Cool gadgets and new gizmos - news and reviews » Technology

Battery Life: The Next Big Smartphone Revolution

Ionut Popa — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:25:28 +0000

It seems as though smartphones are getting more powerful by the month. Manufacturers continue to push the envelope, producing devices that dazzle on all levels. There are already multiple dual-core processor devices on the market, and by next year we could see quad-core smartphones. Yet this isn’t a universal positive. While faster processor speeds will allow our devices to do more, they also drain batteries at increasing rates. This is a pretty large obstacle going forward, and it’s one that carriers and manufacturers alike will have to overcome. Contemporary smartphones already perform a number of functions. In fact, they take [...]

Original article - Battery Life: The Next Big Smartphone Revolution

Belkin F5L028 laptop cooler: The cooler, the better!

Alexandra Fistic — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:50:18 +0000

In this article we’ll be reviewing the Belkin F5L028 Laptop Cooling Lounge, which is a laptop cooling pad (it uses active cooling methods, therefore powered by your computer battery) meant to drop hot temperatures produced by the CPU or GPU, in order to avoid sudden death of your laptop. Just like it’s predecessor (Belkin F5L001, reviewed here), the F5L028 is based on the air flow technology, so it dissipates the heat, instead of sucking it. This notebook cooler disposes of one fan, it weighs 1.5 pounds, basically this cooling pad is not very different from it’s older brother when it [...]

Original article - Belkin F5L028 laptop cooler: The cooler, the better!

Logitech Z906 speakers review: 5.1, Power, THX and The Looks

Alexandra Fistic — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:29:10 +0000

As a gamer, you have come to know the importance of everything, the peripherals, the PC and, nevertheless, the importance of the sound. The sound is what introduces you best into the atmosphere of the game and lets you immerse in it. Some like to hear it in the headsets, some may feel more comfortable with surround sound systems. This article is dedicated to those ones that appreciate the high quality of the sound in every square centimeter of the room. From all the desktop speaker systems, we have chosen to approach in these lines the Logitech Surround Sound Speaker [...]

Original article - Logitech Z906 speakers review: 5.1, Power, THX and The Looks

How to choose a digital camera – buyer’s guide

Ionut Popa — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:15:39 +0000

Digital cameras on phones and smartphones that we use daily are getting more and more powerful, but at least for now the quality of pictures done with such cameras is not close to the quality of pictures done by professional cameras. However when buying a dedicated digital camera, most of us resort to superficially reading the specifications, which can easily confuse a buyer. Before studying the offers, one should filter the search by setting the requirements they have from such an object, by determining the way in which they want to use it and the budget they are willing to [...]

Original article - How to choose a digital camera – buyer’s guide

Detect and select the best WiFi channel to increase wireless speed and connection reliability

Ionut Popa — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:47:44 +0000

Let’s start this article with explaining what WiFi channels are and why we need to select a good one to have a fast and reliable wireless connection to the router in our house. As you might know WiFi technology uses radio waves to communicate in the 2.4 GHz and 5GHz bands (less used). That doesn’t mean routers and WiFi devices are all transmitting on the 2.4GHz or 5GHz frequency: all communications would overlap, that’s why devices are using slightly different frequencies to transmit and receive data (for example the 2.4 GHz band uses frequencies from 2412 MHz to 2484 MHz). [...]

Original article - Detect and select the best WiFi channel to increase wireless speed and connection reliability

Air Cards for Laptops: definition, uses and buying guide

Marc — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:19:42 +0000

When people are saying that today, the Internet is everywhere, they seldom stop to think whether Internet access is indeed geographically widespread. In truth, there are many cases one might find himself in, where Internet access is either very poor or non-existent, even in developed countries. In those cases buying air cards for laptops makes a lot of sense. As more and more applications are being moved into the cloud, companies need to find new ways of allowing their employees to work from remote areas. Woods, rural areas, valleys or mountain tops are some of the places where Internet access [...]

Original article - Air Cards for Laptops: definition, uses and buying guide

Best Laptops for College Students: cheap is not always bad

Marc — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:01:25 +0000

Buying anything at all for a college student is pretty hard work. College life is diverse and crazy enough to subject even the most basic of objects to the maximum extent of its abilities. Just as well as books are used as door stoppers and Ping Pong balls used for playing Beer Pong, a student’s laptop needs to be flexible enough to run anything it is being thrown at it: be it Photoshop, high-speed torrents or playing high quality music during impromptu parties. There are lots of laptops out there but only some are best laptops for college students and [...]

Original article - Best Laptops for College Students: cheap is not always bad

Windows 7 indexing: turn it off to increase system performance

Ionut Popa — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:04:44 +0000

We all know the hard drive is the slowest component in a computer. It’s at least 100 times slower than RAM Memory, which means if you get a slow hdd the entire system will be slowed down significantly. It’s imperative also to make sure programs are not accessing the hard drive too much and, most important, not at the same time. A few weeks ago I’ve noticed a lot of hard drive access on my work laptop, so overall performance was severely impacted to the point I couldn’t work as the computer froze every 3-4 seconds for a moment and [...]

Original article - Windows 7 indexing: turn it off to increase system performance

Asus U30s review – Power and elegance in only 13”

Ionut Popa — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:16:47 +0000

Until recently laptops from the Asus U series were midrange both from the point of view of their price and of their hardware, which is why they were pretty successful. However, like in any other domain, the most famous are those who provide the highest technical specs, which is why Asus decided to go to the next level with the new U30s, a portable which introduces Asus to the niche market of powerful and elegant devices. You probably already guessed: this device is a rival for the Apple Macbook Air. A battle with the Apple product will be one hard [...]

Original article - Asus U30s review – Power and elegance in only 13”

A guide on how to organize your information and files on a hard disk

Ionut Popa — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:13:17 +0000

The way files and folders are organized in our computers determines the total time it takes us to complete a task. The easier we can access an application the better it is. On the other hand if information is not mixed up we will not lose time searching for it. I will give you some advice concerning the efficient organization of information so that you end up using your time in the most productive way. Follow the advice that fits your work style without exaggerating and falling in the extreme of wasting time trying to organize information, because that is [...]

Original article - A guide on how to organize your information and files on a hard disk

Samsung E2152: cheap dual SIM phone

Ionut Popa — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:57:02 +0000

Mobile phone producers are more and more interested in the smartphone niche market due to the big number of potential clients. However there are people who want simple phones with basic functions. If the phone also accepts two SIMs (dual-SIM) it is even better. For this type of buyers Samsung, the most important dual-SIM phone producer, comes with the E2152. The main characteristics of the E2152 are the following: TFT screen, 240 x 320 pixels resolution and 256.000 colors; microSD slot card; VGA (640 x 480 pixels) camera; FM radio with RDS; MP3, eAAC+, WAV player; MP4, H.264 video player; [...]

Original article - Samsung E2152: cheap dual SIM phone

Call of Duty: Black Ops – it’s a must play military shooter

Ionut Popa — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 18:33:15 +0000

The Call of Duty series of games needs no further presentation. Even those who are not into gaming probably know the fundamental elements of what is one of the most popular FPS in the world. In this context it does not come as a surprise that Activision launches new games in this series each year. On its complete name Call of Duty: Black Ops, the new game is available in shops starting November and it is the 7th in the series and the 4th developed by Treyarch. It’s the best sold game of 2010, by far, a must play title [...]

Original article - Call of Duty: Black Ops – it’s a must play military shooter

Bluetooth 4: new standard for better close range connectivity

Ionut Popa — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:15:09 +0000

I do not think I would be mistaken if I were to say that any user of a mobile phone that belongs to anything over the medium category has used Bluetooth technology at least once in his life for the transfer of files to another mobile or a PC. This technology is a standard for almost any type of phone that is not low cost, and has successfully replaced the famous infrared port which has almost completely disappeared from the market. More than a year has passed since the 3rd version of this technology has been officially launched by Bluetooth [...]

Original article - Bluetooth 4: new standard for better close range connectivity

Blackberry Bold 9900: touch of business

Marc — Sun, 15 May 2011 16:47:59 +0000

The Blackberry Bold 9900 was launched earlier this month, alongside the new installment of Research In Motions’ Operating System, BlackBerry OS 7. The Bold 9900 has a steel frame and a soft-touch plastic back, which looks less impressive than the old Bolds’, which was faux-leather. However, the phone is considerably thinner, at 10.1 mm, so the overall look, enhanced by the wide curvy qwerty keyboard, makes it look very professional. RIM have packed a whopping 1.2 GHz of processing power within their phone, which works alongside the 768MB of RAM and enhanced programming for the OS 7 for near-perfect fluid [...]

Original article - Blackberry Bold 9900: touch of business

Tips to avoid health issues related to prolonged laptop use

Ionut Popa — Mon, 09 May 2011 18:16:07 +0000

Since I’m using my laptop at least 8 hours a day and my back doesn’t seem to agree with that more and more each day I thought of giving you a set of tips to help you avoid health related issues with prolonged laptop use. Sure, the best method is to avoid staying in front of the computer more than a few hours a day, as recent studies suggest sitting on a chair is bad for you even if you exercise regularly (unlike me and may of you I guess), but that’s not an option for us, as we’re earning [...]

Original article - Tips to avoid health issues related to prolonged laptop use

Nokia X7: the entertainment smartphone

Marc — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 00:55:16 +0000

Nokia has been running back and forth with their X7 for a while now. Initially, the X7 was supposed to act as a bridgehead for Nokia on the US market. As you might be aware, Nokia is huge everywhere in the world except for the US, where few people have heard of it. The initial idea was to have AT&T launch Nokia’s X7 with a bang sometime in spring and open the US market for the rest of Nokia’s goodies. This did not happen, though, and critics assumed that Nokia grew dissatissfied with AT&T’s lack of marketing support. Consequently, the [...]

Original article - Nokia X7: the entertainment smartphone

Panasonic GF2: DSLR camera with compact size

Marc — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:53:33 +0000

Following the success of the Panasonic Lumix GF1 camera, Panasonic are moving further along with the second installation of their marke-making Four Thirds camera. The GF2 is slimmer, lighter and packs more intelligence than the original. Panasonics’ DSL Micro cameras are a cross between large DSLR cameras and the lighter, more compact point-and-shoot cameras. The DSLM is roughly the smallest camera you can buy taht still has an interchangeable lens. True, lenses for normal DSLR cameras need an adaptor, but you can also buy a lens that is specifically designed for these micro cameras, from producers such as Panasonic, Olympus [...]

Original article - Panasonic GF2: DSLR camera with compact size

Logitech Z623 – small and strong 2.1 speakers

Ionut Popa — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:25:17 +0000

Let us suppose you do not have too much space in your room or a 5.1 audio system, or you simply do not want a lot of cables in your house. However you are interested in a powerful system that can offer high quality sound. Logitech has a solution for you starting this month through a 2.1 audio system. Called the Z623, the system can be placed anywhere near a laptop/desktop offering high quality sound for your musical auditions and preferred games. What you do not know about the Logitech Z623 is that it can easily be used for a [...]

Original article - Logitech Z623 – small and strong 2.1 speakers

Lenovo ThinkPad T520 – powerful 15.6 inch laptop for business

Marc — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 13:42:22 +0000

A new addition to the freshly redesigned Lenovo ThinkPad line is the T520. The T520 has a smaller brother, T420, which recently became the first laptop in the world to be awarded the Gold Certificate from the UL Environment, a group that evaluated it as being the most environmentally-aware laptop today. While not as proud as his smaller brother, the T520 is still very kind with the environment, while at the same time packing the same punch and even sensibly better specs. The main difference between the two is the size – the T520 has a 15.6 inch screen which, [...]

Original article - Lenovo ThinkPad T520 – powerful 15.6 inch laptop for business

Acer has a 3D notebook already

Ionut Popa — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:32:45 +0000

While others are busy launching official statements and bragging about what theyâ€™re planning on thinking of lauching, Acer 3D laptops are already available worldwide. In UK for instance, the Aspire 5745DG is on shelves for Â£900. So what is it about? The laptop sports a 15.6 inch Cinecrystal LED backlight display running at 120 Hz. It supports HD and has a 16:9 aspect ratio. On the standard model, you get a multi-format card-reader, WiFi, a webcam, 16GB of RAM (DDR3!) and an HDMI port. Also, Acerâ€™s partnership with Nvidia means you get the GeForce GT425M graphics accellerator on the ready. [...]

Original article - Acer has a 3D notebook already