The HP iPAQ 514 Voice Messenger

Hewlett Packard last year released the iPAQ 514 Messenger, marking the start of HP’s foray into combining cellular communication and handheld computing in one affordable package.

The HP IPAQ 514 Voice Messenger is essentially a smartphone, designed to be functional, flexible, capable and of a high quality. It is what every businessman needs, a no frills, state of the art device with the easy to use features of a Smartphone, the power of voice commander, the convenience of a mobile phone, the functionality of a handheld organizer and accessibility to internet and email.

Running on Windows Mobile 6, a rare and impressive feature, the IPAQ boasts an exceptional battery life, excellent voice commander, onboard Wi-Fi and a low weight. It features up to 6.5 hours of talk time, and 6.7 days of standby time.

The HP iPAQ 514 Voice Messenger is optimized for voice, email and Voice over Internet Protocol. There is also a built in security feature which protects your personal and business data. A 1.3 megapixel camera, although below what the average consumer would expect, is quite adequate considering the target market.

The screen measures 2 diagonal inches, and displays 176×220 pixels, which might take those accustomed to larger screens a while to get used to.

For the businessman on the go, the iPAQ also boasts pocket versions of Microsoft software, including Outlook, Word, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, and Internet Explorer Mobile with Windows Live for Smartphone.

There is 802.11 b/g onboard, as well as Bluetooth, but other data connections are limited to GPRS/EDGE. You can, however, use VolP applications over Wi-Fi thanks to a built in SIP client, or even use Skype.

The highlight of this phone is probably its exceptional voice commander. The voice commander offers voice recognition for a variety of jobs, including making a phone call, launching an application or starting music playback. It includes VoiceReplay to emails and Cyberon Voice Command. The voice replay or send email feature is really amazing, and works exceptionally.

All you have to do is ask it to compose an audio email to your contact. It will then check if you really want to do this, and you can speak for up to 30 seconds. There is a great countdown feature on the screen in big black letters, so you know when to end your message. The device will then replay your message and ask for confirmation. Upon saying yes the message is sent. Quick and easy, and quite phenomenal. The phone will also alert you, via voice alert, of low memory warnings, another rather cool feature.

Another great feature is the maps and internet browsing. Even though it is smaller than what you may be used to, it is readable, even in daylight if you increase the brightness. The GPS system is a great and definitely useful tool to have.

For those who find that typing on a cellphone keypad is a little too much to expect – and it does get a little irritating, to be sure – HP also has the HP Keyboard – a foldable keyboard specifically designed to integrate with your iPAQ device to make typing a great deal easier. It also has a number of handy shortcut keys for quick access to Pocket PC functions.

 

The HP iPAQ is a great device, with a good battery life, and all the necessary software features you will need to go about your business. It includes great features and useful tools that are ideal while on the road, at work, or at home. A great device at a great price, what more could you ask for?

Both of these devices are available from HPShop – the iPAQ 514 retails for R2,552-00 and the keyboard for R657-00.

6 Green Gadgets to a Smaller Carbon Footprint

Seeing that there’s huge debate about climate changes, greenhouse gases and all that hoo-haa. I’ve thought about how I can reduce my own carbon footprint. I’ve come across a cool list of green gadgets that I would like to share will you.

1. Hymini – this nifty device collects solar and wind power so that you can power your gadgets anywhere with strong wind and lots of sun (why am I thinking of Cape Town?). Once charged, it can power your 5v based gadgets for at least a few minutes longer, maybe more.

2. SolarRoll - There’s an old time favourite song that goes..”let me see your toetsie roll, toetsie roll… ” Well this is a SolarRoll! It lets you have a truly mobile laptop.

3. Water-Powered Alarm Clock - Uses tap-water to power itself, this alarm clock a gravity sensor that lets you change functions just by changing the clock’s position.

4. Wattson – Now you can monitor exactly who’s using what and how much electricity is being consumed with this gadget. When you’re using too much it glows a nasty red!

5. Wind-Up Phone Charger - Want to know how to charge your phone and get a good workout on those arms? Then this this gadget is just for you, it charges your cellphone with nothing but good ol’ elbow grease.

6. Solar Bluetooth Headset - the Iqua BHS-603 SUN offers complete freedom from chargers, wires and delays allowing for 9 straight hours of talk time and up to 200 hours of standby.

Green Computing – 50% Energy Saving Breakthrough

We all know that energy costs are rising all around the world. In the UK alone, an average sized data centre uses more power in one year than the entire city of Leicester. So where does all this energy go, and what can we do to reduce it? Well, about 60% of the energy is used to cool IT equipment alone. This means that it will cost more to power and cool a server than it would to buy one in the first place. Companies will have to change the way they use energy if they hope to have a successful and prosperous future.

And this is where HP can help. Thanks to HP, companies now have the option of reducing energy costs by as much as 50-60%. But how can they do this?

HP has combined mechanical thermo fluid engineering with computer science in an effort to improve cooling energy costs without minimising reliability, effectiveness and security.

What this does:

• It exploits all power conservation opportunities in data centres, called the ‘chip and chiller’ approach
• Virtualisation is a set of tools and technologies that results in energy being used in a more effective and productive way, saving time and money
• Thermal Assessment Services create a 3 dimensional map showing exactly how much, how often and where air conditioners are servicing systems with cold air
• Dynamic Smart Cooling is an intelligent air conditioning system used to only cool places that really need it
• HP uses tape drives, which is cooler than disk backup and reduces power and cooling costs
• Tape drives can be placed closer together because of the lower heat output, thus saving space without increasing power costs

In other words, HP offers products that use a significantly lower amount of energy compared to what companies are currently using. Like the HP BladeSystem c-Class server, which uses 30% less power than a standard server. Or the ‘active fan technology’, which uses 50% less power than conventional cooling fans. Storage networks alone use up to 15% of the total IT energy spending. In this way you will save on energy and money in a big way, without compromising on quality, functionality and security.

HP is helping companies all over the world realise the benefits of economic and environmental energy wise strategies. Not only this, HP is leading the way by reducing its energy impact on the environment. What HP is in fact doing is leading by example. HP and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have joined forces in an initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from HP’s worldwide operating facilities. These bold and innovative steps have helped HP reduce its worldwide consumption, reaching the 20 percent mark by 2010.

The original article can be found on HP South Africa’s official website.

7 Gadgets to Secure Your Car

Apart from our homes, our cars are very important to us and we want to protect them in anyway possible. Like any good tech blog, we look at 7 gadgets you can use to do just that.

1. Light Up Traffic Cone

Need to leave your Car or make drivers aware that you have stopped? Get yourself a Light Up traffic cone. With reflective strips and built-in LED light, you and your car will be made clear to others driving past in the dark. Inflate it with a built in-pump and self deflating so you’ll have no problems getting it set-up and taking it down.

2. In-Car Video Recording Camera

With the ability to record the road conditions, weather and traffic; if you are in an accident you will have the exact details you need to prove yourself and prevent you from guessing a situation that probably isn’t 100% accurate. Peace of mind is often the key when driving and many accidents are caused to due high emotions whilst on the road.

Drive knowing the situation you have and that if any accidents do happen you have the information you need when you give that first statement. It takes minutes to set-up and you can power it with either the car lighter or two 12v batteries.

3. Sleep Alerter

Each year thousands of deaths are caused worldwide from drivers who wall asleep at the wheel of their car. So many deaths could be prevented if people invest in one of these little gadgets, described as being like a ‘splash of cold water in the middle of the night’. Simply turn it on, set the alert angle switch and when your head begins to drift below the level a loud beep sound will be emitted.

A proven life saver.

4. Reverse Parking Video Recorder and Sensor

Your family’s safety is more important that anything, most cars have these built in but some people don’t have that luxury and that’s where this nifty little gadget comes in. Protect pedestrians and your vehicle when reversing with a handy screen on your dashboard and beeping sensor that detects objects behind you.

5. Fit a Smoke Bomb in your Car

Thieves know how to remove the latest tracking systems, but they won’t know what to do when they see this happen. This little gem emits blinding smoke when someone tries to enter your car, making them think twice about trying to get away with your possessions. The makers do warn however that you need to consult your insurance company first before installing their device.

6. Get Yourself the Car Medic

Ever wondered the ‘health’ of your car but not wanted to have to go to a garage and spend potentially pointless amounts of money to get it checked over? Well…now you don’t have to worry about it with the CarMD, a unique product that checks the diagnostics of your car to see how well it is performing.

Plug the unit into your auto’s computer and CarMD downloads the vehicle’s diagnostic codes and renders a quick “diagnosis” – a green, yellow or red light depending on your sorry auto’s state of disrepair.

At $89, it may just be worth a try.

7. Gorilla Wheel Lock

We can’t possibly do a list on car security without including a wheel lock and this one from Gorilla certainly doesn’t disappoint. With the most advanced technology for wheel locks on the market; it certainly hasn’t hindered Gorilla making a name for themselves. The lock has a unique pattern matching system making it virtually impossible to unlock without the matching key.

A quick look at Far Cry 2

A lot of gamers out there will remember the original Far Cry – and for quite a few reasons. Ubisoft timed it perfectly. At a time when there was a dearth of first-person shooters available and every gamer alive was anxiously waiting for the marvels to be (Doom 3 and Half-Life 2), Ubisoft injected this little gem into the market, almost single-handedly revitalising the genre and setting benchmarks that the abovementioned games’ developers knew they had to beat.

Far Cry had everything going for it. Stunning visuals, good gameplay, awesome storyline, decent AI – and in my personal opinion another thing modern games lack – a lot of game time. There was no way you would be finishing Far Cry in a single sitting.

That said, Far Cry became almost frustratingly difficult, especially in the latter stages of the game.

Because of all this, it became a massive hit, more so because of the lack of hype surrounding the release of the game – in the end producing quite a bit of a surprise for most people.

So when Ubisoft announced the sequel to Far Cry last year, a number of gamers sat up and started paying attention.

Far Cry 2 has a lot to live up to. At the moment the FPS genre is almost glutted with games – Call of Duty 4 and FEAR: Perseus Mandate to name two. Call of Duty 4, especially, has pretty much removed CouterStrike as the multi-player game of choice at LAN’s,

So what can we expect from Far Cry 2. According to Tony Key, Ubisoft’s VP of marketing, “”Far Cry marked the beginning of a new era for shooters. An era of gorgeous graphics and of advanced artificial intelligence. We are confident that Far Cry 2 will have the same impact again on the FPS genre landscape.”

Doesn’t tell us a lot, does it? But, I’ll let the screenshots below speak for themselves and hope that the developers at Ubisoft don’t let us down. Far Cry 2 is slated for release in March/April this year. For more infomation of this, go check out the official Far Cry 2 page at Ubisoft.

Far Cry 2 is available for pre-order from Digital Planet for the measly price of R251,00 – so go ahead and place your orders now.

You can also click on the thumbnail on the left to enlarge the second screenshot. All our screenshots are courtesy of GameSpot.

I’ll update you on any news we receive – also, look forward to any other game related news in the near future.

Top Ten”Must-Have” Gadgets For A Modern Lifestyle

While slaving away at the daily routine of life and all its added hoopla, I realized that not a day goes by where I do not harness the sophisticated technological ingenuity of one or two nifty devices to make my day go by easier. I have come out of this cathartic meditation with a list of the top ten most “must-have” gadgets for any sane person living in the 21st century.

10. Shure SE110 Sound Isolating Earphones

Featuring Balanced MicroSpeakers, these sound isolating earphones deliver optimized audio for a rich, lifelike listening experience. Assorted sleeves and a modular cable provide unmatched comfort and customization. This nifty gadget allows you to have a great listening experience without the distractions of outside noise.

9. Sony Handycam HDR-CX7

This is the leader of the pack of 3 new high definition camcorders offered by Sony. It is currently the smallest and lightest AVCHD camcorders available which allow you to record 3 hours of video onto an 8GB memory stick.

8. Samsung LN-T4665F

If you want to get the clearest and brightest LCD picture in the market today, then don’t look any further. This 46” TV has a 1080p resolution and boasts a 150 000:1 dynamic aspect ratio. Also, you are able to enjoy connectivity with all your other digital devices, with 3 HDMI ports and a full complement of inputs. And the handy HMDI-CEC feature lets you control all your CEC-enabled peripherals using just one remote.

7. Nintendo DS Lite

Play games, chat with your friends or even add PDA software to make a complete lifestyle tool. The DS Lite comes with features such as dual screens, touch screens, wireless LAN and even a microphone to talk to others.

6. Sling Media Slingbox A/V

Never miss another episode of 7de Laan again! The Slingbox allows you to stream your favorite TV shows from anywhere in the world straight to your laptop or cell phone!

5. Apple MacBook

It’s light, it’s portable, and it’s everything a notebook should be and more, especially with its impressive OS X operating software. Some features include support of up to 4GB of memory and a built in i-Sight web cam for video chatting.

4. Nintendo Wii

Obviously, you can see that I am a fan of Nintendo. This gaming console is unlike anything else in the market, especially with its unique remote joystick which gives you an interactive gaming experience.

3. Vudu

No, we are not referring to the age-old art of black magic; we are talking about one of the latest breakthroughs in entertainment technology. The Vudu allows you to stream movies and music videos over the internet, so you can bring the cinema to you!

2. Apple iPod Nano (third generation, 4GB, silver)

Take your music and music videos everywhere you go. Party in the office while working or on the bus home, a good addition to any gadget geek’s repertoire. R1,599.99 from Digital Planet.

And the Number #1 “must-have” gadget of all time is…….

1. Nokia N800

So so so much better than the Apple iPhone (no offense to the guys at Apple!), to me this is a super phone. It allows you to stay in touch with the people you love via internet calling, you can browse the internet, listen to music and watch videos, it has radio, a rotating web cam, supports VOIP (voice over internet protocol) so you can make Skype phone calls (which means calls are cheaper), supports Adobe Flash 9 (uhumm..YouTube) has the Mozilla Gecko web browser as well as Samba file sharing. Did I forget to mention the 2 full sized secured digital card slots which accommodate cards with up to a 16GB capacity when using SDHC. I’m sure I left something out…wait, I did, the touch screen.

Why do I need a UPS?

With the country’s very convenient load shedding in progress, many of us are looking for alternative ways of preventing a power failure from wreaking havoc on our lives – especially your average computer user. But is this possible? How can you save yourself the trouble and drama of another unscheduled power outage? The answer is simple…Get a UPS!

An Uninterruptible Power Supply, or UPS, is a device dedicated to supplying electric power to connected equipment in the event of a power outage or when utility power is not available. The UPS does this by supplying power from a separate source.

What for?A UPS is usually used to protect computers, telecommunication equipment and other electrical equipment in the event of a power failure. Banks, restaurants, hospitals, hotels, and businesses can all suffer irreparable damages in the event of an extended power failure. The UPS offers continuous power to electrical equipment, even if the power source stops providing power.

So how does it work?

A UPS system falls into three general categories, namely on-line, line-interactive, and standby. All three of these designs work differently but essentially perform the same task.

An on-line UPS uses a ‘double conversion’ method. This method accepts AC input, rectifying to DC for passing through the battery, then changing back to AC for powering the protected equipment.

A line-interactive UPS keeps the invertor in line then redirects the battery’s DC current path from the normal changing mode, hence supplying current when power is lost.

A standby system is powered directly by the input power and the backup power circuitry, and is only used when the power fails. Other UPS designs include Rotary Uninterruptible Power Supply, Dual Conversion Online, Ferro-resonant, DC Systems and Outdoor UPS.

Choosing a UPS that is right for you:

So now that you got the facts, how do you go about choosing the right UPS for you?

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Is the unit going to be in a controlled environment? If yes, then you need an indoor UPS, if not, an outdoor one.
2. What are the 2 key ratings? This is the load rating expressed as both volt amps (VA) and watts (W). These rating represent the amount of load that the UPS can support.
3. What amount of runtime will the UPS be required to provide? This amount will vary according to how much power is needed and how much devices is being run from the UPS.
4. What is your anticipated usage?
5. What load/connected equipment will the UPS support?
6. Also, speak to a professional UPS dealer

Can I afford it?

So you probably think a UPS is what you need, right? But how much does it cost and can you afford one? Do not fret because the price of UPS’s has dropped considerably in recent times. You can get a UPS’s from Digital Planet for as little as R500.

More and more companies and even individuals are opting to buy this convenient little device. And why not? With the country in an electricity crisis, a UPS is looking like the best option to solve your load shedding woes. It’s either that or enjoying continuous blackouts for the next few days, weeks, months, maybe years. I prefer the former.