Tech Gadgets Reviews

The QNAP NVR-1012 Network Surveillance Kit targets both home and office use, featuring professional grade live video recording and real-time remote monitoring/playback service. It relies on the Linux OS as the base where performance is a proven thing, and is extremely easy to set up even for the uninitiated. The entire system configuration and recording/monitoring functions of the NVR can be performed via Internet Explorer with no need for complicated software installations.

Besides the built-in Ethernet connection the cameras also provide a great alternative for home users to connect wirelessly. The state-of-the-art 2-way communication system supports synchronized video and audio monitoring and recording. Users can speak directly for the instant conversation or even use the camera to perform voice-broadcast. The real-time remote monitoring service that is viewable on IE browser can now even stream the live video to any 3GPP-enabled handset. The NVR-1012 supports high resolution MPEG-4 and MJPEG recording of up to 4 channels simultaneously. The server supports up to 1TB internal SATA hard drive. The storage capacity can be expanded to 2TB at maximum via eSATA connection to an external hard drive for long-term recording. The energy-saving design of NVR-101 enables non-stop system operation 24×7 at the power consumption of less than 18W, which is more power-saving than an energy-saving bulb. The NVR-101 is also equipped with a low-noise fan for quiet operation. The NVR-1012 is the new generation digital surveillance solution which provides immediate effective protection yet affordable and it is perfect for home and office.

Sounds as though this makes for the perfect Father’s Day gift, as the man of the house ought to keep his family safe.

T-Mobile is giving its users a treat by including JuiceCaster, a mobile social networking service, to twelve of their handsets. JuiceCaster lets users share pictures and videos with their social network friends through the use of mobile phones.

To be offered as an unlimited add-on service which will costs $2.99 per month, JuiceCaster 6.0 will start appearing on T-Mobile handsets starting in early May. Once T-Mobile users subscribe to the service, they can start sharing pictures and videos, update their social networking profiles, friend lists, comments, ratings and personal statuses using their mobile phones. JuiceCaster currently works with top online social networking sites which include MySpace, Facebook and Twitter among others.

I would have to agree with Nick Desai, CEO of Juice Wireless, Inc. when he said that users are becoming more dependent on their mobile phones today not only for communication purposes but to network as well.

“By enabling users to easily capture and post desired content to their online profiles and update their status with real-time videos, we provide unprecedented capabilities in the social communications arena.”

Now, who says that the mobile web is dead? It’s just starting to live and grow.

Via [SlashPhone]

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During an eForum on Web 2.0 held in London last week, Jim Cicconi, vice president of legislative affairs at AT&T suggested the Internet won’t cope without investment by 2010. He stated:

The surge in online content is at the centre of the most dramatic changes affecting the internet today … In three years’ time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire internet today … We are going to be butting up against the physical capacity of the internet by 2010 .

AT&T have already earmarked US$19 billion to upgrade its own infrastructure, but Cicconi believes US$55 billion is required across the U.S. and US$130 billion worldwide in order to cope.

Cicconi went on to say that by 2010 the traffic generated from video will increase from today’s 30% to 80% of all traffic, and that the migration to HD content will be a major factor in that increase. Ultimately, he believes there will be a 50x increase in traffic travelling across the networks by 2015.

Read more at ZDNet UK

Matthew’s Opinion

The rise of video on the Internet has been quite startling over the past few years. YouTube is obviously a key site to garnering growing interest from web surfers, but other services have now started to appear that are also causing problems.

The recent introduction of the BBC iPlayer has been met with criticism from ISPs in the UK due to the enormous pressure it puts on their networks. Other broadcasters are following suit, forcing up costs for the ISPs and making upgrades inevitable if they want to continue to offer customers a good service.

I think that point is key to what Cicconi is stating. There may be an issue with coping with demand ahead, but the providers of popular media sites and the companies taking subscriptions for broadband contracts do not want to lose their customers. Ultimately, they have to upgrade with or without repercussions to the customer’s wallet and their profit margins; and look to the long term gains rather than the short term pain.

So the real question is whether the Internet is self-sustaining, due to the threat of a diminishing service and loss of customers pushing the relevant companies to upgrade in time to meet this growing demand?

The current economic conditions have begun to take its toll on US companies. Among them is AT&T, which is in the process of cutting 1.5-percent of their workforce. This news was revealed by a ruling filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

AT&T employees who will be hit by the layoffs are those who have no direct contact with AT&T customers and are said to include those in management. The plans for the layoff’s are part of AT&T’s ongoing streamlining of operational activity. Despite laying off a big chunk of their employees, AT&T is expecting to get a pre-tax charge of $374 million as a result of this layoffs. But don’t worry because AT&T is attempting to make sure that the remaining workforce after this layoff plan is carried out will still be able to manage and maintain the company’s stability.

Read [CNET]

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Though this might not be a news bulletin for some, unencrypted emails and instant messages sent over the email are not very private because they are open protocols. To secure communications between parties, organizations have enabled the use of encryption, but the main problem with doing that is encryption must be enabled for both the sender and recipient.

Terry Heath, Director and Founder of Navoty, Inc., has a better way to send messages securely. The service is called LockedEnvelope. Before sending a message you must provide a question and an answer. Only a person knowing the answer can open the message and then your answer becomes the key to unencrypting the message. Your message is stored within an encrypted database using AES-256.

Once your envelope is created using the LockedEnvelope website, a unique URL is created. You can now email or instant message the URL to the person you would like to receive the message. After the user clicks on the link, they are presented with the question. The correct answer must be provided to access the message. After three failed attempts the message self destructs. Adding to the security is the SSL connection established when the user clicks on the URL received.

Read more from the LockedEnvelope website.

Brian’s Opinion

This is a nice free beta service. I am sure the service is a way for Terry Heath to show off what he and his company are capable off. I can tell you that the next time I need to send something that is sensitive over the Internet I am going to use this service.

Of course, fortunately for me, I don’t really send anything that sensitive over the Internet these days. Still, I like the extra protection that LockedEnvelope offers. With this service it’s now technically possible to send secure information like your social security number over the Internet–pretty cool.

What I am about to tell you is absolutely true. The social security number for Todd Davis, CEO of LifeLock, is 457-55-5462. Okay, I guess that is one person who doesn’t have to worry about sending their social security number via email or instant messaging. Sorry Todd, not going to share my social security number even if I have LifeLock. I’ll send it to you via LockedEnvelope, though.

While Xohm, Sprint’s oft-delayed WiMax service, still hasn’t graduated from trials here in the U.S., a few details are starting to emerge about how the company might sell individual WiMax-enabled devices. During a news conference in Taipei on Monday, Acer said its new WiMax-equipped Aspire 5920 notebook will be sold through various providers (including Sprint) wrapped up in nice little service bundles, similar to the way mobile phones are sold.

Here’s where it gets interesting, though. According to a report from IDG News Service, pricing for the Aspire 5920 will vary, depending on the individual service plan a customer selects. Whether this means you’ll technically be getting a subsidized WiMax notebook from Sprint remains unclear.

At this year’s CES, Sprint reiterated that it would not force its Xohm customers to sign contracts or subject them to early termination fees. That makes sense since the network is supposed to be device agnostic. As such, Sprint says it will rely on tiered subscription models. In other words, the longer the subscription a customers buys, the cheaper the service will be. At the same time, the company said this model would require that WiMax subscribers pay full price for all their hardware, which seems to contradict Acer’s announcement.

Sprint did not immediately return our calls for clarification.

SEE UPDATE BELOW

Acer, of course, is one of several laptop manufacturers who have committed to using Intel’s embedded WiMax/WiFi module, Echo Peak, which is a part of the chipmaker’s new Centrino Pro platform. Lenovo, Panasonic and Toshiba are also slated to ship WiMax enabled laptops later this year, although no formal dates have been announced by any of these companies.

Earlier this month, Nokia unveiled one of its first WiMax-enabled devices at CTIA: the N810 tablet, which is scheduled for an early summer release. Similarly, Everex and Asus have both shown off WiMax-enabled versions of the Cloudbook and Eee PC.

Update: Okay. A Sprint representative just got back to us and it seems either there was an error with the IDG report or someone at Acer was misinformed.

Says Sprint spokesman John Polivka:

Acer and other manufacturers are developing access devices which will work on WiMax networks, such as Sprint’s Xohm. Their device is not being sold by Sprint, and it will not be tied to any Sprint service plan. The source may be referring to other providers and their service plans. Sprint Xohm will indeed have subscriptions, versus traditional contracts, based on the customer and not the device. In traditional telecom, each device is a customer. We will accomodate multiple devices under each customer, in home and away subscription packages, though details have yet to be announced.

So there you have it. No discounts on WiMax devices from Sprint. [IDG News Service]

When you get a flat tire you have a couple of options… you can tackle it like a man and just jack up the car like you should, or you can be a wimp and call recovery to do it for you. For those of you who hate getting on your knees, putting the jack in place and flexing your muscles there is now an alternative option named the Exhaust air jack.

The exhaust air jack is a bright orange bag which you throw under the side of your car. Once there, you hook up the pipe to your exhaust and switch on your engine. The exhaust fumes that are pumped out go in to the bag and will jack up the car within 30 seconds. The bag can lift the car 17 inches off the ground which is plenty of space to allow you to get the wheel off. To prevent exhaust fumes escaping there is a one way valve in to the bag which allows you to switch off the engine while keeping the bag inflated. There are other benefits of owning this product too as it works in in mud, snow and on uneven surfaces.

The Exhaust Air Jack costs $129.95.

Product Page Source SlipperyBrick

Guest Post by Matthew of Gadget Venue.

So you’re part of the remnant on this earth that still owns video tapes but have run out of players to play them. Why not digitize these video tapes instead? At least you will be able to loop them infinitely on your PC, and best of all is there is no need to rewind those tapes once you’re done as everything can be done at the click of a button. ION Audio has just released its VCR 2 PC device that connects to your PC via USB 2.0, with an adjacent composite connection for camcorders, while RCA output is located on the back to playback previews on a TV. In the PAL version, you will find the SCART output as well. All digital conversion will be in the H.264 for ipod/PSP or MPEG-2 for DVD authoring formats. The ION VCR 2 PC will retail for $249 each.

Source: Everything USB

Cuddly Chimps

You can have this for ?4.99

At Boracay!

Photography by yours truly.

It’s the summer time here in the Philippines and sadly, I haven’t been to a single beach trip! *sigh*

As much as I love being out of town, going away from the hustle and bustle of city life, I will probably die if I go somewhere where technology remotely exists. Seriously.

Hence, my list of must-have gadgets when going to the beach or out of town!

1. Mobile Phones.
You can take everything away from me, but you cannot take away my mobile phone! Everytime I accidentally forget my phone at home, I always feel so lost and disconnected. Don’t you?

2. My Laptop.
Actually, I’m still debating with myself whether it’s smart to bring a laptop around. For one thing, it’s a bit heavy and secondly, I will die if sand gets in my laptop. Sand in gadgets = death. But still, it would be great to have a laptop around. I mean, if I get sick and tired of roasting myself under the sun, I wouldn’t mind staying inside the hotel and just watching movies on my laptop, hehe… while I chat with my friends who are stuck in the city… if Wi-Fi exists!

3. A Camera.
Just recently, a newly wed couple friend of mine went to Boracay for their honeymoon. Sadly, they forgot to bring a camera. Think of all the memories they could have immortalized if they brought a camera! Awww. So the only photo they have is the ones from their phone cams. Hehehe. Oh, and don’t forget to bring extra memory cards, too! And an extra battery!

4. Chargers.
Charger for your camera, charger phone, charger for your laptop and charger for any gadget that you’re bringing! It’s a must to bring these. Self explanatory, haha. Imagine having a dead mobile phone with you. Seriously, what’s the point?

5. mp3 player.
Music (aside from the company you’re with!) makes or break a good vacation especially if it’s at the beach!

6. Portable Speakers.
The best thing at a beach is staying at a cabana, sipping a drink (alcoholic, maybe? hahaha) and just listening to chill out music while the sun is setting. And if you bring your own sounds, why even bother going to the parties at the beach when you can have your own FREE party at the place where you’re staying!

Well, that pretty much sums up everything I need for a trip to beach. Of course, I wouldn’t mind bringing an e-book (paper books are so old school!), but then who’s gonna have time to read books when you’re tanning out on the beach and scoping out the cute guys? Hahaha,

Oh, oh, oh! And don’t forget to encase all your gadgets in water-proof casings! As I’ve said, sand = gadget death. Goes the same for water = gadget death!