Peripherals

This morning at the IFA trade show in Berlin, Samsung announced two new editions to its S Series of external hard drives: The 3.5-inch, 2TB S3 Station, and the 2.5-inch, 640GB S2.

The S3 Station comes with a glossy piano-black finish and a space-saving footprint to conserve desk space. With the S2, Samsung eliminated the additional circuit board on the The storage device that holds your OS, programs, and data.
Learn Morehard drive when  implementing the USB interface, thus giving it a footprint that’s 17 percent smaller than your typical 2.5-inch external drive.

Smaller drives with bigger capacity? Sounds like a pair of winners to me. If you’re interested in picking up one of these HDDs, the S2 will be available in September for $199, while the S3 Station will arrive next year at an undetermined price.

You can never have too much tech in your car. So when Ford Fiesta Agent Jill Hanner asked us to tech out her car we sped up to the red light.  In what they are calling the Fiesta Movement, Ford selected 100 Internet celebrities to spend 6 months behind the wheel of their own Fiesta, which will be making a comeback in the U.S. in 2011.

You can check out the video of us teching out a pink Fiesta below. We brought everything from the new Tom Tom Go 740 GPS (which got us to a Google searched car wash in no time) to a Verizon MiFi and Acer Aspire One netbook to livestream from the road.

You can get more info on our top road trip gadgets picks here.

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Shortly after Amazon unveiled its Kindle DX this morning, we got some solid hands-on time with the larger display e-book reader. Check out our initial impressions, large photo gallery and hands-on video below.

The 10.4 x 7.2 x 0.38- inch Kindle DX is incredibly slim, though .02 inches thicker than the Kindle 2. The all-white device has an an aluminum back and felt incredibly comfortable and smooth in our hands. It is heavier than the Kindle 2, but isn’t overly heavy.

The device uses the same navigation buttons and toggles as the Kindle 2, however they only line the right side of the device. There is a Home, Previous Page, Next Page buttons from the top to bottom and between the Menu and Back buttons is the same five-way controller found on the Kindle 2. Two stereo speakers sit on the rear of the device and a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top. A new QWERTY keyboard with oval shaped  keys fits below the display. The Tylenol-capsule-shaped keys were comfortable though the keyboard has been shrunk to accommodate the larger screen.

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Netbooks have become massively popular and it didn’t take the notebook accessory companies to catch on to the trend and the dollars going into the small laptop market. Targus has gone the extra mile and has created a netbook accessory kit.

Retailing for $39.99 ($36.99 at MacMall), the Targus Netbook Accessory Kit includes a slipcase designed to fit 10 inch netbooks. Also included  is an ultra-mini optical mouse with retractable cable and a portable USB hub. We got  one of the kits in the mail this week and tested it out with the Samsung NC10 ($399.00).

While there isn’t much to say about the  case it fit the 10 inch netbook snugly and did a good job of protecting it in our shoulder bag. The zipper pull tab is coated with rubber which makes it easier to open and close.

While the ultra-mini retractable mouse is more then compact (it is no bigger than salt shaker) and easier to navigate the desktop with than the Samsung NC10’s small trackpad, do netbook travel mice have to be smaller than other notebook travel mice? I still prefer to use the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 Special Edition with netbooks (it is currently $21.99 at Amazon.com) which is slightly larger and has a larger dedicated scroll wheel. Those who don’t mind tiny mice will be ok with Targus’ included mini-mouse, I just didn’t find it ergonomic for long usage.

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On the heels of Samsung’s announcement that its new Q1Ex UMPC will be available for purchase this week in the U.S., we had the pleasure of pulling the ultra-mobile computer from its wrapping this morning.

Though Samsung is aiming the Q1Ex at vertical markets, such as government and healthcare, the first question that came to mind when unboxing the 1.5 pound device was: why buy the $750 Q1Ex-71 when you can get a similarly configured netbook, like the Samsung NC10 ($399.00), for $450 or less? The answer: mostly because of its smaller and uber portable form. The 7-inch touch only device is half the size of a netbook and can then be snapped into a dock (sold separately) with a keyboard and touchpad.

We will be posting our full review of the Via Nano powered Samsung Q1Ex in the next few days, but check out our first impressions and a hands-on video below.

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Novatel announced a few noteworthy products here at Mobile World Congress, including a GSM MiFi device. The MiFi is about the size of a credit card but a bit fatter, and is essentially a portable Wi-Fi hotspot. With a carrier subcription, you can carry the MiFi in your pocket and log on using your laptop from anywhere. The GSM version announced here packs in a microSD card reader, a Linux based operating system for adding applications, and also sports a mini-USB charging slot.

We’re amazed by small size of the MiFi, especially considering wireless routers for the home are usually bulky and ugly. A carrier partner in the US hasn’t been announced yet, but we should see them later this year. Pricing is expected to be around $200 before a contract subsidy.

Check out our hands-on video after the jump.

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Even though the makers of the Mouse Computer netbook think a An optical drive allows you to play or record to DVDs, CDs, or Blu-ray discs.
Learn MoreDVD drive is fitting for the 10 inch netbook form factor, most netbook manufacturers have overlooked the disc format. And while many would argue that an optical drive isn’t necessary on the rapidly expanding crop of netbooks given the amount of downloadable and streaming content, Vmedia would argue otherwise.

What is Vmedia?

Vmedia isn’t touting the optical of yesterday or the Blu-Ray of today. They are talking small discs that measure 36 x 36 mm (think the size of those 1990s  pogs). They may look like mini-discs, but they are much, much smaller. See our hands-on shots of the Vmedia discs below in comparison to some other mobile storage solutions.

The company is currently working with content providers to provide Vmedia discs with movies preloaded. Currently a Vmedia disc can hold 1GB of data or an entire 576p (720 x 576-pixel) resolution movie. Vmedia disc capacity will increase to 2GB in about a year and will also be two-layer, capable of writing.

Playing a Vmedia disc, which is based on the latest blue laser technology, requires a Vmedia optical drive.

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Fraggers are accustomed to all-night firefights using the mouse and keyboard, but OCZ Technology looks to add a new dimension to the control scheme with its NIA–Neural Impulse Actuator. Available for $129 at Newegg.com, the NIA converts electroencephalograph signals into keyboard strokes/mouse movements that allow Windows XP and Vista users to play games using their biosignals.

Naturally, we were skeptical of the NIA’s ability to allow us to control an aspect of our PCs without using our hands, but after installing the software, plugging the device into a notebook’s USB jack, donning the Cerebro-like headpiece, and utilizing a brief calibration tool, we were soon getting schooled by the CPU in a lively game of Pong, which is part of the software package. Our ineptitude with the game was definitely due to the rustiness than the NIA, as we were able to smoothly and accurately control our paddle (check out the video below in which we control the left paddle). The device is also compatible with a number of modern PC titles such as FarCry 2.

But enough of the words–check out futuristic action in the clip below.

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You may know iFrogz most for its iPod and iPhone cases, which have a sturdy build and a soft rubbery feel to them, but the company has also announced a few new headphones as CES.

The EarPollution selection includes brands like Nerve Pipe and Fallout styles, which are both customizable over-the-ear headphones, as well as in-ear buds called Metal Drumz.

We went hands-on with a pair of the new DJ-style headphones and loved the funky customizable furry cushioned ear cups and thought they crisp and offered decent bass feedback during a quick clip of a Killer’s song.

Obviously the funky colors make these more attractive for teens and twenty-somethings as opposed to the older bunch, and we appreciate the fresh look at a budget friendly price. The iFrogz line of customizable headphones cost between $19.99 and $49.99. Read the rest of this entry »

Back at the office I like to have my notebook plugged into an external monitor so I can multitask, but I’m not a fan of the fact that the external LCD is so much taller than my notebook. Samsung answers the call for a more ergonomic solution with its new LD Series monitors, which are specfically designed to be laptop companions. These low-profile, glossy black LCDs are easily adjustable with built-in kickstands, making things easier on your eyes.

The 22-inch LD220 features a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, 250 nits of brightness, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, and 5ms response time. It has both VGA and USB connectors, and with Samsung’s Ubisync technology you can actually hook up 6 monitors simultaneously.

The 19-inch LD190X has all of the same specs but a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. Plus, it uses  Samsung’s Ubisync wireless technology to enable laptop owners to connect wirelessly. The setup we saw incoporated a Samsung wireless USB dongle connected to a Samsung notebook. And that dongle was communicating wirelessly with the LD190X, which has its own built-in antenna. Samsung claims that the LD190x uses 33 percent energy than a typical 19-inch monitor.

To test out the performance, we fired up YouTube to see how well the LD190X could handle video. The monitor did a lot better than we thought, and the motion was fairly smooth. The question we have is whether consumers really want this kind of convenience, especially since the monitor will likely reside right next to your notebook. No word yet on pricing. Check out the gallery for some more hands-on photos.