July 28th, 2007

Rating:

 

Price: $97.85

The Tassimo Hot Beverage System offers a few interesting differences when compared to the Keurig or coffee pod brewers. It makes you one cup of coffee at a time, with no fuss or cleanup. And the T-Discs it uses are a little like K-Cups. But if a K-Cup looks like a big version of a coffee creamer cup, a T-Disc looks a bit like a sealed single serving of butter. In other words, it’s like a K-Cup but shallower.

It’s called a “hot beverage system” rather than a coffee maker because Tassimo has put a lot of emphasis on making a wider variety of beverages. Yes, you can make one cup of coffee at a time. But you can also make espresso, lattes, cappuccinos, teas and hot chocolate. Best if all, you can make those nice milky lattes and cappuccinos without having to worry about using a frothing wand.

With the Tassimo you place the T-Disc in the disc holder, but also have the option to add a second disc containing milk. The milk is pasteurized and doesn’t need to be refrigerated. This means you can use your Tassimo not only you make your morning coffee, but you can also use it to make a very passable cappuccino as well. With just the one machine.

If you’re asking yourself how the Tassimo knows how to set the water temperature and quantity just right for different beverages, it uses a barcode system. Each T-Disc has a barcode printed on its lid. The Tassimo reads the barcode and adjust the water temperature and quantity accordingly. You can use it to make a variety of different hot beverages, with all the simplicity of one-cup brewing. 

Product Features

• Hot-beverage system brews drinks at the touch of a button in about a minute
• Patented T-Disc system with barcode technology; customizable strength settings
• Beverages pour directly from T-Disc into cup; no measuring, no fuss, and virtually no cleanup
• Measures approximately 10 by 15 by 16 inches; 2-year limited warranty

Technical data

• Color: Silver with black accents
• Manufacturer: Braun
• Capacity: 11 ounces
• Timer: No
• Removable water tank: Yes
• Built-in grinder: No
• Pause-and-serve function: No
• Strength settings: Yes
• Cup warming plate: No
• Height: Approximately 16 inches
• Length: Approximately 15 inches
• Depth: Approximately 10 inches
• Weight: Approximately 8 lbs
• Warranty: 2-year limited

July 28th, 2007

Rating:  

Price: $.05 (Priceless if it saves McDonald’s another lawsuit!)

Smart lids save lips! That’s right, this cup lid changes color with the temperature of your beverage by turning red when it’s “too hot” to drink. It also tells you whether the lid is properly sealed by showing a broken rim line where the lid isn’t attached.

Australian company Smart Lid Systems will ship as many as 100 million units this year. Manufactured with a food grade compliant color-changing additive, when cold, the lid is a regular dark (coffee) color. When hot, the lid turns red to remind your customers to be careful. As the drink cools, the color of the lid changes back to the regular coffee color.

I’ll be looking for mine at Starbucks soon!
http://www.smartlidsystems.com/

July 27th, 2007

Rating:

 

Price: $$99.99 with 2 year contract ($299 without service contract)

Released for Cingular (Now AT&T Wireless), the Motorola RAZR V3xx delivers high-speed connectivity and premium multimedia capabilities in the always popular RAZR form factor. You can download the latest music videos, read the news or watch your a favorite television show via live streaming content, transmitted over-the-air with broadband-quality speed straight to the RAZR V3xx’s clear 2.2-inch color screen.

The RAZR V3xx features an integrated MP3 player with Media Finder for easy navigation and A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth stereo profiles for wirelessly streaming music to compatible Bluetooth enabled stereo headphones. When the artistic mood strikes, create personalized content in low or high resolution via the RAZR V3xx’s offering of a powerful 1.3-megapixel digital camera. Snaps of friends and family, sights and sounds from travels and even video clips can be effortlessly saved to the optional, hot swappable microSD memory card.

Motorola RAZR V3xx Features

• Descendant from the RAZR phone-lineage with 3G broadband speeds to offer a mix of metal and glass for a sleek and elegant form factor
• Dual cameras including a still 1.3-megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom for low or high-resolution imaging
• Integrated MP3 player with Media Finder and optional mini-USB stereo headset
• HSDPA (Category 6) technology for high-speed data transmission up to 3.6 Mbps
• Optional hot swappable microSD memory card
• Bluetooth stereo Music Profile (A2DP) and Bluetooth Music Control Profile (AVRCP) for streaming music to compatible Bluetooth enabled wireless stereo headphones

Visit AT&Ttoday to get your Motorola RAZR V3xx Phone!

OR

Buy the Motorola RAZR V3xx from Amazon:

July 26th, 2007

NEW Vostro 1500 notebook with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor, 1GB memory, $599.

Rating:  

Price: $599

With the hundreds of Dell desktop and laptop products on the market, many computer users are relying on Dell as their household name. In fact, Dell has been coming out with new computer lines in recent times to satisfy computer users of all types. The Dell Vostro laptops are a new line of laptops that have been introduced to the computer market. There are several laptops with this Dell line and the Dell Vostro 1500 is one of their great computers in their sequence of laptops. The Dell Vostro 1500 comes with a 15.4 inch screen and one of the best processors in the computer industry. Dell has equipped their laptop with the Intel Core 2 Duo technology that is rated at 1.6 Gigahertz processing speed. This should be fast enough to satisfy any average computer laptop user and those who use it should also be impressed with the Core 2 Duo processing technology that was included.

There is also plenty of hard drive room to store whatever you need. Business professionals and college students alike will be able to store as many documents as they need in the 160 Gigabyte hard drive. This is about twice the size of an average size laptop computer’ hard drive and should provide more than enough room for thousands of songs, multiple video files, as well as the documents that are stored. Also included with the Dell Vostro 1500 is an excellent video card option. Integrated graphics are included with this laptop, but Dell has placed the NVIDIA GeForce video card with it as well. The GeForce 8400 GS or the 8600 GS are the two options that laptop computer users can choose from when ordering this laptop. Both of the GeForce’s video cards are excellent and should be able to handle any movie or high-graphics game with excellent style and flare.

There are several other features of the Dell Vostro 1500 which make it a great Dell product. For starters, it comes with 4 USB ports so there should be no problem connecting whatever accessories are needed. Whether you want to hookup your digital camera or have multiple iPods or mp3 players, you can do all of this with the 4 USB ports that are available. In addition, there is also an ExpressCard slot so that digital camera users will be assured that they can transfer all of their pictures immediately to their computer’s hard drive. In addition to all these features, Dell can also include an optional 2.0 megapixel camera that is included right on the laptop’s hardware, as well as an optional Bluetooth feature. The Bluetooth feature would make it possible for any of the other Bluetooth pieces of hardware that laptop user’s have that they need to connect to their computer.

The Dell Vostro 1500 is definitely a great computer to go with if you are trying to decide whether or not to actually buy a brand new laptop. It contains many great features for the beginner user as well as offers excellent storage capacity options. Dell has certainly produced great laptops with the Vostro line!

Buy your Vostro 1500 notebook at Dell today - $599.

July 24th, 2007

	Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch	Dell XPS M1330	Sony VAIO Laptop Computer TXN29N/L
Rating	Blackberry 8100c Pearl Blackberry 8100c Pearl	Blackberry 8100c Pearl Blackberry 8100c Pearl	Blackberry 8100c Pearl
Processor	2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed	Intel 2-GHz Next Generation Core 2 Duo processor	Core Solo U1500 / 1.33 GHz ULV - Centrino
Display	17-inch (diagonal) TFT display with support for millions of colors; optional glossy widescreen display	13.3-inch, 1280 x 800-pixel widescreen	11.1 Widescreen TF
Storage	80 - 120 GB	80 - 120 GB	100 GB
Software	iLife suite, iTunes. GarageBand, Apple Finder	Microsoft Windows Vista Business or Home Edition	Microsoft Windows Vista Business
Features	Apple’s new MacBook Pro is ideal for creative professionals looking for a feature-rich system with plenty of screen real estate.	The full-sized keyboard has a light and bouncy feel, which makes typing a pleasure and speedy. The track pad and mouse buttons are responsive, with horizontal and vertical scrolling function on the track pad and to the right is a fingerprint reader for security-minded users.	Sony VAIO TXN29N/L - Core Solo U1500 / 1.33 GHz ULV - Centrino - RAM : 2 GB - HD : 100 GB - DVD RW ( R DL) / DVD-RAM - cellular mdm / mdm - Sprint - WLAN : Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g - TPM - fingerprint - Microsoft Windows Vista Business - 11.1 Widescreen TF
Weight	6.8 pounds	4.8 pounds	2.84 pounds
Cost	$3099 USD	$1699 USD	$2,584.99 USD

July 24th, 2007

Rating:

 

Cost: $2,584.99

The Sony VAIO Laptop Computer TXN29N/L with an impressive carbon fiber casing—combines portability and power. Stay connected from virtually anywhere with integrated 802.11 a/b/g wireless LAN and wireless Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies. The brilliant 11.1″ widescreen display lets you see all your media with incredible clarity and the built-in CD/DVD burner lets you share your photos, videos and music with ease. This pint-sized powerhouse weighs only 2.84 lbs, is less than 1″ thin and has battery life good enough to keep you going. And your data’s safe, thanks to built-in security features such as, biometric fingerprint sensor and G-Sensor shock protection. Enjoy your favorite movies and music without booting up the integrated Windows Vista Business operating system.

July 24th, 2007

Rating:

 

Price:

15-inch - $1999

17-inch - $3099

Sure, you could buy a faster Windows machine for the same price, but it won’t be as sexy as Apple’s Macbook Pro notebook.

Available with either a 15-inch or a 17-inch screen, the Apple MacBook Pro proves that a desktop replacement notebook doesn’t have to be gargantuan. The 15-inch weighs just 5.4 pounds, while the 17-inch comes in at 6.8 pounds and a sleek 1 inch thick.

The great looking, brushed-aluminum shell of the MacBook Pro offers a clean, crisp design, which continues inside, with the monochromatic brushed-silver keyboard and deck. The keyboard is  comfortable and quiet, and the oversized touchpad and single mouse button are a delight to use.

The 15-inch, 1440 x 900-pixel screen is sharp and clear, with great color rendition for any application. The Nvidia 8600M GT graphics engine comes standard with 128MB VRAM. The 17-inch, 1680 x 1050-pixel widescreen (available in either antiglare or glossy) is clear and very bright, with superb color  reproduction for image and video editing. It also has the best viewing-angle performance available, making the MacBook  Pro great for presentations. If you want an even larger screen, the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics engine drives an  external display up to 2560 x 1600 pixels.

Standard Apple hardware and software features are plentiful and you’ll love the backlit keyboard, which illuminates automatically, thanks to the machine’s  light sensor. The built-in iSight camera and software enable four-way videoconferencing, and the included remote launches and  controls Apple’s Front Row interface for playing movies, music, and photos from across the room. You’ll find FireWire 400 and  800 ports, and the ExpressCard slot accepts a Wireless EV-DO wireless broadband card. The MacBooks are also equipped with 802.11n Wi-Fi.

Then there are the extras of the Mac OS X 10.4 itself, including the Finder search utility and the Dashboard with dockable  Widget applets. The included iLife suite makes it easy to manage and edit photos with iPhoto, manage and expand your music  library with iTunes, make your own music with GarageBand, create movies and DVDs with iMovie and iDVD, create a Web site with  iWeb, and more. You can also load Apple’s Boot Camp utility and set up the MacBook Pro as a dual-boot machine running either  Mac OS X or Windows XP. In fact, the only software you’re likely to need to add is the Microsoft Office suite.

Performance from the 2.33-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and ATI graphics are very good and wireless throughput is excellent at 19.3 Mbps at 15 feet, and 14.6 Mbps at 50  feet. Battery life of 2 hours and 45 minutes is good for a 17-inch model.
 
For the price, you can definitely get a faster Windows notebook, but it won’t have all the Apple software and hardware extras, it’ll weigh at least two pounds more, and you know it won’t look nearly as great when you pull it out of your back pack or brief case!

Technical Specifications:

Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch

Screen: 15.4″ LED Backlit Screen @ 1440 x 900 Native Resolution
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 CPU at 2.2ghz (4MB Shared L2 Cache)
Memory: 2GB DDR2 PC2-5300 667mhz RAM
Hard Drive: 120GB HDD @ 5400RPM (Fujitsu)
Graphics: Nvidia 8600M GT with 128MB VRAM GPU
Optical Drive: Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVDRW/CD-RW)
Wireless: Apple Airport Extreme Wireless B/G/N
Built-in Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
Mac OS X 10.4.9 (Tiger)
Dimensions & Weight:
14.1″ x 9.6″ x 1.0″ (35.7cm x 24.3cm 2.59cm)
5.4lbs (2.45kg)
Cost: $1,999 USD ($1,799 with Education Discount)

Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch

Screen: 17-inch (diagonal) TFT display with support for millions of colors; optional glossy widescreen display
Processor: 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
Memory: 2GB DDR2 PC2-5300 667mhz RAM
Hard Drive: 120GB HDD @ 5400RPM (Fujitsu)
Graphics: ATI Radeon x1600 with 128MB VRAM GPU
Optical Drive: Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVDRW/CD-RW)
Wireless: Apple Airport Extreme Wireless B/G/N
Built-in Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
Mac OS X 10.4.9 (Tiger)
Dimensions & Weight:
15.4″ x 10.4″ x 1.0″ (39.2 cm 26.5 cm 2.59 cm)
6.8lbs (3.08kg)
Cost: $3,099 USD

Bottom Line
Apple’s new MacBook Pro is ideal for creative professionals looking for a feature-rich system with plenty of screen real estate.

Pros
Very good performance running Windows and Mac OS. Lightest 17-inch notebook available. Great features. Excellent software suite. Extra USB port. iSight camera.

Cons
Runs a bit hot. Expensive.

July 24th, 2007

Rating:

 

Price: $1299 - $1999

Possibly the best laptop Dell has ever introduced, the Dell XPS M1330 combines light weight, stylish design, powerful performance, and built-in mobile broadband, which makes it a top choice for road warriors. The M1330 offers excellent screen resolution, a full-size, tactile keyboard and long battery life.

Weighing only 4 pounds (4.8 with extra long life battery, Dell XPS M1330’s sleek, crimson red exterior is a new look for Dell, but the round logo on the lid is reminiscent of the one on the XPS M1210, this system’s predecessor. Only 4.8 pounds (or as light as 4 pounds, depending on the battery), this machine is perfect for road warriors.
 
Along the right side are an ExpressCard slot (and mini remote control inside), a slot-loading DVD+/-RW drive, Wi-Fi, and USB 2.0 port. The left side provides a second USB port and FireWire, VGA, Ethernet, and HDMI ports. An 8-in-1 memory card reader, dual headphones jacks, and a microphone jack line the front.

The full-sized keyboard has a light and bouncy feel, which makes typing a pleasure and speedy. The track pad and mouse buttons are responsive, with horizontal and vertical scrolling function on the track pad and to the right is a fingerprint reader for security-minded users.
 
Even with its slick external design, the display is awesome. DVDs look sharp and color is vivid on the 13.3-inch, 1280 x 800-pixel widescreen. The notebook’s speakers are plenty loud but the base weak, especially at the top volumes. Dell bundles noise-isolating earbuds, which sounded spectacular for both movies and music. We’d like to see some visual feedback when adjusting volume with the media buttons and the remote, but beyond that, watching movies or listening to music on a plane will be a blast with this screen and earbud combo.

Like its predecessor, the XPS M1330 packs a lot of power into a compact frame. Intel’s 2-GHz Next Generation Core 2 Duo processor, along with 2GB of RAM, paced this system to a very strong PCMark05 score of 4,545; that’s about 1,000 points higher than average for a thin-and-light system. Regular productivity tasks were speedy as well, even with several windows open, and the Dell XPS M1330 handles Vista’s Aero interface with ease.
 
Wi-Fi integration is impressive at 19.1 Mbps and 16.9 Mbps at 15 and 50 feet, with very good speeds from the integrated Verizon Wireless EV-DO Rev. You’ll get solid battery life of 2.5 hours with the six-cell battery and 3 hours and 45 minutes with the nine-cell battery, which adds $60 to the price. You should expect about 4.5 to 5 hours of productivity time.
 
The system comes with Windows Vista Ultimate or you can save $199 with Home Premium instead. Dell backs the M1330 with a one-year next-business day, in-home service warranty on parts and labor. Add Microsoft Office 2007 direct from Microsoft for ultimate productivity.

Whether you compute on campus, during your commute, or while flying from coast to coast, the Dell XPS M1330 has the power and multimedia power you’re looking for. It’s one of the few no-compromise lightweight notebooks available, offering unbeatable combination of performance, portable size, and sleek style!

July 21st, 2007

Rating:

 

RIM is the last company you’d expect to produce a sexy mobile device when their large, utilitarian BlackBerry devices have filled their device portfolio for years and have earned them cult status and the “CrackBerry” name to go with it. As life would have it, RIM surprised us with the BlackBerry Pearl 8100 smartphone that’s not only smart but fashionable and flashy enough to compete in today’s mobile market where mobile phones also function as personal style accessories. Measuring 4.2 x. 1.97 x 0.57 inches with a shinny black plastic housing and gun-metal silver side accents, the BlackBerry Pearl can compete with the Nokia 8801 (OK, almost) or the Motorola SLVR L7 when it comes to fashion, yet it’s a phone with brains. And it’s a new trend for 2006 as we’ve seen with the slim and elegant Cingular 3125 and T-Mobile Dash. Looks + brains are a killer combination for a successful mobile device, but the question is can this smartphone attract new users who have never been in the BlackBerry camp while maintaining its appeal to the traditional “CrackBerry” users?

The BlackBerry Pearl (model number 8100 in RIM’s product portfolio) comes with BlackBerry Enterprise Server support for push email, a 1.3 megapixel camera, MicroSD expansion slot, integrated Bluetooth 2.0 and a newly updated SureType keyboard along with a large screen and BlackBerry Maps application.

The BlackBerry Pearl is a quad-band GSM world phone with EDGE support and it’s offered currently only by T-Mobile in the US. It will be coming to Cingular in the future.
Design is one of the highlights of the BlackBerry Pearl, and it should sell well just because it looks so darn cool and is so small and light. Besides the shinny black housing and the silver accents, the BlackBerry Pearl has all the right curves and feels very good in hand. Though shinny, the phone doesn’t feel very slippery and won’t slip out of your hand by accident. The 2.2” display takes up a good portion of the front face, and below it are the menus keys and keyboard which have white backlighting.

Gone is the beloved jog wheel found on the side of other of BlackBerries; the Pearl has a flat track ball sitting in the center of the front face just below the display and it’s touch sensitive control that allows you to scroll up/down and left/right by brushing your thumb or finger over it. The scrolling controls are quite responsive and easy to get used to. When pressed down, the track ball also acts like an Action button. On the left of the track ball is the Menu key that gives you a list of applications when no app is open or the menu list in an application when it is open. The Escape key has moved to the front and lives to the right of the track ball rather than on the right side of the phone as on other BlackBerries. The Call Send and End keys flank the menu and escape keys. The BlackBerry Pearl has a dedicated Mute button on top of the phone and a LED above the display to the right of the earpiece. The LED indicates network connection status, Bluetooth radio power and it will flash red when you get a new message.

The Pearl is the first BlackBerry to have a built-in digital camera. The Pearl, with its new multimedia focus, comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom that takes good pictures by camera phone standards. Of course, there are still some security requirements and RIM has addressed them by providing security policies in the server for IT managers to disable the camera. The Pearl’s camera can take still photos in three resolutions (1280 x 1024, 640 x 480, 320 x 240) at one of  three quality levels. You can set flash options, white balance and picture storage locations in the menu. You can also use the track ball to zoom in and out. The pictures are reasonably sharp; colors are fairly accurate with a slight purple tint in some shots. It takes better picture indoors with good lighting than it does outdoor shots with strong sunlight which results in white out. The photo quality can’t compete with very high end cameras phones like the Nokia N73 or the Samsung a990 of course, but it’s on par with 1.3 MP cameras on current mobile phones. The flash helps a little for close up shots. You can save the photos to internal memory or to a MicroSD card. The Pearl cannot shoot video.

The BlackBerry Pearl is RIM’s ideal device to bring fresh recruits to the “CrackBerry” camp with its sleek style and new-user friendly features. In this fashion conscious mobile market, looks alone will sell quite a few Pearls. While traditional BlackBerry users will need some time to get used to the new keyboard and form factor, the updated software bundle including the media player, voice dialing software and Maps will surely move some of them forward. Now BlackBerry is finally starting to compete with feature-rich PDA phones and smartphones, though they still have a way go to.

Pro: Great looking device that’s not just flashy by BlackBerry standards but good looking compared to any other phone on the market. The bright display is impressive. The email setup wizard enhances the tried and true BlackBerry push email experience, especially for new users and those whose devices aren’t configured by an IT department. The security updates in the server to work with the Pearl will put IT managers at ease. We’re glad that RIM included an IM client for popular IM accounts. VoiceDialing software works on the phone and via Bluetooth headset. BlackBerry Maps application does a good job of mapping routes and giving turn-by-turn directions.

Con: MicroSD slot is under the battery. Camera can’t shoot video. Bluetooth profiles are limited. The video player supports a small set of formats.

Get your BlackBerry 8100c Pearl now on Amazon:

List Price:	$499.99
Price:	$0.01 (when purchased with new service plan)
You Save:	$499.98 (100%)

FREE SHIPPING Availability: Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Requirement: This phone can only be used with a compatible service plan.

July 21st, 2007

Rating:  

The 680’s application keys are larger and more angular than the 650’s were, and the older model’s menu key has been repositioned to replace the right-hand Shift button. The move means there’s an extra application key now, but it’s less conveniently placed.

Like the 650, the 680’s infra-red port is on the top of the device next to the speaker deactivation switch. On the left-hand side are the volume controls and a key that, if held, launches the voice recording app - a tool missing from the 650 - though like the application keys on the front of the 680, it can be redefined to run different things.

The right-hand side of the phone has a large flap under which is the 680’s SD card slot, which not only supports MMC media and SD IO devices but also SDHC cards. Certainly, the 680 I tried had no trouble reading the 4GB SanDisk SDHC card I used with it. SDHC support isn’t listed in Palm’s Treo 680 tech specs, but it worked for me.

The 680’s SIM slot is now inside the battery compartment rather than the top of the handset: there’s a slide-out tray for the card rather than the recess used in many mobile phones and the 750v. Like the Vodafone-branded Treo, the 680 ships with a removable 1,200mAh battery.

Internally, little has changed between the 650 and the 680. The new model has the same 312MHz XScale PXA270 processor. The memory has been upped to 128MB - from 32MB - of which 64MB is available to the user, but the screen spec is the same - 320 x 320 and 65,536 colours - and continues to look good. Like the 650, the 680 is a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE device. Both handsets have Bluetooth 1.2 on board.

There’s the same 300,000-pixel VGA camera, with 2x digital zoom, round the back of the 680 as there was on the 650. The picture quality on stills and video is nothing to write home about and really should have been upgraded, given rival devices are already incorporating two megapixel cameras. Speaking of the competition highlights the 680’s key omission: Wi-Fi, still missing from a Palm device despite so many Windows smart phones that offer it.

Palm Treo devices at ATT.com

OR

Get your palm Treo 680 Smartphone on Amazon today:

List Price:	$399.99
Price:	$74.98 (when purchased with new service plan)
You Save:	$325.01 (81%)
Rebates	$75.00
Price After Rebates:	FREE

FREE SHIPPING Availability: Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Requirement: This phone can only be used with a compatible service plan.