Reviews - Page 8 of 12 - Zatz Not Funny!

Hands On With Eye-Fi

Dave Zatz — May 12, 2008 — 10 Comments

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 perfect tool for the lazy blogger (that’d be me) or tech novices (like my mom) – removing the need for card readers or USB cables and manual imports. Though I wouldn’t recommend the Eye-Fi to those regularly shooting hundreds of photos, as WiFi uploads are slower than your existing transfer methods and camera battery life will be impacted. I’ve been mostly satisfied using the card for shooting and transmitting blog photos… Pics are conveniently uploaded into iPhoto on my MacBook Pro and into my Flickr account (as a backup archive).

My older Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9 has experienced the occasional prob: Sometimes after attempting to snap a pic, the camera fully extends and then retracts the lens in a sort of zoom cycling – and unfortunately, an image is not captured. A nice-to-have feature that I’d like to see integrated into the very nice software interface and service is the ability to send my phone a text message once the current batch of photos has finished uploading (so I know it’s safe to turn off the camera). I’d also like a way to transmit videos, and I’ve noticed others looking for RAW support – though I’m not sure those folks fall within the typical Eye-Fi demographic.

Today, Eye-Fi is announcing the expansion of their product lineup. The card I have is being re-branded the Eye-Fi Share (still $100), providing both computer and online service uploads. At the lower-end, the Eye-Fi Home ($80) facilitates only camera -> local computer transmissions. At the high-end, the forthcoming Eye-Fi Explore ($130) will geotag all photos and adds Wayport hotspot uploads (free the first year, $19/yr thereafter). While the geotagging feature is pretty cool, until/unless Starbucks hotposts (AT&T or T-Mobile) are added, I’d purchase the Share card… which I’m surprised they’re not offering (yet?) in 4GB capacities.

Overall, I’ve appreciated what the Eye-Fi offers and it’s one of the few review products I’ll purchase once the loaner has been returned or raffled off.

In Accessories, Media, Reviews

Living with the Slacker Portable

Mari Silbey — April 24, 2008 — 10 Comments

Slacker Portable 1

I’ve been living with the Slacker Portable device for about six weeks now and have accumulated a slew of thoughts/insights/revelations on what I like and don’t like about the music player. In case you’re really ADD or just don’t have the time to read the details, here’s the bottom line: the functionality of the Slacker Portable is phenomenal, and far outweighs the hardware and software quirks that come along with it.

First, if you’ve never used the Slacker service online, go check it out. It’s like other customizable Internet radio applications (Last.fm, Pandora), but the personalization tools are particularly flexible and produce great results. So far, having a Slacker Portable is just like carrying the online application around in my pocket, and I don’t need a constant broadband connection.

Like Slacker’s online service, you can use the Slacker Portable to create custom Internet radio stations, or select from DJ-derived stations based on genre. It comes with built-in Wi-Fi, which you can use to transfer station content to the device any time you’re in range of an open wireless network. (No feature yet to enable connections to password-protected networks) In a brilliant move, the Slacker folks let you pre-load your device with stations from your online account when you order it. This is nice because otherwise the first-time download of music via Wi-Fi takes hours. Content refreshes are much faster.

In Audio, Mobile, Reviews

Hands On with RAPHA’s SurroundXi Speakers

Mari Silbey — March 31, 2008 — 2 Comments

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. Continue Reading…

In Accessories, Audio, Reviews

Hands On with the Aluratek 11″ Photo Frame

Mari Silbey — February 28, 2008 — 2 Comments

Photo frames are pretty much commoditized at this point, but the subtle differences among them still make it difficult to choose the right one. I recently tested Aluratek’s 11″ product (MSRP $230), and while it doesn’t offer anything revolutionary (still waiting for a workable frame that receives emailed photos…), it does an elegant job of displaying photos, and it requires virtually zero technical ability. Bottom line: It’s a great photo frame for mom’s living room.

The Aluratek comes with a power cord, USB cable, remote and 1GB memory card in the box. In my case, I plugged the frame in and then connected a USB flash drive. A library of my photos popped up immediately, and by clicking “enter” on the remote I got the full-screen visual. The remote also has a handy “slideshow” button for one-click slideshow action. No need to drill down into menus. I have to admit I had momentary difficulty getting the remote to work until I realized the need to remove a plastic covering. Chalk that one up to user error.

Manipulating photos on the Aluratek frame is extremely easy. Pressing “enter” a second time zooms in on photos, and pressing “up” or “down” rotates them. For complicated maneuvers you can go into the menu to do things like add photo transitions. You know, if you want to get fancy.

My one beef with the Aluratek is that if you get up close there is some graininess. (Click on the thumbnail right for a close look.) Photos look perfectly fine at a distance of a foot or more away, but if resolution is your thing, the Aluratek is not the best choice. There I’d still go with a Westinghouse. (Similar frame sizes are comparably priced on Amazon under $190)

Other cool features on the Aluratek include video and music modes. I plugged in my Flip video camera and instantly had access to the video stored there. (Some digital photo frames still don’t support video.) Unfortunately I couldn’t hear the sound on the videos, but I’ll give Aluratek the benefit of the doubt on that – perhaps it had something to do with the Flip, rather than the frame. In slideshow mode when the frame was just showing demo images from the Flip the demo music was perfectly audible. Decent quality too.

All in all, I’d recommend the Aluratek frame. It’s stylish (I like the cherry-wood color) and it’s easy, easy, easy to use. Lots more photos after the jump. Full specs available here. Continue Reading…

In Home, Reviews, Video

As you can see from the pics below, I’ve gotten the Vudu review unit unpacked and hooked up. The out-of-box-experience (OOBE) is decent and the Vudu build quality looks and feels very nice.

The movie selection is quite large, though they don’t offer enough current blockbusters. Not to mention… Like other services, some films are available as rentals, some as purchases, some as both. We can’t pin this one on Vudu – blame the studios.

I’ve already developed a love-hate relationship with the remote control. It’s unique shape is quite comfortable and the scroll wheel makes quick work of navigating lists. However, the remote utilizes RF. I can live without adding Vudu as a Harmony activity, but I would have appreciated IR for TV volume buttons.

The interface is fairly simple and mostly logical. However, the remote’s scroll wheel makes navigation much more efficient than finding movies on the Xbox 360 and (recently departed) Moviebeam. Interacting with Vudu is also very responsive – partially due to that scroll wheel and, generally speaking, most modern STBs seem quick compared to TiVo’s UI. Given the large catalog of movies, I appreciate the Wish List bookmarking feature.

We’ve watched three movies (Memento, Reno 911: Miami, Simpson’s) on the 30″ bedroom HDTV. Playback of the SD flicks was instantaneous – in addition to the P2P functionality Vudu touts, I suspect some initial film content is pre-loaded to assist with that quick start. Video quality looked good, on par with Xbox SD movies – meaning: better looking than Amazon Unbox on TiVo.

So, is the Vudu worth $400 plus per movie rental or purchase fees? As solid as it seems, given the market I’m still not convinced a single-function box will succeed at $400. For comparison, an Xbox 360 with movie downloads (including HD) or a PS3 with integrated Blu-ray playback also come in at $400. Not to mention many folks get their VOD fix via cheap-to-free cable or satellite boxes. For a period of time, Vudu was selling the box to technology evangelists for $99. At $99, I have no problems recommending Vudu. For someone who always wants a large selection of movies on hand and is willing to pay, I’d even endorse the Vudu at $200-$250 – once more flicks are offered in offered in HD and with 5.1 audio. However, as an Xbox 360, TiVo, and HD DVD player owner I wouldn’t pay more than $100-$150 for a device like this.

I’ll continue to explore the Vudu, get it hooked up to the larger living room plasma, take video of the interface, etc… So, stay tuned.

Click the thumbnails for a larger view: