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Scosche TapSTICK

Ray Aguilera — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:30:05 -0600

One of the big reasons we didn’t have a gadget-crush on the third-gen iPod shuffle (3 out of 5 stars, Jun/09) is its reliance on Apple’s earbuds to control the device. Without any buttons on the shuffle’s chassis, the inline remote on the included ’buds is the only way to navigate tracks, play, pause, or make volume adjustments. But now Scosche’s tapSTICK aims to improve your shuffle experience by adding back the third-gen shuffle’s missing buttons.

Rather than make a headphone adapter, Scosche built a hard plastic case that integrates rubberized control buttons. While we’re not sure the aluminum shuffle really needed any more protection, integrating the controls into a case makes a lot of sense and eliminates the overly long headphone cables that you end up with using an add-on inline remote dongle. At two-tenths of an ounce, the tapSTICK doesn’t fundamentally alter the shuffle’s ultraportable profile much, making it about 1/8 inch wider and adding about 5/8 of an inch to the shuffle’s length.

The tapSTICK brings buttons back to your iPod shuffle.

After docking your shuffle into the tapSTICK, the three buttons on the case replicate the functions of Apple’s inline remote. Tapping the center button plays or pauses and kicks in navigation and VoiceOver the same way it does with the standard Apple controls. The real win, though, is that now you can plug in your favorite headphones to tapSTICK’s headphone jack and still have full control over your shuffle. The tapSTICK also sports Volume Up and Down buttons, and the back of the case is open to allow use of the shuffle’s metal clip. The buttons themselves are decently sized, and the raised markings make them easy to find while the shuffle is stashed in a pocket. Unfortunately, raising or lowering the volume more than one increment requires you to tap the appropriate button repeatedly--holding the button down registers as only a single click.

The tapSTICK obscures both the status LED and the Off/Shuffle switch on the iPod. The shuffle’s single LED also serves as the battery gauge, so you can’t see how much juice you have left without removing the shuffle from the tapSTICK. You’ll need to do the same in order to switch the shuffle on or off or change the play mode. And due to the way that Apple built the shuffle, to use the same pin on the headphone jack for charging and remote control signals, you’ll have to remove the shuffle from the tapSTICK in order to charge the battery. Extremely fashion-conscious users should note that the tapSTICK comes in black or white, neither of which match the shuffle’s available hues.

STM Evolution

Ray Aguilera — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:56:35 -0600

Yes, messenger bags are stylish. But after several years of schlepping our MacBooks and their accoutrement around in one, we were ready for something easier to carry. Backpacks--and laptop versions in particular--certainly aren’t known for being particularly fashion-forward, but we are pleased with Evolution’s sporty good looks, as well as its full complement of pockets.

STM sells the Evolution in two sizes, built to fit 13- or 15-inch MacBooks. The outdoorsy styling strikes us as somewhere between one of those ubiquitous hydration backpacks and a trail-running shoe. It’s not necessarily our favorite look, but we have to give STM credit for breaking out of the plain-black-computer-bag mold that reminds us of conventioneers and/or The Man. There are a couple of extra straps on the bag for both compression and stabilization across your chest, but we found them to be more aesthetic than useful or necessary, and they tended to snag on things as we hauled the Evolution around.

Evolution offers some heavy-duty protection for your trusty sidekick(s).

The bag’s main compartment is divided into two sections: a padded sleeve-like cubby for your laptop and a larger section for books, file folders, and the like. There’s also a large-ish rear compartment subdivided into different-sized pockets for power adapters, business cards, pens, and other small items. On the outside are two mesh pockets meant to hold water bottles, newspapers, or umbrellas. And speaking of umbrellas, the Evolution features a rain shell that stows away in a hidden zipper compartment in the bag’s base. While it doesn’t really rain enough where we live for that to be necessary, residents of wetter climes (cough, cough, Seattle) will certainly appreciate it.

The shoulder straps are fairly well padded, and there’s a waist strap that can be stowed away, although the bag’s modest size only allows for a certain amount of extra gear anyway, making the strap somewhat superfluous. That said, the bag’s construction is durable, and it doesn’t scream “Hey! There’s a laptop in here!” which is useful for avoiding muggings on the street. There’s plenty of padding, both in the laptop section and on the panel that rests against your back, but the trade-off is that the bag itself doesn’t compress much when it’s empty.

Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch

Roberto Baldwin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:43:07 -0600

Multitouch gestures add flexibility to the Wacom line.

If you’ve become accustomed to the MacBook’s multitouch capabilities, you’ll find yourself missing them when you use a desktop Mac. Wacom has an answer, care of its recently refreshed Bamboo line, which adds a new take on tablet input. We tested the Bamboo Fun, which recognizes the pen, as well as touch input from your fingers--including some multitouch gestures. For long-time tablet users who are used to pen-only control, the addition of touch capabilities is nice, especially in image editors like Photoshop and iPhoto, where using two-finger pinches and reverse pinches can zoom in and out of images. You can also use gestures to rotate images. It’s not a feature that comes into play all that often, but it’s welcome when you do need it. There are nine touch gestures in total, but they’re all limited to one- and two-finger motions--and that’s one to two fingers short of the three- and four-finger gestures supported by the latest MacBooks.

Touch and go.

The Bamboo uses a proximity sensor in the pen to switch between Pen mode and Touch mode. The sensor does an admirable job of kicking into Pen mode whenever the stylus tip or eraser is within a quarter-inch of the tablet’s surface. For the most part, this works great. But since we’re used to leaving our hands resting on the tablet while working, we kept inadvertently initiating gestures with our fingers when the pen was raised above the surface. Fortunately, you can easily turn the touch feature off with one of the four programmable buttons along the side of the tablet.

Wacom has increased the sensitivity on the new Bamboo Fun, so the device now recognizes 1,024 levels of pressure. The difference might not be noticeable to casual tablet users, but creative types working in Painter, Illustrator, Photoshop, and similar programs will appreciate the increased flexibility.

The pen is sturdy and its two-button rocker feels solid and is easy to operate by feel. Wacom ditched the pen holder that was included with earlier tablets, which was basically a weighted base to store the pen when not in use. In its place is a loop of red fabric on the side of the tablet that you slide the pen into. The fabric loop is fine for securing your pen at the end of the day, but if you pick up and put down your pen often, placing it in the loop can be frustrating, compared to just setting it in the old holder.

Epson Artisan 810

Roberto Baldwin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:14:57 -0600

All-in-one printers do everything, but usually at the expense of excelling at any single job. Not so with the Epson Artisan 810, which quickly spits out high-quality photographic prints and also ably takes care of your scanning, copying, and standard printing needs.

The printer uses a tray that accommodates a variety of different paper sizes, including legal, 8.5x14 standard, and various user-definable sizes, which we didn’t have any problems switching between. It also includes a dedicated slot for 4x6 or 5x7 media. You can also print on ink jet–ready CDs and DVDs. The Artisan features print resolutions up to 5760x1440 dpi.

The 810 is speedy--by the time we walked across the room to even wait for our prints, they were already done. The printer has an RPM (Resolution Performance Management) mode that will give you the highest-quality prints available, but it comes at the expense of speed. We noticed the greatest improvements using RPM mode when printing grayscale images with smooth gradients between light and dark. The regular photo mode was more than adequate for point-and-shoot images, but higher-res DSLR shots also showed marked improvement with RPM prints.

Back in Black.

For standard document printing, the Epson produced crisp fonts and pages nearly shot out of the printer. The 810 gave us between 37 to 40 PPM, depending on the amount of included text, and churned out 4x6 photo prints in 8 to 12 seconds. Double-sided prints took longer, but the printer features a built-in duplexer.

The Artisan 810, like most printers, also serves as a card reader and gives you the ability to print directly from memory cards without a computer. We especially like the ability to print out a contact sheet with thumbnails and choose which images to print full size. You can also add frames and create greeting cards directly from the printer itself--a nice touch if you need a card pronto.

All of this memory card–based printing is controlled from the 7.8-inch touchscreen. The screen is home to the easy-to-use UI that controls printer settings and its many features. Setting up the printer, including Wi-Fi printing, was quick and painless.

Kodak Zi8

Susie Ochs — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:12:17 -0600

If you flipped over the Flip pocket-size video cameras, there’s a new contender worth your attention. Kodak’s Zi8 replaces the Zi6, bringing full HD 1080p capabilities to a small, well-designed package that fits in your pocket but does more than its competition.

Measuring 2.4 by 4.5 by 0.9 inches and weighing 4.8 ounces, the Zi8 features a great-looking 2.5-inch LCD with three brightness settings--we had no problems viewing it in bright sunlight. We put a few nasty scratches in the plastic body during testing, but the screen survived unscathed. The four buttons and four-way rocker switch make navigating the menus easy with just your thumb.

The Lithium-Ion battery is removable, so you can pack extra batteries ($29.95 each) and keep shooting. A battery charger is included (or you can charge by USB), along with HDMI and composite cables for hooking the camera to your TV. The USB plug for connecting it to your Mac is built right in.

The Zi8 comes in basic black, aqua, or raspberry.

You do have to buy an SDHC card--the camera accepts cards up to 32GB, and we picked up an 8GB card at Best Buy for under $25. This is a great feature compared to the fixed-memory Flip. Fill up one card, swap it out for another, and you can film all day long.

The Zi8 shoots video in 1080p, 720p, or widescreen VGA, all at 30 frames per second, and you can also shoot 60 frames per second at 720p, good for catching fast-moving action, or if you plan to slow the video down later.

Video quality is impressive for a pocket-size camera, with accurate colors and skin tones. The face-detection feature adjusts exposure if you’re shooting someone in shadow, and low-light performance is comparable to the Flip’s. The Zi8 features image stabilization, but we still got the best results using a tripod. The built-in mono mic worked OK even outdoors, and there’s a jack for plugging in your own stereo microphone.

The 5-megapixel still photos didn’t stun us, and it’s hard to keep the camera still while pressing the shutter button. But the macro switch (for photos and videos shot close-up) is a nice touch. The 4x zoom is digital, photo-speak for “unusable.”

Your videos are encoded as H.264 MPEG-4 MOV files, but the included software isn’t Mac compatible. The Zi8 appears on your Desktop like a removable drive, and you have to drag the movies to your hard drive manually, but they open in QuickTime and can be imported into iMovie for editing.

Apple Engineer Visiting China More. Wonder Why?

J Keirn-Swanson — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:30:19 -0500

I guess if I were working for a company manufacturing some kind of long-awaited killer new product, and if I were an engineer, I'd probably be on a lot of plane flights to where the manufacturers are.

Hmmm...now where are Apple products made again?

Source: Gizmodo

Oh, that's right. All the manufacturers mentioned in conjunction with the mythical (possible/likely?) Apple tablet are all based in Asia. And according to Alaska Miller at The Business Insider, a source tells them that a friend of his working for Apple as a system integration engineer keeps making all these trips to China.

What's more, apparently, this friend doesn't even get to count on the Christmas holiday season without a vacation to the Pacific rim for a couple of weeks. That does sound important, now doesn't it?

If this is legit, it sounds like Apple's got something close to completion they'd like to roll out relatively early in the new year. Why am I somehow doubting it's a retooled line of iMacs?

Apple's First Bath Accessory - Magic Mouse Soap Dish

David W. Martin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:38:49 -0500

Apple's new Magic Mouse started to show up in Houston area Apple stores on Thursday. The reduced footprint packaging is receiving accolades, but a recent discovery would make any Home Economics teacher proud. The top portion of the packaging can be removed and inverted making it one of the best bar soap dishes money can buy!

iPhone Accused Again of Gobbling Up Bandwidth

J Keirn-Swanson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:39:39 -0500

Remember when Ralph De La Vega, AT&T's Wireless CEO, suggested that the carrier might have to figure out some way to effectively better manage the bandwidth of their 3G network?

Well, he's not the only one singing the "iPhone's hogging up the airwaves" blues. Turns out the Chairman of the FCC has that same song stuck in his head, and between the two of these men, iPhone users could be running into some stiff opposition to their unlimited access plans.

Bandwidth Use History and Projection. Source: Gigaom.com

FCC Chief Julius Genachowski in a recent ranging conversation with Business Week discussed net neutrality, broadband expansion, behavioral advertising, Google, censorship and filtering. But the comment he made that most caught our attention was this one in response to the question: How concerned are you about the available spectrum for wireless services?

Genachowski:

We've been spending time on long-term spectrum policy because the data suggest we face a spectrum gap. The demands that are being created by the [Apple] (APPL) iPhone and other mobile broadband technologies threaten to outstrip the amount of spectrum available for commercial mobile...

While Genachowski does mention smartphones in general, the only one singled out by name is the iPhone. This may be in part because he's an iPhone user or he may be obliquely referencing AT&T's complaints. Again we see the suggestion, much like De La Vega's that iPhone users are significantly cutting into the available spectrum bandwidth and that something will have to be done.

As it stands, while no one is talking about anything concrete, iPhone users would do well to keep their ears tuned to this conversation. From the sound of it, things might get interesting.