The New LG Dare Takes On The Apple iPhone

LG has released a new phone appropriately named the Dare and are determined to be the latest and greatest in a new line of what I like to call iPhone killers. It presents a few tricks of its own and offers new, never before seen features. For example, you can drag and drop icons to make your own customized shortcuts on the home screen, or you can use a drawing pad to sketch ideas or draw a map, which can then be sent via MMS to a friend. The Dare also sports one of the most advanced cameras yet on a touch-screen phone. The 3.2 megapixel camera has settings like face detection, noise reduction, panorama photo stitching, and a SmartPic technology designed for taking photos in low light. The built-in camcorder can even record high-speed video and play it back in slow-motion, which is a first for U.S. camera phones. This phone doesn’t have features such as Wi-Fi, and its Web browser and media player aren’t as good as the iPhone’s. However, the Dare is a very appealing alternative for Verizon customers who want a touch-screen phone with a difference. The LG Dare is priced competitively at $199 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service agreement.

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June 30, 2008 | Filed Under Phones | Leave a Comment 

The Best Flip Video Camera Equals Mino

If you are into the latest and greatest gadgets like I am then read on. First off, the one thing I like is ease of use. I don’t like taking a product out of its package and staring at a thousand buttons and switches. It must be highly technical, but simple to use. So, when I went out looking for an easy way to put videos of my family and me onto my computer I was fascinated to discover the Flip Video Mino. This is actually the fourth generation of Pure Digital’s mini camcorder, which is a very popular straight-to-Web mini camcorder. It is basically designed to make the shooting and sharing of low-resolution videos extremely easy(something I’ve been looking for). This new mini camcorder is much thinner and lighter than its older sibling, the Flip Video Ultra. The Flip Video Mino crams new technology into a compact and very attractive package that utilizes a rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

It comes in weighing a mere 3.3 ounces. The USB connector flips straight up, giving the Mino a more compact footprint. It also comes with a nice transflective 1.46” LCD display, which allows the user to still see the screen during bright daylight. It comes with a port for AV output and threaded tri-pod mount conveniently located in the center of the camera. The camera comes with 2GB of memory and is a piece of cake to use and takes a matter of mere seconds to learn how to use. All-in-all I like this device and the price of $150.00 is not bad either.

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June 26, 2008 | Filed Under Reviews | Leave a Comment 

Samsung ML-2851ND Laser Printer

If you own a small business, online business or even if you are currently in school and need to print professional quality papers, the Samsung ML-2851ND should be on the top of your list to examine. This printer is one of my favorites as it has lightning fast print speed, extraordinary text print quality, an autoduplexer, and outstanding networking features. This hearty monolaser printer will definitely appeal to the busy professional who simply needs to print out text documents flawlessly. It is also quite capable of printing out light graphics and for the $330.00 price tag the new owner will more than likely get his money’s worth. It runs a tad bit higher than average for a monochrome printer, yet the Samsung ML-2851ND is a fast printer that produces exceptional and very high quality prints. To see this printer crank out text, graphics, and PowerPoint presentations at such a fast rate of speed is a wonderful thing. This printer spits out about 20 pages per minute across the board and is worth its weight in gold if you need to print out multiple pages, but don’t have the time nor the inclination to sit around waiting for your pages.

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June 20, 2008 | Filed Under Printers | Leave a Comment 

Norton Internet Security 2008 Falls Short

The Norton Internet Security Suite has always been one of the higher rated software applications consumers could purchase. It is easy to install and comes with fairly good technical support. The one problem I have had with them is the fact that the software does not seem to integrate well with other programs and is a resource hog. The other problem I have is when you attempt to uninstall the application, there are problems left behind like no Internet connection and a computer that crashes. For these reasons alone I, for one have done without Norton for years.

With Norton Internet Security 2008, I experienced on more than one occasion a system slowdown associated with the LiveUpdate process. This was accompanied by even more frustration when I began to see paid services promoted within the technical support section after visiting that section searching for additional help not provided by the software itself.

My biggest problem has got to be what I mentioned above. If I purchase software and install it on my computer, then I equally would like to be able to uninstall it if I don’t want it on my computer system any longer. The software needs to be a clean uninstall. I hate software applications that completely take over my system then penalize me for uninstalling them. This is what it seems happens when I attempt to uninstall any Symantec Norton utility. Which is one of the reasons I switched to a different suite years ago.

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June 12, 2008 | Filed Under Software | Leave a Comment 

New iPhone 3G Version To Be Released Soon

The long-awaited upgraded 3G version of Apple’s iPhone will be released soon and I can see people standing in line already! With the original iPhone not even a year old, Apple is still trying to play catch-up to the rest of the high-end cell phone market already on the faster 3G network. Even with the current iPhones cool looks, sleek design and outstanding functionality, it is easy to see why a gadget guru/office professional may think twice before plunking down the big bucks. The do-everything cell phone market is fast growing and Apple needs to keep up with the huge demand for streaming video, audio, and GPS navigation abilities of the 3G network. The iPhone is way behind when it comes to their EDGE network, which is a lot slower than other provider’s networks already using the much faster 3G version. This new network capability will be huge for streaming media and intensive graphics.

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June 7, 2008 | Filed Under Cell Phones | Leave a Comment