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Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin Issue # 2010-08a
Wilder news for milder weather
In this issue:
The hotter weather gets the cooler Antec gets... Definitively
all-weather speakers - not just for spring ... Newest Franklin
products fit your Holidays coverage... Inside Iconosys, the no &
yes of SMS... Getting geeky with Kent's Boogie Board... Tiffen $6
iPad app a bag of slick pic fixes... Clever Zoom keyboard gizmo
gets Gestalt... Special Report: Oxygen... Reviews: Back-to-school
Cruzers, Acme iPad cases, Replay Media Catcher 4, Aroma
rice/steam/slow cooker, Hydros Bottle... plus our commentary on
We finally get bars
The hotter weather gets the cooler Antec gets
Heat can cause early death for computer components, even when the
heat comes from outside the case. That's because all of the fins
& fans of case fans & CPU coolers inside depend on air flow from
the outside to do their cooling & if that outer air is warmer,
cooling becomes less efficient & systems become that much more
vulnerable to failures. Beyond case fans & cpu coolers for
desktop systems, Antec also offers both passive & powered
notebook coolers to help them live a little longer, too. Veronica
can get you product photos & info or hook you up with an Antec
authority. Contact: Veronica Feldmeier, Antec Inc. (Fremont, CA)
510-770-2150 vfeldmeier@antec.com http://antec.com
Definitively all-weather speakers - not just for spring
Many people only think of outdoor speakers as a spring or maybe
summer thing & are happy with speakers that just let them
recognize the music, but that's limited thinking. Definitive
AW5500 ($200) & AW6500 ($250) truly all-weather speakers put the
same priority on audio transparency that hallmarks their indoor
speakers. As outdoor entertainment seasons continue into the
autumn & outdoor music environments continue to increase in
popularity for the Holidays, these offer Definitively better
choices. Contact: Paul DiComo, Definitive Technology (Owings
Mills, MD) 410-363-7148 paul.dicomo@definitivetech.com
http://DefinitiveTech.com
Newest Franklin products fit your Holidays coverage
Those of you doing your Holiday coverage now (short-lead writers
can either note this for later or use another angle) may want to
ask Aline for a rundown on the newer product lines that add so
many good fits for that coverage. The dozen products in the new
Learner series use fun & games to help kids improve their
literacy fundamentals. The Discover series offers LED lighted
magnifiers, LED book lights & a reading timer. Their standard
offerings, of course, include English, English-Spanish &
12-language dictionaries, electronic Bibles & more. Contact:
Aline Boutin, Franklin Electronic Publishers (Burlington, NJ)
609-386-2500x4434 aline_boutin@franklin.com http://franklin.com
Inside Iconosys, the no & yes of SMS
The most visible Iconosys products help prevent texting while
driving, but they also build corporate apps with a variety of
intelligent SMS solutions. Ask Wayne. Contact: Wayne Irving II,
Iconosys Inc. (Laguna Hills, CA) 949-335-5350 wi@iconosys.com
http://iconosys.com
Getting geeky with Kent's Boogie Board
It's been compared to the Magic Slate & the Post-It Note, but the
Boogie Board is very different form both & it's time you got a
little geek-speak to work with. It's a bistable cholesteric
liquid crystal display organized as a single large area (no
pixels). Too geeky? OK: write or scribble with a stylus & what
you put there stays there until you deliberately erase it. If
you'd like to try your own description, ask Kevin to send you
one. Contact: Kevin Oswald, Kent Displays (Kent, OH)
330-673-8784x161 koswald@kentdisplays.com
http://KentDisplays.com
Tiffen $6 iPad app a bag of slick pic fixes
Since you can't fit glass camera filters on an iPad, or
specialized lenses, or studio lighting, Tiffen found a way to
stick it all inside with the Photo fx Ultra app ($6 in the App
Store). News: version 2 just launched (same price; earlier owners
upgrade for free) with 10 new brushes, enhanced crop & rotation
control, more mask opacity control & other goodies. If you're not
sure if it's relevant to you ask Hilary for a code to get one for
your own iPad. Contact: Hilary Araujo, Tiffen Company (Hauppauge,
NY) 631-609-3216 haraujo@tiffen.com http:/.tiffen.com
Clever Zoom keyboard gizmo gets Gestalt
Welcome Zoom with a product that's a definite step outside their
usual modem niche; in fact, it's a keyboard that takes several
steps outside the keyboard niche. It doesn't look like a PC
keyboard; it's thin, light, squarish & has a track pad surrounded
by custom function buttons; it looks like somebody lifted the
keyboard & pad from a notebook & left the computer behind. It's
wireless (via USB dongle) with a range of more than 60 feet.
There's even an HDMI cable in the box. For folks who want to plug
a notebook into their home theater to put Windows 7 Media Center
on the big screen, the new ZDTV Wireless Keyboard (street $70-75)
is the easiest, most flexible accessory ever (only Windows 7
today; Vista & XP in 10 days; Mac not in plans). Of course,
that's not the only thing you can use it for. Want one? Ask Terry
for pics, info or hands-on. Contact: Terry Manning, Zoom
Telephonics Inc. (Boston, MA) 617-753-0087 terrym@zoom.com
http://zoom.com
Special Report: Oxygen
We've been trying to address everything in the workspace of the
technology end user with an impact on his or her productivity &
just recently came to appreciate the role of oxygen. One of our
triggers was a spate of reports that people who live in the
country, outside urban centers, tend to be statistically happier
& healthier than those in concrete canyons. Our little epiphany
about cause & effect came during an evening walk down the street,
with the breeze swaying the tops of trees in a heavily wooded,
almost park-like surrounding. We recognized: the conversion of
atmospheric carbon dioxide to oxygen is proportional to the
cumulative surface area of leaves & comparatively leaf-deprived
city offices & dwellings are oxygen-depleted because of the gas
contributions of smokestacks & exhaust pipes. Another important
factor is the ratio of O2-consumer/CO2-producer entities (people)
to CO2-consumer/O2-producer entities (plants) is dramatically
higher in the city than the country. That's compounded by
enclosed spaces inside buildings that deplete O2 & accrete CO2
even faster than out on the sidewalk. O2-sparse environments make
people breathe harder & tire faster. Large leafy plants in office
spaces may reduce that a bit, but it would have to be at a low
per capita ratio; where possible, weekly (perhaps weekend) open
window hours may also help exchange bad air for air that's not
quite so bad.
Special Report Bonus Review: Back-to-school Cruzers
SanDisk responded to our back-to-school editorial call with
samples of 3 of their Cruzer USB drives, one each in blue, green
& orange. They sent 4GB units, which are a good capacity for
school work & available at don't-even-blink prices from lots of
stores. We like the Cruzer design with the turtle-style
slide-out/tuck-away USB connector (meaning among other things
that there's no cap for a kid to lose); we like that they come in
colors to help keep a sibling or classmate from confusing
ownership issues. With SanDisk, of course, reliability is a
no-brainer. Bottom line: economically priced, intelligently
packaged & brightly colorful 4GB SanDisk Cruzer USB drives are a
great choice for back-to-school.
Special Report Bonus Review 2: Acme iPad cases
We don't have an iPad (probably never will; it doesn't fit our
work style), but a pal of ours does, so when Acme offered 2 of
their iPad cases for review, we turned those over to him. He
reports that their Skinny Sleeve case is a good fit for the owner
who already totes an iPad in something else, saving it from bumps
within while also offering some protection when out, in use or
traveling between rooms. He likes their zippered Slick Case for
toting an iPad al fresco, not within another bag; he also reports
that this case seems to gently clean the iPad screen during
travel. Bottom line: with the choice mostly determined by how a
user chooses to carry an iPad, the Acme Skinny Sleeve & Slick
Case both offer an extra measure of oops protection.
Special Report Bonus Review 3: Replay Media Catcher 4
The new version 4 of the Applian Replay Media Catcher handles
more formats for the streams it can snag & more conversion output
formats (they love highlighting their iPad support). All of that
is cool & functional & useful, but the new feature we really like
is its ability to search for audio, video & radio streams. We
tested by entering "Krall" (warning to all males: it may be
impossible to listen to Diana Krall sing, let alone watch her,
without getting a huge crush on her). One after another we were
able to snag performance videos & we can convert them in a snap
to format perfectly to our BlackBerry screen. Bottom line: the
new Applian Replay Media Catcher 4 is a sweet addition to any
multimedia tool kit.
Special Report Bonus Review 4: Aroma rice/steam/slow cooker
You can envision the scenario: 3-4 recent graduates sharing a
place as they begin careers. Aroma Housewares answered our
editorial call for first-apartment tech with their new ARC2000
appliance, a combination rice cooker, food steamer & slow cooker.
We thought we'd challenge it with a chicken gumbo, placing white
rice & low-sodium chicken broth on the bottom & other gumbo
ingredients (chicken breast strips, cut-up Andouille sausage,
onions, peppers & some other veggies & spices) in the top steamer
tray. That much was ready in about 40 minutes; we removed most of
the rice, dumped the steamer basket contents into the main pot,
added low-sodium tomato juice & let it cook another 20-30
minutes. The cooker includes intriguing recipes & offers a
delay-start mode & an automatic 6-hour keep-warm mode. As a
steamer or slow cooker, this can be a useful appliance even
without roommates; as a white or brown rice cooker, it needs you
to prepare at least 4 cups at a time, which is fine for roommates
or many families but not the best fit for a bachelor flat. Bottom
line: the ARC2000 Aroma Professional 20-cup Rice Cooker, Food
Steamer & Slow Cooker offers a lot of easy answers when there's a
lot of food to be made but not a lot of time or skill.
Special Report Bonus Review 5: Hydros Bottle
How sanitary is a drinking fountain? How clean is the water
coming out of an old building's pipes? Concerns like these often
drive people to buy bottled water (a drain [no pun intended] on
cash), to try to get through their day without drinking water (a
drain on energy & health) or to hit the vending machine for other
beverages (not nearly as good for you as water). The Hydros
Bottle is a tapered-waist, top-rack dishwasher-safe allegedly
antimicrobial bottle with a double cap. The main cap houses
activated carbon (made from coconut shells), resin & fiber
filters with a thin top cap to close it. You take off the thin
top cap & run tap water through the filter to fill the bottle;
you take the main (filter) cap off to drink from it. It's rated
to continue reducing chlorine for 20 gallons (they say 3 months)
per replaceable filter. In our tests with softened well water, we
refrigerated a full bottle & taste-tested over the course of a
week; the flavor was equivalent to other secondary water filters
here & there was no degradation over time. It offers (at $30) a
good value for people who are drinking bottled water in
significant numbers each week & reduces waste; for others it may
be a more considered purchase. Bottom line: the Hydros Bottle
can make tap water more palatable & in so doing, help people
*improve their workplace hydration habits that we've all seen
influence productivity.
We finally get bars
We've been checking AT&T for years in hopes they'd offer a
femtocell to cure our signal bar famine; when we saw Jerry
Pournelle's report that he got one (Happy Birthday to his son
Alex), we did the round of stores: wait-listed, out of stock. We
brought up to a phone rep how ironic it is that we have to shell
out money to fix the signal strength they don't deliver; we got a
one-time bill adjustment bigger than the cost of their Micro Cell
(what they call their Cisco-build femtocell). There was a tech
support round as we tried to convince the low-level tech that
they could send our GPS location to the device but here in the
basement, it has no hope of seeing the GPS satellites. All this
foreplay took about a week & a halof, but ultimately, we have 5
bars of 3G in the house & for a small stretch outdoors. 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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