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Archive for the 'Accessories' Tag

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Power up: Different takes on travel chargers

January 13th, 2009, 2:00 pm by

The show ended Sunday. Here is the rest of what I saw at CES… To see more, visit Gadgetress@CES 2009

If you had one charger that charged your cell phone, iPod, laptop, camera and all of your other electronic devices, wouldn’t you want it? Multi-device charging hubs got some sleek redesigns and technology boosts so that travelers won’t have to lug multiple power bricks on a trip.

In addition, quite a few companies showed off portable power, so you can charge your cell phone, camera or other small gadget while on the road. I got an APC Mobile Power Pack for Christmas and believe me, it came in handy. Smartphones really weren’t meant to last all day on one charge. 

Here are a few such gadgets I spotted at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show:

Travel power options: Click to enlarge:
6-in-1 charger: Callpod’s VZ ChargePod, a CES Innovations honoree, is an update from last year’s version (a handy device itself that charges 6 mobile gadgets). The new model includes multiple ports, including 3 USB 2.0 ports, 1 for either a PC or Mac laptop, 3 ports for small devices. Four tips are included, with extra tips at $9.99 each. Available April 2009 for $199. More details at callpod.com/products/chargepodv2
6-in-1 charger: Lenmar’s PowerPort Hub PPUHUB6, a CES Innovations winner, charges up to 6 gadgets. But it’s design is what attracts attention. The circular hub stores cables right inside. Twist off the lid to access the cables. It has 6 USB ports — 4 with retractable cables, 2 let you add your own cable. Includes tips for an iPhone/iPod, Motorola RAZR/Q and BlackBerry phones for $79.95. More details at www.lenmar.com.                 
Green tech: Go green with iGo’s new iGo Green laptop charger. This only charges one device at a time. But the key is that when it’s plugged into a wall socket and charging a laptop or other gadget, the iGo Green turns itself off after it charges the gadget. More details at igo.com.
3-in-1 charger: Ohmetric Power charges three devices at the same time, including a laptop, cell phone and another USB device. Power cable for the device wraps in the lower ring, while cables for other devices are on the top ring. The two rings separate. Product expected to launch this year. Price not available but rumored to be around $200. More details at ohmetric.com.
Portable power: The sleek Powerstick is about the size of stick of gum and looks like a USB storage drive. One end has a USB port (to get charged), the other has a port to plug in a tip. It comes with 9 tips to charge anything from an iPod to micro USB device. A small display shows amount of ‘power’ remaining to charge up gadgets. Available for $59.99 at BestBuy.com. More details at www.powerstick.com.  
Portable power: Energizer’s EnergiToGo charges aren’t new but the company has shifted focus to smartphones. These handy chargers use 2 AA batteries so you don’t need to worry about charging up the charger before you head on the road. The price isn’t too bad either, at $19.99. More details at energizer.com.


I’ve got a sample of the Energizer Energi To Go to anyone who wants it. This includes 2 AA Energizer batteries, 1 mini USB tip and 1 Micro USB tip. Leave a comment below if you’re interested and I’ll randomly select a winner. 

For more Gadgetress reports from CES 2009, visit gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/ces2009.

Posted in: Cell phones • Computers • Gadgets • • • • • • • | 7 Comments »

Canon’s cute printer costs 28 cents a photo

May 14th, 2008, 12:01 am by

Canon’s adorable photo printer costs 28-cents a photoCanon’s new SELPHY line of photo printers are cute little contraptions.

Available in apricot and white, the SELPHY CP770 looks like a picnic basket because it has a compartment inside to stash paper, cords and ink (see more photos below, gratis Canon). Nifty feature: “IrSimple,” which allows you to wirelessly send photos to the printer from a mobile phone or other gadget that supports the technology.

An even more compact model, the SELPHY 760, has the same features but is even smaller than the 770. It’s $100.

But is this worth the price of prints? Canon’s photo paper is expensive: 36 sheets (of 4×6 paper) plus ink is $19.99. That’s 56-cents a photo!

Photo ink is never cheap. And I usually run out of it long before the photo paper. Not so in this case, a Canon customer service rep told me. She said that Canon only sells photo paper and ink together. Each kit has enough ink for the amount of photo paper included.

That means the $29.99 economy pack (108 sheets plus ink) contains three sets of paper and ink. At minimum, each photo would cost 28 cents to print — and this excludes the cost of the printer ($100 to $150) plus shipping and taxes.

Say you print out 1,080 photos, you’ll be out a minimum of $399 or 37-cents a photo!

Lesson: Invest in a photo printer to save time. If you’re terrible at planning ahead, it’s nice to have a machine at home to print photos on demand.

But otherwise, sending them off to a professional printer saves money. I, personally, use Costco’s service since you can upload photos at home and pick them up at the store an hour later or have them delivered for free. Costco charges 17-cents per 4×6 photo. (Alternatives, like Shutterfly, offer bulk discounts as low as 12-cents per print but charge for shipping.) No muss, no fuss.

Canon SELPHY CP760 Canon’s adorable photo printer costs 28-cents a photoCanon SELPHY CP770

Related stories:

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Every thing is going green, even Ethernet

April 22nd, 2008, 10:44 am by

D-Link’s Green Ethernet

Who knew that Ethernet could go green? That’s apparently what D-Link Systems has produced.

The Fountain Valley company, known for its home networking products, sells Ethernet switches with special power-saving features. The switches can detect cable length and the activity of attached devices. When a computer, for example, becomes inactive, D-Link’s switch puts that port into a low power mode.

The smart switch knows when a computer connected to one of its ports goes to sleep or even if the cable is 20-meters instead of 100 meters (which would require full power). It adjusts power to the port accordingly.

Energy savings could be substantial, says the company. Up to 80 percent, if everything connected to the switch is off. But even in mixed mode — an office where PCs are on 10 hours a day and powered off for 14 hours a day — D-Link’s Green Ethernet products could cut energy use by 44 percent for each system.

D-Link’s Green Ethernet

Today, the company added “Web Smart” technology so the switches can be configured online. Available to buy in the third quarter, the D-Link Web Smart products, the DGS-1200T series, include the 16, 24, 48-port network switches.

And for all the bargain hunters out there: D-Link just reduced the price of the switches by 25 percent (starting around $50). Why? “Weakening economic conditions and uncertainties surround the business climate in particular,” said Steven Joe, D-Link’s president.

Posted in: Wi-Fi & networking • • • • • • | Comments Off

Stump: Ergonomic mice and other handy office tools

October 23rd, 2007, 3:00 am by

Stump the GadgetressQ: I’m looking to purchase a mouse that will help alleviate some overuse/chronic pain issues that I have. From among the pen-style mice, is there one you can recommend for ease of use and performance? Thanks, much appreciated!

Pen Mouse from Salient TechnologyAlso, is there some kind of office attachment I can hook onto my desk so as to be able to move the mouse pad down to keyboard height instead of up on the desk surface? ~ Maria

Gadgetress: Sounds like you could benefit from an ergonomic specialist. There is a lot of information on the Web about how to make sure your work area is ergo-friendly. I’ve listed some sites I found below in “Handpicked Goodness.”

Interestingly, none of the sites offer a pen-style mouse. I found one from Salient Technology, the V-Mouse, which hints at being more ergonomic than a traditional mouse.

Gadget wise, it’s difficult for me to make a recommendation since I haven’t tried every ergonomic mouse out there. However, I did review the Evoluent mouse two years ago and gave it a high recommendation (here’s a LINK to the review).

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Uncategorized • • • | 2 Comments »

Gateway adds 30-inch monitor

October 4th, 2007, 11:53 am by

Gateway’s Ultra HD monitor

Weeks after splurging on a 24-inch monitor, I noticed that Gateway just released a 30-inch version, the Gateway XHD3000 30-inch Extreme HD Display.

Playing off the latest computer chip trend of quad-core computing, Gateway’s touting this one as “the world’s first ‘Quad-HD’ display” because it has four-times the resolution of a standard HD display of 720p.

The “ultra-high” resolution is 2560 by 1600, thanks to the Silicon Optix Realta HQV video processor. It also has an upscale feature so standard-definition video will appear clearer and sharper than it actually is. In fact, this upscaling feature takes 1080p resolution and makes it look like it’s 1600p. By comparison, DVD quality is 480p. Standard TV is, ugh, even worse.

I’d really like to see how much sharper 1600p is compared to 1080p. As some of you know, 1080p is better than any high-defintion video broadcast today on TV (those resolutions are 720p and 1080i). And the HDTV channels I watch are so crisp and clear, I’m watching more TV then ever before. Can it really look better?

Other features of the XHD3000: Six video inputs (HDMI, single and dual DVI, component, S-Video, composite and VGA), includes a remote control, picture-in-picture functions, six USB ports, and a hefty price tag of $1,700.

Posted in: Video & TV • | Comments Off

D-Link updates its MediaLounge player

September 27th, 2007, 1:57 pm by

D-Link’s MediaLounge, the DSM-750

More news from the Digital Life event in New York. D-Link, which made the trek from its Fountain Valley headquarters, has updated its MediaLounge MediaPlayer.

D-Link’s MediaLounge, the DSM-750Just like older models, the new MediaLounge DSM-750 connects to a TV in the living room, for example, while wirelessly connecting to computers in other rooms to grab video, music and photo files and, as of yesterday, access to 200-plus Internet TV channels.

Today’s updated MediaLounge adds technology to extend Windows Media Center from Windows Vista computers to TV. Extenders began popping up after Microsoft introduced its Windows Media Center for XP. This allowed TV shows recorded on a Media Center computer to be streamed to a TV in another room.

D-Link’s MediaLounge, the DSM-750

D-Link’s new MediaLounge claims to be capable of streaming high-definition video, thanks to integrating the latest Wi-Fi technology called draft 802.11n. It also includes an HDMI port and a USB 2.0 port to plug in a thumb drive to view photos. The $350 MediaLounge should be available in stores and online in November.

Posted in: Video & TV • Wi-Fi & networking • • | 1 Comment »

Sleek Samsung printers head to Apple stores

September 19th, 2007, 8:43 am by

Two new printers from Samsung Electronics America in Irvine are slim, sleek and, for now, only available in Apple stores.

Samsung ML-1630 laser printer

The compact laser ML-1630 printer (above) and the multifunction SCX-4500 (below) copier/scanner and printer are exclusive to Apple stores and Apple.com until January 2008.

Samsung SCX-4500 multifunction printer

samsungscx4500blue.jpgSamsung says the two new printers are about two-thirds the size of similar printers. They include button-less touch-sensor panels, audible alerts and blue LED indicators that light up during operation. They also have a high-gloss finish and smooth exteriors for a minimalist design.

How Applesque… even if they don’t perfectly match any iBooks, iMacs or other Apple computers.

Prices: SCX-4500, $299; ML-1630, $199

More specs:

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Contest Alert: Win free computer memory

September 19th, 2007, 4:09 am by

I could keep this contest all to myself because I just bought a new computer and need to add more memory.

Crucial’s DDR3 memoryBut I put my readers first! Memory-maker Crucial.com is giving away two “2 GB custom-memory upgrades” starting today (Wednesday, Sept. 19). Sounds like but I’m not sure that it includes the latest DDR3 memory, on right, valued at $489!

Why today? Because it’s “Talk Like A Pirate Day.” I’m not quite sure how pirates and memory mix.

Says Sam Harmer, Crucial’s public relations manager, “We’re just kind of a rowdy group of people out here at Crucial.com and will jump on ANY excuse to throw a themed party :) ”Crucial’s Talk Like a Pirate memory contest

Visit Crucial.com today and look for the parrot to get contest details.

For those who don’t know how to talk like a pirate, use this handy translator at TalkLikeAPirateDay.com. For fun, here’s the translation of “Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day” (Aye, today is talk like a pirate day Aye, me parrot concurs) in the techie code of l33t:

4y3, t0d4y 1s t4lk l1k3 4 p1r4t3 d4y 4y3, m3 p4rr0t c0ncurs

**Win more stuff by searching The Gadgetress “Contests” category” **

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