Best computer news

Fastvdo whose specialty is in AVC video solutions has introduced SmartCapture - a real-time H.264 video / AAC audio capture in the form of a USB dongle. This reminds us of the ADS H.264 ‘accelerator’, but the SmartCapture is different in that it digitalizes from analog source (NTSC / PAL) into H.264 in bit-rates ranging from 32kbps to 4Mbps and in variety of res up to 720 x 576. The compression takes place in the dongle to offload all the heavy work from the CPU.

The company spokesman claimed the dongle is perfectly adequate for anything in standard definition, yet we are hoping to get our hands on the HD version that he said will support up to 1080i and will write out to MPEG-2 TS. Consumer-type applications are what we expected, from ripping for iPod / PSP / YouTube to digitalizing decade-old VHS tapes. Industrial applications include IPTV streaming, surveillance and etc.

What caught our attention is SmartCapture’s support for distance learning. We reckon a lecturer can simply connect his camcorder to the USB dongle connected to his laptop, and start streaming right away over the Internet without cluttering up too much bandwidth. The SmartCapture doesn’t come cheap at $250 apiece.
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Arizona State University researchers made a discovery recently that paves the way to a massive increase in the storage capacity for USB flash drives and other forms of flash storage. The new technique is called programmable metallization cell (PMC). The college claims that PMC technology can be 1000 times more efficient than existing flash memory.

To reach this huge increase in efficiency and capacity the new PMC technique actually moves the ions themselves inside the flash storage rather than moving electrons among the charged particles inside the drive. One researcher from the college says we should see flash drives based on this technology hit market within 18 months. The construction process uses materials that are currently readily available and it will cost no extra money to manufacture flash drives with PMC technology.
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If you are a fan of the popular Gundam series of Japanese anime shows, you will really like the gear Sci Fi Tech dug up for you. The massive looking White Base reminds me more than a little of Egypt’s Sphinx. You might expect the USB gadget to be a USB hub.

It’s nothing as useful as a USB hub; rather it is a USB powered air ionizer. We have seen USB ionizers before and I always question their usefulness. One other USB Gundam product is offered and it is a USB hub. The hub is in the form of some sort of remote control thingy. Perhaps fans of the series will recognize it and enlighten us on the device.
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Bike riders looking to announce their thoughts to the world will like Digital Cowboy’s latest gadget called Lex. Lex is a small LED light that attaches to the spokes of a bike wheel. An included application allows you to type any message using English, Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji characters.

After you construct your message, all you need to do for transfer of the text to the Lex device is click a button in the application. The text is then sent via USB from your computer to the Lex device. As the bike wheel spins down the road, you are able to read the message in the blur of light created by the Lex as it spins. Compatibility for the device is with Windows XP, 2000, and Vista. Power for the device comes from one AA battery, which will last about 96 hours.
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It seems like digital audio recording is getting more consumer-friendly every year. It wasn’t too long ago that Chinese companies started producing affordable, high-quality condenser microphones, and USB-enabled versions followed pretty soon afterwards.

Now Samson Audio’s taken the next step, and launched the G-Track, a condenser microphone made for recording vocals that has a line-level stereo input with a built-in switch so you can record up to two things (vocals and an electric instrument or two electric instruments) at the same time with some additional cables. There’s also a stereo headphone jack for no-latency monitoring of your recordings-in-progress. The $39.99 G-Track comes with a desktop stand, conversion cables, and a USB cord.

The price is right, and although the quality may or may not be top-notch (we haven’t heard recordings) the G-Track sounds like it would be perfect for someone who records a lot of demos, especially on the go. Forget the days of the Dictaphone: thirty years from now we’ll be listening to the cleaned up demos of a dead rock star alone in his or her bedroom with a guitar, a laptop and a USB microphone.
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The Belkin Battery Backup with Flashlight is a slick device and certainly one of those things now that I see it I wonder why I never knew about. We first saw this device at CES this year. If you work in an office with no windows and you lose power, it gets really dark when your computer shuts down. The flashlight is detachable and rechargeable.

When power goes out, the flashlight automatically comes on so you can see to move around. Gear Diary says the backup is good for about 20 minutes of power, of course that will depend on what you plug into the backup. A USB port and included software allows your computer to shut down automatically when the power in the backup battery gets low. The price of the Belkin Battery Backup with flashlight is $99.99. In the end, Gear Diary really doesn’t find anything wrong with the device.
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I’ve seen my share of weird flash drives around here from Thanko to Vavolo and a few other places, but this drive from Whazatt out weird’s them all. The drive looks like a chopped of chicken foot with a USB connector sticking out of the top of the leg.

The packaging is odd too, the chicken standing there with a bloody nub where his little chicken foot used to be. Other than a weird look, the chicken Foot drive has a mundane 1GB of storage inside an ABS plastic housing. Compatibility is with both Mac and PC. The introductory price for the Chicken Foot drive is $44.95, who knows what it will be later. I don’t expect people to run in droves to buy, so perhaps the price will be permanent.
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When it comes to speed breakthrough, USB doesn’t come to mind. Buffalo finds out most of the USB speed is lost to the relatively inefficient USB Mass Storage driver. So they came up with its own and paired it with their newly tweaked USB SATA controller. The result is Turbo USB. Digital Trends gave it a review, but wasn’t really impressed, concluding that the Turbo USB isn’t any different than before. They also believe the driver should be part of the drive to begin with, rather than requiring a separate installation. Their tests were relatively superficial. Actually the read test that involved a read test of 356MB data yielded a 25% increase. As for the write tests, I’ve personally seen better results. In the end, it comes down to what USB host controller you are using. Since the host is the brain of all bus, the more efficient it is, the faster the devices are.
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Maybe it’s because I spend so much time working with a laptop, but I love the mobile lifestyle; the option of unplugging the computer, retiring to the couch or comfortable chair, and continuing to enjoy Internet access through a wireless connection is one of life’s little pleasures. However, there are times when I have to work at a desk, and when I do, I like to have the advantages of a desktop - mouse, keyboard, large monitor - at my disposal. How to make both options work: a dock, which features ports and connections aplenty - and the space to plug them in - so I can go from deskbound to mobile and back again in a matter of seconds. There are proprietary docks, but if you’re looking for more flexibility, there are other options, like Kensington’s sd200v notebook dock. Will this tower-shaped dock, which looks nothing like a dock at all, have what it takes to make my mobile station dreams a reality? Let’s find out.
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Wacom has recently announced its latest graphics tablet called the Cintiq 12WX. This tablet combines the Cintiq interactive pen display with the portability and size of the Intuos3 tablet. The result is a 405 x 270 x 17mm device with a 12.1-incn TFT display. The table has toggles that allow it to change between computers and can be used as a second or third display.

The Cintiq 12WX was designed for professional digital content creators working with storyboarding, finishing retouching, and compositing. The pad weighs 2kg and the display has a 1280×800 resolution with 24-bit color and 170 degree viewing angles. The pad connects to your PC via USB for transferring content to and from the pad. The big problem with the 12WX is the price, the little gadget will cost about $1700 when it launches in November. The Cintiq 12WX isn’t quite as sexy as the Wacom Bamboo.
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