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Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin Issue # 2009-04d
News buds
NAB debut: Blu-Ray extras on a BlackBerry
BluFocus (Paulette Pantoja paulette@blufocus.com 310-869-2552) &
NetBlender (John Harrington jharrington@netblender.com
800-701-8496x101) chose NAB to launch BD Touch, which is all
about connecting handsets with BluRay players for ultimately some
very cool rewards. At first (until the movie houses get some
additional code into their releases, which should start this
summer) the handset application (free) can only provide a
WiFi-connected BluRay remote control (including the ability to
type in text through the BlackBerry keyboard). This summer, as
those new releases come out (or, we should add, when previous
releases get their code updated via BD Live), the handset can
also show a catalog of available extra disc content you can pipe
to the handset; even better, the transfer happens automatically
without interrupting playback. If you're not already experiencing
WiFi on a BlackBerry, maybe you & Victoria should have a little
chat. Contact: Victoria Berry, Research in Motion (Waterloo, ON)
519-888-7465x73663 vberry@rim.com http://rim.com
Moms, Dads, Grads - mobile safety & style
As you prep your seasonal what-to-get coverage, keep Point To
Point in mind for elegant & effective improvements to using cell
phones in a car. You can start small with a Bury CV 9040
color-touch-screen voice-response Bluetooth speakerphone car kit.
On the top end, there are complete installer-performed systems
that (sans geek) tie in antennas, signal boosters, car sound
systems, handset cradles, surprisingly smart speakerphones &
décor-matched mounts that look like they're part of the original
console. For significant coverage opportunities, Brett will even
pick up the tab at the installer. Contact: Brett Haysom, Point To
Point Technology USA, Inc. (Viola, DE) 302-284-4721
brett@ptp-usa.net http://www.ptp-usa.net
Moms, Dads, Grads - snap up some help
Among the easy-to-forecast coverage themes you have coming up for
the next couple of months, it's hard to find one that doesn't
relate to photos or video. The Tiffen lines let you focus on more
than just the cameras even when your entire focus is on
consumers. Think about tripods & monopods, about camera bags,
about lighting, about simple software to help photos pop & more.
If you have an idea of what you'd like to cover, hail Hilary; if
you need to brainstorm, message Marty. Contact: Hilary Araujo,
Tiffen Company (Hauppauge, NY) 631-273-2500x1216
haraujo@tiffen.com http:/.tiffen.com
Motherboard hands-on for non-builders
We're absolutely not suggesting you ask for a motherboard so you
can pull off a dumb pun for Mother's Day; there are better
reasons to ask to get your hands on this one even if you never in
your life intent to build your own computer. The ECS X58B-A Black
Series motherboard is the first of the high-horsepower
motherboards designed specifically for people who never thought
that they would want to build their own computers, but who end up
doing it because they want more control over its features than
they get with "canned goods" off-the-shelf systems. When you see
this motherboard up close, there are lots of things about it that
are just different, better, friendlier than you'd expect. Also,
whether or not you would ever build your own PC, retail
executives tell us that the build-your-own phenomenon is strong &
growing among business professionals (in part driven by
fast-rising interest in HD video editing, which does much better
on higher-power systems). Besides, this one is pretty & will
impress your friends; just ask James. Contact: James Lleverino,
ECS/Elitegroup Computer Systems (Fremont, CA) 510-771-0286
james.lleverino@ecsusa.com http://ecsusa.com
Cheapskate Heroics: memory thrill, chill & overkill
We've been talking about how dramatic an effect it can have on an
older computer when you bump its memory up to 2GB or more; it's
also important to communicate that there's no need for overkill.
Older computers are almost certainly running 32-bit Windows
platforms (primarily XP or Vista) which can't make any use at all
of more than 4GB of RAM; depending on the motherboard & its BIOS,
there may also be some reduced efficacy beyond 3.2 or even 2.4GB.
People who run a lot of programs at one time or who do
memory-intensive tasks like video editing may get their best
results with 4GB on board, but the "sweet spot" for faster & more
stable operations with most older computers is at 2GB. Susan will
be glad to get you the memory modules you need to demonstrate
that if you want to report on the differences, or she can hook
you up with a PNY memory expert if you'd rather do something
interview-based. Contact: Susan Bartolucci, PNY (Parsippany, NJ)
973-560-5592 sbartolucci@pny.com http://PNY.com
Cheapskate Heroics: power flow plus air flow
It's not always obvious that an older system is becoming unstable
because its power supply has become overtaxed, but that's a very
real concern. http://www.thermaltake.outervision.com/ takes you
to the Thermaltake Power Supply Calculator; you tell it what's in
your system & it tells you how much power that involves. It
doesn't take much (we've seen some very capable Thermaltake power
supplies on sale at retailers for about $25) to buy a little
power supply elbow room, but true to its name, Thermaltake can
boost Watts up while also helping what's up with cooling in the
case. Check out the advanced fan & airflow designs across the
line; for years, they've led the category with bigger, better
power supply fans. Ask Ramsom to show you what's cool about their
newest stuff. Contact: Ramsom Koay, Thermaltake Technology USA
(City of Industry, CA) 626-968-9189x127
ramsom.koay@thermaltakeusa.com http://ThermaltakeUSA.com
Redemtech versus an elephants' graveyard for tech
When a corporation decides it's time to replace their old
computers with new ones, where do the old ones go? Are they
offered to employees, donated to charities, sold at flea markets,
diverted to dumpsters, sent to some kind of technological
elephants' graveyard or what? Sadly, there are precedents for all
of these, but gladly, companies that turn to Redemtech get to
pick from a more complete menu. Deeply discounted employee
purchases can still happen, as can some outbound contributions,
but other choices bring more benefit & do less harm: much of the
gear can go to buyers with a continuing use for it, much can be
refurbished for sale to end users, the rest can get recycled &
none of it turns into toxic e-waste. Buzz Bob to get briefed,
arrange an interview or a tour & go over some of the numbers on
how much good they've done their clients in the past year alone.
Contact: Robert Houghton, Redemtech (Columbus, OH) 614-850-3326
rhoughto@redemtech.com http://redemtech.com
Hear a helmet materialize sonic sizzle this summer
Keep it under your hat: this summer, helmet hearing will be
taking a huge leap forward. One of the new products coming in the
TuneBug family attaches to the outside of a helmet & turns its
hard shell into a sound board. Given that whole bunches of
helmets are used in places that get really noisy, this may be the
smartest way ever to deliver audibles, especially since you don't
have to fit anything extra inside the helmet to make it happen.
Ask Dick. Contact: Dick Brown, Silicon Valley Global (San Jose
CA) 408-497-6403 dbrown@sv-global.com http://tunebug.com
Invitation to torture (legally)
A lot of wise guys see the conductive strips on a WildCharge pad
& think, aha, I'll bet I can blow it up by dropping a bunch of
paper clips on it or dunking the end in water. Nothing happens.
We're not saying that it would survive an acid bath or a plasma
torch, but if you want to try some of the normal dumb things that
you'd think might cause a consumer trouble, ask George to kit you
up - it's a story worth telling. Contact: George Holmes,
WildCharge, Inc. (Boulder, CO) 208-720-2707
gbholmes@wildcharge.com http://wildcharge.com
Special Report: After the storm
It is the blessing of every journalist to live beyond a story's
moment, considering it in the context of history while also
considering what the future portends as a result. We report
oncoming storms, we report on weathering the storms & we report
on what happens after the storm. Our profession has been a focal
point for both external & internal bad news since 2001; while
consumer electronics, for example, may be weathering its third
overlapping recession, journalism is now trying desperately to
survive its fifth. (For the record, the Newstips Bulletin
believes that the profession will begin escaping its bottom by
the end of this year & see some real recovery by the end of next
year). While it may be too early to consider the storms over for
our own profession, it is not too early to consider that the
clouds may be breaking for the economy at large. Hardships may
not yet have ended, but as each new sign of recovering stability
asserts itself, we will see a clearer image of those who survived
the worst as separate from those who could not. History shows us
what Americans do in those circumstances; at least initially,
before new eras of greed set in, we extend helping hands. Few of
us have paused to appreciate the richness of the fabric that lies
ahead. At the same time outward signs (like employment, Wall
Street, banking & housing) improve, at the same time internal
signs (like widespread personal doldrums) improve, some of the
government's delayed-start initiatives will also be kicking in.
It's going to feel like sunlight. Some of those who dodged the
bullet this time around are likely to appreciate that others who
didn't are a lot like them, so we expect to see a broad trend
toward community self-help efforts. Remember, even volunteerism
spurs commerce. You can easily predict where changes will
cluster: transportation, energy consumption, preventive health
care, education, public wideband & infrastructure. Despite the
stresses in journalism itself, the longer view serves many
purposes, accidentally including your self-interests. The
difference between most online news and what you do is the
difference between headlines & understanding. It's also the
difference between communicating condensed data & providing those
people you reach with enough of a personal context to make true
emotional involvement (not just tear-jerks & smarm). So think:
who will they help & who will help them as the current storms
pass?
I7 project: Rethinking drive strategy
How safe is safe? If we mirror a main drive, should we also
mirror its backup? Considering that a backup drive is only
written to for a few minutes each day (as the cloning aka
ghosting aka asynchronous mirroring happens), there will
certainly be less wear & tear on that drive than on the main
drive. Might we do more with internal drives & use fewer external
arrays? Our initial plan has been to have one mirror (RAID 1) as
a Main volume, another mirror as Backup & a third mirror as Video
(for works in progress). Let's assume that we keep a mirror as
the Main volume (C: drive), bumping it up to 1TB drives to assure
plenty of future headroom; a third 1TB drive (not mirrored)
becomes the Backup volume (D: drive). A RocketRAID 2300 card or
LSI MegaRAID 8704 card supports RAID 5 on 4 additional SATA
drives; if we build a 4-drive RAID5 array with 500GB drives, we
get a 1.5TB Video volume (E: drive) with average read/write rates
better than 200MB/sec. Add a 1.5TB drive as a place to clone the
Video array each night (F: drive). That's a total of 8 hard
drives (4 at 500GB, 4 at 1.5TB), so we still can fit them all
into our selected mid-tower cases (though we're now using some of
the 5.25" bays for 3.5" drives. Our Video array is big enough to
handle more than 3 hours of full-broadcast-quality YUV 4:2:2
video at better-than-real-time (which is 125MB/sec for YUV 4:2:2)
read/write speeds. We still have the option of adding two
external arrays: a 3TB RAID5 using 4 1TB drives & a 3TB backup
for that using 4 1.5TB drives either spanned & mirrored or
mirrored & spanned or RAID10 (which is faster & uses just one
cable). Please note that external RAID5 arrays tend to be
expensive; going internal with 4 drives & the less expensive card
(at today's online prices) costs less than $400. Our set-up has
enough horsepower for most pro broadcast applications using
uncompressed video; it's more than adequate for video editing as
a business application, where even HD camcorder video is
compressed at the source. Even before you feel the speed of this
system, one big surprise you'll get will come the first time you
try to lift it.
Special Report Bonus Review: Lexmark X9575
In studies of television audience viewing patterns, there's a
concept known as LOP (for "least objectionable program") that
identifies what happens when a viewer wants to watch TV but has
no particular preference & ends up going for the least-disliked
choice. In retrospect, this may explain why our long history of
reviewing & using printers shows us gravitating toward favoring
Lexmark products. A big part of why we tend to like them is that
they tend not to be stupid about stuff (which is, through no
deliberate act on the part of Lexmark, generally not our
experience with their competitors). In recent years, we have been
using the Lexmark X6575 All-In-One inkjet duplex
printer/scanner/copier/fax (in fact, we only recently unplugged
the USB cable & started sharing it in WiFi mode). We could be
quite happy to just keep using that, but we felt complacent in
not finding out what may have since improved so we can report
that to you. Lexmark sent their kicked-up-a-notch X9575 for
review. The specs are hot: 28ppm color printing, 1200x4800x48-bit
scanning, high-res printing up to 4800x2400dpi, 150-sheet paper
tray, 50-page ADF & a flatbed that can handle books. Under the
surface, we found some nice surprises: the ability to reject
faxes with bad Caller ID or from a number you add to its
rejection list, the ability to print PDF or Office documents
directly from a USB Flash drive or photos directly from a memory
card or PictBridge. They seem to have also updated their inks
with improved resistance to moisture & fading. The X9575 shows
new attention to the on-machine user interface, with a flip-up
color display panel & a number of functions (picture printing,
faxing, copying et al) that can be handled from there, kiosk
style, without going to a computer. We weren't using their
photo-specialized paper or 6-color ink (only because they hadn't
yet arrived) when we tested its photo quality (even worse, it was
an unfair test because we used a photo of Marty, so nothing was
going to make it come out looking wonderful anyway); the results
were better than they deserved to be, near the quality of a matte
darkroom print. A few other odds & ends deserve a mention. The
front panel doesn't afford a way to edit WiFi settings (the
companion tools handle that automatically when you connect the
printer via USB). The footprint of the printer is a little fatter
than we'd like, about 3" wider than the short file cabinet we
have it on; this seems to be because of the way they incorporate
the card readers & Ethernet/WiFi modules; with attention, they
could readily slim it down & we urge them to consider doing so.
Bottom line: The Lexmark X9575 Professional All-In-One inkjet
duplex printer, scanner, copier & fax is a nimble, agile,
capable, speedy, precise & in many ways indulgent office
companion, a metaphoric touring car of the workplace.
Special Report Bonus Review 2: Timex Expedition E-Compass
Last time we went over the yeoman features of the Timex
Expedition with Chronograph, a surprisingly handsome workhorse
watch that covers the basics especially well while offering a few
extras that help make it a favorite. Timex also suggested we look
at some of the more recent additions to its lines & one of them
resonated nicely. During our last trip to Manhattan, we were
foolish enough to try using a GPS navigator while within its
concrete canyons; since there was no way for it to see enough
satellites to get a location fix that proved to be a fool's
errand. A glance at Mobile Google Maps & a simple compass would
have been more helpful, so when the Timex people showed us the
Expedition E-Compass with, yes, an accurate electronic compass
needle on its analog face, we were delighted to get it in for
review. The two-tone metal band, more meticulously crafted case &
nicely detailed face immediately identify this as a more
"up-town" model in the Timex brand. They seem to position it as a
yachtsman's timepiece; the look, the large diameter & the shape
suggest a young person's watch. The metal surround ring turns,
has outer red/dot/black/dot markers every 90 degrees (a help both
with orienteering & with keeping an eye on the duration of
events) & also turns an outer ring within the face that calls out
the compass points in both degrees & directions. Concentric rings
inside that call out the numbers on (from the outside in) first
the second 12 hours (13-24), then the first 12. It displays
numerals at 3, 6, 9 & 12 with luminescent bars marking most of
the other hours; the 4's position is occupied by a small circular
window through which you can read the date. This doesn't have the
big, luminous numbers of the other watch (it does offer Indiglo
backlighting), nor the inset digital readout, nor the chronograph
or alarm; it does have a more debonair demeanor & is smart enough
to be able to point north. The electronic compass normally stays
at rest on the 12; push a button & level the watch to get it to
point to north then in 20 seconds, it returns to rest; the simple
calibration process also affords an opportunity to enter your
current location's declination, which can make its idea of north
very accurate indeed. Bottom line: the Timex Expedition E-Compass
watch offers an elegantly, youthfully stylish way to find both
time & place
Special Report Bonus Review 3: MXL USB Mic Mate
The MXL brand form Marshall Electronics includes scads of
interesting microphone-related gear & we were eager to test 5 of
their products (in this & our next 4 issues). Leading off is the
MXL USB Mic Mate; we immediately fell enraptured. It's a metal
cylinder about the size of a hot dog, a little less than 6" long
& a little under an inch in diameter. One end has a USB B
(square) connector, the other an XML (balanced microphone audio)
connector & a small switch in the middle sets its gain to high,
medium or low. The only power is from the USB connection yet it
provides full 48Volt phantom power to the XLR connector, so you
can use it directly with condenser mikes. Windows installs it
instantly as a USB audio codec device; there were absolutely no
drivers or software we needed to install. We tested it with a
variety of dynamic & condenser mikes with results even better
than our old Firewire audio digitizer (which we had to abandon
when they couldn't deliver drivers for Vista). Obviously, you
can't be stupid with it - if the gain is set on high, high audio
volumes from a sensitive condenser mike can still overload it
while setting the gain on low with a dynamic mike tends not to
grab a very strong signal. The XLR connector is designed to
either use as-is with an XLR cable to the mike, or you can
unscrew a collar & plug it directly into the mike, skipping the
XLR cable. It's a one-piece solution for bringing XLR mike audio
into a PC while providing phantom power to mikes that need it & a
gain control to deliver the right amount of signal strength for
great recording quality. Bottom line: the MXL Mic Mate is a new
permanent member of our at-hand audio kit & a smart, economical
choice for anybody who wants to simplify digitizing audio from
better-quality mikes.
Special Report Bonus Review 4: 3M Privacy Film
Did 3M invent nanoslats? Kind of, though their press materials
refer to it as "microlouver technology" (it isn't; more in a
second) & "vertical blinds. Let's go to the film: 3M Privacy Film
embeds tiny, invisibly thin parallel slats arrayed so their width
is perpendicular to the surface. Unlike louvers, which move to
open or block flow, these slats are immobile. Their function is
to dramatically reduce the off-axis viewing angle range for
whatever is behind the film. The result is that you can work on
your notebook or handset on an airplane & your neighbor can't
snoop. The film itself has a slightly grey, neutral-density cast,
which somewhat reduces the contrast & brightness of the display
behind it; its surface is slightly matte to reduce reflections &
glare, effects that could have an increased impact on legibility
with reduced contrast & brightness. They sent us a sample we
could cut & fit to our BlackBerry Bold, but we decided not to
because we sometimes also use it as a navigator when driving &
that would become impossible given the effectiveness of the film.
No such constraint would limit anybody's use of it on a notebook,
since typing enforces a straight-on viewing angle for an actual
user & assuredly there are people for whom handset usage never
involves reading a display that isn't straight ahead. Bottom
line: 3M Privacy Film offers a clever, economical & effective way
to keep peek-sneakers from seeing things that are none of their
business.
From Cheapskate Heroics to Alternative PCs
While this week ends our 6-week focus on Cheapskate Heroics, we
think the theme has legs & encourage you to revisit it whenever
it tickles you. In this issue, we're kicking off a fairly short
series about Alternative PCs. The idea is that a lot of people
simply can't today afford a standard computer, can't afford an
Internet connection but for reasons ranging from homework to job
skills, need access to a computer. We're looking at all-new
systems that can be built from scratch for about $300, including
the system, mouse, keyboard, monitor, O/S & applications. While
we expect the computer makers to offer their own solutions, we'll
be building such a system from scratch (a very simple project) as
a template for others; our "recipe" is available now as a PDF for
anyone to use. We see this as something that will capture the
attention & hands-on involvement of many community & civic
organizations. We can also help you gather similar pieces & parts
for your own coverage. Contact: Martin Winston, Newstips
(Novelty, OH) 440-338-8400; 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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