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Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin Issue # 2010-09c
Mid-month muddle of news
In this issue:
Antec High Current Pro sneak-peek units available... Speaking of
King James, Franklin style... 100.000 SMS Replier free to college
students... Kent displays capacity for Verbatim... Old jobs
preserved, new ones created for space tech park... Tiffen
glass-filter uptick partly secondary... Zoom past disconnected
moments... Special Report: Lemming vision... Reviews: A-T
QuietPoint headphones, TPhone wood handset cases, BodyGuardz...
plus our commentary on Cyclops
Antec High Current Pro sneak-peek units available
Enthusiasts are already calling the new Antec HCP (for High
Current Pro) line the absolutely best PSU ever & Antec VP Scott
Richards has some sneak-peek production units set aside for
reviewers. The 4 models (750, 850, 1000 &1200 Watts) offer
extraordinary efficiency (87% & up, even at full load & 120F in
the case) earning 80Plus Gold certification. They boast
multiple-instance over-current protection & active power factor
correction, but the secret of doing that at high efficiency is
their full-bridge phase-shift topology, which also means no
high-pitched whine (like those PSUs that always sound like a
camera flash charging). They use big 135mm fans to keep noise low
even at full air flow (except 1200W model, using twin circuit
boards to spread the chips out & an 85mm fan), plus PWM speed
control to push the noise even lower. Ask Veronica for specs,
photos or hands-on. Contact: Veronica Feldmeier, Antec Inc.
(Fremont, CA) 510-770-2150 vfeldmeier@antec.com
http://antec.com
Speaking of King James, Franklin style
The new Franklin KJV505 ($40) Speaking Holy Bible is an MP3
player with embedded recordings of the entire King James Version,
navigable by book & chapter. One AAA cell runs it & while it
comes with earbuds, its standard 3.5mm jack lets you use your
own. While some people are open about their Bible reading, this
pocket player approach can let others do so less visibly or when
eyes are needed elsewhere. Ask Aline. Contact: Aline Boutin,
Franklin Electronic Publishers (Burlington, NJ) 609-386-2500x4434
aline_boutin@franklin.com http://franklin.com
100.000 SMS Replier free to college students
Wayne is taking a 36' motor home on a "Text Kills Tour" of school
campuses & says he'll give away 100,000 copies of SMS Replier
($20) en route to help focus students on the dangers of texting
while driving. Contact: Wayne Irving II, Iconosys Inc. (Laguna
Hills, CA) 949-335-5350 wi@iconosys.com http://iconosys.com
Kent displays capacity for Verbatim
If you've seen those Verbatim portable drives that display their
remaining capacity on an LCD, that's a passive display built for
them by Kent. A similar display was just used on badges at
DEFCON. Where the popular Boogie Board is a single large pixel,
the company's roots are in electronic signs & other applications
where a display stays stable with no additional power. Kevin can
tell you more. Contact: Kevin Oswald, Kent Displays (Kent, OH)
330-673-8784x161 koswald@kentdisplays.com
http://KentDisplays.com
09d
Old jobs preserved, new ones created for space tech park
Jobs - especially in California, Florida, Ohio, Texas & somewhere
near the Gulf - are a very cool secondary outcome of the program
(literally launching soon) you can see presented at the National
Press Club (Washington DC) 1:30 on October 1. The first phase is
a lower-orbit Zero-G technology park; we think the pharmaceutical
companies will find it irresistible. It will also act as an
assembly & depot point for launching huge solar collector arrays
into higher synchronous orbits along with a transmission system
that can safely beam power at Terawatt levels down to
ground-based capture & conversion facilities. Hint: be at the
briefing to prepare for a major breaking development that follows
several weeks later. Contact: Gene Meyers, Space Island Group
(Covina, CA) 626-260-3184 http://spaceislanduniverse.com
Tiffen glass filter uptick partly secondary
Pocket point & shoot gear doesn't let you screw on a filter like
an old-school SLR, but it's the new-school DSLRs with their
popular secondary video modes that seem to be driving a lot of
those sales these days. It may be because still shooters are
doing more after-the-fact finessing in software while the
real-time lay-it-in-the-latent video shooting mindset puts the
benefits of those filters onto a full-motion real-time display.
Ask Hilary. Contact: Hilary Araujo, Tiffen Company (Hauppauge,
NY) 631-609-3216 haraujo@tiffen.com http:/.tiffen.com
Zoom past disconnected moments
We think you'll be amazed by all the ways Zoom can cure internet
isolation, from dial-up modems to DSL, cellular, special-purpose
gear & more. Do you know somebody with no access at all? An
inexpensive USB dial-up modem can cure that for a landline or a
cellular modem if there is no landline & there are scores more of
clever, effective, well-priced products that can each be an
internet isolation antidote. Browse the Web site or talk to Terry
& do a review you can Zoom through. Contact: Terry Manning, Zoom
Telephonics Inc. (Boston, MA) 617-753-0087 terrym@zoom.com
http://zoom.com
Special Report: Lemming vision
Can your handset display video? Try porting a half hour TV show
into its memory & see how far in you get before you tire of
watching. Regardless the content, eyes tire when compelled to
view so narrow an angle of vision for an extended period. Try
watching a movie on a notebook; fatigue takes a bit longer to set
in, but you're viewing at a distance (focal range) that becomes
uncomfortable from extended viewing periods (where PC work tends
to keep your eyes moving to different parts of a screen, movie or
TV viewing keep them tame to the frame). In the past several
weeks, the drumbeat of hype & even announcements about various
initiatives to bring movies & TV to ever smaller screens has been
mounting like the marching band for a lemming parade. Lemmings
are hard-wired to take a plunge & never see woe; consumers don't
need to be nearly as hard wired when a trend at first sounds cool
& no inner or outer voice says whoa. There is no one screen size
that's right for every circumstance, there are some that are
wrong for just about every circumstance & these recent
circumstances may herald an era when eyestrain, fatigue & lost
productivity mount from misfit screenings.
Special Report Bonus Review: A-T QuietPoint headphones
This may be the first Audio-Technica product we don't completely
love. Their ATH-ANC25 Quiet Point headphones have switchable
active noise canceling; when on, only about 20% of the world
outside comes through; when off they still operate as headphones
but with zero battery drain. They fold very compactly. The cord
unplugs (dodging a damage point) & has an inline volume trimmer.
We were disappointed to see a QC lapse with one section of the
right earpiece shell unable to close, a design lapse with a
headband that is too tight for comfortable extended wear with our
Oprah-size head & an audio transparency lapse with an
unmistakable boost to the lower octaves. Bottom line: Many
travelers will find Audio-Technica ATH-ANC25 QuietPoint folding
headphones with switchable active noise canceling to be a good
fit for both their listening preferences & their travel plans.
Special Report Bonus Review 2: TPhone wood handset cases
When we heard that B&A Nature Corp. was creating sculpted wooden
cases for handsets, we had them send one (they sent two - natural
& black) to fit our BlackBerry 9700. They look great & make the
handset more resistant to bumps or bruises from the back or
sides. They do make the handset wider to grip, which takes some
getting used to. The chief downside is that it's somewhat harder
to reach through the cutouts in the wood to operate the handset's
side buttons. Bottom line: high tech meets high touch in sculpted
wooden TPhone handset cases.
Special Report Bonus Review 3: BodyGuardz
We've all seen thin, clear film skins that you apply to protect
your gear from scratches & dings so we admit to a small grin when
we saw that BodyGuardz includes a second protector in the box
just in case you get frustrated putting the first one on. On the
other hand, like others in the category, they refer to the
plastic as the same one used in some other application instead of
just saying urethane. One of our secondary reviewers never got
around to applying it because the instructions said to leave her
iPhone idle for 12 hours, which never happens; another reported
it a challenge to eyesight & dexterity. Ultimately it does go on
& protect. Bottom line: BodyGuardz offer a thin clear line
between your gear & the dings & harrows of outrageous fortune.
Cyclops
We're feeling like a pirate with an eye patch since we've been
forced to disconnect one of our 2 big monitors. This started a
few weeks back when a pole transformer down the street caught
fire. One of our APC backups had a nervous breakdown & passed
that thrill along to one of our monitors (APC replaced the UPS &
we have a claim pending for the consequential damage). Initially,
the monitor's biggest symptom was an unaddressed top right
rectangle; last week, it got intermittent, convinced the O/S that
it was a graphics card driver problem & flashed between normal,
frozen & blank. Unplugging it for now is our only alternative,
meaning until the monitor maker can get us a new board (or the
insurance claim lets us replace the monitor), we have to work
with 2 screens of stuff jammed into one. Contact: Martin Winston,
Newstips (Novelty, OH) 440-338-8400; marty@Newstips.com
http://Newstips.com
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Newstips Bulletin [Novelty, OH] +1.440.338.8400 http://Newstips.com
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