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PowerSquid Surge 3000 Calamari Review

February 18, 2009 10:44 PM
More often than not, there is a better way. Take that tangle of wires and bulky plugs under or behind your desk/computer workstation for example. Everybody knows what I mean. First of all even the most basic setup includes a PC/CPU, a monitor, a printer, a set of speakers... and so on. Add a modem nearby, a wireless router, perhaps a phone, fax machine, scanner, and we're talking a holy mess of wires, bulky plugs, inflexible power cords, maybe several power strips anchoring this all together. It's a recipe for organization disaster.
 
The creative folks at PowerSquid have come up with a series of surge protectors that will make sense of your mess, ranging from a basic $18 version (outlet multiplier only - no surge protection) to a $69 top of the line PowerSquid Surge3000 Calamari model. Get it? PowerSquid? Calamari?

surge3000_pc.jpg
 
The Calamari edition is designed to protect all sorts of electronic equipment from computers and accessories, to home theater electronics including TVs, DVD players, and more.
 
The device is truly something to look at -- living up to its "breakthrough cephalopod design." There are six "tentacles" of varying lengths (2 @ 6"; 2 @ 8"; and 2 @ 10") and an 8' cord to plug into the wall outlet. The tentacles accept standard three-prong plugs. The cord ends in a 360-degree swiveling flat profile plug. Very convenient indeed.
 
Once you plug it in three different LEDs light up showing you that the device is powered up, that it's protecting the equipment, and that the surge protector is grounded. Speaking of lighting up, the two 10-inch tentacles are illuminated, which makes them easier to find in the dark.
 surge3000_calamari_abstract.jpg
One unique feature of this top of the line model is an audible alarm that sounds when the device has been tripped, essentially letting you know when it's time to replace the unit.
 
As far as the speeds and feeds numbers the PowerSquid Surge3000 Calamari edition, here's the skinny, straight from the manufacturer's site:
 
·         3240Joules w/ Ultra-MOV™ technology
·         330V Clamping
·         58dB Purestream™ EMI/RFI power filtering
·         $500,000 Limited Connected Equipment Warranty
·         Tripwire™ Circuit
·         15 Amp Breaker
 
The Calamari also includes protection for cable and DSL lines.surge3000_calamari_front.jpg
 
From the moment I saw the unit to the moment I plugged in my six devices I was very pleased with the PowerSquid Surge3000 Calamari edition. At nearly 70 dollars it might be a bit pricey at first blush, however you certainly get your money's worth in style, convenience, practicality, and a half-million dollar warranty protecting your valued electronic gear.
 
If you are interested in your own PowerSquid, go to CableOrganizer.com for more on how to get your own Calamari.

Beatles Final Gig - 40 Years On

January 30, 2009 8:38 AM

Beatles roof concert.jpgOn this day in 1969, I was but a wee lad with not a care in the world. Across the pond from where I was busy forming my first words, a group of four famous Liverpudlians were making their final public appearance.

It struck me in a way that so many things these days tend to, with a growing realization that the numbers associated with my life keep getting bigger.

 

13 years at TMC... 16 years married...my kids are how old? When I was growing up the 60's were the near past, the 70's were in full bell bottomed swing and, well ... times were sure different, weren't they?

 

In any event, 40 years ago (to toss out another big number) the Beatle's held an impromptu gig atop the Apple recording studios in London's Saville Row. Bespoke suits anyone?

 

There were plans to hold a symbolic commemorative gig today, but guess what? Police pulled the plug on the tribute concert, much the way they did 40 years ago.

Let it be, I say. Let it be.

Analyst: Netbooks to Surge

January 26, 2009 11:03 AM
I bought a netbook, then I returned it without even opening it. It was a good deal, but even still the price was so close to the cost of a full-fledged laptop (with optical drive, bigger hard drive, bigger screen, etc...) that I thought I would either continue to live without or simply wait until the next generation of netbooks arrived.
 
I have always believed that the holidays are the worst time to buy technology as the stuff they announce at CES a month later is always more exciting. (I take buyer's remorse to extreme levels when it comes to gadgets and tech...)
 
Maybe waiting was a good thing.
 
ABI Research just released its forecast for a "market explosion" of netbooks, estimating that in 2009 we can expect to see 35 million netbooks shipped, growing to 139 million by 2013.
 
ABI Research Practice Director Kevin Burden describes the evolution of the portable computing tool, from the PDAs of "old" to the latest ultra-mobile PCs or UMPCs:
 
PDA's began our reliance on instant accessible data while traveling. When PDA functionality converged with cellular voice, smartphones became the new darling of mobile professional technology that many expected to evolve into the hub for all data and communication needs for travelling professionals. Today, with a better understanding for what a smartphone is, is not, and may never be, along with a reality check on the usefulness of UMPCs, the market remains open for new device types.
 
Smartphones did a lot to raise our comfort level with mobile technology as well our expectations for how connected we could be and how accessible information and data should be while on the road. Enter the netbook with its light-weight, medium-sized form factor and low-cost processors leading to moderate overall price points may finally have "right-sized" mobile technology for productive travels.
 
The jury is still out as far as I'm concerned. Netbooks offer a great space saving form factor and light weight, but most keyboards come in at 15-20% smaller than a traditional laptop. For a poor typist (read: fat fingers) like myself, is it worth that particular pain? Netbooks are the perfect device to leverage the wealth of Web-based apps and "from the cloud" computing tools, but why is it so hard to find one with built-in 3G wireless? What about battery life? When can I expect to get 6-8 hours from a single charge?
 
I know, I know, I've read the reports of HP's amazing 8-hour battery life and I've heard about Radio Shack's great deal ($99) that combines an Asus netbook with AT&T's 3G service. But that $99 turns into $1,500 bucks when you factor the cost of the service over the 2-year commitment.
 
Still I am intrigued by the form factor, and I believe that there is definitely a niche, whether it's for people who are extremely cost conscious, or simply looking for an alternate device fort raveling and so on.
 
Regardless of what I think, ABI believes we're on the verge of some serious netbook deployments. As they say, watch this space...

TMC Blogs: The Week in Review

January 23, 2009 11:51 AM
What was the big story this week? No doubt it was the inauguration of Barack Obama, as the 44th President of the United States and the first African-American to hold that post. Truly a historic day for our nation: a day when many people put politics aside to welcome our newest leader to his job, and judging by the crowds in Washington, D.C. this past Tuesday it was quite a welcome indeed.
 
Rich is excited. Not so much from any overtly political stance, but he's psyched that the Obama Administration appears to be well versed in technology and will likely raise the tech-level of the White House and the U.S. government in general to new heights.
 
In his recent post, Tech Change is Here, Rich notes that technology is not just a "nice to have" but a necessity that drives an organization's ability to compete.
 
Of course, with ITEXPO just 9 days away, Rich has been hard at work writing about some of the big elements of the show that will take place Feb 2-4, in Miami Beach, FL.
 
Among many other things, Rich blogged about the open source educational opportunities (Asterisk Training Details; Asterisk, Trixbox, and Switchvox Training), and the temperature differential, and he also posted an entry highlighting the series of interviews he conducted with the thought leaders who will be participating at the event (Come Meet the Thought Leaders at ITEXPO).
 
Back on the political thread... Tom posted his thoughts regarding the reported $40 Billion Broadband stimulus that the Obama Administration was proposing: President-Elect Barack Obama's $40 billion Handout Bailout to Internet Providers
 
While that was technically last week, this week saw a tremendous amount of activity in the comments section of his blog. There was some really interesting back and forth, and if you have any thoughts on our government spending $40 Billion on broadband, it's worth a look.
 
Peter Radizeski weighs in with details on the Broadband Stimulus Bill.
 
Tom also was busy doing what he does best, and that's writing about and reviewing gadgets, such as the Verizon Hub (a Web browsing, VoIP phone gadget...), the TechCrunch Touchpad, the AT&T tl7610 headset, and the HTC Touch Cruise.
 
Tony Rybczynski opened the week with a simple message: Nortel is Open for Business, underscoring the message that "Nortel plans to emerge more focused, financially sound and competitive."
 
On his SIP and Serve by a Foodie blog, Broadvox' David Byrd spoke of developments at his firm and some partnerships they announced this week ahead of their participation at ITEXPO.
 
In today's installment, Byrd also discusses the latest adventures of IP Man:
 
This week we announced interoperability with Panasonic's new NCP IP PBX and we released the new IP MAN Adventure featuring AudioCodes, episode 5. The new villainess, Echo, is scheduled for launch during the week of IT Expo. It's a fun story with an exciting storyline featuring Panasonic. Like the duck paddling on a pond, our calm exterior hides the furious effort below the water line.
 
In what's fast becoming one of my favorite features in the TMCnet blogosphere, every Monday, Byrd dishes on what he's been up to in the kitchen over the preceding weekend, in addition to providing insightful commentary on what's happening in the market. This week it was beef short ribs. Yummy.
 
Over in the Convergence Corner, Erik Linask discussed the significance of Interactive Intelligence integrating with IBM for enterprise-wide unified communications.
 
Brendan Read offered a Readerboard post on Genesys' double acquisition; Jessica Kostek covered Apple's first quarter financials as well as the "Fall of Kennedy" -- her take on Caroline Kennedy's withdrawal from consideration for the open Senate seat in NY; and Scott Bouchard vented his frustration at being unable to watch the inauguration live on CNN.
 
Hunter Newby had a pair of interesting posts this week on Skype and Internet-based VoIP Peering as well as the effects of broadband development on the economy.
 
Tsahi Levent-Levi has some great post-CES follow-up on the video solutions on display at that event, and perhaps the funniest blog post of the week, entitled The Naked Truth About Video Conferencing.
 
 

Hard Times as Nortel Bankruptcy Looms

January 14, 2009 8:04 AM
Rich is reporting in his blog that Nortel will file for bankruptcy today, ending the run for one of Canada's biggest corporations and one of telecom's storied companies.
 
This marks quite the fall from grace for a company that was once one of the highest-fliers of the tech boom.
 
According to a story in today's Globe and Mail:
 
Nortel easily qualified as the country's largest company at the peak of the tech boom in 2000, with a $366-billion (Canadian) market capitalization and 95,000 employees.
 
While still North America's largest telecom equipment maker, Nortel's shares were worth a total of just $192-million yesterday, and the company has 26,000 staff after a bruising series of layoffs over the past eight years.
 
Nortel stock that soared to $1,231 at the peak of the tech bubble - reflecting a recent consolidation in shares - closed yesterday at 38.5 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
 
You can expect the vultures will all be out today, slamming the company's management, pointing to the series of accounting scandals that ultimately doomed this company. You'll hear all about the acquisition of Bay Networks and how that never really turned into the perfect fit that had been hoped for. Yes folks, all the news will be bad, and the blame game will be blown out of proportion.
 
Nortel still has some great technology, and a customer base and service contracts that will have the scavengers salivating.
 
Unfortunately for the many great employees of the company the end of Nortel as we know it spells something far worse.
 
The news reports today speak of breaking up the company and selling off the pieces to competitors. In such cases, some employees will be fortunate enough to stay on, but for too many others it's a time of great uncertainty and worry.
 
I have been fortunate to work with many wonderful people who represented Nortel over the past 12 years, and I hope that they fare well in the wake of whatever goes down.

Happy New Year!

December 31, 2008 11:18 AM
Due to the onset of some heavy-ish snow, I'm taking off a bit earlier than expected today, the final installment of 2008.
 
I wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy greeting of 2009.
 
Embrace the coming year, which as any other beginning, is so full of possibility and opportunity.
 
See you on the other side...

Christmas Eve 1968

December 24, 2008 11:42 AM
Carrying on from yesterday's NASA-themed post, I wanted to draw some attention to the fact that 40 years ago tonight, the three NASA astronauts who comprised the crew of Apollo 8 -- Commander Frank Borman, Command module Pilot Jim Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders -- made history when they transmitted a Christmas eve message from a lunar orbit.
 
In honor of the historic Christmas Eve broadcast by the Apollo 8 crew NASA plans to air special programming today and tomorrow on the NASA TV Public Channel.
 
The crew members took turns reading from the book of Genesis.
 
There's a YouTube clip (isn't there always?) available here.
 
 

NASA Moves Ahead With Constellation

December 23, 2008 10:55 AM
Before I came to TMC I was involved with the publication NASA Tech Briefs as chief copy editor. Because of my association with that engineering publication and frankly due to a lifelong interest in the subject, I try to keep up with news on the space program. Today I came across a news item from VOA News that discussed NASA's Constellation project.
 
Seems the engineers at NASA are moving ahead according to plan, hitting their milestones and preparing for the day that the new rockets and capsules they're developing today will be the primary vehicles for human space exploration after the current shuttle fleet is retired in 2010.shuttle.jpg

 
According to a NASA press release:
 
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has successfully completed thermal vacuum testing, which simulates the extreme hot, cold and airless conditions of space LRO will experience after launch. This milestone concludes the orbiter's environmental test program at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
 
The orbiter will carry seven instruments to provide scientists with detailed maps of the lunar surface and increase our understanding of the moon's topography, lighting conditions, mineralogical composition and natural resources. Data returned to Earth from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will be used to select safe landing sites, determine locations for future outposts and help mitigate radiation dangers to astronauts. The spacecraft will spend at least a year in a low, polar orbit approximately 30 miles above the lunar surface while the instruments work together to collect detailed information about the moon's environment.
 
One stated goal of NASA's current Constellation mission is a return to the Moon no later than 2020, with the further goal of extending human presence across the solar system and beyond.
 
In fact Constellation intends to lay the groundwork for scientists to use the Moon to prepare for future human and robotic missions to Mars and other destinations.
 
There are even plans to enable eventual settlement of the Moon.

 
earth from moon.jpg

Look! Up in the Sky...

November 10, 2008 12:16 PM
WIFI PLANE.jpg

It's such a cliché, but I can't help myself. 
 
It's my first Internet experience at 36,000 feet.
 
I sent an e-mail to my brother in law: "You'll never guess where I am right now..."
 
I remember those in-flight phones too, back in the day. Yes I called my folks the first time I was able to call from on high...
 
In any event...  I can finally say I've blogged from 38,000 feet.

American Airlines. GoGo Wireless. Blazing fast speeds. 25% off coupon... No complaints.
 
I'm heading to out to VoiceCon, where I've lined up a bunch of meetings over the course of the week.  I'll try to post stories of what I see at the show as fast as I can, but plans call for meeting with as many companies as possible, so there's scarce downtime during the event for blog posts.
 
One thing I plan to do is keep up with the TMCnewsroom and the daily video news broadcasts. You can too, just by bookmarking this link.
 
That's it for now...

Airport Chaos (Narrowly Averted)

April 9, 2008 7:21 AM
I’m sitting here at Terminal D at LaGuardia, thankful for once that I’m flying on a smaller, Regional Jet. The airport roadways are stacked with news vans from every imaginable local news channel and network. ABC, NBC, CNBC, Univision, News 12, etc… with their satellite dishes extended, ready to broadcast. 

Apparently they’re here to cover the expected airport chaos associated with the inspection of all American Airlines MD-80 planes. Well, not so much the inspections, but the flight cancelations and the delays that will strand or simply inconvenience 100’s to 1,000’s of passengers here today.
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