Gadgetize

A Day With Kindle and a Free Kindle Book

2009-02-26T23:58:00.000-08:00

I finally had some time to spend with the Kindle 2 today, and so far I am loving it. Before I get to the positive stuff, I will note the few negatives:

1. I wouldn't mind a reading light built in shooting up from the bottom to avoid reflection or glare.
2. The display is perfect for reading. It is not perfect for navigation or motion. A little surprised it hasn't improved more since the first one.
3. Internet is slooow. Nearly unusable slow.

So with that in mind, the first thing I would say to a fellow owner is to prepend this to every URL you type into the browser: http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u= it's a Google mobile proxy or something great like that.

So if you were visiting here, use http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=gadgetize.com Google trims the fat and gives it to you in a much easier format for the Kindle's browser. That will save bundles of time.

I haven't sorted out a reading light yet, but I will. It just seems like something could pop into the USB port at the bottom and shoot onto the screen. Still, I am so glad it is a flat, unlit screen. The e-ink looks fake almost, until you get used to it.

I also haven't purchased any books yet. For the moment I am too busy fiddling with the device itself. I did look into what books are available for free, and it turns out there are a lot. Project Gutenberg has a ton of them. The only problem is that they are not formatted the best for the Kindle, having a lot of carriage returns it doesn't need.

I started with Moby Dick by Herman Melville-- I cleaned it up, removing page numbers, HTML formatting, and fixing the chapter heads. I ended up with about a 1MB text file (.txt) that looks great and works great on the Kindle. It keeps track of where you are properly and everything.

So if anyone wants it, it's free, it's a great book anyway, and it's free. Here's 'Moby Dick.txt'

Too Good to Pass Up - Pen Spy Camera $25

2008-12-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

A 4GB 352x288 camera in the body of a working pen for $25.73 delivered? I'll bite. It's like all the promises of the back pages of comic books come to life.

Only this time there's sample video as proof. There is a 640x480 version as well, but the video is awful. Terrible blurring across frames. So I bought this one, as I assume you will too.

It records audio as well, and can record up to 2 hours at a time. The memory can hold something like 12 hours of footage though (~5MB/min, 4GB total). So you are officially either a spy or a pervert now. Good luck.

MicroSD Adapters for Cheap - $2 Delivered

2008-12-09T22:23:00.001-08:00

You can never really have too many USB MicroSD Adapters, they seem to get lost or fail a lot.

Well, one of my favorite websites, Deal Extreme, has them for $2.28 including shipping. They look about as small as they are going to get while keeping a full USB plug.

There’s not a lot else to say, it’s probably a no name brand but I’ve had Kingston’s fail, so whatever.

Is this a gadget? The PedEgg rules.

2008-09-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

The Pedegg has very little gadget cachet, but I have to say, I am just loving it.

I have used the razor-bladed tools they use in beauty shops for pedicures. They do the job, just extremely slowly, and it's gross watching the sliced meats fall off your heel. I have used the pumice, the rough metal sander types, and the sandpaper style tools.

The PedEgg isn't really that revolutionary, it's essentially a low-profile cheese grater with a reservoir to hold the resulting waste. I gave it a shot, bought it at Fry's for $10, and after a rough summer, my heels are like new again. I can't recommend it enough.

I have the white one, but I may shell out for the black one just to be cool.

Samsung Messager vs. Kyocera Lingo -- No Contest

2008-09-04T10:35:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm stuck with it, and yeah it looks better than the Lingo, but how is the Messager in daily use?

First I'll cover the nice stuff. The Messager has a nice interface and a nice chassis. It is better looking all around. And it was easy to add my own ringtones either via HTTP or vie MMS message. So far so good. Call quality? Very nice. The reason I picked it up in the first place was that my Lingo was dropping calls, probably because of repeated drops over time. The Messager is a tri-band phone that will supposedly be able to take advantage of a larger call area. Nice.

Unfortunately, the fun ended there. In literally every other way I use the phone, my cheaper, uglier, chintzier Kyocera Lingo blows the Messager away-

1) The Keyboard: The Lingo's keyboard is simply better laid out, and faster to type with in both SMS and email. The selector buttons are at the bottom of the keyboard instead of lined up with the screen, the arrow buttons are way down in the bottom right where it's tougher to access by touch, and the shift and function keys work like a shift-lock, requiring repeated presses before and after punctuation. Parens are at least 3 screens of menus away, the comma requires the function key, and instead of centering the keyboard it skews left as you go down. Also, no Enter key that I can find for typing emails. The Lingo keyboard, while cheap looking and squeaky, is separated into halves and is just easier to use in every situation.

2) The Apps and Internet: The Messager can't use the Internet or Java apps without sliding the keyboard open. What? Why? I could check Gmail on my Lingo in the regular phone position, yes, while driving. And now even if I can eventually get the Java Gmail working, I have to slide out the keyboard to use it. Stupid.

3. Browser: I've set it a number of times, and nothing I do can keep the service provide home page from launching every time I start up the browser. OK fine. At least it'll open the last page I had open, like the Lingo? Nope. So the browser startup, before I can interact with it, takes probably a minute longer than the Lingo did. The Lingo immediately showed whatever I last had open. From there I can at least request what I need, instead of waiting for something I definitely don't.

So since I can't return my Samsung Messager, I am going to hang my hat on what it does have. Good call quality, a MicroSD slot, and a nice-looing (not working) interface. Oh, and I can set ringtones for each caller, which I will do.

Gotta make myself not feel like an idiot, but I do miss my crappy looking little gold Kyocera Lingo. Maybe they'll make a sequel and this Messager will break.

Intriguing 8GB Insignia Pilot Bluetooth Player - $100

2008-05-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

This Insignia (Best Buy) Pilot MP3 and video player is pretty intriguing for only $100 shipped. It is an 8GB player, and includes Bluetooth, something I have wanted for a long time in my player. It's got a 2.4" screen, an FM tuner, and the player itself just doesn't look half bad. I'm left wondering where this thing might go wrong.

The reviews look pretty good actually, a few people have some trouble but the nice thing is that you can return or exchange locally if it does happen. I may have to check this one out, my Sony is unbearable to use with the required software... Blah.

Almost Gone-- 24" Soyo DYLM24D6 $220 Shipped

2008-05-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

I have one of these 24" Soyo LCDs, and I like it a lot. They do have some occasional blanking problems, but only on DVI. If you run it at 1920x1200 via VGA I don't think I've seen any problems out there. I didn't like it for my Xbox, as it stretched the 1920x1080 (no way to stop it). Also the panel is MVA instead of TN, which is reportedly much superior.

In any case, they are going fast. Shipping is around $20.

Loving Imageshack's Torrent Service

2008-04-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

I've been using the new Imageshack torrent downloading service, and I am loving it. I only signed up after reading about the service, and the first couple of days I wasn't given any space to download with. But I have it now, and I've got to say the service is very well done.

Here's how it works: you give them a torrent file or URL, and their servers do the downloading. When it's done, you download the file via normal HTTP download. You don't get the grief from your service provider over torrent traffic, and you don't need to leave your computer on while the torrents download.

I am not sure that these are the final numbers, but my account has 5GB of space at a given time, and 10GB of download traffic per month. You can pay for more, quite a lot more, but this is just about right for me. As you delete things after you download them, your space quota gets freed up. So those numbers aren't as much of a brick wall as they might seem.

One cool thing I noticed today, I downloaded a particularly popular torrent, and it was downloaded immediately. It was 350MB, so actual downloading in that time, even with their resources, was highly unlikely. It would be fairly easy to match up different downloading the same torrent URLs and just keep one copy of the file. It would save a ton of processing and bandwidth, and it makes it great for users like me.

So check it out, it's a great way to download torrents if you don't like constantly monitoring and managing them.

Free Standalone File Recovery

2008-04-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

I more-than-occasionally delete a file I really need. There used to be a free Sony undelete utility that I liked for use on flash memory, but it worked for most any drive.

Well, finally, I have a new and wonderful tool, so here it is for you. Hat tip to Drive Recoveries for pointing me toward Recover Files 2.

The really nice thing about it is there is no need to install it. Just throw it on a thumb drive and run it directly from there. It's easy to use, it either will work or it won't, so it's a nice first thing to try.

Inoi HV670 DVD/HDD Media Player for $80

2008-01-26T14:21:00.000-08:00

The Inoi HV670 HDD/DVD Media Player is only $79.99 at Geeks.com currently, and has an additional $10 rebate available until February 15.

It's much like any network media player in function, but instead of the network connection it has a removable hard drive to hold the media. So no network traffic glitches, connection problems, etc. It also contains a traditional DVD player. It has component outputs, but does not apparently upconvert DVD playback.

Drop DirecTV Dish WiFi- 24dBi Antenna Under $50

2008-01-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

Old DirecTV antennas are nice, but this Parabolic Grid from Pasadena Networks requires no construction, is made specifically for the frequency, and will likely end up just as cheap at only $50 shipped.

It is about 36" wide and gets an immense 24dBi of gain -- over 100x the strength of the normal antenna that comes on an access point. It's a coated aluminum outdoor antenna, this is for serious long distance projects. Obviously it is highly directional as well.

I'd been searching through antennas and the prices are just all over the map. So if you need a large direction dish as I do, and if you've considered trying to adapt an old DirecTV-type dish, I'd say save the weekend, save the frustration, and just get it shipped complete.

LED Bulbs Available for $5 at Geeks.com

2008-01-03T22:38:00.000-08:00

Geeks.com has a great deal on two types of LED bulbs, both $4.99. Pictured is the LED spotlight, an 18 LED, 1.3 watt compact unit that is great for reading lamps, especially in the bedroom. The other bulb is a more normal globe unit, with 18 LEDs and 1.3 watt consumption as well.

I've purchased a number of these on eBay for $10+ after I missed their first go-round at Geeks. I would definitely recommend trying some out, it's a great feeling when your bulb uses like 1 watt and doesn't get hot. The spots are great because you can read in bed without your partner being kept up.

Here's That AT&T 'Naked' DSL Page

2008-01-02T20:52:00.001-08:00

AT&T has a series of relatively inexpensive DSL options without requiring a phone line and I thought I'd link to them since it's a little hard to find on their site.

The cheapest is $19.99 a month and requires a year contract. The cheapest non-contract option is $23.99 a month. Since my cable television is no longer even connected into my entertainment system, I've been thinking of ditching Comcast altogether. If I can't leech off of the local library or some other public building, I could go for this.

8GB USB Thumb Drive Under $32 Shipped

2008-01-02T20:44:00.000-08:00

YesBuy.net has the ADATA PD9 8GB USB Thumb Drive for only $31.95 with free shipping. Far and away the cheapest I've seen, DealRam claims the cheapest at about $40.

Not a fashion item to be sure, but an extremely useful and cheap replacement for my old 20GB hard-drive-based portable storage.

Kyocera Lingo - Make Your Own Ringtones

2007-10-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

Update: Heather points out below that you can actually email the ringtone right to your phone instead of this whole crazy sequence. If it works, sweet-- I'll have to try it. Just mail the mp3 as an attachment to your phone, like an MMS message. In my case it would be xxxyyyzzzz@mms.mycricket.com, different providers I am sure will be different. In any case, thank you to Heather!

Just a quick tutorial today, there is no Mobile Phone Tools (yet) for the Lingo M1000, and sort of by accident I found a way to put my own ringtones on my Lingo.

First off, it may only work on Cricket, but it should work on any Lingo with a web browser.

Creating the ringtone:
I'm sure there are better tutorials out there for this, but I used the free Audacity. Simply take in your mp3 of choice, trim it down to your favorite 30 seconds, use the high-pass filter to drop everything below 100Hz (the ringer can't really pump out the bass), and then use the default dynamic-range compression. Mix it down to a single mono track, and save as a 22KHz, 64kbps mp3. The total file size needs to be under about 500K.

Getting the Ringtone into the Lingo
You'll need a website of some sort to upload the mp3 too, any free service will do, but the key is, there needs to be a direct URL to your mp3. If you can't think of something easier, HotLinkFiles will work. Note the complete URL for the mp3. Enter the URL (using the handy QWERTY keyboard) into the web browser, and wait a minute for it to download. It will ask if you want to save the mp3 in your 'Sounds' directory-- you do.

Activating the Ringtone
Just navigate into your 'Media Gallery', then 'Sounds' and then 'Saved Sounds'. Your new mp3 should be at the top of the list, but find it and press 'Options' and then 'Assign'. From there you can make it the default ringer or whatever you like.

So it's not the smoothest way to get a ringtone, but it works, and I miss my old Nokia 6265i or whatever it was a little less every day.

My New Phone, The Kyocera M1000 Lingo

2007-10-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

The Kyocera M1000 Lingo was my unplanned replacement for my old Nokia 6265i. I loved that phone, loved it and lost it.

So I decided against the KRZR and another similar Nokia and went back to my old Kyocera ways with the interesting looking Lingo. It was the full keyboard that got me, I use my phone for email quite a bit, and I thought it might really be useful.

Is it? Yes, it is. My old phone had a 320x240 display, very nice. This one has 128x128 external, and 160x128 internal, quite a bit less smooth. But I can still use Gmail very well, the font they used in the browser is actually very nice.

For anyone looking at this phone, that's the real selling point. The keyboard. And it is very easy to use even with my fat fingers. It makes all the difference when you just need to get an email out and you're not home and not in the mood for a predictive-text nightmare trying to use correct punctuation.

So I got what I wanted out of the phone, and all the normal things work as expected. It has good volume, people can hear me, and the convenience features are all there. I am happy with it.

As for the bad points, there are a few, so before you decide to get one, here they are:

1) No removable storage.
2) Ugly. It really is.
3) External screen stays on when the lid is open.
4) Battery life is not stellar.
5) No Mobile Phone Tools (yet) to customize themes or tones.
6) Screen resolution is average.
7) No video recording.

I knew all the bad points before buying, and I am still happy I did. The back side of the phone is actually very nice looking, so I always leave it face down. I look forward to the Mobile Phone Tools for it, and I'll buy an extra battery at some point.

Anyway, I haven't been buying many gadgets in general lately, so I thought I'd share this one. I am really very happy with the phone, I think it's a revision or two away from being a really great phone, and I'd get another one today if it had better screens, better battery life, and better aesthetics.

8GB Meizu Now Available - White Only $145 Shipped

2007-08-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

The Dane-Elec Meizu 8GB is finally available, and Walgreens of all places has it the cheapest. What makes that nice is you can return it on pretty much any corner if something goes wrong.

It's consistently gotten great reviews, and at $110 less than the iPod Nan 8GB, it seems like a great deal. The one thing I see pretty commonly in reviews is that the fidelity is good enough that getting new headphones really makes a difference.

You can watch 320x240 video, it requires no drivers, no iTunes, no nothing. Load you songs up, get them back off the player if you want, it's so much better this way.

Currently only white is in stock.

Sandisk Sansa Connect WiFi Now $145 Delivered

2007-08-07T15:55:00.000-07:00

The Sansa Connect Wifi looks like a very nice little player.

It could almost replace my ancient Aireo, the original WiFi player. I loved that thing, the ability to sync my playlists from the car, to get audible.com content from any hotspot, etc.

This Sansa takes it even further, allowing you to listen to Internet Radio from any open hotspot, download from music services without a computer to connect to. It's actually quite a bit more convenient than you might think initially. I used the feature all the time with my Aireo, and that was far more rudimentary.

It has 4GB flash memory, and a 2.2" color screen for pictures and video.

For those less patient, it's $150 at Staples.

Old School Tube 30" Philips Only $270 Shipped

2007-07-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

This refurbished Philips 30PW9110D/37B tube television set is only $270 delivered right now from the Philips Outlet store.

A lot of people like flat screens, but except for very very good ones, they are yet to match the color of a CRT. So if you already have the room set aside, the flatness makes very little difference.

The resolution, I believe, is 1280x720, it has HDMI and component inputs, and a QAM tuner. If you can see past the desirability of dimensions and into the actual picture quality, I think you'll be pleased with this one.

Sun-Pec Mobile Phone Solar Charger $25 Shipped

2007-07-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

The Sun-Pec Portable Hybrid Solar Charger is only $25 shipped ($18 + $7 shipping) from GoldenGadgets right now when you use the coupon code "SUM07".

It includes adapter Plugs for mini-USB, USB, Motorola, Nokia and BlackBerry. So what does hybrid mean? It means that there is both a solar panel and an internal 1050mAh lithium-ion battery. So you can charge the battery via USB, or you can charge it more slowly via solar, and use both power sources to recharge your phones.

I think it's pretty slick, and it has an aluminum case as well.

27" Native 1280x720 LCD for Only $250

2007-07-04T23:35:00.000-07:00

The Refurbished Westinghouse LTV-27W2 27" LCD just got even cheaper. It's now only $250 at eCost.com.

That's a good price in and of itself. But when you add the fact that it's native 1280x720 instead of the hated 1366x768, it starts to get very attractive for a bedroom set, or for Xbox 360. It has 2 component, 1 VGA, and 1 DVI input. It also appears to have an ATSC tuner.

Enjoy the Outdoors - Speaker Planter $35

2007-06-29T01:59:00.000-07:00

This terracotta-style planter, with a speaker in its base is only $35 at Geeks.com right now, and it looks vastly better than most of the 'rocks' with speakers in them I see around.

It can actually hold a plant in it, and has drainage as well, so enjoy the sun and get some plants going, all whilst enjoying stealth tunes. What a summer.

Nice Pair for Speaker Builders - Gem Sound for $20

2007-06-26T02:01:00.000-07:00

The Gem Sound NT-525 speaker set is a pretty great deal if you want to put together a pair of bookshelf speakers.

It comes with the matched speakers and crossovers, so it lets you concentrate on just the cabinet more or less. If you are just starting building it's kind of a nice way to go knowing the pieces will mate up reasonably well. The quality could be mixed, but Gem Sound makes a lot of sound reinforcement and DJ equipment, so it at least will probably last.

And the snazzy blue cones are bound to impress for sure.

Side note: These are intended for, and obviously could be used for automotive applications as well, and are a good deal there too.

HP iPAQ rx5915 GPS/PDA Under $400

2007-06-24T00:55:00.000-07:00

The HP iPAQ rx5915 receives just about every kind of signal there is outside of telephony. It's got GPS, 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth.

It's got a 3.5" touchscreen and has navigation software, Mobile Office, Internet Explorer, and Windows Media Player. It can take up to 2GB of SD for storage, and charges via its USB connector.

With a decent small Bluetooth keyboard this could be a pretty nice device, combining GPS, some web browsing, Skype, and a decent video player.

Cute Little Sony Mic for $25

2007-06-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

This little $25 Sony Microphone for digital recorders would be pretty handy for a lot of situations.

There are a lot of MP3 players with mic inputs, and other devices with built-in mics that this would sound much better than. It's unidirectional, too, so you can target the source to some degree.

Plus look how cute it is, don't turn it away.

Interesting iCEBOX Down to $450

2007-06-21T01:48:00.000-07:00

The iCEBOX (WBIBFS4B) Flipscreen Kitchen Entertainment Center is a pretty interesting piece of hardware. A 12.1" LCD touchscreen, Windows CE, a DVD player and some security and Internet features, all packed into a sort of GE SpaceSaver type of design.

Originally I believe these were North of $2000, and obviously did not take off. At $450, it becomes somewhat more appealing, and actually a little intriguing. You can plug in USB drives, you can monitor a security camera, you can watch movies, and you can browse the Internet. And then you can fold it all away. Get the keyboard greasy? Feel free to wash it.

It also has some inputs for video, an old analog style TV tuner, an FM tuner, and a remote. And it's new, not refurbished, and by far the cheapest price around.

Keychain 8-in-1 Tool Now $10

2007-06-21T00:25:00.000-07:00

The Micro-Plus 8-in-1 Multi-Tool gives you 8 tools and 4 hyphens, now marked down 50% to $9.99 at ThinkGeek.

Constructed from hardened 4650 tool steel and given a black oxide finish, the tiny marvel features:

-Precision Pliers with Posi-Grip Jaws
-Phillips Screwdriver
-Flat Screwdriver
-Micro Phillips Screwdriver
-Micro Flat Screwdriver
-Wire cutter
-Wire stripper
-Sheet Shear

Some of those are a real stretch to consider a new tool, but it is small and nicely constructed. And cheap.

Samsung 16GB SSD Just Over $200

2007-06-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

The Samsung 16GB SSD Solid-State Drive is getting really close to $200 shipped. For extending laptop battery life or certain other applications, I think that's the point it starts getting worthwhile.

It's at Newegg, and you need coupon code "FLASHSAMS16GB" to save $50 on the drive. With shipping it's $205.

The Samsung product page is here to read more about the likely service life of the drive and the energy savings.

I think a $99 8 or 10GB would kill, but for now they're still going for a slight premium since there isn't a lot of competition. I can't wait to try one.

Perfect Bluetooth Retro Handset - $35

2007-06-18T23:58:00.000-07:00

The ThinkGeek Bluetooth Retro Hanset is just about as good as it gets.

I don't know when it arrived, but I almost bought its wired predecessor. This one, though, has everything I could ever want. Wireless connectivity, plus it is not something you leave in your ear like a walking turd.

It's $34.99 before shipping, and it's only at ThinkGeek.com. These things tend to sell out so go for it while the getting's good, yet slightly slower than me so I get one for sure.

Weekend Special - Apacer 1GB USB Drive $9 Shipped

2007-06-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

The Apacer Handy Steno AH221 1GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive is only $8.95 with free shipping this weekend.

I've had good luck with SuperMediaStore, no real feedback via email, but then in a few days the item shows up in the mail and it's great.

Anyway, if you need a few drives to not worry about losing-- here you go.

Summer Fun - Kill-a-Watt $20 Shipped Now

2007-06-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

The Kill-a-Watt is now only $20 shipped from my new favorite store, SuperMediaStore.

It's a great way to kill a little time, too. I'm involved in an energy use competition right now so I need every edge I can get, my wasteful appliances won't track themselves down.

Dane-Elec 4GB Meizu Media Player $105 Shipped

2007-06-13T19:05:00.001-07:00

The Dane-Elec 4GB Meizu MP3/MP4 Portable Media Player is only $100 and $5 shipping where? Walgreens.com, of course!

It's a nice looking media player, with a 2.4" 320x240 LCD, holds a 20 hour charge and recharges through LCD, and it plays most any common audio or video format (MP3, WMA, Ogg, XviD, etc.). It's got an aluminum body and is only 3.1"x2".

You can download the datasheet here, the reviews are all in the 4-5 stars range on the Walgreens site. Another nice touch? If you don't like it, return in to any Walgreens.

Smallest USB Drive? PQI i810 2GB $25 Shipped

2007-06-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

The PQI i810 2GB Flash Drive is truly tiny.

The lower half 'tongue' fits into your USB port, but it also retracts. So the whole thing is smaller in area than a postage stamp.

I just got mine yesterday, and it's the first time I've even left one of these on my keychain. No more forgetting it on the road.

Only difficulty is it will go into a USB port either way, but only works one way. Making up for that is that the design of the tongue looks like Optimus Prime.

Smaller and Smaller - 2GB MicroSD + Reader $27

2007-06-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

The Adata 2GB MicroSD Card and Reader is my next USB drive purchase. It's unreal that removable media is now small enough that the entire reader nearly fits in the USB port itself.

I already have some MicroSD (TransFlash) memory laying around, and this comes with an additional 2GB, free shipping, and a handy carrying necklace.

It's kind of crazy how much smaller media is than even Sci-Fi of 10 years ago would have guessed for the far future. It's also crazy how easy it is to lose a MicroSD card.

Ridiculously Priced Speakers - Fidek FHS-288 $20

2007-06-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

The Fidek FHS-288 at MCM Electronics is currently only $20 for each speaker. Details are scarce, but it appears that they have dual 8 or 10 inch woofers (I'd guess 8s by the name), and they are roughly 40 inches tall.

The shipping at MCM is by price. So you would save money by ordering them singly via ground shipping for about $7.50 each. I wouldn't normally mention something like this, but the drivers look decent, and the Fidek site looks like they make some respectable products.

These are cheap enough it might even be worth getting them and spraying them black or white instead of the wood grain.

Best Shower Head Ever Only $3

2007-06-01T21:35:00.001-07:00

The Alson Incredible Head Power Shower Showerhead is likely the best gadget I've purchased all year.

It has no moving parts to twist, no plastic to stain, nothing to plug. It does nothing but create a water jet and save you water. 2.5 gpm, $3, and a great rushing sound as you shower. The only thing you'll want is to make sure you wrap the pipe threads in teflon tape, as the pressure will push water through an imperfect joint.

If you have marginal water pressure you really owe it to yourself to try this out. It also looks rather nice, not exactly like the drawing since it's all stainless steel, but I like that it's so basic they didn't even photograph it.

You can thank me later.

USB-to-Coaxial Digital for under $20

2007-05-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

The Harman/Kardon DAL 150 EzLink is a device I searched for forever about a year ago.

It's not revolutionary, it's not new, but I wanted a way to digitally output the audio from my computer so that I could record it back digitally. Obviously there are solutions like Total Recorder, but I don't really like what it does with my audio settings.

So I could conceivably listen to anything I wanted, and loop it back into my main sound card and record it at will in full 16-bit PCM.

Even though I do use Total Recorder when recording from things like RealPlayer, I think for $14 plus shipping I might want to switch up.

Linksys WMA11B - Extend your mp3s for only $30

2007-05-28T15:04:00.000-07:00

The Linksys WMA11B Media Extender is now only $30 at MCM Electronics. It's a nice little 802.11B device that lets you view your photos and listen to your music away from your computer.

It attaches to your Windows machine wirelessly, and it works a lot like any other media extender, but this one does not do video. It's just music and photos.

Anyway, at $30, you can't shake a stick at it. Amazon has some reviews.

Joost Invites Available

2007-05-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

If you're interested, I'll send you an invite for Joost. I've been enjoying it pretty well, the installation process is simple, the interface is great, and the video is pretty solid.

The only thing I don't know is how much bandwidth the P2P takes. It's like regular TV on demand, as there are usually 3 commercials per half hour. I'm sure the content will expand relatively quickly, they've got some huge advertisers like Sony and Visa, so whatever they're doing they're doing right so far.

Anyway, leave a comment if you want an invite, just make your email like morgan (at) example.com.

Finally sorted out my problems with the blog domains and ready to rock and roll again.

Garbage into Gadgets - FreeNAS is Great

2007-01-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

Have an old PC? There is almost no drive chassis NAS available that will work better than your garbage computer + FreeNAS.

It takes less than 32MB, and you can run it from the hard drive, a CD ROM, a Compact Flash card, or a USB drive if your motherboard supports it.

In my case, I used an old 64MB Compact Flash card. I bought a CF-to-IDE adapter for about $5 off of eBay, plugged the card in like a hard drive, and started the FreeNAS CD that I had created from a downloadable ISO. It would probably be a lot less trouble to have just installed it on a the hard drive I wanted to use, but they were still en route.

It started up and parked itself at 192.168.1.250. I had no monitor or keyboard connected to it, and no problem at all. Connected from another computer and could configure whatever I wanted. Eventually got my hard drives shipped, and threw three in there. Restarted, configured in the web interface, and I'm rocking and rolling.

Apparently, I can even upgrade the software as though it was firmware now, so I'll never need to try to connect it to a keyboard or monitor again. So that FIVE pieces of trash that were repurposed into something extremely useful
- Old Cyrix 800MHz PC
- 3 Old failed hard drives replaced by Seagate under warranty
- Old 64MB CF Card
I spent $5 on the card adapter, but that was unnecessary really, just for fun.

For the simplest possible procedure-- if you have an old computer, you don't to open or anything, you just want it to act as a server as it is.
1. Take the CPU, disconnect everything from the outside. Plug in power and your network.
2. Download the ISO from FreeNAS here and burn it to a CD.
3. Turn on the power, go to another computer's browser and type 192.168.1.250.
4. Click on Disks > Management and follow the directions to prepare the hard drive, I'd recommend the UFS file system.
5. Click on Services > CIFS and name your server on the network.

All done! Now you can see the server on your Windows network, and you don't have a wasted piece of junk in your closet. You now have more files to keep track of and worry about backing up. Most likely porn. Congrats.

Linksys Wireless-B Music System for $30

2006-11-26T13:55:00.000-08:00

The Linksys Wireless-B Music System is only $30 right now at MCM electronics. It's normally almost $100, and while it's not the best looking thing on the planet it has some nice features.

It's self-contained, the player section can be disconnected from the speakers and connected either by analog or digital output to another system, it works with wired or wireless networks, and supports WEP. There's a remote and pretty nice display for playing back and sorting through your available network music.

I works with Rhapsody and MusicMatch, it does a whole lot of things. I saw it at bestBuy for a while and I always though $100 was just a little too much. $30 though? I can swing that.

Here is the PDF manual if you're really interested in all this thing can do.

MP3 SD Clock Radio for $25

2006-11-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

This MP3 Player Alarm Clock with SD Card Reader actually looks kind of appealing to me. With SD cards so cheap, I've preferred keeping my music on a card and moving it from place to place instead of having docks and a player in my car, bedroom, and in my pocket.

This clock has an alarm as well as temperature display, a USB port both for power and for the SD card. It also has the nice touch of voice alarm and temperature alerts. I'm sure the voice is fantastic.

Anyway for the folks that keep their music on SD...

Behringer USB Guitar Under $100 Delivered

2006-11-16T21:13:00.000-08:00

The Behringer iAXE393 USB Electric Guitar seems pretty interesting for $99.99 delivered.

Behringer makes pretty nice audio equipment, but I imagine this is probably their first guitar. Even so, it's inexpensive, and plugs directly into a USB port for recording. It works with either PC or Mac, it has a headphone jack to listen in, and just looks like something I'd buy and leave in the corner of my office for a decade.

I can't wait to order.

Gadget Garbage into Christmas Miracles

2006-11-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

A sad by-product of liking gadgets is that you end up with a lot of useless junk. You can only listen to maybe a half a dozen mp3 players at once, you most likely won't use half of the wireless accessories you buy, and mobile PCs just aren't fun for me to use.

So it's time to turn this junk-pile into Christmas presents, or at least something I might use.

Here's a list of what I've got to do something with:

SoniqCast Aireo
Sonic Impact T-Amp
Dell Axim X30 or something
Sony PEG-S300
Jornada 680e
3Com Audrey
Mac Classic SE
Virgin Boomtube and other speakers
Power supplies and computer chassis
Assorted flash MP3 players out the wazoo
Headphones, headsets, and ear buds
Hard drives, flash memory, etc.

So my first idea is to use the T-Amp for a nice little speaker system for my bedroom audio system. I'll use the T-Amp, some old Advent ICT 4.0i 4" speakers, a computer power supply, and hopefully a nice looking box. I'm hoping to end up with a nice, single-box amplifier/speaker system with a mini-input for my Rio Karma or whatever other player I'd like to plug in.

I'll see how it goes, but if you see anythingpromising in that pile, give me comment on it. I'm eyeing that Mac Classic for something special but I don't know what, maybe install Linux on the 680e for PHP work, and turn that Axim into a server or something.

We'll see, I will probably end up with more garbage and less working gadgets than before.

Not Bad Retro Radio Under $30 Delivered

2006-11-09T15:27:00.000-08:00

The Emerson(!) NR31 Table Radio is simply not bad for the price, around $30 delivered.

In fact, I bought one. I know, it's an Emerson not a Tivoli. But it really doesn't look terrible, it has an auxiliary in and an additional speaker, and again, it's cheap.

I got it here, and even better, it's not cheaply made. It's heavy, it looks OK, has a nice power cord (no wall wart) and decent speaker. And the knobs work nicely, the tuner moves very slowly for decent accuracy.

The stereo speaker graph art is a little cheesy, but I'm pretty happy with this thing on my headboard.

The 21st Century's Keytar - Only $150 Delivered

2006-10-29T01:34:00.000-08:00

This Yamaha EZ-EG Guitar is billed as a training guitar, what with the lights on the fretboard and all, but I want to see it used in performances. It's not new at all, but it is awesome.

It has MIDI in/out, a tremolo, and you can have the computer do either thr strumming or the fretwork. Imagine the guitar hero karaoke you could do, or even worse, the original tunes you can compse playing this as a Japanese shamisen. It also includes the beautiful headless design that makes every Steinberger guitar player look so very hip and cool.

Thank God my birthday is coming.

Great Desktop Search Tool - FREE

2006-10-19T22:13:00.000-07:00

The X1 Destop Search Tool is what previously came in the Yahoo Desktop Search product, and they've made it free now for the real version.

I haven't liked many of these products, but this one seems like it stays pretty low-impact, and it works great. It's worth trying, at the very least.

RedPower In-Dash DVD/CD/MP3 Under $200

2006-10-14T02:31:00.000-07:00

The RedPower In Dash Radio DVD CD MP3 Player with 3.5" TFT is back in stock over at Geeks.com. Every other time I've meant to post about it they ran out of stack, but it's definitely an intriguing proposition.

Between video and audio, the unit supports the following formats: MPEG4, DVD, VCD1.0/1.1/2.0/3.0, MP3, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, and Picture CD. It has 2 sets of RCA outs or a 4x60W amplifier. It accepts CDs, SD cards, and USB drives.

It's not the best looking thing in the world, but for the price, the features are right.

Dirt Cheap 802.11g Router WGR614 $23 Shipped

2006-10-11T05:45:00.000-07:00

The Netgear WGR614 802.11g Router, refurbished of course, is only $15 + shipping at Tiger Direct right now. The reviews I read were relatively positive, and after the problems I've had with MIMO and Super-G routers, I'll be happy to have just a basic G router.

It doesn't say so, but the newer firmware versions support WPA-PSK as well. I've ordered mine and I've got high hopes for a stable connection... We'll see.

UPDATE: I have mine in place, and it's been great. You can't replace the antenna on it, but I'm getting better range than I did with directional antenna anyway. It's bee stable and a breeze to use. Also it was a v6, I assumed it would be the earlier v4 at this price.

Minolta Dimage X1 Under $200

2006-10-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

It's an 8MP, 3x optical zoom camera, it records 640x480 movies with audio and anti-shake, and it's -- refurbished. I generally have good luck with refurb stuff, and this is around $75 less than I've seen this camera.

It uses and SD card for storage, it has a 2.5" LCD, and its metal case is small and pretty nice-looking. My favorite thing is that it has a 'non-protruding' zoom lens. If I didn't already have a Sony P200 this would be on its way to me now.

Another LAN Drive Enclosure, Under $50

2006-09-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

The LAN Server DX-3535 is nothing terribly special, but it is a great way to use old drives and add NAS to your network for very little money.

Only $45 plus shipping and the features you need: USB 2.0, 10/100 Ethernet, space for a 3.5" drive and a fan. It could look a lot worse too.

Interesting Cheap Barebones w/ PCMCIA - Samba

2006-09-05T03:21:00.000-07:00

The Samba 1845 isn't anything new, but for under $150 it has some interesting features. Other than being beige, the front panel's actually kind of cool.

Doors for the ports, a door for the CD-ROM, and the real odd duck, a PCMCIA slot. I've had a few times I really wished I could use a card of mine on my desktop, for certain uses it'd be great.

It also has a Celeron 1.7Ghz, 256MB RAM, and a 40GB hard drive. USB and Firewire on the front panel are convenient. Not a powerhouse, but cheap enough and different enough that someone might be able to use one. What a resounding recommendation.

Moving to Gadgetize.com

2006-09-03T01:57:00.000-07:00

All further updates will occur there, thanks!

Fiwin SS28S Skype/SIP Phone Around $150

2006-09-03T01:11:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: This simply can't be called a Skype phone at all. The Skype traffic is relayed via your PC, and thus cannot be used independently of it. You cannot just walk into a hot spot and start dialing. Boooooo!

I've wanted a Skype phone a while, but the Netgear still isn't available, and this is half the price. You can see the Fiwin site's information on the SS28S here, but the gist is much like most other Skype phones: 802.11b, Skype-compatible, and no computer necessary.

It also claims up to 300m range outdoors, has SIP compatibility for othe VoIP uses, WEP/WEP, 802.1x/WPA +802.1x/WPA+PSK, 3.5 hour talk time, 60 standby, and a black & white screen. The FX28s has color, but I don't know where you can get it now.

This model, the SS28S, is available now for $150 and shipping.

Jensen Bluetooth Stereo Adapter Under $30

2006-08-29T01:43:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for one of these Bluetooth adapters forever, but they've always seemed expensive, usually around $100. Well, Jensen is back apparently, and with a cure for my problem. The Jensen WBT310 Universal Bluetooth Stereo Receiver connects to your home stereo and accepts an incoming Bluetooth connection from whetever device you choose.

In my case I can connect my phone's music player to the stereo, but you could get a USB audio adapter for your PC and send your audio to another room that way too. At this price it's finally worth trying.

Nice Photos & Video Under $200

2006-07-10T00:48:00.000-07:00

There are a number of the little mini-camcorder looking devices around the $200, but most have weak cameras, only digital zoom, and generally lousy results.

In looking for a new digital camera I ran across the Sony DSC-P200, a 7.2MP camera with 3x optical zoom, as well as a full 640x480 30fps video camera.

The camera is a great size, has an aluminum body, starts up fast, and now, at Circuit City, it's under $200 including shipping. The reviews are almost universally positive, and it's just a great little camera for the slightly more than casual photographer and occasional video grabber.

I Couldn't Wait For The Netgear Skype Phone

2006-03-25T23:36:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting. So patiently waiting, waiting for the Netgear Skype phone to come out. I have a fantasy that one day I'll be answering the phone on the beach somewhere, pretending I'm at work, and no one will ever know where I am again.

Well, I refuse to give up the dream, so I grabbed a Dell Axim X3 with built-in WiFi. It was less than $200 shipped, and it has an XScale 400MHz processor, so it works with Skype.

The results have been pretty good. The range on the X3's WiFi is fantastic. It's best to use headphones with Skype to avoid having to turn on the feedback cancelling, but what I found that was even better, and was quite a surprise, was Woize.

Woize works just like Skype, but the processor requirements aren't as high. So I actually had better voice quality using it. It's very good.

So I still wish I had an actual phone-shaped device, but from now on, no one in my life can be sure where on God's Green Earth I am. And that's what really counts.

Mach Speed TRIO Player & SD Card - Under $25

2006-03-05T02:29:00.000-08:00

The Mach Speed TRIO seems pretty nifty for people that have a digital camera that uses SD cards. For $24 delivered after ($40) rebate, it's essentially a SD card reader with MP3 player functionality.

With 128MB SD cards around $15 to begin with, if you're thinking of buying one you might as well get the player as well. A simpler SD card reader to connect to your computer, and an SD card to use for either music or photos.

It has random play, a track/time display and comes with earbuds. And not just any earbuds, they are earbuds with a rather clever built-in lanyard. And for me, lanyard=purchased. Excellent effort in a rather mundane product area.

USB Extension Under $30

2006-02-26T21:13:00.000-08:00

For all those stand-alone media players out there, this is perfect. Almost any of them act as a USB drive, so with this cable you can load up your player without moving it from the living room.

It is limited to 1.1, but most likely you're not going to be able to transfer and play at the same time anyway. It would just be nice to have the thing installed and forget about it. Except for when you trip on it.

I'm sure in a few years we won't need cables at all, but in the meantime... The extension goes up to 115 feet apparently, plenty of distance for me. It solves a problem, and it's cheap. You can read more and buy it here.

Find the Culprit, Kill-a-Watt $34 Shipped

2006-01-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

This seems like it'd be pretty fun, and maybe, just maybe, a little useful. Just put it between your appliance and the outlet, and it keeps track of your power usage.

I have some 220 that it won't help with, but still, I'm curious if the refrigerator uses as much as I read they do.

You can get the Kill-a-Watt for $34 delivered from Amazon.

The Sonic Impact T-Amp: $30 Giant Killer?

2006-01-11T16:57:00.000-08:00

This is one I missed altogether, and I really used to love audio equipment. Nevertheless, the somewhat belated buzz on the Sonic Impact T-Amp is that it is as good or better than amplifiers 100x the price? Unbelievable? Read the reviews, from everywhere. There are a couple linked from the product detail page.

I have already ordered one, looking forward to the sonic majesty.

My Experience with Vongo

2006-01-03T23:19:00.000-08:00

I went ahead and tried out Vongo today, a $9.95/month service for legally downloading and watching movies. You can watch as many movies as you like each month from their main selections, or download pay-per-view titles for 3.99. It also includes a live feed of the Starz! channel.

The software installation was simple, and as far as I can tell, the Vongo player and interface use Flash for pretty much everything. It worked smoothly, registration was trouble-free, but I decided to pass on the monthly until I could watch something. I would recommend Vongo make some kind of demo video available to test quality and convince people to sign up.

The selection of movies was a little slim, but I'd expect fast improvement here, so I wasn't too upset. There were 3 or 4 movies I definitely wanted to see right away. However, I was a little hesitant to sign up for the monthly service, thought I'd be watching 3 Ninjas before too long.

I went with a pay-per-view so I could find out, and I watched Infernal Affairs. Not bad except I hate dubbed movies. The download process took less than 20 minutes on my cable modem, which was surprisingly good I thought. The player worked nicely, the quality of static screens was excellent, and looked great full screen on my projector.

So far, so good. But the movie I watched had a lot of horizontal panning. Either the codec itself, or the quality of the encoding led to a fairly jittery sideways pan. My computer was far beyond the minimum requirements, so I don't believe the problem was on my end. To me it was extremely distracting, enough so that unless something changes, I wouldn't watch again. I did finish the movie, but I was aware of the problem all the way through.

Again, it could have been that specific movie, but without some demonstration video to show off the codec without paying, I am left with the impression that the service is a very slick one, with a very attractive price level, but also with a slight quality problem that makes it unacceptable for me.

On the positive side, if there were a few more movies and the quality improved a little, I would subscribe without hesitation.

Great Use for Old Drives, a File Server for $60

2005-12-29T21:43:00.000-08:00

The NetDisk-35 is an enclosure that holds a 3.5" drive up to 250GB, and acts as either a USB drive or network file server.

If you have a few computers on your home network and you want to leave file sharing off for security, a server like this can act as a nice bridge between computers. Throw an old drive in, and leave it wide open on the network, and just use it for transit instead of storage.

Cheap Start for an HTPC, under $100

2005-12-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

If you're considering building a Home Theater PC, as I have recently, you can save a lot of money starting with a used barebones PC to build on.

A particularly good deal right now is the IBM NetVista for only $39. It is essentially just the Socket 478 motherboard and case/power, but that's just what we need. I like the desktop style case form factor I have, but I wish I'd had an IBM.

Add to this the nVidia GeForce 6200 chipset for $59, and you have a quiet, fanless card that is great for video.

The Socket 478 allows you to get into the 3GHz range for a processor, and the nVidia 6200 chipest gives you a GPU that takes a lot of the load away from the main processor and improves the video output, especially when used in conjunction with the nVidia PureVideo software.

I use PureVideo, even though I only have the nVidia 5200, and its benefits are significant. Using the VLC Player, playing back HD MPEG-2, 1920x720, I use roughly 60% processor time. After installing PureVideo, playing the same back using Windows Media Player, it is consistently under 40% processor usage. With the 6200, it adds smoothing and a lot of other enhancements, including WMV-HD acceleration.

ATSC HDTV and Upconverting DVD Under $170

2005-12-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

The LG Electronics LST-3510A is an HDTV Receiver & Upconverting DVD Player, with a DVI output.

For a second system, or for people who don't want to record, it seems about perfect. One cable is the only connection you need, other than an antenna. If you have good ATSC reception in your area, the price is unbeatable.

Christmas Gifts Around $20, Part 1

2005-11-28T01:23:00.000-08:00

Part 1: Vick's VapoSteam - $6.00

Part 2: 750ml Everclear - $14.00

Part 3: Merry Christmas

Don't really do it unless you want to inhale alcohol vapor directly into your lungs, like me. Aaaahhh.

Building an HTPC on the Cheap, Under $400

2005-11-19T16:04:00.000-08:00

I recently completed my HTPC project, and I am absolutely loving it. It's not the most integrated system in the world, it just runs normal XP. But it's quiet, and it plays every format I want to play, and records raw HD from my cable box with ease.

1. Case and Motherboard - Under $100
I started with a barebones chassis/motherboards, mine was a used Gateway with a Socket 478 slot. For under $100, you can find something with 478 or 775 sockets, and you'll just need to add the memory, hard drive, DVD, and maybe a video card. In retrospect I would have looked for one with built-in Firewire, for recording HD from my cable box.

2. Processor and Memory - Under $125
For good HD playback, you need something better than a 2.5GHz processore. I got a 2.6GHz Celeron, and 512 MB, and when combined with a good graphics card, it's plenty.

3. Hard Drive and DVD - Under $100
I got a 250GB refurbished for $75, but the key to look for is a relatively quiet drive. With the DVD drive, you can spend a little more to get DVD writer, but I just spent about $15 on a playback-only drive.

4. Graphics Card and Other Stuff - Under $75
In my case I had to buy a Firewire card so that I could record HD from my Comcast Motorola 6200 box, so that was about $20. For the graphics card, I went cheap, and got lucky. The nVidia FX5200 was just what I needed, provided MPEG-2 acceleration, was cheap, and has no fan. There are tons of them available, I spent under $50 on mine. I also bought a wireless mouse/pointer to control everything for about $20.

I installed Windows XP on my system, because I had a copy. But you could install Linux on it, the only thing you'd lose is the ability to play back WMV-HD files. Something like MythTV, for example, would probably provide a more integrated solution than what I have.

I then installed the K-Lite Free Codec Pack, so I could play back everything I wanted to in Windows Media Player. For MPEG-2 I still use VLC Media Player, I don't know why WMP doesn't work for it.

Recording HD over Firewire is a little tricky, but there's a good set of instructions at the AVS Forums.

The last, and most important step in my process, was downloading the DXVA hotfix from Microsoft, and my latest graphics card driver. Once installed, the processor usage for even 1920x1080 MPEG-2 dropped below 50%. For 1080p WMV9 files, it was around 80%, which was great considering I didn't expect to be able to play them smoothly at all.

The new graphics card also vastly improved the MPEG-2 clarity. I had recorded some raw transport streams and playing them back looked pretty poor when panning left or right. I thought it was an issue with the files themselves, but once the card was in, it looked spectacular.

I'll go into more detail on some of the parts of the project later, and probably the next step will be to add cable box control so I can watch enverything through my HTPC and not switch sources all the time.

Coby DVD-626 with MPEG-4 Around $30

2005-11-06T01:04:00.000-08:00

The Coby DVD-626 has everything you'd expect in a sub-$30 DVD player, and so very much more. They have added MPEG-4 (DivX, XviD, etc.) playback capability to it, as well as component out and digital audio outputs.

It's $25, and about $6 for UPS ground, and I say it's the perfect way to spread video piracy to the ones you love this Christmas.

Decent PMP Around $200 - Pontis MX2020

2005-11-04T00:08:00.000-08:00

This is the first decent PMP I've seen around the $200 mark, and the Pontis MX2020 looks pretty nice. Here's the specs:

20 GB hard disk
3.5” TFT LCD touch screen with backlight
Compact Flash (type 1) slot
MPEG2, MPEG4, DivX 3.x, 4.x, 5.x, Xvid, ASF, AVI, MMC

It's still just not a product I'm too interested in, I can't see actually watching anything on it. 3.5" inches just seems inadequate to the task. Trust me, I should know. Ha ha-- tears.

Perfect Still/Video Camera? - Minolta Z6 - $370

2005-10-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well, perfect is a stretch, but the Konica Minolta Dimage Z6 6MP Camera is just about the perfect camera to keep with you at all times.

A 6MP, 12x optical zoom camera gives you excellent quality photos, but this Minolta series has full 640x480, 30fps video with full use of optical zoom and an anti-shake system while you are shooting. It uses 4 AA batteries, so you can use it anywhere as well. Storage is on SD cards, and it comes with a 16MB card.

The Z series all have gotten great reviews, and if $370 shipped is too much, most anything above the Z2 will shoot full 640x480, and some are as cheap as $200 refurbished.

If you want it locally, Circuit City is $380 and you can check local availability.

512MB Player, Photo Viewer, Recorder Under $70

2005-10-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

I don't really like managing playlists and keeping everything on one large player, I just like filling my player and playing everything, and changing it when I'm bored. So forgive me if this is too small these days, but it'll hold about 10 CDs, and when you can get a player with this many features, that looks this good, under $70 shipped, I think it's a no-brainer.

The NHJ V@mp or Vamp VP-350 is plain black and has a 1.9" 4096 Color STN LCD that you can view photos on, or lyrics, or apparently plain text or a phonebook. It plays back MP3, WMA and Ogg Vorbis files with SRS WOW effect, has an FM tuner, a voice recorder with a microphone, and line-in for direct-to-MP3 encoding.

All of that would make it a great deal, but NHJ blows past everyone by including a phone book, calculator, stopwatch, a text-to-speech converter (on the PC) to load text files as MP3s, and two games (Ice Breaking and Die Hard). Now we're talking... Then the neck strap, well, it's almost like they're just toying with the competition at that point.

Be sure and buy it here for $60 and $7 shipping, there are a lot of places selling it for over $150.

UPDATE: geeks.com sold out, and has it back at about $90 delivered. Still great, just more money.

MPEG4 Camcorder - Samsung A50 under $200

2005-10-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is meant to be a digital camera, but that doesn't mean the Samsung Digimax A50 isn't a capable camcorder as well.

For under $200, you get a 5MP digital camera with 3x optical zoom and SD card compatibility, like many other cameras. But for the occasional video here and there, Samsung has added full 640x480, 30fps MPEG4 movie mode, which will record up to and hour on a 1GB SD card.

It can zoom while shooting video as well. Here is a sample of video from the i5, which is more expensive because it's slimmer. But it should look very similar, as all the rest of the features are the same.

The i5 is around $250 delivered if you prefer a smaller and nicer looking camera.

Control Skype Under $20

2005-10-11T20:38:00.000-07:00

I like Skype a lot, but I hate plugging and unplugging my headset when people call.

A nice thing in Skype is that you can lock it to a particular sound device, so this Syba SD-SKY-CTRL Skype controller works perfectly for my situation. Normal sound and phone rings come through my speakers, and my Skype calls are dealt with through this headset. It also includes controls for volume, accepting calls, and muting.

Under $20 shipped made it an easy decision for me, although I wish they had the connector for cellphone headsets instead of regular headphone jacks, and I wish it had a keypad for dialing numbers.

Why You Don't See Sony or Apple Here

2005-10-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

Just a note for the few questions we get about this.

The products we feature are here because we don't see coverage of them elsewhere. If you think you're a gadget fan and you don't know when an iPod comes out, we're not going to be able to help you anyway. But for the record we aren't Apple or Sony haters or anything like that.

Besides, I don't think you can be a self-respecting gadget-lover and carry around products with things like a warranty, support, or a future. Really though, we're only good at digging around for inexpensive relative unknowns, so that's what we'll stick with for now.

5MP & 3x Zoom Under $90 - Concord EyeQ 5330z

2005-10-09T02:39:00.000-07:00

This is the best deal I could find on a 5 megapixel camera with any actual optical zoom, and I was pretty surprised it was something even as decent as Concord.

The Concord EyeQ 5330z has a 2560x1920 sensor resolution, a 3x optical zoom, and it uses CompactFlash cards for storage to improve its included 32MB. It also includes a mic and does record video up to 320x240. The LCD viewscreen is a 1.8".

The $90 includes free shipping, as well.

Update: Sold out, too quickly for me even to get one. TigerDirect has the newer 5340z for $100 after $30 rebate though, still seems pretty good for the price. Looks a little nicer too.

Ultimate Vaporware - The Negroponte $100 Laptop

2005-10-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

Normally we post on products that are currently available. I'm making an exception, for a product I think will never see the light of day at the projected cost, because it's annoying how much coverage it's getting.

Who am I to make predictions on the One Laptop One Child Project? No one, but who are they to make their claims? Look at the picture! Is there a single piece of physical evidence that this thing is anywhere close to even a prototype?

My main problem is the feel-good attitude of the project. They will only sell to governments that will give it away, they won't sell it commerically apparently. Which is stupid. If you look at the proposed specs -- ruggedized, crankable, sunshine-viewable, solid state storage -- private people would easily pay $300+ for such a machine. Which, if it was possible to make for under $100, would pay for two more for the underprivileged. Their distaste for dirtying their hands with capitalism is so disingenuous it's pathetic.

The most irritating thing about this piece of air is that it won't matter if it succeeds or not. Everyone involved will get credit for making the attempt, even if it helps exactly zero underprivileged children. Negroponte will always be known as a champion of the poor.

My heroes, on the other hand, are the corporations that are out there producing products and driving down prices every day through competition. Not quite as glamorous as making things up out of thin air, but much more effective in a world full of reality.

Yet Another Little Video/Digicam/MP3 Player $130

2005-09-26T00:09:00.000-07:00

I wrote earlier about the Sanyo Xacti line of tiny camcorders, and they are an altogether different animal than these sub-$200 cameras.

These Deo Media 3210 cameras, like the Mustek and Aiptek models, have no optical zoom, so for serious video this is not the best choice. On the other hand, there are some good features, and the security of knowing there are really no moving parts whatsoever to break.

It has shake stabilization, 8x digital zoom, and it takes full 640x480 30fps video, which alone sets it apart at this price point.

Message boards on the subject give good feedback, it sounds like most users really like it. It sounds like it doesn't support 1GB SD cards, however, so probably 512MB is the limit.

Ugly? Maybe, but it's under $140 for 20GB

2005-09-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

With the iPod nano out it's tought to look at most other mp3 players anymore, even though I don't really like Apple.

However, if you don't absolutely care about fashion, a 20GB MP3/WMA player delivered under $140 is pretty solid. Well, that's the Entempo Rubato. The name even has a Latin flare to it. Plus, how about that Shox technology?

Fisher FVD-C1 Camcorder/Camera Under $300

2005-09-01T02:29:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at so many of these types of cameras over the last year, but they usually only allow half-resolution at 30fps. This Fisher however, normally available only at Sears, is getting pretty great reviews, even when it was twice the price.

What I was surprised about on this model was that there was any optical zoom at all, something like 3x on this one.

For the more adventurous, there are Sanyo Xacti C5 showing up on eBay under $400 now, which takes 5MP pix and has a bigger zoom.

Win an IBM X41 Tablet PC or iPod Mini

2005-08-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

I never win these, but I like the IBM X41 a lot, so what the heck. You can apparently enter up to 100 times, you just have to sell out your friends and give up their email addresses. One entry for each soul...

Just kidding, they just get a message to enter themselves.

Good luck losers! Enter here.

Bluetooth V@MP VP-725B for $100

2005-08-15T03:40:00.000-07:00

Don't know if these are common, but I haven't seen many so far. Keeping in mind that I think NHJ is closign up shop, $100 still seems like a pretty good deal for a player with Bluetooth.

If you already have a bluetooth headset of some kind, this V@MP VP-725B could be a very nice addition.

Jumping on the LED Watch Bandwagon

2005-08-05T02:57:00.000-07:00

I'm late to the party, but I am starting to like the LED watches these days. It may be that I am a compulsive watch buyer, too.

In any case, ThinkGeek has these stainless and chrome LED watches for $85, a little steep for a joke, but they look solid, and they're cheaper than just about anywhere else for these.

5GB Virgin VM-0500 Music Player Under $100

2005-08-03T01:11:00.000-07:00

This is a refurbished unit, but the new one is only $10 more anyway. The combination of touches on this player is great in my opinion, and with this price there's nothing that touches it.

It supports MP3/WMA, has an FM tuner, 2 headphone jacks, an aluminum frame and a Lexan display, and is planned to support Windows Plays for Sure.

I don't know that any more music player can be had under $100.

100 Free MP3s at eMusic - Regularly Only $.25 Each

2005-08-01T00:24:00.000-07:00

I forgot to share this when I signed up, but I got this URL with my RCA Lyra transmitter a while back. 100 free MP3s is not too shabby a toss-in extra, even if it does require a card to get them.

I, like many of you will, signed up 100% sure I would only stay for the trial, get my tracks and get out. However, as I've used the site and downloaded albums, I've decided to stay. $9.99 a month for 40 tracks is just too good, especially after I saw what they actually had.

I had previously thought it would be just self-released garbage like on the old mp3.com (no offense to those artists) but it's just independent labels. There are a lot of really good, and some relatively popular artists, and today I downloaded two Lilys albums I couldn't find elsewhere for less than $25 each. My total? Well, it was free, but even paying it'd have been $5 instead of $50. I'll take it.

If you like the kind of music they offer, I think eMusic is unbeatable, even without the free 100 tracks. The downloads are 192K VBR MP3s in case you're curious.

Back-to-School - Neverlate 7-day Alarm Clock Now $20

2005-07-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

If you've got a Linens & Things near you you can save the shipping, so if you have any reason to get an alarm clock/radio, this should be the one. You can order online and pickup in the store, and it's a good deal for a truly innovative clock. What else would you expect from American Innovative, I guess.

I saw this clock at CAMEX, a college marketing expo, and it really is a marvel of simplicity. There are two concentric dials on top. You turn the center dial to the day of the week, and turn the outer dial to the time you need to wake up that day. Once you've done that for all 7 days, set the dial to "Run" and you're all set. It's not a bad looking clock either. I rest my case.

New Champ of Cheap - RJ Tech RJ-1800DVX - $86

2005-07-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

If there's a better combination of functions for less money, I haven't seen it. The RJ Tech RJ-1800DVX combines MPEG4/DivX playback functionality, a card reader on the front, and a USB port on the back for attaching mass storage, all for about $86 shipped.

The video is output through a VGA port, so no DVI unfortunately, but it makes up for it with two front-panel microphone inputs for karaoke hijinx.

HD Network DVD Player - Momitsu V880N - $350

2005-07-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

Finally a DVD/media player with a DVI output, the Momitsu V880N is available for around $350 shipped. For those of us using projectors, it makes this player much more usable than the Linkplayer or Buffalo models.

The downside to this, and a confusing one, is that I see no mention of WMV HD or DivX HD support in anything about the Momitsu. So it can play back HD size, but not HD formats? I'm not sure, but they are updating firmware constantly, so maybe it's just a case of not pre-announcing capabilities.

The main thing I'm taking away from this is that I'll be able to get an HD player with DVI eventually, I just might have to wait a few months for the right mix to come along. For those that must buy now, and must have DVI, I suppose the Oppo is still the best bet.

"If Our PMP Succeeds, We Will Use A Capital 'I'"

2005-07-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

The iRiver PMP-120 is the non-Windows MCE version of the iriver PMC-120, which means, really, that it isn't an Orwellian nightmare of controlling DRM, overthunk interface, and hamstrung functionality. Plus, it's got a hot blonde in mid hair-toss on it's screen instead of those damn green fields!

It plays the usual media files- MPEG 4/DIVX, Photos, MP3s, WMAs, has an FM tuner and voice recorder, 3.5 inch screen and 20 GB HDD and 5 hour/10 hour video/audio battery playback time. Perfect for on the go travellers, and now only $299.00 at Computer Geeks. This is an improvement over the NHJ MPM-201 in price/performance/quality, sans the recording functions.

But here's where a man starts thinking: "If I just doubled that price I could get a low-powered Celeron laptop brand new that could play every file I could throw at it, plus surf the wi-fi interweb and spreadsheet my current fantasy football teams' salary demands, all in a portable, albeit bigger, package!"

Then I remember the problem with that. Clippy gives me a Word tutorial at an inopportune time and my XVID Hentai starts to Frame-Rate stutter and the whole laptop locks up just before the 19 minute battery I forgot to charge dries up.

Yeah, this iRiver could be a better solution. A Man has needs.

OPPO DV971 Upconversion/Multiregion/DVI - $200

2005-07-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

If this played backed HD formats and had a network connection, it would be perfect. For people that have no use for those features, then, it's got to be very close to perfect.

The OPPO DV971 has a DVI connector, HD upconversion via Faroudja, plays back DivX and MPEG4 formats, it can be switched to multi-region, and it's only $200. If you have a DVI capable projector or television, the word on the street is there is a substantial difference in quality over component.

Changing the Region:

1. Press Setup on remote control to access the setup page
2. Enter 9210 on the remote
3. A service menu will pop up
4. Select a region: 0- 6 in region code. 0 is all-region.
5. Press Setup on remote again to exit

Network Drive Enclosure - INOi Argosy HD363N $80

2005-07-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

A lot of the newer DVD and media players lately have included ethernet connections to play back files, so I've been looking at network drive enclosures. A 400GB drive and enclosure is usually over $400, and I've never seen one as low as $300. I haven't looked at wireless enclosures, because I just don't have any kind of good luck playing back large media files over wireless.

This INOi Argosy HD363N enclosure is only $80 and includes a 10/100 ethernet port, and works as an FTP and Samba server. With 400GB bare drives under $200, it's an easy way to save at least a hundred dollars for a nice NAS system.

It's also a nice way to keep your media center quieter, keeping the fans and storage separate from the rest of your equipment.

"New Type Wearabel TV" - VTV-101 TV Watch $149

2005-07-19T02:22:00.000-07:00

This is an idea that has captured man's imagination for so long, it's hard for me to know if it's new or not at all. If it's not new, I'm confused why everyone isn't already wearing one. I have added a giant photo to make it clear the importance of this device.

The VTV-101 Wearable Television, apparently gets decent reception, uses the headphones as an antenna, and gets about an hour of viewing time. But really, you just want to turn it on long enough to captivate the ladies anyway, so no problemo there. That shouldn't take longer than 45 seconds, the velcro strap will see to that.

Amazingly, they've also crammed a digital clock into this device. A clock on your wrist!

TV/PVR/PMP - The NHJ MPM-201 Under $400

2005-07-19T02:13:00.000-07:00

To be honest it's a little expensive for my taste, I tend towards cheaper, more useless things, but for those that like PMPs, the NHJ MPM-201 looks pretty nice. It has a TV tuner, a video recorder, and all the normal playback options on a 3.5 inch screen. A 30GB drive holds your video or data files.

One nice touch that may or may not be common, is that you can schedule your recordings on the 201. It also includes a remote so you can get back far enough to take in its 3.5 inches of splendor. Yes indeed.

Direct DivX Encoding and PVR & Tuner Under $100

2005-07-13T23:56:00.000-07:00

I don't normally like these kinds of devices because I don't like having to be connected to the computer, but for those that don't mind, the Plextor PX-TV100U has some nice features for under $100.

It records (via USB 2.0) directly to 640x480 DivX video, and includes Sage TV Lite with a free electronic program guide to control the recordings for you.

If you've got everything close so this kind of setup works easily, it certainly seems better than recording in MPEG and converting it.

I'm still waiting on a simple DVR to record out of the Firewire on my Motorola cable box though. Anyone?

Minolta Dimage E500 5MP 3x Optical Zoom Under $200

2005-07-12T22:31:00.000-07:00

For those that want an optical zoom, even a relatively small 3x one, this Minolta E500 might be just the ticket. It's under $200 at Amazon, but less than $160 at the multitude of photo discount stores. If you're fine with rebuffing upselling attempts, have no fear. I'm not, so I think I'd just spend the $40 myself.

It has a 2" screen, records QVGA video with sound, and takes SD/MMC cards for storage. It takes AA batteries, always a plus if you're away from an outlet for a while.

Polaroid 5MP PDC5070BD at Circuit City - Only $100

2005-07-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

It's a web only special, in the store it's $30 more. This Polaroid PDC5070BD 5MP digital camera has been getting consistently solid user reviews on the Circuit City site as well.

Lack of optical zoom would be an issue for many, but a 5MP point-and-shoot from Polaroid for $100 is still pretty decent. It shoots movies with sound too, but I wouldn't expect great results there.

For Occasional Recorders - Neuros MPEG4 $140

2005-07-12T04:44:00.000-07:00

They're around $100 on eBay, and for those that don't record everything they watch, or need any real scheduling, this looks fairly nifty. The Neuros MPEG4 Recorder will surprisingly record MPEG4 of all things onto memory cards, or possibly a USB drive through it's USB port.

You can also view photos on your TV and play back MP3s with this, but interestingly I don't think you can play any video back with it. Other than that, it might be a nice way to record video from pretty much anywhere if you don't have a PC with you.

Sort of iPod Shuffle Photo, Paradise 512MB - $100

2005-07-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

So this is pretty cute, a tiny little MP3 player and photo viewer, as well as FM radio. With 512MB and being only about $100, the i.Perris Paradise MMP looks like a pretty cool little player to have around.

It has a 1" 96x64 OLED 16-bit screen, and the case is aluminum. It supports MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, WMV, ASF and WAV audio formats, as well as MTV Film and has some kind of lyrics display support.

It has a Li-ion battery that should last 8 hours with the photos going, and recharges through the USB port. My favorite feature is something i.Perris calls the "mightiness spread function," I can only hope to find out eventually what that is, we could all use a little mightiness spread around.

i.Perris CAMP34 Multi-Device for $180

2005-07-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

From i.Perris (?) comes this interesting multifunction device, the CAMP34. As a media player, it plays back 30fps MPEG4, up to 640x480 on its 2.5" color screen. It is an MP3 player, a 6MP digital camera, and a voice recorder.

It does have A/V outputs so you could use this as a media center as well, but that also brings up the device's major flaw in my opinion. It comes with 32MB of memory, and is expandable to 1GB with SD/MMC cards. That makes it unpractical very quickly when you actually want to use it as a video player.

In any case, the form factor and functions, as well as relative cheapness should make this worthwhile to some.

Bad Name, High Definition, AVeL LinkPlayer2 $250

2005-07-09T02:48:00.000-07:00

Now that I've overdone the entire home media player area, here comes IO Data's AVeL LinkPlayer2.

What does it add that the myriad other DivX/MPEG4 DVD players don't have? Well, it plays back in high definition for one, it has both network and USB connections for mass storage, and it's available now.

And when I say it plays back in HD, I don't mean it scales video up to HD resolutions (it doesn't, it stays at 480p), I mean it actually plays HD formats, like WMV HD, DivX HD, and MPEG-TS, up to 1080i resolutions. It also supports all the MPEG4 formats, as well as MP3, Ogg, and things like Rhapsody and some other Internet radio formats.

It has outputs for composite, S-Video, and D4 (which is essentially just component except you need a special cable, which I think is included), as well as analog and digital audio outputs. Plus it has this diagram:

The only possible downside I can see to this is that it doesn't support any of the next-generation disc formats, but I actually have some WMV HD discs right now, so I'll take the bird in hand this time.

Cheapest Media Player Chassis Yet - $76 Delivered

2005-07-09T01:23:00.000-07:00

Add a $100 80GB notebook drive from ChiefValue, Newegg, or any number of other places, and you'll have a pretty nifty media player you can take with you.

The DC input is 5V, so I can hope (please?) that it's USB powered also. It plays all the normal MPEG4 formats, and has a composite video output as well as a VGA (which can connect to component), and a mini-audio connection.

This is just an eBay auction, so I don't know the brand, or how long it'll be there. But regardless, these things are getting cheaper by the day, and what's not to like about that?