Recent Tech

XBMC Media Center Software

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Many of us are starting to use our computers more and more to consume music, movies, and even television. The problem with this picture is that not all of us have massive monitors and stereo systems to really enjoy all of this wonderful content. XBMC is media center software that is easy to use, fully customizable, and works on virtually any computer platform. The best part about XBMC? It’s absolutely free. Now you’re probably wondering “That’s nice, how do I get it on my TV?” Well the folks over at LifeHacker wrote up a nice little guide to build a silent and miniscule dedicated media center for about $200. You can read the guide here. Another cool feature with XBMC is that you can even set it up as a video game emulator to play all of those classic ROMs you have floating around your computer.

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Istapark 532nm Green Laser

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What is it about powerful lasers that we love? The Istapark 532nm is no exception. The build quality is pretty nice and it feels great in the hand. The rear push button toggle switch gives it a tactical feel that is pretty much unmatched by other laser pointers. For actual uses, well you almost have us stumped. For the astronomer type we could see this being used outdoors at night, where the beam is completely visible, to point at the sky. For the young executive, well you will probably blind people trying to point at your chart deck. If you’re neither of those then we suppose you can just point at stuff and show your friends what a cool toy this thing is.

DigiZoid ZO Personal Subwoofer

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If you haven’t noticed, portable speakers are getting smaller and smaller. It’s crazy how much sound can come from such tiny speakers, however the down side is that there is usually no bass. The DigiZoid ZO Personal Subwoofer is here to change that. It’s not your conventional headphone amplifier, equalizer, or artificially produced 3D sound effect. Instead, the Zo is said to define a new category of sound system – an electronic subwoofer. The Zo fits in your pocket and provides booming audio with 32 bass intensity settings. Unlike anything you’ve heard before, the Zo uses SmartVector sound countering technology which adjusts equalization to provide optimum sound reproduction from any speaker with matched acoustic response.

$99 BUY | Comments Off

Apple Time Capsule

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Nope this isn’t a new product, but it is pretty close to essential. Time Capsule provides 1 or 2 TB of wireless headache free storage for your PC and MAC. Time capsule is actually a dual band wireless N router with a hard drive. This means that it can be connected to seamlessly integrate with your Mobile Me account and give you access to your iDisk from anywhere you have an Internet connection. What’s that mean? A lot.

$299-499 BUY | 1 Comment

BP Custom Woodworks Hard Drives

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In a time where everything is bling or made out of shiny plastic, its nice to change it up every now and then. BP custom Woodworks offers attractive hard drives enclosed in rich woods like Maple and Zebra Wood. Each are hand oiled and polished with a 500GB hard drive and USB2.0 connection.

$148 BUY | Comments Off

Lexmark S605 Wireless N All in One

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Printers and Scanners always take up so much desk real estate so why not relocate your printer? We all have laptops these days anyway right? The Lexmark S605 is the perfect all in one system that prints, scans and copies wirelessly. This printer has a web enabled 4.3″ touch screen that you can download widgets to be displayed such as clocks, weather reports, and even browse your favorite photo sharing site. The S605 uses Lexmark’s special Vizix cartridges that will deliver prints up to 4800×1200 dpi. This thing is also pretty snappy, printing out 33 pages of text in a minute. If you’re looking for a good quality printer/scanner then definitely give the Lexmark S605 a look. It’s also pretty cheap considering what it can do.

$149 BUY | Comments Off

Callpod Fueltank Duo

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Road warrior gear is always important to us and keeping our gadgets charged is pretty high on our priority list. Meet Callpod’s Fueltank Duo. This portable battery has two ports that allow you to charge two gadgets simultaneously. It also has a third port on the back side (mini USB) so you can charge the internal battery and both of your gadgets all at once. There’s even a power meter to let you know how much juice you have left. We’ve owned one of these for about a year and a half and have absolutely no complaints. You can get about two full iPhone charges without refueling. Callpod has multiple tips available to allow you to charge 3000+ gadgets.

BookArc for iPad

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The BookArc from TwelveSouth is, well…obviously a stand for the iPad. The BookArc is made from a swooping sheet of aluminum and is lined with silicone for a snug and scratch-free fit. It has one big advantage over the Apple docks: you can use it in vertical or horizontal orientations. There is also a cut-out for the home-button. Slick, simple and easy to use.

$39 BUY | Comments Off

HTC EVO The 4G Phone. Coming to Sprint.

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Sprint with all of their 4G big talk is finally going to release a phone that’s capable of using their WiMAX network. This is actually the first 4G phone to be announced in the U.S. The specs on this thing are actually ridiculous too making it the highest spec’d phone ever announced as well. Coming in with a 4.3″ 480×800 resolution screen, 1GHz snap dragon processor, 8.0MP camera capable of 720P video recording, HDMI output (via adapter) to play HD movies right on your T.V., 512MB of RAM, and Android 2.1 running HTC’s SenseUI. This phone should be named the beast. The beast can also act as a 4G WiFi hotspot for up to six devices (iPhones included).It will be available this summer and it looks like Sprint just got cool. Don’t expect this to be moving to Verizon because it’s got a CDMA radio, the 4G on Sprint is different than Verizon. Sprint uses WiMAX and big red uses LTE.

$TBA PRE ORDER | Comments Off

Lensbaby Double Glass Optic

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Lensbaby has all sorts of trick lenses for your DSLR camera and one that stands out to us is their Double Glass Optic. This optical glass is multi coated to allow an incredibly sharp sweet spot for your subject while giving a minimum of diffusion at all aperture settings. You would use this optic to give you some of those artsy shots where the subject of the photo is very crisp and the edges seem to blur out slowly. Here are some examples shot with this optic: Here, Here, and Here.

$85 BUY | Comments Off