Platforms

Wicked Lasers 95mw Extreme:Review (93%)
We’ve had the Wicked Laser Green 95mw laser for a couple of weeks now. It’s falls outside the sort of things we’d normally test, but I’m glad we made an exception, because this thing is bonkers.
I suspect that if you’ve never worked professionally with lasers, the only thing that you will have seen that’s brighter than this laser is the Sun. This – 95mW CLASS IIIb portable laser, to give it it’s full name – is a little more convenient than the Sun though, as it’s the size of a pen (15cm, 6inch) and you can switch it on and off.
It arrived well packaged in a rather natty box and we couldn’t wait to get it on. An unexpected lack of the required 2 x AAA batteries at our end lead us to initial disappointment but this instantly evaporated when it was powered and switched on for the first time.
What you can do with it
Once you get over the brightness, you’re left with what to do with amazing product of human engineering.
promotional video on their site, this baby burns things. It can light a match, cut though black tape, pop balloons and burn through papers. I can confirm that I burnt a hole in a newspaper – my tip, focus on an area of black print (obviously), wait for 10-15 seconds, the smoke will rise and the hole appear. All from something that sits in your pocket and runs on a few tiny batteries. Crazy.
Man-magnet I showed the Wicked Laser to a room full of lads (aged 25-35). The effect was remarkable. I have never seen some of these people move so fast, as a collective WOW went up around the room and they literally dashed towards it. Their attention was completely captivated.
If you’ve got any reason to want to grab the attention of a large group of boys, you could do little better than to get yourself one of these.
So how far does it go?
Naturally our curiosity was peaked – how far does the beam go? What size is the light point when it gets there? Wicked Lasers tells us that the beam will reach 30-40 miles, yes MILES, and if you were to be there looking at it, the point of the beam will be about the size of a house!
Safety
To re-itterate a warning – this laser is seriously bright. Forget every laser pointer you might have seen before. This is like nothing you’ve ever seen. James Bond look out.
I’d definitely recommend wearing protective goggles with it, if you’re going to be using indoors. This baby has so much power that it reflects a serious amount of light when you point/shine in to surfaces. In our findings, the longest you want to use it indoors without protective glasses is about 15 mins. After that you start to get a strange ache in the back of your eyes. This fades off over around 10 mins.
Conclusion
This thing is seriously powerful and certainly not to be messed with. You _will_ impress the pants off people who see it – especially men. Take care with it though, it could be dangerous It’s certainly not cheap, but you’re paying for its extreme power.
We don’t really know how or what to compare it with as it’s outside out normal remit. All we can rate it by is how much it impressed us – and everyone we showed it to, without exception.
Score: 93%
Wicked Laser 95mW CLASS IIIb portable laser- $369.99 (E307, £214)
Wicked Lasers 95mw Extreme
Extra photos and videos

When you get to the end of burning things and scaring ocean liners, you start to explore the potential. Here’s one of the videos that we shot with using the laser. Link.

Creating lighting havoc from the sofa.

Commanding the street.

Oh look, it’s the corner of the room.

Freaking out the camera with a direct hit.
5 April, 2006
Gold! Sony Ericsson W700 WALKMAN Phone Launched
Rolling off Sony Ericsson’s well-furrowed product slipway this morning is the W700i Walkman Phone, the company’s eighth addition to their Walkman range.
Looking almost identical to its big brothers in the W800 range, the W700 is designed to tempt the pockets of punters looking to play a bit of music but not needing a “full blown music phone.”
“The W700i builds on the legacy of the first Walkman phone, the W800i. This phone will appeal to anyone who wants a quality music player in their phone for occasional listening,” commented Jan Wäreby, Corporate Executive Vice President, Head of Sale and Marketing, Sony Ericsson.
Sporting a natty Titanium Gold finish, the W700 comes with a Memory Stick in the retail box, although punters will only get a measly 256MB PRO Duo card instead of the 512Mb card bundled with the W800i.
The phone can, however, accept cards up to 2GB, providing storage for up to 47 CDs – long enough to see you through even the longest of tube delays.
To save battery life (and keep flight attendants happy), the music player works when the phone is turned off.
Like the W800, the W700 comes with a full complement of onboard gizmos, including a two megapixel camera, 1.8 inch 262k 176×220 colour TFT display, dedicated music buttons and Bluetooth and Tri-band connectivity.
Battery life is claimed at up to 30-hours of music playback time, 9 hours talk time and 400 hours standby time.
The W700i will ship globally during Q2 2006, with a ‘Smooth White’ colour option available in some markets.
Sony Ericsson W700 specs
Band GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
Data GPRS
Size 100mm x 46mm x 20.5mm (3.9″ x 1.8″ x 0.8″)
Weight 99g (3.5oz)
Battery Life 9 hours talk time, 400 hours standby time
Main Display 1.8″ 262k color TFT LCD, 176×220 pixel resolution
Sub-Display N/A
Camera Yes, 2.0 megapixel
Video Video capture/playback
Messaging MMS/EMS/SMS
Email Yes
Bluetooth Yes
Infrared Yes
Java Yes, MIDP v2.0
Polyphonics Yes
Memory 256MB on board memory, Memory Stick PRO Duo expansion
Sony Ericsson
4 April, 2006
Sony China Announces CE-P MP3/FM Players
Details of a snazzy new range of Sony flash memory MP3 player/FM radios with a colour display have appeared on Sony’s Chinese site.
As our Chinese translation skills are up there with our ability to understand advanced quantum physics explained in Latin, we may not be 100% accurate here, but it appears that Sony China is introducing a new range of flash memory multimedia players, under the name of the CE-P series.
Sporting attractively bijou dimensions of 75.5mm x 45.5mm, the CE-P is smaller than a credit card (but not as thin, natch) and is designed for carrying around your neck, gangsta-stylee.
The first model to be designed by the Sony China Creative Centre in Shanghai, the front of the display is dominated by a 1.5″ 260K color OLED display.
Sony’s designers have turned up the feature set to eleven, with the unit ramming in MP3/WMA playback, a built-in 87.5-108MHz FM tuner and FM radio recording, voice recording, BMP/JPEG picture display and USB 2.0 for file transfer.
The CE-P series will come in three flavours, offering storage capacity from 256MB to a 1GB.
We’ve no idea about availability in Europe and America, but pricing should be somewhere in the region of $150 (E124, £86) for the 1GB model, $125 (E103, £72)for the 512MB and $100 for the bottom-of-the-range 256MB unit.
Sony China
3 April, 2006
Leica C-Lux 1 Digital Camera Announced
Leica has released details of their new Leica C-Lux 1 camera, an ultra compact number which claims to be the world’s smallest camera with a 28mm lens.
Basically a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01 slapped in a snazzier case and rebranded as a Leica, the compact 6-megapixel digicam sports a 28mm-102mm zoom lens, a high sensitivity mode (up to 1600) and a 16:9 widescreen movie mode.
Available in black or silver, the metal-bodied C-Lux 1 is a highly pocketable affair, measuring 9.4cm x 5 cm and weighing just 160 grams with battery and SD card fitted.
The f2.8 – f5.6 zoom lens offers a normal focusing range of 50 cm to infinity, with the macro setting getting close up and personal at 5 cm at the wide position and 30 cm for telephoto.
As with the Lumix, there’s a vast array of scene modes available, including useful presets for portraits, sports, fireworks and night scenery and a rather curious ‘baby’ setting (perhaps it adds an “aaaaaah!” soundtrack?).
The C-Lux 1 offers shutter speeds ranging from 8 to 1/2000 second, with 15, 30 and 60 seconds exposures available in Starry Sky mode (unless you’ve got three legs and an inert body, you’ll need a tripod for that).
As with previous Lumix/Leica cameras, the menu system is one of the best around with lots of well-presented onscreen information.
Panasonic’s capable Optical Image Stabilisation system is also onboard to keep away the wobbles, with a hefty 2.5-inch TFT 207k colour display dominating the rear of the camera.
Early reports have commended the camera on its sharp, high resolution output, but as with the Lumix LX1 (branded as the Leica D-Lux 2) noise levels rise sharply as soon as the ISO hits 200 and above.
There are three movie modes on offer; 848 x 480 pixel (widescreen), VGA and QVGA, all at either 30 fps or 10 fps, with recording times limited by memory card capacity.
Supplied with a high-capacity rechargeable lithium-ion battery plus a posh leather case with micro-velour lining, users can expect to pay a hefty premium for the privilege of flashing a Leica-branded camera about.
Cheapskates and the less fashion conscious may want to consider buying the near-identical Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01 (see DPReview.com review).
Leica C-LUX1 specifications
6.37 Megapixels, 1/2.5 inch CDD image sensor
Leica DC Vario Elmarit ASPH lens
Optical image stabilizer
3.6x optical zoom (28-102mm in 35mm format)
JPEG (Fine/Standard) format
Video 16:9 format 848 x 480 pixels, 4:3 format 640 x 480 pixels
Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard support
ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
Auto focus
2.5 inch LCD, 207,000 pixels
Lithium Ion 3.7 V, 1150mAh battery
USB 2.0 Full speed interface
Dimensions 94.1 x 51.1 x 24.2 mm
Weight 132 grams
LEICA C-LUX 1
3 April, 2006
Toshiba HD-DVD Player: First Release In Japan
Toshiba has today released the first HD-DVD player.
The Japanese release will be a big PR boost for the HD-DVD camp in their long running battle for the next-gen High Definition DVD format with Blu-ray. Toshiba said they plan to release the HD-DVD player in the US by the middle of next month and computers equiped with HD-DVD in April-June this year.
It will retail for 110,000 yen ($934, £539, E772) and Toshiba are hoping to sell 600,000 to 700,000 of the new machines globally in the fiscal year ending in March 2007.
As we’ve all learned, it’s not just the hardware that is important, it’s the amount of content available. Toshiba said they expected to have 150-200 films available in the format by December.
The next-gen DVD players offer considerably larger levels of storage, needed because High Definition video content is much higher resolution, therefore bit-hungry. They are also taking the opportunity to store lots more content on them, in an attempt to add value. The current DVD format does not have enough storage available to hold a feature film.
Where the Toshiba-lead HD-DVD will win with the public is in the simple extension of the DVD name, incorporating HD which everyone either does know about, or will do after the advertising frenzy around this years World Cup.
The battle between the two formats has astounded many people, many of whom simply throw their eyes to the ceiling wondering how Sony could re-live the VHS vs Betamax headache for them. It’s quite clear that Sony and their partners are determined not to loose this argument, apparently at any cost.
Sony, who have been selling Blu-ray equipment in Japan since 2003, plan to start selling their next-gen player, Blu-ray in the USA starting in July with a price of around $1,000.
31 March, 2006
O2 Adds Palm Treo 650 Smarphone To Line Up
The highly rated Palm Treo 650 smart phone has won the support of another major mobile phone operator in the UK.
The Register is reporting that O2 will be offering the handset to its business customers “from next week”.
Up until now, Orange has been the sole big boy European telecom company to include the Treo 650 in their smartphone range, despite the phone’s huge popularity in America.
Rivals Vodafone, T-Mobile and O2 have preferred to only offer a selection of Windows Mobile-based devices made by HTC – including the imate JAM- as well as models from RIM’s BlackBerry range.
With Orange the sole Treo supporter up until now, rivals Vodafone, T-Mobile and O2 have preferred to offer a selection of Windows Mobile-based devices made by HTC – including the imate JAM – as well as models from RIM’s BlackBerry range.
The deal is good news for Palm who are looking to reproduce some of their TransAtlantic success in Europe, with the October 2005 opening of a R&D centre in Ireland reflecting their intent.
Helped by continuing uncertainties surrounding Research in Machines’ legal fisticuffs with NTP, shipments of both the Palm versions of the Treo smartphone have been flying off the shelves, accounting for around 75 per cent of Palm’s revenues and device shipments
Palm – who are currently celebrating the tenth anniversary of the launch of the Palm Pilot – is reported to have shifted 564,000 Treos in the last quarter (and we’re soon to join the throng after giving up on the fiddly complexities of our Windows Mobile handset).
Pricing from O2 is yet to be announced, but we reckon they’ll be knocking them out for something between £235 (~$408, ~€367) and £325 (~$581, ~€480) depending on the tariff/contract.
02 website
Treo 650
31 March, 2006
Numark CD Mix 1 DJ Player Review (88%)
Aimed at aspiring superstar DJs, bedroom mixers and club jockeys, Numark’s entry level CD Mix 1 combo is a convenient package offering dual CD transports and a basic mixer.
The all-in-one unit is a breeze to operate, with its no-nonsense controls making it easy to professionally mix tracks, with additional features onboard for the more adventurous.
The wedge shaped unit houses two matching CD players, each offering the basic cue, track skip, play/pause controls, with advanced features letting wannabe Fatboy Slims fiddle about with the pitch, search backwards and forwards through songs at variable speeds and program a sequence of tracks.
A large pair of LCD screens above each of the CD’s controls offers useful information on the modes selected and time remaining/elapsed for the playing track.
Herds of wildebeest
Mentalist DJs wishing to bring da house down with a banging set of beatmatched tunes can avail themselves of the BPM display feature which, combined with the pitch feature, should help avoid the embarrassment of a ‘train wreck’ mix.
This is when a new track is faded in slightly out of synch with the previous one. The resultant unholy cacophony of mismatched beats is often likened to the sound of a herd of wildebeest rampaging across the dance floor. Not cool.
Although it has to be said that the beatmatching facilities on the CD Mix-1 are unlikely to thrill ‘ardcore drum’n’bass heads looking to mash it up bigstyle, it’s certainly a good place to start on.
Sliders galore
For controlling output, the Numark comes with four sliders for adjusting microphone levels (for making those all-important dedications), channels one and two and a master output control.
A row of three tone controls lets you tweak the EQ levels with a matched row of coloured LEDs indicating output levels.
Both mix channels have a toggle switch for selecting CD or turntable input with a switchable cue channel for preparing the next tune – DJs will appreciate the provision of both 1/8″ and ï¿½” output sockets for headphones.
Our verdict
In use, we found the CD Mix1 to be an exemplary performer – the CD controls were responsive with no discernable lag and the sound quality was impressive for an entry unit.
The CD decks managed to play any CD we threw at it (including CD-Rs), with a handy CD auto- fader start feature making basic mixing a piece of cake – even for drunken wedding DJs.
Hooking up some turntables and blasting some vinyl through the Numark revealed some decent quality phono pre-amplifiers onboard – our old 45s sounded great!
With a street price around £240, the Numark CD Mix 1 represents remarkable value for money and, to be honest, a whole load of fun.
Hook it up to your home system, your hi-fi or zillion watt soundsystem and you’re off!
Specifications:
Dual CD player and mixer combination
+/-12% pitch control with pitch bend wheel
True continuous play, track sequence programmable
External inputs for 2 line, 1 mic, 2 phono
Fader start
Balanced output, master EQ, stereo/mono control
Power Requirements DC 12V, 2.5A
Dimensions 17 1/2″(W) x 10″(D) x 6 3/16″(H)
445mm(W) x 255mm(D) x 157mm(H)
Weight 11.5lbs. 5.2Kgs
Overall rating: 88%
Numark
30 March, 2006
Sanyo Xacti C6, World’s Smallest Camcorder
Sanyo have just launched what it’s claiming is the world’s smallest, thinnest and lightest solid state digital camcorder, the Xacti C6.
So small and cute you want to pat it on the head, the X6 measures up at just 2.7 ? 4.2 inches by 0.9 inches wide and barely troubles the scales at 159g when fully loaded with memory card and battery.
Compact enough to slide into your shirt pocket, the distinctive looking camcorder employs the same vertical ‘gun’ style seen throughout the Xacti range, featuring a swivelling 2-inch trans-reflective 2 inch, 210k colour LCD screen.
Saving space by recording straight to a SD card instead of using conventional tape, recordable DVD or hard disk, the Sanyo can grab an hour of VGA resolution (640?480 pixels) video at 30 frames-per-second on a 1 GB card using the “TV-HQ” mode (MPEG-4 bit rate: 2 Mbps).
The Sanyo’s six megapixel CCD sensor captures still images in standard JPEG-format with the camcorder claiming the world’s first 60 fps (frames-per-second) TV output, delivering playback quality that would rival a baby’s bum for smoothness.
There’s also a 5x optical zoom, 12x digital zoom and a Digital Image Stabiliser for correcting any wobbles, with the CCD sensor using 9-pixel mixing technology to record brighter and clearer video in low-light situations.
Available in three colours – gold, black and red – the Xacti has already whipped Steve’s Digicams into an enthusiastic froth, and should be available on the High Street any minute now for around £450 ($788, E652).
Sanyo
28 March, 2006
Panasonic Toughbook 74 Notebook Announced
More rugged than Chuck Norris in a suit of armour, Panasonic’s latest addition to their Toughbook notebook series is set to be introduced at the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2006 event next week.
Billed as the “ultimate road warrior PC,” the semi-rugged Panasonic Toughbook 74 Notebook is an upgraded version of the company’s Toughbook-73 13.3-inch XGA model and comes stuffed with connectivity options.
Powered by a beefy Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz Dual Core Processor, the mean, mo’fo’ Toughbook-74 comes with a 13.3″ XGA TFT Touchscreen HighBrite (Outdoor Readable) display, backed up by 512MB of RAM.
The built-in Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset, DVMT (Dynamic Video Memory Technology) provides external video support for screens up to 2048 x 1536 at 16 million colours.
In line with its rugged ambitions, the lappie is packaged in a full magnesium case with carrying handle and sports a water/spill resistant keyboard and a shock-mounted 80 GB hard drive.
Running on Windows XP, the Panasonic comes with a combo DVD/CD-RW drive, Intel Tri-band 802.11a+b/g (Wireless LAN), optional built in EV-DO WAN and Bluetooth.
Battery life has been ramped up to a claimed Mobile Mark-tested 7 to 8 hours – enough for a full day stomping around in the Great Outdoors.
Not surprisingly, all this portability, power and durability doesn’t come cheap, with a basic configuration costing around $3,000.
Specifications:
SOFTWARE
Microsoft WindowsÆ Windows XP Professional SP2 Setup, DMI Viewer, AdobeÆ Acrobat Reader, On-Line Reference Manual, Hard Disk Data Erase Utility
CPU Intel Core Duo Processor T2400: 2MB L2 cache; Processor speed 1.83GHz (Dual Core); 667MHz FSB
STORAGE & MEMORY
512MB SDRAM (DDR2) standard, expandable to 4096MB, 80GB HDD Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-R/RW) standard
DISPLAY
13.3″ 1024 x 768 XGA transmissive, daylight-readable TFT Active Matrix Color LCD with Touchscreen
External video support up to 2048 x 1536 at 16,770,000 colors
Mobile IntelÆ 945GM Express Chipset, DVMT (Dynamic Video Memory Technology) up to 128MB
460 Nit LCD Brightness
AUDIO
SigmaTel STAC9200 AC-97 v.2.3 Compliant Audio Codec
Integrated stereo speakers
Convenient keyboard volume and mute controls
EXPANSION SLOTS
PC Card Type I or II
Secure Digital (SD) Card
Express Card
MULTIMEDIA POCKET
Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-R/RW) standard
Accepts optional DVD Multi Drive (DVD-RAM/DVD-ROM/DVD-RW/CD-R/CD-ROM/CD-R/RW)
KEYBOARD & INPUT
87-key with dedicated Windows key
Electrostatic touchpad with scrolling support
Touchscreen LCD
Stylus with integrated holder
INTERFACE
External Video: Mini-D-sub 15 pin Headphones/Speaker: Mini-jack Stereo
Microphone/Line In: Mini-jack Stereo
Mini Port Replicator: Dedicated 84 pin
Serial: D-sub 9 pin (UART 16550 compatible)
USB2.0(x2): 4 pin
10/100/1000 Ethernet: RJ-45
56K bps Modem: RJ-11
WIRELESS LAN
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Network Connection with respective drivers
Slide on/off switch
Security + Authentication: LEAP, WPA, 802.1x, EAP-TLS, EAP-FAST, PEAP
+ Encryption: CKIP,TKIP,128-bit and 64-bit WEP, Hardware AES
POWER SUPPLY
Lithium lon battery pack (11.1V,7.8Ah)
Battery operation: 8 hours
Battery charging time : approximately 4.5 hours
AC Adapter: AC 100V-240V 50/60HZ, Auto Sensing/Switching worldwide power supply
Intelligent power measurement for precise battery status reporting
Pop-up on-screen battery status reporting
POWER MANAGEMENT
Hibernation, Standby, ACPI BIOS
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHT
1.7″-2.4″(H) x 12″(W) x 10.3″(D) 5.9 lbs
Panasonic Toughbooks
28 March, 2006
Butterfly FMP3 Player MP3/FM/Headphone combo
Most built-in MP3/FM/headphone combos are so bulky it looks like the user has got two halves of a tennis ball stuck on their heads, but a new headset from Japanese manufacturers Thanko looks to change all that.
The slimline silver and black headphone combo looks like a regular set of ‘cans’ (as we musos like to call them) although a selection of buttons on the left hand earpiece reveals their bolted on gizmos.
The controls let users select the FM radio or MP3 options, adjust the volume, change tracks or fiddle about with four EQ settings offering POP, Classic, Jazz, Rock and Normal.
Clearly getting carried away with claims about the unit’s diminutive size, the (ahem) ‘ButterFly’ FMP3 comes in two flavours offering 512MB and 1GB flash memory capacities, with the built in MP3 player supporting MP3 and WMA at 32 – 192Kbps data rates.
Music files can be uploaded onto the ButterFly player by drag and drop over a USB 1.1 connection (Windows only).
Disappointingly, the 76-91Mhz FM radio only offers mono output and, as far as we can see, there’s no means to record anything on to the flash memory.
Powered by a non-removable 3.7V lithium ion battery, charged over the USB connection, the hazy web translation suggests that the makers are claiming up to 700 minutes for radio play and 350 – 400 minutes of continuous MP3 playback.
Priced at 9,000 Yen ($77, £44, €64) for the 512MB version and around 58 quid for the 1GB version, they’re cheap enough to tempt people looking for what a PR company might call a ‘wireless lifestyle experience’, although we’ve no idea when – or even if – they’ll ever be shipped into Blighty.
Butterfly FMP3 Player
28 March, 2006