Yes, yes, I know card readers are boring and you can’t get enough choice these days. I just wanted to draw a little attention to SandBergs new card reader which differs itself by being… well… really freaking small. It’s a great companion to a PS3 or laptop and is absurdly portable and pocketable for something that manages to read so many different formats and sizes of storage card.
Save as pdf.
I seem to have joined the legions of people experiencing agonizingly slow iPhone 3g backups. Not only that, but following an update to firmware 2.0.2 I was unable to store any of my historic backups.
It would appear that Apple are being somewhat over zealous in their backup procedure and still somehow managing to miss crucial things like text messages; you had better not like hanging onto texts for long because it’s almost impossible to retain them between updates.
I would rather turn backups off completely and entrust my text messages, photos and settings to a third party application (hint hint). After all: my contacts, music, applications and everything else it seems are syncronized anyway… so the reason why we even have a separate and fundamentally broken backup procedure eludes me!
On the plus side it was easy enough to set up my mail account, sound settings and wifi key again, these seem to be the only things I lost by not being able to restore a backup which took an hour to create in the first place.
Save as pdf.
The FMJ A18 amplifier and CD17 CD are brand new entry points to the Arcam range, replacing the DiVA A70 and DiVA CD73 respectively.
The pair clock in at a total of £950. £450.00 for the Arcam FMJ A18 amplifier and £500 for the Arcam FMJ CD17 CD player. Both sport a FMJ battleship build quality SDS damped-steel low-resonance chassis and are available in black or silver.
Save as pdf.
The JoyTech Trilink Switcher will turn 1 HDMI port into three. Obviously you’re not going to watch them all simultanously but the JoyTech Trilink Switcher will let you easily switch between one of three HDMI devices using the included remote.
There’s no mention that this particular HDMI switcher will switch automatically based on what source is sending a signal, sadly.
The JoyTech Trilink Switcher does, however, include a “magic eye” IR reciever extender that lets you hide the whole set up out of the way without running into reception problems with the IR remote.
Save as pdf.
I’ve been pining for a quality synthesizer application on the iPhone since picking one up a few weeks ago.
Noise.io seems to deliver almost exactly what I was looking for, and it boggles the mind that I only discovered it yesterday.
Noise.io is set to sequeeze every last drop of functionality and controllability out of the iPhone by using everything that could constitute an input device, right up to using the Microphone as a breath controller.
Save as pdf.
The PlayTV is due for release next month and couldn’t be better timed what with the 80gb PS3 having a good lead to give new PS3 purchasers oodles of recording space for that wholesome Freeview television.
I’ve been playing with the PlayTV and like what I see. It’s a little on the big and ugly side but is easily hidden away as all control is effected through the PS3 itself.
The picture produced on a 40″ 1080p television is brilliantly watchable and all of the UI elements look crisp and clean if a little devoid of colour and contrast which hampers readability slightly. At every step of the interface it’s clear what options are available and scheduling a recording couldn’t be easier.
Save as pdf.
If you’re eying up the iPhone 3g as a device to guide you on Geocaching adventures then read on; This is not a general review of the iPhone and, as I am new to Geocaching and the iPhone is the only device I have used, I will be unable to draw comparisons between the iPhone 3g and other PDA-based or handheld GPS solutions.
However, I will look briefly at the iPhone 3gs strengths and weaknesses as a Geocaching device and give you some tips and tricks on getting the most out of it. I will be detailing only core functionality of the iPhone using no additional software or hardware other than a laptop computer from which I read co-ordinates and browsed for caches when planning trips at home.
Save as pdf.
King of Clubs
King of Clubs is a British title by Oxygen Studios which was released for the Wii, DS, PSP and PC in which you have to tackle… a golf course!
Its story involves a rich Elvis-like man named “Big Bubba” who opens a themed crazy golf course. The game features 96 holes set in 5 different environment themes. Each environment theme has its own resident ‘Course Pro’ resplendent in suitably themed fancy dress costume.
Read the rest of this post »
Save as pdf.
To bring a little variety to Gadgetoid I’ve decided to start adding coverage of low-end gadgets including toys and all manner of things that you’re likely to find at stores like Firebox. Variety, they say, is the spice of life; so take a break from drooling over things you’re never going to buy and start getting those Christmas gift ideas flowing!
To mark the start of this new coverage I’ll be looking at the Salvation 9 Radio Controlled Helicopter. It’s a small indoor toy with an nominal price and is a lot of fun to fly. It’s also markedly better than the smaller Picoz, affording proper degrees of control and radio control rather than infra-red, without being that much more expensive.
Save as pdf.
Review by Johnus Maximus
Released in March 2008, Condemned 2 is the follow up to the successful Condemned: Criminal Origins. The game is developed by Monolith Productions, published by Sega and also available for PS3.
Taking place in the dark and disturbingly violent Metro City, you play an ex-FBI agent fighting to stay alive. The game fuses crime scene investigation with survival horror (think CSI, Silent Hill and Half Life 2 rolled into one game) and is rated 18 for good reason - it’s scary!
Save as pdf.
