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Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin Issue # 2010-07d
No-sweat news
In this issue:
Antec Dark Fleet cases house secrets... Ask Definitive: home
theater goes beyond home theater... Fixmo Flame Retardant may
keep you from getting fired... Back-to-schoolish would be foolish
without Franklin ... Coming: smart phone punk, bully, predator
blocker... There's something twisted inside a Boogie Board...
Tiffen makes iPad a palate for pix... Special Report: PCs are
high in triglycerides... Reviews: CarMD, 3-Level Smoker Rack,
Pampered Chef Mix 'N Chop, Back-to-school Cruzers, RoadMate 3065
(preliminary)... plus our commentary on poli got some crackers
Antec Dark Fleet cases house secrets
You probably know that the people who buy PC cases tend to be
either those who build from scratch or those who upgrade & modify
or those who view the case as a system component & swap them out
to upgrade case features. The new Antec Dark Fleet series makes a
strong case across the board with dedicated SSD mounting
locations, longer drive bays (no connector crunch), a top
hot-swap bay, relocatable internal hot-swap bays, easier filter
access, front-panel 10-step controls on cooling fans & top fans
that don't light up so your workspace never looks like a disco
pad. Ask Veronica for info, pix or models to review. Contact:
Veronica Feldmeier, Antec Inc. (Fremont, CA) 510-770-2150
vfeldmeier@antec.com http://antec.com
Ask Definitive: home theater goes beyond home theater
It's easy to see the historic transition in the Definitive line
(as others) from emphasis on free-standing speakers to those that
wall-mount to cosmetically & acoustically mate with a big screen,
but if you think that's all there is to it, you're profiling. For
people who can hear the difference between a Definitive level of
transparent audio versus the mass market's haphazard fidelity of
just sticking a speaker in a box, speakers are also something
that deserve attention away from that screen. For Definitive,
that's meant developing all-weather speakers, studio monitor
quality speakers & bookshelf speakers, all categories that these
days are seldom a focus for others. Call Paul to learn it all.
Contact: Paul DiComo, Definitive Technology (Owings Mills, MD)
410-363-7148 paul.dicomo@definitivetech.com
http://DefinitiveTech.com
Fixmo Flame Retardant may keep you from getting fired
Sending flame messages is never a good idea; including the boss
among recipients can burn you. For anybody who ever wished they'd
had a chance to think twice before sending, Fixmo Tools for
BlackBerry ($20 with a year of updates) offers Flame Retardant.
It flags offensive words, repeated punctuation, shouting (caps) &
those accidental replies to everybody on the header instead of
just the sender. Ask Rick. Contact: Rick Segal, Fixmo (Toronto,
ON) 416-414-9726 rick@Fixmo.com http://Fixmo.com
Back-to-schoolish would be foolish without Franklin
As you roll up your sleeves (or roll your eyes) at your
back-to-school coverage build, don't wait to get hit by lightning
to think of Franklin. Even if you have to focus on just new
products, they have handheld dictionaries from elementary to
unabridged (lots of them speak) & translators that handle from
2-16 languages (lots of those speak, too). Their new Learner
Series products offer lower-price alternatives in many of these
categories & add some fun & games to the kinds of drill &
practice that inevitably improves kids on the underpinnings of
literacy. Ask Aline for pix, info or reviewables. Contact: Aline
Boutin, Franklin Electronic Publishers (Burlington, NJ)
609-386-2500x4434 aline_boutin@franklin.com http://franklin.com
Coming: smart-phone punk, bully, predator blocker
New Punk Blocker ($50/year to cover up to 6 handsets in a family,
Android by August, WinMo by September) helps parent monitor,
screen & document bully text messages, calls & spam. They're also
creating a bully registry & child predator watch. There are other
levels of protection for children here, too, plus welcome ways to
help law enforcement make their case. Ask Wayne. Contact: Wayne
Irving II, Iconosys Inc. (Laguna Hills, CA) 949-335-5350
wi@iconosys.com http://iconosys.com
There's something twisted inside a Boogie Board
The inside story of the Boogie Board ($35) paperless note slate
has trillions of tiny twists to it. The molecules that make up
its liquid crystal layer are shaped like spirals; like spirals,
you can look down the middle & see through them. So when they're
all lined up, all you see is the black plastic sheet below, but
when you use the stylus, it squishes them out of alignment &
light reflects off their sides. That's why pressing harder makes
a broader line (just like writing), why it doesn't use any power
to keep what you write or jot or scribble visible & why it only
needs a fast little zap of Voltage to erase. Ask Kevin for one to
review & brag to your friends that you can now see molecules.
Contact: Kevin Oswald, Kent Displays (Kent, OH) 330-673-8784x161
koswald@kentdisplays.com http://KentDisplays.com
Tiffen makes iPad a palate for pix
Start with any photo on your iPad with new Tiffen Photo fx Ultra
(App Store $6) & you'll see a palate of changes you can touch to
make from almost any of its many menu choices. Catch a preview at
the Web site, but Hilary would really rather have you review it;
ask him to unlock one for you. Contact: Hilary Araujo, Tiffen
Company (Hauppauge, NY) 631-609-3216 haraujo@tiffen.com
http:/.tiffen.com
Special Report: PCs are high in triglycerides
You don't have to eat your gear to have it affect your
well-being. In one of those delicious anomalies of data patterns
intersecting real life, it looks like PCs (as well as, for that
matter, home theaters, movie theaters & books) contribute to high
triglycerides in the bloodstream. The more direct cause is long
periods of seated activity involving none of the major muscle
groups; even just standing instead of sitting can help, though
walking or more vigorous exercise is better still. Because our
work requires so much (in a posture context) down time, it's
helpful to recognize other contributors to high triglyceride
levels: carbohydrate-heavy diets, alcohol consumption (phooey!) &
overweight. We suggest involving an accessible medical authority
if you pursue this as a story (or, for that matter, as a
lifestyle alert) to add authority to accuracy in telling the
story & in perhaps getting some data on the historic rise in high
triglycerides among the general population as coincident with the
rise in PC usage.
Special Report Bonus Review: CarMD
Since 1996, all cars use the same diagnostic connector. CarMD is
a combination of online information & a battery-operated handheld
hardware device that first plugs into your car to fetch trouble
codes then hooks to a PC via USB to tell you what they mean. Even
before you get to the PC, green, yellow & red LEDs on the face of
the device give you a preview of what kind of report you're in
for. Once you register your online account & enter a vehicle's
VIN & mileage, you get a report on any glitches it found plus a
listing of service bulletins & recalls open for your vehicle. Our
Subaru diagnostic was all-OK but we learned that the cruise
control cable could slip & jam the accelerator open & that the
emergency brake rod might not work. Bottom line: for less than a
hundred bucks, CarMD lets you know what's up with your car & may
give you a chance to get it fixed before it gets a lot more
expensive to do that.
Special Report Bonus Review 2: 3-Level Smoker Rack
Our grill gadgets call netted the Three Level Smoker Rack from
Cooking Enthusiast. This is a frame with 3 racks you can slide in
& out that mounts above a grill grate, adding a lot of cooking
surface to a footprint about as wide as 2 typical burners. As a
smoker, you leave the burners underneath off, a third burner on
under the smoke box & close the lid for the low, slow cooking of
traditional barbecue; skip the smoke box for low & slow indirect
cooking, great for keeping meat tender. In terms of capacity,
think of 3 slabs of ribs or 3+ pounds of chicken wings. Note that
with some grills, you may have to remove the bun rack & it's
possible that you won't be able to fully close the lid. Bottom
line: the Cooking Enthusiast Three-Level Smoker Rack is a clever
grilling gizmo for getting more cooking done in less space & in
less time.
Special Report Bonus Review 3: Pampered Chef Mix 'N Chop
The Pampered Chef sent Mix 'N Chop in response to our editorial
call for first-apartment gizmos. It's a clever one-piece device
with 5 curved nylon blades at the bottom, their bottom edges
sharpened; the idea is that you can mix & chop right in your
cookware as you cook. We tried that with 2 slices of Black Forest
ham & a slice of Swiss to which we added 2 eggs & some egg white
(serving 2). The chopping was quick & effortless, perhaps even
easier than chopping outside the pan beforehand, with tasty
results. Bottom line: Consider The Pampered Chef Mix 'N Chop as a
good candidate for that first-apartment kitchen drawer.
Special Report Bonus Review 5: Back-to-school Cruzers
SanDisk responded to our back-to-school editorial call with
samples of 3 of their Cruzer USB drives, one each in blue, green
& orange. They sent 4GB units, which are a good capacity for
school work & available at don't-even-blink prices from lots of
stores. We like the Cruzer design with the turtle-style
slide-out/tuck-away USB connector (meaning among other things
that there's no cap for a kid to lose); we like that they come in
colors to help keep a sibling or classmate from confusing
ownership issues. With SanDisk, of course, reliability is a
no-brainer. Bottom line: economically priced, intelligently
packaged & brightly colorful 4GB SanDisk Cruzer USB drives are a
great choice for back-to-school.
Special Report Bonus Review 5: RoadMate 3065 (preliminary)
Magellan sent us their prerelease (due in October) RoadMate 3065
Commuter dashboard & portable navigator; this is a preliminary
review that we may update as more production-ready software
becomes available. The overall design is more than competent with
several welcome features, like lane guidance. We found glitches
in its Bluetooth speakerphone functionality with connections
taking on the order of 15 seconds; Magellan says they are
addressing that before release. The biggest "demerits" are for
on-screen promotional messages (restaurants, motels, a department
store, etc.) that come through the real-time traffic data feed
receiver; there's no way (now or planned) to turn them off & they
are an unnecessary & unwelcome distraction. They are working to
make weather warnings also available through this. This is a
lighter plug hog at the moment, but they are looking into adding
a pass-along USB power connector. The display washes out if
sunlight hits its face, which limits mounting options; left in a
hot car on a sunny day (the docs say don't) we've seen it refuse
to turn on until it cools down. While the POI (point of interest)
data is supposed to be current as of a few months ago, we found a
lot of the data to be years out of date in terms of both
locations it identifies & locations it doesn't. As a totable
navigator, the battery supports up to 2 hours of runtime, which
may or may not be enough for a specific need. We like being able
to choose to display time, ETA, elevation, speed or remaining
distance full-time when on a trip, with the alternatives
available with a touch & a glance (fast & easy enough not to be
too distracting). In addition to local trips, we've run it on
travel to & from the DC area with an overall wonderful experience
(except, of course, for those damned promos). Preliminary bottom
line: the Magellan RoadMate 3065 is a feature-packed unit that
looks like a promising choice for getting where you want to
drive.
Poli got some crackers
We try (not always successfully) to steer clear of political
themes, but it's probably fair to find unintended humor in the
stuff that goes into campaign ads. Cap & Trade becomes a tax on
owning a PC, starving state government becomes a way to create
jobs & coal becomes an alternative energy because it doesn't
leak. Be careful about paying too much attention lest you're
drawn into the black hole, but if you find any doozies, please
share. 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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