Tag archive: LAN

I’ve been using the Kindle DX for several weeks now, and it was anything but love at first sight. This is my third Kindle: I was one of the first with the initial Kindle, got the Kindle 2 when it first shipped, and figured, what the heck, I’d pick up the Kindle 2’s big brother, the Kindle DX. I wanted to try it with newspapers, since it had a bigger screen, and was initially anything but impressed. The Kindle 2 is… Read More

Communications chip maker Qualcomm is looking to leave all other 802.11n high-bandwidth Wi-Fi solutions in the dust, announcing it has created a new Wi-Fi chip—the N-Stream Wireless LAN WCN1320—capable of pushing 600 Mbps. Qualcomm is positioning the chip as idea for whole-house media streaming solutions, noting the system's bandwidth makes it capable of handling multiple streams of high-definition video, data, and voice… Read More

High-end gamers have been ratcheting up the cycles on their graphics cards for years, hoping to eake out more frame rates in games so they can dominate LAN parties and (of course) win their contents fair and square. Now, chipmaker AMD is getting in on the act, offering the world's first 1 GHz graphics card in the form of a jacked-up ATI Radeon HD 4890. Unlike home-cranked graphics cards, the Radeon HD 4890 actually comes with a… Read More

Storage and peripheral maker LaCie is no stranger the network-attached storage (NAS) market, and the company has just introduced two new systems intended to offer professional-class reliability and ease of use without breaking budgets…or forcing users to become rocket scientists to get the devices up and running. The new d2 Network and Big Disk Network NAS devices offer streaming media support for UPnP devices, quiet operation with… Read More

3D Gaming: World of Warcraft, etc. Like a lot of you I waited to see the 3D Super Bowl ads and then watched Chuck in 3D (well the first 10 minutes anyway) and was disappointed with the result. The 3D Monsters vs. Aliens ad just sucked too: I mean, do we really need any more cute monster and alien movies? Bring back the real Aliens – you know, the ones that Sigourney Weaver used to fight, and put them up against the Vampires and… Read More

EMC's Retrospect backup software has long been a major player for all levels of users, from everyday folks just looking to safeguard their personal data to small businesses and enterprises looking to back up small (and large!) herds of machines. The application backs up intelligently—only one copy of a file gets stored, no matter how many copies of it might live on a network—, supports incremental backups (so you can… Read More

Toshiba's Digital Products Division has announced its TLP-X200U portable projector, a wireless (and wired!) LAN-compatible projector sporting an XGA 1,024 by 768 resolution, 3,000 ANSI lumens of brightness, and a 600:1 contrast ratio. But none of those are the TLP-X200U's signature feature: rather, the projector is the first in the world to offer voice guidance to help users through setup, operations, maintenance, and system… Read More

Gateway has introduced two new desktop computers, specifically designed to appeal to gamers and digital media enthusiasts. The new FX6710 and LX6200 both feature quad-core processing, tons of RAM capacity, and speedy graphics processing at prices that won't make customers feel like they're shelling out for a high-end rig. "Consumers looking to maximize their budgets as the holiday season approaches will appreciate these… Read More

While I think the new iPod Nano may be one of the best designed hardware products ever, I’ve never been a fan of iTunes and tend to avoid iPods as a result. Three products I’ve been testing couldn’t be more different than the iPod – or each other. These offerings all have unique advantages and disadvantages and, given that the stock market was up sharply on Monday, some of us may actually be able to afford one.… Read More

The market for high-end gaming peripherals just got a little more crowded. On Thursday, the French outfit Nova GamingRazer and Saitek in the United States by introducing a gamer-centric line of mice, keyboards, LAN bags and other accessories this fall. Its first offerings for the U.S. market will include the brand new Slider X 600 mouse and Over mouse pad. announced that it would join the likes of The highly contoured X 600 sports a… Read More

OK let’s answer the question in the title right up front. I’ve been using the new Toshiba XDE DVD player for about a week and it isn’t better than my Playstation 3 (PS3) Blu-Ray player. But Toshiba did some things very right and it (and other DVD players like it) could keep Blu-Ray from ever replacing DVD. This is because consumers tend to buy on price and the majority of them will gravitate towards quality considered… Read More

Taiwanese computer maker Acer has decided to go after the lucrative high-end PC gamer market with the new Aspire Predator, sporting an armor-like orange-and-black casing and high-performance components designed to let gamers take their pixel-powered mayhem to new extremes. And we'll try not to make any assumptions about the demographic Acer is targeting with the tagline “Faster. Deeper. Harder. Further.” The… Read More

For some folks, a notebook isn't merely a desktop replacement: it should be a desktop killer, with all the computing power and graphics processing to be found in the sturdiest desk-bound systems, but with the capability to be hauled around and shown off to all one's friends, colleagues…and gaming victims. With that audience in mind, XtremeNotebooks has revved up its Xtreme 917V mobile workstation and server to feature an… Read More

According to reports in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) and elsewhere, Dell is planning to slim down its XPS line of high-performance desktop and notebook systems by stripping out systems specifically aimed at high-end gamers. Instead, Dell will cede the performance gaming business to its in-house boutique subsidiary Alienware, which Dell acquired in 2006 as a way to bolster its then-sagging reputation for offering… Read More

Hardcore gamers are known for spending all sorts of money to pimp out their notebooks in order to achieve the fastest, highest-resolution explosion-and-splatter experience possible…but, some would humbly submit, the gamers still have to catch up with the kind of kit carted around by video professionals, particularly now that the whole world is going HD. As an example, boutique computer maker 1 Beyond has announced an update to its GoFlex317… Read More