theVooner's weblog

A weblog for theVooner.com where the best cool gear and gadgets get reviewed.

last modified Jul 15, 2003 at 1:45

Friday, January 31, 2003

SplashPower - Wireless Charging

Much like my Braun Electric Toothbrush, a company calledSplashpower is attempting to make a pad that can recharge devices without the need for wires. I think that's pretty cool. Imagine just placing your laptop, mobile phone, PDA, iPod, whatever, on a pad and it charges effortlessly. No worries about adapters or wires, just one thing pad to bring along. What if airlines built them into their tables. Now the company just has to convince manufacturers to build in these modules into devices. That may be a bit harder to do...

Still I can dream...

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 3:14 | 0 comments

Tuesday, January 28, 2003

Electrolux Trilobite -- Self-operating vacuum cleaner

Who else but theVooner would consider buying an intelligent, self-operating vacuum cleaner? I saw the Trilobite the other night on CNBC I think it was and I was just thinking how cool it was. Ok I need help. But for over US$1600 for a vacuum cleaner, I won't be buying one anytime soon. Still, it's a cool ideal.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 0:31 | 0 comments

Monday, January 27, 2003

Jabra Bluetooth Headset

I've gotten a couple of questions about how my bluetooth headset is. I think it's pretty cool though I thought it was a bit big and bulky. There are a number of newer versions including the few from Sony Ericsson. But I think my current favorite is the Jabra Bluetooth headset called the Freespeak. Although it still looks fat, it does seem to be the coolest of the existing headsets because the bulk of it sits behind the ear, not on top of it like the Sony Ericsson and other models I have seen.

Too bad almost all the new phones I have gotten don't have bluetooth built in. I realise you can buy a dongle device from Jabra to make non-bluetooth phones bluetooth compatible (and hence use the FreeSpeak), but that just defeats the purpose. Still the Jabra is pretty nice.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 3:04 | 0 comments

Friday, January 24, 2003

New TV

I was watching Minority Report on my normal Sony Wega TV in my bedroom when I noticed how distorted all the images were. The anamoriphic scale of the dvd makes everything look weird on a regular TV -- you need widescreeeeeen! That's it. I need a new TV. Hopefully, this year (yeah right, fat chance) I'll get a decent bonus and splurge for a new Plasma. I've already decided that if I do, I'm getting a larger 50" Plasma. Ok, maybe it's a bit big, but the new models look amazing. I've been hearing a lot about the Panasonic models which are supposed to be the best at the moment. I've got my eye on the 50" model!

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 0:27 | 0 comments

Tuesday, January 21, 2003

My lost DV camcorder

Yes, it's been well over a year since I think I even opened up the box that has my mini DV camcorder. Many new models have come and gone. It's a shame really because the miniDV is such a good idea and takes really great pictures. I regret that I don't use it more. My big wish is that camcorders come out the size of super small digital cameras. I thought the answer to that question was the MicroMV tape format. The DCR-IP55 is really cool and even the older DCR-IP7 was cool. But I haven't seen much in the sense of support for these formats.

Sony is releasing 3 new camcorder models, all of which are MiniDV formats. The DCR-TRV70K, TRV33K, and TRV22K are all updates to existing models. They have higher lens resolutions (for still pictures) plus a few upgrades here and there. I also really like the new colors they offer for the TRV33K and TRV20K (blue/gold) which is a neat contrast to the boring (but still nice) silver models. Still it's not something I intend to upgrade to anything soon.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 22:14 | 0 comments

Monday, January 20, 2003

New Toshiba PDAs

Toshiba looks like they've introduced a new line of PDAs under the Genio brand. Although there are funny dates below some of these (Nov. for example, which would presume that they are already available) but I haven't seem them so I presume they are pretty new. There's at least 3 new models and one that says MD on it which I wonder if they've incorporated a MD disk for either storing data (data MD) and/or for listening to MD. Now that might get me interested in a PDA again...

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 16:26 | 0 comments

Friday, January 17, 2003

Nikon D100

Once you get me started, now I can't stop thinking... I want a new digital camera! Actually, I want two. Instead of buying a super small one and stick to my demand of ultra-high quality and extra small size, I should have bought two different cameras. You've already heard me talk below about my look for an ultra compact camera. Now, I'm also thinking I should have bought a completely separate, high-end digital camera. At the head of the pack, in terms of price, value, and my love for Nikon is the D100. There are only two things holding me back: 1) why is it only a 6 Mega-pixel not a 10 or 20 Mega-pixel, and 2) which leads me to the point, how long will the D100 last before it's outdated. Unlike a Leica or a Nikon F5, digital cameras probably don't last as long as SLR cameras. That's a bit frustrating. Maybe I should wait for the D200 or whatever comes next...

First I need to trade in my darn Leica M6!

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 7:26 | 0 comments

Thursday, January 16, 2003

New Casio Exilim Camera -- 3.2MP

My search for an ultracompact digital camera continues. Not entirely content with my new Minolta Dimage F100, I have continued to look at other digital cameras. Derek was kind enough to point out that Casio has just announced an upgrade to their Exilim line -- a 3.2MP model to be out in March. Pretty neat. Although Minolta actually already has a 3.2MP version, the Dimage Xi which is about the same size. The Casio looks like it would have a much nicer lens and hence probably takes better pictures. I'm interested. Of course, I still think the Sony DSC-U20 is cute too. But I'm greedy. I want it super small, but I want a 4 or even 5 MP camera. I'm still waiting...

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 18:17 | 1 comments

Wednesday, January 15, 2003

Apple G4 Powerbook 12" & 17"

Pretty cool that Apple has come up with both a smaller and a larger G4. I still think though that for US$3299, the 17" model is really expensive. The screen is still not as cool as my 1600x1200 Dell, but it was massive. The demo model (though not turned on) was really big. I am impressed still with how small the G4 is. Still, I think the tiny version is really cool. Worth a look if you don't mind that it's a Mac. I don't, but as I've said before, there are compatibility issues that I have yet to overcome. Anyway, Apple fans and users are probably having a field day. Meanwhile, I'm happy playing with my Tablet PC (which costs about the same as the 12" G4).

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 18:13 | 0 comments

Tuesday, January 14, 2003

New Motorola mobile phones

Finally, after how long, do we finally see what Motorola has to offer. While the CES is going on in Las Vegas, Motorola has staged its HelloMoto exhibition in Shanghai showcasing many new models to come. Pretty smart to bring this out in the world's largest wireless market.

As you can see from the link above, while the designs are not going to win any awards (and certainly not me as a fan), they are packed with lots of technology. The A835 is Motorola's entry into the 3G market. I was disappointed at the lack of details on the site but that's probably because the phone is still a prototype. The absolutely coolest function on the phone is that it will have a unique "shake"/vibration and lighting when a different person calls your handset (I assume you have to pre-program this now like you do for handsets today based on caller ID). It also vibrates and moves (like a PS2/XBOX joystick) when playing the included Moto GP game. Cool. It's an MP3 player, has 256MB of memory, a video/camera... it should be pretty neat. But again, its still a concept and until we see the real thing, I won't get too excited. (Not yet anyway.)

Among the phones that will be offered sooner, the C350 looks fairly impressive although its lack of a camera may mean that other newer models like my current favorite "to be coming phone" -- the Nokia 7250 -- may win out. There's even a Quad-band GSM model, the V600 on the way.

As with most phones on the way though, I reserve judgement until it actually arrives. I want to see these phones in person and weigh them against the present competition. As with my experience with the Sony Ericsson P800, there's no point getting too excited in the short term as the actual model may not arrive for quite some time. (I'm still waiting for the actual release of the P800 though I have lost quite a lot of interest in buying it.)

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 2:59 | 0 comments

Monday, January 13, 2003

Microsoft Media2Go - Personal Media Player

At the CES, Microsoft announced that it was developing a PMP device called "Media2Go". Basically, it's a portable iPod/PDA device that plays back multimedia forms like video and audio. Neat! I could think of many reasons why I would want to get one. While it is based on the Windows CE version, I imagine it as a knocked-down version of PocketPC. While I think the idea is really cool, I think Microsoft might want to work on the design for a bit. It looks really fat and not very attractive. If they could strip down a PDA, I think that's what we all would want. I know some people who use 1GB microdrives to store movies that they can watch on their PDAs.

Still, this kind of device will eventually raise some questions. I would definitely want to use its video capabilities to watch movies and such. But, how do you, for instance, rip a DVD movie onto a device like this without breaking some sort of copyright law. And how long would that take? Alternatively, how could I convert/transfer a recorded TV program, say on a TIVO or something onto this device? That would open up a big problem with people sharing files online which is bound to break some other law or another. We'll see what eventually develops.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 18:24 | 0 comments

Sunday, January 12, 2003

Toshiba HDD/DVD-RAM recorder RD series

I have longed for a Recordeable DVD player for sometime now. I can't wait to get rid of these 100 video tapes I have, but can't bear to part with old South Park/Superman/Star Trek episodes. The problems though have been 1) price, and 2) different standards. Choosing between -R,+R, -Ram, it can be fairly confusing.

Then, there's things like the Tivo. Cool idea getting a hard disk to record video. With Toshiba's RD series, particulalry the new X3, you can have the best of both worlds. A 160GB HDD gives you plenty of space to record video, and then transfer them all to DVD for safe-keeping. But all these darn standards don't help. I still can't figure out what is compatible with what. That for the price means I'm going to keep by the sidelines for awhile. Besides, I hear all these things about "blue-laser" anyways. Will the DVD be obsolete in a few years time anyway?

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 21:00 | 0 comments

Friday, January 10, 2003

New Sony CLIE NZ90

Sony, strangely enough at the CES in Las Vegas, announced its new CLIE model, the NZ90 which comes with a 2 Mega-pixel camera. It even takes MPEG4 video. The camera has flash and autofocus capabilities. In addition, it comes with built-in Bluetooth function and a slot for a WLAN card.

But it looks like a super fat version of my old CLIE. It's even thicker than the new CLIE NX90 and weighs nearly 30% more. As I wrote in my Tablet PC review, I would much rather have my Tablet PC and a separate digital camera to do the functions of my PDA.

Still it's a neat device and probably would have garnered more interest from me except that it's a Palm, it's big, and I just bought my new Tablet PC!

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 1:56 | 0 comments

Thursday, January 9, 2003

2 new reviews...

Thanks to dan, I finally have managed to put up two reviews. Both of them are laptop reviews -- two very different kinds.

1) Dell Inspiron 8200

2) Compaq Tablet PC TC1000

I like them both a lot.

Enjoy.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 16:34 | 0 comments

Tuesday, January 7, 2003

USB 2.0 products

Now that I have a PC with USB 2.0 slots, I'm wondering what kind of devices I can get for that as well.

This DVD recordable drive by Sony (the DRX-500UL) looks like a definite top choice. It records in both competing DVD formats (+RW and -RW) so you don't have to worry about it being incompatible. The only problem is I want a recordable DVD so I can rip all my old VCRs and stuff. How am I gong to connect that? Ok, but this is pretty cool. HP's DVD200e is also an impressive drive.

Other cool things include the Lexar USB 2.0 Flash drive (although my other PC isn't USB 2.0 so that kind of makes this moot). Hmm. What else is there?

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 17:53 | 0 comments

Monday, January 6, 2003

And more mobile phones: Sharp GX-12, Nokia 7250, Samsung SGH P400

Hot on the heels of the Panasonic GD88 comes the Sharp GX-12 mobile phone. The GX-12 is very similar to th GD88. One big positive point is all the cool games on the GX-12 like Galaxian Mini, Pac-Man, Xevious -- all those old classic games. The big downside: the GX-12 looks like a very FAT phone with a really thick screen. Just not very pleasing to hold even though it is only slightly wider. Still, it's not a bad phone, but there are lots of others out there on the way...

Soon to come out will be Nokia's 7250, an update to the Nokia 7210, but with a camera! This is probably the model I would look for because of its sheer size.

Never a big fan of Samsung, but this new model, the Samsung SGH P400/P408 which I saw at the ITU conference here in Hong Kong was extremely impressive. Finally, the Koreans are bringing their cool CDMA-like phones to the GSM markets.

I have, and most likely others will as well, given up on the on-again/off-again Sony Ericsson P800. I think we'll just wait till this thing actually becomes a reality and I'll consider what other options are available at that time as well.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 19:22 | 0 comments

Sunday, January 5, 2003

Compact Flash Accessories

Now that my new Tablet PC takes CF cards, I'm wondering what accessories to get. I will probably get a CF card reader for my digital camera. The problem is that I want a CF card reader for both MS & SD. They don't make that as far as I can tell. I want a CF reader rather than installing the software because I will probably end up buying another digital camera pretty soon. The Minolta Dimage is just not working for me...

Another really cool CF accessory is the tri-band GSM card by Audiovox. The RTM8000 is a cool CF card that gives you mobile access for your PDA/laptop. In this case, I'm eager to try out the GPRS services to see if I can download e-mail and web pages on the fly. I'm worried that it's going to be really slow, but it should be interesting. I'm going to see if I can demo this first before I buy it...

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 20:11 | 0 comments

Thursday, January 2, 2003

Abundant mobile phones for 2003

While shopping over the past few days, I have seen a great number of new mobile phones in the stores. Certainly, many of you know that Nokia has the new 6610 and 6100 tri-band models out already. But yesterday, I saw a number of stores carrying a demonstration model of the 3650. The 3650 is a tri-band phone like all the others (yes it will work in the US) but the unique thing about this bad boy is that it has a built in video camera function as well as the digital function. As a result, you're supposed to be able to send video clips. I'm quite tempted to try this. But the 3650 looks big and weighs in at 130 grams. When I tried it out about a month ago, it was fairly impressive but still a bit on the large side for me. Neverthless, its cool to see these new models.

There are likely to see a number of new models in the coming months from lots of manufacturers. It should be interesting to see what's out there.

To this day, I still have not yet seen the full launch and wide availablity of the Sony Ericsson P800. All the hype and still no phone. Meanwhile, Nokia is there again with a number of new models. At this rate, no one will be quite interested in the P800 when it comes out. Darn it...

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 2:30 | 2 comments

Wednesday, January 1, 2003

Happy New Year!!

I'm using my new Tablet PC!! I love it. Hope everyone had a great night out. There are two new reviews up. Enjoy.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 0:26 | 0 comments