March 13th, 2008
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
It looks like the body of an SLR camera minus the lens– until you take a closer look. The new Olympus E-420 uses a super thin “pancake” lens to create a new hybrid camera - the point and shoot SLR.
Weighing only 13.4 ounces, the E-420 is a tad smaller than traditional SLR designs on the market today, but it packs a 10 megapixel sensor, and lets you frame a photo with the the viewfinder as well as the live view panel on the back of the camera. Nice! But the best part (if you like the concept) is the innovative pancake lens - a super thin .9 inch lens that provides a traditional 50-millimeter angle of view. Note: Olympus also released the first digital SLR with a live view monitor, the EVOLT E-330. Here is a hands-on review from a high end SLR user and his take on why this feature is actually useful.
Other notables: The camera is 5 inches wide and 2 inches thick, putting it within pocket range, and it prices under $1,000. $700 for the pancake lens version, $500 minus any lens, and $600 for the camera body plus a 14-42-millimeter lens. Source: NYT
Our Take: Looks cool, but the almost-but-not-quite styling may mean it gets a lot of stares, but stays on the store shelf. Would you buy one?
March 11th, 2008
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
I just saw $3.99 on a gas station pricing sign this weekend, and you know it’s not going to get any lower. Being an optimist, I decided to see what other fluids are even more pricey than light sweet crude. Turns out - Ink Jet ink has now reached an unbelievable $8,000 a gallon.
We’ve covered this before, but let’s do some more math. HP is reporting that over 40% of its $2.63 billion in operating profits last quarter came from it printer business. Ink jet ink used to cost more by the ounce than Dom Perignon (still does,) but whatever way you measure it, people keep snapping up cartridges and filling up those thirsty, thirsty little printers. Source: Popsci.com
Our question: Why is this shrugged off?
March 11th, 2008
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Anyone who travels a lot will simply look at this device and sigh with relief. Why? Hotels are awful about providing enough power outlets near the desk - and with more and more gadgets hitting the road, it means a room strewn with charging cell phones and laptops and headsets, etc. One room I had not long ago sported a whole free outlet behind the bed - picture groping around behind that disgusting headboard.
Spec-wise, not much to say that you can’t see here. It boasts three surge protected AC outlet plugs, and will also charge two USB devices. Price: $24.99.
Product Page
Source: Belkin
Our Take: True, it means hauling along one more device and it isn’t exactly cheap, but if you really, really travel, this one is no-brainer, especially if you can expense it.
March 11th, 2008
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Happy Birthday Mr. MP3 player! 10 years old and look how far you have come. From the first player shown here - the all but forgotten MPMan F10 from Korean manufacturer Saehan Information Systems, to today’s iPod-dominated array of colorful video/audio players, things have certainly evolved.
The MP3Man F10 boasted a whopping 32MBs of flash-based storage to hold about 8 songs sampled at 128Kb/s. Songs were loaded onto the player via the parallel port (anyone remember configuring ports and getting COM and IRQ conflicts?) Retail price $250.
When Diamond brought the Rio PMP300 to market at $200, the player race was on. Many think that the Rio PMP300 was the first MP3 player, but a lawsuit wit the the RIAA gave it enough press to leave the F10 in the dust. (Until Apple came calling.) Sony meanwhile was focused on the doomed MiniDisc, and the rest as they say, was history. Source: The Register
We Say: Check out those tiny LCD displays!
Update: Want more Rio pics? Check out RioWorld. (I have owned 3 models myself.)
January 3rd, 2008
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Anyone remember the Foleo? We do - it was Palm’s ill-fated attempt to marry an underpowered UMPC with a cell phone, and it died a very, very swift death. See our coverage “5 Reasons Why Palm’s New Foleo Device Will Fail”
Today we fond out that the Foleo concept is rising from the grave in the form of yet another ill-fated laptop and smartphone pairing: The Celio REDFLY SIS. $499. SIS is short for, Smartphone Interface System, a fancy acronym that only nails the coffin shut. Or as they put it “REDFLY unleashes the computer in your smartphone!” Ha!
We Say: From an unnecessary acronym, weird all-caps product name, to the rhymes-with-Foleo company name, all we can say is shoo fly to the REDFLY. Source: dvice.com
January 3rd, 2008
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
OK - so it isn’t, but after all the ugly iPhone imitations, this is the first concept design that actually looks appealing. We hereby take quick a break from reality to bring you the following idea. A forum member on ZuneScene named Teccom747 dreamed up this concept phone. His specs:
The Zune 3 is also a phone with all the features of the Zune 80, with new features such as internet explorer, wifi marketplace, common phone apps, and more. The Zune 3 is fully touchscreen, however, the lower panel buttons are touch “sensitive” play/pause/call, zune, and back/hang up buttons that glow, they are permanent (similar to the chocolate’s buttons).
The Zune 3 is available in 16GB, and 32GB flash memory sizes. Navigating the Zune 3 is similar to the 80’s squircle except on the touch screen. The screen itself is a high quality, scratch resistant, touch-sensitive glass that covers most of the front of the device. Around the perimeter of the glass is a glowing light that can be customized to the color of the user’s choice through the settings menu. Source: ZuneScene
We Say: Calling Microsoft!
October 20th, 2007
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
It certainly sounds like magic to me. When my small Sony notebook started over-heating I bought a pad-shaped cooling device that I placed under the unit - not only was pad bigger than my small notebook, it was noisy and certainly killed the point of having a 3.5lb computer. The Magic Idea Laptop USB Cooling Fan does something a little more magical - instead of blowing cool air in, it extracts the hot air and blows it out - claiming to be more more efficient as well as far smaller than current cooling solutions. Best of all, the fan runs at two speed and you can rotate the unit 180 degrees to shoot warm air in multiple directions.
1. World’s first Patened NB Air Extracting Fan. It allows faster extraction of the hot air out of a running system, which stabilizes the operation of the NB and prolongs its lifetime. 2. Universal Clip for fastening USB power interfaces, Compatible for all major NB brands 3. Weighs only 60g. Compared with other bulky NB cooling pads, it is very suitable for storage, and carry.
Product Page
Winwinindustry.com via Red Ferret
We Say: My office is freezing cold year-round. This could be a great way to heat up a cold space and keep your laptop cool. Strange-looking device, but I’m up for anything that frees me from the monstrous cooling solution I have now.
October 19th, 2007
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Call them Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) or pocket computers - this is a category that just won’t die. Here’s why: I got the PepperPad back when it launched - a small tablet-style device you could stick on a kitchen counter and manipulate with a touch screen, stylus, thumb-wheel mouse, and an odd and mostly not so useful split keyboard. But it had WiFi and if I loaded up five or six tabs of websites I like to visit, it was a fast way to at-a-glance check in on world news, this website, and even driving directions, random facts and weather.
But the PepperPad was not very mobile. The new Nokia N810 adds a slide out keyboard making it something you may want to take along with you. The 810 ships next month with a $479 price tag, and includes WiFi, Bluetooth and integrated GPS.
We Say: without a phone but along for the ride, making this platform more mobile may make it seem less useful after all. Source: Information Week
