New Benq Mini Drives

Benq trying something a little different; I'll hang on to my USB flash drive for now.

BenQ has a new line of portable storage drives they intend to bring to market beginning this fall. The Pocket Writer products will play and record 8-centimeter optical discs only.

Mock-ups of three different drives were displayed during a Taipei news conference: A CD compatible PW100, a PW200 model for DVD, and possibly most interesting, the PW300 that has been designed for use with Blu-ray Discs. This is according to Jennifer Ho, spokesperson for BenQ's storage division. The 8cm CD discs will hold 200 megs of information and the DVD disc, 1.4 gigabytes.

iPod Revisited

I was thinking of writing a similar article. I was having one tiny issue- I don't have an iPod. while I don't usually let details like that stop me, I was trying to get my hands on one. Now, I don't need it as the article has been written by someone else.

So what device did I finally settle upon as my next digital audio companion? iPod Photo. Why? For my particular needs, iPod just makes more sense. For starters, I already own an iPod and have invested money in peripherals, iTunes music, etc. And here at Digital Media Thoughts, I am sort of unofficially in charge of covering the iPod beat in news posts and commentary. Aside from that I strongly favor Apple's end-to-end experience. iTunes is still the best Jukebox/audio library management solution available, IMHO. So it makes more sense for me to stay on that path, at least for now.

But as I alluded to earlier, my choice was NOT clear cut. And over the past week in my quest for a new device I found myself constantly being pulled away from Apple. The Creative Zen (and Zen Micro) nearly had me, as did the new Neeon. For now, however, I'll stay with iPod.

Rugged Tablet PC

In case you were wondering which Tablet PC to bring on your Everest summit, have the Sherpa carry this one.

Itronix is hoping to see a bump in PC sales with the release of a new rugged slate-tablet PC. The Duo-Touch can withstand rain, snow, wind, dust, vibration, shock and chemical exposure with a temperature range between minus 4 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the company says.

Fries with that video game?

They're attempting to get the gamers out of the house. This plan might just work. More than just selling snacks at Blockbuster, a video game restaurant. Incidentally, Who knew that the inventor of Pong also brought us Chuck E. Cheese's?

Nolan K. Bushnell, the creator of the Pong video game and founder of the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant chain, is innovating again. He is about to open a restaurant where the servers will have novel attributes: triple redundancy and backup batteries.

In this case, the servers will not be human waiters but powerful central computers that will record food orders and display video games that customers can play while they eat.

Mr. Bushnell calls the concept the Media Bistro, and he plans to open the first one in West Los Angeles this fall. The point, he said, is to get gamers out of the house.

Intel's Mac Mini

Expect Intel to announce an Intel version of the Mac Mini pictured above.

A new Wintel prototype that openly apes Apple's popular Mac mini is due out this week, sources told Wired News, giving Intel a showcase to prove its chips are a match for anyone when it comes to tiny PC designs.

The article goes on to say that Apple often aggressively protects their ideas through legal channels. A nice small Wintel computer could definitely find its way into my living room.
Additional details surfacing indicate that Aopen is manufacturing the box. This would be logical as they have experience in small form factor pc's.

NEC 3540A Review

I think they liked the drive. Only speed tests, no quality scans, but NEC drives are usually excellent in that department.

It’s another NEC DVD writer and it’s another cracker! The ND-3540A is lightning fast, supports the latest media formats and won’t break the bank. If you’re in the market for a new DVD burner, this is the one to go for.

Intel's Dual Core Chips

Intel and AMD are going at it again; the consumer is the winner.

Intel Corp. unveiled its first mainstream home PC microprocessor with two computing engines on a single chip Thursday and vowed to sell millions of them by the end of the year.

The Pentium D processor and supporting chips will target home computer users, particularly those who run more than one program at once or have software that is designed to take advantage of the extra computing horsepower of the chips' dual cores.

Kensington Notebook Expansion Dock Review

Many folks use their notebook as their main computer. A gadget like this makes your notebook a lot more comfortable to use at your desk.

I have been using the Kensington Notebook Expansion Dock with Stand for the last couple of weeks, and I must say that it has impressed me. Having my laptop kept in an upright position has made it infinitely more usable as my secondary desk computer. Since this older laptop does not have built-in wireless, the Ethernet connection on the dock means one less cable I must undo when I bring this laptop along. If I used this computer for gaming, the addition of the 5.1 audio hookups would probably be a major selling point.

Overall, I am impressed by the quality of this product and by its usefulness. The price of the dock and stand combination may seem a bit prohibitive, but if a user needs access to the ports that the dock offers, then in the end it may actually be a cost-effective solution. Having the specialized ports on the back of the dock ensures that any notebook can be incorporated into any office setup, by using the existing connections and without any costly equipment upgrades or adapters.

Top Downloads

Thislist is the top 25 downloads from Laptop Magazine. I'm been a big fan of Mozilla's Firefox over the last few months, and was pleased to see it at the top of the list.

1. Firefox (mozilla.org)
2. OpenOffice (openoffice.org)
3. Mozilla Thunderbird (mozilla.org)
4. ZoneAlarm (zonelabs.com)
5. Spybot -Search & Destroy (spybot.com)
6. Avast Home Edition (avast.com)
7. ChoiceMail Free (digiportal.com)
8. Copernic Desktop Search (copernic.com)
9. Picasa (picasa.com)
10. iTunes (apple.com)
11. Google Toolbar (google.com)
12. America's Army: Special Forces (americasarmy.com)
13. Skype for Windows (skype.com)
14. LogMeIn (logmein.com)
15. NetStumbler (netstumbler.com)
16. Any Password (romanlab.com)
17. Trillian Basic 3 (ceruleanstudios.com)
18. PC Inspector File Recovery (pcinspector.de)
19. TrustyFiles (trustyfiles.com)
20. RxTx (netfor2.com)
21. HTTrack Website Copier (httrack.com)
22. PowerToys for Windows XP (microsoft.com)
23. Plaxo (plaxo.com)
24. SMS Manager (sms.bigfoot.com)
25. PDF SpeedUp (acropdf.com)

LightScribe Here To Stay

While they have talked about LightScribe for years, it appears to be gaining some momentum. Look for it on your next drive or system, and you can put ypur Sharpies in the draw.

The biggest question, in my mind, was whether LightScribe would gain enough momentum to make it a common enough to drive media availability up, and media prices down.

That question has been answered, in part, with today's announcement by LightScribe of 17 new licensees of the LightScribe technology. Included among the new licensees are drive makers Panasonic and Pioneer; hardware brands Asustek, Freecom Technologies, and I/O Magic; media brands BenQ and Maxell; and software developers Acoustica (MP3 CD-creation software), Droppix, New Tech Infosystems, and NewSoft Technology; and system integrator Micro-Star International.

Smaller Notebooks

Before you hit the road this summer, take a look at the latest crop of smaller notebooks. No need to lug that 17" screened, 10+ pound monster on the road.

Most of the attention in notebook computing has been on full-size models, the hefty laptops with 15- or 17-inch screens that can replace desktop units. But a spate of new ultraportable notebooks have also recently emerged, in the category often called subnotebooks or ultralight laptops.

These much smaller notebooks have screens of 12.1 inches or less and are compact enough to use in cramped places like airplanes. They are also light enough, in the range of two to four pounds, to tote for extended periods without much strain.

The new models include features like built-in optical drives with DVD burners, improved battery life, fingerprint readers and new processors. Wi-Fi wireless networking is a standard feature.

Case Mod How To

Looking for the ultimate weekend geek project? This might be it. This how to guide gives some great advice on the common mods. After you can screw a box together, this takes it to the ultimate level of personalization.

Why bother modding a perfectly good case? Why suffer all the pain and trouble—the hot-glue gun burns, the vapors from smoking plastic? The sparkles and glitter, for gods' sake? A rare few people will win contests or earn their 15 minutes of fame from their case mod, and even fewer will make a living by modding cases. So why do it? To be unique.

As if your cell phone bill wasn't high enough already...

If the market keeps converging like this, they'll be adding a cell phone to your iPod. Instead of paying by the track, we'll pay by the song played.

Many wireless service providers hope to boost their revenue with services like streaming music or video clip and music downloads to mobile phones, but there are still questions about demand for the new services.

About 40 percent of 1,000 phone users between 13 and 34 years old would be very interested in commercial-free radio over their mobile phone, the survey said. Nearly 35 percent of those surveyed showed an interest in wireless music downloads.

Personally, just make a cell phone for calling, and keep the price down while we're at it. I'll play my music on something else. The "Digital Leatherman" won't be the answer, but they'll try.

Newer Is Not Always Better

Nice idea to go back and review these popular drives when the firmware has matured. Frequently, the drive is sent out before the firmware is all set, and the reviewer turns out to be a beta tester for the company. In this case, however, the newer firmware didn't help the Plextor, but it did for the Samsung. Upgrade your firmware at your own risk, and "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

As you can see from the testing on the previous page, grabbing the latest firmware is not always beneficial. Just because it's the newest doesn't always mean it's the best. The PX-716A from Plextor had a much stronger showing a couple of months ago when using the 1.03 firmware. However, the later firmware has added more features, faster performance on DVD+R DL, new media, and DVD-R DL support. You have to ask yourself if you'd prefer this speed boost over quality. When browsing some forums regarding the PX-716A firmware it seems as though many people still recommend the 1.05 or the 1.06 firmware over the latest.

Find Those iPod Songs

Apple thinks their little white box is safe from hackers? Apparently not.

Apple keeps the music files on your iPod hidden, but with a little hackery, all your music will be revealed, allowing you to copy the files (legally, of course) from one machine to another.

If you have ever activated your iPod's Disk mode [Hack #32] and taken a peek at the disk in either the Macintosh Finder or the Windows File Manager, you might have found something missing--your music, that is. Sure, it shows up in iTunes, but where is it on your iPod? Hidden, that's where. In order to put some muscle behind the label that is slapped on every iPod (in multiple languages) -- "don't steal music" -- Apple hides the iPod's tracks in disk view.

Sneaky. But not quite as sneaky as us iPod/iTunes hackers. Of course, we are not doing this to steal music! We are doing this because we want to be able to copy our music from our iPods to our other machines, so we can listen to it in iTunes on those days when we accidentally leave our iPods at home, at the office, or at a friend's.

Since the music files are invisible, all we need to do is make them visible. Computers actually use invisible files quite a bit to store, for example, system-related information that you should never see or open. However, both Mac OS and Windows make it easy to view and search invisible items.

Use your new found power for good only! Other hacks can be found at iPod Hacks.

iAudio X5 Review

I reviewed the iAudio 5 last month,and it was ok, but this player from the same company looks a lot more exciting.

Take a company with a track record of building some of the best and most innovative flash mp3 players on the market and let them go on the Digital Audio Players with Hard Drives and you get an excellent result. Admittedly Cowon’s first attempt wasn’t exactly a huge success, but they have learnt from their mistakes and are now back stronger than ever with the iAudio X5.

Cowon have managed to solidly implement nearly every feature a really good Multimedia Device such as the iAudio X5 needs. The company also managed to properly balance a good feature set with user friendliness, build quality, sound quality and design.

With the color screen, this really is "color sound."

Portable LightScribe Drive

I believe this is the 1st portable drive to support the LightScribe technology. Too bad the drive is OEM only, so you'll have to buy a new notebook to get it.

Toshiba Corp. has developed a slim-line optical disc drive with support for Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Lightscribe label-etching technology.

Lightscribe allows labels to be etched onto blank discs using the drive's laser. To use the technology, users will burn data onto a blank disc as normal and then flip over the disc and reinsert it to etch the label on the reverse side. Several software applications are compatible with the technology, which is also used by other drive makers and supported by several blank media makers.

The SD-R6572M supports DVD+/-R write and DVD-ROM read at speeds up to 8X, DVD+/-RW write at speeds up to 4X, CD-R write and CD-ROM read at speeds up to 24X and CD-RW write at speeds up to 10X. The drive measures 12.7 millimeters high and is suitable in slim drive bays such as those in laptop computers.

Want to see LightScribe in action? I watched this video the other day and it demonstrated it well.

Prequel to the Prequel?

I guess money makes more money.

George Lucas said he was finished with the Star Wars movies. Ebert didn't believe him, Karina didn't get it, but more importantly - WE wanted more. Stupid Us. It seems George Lucas told a scooper that he has an idea for another add-on to the Star Wars movie series: a prequel to The Phantom Menace. The story would follow the Jedi regaining control of the universe from the many Dark Lords some 88 years before Anakin Skywalker ever graced the universe. Yoda, who, according to Lucas, was instrumental in the effort, would apparently have a headlining role. However, Lucas, now age 60, says he won't be captaining such a ship if it ever happens.

WiFi Meets Indy

You never know what new applications technology will find their way into. Some folks WiFi cards barely work when standing still!

When Alex Barron and Patrick Carpentier--members of the Red Bull Cheever Racing team--zoom around the racetrack Sunday at the Indianapolis 500, they will use Cisco wireless IP gear to feed information back to engineers in their pit crew. The gear will detail everything from engine temperature to velocity to tire pressure.

New Notebook Chip

We haven't seen a notebook chip from anyone other than Intel and AMD for quite some time (don't remind me of the Transmeta debaucle...). Even AMD's notebook chips have not duplicated their cutting edge desktop successes. It was a pleasant surprise to see that Via is making low power notebook chips to compete with Intel's Pentium M chip (better known as Centrino when part of the wireless networking package).

CHIP FIRM Via said it has started manufacturing the C7 microprocessor family which uses the Esther core, is built on a 90 nanometre silicon on insulator (SOI) process and which has low power characteristics.

Read the press release here.
Also, CNET has some analysis of it here.

Nokia's Mini Tablet

A lot of hardware for $350. I'm not sure if Nokia, a cell phone maker, was the right company to introduce the product. This may appeal to families looking for a cheap web surfing device to supplement their PC.

For their part, Nokia is positioning the 770 as a thin client, a terminal. It is not intended to be a storage device, even though it does share many aspects with new media players, such as its RS-MMC memory card slot. This is the reason that you will find no PIM type applications pre-installed on the system, like a Calendar or ToDo list app. Of course there are plenty of Open Source applications that can fill that void, but it seems clear that Nokia is very much trying not to position the 770 as a PDA, even though it does include an email client (along with Opera, an RSS reader, and other apps).

Dual Core Chips Arriving From Intel

The dual core chips have been the awaited new tech for 2005. They are reportedly excellent for multitasking applications.

Let's get the most exciting news out of the way first: Intel is launching its Pentium D processor line today, and the price of the 2.8Ghz Pentium D is listed as $241 (in quantities of 1000)! It's likely that initial processors in the channel will be pricier, but once the early demand is filled, you should be able to find a CPU for well under $300--maybe even approaching $250. To put this in context, AMD's lowest-cost desktop dual-core processor, the Athlon 64 X2 4200+, costs about $537 (in quantities of 1000). Meanwhile, Intel's Pentium D 840, which clocks at 3.2GHz, will cost $530 in lots of 1,000 units.

It's kind of interesting, that for many years, AMD had to undercut Intel's prices to be competitive, and now Intel is doing it to AMD. I'd wait a few months before opening the wallet for one of these at these prices.

Wireless USB

Just what we need, another wireless standard. This one will probably stick, because it's brought to us by the USB folks. It makes similar promises as Bluetooth for short distances to eliminate the wires between the desktop, and the peripheral like the printer. With the spaghetti I have out the back of my computer, this would be a very good thing.

"Product development is currently underway," said Jeff Ravencraft, chairman of the Wireless USB Promoter Group, "with the first Wireless USB products expected to be available at the end of 2005."

Essentially an extension of the popular USB 1.1 and 2.0 desktop busses, Wireless USB is designed to be backwards compatible with existing wired USB hardware by adding external adapters.

USB DVD Media ???

In the spirit of confusing everyone even more, some company decides to put the USB logo on a DVD+RW disc. Why? Absolutely no good reason in the end. Let's hope noone tries to put the disc into their USB port.

All kidding aside, we have to wonder how confusing this style of misleading marketing can be for all those people out there that aren't enthusiasts, or just don't care to try and keep up with all the hype? This doesn't seem right with all the different formats and such already, give us a break already.

Email Photo Enhancements

Yahoo is trying to add new features to its already excellent email service. The latest is an easier way to send photos without those cumbersome attachments. They might be onto something here.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company, which hosts the No. 1 Web-based e-mail service, has created a new beta program designed to scan the photos on a users' hard drive, and if a user so chooses, drag and drop selections into an e-mail message, without adding cumbersome attachments. Its new service also scours photos in a user's Yahoo storage locker or over its image database of 1.5 billion pictures.

New Popular Technology Forum

Over the next few months, I'm going to be taking the Popular Technology Blog to the "next level." As part of that effort, I've added a forum to the blog. Feel free to take a look, and discuss anything related to computers here.

New Belkin TuneStage

This looks like a nice product for iPod fans. It's an interface that allows you to wirlessly connect your iPod to your stereo using a Bluetooth wireless connection.

Belkin Corporation announces TuneStage for iPod, a device that allows you to play the songs from your iPod through your home theater wirelessly via Bluetooth technology. With a transmitter connected to your iPod and a receiver hooked up via RCA or 3.5mm to your system, TuneStage offers reliable, high-quality sound without the clutter of cables. The TuneStage fits all-size iPod devices with a dock connector. It will begin shipping in North America in late July 2005.

It reportedly will set you back $179, but hearing your music is priceless.

Flash Drive Comparo

A real nice article on the current fast USB flash drives. I will admit that Tom's beat me to the table, I'm working on a more limited article along the same lines myself. The Transcend JetFlash posted some numbers that beat many hard drives out there- very impressive.

Today, though, there is a new option. The increasing storage capacities of small, convenient Flash memory cards, combined with broad support for USB ports in most PCs, means so-called Flash drives or pen drives represent a great value. Today's Flash drives are smaller than a typical cigarette lighter and offer capacities of up to 4 GB, with 8 GB capacities on the way, and the promise of still larger drives in the future.

Find the Ultimate PDA

As part of their "Gifts For Grads," PC Mag has a very nice article of the current offerings in PDA's. There has definitely been some convergence in this area as the differences between Pocket PC's and Palms are starting to get subtle.

In terms of physical differences, there are only a few basic generalizations to be made. First, with their E2, T5, and now LifeDrive models, Palm has caught up with the Pocket PC platform in terms of using its handhelds as portable flash drives for storing files (a big improvement over older models). Top-of-the-line Pocket PCs also have 640x480 VGA screens, which make them pretty awesome for Web browsing and remote desktop access; Palms top out at 320x480. Touch screen quality is largely on a par between the devices available on the two platforms, though you'll still pay more for the higher quality, and brighter screens available on high end models.

I'm still salivating over the Palm LifeDrive personally.

First Roomba, Now Scooba?

I think I know what I want for Christmas. What next: bathrromba?

If iRobot has its way, millions of people around the world will soon be retiring their mops and buckets. The Cambridge, Massachusetts–based company is finally announcing the follow-up to its remarkably popular Roomba robot rug and floor vacuum: the Scooba robot floor-cleaning system. It's the first household robot designed to sweep, scrub, mop, and dry tile, linoleum, and wood floors. The company is also touting a major partnership coup: The Scooba's cleaning fluid will come from Clorox Co., which makes household cleaning products.

New Creative Labs Zen Neon

Creative raises the ante to Apple with this attractive design. It features a 5 GB hard drive capacity and an FM tuner.

Key Features of the Creative Zen Neeon

Pint-size – measures just 79.9mm x 46.9mm x 15.9mm,
Weighs only 75g,
Integrated FM radio & recorder,
Built-in microphone for voice recording,
Direct line-in recording, which enables users to record directly from other audio sources such as CD/DVD players, turntables, and cassette tape players,
Works as a plug-and-play removable portable mass storage class drive that stores all sorts of data files,
Easy drag-and-drop of files between PC and player,
No software installation required, except for Windows 98SE. Drivers are included,
7 user selectable LED backlight colours.

With a larger hard drive, I would part with some cash for one myself!

AMD Making Consumer Electronics Chips

If it's got a chip, Intel and AMD are fighting to put their piece of silicon in the box.

Both Intel and AMD have begun to squeeze their chips into consumer electronics devices. Intel won a contract to supply Celeron chips for a Microsoft set-top box and is working on a line of chips derived from its notebook and desktop lines for CE devices. AMD, meanwhile, earlier released the Geode NX line. These chips are used in the Personal Internet Communicator promoted by AMD in India.

Best Hotel Hotspots

Until Fodor's starts rating WiFi spots in hotels. you may want to check this out.

Shower cap? Check. French-milled soap? Of course. Wireless Internet access? Not sure.
These days, more hotels are offering high-speed wireless Internet access. Unfortunately, finding such a hotel hasn't gotten any easier. None of the advanced search functions at the major online travel sites I visited recently - CheapTickets.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Lodging.com, OnlineHotels.com, Orbitz, Priceline, RoomSearch.com, and Travelocity - allow you to search for hotel properties offering high-speed Internet access.

Microtel Inns & Suites, as well as Courtyard by Marriot appear to be promising choices.

Deal Of The Week

Maxell DVD Media, + or -, 15 discs for $5.94 These are generally high quality, and a decent price, with no rebate.

Primer On Overclocking

This is a nice overview on overclocking written by Bill O'Brien, formerly from "The Hard Edge." It details his experience with the Intel 640 processor.

I should have warned you earlier that overclocking doesn't necessarily give one a sense of satisfaction. All too often, it just increases the curiosity. So I hit the BIOS again. As well as the processor clock speed bumps, the options include Front Side Bus (FSB) adjustments. As before, just start at the beginning with an FSB of 887 and the DDR2 memory pushed just a bit to 667. Just for the heck of it, I also set the performance mode to Turbo.

It is a 3 part article, see Part I and Part II as well.

New Stuff From Western Digital

A 250 GB drive with a SATA II interface and 16 MB of cache sounds hot!

WESTERN DIGITAL DEBUTED three things at E3 of all places, a NAS box, an external HD and a new S-ATA drive.

Livestrong Laptop ???

We've all seen folks with those yellow, rubber bracelets that say "livestrong" on them to benefit cancer research. Next, I've spotted the bracelets in every color of the rainbow to benefit all kinds of causes. Now, I see a laptop with the yellow "Livestrong" logo on it. Does that mean that soon we'll have laptops benefiting other causes?

HP and AMD have gotten together to put out this special edition notebook, which is an L2000 series laptop bearing the “LIVESTRONG” message in yellow, and a reproduction of Lance Armstrong’s signature. Fifty dollars from the sale of each of these units will go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation for funding advocacy, public health, research and education initiatives for helping people with cancer live strong.

The Livestrong Laptop is reviewed at PC Mag.

Palm + HD = Life Drive

This could be quite big. I think the extra capacity will be put to good use and start infringing on the iPod monopoly.

PalmOne took the wraps off a new model with the cleverest enhancement yet: a hard drive.

This device, called the LifeDrive, is the first hard-drive palmtop ever released outside of Japan; in retrospect, the idea seems obvious. After all, hard drives are already small enough to spin away inside iPods and camcorders. And Palm organizers can already open and edit Microsoft Office documents, show pictures and videos, and play music. Palmtops could be the new laptops, if it weren't for their limited storage capacity.

Spinning away inside the LifeDrive is a silent, one-inch, four-gigabyte hard drive. You can hook it up to a Mac or PC and fill it with files that you want to take on the road. (You're not limited to files that the LifeDrive can actually open, like Office and multimedia files; you can also use the LifeDrive as a data bucket that simply shuttles big files around from computer to computer.)

The device also features Bluetooth, as well as more importantly WiFi support. Check out the following reviews:
PC Mag
Small Biz Pipeline
Yahoo
The Gadgeteer

LiteOn 1673S Review

LiteOn drives are popular as they can often be flashed into better drives with firmware upgrades. Their DVD RW drives have been less than spectacular, but the solid fan base still holds strong. Read about the latest effort over at CDR Labs. And stay tuned, I've got a 1693S in my own lab currently.

Over the years, we've had a number of Lite-On's DVD writers in the 'Labs. While all have offered a good mix of value, performance and features, some of their more recent drives have had their share of issues. The SOHW-1673S is in many ways an improvement over Lite-On's previous 16x DVD writers. However, even with its faster DVD writing speeds, it's hard to ignore the fact that there are still a few rough spots that need to be worked out.

The Homer Simpson Mouse

Hey Simpson fans, this is the accessory for you!

It's not shown in the pictures, but the LED on this mouse is red. The mouse glows solid red when it is being used, and the rest of the time...it flickers red non-stop like a disco light inside Homer's pool. In a brightly lit office, this won't seem that annoying, but in a home office it might get old after a while. I suppose that a side benefit would be that in a darkened room it can almost serve as a USB powered night light, so some might consider the flickering a good thing.

See another opinion here.

iRiver H120 Review

This is a great review of a very feature rich player. Don't dump your iPod yet as it has its shortcomings though.

Many moons ago, the iRiver H120 was dubbed one of the first "iPod killers," thanks to its petite form factor and a bevy of extra features. Today, its replacement, the 40GB H340 ($440), is consistently one of the first high-capacity MP3 players to be mentioned in the same breath as the iPod. Thanks to a major interface overhaul that includes a photo-friendly color screen, the feature-rich H340 is a legitimate choice for those who require lots of storage, multiple-file-format compatibility, and extra features that the iPod lacks, such as recording and FM tuning. Still, the H340 has some weaknesses, including confusing navigation and slow photo loading that may discourage prospective buyers searching for another iPod killer.

Overclocked Pentium 4 EE Benchmarks

Over at Maximum PC they benchmarked a Falcon system running a P4 EE overclocked to 4.25 GHz. I suppose if Intel won't make the part, others will find a way. Even with AMD's dual cores pulling ahead in a lot of the latest tests, this just reminds me that by no means is Intel out of this.

The Mach V’s performance was disheartening—for us, that is. We established new benchmarks just this April in hopes of raising the bar and keeping it there for at least 12 to 18 months. The Mach V walked in and wiped the floor with our benchmarks. It was faster by almost 25 percent in SYSmark2004, which tests real-world app performance. In Premiere Pro, the Mach V finished 55 percent faster; and in Game 3 of 3DMark 2005, it was a phenomenal 74 percent faster. The Mach V now holds the record for every benchmark we use to gauge a PC’s performance. The only disappointing number we saw was in Doom 3; there, the Mach V managed to just barely squeeze past the ABS Ultimate M6 we reviewed last month. On the other hand, we cranked up Doom 3 to Ultra on the Mach V, and saw absolutely no performance hit.Those complaints aside, it’s hard to knock a machine that sets records in every one of our benchmarks. There’s no arguing that the Mach V is the fastest machine we’ve ever seen; the only remaining question is, can you afford it?

The Ultimate Remote

Here's a good use of your tax refund- a universal remote. Just don't lose it between the cushions of the couch- it's a little pricey.

Much ink has been spilled lately on living room entertainment gear. But what about that basketful of remote controls that comes with it? With Harmony, Logitech says it offers a single device that ends what the company calls "remote bloat.

Blu-Ray News

I can only imagine the odds of burning a 4 layer disc and something being able to read it. The scan will take hours to see the errors!

TDK showcased the first single-sided, four-layer recordable Blu-Ray disc, capable of holding up to 100GB of data. According to the company, the disc can be recorded at 2x speed (72Mbps). TDK has developed its own technology in materials allowing multiple layers to be joined together and offering the essential sensitivity /reflectivity characteristics for high-speed recording, under a Blu-Ray (405nm, NA=0.85) powerfull laser set.

According to TDK's spokesmen, the disk is very close to final development, but the new format has not yet been officially certified. TDK is proposing its prototype to the Blu-ray Disc Association. Accordin gto other sources, the current format road map calls for four-layer discs to debut in the market during 2007.

More info here.

Case Mod Contest

Last year the submissions were awesome, and I'm sure they'll be even better this year. Good luck!

Last year, ExtremeTech launched its first Case Mod Contest. We had a tremendous response, with dozens of crazy case mods, including a few last minute submissions. Last year's winner was Will Krier, with his amazing Hamster Case.

This year's version will have a specific theme. Inspired by the launch of what looks to be the final movie in the Star Wars® series, the final Star Trek: Enterprise® episode a short while back and the rejuvenated Battlestar Galactica®, this year's contest submissions must have a science fiction–oriented theme. Note that the case mod doesn't have to use themes from any of the three aforementioned titles: Feel free to use any science fiction theme, be it Jules Verne or Vernor Vinge. However, we're sticking with hardcore science fiction themes, so we're not accepting fantasy-themed case mods, so elves, dragons and wizards are a no-go. (After all, we'll need themes for future contests)

New "My Google"

The new service is being rolled out, but is not named yet. Google's version of "My Yahoo." Google really wants to take over everthing and be your one stop for everything.

"Our goal here was to give users tools to customize and organize their own information," Mayer said. She added that the product has more to do with reader demands than as a competitive shot at Yahoo. "We've seen that there were users who wanted more on their home page...and this is a way to give them more access to their information. I feel this is different my MyYahoo. The fact that some people may say it looks like it’s aimed at MyYahoo was not the reason."

You can see an example of such a page here.

First Look At DVD-R DL Media

A lot of the new DVD burner drives are featuring support for DVD-R dual layer discs. Of course, a drive without the discs is rather useless. The results are rather poor though.

One out of five standalone devices could playback the DVD-R DL media perfectly with the Video content. So we believe the compatibilities speak for themselves.

In my opinion, stick with single layer discs for now unless you wish to be a beta tester.

Mac Mini Modded Into Portable

If you want to turn your Mac Mini into a notebook here's the scoop.

The Mac mini has transfixed the modder community with its Apple stylin’ and diminutive size. So far, they’ve pumped out the Mac Media Center project, an in-dash car system, docks-a-plenty, and now Silas Bennett has gone and added a battery — 5 of them actually achieving 1 hour and 50 minutes of Li-ion powered love. And because he put the batteries in the (removed) CD-ROM drive the result maintains the original lines of the mini. Swank. Now, why you would need a battery powered head-less Mac is beyond us, but hey, we don’t question fanatics, we just sniff their bicycle seats.

Video iPod ???

While I have no doubt that eventually we will have some sort of Video iPod, for now I doubt sincerely this is anything but a concept shot. In other words, don't look for it on Amazon just yet.

I found this over at PDA Live today. Supposedly (note the emphasis) this is a photo of an upcoming Video playback device from Apple. Could this image be legitimate, or just another hoax? Decide for yourself, but I wouldn't trust its authenticity as far as I could scan it, print it, wad it up into a ball, and toss it in the trash. Nuff said!