ExtremeTech’s Portable Media Center Review

By Ian Bell Published July 16, 2004

We like what Alexander Grundner of eHome Upgrade has to say about ExtremeTech’s review:

“ExtemeTech posts a scathing review of the Creative and Samsung Portable Media Center players set to hit the shelves either this month or next. If you decide to read the article, get ready for so much added (and useless) commentary that Gizmodo would be ashamed to publish it. “

Recommended Videos

What Jim Louderback seems to miss is that there is a strong demand for these devices. Archos has already been profitting from this new market with their non-proprietary players, so it only seems natural for Microsoft and the other players to jump on-board. Jim goes on to say:

“Even if you do manage to cram a few hours of video into the PMC, you won’t be able to watch it for long. Amazon claims a battery life of “up to three hours” for the Zen Portable Media Center, although Creative’s spokesman insisted it would last for five. The smaller Samsung unit is likely yo fade even more rapidly.

But battery life claims are the biggest lies in the world (after the promise/mouth and check/mail ones). I routinely cut them in half to get near the truth. With less than two hours of battery life, you had better hope the train’s not late. And don’t expect to watch a full baseball game

Publisher

I'm the co-founder and CEO of Digital Trends Media Group, which I launched in 2006 out of my home office to share my passion…

Topics

Emerging Tech

Google is making Gemini and Search work better with the apps you love

Gemini's guest list is growing, and your favorite apps are invited.

Gemini AI on a phone.

Google has been finding more ways to make Gemini a part of your daily routine, from putting together playlists to ordering groceries through your favorite apps. Now it's expanding those capabilities to more services, with Google Search joining in, too.

The company has announced a new Connected Apps Platform that makes it easier for developers to bring their services to both Gemini and Search. Alongside this, Google is adding new partners to its growing lineup, bringing more of the apps people already use into its AI ecosystem.

Emerging Tech

AI bots are now trying to sabotage public health policies, like banning disposable vapes

Thousands of AI bots voted in a public health poll to block sales restriction on disposable vapes. It's like Big Tobacco is back from the dead.

Woman smoking a vape.

In the broad context of AI and its perceived harms, health and medical risks often pop up in the conversation. The warnings even come from frontier AI labs, such as ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which have warned about misusing AI to cook up bioweapons. Security experts have already spotted a few such incidents in the wild, especially with the usage of AI models without any solid guardrails.

Well, it appears that the risks run deeper. As per an analysis appearing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), AI bots are now being deployed to influence public policies governing health risks to citizens. In this instance, an attempt was made using AI bots to thwart regulations that aim to restrict the sale of disposable vapes, all while disguising the manipulation efforts as a response from real humans.

Emerging Tech

A tiny smartphone gadget can detect some of the nastiest chemicals in your water

Scientists built a tiny smartphone gadget that can spot toxic 'forever chemicals'

Smartphone-connected drinking water safety sensor Featured

What if checking your drinking water for dangerous chemicals were as simple as plugging a tiny gadget into your smartphone? Researchers in Japan have developed a compact sensor that could make that possible, potentially bringing sophisticated water contamination testing out of expensive laboratories and into people's hands.

Scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have created a portable device capable of detecting extremely low concentrations of PFAS, commonly known as "forever chemicals." The findings were published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics, which demonstrate how an inexpensive sensor and a smartphone could make identifying potentially harmful chemicals in water a lot easier.