New Game World

Consumer Tech for June/July:

By Richard M. Sherwin, Edited by Susan Davis

 What’s hot, hot, hot for summer

There are some products that, right out of the box, are going to deliver on their promise. Whether it’s Panasonic or some little pisher of a company that just strung its new patent around a miniscule launching budget, maybe the Best Buys and Circuit Citys and large regional retailers will pick the product up for the back- to- work, back-to-school and eventually holiday shopping season… and maybe they won’t. Everybody has a fair chance. Little guys take note: big guys like Sony, Toshiba, Samsung Dell, LG sometimes get turned down on a particular model in which they’ve invested millions.

Here’s are few products that I’ve seen or have been using for a few months that should have no trouble getting shelf space and, in  fact, should be big sellers:

 

First, the Good

Logitech Squeezebox™ Duet wireless music player

 

Now you can listen to your favorite tunes anywhere in your home. (You can even add more Squeezebox players and create a different soundtrack for every room.) And the key is… and this is a biggie in my book…it’s actually easy to do. Really easy. All you need to do is connect the Squeezebox Receiver to a stereo system or powered speakers. A wizard walks you through every phase of setup, including connecting to your home network and the Internet. All it takes is a few minutes.  The SqueezeNetwork™, a free, Internet-based service, lets you tune in to thousands of Internet radio stations as well as online music services. Add an MP3tunes.com music locker and listen to your personal music collection without turning on your computer!  Or, if you like, you can p
lay songs stored on your computer, tune in to thousands of Internet radio stations, or connect to online services such as Pandora® and Rhapsody®.  A multi-room controller with 2.4-inch color display and scroll-wheel navigation makes it easy to browse, select, and play music from the palm of your hand. High-fidelity 24-bit DAC, sophisticated audio rendering technology, and digital outputs provide crystal clear CD-quality sound. Reliable connectivity: Wired Ethernet and true 802.11G Wi-Fi support provide excellent range and connectivity. www.logitech.com

 

Zipit Wireless Messenger 2 (Z2)

Who says you can’t get your teens and tweens away from the computer? No problem with the Zipit, which lets them IM, text-message, listen to music and view photos for FREE - without a PC! Now, during a limited time promotion, your kids get unlimited free texting for a full year - no strings attached. Even after the year of free texting, they get 10 free texts per month. Continuing unlimited texting is only $29.99 a year.

Parental controls let you set limits to how often your kids chat. You can even set IM and texting
curfews.  And it offers built-in protection (and peace of mind) against messages from strangers. www.zipitwireless.com

 

ARCHOS Portable Internet Radio, TV, GPS

With wireless access and high quality 4.3- and 7-inch screens, ARCHOS brings true mobile entertainment to anyone anywhere. www.archos.com

 

ARCHOS 605 GPS & Multimedia PLAYER

Now, one single device is your complete road companion. It’s a full-featured GPS that will find the fastest and safest way to your destination. The built-in Traffic Info(**) finds a clear road and avoids all roadblocks. You’ll be guided through your trip by on-device signposts and lane indicators, even under tunnels! And, once your journey is underway, you can use it to play music on your sound system, or play videos for your passengers.

 

ARCHOS 705 WiFi Portable Video
Wow! What doesn’t this thing do? With a high resolution 7" touch screen (800 x 480) you can play all your digital entertainment: movies, TV shows, photos and music, record and schedule your favorite TV shows with the TV program guide, stream and watch videos from your PC or the internet, download movies and music. It’s customizable, great accessories and plug-ins and lets you view photos and make slide shows with music and transition effects, for viewing on the PMP or on TV. You can also listen to all your favorite music in more formats than in any other player.

Nokia N810 Internet Tablet

We first looked at this wonderful little device as a world traveler’s Skype Internet phone solution (more on Skype later), but after about two minutes, we realized the added value of this unit makes the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet one of the best truly portable yet feature rich devices around. It is designed to stay online so you can enjoy Web and Skype on the go and at home. Browse your favorite sites and check your email….and it has a wonderfully easy media player to enjoy your favorite songs and videos. At the same time you can stay connected with your friends and family by email. It has Skype and many other services including Rhapsody, and for an extra fee, there’s a built-in GPS mapping program. The 810 has a touch screen or keyboard, web camera and large capacity add-on bay for a micro SD built in to the front panel. www.nokiausa.com/

                   The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet

 

Webroot Anti-Virus/Spyware Protection and Window Washer

Too many times we hear from gamers and their families that the security program from Norton or McAfee is causing more problems than the virus that it allegedly protects you from. While the free or advertising supported anti virus and anti spyware programs are usually decent, in this day and age of attacks from phishing, new and hard to remove viruses and even just plain cleaning the files on your system, Webroot, has fast become the choice for all computer users. It’s  combination product, Webroot Antivirus with spyware protection and firewall protection, provides an integrated yet easy to run and install system that we’ve used against a broad range of security threats such as viruses, spyware, adware, worms, trojans, key loggers, and root-issues. Its most annoying but very important feature is that it monitors all traffic to and from your computer to block unauthorized access attempts….so no matter what type of innocent or unauthorized program you run, it will warn you the first time it runs to allow or bans the program. www.webroot.com

 

                                          

Our favorite product from this company is Window Washer. The aptly named software scrubs hundreds of areas on your PC to remove unnecessary files to ensure your privacy and free up valuable disk space. With its browser activity eraser, Window Washer cleans all aspects of your browser activity, including Internet history, address bar, cache, cookies, and more. Firefox users now enjoy the same online privacy protection that users of Internet Explorer, AOL and Netscape already enjoy.

We’ve used Skype on occasion since its inception a few years ago, but recently when our Verizon Voice Wing crapped out for the 10th time and we wanted to make some overseas and out of state calls, we tried it again. Using Skype to make free Skype-to-Skype calls is great but you can also make local, long distance and international calls to phones and cell phones at great rates.  But there’s lots more you can do as well.

For starters you can send cheap text messages directly from Skype; forward calls from Skype to your cell phone or set up a personal online number so friends, family and co-workers can call you on Skype at local rates from their old-fashioned phone, no matter where you are in the world. We used Skype with a Nokia device, a mini-class notebook PC and traditional PCs and other than a less than great, help on line..We were making and receiving calls easily….and once some overseas contacts got our Skype phone number , we were saving money over other means of phone connections to Europe and Asia. www.skype.com

 

Sony’s Bravia Internet Link

                        

 

Bravia Internet Link                   Bravia Onscreen Guide

 

In the past three months, we seen and used Panasonic’s top of the line HDTV with Internet content, Samsung’s and LG’s too….and if you throw in HP’s wonderfully color accurate set, and Sharp’s new Aquos, you have very little difference in the quality of these televisions. All are trying to give the consumer a  taste of what is now known as IPTV or TV with some internet access. Sony, whose TVs are not necessarily better or worse than the abovementioned units, has however been declared the winner so far in giving the consumer useable Internet content either wirelessly or if you are one of the few people with a Ethernet connection in your living room.
A majority of Sony’s 2008-9 line of televisions will be BRAVIA Internet Video Link-ready with the capability to receive streaming broadband video, including high-definition content.  The module, which is sold separately, attaches easily and is concealed behind the TV for a clean, integrated appearance – even when hung on the wall….but most importantly, unlike its rivals,  Sony has many channels of content for all demographics, not just the ubiquitous U-Tube, which everyone has. Sony’s remarkable on screen guide is almost as easy to use as TiVo.
Just recently they Sony added Yahoo!, AOL, Sports Illustrated, blip.tv, CondéNet’s Style.com, Men.Style.com, Epicurious and Concierge.com channels, Sony Pictures’ Crackle, The Minisode Network and Inside Sony Pictures channels, FEARnet, Ford Models, SingingFool, and VideoDetective to its lineup.www.Sony.com

 

Westinghouse Digital line of full 1080P HDTVs

Now if you are one of the millions of consumer who just want a TV, well then Westinghouse Digital and their line of affordable 1080P, HDTVs may still be your best bet. Sized from 42 inches to 60 inches, Westinghouse Digital has gone from being an entry level budget  priced TV maker to one of the top feature rich-picture rich product lines in the business.
Bytes and Pieces
Dumb CE, PC and Home Networking issues:
 HP and Dell are blaming Roxio, Roxio is blaming Microsoft, Pinnacle is trying to fix the issues and Microsoft refutes everything…Those are current results for 100s maybe 1000s of Media Center PC owners whose built-in TV receivers and players stop working when an odd combination of software instruction (drivers) are loaded. Some of these drivers are associated with video-audio editing software from Roxio…which ironically is bundled with these PCs. But the problems start when you also add certain hardware and software. The emergency solution (From Dell and HP) is to re-install your operating system (you won’t lose your saved data) but some programs and applications will have to be reinstalled. ….
TiVo, still our favorite all around product, has been having repeated issues with their third party content providers like Rhapsody, Amazon Un-box and Picasa. Apparently those built-in and very useful services require so much bandwidth that if your TiVo uses wifi to receive these services, there may not be enough bandwidth in your home (DSL, Cable or even FIOS) to use the services. Solution? TiVo is working with its partners to make them work better with less bandwidth…..
Cableless-wireless home? Not quite yet, but Sony’s new wireless speakers (pricey) and its HDMI wireless connection showed off recently are the first steps in that direction. Lately, in secret, several top accessory makers, worried that their core business of selling connectivity hardware is threatened, showed several variations of  wirelessly connecting everything from your speakers, to Blu-Ray DVD player and stereos into a main receiver and TV. No one system has prevailed. Monster Cable’s Noah Lee has been hinting that’s its close to the ultimate wireless home…but so far nothing!
Microsoft claims its MP3 player Zune has sold millions and has the only wifi solution in which the Zune can share music and photo files with other devices nearby, have you seen anyone with a Zune trying to share their content with another Zume? …just asking.
While Sennheiser arguably makes one of the finest studio over the ear noise-cancelling headphones, why does their mid-level around the ears portable model carry its battery pack at the bottom of this lightweight headset…making the headset too awkward to use on a train, bus or plane?
We can only hope that great toy firms like Leapfrog, Mattel and Hasbro continue to produce the terrific non electronic and non TV based educational toys that they have provided for years. These toy makers’ new goals, to bring your toddler into the Wii or Xbox  or Play Station age for their own mostly remarkable electronic learning products and  there is a place for using the TV or PC to educate and entertain, but recently watching some one to three year olds play with some basic building block type products from these companies also showed where and why  the PC and/or TV are NOT needed for a while.
 Funai’s purchase of Philips brand of TVs…when combined with their already improved line of  CE products, makes them a full contender for the upcoming holiday season and beyond. In fact, Funai’s Blu-ray player, expected to sell for under $300 may make the other manufacturers sell their wares at a little lower price, too.