Best computer news

Audio without wires might be a good thing for some gamers, but anyone who suspects that there might be the merest possibility of wireless interference will run for the hills before bringing a wireless headset to battle. If nothing else, the HS-1000 shows that Creative knows their market: the headset shares many of the features of its HS-1200 wireless sibling – including the use of X-Fi technology as its sound processor – while soothing the fears of the hardcore by using a wired connection (and obtaining the endorsement of Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel). However, the two headsets are not the exact same product – today, we’ll be looking at (and comparing) the differences.
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The notebooks are increasingly becoming the preferred choice when it comes to buying a new computer. As powerful as laptops are, they also inherently produce heat that may get uncomfortably warm. This can lead to notebooks that don’t offer all the performance they could and machines running too hot to work with actually on your lap.

Antec’s latest solution to this is called the Notebook Cooler 200. One monster 200mm fan handles the actual cooling duties and is powered by a single USB port. Blue LEDs inside the fan offer a bit of bling for the cooler and can be turned off with a built-in switch. The fan measures 0.9″ x 13″ x 11.2″. The most shocking thing about the cooler is its price. Antec is asking $89 for the Notebook Cooler 200 – too much if you ask us considering the current state of the economy. You can get something like the NZXT Cryo LX or the Belkin USB cooler for less money, though they don’t look as cool as the Antec offering.
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There is something about flash storage and USB drives that draws designers to make some strange products. From food shaped drives to Star Wars figures, everything is a target for flash drive makers. Many companies are looking to integrate flash storage with jewelry to make keeping a flash drive on you at all times a more attractive, and a less geeky proposition. The Enigma Constellation is the latest jewelry flash drive to make the attempt at becoming a fashion accessory.

The Constellation appears to be made of a dark wood with a triangle in the middle and three triangular shaped flash drives that plug into its sides. When all the drives are docked, the entire product has the look of a star. The wood is actual Africa Blackwood and diamonds adorn the drives as well as 18K gold in yellow or white. The total storage space is 192GB with each of the three flash drives contributing 64GB. Pricing is unsurprisingly high for the Constellation at about $7360 making it appropriate only for well-heeled geeks.
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Most webcams are plainly designed gadgets that don’t look particularly cool or interesting, but they do get the job done. One of the biggest issues with many of them is low light performance, meaning that the user needs to be in a brightly lit room to get the best video quality. The USB Hollywood Film Kit is an interesting set that includes an old school movie camera looking webcam and a separate spotlight. The webcam reminds me a lot of the Retro webcam we have talked about before.

Both the webcam and the USB spotlight are mounted on individual flexible arms and each requires their own USB port for connectivity. All of the power the spotlight needs comes from the USB port and it includes barn door-style flaps to control the light that don’t look as if they actually move. The webcam itself has no light and there is no mention of the resolution of the camera. That likely means the resolution is not good, so figure basic recording capability. Compatibility is with Windows XP SP2, Vista, and Mac OS 10.4.8 and up. These gadgets are not available in the US.
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Here finally comes a killer application for the early adopters of Certified Wireless USB. Imation’s latest Apollo Pro WX – the first WUSB hard drive in the market – will provide automatic incremental backups whenever it is in range with your notebook. This is actually pretty unique since other portable drives still require you to plug in the USB cable before its auto-backup feature kicks in. Quoting Imation PR, “the frequency in which consumers perform important incremental backups is affected by the hassle of finding and plugging in a USB cable.” Hence, the Imation Apollo Pro WX should provide a pair-and-forget-it solutions as most users lack the motivation or discipline to backup even their most precious data.

We still don’t have any idea how much the Imation Apollo Pro WX with capabilities ranging from 250GB to 1.5TB will cost. Even if the early adopters don’t mind the prohibitive pricing, they may have to endure the slow speed for the Imation being the first generation of its kind. Definitely check out the Kensington WUSB video dock for notebooks & IOGear Wireless VGA kit too in case you have missed them before.
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WiMAX has to be one of the most troubled specifications to have taunted us with dreams of super fast Internet connections in recent years. Sprint first announced WiMAX as it Xohm service only to bleed so much revenue and customers that it had to cut back massively on WiMAX rollout. Then the worst blow came when most mobile service providers bet on a different format called LTE. The fact that the state of WiMAX in America is far from clear hasn’t stopped Motorola from announced a new USB WiMAX modem.

The modem might be useful if you live in one of the handful of cities that can get WiMAX. The best part of this modem is that it can offer download speeds of up to 70Mbps, blazingly fast for sure. My pokey home broadband connection maxes out at 5Mbps. Who knows what will ultimately become of the WiMAX specification, but I suspect its days are numbered. The official Motorola name for the modem is the USBw 100 and it is capable of connecting to all frequencies approved for WiMAX use around the world. Perhaps users in Europe will get more use out of it that Americans.
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The day you’ve been waiting for is here. Apple Hong Kong is now carrying unlocked iPhone 3G on its online store. This should be exciting news for locals who have been holding back from getting an iPhone because of Apple’s exclusivity with 3 – a HK wireless carrier which subsidizes the smartphones but ties its customers to a 2-year contract. On Apple website, there’s even a fine print detailing that the phone will work with any SIMs; basically, you can start making calls with the iPhone after completing the activation through iTunes 8.

The 8GB – available only in white – retails for $5400 ($692 USD), and the $6200 ($794 USD) 16GB comes in both black and white. We don’t see any other Apple online stores directly selling unlocked iPhones, so this could be the first. And don’t worry about this being a stripped down version (no WiFi nor 3G) also; this iPhone 3G is as feature-packed as the ones sold in the States and across Europe.
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HP has a new PhotoSmart printer called the B8550 that could be the ideal photo lab for the scrapbook fan. The printer with a large feed tray can print photos in 4″ x 6″ to 13″ x 19″ including 12″ x 12″ pages for scrapbooking. Typical photo printers can only print 4 x 6 and even the largest tend to stop at 8 x 10. While both Mac and PC users can utilize the printer, there’s also direct printing from a USB flash drive, memory card, or PictBridge camera. HP’s Vivera dye-based inks are mostly water and smudge resistance, and produce outputs with 100 years lifetimes. Print speeds are up to 33 pages per minute in black and 31 pages per minute in color. Photos can print in as little as 18 seconds. The PhotoSmart B8550 retails for $299.99.
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When most gamers think about gaming mice, they think about products like the Logitech G9 or the Microsoft X8 Mouse. Nova Gaming wants its product to be up there with other gaming mouse legends and is announcing its gaming mouse at E for All next month it hopes will accomplish that goal. The Slider X 600 uses so-called indestructible ceramic mouse feet and has sensitivity up to 3200 dpi.

The mouse cable comes out of the side of the mouse, rather than the front like most gaming mice. We have to wonder if the cord will get in the way during play. Other features include three mouse profiles, eight programmable buttons and five color options for the lighting. The mouse will retail for $99.99. Nova is also announcing a mouse pad called the Over Slide for $39.99 that it thinks is the perfect complement to the X 600 mouse or any other gaming mouse.
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We know there are a lot of supporters of Obama out there and some of them are pretty rabid in their support. If you are an Obama supporter and want to show the world who your choice for president is, you need the Obama 08 bracelet.

The bracelet is the stretchy plastic that we are used to seeing on other bracelets for different causes like the LiveStrong bracelets. The difference here is that the bracelet has a USB plug and video, music, photos, speeches and more stored on flash storage inside the bracelet. The content is compatible with Mac and Windows PCs. The bracelet is available for $25, and the proceeds will obviously go into funding Obama presidential campaign. Promo video after the jump.
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