Ultra Cool Gadgets » Network

Brother Printer HL2270DW Wireless Monochrome Printer

ashish — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:48:26 +0000

The hl-2270dw is a compact, monochrome laser printer with built-in wireless and ethernet network interfaces for small office or home office printer sharing. it features a fast print speed up to 27ppm, automatic duplex printing for two-sided documents, and up to 2400 x 600 dpi resolution for high-quality output. In addition, the printer’s stylish, space-saving design fits virtually anywhere.the hl-2270dw provides flexible paper handling via an adjustable, 250-sheet capacity tray and a manual by-pass slot for printing thicker media. it also offers a high-yield 2,600-page replacement toner cartridge to help lower operating costs and a toner save mode for less critical business documents.

Technical Details

- Prints up to 27ppm.
- Built-in wireless and Ethernet network interfaces.
- Automatic duplex printing for two-sided documents.
- Adjustable, 250-sheet capacity paper tray.
- 32MB memory standard.

PROS:

- Fast.
- Great print quality.
- 3 connectivity options including WiFi.
- Automatic duplexer.
- Supports Windows XP/2000/Vista/7, Mac OS X, and various Linux distros.
- Good looking.
- Great value.

CONS:

- Starter toner rated at only 700 pages.
- Slight curl for duplex printouts.
- Uses different and more expensive toner than 2170W.
- WiFi limited to 802.11b/g.

Sony MZ-DN430PSBLK Psyc MiniDisc Network Walkman (Black)

ashish — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:57:23 +0000

Looking for a portable audio solution that is affordable and easy to use? Sony’s line of MiniDisc players deliver precisely that, and a lot more. With sleek urban styling and excellent shock protection, the Sony MZ-DN430 offers a great way to join the MiniDisc club. Each MiniDisc– which, by the way, costs about a buck– can store up to 177 MB of music data, enough space for up to five hours of music.
Using the included SonicStage and MD Simple Burner software, you can upload ATRAC3-encoded music to the device. The software supports conversion of MP3, WAV and WMA formats to ATRAC3, so you can record directly to the device at up to 32x speeds. Music uploads are handled by the MZ-DN430′s USB connector, so you’ll need a USB-capable PC for music transfers.

While you can convert and play your own music on the MZ-DN430, the player is also fully compatible with Sony’s Connect Music Store. The Connect store offers one of the most extensive music collections online. Customers can choose single tracks or entire albums from independent and major-label artists for purchase and download.
In addition to the rugged Psyc design that protects your player as you bump your way through the day, the MZ-DN430 also has built-in “G-Protection” for skip-free performance. And because the MZ-DN430 is built to be efficient, you’ll get up to 56 hours of continuous playback with one AA battery.

Technical Details

- Plays back ATRAC3 audio format; supports MP3, WAV, WMA, CD audio formats.
- Record your CDs or MP3s to the device at up to 32x speed.
- Skip-free “G-Protection” technology.
- Up to 56 hours of continuous battery life on 1 AA battery.
- Music conversion and management software supplied.

Customer Feedback

The player has very clear and good sound, and the disk don’t skip when you hit the potholes. Even when I occassionally jog, I’ve only had it skip one time, and that’s when I tripped and fell. It’s light and small and you barely notice it strapped on your arm. I have a arm strap where you can carry an extra minidisk too. The battery life is very long.
Making the disk are very simple, and you can choose different bit rates for the music. The higher the bit rate, the fewer songs on the minidisk. So you can get anywhere from 2 hours to 5 hours of music on the disk, depending on the rate. The sound quality is noticeble, so I use the 3 hour rate. So I have a large selection on songs, without giving up all sound quality. Then only two drawbacks are it can’t play video or podcast, and audiobooks take two or three disk. So for those this isn’t practical at all.

Sony MZ-DN430PSWHI Psyc MiniDisc Network Walkman (White)

ashish — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 07:15:18 +0000

The Sony MZ-DN430 is a small, portable format for carrying your music and audio with you everywhere. Each MiniDisc can store 177MB of audio that you can hear as you travel. The SKip-Free G Protection lets you hear music without interruption, and the ATRAC and MP3 playback modes let you hear the music you have stored on your hard drive. The rugged, sleek Psyc(TM) design looks good and handles the bumps & scrapes of the urban jungle or suburban streets without messing up your music.
Sony’s line of MiniDisc players deliver precisely that, and a lot more. With sleek urban styling and excellent shock protection, the Sony MZ-DN430 offers a great way to join the MiniDisc club. Each MiniDisc– which, by the way, costs about a buck– can store up to 177 MB of music data, enough space for up to five hours of music.
Using the included SonicStage and MD Simple Burner software, you can upload ATRAC3-encoded music to the device. The software supports conversion of MP3, WAV and WMA formats to ATRAC3, so you can record directly to the device at up to 32x speeds. Music uploads are handled by the MZ-DN430′s USB connector, so you’ll need a USB-capable PC for music transfers.
While you can convert and play your own music on the MZ-DN430, the player is also fully compatible with Sony’s Connect Music Store. The Connect store offers one of the most extensive music collections online. Customers can choose single tracks or entire albums from independent and major-label artists for purchase and download.

In addition to the rugged Psyc design that protects your player as you bump your way through the day, the MZ-DN430 also has built-in “G-Protection” for skip-free performance. And because the MZ-DN430 is built to be efficient, you’ll get up to 56 hours of continuous playback with one AA battery.

Technical Details

Customer Feedback

The best thing about these players? The battery life! You’ll get 45-55 hours on a single Alkaline battery-and this is TRUE battery life folks. Because this little guy operates on alkaline batteries, it will truly last up to 50 hours of usage, unlike Li-ion or regular rechargeable players (like the ipod, Zen, etc). Those devices advertise 12 to 20 hours, HOWEVER, if you don’t use it for a week, the battery will be dead. Rechargeables have a horrible discharge rate, and regular flash or hd based mp3 players use those stupid “instant-on” features that make the problem worse, after “power off” they go into a power-trickling sleep mode. You can transfer your MP3s, waves, wma’s, etc until the cows come home. And when you want to delete the tracks from the player, just delete. No more of that “check-in, check-out” crap from the early days of SonicStage.

TiVo AN0100 Wireless N Network Adapter (Gray)

ashish — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:25:16 +0000

The TiVo Wireless N Network Adapter creates a high-performance, 802.11n connection between your TiVo DVR and the internet via your wireless home network, so you can enjoy faster downloads of HD movies and TV shows. This next-generation network adaper also features simple push-button set up get you up and running in minutes.

Technical Details

- Less waiting: download HD movies and TV to your TiVo DVR faster.
- Quicker multi-room viewing: Transfer recordings from one TiVo DVR to another with greater efficiency.
- Faster TiVoToGo: Load shows onto portable devices sooner with quicker transfers to your computer.
- Speedier access to VOD: Get more rapid, reliable and efficient performance of streaming movies, web videos and music.

Customer Feedback

This works a lot better than the prior USB version, I can now stream HD Netflix movies on my TiVo HD for example whereas before I had trouble doing that because the USB version wifi adapter was so slow!
This doesn’t plug into the USB on your TiVo but rather the ethernet port. It also requires AC power as well.
My only complaint is that this is too expensive.

The basic idea is that this device is nothing more than a wireless-to-ethernet bridge. By enabling it and hooking it to your TiVo’s ethernet port, your TiVo simply thinks it’s hooked to a hard-wired ethernet connection. The beauty is that it requires no changes to your TiVo configuration. The adapter is detected automatically.