Posts Tagged ‘Hardware’
Review: Olympus E-P1
Author’s note: This is a review of the Olympus E-P1 provided to me for one week to review on Mac-Forums & my personal blog Jetplane Journal. Thanks go to Olympus for the opportunity to take their latest & greatest for a spin.
Introduction
In general, most people choose one of two types of cameras: Simple point & shoot cameras (P&S) that are extremely small, but don’t offer manual adjustment options – or complex & large DSLRs, which offer full control over nearly every aspect of your image. But the size and bulk of traditional DSLR cameras can make them unsuitable for certain occasions and events, where you might not want to lug a large camera bag and equipment around with you. Digital SLRs can also be intimidating for casual users, who worry about making the jump from their tried and trusted P&S.
The Olympus E-P1 ‘PEN’, based on the original Olympus PEN, has essentially created a new category for itself that sits in-between DSLRs such as Olympus’ own E-520 and other “enthusiast” compacts, such as the Panasonic Lumix LX-3 or the Canon G10. Unlike traditional DSLRs, this camera looks similar to most compacts, albeit slightly larger.
But the interchangeable lenses and much larger sensor it DSLR-like capabilities, making the E-P1 a compelling for photography enthusiasts and “prosumers”.
Review: IOGEAR GCS632U 2-Port KVM Switch
What is a KVM Switch?
Have you ever wished for an easy way to control 2 computers from a single keyboard/mouse/monitor? If so, you’ll need a KVM switch. Short for Keyboard-Video-Mouse, KVMs have long been used by technicians and ordinary users alike who need access to multiple machines from a single “console”.
In recent years, the proliferation of USB mice and keyboards has all but eliminated the older style PS/2 connections that we were so accustomed to on PCs. In turn, KVM switches have recently changed focus to support USB devices a lot better, particularly since USB is not a direct, dedicated connection for these kinds of devices. What this means is that most USB KVM switches are somewhat dumbed-down in the way they go about switching. While PS/2 KVM switches typically work immediately after switching between computers, USB KVMs usually make you wait a few seconds while they tell computer 1 “I’m unplugging this keyboard and mouse”, and subsequently tell computer 2 “I’m plugging this keyboard and mouse into you”.
Not only is this annoying, but it can result in some pretty unpredictable behavior, especially if you need to be in the BIOS settings page of a PC, in the Windows Recovery Console, or heaven forbid, in DOS. While most Mac users probably wouldn’t care about this since OS X is pretty quick about recognizing a USB device, I’d wager that many people using a Mac with a KVM do so because they have another PC they need to control with it.
Do I need one?
In my case, I use KVMs quite a bit. Both at work and at home, I have a workstation where I need to connect to PCs to either prep them for deployment or do repair work on them. I need an easy way to share my monitor/keyboard and mouse between my main machine and customer machines. As such, I’ve had the displeasure of going through quite a few KVM switches trying to find one that is usable. I’ve been through high-end Belkin Omniview, low-end Belkin Flip models, Hawking and Tripp Lite switches, all with limited success. But just recently a friend recommended that I take a look at offerings from a company called IOGEAR.
USB Emulation – a feature every USB KVM should have.
IOGEAR is building quite a reputation for well-made, well-engineered products, and its KVMs are no exception. One of the things IOGEAR has going for them is that they have a patent on “USB emulation” technology. This technology basically puts an end to the constant disconnect/reconnect of USB peripherals when switching. Instead, it tells both machines that the devices are still connected, and just redirects output between the two machines upon switching.
Review: Belkin 7-Port USB Hub Plus
Belkin’s latest version of their popular 7-port hub has been redesigned and adds cable management features. This review will take a look at the changes, design and performance of Belkin’s latest offering for USB junkies.
Design
The first thing you’ll notice is the design Belkin has chosen for this hub: Its rectangular shape means it’ll take up less space on your desk than previous versions, while retaining the two top ports – useful for USB memory sticks and similar devices. The top ports are also spaced out a bit, so you should be able to connect larger USB devices without any problem as well. The device features (more…)
Is the time right for Apple to start licensing OS X?
It has always struck me as odd that Apple’s design philosophy inevitably favors form over functionality. In some cases, that strict allegiance to form often compromises what would other be a very useful product, like the MacBook Air. I’m sure a lot of people value the beautiful aesthetics of Apple machines above all else, but I’m not one of them – and I’m not alone. As much as I like the looks of my MacBook Pro, the few extra seams it would take to make the hard drive readily accessible and an extra inch of width on the ExpressCard slot to make it ExpressCard/54 compatible, would be perfectly acceptable tradeoffs to me.
Stubbornly reluctant to produce machines at certain market segments, Apple has been able to maintain its high-end image, partly by always selling high-end hardware. This behavior has emboldened some entrepreneurs to risk legal entanglements by starting up would-be cloning operations. Clearly if Apple doesn’t “…know how to build a sub-$500 machine that isn’t a piece of crap…”, others do. And surely in this economy there is a vast, untapped market for such machines.
Thursday’s Best of the Booths rundown
Chris and I happened by the never-ending table of MacBook Airs and I snapped a few photos of it for you to enjoy. Enjoy.
There’s a lot more pictures of Expo booths after the jump.
How to keep your Mac running smooth
By far the best and most useful session I attended today at the Users Conference was “Running Your Mac Lean, Clean, and Mean” by Dave Hamilton. He presented his qualifications as follows:
• Mac Observer – 9 years
• Mac Geek Gab Podcast – almost 3 years
• Geek … forever!
My second day on the show floor
I thought I’d share a couple more interesting products and booths that I came across today.
We’ve all been in a situation where our iPod has run out of juice, leaving us tuneless and videoless at the worst of times. Which is why I think the iZAP R08-IV for iPod Video is a great product. The literature claims that it can give your iPod up to 10 hours of video playback and a whopping 36 hours of audio. But the guy in the booth told me he thinks the 36 hour estimate is “soft”! ZAP!, whose name stands for “zero air pollution,” also makes the Recharge-It-All Universal Battery, which has connectors for every mobile device you can imagine. Plus there are actually four rechargeable AA lithium-ion batteries inside that you can take out and use in your digital camera. It’s convenient and it can help you be more environmentally friendly!
IntelliScanner won a Best of Show award at last year’s Macworld Expo for their IntelliScanner mini, which is a miniature barcode scanner that lets you scan all your books, music, and movies and manage your collections in their proprietary software. This year they’ve come out with the professional-grade IntelliScanner SOHO for managing inventories and other bigger cataloging jobs. The software has an interface similar to iTunes, and it even lets you create the equivalent of iTunes playlists so you can organize your audio, video, and book libraries by genre. Before you say “You’ve got to be a serious neat-freak to want one of those,” consider this: The software also has a function that lets you track who you are lending a book, DVD, or CD to simply by scanning it in! My friends would probably think I’ve finally lost it if I started checking out my books to them, but I’ve lost so many from “lending” them to friends that I really don’t care at this point.
I wrote about the Modbook yesterday, but I didn’t get any pictures. I happened to cruise by today and got a couple of great pictures of one of their demo guys drawing a bluejay on the Modbook, so I thought I’d share them.
The Mac-powered digital studio
The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus made a stop at Macworld Expo 08 and offered tours, plenty of digital music equipment to play with, and a very helpful guy named Nick to talk about their amazing digital studio setup.
I’m now officially a rumor site
So only 2 of my 8 predictions came true during Steve’s keynote, but I think that more than qualifies me to start a new Apple rumor site.
This keynote of course had some pleasant surprised:
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Hoo boy: The first day on the show floor
Aaah, there’s nothing quite like cruising the show floor at a big convention. It’s overwhelming, it’s over-stimulating, but it’s tons of fun. In the Expo’s South hall alone you’ve got major software application developers like Microsoft, Adobe, and Google all conducting tutorials and training seminars; you’ve got access to every iPod or iPhone accessory you ever wanted, and about 18 million more that you never knew you wanted, from big names like Samsung and Shure right down to local retailers from all over the country; and of course you’ve got the Apple store as the giant hub of it all.
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