End User

Internet Radio Made Simple

The Internet is a vast expanse of awesomeness if you're a music fan. Putting aside the fact that little-known bands can now share and distribute their music with ease, and buying new music is as easy as switching channels on the TV, there's also the global reach of Internet radio. Whereas we once had to rely on shortwave receivers to listen to stations that originated across the ocean, now we can simply access the station's online feed (assuming it offers one).

The only problem is that there are tens of thousands of stations, and it's not always easy to figure out which stations are worth checking out. Enter the Aluratek Internet radio jukebox, a small USB device that looks like a flash drive but acts like a global radio tuner. The device--which fits neatly into your computer's USB port--offers access to more than 13,000 Internet radio stations in more than 150 countries. Once plugged in, you can search for stations by continent, country, state, or genre, letting you switch between Swedish hip-hop, Afro-Cuban jazz, and Vietnamese folk music all in the space of a few seconds. All in all, it's a pretty handy little device.

And yes, we know that iTunes and a few other media players do basically the same thing for free. However, there are times when iTunes isn't practical, like when you're at work on a locked machine, or when you're using a friend's iTunes-less computer. Plus, the Aluratek jukebox is plug 'n' play, so you can get started immediately.

Watching Your Home from Afar

To many people, video surveillance systems are the exclusive domain of banks, fancy restaurants, corner groceries, and Bond villains. But thanks to the advent of IP cameras, the technology is much more accessible than ever before. In fact, many homeowners deploy IP cameras to watch over their property while they're at work or on vacation, at a fraction of the cost of high-end professional systems. IP camera systems aren't perfect--there are still some drawbacks, particularly in terms of lens resolution and bandwidth requirements--but they're getting better all the time.

The defining feature of an IP camera is that it functions as a standalone device but can transmit images over the Internet to any location in the world. Unlike USB webcams, for example, IP cameras don't rely on a single piece of software to capture images, but instead use open Internet protocols and standards to broadcast the video across a local area network or the Web. So if you're vacationing in Istanbul, you can easily pull up a live feed of your living room or backyard patio and remotely monitor the situation. Many IP cameras are also programmed to detect motion in your home, and then e-mail or text you with an alert. Some can even upload video by FTP so you can watch the footage. Other common features include 360-degree panning, two-way audio, and infrared illumination.

A variety of companies offer both wired (commonly via Ethernet) and wireless IP cameras, including Panasonic, TRENDnet, Sony, Mobotix, and JVC. To learn more, check out the IP Camera Learning & Resource Center.

Amazon Delivers ... Again and Again

If you're a sucker for gadgets and new technologies--and if you're reading this blog, we know you are--then check out our Amazon Delivers e-mail subscriptions. It's the easiest way to keep abreast of the newest products and happenings in the Electronics store and elsewhere. We offer one broad Electronics e-mail and five sub-category e-mails for your shopping pleasure: Camera News and Special Offers, Early Adopters, Hot Deals in Electronics, New Cell Phones & Accessories, and PC Hardware News and Deals.

Click here to sign up!

The Place-Shifting Paradigm

A few weeks ago, we wrote about digital media receivers, which let you stream music or video from your computer or server to your home entertainment system. And that is pretty cool, no question. But when it comes to streaming video, it's hard not to be a little more geeked about streamers that work in the opposite direction. These ingenious gadgets, often called "place shifters," let you watch the programming available on your home TV--whether from your digital cable box, your satellite receiver, your TiVo, or your DVD player--through your laptop or mobile phone. And not just when you're sitting in the other room; we're talking anywhere in the world, provided you can receive broadband Internet service.

As the first to market, Sling Media's Slingbox still has the highest profile of all the streamers/place shifters/whatevers, with three versions in current release. The Slingbox Solo is designed for a single video source, such as a DVR or cable box, and is a good option for people who don't want to spend a ton of money. The Slingbox Pro is a bit more expensive but also more versatile, with the ability to connect to up to four video sources at once. But let's face it, HD programming is where it's at these days, so anyone with high (definition) standards will opt for the Slingbox Pro-HD, which connects to any of your HD sources for true high-definition streaming. The Slingbox Pro and Pro-HD also include built-in cable tuners (analog in the case of the Pro and digital in case of the Pro-HD), so you can access your cable programming through the Internet without changing the channel on your home TV, or pick up over-the-air HD broadcasts in your region (Pro-HD only).

The Slingbox is by no means alone in this category, however. Monsoon offers the Hava, with four cascading products: the Hava Gold, the Hava Platinum HD, the Hava Wireless HD, and the Hava Titanium HD Wi-Fi. The Hava Gold is the value-priced band member, with a design that lets you connect up to three video sources at a time. The Platinum HD offers essentially the same services but with an upgrade to HD-quality video. The Hava Wireless HD and the Hava Titanium HD Wi-Fi, meanwhile, offer a more robust feature set that includes built-in wireless support, so you don't need to connect to the Internet when watching TV through your PC. Instead, you can just stream the video direct through your wireless network to several PCs at once.

Among the other place-shifting options on the market are Sony's LocationFree line of products and Orb, a company that shies away from the hardware business and instead focuses on free media sharing via its downloadable MyCast service.

Unwinding with the SideWinder

Microsoft relaunched its SideWinder line of gaming peripherals in 2007 after a four-year hiatus. The first product in the revamped lineup was the SideWinder gaming mouse, with a design inspired by both Halo's Master Chief character and the Mazda Senku concept car (in other words, kinda sleek but also a little unwieldy). This year, Microsoft has upped the ante with two new SideWinder gaming products--the X5 SideWinder mouse and the X6 SideWinder keyboard--and announced plans to release a third SideWinder mouse in February 2009.

The X5 SideWinder is a direct descendent of the original SideWinder, with similar engineering--a 2,000 dpi laser tracking engine, on-the-fly dpi switching, and 7,080-frames-per-second image processing--and all the doohickeys that make the difference between owning your opponent and getting pwned, including a wide rubber scroll wheel and five programmable main buttons.

The soon-to-be-released X8 SideWinder, however, is a significant upgrade. First off, it's wireless, giving you far more freedom of movement than with the X5. Second, it employs Microsoft's BlueTrack technology, which adherents claim is a huge upgrade to traditional optical and laser tracking. The technology leads to massive resolution and speed upgrades, including a 4,000 dpi resolution, 13,000-frames-per-second image processing, 75g maximum acceleration, and a max speed of 120 inches per second. The X8 also includes seven programmable buttons and three replaceable mouse feet, depending on your gliding preference.

Finally, the companion X6 SideWinder keyboard will appeal to gamers who crave a custom setup but find their existing keyboards a little underwhelming on that score. The X6 includes such features a detachable keypad that switches seamlessly from the right to the left side; 30 programmable keys and 90 programmable options, with assigned gaming profiles; a toggle button that switches the keyboard from standard mode to one of two gaming modes; an in-game macro record button that records any sequence of keystrokes; and a Cruise Control option that lets you continue an action without holding down the corresponding key or series of keys.

For those who own a SideWinder product, what do you think? Do they live up to the billing?

Wireless Printing Made Easy

OK, sure, it's probably a little weird to associate the words "wireless printing" and "freedom." But for people who have wireless printing networks set up in their homes, it's a pretty accurate description. No cables = no hassles = lots of leeway for laptop owners.

Not everyone is so lucky, however. If you haven't yet ditched the printer cables in your home, check out our wireless printing guide for a quick how-to. The guide covers such options as connecting your printer to a wireless router, buying a wireless print server, making an ad-hoc connection, or printing via Bluetooth.

Or you can opt for an even easier solution: a wireless printer with built-in Wi-Fi. Designed to communicate directly with your Wi-Fi network out of the box, these printers are increasingly affordable and remarkably easy to set up.

So strike a blow for wireless freedom today!

Digital Media Receivers/Adapters

It's not happening as fast as many experts predicted a few years back, but more and more consumers are streaming music and video from their computers to their TVs and speaker systems. It's an idea whose time has obviously come; after all, why download all that great media content to your hard drive if you can't watch and listen to it through your pricey HDTV and surround sound system?

Fortunately, it's pretty easy these days to network your computer and home entertainment system, whether through a simple DVI or S-video cable or through a dedicated digital media receiver or adapter. Here are a few products designed to make it easy.

The Linksys Wireless-B media adapter is a straightforward unit that connects to your home entertainment system on one end (via standard electronics cables) and communicates wirelessly with your Wi-Fi router and computer on the other. The adapter lets you view digital photos and listen to music through your components, although it notably does not support video formats. HP's MediaSmart Receiver takes the concept to the next level, with the ability to play content from every single computer on your wireless network. That's a terrific option if you haven't bothered to consolidate all your video or audio files onto a single hard drive, but have them spread out among several computers. The MediaSmart Receiver also lets you download digital movies and listen to Internet radio directly from your HDTV.

Apple fans can turn to the Airport Express to stream digital music from their iTunes library to the stereo, or Apple TV for more robust video applications. And PC owners can choose from plenty of media extenders designed to work in tandem with the Windows Media Center feature found within XP and Vista operating systems. Among the options are the aforementioned HP MediaSmart Receiver, the Linksys DMA2100 and DMA2200 (the latter includes a DVD player), the D-Link DSM-750, and even the Xbox 360 game console. Users who really want to be plugged in can opt for an HP MediaSmart HDTV--a full-fledged television that's custom designed to support digital networking.

Explore more entertainment networking products here. 

-- Rivers Janssen

Introducing Our Connected Home Store

So how did we ever live without the Bluetooth foam toaster anyway?

OK, maybe your wireless network hasn't quite infiltrated your kitchen counter (yet), but there's no question that your home electronics are more connected than ever before. The dilemma for the average consumer, however, is that there are a ton of networking products and technologies on the market, and it's not always easy to sort out the advantages and disadvantages of each.

That's why we created the Connected Home Store, which serves as a one-stop source for all your home networking needs. Want to stream music wirelessly throughout the house? Looking for a good way to store video files and play them back through your HDTV? Hoping to set up a wireless printing network? The Connected Home store handles it all, with featured product categories like routers, wireless printers, multiroom music systems, and entertainment networking products.

Check it out.

-- Rivers Janssen

New TSA Laptop Guidelines

In a move that's sure to pique the interest of business travelers, the TSA announced a new screening policy for laptop bags in mid-August. On its face, it certainly seems like an improvement: rather than making you remove your laptop from the bag before sending it down the X-ray conveyor belt, TSA employees just X-ray the bag directly. Sounds like a win-win for everyone, right? Well, the drawback is that the TSA requires your laptop bag to lie flat against the X-ray belt and to "present a clear and distinct image of the laptop separate from the rest of the bag." And it turns out this "clear and distinct image" can be obscured by internal pockets, snaps, zippers, cables, chargers, and just about everything else. Simply put, most laptop bags won't work with the new system.

To combat the charge that the TSA policy isn't all that practical, the TSA put out a call to laptop bag manufacturers in March asking for "checkpoint friendly" prototypes. These bags will be expressly designed for X-ray machines, with no dividers, pockets, or materials that would otherwise interfere with the laptop image. And apparently the manufacturers responded by submitting 40 bags for testing. So if you do a lot of traveling with your laptop, consider looking for the "checkpoint friendly" label.

See Amazon.com's checkpoint-friendly laptop bags.

While that does improve the situation to some degree, some argue that the policy will create more problems than it solves.

What do you think?

-- Rivers Janssen