Summary
Works without a problem, doing all you’d expect – 78%
| US Street Price | $25 |
Review
As your collection of digital devices grows, you’ll probably find it near-impossible to stick with just the one memory card format as the pesky things keep on changing.
Looking around our office workspace we can see a depressingly long list of electronic gizmos all using different cards, including SD cards ( Pure DMX-50 DAB/CD system and iMate JAM smartphone), Sony Memory sticks (Sony V3 camera and Sony PDA), XD picture card (Fuji F10 camera) and compact flash (Nikon D70).
Getting data off these various cards usually means a trip to the back of the PC to install the various cables that came with all your camera/smartphone etc (when will they standardise all the ruddy USB connecters?!).
Things get more complicated away from home when filling your holiday bag with a lasso’s worth of different cables isn’t an attractive option.
So here’s where a USB Multi-card reader comes in handy.
With most memory card readers offering support for a huge variety of memory cards, all you need to take on the road is a single USB lead to connect the card reader to your laptop and you’re sorted!
Moreover, if you forget your camera’s battery charger while you’re away, you’ll be able to save precious battery life by using the card reader, instead of having to turn the camera on to transfer pics.
We were sadly guilty of leaving the charger for our Nikon N70 back in Blighty during out recent jaunt to NYC, and after seeing the battery levels accelerating downwards as we transferred zillions of images to our laptop, we shelled out for a cheap’n’cheerful Targus card reader, the TG-CRD14 ($25 street price).
As its name suggests, this compact little feller (9.4cm x 5.5cm x 1.9cm) can read and write to 14 different formats, including CF I&II, IBM Micro Drive, SM, SD, MMC, MS, XD and MS Pro.
Installation was a breeze – just plug in and go, with no drivers or power sources needed. Simple. And there’s even a pretty flashing LED to look at when the reader is being accessed!
The USB 2.0 interface guaranteed that files flew across to our desktop, and the reader’s multi card support, backwards USB 1.1 compatibility and Windows XP & Mac OSXM support should see us in good stead for the future.
Summary
Works without a problem, doing all you’d expect – 78%
| US Street Price | $25 |
It wasn’t that long ago that lugging around a projector was the first step on the painful route to a guaranteed hernia, but thanks to the wizardry of boffins and the onward march of technology, projectors are no longer the size of small houses.
The TDP-FF1A (try saying that with a mouthful of tea) also comes with a handy USB port to let photographers directly display their photos straight off the camera.
Also shown off at the September IFA 2005 in Berlin was Samsung’s neat Pocket Imager SP-P300M projector.
The attractive LED projector sports a contrast ratio is 1000:1 with an impressively high claimed bulb life of 10,000 hours.
Intel has been bigging up its next-generation laptop technology, claiming they will use 25 percent less power while retaining class-leading performance.
According to Intel’s marketing chief for mobile platforms, Keith Kressin, this process means that the Napa system (which includes the Yonah processor, its attendant chipset and a new wireless chip) will soak up 28 percent less power than its predecessor while managing to perform 68 percent better
The tough challenge for Intel’s engineers is shoehorning ever more powerful processors into ever-slimmer laptops while improving battery life and managing to dissipate the processor’s heat.
Out just in time for overgrown boys to stick it on their Santa wish list, Mio Technology have announced their new Mio A201 integrated GPS model.
Mio are promoting the device as a ‘go anywhere’ portable sat-nav device which can be used for drivers, mountain bikes or walkers ambling through the countryside.
There’s the usual Outlook synchronisation options available, and we rather liked the new Compass Mode designed for navigating off road on foot or on a bicycle.
Pocket PC software company SPB ran a survey of its users during November 2005, and discovered that a staggering 96% of those taking part were blokes.
As for accessories, memory cards, unsurprisingly, were the essential purchase for 85% of respondents, with 69% forking out for screen protectors. 
The vast majority of Pocket PC users (85%) connect to the internet with their machines, with 72% browsing the web, 65% checking email and 35% using instant messaging.
Ofcom has published its Digital Television Update for the third quarter of 2005, revealing that two thirds of UK households now watch digital television.
The number of households with Freeview as their only source of digital television viewing was estimated at 5,775,000 – up by 600,000 homes during the quarter. 
Digital cable subscribers now account for more than 2.6 million of the total cable television homes, increasing by more than 43,300 in the quarter, while subscriptions to analogue and digital cable television decreased slightly to just below 3.3 million in the quarter (due to a fall in analogue cable subscribers outweighing the increase in digital cable subscriptions).
When we saw MSI’s feature packed StarCam 370i knocking out for a mere £15 online ($26, €22), we thought it would make an ideal replacement for our elderly (and somewhat battle-weary) Sony cam, currently gazing out over the delights of Brixton.
A rudimentary software control panel lets users fiddle about with image/video parameters (gamma, brightness, contrast etc), and budding Jean-Luc Godard’s can select the black and white option for arty scenes.
The cam also features a built in microphone which was, as you might expect, fairly basic and lo-fi, but good enough for Internet calls.
We can, however, recommend it for anyone looking for a basic, cheap as chips Webcam for video chats with friends and relatives.
Say hello to the LG SB130-KB1300 handset, a clever-clogs, do-it-all device that can do play and pause live TV as well as deal with every multimedia-type task you can lob at it.
This memory can apparently fit up to an hour’s worth of broadcasting before it starts writing over the oldest bits with new content.
The aerial’s a bit of a beefy affair too, but we doubt if the geeky market the phone’s aimed at are going to mind.
Creative are set to take on Apple’s video-enabled fifth-generation iPod with their new Zen Vision:M player, due to be announced tomorrow.
Creative claim that the rechargeable battery can keep punters entertained for four hours in video-playback mode – twice as long as the iPod’s two hours.
It’s a shame seeing a company as, err, creative as Creative coming up with a design so obviously ‘inspired’ by the iPod, but perhaps it’s a sign that they’re signing up to a philosophy of, “if you can’t beat them, join them.”
Japan Sharp and NTT DoCoMo will be launching the SH902i FOMA, their funky new 3G clamshell phone in Japan this week.
As ever, there’s a veritable feast o’multimedia bolted on board, with the all-swivellin’, all-flippin’, shiny handset coming with an impressive 3.16 megapixel autofocus camera, an MP3 Player and the highly rated NetFront Web browser. 
The phone goes on sale in Japan on December 9th with no date set for us technology-starved folks in Britland.