Bits On Our Desk - 18

http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2009/07/17/on-our-desk-18/1

bit-tech labs are as usual, a bit messy. It's time for the inevitable a clear-out so we've rounded up a bunch of gear for review - some of it rad, some of it bad and some of which contains the actual Secret of Monkey Island!

 

i have to be honest,
as much as i love Hdds GPUs CPUs nice monitors and things
i really dislike gadgets i gernerally find that they are overly expensive use for a month then forget types of things (with the only exception perhaps being MP3 players). my GF wants an Iphone to go on the internet with, but i know that she will use it for a month realise that her email is still full of junk then stop using it and it will just be an expensive phone

the amount of times i have tried to get use out of my pda but failed is staggering im now trying to use it to create a remote control for my HTPC which is not going to be easy!!

 

A sample pic of the output from the digital pen compared to the actual written words might have been nice, "Low resolution" writing doesn't really bother me. also can it convert your off line notes to type?
I've never seen the point in charge stations like this, Two of my mobile devices charge via mini usb and as far as I can tell I would need to buy a second usb module for this to work for both devices at once. now if it was an induction charging station, that might peek my interest.

 

thats exactly what i thought it was when i first saw it, i could be very tempted by that

 

Hmm, got to say I think you're wrong here - I know a lot of people with iPhones, and not a single one of them has, after a month, decided it was crap...

 

Everything this time was really overpriced
Stupid weak £.

 

The charging station looks like a nice bit of kit and would be ideal in my flat, as there's loads of things to charge (digital cameras, 2 mobile phones, 2 iPods, PSP, NDS, etc). However at £80 I think I'll stick to my cable jungle.

The headphones look truly awful - they look almost as bad as the in-ear hands free set that came with my phone. I'm a bit biased against in-ear headphones though; the sound quality can be great, but I just don't like things sticking in my ears. Give me a nice pair of over-the-ear or closed cup headphones any day.

The HD Homerun device looks like a good idea, but I think it's overkill for my needs. I already have one roof aerial sending a signal to both my PC and my dual-tuner freeview box - all I needed was a cheap signal splitter/booster which cost me about a tenner and a TV tuner for the PC. Looks useful for routing the signal to other parts of the home however - my PC is within 2 feet of the TV, so I'm not worried about cables snaking everywhere.

 

Am I the only person to see the e-pens picture and want to shop in "i" in there

 

Thanks, Bit-Tech, now I want to go Zorbing, while listening to those outdoor speakers, in the rain.

And yes, I would listen to music in the rain. Outside

 

I had to read it a few times before I saw it didn't contain an "i"

 

That homerun thing looks very interesting.

But really, could they have made it look any worse if they tried? looks like some random thing thing from a decade ago you'd find at a bootsale, not a swish TV/network gadget

i'm actually really quite tempted by it though, maybe if the price comes down i'll take a look at getting one

 

I disagree on a number of things on the Roccat Vire.
- They aren't in-ear to begin with
- There are similar products from Steel series as well as Razor (gaming earphones w/ mic)
- They were pretty comfortable IMO (might be my ear suits the shape better? Sure they aren't in-ear, but there are occasions when you also want to hear what's going on around you)
- They do NOT work with mp3-players/phones as there are four pins on the plug, atleast my mp3-player and phone just refused to work, which means I have to use the adapter with portable things, which sucks.

But yeah the verdict remains the same...

 

Obviously Tim has sneaked all the best gadgets home and left all the crap in the office for Joe to review. Poor old Joe.

 

never said it was crap i just know that she wants to buy an expensive toy to browse the internet but once she realises that her email inbox is still full of spam she will stop using it

 

THAT'S WHAT I SAID!

I said they were ear-bud, not in-ear, but I got over-ruled by Alex who insisted there were only over-ear and in-ear headphones. Me, I thought there was over-ear, in-ear and then ear-bud - which these are since they don't enter the ear canal...

 

Agreed. To me, an in-ear headset goes into the ear-canal.

 

I agree with Alex then . Both types go "inside" your ear; whether or not they enter the ear canal, they still site "inside" your ear - whereas the other types either sit on top of, or over, your ears... To be honest, I think we're splitting hairs here

Besides, they were always described as in-ear when I bought them for Walkmans & personal CD players... Yes, that's how long ago I stopped using "earbuds" or "in-ear" headphones .

 

Go beat Alex up for being obviously wrong.

Just take a goddamn look at in-ear and normal ear phones. If you don't see the difference then I'd like to declare you blind. Surely the difference is worth also a difference in the name.

 

If your PDA has Windows Mobile try using GRemote

I'm confused that Rocat Wires Vires are classified as in-ear headphones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear

So that would make them pinna-headphones?

 

So it's 4 to 2. Those aren't any goddamn in-ear-phones. Fix it!