Archive for the ‘Computer Gadgets’ Category
Saturday, September 26th, 2009 |
Canon offers a full photo solution. From digital camera for amateur photographer or high end digital camera for professional photographer, Canon delivers great digital solutions. What else could Canon deliver for photo fans? Wrapped in one name, it would probability be the Canon PIXMA MP980 Wireless Photo all in one.
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This all in one product has an improved design from its predecessor (PIXMA MP970 Photo all in one), great interactive LCD menu, auto duplexer copier, and so many other excellent features.
The overall design is similar to the one offered in the PIXMA MP line. However, the dimensions have changed, making the MP980 Wireless Photo a more space saving printer. With a height of 7.9 inches (20.07 cm), wide of 18.5 inches (36.83 cm), deep of 15.2 inches (46.99 cm), the MP980 all in one weights approximate 23.6 lbs (10.7 kg), making the device more suitable for any desks. Even if this printer weight a little too much, it worth the trouble because of all the features it has to offer.
The case is made out of plastic with both black and silver glossy finish (it will probably accommodate well with any kind of notebook, computer or MacBook you own). In order to save space you should just fold in the output tray. The first thing you are going to observe on the lid is the centered 3.5 inches high resolution LCD display. On the right of the LCD display, you can find the five way navigational button (up, down, left, right and ok / select).
The buttons are easy to use, they feel comfortable when pressed and deliver a good feedback. Although you might find the MP980’s lid covered with buttons, all this keys will facilitate your access to different functions or settings (home button, increase amount of copies, decrease amount of copies, black copy, color copy, cancel button and others) without going through the actual menu. However, the user interface offered by the PIXMA MP980 is logic and easy to use, helping it to add on its feature list great usability. The maximum amount of pages for the automatic sheet feeder is 150 pages.
Some of the printer attributes contain the good print speed (about 26 pages per minute using only the black cartridge, up to 21 pages per minute using the color option, and about 20 seconds to print a standard four by six board less photo), a total of 6.144 nozzles (512 black and 5.632 color), print resolutions (up to 600 x 600 dpi resolution for back print, and up to 9600 x 2400 dpi resolution for color print). Not only has the printer provided good features but also the copy functions from the MP 980. You can copy up to 24 cpm in black and up to 19 cm for color.
You can reduce the paper copied down to 25%, or enlarge the paper with up to 400%. You really get a lot of good copy features with your all in one MP 980, such as preset copy ratio, continuous copy, image repeat, photo reprint, multiple copies, fit to page, auto duplex copy and others. The third important feature from this device is the scanner function.
The PIXMA MP 980 is equipped with a charge coupled device as the scanner element. You can only scan documents with a maximum size of 8.5 inches by 11.7 inches. The maximum resolution depends on the scan mode, interpolated (19.200 x 19.200 dpi) and optical (4.800 x 9.600 dpi). Just like the copy function, the scan function also brings good features like auto scan mode, push scan, network scan, scan to memory, and others. The MP980 is compatible with all version of Windows Vista, Windows XP / 2000, but also with Mac OS X from version 10.3.9 to 10.5x.
Because the MP980 is an all in one Canon device, it is easily to imagine that the actual installation process is not extremely friendly. Therefore, if you want to install a network connection, you first have to connect the printer by USB cable to a computer or MacBook. After you install the Canon suite, you choose from settings that you wish to use the AIO with a network connection. Only after this step you remove the USB cable.
A better step by step installation process is offered by Canon in user guide delivered with the MP980. However, take in notice that you will not be able to use both wired network and wireless network in the same time. Needless to say that Canon PIXMA MP980 Photo offers excellent quality pictures, which should last 300 in dark storage (not that you will ever find out that this is true or not), 30 years if you keep your photos framed, and 20 years if their exposed to air (good lifetime overall).
The photos also seem to be medium scratch resistant and also water resistant. The Canon PIXMA MP980 Photo all in one print is compatible with a lot of memory cards such as xD picture card (standard, type H and type M), memory stick duo, memory stick pro duo, compact flash card, micro drive, memory stick, memory stick pro, SD memory card, SDHC multimedia card, multimedia card plus, mini SD card, and others. The connectivity is ensured by the Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g standard), Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 n compatible), card slots, Pict Bridge, high speed USB 2.0, infrared, and Bluetooth 2.0.
Canon ships in the containing box, beside the MP980, setup software CD, user guide CD, printer driver, power cord, cartridges (black cartridge, gray / black / magenta / cyan / yellow), print head, USB cable, sample media. You also get a lot of software included such as Easy Photo Print EX, Easy Photo Print Pro, MP Navigator EX, and others. Overall, the Canon PIXMA MP980 offers exactly what it is supposed to offer. If the drawbacks (expensive, slow text output speed, slow wireless performances, no fax machine) don’t bother you, then PIXMA MP980 Photo all in one might just be what you are looking for.
Posted in Computer Gadgets | 1 Comment »
Thursday, September 24th, 2009 |
Still looking for the coolest office gadget? An all in one printer with high end features, but middle rage price? Keep looking, you will not find it in the next ten years. However, a good middle range features with a moderate price ($199) all in one printer, might just be available on the market. Which is the manufacturer? The manufacturer is no other than Canon itself. Canon still provides the best all in one printers, either its purpose is for home or office.
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The Canon PIXMA MX 860 Office all in one printer is a model that combines an affordable price tag with excellent features. Its dimensions can be checked in the average range. The PIXMA MX 860 has a height of 22.61 cm (8.9 inches), deep of 43.43 cm (17.1 inches), wide of 49.28 cm (19.4 inches), it weight (too much) about 11.97 kg (26.4 lb). This all in one printer is not for your indoor regular home activity. The Canon PIXMA MX 860 is marketed as an office device, because of its copy functions, auto duplex scan, and also the latest advanced print engine delivered by Canon. The overall design is, well a little dull, but let’s call it less bold than others.
The PIXMA MX 860 is made entirely out of matte grey plastic (it tries to look as a metallic finish). The all in one printer, delivers a great support for memory card. Over ten supported media card, including: xD Picture Card (regular, nut also type H and type M), Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Pro Duo, SD Memory Card and SDHC Memory Card, Multimedia Card, Multimedia Card Plus, Micro Drive, Micro SD Card, RS MMC, Mini SD Card, Mini SDHC Card, and others. All this slots are being hidden by using a small plastic (what else) door on the front of the printer for a better usability. Probably the first thing that will trigger your interest is the excellent 2.5 inches LCD display. You can use the menu and controls with the four plus one way pad (up, down, left, right and ok).
The second thing you are going to notice is the large amount of buttons Canon used on this cool
office gadget. However, you don’t need a user manual to understand their each function and also their real treat when you are on the hurry (just find the button for a setting you needed without going through the actual menu). If you already own a latest PIXMA all in one printer (for home or office) then you should know that setting up the Wi-Fi is not the most elegant feature on this printer. First you have to connect the PIXMA MX 860 with your computer. Install the driver and software.
After install choose from settings that you want to use your device with wireless connection. Shut down the software and disconnect your USB cable that connected the printer to the computer. This is a small explanation of the actual process. However Canon provides with the full and well explained steps you have to take in order to setup the Wi-Fi connection. It will take some time but it is doable, only if you go through all the steps Canon provided. The PIXMA MX 860 provides the 802.11 b/g profile for the Wi-Fi connectivity. However, you can also find on this device an USB 2.0 high speed port, Pict Bridge, and Ethernet. If you use the PIXMA MX 860 for multiple computers, than you definitely have to use the Wi-Fi connection.
However if this
office gadget is for one computer only, you should connect it by USB with your computer, because it provides a much faster printing speed. Even Canon recognized this fact. Even so with the inkjet printing method, the black print speed goes up to 8.4 ipm, while the color print speed has a value of 5.6 ipm. You should know that it will take you about 41 seconds to print a color photo. Also the maximum print resolution for black is 600 x 600 dpi, and for the color, the resolution goes up to 9600 x 2400 dpi. Â Not only the printer feature from this all in one device provided good results, but also the copy feature, with a copy speed in single mode (not duplex) at about 27 seconds. You also get other great features like auto duplex copy, fit to page, preset copy ratios and other.
The maximum scan resolution in optical mode, goes up to 2400 x 4800 dpi while in the interpolated mode can reach up to 19.200 x 19.200 dpi. The print quality is excellent, from this point of view the PIXMA MX 860 is a great solution. Even the photos printed look great, with vibrant colors and good details. So, you get a speedy printer (depending on the connection used), a good copier and excellent scanner. But you also get a fax, because this is an office orientated device. The fax transmission speed for three black and white pages takes about three seconds, while for the color page will go up to one minute. Canon also included in the fax other features like: scan to memory, network scan, and push scan (with a modem speed of 33.6 kbps).
Canon made the MX 860 compatible with all important versions of operating systems including, Mac OS X from 10.3.9 version to 10.5.x, and Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista (this device will also be compatible with Windows 7). If we take into consideration the excellent package (PIXMA MX 860 all in one printer, documentation – including the user manual, quick install, and CD, USB cable, power cord, special Canon software, print head, telephone line cable, and the six ink tanks), the full specs list (with great results) and an asking price of $199, then one thing is sure, the Canon PIXMA MX 860 Office all in one printer is truly a great balanced device for small and medium offices.
Posted in Computer Gadgets, Electronic Gadgets | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 |
Nowadays every manufacturer tries to improve their sales with the MFP printers. An MFP printer (stands for Multi Function Printer or Product) is an all in one printer (aka AIO). Build at first as an office machine because it incorporated the functionality of multiple devices in one, it easily spread as a home device because of the same feature. Even if you are in the comfort of your home, or at the office you always appreciate good centralized document management (distribution, production). An all in one printer usually incorporates beside the actual printer a scanner, photocopier, fax and email (the last two are not very common for the home products).
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Basically the MFP printer got a consistent upgrade from a regular printer. The marketing direction was imported from the modern mobile phones (phone, camera, music player, GPS and other). If you are looking for a middle range all in one for your personal use, the smart buy would be the HP Photosmart C4680. This printer covers the basics. The text, graphics and photo quality are all good for an inkjet printer, and it prints pretty fast for both business applications and for photos. However, its single input tray maxes out at 80 sheets. It has no output tray; therefore all the printed files or copies will just be dropped on the input tray.
Also the input tray makes awkwardly noises when you unfold it, leaving you a feeling of bad build. The HP Photosmart C4680 offers good features, like the 1.5 inches LCD display that shows the menu options. Using this touch sensitive display you can select your settings by just tapping. You can also use the LCD display to preview photos on memory cards before printing. The supported memory cards are: Memory Stick, SD Memory Card, Multi Media Card, xD Picture Card, Memory Stick Duo, SDHC Memory Card. The LCD display is rather small; therefore the viewing angles are tight.
The C4680 has a USB 2.0 connector, but no Ethernet. So, no networking, no fax capabilities, and no automatic document feeder – the C4680 is strictly for home use. However, the HP Photosmart C4680 speed is rather good. The maximum printing speed will deliver up to 29 pages per minute (mono) and up to 23 pages per minute (color). The quality of the printing is pretty good. The C4680 all in one, has a height of 6.7 inches, wide of 17.4 inches, deep of 16.6 inches with a weight of 11 lbs. the setup is in normal standard. Just remember to run the semi automatic alignment routine. HP ships C4680 with a black cartridge (up to 200 pages) and a color cartridge (yellow / cyan / magenta up to 150 pages).
The HP Photosmart C4680 runs smoothly with a Windows Vista system. The all in one comes with a full set of software for Vista x64, XP Service Pack 1 or higher, and Mac OS X v10.4 and 10.5. The new OS X 10.6 and Windows 7 will both provide C4680 drivers as part of the operating system. The scanning feature provides gray scale depth at 8 bit, with an optical resolution of 1200 x 2400 dpi and a color depth of 48 bit. The copying feature provides a good speed with up to 9 pages per minutes (mono) and up to 6.5 pages per minute (color).
The maximum copying resolution goes up to 1200 x 1200 dpi in both mono and color, while the maximum printing resolution goes up to 4800 x 1200 dpi both in mono and color mode. The biggest drawback for the C4680 is the cost of its ink. Otherwise the Photosmart C4680 is a decent choice for a light duty home multi function printer, because of its good quality printing and friendly controls.
Posted in Computer Gadgets | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 |
Is your iPhone battery to weak for your intensive usage? We know how frustrating that is. But fortunately the iPhone success leaded to a big accessory market. The mophie Juice Pack Air Case and Rechargeable Battery for IPhone 3G, is the best solution to recharge your iPhone battery on the go without using a charger. The case should improve the iPhone 3G battery life up to 50%. The mophie Juice Pack Air case is easy grip; it offers a full protection of a hard shell case and a built in rechargeable battery. This case is too form-fitting; it is easier to slide the iPhone in than to take it out; with the case on the phone the best way to take if off is to push it out, one side at a time. Push on the side of the case where the volume keys are and slide it slowly.
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Repeat the process to the other side and the top of the case will slide off. You can now pull the phone out of the case. However the form fitting is not necessary a bad feature, because it will keep your iPhone secure and will protect it in case you drop your phone. Also the case is ultra thin and weights little in order to compete with the useless but high fashioned metal cases. The low profile case design hides a rechargeable 1200 mAh lithium polymer battery (with standby values up to 270 hours). Theoretically the case allows USB charging and sync with iTunes. In the real life field the cable offered with this case is more bad than good. The phone covered with the mophie Juice Pack Air doesn’t succeed charging itself.
The same happens when you try to listen through the USB port of either stereo speakers or car stereo; while the syncing with iTunes is not as smooth or easy to happen. Your iPhone will just appear and disappear from the iTunes connected decide. However these are singular issues and are not general spread to all models of mophie Juice Pack. When you use continuously your iPhone, the battery will reach pretty fast 20% of its full capacity. The usage time to 20% is about 4 hours and 12 minutes and standby time has a value of 14 hours and 13 minutes. Then if you turn on the mophie Juice Pack and let it charge your iPhone battery for about 1.5 hours. After a heavier use, when the internal battery drops down to 20%, the full usage time of the iPhone reached 8 hours and 36 minutes and standby time of 19 hours and 54 minutes.
At the third charging with the mophie Juice Pack Air the iPhone’s battery reached 9 hours and 24 minutes as usage time and a standby time of 22 hours and 17 minutes. After the third charge, the mophie Juice Pack Air runs out of power. Therefore the mophie Juice Pack Air case and rechargeable battery offers twice the battery power for the iPhone 3G.
The case is an easy grip touch case. When charging the iPhone 3G with the case on, both the iPhone and the mophie Juice Pack Air charge their built in batteries at the same time. The case offers USB charging and sync with iTunes for the iPhone. Â The case dimensions are, as featured in the commercial ads, very form fitting, offering a light weighted and slim form case for the iPhone 3G. It has a height of 12.4 cm, wide of 6.6 cm and deep of 1.9 cm; while the released values of talk time reaches up to 4.5 hours on 3G network and up to 9 hours on 2G.
You can use the Internet up to 4.5 hours on 3G and up to 5.4 hours on Wi-Fi. The audio playback is up to 20 hours, while the video playback is up to 6 hours. Other special features offered by the mophie Juice Pack Air are: on and off switch for you to choose what battery to use (the phone battery or the case battery) and integrated 4 LED charge status indicator. But this case is not all that great, it still has some drawbacks. The case requires a special plug, used on digital cameras (but smaller), to charge the battery. It is not recommended for your mophie case well being to take it off every time you need to charge it. Also the case does not contain a dock connecter offered on the iPhone. Therefore, with the case on, your iPhone will not connect with any of the accessories with the regular charging port to function. Also this case will provide more power but not as much as you might think.
If your battery is lowered to about 20% you can expect the 1200 mAh built in rechargeable battery from the mophie case to give your iPhone 3G another 50% battery life. However if the phone battery drops under 5% the case will not charge your iPhone rapidly enough, therefore your phone will run out of power. The finish on the case makes it a bit slippery and also is not shockproof. Beside the actual case, mophie delivers in the box an USB cable for charging and syncing and that is it.
Overall, the design of the mophie Juice Pack Air is solid. It’s slimmer than other battery pack cases, because of the materials used it feels nice at touch, status lights on the back are a great feature, micro USB port allows you to sync to your computer. As a technical feature, the iPhone internal battery has to offer in terms of usability, 4 hours and 12 minutes, while the iPhone with the case offers in the same terms up to 9 hours and 24 minutes. This case is a compromise. It offers extra battery life for you to use your iPhone for business or pleasure. It’s a compromise because fashion is over function (you might be losing signal strength – about two line on average).
Posted in Computer Gadgets, USB Gadgets | No Comments »
Monday, September 7th, 2009 |
In the last few years the autonomy of our mobile phones and even gadget phones decreased rather than grew. This is not a great progress for our technology. Many mobile phones need to be recharged after just one day usage. What could be the problem? The answer is quite simple: our mobile phones have more functions these days. Every new application on our mobile phone induces greater battery consumption. Let’s turn our attention to the GPS. Every new high-end phone has one. But then again everyone likes more functions on their mobile phones and once these functions have been integrated, then is no turning back. We call it technological evolution. This days mobile phones are not just about calling or texting, but also about music or surfing the web. However all these functions withdraw energy from the accumulator of our mobile phone.
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Still, the autonomy of a certain model depends on the way the phone is used. The same device can ‘survive’ only one day on an intensive usage, but also a whole week before it well need charging (on a low usage).
One of the most important reasons the autonomy period of our mobile phones is low is the accumulator power (or capacity). The power of the Li-Ion and Li-Polimer accumulators grew year by year (on a constant level). A cylindrical notebook accumulator with an 18 mm diameter and length of 65 mm could stock 1200 mAh. Nowadays this value was increased to 2600 mAh. The next five years will not bring any change in the accumulator land. Our mobile phones will still have lithium accumulators. Their big advantage, besides the bigger power storage (compared to the Nichel Cadmium), is that they don’t present the Memory effect. The Memory effect will not allow you to recharge your mobile phone until its battery is completely empty. The lithium accumulators are more expensive to produce then the Nichel Cadmium ones. Therefore is you want to buy an extra accumulator you will pay quite much. The power of the accumulator is constantly attacked by numerous consumers, like the broadcasting chip. The small CPU’s from our mobile phones use little power (it actually lowered its consumption from 5 to 1.3 volt). With every new technological progress the consumption of power decreases. The difficult moment is occurring right now. The processing frequency is around 500 MHz, but in two years they will grow to about 2 GHz. This will surely affect the chip power consumption but a better frequency is mandatory because of the high data flux.
One of the most ‘starving’ applications on our mobile phone is actually the calling function. The consumption depends on the network you use. In the GSM networks you can speak twice as much than in the UMTS network. You can save some power is you switch from the UMTS to the GSM when you don’t need video calling or high speed connectivity.
For many applications, the actual use of power is owed to the phone display. Let’s take example the browser. The application is not that big but the display is on during the entire navigation (this leads to a high use of power). The standby period with the display on is slightly lower than the calling period – because the display is not on during a call. This is one of the reasons the manufactures are preoccupied to diminish the period of time while the display is on when the phone is not used and to turn itself off while an outgoing call.
Another application that devours the power of the accumulator is the music player. It’s a little less consuming than the other but don’t let yourself fooled, it will empty your accumulator in 24 hours. If you listen to music from your mobile phone by using a Bluetooth stereo handset or Bluetooth speakers then the mobile consumes more power.
Watching movies on your mobile phone is the latest direction right now. However this application will drain your accumulator dry in a few hours (2 – 5 hours, if you are lucky).
You can use the WLAN to surf on web rather than the UMTS. The WLAN will save energy.
Be careful with the GPS. It’s very consuming because it uses simultaneously the display and the Internet connection. The autonomy of your mobile phone will decrease ( with your GPS on ) to about 2 hours.
We all want a single device that can do everything, but the reality is different than what we want. The more you use a single device for all your needs; there are more chances that it will crash and burn. So you like music and movies on the go, buy an iPod or other player, you need GPS, buy an actual GPS and not at least do buy a good phone that doesn’t need daily charge.
Posted in Computer Gadgets, Other | 1 Comment »
