Miscellaneous

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Airlink101 SkyIPCam777W Surveillance Camera 11-07-2009

Securing your home and business can be a costly venture. Some spend thousands of dollars on closed-circuit cameras and expensive installation. Today we will be taking a look at a wireless night-vision camera that can be monitored from your PC or 3G phone at a cost of under two hundred dollars. Say hello to the Airlink101 SkyIPCam777W.

Sumo Lounge Omni Bean bag Chair 09-01-2009

OCIA.net traditionally reviews computer hardware. We normally review things that every computer user wants or needs. So, it may come as a surprise to you to find out that today's review item is a beanbag chair. But, if you think about it, it's not so out-of-the-blue. I don't know about you, but all I do all day is sit: I sit in my car and go to work, I sit all day at work, I sit in the car on the way back from work, and then I sit at my desk reviewing at night. Okay, my life is a little more interesting than that, but you get the point; even computer enthusiasts need a place to plop their keister.

TrickleStar PC TrickleSaver 08-31-2009

Last year in the hot summer heat, during the peak of power usage for most of the US, OCIA.net reviewed the P3 Kill-A-Watt electricity meter. This nifty little device earned our Seal of Approval for its usefulness in monitoring exactly how much power our electronic devices consume. However, manually plugging and unplugging devices or having to crawl under your desk to flip the switch on a power strip can become tedious or at the very least, inconvenient for most people, just to save a few bucks on our electric bill. Today I have two new products for review from a company named TrickleStar that address these issues. It's the PC TrickleSaver and accompanying accessory, the TrickleSwitch.

OCZ Neutrino 10in DIY Netbook 08-07-2009

Today’s review sample, the OCZ Neutrino, gives the consumer a little bit of wiggle room outside of the norm of entirely preconfigured netbook systems. The Neutrino arrives without hard-drive, RAM, or operating system, leaving the purchase and installation of these components entirely up to the user. Because those are the only components that really vary between netbooks, all of the choice you might want in specifying a netbook is yours.

Cooler Master SNA (Slim Notebook Adapter) 95 07-31-2009

Cooler Master recently introduced the SNA (Slim Notebook Adapter) 95 to cover these and any other circumstance you can think of where having a spare adapter might be handy. The SNA 95 is unique in that it comes with nine different adapter tips to fit most any make / model of notebook. Furthermore, Cooler Master included a built-in USB port that can be used to charge USB devices. Oh, and did we mention this is the smallest 95W notebook adapter on the market?

OtterBox for BlackBerry Bold Defender Series 01-26-2009

As you reach for the unfamiliar device it seems to jump out of your hand in a glorious leap of faith. Although you attempt to use cat-like reflexes to regain control of your prized possession, the phone smashes into the pavement below. Horrified at what you have just witnessed, you slowly approach the now inanimate mobile phone and find its once glorious LCD screen cracked. Gravity wins again.

Spectroniq Portable DVD Player 01-24-2009

The portable DVD player we have for review from Geeks.com is the PDV-70X from Spectroniq which offers a 7" widescreen LCD display housed in an attractive silver body. It supports 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio, has a standard 480 x 234 resolution, supports DVD, VCD, CD and JPEG playback and advertises up to 2½ hours of power with the included rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack.

CradlePoint Technology PHS300 WWAN Router 06-26-2008

WWAN is becoming more and more popular for business travelers and remote locations for internet connectivity. With a simple USB or PCMCIA card stuck in your laptop, you can pretty much connect from anywhere you can get cell service, and the bandwidth available on these wireless plans is about what you'd expect from an entry level DSL connection. Which means sooner or later you might think to yourself, "boy it sure would be nice to be able to share this big pipe with more users than just my laptop".

USB 2.0 Computer Copy Cable 05-07-2008

For most computer savvy users, transferring data between two computers is relatively easy. If you have a network set up, you can share data between two computers. Alternatively, you can simply use a flash drive... but that might not be very efficient if you are transferring a large amount of data. But, for those users who aren't as "skilled" with computers, this can present quite a problem. I have seen countless people burn CD after CD of data to transfer to their laptop, which of course is time-consuming and wasteful.

Zibra Open It! Package Opener 04-25-2008

The design of the Open It! is based on diagonal cutters, better known to people not into electronics as wire cutters, wire snippers, or wire clippers. They are 8.5” from the tips of the blades to the end of the longest handle. The handles are made of high impact plastic, the darker edges are a rubberized non-slip material.

Sanyo Xacti CG6 Digital Camcorder 04-15-2008

The size of the CG6 is perfect. It is small enough to fit into a purse or pocket, yet large enough that you don't feel like you are going to break or drop it during use. The camera uses a pistol-grip style which works perfectly for both left and right-handed users. The fact that the camera is so small also means it is extremely lightweight.

LapWorks Attache Laptop Desk 04-10-2008

Today we will be taking a look at a "dedicated" desktop stand from LapWorks, the Attache Desktop Stand. The Attache picks up where the Futura left off in terms of desktop stands, adding several features that should greatly improve usage in this configuration.

Solio H1000 Universal Hybrid Charger 03-26-2008

When it comes to saving money, I am all ears. Throw in some environmental benefits and you are well on your way to a great product. Today I will be taking a look at a product that incorporates both of these features into a single device, the Solio H1000 Universal Hybrid Charger. This portable battery charger draws it energy directly from the sun, thanks to an integrated solar panel and stores this power for up to a full year using an internal 1000mAh lithium ion battery.

Yoggie Security Systems Gatekeeper Pico 03-02-2008

You may remember during our CES 2008 coverage we highlighted a product from Yoggie Security Systems called the Gatekeeper Pico. The product was named "Best of Innovations 2008 - Computer Accessories" at the Consumer Electronics Show and Yoggie Security Systems has sent over a demo of the Gatekeeper Pico for our review.

LapWorks Futura Laptop Desk 02-03-2008

The Futura provides a simple solution to the problems of using a notebook in your lap. No power necessary, no moving parts and it fits in your notebook carrying case or backpack. It weighs just a hair over one pound.

Lite-On LH-20A1S 20x DVD+/-RW Drive 01-14-2008

With all of this ballyhoo about HD-DVD-this and Blu-Ray-that, it’s easy to forget that regular old DVDs and even our old faithful CDs are still quite posh. Not only is your box nearly unusable without some sort of compact disc reader for software, but most forms of entertainment such as movies and music still sells predominantly on these “old” formats of DVD and CD.

Ultra Products Stackables 11-10-2007

Ultra sent over four components from their Stackables line: Stackables 180-Watt Multi-Outlet Power Center, Stackables All-In-1 Card Reader & USB 2.0 Hub, Stackables 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure and the Stackables 3.5" IDE Hard Drive Enclosure. I will take a look at each product in detail throughout this review.

Non-Contact Handheld Infrared Thermometer 11-05-2007

Geeks has provided us with many random computer gadgets in the past, and this product is right up their alley. Most people may not consider a wireless thermometer as a computer tool, but if you think about it, this fits perfectly into your geek toolbox.

Cirago Micro Bluetooth USB Adapter 11-02-2007

Mobile phone and PDA manufacturers have integrated Bluetooth into many of their handsets, which allow us to use wireless headsets and connect our electronics to computers and other devices to share pictures, music, etc. Today we will be taking a look at a modern Bluetooth product in the Cirago Micro Bluetooth USB Adapter.

Ultra Products 7 Port USB Buddy Hub 10-24-2007

I had pretty much settled on this cluttered system... that is, until I came across the Ultra Products 7 Port USB Buddy Hub. This USB hub seemed to be the answer to all of my problems and would leave me with a much cleaner workstation. I contacted Ultra Products and a few weeks later, the Buddy Hub arrived for testing. Will this hub really solve all of my problems?

Soyo TechAID 06-05-2007

Well here's something that might just fit the bill. It's a little gadget made by Soyo Group (the same folks that made motherboards) and it's called the TechAID. It's a small diagnostics card that plugs into a PCI slot on any motherboard and reads and displays BIOS trouble codes during POST.

CoolMax PSU Tester 05-19-2007

Today I am reviewing a tester from CoolMax that offers exactly that... an LCD that displays exact voltage outputs for each of the different rails. CoolMax advertises this tester to be accurate to within +/- 0.1V and with all outputs displayed to the tenth of a volt we can infer the unit is simply rounding up or down.

Logitech G25 Racing Wheel 02-01-2007

As I approach his back bumper I hit redline and slam it in third. With the finish line fast approaching, I made my move, flying around him on the left and crossing the finish line with half a car length to spare. I had won the race! I step out of my car and throw my fists in the air. I look to the crowd for my much earned recognition only to find two cats and my girlfriend looking at me with expressions of bewilderment, bringing me full circle back to reality.

Titan TTC-G3T Aluminum Notebook Cooling Pad 12-19-2006

Laptop coolers of various forms have been around for years, from special insulating pads to stands to things with fins and fans, but for every different type you see there are a myriad of mixed reviews over whether they're actually very effective or not. As I mentioned, in my experience their performance has been less than stellar.

OtterBox 1920 Palm Treo Case 12-04-2006

The keypad lines up directly over the buttons on the phone, giving you full access to all of the buttons on the Treo. I did run into a slight issue here, however. With my Treo 700p, the green "call" button and the red "end call" buttons were not properly labeled. For the 700p and 700w, the correct placement for these icons would be on the horizontal buttons directly above their current placement.

Palm Treo 700p (Sprint) 10-23-2006

The 700p comes with plenty of memory to start you out. 128 MB of onboard memory (60 MB available to the end user) allowed me to install all of the applications that I wanted, including some games. I still had roughly 45 MB or so left over. This leaves enough room to store a fair amount of music or tons of pictures and videos without even touching the expansion card.

Cooler Master NotePal P1 Notebook Cooler 10-06-2006

Of course laptop coolers of various forms have been around for years, from special insulating pads to stands to things with fins and fans, but for every different type you see there are a myriad of mixed reviews over whether they're actually very effective or not. I must admit I'm a bit of a skeptic and never bought into these kinds of products, but when Cooler Master, who's been in the PC cooling business for 10 years, said they were sending over one of their new Notepal P1's, I couldn't wait to try it out.

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