Gadgets and Gizmos

HP Compaq nc6320 dual core laptop with EV-DO reviewed
In an amazing feat of journalistic skill, Laptop magazine has managed to both review and organize their impressions of HP’s dual core Compaq nc6320 notebook on the very same day it was announced. Actually, Laptop got an early review unit for their business notebook shootout, and proclaims the nc6320 “best in category"- if you’re not looking for a widescreen model, that is. The HP gets high marks for its bright, sharp 1,400 x 1,050 15-inch display (which may be “too high for some users,” opines Laptop), integrated Verizon-flavored EV-DO, 7-in-1 card reader, Presentation button for one-touch video out, and generally solid performance and build quality. Security is also tight, with optional fingerprint and smart card readers, as is battery life, at 3:38 with WiFI on, but the integrated graphics and MobileMark score mean this is no gaming rig. Still, for $1800, it sounds like business-types get a pretty good deal on a machine that excels in communication and presentation.

We’ve been eagerly awaiting the first reactions to Samsung’s 2GB and 4GB attempts at dethroning the iPod nano, and now Anything But iPod (whose name indicates no bias whatsoever on this topic) has taken the YP-Z5 through its paces (and also taken it apart), finding several drawbacks but overall declaring the flash player “simply a treat to use.” As we’re well aware by now, Samsung tapped iPod veteran Paul Mercer to design the Z5’s user interface, which gets praise from ABI for being intuitive as well as visually pleasing. Equally impressive are the hardware features, especially the scratch-resistant screen and brushed metal exterior (sometimes it pays to keep your eye on the first-mover), along with the large tactile buttons and multi-directional touchpad. All is not perfect in Sammyland though, and several aspects of this device may send some prospective buyers looking elsewhere, including its struggle to drive larger headphones, use of MTP instead of the drag-and-drop UMS file transfer protocol, and lack of OTG playlists, FM radio, and manual EQ. Still, at $200 and $250 for the two and four gig versions, respectively, it sounds like you’re getting a solid player here, but maybe one without all the polish of the nano.

Folks, the future of self-portraiture is here, and it’s not a tripod, a monopod, or even a handy hovering robot – no, it’s the MonsterPod, a device that definitely does not work via suction cups, glue, bean bags, or magic (as the website helpfully points out) and sticks to “1,000 objects and counting.” The $30 MonsterPod lets your point-n-shoot seemingly defy gravity thanks to a patent-pending elastic solid known as Viscoelastic Morphing Polymer which forms a temporary bond (anywhere from a minute to an hour) with almost any surface that it comes in contact with after a little pressure is applied. While this is certainly a much more versatile and portable option than traditional tripods (if not more available: the MonsterPod is scheduled to be released “two weeks” from an unspecified date), the near-impossibility of leveling your camera means you better have a passing familiarity with photo editing software so you can rotate and crop all your crooked pics. We’re not gonna harsh on the MonsterPod too much , though, as they have a commissioned referral program – which we’ve automatically joined by linking to them – that could finally be our ticket out of this horrid work-from-home, make-our-own-hours lifestyle.

We tried. Really we did. We wanted to limit today’s Origami posts to the one we ran this morning. But we can’t resist the lure of Robert Scoble, whose haiku-like pronouncements on what Origami isn’t graced our newsreader a little while ago. According to Scoble (whose sources at Microsoft are, of course, impeccable), Origami isn’t an iPod killer, portable Xbox, OQO killer or PSP killer. So, what exactly is it? Coy boy Scoble isn’t telling, though he says he’s seen it, and that he’ll buy one with his own money. We assume he won’t be forced to do that. He’s more than earning his keep by feeding us these infuriating snippets.

Adding biometric security to your home or office PC is no big deal anymore – if, that is, you’re content with a fingerprint reader. But if you want to go all out and add, say, an iris scanner, your options have been pretty limited. A Korean company called JIRIS is hoping to change that with the JPC1000, which the company is billing as the first consumer-level iris scanner. The device snaps onto the top of your PC, webcam-like, and can then be used for a range of authentication functions, including banking transactions (we’ve never been asked to get our eye scanned by our online bank, but that’s what JIRIS is telling us). A future model will include webcam functions, which we assume will make it handy for those video conference calls where you need to have your eyeball scanned to prove that you’re not some bot that slipped into the office and assumed your identity.

We can’t confirm the name is actually “blue,” but from the looks of it iubi’s got a new portable media device in the pipeline with Bluetooth (we hope for A2DP), a 4.3-inch display with optional T-DMB receiver. We should probably see this thing debuted later this week at CeBIT, just don’t get your hopes up about this thing seeing a US launch (at least not any time soon) – you all know the drill by now.