LIVEdigitally

P2P filesharing has been around about as long as the rocks and sand. Getting files for free, whenever you want has been the idea behind the p2p networks. With the iTunes library, more and more people are deciding that it’s not such a bad idea to pay for music. iTunes has polled in as the #2 most popular music downloading mechanism, second to WinMx. Does iTunes think that they have what it takes to be class president?!

I have this ingranted action of wiping my phone’s screen on my clothing right after I make or take a phone call. My greasy face always leaves a nice thin blurry film on the screen. There’s no remedy to this problem, but Phillips decided to add to my greasy screen syndrome by making a touch screen flip phone. The phone features a 1.3MP camera, 11MB of storage, a swivel screen, and a pretty white enclosure. There’s no Bluetooth or infrared which makes sharing photos rather difficult. I like the fact it has a stylus, but am not sure what it’s for. I think that Phillips has the looks down, but the functionality is lacking a bit on this baby. This doesn’t get the LD approved branding, but maybe four or five models down the road this puppy will be h-o-t.

I was chatting with a friend about the Apple decision to partner up with Intel, and she said ‘it’s a marriage of convenience’. The news is littered with articles tracing back and projecting forward on what will happen and how the world will turn due to this merger of opposing forces. I found a couple sites on the net where you can find more details. And no, your non Intel Macs won’t go obsolete when these hybrids hit shelves in 2007.

Introduction

When working around the house, you can’t beat the trusty adjustable wrench to loosen a wide variety of nuts and bolts. A good wrench replaces a whole toolbox of metric and standard wrenches, both open ended, and closed. There is an ever increasing myriad of devices using all sorts of flash cards. In fact, I wrote an article just on flash cards a few months back. With so many different cards used in MP3 players, digital cameras, PDA’s, and now even cell phones, clearly a better tool is needed to deal with the chaos and clutter of so many wires, adaptors, and single card readers. (Note to manufacturers: While it may be profitable, there is truly NO need for at least the next decade to introduce any more memory card formats!)

Enter the 15 in 1 flash card reader. Today, we’re looking at two versions of the device, one from Belkin, and the other from Kensington. They both promise to be the trusty combo wrench of flash cards- and with the piles of cards and wires around, I could definitely use it. Let’s see how each accomplishes its mission.

Belkin 15-in-1 Media Reader & Writer

Introduction

First we look at Belkin’s 15-in-1 Media Reader & Writer. I’ve heard of multiformat writers before, but this device is truly the combination wrench of flash cards. Belkin makes my single media card type (CF) reader rather obsolete in an oh so 90’s kind of way. The Belkin 15-in-1 can read and write just about every media card on the market today. It is also a USB 2.0 device, which is an advantage. While internal flash card readers are manufactured, in my opinion, it is a waste to use a precious drive bay for a peripheral that functions so well using USB. Also, we can use the Belkin 15-in-1 Writer across multiple computers with the plug and play ease that USB provides.

What’s In The Box (more…)