For a quick solution, especially for something like a laptop that can't even get a better quality bit of hardware, it's probably worth taking a look at. A "Pro" version should be out soon that includes a remote.

Read - ATI TV Wonder USB 2.0 [ViperLair]

Sharp LL-151-3D Reviewed

There's no doubt that the Sharp LL-151-3D is a cool product—3D displays without any goofy headgear is the double pluses. But are any of you guys actually using them? I can think of a few situations (medical, 3D imaging) where they'd be handy, but the 15-inch size seems a little down market for hot-to-trot medical researchers/Science Officers. And it's too expensive for gaming, costing more than most gaming PCs do in total. Anyway, just curious. There's got to be a way I can justify buying one for work.

Sharp LL-151-3D - 3D LCD Monitor [TrustedReviews]

Gravis G-Pod Reviewed

Gravis, a division of the snowboarding outfitter Burton (and not related to the gamepad and soundcard company, to my knowledge) sent me one of their G-Pod third-generation iPod cases to review, and I have to say I'm fairly impressed. There's a number of subtle but intelligent decisions apparent in the design, like a stiff, sturdy nylon that protects almost the whole unit except for the top left corner, where the remote/minijack plug resides (I'll presume they had a reason for covering up the hold switch, since it wouldn't have affected the design in the least to move the flap to the other side). Essentially two, hard flaps of material held together by an elastic mesh, the G-Pod really seems to hold tight to the iPod -- maybe too tight, if you ever want to pull it out of the case -- and protects the unit from damage by sticking out a little past the edges of the iPod. Unless you clipped the exposed corner, your iPod should stay pretty much unscathed.

iRiver PMP-140 (P)Reviewed

Soroban Geek's Portable Media World got their webbed hands on a pre-release version of the iRiver PMP-140, the upcoming personal media player that is the one that isn't the Windows-branded Portable Media Center (that's the PMC- models). Although the review is a little heavy on pictures and a little light on opinion, they seem fairly impressed with the device. It does look nice enough (from a feature perspective, at least; its case is ugly as sin), and I've got fairly high hopes for this one. DRM-free means, if nothing else, greater ease of use as a rule of thumb.

Read - Teasing Preview iRIVER PMP-140 (UK/US) [PMW.SorobanGeeks]

Related
Sony HMP-A1 VAIO Video Pocket Review [Gizmodo]
More iRiver PMP and PMC Details [Gizmodo]

Mac OS X Unwired Reviewed

First DVD+R9 Burners Reviewed

Neuros II Reviewed

The Register has a properly in-depth review of the Neuros II 20GB HDD music player, a bulky and sort of awkward device whose main claim to fame is swappable 'backpacks' that allow additional hard drives to be added without the need for buying a whole different unit. Sadly, it seems that the implementation is less than the sum of its concepts, although I have to say I was intrigued by one aspect of its direct-to-MP3 recording of FM radio. By using a service called HiSi ("Hear it. Save it.") the Neuros is able to identify - after being plugged back into your computer - songs you've recorded from the radio by comparing short audio snippets to those in HiSi's database, which returns the correct ID3 tag. It even color codes the results depending on how certain it is that it's identified the song correctly.

Unfortunately, that's about the best part. The 20GB Neuros II is a pretty good value, though - an 80GB model can be had for just $450.

Re ad - Neuros II 20GB HDD music player [TheRegisterUK]

No Noise PC Reviewed

MT3d Reviewed

Spider-Man 2 Reviewed

Reviewed: SWF Desktop

Find out more about interactive desktop creator in Brian's review.

Like Pixels? Check out MacDesign

Reviewed: Documents To Go 6

Find out how version 6 can dramatically increase the value of your Palm in Brian's review.

Like Pixels? Check out MacDesign

Rio Carbon Reviewed

Pocket-Lint manages to score the first proper Rio Carbon review I've seen, and certainly the first to use Guns & Roses as their test music. One thing that is a nice is the Carbon's drag-and-drop ability, because while music managing software can be very nice, it's also nice to have the option to just copy over some music (or whatever) via Windows' Explorer or the Mac's Finder. From the sound of it, it seems Rio has a real winner in the 5GB hard disk music player. The question is, will the consumer market think so?

Read - Rio Carbon - First Look [Pocket-Lint]

Related
Rio Carbon: 5GB iPod Mini Fighter [Gizmodo]

Vonage reviewed

The Edison, New Jersey based company gives you one Cisco ATA186 and a phone number in an area code of your choosing (I had a little piece of northern New Jersey in my living room). You have a choice of two different levels of service to go along with this box: for $25.99/month you get unlimited local/regional calling (where local/regional is defined by the area code you choose for your phone number) and 500 minutes of free US long distance, and for $39.99/month you get unlimited long distance. And you also get international rates that rivals most common calling cards. The only problem is that the service only delivers one ATA186, and that specific model is required to use the service -- no other SIP compatible devices are supported yet. If you want to use more than one phone with the box, you will either have to rig up a network of telephone splitters and wires; or you can do what some have done and hack your house to plug the Cisco box into your house's in wall telephone network.

Yahoo 360 Reviewed

IBM ThinkPad R51 Reviewed

BIOS reviews the IBM ThinkPad R51 and finds it to be an excellent value for a solid laptop, as long as you stay away from adding lots of the overpriced options from IBM's catalog (generally good advice when buying any laptop, really). For less that thousand dollars you can bring home a ThinkPad of your own, albeit one that is wholly unsuitable for gaming or other performance-intensive activities. That's okay, though - it's still a ThinkPad, one of the best laptops you can buy.

ThinkPad R51 Review [BIOS]

Rio Carbon Reviewed Some More

< img src="http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/images/gearlive_carbon.jpg" alt="gearlive_carbon.jpg image" width="398" height="299" class="center border"/>GearLive got a hold of the Carbon, Rio's 5GB player that just came out a few weeks back. I like the Carbon a lot and not just because of the extra gig of space over the iPod mini. Rio has a nasty habit of making seriously quality products that get passed over too often.

< b>Read - Rio Carbon Review [GearLive]

Related
Rio Carbon Archives [Gizmodo]

Scribus 1.1.6 Reviewed

Pentax Optio S4 Reviewed

Pocket-Lint has a short take on the Pentax Optio S40, a pared-down (feature-wise) but swollen (size-wise) version of the Pentax S4 that forgoes a rechargeable battery for two AAs but kept the 4-megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, and aluminum casing. All in all, Stu seems fairly happy with the product, despite some image noise problems most low-end digitals seem to suffer from and a lack of bundled SD card (the S40 does have internal memory of its own, but it's a meager 11 meg -- enough for seven photos).

Thing is, though, for a camera that's been out of a few months and is slightly larger than its cousin, you'd think it would be a lot cheaper, but a cursory look at Froogle shows the S40 and the smaller S4 selling for about the same price. My money is usually on the small guy.

Read - Pentax Optio S40 [Pocket-Lint]

T-Mobile Sidekick II Reviewed

So, uhm, I guess the wait for the T-Mobile Sidekick II is about over since PC Magazine just put up a review. Way to start the hype machine, Danger! Maybe they decided not to really talk it up because it looks sort of, you know, bland. I mean, come on, VGA camera? Is the Sidekick destined to remain the sort-of-cool cellphone with the crappy camera? How about user-developed applications? When do we get those?

I guess I'll reserve final judgement until I can play around with the new unit, but for now it looks like a modest upgrade to a unit sorely in need of some juice in the first place. Also, I'm still a little bit bitter Danger got so fussy a few months back when we leaked the images of the Sidekick II. We only leaked because we cared! (Thanks, RVK!)

Read - T-Mobile Sidekick II [PCMag]

Related
T-Mobile Sidekick 2/Danger Hiptop 2 Revealed [Gizmodo]

Update: More links! (Thanks, Dustin!)
Read - Sidekick II Review [CNet]
Read - T-Mobile Kicks It with the Sidekick II [MobileMag]

Archos AV420 Reviewed

Laptop Magazine scoops themselves with their review of the Archos AV420, the $550 portable media player with a 20GB hard drive and the ability to function as a relatively full-featured PVR. They pretty much love it, noting that the 3.5-inch 262k-color screen is very "easy to watch." Their only complaint is the AV420s inability to multitask -- if you're listening to music, you can't look at pictures, for instance.

Read - Pocket TiVo Plus [TechWorthy]

Related
Sony's HMP-A1 VAIO Video Pocket Video Review [Gizmodo]
Archos AV420: More Information, Pictures [Gizmodo]
Archos AV400 Appears Fully Saleable [Gizmodo]

BlackBerry 7100t Reviewed

My goddamn Windows machine is dying, which is less than awesome. Hopefully I can get this out to you before it decides to reboot itself again.

Anyway, MSNBC's Krakow took the new BlackBerry 7100t out for a spin - available only on T-Mobile - and it looks really nice. Not only are the internals decent, with a quad-band, multi-network radio, Bluetooth, and an ample screen, but the new keyboard - you know, the really strange 20-key QWERTY version - reportedly gets the job done, thanks in large part to an extra-strength 'SureType' predictive text software.

And what do you know? They tossed in a free picture of the upcoming Nokia 9300 Communicator [pictured right], too. I like how these guys work.

Read -BlackBerry phone rings all the right notes [MSNBC]
Read - BlackBerry 7100t from T-Mobile, $199.99 [SlashPhone]

AOpen MVP Player Reviewed

The AOpen MVP Player does something that lots of other set-top boxes have done -- display video and image files on your television -- and given it a little twist, mainly by making the hard drive modular. That means instead of stringing network cable or setting up WiFi, you can take the hard drive enclosure (that takes 2.5-inch laptop drives) over to your PC and load it up with data over USB 2.0. It might not be the most elegant solution, but it's certainly different, and that has to count for something. Plus it has memory card reader slot, presumably for copying data from those to the hard drive.

Trusted Reviews says the AOpen MVP Player is still a little rough around the edges, but it does do what it is designed to do well. Not a bad deal for around $160; although you'll have to buy the hard drive yourself.

Read - AOpen MVP Player - Digital Media Playe [TrustedReviews]

O2 3G Data card reviewed

Dish Network DVR-921 HD DVR Reviewed

Batterylife Activator Reviewed

Mac OS X Tiger Reviewed by Windows Guy

This ought to give the Windows users something to chew on for a few days. Nice article on the upcoming release of Tiger by a Windows Site. [www.winsup ersite.com]

Windows XP SP2 Beta Reviewed

Sony U-70 Micro PC Reviewed

SendStation PocketDock Series Reviewed