The Gadgets Page

I love Skull Candy’s earbuds and headphones, so when I saw their booth at CES this year, I was so excited. Their booth didn’t disappoint. There were plenty of interesting headphones and backpacks in a wide variety of colors. Their booth had many headphones on the rack so you could see how they feel on your head.

They were also showcasing their Skullcandy FMJ headsets for the iPhone and the Blackberry Curve. In January, they weren’t available yet and the staff at the booth only had one to show us, but they let us test it with our iPhone. Here are the photos that we got.

They come in a round case like the Shure headsets.

The plug fits into the iPhone and the silver color matches the frame perfectly.

Here is the microphone for the FMJ.

The only problem I had with the FMJ is the cord is made of a stiff plastic that holds its shape (as you can see in the photo). If you use your headset all the time, then the cord will hang straight down, but if you store your headset most of the time and use it every once and a while, then it will be a curly mess hanging out of your ear.

Other than that, they are perfect. Skullcandy is known for their incredible sound quality (nearly as good as Shure for half the price), so you can safely plunk down the eighty dollars for the FMJ and know that you’re getting a good headset. Fortunately, they are finally available and you can purchase them now (which wasn’t the case when I saw them in January).

It’s always nice to see a company that was doing well before continue in the same vein and create even more great products.

You have a digital camera and you scanned in all your grandmother’s photographs back in 1999. Now, you find that your old scanner just kicked the bucket. Do you spend the money on a new one or can you just live without one? Here are five reasons why you still need a scanner.

1. Scrapbooking

Photo books are still very much alive today in the form of scrapbooking. If someone you love is into scrapbooking, then you must preserve a digital archive of their work. Even though you have a digital copy of the photographs, you don’t have a digital copy of the beautiful pages that your loved one has created. I promise you, in twenty years, those pages will be just as valuable as the raw photos they were created from. In this case, a scanner with a flatbed that can scan 12″ X 12″ sheets is essential. The Mustek Scan Express A3 1200 Pro is the most affordable scanner (priced at under $200) in the large format category. There is also the Mustek ScanExpress A3 USB Flatbed Scanner, which is a little over $200. The Epson GT-15000 Professional Scanner is considered the best, but it is priced at over $1000.

2. That Old Box of Negatives and Slides Collecting Dust In The Basement

Scanners like the HP Scanjet G4050 have attachments that can work with slides and negatives. The software can create photos from those old negatives and slides. Rather than risking loss at a photo developers, you can process your precious negatives on your own.

3. Receipts

The easiest way to keep track of your receipts is to scan them and store them on your computer. Then, if you have a warranty issue, you have documentation of every thing you’ve purchased. Instead of scrambling in a file, all you have to do is pull up the scan and print off a copy to prove your date of purchase.

4. Faxing

So much of our world has gone digital that we forget that there are still some old businesses that still use fax quite heavily. When you have to deal with those old-school businesses, it’s helpful to have the basic fax functions that today’s scanners still provide.

5. Scanner Art

Sometimes the camera just doesn’t do something justice, despite macro mode. Like pressed flowers before it, scanner art is becoming a known field of art that you just might enjoy. Here are a couple of links that talk about it:

• Creating Art work Using your Scanner

• REDONDOWRITER’S SACRED ORDINARY: New Ways of Seeing: Scanner Art

Final Notes

If you are trying to decide whether to buy a new scanner or if your current scanner is broken or unreliable, there are many inexpensive items to choose from. My favorite is the Canon CanoScan line, the newest of which is the CanoScan LiDE90 that is going for under eighty dollars. No matter what your needs, there is sure to be a scanner available that will work for you. Preserving your memories is well worth your time and money.