Search Results for sony

USBCELL Batteries Make You Wonder Why You Didn’t Think of This First

Do you remember those old rechargeable AA batteries that first emerged in the 1980s?  You had to charge them overnight just so you could get about 2.4 hours of use in your Sony Walkman cassette player? Yeah, these aren’t those. USBCELL AA batteries are unique in that they have a built-in USB connector hidden under a cap at the + end of the battery.  Open the cap, insert the battery into an open USB port on your computer, and let the charging begin!  You’ll achieve a 90% charge in just 5 hours and – for use in a pinch –…


IDAPT i4 Universal Charging Solution Now Compatible with iPad and iPhone 4

A few weeks ago we gave away an IDAPT i3 Universal Charging Solution. It is a fantastic solution for anyone who has more than one gadget in daily use. (And if you are reading GD it is a pretty good bet that means YOU!) We got word yesterday that the new IDAPT i4 is compatible with the iPad and iPhone 4. That means you can now charge your iPhone AND iPad AND 2 other devices at the same time. Awesome! The IDAPT i4 is available in black, white or silver for $59.99 MSRP at www.idaptweb.com. The packaging includes 6 tips…


Attrition in the eBook Ranks!

It’s been an interesting week in ebook-land. We’ve seen the opening shots of a price war, and the beginnings of what may prove to be many players dropping from the ebook market. It’s an exciting time to be an ebook fan, so read on for more details and exciting news! First, in case you missed it earlier this week, B&N attempted to gain the upper hand in the ebook world with a twofold strategy. First, they announced a WiFi-only nook for $149, effectively out doing Borders Kobo Reader, and then they dropped the price of the famous original nook to…


Penny Arcade Sums Up E3 In Three Panels

Image Courtesy of TechShowNetwork I didn’t lead with the comic itself as it contains some language and phraseology that might offend some … so click on in to see the comic itself – or head to Penny-Arcade to check it out! I have written at some length about the Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony presentations, but in their most recent comic Penny-Arcade sums up the whole thing much more efficiently than I have seen anywhere: Um … yeah. What they said. Source: Penny-Arcade


iHome iP88 Review

I’ve been using the Sony ICF-CL75iP as my bed side clock since I reviewed back in November.  While the Sony does a ton, arguably  more than any alarm clock on the market, it’s not without its faults.  Most prevalent, it only has one dock and the screen is so bright it sometimes keeps me up. While on a recent shopping trip with my wife at a “home” store I stumbled across the iHome iP88 and on impulse snatched it up. Here’s how iHome describes the unit: The iP88 is an innovative clock radio for iPhone & iPod that features two docks allowing you…


CableJive dockXtender Review

Last summer I reviewed the CableJive Dock Extender cable.  This 30-pin male to female cable allowed iPhone and iPod Touch users who use a case to dock their devices without removing their case to do so.  Many dock accessories (clock radios, charge and sync docks, speakers) do not accommodate the iPhone or iPod Touch while it’s in a case. However, there was one problem with that version of the Dock Extender.  The connector plug was too large to fit inside some cases, perhaps most importantly the super-popular OtterBox Defender. Well, fast forward to today. CableJive has corrected the short coming…


Best Buy Steps up Their eReader Marketing

When I was in my local Best Buy this weekend, I spent some time exploring their ebook reader displays. A few months ago I was in Best Buy and noted the extent of their eReader display was a sad shelf of Sony Readers. Not terribly exciting, and worst of all it was off at a weird angle, sort of tucked away from the main aisles. If you didn’t venture through the middle of the store you wouldn’t find it. Now that Best Buy is selling the Barnes and Noble nook, it’s a whole new ballgame. They cleaned up the Sony…


New eBook Readers Coming This Summer?

Looks like this might be the summer of ebook readers! Rumors are flying about new Kindles and nooks, the Kobo reader is hitting Borders Stores, and that’s without considering the impact all the potential Android tablets will have on the reader market. While there’s been some ebook rivalry so far, I think this next wave of readers is where the B&N-Amazon-Borders-Tablet rivalry is really going to get heated. Engadget caught an interesting FCC filing for a WiFi-only ebook reader from Barnes and Noble. Most likely it is the rumored “nook lite”. No word on whether it will be the same…


5 Ways iPad is Better Than Netbook … and 5 Ways it is Worse

Prior to the release of the iPad, there were a multitude of articles – some touting 15 ways the iPad was better than a netbook, and others talking about the 42 ways the netbook was better than the iPad, and so on. As my Netbook Gamer series indicates, I am a netbook lover. I am also a proud iPad owner, and have had a few weeks using them both to look at the strengths and weaknesses of each. So here are 5 ways I feel each is better than the other … and I leave it to you to decide…


40 Ways People Still Use Floppy Disks

Last week Dan relayed the announcement by Sony that they were killing off floppy disk production in his article So Long 3.5? Floppy… We Hardly Remember You Anyhow…, and we all had a good chuckle. But for some folks, using a floppy is part of their daily reality. The BBC brings us a light look at folks still using floppy disks. But while many focus on silly things such as: 15. I buy about 100,000 floppies per year as I have a business that makes them into drinks mats, fridge magnets and toast racks. Ken Pork, London The reality is…


Numbers Take on the eBook Fiction Section

(image courtesy Readymade) It’s time for another “State of the eBook”! This time there’s some quickie news, and then an examination of numbers. What’s for real, and what’s a smokescreen? More on that in a bit. Kindle: -The Kindle app for PC has been updated! Apparently, it adds a few interface improvements. Hopefully, the next step is going to be releasing some new Kindle apps (cough, Android, cough). -In addition, it looks like Amazon will be offering commissions to affiliates for Kindle books. B&N nook: -The nook may/may not have outsold the Kindle in the first quarter. The actual results…


Uniden Wireless Power Charging System Review

Though I’ve never had the opportunity to use a Palm Pre, one thing I know I would like from it is the optional Touchstone charger. The ability to just put down the phone and have it start charging, then pick it up when a you want to use it without having to disconnect cables is a great idea. When I was offered to try Uniden’s new wireless charging system I was looking forward to seeing how handy it really is. The Uniden Wireless Power kit consists of two components: the wireless base, and the adaptors that link the base to…


Cub Scout ‘Video Game’ Loop/Pin: Pandering or Better Preparing Kids?

The joke of the day seems to be that the Cub Scouts are redefining ‘outdoor activities’ to include sitting in front of the TV playing video games. The reality is that the Boy Scouts of America are now offering a belt loop and pin to Cub Scouts (i.e. kids generally 6-11) related to Video Games. Also new this year are belt loops and pins for such activities as Disability Awareness, Family Travel, Good Manners, Nutrition, as well as Hockey and Skateboarding. If you look at any of those you will see a very similar structure to what the Video Games…


Jetbook Lite Ebook Reader Review

Earlier in the month I did a tour of the Jetbook Lite’s hardware. Now it’s time to delve into the software side, and really get to know this little ebook reader! Upon booting the Jetbook Lite, you have three choices; ebooks, pictures and settings. Pictures is nice, but only if you desperately love showing off your photos in black and white. Otherwise, you’re more likely headed into either settings or ebooks. Settings offers the usual complement of options, from font changes to serial numbers. You can also adjust settings within the book by accessing the contextual menu. Adding books is…


Is Fictionwise About to Walk the Plank?

Teleread has an interesting editorial about the future of Fictionwise/eReader (or lack thereof). Yes, there’s the elimination of the buywise program, and there’s the slow death of the PDB format in favor of ePUB. The really bad news: There’s no intention to release an iPad-specific version of eReader. So your choices are either blow the app up to 2x size or skip making use of the gorgeous iPad screen. Or, of course, just buy your books through Barnes and Noble instead. It’s a shame, really. Many, many ebook fans started their reading on Peanut Press, which turned into eReader and…


Where the HECK Did All of Those PSP Games Come From?

A couple of weeks ago when Apple introduced iPhone OS 4 something struck me, but I had forgotten it until someone on a forum was asking me about the amount of games on the PSP … then it came back to me. Do you remember when Apple announced the new iPod lineup in September of 2009? At the time I wrote about the iPod Touch questioning the quantity to quality ratio, and led with this image: Image Source: Engadget Back then I thought that the PSP number was perhaps a bit low, given that I had reviewed more than 200…


Books on the iPad: Comparing the Printed Page to ePub and PDFs

PDF. ePub. Kindle. iBooks. eBooks. Nook. eInk. Web Browser. Laptop. Audiobooks. For over 10 years, I have been trying to move to an all-electronic workflow for reading and consuming books, especially technical books. It started when I was a consultant traveling in planes to a variety of locations all over the US and internationally. Even when I was working locally, I had a 3+ hour commute daily for a number of years. One of the first things I did was switch to listening to audiobooks (via Audible) for my long daily commute via car. It not only kept me more…


eBook Competition Gets Fierce

The iPad has landed! But that’s far from the only bit of ebook news this week. Things are really heating up, so let’s dive right in! First, the Association of American Publishers released their estimates for 2009 book sales. The bad news is that overall book sales declined 1.8%…but the silver lining is that ebook sales GREW 176.6%!!! It’s very exciting stuff, but ebooks still aren’t big enough to carry the whole book industry. Overall book sales were $23.8 billion, and ebook sales only made up $313.2 million. It’s a start, but a small one. If you’re comparison shopping for…


2009 Portable Game Sales Numbers – What Does It Mean for the iPad?

Back in September of 2009, when Apple launched the 3rd generation iPod Touch and touted the gaming capabilities of the system, I expressed concerns about what this new ‘everything under $10’ business model might mean to the $30 – $60 gaming industry. While we don’t have any long term results yet, analysts at Flurry have tried to piece together some sort of story about what trends we can get from comparing 2009 sales to 2008. And put simply, what is good news for Apple’s gaming aspirations is bad news for Sony’s beleaguered handheld and a shot across the bow of…