posted by admin on Mar 20

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We were already amazed when we brought our tiny iPod just before the new year – but to find there is a new even smaller one on the market with and even bigger memory was great news!!!

According to the official website, they have made some changes:

Controls:
The buttons aren’t on the iPod itself.  To make it so small and fill it with songs, the controls are now on the earbud cord.  This is great as you now don’t have to have your iPod clipped somewhere on your person in full view of others (unless you want it to!)  They are even easier to use as well which can’t be a bad thing!

Talking Heads:
For those of you like me, that can’t always remember the exact name of a track or have so many downloaded tunes that you don’t know what you’ve got coming up – just press the magic button and hey presto!  A lovely voice will tell you who sang it and what it’s called!  Great news for sharing!

Too much music?
Never.  With it’s gigantic memory you can now store up to 1000 tracks on your iPod!   It also allows you to sync your playlists, identify each one with it’s name and jump between them whenever you want!

Available for £59 and in black or silver.  You can even get it engraved with a personal message……

posted by admin on Oct 19

STUFF LIVE – The UK’s Leading Technology Show

Here is your chance to see the newest technology and computer games around today.

See exclusive gadgets

Play the latest video games

Quiz the experts

Chill out in the STUFF lounge

Hear the worlds best Hi-Fi

Touch tomorrows technology

Play Guitar Hero on stage

And win loads of great prizes

All at:

ExCel, LONDON – 31 October – 2nd November 2008

Book now to avoid the queues……

WWW.STUFFLIVE.CO.UK

posted by admin on Sep 27

We are on the verge of SmartGarments being the norm!

Apple and Nike have been cooperating on some technology that will combine their sales power with the latest technology. They are hoping to make iPods that will only work if you are wearing certain Nike clothes. After Digital Right Management went free-for-all with 7Digital, the leading companies need the ball back in their court.

This might seem like a weird venture with the intention of just selling more clothes to people, but thinking about the possibilities it offers, it’s not that bad an idea.

What are the Benefits:
Well, the basic theory for this technology at the moment is for a companion component of Apple’s iPod to be inserted into a piece of Nike footwear and possibly clothes.

The software in this component would enable the ‘wearer’ to monitor their athletic performance, such as tracking their heart rate or counting the distance travelled in a set time. Great for athletes who are serious about their performance and to improve their achievements.

There is also talk for the software to be able to act almost like a GPS cross SatNav, allowing the runner/walker/rower to be alerted as to the best route to an endpoint or specific location such as a restaurant or scenic route.

There is even talk of this component being able to warn the wearer of damage to the sports shoes or other equipment which could affect performance or safety.

Great idea in my book – especially if you are serious about your outdoor pursuits.

What are the arguments against:
Well, the main concern is the exclusivity of the whole deal – basically you can’t get the software to work unless you have purchased certain items of clothing. You are almost being forced to buy certain products that you may not otherwise have purchased.

In theory wouldn’t need to buy these exact clothes and an iPod if you were going to use a standard mp3 player of your choice with separate pedometer and heart rate monitor and when you also carried around a GPS phone or SatNav gadget and did it all yourself.

I’m afraid that this attitude is a bit narrow minded in my eyes, as we are always made to buy the exact equipment that inventors invent otherwise they wouldn’t make any money from their efforts and wouldn’t bother inventing a whole host of other great stuff.

Can you imagine a world where Ford made parts that fitted a Volkwagen, Nokia made phone components that fitted onto a Siemens handset or Boeing traded mechanical parts with Airbus? It just wouldn’t happen – so why can’t Apple and Nike make clothes that only work with their personal parts?

Why should we be able to buy cheap superstore running shoes to use with the special iPod when they haven’t contributed at all to the technological advances that made it possible?

Anyway, the chirping alarm would keep going off from the moment you put them on, to tell you that they were no good for running and the soles were too thin!

Why use cutting edge technology in cheap equipment? Would you fly for 10 hours in a ‘plane if the spare parts were all made by your local dollar store?

posted by admin on May 28

Some Facts About The New MacBook

We’ve all seen the hype for this new ‘amazingly thin’ new notebook, and I’m not going to go over the detailed descriptions again here for you – I’ve just got 6 questions and answers to those nagging doubts you may still have:

How small is it really?
Well, the stats are as follows – 32.5cms wide and 22.7cm depth so it would appear about the same size as a simple 4-ring A4 folder on your desk. Like the folder, it is also wedge-shaped so is thinner at the front end, but with the back being less than 2cm anyway (about as thick as a Palm Treo) and the front tapering down to an almost ridiculous 0.4cm at the front (which is as high as the letter ‘l’ here) they have every right to call it ‘small’.

What about it’s overall weight?
In weight terms it is only 1.36kg (about the same as 2 pints of milk). The older MacBook weighed in at 2.27kg and the MacBook Pro at 2.45kg so they have nearly halved the weight.

How do they get around not having an optical drive?
Well, seeing as most people have another computer around the house, they thought they would save on the weight of this extra component so installed the smaller Remote Disc software instead. Basically, this allows you to use the disc drive of other computers to run those images as your own, however you cannot use the Remote Disc to watch DVD’s.

What about Ethernet connectivity?
This feature is not included as part of the MacBook Air, but for around $40/£20 you can buy their adaptor which fits into the USB port to achieve the connection.

What kind of storage does it have?
Technically – it comes with a 1.8in, 80GB, 4,200rpm Parallel ATA hard drive (with the ability to upgrade to a 64GB solid-state drive for faster access – but less storage – at a hefty $1280/£635).

Does it have a mini keyboard?
No – it has a full-size MacBook-style keyboard – complete with the standard black key caps – although as with the others in the range, it doesn’t come with the numeric keypad. The keyboard is back-lit and varies brightness in accordance with the environment it is being used in.

Facts courtesy of MacWorld

posted by admin on May 17

Ever wanted to know what bird that is singing in the trees? Ever wondered where that amazing bird call is coming from in the bushes? Well now you can have your answer instantly with the Bird Voice (BV) Pen.

This new product is a clever extension of the new world of MP3 and flash technology, as it harnesses recorded sounds for instant recall.

How It Works:
Basically it stores the sounds of over 270 bird calls and songs (as well as further habitat information etc) on the ‘pen’, with room to spare for music tracks or further bird sounds.

This pen however, is nothing special on it’s own really (apart from it’s use as an MP3 player) – and of no use to you in the field – but this is where the clever part steps in.

This company have developed a picture set of common British Birds and assigned a ‘code’ to each picture. This is activated by the Bird Voice pen passing over it – a bit like a bar-code and associated reader – but rather than the bird flashing up a price – the BV pen instantly plays the song of that bird to you.

Whether you buy their waterproof field guide (with just basic pictures) or their entire organiser of birds with habitat icons, distributions maps and much more, you will have instant access to 270 bird calls at the swipe of your hand.

As this company know that most birders will already have their own field guides and reference books and know their way round them very well, they have also come up with stickers of their bird calls, that you can peel off and place on your own guides rather than having to learn the layout of a new book.

The Company: 
Their website is rather plain and basic (www.birdvoice.co.uk), but it does allow you to listen to some of the calls before you buy, and shows you a list of all the birds on the recordings. It covers all the details of each item including sizes, organisation of species, special features and costs.

The most expensive item is, of course, the BV pen full of all the data (currently £99.95), and this pen doesn’t work without the field guides (£15 and £35) or stickers (£15), so expected costs will be over £115 for the bird songs to come to life.

It is however, a fantastic concept and makes tracking bird calls very easy in the field – and instantly. There’s no messing around, searching for the right sounds amongst everything else – they can be listened to straight away. Something that was impossible before.

Of course, it can also be used at home like any other recorded bird song software or Cd’s so you can practice identifying common calls before setting off into the woods……

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