Viewing Archives - Gear Category

Last month, my dad took a browse through the bargain section at the local Best Buy and snagged a HP Media Vault mv2010 (300GB) for $150. When he brought it home, I didn’t realize what this thing was. Once I found out it was a NAS, I didn’t feel like holding onto it as I had my eyes on Apple’s new Time Capsule instead (the thought of wireless Time Machine backup really appealed to me). However, since the original price was $100 more, I figured I’d give it a chance.

Ever since being spoiled by the high quality of audio put out by in-ear earphones such as the Etymotic Research ER-6is, I couldn’t go back to cheap earbuds. When my pair of ER-6is eventually died (even after I tried to salvage them), I had my eye on the Audio-Technica ATH-CK7s I came across on AudioCubes.

Lately there’s been quite a lot of discussion of mobile phones in the blogosphere. There’s a lot of hype surrounding the upcoming release of the iPhone in the US, talk of new technologies being implemented into smartphones such as Mobile GPS, and Motorola releasing the next version of their successful RAZR phone, the RAZR 2. Although I would love to have a smartphone, it’s just not practical for me to own one (high priced monthly plans and lack of needing to email on the go deter me from justifying me purchasing one). The phones I’d consider purchasing are ones such as the RAZR 2, basic with a little bit of multimedia functionality to help keep me amused when bored.

I purchased a Griffin PowerMate a while back and am just starting to realize this device’s potential. When I first got it, I didn’t apply any custom settings because I didn’t know how much use it could be to me other than adjust volume or scroll a document. I knew it was great for jogging through a video while editing which is the primary reason I bought it, but I haven’t gotten around to using it for that purpose yet. Then yesterday in Photoshop I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if I could use the PowerMate to increase/decrease the brush size with a few rotations?”

MSRP: $149 USD
Rating:
Pros: Accurate sound, isolates outside noises very well, impressive frequency response
Cons: Not as sensitive as I initially thought it was
Similar products used for comparison: Sennheiser CX300

I was looking through a newsletter from Play-Asia in my email and scrolled through and was intrigued by a product photo they listed from Logitech. Play-Asia is known for selling video-games, consoles, import soundtracks, etc. but it’s not common they advertise an electronics item in their newsletter like this, especially one at the price-point of $249.