This article was written on May 22, 2006 by CyberNet.
PC Magazine has brought another great review and this time of pcAnywhere 12. They say that not everyone should use it, but it would be great for help desks and call centers. The reason they don’t recommend it for everyone is because the setup isn’t as easy as 1-2-3-done. You have to do some configuration but with my previous experiences with pcAnywhere it is well worth it. It is nice to be able to remote desktop into a computer without logging someone off of that computer (like the Windows Remote Desktop does). However, you do need to have pcAnywhere installed on each computer that you want to use it on and remote desktop to. That can become quite cumbersome if you are just a home user and have a bunch of computers you want to setup.
If you still think it is worth the hassle then maybe the $170 price tag might pull you away. I am sure the cost is the main reason that PC Magazine doesn’t recommend it for everyone to use.
Schwinn’s Tailwind electric bike — which has been available for just a few months — has been sitting in our apartment since post CES, waiting for the New York weather to shape up enough for us to give it a fair spin. Well, it’s been beautiful recently, so the pedal-assist bike has been taken for several spins on our backyard BMX trail to see what kind of dust we could raise together. The bike is a retro, hulking, 58 pound package, with a Toshiba SCiB Quick Charge Plug n’ Drive (SCiB) battery saddled onto the back for about 30 miles of assistance. It’s an expensive (about $3,200) piece of eco-friendly transportation, to be sure. So the questions are thus: what do we think about Schwinn’s latest foray into commuter cycles? Just who is this bike for? Will we ever get used to carrying it up and down our apartment stairs? Join us on the road after the break.
We expected these to launch sometime in late March or early April, but it looks like Lenovo’s IdeaCentre A600 is just now started to roll out, and along with it a handful of reviews. There seems to be a consensus that this all-in-one’s a really good bang for the buck, especially with the TV tuner and somewhat useful remote / gyroscope controller / VoIP handset. Performance-wise, the Intel Core 2 Duo / ATI Mobility Radio HD3650 powered device is good but nothing worth writing home about. Boing Boing Gadgets suggests it won’t match the latest iMac at gaming. While the body’s well built and sturdy, the jury’s still out on the glossy screen and that front “bump” of sorts — you should also be warned that there’s a rather hefty power brick that comes along with the PC. As with all AIO’s, if a 21.5-inch screen isn’t large enough, there isn’t much you can do about it. If, however, the specs and features are just what you’re looking for, you’ll be happy to hear the company’s turned those bullet points into a well-oiled machine. But don’t take our word for it, hit up the read links below for more in-depth critiques.
We got our hands on the Verizon HP Mini 1000 (or, as it’s more properly known in this form, the 1151NR) recently, and we’ve taken the little guy — and its built-in 3G card — for a spin. The Mini itself has a standard enough spec sheet: a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB HDD, two USB 2.0 ports, 802.11b/g, SD slot, and Windows XP, and there’s no special Verizon branding to be found anywhere on the unit. We can’t really take issue with the choice of machine, which is a fairly well-loved netbook with generally pretty solid performance. The important thing here, of course, is the addition of the big V’s hardwired 3G. Did we fall in love with it? Does it make sense in the face of products like Verizon’s MiFi 2200 EV-DO router? Will it alter future events forever? Read on to find out.
Toshiba’s 10.1-inch netbook — the Dynabook UX — hasn’t been on our radar terribly long, but already it’s beginning to make the review rounds. Portable Monkey‘s just gotten their hands on one and while they are fans of the design, think the over all build quality is a bit better than many netbooks, and also found the battery life to be pretty good (they got about 3.5 hours per charge), there are also a few drawbacks. The keyboard is cramped, the built-in scrolling is none too responsive, and the volume of the speakers is extremely quiet. The NB200 is set to be released in the coming months in the UK, and it’s expected to run about $600 when it makes its way to the US.
Where most other camera companies are going for 720p video in their nicer point-and-shoots, Ricoh added more photo-centric features to the CX1: in-camera HDR, high-speed sequential shooting and razor-sharp macro. We’ve tested, and we like.
Granted, we also like shooting HD video with every possible thing we own, but it’s nice to see some fairly unique photography-focused features pop up here and there, like in-camera high dynamic range shooting for more balanced exposure in unevenly lit scenes, to remind us that we can use our cameras to take photos too; that’s exactly what Ricoh is going for, and even better, it’s all packed into a nice minimalistic camera body that feels solid and light at the same time and has great style. I like the black one even better than the silver, but the black review unit we received had a faulty lens cover.
Specs: • 1/2.3″ CMOS Sensor, 9.29MP • 28-200mm, f/3.3-f/5.2 optical zoom lens (7.1x) • 1cm macro focusing distance • 7fps continuous shooting, with 60fps and 120fps 1-second burst shooting modes • “Dynamic Range Double Shot” mode for in-camera HDR, 12ev stops of coverage • VGA movie mode • ISO up to 1600
In-Camera High Dynamic Range The major selling point of the CX1 is its ability to take two exposures of an unevenly lit scene and combine them into a single shot that more accurately captures what your human eye sees. We did a guide to doing the exact same thing with Photoshop, but the CX1 joins just a few other cameras that do it automatically. And it works.
Granted, you can get much more dramatic results (and way more exposure lee-way) by dumping 7 RAW files into Photoshop, and it won’t work perfectly in every situation (night shots don’t show much effect), but it’s a very cool feature to play around with. And keep in mind, this is HDR of the actually useful, exposure-enhancing variety—no clown vomit colors here.
Here’s an example shot of Matt hard at work making Gizmodo blog sausage:
As you can see, the shot in HDR mode captures detail from out the window above Matt’s head without greatly darkening the rest of the scene, like his face. HDR mode takes an additional second or so to capture and drops your shutter speed down a stop or two, but other than that, it’s indistinguishable from regular shooting. Very nicely done.
Image Quality/Sensitiviy Overall I found it to be very good—nice colors with a bit of the video-y color palette many other point-and-shoots have but nothing extreme. ISO sensitivity is OK, but not great: ISO 800 is useable at small sizes, but you’ll want to stick to ISO 400 or below to keep the noise in check for most shots:
One thing that’s awesome is the CX1’s macro-mode, as is the case on lots of newer point-and-shoots. It focuses down to one centimeter, has a movable focus point (many macro modes get caught hunting if what you want in focus isn’t right in the middle of the frame) and is razor sharp. Check out this clementine peel:
Shooting With the CX1 It’s a pretty nice experience, due in large part to the wide range of custom functions available. A “Function” button, one of four on the camera’s back, can be assigned one of nine jobs, from locking exposure to bracketing to setting the macro focus point.
And in addition, four quick-access function buttons that pop up when you hit the main “OK” button can also be custom-defined to whatever you want for immediate access to exposure compensation, white balance, ISO, image size—10 possible options. Super-handy.
The 60fps and 120fps burst modes (limited to VGA resolution) are usable, but they’re not as smoothly implemented as other parts of the camera. It’s really hard to know exactly when recording starts, and the output is a practically useless .MPO file, which you have to open in Ricoh’s software, split the MPO out into 120 JPEGs, then, if you want a movie, link them back together in something like Quicktime. That’s what I did here; the results are nice (although limited to one second), but it’s a pain in the ass since even VLC can’t open these MPO files.
Conclusion In-camera HDR is not a gimmick here—it’s both usable and useful. Which is awesome. At $370, the CX1 is in the same price ballpark as most higher-end compacts, so your choice is basically HD video or the CX1’s unique photo features. The CX1 implements the latter very nicely, in a classically sleek, compact metal body. It’s not a huge surprise that tons of Japanese pros carry a Ricoh P+S in their pocket to supplement their DSLRs.
Whether you call it OmniaHD, i8910 HD, or even “Timmy Tim” (hey, it could happen), Samsung’s AMOLED–infused smartphone is a winner, if the fine lads at Phone Arena are to be believed. Points go to its HD video recording and playback, a surprisingly good battery life, and a form factor that’s not too hard on the pocket, measuring in at just a wee bit taller and thicker than the HTC Touch HD. Not everything’s sunshine and rainbows, though, as trying to use it in direct sunlight’s a lost cause and the phone is a magnet for fingerprints. Still, those are pretty minor in comparison, and this is sounding more and more like a solid smartphone. Hit up the read link for a more thorough review, or after the break for the moving pictures version.
Both Panasonic and Canon announced their first water- and shock-proof compact toughcams earlier this year, and we’ve taken them underwater for a test. Which is better for capturing your summertime antics both wet AND wild?
Let me say first that I did not use either of these cameras in their ideal conditions—namely, outside, underwater while swimming. For some reason, Canon and Panasonic did not tailor the release dates of these cameras to coincide with my trip to Egypt a few months ago, which is where I wanted to test them out (why not guys??). Back here in New York, any outdoor body of water is way too frigid right now, and there’s something pretty creepy and ultimately unacceptable about taking an underwater camera to the YMCA for test shots. So, instead of the verdant coral reefs of the Red Sea off the Sinai coast, which were straight out of Planet Earth, our test shots are of me playing with a Kraken Attackin’ Lego Pirates playset in my kitchen sink. Which is a cool playset, but, you know, not the same.
But still, we’ve gathered enough data I think to inform your decision, if you’re thinking of picking up a waterproof toughcam for this summer. Here are the main points of differentiation I see:
Form Factor/Interface Both cameras are waterproof, but the Canon D10 is protected up to 10 meters (around 32 feet), where the Panasonic TS1 is only protected up to three meters (around 10 feet). And that’s immediately apparent in their shapes:
The D10 looks like it was designed by Ringo on the set of Yellow Submarine—its bulbous shell and porthole-like screws drive home the fact that this baby is going underwater. But on land, it’ll be tough to fit it into a pants pocket without some serious bulging.
It does have some nice, easy-to-press buttons for changing into video mode, for instance, and the icons on the LCD screen are nice and big, easily spotted through a snorkeling mask. There are some superfluous button presses to lock in settings which could be tedious underwater, but the UI is not horrible, and you’ll easily get used to it. The D10 also has come big screw-mounts on each corner for mounting various underwater grips and other accessories that you can buy from Canon.
The TS1 takes a totally different approach, with a sleek rectangular slab shape that at first glance is hard to distinguish from regular non-tough weeniecams. The buttons are a bit smaller, but not prohibitively so, and shootings modes are selected with a thumb dial instead of dedicated buttons—I didn’t see anything I couldn’t operate with a bit of practice while snorkeling. A basic locking wrist-strap comes in the box.
The important thing is that the TS1 is not at all out of place in non-toughcam situations, where the D10 may be. But if you’re a deep snorkeler, three meters may not be enough for you compared to the D10’s 10 meters (I imagine if you’re a serious SCUBA diver, you’ll need something beefier than either of these), but where you lose usability under water with the TS1 you will gain it on land. Consider that.
Video Another big difference, if not the biggest, is that the Panasonic TS1 shoots 720p in the AVCHD format, where the Canon only does 640×480 VGA vids. The TS1 video recording mode isn’t the most polished—there’s a good two to three second delay from when you hit the dedicated video button to when recording actually starts and stops, and it’s unclear exactly when everything does start, but if you’re OK with that, the HD video mode is awesome. I mean, underwater HD in such a tiny package—that’s a no-brainer right? I would kill to have some HD clips of my friends and I swimming around in crazy schools of neon fish in Egypt.
Here are some sample clips from the sink:
TS1 720P Clip:
Note: There is a current bug with the TS1 that makes video imported into iMovie ’08 and ’09 play at double speed. I had to do some conversion to avoid this, which is a pain. Panasonic says they’re working with Apple on this to include a fix in future versions of iMovie.
Canon D10 VGA Clip:
Keep in mind that the AVCHD format is kind of annoying, in that you might have to install special codecs and import video straight into your video editing software of choice and then export it in friendlier formats, rather than just grabbing an AVI or MOV clip from the memory card and uploading it to YouTube.
And yeah, the quality of these videos is pretty bad, but the difference in the actual output is clear: 720p underwater rules.
Shooting Both cameras are 12-megapixels, for full-res shots at 4000×3000. Both have the same size CCD sensor, but the TS1’s ISO goes up to 6400 where the Canon D10’s only to 1600. I didn’t do a thorough sensitivity test with either camera, but I would imagine you don’t want to go much higher than 800 on either one, so the difference is probably fairly moot.
A difference that does matter is the TS1’s wider-angle lens: it’s a 28mm-128mm f/3.3-f/5.9 effective focal length zoom, compared to the D10’s 35mm-105mm f/2.8-f/4.9.
As you can see, color reproduction via the TS1’s Leica lens is far better than the D10s, which has to fight through a bit more protective plastic. Also, the TS1 tends to autofocus underwater with much greater ease—important, because you won’t always be able to look at the LCD when composing shots while snorkeling.
Conclusion Like I said, I only played with these cameras in the sink, so I didn’t push their waterproof capabilities to their max. But having a waterproof and shockproof camera around the house is kind of cool in its own right—imagine taking bath time photos of your kid without having to worry about getting the camera wet, or taking shots with dirty hands while you’re barbecuing, or anything like that. You can always dunk these cameras underwater to clean them off. It’s nice. You don’t have to be a snorkeler to use them and have fun with them.
Which is why for me, the balance shifts heavily toward the Panasonic TS1. Its form factor makes using it on land a lot more convenient, and the added HD video option is a huge plus. And my ears hurt if I go down much further than three meters underwater anyway. At a premium of only $70 ($400 list vs. $330 for the D10), I’d say it’s well worth spending up for.
Panasonic Lumix DSC-TS1 HD video capture
Unobtrusive form factor good for both land and sea
This article was written on January 10, 2007 by CyberNet.
Our latest giveaway includes two software license for Object Desktop 2007! Ryan and I spent a considerable amount of time reviewing all that it has to offer, and boy, is it a lot! There are so many options for transforming your Windows PC into the look, feel, and functionality that suits you best. Together with Stardock Crop, we are able to giveaway two licenses for the full Object Desktop Suite. The winners are… ( and we hope you enjoy it!)
Entry #4 by CoryC: “I want to be able to really customize the look and feel my PC without having to modify system files or use potential virus/spyware infested “themes†downloaded from the Internet. I’ve been a big fan of Object Desktop for a couple for years now. I would be really excited to try ObjectDeskTop2007. “
The second winner that was randomly selected was entry #22, and if you’ll notice, it’s Ryan. So, we had to draw again, and we pulled….
Entry #14 by Frustrated:
“Although I find myself rather knowledgeable about computers and their workings, I seem to constantly know just enough to get into trouble. So, here goes…
I’ve used skinning applications before, mostly WindowBlinds. I enjoyed the freedom it gave me however was always annoyed by the restrictions set by the “free†trials. I had been using this trial version of WindowBlinds for ~6 months, clicking past the ads and reminders to register every time I booted up my computer. The dilemma was that I was not willing to pay for the software but also, was not willing to give up the cool themes I had found.
So, a couple of days ago, I found an article on your site called “CyberNotes: How to Install Unsigned Themes in Windows XPâ€. Naturally, I thought this would be the perfect way to get away from WindowBlinds and to be able to find cool themes to use with only the Windows applications. Bingo!
In the process of finding the uxtheme.dll file, I thought it would be a great time to perform a little bit of “spring cleaning†on some old themes I had used. So, I navigate to the Windows/Resources/Themes directory and see a folder called “Lunaâ€. Thinking this folder contained an old theme I wasn’t using anymore, I tried to delete it. However, I got loads of ‘Access Denied’ and ‘The file is in use’ errors. In a heightened state of frustration, I rebooted my machine to safe mode with only a command prompt to delete this bugger of a file that wouldn’t go away. In this way, I was able to delete the stubborn files and get back to work.
Having finished my “spring cleaningâ€, I proceeded to get the new uxtheme.dll from this web site and replace the old one. OK, no problems there. So I download a theme that looks cool from the website you suggested (deviantart). I unzip it and install it to the Windows/ Resources/ Themes folder and view the display properties on my machine in order to set the new theme.
Upon opening the settings page, I am immediately inundated with roughly 35 popup dialogs telling me I did something drastically wrong. Uh oh. All of a sudden, the screen goes black for a few seconds and I stare in amazement as the screen comes back on with the windows classic theme. ( I use windows xp ). Naturally, I try to change the theme back to the windows xp theme to find that it is NOT ON THE LIST ANYMORE. Oh great!
At this point, I realize that there may have been a reason the “luna†files were in use and I immediately go online to see what the default windows xp theme is called. Oops. Luna IS the default xp theme.
As you may have assumed, I spent the greater part of last night and early this morning attempting to get my machine back to working standards. So, I am proud to say at about noon today, I succeeded in restoring the windows xp theme ( aka luna ). I go online and find some other instructions for replacing the uxtheme.dll file. I follow these, which work exactly as stated. So, I install a new theme (WMP11 theme) and everything is beginning to look up.
So, I bring up Firefox to do a little web surfing. I navigate to this site and lo and behold!!! YOU ARE GIVING AWAY, FOR FREE, THE PROGRAM I SPENT THE LAST TWO DAYS REPLACING!!!!
>> Needless to say, a free copy of the Object Desktop suite would be extremely helpful to me. “
Thanks to everyone who told us why you wanted or needed Object Desktop 2007. Winners, you should have already received an email from us with further instructions. If not, check your spam folder.. it may be hanging out there.
As always ,stick around because we’ll have more software to give away in the future!
You’ve seen its introduction, its unboxing — in two different languages, no less — and maybe even fancied the pre-order page. Now Pocketables has what appears to be one of the first full-fledged review of the Viliv S5, and the verdict? It’s quite a sturdy and well-built MID, with surprisingly good battery life and video performance from the Intel Atom Z520 processor (same one as found in the Vaio P). The virtual keyboard leaves a lot to be desired for, and it’s a shame to hear the joystick’s mouse functionality is limited to four directions, but despite these complaints and a $599 price tag, the conclusion is still a overwhelmingly positive for those who like the form factor. Hit up the read link for the full examination.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Where most other camera companies are going for 720p video in their nicer point-and-shoots, Ricoh added more photo-centric features to the 
In-camera HDR works well and is handy
Great-looking body
Decent ISO sensitivity
High-speed burst kind of sucks
Both 
Buttons perhaps more difficult to use underwater
Only waterproof up to 3 meters
Our latest giveaway includes 
