“This morning I had to go buy another copy of OS X Leopard (my original copy got scratched). As I walked closer to the Apple Store on 5th Avenue I was somewhat surprised to see a line of about 50 people waiting in line. The 3G iPhone announcement isn’t rumored to happen until June 9th right? Are these people going to wait in line for over 2 weeks or do they know something we don’t?
I asked the security guard by the Cube what was going on and he said it was for the iPhone. That’s all he knew and he very was annoyed at me for asking him about the iPhone line. I’m doubt I was the first person to ask.
Still confused I walked downstairs and bought my copy of Leopard. Before I left the Apple Store, I asked Jessica, my cashier, if the people outside were waiting for the new 3G iPhone. She cryptically said “They are waiting to buy an iPhone. We will sell them whatever phones we have in stock.” She was kind of pissed off too.
For some reason the majority of people waiting in line were Chinese. I was later informed by a friend that to get around iPhone quantity restrictions (one one per person), you can pay people (usually from Chinatown I guess) to buy you extra iPhones and even hold your place in line.
I wonder how many of these people will still be in line on June 9th.
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Urban Outfitters has a nice looking USB flex speaker which attaches to your PC or laptop via USB. Looks odd, yet cool but I doubt it’s contribution to quality audio or enhancing the standard laptop speakers you probably already have.
At just over 3″ in width and 1.25″ in height the goose neck speaker does give you the freedom for directional audio but if you are using a laptop aren’t you generally right in front of the computer anyway, just crank up the sound.
Regardless of my petty opinion, Urban Outfitters feels different. They offer the USB flex speaker at
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Looking to unlock your iPhone or Blackberry? Or how about that new Nokie or Motorola? One this is for sure, if you do want to unlock your phone, you don’t want to void the warranty. With some of the SIM unlock solutions out there, voiding the warranty is exactly what you have to do.
USB Fever is offering a $23 universal SIM unlock which does not require you doing anything to your phone(s). Simply fit your SIM card on top of the unlock card and start your jibber-jabber.
This SIM unlock is made of a very thin piece of FPC (0.10mm) with a Micro controller mounted on, that goes between your Operator’s SIM card & the phone’s SIM socket.
Because of it’s very thin & slim design, it fits into most phone’s and can also be
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Creative Labs just came out with a hot little box for 5.1 digital surround sound for any laptop or PC. What Creative did with this new Sound Blaster is rather than make a card out of it, the Sound Blaster is a USB based external device. The X-Fi, as they call it, operates over a USB interface and will provide full cinematic digital surround sound in hi-fidelity with a 1 second connection.
Two Creative technologies are embedded into the USB Sound Blaster which are X-Fi Crystalizer and X-Fi CMSS-3D. I’ve talked about these technologies before which are the key components to Creative’s solution.
Not to leave any stone unturned, here are the list of features for the USB Sound Blaster:
Supports USB 2.0 for high quality 5.1 audio
USB bus-powered
Gold plated RCA front outputs and mini-jack surround outputs for maximum fidelity
Optical Output for connectivity to surround sound systems
24-bit Playback and Recording ADC, DAC
X-Fi audio enhancement technology
Easily accessible Headphone out and Mic In for connecting headsets
Convenient Volume Control with push to mute feature
Line-in monitoring
Host-based EAX advanced HD 4.0 and OpenAL support
Creative Alchemy software that restores DS3D Games’ 3D audio in Windows Vista
On the heels of announcing the EVGA USB to VGA or DVI adapter comes USB Fever with their power house trifecta USB to VGA, DVI and HDMI adapter. I believe it’s the first USB video adapter with these three options.
So with the news of USB Fevers multi-display adapter we can revisit the idea of boosting your video space. For me, this product is of special interest as I’m currently running a 19″ wide screen off my laptop dock station. Unfortunately the laptop doesn’t have enough video processing to push two monitors. The USB Fever multi-display USB adapter solves this problem.
It appears EVGA has an edge on higher end resolution, but the USB Fever will still get you a max 1400×1050 resolution. This is ideal for 19″ wide screens. The VGA, DVI and HDMI video adapter can string up to 6 monitors together and will work through powered USB hubs. I would venture to say this solution isn’t ideal for hi-end graphics applications like 3D modeling or gaming, but would be a good product for use of viewing spreadsheets, email, word processing, web surfing, blogging, Photoshop and TV.
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Still doubt that the 3G iPhone is coming soon?
This settings screen with a 3G toggle switch (see image) was found in the latest beta release of the iPhone’s 2.0 firmware.
Why would you want to turn off 3G? Because 3G drains cell phone batteries very quickly. In this screenshot, Apple has included a toggle setting to turn 3G off, and use AT&T’s slower but more battery friendly EDGE network instead. Probably a very useful feature if you are almost out of juice.
When can we expect to see a 3G iPhone and how much will it cost?
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The Y-Shaped USB hub from Apacer is a clever design, but it’s not the first time we’ve seen it. RiDATA introduces a flash drive with combo two port hub on the back side, which I’m still wondering why it hasn’t gained more popularity, about a year ago. The Apacer Y-shaped USB hub increases the port connectivity over the RiDATA by two fold, but doesn’t have flash memory storage.
The Apacer PH151 uses a miniUSB connection to the host computer [via cable] and then provides two vertical ports and two horizontal ports. To me, once you’ve put a cable to the hub, it doesn’t matter what shape it’s in. Just stick your device in and go. The clear advantage with this design, is increasing
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I think Brando found the perfect Father’s Day gift, the drinking Tic Tac Toe game set. Looks like each glass holds about 3oz of your favorite liquor. Question is, does the loser clear the table?
EVGA is lowering the bar for USB to VGA adapters and that’s a good thing. Traditionally you would pay upwards of $200 dollars for a USB to VGA adapter but now the UV12 and UV16 adapter from EVGA are under $80!
The UV Plus family take an existing USB port and convert that bus into a VGA/DVI adapter for additional monitors. This is ideal for those will lower video processing power (laptops) who want two or three widescreen monitors.
I spoke with Jeff, a pre-sales rep at EVGA and he did caution me against using the UV Plus family for hard core video applications such as
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REVIEW OF MAGICJACK PHONE
The MagicJack phone is a simple device which is specifically designed to connect your regular [and current] land-line phone to the internet for Voice Over IP calling.
I ran into one of the project managers of MagicJack from a different business deal and he sent a phone for review. I’ve mentioned the MagicJack phone before, but this is my first experience using the product.
OVERVIEW
The MagicJack is a small device [2.5″ x 1.5″] and works as a USB dongle which connects to your computer via USB port. The MagicJack phone does not require a Hi-Speed USB connection and thus will work on your front USB connection of a PC tower or the slower ports off your laptop docking station.
The USB MagicJack costs about $35-$40 depending on where you get it. You then pay $19 [the year after you buy it] for unlimited calling in the United States, Canada and parts of central America. Calls outside this region are then chargeable, but very reasonable. I looked up rates to the UK at it was $0.02 per minute. Not bad at all.
WHY IT’S UNIQUE
The MagicJack phone is unique because it has a regular phone jack connected to the dongle. This means ANY phone can be plugged into the device and used for VoIP calling
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Buffalo introduces their VH-MU01 USB phone for Skype and MSN chat so you can drop those headsets if you have a complex. The Buffalo USB phone looks like a slim design with easy button navigation. Any asstute reader will quickly realize there is no LCD or display for the phone. Well, if you’re looking to get into USB phones for home or work, don’t let the lack of display worry you.
These phones are designed to work with software like Skype where the software on your computer provides the visual display you need. So as you click the touch pad of the USB phone the action shows up on your Skype software.
This type of USB phone makes using on-line VoIP more like the traditional phone. However, if you just can’t part with the land-line setup than you should consider the MagicJack phone. The MagicJack is a USB dongle which connects to your computer and on the other end of the dongle is a traditional phone connection. Simply connect your good’ol phone to the dongle and you’re talking over VoIP.
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The band Weezer posted their new music video called “Pork and Beans” on YouTube. The video features a huge collection of “internet stars” from Tay “Chocolate Rain” Zonday to Chris “Leave Britney Alone” Crocker. Weezer even plays in front of a huge deluge tribute to “Coke + Mentos“.
Weezer’s new self-titled “Red Album” comes out June 3rd, 2008.
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“This morning I had to go buy another copy of OS X Leopard (my original copy got scratched). As I walked closer to the Apple Store on 5th Avenue I was somewhat surprised to see a line of about 50 people waiting in line. The 3G iPhone announcement isn’t rumored to happen until June 9th right? Are these people going to wait in line for over 2 weeks or do they know something we don’t?
I asked the security guard by the Cube what was going on and he said it was for the iPhone. That’s all he knew and he very was annoyed at me for asking him about the iPhone line. I’m doubt I was the first person to ask.
Still confused I walked downstairs and bought my copy of Leopard. Before I left the Apple Store, I asked Jessica, my cashier, if the people outside were waiting for the new 3G iPhone. She cryptically said “They are waiting to buy an iPhone. We will sell them whatever phones we have in stock.” She was kind of pissed off too.
For some reason the majority of people waiting in line were Chinese. I was later informed by a friend that to get around iPhone quantity restrictions (one one per person), you can pay people (usually from Chinatown I guess) to buy you extra iPhones and even hold your place in line.
I wonder how many of these people will still be in line on June 9th.
methodshop
Continue Reading
No Comments
Looking to unlock your iPhone or Blackberry? Or how about that new Nokie or Motorola? One this is for sure, if you do want to unlock your phone, you don’t want to void the warranty. With some of the SIM unlock solutions out there, voiding the warranty is exactly what you have to do.
USB Fever is offering a $23 universal SIM unlock which does not require you doing anything to your phone(s). Simply fit your SIM card on top of the unlock card and start your jibber-jabber.
This SIM unlock is made of a very thin piece of FPC (0.10mm) with a Micro controller mounted on, that goes between your Operator’s SIM card & the phone’s SIM socket.
Because of it’s very thin & slim design, it fits into most phone’s and can also be
Continue Reading
No Comments
