Latest Gadgets Reviews

Review This is one of those gadgets that doesn't really fit into any pre-existing category largely due to it actually being three things in one: a standalone hands-free phone device, an RDS FM music streamer and, by way of its USB port, a charger.

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Review Trevor Baylis, he of wind-up radio fame, now has a range of hand-cranked products, including this, the world's first wind-up multimedia player. It comes down to whether you're concerned by green issues - and you should be, unless you plan to move to another planet any time soon.

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Unwired Video Review When you think of laser printers you don’t exactly think ’sleek and sexy’ - more like ‘beige and bulky’. But this new model from Samsung, the ML1630, is something that’s really quite different.

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Review Going back a few years, Pure Digital's parent company, Imagination Technologies, only made chips and wasn't involved in the manufacture of radios in any way. So to come as far as the company has in such a short period of time is surely testament to its ability to deliver desirable and reliable products.

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Review Bit of an odd turbot this new TopUP TV service - not a selection of extra Freeview channels like the original TopUp TV offering, nor a full video on-demand system either. Bit of an odd review too, as it's difficult to come to a final conclusion on the hardware without some reference to the associated broadcast service, and that's highly subjective.

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Thomson DTI 6300-16 TopUp TV Anytime +

UK-first review Apple TV and iPod. Sony PlayStation Portable. Different devices, but united in common support of the H.264 video compression technology, part of the MPEG 4 standard. And since a lot of us own these, the need for H.264-encoded content is high. The snag: it takes a heck of a lot of processing power to produce.

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Review The temperamental English weather makes testing a portable solar charger like the Freeloader a tad difficult. Luckily, we were able to grab a day or two of glorious sunshine before the heavens opened and the onslaught of April showers began... in May. Yup, it's all change up there in the atmosphere and as the world warms up, you may be grateful for little devices like this one. Or not, of course...

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Freeloader portable solar energy charger

Review The next generation of DJs are forsaking traditional 12-inchers in favour of digital means to create their sounds. If you think today's tunes could benefit from some seasoned samples, or even if you want to transfer your vintage vinyl to a digital music player, then this could be a worthwhile investment.

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ION USB turntable

Review For budding DJs, or musicians who want to record live sets or gigs, the new iKey Plus portable USB recorder could be just what the beat doctor ordered. Designed to work with - yes, you've guessed it - the iPod, or any other external USB storage device, the iKey Plus can record live audio in MP3 or WAV format without the need for a PC...

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ikey_plus_sm

Review Not every living-room computer is a Windows XP Media Center Edition PC or a Mac capable of running Apple's Front Row software. Both systems can connect to a TV and provide a remote control to help you select content to play, but there are plenty of older machines out there that have been put to use as song storage systems. What can they use?

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Review The MiniDAB is slighly smaller than early iPods, and while it's very much lighter than the Apple device - it feels like it's missing the battery, even though it isn't - it has none of the iPods looks. Apart from the iPod-like black and white colour schemes, the MiniDAB has a rather 1990s look about it: simplicity is out, complexity is in - presumably to imply a large feature set.

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Review I've wanted to try a truly personal video system - forgot the clunky VR headsets of yesteryear - since I first saw one faked up on Blake's 7 in the late 1970s. Watching a movie on an iPod means holding the player up to your face for hours at a time. It would be so much better to clip on a pair of video specs, sit back and relax...

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Review The first incarnation of Neuros' MPEG 4 Recorder proved a handy tool for getting video onto a PDA without having to leave your computer on overnight while it churned through complex re-encoding algorithms. However, it didn't quite hack it as a no-frills PVR, lacking support for the higher resolutions you need for decent playback on a TV, and the ability to program a recording schedule. Neuros is one of those rare companies that not only takes such criticism on board but does something about it, and in this case promptly tweaked the product and re-released it as the Recorder 2...

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Neuros MPEG 4 Recorder 2

Q & A

 

Editors’ Blog

What do you think of Apple's Time Capsule?

I'm after for a network-connected HD, and this seems the best option - good router, integrated drive, only one power cable, suitable for PCs as well as Macs.

Terry Farrell

Click here to add your answer

 

Mac OS X Tiger out, Leopard back in

I couldn't resist. I went back to Leopard. I've been running Apple's latest operating system for well over a month now, originally 10.5.1 and now 10.5.2, with no untoward effects...

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