjustable weight cartridge allowing users to adjust the feel of the mouse to their liking. The surface is a rubbery matte coating that offers very tactile grip. Three user-adjustable DPI settings are available via the + and – buttons on the mouse for gaming. The USB cable is covered in braided nylon offering great protection.

Monitor: NEC EA231WMi
The NEC EA231WMi is the latest 23 inch monitor coming out of NEC Display Solutions. Featuring a 23 inch LG e-IPS panel, the EA231WMi offers superior color as well as much greater viewing angles than standard TN panel monitors. The convenient stand rotates, adjusts for height, and even has an integrated cable management system for a professional and clean look. Connections include DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort, as well as audio-in for the integrated speakers. On the left side of the screen are two USB ports for extra connectivity. The entire screen will also rotate 90 degrees for a portrait mode picture. Nifty features include a power saving eco-mode as well as a light sensor that auto adjusts the brightness of the screen to match your environment. Controls are easy to use thanks to a small joystick, and the on-screen display menu is very functional and natural to navigate. I noticed no ghosting while playing games and input lag seemed minimal. This monitor runs at a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 so you can experience all your media in full HD. Standard color profiles are easy to select and tests on various publications have shown that the EA231WMi out of the box has a very accurate color in the sRGB mode. At only about $339, this monitor is unrivaled in its features and performance.

Modifications and Tweaks:
While all the components of Project Voldemort were great individually, getting them all to work in conjunction with each other and helping them to meet my quiet and clean-looking requirements did warrant some modifications.

Working with the Case:
The Raidmax Smilodon case was certainly a pleasure to work with. Tool-less drive bays, fold out sides, and a removable hard drive cage all came in very handy. In order to maximize this case’s functionality some mods had to be done. As I couldn’t let Voldemort be “buried” again I had to make sure this case inhaled as little dust as possible. To achieve this, I followed SilverStone’s line of thought in their cases and implemented the use of positive pressure. Positive pressure occurs when your intake fans intake more air than what your exhaust fans exhaust. I had orginally planned on using the Smilodon’s side 80mm fan mounted on the Dirk-Tooth, but I hated how the Dirk-Tooth obstructed most of the interior and graphics card through the window. To remedy this I dremeled out the middle portion of the Dirk-Tooth. After completing this, however, I discovered that my COGAGE TRUE Spirit cooler was too wide, and obstructed the fan mount on the Dirk-Tooth. In the end I just went without the Dirk-Tooth.

The next mod to achieve positive pressure was to seal up the case’s openings. The side 80mm vent over the CPU cooler was sealed using a Mountain Mods 80mm acrylic cover and the lower Dirk-Tooth vents were covered with clear packing tape. On the motherboard side a piece of flat black paper and tape sealed the 80mm fan opening.

In the front of the case I mentioned how I installed an extra 120mm fan in a Mountain Mods triple 5.25 inch mount. Due to the tool-less design of the Smilodon, the unique mounting system wasn’t compatible with the triple 5.25 inch mount’s conventional screw holes. Also, supports for the drives on the chassis protruded into the mount. Once again the handy Dremel came forth and I made new holes and threaded them so I could mount the fan mount to the chassis. I also used the Dremel to remove sections of the mount that interfered with the chassis’ protrusions.

In order to maximize airflow and reduce noise, all unnecessary airflow obstructions had to be removed. The steel grid behind the front fan was dremeled out as well as the rear honeycomb, which was replaced by a much less restrictive 120mm fan grille.

I required dust filters to prevent dust from entering the case and burying the Dark Lord alive. After thinking about how I could mount conventional filters on both intake fans, and not liking the possibilities, a new unconventional method came to mind. Remember that perforated metal grille on the door? I looked on the inside of the door and delightfully found that it was mounted by simple machine screws. I also noticed that my used dryer sheets would work very well as a filter material. Utilizing six screws on the inside of the door I mounted two used dryer sheets to the inside, which would act as my filter material. This process is easy and affordable, since I will have fresh filter material every time I do my laundry.

Hard Drives:
Hard drives rotate at high speeds and thus create noise via vibration. In order to ensure the low noise output of this computer I needed to find a way to dampen the hard drives. The standard mounts that came with the Smilodon didn’t work well in my Western Digital Caviar Black drives and didn’t mount them effectively. The standard way of mounting the drives also caused them to protrude into the case giving it a messy look. To conquer both of these challenges I thought of a couple unconventional ways to mount them. The first way was to mount the drives backwards. By mounting the drives “cords in” no wires would be left sticking out into the case giving a much cleaner look overall. It also allowed me to move the drives into the hard drive cage more giving them a lower profile.

The second unconventional way of mounting the drives was to suspend them in an elastic material to reduce the drives’ vibrations and noise. I recalled the innovative P150 chassis, by Antec, and how it allowed users to mount their hard drives in rubber bands. While I didn’t have any elastic lying around, I did have 100 feet of paracord (also called 550 cord). Paracord is a thin shoelace-like material that can withstand 550 pounds of load. Seeing as how it was thin, way overbuilt, and easy to work with I used it as my ideal material. I devised a criss-cross pattern so that the drives would be secure from shifting into the sides of the hard drive cage. I also blocked off the front and back to prevent the drives from sliding out. When completed the hard drive suspension worked marvelously.

Fans:
Fans all create vibrations and can really make a lot of noise. I used tiny o-rings I had lying around to dampen the vibrations coming from my fans. Sticking these o-rings between the fan and the chassis gave me a medium with which to absorb lots of vibrations and thus reduce sound. I didn’t just stop with case fans however, and ended up using o-rings between my power supply and case as well in order to dampen vibrations there too. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fit o-rings between my 120mm fan and the Mountain Mods triple 5.25 inch fan mount; I was, however, able to stick o-rings between the fan mount and the chassis, therefore solving that problem. This modification was very convenient since o-rings are plentiful and cheap.

Conclusion:
Building Project: Voldemort had its ups and downs, but overall it was an educational and good experience. The performance coming from this machine is impressive, and has taken everything I’ve thrown at it with ease. Passing multiple days of intensive stress testing proved the components’ durabilities where cheaper options would have failed. If you’re looking for a similar computer, there are other parts options which will perform similarly to the ones I selected. While some of my components may be considered overkill, they add to the overall durability and longevity of the system. Should your budget not be quite as high as Project: Voldemort’s, I highly suggest looking into the Intel P55 chipset (1156 socket) and a Core i5 processor. That will significantly reduce costs. If you’re looking for even greater performance, acquiring a solid state drive (SSD) and moving up to a more powerful video card are a few options.

Extreme sport enthusiasts have had moments they’ve wished to capture on film whether it was the amazing ski-run or the the scene from a paraglider. Holding a normal camcorder is bulky, ties up one hand, and makes it harder to balance. Not to mention the dangers of damaging the camcorder or getting hurt. VholdR hopes to solve those issues with their new wearable ContourHD 1080p camcorder that can survive through the harshest of conditions.

A quick look at the VholdR’s website reveals recordings of the camera in action during base jumps, mountain biking, and backcountry ski trips. The ContourHD 1080p camera mounts onto just about anything: bike handlebars, ski helmets, goggles, or even cars. It is clear that this camcorder can go places that other 1080p camcorders can not. It sports a dual laser for alignment with a 180 degree rotating lens. This ensures a calibrated shot even if it’s mounted sideways. Unlike competitors such as the Go Pro Camera, the ContourHD does not look like a boxy point and shoot camera shoved in a waterproof case. Instead, it packed in a sleek and stylish black anodized aluminum body that’s shock resistant. VholdR claims that it can hold its own through snow and all types of debris. Plus, its not bulky either, it weighs just 4.3oz. To stay compact, the camcorder uses a microSD (16GB max) for storing recordings. One charge is expected to last for capturing 3 hours of content. The ContourHD is ready out of the box since it comes packed with a 2GB microSD card.

Removing gloves to fiddle with a tiny record button on a camcorder is always a hassle. Fortunately, the CountourHD camcorder has a large sliding switch on top to begin recording. This feature should come in handy to initiate recordings while moving. It allows sport enthusiasts to focus on what they do best and less about getting their camcorder to work. Other features include a fairly accessible switch to toggle between HD and SD mode to save space. VholdR’s included video editing software offers the ability to edit recordings too. It’s a complete package, all the tools to needed to record, save, and share videos online are included.

Even if you are not jumping off cliffs or doing backflips on your bike, the camcorder can still be used as handheld device due to its compact form factor. It is not limited to any one sport or situation. The ContourHD is available in 2 models; the standard ContourHD 720p and the ContourHD 1080p. They cost $250 and $330 respectively. Keep an eye out for Skatter Tech’s in-depth review in the coming weeks.

Buy: ContourHD for $250 | ContourHD 1080p for $330
Links: VholdR.com ContourHD

Sprint’s Overdrive is the first 4G-powered mobile hotspot. All predecessors from other carriers have only supported 3G networks to date. Sprint’s 4G coverage extends only to 27 markets at this time, but they’ve announced plans to expand to Boston, Huston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. this year. You can check if you are in the included coverage area here. Fortunately, the Overdrive is entirely backwards compatible with Sprint’s 3G network as well. Although slower, it’s widely available nationwide.

So here’s how it works. Just press the power button and wait a few seconds for the device to turn on, connect to Sprint, and start the local hotspot. The SSID and secure key appears on the display. Just turn on any WiFi enabled device such as a Laptop, Netbook, Sony PSP, Nintendo DSi, Zune, or iPod Touch. (Even works with the iPhone’s Wi-Fi if AT&T’s network is being spotty.) The Overdrive allows up to five simultaneous connections. Portable hotspots, unlike embedded mobile broadband chips and external USB cards, offer the freedom to share internet access with more than a device.

Sprint was kind enough to lend us a 4G mobile broadband card while we were in Las Vegas for CES, one of their 4G markets. Although I’ll leave the details in the full review of the U300 4G card, speeds often reached up to 6MB/s. (Theoretically 10Mb/s!) That’s faster than many home DSL lines and is plenty of bandwidth for streaming music from Pandora, videos from Hulu, and Skype video calls.

Sprint has sent us a sample unit for a full review, but it’s still in transit. However, a couple of unique features worth mentioning now. The Overdrive has a microSD card expansion (16GB max) to create a mini network shared drive for connected devices. The LCD displays active users, signal strength, battery life, and a few more details. Sierra Wireless, the manufacturers of the Overdrive, claims a 150 foot WiFi range. In regards to battery life, it’s expected to last up to 3 hours in use and 36 hours on standby. If you run out of juice, there’s a microUSB cable to recharge the device. The device just hit stores on January 10th and will run you about $99 after signing a two-year contract and sending in a $50 mail-in-rebate.

For more details on this and to read our full review, stay tuned. You can subscribe to our RSS Feed or sign up for Email Subscriptions. If you haven’t heard, we’re also on Facebook and Twitter!

Links: Sprint.com/Overdrive

At CES 2010, Sharp unveiled a line of new products, including their new “Quad-Pixel” technology and new line of Sharp’s AQUOS televisions. Quad-Pixel technology features an additional color, yellow, into the conventional RGB spectrum. This allows for better colors such as greater gold, deeper Caribbean blues, and amazing shades of yellow. With RGBY, a user can see an impressive one trillion colors, rather than the traditional one billion with RGB. As the presenter put it, in terms of time, it would take 32 years to count one billion seconds, but 32,000 years to count to one trillion.

The quality of the images and pictures on these new LE models using RGBY looks stunning. Sharp is releasing three LE models: the LE 920, LE 820, and LE 810. The LE 920 series comes in 52-inch, 60-inch, and 68-inch (the industry’s first) sizes and feature an edge lit LED 1080p X-GEN panel. This allows for better color and more inky blacks as it prevents back light from leaking in. In addition to being only 1.6-inches thick, the Sharp’s HDTV runs at 240Hz and boasts lower power consumption. They’ve also introduced new Netflix and Twitter widgets to complement the existing ones on AQUOS Net.

What does all this mean?
From what I saw at the press conference, the quality of the images on the screen looked stunning. By introducing yellow as another pixel, the picture does appears to be “more real”. However, until I can do side-by-side comparisons of RGBY and other competitive models, it would be unwise to take sides with which TV is better. Plus, most presentations have the TVs running at max brightness in the most vivid modes possible. After hours of looking at all the new show floor models, many of them looked promising.

Sharp also announced a few new products, including a home theater system (BD-MPC41U) with a built in iPod dock and a new BluRay (BD-HP70U) player with Netflix. Sharp also unveiled a new line of innovative, energy efficient LED light bulbs. These bulbs let you change the color from yellow to white and set the brightens easily.

Links: SharpUSA.com

Performance:
If you are a professional photographer, it’s a pain when your DSLR camera has to freeze up for a few seconds to wait for the data to get copied over from the cache to the memory card. It’s annoying when you realize that you finally have a great camera but the cheap included memory card is a bottleneck. Although speeds aren’t necessarily an issue for casual consumers, those making their way into professional photography will find many situations when fast write speeds are necessary. Sports games and keynote presentations are great examples of when the burst mode demands fast write speeds. SanDisk’s Class 10 SDHC memory cards hopes to solve those problems.

These cards claim theoretical transfer rates of up to 30 MB/s. After running some benchmarks, I found that read speeds clocked in at around 26 MB/s and write speeds were around 22 MB/s. A powerful Windows 7 machine took about 14 seconds to copy 50 JPEG images totaling in at 110MB over to the SDHC card. Copying over a single 100MB video file took drastically less time than multiple files that take up the same amount of space. That’s probably due to a file system delay to create a header to a new file. Overall, you won’t need a benchmark tool to tell you that this card is faster. The first time I copied some files over, I saw a noticeable difference over my older SanDisk Extreme 4GB Class 6 card.

The Extreme Class 10 SDHC is also perfect for those with new DSLR cameras that sport HD video recording capabilities. The Nikon D5000 or the Canon Rebel T1i are perfect examples. According to SanDisk, the card’s transfer rates apparently surpasses the requirements needed for HD recordings. That makes this an excellent complement for those planning to record HD videos. On another side-note, if you’re into extreme weather photography, the card apparently can operate in temperatures low as 13 F and high as 185 F.

Recovery Software:
With a premium card, it’s important to include recovery tools. Although it shouldn’t happen, memory cards sometimes get corrupted. Although cameras are designed to avoid issues from abruptly being turned off while saving images, it still happens. SanDisk graciously includes a license to RescuePRO which has a $40 value. If your card were to become unreadable, just install this program. Insert the card and let the program do its work. There’s a good chance that the program will be able to do some magic to recover those images that your standard Windows or Macintosh file system browser can’t do.

Experience at CES:
Skatter Tech was put this to the test on our Canon Rebel XSi during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Snapping images rapidly of glimpses of new products on stage and of rapidly moving sideshow presentations wasn’t an issue with this card. The entire process was smooth, the Class 10 speeds were handy. However, once I threw an included 4GB SDHC Class 2 memory card, the difference was quite apparent. The camera constantly choked up after a few shots. While a Class 10 might not be necessary for everyone, if you have an entry-level DSLR, at least consider getting a Class 6 card.

Price:
SanDisk offers four Class 10 Extreme SDHC cards in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities. The MSRP for these are $70, $119, $195, and $388, respectively. SanDisk’s pricing is usually drastically higher than what it actually ends up retailing for. For example, the 32GB SDHC card with an MSRP of $388 is actually available for as low as $219 on Amazon.com. For Class 10 cards, the 16GB and 32GB models are available for the most gigabytes per dollar, but those are a bit too expensive for the average consumer to pick up. I would definitely recommend Class 6 SDHC cards to the mass market since they are much cheaper. If you’re a professional photographer, the convenience of not having to swap cards and the ability to record HD videos and snap photos rapidly makes this worth the price. Plus, if there’s ever a problem, SanDisk includes a Lifetime Warranty.

Buy: SanDisk Extreme 32GB SDHC
Links: SanDisk.com Extreme SDHC Card Lineup

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang gave a private press conference in which he announced three new and exciting technologies Nvidia and partners will bring to market over the coming year.

Tegra 2
Building on the success of the Tegra architecture, Nvidia unveiled the Tegra 2 series of “system-on-chip” products. Citing the new mobile revolution, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang talked about the need and desire of consumers to have access to personal computing technologies on the go. Currently the mobile market is full of either weak products that have screens too small with too low resolutions or products that are too big, bulky, and fragile for consumers to effectively carry around. Like armored tank manufacturers, companies have to compromise to balance weight, power, and durability. Nvidia’s answer is the Tegra 2.

The Tegra 2 combines a CPU, GPU, memory controller, north bridge, and south bridge into a single chip. With eight independent processors, one would think the Tegra 2 will have a sizeable power draw, but this tiny chip draws a miserly 500mW of power. The frugal power draw will allow for, much-needed, longer battery life in mobile devices. Along with the low power consumption, Tegra 2 requires no extra cooling, passive or active, enabling manufacturers to utilize Tegra 2 in extremely thin designs. This powerful little chip comes in a compact approximately 2″ x 2″ package.

The impressive graphics power of the Tegra 2 chips will allow users to watch full 1080p HD video on their mobile devices and dramatically improve their web browsing experience since web pages will no longer require down-scaling and can run at optimal resolutions. Nvidia showed us a demo of a Tegra 2 powered netbook running the Unreal 3 engine incredibly smoothly. This demonstrates that mobile users will soon be able to play games with graphics quality no longer being a full generation behind the most powerful desktop solutions.

Simply put, the Tegra 2 will dramatically increase the opportunities mobile device manufacturers will have to create more powerful, smaller, and longer lasting devices. It will enable mobile device users to do what they did before, but much more efficiently. While the Tegra 2 won’t dethrone desktop graphics solutions by any means, it finally brings a major update to mobile graphics performance.

Audi & Nvidia
Nvidia and Audi announced a partnership agreement at the press conference which will integrate Nvidia’s technologies into the luxury automobile manufacturer’s line of vehicles. Audi Chief architect, Mathias Halliger, talked about how the processing power of the new Tegra 2 chip will be used to drive information and navigation functions in new Audi vehicles. Audi brought in a demo drivers console and showed off the navigation system and graphical user interface they plan to implementing. Audi hopes to have all of its vehicles equipped with the Tegra 2 by 2012. Halliger also stated that Audi Group will also be implementing Tegra 2 into Lamborghini supercars which it also owns.

3D Surround Vision
Nvidia also showed off their 3D surround vision technology which can display games and media in 3D using their special glasses. With a major theme of conquering the z-axis at CES, Nvidia’s entry into the 3D market comes as major TV makers are also starting to offer products which display 3D picture. Nvidia has also enabled this technology across three computer monitors and has dubbed the technology “3D Surround Vision.” 3D vision will add significant depth to games and media completely changing the way we think in games and further adding realism to the experience.

Nvidia mentioned that MSI, Asus, Viewsonic, Alienware, Samsung, and a few others already have plans on releasing 3D vision desktop and notebooks. They say that users will be able to watch 3D Blu-Ray movies and even certain YouTube videos in 3D.

The Nvidia Booth: Fermi and 3D Surround Vision are here!
After the Nvidia press conference Skatter Tech quickly hurried over to the Nvidia exhibition booth to see the unveiling of the much-anticipated GF100 ”Fermi” line of cards from Nvidia. The GF100 line of cards has been a topic of speculation for months with estimates from, “Nvidia is way behind ATI’s new 5800 and 5900 series,” to “Fermi will blow ATI’s offerings out of the water and on top of that add CUDA and PhysX capabilities!”

When we arrived at the booth the Nvidia representatives we had just seen in the press conference earlier enthusiastically led us to their unveiling of the GF100. They had multiple machines running GF100 SLI configurations showing off games and demos with their 3D vision technology. The GF100 card itself is around the same size as current high-end video cards and we would estimate it at around 10″-11″. The GF100 was equipped with two dual-link DVI connections on the back along with a HDMI connection. We asked if Nvidia had plans to include DisplayPort connections like ATI, but were told there weren’t any. Internally, it has a dual slot cooler (the card requires two slots space) and requires a 6 and 8 pin power connector.

Asking about the other features of the GF100, we were told how the CUDA architecture will allow programmers to run C++ on the GPU. We were also shown an Nvidia made “rocket sled” demo which demonstrated the graphics and PhysX capabilities of the GF100. In this demo you see an old space-race era rocket sled firing away down a track in the desert. Certain options allow for your to blow up the sled, make it crash, or stop it properly. Displaying the DX11 capabilities of the GF100 the rocks in the dirt as well as the mountains in the distance were beautifully done. PhysX power was displayed when the Nvidia rep caused the rocket sled to explode, sending our poor test dummy flying through the air and crashing in the barren desert. The ragdoll effects of the operator flying through the air and the dust with debris thrown up on contact with the ground were stunning and real with a haze left over that blew away with the wind.

With a 40nm process, we asked the Nvidia rep if production numbers would be an issue as it has been with ATI chips, but the Nvidia rep replied that GF100 was in volume production now and that we would still see it on shelves this Q1 of 2010 around the March. While we couldn’t get any hard numbers, the Nvidia rep mentioned that the GF100’s pricing would be that of standard high-end graphics cards. We expect GF100 to be at least $400.

Nvidia also had a demo of their “3D Surround Vision” technology which allows the GTX 200 series as well as GF100 series cards to display picture across three screens with Nvidia’s 3D vision technology. The setup they had running at the booth was powered by SLI GTX 285’s and was displayed across three projectors. 3D Surround Vision will require SLI GPU cards unfortunately unlike ATI’s Eyefinity, while not 3d capable, can display across three monitors off of just a single card.

There’s more on this coming soon, so stay tuned!

Links: Nvidia.com

While the digital art frame idea seems interesting, I found it to be incredibly unattractive. To put it simply, the photo frames apply filters commonly found in photo editing programs like Adobe Photoshop to photos. The result is less than impressive; it looks like a computer-processed drawing and far from the hand-drawn look Casio was aiming for. As if the gaudy pictures weren’t enough, Homlish introduced another feature – animated overlays. That means you can put animated pictures, for example a flying butterfly, on top of your “art”.

The new Casio Exilim Camera series combines high speed motion capture and high power zoom in a compact camera body.  John Homlish, Executive Vice President of Casio’s marketing department, explained that Exilim will allow consumers to take advantage of features boasted by top-of-the-line DSLR cameras without the hassle of a carrying around a large camera. The results were quite astounding. I found it hard to believe that a camera of that size produced the obligatory ultra slow-motion balloon pop.

Casio also introduced a new series of compact, environmentally friendly projectors. These projectors are 1.5 inches thick and the size of a standard sheet of letter-sized paper, and weigh less than 5 pounds. Through the use of hybrid laser/led projection technology, the projector puts out up to 3000 lumens with improved clarity and color. What makes it environmentally friendly is the lack of a compressed mercury bulb. On top of that, the projector takes less power to run and without the need to replace a bulb or filter. The laser/led hybrid technology has an extended life; over 20,000 hours. That’s 7 years if you run the projector for 8 hours everyday. A pocket-sized projector featuring the same technology is also in development and may be available later this year.

10:00 AM – A quick preview of Times Square Toshiba Ads!

10:03 AM – Toshiba’s representative just took stage. Talking about Social Media and dialogue between companies and customers.

10:05 AM – Toshiba is showing off their new Ad campaign

10:07 AM – They want us to tweet and update Facebook statuses more! They are launching a new social media hub.

10:08 AM – Eco-Friendly Time! Talking about keeping their footprint on the environment light with their products.

10:09 AM – New President and CEO takes stage. Mr. Atsushi Muarasawa.

Note: Sorry uploads are slow, multimedia coming in soon!

10:11 AM – Toshiba announces new CELL TV lineup. Ultimate 3D experience. It combines 2D and 3D content in real time and in HD.

10:12 AM – They also have a complimentary HD 3D Blu-ray player!

10:14 AM – The cell processor in the TV is the fastest processor compared to any other TV on the market. Fastest engine for fastest rendering to date.

10:15 AM – Another person takes stage. 2009 had seen 30% growth to 29 Million Toshiba HDTV units sold. They expect a 34% growth for 2010 for HDTVs.

10:18 AM – LED TVs are selling well. Expect largest growth for that market this year.

10:19 AM – Holiday Sales was up a tad bit. Annual sales went up 27%.

10:21 AM – Flat screen TVs are more compact and more people want it in more places. It’s of course coming down in price.

10:22 AM – Toshiba Conversion! A unifying technology to keep all the media in a household together.

10:23 AM – For 2010 they’ve got 10 new HDTVs and 7 will be LED TVs. In Toshiba series 6 are CCFL and 3 LED. In Cinema Seires, 2 LED models. In Cell TV, there’s 2LED TVs.

10:24 AM – True Super Resolution+ Content. It up converts content better than ever before. It literally creates it’s own pixels to fill up the gap. There’s also a Noise Cancelling Technology. It removes all the grain in a video prior to displaying it.

10:27 AM – TVs are connected. There’s Wireless HD. (Wireless HDMI). There’s 802.11n WiFi. DLNA streaming support, USB content playback, and web content.

10:28 AM – There’s a Video Phone. Doesn’t seem as great as LG’s Skype setup… There’s also plenty of web service support. Examples are Pandora, Netflix, etc.

10:30 AM – They are really trying to be able to let people get there content everywhere. They have HDDs for storage and playback on HDTVs.

10:31 AM – TriVector technology. Taking any content and making it visible in 3D. Really don’t know how that’s going to work for now. Apparently can turn any of you current videos into 3D with a special conversion technology.

10:33 AM – Genesis Design Models 55inch and 65inch. Cell TV has Mre detail, brightness, contrast, connected, content and 3D.

10:34 AM – No more CCFL, expected by 2012.

10:35 AM – loading… to be updated soon!

9:00 AM – It’s started. Netgear’s sarcastic spokesperson is on stage

9:10 AM – New Stora NAS (network attached storage) device for remote access content. it can backup and centralize content. Works with any platform. iPhone, PC, Mac, etc. Sharing is damn easy! Easy to generate URL to share content. Modular interface offers expanding storage with matching HDDs. (RAID 1 Array) Premium paid services include support for Social Networks (Facebook uploads) and RSS Feeds for geeks. Even a digital photo frame that connects over WiFi to display content from NAS. Price Point $199 with 1TB HDD.

9:15 AM – Netgear mentions brand new video compression features. It keeps content looking HD-like, but compact enough to be transferred over networks. It’s named weirdly enough Zigxy. They let the audience test it. I was able to stream a HD video in a compressed format to my netbook running on a Sprint 3G modem. The claimed compression is of a 6.5 Mb/s stream. (It’s claimed to work as though you had 3x more bandwidth).

9:20 AM – Range MAX DualBand Wireless N Router. Best of CES of 2009 has received a refresh for this year with Netgear’s “Bridge Experience.” This new technology offers 4×4 wireless N MIMO along with 1080P streaming capabilities that will cover a 3000sq ft home with ease. This new product will be offered in the spring.

Refresh to update!

We’re at the LG Press Conference and it’s packed. Only a few could make it in, but here’s what’s happening

8:12am - At the LG Press Conference

8:15am - LG announces world’s largest commercially available 15″ widescreen OLED 3.2mm TV

8:16am – Wireless HDMI with LG TVs

8:18am – Skype HD on LG HDTVs! It’s a quick accessory you plug into a compatible TV. There’s an embedded interface to view contact list and make HD 720p video calls. The demonstration failed as the internet connection was to slow.

8:19am – LG has first wireless Blu-ray player! They only had one HDTV with wireless HDMI last year. This year they have a much larger selection.

We’re updating images soon!

The Setup
Just plug the card into your computer using the included USB card reader or your own. There’s a small application you’ll have to install on either your Macintosh or Windows machine. The program will take you through a quick setup process to configure your card for WiFi networks. Although the card will automatically connect to unsecured networks, you’ll have to plug it into a computer each time you want to configure it for secured ones. The card also automatically connects to Wayport public hotspots for free for an year with this model. (There are about 10,000 Wayport locations, e.g. McDonalds)

Online Management
It’s easy to customize the way your media is handled. Unlike the WiFi setup, where you need to physically insert it into a computer, most of the other settings are managed through Eye-Fi’s website. The web interface allows you to view media, enable geo-tagging, view geographical locations of photos on a map, and set upload notifications. It’s easy to enable uploading to photo sharing services such as Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, and a few more. There’s support for blogging platforms including Movable Type, TypePad, and VOX. For auto-uploads to printing services, Eye-Fi supports Costco, ShutterFly, SnapFish, and Walmart. And that’s not it, there’s plenty more. If you’re a bit of a geek, the Eye-Fi supports dropping image files straight into an FTP server and offers RSS feeds. It also downloads a copy to your computer if it has the Eye-Fi Manager installed.

Geotagging
The Eye-Fi embeds geotags into all your images. Many tools such as Flickr and Google Picasa offer viewing your images on maps. Unfortunately it doesn’t work as you might expect. As expected, it’s probably not possible to fit a real GPS module into a SD card. Therefore, the Eye-Fi uses WPS (Wi-Fi Positioning System) to find your location using nearby Wi-Fi networks. It works, but it’s not always entirely accurate. The company has partnered with Skyhook Wireless which has mapped out 70% of the United States with over 100 million wireless access points so the geotagging feature will work even without being connected to a wireless hotspot. As long as you are in range of a mapped wireless access point WPS should be able to get 20-30 meter accuracy of your location. From my own testing, I found that it was actually quite accurate. It was literally spot on.

Wireless Connectivity
The card worked great, but there are some issues that need to be mentioned. Since the WiFi chip inside is so small and very low powered, it doesn’t do so well when it comes to picking signal. While photos transferred rapidly when near an access point, it wouldn’t work as far away as other WiFi enabled devices did. For example, my laptop and mobile phone were able to connect to my access point, but the Eye-Fi card in my camera wasn’t able to get signal from the same spot. Another issue I faced was in regards to convenience. If you want to connect to a new secured access point, you’ll need to have a computer with you. Since it’s simply an SD card, your camera won’t have an interface to customize those settings. If you primarily use it in one location or happen to visit those compatible hotspots quite often, then it won’t be an issue.

Uploading and Notifications
As I mentioned before, there’s no interface on the camera to manage the Eye-Fi. The camera will only handle the image files. Therefore, there’s no indicator to let you know the status of upload progress. That means you won’t know when to turn your camera off. If you do turn it off during an upload, it will get interrupted, but will resume uploads once turned on. To slightly solve that issue, Eye-Fi provides the ability to receive Email notifications and SMS alerts for when uploads begin, get interrupted, resumes, or finishes. You can also opt-in to receive Twitter Direct Message notifications for the same actions. The only other way to view a live progress bar of uploads is if you are in front of your computer screen while snapping photos.

The Bottom Line
For the most part, the Eye-Fi can minimize the hassle of sharing and saving media. But it’s still a proprietary technology even though it uses a standardized WiFi network. It’s especially great for those who take a lot of photos in only a few locations. However keep in mind, you’ll likely find yourself coming back home to upload photos on your own network after a party since there’s no way to configure a secured network elsewhere without a computer. While it might sound like a niche market, that’s going to soon be changing. Devices such as Sony’s Cyber-shot DSC-G3 have built-in WiFi and supports uploading to a similar variety of online uploading services. If other manufacturers start following that trend, which we might see this year at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, it’s hard to tell what it would mean for Eye-Fi since there wouldn’t be a need for their WiFi SD card. However, the fact remains, not everyone is going to go buy a new WiFi camera immediately and there’s no other way to enable WiFi for an existing camera with a gizmo such as the Eye-Fi.

While I reviewed the Explore Video model, there’s also 7 other offerings. Prices start at $50 for the lowest end version that can only upload photos to your own computer and has just 2GB of storage. Their best offering is the Pro version ($119) that offers all the same features that the Explore Video does, but adds extra support for RAW file uploads and Ad Hoc networks for professional photographers. If you have a decent camera, take a lot of photos, and don’t plan on upgrading anytime soon, the Eye-Fi will definitely go a long way to add a new refreshing feel to your current device.

Buy: Eye-Fi Explore Video for $92
Links: Eye.fi | Model Comparison Chart

What can adding more RAM do for you?
RAM acts as a fast memory cache for system processes. Having more memory allows more programs to run simultaneously without having to access the slower virtual memory on the hard drive. Because DDR2 memory for laptops and desktops has become so cheap, adding more gives you the biggest bang compared to other hardware upgrades. Given that both Windows Vista and Windows 7 are particularly memory hungry, 2 GB of RAM is the sweet spot for most users, however if you are multitasking with resource intensive applications (i.e. Photoshop, Video Editing), consider getting more. (Note 1/2/10: I should mention that a 32-bit system won’t be able to utilize 4GB of RAM to its entirety.) With as little as $25 of RAM making a noticeable increase in performance, it’s a great way to stretch the life of a computer. Of course, upgrading your hardware is second to basic computer maintenance. Neglecting to disk defrag, optimize your start-up processes, update your drivers, and keep your registry clean will have a substantial impact on computer performance which adding more RAM won’t solve. Since the latter are all free, it would be wise to do some much-needed maintenance before deciding if you really need to upgrade.

Choosing the right RAM

• Speed – the clock speed, referred to by either the standard name or module name
• Capacity – the total size of the memory modules on the DIMM
• Pin count – the number of pins and their configuration
• Voltage – the voltage required to achieve the rated clock speed
• Timing - the refresh rate of the clock cycles, which the CAS latency is dependent upon

Using the improper RAM can not only lead to boot issues, but also cause costly damage to other components. For example, Intel i7 users should be aware of the dangers of using out of spec RAM since factory overvolted RAM above 1.65V fries CPUs. The first step in buying any piece of technology is to do some research and RAM is no different. Start by checking the manufacturer’s website for the specifications of the memory used in your computer. If you’re building a computer, you’ll need to check the respective manufacturer sites for both your motherboard and processor. Most manufacturers will have a list of tested compatible RAM by manufacturer and model. Using models from this list will guarantee compatibility, but the specified modules are often difficult to obtain and are not always the most cost-effective solution. From my experience, RAM with the correct size and speed will likely be compatible as the other factors often fall into place. However, it’s better to not make that assumption unless you’ve exhausted other ways of confirming what’s compatible.

I’ll use a few year old Sony Vaio PCG-7L1L laptop as an example. After a quick search on Sony’s Vaio support site I dug up the original advertised specs listing a 512 MB stick of DDR2-533, with a corresponding module name of PC2-4200. I was hoping to find if any higher speed 667 MHz or 800 MHz memory was supported to no avail, suggesting that any faster memory used would be downclocked to 533 MHz regardless of the rated speed. If manuals and online resources don’t prove helpful, another easy way to find out what’s compatible is to just pull out a stick of RAM and look at it.

Sony’s online specs also list a maximum supported RAM of 2 GB. At this point, I checked to see if the latest BIOS version enables 2 GB DIMM support. It didn’t, but we know we can use up to two 1 GB sticks and given its age, anything more than this would be overkill regardless.

Using matched memory, two identical sticks of the same make and model (including speed and size), is ideal. There’s no doubt that 1.5 GB of unmatched RAM is faster than the current 512 MBs, but two matched sticks of 512 MBs may actually perform similarly. In a future article, we’ll test how much of a performance hit is taken by using unmatched memory. It should be even more significant if we use a machine that benefits from dual channel memory, as dual channel will be disabled when using unmatched memory. I’ve been told mixing speeds is worse than mixing sizes to avoid adverse performance issues, but I don’t have any data to support that. The computer should boot regardless since the faster DIMMs downclock to the speed of the slowest.

Unfortunately, Sony doesn’t list any tested compatible memory, so at this point I can search the web to see what others are having success with or just wing it, by which I mean use your best judgment from what you know and what you can find. To put any worry to rest, I’ve had very few problems when using RAM of the proper speed and size. In the case of this Sony Vaio, there are plenty of 1 GB DDR2-533 options found online with free shipping for $25.

Recap:

• RAM in a computer acts like your brain’s short-term memory–it’s fast, small and ephemeral.
• Adding more RAM is a low-cost upgrade for a significant boost in performance.
• Basic computer maintenance is free and should take precedence to any hardware upgrades.
• Choose the right RAM based on the compatible speed and capacity for your computer.

Links: Get RAM on Amazon

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.

Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Specs:

• Processor: Intel Intel Atom N450 @ 1.66 GHz
• Display: 10.1-inch 1024×600 or ‘HD’ 1366×768
• Sound: Built-in speakers with SRS Surround sound
• Extras: HDTV tuner and location-aware GPS
• Media: Broadcom Crystal HD for smooth HD playback
• Wireless: WiFi b/g + Bluetooth + Mobile Broadband
• RAM: 1GB DDR2 @ 800MHz
• Storage: 160GB or 250GB HDD
• Battery: 3 or 6-cell integrated with up to 9.5 hours
• OS: Windows 7 Starter, XP Home, or Ubuntu
• Weight: About 2.75 – 3.1 pounds (with 3-cell batter)

As Dell expects the starting price to begin at just $299, these should be a big hit. It might be time for me to upgrade my Dell Mini 9 soon. In addition, just about every other laptop maker should have a new iteration of their lineup freshly packed with the Intel Atom N450 available at some point next month. We’re publishing a few reviews of the Netbooks in the coming week. Plus, we’ll be on the show floor of the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2010 bringing you the latest.

Link: Dell.com | Netbook Gift Guide

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.

The Hardware:

• Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840 ($199.99)
• Motherboard: Supermicro X8DA3 ($449.99)
• CPU: (2x) Intel e5520 80w ($384.99 each)
• RAM: (2x) 3×2GB Wintec Industries ECC Registered DDR3-1333 ($199.99 each)
• CPU Heatsink: (2x) Noctua NH-U12DX ($69.99 each)
• Video Card: XFX ATI HD5870 ($379.99)
• PSU: OCZ Z Series Gold 1000W modular ($299.99)
• Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc 24x ($32.99)
• SSD + HDD:
  • -Intel x25-m G2 160GB ($479.40)
  • -Western Digital 1TB Black Caviar ($99.99)
  • -Western Digital 1TB RE3 Enterprise (2x) ($159.99 each)
  • -Western Digital 320GB Black Caviar (2x) ($64.99 each)
  • -Western Digital 500GB ($69.99)
• Miscelaneous:
  • Rosewill PCI RAID Controller ($19.99)
  • ICY DOCK 2.5″ to 3.5″ Drive Adapter ($24.99)

Total Cost: $3,835.21

Drive Configuration
To get the most out of our hardware and prevent a performance bottleneck, our operating system main drive will use a solid state drive (SSD). Unlike mechanical hard disk drives (HDD) that use physical platters, SSDs use flash-memory based storage that gives them much faster read and write speeds and incredible random access times, albeit at a premium price–$3.00/GB compared to around $0.10/GB for HDDs. We’re using a 160 GB Intel x25-m G2, the latest iteration of Intel’s MLC flash memory SSDs.

The latest firmware update for x25-m G2 drives enables TRIM support in Windows 7, hopefully without bricking the drive, as the first firmware update did with an unfortunate few. Along with TRIM support for Windows 7, Intel has provided a toolbox suite to execute a manual TRIM operation in XP and Vistato retain optimal drive performance. This will, for the most part, help the drive avoid the inherent performance degradation in all SSDs that occurs over time.

Whenever data has significant value, it’s wise to back it up. We’re going to do just that on the fly with data redundancy using two RAID 1 arrays, where the data on each drive is mirrored to another in case of drive failure. Using three 1 TB HDDs in RAID 5 was considered, but the cost of an extra drive and more substantially, the cost of a decent RAID 5 controller made RAID 1 our best option. Our two arrays consisted of a 320GB array, used for personal documents, and a 1TB array using Western Digital RE3 enterprise grade drives, that will store project files accessed by editing, modeling and rendering software. I also wanted plenty of space to store non-vital data, such as movies and music. For that I used a lone 1 TB and 500 GB drives.

This configuration already presented a problem simply because many of the dual-socket Intel 5500 motherboards only have six SATA ports and once we add a SATA optical drive, it will need eight. To solve this, I used an inexpensive 1.5 GB/s PCI RAID controller with two SATA ports and one IDE port that will also give us backwards compatibility with older drives. Despite its limitations, it’s just what we need for storage drives that won’t require high-speed transfer or complex RAID setups.

Building The Colossus
The Supermicro X8DA3 is a large eATX board, sized to accommodate two e5500 series Xeon processors and up to 96GB of ECC Registered memory, you read that right, ninety-six gigabytes. Supermicro had a particularly small list of tested compatible memory for the X8DA3, so we made our best guess with what was easily available. 12GB of Patriot ECC Registered memory was initially used, but ended up being swapped out for 12GB of Wintec Industries ECC Registered RAM due to incompatibility issues.

Taking a look at the board, right away we can see that the location of the 1394 FireWire pinouts is problematic as they get covered by whatever is placed in the secondary PCI-E 16x slot. On the bottom right corner of the board there’s an SAS controller under the green heatsink and ports to support up to eight SCSI drives. Supermicro actually makes an identical board, the X8DAi, that omits the SAS controller. Because of a discount, they just happened to both cost the same at the time of our hardware purchase and who are we to pass up SAS support?

The Noctua NH-U12DX CPU heatsinks we’re using are server variants of the popular Noctua NH-U12P. They’re certainly overkill, but oh so quiet. To have access to the primary PCI-E 16x slot and the CPU1 8pin power slot, we’ve opted for an odd heatsink and fan placement where one fan pushes air through the heatsink and the other pulls air through, both bringing hot air towards the top of the case where it’s exhausted by the Cooler Master ATCS 840’s two massive 23cm fans. That brings up the topic of our choice of case.

A full tower was the only option short of a rackmount that will fit an eATX board. There’s a substantial difference in size between a mid-tower ATX case and the ACTS 840 full tower. This thing could eat a mid-tower and still have room left over. It’s beautifully clean aluminum exterior does away with the plethora of plastic vents, lights and other cheap aesthetics that seems to plague cases these days. Additionally, the ATCS 840 has a removable tray which made life easier when installing the RAM, processors and heatsinks, not to mention the clip-on heatsink fans.

The OCZ Z Series Gold 1000W was chosen for its high efficiency and modular cabling. For a 1 kW PSU, it’s surprisingly small and light. Because The Colossus will also be used as a render rig, it may be at a heavy load 24 hours a day for weeks at a time, that means an efficient PSU is crucial. With an 80 Plus Gold rating, the OCZ ZSeries Gold 1000W has been reported to run at 87% efficiency at low and peak loads and barely surpass 90% during optimal loading conditions. The power savings alone easily justify the higher cost and the modular cable system helped keep the case clean and was easier to work with.

The ATI HD5870
Certainly the most controversial piece of hardware in our rig is the video card, ATI’s new-to-market HD5870, the most powerful single GPU card available and is currently in short supply–which would explain why it’s retail price has raised from $379.99 to $429.99 since we bought it, making it the best hardware investment we ever made.

Remember that even though Project Colossus is all about building a high performance computer, as a workstation, it should be a stable work platform. Using a brand new piece of hardware (with brand new drivers) as critical as the video card is questionable, traditionally one would use a professional workstation card that’s designed specifically to work with simulation, modeling and rendering software. So, are we crazy or something? While The Colossus is a workstation, our goal was to build an all around power platform for both work and play. For the same price as the HD5870, we would have been able to afford something along the lines of a Quadro FX 1800, which should deliver gaming performance close to the midrange 9600GSO, another G94b GPU based card. All in all, a desktop card is a compromise, trading professional software performance for gaming performance. It’s still a new card with potentially unstable and/or incompatible drivers. We could have gone with a card in the HD4000 or GT200 series that would have had mature drivers. So, why the HD5870? Because we’re crazy.

Now that The Colossus put together, it’s time to test it and offer some juicy benchmark results. Stay tuned for Part 2, where we make your computer look puny.

So what is it exactly that differentiates a $200 and $500 monitor of the same size?
That’s where some important factors come into play.

When it comes to choosing the right monitor, there are ten factors to consider:

• Price
• Size
• Resolution
• Viewing Angles
• Contrast Ratio
• Color Quality & Color Gamut
• Brightness
• Response Time & Processing Lag
• Video Inputs
• Monitor Stand and Adjustments

The first nine have very much to do with the panel technology used in the display, which I’ll discuss.

Price
If consumers are buying panels based on their needs, then the truth is that most people are out to get the biggest display for price. For most consumers, size does matter and big monitors are no exception. Many people can’t tell the difference in picture quality if the monitors aren’t side by side. That being said, if picture quality doesn’t matter as much as size, which is what the market is geared to deliver based on demand, then you can expect to pay the prices below. Monitors at these prices will suffice for most people and will meet their expectations for quality and features. And if you’re buying retail as opposed to online, expect to pay a more.

Size and Resolution
These often go hand in hand and there are a number of common resolutions for the various monitor sizes offered. All LCD panels are measured diagonally from corner to corner, which consists of the entire viewing space. This is different from CRTs which are measured by the size of their tube, which is partially obscured by the bezel. That’s why a 32″ CRT television display only measures about 30″ diagonally … but you probably don’t have to worry about that anymore.

While physical size plays a bigger factor in televisions, resolution is more critical when it comes to monitors due to the very close viewing distance. Resolution, with  regards to LCD monitors refers to the fixed number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical dimensions. For example, a resolution of 1280×1024 means there are 1280 pixels in width and 1024 pixels in height for a total of 1,310,720 pixels. A pixel is the smallest physical unit that displays color that make up the resolution of a display. This differs from image pixel size, which isn’t related to the panel’s physical pixel count or size.

Given our two monitor examples, while both of these are 24″ displays, they have different resolutions. The Samsung 2494SW has a resolution of 1920×1080 and the HP LP2475w is 1920×1200. That respectively equates to 2,073,600 and 2,304,000 pixels, with the HP LP2475w having 10% more. This is where pixel density comes into play, which is the number of pixels per square area; in other words, the physical size of the pixels. A higher pixel density equates to a sharper picture. The change in resolution also changes the aspect ratio of a monitor. Previously, widescreen monitors differed from widescreen televisions in that the aspect ratio of a widescreen monitor was commonly 16:10, while widescreen televisions are 16:9. This changed with the advent of 16:9 monitors, marketing a 1920×1080 resolution as “True HD”, the same resolution as 1080p televisions. Since both of these monitors have a width of 1920 pixels, they will both display 1080p video at native resolution, the only difference being that there will be a gap of (1200-1080)=120 pixels or 60 pixels on the top and bottom of the clip. Don’t let marketing confuse you on “Full HD” monitors, the only advantage a resolution of 1920×1080 has over 1920×1200 is the lower cost usually associated with 1920×1080 panels. A 16:9 panel of the same [diagonal] size will have slightly wider horizontal and shorter vertical physical dimensions than its 16:10 cousin, at the cost of a lower pixel density.

Back to the topic of resolution. A higher screen resolution is desirable due to the increase in screen real estate, giving the user more workspace–more windows, icons, etc. Certain resolutions are common to particular sizes of monitors.

Common Resolutions and Monitor Sizes

Note that there’s some overlap in screen sizes. The screen size doesn’t necessarily determine the resolution and vice versa. As an example of this, 21.5″ monitors are typically 1920×1080, giving them the same screen real estate as 1920×1080 24″ monitors and a higher pixel density. This brings up the question of what is a high enough pixel density, to which I’d answer that panels are built such that they have an acceptable resolution for their size. The only recent complaints I’ve heard are about the 1024×600 resolution of 10.1″ netbooks, to which some companies have responded by offering models with 10.1″ 1366×768 panels, over a 40% increase in pixel count.

Viewing Angles
These are the horizontal and vertical fields of view where the display’s image appears acceptable. Typically viewing angles are poor with twisted nematic (TN) panels, which make up the majority of monitor panels. 160/170 degree horizontal and 160 degree vertical viewing angles are typical with TN panels, whereas 178 degrees horizontal and vertical can be found in nearly all in-plane switching (IPS), multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) and patterned vertical alignment (PVA) panels. TN panels are bottom barrel and mediocre viewing angles are just one of  their weaknesses. TN technology’s greatest success is that it’s cheap, and since the market is driven by the demand for dime-a-dozen monitors with little regard to quality, TN displays are plentiful.

Contrast Ratio
Contrast ratio refers to the ratio of the lightest color (white) to the darkest color (black) that the monitor is capable of displaying. Traditionally panels were rated based on their static contrast (the ratio above), but the recent implementation of dynamic contrast has created some confusion for the consumer. Dynamic contrast (DC) used in LCD displays is a method to artificially increase the contrast by lowering the backlight when a dark image is displayed on the screen. We end up with an LCD panel that’s marketed as having a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, but has a much lower static contrast, around 500-1000:1. This is exactly the case for our two example monitors. The Samsung 2494SW is listed as having a 50,000:1 DC while the HP LP2475w has a contrast of 1000:1, yet their static contrasts are both 1000:1. While dynamic contrast works well when the panel displays darker images, the highlights and bright areas of the darker images may appear blown out or overexposed. All in all, an LCD with a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast and 1000:1 static contrast has an inferior contrast ratio to a plasma panel with a 3000:1 static contrast. The higher the static contrast, the better. While 500-1000:1 is common for LCD panels, organic LED (OLED) displays are able to naturally achieve much higher contrast ratios along the lines of 3000:1 static and 1,000,000:1 DC. Currently, OLED displays are only available in a few very expensive TV models, but monitors should be commercially available in the not-so-far future. It’s definitely a tech to keep your eye on and there should be some interesting OLED advances shown at CES next month.

Brightness
All modern monitors have more than enough brightness for all indoor lighting conditions, which is why this shouldn’t be a deciding factor. LCD panels are typically backlit with fluorescent tubes called cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL).  Over the past few years, manufacturers have introduced panels backlit with LEDs, which results in a better picture for a number of reasons. Brightness is measured in candelas per square meter (cd/m2). Older LCD monitors can usually be found with a brightness of around 250 cd/m2, whereas newer ones are anywhere from 300-500 cd/m2.  For indoor use, a properly calibrated monitor will be set around 80-120 cd/m2, low levels that cheaper monitors won’t adjust down to without a loss in picture quality.  Only laptops really require higher levels of brightness for outdoor use.  In fact, most of you probably have your monitor brightness set much higher than it should be.  Think of brightness as the “black level”. The ideal brightness setting will display the darkest black while still being able to differentiate between as many shades of grey as possible between pure black and pure white.  You’ll need to calibrate using a colorimeter for the best results, but you may have some luck with a grey scale test chart.  This is the same for the contrast setting–it’s likely set too high, turning many shades of a color into fewer shades by crushing similar colors together.

On a properly calibrated monitor, you should be able to differentiate between shades

There’s a growing consumer trend that high brightness and saturation equate to a better image, driving the production of extremely bright backlighting and stuff like glossy screens. (eww!) In actuality, these end up oversaturating and overexposing the image. While monitor standards are vital for people doing color corrective work, such as photographers, having a properly adjusted monitor will display a wider range of colors and thus a better image.

Color Quality and Color Gamut
A monitor’s color gamut is the range of colors that it can display accurately and is largely dependent on the backlighting. NTSC and Adobe RGB 1998 color gamuts are common profiles used to rate a monitor’s color gamut in the coverage of a color space chromaticity.

As a wide gamut prosumer monitor, the HP LP2475w has a rated 102% NTSC color gamut, while most TN panels are around 82%. You’d be hard pressed to find color gamut coverage for many of the TN panels out there since they’re marketed as bang for your buck monitors, not necessarily for their quality color ranges. Generally, TN monitors have a poor color gamut and color accuracy. This is because TN panels represent colors using only 6-bits per color as opposed to 8-bits and therefore cannot display 24-bit truecolor (16.7 million colors). Instead, TN panels use dithering and interpolation to simulate the desired colors. While the color simulation is noticeable, most people aren’t aware of the differences as they’ve only ever been exposed to TN panels. Almost always, monitors using IPS, MVA and PVA LCD technologies will have superior color representation over TN, but you’ll pay for the difference. The cost is sometimes significant, as seen in the price between the $209.99 Samsung 2494SW, which uses a TN panel, and the $549.99 HP LP2475w, using an H-IPS panel, one of the IPS technology variants.

Processing Lag and Response Time
I’m going to make this brief as you only have to be concerned with an excessive amount of lag in PVA panels. These both relate to the time it takes the monitor to respond and change its image–namely in regards to image persistence as it refreshes each frame at 60hz, aside from the few 120hz NVIDIA 3D Vision rated monitors available. Neither of these will likely have any effect on your viewing experience on non-PVA monitors. If you’re in the market for a high-end S-PVA panel, it’s likely that you’ll do your homework on whether it will fit your needs. Since color correction work won’t be affected by slight lag, trading a slower response time for improved color accuracy and other features is acceptable.

Video Inputs
There are a number of inputs commonly found on LCD monitors and almost all will be equipped with a DVI input and often a VGA input as well. There are some outliers that only have an HDMI input, for example, so keep your eye out. While you likely only need a DVI port, more inputs will give your monitor versatility when connecting to different devices.

On this HP LP2475w we have two DVI ports, S-video, composite, and component inputs, HDMI and DisplayPort support, SPDIF out and six USB 2.0 ports. Short of having a built-in TV tuner with a coaxial connector, this monitor has everything. The addition of DisplayPort support is a nice touch, particularly useful to those looking to take advantage of ATI’s Eyefinity multiple display technology. With HDMI and s-video/composite/component support, this monitor can also be used with any number of gaming consoles or can be attached directly to a DVD/Blu-ray/HD-DVD player, effectively doubling as a 24″ 1080p television that can function independently of a computer. In comparison, the Samsung 2494SW only has one DVI and VGA port, as you would expect from a 24″ monitor at the $200-250 price point.

Monitor Stand & Adjustments
Would you buy a car without adjustable seats? Well, maybe if it saved you some cash. A stand with proper monitor adjustments can make the difference between viewing the screen comfortably and well … not. The HP LP2475w has it all; height, tilt, swivel, and 90-degree pivot rotation.

The Samsung 2494SW just has vertical tilt, the only adjustment that couldn’t be removed without making it non-functional. While the monitor is still very usable with only having a tilt adjustment, you might have to stack a couple of books underneath to bring it to the proper height. While cheaper monitors can skimp on stand adjustments, a prosumer monitor like the HP LP2475w is expected to fully adjust, which is one of my complaints about Apple monitors.

The Big Question
So what’s the best monitor? That’s for you to decide. I know, it’s a pretty lame answer. I’d say the best monitor is the one that fits your needs (or wants) at the lowest price. While this article didn’t delve into brand quality, you may be surprised to find out that many of the monitor and television brands use panels from only a handful of panel manufactures. An example of this that stirred up some controversy a few years ago was that the higher priced Apple 20″ cinema display used the same LG panel as Dell’s UltraSharp 2005FPW. Lastly, take the manufacturer’s warranty into account, it can make the difference between a monitor continuing to work years down the road or not. Now that you know what to look for, go out and do some research before you purchase your next monitor. If your needs are few and you have a tight budget, it’s a fairly easy decision. But if you’re a gamer with some fun money or a professional looking for a high end monitor, you have a lot of options.

Editor Note: Please welcome Josh Shapiro to the Skatter Tech team as the new Hardware Expert. More articles like these are on there way! Follow us on Twitter (@skattertech) or on Facebook.