News for 8-31-2010

Kristofer Brozio | August 31, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Nothing much to say today.. just really busy, so here’s the news from around the world!

Storage Related

NZXT Internal USB Expansion Module Model IU01 Review @ Tweaknews
Article Url: http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/nzxt_usb_expansion/
Article Snippet:
"Frankly, when I first looked at NZXT’s IU01 internal USB module I was prepared to be underwhelmed. After putting it through its paces, I now see how wrong first impressions can be. The device performed as advertised and can really be a boon to users with insufficient USB port availability and/or power hungry USB devices."

ASUS SBC-06D1S-U External Slim Blu-ray Combo Drive Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/asus-sbc-06d1s-u-external-slim-blu-ray-combo-drive-review/

Quote: “Last year we took a look at ASUS’s first external Blu-ray combo drive, the SBC-04D1S-U. It was the perfect external combo drive for a laptop or desktop and received a perfect 10 out of 10 score in our testing. ASUS has updated the SBC-04D1S-U with faster Blu-ray read speeds and a few other features. They are calling this new combo drive the SBC-06D1S-U. Let’s see if ASUS can make this drive any better than the previous drive we tested!"

Vantec Nexstar CX SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure Review @ Tweaknews
Article Url: http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/vantec_nexstar_cx_usb_3/
Article Snippet:
"Vantec’s NexStar CX is a budget-friendly USB 3.0 enclosure that pairs with your favorite hard drive to create an easy to use external storage solution. Not only does it carry a reasonable price tag, it features blazing fast speeds thanks to the USB 3.0 interface and the passive cooling translates into silent operation."

Audio / Video:

OCIA.net has posted their review of the ASUS Cine5 Speaker and Xonar D2X Sound Card.

"Today we are reviewing the Asus Cine5 sound bar in combination with Asus’ older Xonar D2X 7.1 channel sound card. The Cine5 is a compact speaker designed to simulate 5.1 channel sounds with just one front unit. While there are a few similar devices out there, the major advantage of the Cine5 is that it doesn’t require any calibration or adjustment.."

Direct Link: http://www.ocia.net/reviews/asuscine5/page1.shtml

Phiaton PS 20 NC Review
"Earlier this year we had an opportunity to review Phiaton’s PS 210 headphones. Their unique "half in-ear" design proved to be an admirable design point that improved how securely they fit as well as their sound quality. Now, we take a moment to review the new PS 20 NC headphones, a set of noise-cancelling earphones that combine the same "half in-ear" design with active noise cancelling that proposes to reduce ambient noise by 95%."
Link to the review: http://www.digitaltrends.com/headphone-reviews/phiaton-ps-20-nc-review/

Title: Urbanears Medis Headset
URL: http://www.bcchardware.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=9017&Itemid=40
Quote:

The Medis earphones have a very different design than most other earphones. The design requires the pads to be selected to fit your ears or else they will not fit very well and be very uncomfortable. The idea is pretty good as the earphone design pushes the sound toward your ear canal. In reality, the Medis don’t work as well as I’d hoped – at least on my ears. . .

Samsung EX1 10-Megapixel Digital Camera Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/samsung-ex1-10-megapixel-digital-camera-review/

Quote: “When people think of manufacturers who make compact digital cameras, few will probably think of Samsung. Though recently, it seems Samsung has been building more photographic equipment, and been doing a great job of it too. The latest compact digital camera from Samsung to reach the market is the EX1. With its compact metal body, an impressive F1.8-2.4 optical zoom lens capable of 24mm at the wide-angle and an articulated screen, it looks like Samsung is serious about their cameras. There are many features of the Samsung EX1 that was unexpected but highly desirable, the impressive F1.8 aperture capabi lity, their high quality OLED articulated rear display and the ability to capture images in RAW (an uncompressed/lossless file format)."

Western Digital TV Live Plus
Quote: " The WD TV Live Plus has some great features over the original Netflix only players. While the Roku maybe well known for its Netflix streaming support, the WD TV Live Plus has Netflix and more. Combine tons of internet content with support for your internal network content and you’ve got a product ready to be at the center of your media needs. "
Link: http://www.aselabs.com/articles.php?id=11985

Hardware Bistro has just posted latest review on Arctic Sound P311 Bluetooth Headset.

Quote: "In old days Arctic Cooling was an outstanding brand with its Accelero but today it is no longer limited with this graphic card cooler but it’s also known with other tremendous products such as CPU cooler, chassis, PSU, audio products and so on. Today let us review one of its latest audio product; Sound P311 which is a Bluetooth headset and suitable for mobile phone, laptop and other music devices."

Read More: http://hardwarebistro.com/index.php?option=com_simple_review&Itemid=84&review=154-Arctic-Sound-P311-Bluetooth-Headset-Review

Mobile Related:

ASUS Eee 1215N 12.1-inch Netbook
QUOTE: "Netbooks are growing up right before our eyes. When they first surfaced, the screens were in the 7-inch range. They then grew to a norm of 10-inches and today the 12.1-inch netbook is fast becoming one of the most popular sizes on the market. These machines have more screen space and perhaps more importantly a larger keyboard than the 10-inch netbooks we typically see.
I am sure there are many people out there who have been waiting for a nice netbook to surface with Optimus tech and Ion graphics from NVIDIA. ASUS has put one of its shiny new Eee 1215N netbooks into our geeky little hands and it has all the goodies packed inside."

Monaco Mobile Phone Solar Charger Review at CCE Review
Link: http://www.ccereviews.com/reviews/monaco-mobile-phone-solar-charger/
Quote: Utilizing solar power is turning into the way of the future. The Solar Charger presented here today is an excellent power alternative to powering your mobile phones and other small hand-held devices. While out on the road, this device can be a real lifesaver, giving juice to your Blackberry when you need to make that emergency call, or simply powering your iPod when you need to listen to some tunes on a long road trip.

Samsung Epic 4G vs. HTC EVO 4G
"The first 4G phone in the United States finally has some competition. On August 31, Samsung’s Epic 4G arrives on Sprint, ending the EVO 4G’s nearly three-month run as the big man on campus. But is it actually a better choice? We stacked both superphones side by side to see which rules the 4G airwaves.."
Link to the article: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/samsung-epic-4g-vs-htc-evo-4g/

News: Toshiba’s Nile-powered Satellite T235D notebook

Does AMD finally have a good alternative to Intel’s CULV platform, and should this 13" Toshiba notebook be on your shopping list this back-to-school season?
http://techreport.com/articles.x/19518

Samsung Captivate Android Smartphone Review:
http://hothardware.com/Reviews/Samsung-Captivate-Review/

Smartphone manufacturers have been using very boastful smartphone names lately—everything from the HTC Droid Incredible to the Motorola Droid X (where X stands for extreme). Certainly with names such as these, expectations will be high. We’ve already taken a look at both of these phones and deemed them to be worthy competitors in today’s smartphone market.

Mobility Digest Review: RightWay Spotter Dale Jr. Edition 4.3" Touchscreen GPS

Today for review Geeks has sent me over another of their GPS Devices, this one though is bit special in that it’s a themed type with Dale Jr as its theme. Yes, it’s a Nascar themed GPS unit that comes with pictures and movies featuring Dale Jr and the GPS uses Dale’s voice to guide you along the way. If you don’t want his voice you can of course change it to one of the other selections. The unit itself is really a portable media player with GPS functionality, it can do movies, music, pictures and even e-books. As a GPS unit it works well really, except for having Dale’s voice guide you, that can be annoying…

https://mobilitydigest.com/mobility-digest-review-rightway-spotter-dale-jr-edition-4-3-touchscreen-gps/

Mobility Digest Review – Checklist v2.1

Looking for a finger friendly, easy to use app to manage pretty much any kind of list. Then Checklist is for you. While not what you would call "feature rich" I was immediately attracted to this app for it’s streamlined and simple interface. It does one thing, and one thing well; manage checklists, plain and simple. The app will work on any VGA or WVGA device and has been tested on WM 6.5.X devices, but my guess is it will also work on WM6.1.

http://windowsmobile.mobilitydigest.com/mobility-digest-review-checklist-v2-1/

Assorted Stuffs:

Alan Johnson CryoPC Interview @ XSReviews

Article Link: http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/editorial/interview/cryo-pc-interview/
Quote: "Here at XSReviews, while we mostly review individual PC components we sometimes take a peek at full system builds. One company we’ve worked with in the past is CryoPC who produce some seriously impressive high end gaming rigs. Today we speak with head honcho Alan Johnson who tells us all about the system building process and what it’s like to run a custom PC production firm. "

Overclock3D Launches Power Supply Certification Programme.
Quote: OC3D has launched a new certification programme designed to make the purchasing of PC Power Supplies easier for enthusiasts.
Link: http://www.overclock3d.net/articles/power_supply/overclock3d_launches_power_supply_certification_programme/1

Desktop PC Platform – Saved By Overclocking @ Benchmark Reviews

DESCRIPTION: The desktop hardware industry was made popular by knowledgeable members of the community willing to share their overclocking experience with others. Passionate hobbyists aligned with similar goals graciously helped eager learners to tweak hardware components until they performed like the next model in the series, but pre-tweaked enthusiast products were slowly driving down the number of people who qualify as overclockers. It’s not easy watching our hobby get dumbed-down to the point where the push of a button can replace years of trial-and-error experience. At some point, the real overclockers will return to save the desktop platform.

ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11569&Itemid=8