Best computer news

What do you get when you combine a flagship industrial design with three action-packed interfaces and an oh-so-beautiful 1.5 terabytes of magnetic mayhem? A pirate’s wet dream The Seagate FreeAgent XTreme, that’s what! With multiple-revision automated backups and a name too good for the initial ‘E’, will you need to ask your geek if you are healthy enough to handle the XTreme? We’ve managed to pull it together and get our hands on one, so press on for our in-depth review to find out.
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Samsung YP-P2 is universally accepted as the most successful MP3 player in the entire Yepp-series history, so one can expect a follow-up to the Korean company’s flagship touch screen PMP. Early reports now indicate that Samsung does plan to unleash YP-P3 during 2009 CES, and it would seem some of improvements are borrowed from Samsung’s TouchWiz inteface. Basically, TouchWiz centers around a widget tray that can be customized to include shortcuts to complete apps like photo gallery, memo, clocks, and etc.

While the Samsung YP-P3 remains largely the same with a 480×272 3″ screen, the new flagship PMP now comes with haptic feedback, built-in speakers, Bluetooth 2.1 (supposedly supporting A2DP, AVRCP & HFP profile), aforementioned widget support, and an all-new aluminum chassis (in either black or silver). Additionally, the YP-P3 appears to have a touch sensitive bar in place of the P2′s circular LED. Samsung also gives in to customers’ demand to extend audio and video format compatibility to FLAC and H.264 respectively. All these don’t seem much when compared to iPod touch, which now totally rocks with third party apps and games. Perhaps Samsung could invest a decent 3-megapixel camera on the YP-P3 since its nemesis doesn’t have one, yet.
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Have you ever plugged in a USB device only to discover the root port (the ones in the front of a PC case) destroyed everything from motherboard to the peripheral itself? That’s largely because the computer’s USB header is wired incorrectly – the worst case being when the +5V wire swapped with the Ground wire. This is where USBCheck comes in.

When inserted, the USBCheck dongle can check whether the polarity is correct for the power wiring on your USB ports. When the on-board LED emits red light, this warns you polarity is reversed, meaning no way in hell you should plug anything into the troubled port. Even if the LED flickers on and off, that’s also an indicator that you’ve a bad power connection. Paranoid geeks may find the USBCheck to be the first line of defense against sme faulty public PCs at any net cafe, libraries and schools.
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Those who can’t long for Guitar Hero but couldn’t afford a Wii, PS3 or XBox 360 can always go with Frets on Fire. While the free, open-source game is meant to be played with a keyboard, hardcore fans now has an option to enjoy the PC knock off of Guitar Hero with a guitar-lookalike accessory. Called Riff Rocker, the wired controller that is designed to milk Frets on Fire followers connects to USB, but is criticized for being too small to hold with both hands.

All the fret buttons are located on the narrow neck; this arrangement makes your fingers cramped together, resulting in a less than pleasant gaming experience. Every Riff Rocker comes with 5 custom game plate stickers for personalization. Perhaps the best advantage of the miniature USB guitar is the hardware cross-platform support – the same with the game itself. If you appreciate miniature controllers, then Aptus has a couple of those with motion control you may dig.
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There’s no shortage of hybrid mice on the market. From a mouse that checks your pulse rate to ones that double as a remote, a calculator and a gamepad, we just haven’t seen the last of them, and double-duty pointing devices continue to surprise us with new functionality. So, how about integrating a digital weighing scale into a mouse this time?

It would seem American Weigh has already done this too with the MSC-500 Mouse Scale, which is a feasible solution to quick checking weight of our USB gadgets for our reviews. Its stainless steel, measuring 2.25″ by 2.7″, is revealed by removing the mouse cover. The scale can operate independently with an internal USB rechargeable battery, and weight readings are incremented by 0.1g, 0.005 oz., 0.005 ozt., or 0.1 dwt. And American Weigh wants $59.95 for this.
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You may sometimes run into embarrassing situations in which you need to use a projector for a PowerPoint presentation, but you realize the video cable is left in the office. You could borrow a VGA cable, if there’s one. So, don’t you wish the conference room is equipped with some sort of a wireless link between the projector and your laptop? This is where the Imation Wireless Projection Link comes in.

The Wireless Projection Link from a company that traditionally makes storage products creates a instant WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) video connection from any notebook PC to a projector within 30 ft. range. Also unique to the Imation are cross-platform compatibility (Vista, XP SP2, and Apple Tiger or better), and an one-of-a-kind zero-install option. The Imation’s driverless operation will come in handy when there’s little time to waste. Last but not least, you get extended destlop and enhanced video support – presumably pushing resolution to 1280×1028 – with an optional driver. If the Imation Link works as claimed, it might be a few steps ahead of the Certified Wireless USB VGA Kit.
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Creative has been struggling to survive in a world in which people mostly rely on integrated chipsets for PC audio, and carry iPods for portable music. It’s really time to move on. With the new Vado HD Pocket Camcorder, the Singapore-based company seems to be heading into the right direction. Even so, the world now seems to be awash with cheap miniature HD camcorders, including Flip Mino HD ($230), Kodak Zi6 ($179), and RCA EZ300HD ($159).

The Vado HD brings 8GB built-in storage, providing enough space for 2 hours of 720p recording and pulling ahead of the other three in capacity. It sports a 2″ screen, and bundles a HDMI cable for playback on HDTV – a feature that only the RCA can match. Kodak Zi6 provides component output in comparison while the Flip Mino HD has no high-def output to TV. The HD-capable Vado will also be USB rechargeable, and will ship with a removable battery. Despite of the slight advantages of the Vado HD, it certainly will take a lot for the camcorder to make a good impression when all these competitors are armed to the teeth.
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This guy went through some troubles to add a power-only USB port to his netbook by modding a nifty adapter that borrows electricity from a VGA port. This adapter is going to come in handy when your existing USB devices have occupied all the ports on a notebook, and one of your power hungry device (e.g. USB hard drive) needs extra power. To assemble the so-called VGA to USB adapter, you will need a male-to-male VGA gender changer and a female plug from any old USB extension cable. The important procedure is to connect the RED 5V wire to the PIN 9 on the gender changer; afterward, hook up the BLACK to PIN 10 (GND). After soldering, rest of the steps are simply to fill the connector with EPOXY to avoid breaking the connector accidentally.
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The use of text emoticons skyrocketed ever since we increasingly rely on this simple, yet effective combination of punctuation marks in instant messengers, emails and SMS to convey emotional content. People over the years also came up with so many variations that emoticons have now evolved into a universal language for the digital age.

Well, what does this have to do with USB? Concept designer believes this is a great idea to milk the USB gadget trend. Called Bajca, the concept USB keyboard has 16 keys (or balls) with faces on them. However unique to this product is that the removable emoticons can become jewelry of all sorts, including bracelets, necklaces, or even rings. The brilliant Bajca might be the next big thing that gals want. Guys unfortunately may find this to be as pointless as this Webmail notifier.
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It’s a tradition white collars in Japan bring their own home-packed meal (aka. bento) to work instead of eating out. But when there are twenty colleagues lining up for a single microwave oven, it’s time to seek other alternatives to heat up your cold lunch. This is where Thanko USB Lunch Bag comes in.

The lunch bag with an integrated heater that is powered by non other than a USB port can keep content warm at 60C while you are busy at number crunching. You now have hot food; it’s time to get some chilling drink too with this USB fridge. As a safety reminder, make sure whatever bento box you put inside this bag meets the quality standard to prevent from harmful chemical leaks that could use potential health risk.
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