Accessories

What??? No More Exploding Laptop Batteries?

November 12, 2009

Aww darn, no more cool explosions from exploding laptop batteries! STOBA, a new material technology will steal the joy of seeing your laptop explode from faulty batteries. Boy, it seemed like a week didn't pass without Apple, Toshiba, Sony, Dell, Sanyo, Lenova, or some other laptop manufacturer issuing a battery recall due to exploding batteries. Well, apparently STOBA will make consumer electronics safer.

Posted in Accessories, Computer Hardware, Gadgets, TMCnet

FREETALK Everyman Skype Headset Review

August 6, 2009

The FREETALK Everyman is a foldable super wideband audio "Skype certified" USB headset designed by Skype themselves. Why this isn't called the Skype Everyman headset is beyond me. I guess perhaps why want to market this headset as doing much more than Skype calls. They sent me one for review today so I thought I'd write up my impressions.

When I opened it out of the box I noticed the large speakers and the flexible rotation for additional comfort when wearing it.

Posted in Accessories, Computer Hardware, Gadgets, Headsets, Reviews, Skype, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

WildCharge Wire-free charger for iPhone & iPod touch

June 23, 2009

WildCharge, makers of wire-free charging skins for various mobile phone models today has announced a wire-free skin for the iPhone and iPod touch, which enable the popular Apple devices to be charged instantly simply placing them on the WildCharger Pad™ or on other surfaces that are embedded with the WildCharge technology.

"The market is demanding a move towards wire-free charging, and WildCharge is thrilled to answer that call in adding Apple devices to our lineup of commercially available products," said WildCharge chairman and CEO Dennis Grant. "With the addition of these two designs to our reference design library, both of which are Apple "Made for iPod" and "Works with iPhone" approved, WildCharge is solidifying our position as the leading, wire-free charging developer in the industry."

The WildCharge Skins are durable, protective, form-fitting cases that when placed on the WildCharger Pad, transfer wire-free power from the Pad to the device inside the skin. The soft cases provide the same protection consumers already enjoy from traditional skins, but have the added value and convenience of enabling a wire-free charge. The WildCharger Pad, used in conjunction with the skins, delivers full power to multiple devices, allowing them to simultaneously charge together on the Pad while eliminating the clutter caused by multiple chargers and power strips.

Posted in Accessories, Apple, Computer Hardware, Gadgets, Mobile Phones, Reviews, TMCnet, Wireless

Plantronics Voyager PRO

April 23, 2009

The Plantronics Voyager Pro is the successor to the much-loved Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth headset, which goes on sale today, although, Best Buy started selling its stock a bit early. I have a review unit which I plan on testing and giving my thoughts/opinion on in the new few days. I reviewed its predecessor, the Plantronics Voyage 510, which had a cult following. I was a big fan of the Voyager 510 and have one on my desk.

Posted in Accessories, Gadgets, Headsets, Mobile Phones, Reviews, Skype, VoIP, Wireless

Finally! New Windows Mobile App AudioRoute Enables Earpiece for VoIP Apps

March 26, 2009

Finally a software tool called AudioRoute that can be used to route Windows Mobile audio from the earpiece speaker to the backspeaker and vice-versa. This is especially needed for VoIP applications on Windows Mobile phones.

I've tested several VoIP apps (SIP clients, Skype, etc.) on my Windows Mobile XV6700 phone and other Windows Mobiles and from what I understand the carrier forced the hardware manufacturers to block VoIP applications from using the earpiece for listening to the remote caller. You couldn't even use speakerphone. Instead, you were forced to use the backspeaker, a tiny low-quality speaker located on the back of the phone, which made phone quality horrendous when making VoIP calls.

Posted in Accessories, Asterisk, Gadgets, Microsoft, Mobile Phones, SIP, Skype, VoIP, Wireless

String 24 SSDs together for 6TB & 2GB/s throughput!

March 10, 2009

What happens when you string together 24 256GB Samsung MLC SSDs - you get 6TB of storage and 2GB/sec throughput. Sweet mother of ---!

Discovered the news on Lucas Mearian's Computer World blog who writes:

When you've got millions of dollars at your disposal, and access to some of the industry's best hardware engineers, what do you do? Well, if you're Samsung you make a YouTube video showing the speed, capacity and reliability you can get by stringing together 24 solid state disk drives behind a RAID controller to create "the world's most powerful consumer computer".

Posted in Accessories, Gadgets, Home Entertainment, Memory, Microsoft, Technology and Science

ooma Telo vs. magicJack

February 23, 2009

Rich met with ooma recently to see their latest wares and hear about their current business model. Recently, ooma ditched the 'P2P voice network' idea where users actually "share" their home landline with others and instead became a traditional VoIP broadband provider. Apparently, the privacy issues were too much to overcome, since users were concerns about fraudulent activity happening on their home landline by outside ooma users. I had my own reservations about the business model as well, since they claimed it would take 2,000 strategicly placed ooma boxes in all the various local exchanges to get good local call coverage for free P2P calls.

Besides becoming a traditional VoIP broadband provider, ooma is now going to start offering high-end media phones, that according to Rich Tehrani will in the future feature a picture frame, in-house sensors and cameras.

Posted in Accessories, Gadgets, Mobile Phones, Technology and Science, VoIP, Wireless

Star Trek VoIP Communicator Helps you save on Intergalactic phone calls

February 6, 2009

Dream Cheeky has created a USB-based VoIP Communicator that looks like a replica of the original Star Trek Communicator from the original TV series. Due out in in a couple months, it sports a speakerphone, mute and volume control functions, and even an assortment of Star Trek sound bites.

The only problem is that it's a USB-based device, which means it's wired - not wireless. Captain Kirk wouldn't be caught dead carrying one of these. Though maybe one of those redshirt security dudes might - they always get killed off anyway.

Via EverythingUSB

Posted in Accessories, Gadgets, VoIP

Minuteman Aims for UPS Comeback in 2009

February 3, 2009

I met with Bill Allen, Director of Marketing for Para Systems, Inc. at ITEXPO and he was very high on the prospects for Minuteman UPS products for 2009. Although Minuteman isn't as large as APC, they make very good products. He mentioned that Minuteman UPS products have new extended run-time battery packs that are "battery packs on steroids." He pointed out that competitors offer extended run-time battery packs, but they didn't seem to focusing on them and he said Minuteman's extended battery packs have longer runtimes.

He also boasted that Minuteman battery packs and the UPS itself both some with a 3 year warranty. No other UPS manufacturer offers a 3 year warranty on their batteries and always had the longest warranty.

Cost is also an important consideration when choosing a UPS.

Posted in Accessories, Computer Hardware, ITEXPO

AT&T TL7610 headset review

January 19, 2009

AT&T sent me their new TL7610 DECT 6.0 headset for review last month and I finally got around to writing up the review. My first impressions were very positive. It sported a nice sleek and ergonomic headset base with well-labeled buttons and LEDs for figuring things out without need for the manual. Like the base, the headset piece was also sleek and ergonomic with a slight curve to the microphone piece.

Posted in Accessories, Gadgets, Headsets, Reviews, Wireless

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