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Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin Issue # 2010-05d
Last news before the checkered flag
In this issue:
Antec & the power of truth... Definitive monitor speakers qualify
as more... Now Fixmo fixes mobility availability gap... Franklin
handheld Bible growth slows as recovery grows... Kent squeezes a
micro-megapixel into scribbles... BACtrack can keep hazing
safer... Now Domke disguises shooters... Special Report: Business
cards & Outlook... Reviews: Chill Pill Rap Cap mike, Fresh
Keeper, Copernic Desktop Search, Google Desktop Search, Schick
Hydro 5... plus our commentary on what's next
Antec & the power of truth
We just saw a video of a 1200W Antec PSU sustaining a 1700W load
on a test bench; how many competitors do you think can sustain
their rated loads, let alone something this much higher? Third
parties peg the Antec DOA rate at 0.8%; many competitors run
double to quintuple that. Some single-rail units out there
designed out overcurrent protection, meaning they can fry some of
the most expensive parts of a PC just so you'd think they're
stronger. Whether or not you build your own PC or even just
replace an occasional bad PSU, Antec wants you to know that they
guarantee every spec on every Antec power supply. If you'd like
to take that to your test bench, tell Veronica. Contact: Veronica
Feldmeier, Antec Inc. (Fremont, CA) 510-770-2150
vfeldmeier@antec.com http://antec.com
Definitive monitor speakers qualify as more
Professional studio monitors are roughly cinder block size
speakers with a mandate for full audio spectrum coverage; here
are two candidates that can definitively fulfill that. The Studio
Monitor 350 ($249) covers 26Hz-30KHz with a 1" aluminum dome
tweeter & 5.5" main driver pressure coupled to an 8" bass
radiator. The Studio Monitor 450 ($329) does 24Hz-30KHz using the
same tweeter with a 6.5" driver & 10" radiator. If you have the
ear, Paul has the gear. Contact: Paul DiComo, Definitive
Technology (Owings Mills, MD) 410-363-7148
paul.dicomo@definitivetech.com http://DefinitiveTech.com
Now Fixmo fixes mobility availability gap
MeetMe is one of the cool new features in the latest update to
Fixmo Tools BlackBerry Edition ($20 with a year of updates) that
makes it easier to arrange a meeting by automatically finding
available calendar times & inserting them in an e-mail. No
appointment needed to review. Contact: Rick Segal, Fixmo
(Toronto, ON) 416-414-9726 rick@Fixmo.com http://Fixmo.com
Franklin handheld Bible growth slows as recovery grows
For those of you who believe that despair helps sell Bibles, this
may be encouraging news: sales growth has slowed for Franklin
handheld electronic Bible products. If you're covering the
recovery & want to use this tidbit, Aline can get you photos or
products to help illustrate the point. Contact: Aline Boutin,
Franklin Electronic Publishers (Burlington, NJ) 609-386-2500x4434
aline_boutin@franklin.com http://franklin.com
Kent squeezes a micro-megapixel into scribbles
For those who paid attention in class, a micro-mega-anything is
just one & the cool little Kent Boogie Board ($35), for all its
liquid crystal tech, is all just one big pixel. Scribbling on the
pad with its stylus squishes that out of alignment & you see a
line; tap the top button to clear it. Brookstone is featuring it
for Father's Day, but you can do that any time; ask Kevin for
samples to review or audience prizes. Contact: Kevin Oswald, Kent
Displays (Kent, OH) 330-673-8784x161 koswald@kentdisplays.com
http://KentDisplays.com
BACtrack can keep hazing safer
While officially not happening, fraternity & sorority hazing
continues & often involves drinking challenges. When hazing
involves drinking (especially to excess), using a BACtrack device
to make sure that blood alcohol levels don't get out of hand
could indeed become a matter of life or death. Ask Keith.
Contact: Keith Nothacker, KHN SOLUTIONS (San Francisco CA)
415-693-9756x113 mailto:keith.nothacker@bactrack.com
http://bactrack.com
Now Domke disguises shooters
If you want to look like a pro photographer, you carry a Domke
bag, but what if you are a pro but don't want to look like one?
New Domke Photo Courier bags (list $140-255) look like classy
bike messenger bags but have places for cameras, lenses, laptops,
cell phones, keys & more, all with the flexibility of movable
padded dividers. Ask Hilary. Contact: Hilary Araujo, Tiffen
Company (Hauppauge, NY) 631-609-3216 haraujo@tiffen.com
http:/.tiffen.com
Special Report: Business cards & Outlook
We keep finding broken bridges, like between PCs & analog phones;
these days, we want to know what's so hard about getting a
business card into an unduplicated Outlook Contact record. Plenty
of scanners & software will snag an image of a business card then
run OCR & map it to the right fields; they almost always get
something wrong. After trying several, we suspect they may have
been foolish to create their products in the first place. It's
basic: the process of scanning, analyzing & correcting a card
doesn't have much value if it's slower & less accurate than just
typing it in. Even if they did perfect recognition, the products
we tried are pretty oafish when it comes to recognizing
duplicates (many don't look, they just add records) let alone
letting a user control resolution of that data, field by field,
against recognized duplicate records. (We know that can be done
because BlackBerry Desktop Manager does it). We still get
business cards & we still spend too much time storing them,
searching them & keying in their data just to make a call or send
a message; that slice of life is a sad waste of it.
Special Report Bonus Review: Chill Pill Rap Cap mike
The Chill Pill Rap Cap microphone looks like an oversize shiny
blue vitamin capsule, just over an inch long & just under half an
inch in diameter; slide it apart to remove the cap & look closely
to see the other end has 5 small holes (a quincunx) to help
windproof the capsule within, backed by a 4-conductor
(tip-sleeve-sleeve-ring) mini jack that can fit an iPod, iPhone
or BlackBerry headset jack. We tried it with the BlackBerry Voice
Notes Recorder application with excellent results. Bottom line:
the Chill Pill Rap Cap mini microphone lets you up the ante on
quality for field recording without paying any convenience
penalty at all.
Special Report Bonus Review 2: Fresh Keeper
We know people who get to work a few minutes late when they can't
find the right lid for the burp-to-seal food storage bowl toting
their lunch; could this be a job for Geranimals? The first thing
you notice about Frye Fresh Keeper food storage containers is
that the bowls & lids at any given size are the same color.
They're also microwave-safe, top shelf dishwasher-safe &
recyclable. All but the smallest-size bowls have molded dates
(half-month increments) around the rim so lining up the tab on
the lid can give you a vintage on your leftovers. Bottom line:
Frye Fresh Keeper food containers are the real deal when it comes
to their seal but the real appeal is in their smarter mating &
dating features.
Special Report Bonus Review 3: Copernic Desktop Search
A friend suggested that we look at Copernic Desktop Search Pro,
so we got a copy for review. In theory, it's supposed to be a
superior way to search files, e-mail messages & attachments, etc.
In practice, we found the much improved search tools in Office
2010, the outstanding Outlook searches in Xobni & the tedious but
reliable Windows 7 searches to be individually & collectively
faster, better & more sure-footed. We uninstalled Copernic.
Bottom line: Copernic Desktop Search Pro does an adequate job of
responding to searches that may be comparatively better than
alternatives on older operating platforms or with older
applications.
Special Report Bonus Review 4: Google Desktop Search
We hadn't tried Google Desktop Search for some time & it seemed
only fair to load & try now. It does a nice job of presenting
results (spanning about a dozen years of files so far) but we
have no confidence that we're seeing them all. There is no option
to let it build its index in other than background mode; in our
environment, with mail checks every 2 minutes, speech recognition
constantly listening, call & Caller ID monitors always running,
scheduled scans & backups & updates happening overnight, we
wonder if it can ever find the "idle time" it wants to see in
order to get its indexing done. (After a day, it still shows 0%
complete). So far, searches for exe or dll files return no
results. It can only index Outlook stores when Outlook is open,
so we have a hunch it will never index our archived pst files. It
is fast & nimble at presenting things that it can & does index,
but we don't have high hopes of it finding everything, which
portends disappointments at finding specific things. Bottom line:
Google Desktop Search is OK for simple content searches but we
don't completely trust it.
Special Report Bonus Review 5: Schick Hydro 5
The bad news about the new Hydro 5 razor from Schick is the
$3/cartridge replacement blade cost; it's like they looked at the
ink jet refill business & decided to be more like it. The good
news is that this new razor delivers a wickedly good shave,
leaving skin slippery-smooth & resulting in fewer, smaller nicks
or cuts. Their promos claim a wetting effect from surrounding
pads; we can neither confirm nor refute that. The top pad's bar
flips back, freeing the blade pack to work as a trimmer, in which
role it's both easy to place exactly where you want it & it's
first-swipe effective. Bottom line: the new Schick Hydro 5 razor
gives a superior shave.
What's next
Before we get started, remember we're always interested in
knowing what you're working on next (among other reasons, because
we may be able to help). We probably have a few more things to
look at in phones & in dictation products. We keep looking at
cooking (especially grill-related) tools because for some people
they may make work lunches less distracting, healthier or more
interesting. Distracted driving antidotes, LED room lighting,
mini-ITX PCs for special roles & any kind of fun gizmos are on
our list, too. Any requests? 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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