Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Aside from giving us sleek-looking portable data storage devices, LaCie and tech gadget designer Neil Poulton have also given as the FireWire speakers during the early part of the year. The two are following this up with yet another speaker product which we would simply call as the LaCie USB Speakers.

This Poulton-designed USB speakers offers a frequency response rate of 90Hx-20kHz and supports 16-bit/48KHz signal. It derives power from its USB connection and can output a minimum of 1W per channel. The previous FireWire speakers are capable of giving out 4W per channel and supports a signal of up to 24-bit/96kHz. This explains why the new USB Speaker costs only $60, while the FireWire speakers will set you back $100.

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Developer: VTech
Price: $99.95
Availability: Out now
Pros: Great phone, great instant message/instant voice tool
Cons: Spare a USB port buddy?
Overall: Decent phone, does all it says with aplomb.  If you’ve got a lot of IM’ers or just want to have IM without booting up, check out this combo.

Like a product stolen right out of Spaceship Earth at Disney’s Epcot, VTech advances the lowly house phone into something from our ancesters wouldn’t have even guessed.  Our Arnold Zafra picked up this phones release a while back and expected good things from it.  After reviewing it, he was spot on.  V-tech has done a pretty good job at merging the texting fun of your cell phone into your home phone format.

The phone itself is nice, the form factor is pretty similar to a Palm.  The qwerty keypad is nicely laid out and is quite usable.  I had no issue tapping away messages or answering the phone.  What I really enjoyed about the VTech is the ringer choices.  Not only do they stock some nice ones, like you’d expect on a cell phone, but they offer the ability to download new ones.  Really nice for those of us with short attention spans.

The phone comes with software you’ll need to install on your home PC.  Once installed and running, it drops a tray icon in and your phone can now IM at will.  Connecting through the phone was as easy as hitting the Messenger button.  It can connect with MSN Messenger, Windows Live and AOL.  You can have multiple text conversations going at once, which is handy.  It also has voice chat for VOIP applications.  I didn’t get to try that.

One minor annoyance was the need for the unit to plug into an open USB slot and the phone line.  For many of us, these two things are not far apart but it would have been so nice to have this hook into WiFi.  Just saying, I am running out of USB slots and I seem to be too lazy to get a hub.  To it’s credit, the cordless phone didn’t interfere with any of the crazy things of got going on; its interference-free DECT 6.0.

In fairness, the phone and recharger can be almost anywhere in your house; it doesn’t need to be by the home base.

All in all, a great phone that can be much more, especially for your teens who hog up your computer time.  Now you can let them IM without monopolizing your computer.  Sweet.

Company site: [VTech]

One of the newest releases from Imation is the “USB Nano flash drive”, which is essentially a tiny memory stick that is available in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB storage sizes. It comes in 100% environmentally friendly packaging and is enhanced with Vista ReadyBoost. However that doesn’t explain the $20+ price tags, when you can get them for was less nearly everywhere, but by taking a ‘closer’ look it is fairly obvious.

The reason for the price is that this is the smallest flash drive you can get, and just 44mm x 15mm x 10mm you have to wonder if you can get any smaller. This size is quite practical as it not only means that you can carry it around on nearly everything (you could probably wear it as an earring) but it can also fit into the smallest of spaces behind your computer, meaning you can finally use all of your USB ports at the same time. However the smaller your gadgetry is, the easier it is lost, and it is really worth buying something you know your going to loose?

Read [Imation]

Western Digital has just unleashed their My DVR Expander external hard drive.  This WD drive is certified to work as an external storage device for Dish Network DVRs.

The hard drive line sports 500GB of storage, which in TV terms, is 300 hours of standard definition content and 60 hours of high definition content.  The drive will definitely work with the Dish set top boxes.  However, on top of the device’s $149.99 price, you will have to pay a fee to activate the USB port on your set top box.

Western Digital is hoping to expand the compatibility of such external drivers to other TV providers.

Via [CrunchGear]

Creative has unveiled their latest MP3 player, the MuVo T200, which is overall just a run-of-the-mill player. The T200 comes with 2GB or 4GB of storage space and can play MP3, WMA and WAV files. The player has a USB thumb drive style to it, complete with an end cap that removes to expose the USB port, the player can also be used to store and transfer files.

In addition to the basic music player along with thumb drive functionality, the T200 features a small 128 x 32 pixel color LCD, FM radio, voice recorder and works from a built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery that offers up to 9-hours of playback.

The 2GB model is available in black, white or pink and the 4GB model comes in black or white. The MuVo T200 is currently available and retails for $99 and $149 respectively.

Product [Creative] Via [akihabara news]

It takes a lot of sophisticated, cutting-edge technology to solve a major homicide within an hour - including commercials, of course.

How many times have you watched the computers used by the fictional forensics detectives on “CSI” and thought to yourself, “if only...” That is, if only databases were that fast, if only touch technology were that advanced, if only location tracking were that integrated...and all of it fast and flawless, naturally. Memo to Grissom: give more shout-outs to your IT guys, OK?

Real-life is starting to catch up to “CSI.” This week Microsoft is hosting law-enforcement authorities from 35 countries for a conference on crime and technology, and the software giant announced it has developed a new USB thumb drive that allows police to quickly extract information from computers suspected of being used by the bad guys. It’s called COFEE (Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor) and Microsoft says some officials have been using it for nearly a year.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has steered its technology toward solving crimes. In 2003 a Toronto detective, discouraged by the rise of online predators targeting children, e-mailed Bill Gates for help. That plea prompted the creation of CETS (Child Exploitation Tracking System), a suite of software tools that allows agencies to better share information on child pornographers. Of course, the marketing gurus in Redmond know when to blur that line between reality and fiction. Yes, those were Microsoft touch-screen surface computers you saw during Season Six episodes of “CSI: Miami.”

Read [Seattle Times] Read [Microsoft]

Brando, while they may offer some very off-the-wall products also have some items that are very useful. The latest falling in to the useful category is the USB 3-Port Hub + Mini-USB Cable, which as the name implies is a USB hub that that offers three regular USB ports as well as one mini USB port.

The nice part here, aside from the low $12 price tag, is that the hub does not require any additional power, it gets the required power from two USB ports on the computer. Looks to me like it would make the perfect additional cable for the road warrior type, now they can plug in up to 3 USB devices instead of two and also charge another with the mini USB.

Product [Brando]

Kingston has introduced one of its most secured data storage device yet with the new DataTraveler BlackBox (DTBB). We’re finally talking about real data security here with a 256-bit hardware-based AES encryption that automatically locks itself after ten unsuccessful password attempts. Even the US Government was excited about the DataTraveler BlackBox, so much so, that it has given it an FIPS certification. FIPS certification is given to data devices which have passed the Federal standard for data management and security.

Going back to the USB drive itself, we learned that it comes in 2GB, 4GB or 8GB storage capacities and retail for $165, $242, and $424 respectively. While the DataTraveler BlackBox is more expensive than your standard USB flash drive, its not a bad price to pay for ensuring that your personal data security will not be breached.

Read [DTBB Demo] Via [Crunch Gear]

Our sister site Gamertell has spotted an interesting freebie at Target retail stores. The chain is putting out a Speed Racer-themed gift card that comes with a 60+ MB USB 2.0 Flash drive built right in. It is one of those gift cards you fill with money to give to someone else, so it’s essentially free if you happen to forget to fill it before you take it home. (*wink*)

The Flash drive is preloaded with 50 MB of promotional files including the usual wallpapers, printable coupons, movie files and a videogame cheat code for the upcoming release of May 6, 2008, release of Speed Racer: The Videogame. You can, of course, keep or delete the files as you wish and simple have a nifty fat credit card sized Flash drive with a Speed Racer skin.

Read [Gamertell]

Asus is updating the Linux drivers of the Asus Eee PC to make its My Cinema U3100 Mini DVD-T and DMB-TH tuners work. Based on results of preliminary testing, the Linux drivers now work well with the USB TV Tuners, except for the H.264 software decoding. This means that HDTV channels won’t be able to broadcast properly in the Eee. Other TV channels that broadcast using MPEG-2 will work just fine, but as of now it will not support any recording. But hey, with such limited on-board storage and slow processing you wouldn’t want to be recording too much anyway, better leave that function for your desktops or other equally powerful laptops.

The TV tuner compatibility certainly adds up to the already great features of the Asus Eee PC. It’s no wonder that many sub-notebook manufacturers are following the path of the Asus and are coming out with their own versions of the Eee PC.

Via [Crunch Gear]