When it comes to the peripheral world, Mac users often get the short end of the stick, particularly in terms of data storage peripherals as the Fire Wire port needed is not often available. Western Digital has come up with a solution for the Mac user by adding a high speed Fire Wire 800 interface to its entire range of My Passport Studio portable drives. This will work well for the creative professional who needs fast performance in a peripheral storage device. It offers a new interface that works well with the Apple MacBook Pro and you will love the integrated illuminate capacity gauge that will inform you of how much space you have left. As long as it is plugged into your machine, this baby is full powered. And, if you don’t happen to have the Fire Wire port on your machine, the versatility is there to meet your needs with a USB 2.0. The speed of this gadget is its biggest selling feature, and is catered to the creative professional. From the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the WD Brand Products and Consumer Electronics Group:
“Photographers and videographers, be they creative pros or Mac computer enthusiasts, have a genuine need for large amounts of fast, portable storage for their high-definition files. With a new FireWire 800 interface, My Passport Studio speeds up editing and transferring of big media files making it perfect for performance-minded Mac computer users on the go.”
Depending on what size you get, they run for about $229 or $249, and their color selection will tickle your fashionable fancy as well.
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Ever had one of those moments where you passed someone on the street, or were checking them out at the mall and thought, wow, would love to talk to them. And with the Internet so handy, it has eased some social discomfort by allowing for more open channels of communication for those that are of the shyer variety. Well, now the W-41 will ensure that the offline public merges with the online public in a very unique manner. The W-41 technology is being used on items of clothing so that you will be able to instantly access someone’s Facebook profile, MySpace page, personal blog, or whatever else the person has registered on their ‘clothing’. The W-41 works two ways, first through technology installed on clothing, and second through a download on your phone. So you see someone you like, that also happens to be wearing a W-41 piece, zap them with your phone download, and instantly you can watch your friends and buddy lists grow. All you have to do is take a picture of their W-41 emblem, and all of the information will be downloaded onto your phone. Has it started to sound too creepy yet? This is a fairly new concept that is limited to this brand and this company, but you have to know, the bandwagon is going to grow and grow fast with this one. Particularly amongst the college crowd, the biggest demographic on MySpace and Facebook, and so no longer will you only have to admire that cutie from afar. Just snap a pic of their W-41, and maybe you’ll get plans for next Saturday night. Yes, it’s creepy, and somewhat invasive, but when you are the shirt wearer, you get to decide who has access to what. So the privacy protocol has already been granted when you allow the general public to access you online, when you are offline. It’s definitely an innovative notion, though it may have its downsides. But there was once a day when Facebook was just a concept, and even seen as a little invasive as well, and now well, it’s a household term and every day lingo, so much so that the term ‘Facebook me about it’ has turned an originally invasive concept into every day actions. The W-41, expect to see it in heavy doses, very soon.
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There are two sides to the fence on the concept of a gaming notebook. A lot of die hard gamers are all about them because it’s just another toy to feed the addiction. Those that like gaming but aren’t really hard core may not be too impressed with a gaming notebook because they do have a tendency to be a little on the bulky side and the battery power on them can be pretty pathetic. Despite these issues, gaming notebooks still seem to be on the rise, and Asus is capitalizing on that with their new gaming notebooks the G71 and the G50. Both of these notebooks are powered by the NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT graphics processing unit that provides state of the art graphic displays and this same processing unit will further support the NVIDIA PhysX for a realistic game-in experience. You will also find here video acceleration, and image processing capabilities with the ‘Graphics Plus’ feature. Yes, these are notebooks that cater to the high-end side of things, and even though they are *just* notebooks, they pack a punch with their many features. On the G71 you will find a 17” display, and 4 gigs of DDR2 RAM, as well as 1TB of storage on the hard drive with Intel Core2 Duo processors, the ONLY processor you want when it comes to a serious gaming experience. If you don’t want to burn too large a hole in your pocket, you can get the downgraded version with the G50, a 32 core GeForce 9700 M GT GPU with a mainstream Intel processor and a 15.4 or 15.6” display. For the G50 you can expect to start paying at $1249 and up, and the G71 will definitely run much higher than that.
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Yes, yes, it seems that there is a new Smart Phone coming out every day, doesn’t there? There are the die hard fans of iPhone’s touch screen that are now looking into the models being released from other brands, and then you have the Blackberry lovers that don’t want to switch from their QWERTY keyboard, as much as the touch screen appeals to them. Samsung put these two thoughts together and created a smart phone that will allow you to do BOTH. If you aren’t sold on the touch-screen concept but find it appealing, and don’t want to give up your QWERTY keyboard, the Epix is the phone for you. With a touch screen and built in optical mouse technology as its key selling features, the Epix is geared to be a big hit. The navigation experience has been expanded by Samsung here as well with the optical mouse offering you a 4 way navigation key for a traditional navigation experience. And, equipped with a full Window’s Mobile 6.1 operating system, you will find the rest of the features a breeze as well. The phone comes with full Wi Fi connectivity, Integrated aGPS system, AT & T Video support, global roaming, 2 Megapixel camera, blue tooth capabilities, and a 2.5” color display. Windows Mobile alone is enough to sway you to this side of the Smartphone as you can connect your MS Outlook and use Internet Explorer to your hearts content, while at the same time managing Word, Excel, and Power Point files. This one is available only through AT & T and surprisingly, much more affordable than even some of the top of the line Blackberry’s at $199.99. Impressive.
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For those of you that are Verizon customers that are craving the beauty and mystique of the iPhone, but also just can’t seem to give up the flip phone, Motorola is coming through for you. And it’s coming in a phone that seems to be affordable as well, as the Motorola Krave ZN4 is being touted as the poor man’s iPhone. The handset is unique because it comes in a flip phone and offers you two layers of touch. The first layer will be on the interactive clear flip that is found on the outside, while underneath you will get an additional touch screen display. This dual sided touch screen capability is certainly a novel feature on the market, and not one that you will find elsewhere. It aims to provide ease of both accessibility and navigation as Verizon’s new goal it to provide easy access to its customers through an offering of many functions and services with a single touch, even if your flip is closed. Touch screen features combined with the familiarity of a flip hone are what is making the Krave ZN4 so popular. You can access every feature on the phone as well as services such as V Cast Mobile TV, photos, music play, and reading text messages without even opening your phone. And, an added bonus to the phone is a sweet little side lock that will prevent accidental touching and dialing. Though the key selling features of the phone are its touch screen and flip mode, you will also be pleased to find a huge selection of multimedia services offered through Verizon, such as the previously mentioned V CAST Mobile TV, V CAST Music, Visual Voice Mail, Rhapsody 1.2, and VZ Navigator. The phone also comes with a 2 megapixel camera that has a built in accelorometer that can detect when and how your phone rotates and thus counter movement by indicating the display in the proper direction. And as mentioned, it’s cheap, coming in at $149.99 with a new 2 year contract, much more affordable than the iPhone counterpart.
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It seems like there is a device for every matter these days, and this latest is no exception. Yes, we enjoy our tools and toys that offer us nothing more than entertainment value, but every now and then we come across something that is actually handy. The HDD Dock with Cooling Fan is a device to help you control the heat emissions from your computer. Given that hard drives have the tendency to emit a LOT of heat when they are in operation, this can ultimately reduce the overall lifespan. By using tools such as the HDD Dock with Cooling fan, you will be able to keep your devices cool, and also have a very effective data transfer, backup, AND cloning tool all in one. You insert a drive into the dock, and the 8 cm fan will keep whichever drive you have inserted completely cool. This device is compatible with either 2.5” or 3.5” Hard disks, and plugs into your computer via USB ports. Additional features on this include a fan speed up to 1800 rpm, a power saving feature to link ON/OFF status with your computer, as well as temperature and humidity controls. Even better, this tool is compatible with Windows VISTA, XP, Linux, and yes, even all you Apple lovers out there can take a bite out of this one. The kit comes with both the dock and the fan, AC Adaptor, power cable, and USB cable all for under $100 bucks. Not too bad considering the investment you make by prolonging the shelf life of your hard drive.
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