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Archives Main | OCMS Articles | Technology News | Gaming News | Gadget News | Audio & Video
Technology News Archives :: September 1, 2009 - October 1, 2009
Best of CEDIA 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
"Attendance at the just-concluded CEDIA (Custom Electronics Design & Installation Association) Expo, held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, was down for the second straight year to around 20,000, and the number of exhibitors shrunk from 500 to 400. But the good news for home theater enthusiasts is as follows: What the various exhibitors that remained actually exhibited was a considerable amount of ingenuity."
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Callpod Dragon v2 Bluetooth Headset
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, September 03, 2009
Bluetooth
headsets are now pretty commonplace with most cell phones coming
equipped with the technology. One limitation to most of these
headsets is the working range. The standard effective range of most
BT devices is 10 meters (32 feet). Callpod a company known for their
various mobile technologies have released the Callpod
Dragon v2 Bluetooth Headset which has a
supposed range of 100 meters (328 feet) when used with a class 1
enabled Bluetooth device. Sounds pretty impressive.
Callpod utilizes
their proprietary noise mitigation system known as dual-mic noise
suppression. This technology activates when a call comes through and
helps reduce background noise while enhancing and optimizing the
sound quality of the conversation.
In addition to
this ten fold increase in range, the Dragon V2 Bluetooth Headset also
features eight hours of talk time, 300 hours of standby time, Skype
functionality, multi-device pairing and Dragon to Dragon communications for walkie talkie like
capability. The Dragon has a different shape than most standard
Bluetooth headsets but this is probably to fit the more powerful
transmitter.
Let’s take a
closer look…..
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Hyperdesk Star Trek: The Original Series Hypersuite
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, September 03, 2009
Space the final frontier …….
OK, I had to say that – it’s a Star
Trek review. Growing up in the seventies and eighties I fondly
remember watching Star Trek. It was action, adventure and cool
futuristic tech. Many modern devices are analogous to the devices
used in Gene Roddenbery’s created universe. Modern cell phones can
trace their inspiration to the communicators from Star Trek. PDAs
and smart phones are Tricorder like in today’s world. Love it or
hate it Star Trek’s societal impact can be felt even forty years
after its start.
Today’s review item is from the Skins
Factory who are renowned for their ability to skin OSes – making
them look totally different and unique. Their Hyperdesk division
has been morphing Windows XP desktops for several years, now they are
bringing Windows Vista into the party and one of their first
offerings is the Star Trek: The Original Series Hyperdesk Suite.
Trekkers and Windows skinner can now make their Windows machine look
like something out of the 23rd century.
The Skins Factory Hyperdesk division is
the same group that has provided Alienware with their unique PC
interfaces, so we know the art will be first rate. It runs as a self
contained program converts the bland Windows desktop into something
unique. Previous Windows skinning programs required a dedicated
program running to perform the conversion; The Skins Factory version
uses the built in engine to change the Windows desktop appearance.
Hyperdesk runs within the memory of the OS, so any changes can be
undone with a click of a button as the system files are never
altered. It works with or without Aero depending on which flavor of
Vista the user is running and whether the PC has enough power.
Let’s take a closer look…….
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Mionix Alioth 400 Mousepad
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, September 03, 2009
Mionix? Ever hear of them? Probably not
unless you're over on the other side of the pond, they've been around
for a couple years now, based out of Sweden actually. Mionix
specializes in gaming accessories like mice and mousepads, but they
are expanding their lineup as well. They've recently come to be
available here in the United States and from my experience so far
with their products, I think they're going to do well.
Today for review I've got another
mousepad, yep a mousepad, not too exciting to most, but I personally
like getting them for review because I've found they can be greatly
different from each other. The one I have for review today is called
the Alioth 400 and it's from Mionix. It's a fairly large sized pad,
coming in at 400mm x 335mm or about 15” x 13” in size. In my time
with this pad I've come to like it very much, it's nicely made and
offers a surface that tracks perfectly with every mouse I used with
it. So read on to learn about a very good mousepad...
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Genius EasyPen i405 4" x 5.5" Graphics Tablet
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, September 03, 2009
When it comes to input devices we've
got a lot of choices out there, especially when it comes to mice, but
there are other options for input, such as tablets, or graphics
tablets as they might be called. The graphics tablet is for much more
than drawing, they can be very handy for just generally making life
easier to do certain tasks, like presentations and hand signing a
document. When signing an electronic document without a pad, you'll
have to print it out, sign it then scan it back in and send it off to
wherever it needs to go, with a tablet though you can just edit the
document, sign it with the tablet and save it, very easy. The main
use is of course for drawing, nothing beats a tablet really when it
comes to creating or drawing a picture on your computer, a mouse just
really doesn't cut it most of the time. Another great use for a
tablet is for presentations, a tablet allows you to draw on the
screen, you can highlight, circle, underline or write on your
document, desktop or picture and it can be permanent or just
temporary as a type of overlay.
Up on the review block today I've got
the Genius EasyPen i405 4” x 5.5” Graphic Tablet, and by the
dimensions we see there it's pretty small, but that doesn't mean it's
not useful and a fairly decent product. The EasyPen i405 works well,
and includes a nice suite of software that can be useful to anyone
for personal or business related applications. The pad itself
features 28 programmable function keys and the pen has two buttons
that can act just like your mouse buttons, so you could replace your
mouse with the pen if need be. So read on to learn more about the
EasyPen i405...
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Thermaltake Max4 3.5" SATA HDD Rack
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, September 03, 2009
Hard drive racks are something that
many people associate with servers or primarily business related
applications, but they're much more useful than most people know.
Personally I've used an HDD racks for a few years now as I like the
ability to swap my hard drives out as need be. At this point in time
I'm so accustomed to using them, I couldn't live without one. In my
setup I use the rack for my operating system drive, I've got separate
HDDs with Windows 7, Vista, Xp and Linux on them, to use a different
operating system I just swap the hard drives out to whichever I need
to access or use. This makes my life easy, and it keeps everything
separate for me. It works basically like a cartridge, pop it out then
pop the new one in, simple and easy and I'm ready to go. The one I've
got doesn't use a tray as like most others do, all you do is stick
the hard drive in and you're done, which in itself is very nice, no
extra trays to buy for all of your HDDs, no worry about losing screws
for the trays etc, overall it's just an excellent feature not having
to use the tray.
Today for review I've got the
Thermaltake Max4 3.5" SATA HDD Rack which is the kind of rack
that I prefer, it does not use a tray, all you do is put the hard
drive in, close the door and you're done. The Max4 isn't really
fancy, no LCD display on it, no built-in cooling fan, it's basic and
simple, which is nice as you don't have to worry about parts breaking
down or failing on you. Though since it doesn't have a fan one might
worry about its ability to keep your hard drive cool, you don't have
to, I've found that it works just as well as a rack that does have a
fan built in. Read on to learn more about an excellent choice for an
HDD rack that's simple and easy to use...
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