All About Gadgets

Dealzmodo: Save up to $822 on Sony Vaio Notebooks

2007-05-16T02:20:00.000-07:00

You're used to seeing the Dell laptops around the Dealzmodo neighborhood, but today we have some Sony Vaio refurbished notebook up for grabs. Here they are in convenient bullet-list form, courtesy of Dealhack.

• Vaio VGN-SZ440 for $2146 - $751 instant savings = $1395. Includes 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB RAM, 120GB hard drive, DVD burner, 13.3-inch Wide LCD, and Windows Vista Business & Office 2007.
• Vaio VGN-SZ480 for $2255 - $789 instant savings = $1466. Includes 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, DVD burner, 13.3-inch Wide LCD, and Windows Vista Business & MS Works.
• Vaio VGN-SZ480 for $2350 - $822 instant savings = $1528. Includes 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, DVD burner, 13.3-inch Wide LCD, and Windows Vista Business & MS Works.
• Vaio VGN-SZ440 for $1846 - $517 instant savings = $1328. Includes 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, DVD burner, 13.3-inch Wide LCD, and Windows Home Premium & MS Works.

These are some pretty good deals and that VGN-SZ480 beast is especially appealing at just more than $1,500. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Dealhack]

Looking for CHEAP notebooks? Look here.

Xbox 360 HD DVD Gets a Software Update Today

2007-05-16T02:11:00.000-07:00

The next time you boot up your Xbox 360 to watch an HD DVD movie, the machine will ask whether you want to update your HD DVD playback software or not. You'll want to answer yes, since, you know, improvements are great.

The complete list is after the jump, but the important bits are 1080p over HDMI, improved networking and improved title compatibility. There were a handful of titles that had problems being played back on the 360's HD DVD drive, which should hopefully be fixed now.

Added option for user to select from the following audio output formats via TOSLINK or HDMI:
o Digital Stereo (2 channel PCM)
o Dolby Digital 5.1
o DTS 5.1
o WMA Pro
Added "Dynamic Range Control" toggle for digital audio output
Improved HD DVD networking support
Improved HD DVD title compatibility
Improved performance with MPEG-4 AVC / H.264
1080p via HDMI is supported on the Xbox 360 Elite with HDCP compliant displays
Improved parental controls

– Jason Chen

Looking for CHEAP xBOX 360? Look here.

Mobile ESPN Rises From The Crypt (and Chooses Verizon Wireless)

2007-05-16T01:44:00.000-07:00

Mobile ESPN was killed off, some might say before its time. The new and improved ESPN Mobile is officially alive with the Verizon Wireless V Cast service for $15 per month.

Off the bat (ha, get it?) the service will work on the LG Chocolate, the LG VX8300, LG VX8600, the Motorola RAZR V3c, V3m or MOTOKRZR K1m (with other handsets supported in the future). It still has the same goods as before (news, stats, editorial content, fantasy, etc), but this time supported by a real carrier. Real carrier or not, ESPN Mobile has never really been the bee's knees. –Wilson Rothman

Looking for CHEAP Cellphones? Look here.

PQI Chinese New Year Inspired Credit Card Drive

2007-01-31T17:27:00.000-08:00

Good news pigs! PQI is releasing a limited edition Fortune Pig Edition flash card drive. It's a 2GB flash drive in the shape of a credit card adorned with dragony-ish Chinese-y designs on the front to make you believe that storing your Firefox bookmarks is some kind of ancient Chinese secret.

They're only making 500 units of the 2GB model and 1000 units of the 1GB model, so if you're a pig (2007 is the year of the pig), then you may want one for yourself. – Jason Chen

PQI Limited Fortune Pig Edition Card Drive U510 [Far East Gizmos]

Continue Plug Design Promises Infinite Outlet and Electric Fire

2007-01-16T22:49:00.000-08:00

Continue is not only a plug designed for any electrical equipment, but also a socket. In the many situation, one socket cannot cope with the large number of digital equipment, so we must increase another one or more socket to meet this need. It gives the user a mess that large wires and sockets come together. So a design together with a plug and a socket function can reduce this mess and make all the cable connect simple. The concept of Continue comes from Chinese traditional luck pattern, Eight Trigrams, that means: negative and positive can be interconverted to make life continue, it is also the origin of the name and function of this design.

Designer: Jing Zheng

Wenge TV Stand Makes Your Plasma Look Money

2006-11-01T23:34:00.000-08:00

We're very picky about where we hang our plasma (which is why ours is sitting on a nice A/V table instead), but if we lived in some swank penthouse bachelor pad, we'd definitely want this front and center. The Wenge is a swiveling A/V stand that lets you hang your flat panel TV and store DVDs/music in its hidden side compartments. At $2,439 it's a little too pricey for our budget (we'd rather spend that money on another HDTV), but if you've got the dough, it'll no doubt give your place some class. – Louis Ramirez

Wenge TV Hi-Fi Stand [via OhGizmo!]

First PS3 TV Ad Debuts, Is Really Weird

2006-10-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

The first TV ad for the PS3—"The Wait"—is now floating around that damnable Internet and we've really got to hand it to Sony: not only does the ad not tell us a single thing about their upcoming system, but they've somehow managed to create an ad that evokes the same type of feeling you get when you watch the "Daisy" ad and a "say no to drugs" commercial. Bravo. At least there's no melting clocks this time around. – Nicholas Deleon

First North American PlayStation 3 Commercial: "The Wait" [Kotaku]

Happy Birthday VHS!

2006-10-13T02:08:00.000-07:00

It was only 30 years ago this week that JVC received a IEEE milestone for development of the VHS Video along with releasing the first VHS player. You kicked that Betamax's ass right to the curb and you can celebrate three decaded later by watching HD DVD kick another Sony proprietary media to the curb, Blu-Ray.

I wasn't even alive at the time of your birth, but you still managed to kick-start my life of stealing video media with the help of recordable formats, like VHS. Some companies may still make VHS players, or combo players, but it is inevitable that you have died. Rest in peace VHS, rest in peace.

To celebrate the life of the VHS, I ask you, the readers, to share your favorite VHS memories. My favorite memories were when I was a kid—I turned the VHS player into a secret cave/hideout for my Ninja Turtles. My mom got pissed that I was cramming Ninja Turtles in the VHS player, but she got over it. – Travis Hudson

Happy Thirtieth Birthday to the VHS Video Format [Gizmag]

Trust PW-1100P Notebook Surge Guard

2006-10-13T01:39:00.000-07:00

Built with two and three-pin adapters, this Trust PW-1100P notebook surge protector works great with most notebook AC adapters, sitting in-between the power and your laptop. The devices makes sure wherever you are, you're always safe from dirty spikes or other hazardous electrical failures that will fry your laptop faster than you canthrow away that Sony battery.

There are also two landline analog ports to protect your modem from surges as well, but most of the time you're going to be using ethernet or WiFi unless you're visiting some third world country, like Ventura, CA. – Jason Chen

Laptop Surge Protector [Bios Magazine via uber gizmo]

Limited Edition Star Wars USB Flashdrives

2006-10-13T01:24:00.000-07:00

An Imperial spy informs us that Mimoco's going to drop a Darth Vadar USB flash drive tomorrow. A limited run of 3500, too, so you'd better queue up now if you want one. They're officially sanctioned by his royal Lucas-ness, and will go for $80 bucks for a 1GB version, all the way to $170 bucks for a 4GB version. That's a whole lotta space bucks for 4GB isn't it?

You know what would be cool? If this Darth Vadar USB drive's cap didn't have little bear ears, and if the helmet was in the shape of the dark lord's helmet. And if the USB plug looked like James Earl Jones. For the record, I'd consider rocking a Han Solo model, for sure.–Brian Lam

Kingston's Waterproof USB Drives For Aquaman's Home Business

2006-10-13T00:27:00.000-07:00

If you're worried about losing your data to theft or water damage—Hurricane Katrina victims?—Kingston's DataTraveler Secure should be right up your alley. Not only does it have 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) hardware encryption, it's protected by a titanium waterproof coating that protects your drive from agua for up to four feet.

The drives are available in up to 4GB sizes (£147 or $273), and have a read and write speed of 24MB/s and 10MB/s respectively. Definitely useful if you're using your flash drives out in the field like Jack Bauer where you can get wet at a moment's notice. – Jason Chen

Kingston Launches Waterproof USB Drive [Bios Magazine]

Waleli's GSM Doorbell Links Your Door to Your Phone

2006-10-11T01:34:00.000-07:00

If you're tired of forgetting your keys—or your roommates forgetting their keys—get the GSM doorbell and you'll never have to worry again. It mounts onto your door, and when rung, calls a pre-programmed number. Punch in a key-code in your phone and the door unlocks automatically. Never get up from your chair again.

Also, this new version lets you call the device to unlock it directly without having to ring the bell. You can phone your door as you approach your home so it's unlocked when you get there. This sounds pretty damn convenient if we don't have to spring for a calling plan for the doorbell. – Jason Chen

Product Page [GSM Doorbell via Textually]

One Click Butter Cutter for Calorie Counters, Obsessives, Lazy Bums

2006-10-11T01:09:00.000-07:00

Too tired or lazy to cut your butter in the morning? Here's a machine that'll do it for you, precisely measuring a 35-calorie portion at a time. Keep in mind, butter is 100% fat.

This could actually be useful. If you're a fanatic about calorie counting, dole out a controlled portion, count it accurately, slim down. While you're at it, don't forget to count those crows on the clothesline. – Charlie White

Product Page [whatever works, via über review]

Brando USB Twister Hub: Rubik's Cube on a Stick

2006-10-09T08:06:00.000-07:00

Brando adds one more product to the near-infinite variety of USB hubs with its USB Twister Hub, a four-port USB 2.0 expander with Rubik's Cube-like modules that twist to your bidding. It's $26.

This is mildly amusing-looking, but not so cute when it's populated with plugs twisted every which-way. It would be much more useful if it were a power strip. – Charlie White

Product Page [Brando]

Shareplayer: Shares Files, Cares

2006-10-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

The Flashpoint Shareplayer is an MP3 player/radio that can record voice and store files, ranging in sizes from 128MB to 4GB and starting at $89.99. For those functions alone, the Shareplayer seems a little expensive.

But the Shareplayer can do more, like...errr...sharing. Sure, MP3s can be downloaded to another computer (unlike the iPod), but can also be shared to any mobile device with USB support. Pictures can be loaded onto a friend's digital camera - or downloaded to free up space. Hey, maybe you could go on your next vacation without the laptop - nah.

Essentially, the Shareplayer does exactly what we wish all USB thumbdrives/MP3 players could do -everything. It will just cost you a little more. – Mark Wilson

Product Page [via gadgetell]

Tickle Me Elmo Xtreme Edition: Cybernetically Enhanced Giggles

2006-09-21T00:43:00.000-07:00

Elmo was 10. That's like 90 muppet years. His sensors were failing. He ran through batteries four times a day. His once hearty laugh was little more than a half-hearted chuckle. Fisher Price had the technology. So after 18 months of advanced surgery and rehabilitation, they cybernetically retooled Elmo into the most Ticklish Muppet Ever. And just in time for Christmas.

Read on to discover the three stages of coochie coochie coo.

Tickle Me Elmo Extreme edition went on sale yesterday and the little hairy beast is already on ebay for 2-10 times its $40 MSRP. The upgraded AI and robotics give Elmo T.M.X. the technology to laugh harder, faster, better. Tickle sensors reside on the foot, side, and chin. The Three Stages of Extreme Tickling are...

Tickle #1: Elmo laughs, slaps his knee twice, falls down, and stands back up.

Tickle #2: Elmo repeats step one, sits down again and falls backwards onto his back and starts kicking his feet while laughing even harder.

Tickle #3: Repeats steps 1 and 2, then rolls over onto his tummy where he starts hitting the floor with his fists, stands back up again, and takes a deep sigh.

Pray to god that your nephew does NOT want one of these soon to be $600 dollar toys.–Brian Lam

Top-secret Elmo revealed! [CNN]

Shiro SK9151 DECT Skype Phone

2006-09-20T01:29:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Skype, a Singaporian company named Shiro has announced the SK9151 DECT Skype phone. In case you weren't familiar with DECT, it's the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications frequency, which goes on the 1.8GHz band instead of the 2.4GHz, which interferes with WiFi and Bluetooth.

The Skype phone itself works without being connected to your computer, like the Linksys Skype Phone that we reviewed a while back. The Shiro has a base station which charges the phone and and connects to your computer via USB, which then interfaces with the Skype software on your PC. The phone has a 100 number memory and 20 number caller ID. It's also hands free, and lets you walk 50 meters away inside your house—300 if there's no obstructions. – Jason Chen

Shiro SK9151 Skype DECT phone [Mobile Mag]

Toshiba Announces Laptop Battery Recall

2006-09-20T00:09:00.000-07:00

Showing that they're a big boy laptop player like Dell and Apple, Toshiba announces that they're recalling their older Satellite and Tecra laptop batteries for fear of malfunction as well. These batteries are also made by Sony, like Dell's and Apple's, but reportedly won't have any chance of igniting.

For flammable fears, forfeit fearsome fatal fatteries fupon Foshiba. Check their site for a complete list on whether yours is affected. – Jason Chen

Toshiba [via Gearlog]

Motorola KRZR Shows Up In Hong Kong In a Blaze of Glory

2006-09-20T00:08:00.000-07:00

The Motorola KRZR, with its 2 megapixel camera, microSD, Stereo Bluetooth, and quad-band GSM has just launched in Hong Kong. And while Chow Yun Fat is busy using it double fisted on the set of Pirates 3, we'll sit here twiddling our first-gen RAZRs like a monkey that dropped its banana on the floor. Oh, and China and Taiwan got them now as well. – Jason Chen

Motorola KRZR Debuts in Hong Kong [Mobiledia]

12GB PNY MaxFile Attaché USB Microdrive

2006-09-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

PNY has been releasing USB drives for a while now, constantly upgrading their storage capacity and adding features. This time, they've upped the capacity to 12GB with the latest MaxFile Attaché. It includes software that syncs user data—documents, MP3s, pictures, etc.—between systems. And all that data won't take too long to transfer over since the transfer speed supposedly tops out at 11MB/s.

The 12GB MaxFile Attaché is bundled with a groovy protective case and a USB extension (whatever that is). It should be available today, retailing for $$169. – Nicholas Deleon

Product Page [PNY via Fareastgizmos.com]

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

2006-09-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

Reader Tom was lucky enough to be a witness to what may be the first blogged instance of an IBM laptop igniting thanks to its battery.

So we're waiting for a flight in the United lounge at LAX, the flight next to ours was heading to London and in the middle of final boarding, when suddenly this guy comes running the wrong way up the jetway, pushing other boarding passengers out of the way, he quickly drops his laptop on the floor and the thing immediately flares up like a giant firework for about 15 seconds, then catches fire. About a hundred other people in the lounge jumped up and began a mix of gawking and general panic, I clearly heard a few fleeing individuals saying something about terrorists. The fire burned for a minute while everybody just stared at it, then another flare up, this one much larger than the first, drove a larger group of gawkers away. Eventually, the high intensity flaring calmed down and a larger fire kicked in, all the while letting off a thick cloud of white smoke that was slowly filling the terminal. Finally, an employee came over with a fire extinguisher and put it out of its misery.
I spoke to the laptop owner (while getting close for some pictures!) and he said he his laptop was an IBM, that he had checked the battery against the recalls on the net and his battery wasn't a recall. I don't remember seeing any IBM laptops nuke themselves yet on Gizmodo, just MacBooks and Dells with Sony batteries, but it was a close call nonetheless. If that thing had fired off while that plane was in the air, who knows what would have happened.

Also, we got to overhear some of the not-so-computer-literate people on our flight talking about how laptop batteries can explode if you "get too many viruses on your computer.

Olympus E-400: World's Smallest DSLR, But Not Available in US? Huh?

2006-09-15T00:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a bit of frustrating news: Olympus announced its E-400 10-megapixel camera, calling it "the world's smallest digital SLR," and the next thing we know the company drops the bomb that the camera won't be available in North America. Gee, thanks, Olympus. Change that.

It's pretty small, too—look at that insert picture to the right, and you'll see how it could just about fit in the palm of your hand. It reminds us of that "OM" series of film SLRs we had years ago, which packed a lot of big features into its small size.

So let's figure out what we won't be getting: it has a 2.5-inch LCD viewscreen and a sophisticated optical viewfinder, too. Olympus added an amplifier circuit that reduces noise, and at the same time speeds up its operation, allowing it to snap off three frames per second. Plus, it uses the full line Olympus's schweet Zuiko Digital Top Pro Lenses, along with a variety of accessories. If you're intimidated by all the high-tech manual stuff, it also has 31 scene modes to tailor its automatic shooting to your situation. Shipping in November, no price was mentioned yet. – Charlie White

10.0 million pixel Olympus E-400 [Digital Photography Review]

A Few Segways Go Haywire, All Are Recalled

2006-09-15T00:39:00.000-07:00

Segways are just for cops and dorks, and now even they won't be riding them for a while because all 23,500 of the two-wheeled personal transporters have been recalled. A software problem was discovered that could cause a Segway to suddenly reverse direction, dumping the dorks on their duffs.

Speaking of dorks, take a look at that pic there—why, it's our beloved president taking a spill on a Segway. Maybe the thing just has good logic in its electronic brain, which will now be assimilated. Back to the hive, Segways. Mommie's calling. – Charlie White

Consumer Product Safety Commission Recall [CPSC, via Jalopnik]

Top 5 Road Trip Gadgets

2006-09-13T02:08:00.000-07:00

Summer is coming to an end and soon there will be a nip in the air, and that means Autumn's on its way and those leaves will be a changin'. Sounds like it's time for a road trip, taking off for some leaf peeping during the most beautiful time of the year. But what do you take with you?

We just got back from a multi-thousand mile road trip, taking along a carload of gadgets. Which ones proved themselves to be indispensable? There were lots of worthy candidates, but we've boiled it down to the Top 5 Road Trip Gadgets, the most useful accoutrements in our bag o' tricks. See the list, after the jump. – Charlie White

1. Garmin StreetPilot c550 GPS Navigation System
GPS navigation doesn't get any easier than this, and the Garmin StreetPilot c550 showed us the way so many times that it practically became a member of the family. No matter how many turns we missed, the StreetPilot patiently helped us find our way back without calling us an idiot once, and its touchscreen display not only showed us where we were going but how far we'd been, and even revealed that, yes, we had traveled in excess of 100mph. It also played nicely with our Bluetooth telephone, flawlessly played back MP3 files, and even gave us hands-free speakerphonage, too. It's a great package for $800.

2. Canon PowerShot SD550 Digital ELPH Peep at all that gorgeous Fall color with a camera that has plenty of power but isn't too big. You can look at spec lists all day long, debating megapixels and 12x zooms, but what it boils down to is, what camera gets used the most? For us, it's the 7.1-megapixel Canon SD550, a near-perfect combination of small form factor, big sharp 2.5-inch viewscreen, fast performance and ease of use. Sure, it's not a 12-megapixel professional digital SLR, but try cramming one of those muthas in your pocket on a 5-mile hike sometime. Yes, we know—it's not brand new, but that turns out to be a plus because that makes the SD550 cheap, around $300.

3. Linksys Travel Router WTR54GS with SpeedBooster
Here's a tiny little pocket-sized Wireless G router that packs the punch of others five times its size. The Linksys Travel Router with SpeedBooster takes that single Ethernet connection in your hotel room and turns it into a WiFi network everyone can enjoy. This baby is powerful enough for people down the hall to tap into without paying, too. It's also great at sharing a wireless hotspot connection, and you can even enable secure encryption between your PC and your friend's. Best of all, it couldn't be easier to configure—every time, we plugged it in and it just worked. It's $80.

4. Dell Precision Mobile Workstation M65
When you're out on the road, it couldn't hurt to have workstation-class performance on your lap, and that's just what you get with the Dell Precision Mobile Workstation M65. It has a 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 processor on board, Intel's fastest mobile Core 2 Duo, affectionately codenamed Merom. Although it would have been even nicer if it had an SD card slot for all those pretty pictures we were taking, it proved itself extremely roadworthy nonetheless with its internal EV-DO MiniCard that lets you check your email even in the boondocks of South Dakota. It's $3288.

5. Mio C710 Digiwalker
The Mio C710 Digiwalker is more than just a highly accurate GPS device with maps for all of North America inside and natural-sounding voice commands giving you turn-by-turn directions. It's an excellent multimedia player, with a bright and sharp 3.5-inch display that can play MPEG4 and DivX movies for you, and also handles all the MP3s you can cram onto an SD flash disk. Plus, it works seamlessly with your Bluetooth phone, giving you a hell of a good-sounding speakerphone and showing you caller ID when the phone rings, too. It's easy on the pocketbook as well, cheaper than most GPS units at $600. – Charlie White

Hybrio Rechargable Batteries: Last Four Times Longer?

2006-09-13T00:14:00.000-07:00

Hybrio batteries by Everlast are said to last four times longer than everyday alkaline batteries and can be recharged 500 times. The kicker here is the price, though, with a four pack including a charger costing around $28. If they can last as long as the company says, these suckers will pay for themselves after just a few charges. They'll be available in late October. – Charlie White

Product Page [Hybrio USA, via treehugger]

Formac External Portable Hard Disk Comes in Darth Vader Black, Luke Skywalker White

2006-09-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

The Formac Disk Mini comes in both all-black and all-white versions, and despite its name, works on both Windows and OS X.

The drives come in 60, 80 and 120GB sizes, can be connected via USB 2.0 and Firewire, and is bus powered, so you can power it off whatever connector you use. Prices range between £70 ($130) for the low end and £160 ($298) for the high end. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Formac via Tech Digest]

BenQ C1000 10-Megapixel Camera

2006-09-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

BenQ has unveiled an update to their C800 digital camera. Welcome the C1000. This thing has a whopping 10.1-megapixel CCD, 3x optical zoom and 2.4-inch LCD. This camera also has PASM, a feature that allows a wide variety of different shooting techniques. It even allows manual control of aperture and shutter settings. Damn, make it a little bulkier and it could be confused for a DSLR. The C1000 has includes 24MB of internal memory and SD memory expansion. It will be available later this month for $360.

Wait, wait, wait. Hold the phone. BenQ makes digital cameras? Slap me around and call me Sally—you learn something new everyday. – Travis Hudson

BenQ launch C1000 10.1 megapixel digital camera [TechDigest]

Teclast TL-29 PMP

2006-09-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

Teclast's R&D division has come up with the TL-T29, a portable media player that actually is pretty eye-pleasing. Also appreciated is that it supports so many gosh darn codecs, including the usual (MP3, WMA, etc.) and the esoteric (FLAC and Ogg). It does all of this with a 2.0-inch, 220x176-pixel resolution window to the world. You'll also find Teclast RBS Surround Sound and Teclast Stone3D Surround Sound. I guess "Gimmicky Audio Trickery" was already taken by some other company.

Battery life is expected to be in the 15-hour range for this portable media player, or PMP as the kids say. The 4GB version will retail for $125 when it comes out. – Nicholas Deleon

Updated Teclast TL-T29 info and Teclast TL-T29 - stylish flash PMP [dapreview.net]

Digital Radio / FM Receiver

2006-09-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Available Mid-September in Japan, this One-Seg digital radio/FM receiver will retail for 150,000 yen to corporate users ($1,288), and less for a consumer model. we're not sure why the device, with its 2.17-inch 240x320 screen, H.264 codec playback, and 3 hour battery life costs over a grand. From what we can make out from the translation, it's capable of receiving digital radio (their version of Sirius?) and regular FM radio. Their digital radio has 5.1 channels and "can offer colorful service it is new broadcast".

Can any Japanese readers shed some light on this? It does look pretty neat, even if there's zero chance of the US having a use for it. – Jason Chen

Pixela [Techjapan]

New Apple Products

2006-09-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

New iPod Models

2006-09-02T22:52:00.000-07:00

How to Recover Disk Space on your PC

2006-09-01T03:31:00.000-07:00

Reader Leo writes: Lately I notice that Windows tells me i have low disk space quite often. When I start my computer I might have 800MB of free space, but after a few hours I get a warning from Windows and my drive shows less than 200MB of free space. Could this be a virus?

Many people don't realize that Windows makes prodigious use of your hard drive, even if you aren't installing new programs or creating new files. Through temporary files and the notorious swap file (the repository of "virtual memory" for when you run out of RAM). Want to see how big it is in the flesh? Just look on the C: drive (in the root folder) for "pagefile.sys." My pagefile.sys is 1.5GB in size. I'll discuss how to change this in a moment. But anyway, no, you don't have a virus. You're a victim of not having a big enough hard drive.

Let's start with how to attack this problem the easy way. First, let's try to clear off some space. You can start by getting rid of any files you don't need (got any old podcasts or video downloads clogging up your hard drive? toss 'em). You should also delete any old emails you no longer need, and make sure you empty them out of your deleted items folder.

Next take a spin with Windows Disk Cleanup (under Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools). Disk Cleanup will scour your drive for excess junk (like temporary files and old installers you don't need), and give you the option to delete them. You can also consider compressing old data files (Disk Cleanup will do this for you). Disk Cleanup is usually good for a few gigabytes of newly free space if you haven't run it recently. While you're at it, remember to uninstall any programs you don't use any more, using the Add/Remove Programs control panel.

Another useful trick is to throttle down System Restore settings. Go into the Windows System control panel and click the System Restore tab. By default, System Restore is set to use "Max" disk space: 12 percent of your drive. You can safely knock this down to 5 percent with minimal risk. On a 60GB drive, that equals more than 4GB of newly freed space.

Also in the System control panel, you can decrease the size of your swap file, though be warned, this could hurt performance. Click Advanced, then under Performance click Settings. Click Advanced again then look at the bottom of that tab. Your current virtual memory page file size will be noted. Click Change to throttle it down, though you should never go below the amount of your physical RAM. I recommend tweaking this only as a last resort.

After that, you can try shareware apps designed to free up disk space, but I don't really recommend them. A fresh Windows install will likely free up space too, but only if you back up the drive and reformat it. Again, that's probably more trouble than its worth. If these tips don't help you, you're probably just have too much data to fit on your hard drive. Consider adding a second drive (external models connect easily with USB) or, just maybe, upgrading the whole shebang. Good luck.

A video review of a poorly implemented multimedia device.

2006-08-24T23:38:00.000-07:00

iPod Goes Pink

2006-08-24T23:19:00.000-07:00

Looking for an MP3 player to go with your pink PSP?, how about a nice pink iPod? Steve Jobs hasn't decided to think pink: the pink iPod and ipod mini (both with matching hot pink scroll wheels) are produced by Colorware, who can also pink out your devices. I'll stick with regulation boy-geek black, I think. – Richard Baguley

Pink iPod Editions [Chip Chick]

Most Popular MP3 Players... as voted by Yahoo! users

2006-08-24T01:26:00.000-07:00

1) Apple iPod Video 30GB Black
2) Apple iPod Nano 2GB Black
3) SanDisk Sansa E130
4) Apple iPod Shuffle 512MB
5) Creative Zen Touch 20GB

My favourite? Apple iPod Video 30GB Black of course! (although I don't personally own it yet...)

Yahoo! Top 5

2006-08-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

Posted in today's Yahoo! homepage

Top 5 Compact Digital Cameras:
1) Olympus CAMEDIA C-5500 Sport Zoom Digital Camera
2) Canon PowerShot S80 Digital Camera
3) Olympus Stylus 800 Digital Camera
4) Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S60 Digital Camera
5) HP PhotoSmart R817 Digital Camera

Top 5 Subcompact Digital Cameras:
1) Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital ELPH Digital Camera
2) Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z750 Digital Camera
3) Kodak EasyShare V550 Digital Camera
4) Pentax Optio SV Digital Camera
5) Casio EXILIM EX-Z55 Digital Camera

Top 5 Super-Zoom Digital Cameras:
1) Canon PowerSHot S2 IS Digital Camera
2) Kodak EasyShare P850 Digital Camera
3) Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5S Digital Camera
4) Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H1 Digital Camera
5) Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20S Digital Camera

Top 5 Cell Phones:
1) Sony Ericsson W600i Walkman Cell Phone
2) Nokia N80 Cell Phone
3) T-Mobile Sidekick II Cell Phone
4) Sony Ericsson W800i Cell Phone
5) Motorola Razr V3 Magenta Cell Phone

Top 5 Plasma Televisions:
1) Panasonic TH-50PX500U Television
2) Panasonic TH-50PX50U Television
3) Panasonic TH-42PX50U Television
4) HP Pavilion PL5000N Television
5) Panasonic TH-42PX500U Television

Top 5 LCD HDTV:
1) Sharp Aquos LC-45GD7U Television
2) JVC LT-40FH96 Television
3) Sony BRAVIA KDL-V32XBR1 Television
4) Sharp LC-26GD4U Television
5) Sony BRAVIA KDL-V40XBR1 Television

Top 5 Projection Television:
1) JVC HD-61FH96 Television
2) Sony KDS-R60XBR1 Television
3) Sharp 56DR650 Television
4) Toshiba 62MX195 Television
5) HP Pavillion MD6580n Television

Top 5 Laptops:
1) Toshiba Satellite M35-S456 Laptop Computer
2) Apple iBook G4 Laptop Computer
3) Apple MacBook Pro - 1.83Ghz (100 GB HD) Laptop Computer
4) Apple PowerBook G4 12" Laptop Computer
5) Apple PowerBook G4 Laptop Computer

Top 5 MP3 Players:
1) Samsung YP-T8Z MP3 Player
2) Cowon iAUDIO 5 1GB Noble Black MP3 Player
3) Apple iPod nano 2GB White MP3 Player
4) RCA Lyra RD2217 MP3 Player
5) iRiver T10 1GB MP3 Player

Top 5 PDAs:
1) Palm Treo 650 (Cingular) Cell Phone
2) Sprint PCS Vision Smart Device PPC-6700 Cell Phone
3) Palm Zire 71 PDA
4) HP iPAQ h2215 PDA
5) Palm TX PDA

2006-08-21T23:39:00.000-07:00

This is my blog dedicated to my love of gadgets...