Accessories

Mari’s New Flip Video Case

I finally ordered a carrying case for my Flip Ultra after months of having it ride around in my purse with its velvet bag sliding off. It arrived two days ago and I have mixed reports. First, I’m regretting a bit the girly choice I made with the pink color. Second, I was very disappointed … Read more

The Samsung Stereo Bluetooth Headset Giveaway

While we didn’t leave the Sprint/Samsung CTIA press event with an Instinct, attendees were treated to a complimentary Samsung SBH500 Stereo Bluetooth headset ($80). I’ve tried them with Mac for Skype calls and listening to iTunes, though they’ll also work with a variety of phones. The SBH500 is a whole heck of a lot better … Read more

Flip Mino vs. Flip Ultra

The successor to Pure Digital’s Flip Ultra has now officially been announced. The new Flip Mino is on sale at the company’s site, on Amazon and at Walmart.com. As a happy owner of the Flip Ultra, I immediately started reviewing the specs to see if I should give in and upgrade. The biggest reason I … Read more

Not an Internet-Connected Toaster, but…

Is anyone else finding they have more Internet-connected devices now? Not gadgets where you can surf the Web, like a smart phone, but gadgets that access the Internet for a dedicated purpose. For example, my Slacker Portable radio has a Wi-Fi connection for refreshing my music stations. My Squeezebox connects to the Net for streaming … Read more

Hands On With Eye-Fi

I’ve had the Eye-Fi on hand for a few months now, and generally speaking, I’m a believer. This agnostic 2GB WiFi SD card ($100) allows most digital cameras to store and wirelessly transmit JPEG photos to both a local Mac or Windows PC and one of many online destinations (Facebook, Flickr, SmugMug, etc). It’s the … Read more

Hands On with RAPHA’s SurroundXi Speakers

This little beauty – the SurroundXi – looks best with an iPod Nano, but plays well with other music toys. I’ve been tinkering with these speakers for a couple of weeks now, and they’re fun, highly portable and easy to use. The sound isn’t Bose quality, but with my iPod Shuffle and my iPod Mini, it’s not bad at all. Here are the pros and cons.

Pros:

  • Plug and play
  • Very portable (runs on wire and on batteries)
  • Works with multiple audio players and flash drives
  • Auto-play from flash drive is seamless
  • Comes in many colors
  • Cheap! $40 at Target, but word on the Web says you can get the speakers for much less

Cons:

  • Music played from a flash drive worked very well the first time around, but now is accompanied by a very loud windy sound out of one speaker. Faulty unit? iPod Shuffle still plays well.
  • I plugged the SurroundXi into my Squeezebox a while back, and initially it worked reasonably well, but now the speakers make an annoying buzzing sound.

Bottom Line: The SurroundXi speakers are fun and cheap, but probably won’t hold up to years (months?) of use. Buy’em with that in mind, and you’ll be happy.

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Home Theater Tip: Buy Quality Inexpensive HDMI Cables

I’m setting up my SageTV HD100 and a key component is the HDMI cable used to connect the HD media extender to the LCD television. One thing I learned long ago was to not buy theater cables from the big-box retailers, including Best Buy, Circuit City,Walmart , etc. Instead, I save myself a bundle by … Read more

Navigon Introduces FreshMaps

Always a challenge for the obsessive GPS owner: How to get the latest maps and at what cost? I assume a “live” GPS service like Telenav has the most current maps, however the last two times I used them (navigating from JFK into NYC, and in the Bay Area to a friend’s home) Telenav failed … Read more