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Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin Issue # 2010-12a
Let the shopping begin & other news
In this issue:
Antec ISK-100: the sexiest mini since the skirt... Franklin LED
book lights & magnifiers for the holidays... Iconosys Mighty SMS
now on Windows Phone 7... Boogie Board: 12 years later, no
worries... Tiffen for the holidays ... Zoom for the holidays:
long range or longer... Special Report: Watch the watch...
Reviews: Flip Ultra HD, ECS H55H-I MoBo, Native Union USB audio
dongle, Wodka, Professor Kobre's Lightscoop... plus our
commentary on Memory drain
Antec ISK-100 the sexiest mini since the skirt
Bookshelf-size (heck, book-size) mini-ITX builds have already
taken off as a hot category in Europe & what we're seeing from
mobo makers like ASUS & ECS tells us they'll soon catch on here
for everything to dead-silent set-top boxes to tuck-away servers
to tiny-footprint utility PCs. The Antec ISK-100 case ($95 list)
has a sexy see-through mesh skin, a 90W PSU, room for a pair of
2.5" drives, a 100mm side-mounted fan & lots of dash. Ask
Veronica to get you one to review (whether or not you intend to
build anything into it). Contact: Veronica Feldmeier, Antec Inc.
(Fremont, CA) 510-770-2150 vfeldmeier@antec.com
http://antec.com
Franklin LED book lights & magnifiers for the holidays
One nice thing about having holidays come in the dead of winter
when dark comes sooner & the nights seem to last forever is that
it makes some gift ideas obvious. Ask Aline for info, pix or
hands-on reviewables of any of these: Firefly LED book lights (in
2-, 4- & 5-LED designs), LED-illuminated Spot Magnifiers (SLM3002
2-LED model with 3.5" 2.5X lens & 5X inset lens, $14 online;
DLM3006 6-LED 1.5" 5X model, online $16 & DLM3012 3.5" 2.5X
12-LED model, $23 online. Contact: Aline Boutin, Franklin
Electronic Publishers (Burlington, NJ) 609-386-2500x4434
aline_boutin@franklin.com http://franklin.com
Iconosys Mighty SMS now on Windows Phone 7
The Iconosys Mighty SMS app ($4/month personal or $60/year pro)
that sets up automatic appointment reminders & after-visit
thank-you text messages is now available for Windows Phone 7. Ask
Wayne. Contact: Wayne Irving II, Iconosys Inc. (Laguna Hills, CA)
949-335-5350 wi@iconosys.com http://iconosys.com
Boogie Board: 12 years later, no worries
A Boogie Board should last 13 years (on its original battery),
but then what? The battery (lithium & manganese oxide) needs
proper disposal, but the LCD itself is different from most, using
no heavy metals or other hazardous materials. Ask Kevin. Contact:
Kevin Oswald, Kent Displays (Kent, OH) 330-673-8784x161
koswald@kentdisplays.com http://KentDisplays.com
Tiffen for the holidays
Everybody shoots pictures or videos one way or another & Tiffen
has products that make great companion gifts: tripods, monopods,
Steadicams, filters, camera bags & more. Send a ho-ho-ho to
Hilary for pix, info or rush-reviewables. Contact: Hilary Araujo,
Tiffen Company (Hauppauge, NY) 631-609-3216 haraujo@tiffen.com
http:/.tiffen.com
Zoom for the holidays: long range or longer
It's been a huge year for streaming movies & shows via anything
from a Windows 7 Media Center to gaming consoles, so a notebook
or small PC near the home theater stack becomes a very attractive
set-top box - at least until it's time to control it. Zoom has 2
cool solutions for that we'd like to nominate for your holiday
thinking: long-range & longer-range wireless keyboards with track
pads so you never have to get up off the couch. The original Zoom
9005 ZDTV keyboard (street $75) has a 65' range & the brand new
9006 ZDTV model (street $50) a 30' range. Ask Terry to set you up
with pix, info or hands-on. Contact: Terry Manning, Zoom
Telephonics Inc. (Boston, MA) 617-753-0087 terrym@zoom.com
http://zoom.com
Special Report: Watch the watch
Per an NPR "All Things Considered" report, Macy's fashion watch
buyer June Rhee says wristwatch sales are on a rapid rise across
the industry. It's not about function over form; stunt watches
with a built-in camera, phone, GPS, thermometer, altimeter,
compass or other gizmo still represent a limited niche. Griffin
gives the resurgence of interest enough credence to release a
wristwatch-style case for the gen-6 iPod Nano. Amazon credits
Michael Kors as the hottest brand, driving the fashion watch
surge, with booming sales for fashion brands (Nautica, AK Anne
Klein, Kenneth Cole, Tommy Hilfiger) & for brands like TKO,
Welder, Swiss Military Hanowa & Nine West. Amazon also notes
strong growth for more modestly priced style-driven brands like
Vernier, Golden Classic, XOXO & Bongo. (Curiously, when we asked
Timex PR agency Kaplow PR whether Timex could confirm the boom or
wasn't seeing it, they responded, "We cannot participate at this
time"). Many sources are telling us that timekeeping is a very
secondary consideration in all this; these buyers apparently
still look to their cell phones for the time & choose to wear
these wrist adornments for their style.
Special Report Bonus Review: Flip Ultra HD
We've been impressed with how well the Flip series of pocket-size
camcorders accomplish video so we eagerly accepted their
invitation to review the new Flip Ultra HD with image
stabilization & the ability to slip in AAA cells if the
rechargeable battery gets to empty. Our first test was with
flowers in a vase, shooting from inches away; while there's no
auto macro mode, the results had good detail plus good depth of
field & color accuracy though some digital noise was visible. We
challenged it with an indoor to daylight transition following the
dogs to the lawn; the auto-exposure transition took about half a
second but also accomplished an accurate white balance, resulting
in great color accuracy & detail in a longer outdoor frame. The
compromise in this size & price is the absence of optical zoom or
an auto macro mode, but that trades off against the convenience
of being able to take it almost anywhere in a pocket or purse.
Bottom line: the new Flip Ultra HD is a handy & capable way to
capture irretrievable moments as great videos.
Special Report Bonus Review 2: ECS H55H-I MoBo
3 Mini-ITX projects are on our to-do list; one of these is a
set-top box as an Internet Receiver, meaning it has to run silent
while delivering home theater levels of audio & video, so we got
in an ECS Elite Group model H55H-I Mini-ITX motherboard. It
supports Intel Core-i3 & Core-i5 processors with Intel Graphics
Technology & offers key features like 8-channel HD audio, HDMI
out, Gigabit Ethernet & more ports than this project is going to
need. It has dual DDR3 (1333) slots & a PCIe X16 slot (which we
hope not to use) plus SATA II & eSATA II support. Bottom line:
the ECS Elite Group model H55H-I Mini-ITX motherboard is great
for HD media.
Special Report Bonus Review 3: Native Union USB audio dongle
We tend to tie more audio devices to our PC than its one set of
analog jacks can (or should) support; at last count we have the
mikes on 3 Webcams, 3 phone-logging feeds, & a mixing console
interface all coming in via USB, which makes those separate feeds
much easier to manage & much easier to associate with various
applications. When we started looking at those retro-stylish
analog handsets (designed to plug into cell phones) from Native
Union, one thought we had was how cool it would be on a Webcam
video call to be seen & heard talking into that on-screen. They
sent along (though we neglected to mention) their 16-bit USB
audio adapter. We tested it with the Skype sound test service,
tried very high & very low acoustic levels into the mike &
listened carefully for detail; it rocked. Bottom line: the Native
Union 16-bit audio USB adapter is Plug & chug easy for lining
analog jacked handsets to a PC.
Special Report Bonus Review 4: Wodka
While we try to focus on end-user productivity, it would
unrealistic to deny that some days involve alcoholic beverages,
especially after hours. We agreed to review Wodka, a relatively
new Polish vodka made from rye grain & positioned as
"ultra-premium, ultra-affordable"; the idea of achieving some
peer prestige while saving a few dollars could help bring this
back into a productivity realm. The taste of this is intense, not
as harsh as the well vodkas but much less subtle than a Grey
Goose or Belvedere. In a test burn, the vodka ignited easily &
burned steadily with an almost invisible blue flame, a good sign
of well-delivered alcoholic content not being corrupted by
foreign liquid infusions. Given the intensity of the alcohol hit
on the palate, we would recommend downward-adjusting the Wodka
portion when mixing cocktails; in a small dirty martini, normal
proportions are almost jarring. Bottom line: Polish-bred,
rye-based Wodka starts with a more modest price than premium
vodkas & lets a lighter pour go farther.
Special Report Bonus Review 5: Professor Kobre's Lightscoop
One of the first things we used to learn about camera flash is
that to make it less harsh & a lot more even, swivel the flash &
bounce it off something big & light-colored. Bounce flash is why
accessory flash units have swiveling heads; alas, that isn't the
case with the pop-up flash units on most DSLRs. That's why we
agreed to review Professor Kobre's Lightscoop, a cleverly shaped
piece of plastic with a mirror inside; when you slip it over a
pop-up flash & into a camera shoe, it reflects the flash upward
to bounce off the ceiling, resulting in softer & more even
illumination of the subject. The trade-off, of course, is that
whatever shade of white the ceiling may be is likely to shift the
color temperature of the image, but only non-white ceilings are
likely to make for a photo you can't correct. Bottom line:
Professor Kobre's Lightscoop is a clever & effective way to
economically add bounce flash abilities to DSLRs not born with
it.
Memory drain
We've been worrying a lot of late about how the skills & crafts
of just a decade or two ago seem to be an abandoned turf for
today's knowledge workers, news consumers, publishers,
broadcasters, etc. The Web (for example) offers wonderful assets
but reliance on those should not be absolute. As news media, Web
& online social media offer enormous amounts of content that
nevertheless yields incomplete perceptions of the daily changes
to our history & culture for which we long relied on print &
broadcast news. That is not entirely the consumer's fault;
publishers & broadcasters are failing to deliver (let alone
describe) enough of a different experience so that the public can
see what they're not getting elsewhere. If we let news become a
forgotten craft, what else do we abandon? 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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