Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
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Consumers are dumb. Don’t deny it. We are. Belkin apparently relized that and instead of opting for the standard router naming scheme which would be something like 802.11 WiFi MAX with Double Speed Pipe Router, the company took a simpler approach. Its new router’s names are simply their capabilities: Surf, Share, Play, and Play Max. Nice and easy, although my mother-in-law would probably still call me up while she’s standing in front of them to ask which one she should buy even though she doesn’t game nor have another computer to share items. Digressing… The $49 Surf Wireless Router (F7D2301) is just a basic 802.11n 2.4GHz wireless router with 256-bit WPA/WPA2 encryption and MIMO technology. Fair enough. The $79.99 Share Wireless Router (F7D3302) is the same basic setup but adds a USB port for external drive and USB printer sharing. That’s why it’s called the Share Wireless Router. Then we hit the $99 Play Wireless Router (F7D4302). This boy utilize a 5GHz dual-band 802.11n for speeds up to 300Mbps. It still has the same security and USB sharing capabilities as the previous two models, but is just a bit faster for wireless gaming. The $129 Play Max Wireless Router (F7D4301) has all the wireless goods of the Play Wireless Router, but adds Gigabit LAN ports to the mix along with another USB port and UPnP server.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
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Technology can be difficult to use, particularly things like home servers. Dane-Elec plans to make setting up your own home NAS easy, using their myDitto home network server. Installation is intended to be quick and painless, utilizing USB keys to set up the drive rather then the standard CD. Honestly, I don’t see NAS devices as being that difficult to set up, but my experiences may be different from most users. The myDitto is a pretty standard NAS, with two drive bays, one of which is populated with a 1TB drive when the unit is purchased. The intention behind the myDitto is that you don’t have to install software to use it, just plug in one of the two included USB keys, and the software will start up and allow you to back up and restore files as needed. Admittedly, that could be considered easier then setting up a backup process on your home computer, but most the time you can just install the software, set up the schedule, and then forget about it. Full featured devices like the IoMega ix4-200d are just as easy to set up, it’s just a matter of perception. Dane-Elec’s myDitto isn’t available yet, but it’s expected to retail for $279 in a 1TB configuration. [via Gadgetwise ]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
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I’m not an electrician, nor do I play one on TV, but this I like. It’s a re-designed UK electrical plug , one that’s much thinner and far more friendly to today’s portable, hi-tech toys than the standard plug. Apparently the actual UK plug is a cumbersome jerk, and tends to be a drag on people’s laptops, phones, and other gadgetry. Who wants that? As that photo shows, it folds , making it easier to store than that three pronged monster. On the surface it may not seem like much, but only to our laymen eyes: it won some sort of fancy UK design award.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
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Most concept clocks are high on art, and low on functionality. That’s not the case with the Aspiral Clock, designed by Will Aspinall and Neil Lambath. Instead of using the standard hands, this clock uses a small ball to tell the time. As time progresses, the entire clock spins, which causes the ball to move along the spiral. The numbers on the face of the clock is labeled with your standard numbers, and as the spiral turns, the ball moves and indicates the proper time. Interesting concept, no? Best part, these are actually available for sale online and in assorted colors. Now, they aren’t cheap – you’re looking at $526 (plus shipping) to get one of these from the UK. [via Sweet Station ]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
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We all know that there will be an onslaught of touchscreen computers this year and next. But the Internet really isn’t touchscreen friendly. It was designed for a mouse, not finger input. Google Reader Play is one of the early examples of a site redesigned for this sort of navigation with a slideshow-type interface and larger buttons. I loaded up the demo on a Viliv X70 tablet computer and found it works quite well on the 9-inch tablet. The buttons could be a bit larger, but overall it’s one of the most touchscreen-friendly websites I’ve seen. Click through for a quick video demo. The normal version of Google Reader simply doesn’t work well with touchscreen computers. It’s the buttons, really. They are the key to a good Google Reader experience. Users need a way to star items, access different lists and navigate around the robust interface. Google Reader Play solves all those issues with a cleaner interface and larger buttons. There are still some things I would change, but Google Reader Play is likely still in beta like most other Google projects so I’m not too concerned. I also don’t see the need to use Play rather than the standard version on a normal computer. It doesn’t offer anything more than a redesigned interface and you can’t add your own RSS feeds into it just yet. It might draw some new users into the RSS world, but most current Reader users probably won’t make the switch besides to see what all the fuss is about.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
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I think Gagan is at GDC but he’s clearly not getting the good meetings. Firaxis is showing off Civ V and Kotaku has a nice run down, including a few new features. For starters, your opponents have definite AI based on their strengths and weakness. Ranged weapons can fire from further away – one space for archers – and cities can fight back. Cities also have “health bars,” which is a big change. Usually you’d just keep pounding the city until all of its protectors died. I totally want to play this new game. This looks more like a simulation than the boardgame that the old game was and it seems like you’ll be able to actually feel like you’re playing with others even while playing alone. Take a look at this: The developers said great civilizations can now agree to commence a research agreement, instead of just establishing trade or declaring war. The game will now allow easy access to a catalogue of user-uploaded mods. And, as a tease, the developers said there will be surprises as to how non-military ways of winning the game, the standard cultural and technological victories, for example, will be designed. Drool.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
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Stage aesthetics all contain a common trend. Generally, the equipment should be seen as little as possible, leading to pretty much every guitar amplifier in existence being black. Orange Amplifiers said, “To hell with all that nonsense” and proceeded to create some of the most visually offensive and sonically powerful amps on the market. Their latest release, the Thunder 30, should start coming out into the wild sometime this spring. What you get are four EL84 class A power valves pumping out a total of 30 watts. A new addition to Oranges is the twin channel setup. Your standard clean channel and a dedicated overdrive/distortion channel with shape control. They also threw in an FX loop not found on previous models. Configurations include the head alone, or in a front loaded 1
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
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This is more like it. After seeing Corsair out a USB 2.0 flash drive yesterday, it kind of cast some doubt on the viability of USB 3 .0. But Super Talent is here to restore our faith in the standard with the SuperCrypt flash drive. Yay! The SuperCrypt bad boy will be available in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB flavors. All which will pack USB 3.0 performance of up to 240MB/s speeds along with 128-bit ECB encryption and 256-bit XTS encryption. Of course they will likely cost a crapton when they ship later this month but aren’t these flash drives getting a bit more interesting? I mean, come on, 256GB on a stick. Yes ma’ma.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
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It seems that quite a few children were discovered working in the factories where they assemble Apple products and components. Why this would come as a surprise to anyone is beyond me. Did people think Apple had a special brushed-aluminum facility surrounded by parks and fountains, where volunteer workers happily put together iPads just for the chance to be part of something magical? No, Apple is a gargantuan electronics company just like any other. I keep telling you! Hold them to a higher standard than Acer or Samsung and you’re bound to be disappointed . The truth, as John pointed out in his series of articles describing China’s manufacturing districts , is that they’re all sweatshops of varying quality. Even 75% of the workflow is overseen correctly and employs no minors or what have you, what about the subcontracting for this piece of memory or that hinge? Can you guarantee that a fair wage was paid for that, or that kids weren’t involved? It’s a fact of our globalized and consumer-oriented culture that we need to have stuff created as quickly and cheaply as possible. I’m not taking a position on this, I’m just saying that’s the way it is right now, and stuff like kids getting a dollar a day in Chinese factories is a consequence of it.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, February 26th, 2010
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Raidon showed off their new HyBrid drive enclosure recently, a strange combination of an SSD drive enclosure and a SATA enclosure. It’s not an external mind you, but rather an internal drive cage that will read and write to the SSD, and then mirror the process to the SATA drive. Raidon stated that while the HyBrid system is not a RAID system, it is possible to restore data from the standard hard drive if the SSD were to fail. The SSD drive will be removable and can be used without the HyBrid system, you would just put the SSD into another enclosure or connect directly to a controller. Raidon didn’t disclose available sizes or pricing on the HyBrid, but it should be available this coming April as an internal device, and then as an external device later this year. [Via MacWorld ]