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| Thursday, May 31, 2007 |
| USB-powered Drink Chiller |
 One of the more useful (according to me) USB gizmos, this USB-powered drink chiller may actually be worth having.
It seems that you can get pretty much anything in a USB powered version, although most of the products already out there are pretty useless or useful only to a very small niche of users. However, nearly everyone likes to drink cold drinks and that what the USB Beverage Chiller does.
The chiller will keep your cans or bottles nice and cool - all the way down to 45F. It plugs into your computer’s USB port simply for power.
The USB Beverage Chiller is a neat idea that’s actually useful and possibly worth $40. The only downside? The company that’s selling it has the world’s worst URLs which are over a hundred characters (get with the times, Red Envelope!).
Labels: USB, USB Baverage Chiller |
posted by Hosni Hussain @ 1:22 AM   |
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| Monday, May 21, 2007 |
| Microsoft Unveils New Gen Phones |
Get ready for the latest Salvo from Microsoft. Microsoft Corp. announced last Monday, May 13, at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2007 in Los Angeles, its plan to build telephony gear compatible with its soon to be released unified communications software. Microsoft Corp. and nine manufacturers unveiled 15 IP telephones that will become available for use in the public beta program of Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007. The manufacturers are ASUSTek Computer Inc., GN, LG-Nortel Co. Ltd., NEC Corp., Plantronics Inc., Polycom Inc., SAMSUNG, Tatung Co. and ViTELiX.
This new generation of devices, combined with other Microsoft programs, will connect the workplace phone to e-mail, provide instant messaging and videoconferencing functions so that users can do things like click on an e-mail message to make a voice-over-IP call to its sender. The software also supports standard desk phone features.
“Today’s office phone is marooned on an island, separate from the rest of the communications tools that information workers rely on to do their jobs,” said Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division. “By weaving the business phone together with e-mail, instant messaging, presence, conferencing and the productivity software people use most, we are putting voice communications back into business.”
Microsoft is also intent on ensuring that all phones work out of the box. According to Eric Swift, senior director of unified communications product management at Microsoft, they will set up a new qualification program for hardware makers. Microsoft will provide the device manufacturers with design specifications, and the products will be tested by Microsoft to assure buyers that the new phones and devices will work easily with Office Communications Server or Office Communicator.
Certified handsets must include wideband audio support, comply with a wide range of VoIP codecs and include specific user-interface elements. Swift also said that most existing VoIP gear today that works with services such as Vonage or Skype should work fairly well too. “We’re looking to ignite partner innovation to bring software economics to what has been proprietary,” he said.
Some of the new phones connect directly to a USB port, so mobile workers can bring the phone with them and use it along with their laptops to access features typically only supported on desk phones, like call forwarding and conferencing. Other new phones include Bluetooth and video capabilities.
Using an open approach and published software interfaces, Microsoft is enabling companies to innovate new workplace phones and devices that make business communications more effective and productive. The products are nearing the end of the Microsoft qualification cycle, which will help ensure the devices and phones deliver the following:
• “Just Works” experience. The qualified phones and devices work out of the box with Microsoft unified communications software. It’s as simple as plug-and-play.
• Greater choice and innovation. With an active partner community building phones and devices, customers are offered more choices when it comes to designs, cost and feature innovations. The 15 phones and devices to be unveiled tomorrow include Internet protocol (IP) phones, Universal Serial Bus (USB) phones, wired and wireless headsets, conferencing phones, LCD monitors and laptops.
• Improved economics. Because many companies will deliver Microsoft-qualified devices, customers will have more options, including devices tailored to the needs of specific types of workers and that deliver more value for less cost. According to Gartner Inc., “handsets typically cost around 40 percent to 45 percent of the total telephony installation.”*
However, most analysts believe that Microsoft still has a long way to go before it can compete with entrenched IP PBX vendors like Avaya and Cisco. A Computer world article quoted Blair Pleasant, an analyst at Santa Rosa, Calif.-based CommFusion LLC, who said in an e-mail: “By themselves, none of the phones offers as many features as those from Cisco or Avaya,” Pleasant said. “But when integrated with [Microsoft’s software] these devices offer capabilities like presence, integration with the Microsoft Office Suite, the ability to view missed calls and return a call. It’s not the Microsoft partner devices in and of themselves that are powerful, it’s the fact that they offer seamless or embedded integration with [Microsoft’s software], which is very powerful.”
Voip news also got the opinion of Dell’Oro Group Analyst Alan Weckel: “I think right now OCS is a step in the right direction, but it still doesn’t include all the necessary call control features an Avaya or Cisco or Nortel have in their PBXs. As a stand alone product it doesn’t work, so in this round they have to cooperate with all the PBX vendors in order for this product to be successful.” However, Weckel added, “If I ask you in the future what’s in the next version of Office Communications Server, say in 2009 or 2010, you might say they’ve added enough functionality that you no longer need another PBX for call control. The basic call control resides in the Office Communications Server, and the PBX is a peripheral device to do international call control and a couple of complex things like that.Labels: Avaya, Cisco, Creative Labs, e-mail, iPod, laptop, LCD Monitors, microsoft, Nortel, PBX, Salvo, USB, VOIP |
| posted by Hussain @ 12:37 AM |
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| Sunday, May 20, 2007 |
| Creative Xdock Turns An iPod Into A Home Media Server |
I just spotted details of the Creative Labs Xdock for the Apple iPod on iPod Hacks and it looks like an amazing product. I guess if you are going to eat humble pie and make your first accessory for the iPod, then you might as well make it a cracker.
Once an iPod is inserted in the Creative Xdock, then music can be streamed wirelessly to up to 4 different receivers around the house. What isn’t clear though is if different programming can be streamed at the same time. Nevertheless, I think the Xdock is a great product which could provide a cost effective way to creating a budget home media server.Labels: Creative Labs, iPod, Xdocks |
| posted by Hussain @ 10:32 PM |
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| Thursday, May 17, 2007 |
| Top 5 Digital Cameras |
stablishing an exact top of the best digital cameras on the market is a difficult task, but here are 5 digital cameras that are definitely worthy your attention. And, in addition, they do not come with the highest prices of all, so check them out before you go shopping for a new camera!
1. Samsung Pro815 is an advanced camera that has all the qualities in order to enter on your must have list. Firstly, this camera comes with 8 megapixels, with a 15X optical zoom and with an impressively big 3.5-inch LCD screen. But one of the most impressive features of all is represented by its large battery, a battery that has 1900mAh of charge capacity. Actually, this is the largest battery of all digital cameras.
2. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W200 was released in 2007 and seems to become more and more popular nowadays. The first feature that comes in mind when thinking about this particular camera is its impressive megapixels, namely 12. But what else does Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W200 offer? The camera comes with Carl Zeiss optical zoom lens traditional, eye-level viewfinder and a fairly large LCD screen (2.5').
3. The list of the best digital cameras can not miss the latest Canon camera, a camera that appeared this February on the market. We are talking about Canon EOS-1D Mark III, the camera with the fastest D-SLR. But what are the main features of the latest Canon digital camera? Well, it comes with 10.1 megapixels, with 10 fps for continuous shooting until 110 frames, with an EOS cleaning system and with a 3' LCD screen with a view mode. Now this is a camera that needs your attention!
4. Panasonic brand released a new camera after their hit Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ30 and we are talking about the improved version, FZ50. Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ50 is a 10 megapixel digital camera, with a resolution of 3648x2736 pixels, a 2' LCD screen, optimized video functions and an optimized optical zoom: Leica DC Vario-Elmarit 12x optical zoom.
5. And last, but not least, one of the most recent apparitions on the digital cameras market: we are talking about Nikon D40X. How recent? Well, this camera was launched this March, so you can bet on this Nikon to create a rave in 2007. But what does this camera offer? First of all, it offers 10 megapixel DX format CCD (1.5x FOV crop), plus a 420 pixel sensor (as D80 / D50), SD cards over 2 GB in capacity, and a whole package of optimized cutting-edge digital technologies. You even have the possibility of retouching your pictures in the camera (you don't need Photoshop anymore!), since you can adjust the lightening, reduce red eye effect, filter effects and so onLabels: digital cameras, Gadgets |
| posted by Hussain @ 2:23 AM |
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