Best computer news

Samsung P3 is a well-executed MP3 player with a lot of bells and whistles, including haptic touchscreen, DNSe 3.0 and TouchWiz interface. The lack of Wi-Fi and lackluster UI performance are our only gripes. So you would think Samsung is going to take care of all these in the latest YP R1, but that was not to be the case.

The YP R1 inherits the P3′s User Customizable Interface (UCI) that provides you with a number of free professionally created themes as well as fan-made ones. Unlike the P3, the interface orientation has been changed to horizontal. The R1 screen is 2.7″ instead of the more common 3″. The screen size also allows a more compact form factor with a mere 8.9mm in thickness and 50g in weight. The addition of “Beat DJ” bringing scratching to the touchscreen and the ability to add sound effects and one’s own voice to a song seems to appeal to audiophiles than causal listeners, yet the DNSe 3.0 as a smart equalizer works pretty well. Last but not least, Samsung Korea claims the YP R1 is the first DivX-certified MP3 player although YP P3 can play DivX just fine as well without conversion.
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Put some toilet paper in the freezer, because daddy’s coming into the runway ablaze. Better yet, have some Ring Of Fire wipes on hand.
Product Page ($13)

WinToFlash, while still a little rough around the edges, exists to make installing Windows much easier. WinToFlash starts a wizard that will help pull over the contents of a windows installation CD or DVD and prep the USB drive to become a bootable replacement for the CD. The final result is a more robust, easier to track installer tool. You don’t have to worry about scratches on the disc or misplacing your original media discs once you transfer their contents to the flash drive. The optical drive is quickly becoming a thing of the past, especially in office environments, as media is shifted to the cloud. There may come a day that optical drives are as hard to find as floppy drives are today. 4.5GB DVD discs are huge wastes of space when you consider that 4GB microSDHC flash memory has dipped below $10 and are 1/100th the size.

Another boon for desktop technicians is the ability to nLite or slipstream the installer to include other software pre-built into the windows image. This can save companies and administrators tons of time rolling out corporate software packages. The Russian made software is free for non-commercial uses but require contacting the maker to negotiate business use.
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German programmer, Alexander Beug, launches a new stable release of his USB drive imaging program. This program helps manage backups and images of multiple USB drives. Using his “USB Image Tool” you can create and manage per device and per usage flash drive images. Anyone who has been converted to relying on Portable Applications instead of a laptop knows the need for consistent backups. The smaller more convenient flash drives are however, tragically easier to lose. Having regular backups is an absolute must and the USB Image Tool program makes it easy to create and track them by name, date, device or function.

With all the recognized uses for USB drives it’s hard to keep up with them due to sheer number. XP install bootable drives, Linux LiveCD USB drives, Windows administrator password recovery drives, Boot and Nuke emergency drive shredding drives, Portable Applications, TrueCrypt images, and the list goes on and on. Even if you have 50 high performance flash drives to fill up with these boot images it’s almost impossible to label them so you can find them when you need them. Alex’s tool can let you easily track and ‘flash’ your flash drive with the image that you need. The software is free but you can donate to the developer to keep up the good work. John 3:16
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For some people everyday is Halloween. If that’s you, then you may be one of the twenty or so people who will think about buying a pair of these, Screaming USB Skull Speakers. While this might be perfect for Rob Zombie’s executive assistant, there’s little other appropriate location for them. They do draw all the power they need from USB and should work just fine on PC or Apple based computers.

If the eBook you are looking for on eMule is the Necronomicon, this pair of speakers is ready to belt out your dark soundtrack. Be it Ave Satani from the Omen movies or whatever dark melody that best accompanies your fiendish tasks, pair it with these 8 inch resin brain baring skulls speakers. Probably not capable of truly immersive sound, they should set the stage for any number of popular horror games. Left4Dead, Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark will fit nicely with the theme these speakers set. Pick these up for around $50 plus shipping at uxsight.com. Professional counseling is available elsewhere for an additional charge.
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