Lisa Katayama

Review: Two weeks with the Dyson DC31

According to its inventor James Dyson, the DC31 handvac has the fastest motor in the world at 104,000rpm &mdash five times as fast as a Formula 1 race car engine! That's cool, but what I really want to know is, does it bust dust cleanly and efficiently? I have been using its predecessor, the DC16, for about two years, and I'm sad to report that it has become virtually obsolete &mdash the suction is weak, the battery only lasts 2-3 minutes, and dust accumulates relentlessly at the nozzle. This review will not give an answer as to whether the newer DC31 will have a longer lifespan than that, but here's what I think of it so far after a couple of weeks of use.

The DC31 is lighter, smaller, and doesn't require a giant docking station. These are all great improvements. It definitely has a lot more power than the 16 ever had &mdash it swept up everything from dog hair to human hair to wood chip fragments without hesitation. The .09-gallon bin is small but easy to empty, you just push a lever down &mdash I actually prefer it small because it urges you to empty it more often, which prevents old dust from hanging out in there for too long.

There are two problems I wish Dyson would fix in their next iteration of a handvac, though: 1. This thing is still pretty loud. I would be willing to give up some of that motor power for a more quiet dust-busting experience. 2. This might sound nitpicky, but there are air holes in the top back portion that blow out a significant amount of air while the nozzle is doing all its high-power sucking. That's fine when you're bending down to vacuum the floor, but when you're working on a parallel or multi-tiered surface like on stairs or between furniture, this actually blows dust and hair away. Which is kind of annoying.

And then there is the meta problem of handvacs being inefficient to begin with &mdash they're nice for daily upkeep, and I like having one in the house, but a device that only cleans a couple of square inches at a time with a 10-minute battery life that makes lots of noise may be a dying breed of gadgetry.

Product page [Dyson]

Steven Leckart

Video: Unboxing The Fleshlight

When I tweeted about needing to get a hold of a Fleshlight, I wasn't entirely kidding. One BBG reader answered my bluff call, put me in touch and, well, now I've got a real-life Fleshlight [NSFW] in my home... actually, TWO: a pink-flesh-colored one shaped like a woman's hoo-ha vagina and another transparent one shaped like a, uh, butthole (!) an anus.

To be continued...

Steven Leckart

Review: 16 Months w/Belkin's 300W DC/AC Inverter

Why ALL automobiles don't come equipped with at least one, built-in 3-prong outlet is beyond me. And why more drivers don't keep an inverter like this one from Belkin in their cars is also a mystery.

Emergencies alone make a simple inverter a super worthwhile item (we also keep a tub filled with spare clothes, shoes, MRIEs, water, etc. in the trunk, you know, "just in case."). But apart from the once-in-a-blue-moon, doom-and-gloom scenarios where we'll be stranded in our car and need to tap the battery to charge a phone or radio, having an inverter available for daily use is a true no-brainer.

Since last April, I've stashed this 300-watt DC-AC inverter in one of the rear seat pockets. I've used it to charge my cell phone and replenish my GoBe battery overnight while car camping. In addition, I've charged up a range of devices en route on car trips — long and short — way too many times to count. Here's the short of it:

Easy to Use: Just pull out the thing, plug the business end into the cigarette lighter, flip the switch on the device, and plug in up to two devices. (Dr. Obvious says: There's no need to have the car turned on.)

Easy to Carry: The whole thing weighs just 2 lbs.; it's not as if you'll ever need to take the device backpacking, but my point is that it's never a hassle to pull out, put back, ad nauseam.

No Outside Juice Required: Requires no batteries, no charging, no sunlight because, you know, it runs off the car battery (Dr. Obvious says: Triple duh).

One Caveat: The inverter's internal fan hums rather loudly when in use. Not enough to disturb phone calls or music too much, but it's noticeably audible.

Verdict: Get one. If not this particular device, then be sure to pick one up that's got at least two 3-prong outlets... and, perhaps, even a USB. You'll rely on your inverter more than you'd expect.

~$40 from Amazon.

Steven Leckart

Snow Leopard Review Round-Up

Awesome, yawn-worthy, or a bit of both? The bottom lines are in...

Ed Baig at USA Today:

Snow Leopard isn't a must-have upgrade. There's not much new in the sizzle department. Many feature enrichments are modest, such as the ability to highlight text from a specific column in a PDF. The fine Safari 4 Web browser is also included, but you don't need Snow Leopard to get it. Apple does say the browser is faster and more crash resistant. (My iMac did crash once in my testing.)... Still, Snow Leopard should delight Mac fans...

Brian X. Chen at Wired.com:

This upgrade won't deliver any radical interface changes to blow you away (not that we would want it to), but the $30 price is more than fair for the number of performance improvements Snow Leopard delivers. Stay tuned for Wired.com's full review of Snow Leopard as we continue to test it over the week.

Jim Dalrymple at CNET:

We think the interface tweaks to Expose, Stacks, the Finder, Mail, and iCal make Snow Leopard more than just a service pack and worthy of the $29 upgrade price... Though the system performs well in everyday use, many of our tests indicate it is slightly slower than the older version of Leopard in more intensive application processes. Still, we highly recommend upgrading for all the new features and Microsoft Exchange support.

Andy Ihnatko at Chicago Sun-Times:

...the price represents perhaps the most emphatic middle finger that Apple's ever extended towards Microsoft's general direction. In the past five years, Microsoft has done far less with Windows than Apple has done with the Mac OS.

Galen Gruman at InfoWorld:

When a new OS upgrade costs $29, you can be forgiven for thinking of it as a service pack... an under-the-hood upgrade whose new capabilities won't be so obvious to users, and thus not worth the usual $129. I agree with that price assessment (if only Microsoft had made the same judgment about Windows 7), but I don't agree that what Snow Leopard offers resides merely under the hood. Instead, it provides many enhancements and some new features that Mac users of all persuasions will really like.

Randall C. Kennedy at PC World:

"Where's the beef?"

Brian Lam at Gizmodo:

Some fanboys will ask, incredulously, "This is a new operating system?!" Those people are missing the point. On deeper inspection, Snow Leopard's inconspicuous aspects--performance squeezed from underused CPU multicores/GPUs and basic UI tweaks--are found to be the kind of refinement generally reserved for virtuosity. These speed optimizations are deep, reminding me of when a master martial artist puts the entirety of his weight behind a strike (while a neophyte would flails his limbs like a henchman in a Bruce Lee movie). The little UI tweaks are no different than when a great sculptor's chisel works to remove everything non-essential during the final steps on a statue.

Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal:

Apple already had the best computer operating system in Leopard, and Snow Leopard makes it a little better. But it isn't a big breakthrough for average users, and, even at $29, it isn't a typical Apple lust-provoking product.

David Pogue at the New York Times:

Incredibly, Snow Leopard is only half the size of its predecessor; following the speedy installation (15 minutes), you wind up with 7 gigabytes more free space on your hard drive. That, ladies and gents, is a first... That Snow Leopard's looks haven't changed at all, in other words, betrays the enormous changes under its pretty skin... Either way, the big story here isn't really Snow Leopard. It's the radical concept of a software update that's smaller, faster and better -- instead of bigger, slower and more bloated.

Jason Snell at Macworld:

Snow Leopard is Apple's lowest-priced OS update in eight years. Granted, it's a collection of feature tweaks and upgrades, as well as under-the-hood modifications that might not pay off for users immediately. But the price of upgrading is so low that I've really got to recommend it for all but the most casual, low-impact Mac users.

Peter Svensson at AP:

For most Mac users, Snow Leopard will likely be a no-brainer upgrade, given the low price. But early upgraders often face minor bugs and installation problems, so unless you're dying for one of the new features, waiting a month or so is a safer course... So how does Snow Leopard compare to Windows 7? Snow Leopard's benefits will be most apparent down the road, while Windows 7 promises more of an immediate payoff.

Joshua Topolsky at Engadget:

...the single inescapable fact that hung over our heads as we ran our tests and took our screenshots and made our graphs: it's $30. $30! If you're a Leopard user you have virtually no reason to skip over 10.6... If you're still on Tiger, well, you'll have to decide whether or not you want to drop $130 on what's essentially a spit-shined Leopard, but if you do decide to spend the cash you'll find that the experience of using a Mac has changed dramatically for the better since you last upgraded.

photo by Tambako

Steven Leckart

Hands On w/HTC's myTouch

I dropped by Wired to talk about HTC's latest Android phone.

Steven Leckart

Review: River Rafting w/the GoPro HERO

I recently strapped the GoPro Wide camera to my head for a rafting trip down the Poudre (pronounced poo-daredur) in Colorado.

My expectations were high for the 5MP sensor, 170-degree lens, and waterproof casing. In short, I was mostly stoked with the results. After the jump, check out my full review...

Music:

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Steven Leckart

Kodak Zi8: "much to love, little to gripe about"

I reviewed the Kodak Zi8 for Wired and found it to be a solid little handicam. From my review:

Inside and out, the Zi8 is brimming with upgrades (1080p) and little touches (a legit microphone jack!) that set a new standard for this class of cheap cams. Significantly sexier, with a slimmer body than previous Kodak cams, the Zi8 comes with a re-tooled USB connector that's easier to use and harder to unleash unintentionally... Even cooler, the connector is an agile rubber cord, which allows you to plug in the camera without removing drives from other ports on your computer...

We shot side-by-side with Kodak's earlier iteration, the Zi6, in a variety of environments (indoors, the beach). In stark sunlight, natural low-light and indoors, the image quality of the Zi8 was consistently superior. Colors are richer and contrast is deep. The lens angle is also a tad wider. The sensor adjusts from dark to light much quicker and image stabilization is noticeably better.

David Wertheimer

Review: Audio Technica ATH-CK7 headphones

This is the second BBG review of Audio Technica headphones, following the active noise canceling ATH-ANC3s (which I loved). In contrast, the ATH-CK7 are a noise-isolating set. They proved to be a very good product, and an instructional one.

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Steven Leckart

Review: O'Neill SL Gloves [Verdict: Wipeout]

I bought O'Neill's SL gloves for three reasons:

1) The water is frigid in San Francisco, so 3mm neoprene seemed like the way to go.
2) $40 seemed reasonable at the time.
3) The model name boasts my initials (SL = Steven Leckart).

I've worn these gloves while surfing, on average, twice a week since February. At first, I loved them: The fit is great and allow for reasonable dexterity; the gloves enhance paddling; and they really keep my hands warm... well, kept my hands warm.

After the jump, check out why I'm embarrassed to share initials with this product...

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David Wertheimer

Review: JVC's HA-NC250 noise-canceling headphones

Most of my headphone reviews for BBG this summer have been robust explorations. I'm learning all about the different ways headphone manufacturers approach audio, and the pros and cons of their methodologies.

Now, JVC I know all about. I've watched their TVs, I've listened to their stereos, I even had a JVC boombox as my shelf system in college. JVC's stuff is as you'd expect: consumer-grade, well-executed, accessible, decently equalized, sturdy. Y'know, JVC.

So here I am with a pair of JVC noise-canceling headphones. I installed the noise canceling unit's battery, put on the headphones, turned on my music, and broke into a huge grin.

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Steven Leckart

Review: GMT Solar Lantern [Verdict: Works]

The SL900 is a relatively-lightweight, dead-simple-to-use lantern that sports two solar panels, LEDs and a 6V 4AH sealed lead acid battery. You simply leave it in direct sunlight while hiking, hanging or whatever, and it will charge up enough to provide at least 2-4 hours of nocturnal glow.

At about 12" x 7", the SL900 isn't the most packable torch ever, but for car camping, it works great. I've used it on two car-based camping trips this spring/summer, and have very very minor complaints. One little issue is the fact the top opens indiscriminately, i.e. the top cover hatch tends to open all the way due to a frisky hinge. Thus, if you're trying to position part of the solar panel so that it gets optimal, direct sun at certain times of the day, you won't always achieve your goal — in other worse, you'll need to brace the top against a rock or, more likely, wedge the carrying handle against the back of the panel to hold it at the perfect sun-kissed angle.

All in all, that's a pretty minor complaint. The lantern is $85 (a bit pricey), weighs just 7 lbs (not totally unreasonably), and works well (it should, for that kind of money). After an afternoon of charging, we wound up getting 2 hours with the lamp on high, then another hour or so with the lamp set to medium/low — and while it was not exactly a task light, the lantern provide enough visibility to cook desert, make our way around the camp site, etc.

It's worth noting higher-end solar lanterns include AM/FM, 9-watt fluorescent bulbs, and stobe light features, to name just a few perks. Eh, spending more than $85 — let alone $75 — on a lantern seems potentially gauche. Also, before any solar charging, you'll need to give the lantern a full charge from a standard wall outlet/power source. So, if you're thinking of going off the grid completely with this thing, well, sorry.

David Wertheimer

Review: two tough weeks with the Shure SE310s

First, an admission of bias: I love Shure. I had a pair of Shure's E3c noise-isolating headphones for two years, and boy did I adore them. Great loud or soft, comfortable, able to make a transcontinental jet flight whisper-quiet while listening to jazz one tick above mute--bliss. I think I blew out one of the drivers before running them over with my bike, but I didn't mind. Bygones.

So I was ripe with anticipation when Shure shared their SE310 headphones (as well as their top-line model, which I have not reviewed yet). Could these be the replacement I'd been seeking?

My heart got heavy when I discovered the truth: I don't love the SE310s. What's wrong with me? I want to love the Shures. I want to recapture my lost joy.

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Steven Leckart

Review: 1 Week W/OtterBox's Defender Case

The Defender series is OtterBox's top of the line hard, weather-resistant cases for mobile phones. The phone slots into a polycarbonate shell which is then covered by a Silicone skin. There's also a thin, clear screen cover to prevent any scratching.

If you carry an iPhone (1st-gen, 3G, 3GS) or many of the handsets from Nokia, Palm, HTC, Samsung, RIM/BlackBerry and Motorola, the Defender is a solid option.

I've been using toting around my iPhone 3GS in one for a week.

A few caveats: The edges of the screen are harder to finger due to the case's thick ridge. The thin plastic membrane does create some air pockets on the screen. The case makes your phone unmistakably beefy and harder to pocket, especially if you wear "skinny jeans" (which I do... yeah yeah).

Why I'm into it: I'm actually not too concerned about dropping the phone or scratching and/or cracking the screen. My enemy is... sand.

The case I used to carry is comprised of two pieces, a top and bottom, and no screen cover. Every time I hit the beach, I bring back least a little bit of sand in my pockets and car. Eventually, when I took the phone out of the old case, I found a series of sand grains burrowed into the plastic backing of my $$$ phone. WEAK.

Since switching to the Defender, I haven't found even one bit of dirt, sand or gunk inside the case. The Silicone layer is easy to grip. It's relatively lightweight (1.9 oz.). The port covers fit snugly to ensure a good seal (I'll admit it's a tad annoying to open/close the bottom flap every time you need to charge the phone). And the back of the case has that little window so, you know, people can still see I'm toting an iPhone (if that's important).

OK, I'm not going to say $50 isn't a lot to spend on a case. It's obscene. Then again, so is the sight of a broken smartphone.

If you spend anytime outdoors or have butterfingers, the Defender is well worth it. While I haven't experienced any epic drops (and I'm not about to try to break my phone), I've banged this case/phone around much more than usual — short drops on my desk, tumbles from the center console to the floor of my car, etc. Overall, It feels, more or less, tough as nails.

The Defender comes with a belt holster, which I'm not using and never plan to.

Steven Leckart

Review: Two Weeks W/Spotify [Verdict: It Just Works]

Music should live in the cloud. That's obvious. Even a vinyl-loving audiophile with super-powered, magical eardrums would likely agree that most semi-casual listeners — which is most of us — shouldn't have to manage jewel cases or migrate tracks from disc to computer to thumb or hard drive ad nauseam.

I never bought into Rhapsody. I think Lala is a joke (especially with all the pricing flip-flops). I tried imeem and like the interface/functionality, but don't have time to invest in another social network. Pandora is overrated (every time I listen, I skip more tracks than I listen to). Napster's had so many incarnations, I've lost count and interest. I've never given Last.fm a go, because frankly, I've grown tired of all of these services which get close to what I want, but not quite.

My CD collection — which is in the 1,500-2,000 range — is somewhat organized. It lives in a series of alphabetical bins stacked in a hall closet. Once a month, or less, I'll go searching for a disc. Maybe I'll find it. Maybe not. Thus, I'll re-buy. A bummer, but worthwhile if I want to hear the Beach Boys "Let the Wind Blow" and put it on my iPhone, instead of streaming an inferior file on YouTube. $0.99 isn't all that bad. But it adds up. Besides, what else can I do, without illegally downloading?

Spotify is a desktop app that lets you stream 3.8 million songs — for free. While it isn't perfect, it sure does blow away the above-noted competition.

For two weeks, I've been listening and, better yet, collecting hundreds of songs that I've structured into a variety of playlists so that I can listen, on repeat.

In a word, the service is: AWESOME.

Here's the jist:

The Rad

The selection is pretty solid: I've searched and found dozens of albums and artists I haven't listened to in, literally, years. That's my favorite part: no more diving into the closet and flipping through jewel cases; no more re-buying just to hear a song on-demand; no risk of getting sued just cause I want to hear Joy Division's "Digital" 137 times yesterday and today. Plus, new releases from the kinds of bands you'll hear on KCRW and some college radio stations.

The UI is logical and smooth, as is the streaming itself. Tracks play, more or less, instantaneously. No disheartening buffering. The free account features tracks at 160kbps. You can, of course, pay up for better sound. I doubt I ever would or will.

It's legal, thanks to licensing. Supposedly there are ads that get inserted into your playlists. In the two weeks I've been listening, I haven't seen or heard one ad. That's great for me. That's not so good for the advertisers. Go figure.

There are a bevy of fun, useful features which you can dive into — drag-and-drop playlist creation, artist/song search, artist radio (not great, imho, but comparable to other streaming radio stations), collaborative playlists, sharing to Facebook — OR NOT. If you have no interest in exploring these, no problem. The UI isn't gunked up with tons of buttons or links to confuse a casual listener. As such, it's unbelievably easy to get started and just listen to music.

You can also choose genres, years, and mix and match: 80s goth, 90s dance, or even something like 70s country/reggae:

The Not-So-Rad

Spotify sports a list of similar artists and artist radio, but I'm not finding this to be all that much of a mind-blowing music discovery tool. At least, not to the point that I've gone ahead and purchased or saved many "new" artists I've never heard of or lesser-known tracks from artists I do know.

The Meh

1) No Beatles. No LedZep. Even mid-level bands are noticeably absent or incomplete: Wolf Parade's second album but not it's first (and best).

2) Oh, and because of legal issues, it's currently available only in the UK, France, Spain, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

3) I can't imagine Apple will ever allow the iPhone app to pass go and collect $200m [via Lifehacker]:

photo by RodBegbie

Rob Beschizza

Review: an afternoon with the Sony Ericsson W518a

Sony Ericsson's W518a is a clamshell phone offered by AT&T for $100 with a 2-year contract. A $50 mail-in rebate halves that price. It has a 3G radio, 320 x 240 display, GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and external music controls for use as an MP3 player.

On the Walkman front, it can access Napster and other streaming services, has an FM radio, and can be controlled by shaking it just so: clever! The W518a also has a full set of basic info management apps, instant messaging, a sound recorder, and so on.

Its flagship feature, however, is a custom Facebook app that aims to make this decidedly dumb phone a lot faster and smarter when it comes to integration with the social networking site.

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Rob Beschizza

A weekend with Cakewalk's Sonar V-Studio 100

A digital music dilattente, I'm hardly qualified to evaluate the quality of Sonar's VS-100 compared to rival equipment. So I won't. Instead, I'll just tell you why I like this pricey $700 box, and look forward to the day I'm good enough at music to make it a worthwhile buy.

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Rob Beschizza

Review: 15 minutes with Pledge's Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair

Pledge's $5 hair box is a plastic gadget equipped with rollers. Designed to squeeze up pet hair regardless of which direction it's rolled, it's more expensive than adhesive rollers--but claims to be better. I picked one up at Target and put it to the dog bed. Thoughts:

• It works as well as a roller, but not better.
• Definitely not as gross as roller sheets.
• It's ridiculously designed to make it impossible to empty.
• But it works just fine if you empty and re-use it.

Pledge's decision to to mold the cover permanently to the base is a cheap attempt at screwing customers, but it's a neat gadget all the same--and nothing an Xacto knife can't fix.

Update: Reader I Am At Work offers a useful Instructable on re-using them.

Rob Beschizza

Review: A week with Dyson's DC22 Motorhead

Dyson's DC22's is a compact and powerful canister vac that looks like a cyberpunk chain gun. Though it's extremely good at its job, the $800 price tag highlights its few flaws and places it out of the price range of many shoppers.

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David Wertheimer

Review: Klipsch's Image X5s headphones

Klipsch's Image X5s came to me almost by accident: at the tail end of my research, I happened across a mention of the Image S4 model in Entertainment Weekly, of all places. After talking to the company, it sent the Image X5 noise isolating model. Klipsch is well known for its stereo speakers, and I was curious to see if Klipsch headphones would be of similar quality.

Fast answer: yes. The Image X5s sound consistently great, in a variety of settings and across a variety of music. High and low notes are equally strong, with nice separation of tones and clear details at low volumes. That's a crucial test for noise-isolating headphones: many of the models being reviewed sound much different, and better, with the volume cranked. The Image X5s provide consistent audio quality regardless of volume level.

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Rob Beschizza

Review: An hour with Hillcrest Labs' Loop Pointer

Placed so they can be hit with the thumb, the $100 Loop Pointer has a two mouse buttons, a scroll wheel, and a "mute" button so that you can lay it down without moving the pointer. It comes with a 30-ft RF dongle that plugs into a USB port, and requires two AA batteries. Thoughts follow.

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Rob Beschizza

Review: Vivitar Vivicam 8025 and T328

Vivitar's ViviCam 8025 and T328 are budget point-and-shoot cameras that offer standard features and come in blister packs. They're not very good, but they are cheap and they are easy to use.

The T328 has 12 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom lens, face detection, anti-shake and 32 MB of internal memory. It's an inch thick, but much fatter at the control end. The 8025 has 8.1 megapixels, a slightly smaller display, and is much thinner and lighter.

Both have SD/SDHC card slots, flashes and come with USB cables and wallwart USB power adapters.

Pros:

• Picture quality OK for budget cameras
• Bright displays with simple menus
• Rechargeable lithium battery included

Cons:

• Plastic tat
• No auto-review of shots
• SD card in the 8025 hard to insert and remove

Though Vivitar's budget ViviCams get the job done, and have fast, simple menus, they're not the equal of stuff from Canon, Sony or Nikon, who all have basic models that are only slightly more expensive. No-one who already owns a camera should consider these models. That said, deals at discount stores make the lower-end 8025 a good gift for anyone who need something disposable and straightforward.

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Steven Leckart

Why Overt Gaming Could Take Over Social Networks & Recommendation Engines

I'm the Mayor of my local dog park. For two days, I was also the Mayor of Wired Magazine's San Francisco office. I'm now recovering from a disconcerting case of TMI-tus. All thanks to Foursquare, a GPS-enabled app I downloaded to my phone.

If you're unfamiliar, here's how it works: You launch the app, your phone determines your location, and you then have the option to broadcast this "news" to your friends, Twitter followers, etc. and add tips about, say, a restaurant &mdash what to order, what table to sit at, what time to go, etc.

But here's the catch: it's a game. Points are awarded every time you check in. Additional points are handed out if you do this frequently at multiple locations. Even more points are earned every time you add a new location to Foursquare's database.

The result: I ranked #14 on the San Francisco leaderboard after a long, exhausting weekend.

The purpose: I have no clue.

...Or actually, maybe I do. Find out after the jump.

photos by Adam Jackson & Filmoculous

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Rob Beschizza

Review: An afternoon with Shuttle's Nano-powered XS29

Shuttle's XS29 barebone PC has a 1.6GHz processor, up to 4GB of RAM, gigabit ethernet, DVI, VGA and standard audio jacks, 6 USB ports and Via Chrome9 HC3 video. It's a Via Nano version of the X27, an otherwise identical machine equipped with an Intel chipset and Atom CPU.

Thoughts follow.

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Rob Beschizza

Review: A day with HP's MediaSmart LX195

HP's LX195 has a 1.6 GHz processor, gigabit ethernet, 1GB of RAM, a 640GB hard drive and 4 USB ports. Running Microsoft Windows Home Server, it's competitively priced against consumer network storage options, but offers extras like iTunes media serving, network media collection and antivirus.

At $300 after rebates, it's the perfect thing if you're on Windows, have a family-full of computers bursting with photos and music, and want an easy, no-tinkering-required setup. Step out of this scenario, however, and some shortcomings emerge.

Pros and cons follow, in no particular order.

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Rob Beschizza

Review: GP2X Wiz runs retrogaming rings around mainstream rivals

GP2X Wiz, available from ThinkGeek, is a handheld gaming console about the size of a pack of slim cigarettes. It has a 533/800MHz processor, a 320x240 2.8" AMOLED touchscreen display, 1GB of internal storage and an SD card slot. A tailored cut of the Linux operating system boots in about 15 seconds.

The latest in a series of handheld gaming consoles made by Korea's GamePark, the GP2X Wiz differs sharply from mainstream competitors like the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Whereas those machines incorporate strenuous measures to stop people writing their own software, the Wiz is completely open: anyone can write new applications and software, either in the machine's native code or using Adobe Flash.

While the open architecture means that the GP2X Wiz is unlikely to see official ports of leading titles, GamePark says it plans to release new games at a regular clip. Its heart, however, is in being a perfect platform for playing homebrew games and emulated classics. At $180, however, the latest model is very expensive. Is it worth it?

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Rob Beschizza

Review: A week with the Sumosac Gigantor

The Sumo XXL Gigantor is a comfy bag that spreads out to cover about 40 square feet. I have been lounging on it and my conclusions follow.

• It's enormous, adequately constructed and significantly cheaper than the equivalent Love Sac. These are the three main points that you're probably looking for. Voila.

• The covers, available in four colors, are a basic faux-suede. Not as fancy as the Love Sac options.

• Getting the cover on is an an epic task. It's like putting a condom on a melon: not impossible, but you wouldn't want to have to do it for money. You'll need at least two people, so don't buy one if you have no friends.

• It's delivered in a relatively small container, and expands to full size when you take it out. I should have realized this when the exploded cardboard box it came in was clearly held together solely by its nylon straps. So don't take it out in the entry way, folks, if you plan on taking it to the third floor, unless you like dragging massive styrofoam Shoggoths up stairs.

• The shredded foam inside is surprisingly, but not amazingly, comfortable. It holds its form much better than oldschool beanbags. It's a bit lumpy, but it didn't bother me.

• I tried sleeping on it, because it was so big. I woke up a few hours later, after having a nightmare in which I had to escape my house, but there were snipers outside. My dogs had joined me on it at some point during the night. I went to bed.

• Don't get it in black if you have dogs and their hair is not black.

• This item is haunted by the same problems as other giant beanbag-like items: the lack of horizontal surfaces means that books, keyboards, scotch, etc., don't stay put, but the sheer size means that exterior reality is always beyond arm's reach.

• Unless you have a big room to put it in, don't.

The Sumo Gigantor is $400, shipped.

Product Page [Sumosac]

Disclosure: It's our policy to send send review stuff back or give it to readers, but this thing basically isn't going anywhere. So it will remain here for the time being, the comfortable syrofoam shoggoth of reviewer corruption.

David Wertheimer

Review: Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 in-ear monitors

Ultimate Ears, the audio arm of Logitech, makes in-ear monitors for a wide range of musicians, from Metallica to Sheryl Crow. The super.fi line is Ultimate Ears' consumer angle, and the super.fi 5 is one of eight noise-isolating models currently available.

The big claim on Ultimate Ears' website is 26db of noise reduction in optimal conditions. On the New York City subway, these headphones did a terrific job of shutting out the sounds of a speeding train. They were similarly good filtering basic office noise. That said, the 5's largest earbud option was not big enough to fill my (apparently abnormally spacious) ear canal, so I had more moderate results on my proving grounds--my bike commute to work, where I pass traffic, construction sites, and a helipad. Random loud noises were less isolated than continuous sound.

Having been recently spoiled by the clarity of the Etymotic hf2, I compared the super.fi 5s to them side by side. Ultimate Ears does a much better job with rock 'n roll--they're significantly louder than the hf2, and handle bass with much more oomph. But they're muddier than the Etymotics: more like satellite radio and less like a digitally remastered CD. They left me wondering whether the engineering in other Ultimate Ears models, like the super.fi 5pro or the top-line 700 model, would be more satisfying and pro-quality.

Of course, purity isn't everything, and the super.fi 5s are decidedly peppier headphones. I find it hard to fall into a state of audiophile bliss with them, but I can have fun with them, and thanks to the good isolation I can do so without blowing out my ears. I can see why Kirk Hammett would approve.

Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 headphones ship with a generous set of five silicone and foam cushion options. There's a cleaning tool--which is clever, although I'm not sure what to do with it--and a delightfully compact hard plastic case.

Steven Leckart

Review: Garmin nüvi 1490T

Once Garmin announced the Nuviphone, it was clear they knew the writing was on the wall. The challenge for GPS manufacturers and a handful of portable product makers (like, say, Pure Digital) is what they're going to do now that mobile phones in the U.S. are starting to deliver improved video, photo, audio, GPS, etc.

One approach: do as TomTom does and start making apps for the iPhone and other platforms.

Another approach: keep adding features!

Garmin's nüvi 1490T sports a fairly responsive five-inch touchscreen, microSD slot, picture viewer, and Bluetooth. You're also getting some of the best Garmin has to offer in terms of mapping, including ecoRoute (for hypermilers), traffic alerts, up to 10 saved routes, and lane assist, to name a few. The GPS is great, too: I actually discovered a faster route from my home to the freeway (a route Google Maps has never once suggested).

Best of all, the 1490T is commendably lightweight (7.8 ounces) and extremely thin (0.6 inches thick), presumably to make it easier to pocket, too.*

Unfortunately, the battery life isn't quite up to snuff, at least not for a device intended to be carried wirelessly. On one trip, my fully-charged 1490T lasted just over 2 hours before the "low battery" message came on the screen. Not a big deal if you're in the car, but for a device intended to be carried with you, presumably, everywhere and anywhere, it's certainly something to be aware of.

If you're hoping to take this sightseeing or hiking for any prolonged period of time, I'd argue this is somewhat of a dealbreaker, especially since the 1490T only comes with a USB cable and 12-volt adapter. Thus, if you're out and about and looking to score some juice from a standard wall outlet, you'd need to pocket an adapter &mdash otherwise, you're SOL (three letters that should never come to mind when you think "GPS.").

What's also missing: MP3 player/FM radio, headphone jack, Web browser, camera, and it can't make calls obviously (though it can be paired as a speaker for your cell phone). Sure it could be construed as entirely silly to expect all of these, but for $500, maybe holding my breath for some of these features isn't too much to ask?

*note: I never attached the device to my windshield, mainly because I'm terrified of adding additional blindspots to my car. As a result, I left it sitting either in my lap or on the center console. Easier to grab when exiting, but unfortunately the speaker is in the rear. Thus, I had to choose between viewing the screen and muffling the sound, or forgoing the screen for a reasonable volume. Not a huge deal, but felt worth mentioning here in smaller print.

Rob Beschizza

A few days with the HTC Touch Pro 2

Very late to this one, so I'll keep it simple.

• It's a Windows Mobile 6.1 handset with a slider QWERTY keyboard, 3.6" touchscreen display, HSDPA, WiFi, a dedicated graphics chipset, Bluetooth, and a 528MHz Qualcomm CPU. It has a custom YouTube client, accepts microSD cards, and charges/syncs through a miniUSB port.

• It was sent so that I could look at the keyboard. This one thing was all: there wasn't even a SIM card in it. At this stage, even the folks selling Windows Mobile seem to be gritting their teeth over it.

• That said, it was the best Windows Mobile experience I've had. HTC's overlays get the most out of it. Touchflo 3D makes that which it touches look nice.

• The keyboard is better than any cellular QWERTY I've used (but I haven't used all of them.) It was better than the Xperia's, and leaves stuff like cheapo LG texting models and Sidekicks in the dust. At first it looks like just another set of hard, shallow chiclets, and it is -- but they're as properly tactile as such things can be and well-spaced. The layout is good, too, with numerals on their own row, arrow keys, shift keys in the proper spots, and a middle space bar. I'd go as far as to say that I enjoyed thumb-typing on it more than trying to touch-type with certain netbooks, like the Dell Mini 9 and Eee 900 series.

• John Gruber's right to say that most consumers will be happy and productive with touchscreen keyboards, and that the learning curve is easily breached with familiarity and time. But the Touch Pro 2's keyboard is such a great advertisement for physical keys, I just can't jump aboard the on-screen train just yet. It's important to me because I have the worst phone-typing fingers on Earth.

• The Touch Pro 2 is closely modeled on the iPhone, which makes the cost of that expansive slider keyboard very clear: it's almost twice as thick as Apple's handset. It is a bit of a brick.

• It comes with an unnecessarily stylish charging plug, which is just as well, because you'll be using it often.

Joel Johnson

Video Review: Vita-Mix 5200 Blender

Make no mistake: A Vita-Mix 5200 blender is overkill for the home kitchen. It's $450, to start. And its laudable blending ability doesn't even make itself apparent unless you're blending quite a bit of food at once. But over the course of the last month, I've yet to find food it can't turn into a healthful slop—eventually.

(You can buy a smaller blending carafe that makes it more suitable for home use, but that'll set you back nearly another $100.)