Few things keep your memory of the good times alive like a nice camera. A picture can capture a moment of happiness and keep it encapsulated for lifetimes. If you prefer the more dramatic moments, it can capture those as well. Buying a camera today isn’t as easy as it was back in the days of the Polaroid. The challenge is not only the price but the features and capabilities of the camera in relation to the price. While it is true that you do get what you pay for, the most expensive camera isn’t always the best. When comparing prices there are a few things to keep in mind.
Megapixels:
While megapixels are a major factor that should be considered when buying a digital camera, it isn’t everything. Your typical use of a camera can be complimented with a 5 megapixel camera and that will give you pretty good pictures. If you want to publish on the web, 2 megapixels will do. If you want professional quality pictures that can be enlarged then you’ll want 5 megapixels or more. Keep in mind that camera phones come with a standard 5 megapixels and they are even comming out with phones that are suited with 8 megapixels.
Image Quality:
Go ahead and take some pictures with the;digital camera in question before you buy it. Check for fuzziness, pixelated pictures, and sharpnes of the colors.
Memory and Media Type:
The amount of memory of your camera is important because pictures with more quality take up more memory. More memory means a higher price. Remember that a 500MB memory card will hold, well over, 3000 pictures. The beauty of a digital camera is the ability to see the picture that was just taken so a memory card will rarely get filled. Unless, of course, you’re like me and will keep on taking pictures until you are forced to transfer them onto your computer.
Zoom :
The ability to click on posers from a distance is a nice feature of a camera. Digitial zoom, like 10x, offers more flexibility and shots. However, digital zoom offers no help when you want to ennlarge your image, showing the little pixels it’s broken into when digital zoom is used. Optical zoom is important when you want to resize your images. If you plan on making posters and want to keep the clarity, pay attention to the optical zoom. Optical zoom also affects the clarity of distant pictures of scenery. If you’re playing detective and want that incriminating evidence taken from a distance, optical zoom is vital. Typical pictures just need 2x or 3x while those scenery and spy pictures will require an optical zoom of 5x or more.
Controlling Exposure:
Shutter speed and how much the lense opens is often an automatic control and few of us really need to manually control this. However, if you plan on getting serious about photography and would like dictate the amount of light that the camera captures then you may want to consider a camera that allows you to do this. The ultimate camera is one that allows you to change from manual to automatic.
Battery:
There’s not much that can be said about battery other than the obvious notion that if you want to be sure your battery has enough life to take those pictures. Opportunities for great pictures often pop up without warning. Making sure that battery is charged is important. Different models use up battery life at different rates.
The practical thing to do before buying your camera is deciding what sort of pictures you want to take and what you plan on doing with those pictures.
05.Jul.09 
Digicam 
Comments (10)
The search for the ability to recharge our laptops and cell phones without plugging them in may be one small step closer to success.
Nokia has developed a prototype that harvests ambient radio waves from the air. It then turns that energy into usable power, just sufficient to keep a cell phone from running out of juice.
Nokia’s system will draw its wireless waves from TV, radio, or other mobile phone systems, much of which is wasted and just bouncing around the air.
Nokia’s prototype can pick up all the bits and pieces of these waves in order to use the collected electromagnetic energy to create electrical current, then uses that to recharge the phone’s battery.
A huge range of frequencies can be utilized by the system (there’s no other way, really, as the energy in any given wave is infinitesimal).
Tesla was exploring this idea 100 years ago but on a larger scale.
You may never be able to power your house with this technology, but you may keep your cell phone operating.
Nokia is able to harvest all of 5 milliwatts from the air and their goal is to increase that to 20 milliwatts in the short term and 50 milliwatts down the line.
It’s not enough to keep the phone alive when making a call, but be enough to slowly recharge a cell phone’s battery while it’s in standby mode, theoretically offering infinite power — provided you’re not stuck deep underground where radio waves can’t penetrate.
Nokia hopes to commercialize the technology in three to five years.
22.Jun.09 Mobile Phone Comments (0)
Long-life batteries from Dell and HP can keep laptops running for as many as 20 hours at a stretch. But you don’t need a powerful external battery to get more use out of your current battery. There are several things you can do now to extract precious additional minutes from the basic six-cell battery found in most laptops.
Adjust only a few factors and you’ll derive most of the available power savings. The biggest consumers of battery power are the screen, the processor, the optical drive, and the disk. Of these, the screen is by far the most important. It’s also the easiest to adjust. Lower the brightness of the screen to the lowest level at which you can comfortably work and you’ll have done more to save battery life than any other tweak can deliver.
The processor is frequently beyond your immediate control — you’ve got to get the work done. However, eliminating background tasks such as listening to music or streaming video will lighten the processor’s load. Similarly, keeping Wi-Fi use to a minimum can buy you significant time. When you have a choice, plugging in a network cable is much easier on your battery than wireless networking.
Optical drives are largely used for optional activities, such as watching DVDs, listening to CDs, or ripping music. These are all power-hungry uses. Since most of them can be postponed with little downside, avoid using the optical drive until you can plug in to a power source.
One component that does not consume much power is the hard disk. In fact, the widely accepted view that SSDs (solid-state drives) provide important power savings over mechanical drives is simply wrong. The power savings delivered by SSDs when compared with hard drives is minimal to nonexistent. Per various hardware vendors, an SSD adds only about 10 minutes of useful life to a battery charge. This fact shows just how far hard-disk technology has advanced: Despite relying on many moving parts, its power consumption runs even with a solid-state device. SSDs should be bought either to ruggedize a system or for performance benefits, but not for energy savings.
Some of these adjustments can be automated by using the power-consumption profiles that are set up by the various operating systems or hardware-vendor utilities. Many users choose one profile they feel suits them and never change it. However, changing profiles is easy to do and will conserve battery life. So if you know your current workload will stretch your battery’s capacity, switch to a lighter, economy profile. And then switch back to your regular profile once you’re fully charged.
Toggling power profiles will keep you from having to configure several components to stretch your battery life. Or simpler yet, consider one of today’s long-life batteries.
05.Apr.09 Laptop Comments (2)
So you finally got enough dough to buy that digital SLR camera you have been drooling about since forever. Or maybe you finally thought of buying a new digital SLR camera to add to your collection or just so you have a new gadget to use at work. Whatever the reason is, you have finally decided to buy a digital SLR camera. You may want to consider buying this item online. You may get better deals and at the same time, you save traveling time and money because all you need to do is point and click.
Below are some of the top sites to visit if you are in the market for SLR digital cameras.
1.PCWorld
A good thing about this site is that it allows you to filter how you browse the item. The categories are price range (a help for those on a budget), manufacturer, lens type, memory, megapixels, LCD and so on. There are also user reviews that you can read to assist you in deciding and rating to check the customer satisfaction rating of the item. Basically this site pools all the sellers of digital SLR cameras and thus you can check out which among the rest of the sellers have the cheapest price.
2.digitalcameras.bizrate.com/digitalcameras at BizRate
Again another site that allows you to compare prices of the same digital SLR camera in different online stores. There are user reviews on both seller and item that you can browse through before deciding. It also has a page wherein you can see the detailed specification of the dSLR.
3.PopPhoto
This site is really more than just a selling site. It actually is a haven for photographers, as it has an extensive amount of information on cameras, lenses and almost everything you need to know about modern photography. Click on the tab that says “buying guide” and you can either search for a specific camera or search a camera by category. There are also suggestions from the team who manages the site so if you have no idea what to buy, it offers basically free advice. Once you click a certain link for a specific item you like, it has a details description of each specification and ratings from the site editors on features like overall quality, ease of use, overall value, hoods and filters, smoothness of zoom, legibility of exterior markings, fit and finish and versatility.
4.AlaTest
This is also another great site to look for online shops. It allows you to narrow down your search based on manufacturer, their rating of the product, the price, the type of optical zoom the camera has, resolution, the size of the LCD, its flash and the type of camera. After you have filtered what you want, the site shows your matches, with the best price among all the online shops. It also has a compare option where you can match two or more SLR’s so you can get a better grasp of which one is a better choice.
17.Jan.09 Digital SLR, Photography Comment (1)
Among all the electronic gadgets that have hogged popular attention around the world, mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant) are more ubiquitous and popular these days. While mobile phones have made communication fast and easy, PDAs have ensured busy executives stay connected to information, clients and social networks on the move. Not surprisingly, the widespread use of these hand-held gadgets has triggered an increasing need for accessories as well. For instance, these days, mobile phones accessories and PDA accessories have become extremely essential for virtually every individual who owns a mobile phone or PDA.
According to surveys, over 80% of the mobile phone and cell phone users express their strong desire to buy some kind of cell phones accessories or PDA accessories or other for to complement their handheld gadgets. While phone accessories such as mobile phones dock, mobile phones stand, memory cards, mobile phone batteries and mobile opening tools are in huge demand in the electronics consumer market, all sorts of PDA accessories ranging from PDA Batteries, PDA Car Accessories, PDA Cases, PDA Chargers and PDA Display Protects are among the top Internet searches by gadget-savvy consumers in the UK.
When it comes to mobile phones and PDA accessories, many people find Internet to be the best place to find what they want. A large percentage of consumers visit popular ecommerce websites in search of their mobile phones accessories, PDA accessories, and other gadget related accessories. Quite a few reasons are responsible why such a large number of people turn to popular online stores to buy their favourite phone accessories and PDA accessories. To begin with, online stores offer a safe, secure and fast way to buy mobile phone accessories and PDA accessories online. The consumers from the product gallery as per their own choice and from the comfort of their home at the click of a mouse! Moreover, many eCommerce sites also offer great discounts on their cell phones accessories and PDA accessories to their buyers. Buying your favourite mobile accessories on their Internet is really fast and easy. You have to log on to your favourite website, search for your favourite items, choose the product of your interest and then pay online through credit card or debit cards. Usually, it is the discounts on mobile accessories and PDA accessories that attract a number of people. Some websites offer you discounts if you enter a discount code while purchasing a mobile accessories and PDA accessories.
While so many online stores offer your favourite mobile phones accessories and PDA accessories, often choosing the right store becomes a real challenge to you. Hence, before buying your favourite mobile accessories and PDA accessories you should:
• Consider the prices of several online stores selling cell phones and PDA accessories.
• Check the payment options-whether they have flexible payment option.
• See how fast they can deliver your favourite mobile accessories.
• Consider the safety and security of the payment options.
• See if the online store is offering great discounts on their cell phones accessories and PDA accessories.
02.Jan.09 Mobile Phone, PDA Comment (1)
These are all the things i have learned from numerous hours on many message boards!
1) Play games from any country
Harbouring a desire to play Super Gaiden Ninja XI? Now you can. In fact, you can handily play any PS3 game from any country. On holiday in the States and spot the latest release at a bargain dollar-to-pound price? Help yourself. So far, at least, PS3 games aren’t being region coded. That said PS2 and PS1 games are so you can’t play a US title on a Euro console. And let’s not forget that Blu-ray movies are region-coded so the barriers aren’t completely down yet.
2) The secret video reset
One of the most annoying aspects of the PS3 are its video settings. Take it up to the bedroom portable or round to a friend’s house and there’s a good chance that you won’t be able to see anything onscreen because your ‘new’ TV is running at a different resolution or using a different cable connection. And – because you can’t see anything – you can’t change it. Until now. Shut down your PS3 then restart by pressing and holding the power button. This will reset your PS3 to its most basic 480p graphics mode so you’ll be able to see enough to choose RGB SCART, component, HDMI or whatever from here.
3) See how much charge is on your pad
There’s no indication of how much charge is left on the pad itself. Instead it appears on screen during games. Press and hold the PS button on any joypad. An indicator will appear, showing your pad’s charge as a small battery. A full battery pic means a fully-charged pad. Neat.
4) Download game saves
Chances are someone out there has already beaten that boss for you and saved their game afterwards. Why not take advantage of it? Google ‘PS3 game saves’. There are hundreds of finished and half finished game saves scattered all over the internet. Download the save you want – it’ll come in a ‘PS3′ folder that you can lift onto a USB stick and put into your PS3. Go to the Game menu, choose your stick and the game save you downloaded should be right there. Press Triangle to copy it to your hard drive.
5) Make free video phone calls
You will need a USB headset (like the one you use for PS2 Socom) and an EyeToy camera. Plug in both via USB then go to your Friends menu. Choose a friend you’ve signed up earlier and press Triangle. Choose Start New Chat and type a message. Something like ‘Videochat?’ should do the trick. Now, providing they’re in front of their powered-up PS3 (perhaps you could text them to tell them to be in position?) then they’ll see your message and be given the option to accept your videochat.
Now, provided they too have a camera and headset, two windows will open, one showing you (so you can make sure you’re looking your best), the other displaying your mate. Best of all you can hit Triangle again and invite more people to join your chat – up to a maximum of six. And the cost? Not a bean above your usual broadband connection charges.
6) Browse multiple Internet windows
Open the browser (go to Network) and surf to a page you want. Now open up the menu
with a press of Triangle and choose ‘Open In New Window’. Enter another URL and then
do the same again. Keep going until you’ve got six windows open.
Now press L3 (done by clicking down the left stick). You’re now in multi-page mode.
Move the left stick to flick through the web pages as though they were bits of paper,
then click L3 again to zoom in.
7) Upgrade your hard drive
We took the drive out of our PS3 and found it to be a Seagate Momentus 5400rpm 60Gb 2.5inch SATA drive.
We swapped ours out effortlessly for a Seagate Momentus 120Gb 2.5inch SATA drive and it worked perfectly.
Remove the cover flap on the bottom of your PS3 with a fingernail.
Undo the blue screw and slide the drive over to the right and out of your PS3.
Undo the four screws on the ‘caddy’ and remove the old drive.
Put your new drive in the caddy (it should be exactly the same size, of course) and re-do the four screws.
Slot it back in and slide to the left to make the connections. Re-do the blue screw,
pop the cover back on and restart your PS3. Say ‘yes’ to the message on screen and voila -
new super-size hard-drive. (Go to Settings, System Settings, System Information to check).
8. Share your bought downloads
You can download anything you’ve bought from the store to five PlayStation 3’s.
This is useful if you’ve got more than one PS3 (of course) and also if you’ve wiped
your hard-drive and don’t fancy paying for the same download twice…
However, you can also choose to share your download with your mates. The PlayStation
Store logs how many times each download has been downloaded by each user.
On your mate’s PS3 Create New User and log onto the store with your ID.
You’ll now be able to go to your download and see that you’ve already
downloaded whatever it was that you paid for. You can now download it again,
using another of your downloads and giving it to your mate for free. Or a small optional charge…
9) Force a PS3 to show your files
Put your photos in a folder called ‘PICTURE’ or your videos in a folder called ‘VIDEO’ or simply *force*
your PS3 to look at your files on your stick regardless of what you called them or where
you put them. Insert your stick and go to the menu option you want (Photos, Music, whatever).
Press Triangle to bring up a menu and choose Display All. This will show every file on the stick.
It even works for a plugged-in iPod, though the multi-folder structure you’ll reveal is a bit baffling.
Still, your songs are in there if you’ve got the patience to find them.
10) Change your album art
When you import a music CD your PS3 automatically pulls down the album art and stores it with the tracks.
Occasionally it gets it wrong, however, or it may simply not be able to find the art of your hipper,
less commercial tracks. This is easily fixed however. Download a pic of the art you need as a
jpg on your PC and put it onto a stick (in a folder called PICTURE, ideally). Copy it to your
Photo menu (press Triangle). Now go to Music and select the album folder with the offending art.
Press Triangle and select Information. Go to the Photo menu and select your new picture. Bingo.
11. Setting up your memory stick for easy PS3 use.
Can’t find that song you just put on your memory stick? Unable to locate that game your trying to
transfer? Its prolly not in the right folder.
You can hit Triangle and then choose “display all” and hunt for it or you can prevent that from ever
happening by making the following folders.
Music: Music
Movies: Video
Pictures: Picture
PS3 game saves: PS3>SAVEDATA
PS1/PS2 game saves: PS3>EXPORT>PSV
12. Video Compatibility
Trying to play a video but keep getting an “Unsupported format” Message? Odds are the video is not in an Mpeg format.
This is easily fixed. Simply google “Xvid4psp”. This is a program that can convert most video formats
into mp4 with very little image quality being lost. As a bonus it can also reduce the file size considerably.
13. “Wireless” internet access with your 20gb PS3
For this you will need at the very least a computer or laptop near your ps3 and a ethernet cable
(a router, internet access etc expected also). After you connect your ps3 to the computer or through a
router (perhaps for multiple systems) and to the computer, right click on my network connections and click properties.
Then right click your wireless internet connection and click properties. Click the advanced tab and check the boxes
for “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s internet connection” if you have a drop down box
under that, select the connection that you connected your ps3 to. Then also click the check box that says allow other
network users to control or disable the shared internet connection.
Click ok, and wait for your computer to save the settings then enjoy. This also works with xbox, ps2,
gamecube, and dreamcast(that is if you can find the broadband adapter for it….).
14. Bluetooth Headset Functionality
If you have a bluetooth headset you can set it up under one of the 7 bluetooth ports available via the ps3.
To set it up put your headset in pairing mode, and then go to settings on your XMB. Click accessories and
click register bluetooth device.. Then choose register headset/microphone/headphones. Then follow the instructions.
Go to audio device settings to test your bluetooth connection after everything is set up.
15. How to view the PSN stores in other regions
First creat a new user and name it what ever you like. I suggest naming it what region PSN store that accout
will be linked to. There are only 4 major regions worth making an account for USA, UK, Hong Kong and Japan.
Next just make a new master PSN account on that user. Choose the desired region when asked for a country.
From there its should walk you through the entire proses.
The USA, UK and Hong Kong set up menus will all be in english so you should have no trouble getting things set up.
The Japanese PSN set up however is, you guessed it, in Japanese. Not to worry. Simply go to this web sight.
www.freewebs.com/buggie66/index.html
There you will find a step by step guide on how to make a Japanese account. There are even pictures detailing
every step just incase you get confused.
16. Setting up Remote play
This is based on your PS3 having the newest firmware and is a 60gig:
1. Connect your PSP to the PS3 with a usb cable (the one that came with the PS3 will work). Turn on your PSP,
go to settings, and choose USB connection
2. on your PS3, go to settings, choose remote play settings, and choose to register a device. It will take a few
seconds to register your PSP. once its done, you can get out of USB mode on the PSP and disconnect it from the PS3 system.
If you want to make sure your PSP registered, choose the “registered devices” category on the PS3 remote play settings.
A list of registered PSP devices will appear (the nickname you gave you PSP will be shown, along with it’s mac address.
3. Next, go to network on the PS3 and choose the Remote Play option. It should say to connect a registered PSP to the PS3.
4. now, make sure the WLAN switch is slide up on the PSP, and in the PSP menu, go to network and choose Remote Play
(which should say the nickname of the PS3 it is connected to). A list of your network connections will appear,
with a new one that says “PLAYSTATION(R)3″. Make sure you are a reasonable distance from the PS3, and choose that
connection. A few seconds of connecting later and………
5. VIOLA! Your PS3 XMB menu should appear on your PSP! You can now look at photos, listen to music, and watch videos
stored on the PS3’s HDD on the PSP! You can even go into the Playstation store, go on the web browser, and send messages
to your friends on your freinds list! ZOMGLAWLCOPTERZ!1!111!!
*note: pressing the “HOME” button on the PSP will bring up some options you can tinker with*
6. When you want to quit remote play, Press the “HOME” button on PSP and Choose to quit back to the menu. Then on the PS3,
press circle to go back to the XMB. And that, kiddies, is how you do it.
17.Nov.08 PS3 Comments (4)
Want better Christmas photos this holiday season? Are you bored with or just plain tired of the “same old†pictures year after year? Let’s spice things up a bit then with these nine how to tips for taking better Christmas photos this year.
1. Get Closer than You Normally Do
This year why not start off by shooting more close up and macro Christmas photos? Everything from wrapping decorations to textures and miniature views of common objects will help to lend a new dimension to your Christmas photos.
2. Use Reflections
At this time of the year especially, there are lots of shimmering, shiny surfaces available. Use these to capture reflections all around you from faces to scenes and splatterings of color. A small strategically-placed hand mirror can get you started looking for those unique, one-of-a-kind reflected images. From there, it’s only a matter of scouting around for even more reflected image possibilities.
3. Try Some Christmas Photo Silhouettes
Taking dramatic, unique-looking silhouettes couldn’t be easier. Get your subject backlit, disable the camera’s flash, meter off the brightly-lit and brightly colored background – and BINGO! You’ve got an attention-getting silhouette.
4. Go Outside for Startling Christmas Photos
If there’s snow in your locale (oh joy!), you can capture the winter season settings that will spark your Christmas photos this season. Newly fallen snow has an almost magical quality about it that readily lends itself for some truly outstanding digital images. Be sure to try shooting a series of black and white images for Christmas photos that go well beyond the “ordinary†array of holiday pictures.
5. Add a Selection of Night photography Images
Say, while you’re outside, don’t neglect night photography in your Christmas photos portfolio. Even before the sun sets you can start shooting “night†photos of the brightly-lit store fronts, shopping districts and special holiday lighting around town. Look for especially well-done house and garden lighting too.
17.Nov.08 Photography Comments (0)
By ERIC A. TAUB
When Apple announced in March that it would open up the iPhone to outside software developers, it promised that the resulting applications would help create “amazing†and “innovative†applications that would transform the concept of a smartphone.
Last week, an application turned the iPhone into a megaphone to proclaim: “I Am Rich.†That is the name of a downloadable program that promised to do nothing except signal to the world that its buyer was wealthy enough to have spent $1,000 to download an image of a multifaceted ruby.
Created by a German software developer, Armin Heinrich, it was written pretty much as a joke. “I found that some users complain about prices for iPhone applications above 99 cents,†Mr. Heinrich said. “I regard it as art. I did not expect many people to buy it and did not expect all the fuss about it.â€
The value of a consumer product aimed at the luxury market, after all, is rarely determined by the cost of its raw materials and fabrication, but rather by its perceived exclusivity.
Apparently his humor was lost in translation. As first reported by The Los Angeles Times, eight people bought the application, earning its developer $5,600, his 70 percent share. (Apple got the rest.)
But then Apple notified Mr. Heinrich that two of the sales were reversed. Some people apparently bought it by mistake, with at least one saying he hit the “one click†button, not expecting the sale to go through.
Mr. Heinrich was bombarded with e-mail and phone messages, “many of them insulting,†he said. “It’s O.K. to return the money. I did not want to harm anybody with my app.â€
Apple declined to comment. But in the past it has said an application cannot be sold until Apple approves it.
There is also no way for a customer to try an application before buying it, a feature that could have further reduced the sales of “I Am Rich†— perhaps to zero.
11.Aug.08 IPhone Comment (1)
It’s late in the day and again my iPhone 3G’s battery is running low. Instead of giving this iPhone a name, as many people do with their gadgets, I’m using a mantra: “Another day, another charge.”
That makes this an apt time to take a fresh look at an increasingly important part of our gadget portfolio, those portable charging devices that provide a shot of juice in a pinch.
Do you know someone seemingly at the edge of disaster because of a misplaced phone charger? Or maybe, after a nap with the music on during a lengthy plane ride, you find you don’t have enough power to call the office?
The iPhone 3G magnifies such issues. The Wi-Fi connection, the faster network speeds and GPS features all strain the battery. So for the last week, I’ve been using a few portable chargers to keep the iPhone and some other gadgets ready to go.
These devices are not intended to replace a proper charger. Rather, they should be viewed as an auxiliary power source for when the battery runs low and business needs to get done.
“It provides a supplemental charge,” Ken Klarfeld, iPowerRush president, said of his portable charging device, one of the first targeting the iPhone 3G. “You’re on a plane, watching a movie and your iPhone goes dead? What do you do?”
With the iPowerRush, you should be fine—as long as the six AAA batteries it needs work.
In my tests, it provided what Klarfeld noted, a supplemental charge. The iPhone battery was nearly dead when I plugged the iPowerRush into the iPhone. About 45 minutes later, I had enough power to make it home, a 30-minute commute, playing with the iPhone all the way.
Once home, I plugged the iPhone into its charger. It should be noted that Apple’s new iPhone charger is about the size of a marshmallow, making it a portable power source. But it still needs to be plugged into a wall socket.
The iPowerRush, sold online for $30 (iPower Rush.com) empties those six AAA pretty quickly, so it could become pricey if you use it too much. Even with fresh batteries, the device will not provide a full charge to the iPhone.
You can use rechargeable batteries—remember to recharge those—as well.
Another approach is a portable charger with multiple connectors, or “tips.” These tips are made for iPods, various mobile phones, digital mobile phones and countless other gadgets.
One of my favorites is the Powerstick, a $70 device (Powerstick.com) that includes nine tips. I’ve used them for many of my own gadgets, as well as those I review. It always works—and sure enough one of the tips it ships with worked with the iPhone 3G.
Again, the iPhone was nearly empty when I connected the Powerstick. It didn’t fully charge the device, but it provided a longer charge than the iPowerRush.
You recharge the Powerstick via USB, so when it’s empty, you simply plug it into a computer’s USB port. A recharge takes about 30 minutes.
But not all devices that claim to work with the iPhone will. The packaging on the Lenmar PowerPort Mini says it works with iPhones, but it wouldn’t charge my iPhone 3G. It did charge an iPod Nano and it claims to works with BlackBerries, but I didn’t test that.
The PowerPort Mini is a cleverly designed device, small and affordable (several online retailers offer it for about $22). Like the Powerstick, it charges itself via USB and it fully charged an empty Nano with juice to spare.
But I’m leery of this device, and it is not recommended. There were times it wouldn’t work at all, even on that same Nano. There’s no point in buying an unreliable backup.
Finally, Duracell has refreshed its line of battery-based portable chargers. It sells two versions of My Pocket Charger, one for iPods (not iPhones) and for mobile phones made by Research In Motion and Motorola.
It comes with two AA batteries, and an online price check found both versions starting around $15. It did fully charge an empty Nano, but it does not work with rechargeable batteries.
Again, these portable chargers are great for a power pinch. I also think they are ideal gifts for road warriors, particular the Powerstick. It’s the most expensive, yet the most reliable and flexible.
But due to the iPhone 3G’s rapid popularity and even faster battery drainage, expect to see more power options quickly.
03.Aug.08 IPhone, iPod Comments (4)
By Dave Joa
Buy yourself a digital photo frame and have some fun. If you enjoy taking or looking at photos of any type then the latest digital photo frames are perfect for displaying your photographs at their best. The quality of image that is now possible with these electronic photo display devices is very impressive.
However before you buy a digital picture frame there are some minimum requirements that you need to check for the photo frame you are thinking of buying.
Make Sure the Display is High Resolution!
If you want the best image, and who does not, you will want to check the image resolution of your new digital photo display so that you get a sharp and well lit view of all your photos on the frame. These little display screens are very similar to what is used on a modern flat panel tv and use lcd technology. LCD stands for liquid crystal display.
Image quality on a digital photo frame is very important. So much so that if you do not get this right you will not see a good quality image on your new photo display.
Many different resolutions are available and you need a 640×480 resolution as a minimum or 800×600 if you can afford it. It will make a big difference to the enjoyment of your photo collection. Any frame with a resolution below this minimum will not display images as well as the original photo and you will not like what you see.
Also if you go for a larger size LCD display of 10 inches or over then also go for the highest resolution you can afford as well. So for the sharpest images you should always go for the highest resolution. If the frame you want seems cheap then check the resolution before buying.
Aspect Ratio is also Important.
There are just two different aspect ratios to consider for digital photo frames and these are the less common 15:9 and the normal 4:3, which is found in images from most of todays more common digital cameras.
Therefore a digital picture frame with a 4:3 aspect ratio will most likely display your photos the best in their original form. However a frame displaying the 15:9 ratio will give you a more impressive wide-screen image just like a mini TV.
The downside to 15:9 digital screens is that the top and bottom of any 4:3 photo will be cropped from the image you see and you may not want this effect.
Check the Memory Card Slot.
If possible get a digital photo frame with a multiple card reader slot so that you can use your existing memory card and also your friends. If only one card reader slot is provided then you will need to make sure that it is the same as that used in your digital camera.
You may need a USB port.
In order to move digital photos and images from your digital camera or computer using a USB cable then the digital frame you buy must have a matching USB slot for the cable. If you only want to use memory cards to transfer your images you will not need USB.
Other Options.
Today there are now some great options available for a digital photo frame and these include headphones, remote controls, speakers, alarms, clocks and wireless connections to the web for image downloads. These options cost more and it will be up to you to decide if you want them.
Use the recommendations made to you above to get a great deal on a good quality digital photo frame, which will display the sharpest images for what you can afford, and just ignore the company labels as these should not be relevant when making your choice.
27.Jul.08 Photography Comments (2)
