|
Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin Issue # 2008-01e
Post-marmot umbrage tri-fortnight unsprung news
NEW JVC SLIM LCD TV DESIGN LOWERS POWER USAGE You may have seen the thinner new displays in the new JVC Slim LCD line at CES but you have to look deeper to learn that they also slimmed down power usage in these sets to just 145 Watts. It's all about the backlighting, still based on cold cathode fluorescent lighting (CCFL) but using innovatively optimized reflection & diffusion optics to squeeze the panel depth, maintain high luminance without adding CCFL tubes & use less power. Part of the power savings is also in a direct-mount power distribution substrate that dissipates heat without adding the audible noise or power drain of a fan. The chunkiest part of the display is at its center (still less than 3") but most of its acreage is just 1.5" deep & with their new, thinner bezels, more of the display is picture while less is frame. These new sets will hit stores by summer in 42" & 46" models; JVC is also offering companion wall mounts that let them hus a wall more tightly than standard mounts. Contact: Chelsea Vander Groef, JVC COMPANY OF AMERICA (Wayne, NJ) 973-317-5000x5312 mailto:cvandergroef@jvc.com http://jvc.com
TIFFEN PMA PREVIEW: TRAVELER IN CARBON There was a PMA preview at PMA of a secret new carbon version of the economical Traveler monopod. Traveler is a perennial favorite camera mount for many users because it collapses down smaller than many umbrellas yet extends upward to provide a stabilizing foot, an overhead high-view pole mount, a foot-level ground-rider view or an out-the-side mobile shooting platform. The new lighter-weight carbon version offers the same flexibility & a feel that's perfect for outdoor work. (The original aluminum Traveler, by the way, is what Marty had in his shoulder bag a few PMA shows ago when he was hit by a car, causing more damage to the car than to him). Ask Hilary. Contact: Hilary Araujo, TIFFEN COMPANY (Hauppauge, NY) 631-273-2500x1216 mailto:haraujo@tiffen.com http:/.tiffen.com
USB MICROSCOPE SNOOPS BEYOND VISIBLE You have to love this: a custom-modified USB microscope (a 640x480 image displays on your PC) that can detect IR + visible + UV images at 10-200X magnifications. The MaxMax XNite QX5 ($197) version of the Digital Blue USB QX5 electronic microscope has been converted to let its camera see beyond the visible range; they also added a 25.5mm filter ring for even more flexibility. The microscope illuminates its sample with top- & bottom-mounted white LEDs; MaxMax can (for a fee) swap those for specific wavelengths in the IR, UV or visible spectrum. You can set it up to capture single images, time lapse or movies. Third-party software can also let this work with a Mac. Think about the new security fibers in money, the micro-printing on checks, the germs on school drinking fountains or cafeteria utensils; now you see them, human-scale on a PC screen, where once you couldn't. You don't need a microscope to see the coverage possibilities here; dial Dan to get one in hand. Contact: Dan Llewellyn, LDP LLC (Carlstadt NJ) 201-882-0344 mailto:dan@maxmax.com Http://MaxMax.com
APRICORN MAKES NOTEBOOK ELBOW ROOM EASIER TO GET We're about to turn in our ThinkPad Z61T but thought we'd check it out on the Apricorn Web site to see what drive upgrade options are available. Just 2 clicks later, we saw half a dozen. None of them were at lower-performance 4200RPM spindle speeds. At 5400RPM, we saw choices from 80-250GB ($79-199) & at hold-on-tight 7200RPM, 80 or 100GB ($119 & $149). The notebook's current drive is 120GB with about 15GB free; upgrading to a 160GB ($129) or 250GB ($199) drive could add years to the notebook's usefulness. That could be an important consideration for many of the people you reach & since Apricorn offers both upgrade drives & really simple 3-step drive upgrade kits, maybe it's time to think about 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
NEW 5-MINUTE IPHOTOMEASURE WALK-THROUGH ONLINE Now http://www.iphotomeasure.com/demo has a real-time video walk-through demo of how iPhotoMeasure software works & runs just 5 minutes, start to finish. It even shows the results of exporting the photo & measurements to Excel; pretty impressive. Still not easy enough? Paul will work with you to take a snapshot you provide (he'll need something of known dimensions in it) & send it back to you with the measurements overprinted; if it's for a TV segment, he can provide that as either mounted photos or before & after "slides" you can showcase on a notebook screen. Hands-on with the product to do a review is OK, too; call Paul. Contact: Paul Minor, DIGICONTRACTOR INC. (Tarzana, CA) 818-888-3687 mailto:paul@iphotomeasure.com http://iPhotoMeasure.com
KOMFORT PETS SMALL NOW, MEDIUM IN A MONTH, LARGE BY JUNE Creature comforts happen with Komfort Pets carriers because solid state Peltier heating/cooling elements & a thermostatic controller plus air circulation keep a pleasant temperature inside the carrier when the weather outside is not. The small size (for cats or small dogs) has been shipping for several months & is reviewable now. The medium size (40% larger) with second-generation features debuts at the end of February. Look for the intermediate & large sizes (for those big dogs) to arrive by June. Contact: Bob Inello, KOMFORT PETS (Revere, MA) 781-485-0077 mailto:rinello@komfortpets.com http://KomfortPets.com
WHEN YOU'RE READY LET WI-EX CLOSE THE GATES TO CELL HELL You've driven through "Cell Hell"; it's that spot (maybe more than one) you drive through where the signal strength drops & your call along with it. The new Wi-Ex in-car cell booster ($300) puts a magnet-mount antenna outside the car to feed all the signal it can get to a booster unit inside the car that makes it even stronger. It can't help if there's absolutely no signal along that patch of road, but it can absolutely make the dips disappear. Ask Sharon or Deanna to arrange a review for you. 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
THERE'S GOLD IN THEM THAR HULLS Check the basement, the garage, the dresser drawers & the attic for those old computers, cell phones & other electronic gear you long ago retired but haven't yet had the heart to discard. Look them up on the MyBoneYard.com Web site to see what they're worth & if you follow through, they'll e-mail you a shipping voucher now then load your reward on a prepaid Visa card you'll get in the mail. Your old gear gets reconditioned for resale to people in third-world countries or recycled or, if there's no other option, conscientiously scrapped. This is the coolest thing to happen to old stuff since bread pudding; ask Thomas. Contact: Thomas Muhs, MYBONEYARD (Chanhassen, MN) 952-294-6154 mailto:thomas.muhs@young-america.com http://MyBoneYard.com
MOGO DESKTOP MAY MAKE SENSE Mention a MoGo Mouse & people think of how it folds flat to charge in a notebook slot & how cool it is that something with its geometry works out so very well as a pointing device. You may never have thought of using a MoGo Mouse with a desktop PC, but it's worth thinking about, especially with the new X54 models & their impressive list of added features. The no-moving-parts scroll, 6-button functionality & switchable second role (as a remote for playing media in the standard product or as a remote for presentations - including a built-in laser pointer - in the Pro) also make it mightier than mere mortal mice. Adapting it to a desktop (through a USB charging cradle & a new Bluetooth 2 Dapter USB plug-in) works out pretty well, too. Ultimately, though, the most compelling reason is that it's the best pointing device for a notebook user, so you might as well enjoy the comfort of always using a MoGo Mouse with both. Have Jack set you up. Contact: Jack Corrao, NEWTON PERIPHERALS (Natick, MA) 858-792-0944 mailto:jack.corrao@newtonperipherals.com http://NewtonPeripherals.com
SURPRISE: ZOOM H2 ALSO A GUITAR HERO & SAVES PLANET The "genetic" background of the Zoom H2 Handy Recorder ($199) is in the Zoom line of goodies for guitar players, from pedals to rhythm boxes to recorders, which may explain a couple of Zoom H2 features that many of today's non-musical users have yet to discover. You may not know, for example, that it has a built-in guitar/bass/chromatic digital tuner & a built-in metronome (with a range of available beat sounds). When you're not using its AC adapter, the H2 runs on standard AA cells, good for about 4 hours on a pair of alkalines or all day on those E2 Lithium cells, but here's something noteworthy: a menu choice lets you optimize it to work with either alkaline or NiMH rechargeable AA cells, which are good for about 3 hours per charge but usable for something like a thousand charge cycles (based on NiMH batteries currently available in stores). It's about more than living in harmony; next time we'll look at who needs it; if you're already convinced it's you, for review, drop a message to Mark. Contact: Mark Wilder, SAMSON TECHNOLOGIES (Hauppauge, NY) 631-784-2200x142 mailto:mwilder@samsontech.com http://SamsonTech.com
HOW NEW EUBIQ POWER STRIP KEEPS PUSH-IN POWER SAFE If you look closely at the back side of one of the sockets designed to insert and twist to connect in the innovative Eubiq power strip, you can get a sense of how clever & safety-conscious a design this is. Initially, you only see the small ball-shaped grounding connector at the center of the back of the connector; this pushes in on the spring-loaded grounding plate that runs the length of the strip, just behind its rubber-lipped socket-mounting slit. When you twist the socket, inner arms rotate out of the double-ended sleeve that inserts into the slit; each of these arms reaches at right angles to the slit to connect to hot & neutral leads that run in recessed cavities for the length of the power slit (visible in the cross-section view you can see on the Web site). If you were to throw caution to the wind & stick your finger through the lips & into the strip, all you would touch is that spring-loaded ground plate. We'll tell more next time; for now, the Web is your best resource since US availability must await full UL approval. Contact: NG Kee Haur, EUBIQ PTE LTD (Singapore) +65-6372-9393x380 mailto:keeng@eubiq.com http://eubiq.com
HOW TO GET A FREE PHONE WITHOUT A MORTGAGE-LIKE DEAL Most cell services will offer you gear for what they tout as free when you lock into multi-year commitments with lots of gotchas; Virgin Mobile can beat them by 23 months with offers that get updated all the time. In last November through January, for example, if a new customer bought $9.99 in air time, a K10 Royale phone (otherwise $9.99; includes full color screen, voice dialing, Web browser & more) would have been on the house; a $19.99 air time purchase could have scored an Oystr flip phone (otherwise $19.99; includes full color screen, text messaging, Web browser, 2-way speakerphone & more) on the house. (Disclosure: the way it works is you pay for the phone & when you activate it, the price is applied as an airtime credit). With Virgin Mobile, you just buy minutes or months as you need them; is there anybody you can think of for whom this might be a more sensible answer than the usual alternatives? That makes it worth writing about; contact Corinne. Contact: Corinne Nosal, VIRGIN MOBILE USA (Warren, NJ) 908-607-4235 mailto:corinne.nosal@virginmobileusa.com http://virginmobileusa.com
PRESSING A TORNADO Press people are a lot like many business pros who more than occasionally take work home or whose work requires occasional travel, though press people may encounter a few more computers than other professionals. People in such circumstances are almost always notebook users with a desktop computer at work & perhaps another at home; for press people, you can also factor in the press room computers (where it's often easier to sit at one of theirs than to find an Internet connection for your own). The traditional way of transporting work around has been with a USB drive, but that takes 2 steps for every transfer in a world that offers an easier one-step solution. With a Tornado (between Windows PCs) or an iTornado (for Mac and/or Windows PCs; $80, March), files get where they're going without having to ride a USB drive en route. If you've not yet tried a Tornado or the new iTornado, contact Clint to get one to you for review. Contact: Clint Hughes, DATA DRIVE THRU (Dallas, TX) 972-897-7057 mailto:chughes@datadrivethru.com http://TheTornado.com
SPECIAL REPORT: CE RETAIL RECESSION BRATS In a briefing to companies on how to survive the Consumer Electronics retail recession (available to you for citation but not for reproduction), Marty predicted a 5% reduction in retailer floor space dedicated to TV sets, with TV purchases fading after the Super Bowl. It's also significant that shopping for new TV sets has been a major driver for all store visits. With less viewing, there's also less demand on cable services, satellite, DVR or other related products. It would normally be an opportunity period for high def DVD sales but for the format wars; a major price reduction in multi-format players could provide a breakout winner in an otherwise bleak horizon, but we have no sure intelligence to indicate that's coming. TV is not the only contributor to this Dark Age. Digital cameras are long past pixel overkill & oversaturation of the user population & in terms of the raw number of pictures being taken, losing ground to cell phone cameras. Saturation in the cell phone category has driven purchases & upgrades into lock-step with carrier contract renewals; at best, it might bring retailers some Bluetooth sales. Camcorders are on a steady upwards sales growth & there seems to be nothing about the dearth of fresh TV shows likely to daunt that, so we foresee business as usual in that category, noting that HD camcorder growth should outpace growth for SD models. If TV sales are to be retail's biggest losers, will there be any winners? Consider the imploded mortgage market, the terribly depressed housing market & the continuingly ominous high price of gas; people who may not be shopping (nor able to shop) for a new car or new home could be placing a higher priority on improving what they have. Also, with fewer reasons to stay at home (which is to say, favorite dramatic series all reruns) there may be a bit more driving. We think it's going to be a fairly good era for GPS systems & for car audio. We don't foresee a lot of specific category buying within consumer electronics for making homes more convenient or comfy, but there could be some little blips in categories like clock radios, cordless phones (less TV time means more phone time) or lighting. Less TV time also means more time for computers & game consoles; alas, it will be summer before parental permission lets most of that purchasing happen. Also, with less TV time, musical instrument sales may pick up; that would buck that category's usual seasonality. Our recommendations to writers who want to keep their product coverage relevant to consumer interests: GPS & related "live" services, Bluetooth, real-life-related computer games (like those that help players pick up musical or math skills), multi-format high def DVD players, DECT phones, weather devices, the new smaller camcorders (SD & HD), notebook PCs with notable bullet points (lighter weight, longer run time, etc.), special-purpose scanners, new gizmos based on relatively new technologies (like Peltier heating/cooling devices or LED illumination, speech recognition, etc.), HD Radio, car audio & items with newly portable usefulness.
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW: DVR XPANDER This is how we got the used space on our cable box DVR to drop from 32% to 7% in just a few minutes, without erasing a thing. If you get HD over cable & your cable box has a built-in hard drive for DVR functions, the odds are pretty good that box is a Scientific Atlanta (Cisco) Explorer 8300HD, which happens to be what we have here in our local Time Warner (formerly several other owners) cable system. The 8300HD box has an eSATA connector for expanding its storage capacity; this is the cable realm, so that task isn't as straightforward as it sounds. (For example, the first thing the cable box does when it sees the drive attached is to reformat it & we know from industry insiders that this creates some handshake elements that make the drive less than useful if connected anywhere else). We were thrilled to see that the Apricorn DVR Xpander drive is tailored for use with the 8300HD; theoretically, it should work just as well with any cable box that offers an eSATA connection. The one we got for review holds 750GB (they also offer 500GB &1TB models), adding enough capacity for almost 4 full days of full-quality HD recording. Capacity had been a challenge, since we try to collect episodes for son Ian to watch when he's home from college, but no more; now we can snag more HD movies to watch when prime time doesn't offer anything we find tasty. Bottom line: easy to install, transparent to use & as welcome as dropping enough weight to let favorite clothing fit again, comfortably. (Note: this is the first exception ever to our policy of never reviewing a product from a company that appears among our sponsored items; we chose to do so because this specific product will not appear there & is on a topic about which we're frequently asked our experience).
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW 2: DYMO 400 TURBO We've had a few label printers through here but had not yet tested the Dymo LabelWriter 400 Turbo, so we had them send us one. Several things about it raised our eyebrows (not in a good way): for one, the software disc claims Windows 2000/XP compatibility, not Vista; indeed, the installation under Vista caused an unacceptable number of confirmation interruptions & did stall during the first pass, finally completing on the second. The installation wizard is of that objectionably rude variety that insists on filling your screen & not letting you view other applications (very 1983). It insisted on closing both Word & Outlook though it doesn't appear to have touched either one; indeed, its address book doesn't have a direct importer for Outlook contacts & its add-ons list only Goldmine & Act. It does print labels, but every element of it seems to consider that a secondary function to the act of selling labels, especially the ones it has for printing stamps using an online postage service to make sure you're paying for them. Bottom line: adequate hardware, marginal software & a terrible sense of socialization.
SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW 3: MEGA PLUG AV It says right on the box that the Actiontec Mega Plug AV that it's "Perfect for... real-time HD video, but many users seeking it as a simple answer to a challenge, for example, of getting an HD satellite or cable box signal to a remote set without running cable will be frustrated. This is a 200Mbps (at the very best, under absolutely the most ideal circumstances) HomePlug device with prongs to plug into a power outlet on one side, a modular 10/100 Ethernet jack on the other; even a solid signal over a short path can only deliver that 10/100 Ethernet bandwidth at best. You may not want to plug it into where your computer is plugged in if there's a surge protector in that path; its signal can cross circuit breakers but surge protectors stymie it. It operates in the 2-28MHz RF band, shared by "long-wave" ham radio through CB bands; if you or your neighbors operate that kind of gear, you may face some additional challenges. It's also possible for a neighbor with a similar device to pick up signals from the one in your home or office; at these frequencies, power line wiring acts as a very effective radio antenna. So where do you plug in your TV set? You don't; the box stretched the truth. The Web site talks about extending IPTV, but we have reservations about that working & in any case, there are no instructions in the documentation (including the 45-page PDF Manual on the CD) & this product is not among those for which the Web site currently offers support. There are no HDMI adapters or accessories included or offered either. In other words, the "AV" part of the product name is, we believe, there to mislead consumers. Too much of the finer points of installation are buried where most users (who don't RTFM) will never see them, like the right-click & run as administrator instructions for Vista or the need to plug into an outlet that isn't surge protected or the need to encrypt to avoid interception. So here's a product with adequate hardware, thoughtlessly strategized documentation & misleading claims on the box. Bottom line: an advanced user may find this useful for extending Ethernet by up to a thousand feet at good speed, but the guy who wants this as an HD video extender will end up frustrated, disappointed & quite probably angry.
RETHINKING OUR EVENTS For Cherry Picks at CES 2007 a year ago, nobody had to pay anything to enter or win but Marty had to foot a $75,000 bill for food, facilities, the AV package, printing, etc. For Cherry Picks at CES 2008, we tried to spread that out by charging $500 to enter & another $1000 as an acceptance fee. We're delighted with the roughly 20 products we chose - a small fraction of previous years - but darned disappointed that companies thought so little of our audience that submissions were way down, even among companies with good products who had won in previous years. Our costs were not down, so this was an adventure in red ink. Several elements for The Big Event disappointed us, not the least of which was our last-minute discovery that the true size of the LA press pool covering holiday tech was not sizable. Marty thinks he knows how to make The Big Event work out much better for 2008 & we'll talk about that in a while. Cherry Picks is much more up in the air: we can't afford to keep doing it with the current economics but we don't want to give it up because we think it's fundamentally a Right Thing to Do. Our suggestion box is open for any ideas you might have. Contact: Martin Winston, NEWSTIPS (Novelty, OH) 440-338-8400; mailto:marty@newstips.com http://Newstips.com
FOOTNOTE: BAGS IN TOWN Here's an update on our Cherry Picks gift bags. The bags themselves are in town but not yet here. When they arrive, we'll load one and measure it for a shipping box, then order the shipping boxes (won't take long). Once those are here, we'll start the joy of stuffing, packing, labeling & shipping them all. It wasn't supposed to take this long; our apologies. (And we probably won't do it this way ever again).
# # #
Newstips Bulletin [Novelty, OH] +1.440.338.8400 http://Newstips.com
|