News and Reviews for July 2nd 2010

Kristofer Brozio | July 2, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

It’s Friday, and it’s a holiday weekend here.. July 4th falls on Sunday this year, so that means every one gets an extra day off Monday.. if you saw the post earlier I’ve got my hands on the Droid X, and I have to say I love it and I may have to switch to Verizon now just so I can own this phone… I should have my full review up over on TestFreaks early next week, along with the review of the new BlackBerry Bold and the Samsung Gravity T, and then I’ve got two more phones after that… Lots of phones lately wow..

Anyway, why don’t you read on for the latest news from around the world and I’ll get back to work, or playing with the Droid X…

Storage Related:

Rosewill RX358 3.5" USB 3.0 Enclosure

Link: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Rosewill/RX358

Brief: Rosewill is jumping on the USB 3.0 bandwagon with full force, offing not only enclosures but also host cards. We take their RX358 3.5 inch enclosure for a ride using their RC-505 USB 3.0 controller – a combination that manages to impress.

Intel X25-V SSD: Just Fit for a System Disk @ InsideHW

Summary: To sum up, it turned out that this Intel SSD’s price is placed exactly where it belongs.
Article link: http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/Storage/Intel-X25-V-SSD-Just-Fit-for-a-System-Disk.html

Buffalo Microstation 128GB SSD KitGuru review

Today we are going to be looking at the Buffalo 128GB Microstation SSD drive which is based around a JMicron JMF612 controller, has a 64MB DRAM cache and offers speeds up to 240 MB/s read and 155 MB/s write.

Read the review over here: http://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/zardon/buffalo-microstation-128gb-internal-ssd-review/

Patriot Valkyrie NAS Review
Review URL:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=27993
"…If Patriot decide to correct Valkyrie’s few rough edges, it’ll be hard to resist the $130 price tag. If you are looking for a device that will stream high – quality multimedia content through your network at lightning speeds, then you ‘d better look to other solutions. However, if you’re looking for an affordable centralized data storage solution for your home, the Patriot Valkyrie NAS is a great choice…"

Overclock3D have just published a new article titled: Corsair Dominator GT 1600MHz AM3 Review.
Quote: Are you Phenom II users looking for some extra special RAM? Perhaps these might do it for you…
Link: http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/memory/corsair_dominator_gt_1600mhz_am3_review/1

Synology DS210+ Network Attached Storage @ TechwareLabs

Quote: Do you remember the ONE big thing you wanted every year? You saw commercials about it and told your friends about all of its features, and how you were going to use it. I just got mine, the Synology Disk Station 210+, and I’m not the only one, Synology is so excited about it, it’s the first item on their homepage. Find out why we are so excited about the DS210+ and why you should be too.
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/synology-ds210-network-attached-storage/

AC Ryan PlayOn!HD 1TB Review @ XSReviews

Review Link: http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/other-products/acryan-playonhd-1tb/
Quote: "We previously reviewed the media hub AC Ryan PlayOn!HD Mini and were rather impressed with it. However, that was only a baby compared to what we’re looking at today. It’s price may not be much higher, but on paper the 1TB non-mini version seems to come packing a nice few extras. Lets see how it compares to its smaller brother and whether it’s worth the extra investment cost. "

Corsair Reactor R60 SSD Test @ Benchmark Reviews

DESCRIPTION: Corsair is known for their high end memory products, many of which cater solely to the enthusiast and overclocking crowds. The Corsair Reactor SSD CSSD-R60GB2-BRKT is an Entry Level Solid State Drive claiming to offer good performance for a decent price. Corsair used the JMicron JMF612 in the Reactor series which JMicron claims is the answer to the stuttering the original JMF601 and JMF602 controllers have. In this article, Benchmark reviews is going to to see if the Corsair Reactor R60 can keep up with the other SSD’s on the market.

ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=555

StarTech USB 3.0 Bundle – HDD Dock & PCIe Expansion Card Review @ HardwareHeaven.com
"StarTech were founded in 1985 and since then they have been providing a wide range of IT and A/V products to a diverse range of customers from education to industrial and beyond. They claim that their products offer uncompromising quality and workmanship with sales backed by free, live pre and post purchase support. For those who prefer email support StarTech offer guaranteed responses within 2 hours."

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/993/pg1/startech-usb-30-bundle-hdd-dock-pcie-expansion-review-introduction.html

Seagate Momentus XT @ LanOC Reviews
DESCRIPTION: When you hear the word Hybrid you may have images of Prius’s or maybe even the south park episode where they called all Hybrid owners fart sniffers. You may be surprised to find out that you can get hybrids in the computer industry, specifically in storage. With SSD’s gaining popularity it’s not a surprise that manufactures are looking at ways to bring SSD performance with a normal hard drives capacity and price. Today I have the chance to take a closer look at the Momentus XT from Seagate. This is a 2.5inch laptop drive with 4 gigs of SLC NAND (solid state flash) attached to the PCB to give you just that.
ARTICLE URL: http://lanoc.org/review/hardware/storage/3713-seagate-momentus-xt

MIMOBOT Darth Vader Unmasked @ LanOC Reviews
DESCRIPTION: The market for flash or USB thumb drives has grown from the days when they were all about function with little or no aesthetics. Recently that has changed; you can now find every shape and design, even things you wouldn’t want to see. A few years ago Mimoco, Inc. introduced a series of designer flash drives called Mimobots. Flash forward to today; they still make Mimobots and are on their 5th series and going strong. Today we are looking at the Mimobot version of Darth Vader.
ARTICLE URL: http://lanoc.org/review/hardware/storage/3321-mimobot-darth-vader-unmasked

Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 128gb @ LanOC Reviews
DESCRIPTION: The SSD market has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years. It has given new names a chance to make a name for themselves. Strangely enough, the biggest names in the storage industry Western Digital and Seagate have been slow to the market, letting the technology mature before jumping in. With the purchase of SiliconSystems, Western Digital finally jumped in. Today we are looking at their SiliconEdge Blue, their first entry in the personal SSD market. To celebrate we will showcase this milestone in a custom case from Cooler Master and Smooth Creations.
ARTICLE URL: http://lanoc.org/review/hardware/storage/3503-western-digital-siliconedge-blue-128gb

MaxForce P55 Javelin @ LanOC Reviews
DESCRIPTION: Based out of Michigan, MaxForce PC has been creating custom rigs tailored suited to customer requests since 2007. To further suit customer needs, they will even track down a part not listed on their site to install in your system. Max contacted us a while back to see if we were interested in reviewing one of his enthusiast gaming build’s, the Javelin P55. Since it was right down our alley and had a perfect LAN situation to test it out in, we took the oppourtunity.
ARTICLE URL: http://lanoc.org/review/hardware/other/3328-maxforce-p55-javelin

Plextor PXB940SA @ LanOC Reviews
DESCRIPTION: With hard drive capacities continuing to grow and the popularity of Blu-Ray movies also growing the demand for Blu-Ray players and burners will continue to rise therefore driving the price down. Today I have the chance to take a look at the first Blu-Ray burner to come into LanOC Reviews, the PX940SA from Plextor. With a 12x Blu-Ray burn speed it should be quick, but will it be fast?
ARTICLE URL: http://lanoc.org/review/hardware/pc-hardware/3104-plextor-pxb940sa

Lite-On iHOS104 Blu-Ray Drive @ LanOC Reviews
DESCRIPTION: When the PlayStation 3 first launched it was not only marketed as a game console but also a Blu-Ray Disc player which at the time may have justified its higher price when compared to its competitor consoles. But what once seemed like a a great value when compared to other Blu-Ray players which couldn’t play video games may not seem so great now. Lite-On introduced an affordable Blu-Ray option to the PC, a gaming platform as old as the industry itself. For less than the price of a new retail PS3 title, you can now add Blu-Ray capabilities to your PC with the iHOS104. Today Lite-On has sent us one to test.
ARTICLE URL: http://lanoc.org/review/hardware/pc-hardware/3101-lite-on-ihos104-blu-ray-drive

Sunbeamtech Air Box USB 3.0 External HDD Enclosure Review

It took a while for the external enclosure manufacturers to catch up with the motherboard makers. USB 3.0 however was introduced a while ago. Sadly at CeBIT 2010, we saw mainly prototypes, meaning they were not production ready. Sunbeamtech was the first specialist to send us a full blown USB3.0 3.5inch external enclosure branded under the Airbox name. External data backup via USB has always been painfully slow, surely compared to the more expensive Firewire and eSATA solutions. Will this USB3.0 external solution be able to close the gap ? Let us see if we can stuff it with precious data at blistering speeds.
http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=1042

Audio / Video:

IOGEAR Wireless HD Kit GWAV8141K Review
"At CES 2008, we got out first promises of wireless HD technology. At CES 2009 and again in 2010, more wireless HD prototypes were shown, but it was clear that the pieces were still in the concept phase and not likely to be hitting store shelves any time soon. Today, the technology itself still needs finessing; many require a line of sight between the transmitter and receiver and most use some sort of compression that adversely affects video quality. We were beginning to think that wireless HD would never come around."
Link to the review:http://www.digitaltrends.com/networking-and-wi-fi-reviews/iogear-wireless-hd-kit-gwav8141k-review/

Title: Sungale Kula TV (IPTV)
URL: http://www.bcchardware.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=8787&Itemid=40
Quote:Now the idea behind the Kula TV is great, everyone would love to tell the old cable company to take a hike and replace them with a free alternative such as the Kula TV. Unfortunately in our testing the Kula TV fell a bit short in our opinion and we were left feeling a little disappointed with this product. I thought that the features that the Kula TV includes were great in theory, however the implementation of some of the features (local media player for example) needs a little more work. . .

ASUS Xonar DX2 Sound Card Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/asus-xonar-dx2-sound-card-review/

Quote: “ASUS Decided to start making sound cards since the soundcard market was being dominated by creative and their X-FI line. With the new ASUS line of PCI-E soundcards, it makes it a good market for ASUS to start to dominate in, since there is little competition. With the ASUS D2X is being marketed as a Home Theater sound card along with its gaming flavor. In this review of the ASUS D2X we will put it to the test with gaming to Home Theater use."

Sonos ZonePlayer S5 Multi-Room Music System Review
Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Sonos-ZonePlayer-S5-Multi-Room-Music-System-Review/1038
Summary:Review of the Sonos ZonePlayer S5 multi-room digital music system, which allows you to stream music store in your computer or from the Internet throughout your home or office.

Eagle Tech ET-AR508LR-BK 2.1 Speaker System
URL: http://computingondemand.com/eagle-tech-et-ar508lr-bk-2-1-speaker-system
There is a new category of computer user out there that I am discovering. I have been well aware of the uber geek that accepts nothing more than maxing out their credit cards on the top of the line peripherals and equipment, and I have been versed in the practices of the novice as well.

Mobile etc:

Sync Blocker USB to Dock connector cable for iPhone / iPod / iPad Reviewed

Today for review I’ve got a little product called the Sync Blocker. It’s a cable that resembles the one that came with you Apple product, like the iPod nano 5^th that I’m testing it with but it features a selector switch on it so you can select either charging only or syncing function. The cable also features spring loaded locks on the connection end so it will stay very securely attached to your product. The idea is that we don’t always want to sync our products, I know I don’t, most time I just plug in to charge and with this cable you can do only what you want.

Link: http://www.dragonsteelmods.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16571&Itemid=1

Review of JogJacket for iPod nano iPod 5th Gen @ Bona Fide Reviews

Link: http://www.bonafidereviews.com/review-of-jogjacket-for-ipod-nano-ipod-5th-gen/
Quote:
"Today for review I’ve got a case for the iPod nano 5th gen, but it’s much more than a case it’s actually three things in one. The first is an armband for jogging or exercising, the next is a lanyard for pretty much the same thing and the third part is the case itself that can be used with or without the above two parts. So if you exercise or plan to start you might want to check out this little combo package… "

Super Compact USB Car Charger for iPad Review

Link: http://www.dragonsteelmods.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16560&Itemid=1

So how does one charge their iPad if they are on the go? Today we will look at the Super Compact USB Car Charger for iPad from USB Fever which provides one such solution. This tiny device features a high powered USB port to provide charging power from within your vehicle. Since this connector feeds more juice than the standard iPod/iPhone charger, it is not recommended to use it for those devices unless you want to possibly blow them out.

Review of Two iPod nano 5th Gen Cases @ iGadget Life

Link: http://igadgetlife.com/reviews/review-of-two-ipod-nano-5th-gen-cases/
Quote:
" Today for review I’ve got two inexpensive cases for the Apple iPod nano 5th generation from USBFever.com . These two cases are very different, one is rubber and the other is plastic and aluminum combined. Both of the cases are very nice, I like them, and they’re only $9.99 each, which I think is worth considering the cost of the nano itself. For $10 you can protect the case and have some piece of mind that something bad might not happen to your nice expensive MP3 player. So read on to learn more about them… "

Alienware M17x Laptop Review @ HardwareHeaven.com
"In June 2009 Alienware/Dell launched the M17x, their first co-developed machine. On launch day we provided a world-exclusive preview of the new machine and today it is time to take a more in-depth look at the features and performance of the latest version of the M17x which contains Intel Core i7 technology."

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/994/pg1/alienware-m17x-laptop-review-introduction.html

Artwizz Notebook AluStand @ Phoronix
Direct Link: http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=15099
Summary: "Not often do we look at computer accessories at Phoronix, but every once in a while some product looks interesting for whatever reason and we decide to try it out. With this review, we are looking at the AluStand from Artwizz. Artwizz is a company that is based in Berlin and was founded in just 2004 as a manufacturer of iPod and iPhone accessories, but since then they have branched out into developing other innovative products primarily designed for Apple devices, but other notebook computers too."

Motorola Droid X Review
"Three months ago, Motorola’s Droid X would have been a landmark phone. But this is July 2010, not March, and the Droid X (while a wildly impressive package of bleeding-edge capabilities) is just the latest in a continuing series of similarly-equipped superphones, following the Sprint HTC EVO 4G, the Apple iPhone 4 and the Galaxy S series of phones unveiled earlier this week. We don’t mean to cynically demean the Droid X – it will easily be the best Android phone from Verizon when it goes on sale July 15, at least until the Galaxy S Fascinate becomes available sometime in late summer or early fall."
Link to the review:http://www.digitaltrends.com/cell-phone-reviews/motorola-droid-x-review/

Choiix Comforter Lapdesk
Review Link : http://www.bayreviews.com/accessories/8155-choiix-comforter-lapdesk
Quote : "A laptop cooler is a must have nowadays, to insure a prolonged laptop life. I usually use a portable USB laptop cooler, but sometimes get tired of adjusting it to the right angle and making sure the USB cable doesn’t get tangled in anything. I just want to sit down, get comfortable and use my laptop without having to make many adjustments. "

Antec Notebook Cooler To Go @ LanOC Reviews
DESCRIPTION: The notebook cooling market has lately been flooded with makes and models, each attempting to tackle the heat issue that often comes with portable computers, especially in those used for gaming. Antec recently released their latest addition, the Notebook Cooler To Go, which is designed as you may have guess to be portable. Having reviewed similar products in the past, that portability is often acquired through the sacrifice of performance. Given Antec’s reputation for effciency, I was anxious to see how the Cooler To Go stacked up against not only it’s similar-sized competition but also the bulkier models that are often required for higher cooling rates.
ARTICLE URL: http://lanoc.org/review/hardware/laptop/3067-antec-notebook-cooler-to-go

Assorted Stuffs:

Ozone Ultimate Gamer Pack Competition @ XSReviews

Review Link: http://forums.xsreviews.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=7205
Quote: "Today we have a new competition for you hardware fans, the Ultimate Gamer Pack from Ozone thanks to our partners at Powerdrive-Computers.com.

High-Tech Hotels
"You step into your hotel room and the lights turn on automatically, the radio plays your favorite song, and your phone starts to chime with a helpful text message greeting. Sound like science fiction? At these amazingly high-tech hotels, you can live in the lap of luxury – laptop optional."
Link to the article:http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/high-tech-hotels/

Verizon iPhone: What We Know
"Will Verizon ever get the iPhone? There may be some light at the end of the tunnel for iPhone fans who are frustrated with AT&T, or Verizon customers who would prefer the Apple handset over the Android competitors. Most recently, a report by Bloomberg News Service indicated that Apple may start offering the iPhone to Verizon starting in January of 2011."
Link to the article: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/verizon-iphone-what-we-know/

Anatomy of Computer Fans
Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Anatomy-of-Computer-Fans/1039
Summary:Let’s make an in-depth trip inside computer fans and explore one of the most misunderstood components, the bearing.