Discount Gadgets

Sunday, September 27th, 2009 |

Even if all the manufacturers provide nowadays from normal printers, copiers, scanners to all in one product, it is still extremely hard to find a lightweight, excellent designed (not only esthetically, but also technically – individual toner cartridges) color laser printer among discount gadgets. Even harder, is to find a good balanced wireless color laser printer. One of the best device manufacturers comes with an intriguing product, the Samsung CLP 315W Wireless Color Laser Printer. The CLP 315W Wireless Color Laser Printer is part of the new Samsung line (CLP 315, line that offers small dimension laser printer with individual toner cartridges). By adding the laser printing technology and the individual toner cartridges, Samsung delivers one of the most economical printers on the market. Because this is a Samsung product you can’t expect something lower than an excellent design and quality materials.
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The CLP 315W is not a perfect cube, but from several angles, you might have that impression. It is stunning, not as stunning as the Samsung SCX 4500W Wireless Multi function Printer, Scanner, Copier, but stunning enough for this price range. The overall design is made out of matte black solid plastic. You also get some small finishes of glossy black trim around the perimeter.

The build feel solid, and you won’t hear any funny noises when pressing the case, or while printing. The design doesn’t present too many buttons; making it more sophisticated under the latest believes that “less is more”. The dimensions make this printer extremely compact. It has a height of 9.6 inches (24.3 cm), wide of 15.3 inches (38.8 cm), deep of 12.3 inches (31.3 cm), it weight a solid 11 kg (24.3 lb), making the Samsung CLP 315W Wireless pretty heavy for a laser printer. On the top of the Samsung CLP 315W you get a single power on and off button and a few LED lights. These LED lights will provide important information that usually is presented by other printers on a LCD display (the wireless connection status, toner shortages, or even lack of paper in the paper tray).

The biggest drawback in terms of usability is the lack of a cancel button, and I think this is a must for discount gadgets. Therefore, in order for you to cancel a printing you have to go through your computer. However, we all know that the printer responds better to a cancel button, than to a software cancel command (it will probably mean a page of printing between the two cancel modes). The paper tray sits on top of the CLP 315W. It is easy to use when you are on your feet, and not that great when you sit down (you might not see, when the printer runs out of paper). Samsung ships the CLP 315W with four cartridges. The black toner cartridge should last for about 1000 pages (for the black toner cartridge shipped with the CLP 315W), and about 1500 pages with a standard model. The color toner cartridge includes three colors, yellow, magenta, and cyan. If your color printing is average with all three colors then the shipped color toner cartridge should last for about 700 pages, while a standard color toner cartridge used average with all three colors will last you for about 1000 pages.

If you are interested in noise level, then you should now that the CLP 315W make less noise when printing color (45 dBA) than when it prints in monochrome (47 dBA). The declared monthly value of the Samsung CLP 315W is 20000 pages. Only small businesses can use this printer without harming it. You will not be able to use any memory cards with this printer, because the CLP 315W doesn’t have a slot card. However, it provides an internal memory of 32 MB.

The connectivity department is ensured by the high speed USB 2.0 port, and the Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g profile. The Samsung CLP 315W is not the most faster in print speed. It can only provide a black print speed of 17 pages per minute, and a color print speed of 4 pages per minute. The maximum resolution is 2400 x 600 dpi. Samsung ships the CLP 315W along with the two toner cartridges, a software CD, power cord, and a quick install guide. You get no USB cable, which means that Samsung encourages you to you the Wi-Fi connection, rather than the cable one. So, the Samsung CLP 315W is a well designed wireless laser printer, with a slow print speed, not so many features (manual duplex printing, and no cancel button), but an affordable price (form $169.99 to $259.99) for its range.

Posted in Computer Gadgets, Electronic Gadgets, Office Gadgets | No Comments »

Cool Gadgets

Monday, September 7th, 2009 |

The iHome iP 9 Dual Alarm Clock Radio is not just an alarm clock, but it’s also a cool gadget, and a great stereo speaker for your iPhone or iPod. Also it will charge your device. You can also control your listening experience with the included remote. The iHome works very efficiently and it’s very user friendly. The remote is very nice, feels solid not like a cheap plastic remote. Also the remote is easy to use with both iPhone and iPod.
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The iHome iP9 Alarm Clock Radio works well with the iPhone with a small exception. If you get an SMS message it does not play the sound that the iPhone 3G (and iPhone 3GS) makes if it is undocked. The phone will simply vibrate if it’s connected to the iHome. Also if you have an alarm set on your iPhone, it will not play through the speakers, if your phone rings, it will not ring through the speakers. Otherwise the iP9 is ready to entertain you, wake you, or ease your sleep.

One of the best features is that your iPod or iPhone will charge will you sleep or enjoy listening to AM / FM radio. You can control the radio, or the alarm clock using the large blacklit display with dimmer. Other features of these reliable device are, dual alarms to wake at separate times to different sources: iPhone / iPod, playlist, or AM / FM radio, Reson8 speaker chambers for astounding clarity, depth and power.

The universal dock that charges your iPhone or iPod really comes in handy is your unit is older than 18 months and you haven’t changed the battery. The infrared remote will control not just the volume, but also EQ, alarm functions and radio or will just help you navigate basic iPod and iPhone music functions. You also have a line in jack to connect other audio sources, like your MacBook or a CD player (I thought they’ve gone extinct).

So what do you get in the box for this cool gadget?You will get iHome iP9 dual alarm clock radio, made for iPod (works with iPhone) at a retail price of $ 99.95? Just five pieces: iHome iP9, Remote control, Universal voltage AC power adapter, AM antenna and the docking inserts to fit all iPod Touch, iPod nano or iPhone.

Later edit:

Get the coolest iPod alarm clock CD player so you can enjoy music and wake up on time as well.

Posted in House Gadgets, Office Gadgets | 2 Comments »

Laptop concepts for the ladies

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 |

Searching the web for something to write about, I ran into some interesting laptop concepts designed by Nikita Buyanov, especially for the special lady that you must have in your life. The designer was commissioned to come up with a series of concepts dedicated to the female part of the public. And they are all made for HP / Intel.

According to the designer’s confession on the Behance Network, the work was finished in about three days (maximum) for the concepts to be all done, with the minor photoshop corrections included.

Let’s start the incursion, ‘cause you are probably agog to see what the designer prepared for us to see. Here’s the HP Chameleon, a concept that is provided with a microcell coverage which can easily be transformed into a surround background. In addition, the laptop comes with three cameras that are to be used for environment analysis.

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And if you’re into the eco-friendly movement, then you should know that the designer has taken care of your best interest with the HP Eco, a model equipped with solar charge cells, with a bar-code reader that can be used for food products and, in addition, a bangle that is meant to help you with the blood pressure control and the pulse.

The HP Fitness, on the other hand, is aimed at those who want to have their weight under control. It is provided with a bangle for sport sessions (including running or stepping).

There’s, of course, the HP Make-Up, because, as you probably know, there’s no woman to hate make-up. The great thing about this model is the fact that, once the big button is pressed, the screen turns into the mirror mode. In addition, there’s an on-nail printing device.

The HP Mama is a laptop that has more lives than a cat usually does. You can’t harm it, as much as you try, not even if you want to break it or sink it. The model comes with a “3D-free monitor section design and two Bluetooth cameras with amplifier for videotracking your children”.

The last two models are the HP Perfume, which gives you the chance to change your laptop to a lap or even to an air freshner, and the HP Nobag, made for people who aren’t very much into regular square laptops.

Even if they are all aimed at the fair sex, I’m sure that anyone can enjoy the benefits of these brand new laptop concepts.

Posted in Office Gadgets | 4 Comments »

Who needs a smart pen anyway?

Friday, March 20th, 2009 |

Well, when I was a little kid the school supplies were the ultimate statement when it came to how cool we were and, why not, who rich our parents were. You had to have the right notebooks, the right writing tools, the right backpack (we called it satchel, to be more precise), if you wanted to be cool. Even if it sounds crazy, it was the thing to do, a must, if you prefer, for the kid to become popular. It didn’t matter that the child’s intelligence wasn’t a great help and that the behavior was deplorable, all that mattered was that he had expensive school supplies.

And you must remember those pens that were able to change from one color to another, usually red, green, blue and black. And you most probably know that the kid who owned such a thing was the coolest ever.

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To somehow remember us of those times, the Japan-based stationary designer Metaphys came up with a smart pen that is able to show that old one how things are these days, so it incorporates an ink pen, a mechanical pencil and an eraser. The Locus 3WAY pen can be yours for about $55, which is a little bit too much, if you think about it.

However, the designer thinks that the clip is what stands out from the crowd: “Writing items are personal objects, which reflect the personality of the owner. Most pens have only subtle differences in writing function. Metaphys has therefore focused on how the pen’s clip is displayed outwardly on a chest pocket. The stroke-like clip has become an icon representative of Metaphys writing instruments”.

Posted in Office Gadgets | No Comments »

Electronic paper for the Japanese market

Monday, March 16th, 2009 |

You can see the effects of the technological development almost everywhere. And a relevant proof is undoubtedly the electronic paper, which many of you know as e-paper. There were many attempts so far in this area, and we’ve also had the chance to witness the apparition of e-book readers that invaded the market in the past couple of years. You must have heard about the Amazon Kindle 2, which created sensation when being released.

Brother Industries Ltd. decided to join the party and announced the release of the so-called “Brother Document Viewer SV-100B”, which is nothing but an information terminal that comes with an electronic paper module. The device is expected to become available in Japan, on the first day of June, 2009.

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The company is very happy to emphasize the fact that the product will “allow users to carry around information equivalent to 10,000 sheets of A4-size documents”. If you think that Brother wants to aim this product at every human being, then you’re definitely wrong! The device is expected to be a great help for “field maintenance services and by home-visit nurses, layers and tax accountants, who carry a large amount of documents”.

Now, let’s talk about the SV-100B’s list of features. Measuring 15.5 millimeters in thickness and weighing approximately 600 grams, the device comes with a memory of 2Gb (coming from a microSD card), a 9.7 inch electronic paper module equipped with a resolution of 1,200×825 pixels, a black and white display, and a battery that is able to provide up to 83 hours of operation, corresponding to approximately 5,000 pages displayed at intervals of one minute.

As this electronic paper device is targeted mainly at corporate users, the SV-100B will come with a hefty price. ¥139,800. Or approximately $1,423.

Posted in Electronic Gadgets, Office Gadgets | No Comments »