The Gadgets Page

I’ve been using the Hewlett-Packard f1905 LCD Monitor as my primary monitor for about 6 months, and realized I haven’t written about it. Monitors are simple devices, and easy to take for granted, but I’ve been very happy with this one.

• Native Resolution: 1280 x 1024
• Interface: XVI digital / analog
• Size: 19″
• Matching external speakers are included (not reviewed here)

I’m using the analog connection, which is non-optimal, since I have an older video card, but I’ve found that it works just fine. Unlike my previous LCD monitor, it rarely needs calibrating. This monitor has a nice anti-glare matte finish and is very pleasant to stare at all day. The colors are rich and vibrant, and video playback looks great on it.

One feature of the f1905 that is surprisingly lacking in most other LCD monitors is an adjustable-height stand, which lets you choose the exact height and angle you find most comfortable. The stand and case are silver in color, which nicely match my HP computer.

My only issue with the f1905 is that the lightweight stand vibrated a bit on my highly unstable desk, making the monitor shake as I typed. Moving the monitor to a shelf above the desk solved the problem. In conclusion, this is a great monitor and I highly recommend it.

I am always searching for other methods for providing electrical power. It has nothing to do with conservation or saving the universe and everything to do with the fact that I grew up Jehovah’s Witness. With the constant threat of Armageddon, I felt like I needed to know how to provide my own necessities after the rest of the world was wiped out. I felt like it was my job to create “paradise on Earth.” It was not really the religion’s fault. I was a worrisome sort of kid.

Here are a couple of websites that tell you how to build your own wind turbine to provide power to your home sans electric company.

• DIY 1000 watt wind turbine

• Welcome to OTHERPOWER.COM

Considering that many cities’ power is provided by burning coal or natural gas, adding wind power to the equation just might be your way to conserve energy and our resources. Suddenly, the idea of being able to create a paradise on Earth is that much closer to reality.

Via: MAKE: Blog: DIY 1000 watt wind turbine

Wow! I wish it was real! Here is a video of a conception of what a GOOD Apple phone would look like. It makes me drool to look at it!

• DevilDucky – iTalk Apple Phone

Apple is the kind of company that has fans that will design the COOLEST stuff for them. Why aren’t they harnessing the power of their fandom? Why doesn’t this phone exist already? Steve Jobs should stop putzing around with Motorola and make their own phone.

Via: adfreak: Ad for imaginary iTalk phone

Most do-it-yourself tips involve a minimum of going to a hardware store, but this one is simple and surprisingly easy.

• Bicycam – A simple camera mount for bikes – Jen Almström

All you have to do is remove the top of the bicycle bell and attach your camera to the same screw. I’m sure this doesn’t work with all brands of bicycle bells, but if you make sure you buy one with a 1/4″ screw, you’ve got a good chance.

Excellent job, Jen!

Back in October of last year, I bought a Logitech Cordless Mouse. I did a review of it back in November:

• The Gadgets Page » Review: Logitech LX7 Cordless Optical Mouse

Back then I said,

“The box says that I will get up to 8 months of battery life on this cordless mouse. I’ve only owned it for a month and all of a sudden, I don’t care if I get 8 months or not.”

Well, it has officially been eight months and I STILL haven’t had to replace the batteries. I’m more than impressed. I can’t imagine using a corded mouse again. It took me so long to change over to cordless and I’m still shocked at how good this mouse is.

Logitech’s mm28 Portable Speakers are a pair of portable flat-panel speakers in a single case. They may look a bit strange, but they’re a great lightweight way to play music from your iPod or other music player on the go. They also sound surprisingly good for their size.

Read on for our full review, which looks at the mm28’s features, audio quality, battery performance, and value for the money.

Features

As gadgets go, this is one of the easier ones to use: there are no controls and no digital display. Just a Power button with a nice blue LED, and a 3.5mm cord to plug into your audio player. There’s no volume control, you just use the player’s volume setting.

The cord is just over a foot long, so you’ll need an extension if you want to separate the speakers from the audio player—but for typical use with an iPod or other portable device, it’s just the right length. The cord conceals neatly in a groove in the back of the speaker case.

The mm28 comes out of the box ready to use – just add batteries or plug it in, turn it on, and plug in your music player. The transparent plastic cover folds out and doubles as a speaker stand, which works well. This is one speaker that won’t fall off the table easily.

The speaker case is 11″ by 4″ and just over an inch thick.

Audio Quality

The mm28 speakers sound great. The NXT flat panel technology claims to “significantly enhance bass performance,” and I have to agree—they have great bass for such a small speaker. You probably can’t get better bass this portable without a subwoofer. The entire flat panel seems to vibrate with the bass frequencies, and I could feel the table vibrating under them.

One nice surprise is that the bass is pronounced even at low volumes, unlike cheap speakers that you have to crank up to hear it. They’re very pleasant for casual, quiet listening. Of course, they also get loud. They were easily able to fill a room with sound when hooked to my iPod nano. (The nano’s highest volume setting caused a bit of distortion, but at that point they were quite loud.) The high end sounds quite good too.

As expected from a unit that combines two speakers into one case, the stereo separation isn’t the best. You can still clearly distinguish both channels, though, even from across the room at higher volumes. With 8″ of space between the two speaker cones, it actually has better separation than most of the portable one-piece speaker sets I’ve seen.

All in all, the mm28 has a great overall sound and I can listen to it for hours without being annoyed.

Battery Life

Speaking of listening for hours, the mm28 runs on four AA batteries, and Logitech claims a 45-hour battery life. It hasn’t been 45 hours yet, but they’re still going strong after at least 10 hours of listening. I’ve had to charge the iPod nano twice in the course of testing them. They also include an AC adapter which eliminates the need for the batteries. Value and Conclusion

The mm28’s MSRP is $79.99, and it’s currently $64 at Amazon. This is not a cheap speaker set, but the quality has impressed me enough to say it’s worth the money. I’ve listened to similar one-piece units from Creative and JBL, and the Logitech definitely sounds better.

The only thing the mm28 is lacking is a convenient dock or clip for my iPod—that would make it the ultimate boombox replacement. If you need a set of stylish portable speakers and don’t mind the price, look no further.

Disclaimer: Logitech provided us with the mm28 speakers used in this review.

Second Life is a virtual reality game that is played on the Internet. The joke around town is, “Second Life, Try Getting a First Life.” The jokes on them.

• collision detection: Tringo: A game so popular in a virtual world that it’s being released in the real one

Kermitt Quirk invented a game that he could sell in Second Life called Tringo. It was a Tetris rip-off, but unique enough to be an entirely different game, unique enough to be completely addictive on its own and unique enough to be released for the Gameboy Advance. Yes, Tringo has escaped virtual reality and has hit the big time. Kids and adults all over the country will be playing Tringo on their Gameboys and DS machines.

How’s that for a First Life?!

Via: alaina browne lives here: links for 2006-05-14

I wrote a lot of entries on video editing software on the PC. I thought I would collect all the entries into one entry that’s easy to refer to:

The Gadgets Page » Video in Digital Cameras Good Enough For Web

You probably already own a camera good enough to put video on the web.

The Gadgets Page » Video Editing: QuickTime Pro

For all the hype about how easy to use Apple products are, the QuickTime Pro for Windows doesn’t live up to it.

The Gadgets Page » Video Editing: Windows Movie Maker & Pinnacle Studio

Windows Movie Maker comes free with Windows, but it doesn’t edit .mov videos. My camera creates .mov videos, so this software was out for me. Same story for Pinnacle Studio. If your camera saves in another format, you might already have the software for video-editing on your computer.

The Gadgets Page » Video Editing: Nero 7 Suite (Nero Vision)

The Nero 7 Suite is very affordable, but Nero Vision hard crashed my video driver. I guess Nero should stick to burning CDs and DVDs. That’s what they’re good at.

The Gadgets Page » Video Editing: Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0

I ended up purchasing Adobe Premiere Elements and I’ve been using it ever since. I’m not a pro and I haven’t figured everything out yet, but it has made video editing easy without crashing my computer or compatibility headaches. The coolest part is that I KNOW Premiere Elements can do EVERYTHING I want to do. I just have to figure out how to do it.

If you are considering adding video to your weblog or website and you use a Mac, give Freevlog a look. They have great tutorials on how to get started and get going.

Freevlog