It’s safe to say that the FiiO E3 produced a bit of a stir amongst headphone enthusiasts when it emerged last summer. While there were headphone amps designed specifically for DAPs and PMPs, like the awesome Graham Slee Voyager, the E3 was a tiny, AAA battery powered marvel that you could pick up for under £10, and one which has a noticeable, positive effect on many combinations of DAP and headphone or earphone. Sure, you could get better quality from a home-built Cmoy amplifier (see A Fire in the Head for details), the E3 was smaller, lighter, cheaper and consistently good (the quality of a Cmoy, of course, being dependent on the expertise of its builder). The facts all won the tiny amp a tidy cult following all of its own.
Now the small Chinese company is back with what you might call the E3’s bigger brother. It’s more expensive, but also more polished - every inch a more grown up little amp.
FiiO E5 Headphone Amplifier Review
Garmin Nuvi 265WT Review
Though traffic has always been billed as a premium, subscription-based feature on navigation systems, the latter half of 2008 went a long way in demolishing that reputation. Garmin and Navigon both announced affordable GPS systems with free lifetime traffic, and even the budget outfit Mio got in the game by offering a solid year of free traffic with its units. At $299, Garmin’s Nuvi 265WT is among the cheapest in its line of free-traffic-equipped navigation systems, below the entire 7-series, which has more features, yet above the ordinary Nuvi 265T, which has a smaller 3.5-inch screen (the “W” in the 265WT model number denotes a 4.3-inch widescreen).
What does $299 buy you? The Nuvi 265WT includes a number of features above and beyond your basic run-of-the-mill navigator. For starters, it has text-to-speech capabilities for reading off street names as you drive rather than ambiguous directions (“Turn left on Powell Avenue,” rather than “Turn left,” for instance). It will also link up your cell phone to act as a Bluetooth speakerphone, display photos loaded onto it with an included USB cable, and of course, deliver real-time traffic updates. The box includes the unit itself, a standard charger with an exceptionally thick cable that doubles as the traffic antenna, a suction cup mount, USB cable, adhesive disc for dash mounting, and a manual.
Motion J3400: Demo, Breakdown & Accessories
We may only have found out about the Motion J3400 rugged Tablet PC earlier this morning, but Rob Bushway over at GottaBeMobile has been putting it through its paces for the past week or so. That means a two-part video overview and plenty of pictures, including some of the J3400 broken down to show the ruggedization inside. Considering the J3400 is less than an inch thick, Motion have packed in a lot. Rob’s photos show not only the slate, but Motion’s accessories for it, including a desk stand “Flex Dock” and a clever folding “Mobile Keyboard”. They’re priced at $299 and $149 respectively.
For the second part of Rob’s video overview, go here. The Motion J3400 is available to order now, priced from $2,299. It comes with a choice of Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processors, up to 4GB of RAM, and a 12.1-inch active-digitizer display with optional ViewAnywhere outdoor usability.
Click Here To Read The Full Article @ SlashGear
ASUS G71Gx Gaming Laptop With GeForce GTX 260 Announced
Asustek has announced the ASUS G71Gx gaming laptop with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M, the “world’s fastest notebook graphics processor”. The 17-inch G71Gx also has three SO-DIMM slots for up to 12GB of DDR2 800MHz memory, up to 1TB of storage space using two 500GB hard drives, Blu-ray support, and four built-in Altec Lansing speakers. The display resolution is 1920×1200. There’s no info on other specifications, availability and pricing.
Click Here To Read The Full Article @ Laptoping
PNY & XFX GeForce GTX 285 Video Card Reviews
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 graphics card was more or less brushed aside when Nvidia launched its GT200 55nm revision during the 2nd week of January, 2009. The GeForce GTX 295, which contains two of the 1.4 billion transistor GPUs, is a monstrous card but out of reach for most consumers. Here is where the GeForce GTX 285 steps in. This chip, on the TMSC 55nm process, is much cheaper to produce, clocks higher than the previous 65nm version, and runs cooler to boot.
Today, we’ve got two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285s for testing. PNY sent their GeForce GTX 285 with part number VCGGTX285XPB, while XFX sent their GeForce GTX 285 Black Edition baring the part number GX-285N-ZDBF. The PNY GeForce GTX 285 runs at the stock GeForce GTX 285 speeds of 648MHz core, 1476MHz shader, and 2484MHz memory. The XFX GeForce GTX 285 Black Edition on the other hand has an aggressive overclock pushing 690MHz core, 1552MHz shader, and 2600MHz memory. Both video cards are based on the NVIDIA reference PCB design with reference coolers, so the only difference between the two cards with 1GB GDDR3 frame buffer would be the box, bundle, and clock frequencies. It should also be noted that NVIDIA states that the GeForce GTX 285 video cards require a minimum 550W or greater power supply with a minimum +12V rating of 40 Amps. XFX on the other hand suggests at least a 630 Watt power supply for non-SLI and 680+ Watts if you plan on running a pair of these in SLI. so be sure your system is up to par before picking up one of these high-end performance cards.
Asiantech Exclusively Distributes Rendition Memory Modules
Rendition memory modules are now locally available through the exclusive distribution of Asian Technologies Computer Corporation (Asiantech). Rendition memory modules are basically repackaged Crucial memory modules to suit those markets looking for low-cost, high-quality RAM solutions. However, it must be noted that the difference in price does not affect the quality of the product. A Rendition 667 memory module typically offers 333MHz of memory speed, reduced refresh rates of 7.8 us, 64-bit module widths, module voltages at SSTL 1.8, and memory timings of 5-5-5-15 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) / 20-43-3-5-3 (RC-RFC-RRD-WR-WTR).
A key brand in the Lexar Media family of products, Crucial is the only DRAM supplier that is part of a chief memory manufacturer. The Crucial brand also reflects high-quality memory that’s been approved and qualified by most major OEMs. And since the brand carries more than 250,000 upgrades for use in over 40,000 systems, Crucial is confident that there’s an available option for virtually every system released.
Click Here To Read The Full Article @ HardwareZone
Liquid Nitrogen And Dry Ice CPU Cooling Insulation Guide Review
Sub-ambient cooling isn’t a very common form of cooling for computers and most enthusiasts that do engage in it typically use single-stage phase change systems. The next step up from that would be dry ice and then liquid nitrogen is the typical peak in cooling capability. While testing the Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H under liquid nitrogen I snapped a few shots of my insulation process and the end results.
I will be using the above board for this short guide. It was one of the first boards qualified for Phenom II operation and it has been my main AM2+ board since. Before you can start insulating you need to prepare the motherboard. For AM2/AM2+/AM3 motherboards you need to remove the heatsink mounting bracket. For LGA775/LGA1366 motherboards, there is nothing around the socket that you need to remove.With the mounting bracket removed you should have a clear socket. Notice the little components around the socket, these will corrode and short if you don’t insulate.
External SSD For The Eee PC 901 Spotted In Japan
The classic Eee PC 901 is really a great Asus netbook if only it’s 16GB SSD drive has a bit more storage capacity. For our friends in Japan, Buffalo has done them a good favor by releasing a 32GB and 64GB SSDs which our Japanese friends can use for their Eee PC 901. Those higher capacity SSDs are not your usual upgrades that you put inside your machine though. Rather, both SSDs external drives encased in hdd enclosures similar to your regular external IDE hard drives.
To get the 32GB or 64GB SSDs, users have to purchase them together with the enclosure and plug it into your Eee PC 901’s USB port. It will then replace your Eee PC’s current 16GB SSD sitting inside the machine.
Click Here To Read The Full Article @ EeePc
Sony Ericsson Launches The Xperia X1 In Korea With Skt
Wait, don’t cool phones usually come FROM Korea? Well, not in this instance, I guess. Sony Ericsson is just launching its XPERIA flagship smartphone in Korea with SK Telecom, the major player there. You’ve heard about the XPERIA X1 since last year when it was launched at WMC (recent coverage). But did you read the full X1 review?
We don’t think that there’s a single carrier in the U.S that is selling it. Too bad, as it is one of the better Windows Mobile devices.
Click Here To Read The Full Article @ UberGizmo
Western Digital Redesigns My Book World Edition
Western Digital introduced its newly redesigned My Book World Edition network storage drive, simplifying the critical but tedious task of backing up an entire household’s precious files. Designed for consumers who have multiple computers on a home network, the new drive will be available in 1TB and 2TB storage capacities, and is compatible with PC and Mac computers.
Consumers are amassing increasing amounts of digital media on their computers, including irreplaceable photos, movies and documents. While 70 percent of users in a recent WD study of 1,500 U.S. consumers claimed to be “backing up,” most use sporadic, tedious processes such as copying to CDs/DVDs or USB thumb drives. Having several computers multiplies the work. My Book World Edition network drives are designed to automate and simplify the backup chore for the 36 million networked homes in the U.S. according to research firm Parks Associates.
Click Here To Read The Full Article @ HardwareZone
