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Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin Issue # 2008-01c
Out of the nice, back to the ice & other news
TIFFEN SHOWCASING NEW VISTA TRIPODS AT PMA
Somebody once characterized Tiffen products as things that hold
cameras & things that cameras can hold; that's reinforced at PMA.
In addition to their veteran Davis & Sanford line of monopods,
tripods & dolly wheels for bigger gear, Tiffen will showcase
their new Vista line of more economical mounts for today's
lighter cameras. Of course, the new Steadicam Pilot & the new
Merlin arm & vest set will be there, plus Dfx filters-in-post
software family, new pro StroboFrame grips & more. Ask Hilary.
Contact: Hilary Araujo, TIFFEN COMPANY (Hauppauge, NY)
631-273-2500x1216 mailto:haraujo@tiffen.com http:/.tiffen.com
NEW COLORS FOR JVC EVERIO SD CAMCORDERS
This month, JVC is adding colors to their popular Everio (hard
disk & SD) camcorder line. Talk about color cameras! They're
bringing out ruby red, sapphire blue, diamond silver & onyx
black. Everio camcorders already build in a lot of features that
make it hard to shoot bad video; with these new colors, they even
help you look cool while you're doing it. Ask Chelsea. Contact:
Chelsea Vander Groef, JVC COMPANY OF AMERICA (Wayne, NJ)
973-317-5000x5312 mailto:cvandergroef@jvc.com http://jvc.com
$20 CARD SHOWS IF IR REMOTES STILL SHINE
Did you ever stare at the IR emitter on one of your remote
controls to figure out whether or not it's still working?
Changing the batteries doesn't always get things going again, but
is the problem in the remote control or is there something more
expensive afoot in the gear you want to control with it? Now
MaxMax has an IR Snooper card ($20) that visibly indicates when
an IR beam is present. People with problem remotes are only one
application; security system or industrial automation installers,
for example, can carry this in a pocket & use it to confirm that
their IR beams are present. You'll probably find other ways, too,
to have fun reviewing it. Ask Dan. Contact: Dan Llewellyn, LDP
LLC (Carlstadt NJ) 201-882-0344 mailto:dan@maxmax.com
Http://MaxMax.com
SECOND GENERATION KOMFORT PETS CARRIER HITS IN FEBRUARY
By the end of next month, a second-generation Komfort Pets
carrier will emerge, showcasing improvements in usability,
performance, convenience & price. This will be for medium-size
pets (those big dogs will have to wait for summer) & is 70%
larger than their current small carrier. It uses separate chips
for controlling the solid state (Peltier) heating/cooling
elements under its base plate & for controlling the air flow
system. The air flow system is considerably beefier, capable of
40cfm (versus 4cfm in the small carrier). And the pricing will,
amazingly, be less than the current small carrier price. For a
look at how well it all works, ask Bob for a look at the small
carrier now, or ask him to put you on the list to review the
medium carrier when it debuts in February. Next time, we'll have
a little more about the new design. Contact: Bob Inello, KOMFORT
PETS (Revere, MA) 781-485-0077 mailto:rinello@komfortpets.com
http://KomfortPets.com
VOX POPULI VOX TO DIE FOR WITH VIRGIN
The idea of pay-as-you-go (by the minute or month, with no
long-term contract) cell service seems so populist that many
people mistakenly anticipate that the menu of services & gear
must be limited to mundanely proletarian selections. At Virgin,
it's a lot cooler than that. You can get mobile messaging,
Bluetooth, mobile Web, picture messaging, camera phones, voice
messaging, mobile IM, media players & more. Users can start with
what they can afford & see what they can get, or start with what
they need & see how inexpensively they can get it. If you'd like
to write up what life is like with a Virgin in your hand, call
Corinne. Contact: Corinne Nosal, VIRGIN MOBILE USA (Warren, NJ)
908-607-4235 mailto:corinne.nosal@virginmobileusa.com
http://virginmobileusa.com
$40 APRICORN GIZMO PLUGS RAW DRIVES INTO USB
The very cool Apricorn DriveWire Universal Hard Drive adapter
($40) is smaller than a Kit-Kat bar but a big help for anybody
who ever handles dismounted drives. It has connectors on 3 edges
that plug directly into SATA, 44-pin 2.5" (notebook) PATA/IDE or
40-pin 3.5" (desktop) PATA/IDE drives; DriveWire connects to a PC
over USB. It gives you a handy way to check out old drives for
remaining files & lets you scrub them. It's very handy for
imaging a smaller or slower older drive to a bigger or faster
newer one to make drive replacement almost impossibly uneventful.
If you're ready to review one, tell Michelle. 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
BEYOND TORNADO & ITORNADO, OTHER BREEZY GEAR
If you're just back from CES or just planning packing for PMA,
Data Drive Thru has an arsenal of answers for cutting way back on
the usual tangle of connecting cords. Start with their Universal
Notebook Power Supply, a "brick" with retractable cords on both
the AC & DC sides. Are you doing any Firewire or USB connections?
They have retractable cables for these in a variety of standard
connector geometries. They also have retractable CAT5 network
cables, earbuds, headsets, VGA cables, mice & more. To do a
hands-on review with your choices among these, call Clint.
Contact: Clint Hughes, DATA DRIVE THRU (Dallas, TX) 972-897-7057
mailto:chughes@datadrivethru.com http://TheTornado.com
IPHOTOMEASURE LETS YOU SKIP STUPID IN A SNAP
How many times did you buy something & when you went to install
it, found that it didn't fit? Tape measures are a handy antidote
for that, but some places can be hard to reach with a tape
measure; with iPhotoMeasure software, you don't have to. For
example, take a photo of a cluttered basement or garage to figure
out how many sets of shelving you can fit along a wall even when
there's too much clutter in the way to let you reach that wall
for a measurement. If that isn't tough enough, try to figure out
what length of heater cord you need to keep the gutters flowing
or how many fluorescent fixtures you can fit into the garage. If
you can take a picture, iPhotoMeasure can calculate the
measurements & print them over your picture. Call Paul for info
or a copy. Contact: Paul Minor, DIGICONTRACTOR INC. (Tarzana, CA)
818-888-3687 mailto:paul@iphotomeasure.com
http://iPhotoMeasure.com
ORIGINAL MOGO MOUSE STILL ALIVE
We focus so much on the advanced features of the new X54 MoGo
Mouse products, we don't want to leave you wondering if there's
still a PCMCIA model. There is & it's still the slickest way to
drive a cursor around a notebook with a PC slot hideaway
fold-flat Bluetooth mouse. That said, evolution is inevitable &
this time next year, there will almost be a more advanced critter
to occupy that PC slot. Jot a line to Jack & let him know what
tricks you'd like it to do. Contact: Jack Corrao, NEWTON
PERIPHERALS (West Newton, MA) 858-792-0944
mailto:jack.corrao@newtonperipherals.com
http://NewtonPeripherals.com
SAMSON STRENGTH WITH BANDS NOW STRENGTHENS PODCASTS
Music pros, from the guys in the local bands to the tour players,
trust Samson for gear that makes them easier & better to hear,
which is why they now have the ears of the podcasting populace,
for whom their economically priced products bring Cadillac
results at Kia prices. For example, a singer who doesn't want
plosives to become pops will use a Samson PS01 Microphone Pop
Filter (street $45 including bracket kit), which also helps
reduce sibilance; top podcasters will, too. Better mikes are a
no-brainer & better mike mounts should be, like the SB100 Studio
Boom (street $100) that adjusts to over 12' high & has a
counterbalanced arm reach of over 6' plus a locking-caster
wheeled dolly base; it's one of 5 boom stands Samson offers. Ask
Mark. Contact: Mark Wilder, SAMSON TECHNOLOGIES (Hauppauge, NY)
631-784-2200x142 mailto:mwilder@samsontech.com
http://SamsonTech.com
CRAZY CONNECTION BETWEEN CELL BAR STRENGTH & HEALTH
This is more about human foibles than about physiology. Despite
the weather outside these days often being wickedly cold, you
still see people on their cell phones migrating to the chilly
panes of windows in order to get a slightly more solid cell phone
signal, or even worse, ducking out of doors. Maybe their Moms
never told them they could catch cold that way; maybe you never
told them that with a Wi-Ex cellular signal booster, they can
stay comfy & warm with even more bars than they get in the cold.
Care to try that yourself? Tell Deanna or Sharon which cell
services you use. 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:danderson705@comcast.net
ATLONA FLAT CABLES CAN HELP SPEAKERS LOOK WIRELESS
Experience tells us that one of the biggest factors that keeps
most guys from bringing the monster audio systems of their dorm
room days into their living rooms & dens is spousal approval,
which evaporates when they see "wires running all over the
place". Atlona can help with 15-meter runs of flat speaker cable
in 16 gauge ($23) & 14 gauge ($28) equivalent wire sizes. The
cable is just 2mm thick & its white jacket is paintable, so it
can disappear into almost any surface; a wide center separator
makes it easy to nail or staple these to a wall without shorting
the conductors & without requiring mounting brackets. Call Chris
to see a sample or two. Contact: Chris Bundy, ATLONA ELECTRONICS
(San Jose, CA) 408-954-8782x113
mailto:chris@lenexpo-electronics.com http://atlona.com
SPECIAL REPORT: MAGIC GAS GIZMO
We (as, perhaps, you) got a press release from a company that
claimed 20% improved gas mileage with reduced emissions as a
result of installing a ceramic gizmo inside a vehicle's gas tank.
We know enough science to be able to read through this kind of
pitch, but we thought it might be useful to share with you some
of the elements that triggered all our little yellow flags. We
can start with a premise; for competitive & regulatory reasons
alone, if such a device worked, it would be an immediate OEM
purchase by each of the car makers you can name. We looked at the
"proofs" they offered. One was a one-page letter from a
California official based on mostly anecdotal results from a 2007
test with a single 2004-vintage vehicle. Another was a longer
university paper with 80% contextual citations (why fuel economy
improvements & noxious exhaust clean-ups might be desirable) &
the balance a litany of terms that echo what's on the
manufacturer's Web site but do not indicate any of the usual
information that surrounds actual laboratory tests. Even if it
had described & documented actual testing (methodology, sample
size, methods of measurement, controls, etc.) there are
significant concerns over the statistical extensibility of so
small a number of test beds. It gets worse because these are cars
being driven by humans, not by automation; a factor often
referred to as a "placebo effect" (in this case, also a
behavioral Heisenberg uncertainty) steps in because human beings
engaged in monitoring the fuel efficiency of a vehicle almost
inevitably alter their driving techniques while doing so. As we
said, these are yellow flags; just because test results may not
hold statistical or scientific water doesn't automatically mean a
product can't live up to its claims. On the other hand,
skepticism & suspicion erupt when the words being used seem
deliberately misleading. We went to the Web site to read how it
works. It is a powdered ceramic product that lives in the gas
tank & claims a service life of 10 years. They claim it "has the
ability to change three areas within the spectrum of gasoline by
absorbing the CH (Benzene) of saturated and unsaturated
hydrocarbon"; this is a roundabout way of claiming that it is
changing the chemistry of the gasoline, but consider how
negligible an effect that must be if all that Benzene absorption
has to continue for 10 years. It claims, "The ceramics absorb the
thermal energy from their surrounding environment then release it
in a specific wavelength"; there's better pseudo-science in comic
books. Absorbing thermal energy from the surrounding environment
just means it is neither creating nor absorbing heat; releasing
it in a specific wavelength suggests that it's producing infrared
or light or radio energy, none of which on any small scale, none
of which alters the chemistry of fuel. They claim, "This results
in the change of aggregation of gasoline molecules from 'cluster'
to 'single molecule'; this is not only impossible, it would
create crippling effects on fuel lines & engines, undoing the
chemical blending that gives modern gasoline many of its most
positive attributes. We're still inside the gas tank, the last
place you'd want water to show up, with a thing the size of your
fist doing some kind of pixie dust trickery that somehow is
supposed to credibly lead to their conclusion" "In summary, we
restructure the environment for the fuel, water and air within
the vehicle's operating system to thereby deliver more kilometers
per liter, reduce dangerous exhaust pollutants and most
importantly, lower powerful greenhouse gases." Not enough? Their
installation manual refers to Nano Negative Ion technology
creating "negative oxygen" & claims that a magnet within the unit
is a "temperature stabilizer". The point of all this is not to
assassinate one high-horsepower snake oil merchant but to
dramatize the many ways in which claims, once investigated, may
as easily merit more incredulity than interest, and how easy it
is for those people you reach to be bamboozled. Best advice: if
there's more engineering in the language than in the product,
caveat emptor.
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW: PLUSTEK OPTICARD 821
Plustek makes some nice scanner hardware, much of it as an OEM
for gear that's branded by other companies, so we weren't
surprised to see that their OptiCard 821 looks like a "stretch"
(A6) version of the hardware they build for CardScan. We'll end
the comparison there because (as we've seen in previous Plustek
reviews) their skill set quality tends to drop when they leave
the hardware domain. The bed-sheet folded documentation is not a
joy, but we won't count that against them since nobody these days
should have to read documentation. Our first major disappointment
is their CD with a single installation routine for a gaggle of
stuff: their TWAIN driver, Hotcard BizCard Finder, ABBYY
FineReader Sprint, NewSoft Presto Page Manager/Image Folio &
Adobe Reader. Our second major disappointment is that the
supported OS list does not include Windows Vista. We cheated &
got Vista to find their TWAIN driver, never ran their
installation routine, found the scanner in a full version of
ABBYY & found that it wouldn't communicate. Bottom line: it's a
very nice piece of hardware; maybe, someday, it will find a nice
home with somebody who's better at software.
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW 2: FUJITSU SCANSNAP S300
If you squish a half-used roll of paper towels, you're at just
about the same size as the amazing Fujitsu ScanSnap 300 portable
duplex color scanner. You power this baby with either an AC
adapter or a special connector to a second USB port (both
included). Open the main door & it's ready to scan either one or
both sides of a sheet & its software is smart enough to excise
blank pages. It's speedy enough to scan 16 sides a minute on AC
power, about half that when USB-powered; yes, it's a full ADF
feeding those sheets, 10 at a time, so you don't have to baby-sit
it. It's also fully able to handle business cards. It
automatically recognizes when color is present so when it isn't,
the scan takes less file space. It automatically de-skews the
image & automatically flips images on sheets you stuck in the
stack upside down; we love that. Its default result is a PDF
file, but it also comes with CardMinder software for scanning,
reading (as in OCR) & organizing business cards. We can pick
150/200/300/600dpi scan modes. Bottom line: this feature set
combination tops what we have in our many desktop scanners & when
you add its mobility, it's a heartthrob - we love it!
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW 3: NON-CLOGGING AIR FILTER
Active Thermal Management makes a lot of strangely configured
cooling solutions for home theater closet & in-wall
installations, but the item in their arsenal that intrigued us
the most is a uniquely configured non-clogging air filtration
system. Our application is a bit different; Marty works in a
basement, a few yards from HVAC ventilation fans & the rumbling
of air through the cold air return ductwork is a major
contributor to local noise pollution. Also, the basement
sometimes smells bad & anybody upstairs will object to the
ductwork sharing that with them. ATM worked with 3M to come up
with a plastic sheet, about 2cm thick, with mm-scale
not-quite-linear pores running through it. We had them send us a
piece that would fit the basement cold air return, stuck it up
with some duct tape & checked out the differences. Dusty/musty
smells aren't getting upstairs with the same intensity as before,
some of the noise from the vent has been deadened (replaced with
a faint whistling sound) & a sucking-paper test confirms that
there's still plenty of air flow going in. Bottom line: We stuck
a small piece on a big problem & got some good results; we think
there's a good chance that this material holds a lot of promise
for abating the dirt that gets sucked in & noise that gets blown
out of our larger electronic gear.
INFLUENCE, CONFLUENCE, AFFLUENCE & OBSTINANCE
As we promised last time, we have some ideas about ways to bend
your coverage to be more instrumental to the interests of both
your audience & the consumer electronics industry. It starts with
adding candor & subtracting diplomacy; no, we're not talking
about poisoning the professionalism of your coverage with
opinions or rancor. Today's reporting process includes a lot of
information from individual companies or products, but absent the
bigger supporting staffs of yesteryear, there's much less time &
many fewer resources for researching context or gaining
categorical umbrella overviews. We see coverage candidates
falling into three basic classes: drop-dead cool & hard not to
report; a humdrum story that seems like you ought to cover it
because of its keys but without much of a heartbeat of its own;
or the stinker stories that you feel compelled to do because
you're under quota on overtime. In that middle group, if you
assume the PR sources are either incompetent or on their own
agendas, gain some altitude by asking around the cubicles whether
or not somebody was just looking at things in that category &
what they found especially frustrating about their choices. Call
a retailer & ask what would drive their customers to make a
choice for or against some set of attributed at some stated
price. Call Marty if you want. Check with a geek as to whether or
not the alleged tech angle holds water. Then, if there's a
confluence of interest, follow it down from your own angle, not
the PR guy's pitch. Beware of gloss; if you have to be wealthy to
want to buy something, would you really want to buy it (just so
you can spend more on it)? We probably don't need to mention that
if there's some claim that it's a first, it's probably not true &
in any case may not be important. (If first was really important,
we'd all be using VisiCalc or Lotus 123 instead of Excel).
Finally, talk to yourself about it & allow your other self to be
darned obstinate. Keep in mind the two questions Marty requires
of Cherry Picks submissions: Who cares? Why bother? The answer to
who cares has to be some segment of your audience; if it doesn't
interest or affect any of them, it shouldn't do either to you.
The answer to why bother has to be a compelling reason to change
the way you address getting done whatever it is the product
claims to do. Some of the stuff that gets announced is pretty
stupid, but sometimes we get too tired to recognize that.
Finally, when it's time to do your piece, think about standing in
the gas station with one or two of your readers while you all get
your oil changed: how would you explain it to them? And how is
that different from the way your story would read? Next time,
we'll get into that a bit more. 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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