Logitech keyboard does the wave
Darius Chang | Sep 05, 2007
At first blush, the latest Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave doesn't look special. After all, Microsoft already has a range of ergonomic keyboards shaped to save your wrists.
But what sets the Logitech apart is that the wave concept transfers to the height of the keys as well. Like a sine wave, the W, E, O and P buttons form the trough, while the tab, Y and \ keys sit on the crest. According to the peripheral maker, this design reduces fatigue and makes typing more comfortable. Two levels of tilt at 4 and 8 degrees are available to adapt to your typing style.
Considering that the bundle includes a cordless laser mouse, its retail tag of S$149 (US$104.72) doesn't seem too exorbitant. If are you itching to get your hands on the new wave, hang onto your wallets till October.
The Razer Mako is no geisha
Darius Chang | Sep 05, 2007
When we first heard of the Razer Mako, we did a double take. Why did the iconic gaming company--which tagged its products after poisonous mammals--name its latest desktop speaker system after female Japanese escorts. Explanation from a Razer executive during a demonstration session in Singapore caused more confusion. "It's named after a poisonous shark," she said.
Granted our biology may not be up to date, but somehow we believe that there are no poisonous sharks known to man. Nevertheless a quick Google and a short demonstration confirmed that:
Cosmetically, the final shipped product will differ from the current crop of images as Razer has removed the blue LED logo in favor of an etched one. According to the product manager, the initial LED design interfered with sound quality and hence was taken out of the speaker chassis. The sound quality was pretty impressive when playing music but what really made our day was when one of the tech journalists streamed audio from the World of Warcraft trailer out of his iPod (yes, we are geeky that way).
The deep booming words from the voice-over really made us feel part of an epic story, while the background noise of blades crossing and dying cries was incredibly immersive. If you want to really feel part of the game, the Mako will certainly make your ears believe you have somehow teleported into a whole new world.
But here lies the rub. Since its only a 2.1-channel speaker players of FPS titles like F.E.A.R or Crysis should look elsewhere. Without the benefit of rear audio outputs, getting stabbed in the back is a distinct possibility. Razer says FPS titles are covered by its Razer Barracuda AC-1 gaming audio card and HP-1 5.1-channel gaming headphones. But frankly, at S$629.99 (US$442.78), we expected a little more love for those of us who enjoy the occasional virtual massacre.
Toshiba EasyGuard and EasyMedia: Big and clever hard drives
Rory Reid | Sep 05, 2007
Toshiba announced new ranges of hard drives at the recently concluded IFA that it believes are larger or cleverer than anything that came before them.
First up is EasyGuard, which is all about hoarding and protecting your data. The first product in the range is an external 2.5-inch laptop hard drive with a massive 320GB capacity and a "freefall" sensor that protects the read/write heads in the event of shocks or drops.
The second EasyGuard product is a "ruggedized" (but not freefall-enabled) external hard drive with a fingerprint reader. The idea is that this'll keep your data secure, so long as you don't accidentally leave your fingers at home. Prices are unconfirmed, but you should be able to buy them any day now.
The other range is EasyMedia, which includes a 1.8-inch 100GB drive. Toshiba thinks this is the highest-capacity small-footprint drive in the world. Expect it to show up in iPod-style devices and portable media players in the near future.
EasyMedia also includes a 1TB network-attached storage (NAS) device known as the Toshiba 1TB EasyMedia HardDisk. It's pretty sexy for a NAS drive--we like the green front and rear panels, and the sleek overall design.
This post orginally appeared in CNET UK Crave.
Wallet-replacing phones--eventually
John Chan | Sep 04, 2007
Those who keep up with Japanese mobile technology will know that it is always years ahead of everyone else. One of the things that Japanese users have been able to do is to pay for stuff just by tapping their mobile phones or keitai, as they are known there, on payment stations. Mobile phone users in Singapore may soon be able to do the same, going by the announcements made by two of the island-state's mobile phone operators, SingTel and StarHub. Read more »
Packard Bell rings in a new UMPC
Darius Chang | Sep 04, 2007
Despite talk of a Lenovo takeover, Packard Bell doesn't seem willing to go quietly into the night. At the IFA 2007 show, the notebook maker showcased its latest UMPC entree, the EasyNote XS.Sporting a 7-inch screen and running Windows XP Home Edition, the EasyNote XS brings back fond memories of the Kohjinsha SA1F00. But form factor is where the similarities end. The Kohjinsha is a convertible tablet PC while the Packard Bell unit is a conventional clamshell laptop. The latter is based on the VIA C7-M Ultra Mobile Platform which means it has a speedier processor of above 1GHz clock speed alongside a 1GB memory. Other features include Wi-Fi, a Webcam, a memory card reader, two USB ports and 30GB of storage space.
With claims of up to 3 hours of battery life with wireless radio activated, it seems like a suitable companion to the frequent traveler. At press time, Packard Bell was unable to confirm pricing and availability of its pioneering UMPC.
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