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Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin Issue # 2007-12a
Hand-washing Awareness Week news
NEW AT CES: STUDIO MONITORS AT YOU & ME PRICES
When you work on the producer & board side of the glass in a
professional recording studio, the speakers you use to listen to
what's happening put a premium on audio transparency; speakers in
this class are called studio monitors & they're usually pretty
pricy. New at CES, Samson is introducing its Media One Studio
Monitors ($99-$199 in 3", 4" & 5" sizes). These have front-panel
volume controls & headphone jacks & yes, MP3 inputs. First looks
soon; ask Mark. Contact: Mark Wilder, SAMSON TECHNOLOGIES
(Hauppauge, NY) 631-784-2200x142 mailto:mwilder@samsontech.com
http://SamsonTech.com
NOW CELL BARS CAN SWELL FOR MORE HEIRS OF BELL
Welcome Wi-Ex with cellular signal boosters that work on phones
from more carriers. A zBoost dual band cell bar booster ($400)
puts a "sniffer" unit (mostly active antenna) at any window or
wall where the cell signals are strongest & pipes it over a thin
cable to a small indoor unit that acts like a mini cell phone
tower. The dual-band model works with all the carriers on either
PCS (1900MHz) or CEL (800MHz) chunks of the spectrum (pretty much
everybody but Nextel or iDEN). If you want more of the tech,
check with Sharon or Deanna; to skip to where you're getting one
for hands-on coverage, they're shipping & available now, so
ditto. Contact: Sharon Cuppett, WI-EX INC. (Norcross, GA)
770-239-5475x6380 mailto:scuppett@wi-ex.com http://wi-ex.com
AGENCY CONTACT: Deanna Anderson 404-759-1890
mailto:danderson@comcast.net
NOW UV CAN STAND FOR ULTRA VIGILANT
New in the MaxMax line-up of goodies that push the envelope on
the visual spectrum: A combined long-wave ultraviolet light &
magnifier ($25) is a very cool gizmo for double-checking the
security attributes of important documents like a driver's
license or passport. It's also good for checking stamps or
currency for threads or otherwise invisible watermarks. The
official agencies that create these things incorporate elements
(sometimes miniscule) that glow under ultraviolet light as a
counterfeiting countermeasure. All of that just makes it easy for
you to do a story; dial Dan for details. Contact: Dan Llewellyn,
LDP LLC (Carlstadt NJ) 201-882-0344 mailto:dan@maxmax.com
Http://MaxMax.com
DOGFIGHT VIA IR LIGHT WITH R/C CHOPPER DUO
Hell Cat Duel Air Combat Helicopters ($70) is a set of 2
radio-controlled choppers with infrared beams & sensors in their
noses; each can actually shoot the other down (but they're built
to withstand most crashes). If you're still doing Holiday
segments, beg Greg to get you this right away. Contact: Greg
Schwartz, GADGET UNIVERSE (Sylmar, CA) 818-833-4860x371
mailto:gregs@gadgetuniverse.com http://GadgetUniverse.com
APRICORN NOTEBOOK DRIVE CLONER
Welcome Apricorn, with a lot of drive products we absolutely
love, plus a related product we really need to tell you about
now. As you know, more notebooks get bought around the holidays
than at any other time of year, but that also means that if it's
not a replacement year for other notebooks, it may well be an
upgrade year. Apricorn has several significant products for that,
including their Xtreme Upgrade ($139 80GB, $169 100GB) that
includes both a 7200RPM notebook drive (30% net speed advantage
versus 4200RPM drives) with everything you need to clone the old
drive to the new one in one pass. You don't have to buy the
drives from them; their EX Upgrade kit includes all the other
one-pass cloning pieces for PATA or SATA drives ($49 each). Ask
Michelle for info or set up a review. Contact: Michelle Fischer,
APRICORN INC. (Poway, CA) 858-513-4480
mailto:mfischer@apricorn.com http://apricorn.com AGENCY CONTACT:
Jennifer Olson 415-402-0230 mailto:jennifer@atomicpr.com
MAGIC FINGERS REVENUE MODEL NOT THE NORM FOR CELL SERVICE
Not everybody can afford the long-term costs & commitments of
most cell companies, where it can cost significant amounts of
money just to quit. Remember those "Magic Fingers" mattress
vibrators in motels where you'd put in a quarter & it would run
for a while? That's the revenue model at Virgin Mobile, where you
can buy minutes or months without committing for anything you
haven't bought; obviously, there are several segments of the
population (especially but not exclusively younger segments) for
whom this is a much better fit to their economic circumstances.
There's still a wide choice of handsets, from simple to
stunningly cool. We'll bet you never thought to look into them;
we especially like how their approach to the business is so
in-your-face to the usual carrier practices. For briefings or
gear, you've got Corinne's ear. Contact: Corinne Nosal, VIRGIN
MOBILE USA (Warren, NJ) 908-607-4235
mailto:corinne.nosal@virginmobileusa.com
http://virginmobileusa.com
HDMI IN THE KEY OF BE FLAT
Welcome Atlona, with audio & video connecting, converting &
switching gear that ups performance without upping prices. If you
have a high def screen, drive or cable box, you may have been a
bit surprised at the price range for HDMI cable & how ill-suited
it seems to be for subtle installations. While Atlona
alternatives aren't bargain basement, they're modestly priced by
comparison & offer huge advantages for the cosmetics of an
installation: these HDMI cables are not only flat, you can paint
on them. While Chris will go to almost any length for coverage,
may we suggest 4 meters? Contact: Chris Bundy, ATLONA ELECTRONICS
(San Jose, CA) 408-954-8782x113
mailto:chris@lenexpo-electronics.com
http://lenexpo-electronics.com
JVC AT CES: DEMOS, NOT MEMOS
When you come to the JVC new product showroom at Caesar's,
there's always more than new or debut products; wait until you
see the working demos of future products there. We can only tease
you for now, but it looks like that latter line-up is likely to
include a new standard for smooth in moving TV images, a new
standard for crisp in projection & some new twists on tech that
other vendors may talk about in memos but just can't yet deliver
in demos. Come in at your convenience by appointment, or come in
after the annual press breakfast briefing, 8-9AM Tuesday morning.
Contact: Chelsea Vander Groef, JVC COMPANY OF AMERICA (Wayne, NJ)
973-317-5000x5312 mailto:cvandergroef@jvc.com http://jvc.com
CES ROAD WARRIORS CHINESE MENU KIT
What do you have to connect up when you're on the road, as you
may soon be for CES? Do you find yourself carrying an assortment
of USB, Firewire, Ethernet or other cables? Drop Clint a note
about the specific cables you need on the road (USB A/B or mini-5
or 4-pin, for example) & let him get you their retractable
equivalents. He knows that between the chance of doing a hands-on
review with something you need anyway & the appreciation for
letting you pack a little more tightly, he's well on the way to a
great review. So tell him what you use & let him get it to you;
if you don't already have a Tornado, ask for one of those, too.
Contact: Clint Hughes, DATA DRIVE THRU (Dallas, TX) 972-897-7057
mailto:chughes@datadrivethru.com http://TheTornado.com
PRIVACY PROTECTOR IS ALSO SPY STOPPER
We've been focusing on how Guardian Edge blocks the access paths
that have already (for organizations not yet among their clients)
let loose more than 200 million records, placing privacy in peril
for a huge population. Another attribute of its protection is
also worthy of mention: its ability to safeguard a company's
intellectual properties. Outside corporate cyber-spies may breach
networks, but they won't come up with any data they can read with
Guardian Edge in place. Ask Eric. Contact: Eric Lewis, GUARDIAN
EDGE (San Francisco CA) 415-683-2299
mailto:elewis@guardianedge.com http://GuardianEdge.com
INSIDE THE X54 MOGO MOUSE
We said the new X54 MoGo Mouse series was higher resolution &
boasted scrolling with no moving parts; here's how. The eyes of
the mouse are Philips twin-eye laser sensors, chosen as much for
their low power consumption as their 800dpi precision. The second
trick is thanks to a Synaptics ScrollStrip capacitive sensor;
among other things, it scrolls the cursor farther when you move
your finger faster & being a gapless, opening-free solution,
there's no potential entry point for dirt, moisture or debris. If
you think that seeing how all this works is a compelling idea for
an article, tell Jack whether or not you have an X54 slot &
Bluetooth 2 (if not, he can get you USB plug-ins for those) when
you ask for one to review. Contact: Jack Corrao, NEWTON
PERIPHERALS (West Newton, MA) 858-792-0944
mailto:jack.corrao@newtonperipherals.com
http://NewtonPeripherals.com
AMAZON HOLIDAY PROMOS STAR TIFFEN
We're starting to see Tiffen products promotionally tied into
purchases on Amazon.com, like savings on Tiffen UV/protect
filters with the purchase of a qualifying SLR lens. We hear (but
can't yet confirm) there may soon be a promo starring Dfx
software, but what we can share is that Amazon reports 46% of
people who buy the stand-alone version get it with a complete set
of virtualized filters ($200) while 54% buy the more limited
select set ($100). Let Hilary know which you'd like to review, or
if you'd rather get the version that plugs into Photoshop.
Contact: Hilary Araujo, TIFFEN COMPANY (Hauppauge, NY)
631-273-2500x1216 mailto:haraujo@tiffen.com http:/.tiffen.com
SPECIAL REPORT: BORROWING A TRICK FROM THE TALKIES
In-camcorder mikes are seldom good enough for much more than
casual grab-shooting, which may be fine for moments with family &
friends. The obvious next step up is an external mike, but a
surprising number of consumer camcorders don't have mike inputs &
even up into the prosumer range, many don't have XLR connectors.
Thinking back to the earliest moving pictures, there was no audio
at all for many years (save the piano player in the theater).
When the "Talkies" ended the Silent Movie era, they did it by
feeding audio through an amplifier & into an incandescent lamp in
a closed box with a second camera; this second strip could play
back by feeding it between a fixed-brightness lamp & a
light-sensitive phototube, then amplifying that signal. During
post-production, that separate strip became a sound stripe along
the edge of the film. Starting a little in the 1940s but
mainstream by the end of the 1950s, the optical analog audio
recording method gave way to magnetic analog recording & it
wasn't uncommon to find multiple magnetic recorders (we loved
those little Nagra tape boxes, which cost about as much as a car)
running at once to capture different sounds during shooting.
These days, we can have complete digital recording studios in
something the size of a pack of cigarettes (like the Zoom H2 or
the Edirol R09) or, only slightly larger, (like the Zoom H4) add
XLR inputs. All 3 of the products we just mentioned can record
multiple tracks & support Broadcast WAV, a variation of the
standard WAV files that incorporates standard time codes. These
don't have to connect to the camera during shooting (you can
bring camcorder audio & video into an editor & add audio tracks
from any of these), so it's easy to hide them where the camera
can't see them & skip wired or wireless connections back to the
camera. In the editor, audio tracks are associated with
oscilloscope-type traces, so it's easy to precisely time-align
the various audio sources. If you want, there's one other
time-honored tradition in film-making & pro video that might make
sense. It goes by many names: clapboard, production board,
production slate, clapper, scene slate & more. It's both a place
to scribble (originally in chalk, later in wet-erase markers)
scene/take & other information & a way to line up audio & video.
That's what the clapper is for; you sync your scene by initially
lining up the frame where the clapper jaws first touch with the
sound of the clap on the audio track. (You can see a modern
alternative studios today buy & use at
http://www.studio1productions.com/clapboards.htm).
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW: KOMFORT PETS CARRIER
Our readers know how much we like solid state Peltier devices
that warm or cool when you apply a Voltage to them. This is
Peltier application falls somewhere between pampering &
caretaking, somewhere between overindulgence & humane treatment.
The Komfort Pets per carrier looks a lot like a familiar pet
carrier (formed plastic rounded box with a hinged steel door in
front), but adds an electronics panel that lets you monitor &
control the temperature inside. The floor includes a metal plate
with Peltier devices beneath & very small fan; the back panel
accepts power from the included automotive 12V DC (lighter plug)
& wall-power AC adapters. Since pets gain environmental warming
or cooling from their feet & undersides, this set-up can keep
them in the recommended 65-72 degree (F) comfort zone; turning on
an empty carrier can usually get it into this range in 5 minutes
or less. As long as the surrounding temperature doesn't reach
extremes & the power stays on, the pet stays comfy. For those
times when you have no alternative but to keep a pet enclosed in
a car (the carrier handle doubles as a seat belt guide) or
outdoors, this spares at least the discomfort of thermal
extremes. Bottom line: if you have to live a dog's life, this bit
of pampering would certainly be welcome.
SPECIAL REPORT SECOND BONUS REVIEW: HY MINI "GREEN" CHARGER
Alternative energy sources get personal with solar & wind power
storage in this handheld recharger for your USB-port powered
gear. The HYmini looks a little bit like those personal cooling
fans at the beach, but first impressions of this cool little
gizmo are almost always backwards. There's a rechargeable battery
inside the case, with a couple of white LEDs on its face, a
3-position switch & under a rubber cover, a power-only USB
connector, a DC coaxial jack & a red LED indicator. Those fan
blades aren't there to create a wind but to capture it & use it
as one method of recharging the battery inside; an accessory kit
lets you mount it on a car window, bike handlebar or armband. The
DC connector lets you plug in a postcard-size companion solar
cell array or, if you're really stuck for green energy, a
companion AC adapter; it can also charge through its USB
connector. The red LED tells you when it's charging & turns green
when that's complete; it holds a charge for about 2 weeks. All of
this happens when the 3-position switch is centered (off); slide
it to the right & those white LEDs act as a flashlight; slide it
to the left & the USB port can recharge all kinds of handheld
gear. Bottom line: It's more than adorable; it's Al Gore-able!
SPECIAL REPORT THIRD BONUS REVIEW: EASY MEDIA CREATOR 10 SUITE
Our past adventures taught us that Roxio does better than most
when it comes to burning discs on a PC. Our past adventures also
taught us that all-in-one suites tend to be presumptive,
presumptuous & generally annoying. When we found the native
Windows Vista disc burning tools had a penchant for failing when
we tried to burn discs, we bit the bullet & asked our friends at
Sonic Solutions to send the Easy Media Creator 10 Suite. One
inexcusable gaffe: The installation routine turned off Windows
Live OneCare antivirus & firewall protection & without asking (we
manually stopped the cable modem when that happened). Once past
that, we were impressed with the sensible growth in its feature
set to incorporate many current devices, form media players to
cell phone features. And we were relieved when it could
successfully burn the same files to disc that kept failing under
the native burning built into Vista. Bottom line: as always, this
is a useful tool set & like most tool sets, it delivers its value
from those you use with those you haven't used yet offering,
we're sure, additional undiscovered value.
SPECIAL REPORT FOURTH BONUS REVIEW: FUJITSU LIFEBOOK T2010
We wanted to test a reasonably powerful tablet/notebook
convertible with good field trip survivability, so we had Fujitsu
send the LifeBook T2010. It came equipped with a 1.2GHz Intel
Core2 Duo with 2GB of RAM, a 100GB hard drive, Realtek high-def
audio & Intel graphics. There's shock protection for the hard
drive, an integrated fingerprint scanner, 802.3 wired Gigabit
Ethernet, G/N WiFi & Bluetooth. The 1280x800 display swivels when
upright to reclose in tablet mode, with the usual multiple modes
of input (sketch, write & stylus tap-to-type virtual keyboard).
It's compact & lightweight, even with its optional beefier
battery (good for an amazing 11 hours of work). There's one
Firewire port, 2 USB & a multi-format camera card slot. We were
also surprised & delighted to find that their bundleware (like,
yuck, Norton) uninstalled cleanly. If your activities typically
include Office & the Web, this is more than enough horsepower for
most of what you want to do, but there are a few compromises. The
screen starts to feel crowded (to be fair, we're used to working
with dual 24" desktop monitors). There's no built-in optical
drive. For ourselves, we find that we're more addicted to bigger
video & built-in optical than we thought & found less of a
lifestyle fit in the tablet features than we anticipated. Bottom
line: it's a great little notebook/tablet convertible that makes
us eager to see what else the line holds when we kick things up a
notch.
VENDORS DON'T GET WHAT PRODUCERS DO
We saw a curious thing at The Big Event: while we had people
there who could put products on the air on a couple of networks &
roughly 30 major market TV stations, the exhibitors kept asking
when the TV people were coming. They expected camera crews. We
already know that there are fewer TV crews coming to CES in
January this year than in years past; this same attitude could
conceivably sour a lot of exhibitors on their perceived CES ROI.
We can't educate everybody all at once, but maybe we can help a
little. Those of you who make these segments happen: make sure
Marty has your contact info, including your cell at the show.
Each time you come across somebody on the vendor or PR side who
doesn't quite get it, snag an extra business card or two & get it
to Marty along with a few words about just how broken their ideas
about the business seem to be. Also, feel free to have them find
Marty at his usual station (for at least an hour each side of
midnight, at the Circle Bar at The Venetian) for a briefing. As
long as we're helping, come to Marty with lists of anything
you've seen from anybody that you want to get for coverage & let
him either do his bullying while everybody's still in town, or
connect the dots just after we're all back. Contact: Martin
Winston, NEWSTIPS (Novelty, OH) 440-338-8400;
mailto:marty@newstips.com http://Newstips.com
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Newstips Bulletin [Novelty, OH] +1.440.338.8400 http://Newstips.com
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