I think most everyone has a love/hate relationship with business cards.  They represent a quick and easy way to trade contact information, to make a good impression and to show off your style and taste.  They also are small and easy to lose, a pain to organize and convert to electronic contacts, and take up a surprising amount of space. The obvious answer is a simple method of scanning and automatically recognizing the information in the cards, and a number of companies have made hardware/software solutions.  I recently had the opportunity to try out one solution, the CardScan 800c.

Inside of the deceptively large box you’ll find a folder with the software, packaged cards for cleaning and calibrating the device, some advertising materials, a generously long USB cable, and the scanner.  The scanner itself is small enough to pack anywhere a paperback would fit or to fit on even the most cluttered desk.  It’s styled to look good on your desk; the CardScan has no buttons or switches to ruin the smooth lines, just a triangle-shaped blue light to show it’s on and to indicate where to insert cards.

Read our full review of the Cardscan Executive 800c...

If you have an Apple iPod, and who doesn’t these days, you will eventually want to improve it’s functionality by adding an accessory.  As the leading portable digital audio player on the market, there are an incredible number of accessories available for the Apple iPod and JBL is one of the leading companies in the iPod speaker and general consumer audio market.  Let’s take a look at a few of the products available from JBL.

Read our complete review of all three JBL speakers

Paper scanners are great peripherals for the modern computer.  They let us bring papers, documents, and photos from the real, physical world into the virtual, digital one.  However they are usually big, bulky devices that require a lot of space or, in the case of most portable models, time to set up.  And the typical scanner still needs a computer or notebook to operate.  So what if you could have a portable scanner that did not need a computer, could be easily carried anywhere, and can make a scan of any document, photo, magazine, or book.  Well now you can with the Planon DocuPen RC800.

The RC800 is a full color, 24-bit scanner in a compact, lightweight form that provides a convenient way to scan full page documents on-the-go.  With the included 128 MB memory card, the RC800 can store many pages into memory with each page only taking a few seconds to scan.  Using the on-board controls, you can select B&W/Color/24-Bit Color and 100 / 400 dpi resolution. 

Read our full review of the Planon DocuPen Portable Color Scanner

The Kensington SX300R is one of a host of products now on the market designed to help music lovers take tunes from their iPods into their homes. What sets the SX300R apart is its sleek, stylishly simple, one-piece design with a flat panel speaker on one side and a universal iPod dock on the other. The SX300R’s sound, while not as full-bodied as some, nevertheless has a feeling of quality perfectly suited for a smaller space, and performs better than expected given that the speaker itself is only three quarters of an inch wide.

In keeping with iPod’s updated black look, the new SX300R comes in a black plastic shell, as opposed to Kensington’s previous SX200, which was white. The SX300R is compatible with all iPods with 30-pin dock connectors, including iPod nano, and can be connected to non-docking iPods such as iPod shuffle, as well as, other MP3 players with an accessory adapter or a 3.5mm headphone cable (not included). The unit including base is 16 by 7.25 inches high, and at only 4 inches deep, it’s an easy fit for a desktop or even a window sill.

Read our full review of Kensington’s SX 3000R Speakers with FM Radio for iPod...

After you have equipped your iPod or MP3 player with the latest speakers, headphones, and carrying case, there is little else to do than enjoy many hours of musical entertainment, unless you like a little visual reflection from your music.  In the spirit of the 70’s and disco clubs, Farm Fresh has released the Lightcast.  The Lightcast is a small light box that syncs with your music and projects multicolored lights that move to the beat of your favorite songs.

The Lightcast is a small (approximately 7.5” diameter by 3” tall) console that contains a curved, mirrored surface and 33 colored LED lights.  The console can be positioned on a table to project onto the ceiling, tilted with the built-in stand to project at an angle, or hung on a wall as a light-box.  You can even hand it from the ceiling to project down onto the floor.  Two mirror and lens attachments are included that attach to the adjustable projection arm to focus and modify the light.  The only control on the console is a Sensitivity Adjustment Knob that will adjust how the console reacts to the music.

Read our full review of the Lightcast from Farm Fresh / Uncle Milton Industries

With everyone making MP3 players, including most of the companies that manufacture the flash memory players depend on, it is not surprising that Kingston has finally produced their own MP3/MP4 portable player.  Kingston is one of the world leading manufacturers of RAM and Flash memory and their new K-PEX 100 (Kingston Personal Entertainment Experience) is a solid entry into the 1GB/2GB Media Player market.

Read our full review of the Kingston K-PEX 100 Personal Media Player

The Samsung BlackJack is simply the best Windows Mobile Smartphone I have ever used.

The Backjack sold by Cingular Wireless now the new at&t brings UMTS/HSDPA to the table...basically DSL/Broadband speeds to you and me. What I have found is that I really don’t use my laptop as much since the BackJack has live push mail, large display, and a QWERTY keyboard. I tossed in a 2 Gig MicroSD Card and sync up my music and TV shows from my Media Center so I can take them with me. Even the 2MP camera gets some use and with all this heavy lifting the BlackJack maintains its sleek super model-esque profile.

What really makes the unit shine is the thoughtful list of applications Samsung and Cingular Wireless now the new at&t included with the BackJack. They didn’t opt for the regular Microsoft Mobile Smartphone app load, they went much further and included a slew of productive tools that really rounds out the phone with just about everything you could ever need.

--Bill Landon

It’s been quite a while since we did the last Vaja case review. The last one from a few years ago detailed some cases for the very popular, yet now near forgotten, iPAQ 3800 series.

Back then, we were doing a lot of case reviews, and the Vaja offering was definitely at the top of the heap. Excellent fit and finish, great usability, never bulky, and always classy.

The new lines do not deviate at all from this standard of quality.

Recently they sent me four new cases, as well as the new clip mechanism to check out. I received two cases for the iPod video and two for the iPod Mini.

Click to read our full review of the Vaja iPod cases...

I embark on Part 3 of the 24 Minute Holiday Shopping Saga. I found about 8 DVD’s including some HD-DVD’s to help complete out my shopping list. It was now almost 24 minutes since the web order was placed with my stealthy laptop from my car in the parking lot...Cingular 3G, you gotta love it! I headed up to the pick up counter and requested my order. The girl there was very friendly and asked me to wait a moment.

The iPod Nano was brought out and then she had a puzzled look. She asked me to wait another moment.  I already suspected the remote may not be there based on the scurrying doing about the store of the sales associate earlier. She brought out the order and said they were just about to call me and tell me the remote was not in stock. She offered to order it in for me or locate another unit at a different store. I opted to have the amount refunded back to the gift card.

So now what? As per their 24 minute guarantee qualifying purchases will be ready for customers to pick up at their designated store within 24 minutes of purchase confirmation, or the customer will receive a $24 Circuit City gift card. With out missing a beat she started processing a gift card and apologized for the out of stock item.

So there you have it; ordering was easy but the lack of in store pick up for Movies and Music is so Web 1.0 (yes, I’m lossing karma for that). It was nice to see what stores had regular items in stock and then being able to select what store to pick the item up at; very handy. Not having an item in stock after you drove out to get it would be annoying however. Was the $24 gift card worth the drive out...possibly? It is a nice perk that makes you feel that you’re getting something for the effort. If your trip to the store is your only propose out and you have to fight traffic I would call ahead to ensure your order is ready. Overall Circuit City’s online shopping and 24 minute in store pickup guarantee made for a very easy shopping experience and I did not have to fight any crowds. Also as a bonus and I get another $24 to buy myself a little something.

--Bill Landon

Let’s get back to our 24 Minute Holiday Shopping Saga. It was time to put Circuit City to the test. Armed with my thin and light laptop and my Cingular UMTS 3G data card I drove to the Lynwood Circuit City and found a nice place to park and start shopping...online.

I had my holiday gift list with me and started browsing the Circuit City website, in their parking lot while in my car...lol. I figured this would be easy, lots of DVD’s and CD’s for friends and family. After finding several of the DVD’s on my list I started to notice that all of them were available for shipping only and not for store pickup...WFT over? This was the same thing with the CD’s; kind of lame if you ask me. All I can figure is that their online store for movies and CD’s is a re-brand of Amazon or some other distributor and not tied to the stores themselves.

It was time to move on to the more expensive gifts on the list. Fist the iPod Nano that I have been getting begged to buy. There it was in all its stunning green glory on the webpage. With the zip code in place the Lynwood store showed it was in stock so I added it to cart. What was interesting was that it also showed nearby stores, so in theory I could shop at all the stores at the same time then drive to the other stores for pick up. Useful if some stores were out of stock.

I have wanted the Harmony remote for the XBOX 360 for some time now. We reviewed the Harmony 688 remote a year ago and really liked it. Lynwood showed it was in stock so I added it to the cart and proceeded to the check out. After making my payment with the gift card I printed the receipt to an image and wrote the order number down. I noted the time the order was placed and proceeded into the store for a little recon. Also I wanted to get those DVD’s I was denied.

I browsed browed around the DVD’s and kept an eye on the web order pick up area. I watched a sales person go to the XBOX area with an invoice in hand looking around at the accessories, frowned then headed off to the home theater section of the store. This had to be my order. They still had about 10 minutes before I would go up to the counter to claim my order.

Stay Tuned for Part 3 of the 24 Minute Holiday Shopping Saga. 

I was recently asked to try out Circuit Citys online shopping and 24 minute in store pickup guarantee. With the holidays rapidly approaching and my shopping not even started I gladly accepted the offer. Now I just had to wait for the card to arrive so that I could sample their online shopping venue and put them the 24 minute test.

However before I jump into that portion of this tale let me take you back to about three weeks ago when the XBOX 360 HDDVD player was released. I stopped at the Best Buy close to our office and was told that while they show one in stock it was really not there and that would probably be the same story at their other locations.  I am thinking what ever happed to live inventory status? Frustrated I went back to my office.

Back at the office I decided now would be a good time to try out the online shopping at Circuit City and proceeded to look up the new HDDVD player for the 360. Bingo! The Everett store showed it was in stock and available for in store pickup, all other locations were sold out. Being suspicious by nature I chose to make this purchase with my company card rather than wait for the gift card sent to me by Circuit City’s PR firm. Is it out of the realm of possibility that purchases made with these cards could be flagged for priority service? I’ll put my tinfoil hat on just in case.

Later that evening I drove up to the Everett Circuit City store and my shiny new HDDVD Drive was waiting for me to take home. Well that was easy but not a real test of the 24 minute guarantee; that would have to be done on a different day with a more high tech approach.

the 24 Minute Holiday Shopping Saga. Part 2.

If you have an Apple iPod, and who doesn’t these days, you will eventually want to improve it’s functionality by adding an accessory.  As the leading portable digital audio player on the market, there are an incredible number of accessories available for the Apple iPod and Altec Lansing is one of the leading companies in the iPod speaker and general consumer audio market.  Lets take a look at a couple of the products available from Altec Lansing.

Read our full review of the Altec Lansing iPod Speakers: InMotion iM7 and InMotion iM4

If you have an Apple iPod, and who doesn’t these days, you will eventually want to improve it’s functionality by adding an accessory. As the leading portable digital audio player on the market, there are an incredible number of accessories available for the Apple iPod and this article will take a look at a few of the products for 5G-iPod-Video available from Belkin, a leading computer, mobile, and network accessory company.

If the battery life of your iPod is not adequate for your daily use, perhaps the Belkin Battery Pack is just what you need. The battery pack is a white, plastic extended power pack using 4 AA batteries and providing up to 15 hours of additional power (up to 6 hours of video playtime on the iPod Video) for your iPod. Featuring a On/Off power switch, Battery Level Check button, and 4 power LEDs inside the case, the Battery Pack is easy to use. Simply attach the iPod to the Battery Pack by firmly pushing the iPod onto the 2 rubber suction cups on the back of the Power Pack. Two additional, replacement suction cups are included in the package. Connect the Docking Connector to the iPod and you are ready to go. Push the Battery Check button to see the power level of the batteries via 4 green LEDs. When you want to power the iPod from the Battery Pack, just set the power switch to on. When the Battery Pack’s power is depleted, just replace the 4 AA batteries. This is a very easy to use product and gives you the extended battery life for those long trips and plane flights.

Read our full review of the Belkin iPod Accessories: Battery Pack, Kickstand Case, Classic Case for 5G iPod

There has been plethora of PMP (portable media players) flooding the market since CES last January. Most are a one trick pony that plays media, period. Well that’s cool since probably why you bought the device for to begin with right? What if your shiny new PMP could do a few extra tricks? That’s what dream’eo asked when they designed their flagship offering the dream’eo Solo.

The Solo is a typical looking PMP device with a 3.5” 320x240 screen, video out, headphone jack, built in microphone, hard drive, and a media slot. So the engineers at dream’eo asked when and where do your use a PMP? The answer came back as on the road or going from place to place. Then the light came on...how about adding a GPS to the design so when people are traveling about they can find their way easier. Brilliant!

To make this a reality the Solo team added a docking port for expansion that allows you to plug in an external GPS puck. Neat add-on for a PMP device. It makes sense too, if I am going on a trip I will want to listen to music or watch a show, but I also might want to get directions along the way or find interesting points of interest.

Read our full review of the dream’eo SOLO PMP w/GPS

After reviewing a large number of earphones, my ears were looking forward to a rest until I heard about a small company that specialized in making earphones for professional musicians and engineers.  The comments I heard were so good, that I had to check them out.  The high-end, custom Ultimate Ear products are used by an impressive list of the top musicians and engineers in the music industry.  The super.fi 5 Pro is the latest consumer model from Ultimate Ears and they have done an amazing job of bringing their high-end technology to the consumer market at a reasonable price.  The super.fi 5 Pro is stylish, easy to use, comfortable, and sounds amazing.  Simply select the appropriate size ear tip, install the tip, insert the earphone into the ear canal, and wrap the flexible ear loop over your ears.  Now you are ready to listen to your music the way it was meant to be heard.  The design of the earphone is comfortable and very secure, so I never felt like the earphone was going to fall out even during excessive head motion.

Read the full review of the Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 Pro