July 26, 2005 – LIVEdigitally

The Lexar LDP-200: The No Frills Music Player

Posted on July 26, 2005 by Jonas Review Editor

Introduction

Apple’s iPod Shuffle is heavily criticized for its lack of a screen. While gadget junkies did not fall in love with its very basic feature set, it did have sales for one simple reason- cost. In this era of ever faster product cycles, and the planned obsolescence of our disposable society, who can argue with a $100 player with half a gig of storage. After all, there are many folks out there with less than 100 MP3’s, and this capacity player will more than serve their needs.

Lexar has taken the old adage, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” to heart. They have built a very basic MP3 player, but at least it has a screen to display the name of the song playing unlike iPod’s Shuffle. Sure, some folks will want a more full featured player. And Lexar will be happy to sell them their more featured players including the LDP-400, LDP-600, or the upcoming LDP-800 player. For their LDP-200 player they cut the feature set to the bone, and left off the FM radio, and a microphone. There is no included software. The unit is powered by a standard AAA battery to save the cost of a rechargeable cell. You can even buy the unit with no memory card included. The LDP-200 stores it songs on an SD card. This is another example how SD cards are dominating in this market segment. The unit can be purchased with no card included, or with included card capacities of 256 MB, 512 MB, or 1 GB. If you already have SD cards in your collection, the no card version becomes an affordable alternative at $49!

Let’s take a look at the LDP-200 and decide if it’s “no frills” feature set gets the job done. I am curious to see if the device performs more on the side of frugal, or if it slips towards just plain cheap.

What’s In the Box

• Lexar Digital Music Player LDP-200
Red for no included SD card and 256 MB sizes
Blue for 512 MB and 1 GB sizes
• User Guide
• Quick Start Manual
• Earbud headphones
• Lanyard
• USB extension cable
• Energizer AAA battery

Features Continue reading →

Hard Drives For Cars

Posted on July 26, 2005 by Jonas Review Editor

Well, with our cars having more and more electronics, it’s just a matter of time that we need more storage space. Will AAA come and swap a hard drive for you in the not too distant future? Seagate is trying to meet the need.

The EE25 Series disc drive is Seagate’s first drive designed specifically to meet the needs of the global automotive industry and other “extreme environment” applications. EE25 Series is targeted at automobile OEMs and their system manufacturers as well as to ruggedized mobile computing and industrial PC applications. High capacity 20 and 40 GB capacity points will deliver massive storage for bringing DVD-free GPS and high-quality AV entertainment services to the car. Most importantly, the EE25 Series will provide the industry’s most extreme environmental robustness to enable the continued transformation of the car into an extension of the terabyte lifestyle.

VX Poison Gas, In Oakley Form

Posted on July 26, 2005 by feeling entropy

Nicholas Cage, Standley Goodspeed, in one of my favorite movies, The Rock said this when asked about VX poison gas:
It’s very, very horrible sir. It’s one of those things we wish we could disinvent. This isn’t a training exercise, is it?
This quote came to mind when I saw the Oakley/Motorola RAZRWIRE Bluetooth Eyeware. After puking in the back of my mouth a bit, I reassessed the situation and still had to put this product into our ‘That’s Janky’ category. Just imagine walking around outside, talking on your phone with that girl who you’ve had a crush on since 10th grade with your new RAZRWIRE glasses/headset. Once you pass thru the doors, you realize that the $300.00 sunglasses are too dark for you to see indoors. So take them off just to miss her say “I’ve always been in love with you, tell me you love me too!” So you’ve lost the love of your life, you look like an idiot in doing so with goofy glasses, and you’ve been chumped out of 300 bucks.

What Do You Do Next? Let’s Ask My Phone.

Posted on July 26, 2005 by feeling entropy

People are afraid of secret government conspiracies that plan on implanting microchips into our bodies so that the government knows where we are at all times. Too bad everyone who’s afraid of this already carries a mobile phone everywhere they go, and obviously has no idea what MIT has been up to.

“Cell phones know whom you called and which calls you dodged, but they can also record where you went, how much sleep you got and predict what you’re going to do next. At least, these are the capabilities of 100 customized phones given to students and employees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — and they may be coming soon to your cell phone.”

I see good and bad things from this. People will think that I leave my phone home on Friday and Saturday nights (but I’m actually at home trying to decrease my Windows XP boot time!!) .

Netflix Actually On The Net

Posted on July 26, 2005 by feeling entropy

Why do they call Netflix, Netflix? Ok, so you go online in order to register, order, and pay but the DVD comes to you in the mail. I wonder if Mailflix.com was taken so they decided to just go with Netflix. Or maybe they were planning Video On Demand (VOD) all the while, making their name more valid. With a set top box, and a Netflix account you may be able to watch ‘Mean Girls’ the day you order it, instead of waiting for the mail to bring it to your door. Sounds like it makes sense to me, but who wants a set top box from Netflix to go with their vcr, dvd player, stereo receiver, xbox, ps2, tivo, cable box, media center pc, etc. It’s a good idea, but I think it should be just a bit refined.