Freeloader Pro is a device which from its name suggests about free charging large amount of energy from the sun whenever you require. Although we may not mind ourselves to be freeloader to get solar energy which plays vital role in bones strengthen and growth, but a freeloader pro device is something more powerful than an ordinary solar energy gadget for charging and converting the solar rays into electric energy.
Freeloader Pro is much powerful device being available in the market. Not only has that it charged optimum amount of energy but also because it is fast to charge any device which you want. When you are in the middle of something and needs quick charging to your iPhone, iPad, digitals or SLR cameras even your DVD player.
This eco-friendly solar charging powerful device is using high voltage solar panels along with USB port to charge the internal batteries inside it. Its solar panels require 6 to 9 hours for complete charging, with its capabilities to give mobile phone a charging of 70 hours on standby time on smart phones including iPhone, HTC and Samsung Galaxy. Solar energy freeloader pro is capable to driver enough energy for charging your digital cameras and music player.
The freeloader Pro renewable solar energy charging device is able to charge thirsty energy devices by connecting the with 9.5 voltage multi-voltage switch. High voltage electrical charging devices like Cameras and iPods devices can be charged with USB port connectivity feature with this solar device. Solar Freeloader Pro featuring the best aluminum along with a black piano finish. Freeloader pro is highly recommended to travelers, hikers and journalists who need to constantly use their charging gadgets for photography and video capturing.
Anyone who wants to be eco-friendly, this solar energy device will rightly contribute to the reduction of increasing pollution with petroleum fossils and to help communities make use of renewable energy including solar as well as nuclear energy. One of the best features of Freeloader pro is its compatibility; it is available with Camcaddy, a convenient indeed to charge camera batteries of any kind with it. It can charge Nintendo DS Lite along with 3DS, DSi, all LG phones, Sony Ericson phones, Samsung, Nokia, Nano, IPod and iTouch devices. It has an added mini adopter for Motorola and Blackberry handsets. Freeloader Pro can easily holds its batteries for up to 3 month time period and delivered with a detailed user manual for complete instructions.
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It’s only due to blessings of sophisticated technology that human life has been turned completely with use of latest gadgets around us. Just like human beings have been transformed from a traditional forming role to the era of today science and technology, different inventions with the time has made the things possible for us.
Inventions may not prove as much useful for us as we are not known to their features and benefits, but with latest awareness campaigns, we have achieved the substantial knowledge and information about new technology and it’s prospective.
If you have wrongfully get up on Monday morning from your bed, than this aXbo alarm clock is there to monitor your daily sleep patterns and help you wake at optimum time in the morning. All the other alarm clocks and bedroom gizmos which are used nowadays will just look the scarp after checking this sophisticated alarm clock. AXbo’s alarm clock claims to wake you up at your optimal morning time and best to save from your unusual late waking up patterns. You will wake up with refreshed alarm clock sound, thousands times better than rattling sounds of other ordinary alarms and claimed as best sleeping patterns monitor by the company PR blurb.
This alarm clock is equipped with latest technology of learning the human patterns and detecting where in sleep pattern a user is, to wake him or her at his right waking time in the morning or other day time. It also assist the users to wake up naturally with unusual sleeping patterns at evening time or after the lunch as opposed to deep sleep. The use of eco-friendly gadgets is increasing day by day and companies are investing more with such eco-friendly gadgets which are proven to benefit the human beings at most.
While traditional alarm clocks make more than enough noise while waking you, this new aXbo sleeping phase alarm device does the things in new style. It has been embedded with an innovative design and functionality to check whether you are sleeping at the start in night or near to wake up in the morning. This device is also using moment sensors which check the body movements to learn about waking time of a person and continue reading with best human sleeping patterns. You will find this new aXbo unit two sensor units inside the box with two wristbands and power charging plugs. Also you will receive a plenty of information user manual.
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The Sonos has currently launchedits streaming audio speaker, which easily be controlled with Android Smartphone, iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone devices. This Sonos play 3 speakers are offering best sound with elegant and compact design and also it will stream the audio services or internet based radio channels. Play 3 is also facilitating to stream your own digital music from personal computer, MAC system or any of the NAS drive.
The Sonos play 3 is really simple to setup and its Linked players can cover up to 30 additional rooms. If you use it as only Sonos component, you will need to get $49 additional wireless bride to make a hard wired connection. The lacking component or feature in Sonos play 3 is that it has not stereo separation and you cannot get clarity of set up play5 with it. Although play 3 doesn’t offer a separate stereo system like play 5, it is good for sound and offers a superior audio streaming functionality for you. It is good that play 3 can easily be managed or controlled from any of your iOS or android operating system device. After the success of Play 5, Sonos has added successfully a less budget speaker to its product line with name given as Play: 3. with $299 cost, this stereo Hi-fi speaker is really a good low budget audio component for music lovers.
For those our reviews readers who are still unaware about Sonos, it is a streaming audio system which facilitates you for all audio digital music streaming and their plugin function with your Apple iOS or android phone support. Sonos audio streaming music system can easily connect with other streaming services such as Wolfgang, Tuneln, Smart Radio Stitcher, iHeartRadio and Aupeo. A good appealing feature about Sonos sound gadget is that you can stream the iTunes music with your Play: 3 or Play: 5.
There are lots of fans of this system and we feel pleasure to hear that Sonos is expanding its family with addition of Play: 3 in its products line. This is really a nice feature for the people who want to add additional room with their systems. It is generally a trade off when you are going to purchase the smaller versions, as compared to play 5 how play 3 can compare should be studied in the reviews. Now with iPhone, iPod and android support will add more members to the family of Sonos play: 3 according to many reviews.
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The PC’s big, crisp display is one of its best features. The 16:9 widescreen HD panel sports a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. It has LED backlighting and a 178-degree wide viewing angle, and colors appear bright and vivid. With its edge-to-edge glass display, surrounding black bezel, silver front-facing speaker bar and silver metal stand, the entire hardware package is attractive. You won’t see any buttons cluttering the front display — the menu icons are visible on the bezel, but the buttons are hidden underneath the panel. An understated camera eye peers from the center-top.
It’s not all about looks. Inside is a quad-core Intel Core i7 2600S processor, an Nvidia GT 540M graphics processor, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive. A read/write Blu-ray drive is standard on this model. You also get plenty of ports on the Asus, which is another strong point. Our loaner came with two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port, VGA-out, HDMI-in, Ethernet, an SD card reader, and all the standard audio ports you’d expect.
If you’re cramped for space — like if you live in a San Francisco studio, for instance — then the Asus ET2700INKS could easily double as an HDTV. Using the HDMI-in port, you can connect the PC to a set-top box like the Roku or your DVR. You can even mount it on a wall, as the back of the computer has a VESA-compatible mounting bracket. This is a choice that more and more manufacturers are going with these days, and we like it — when the computer inside becomes obsolete in however many years, you can just repurpose the thing as an HDTV by mounting it on a wall or on a stand.
Asus is marketing the ET2700 as the “centerpiece of your family’s entertainment,” so I’d expected the computer’s internal speakers to produce some decent audio. With the help of an external subwoofer — a squat, black obelisk tethered to the back of the PC by a cord that’s about a foot too short — music came out sounding better than what most computer speakers produce. But the sound didn’t fill a large room. I turned the volume all the way up, and it still couldn’t compete with the droning traffic noise outside the Wired office.
Like almost every all-in-one PC, the ASUS comes with a keyboard and mouse. But in this case, the computer would have been better off without them. The keyboard, in particular, was an ergonomic nightmare — just imagine a Mac keyboard made out of super-cheap plastic and with a mushy, pillowed typing experience. The included wireless mouse was too small for comfort, even for my dainty lady hands. If you plan on using the ET2700 as your daily computer, expect to drop some extra cash on a keyboard and mouse that are actually usable.
That issue gives me some pause, because with a $1,500 price tag, the Asus sits in the high end of all-in-one PCs. Still, it’s cheaper than a similarly spec’d iMac, plenty powerful, and stuffed with nice-to-haves. And especially if you’re looking for a computer to double as a home entertainment display, the Asus will more than suffice.
WIRED Bright, sharp display. Classy chassis with edge-to-edge glass panel and front-facing silver speaker bar. Packed with every port and feature you’d want in a PC. Blu-ray combo drive and HDMI-in makes it a great home entertainment device.
TIRED The included keyboard and mouse are maddening. Speakers are only so-so — if you’re using this as a TV replacement, you’ll want to upgrade the audio. Glass screen doesn’t handle glare well.
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Nonetheless, it’s well known that all primates have an innate urge to acquire possessions that make them feel like they’re on a secret mission for a clandestine government agency. Even bonobos, I’m pretty sure.
The Black Ops 2 Professional Tactical Headset from iASUS is designed to work with your iPhone to make you the perfect merc, spy or paintball hero. The device wraps around your neck like a dog collar, only slightly more butch, and the two pickups nestle up against your vocal cords.
This is supposed to provide two benefits. First, loud sounds from rushing wind or nearby airstrikes don’t get picked up by the mic, so you get, in iASUS’s words, “direct voice communication free from environmental and wind noise.” Second, you can speak in a whisper and still be heard, which could be handy in conditions where you don’t want your cover blown and you’re also wearing a turtleneck.
Rushing wind that makes a normal headset completely useless is merely a low roar with the Black Ops throat mic.
Of course, most of us aren’t involved in infiltration, incursion or assassination on a regular basis. But the prospect of a noise-free, whisper-sensitive mic opens up a lot of options, from a phone chat in a cafe that doesn’t disturb your neighbors, to calling in sick to work from the baseball stadium.
Taking the mic out of the box, you’re likely to be a bit confused by a manual that’s clearly intended for the non-iPhone version of the headset. For instance, it refers to a push-to-talk connector, but what it supplies is just a standard iPhone remote button; if you’re using Skype or making a phone call, it’s actually a “push to hang up” button.
It looks badass, at least, with a couple of black discs on a black piece of rubber that attaches to some black elastic with a black magnetic clip in the back, along with a black in-ear headphone with a curly wire just like the Secret Service. If nothing else, you’re going to look the part.
So how well does this spy-tech setup work? I took it for a spin in a variety of environments, from a noisy Seattle cafe to a windy freeway with the windows open. I didn’t actually see any combat, but I gave it a good run.
Unfortunately, while the noise cancellation is an improvement over a pair of standard iPhone earbuds with mic, it’s a lot more marginal than the catalog copy would suggest. Background noise is just reduced somewhat — music and conversations around you are still going to be picked up — and most of what you gain in noise reduction you lose in clarity. Speaking in a normal tone of voice into the Black Ops rig, you sound a bit like you’re recording into a circa-1986 boom box while recovering from dental anesthesia, pretty much nixing any attempt at podcasting or breezy conversation.
Whispering is even more of a disappointment. Actual whispers are completely indecipherable, and even a hoarse, Batman-like stage whisper is extremely difficult to make out. The standard iPhone headset is realms better, background noise and all.
The headset does, however, shine when faced with wind noise. Rushing wind that makes a normal headset completely useless is merely a low roar with the Black Ops throat mic.
To be fair, the device is built as a combat mic, not a cafe mic or a van mic. If you’re playing paintball, and for some reason you’re really attached to your iPhone, then a coarse bark might be at least a bit more stealthy than a normal speaking voice, and if your communication is limited to phrases like “flank left” and “enemy sighted,” the loss in call quality might be worth the convenience — and, let’s be honest, coolness factor — of a black mic strapped to your throat rather than a pair of white earbuds.
But that’s a mighty thin slice of pie, and doesn’t live up to the claims of the enthusiastic ad copy on iASUS’s website, or the website of reseller ThinkGeek. If you want a spy mic for more mundane purposes like 24/7 podcasting or having phone sex without waking your roommate, the Black Ops 2 Professional Tactical Headset is more F/X than effective.
WIRED Looks the part. Reduces wind noise considerably. Would probably work well on a motorcycle.
TIRED Picks up considerable background noise. Doesn’t pick up whispers decipherably. Voice distortion interferes with communication.
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The main idea behind the device ($120 from Livio, cheaper elsewhere) is that you can wirelessly play music from your iPhone or Android phone via your car’s speakers using an FM radio connection, so whatever’s playing on your phone gets piped through the car’s radio.
The phone and the Livio dongle (which plugs into the cigarette lighter and is about the size of a small stack of credit cards) communicate using Bluetooth. It easily syncs with your car’s radio and your phone, and has a USB port on the side to keep your handset juiced up.
Like other devices in this category, it also works as a hands-free telephone. You can answer calls with the press of a button, but dialing out must be done on the phone. The caller’s voice comes through your car’s speakers and sounds nice and clear. Of course, anybody else in the car can hear the conversation — a plus or minus depending upon one’s viewpoint.
[Livio] recently opened up an API for the device, allowing developers to code their apps so they can be controlled via the buttons on the unit.
But Livio isn’t only intent on connecting your MP3s and your phone, it’s tackling apps, as well. The company recently opened up an API for the device, allowing developers to code their apps so they can be controlled via the buttons on the unit. Some of the partners already using the API are streaming services like Rdio, NPR, Live365 and AirKast, which is a streaming platform for small radio stations, so it’s useful for listening to sports broadcasts outside your local market. In addition to the apps the are enabled through the API, Livio makes its own phone app that can access some 45,000 internet stations, which is pretty cool.
In theory, the device is the perfect accessory for vehicles without built-in smartphone capabilities, such as my 2002 Volkswagen Eurovan camper. It does work as advertised, mostly without hassle. But in my months of testing it, I encountered a few annoyances that nearly prompted me to toss it out the window several times.
There were some things I liked. After years of suffering through touchscreen menus while driving, this device let me just cue up some Beatles without ever losing sight of the road. On family trips, my 11-year-old son, sitting in the back seat, could take control of the device with his iPhone and stream from his iTunes library or his Rdio app, keeping him busy and entertained. That was pretty awesome, except when I had to bark at him to turn off the latest profanity-ridden rap song.
But the biggest travesty of the Livio is how it nearly made my ears bleed on multiple occasions, not to mention those of my black Labrador and two juvenile-delinquent sons. If you turn the device off while leaving your radio on, you’ll be greeted with an ear-frying pop. If my dog could talk, she would have yelped “WTF!” every time.
When all goes well, the device just pushes your music through a vacant FM station on your radio. However, the same maddening popping sound (sometimes accompanied by static) happens whenever the vacant slice of spectrum you are dialed into starts to get edged out by radio stations as they come into range. If you’re driving long distances, or if the radio dial is already crowded in your city, this happens quite a bit. And if you’re an audiophile, you can forget about being pleased with the sound quality. The Livio leaves a tiny hissing sound in the background, however slight. But it was a nuisance enough that it turned my session with the Discovery box set of Pink Floyd remasters into a bummer.
But don’t get me wrong; all of the Bluetooth and app connectivity functions work very well, and the audio-quality problems I experienced are par for the course with most of these devices that rely on an FM transmitter. But I have yet to see something that clears these hurdles elegantly.
So despite the damage to my family’s eardrums, the Livio has promise.
WIRED Wireless music streaming through your car’s speakers. Some apps can be controlled using the buttons on the Livio, so you can stash your phone and reduce distractions. Setup is a breeze. It doubles as a USB charger.
TIRED Mind-blowing for the wrong reasons. Is an injustice to Pink Floyd. Pricey — the budget-minded are better off using a Bluetooth earpiece for telephone calls and wiring up a stereo input connection for music.
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The Jambox is back. But now, little baby’s all grown up.
The Big Jambox from Jawbone (yes, the hands-free headset people) builds upon the success of the company’s original Jambox portable speaker, keeping the attractive no-frills design, but wrapping it around a larger box that’s louder and has more battery life.
The new model will be available this week at a price of $300. That’s pretty steep for a portable speaker, and a full $100 more than its smaller sibling. But the sound it puts out is much more satisfying, making it worth the extra Benjamin.
Like the original Jambox, the Big Jambox is a simple brick with small speakers inside. It pairs wirelessly with any Bluetooth device to play any audio source you want, it runs on a rechargeable battery, and has a built-in microphone so it can be used as a speakerphone. Unlike the original Jambox, which measures 6 inches wide, 2.2 inches tall and 1.6 inches deep and weighs 12 ounces, the Big Jambox is a beast. It’s 10 inches across, 3.5 inches tall and 3 inches deep, and it weighs 2.7 pounds.
Probably the greatest joy of the original Jambox is its go-anywhere portability — it’s literally small enough to slide into a jacket pocket, a purse or a fanny pack. With the Big Jambox, you lose that. It’s fine in a backpack or a tote bag, but a three-pound brick made of plastic, rubber and perforated steel simply isn’t as travel-friendly.
You can turn it down when it’s time to play nice, but crank it up and you get an impressively loud and clear speaker system with serious muscle.
In exchange for portability, you get much-improved sound. Jawbone loaned me a Big Jambox to test for a week, and I used it in a variety of settings, indoors and out. While the original Jambox does fine for adding a little ambient noise to a dinner party or supplying background music in an office, the Big Jambox commands attention. Sure, you can turn it down when it’s time to play nice, but crank it up and you get an impressively loud and clear speaker system with serious muscle. The highs are crisp and the mids are precise. While the lows could be meatier, the bass response was still better than I expected, given the size of the speakers — it has a stereo pair of 2.2-inch neodymium drivers1 and a pair of rectangular passive radiators (one in front, one in back) to cover the low end, all housed in a sealed cabinet.
It’s even more impressive when you take it outside. I plopped it on the back deck, and it had enough brawn to fill the whole back yard with great-sounding audio. Even when I turned it up as loud as it would go, the distortion was barely perceptible — the things around it started rattling from the vibrations before the speakers began to distort. It employs some compression where needed to keep the distortion at bay, but the audio processing didn’t leave any noticeable sonic fingerprints.
Bluetooth pairing is simple. Just press the “Pair” button on the side and pick the Big Jambox from the list of devices on your screen. I tried three iPhones, an Android tablet, a laptop and an iMac, and it’s obvious Jawbone has the Bluetooth connectivity dance steps down pat. The Big Jambox will remember 8 paired devices at any given time, and its claimed 33 feet of range worked as advertised, though it does require line-of-sight once you get further away than about 20 feet.
The lithium-ion battery lasted over 12 hours in our tests. That’s listening mostly at full volume and making a couple of hour-long phone calls. You can probably eke out another hour or two if you use it at lower volume levels, but either way, it easily lasts long enough for a day at the beach or a party that stretches to the wee hours. A tiny icon in your phone’s status bar shows the speaker’s remaining battery life on iOS devices (natively) and on Android (via Jawbone’s companion app). It takes about 2.5 hours to fully charge it using the included AC adapter. You can also trickle charge it using a USB cable, but you’ll have to leave it plugged in overnight to juice it up all the way.
The Big Jambox comes with Jawbone’s LiveAudio feature installed — basically, a software trick that gives the stereo image a big “3-D” feel via some artificial spatial widening. It sounds cool if you stay seated, centered and perfectly stationary about 3 or 4 feet from the speakers. Stand anywhere else (like across the room) and it sounds like crap. Also, LiveAudio drastically alters the dynamics of recorded music. I only enabled the feature while watching movies, as it generally made music sound worse.
The lithium-ion battery lasted over 12 hours in our tests.
Overall, however, Jawbone’s new speaker sounds great, and I’m a big fan of the design. But its ability to fill a larger room — rather than just add some ambience — is what makes the Big Jambox a success. I’d recommend it, even at the relatively high price of $300. There are similar speakers at $200 or less (Altec Lansing’s $200 inMotion Air IMW725, or Soundfreaq’s $100 Sound Kick) but they lack the power, the speakerphone features, and battery life of the Big Jambox. If you don’t want to make compromises in those areas, you have to spend money.
If you find the original Jambox endearing, but (like me) wish it went louder and offered more clarity, put the Big Jambox on your short list. But beware: it’s more of a hassle to schlep it to a picnic, so I’d only recommend it for people who always carry a backpack, or who mostly use their Bluetooth speakers around the house. If you split your time between a traditional home office and a sunny spot like your back deck or rooftop terrace, this thing is your new best friend.
WIRED Big, clear sound. Tight package. Controls for skipping tracks, changing the volume and answering calls are right on top. Over 12 hours of play time on a rechargeable battery. Solid Bluetooth performance. Under three pounds. Eight rubber feet keep it from shimmying around.
TIRED Price makes you think too hard. Size matters: requires an external method of conveyance, and it won’t squeeze into your travel carry-on. Bass is clear and not flabby, but it could pack more punch. Needs the wall wart to charge quickly. Spatial enhancement feature is meh.
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Apple’s idea of simplifying printing for iOS users has not exactly been going great – manufacturers have been slow in rolling out AirPrint to their lines, and it has been primarily focussed on consumer printers. Businesses have been out of luck to get Airprint on enterprise grade network printers, and it seems like the latest office focussed printers still do not get AirPrint.
But luckily there is a pretty easy way to get AirPrint enabled within the home and the business, and it does not cost a cent. Netgear’s new Genie app is primarily a network diagnostic tool, but it also enables Airprint on any printer for which you have drivers installed on your machines. The app is available for PC and Mac, and simply installs a little utility that sits in the background. When you open it up, simply click “AirPrint”, then select which printers you want to enable for AirPrint.
Now connect your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to the same wifi network, and just like that you can print to those printers. We tried it in a small office environment, and we installed a few printers on the host machine (both network and USB), and AirPrint worked without a hitch.
The only disadvantage is that the utility obviously needs a PC to be installed on, and that PC needs to be on before you print from your iDevice. But, if you work in a small office environment where PCs are always on, it is highly recommended to try out.
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Instagram’s popular tilt-shift feature has now been added to the photo sharing service for Android, five weeks after its arrival.
When Instagram for Android was launched in early April, among the many features available, tilt-shift was not included, remaining only on the iPhone version of the app.
The popular feature allows users to focus on a specific area of a photo while the rest remains out of focus, creating a miniature effect.
“Tilt-shift within mobile photography applications is often the process of selective focus in order to simulate a miniature scene, also known as miniature faking,” Instagram said in an official blog post.
“Selective focus can also be used to give the appearance of a shallow depth of field (DoF), or placing the focus on a subject in the background while blurring out the foreground and vice versa.”
The blog post also included tips on how to maximise the feature, explaining what the feature is and how it works with step-by-step instructions.
The inclusion of the feature came with the roll-out of the Instagram Android version 1.1.0 update that is now available to download in the Google Play Store.
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The 46-inch Sony Bravia KDL-46EX523 doesn’t stand out from the HDTV pack in design, features, or picture quality, but once you look at its price and its range of connected features, it starts to get a little more interesting.
Priced at $990 (as of March 28, 2012), this set has a lot of features that a budget buyer might want, including an edge-lit LED display, full HD support, built-in Internet apps, and Wi-Fi capabilities that make it a good option for people who enjoy Netflix streaming. The major trade-offs include a lack of 3D, a slower-than-most 60Hz refresh rate, and good--but not great--picture quality.
Lab Tests: Picture and Sound Quality
In PCWorld's subjective tests, the Bravia KDL-46EX523 turned in decent scores across the board. Our panel of five reviewers gave it solid scores of Average, noting that colors occasionally looked a little muted and that the set had some motion issues, especially in test scenes containing a lot of panning or fine detail.
Colors on the KDL-46EX523 always seemed to be just slightly off in our tests. In our 720p NASCAR clip, which is designed to test fast-motion handling from an over-the-air broadcast, multiple judges noted that colors appeared muted and a little washed out next to other sets in our test pool. In our 1080i football clip, the field’s green grass seemed a bit too artificial, and the overall scene was noticeably less bright than it was on the other HDTVs in our test batch.
The KDL-46EX523's motion issues were most prominent in our horizontal-panning test, which is designed to bring motion problems to the forefront. All of our reviewers found the horizontal-panning test image to be blurry as it moved across the KDL-46EX523's screen, perhaps largely due to the set's low 60Hz refresh rate. Motion problems were also apparent in our Dark Knight Blu-ray clip, in which the check pattern of Morgan Freeman's suit shimmered and appeared to jump around.
In our testing, picture quality was generally okay. Off-axis viewing angles weren’t a problem up to about 45 degrees, though we did see a loss of contrast and brightness at moderate angles. In some scenes, especially in our Baraka clips, we saw some graininess, noise, and loss of detail, but nothing to be too concerned about considering the price.
The KDL-46EX523’s built-in speakers and audio options are standout features. The set sports two 10-watt rear-facing speakers, which are very loud for built-in units. When we sat approximately 8 feet away from the HDTV, the speakers offered a comfortable volume level at around 60 percent, but presented some distortion at full volume. You can adjust a few individual settings, including the treble, bass, and balance. Sound is deep and full, and the simulated surround-sound feature does a good job of imitating the real deal: In our casual tests, the simulated surround sound seemed to come from areas on either side of the set, though it didn’t exactly wrap around behind our ears.
Design and Peripherals
The Sony Bravia KDL-46EX523 has a fairly basic design, punctuated by a two-color bezel: Your typical shiny black plastic borders the top, left, and right sides of the screen, while a slate-colored brushed-aluminum finish decorates the bottom. A silver Sony logo sits in the center of the brushed aluminum, and a Bravia logo resides in the upper-left corner. A few small LEDs on the lower-right corner indicate power and whether the timer is turned on.
With a screen measuring just under 2 inches thick, the KDL-46EX523 has a slim shape that should work well for wall mounting. If you'd rather not wall-mount this HDTV, however, it does come with a wide, rectangular, shiny black plastic stand that swivels 20 degrees to either side. The HDTV sits low on the stand, and doesn’t adjust vertically.
The set's buttons are located just behind the screen, on the lower-right side. Here you can control the power, channels, volume, and input; you'll also find a Home/Menu button for maneuvering through the menus.
A few ports--two USB 2.0 ports, one HDMI-in, one RGB/PC-in (VGA), and a headphone jack--sit on the left edge of the screen. The remaining ports are on the back-left area of the set; you get three additional HDMI-out ports, a digital audio-out (optical audio), a cable/antenna hookup, audio-in, a composite video hookup, a component-in (with audio), and an ethernet port. All ports are clearly labeled.
The KDL-46EX523 comes with a large, black remote with a flat back and a scooped, concave front where the buttons reside. The flat back, shiny and peppered with matte dots, has only two features: the Sony logo and a large, green-lined power button. (The back of the remote will blend right in if you have a minimalist living room, I guess.) The remote's front buttons include dedicated media buttons (for Netflix, Internet TV, and Qriocity), four programmable hot-buttons, and basic menu buttons such as Sync Menu, Display, Guide, Options, Home, and Return.
Internet-Connected TV, Basic Setup, and On-Screen Menus
When you turn on the Sony Bravia KDL-46EX523 for the first time, you see an initial-setup wizard. It’s basic, but it hits all the major options: viewing environment, language/region, time, tuning for channels, network setup (wireless or wired), and automatic scanning for any software downloads.
The on-screen menus are sleek, attractive, and easy to navigate. Pressing the Home button on the remote brings up the main menu system, which resizes whatever you’re watching to about half the width of the screen; you can keep an eye on the programming while browsing the menus. From the main menu system, you can access the full boat of settings (picture and display settings, audio options, network setup, and input selection), Web applications, streaming services, and a list of customized favorites.
If you'd rather not go to the full menu system, you can press the Options button on the remote to pull up a truncated menu that lets you deal with the basics: adjusting picture and sound, adding a channel to a list of favorites, or selecting preset scene modes. From this menu, you can also program the picture-in-picture display, which lets you pick from a traditional small box or larger side-by-side viewing.
The KDL-46EX523 comes with a number of scene presets that optimize the display and audio for assorted content types (movies, sports, music, games, general, and an auto-selector among them). More-granular picture adjustments include the basic backlight, brightness, color, hue, temperature, and sharpness adjustments, as well as advanced settings for custom-mode users. Among the advanced settings are controls for black-level optimization, gamma adjustment, and white balance.
This set comes with a wide variety of Internet content, in addition to widgets, a built-in Web browser, and Skype. However, because neither a mic nor a camera is built in, you can use Skype only with a separately sold Sony microphone/camera attachment. Content-wise, the set offers Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, Netflix, and YouTube, as well as niche channels like NHL Vault and Internet radio channels such as Pandora and Slacker.
Bottom Line
As the sub-$1000 price suggests, this isn't Sony's highest-end HDTV. Its refresh rate is only 60Hz, and it doesn't have all the bells, whistles, and advanced picture-adjustment settings that hard-core videophiles may be looking for.
However, it does offer a good blend of wireless connected features and decent performance for the price. Its interface and menus are easy to use, it has a built-in on-screen manual, and its ports are clearly labeled. On top of that, it sports a sleek design and a slim profile, so it should fit nicely into any living room.
The overall picture quality is just about average, with muted colors, motion-blur issues in some panning scenes, and a moiré effect in some highly detailed patterns. But the set produces good, loud simulated surround sound. In short, the Sony Bravia KDL-46EX523 won't win any prizes for design, performance, or picture quality, but it is an affordable model for users with basic needs who like to have a little Netflix as well as spending cash on the side.
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Unlike other application that is designed for certain activities, FriendFit lets you log in different activities ranging from running to bowling and Wii Fit use. It shows how much exercise you're getting and how many calories you've burned.
It also let you map your routes using Google Maps. It also automatically adjust the routes to match the curves and bends on the roads on the maps. Together with Google Earth plugin, a 3D flyovers of workout routes can be seen.
FriendFit is a free cloud-based service that connects with your Facebook. It's social features enables you to post your activities, tag you friends in your workout, and track your friends workout progress. But if you like to keep these fitness info to yourself or to a limited set of friends, then there's a set of privacy controls to do that for you.
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The $129 HP Photosmart 5520 e-All-in-One color inkjet multifunction offers an automatic duplexer and booklet and mulltipage printing. It has a 2.65-inch LCD touchscreen for the navigation buttons. Is also features a dual SD Card/Memory Stick reader for offloading scans and performing direct photo printing.
The Photosmart 5520 has an 80-sheet input tray and the output exits just above that. It has an automatic duplexer that eases two-sided printing chores. However, the Photosmart 5520 isn't suitable for scanning long documents because there isn't an automatic document feeder. Also, it can't accommodate thick items such as books.
The Photosmart 5520's printer driver is easy-to-use. It offers layout option for booklets and multiple pages. It also supports push scanning.
Compared to the Photosmart 5510, the 5520 is a bit slow with 8.8 and 7.9 pages per minute for a monochrome pages on PC and Mac respectively. Photos are printed at 4.1 pages per minute to plain paper and 1.0 pages per minute to glossy paper. Printing on Mac is a bit slower.
Output from the Photosmart 5520 generally looks good when it arrives. Though a tad on the light side, photos have a largely realistic color palette (with a slight pinkish cast) on both plain and glossy photo paper. Text is dark, crisp, and sharp. Scans have a slightly cool temperature but are more than acceptable.
The Photosmart 5520 uses a four-cartridge ink system. The black standard size cartridge lasts for 250 pages, the cyan magenta and yellow last for 300 pages making printing cost a bit cheaper. But for the high-yield "XL" cartridges, it lower the costs more for a colored print with a 750 pages for colored, and 550 pages for black.
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Dailymile lets you track your workouts such as letting you see how much distance you've covered whether you're running, walking, cycling, to name a few. It also has an embedded map that helps you track your route. It also follow the curves and bends of the mapped roads as you create your route.
The progress you've made is displayed in variety of ways - showing you a bar chart, showing data organized by dates, displaying averages, your total miles and time and other entertaining stuff such as how much donuts you have burned, how much gas saved, and how many TV's you've powered.
I told you that if you also like spending time on Facebook or Twitter, you'll like this. Why? Because it offers a bunch of features for social networking such as status update in Facebook, alerts when there are new posts. Because of its social features, Dailymile can boost your workout by providing you motivation.
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Icebreaker is a Viking-themed physics game,almost like a Fruit Ninja. In Icebreaker, you try to rescue Vikings that have been trapped in ice by strategically cutting the ice and dropping them into a boat.
The first few Icebreaker levels are straightforward while the later levels provides interesting mechanics. Timing can be important in Icebreaker, like when you must cut a Viking loose when the momentum is just right.
Icebreaker doesn't feature in-game ads, which is especially nice in a browser-based game. The soundtrack is repetitive, but you can easily mute it. If you like Vikings, ice, and slicing things--and really, who doesn't?--Icebreaker would be just about perfect for you.
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The latest revision of Drakensang Online features new talents and some changes to skills. The feel of the game is similar to that of Diablo. The characters and environment is beautifully rendered while the effects such as mists in the atmosphere or flickering flames gives the feeling of the online environment coming to life.
And take note, there's no need for high-end processors or video cards needed.
However, there are some technical problems such as the occasional screen flashes during initial area load and the play balance and rebalance issues. These issues are minor, and not enough to be a hindrance to enjoy the game. A standalone client that is free of these issues is available for those who are experiencing problems.
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