The web is a fast medium: before you know it you're surfing off to other shores. So let me get the message out straight away: if you have a tight budget, love our planet, and need a computer, then put the Norhtec MicroClient Sr at the top of your shortlist! This is the smallest computer I have seen until now, and can be used in many situations to replace the larger and heavier computer system.  If you are starting with a clean slate, even better: definitely consider this tiny powerhouse! It's a small computer in physical size, uses a lot less energy. BUT let its Puppy Size not deceive you: there's a lot of power inside to address your (personal) computing and communication needs.

It'll save you money, and you'll do your share in "every watt counts". Of course economy lies in numbers: if you are deciding on tens, hundreds or even thousands of units - now that'll start adding up!
I feel this product is by no means the end of the road: it's a great working prototype on the way to smaller, and less power consuming devices. The next generation goal: not 10 watts but 1 watt for the same computing power! Just can't wait to see that kind of products hitting the market.... but for the time being, in my "digital communication laboratory" I now have very valuable tool! Writing this in 2008 AD: I'm quite happy with the progress that CAN be made IF this technology would be adopted on a large scale! Some interesting starting points on this subject: TBL and Green Computing. Out here I'm not only looking into the theory, but also getting some hands-on experience. And I can now tell you: it really works...

Sure hope I got your attention, and I would like you to read how I came to this loud and clear conclusion...

A bit of History

 Let me start at a beginning and answer these questions: from what perspective do I operate, and what was the situation before I started installing the MicroClient SR? By the way: if I'd start at THE beginning of my story, it would become an entire novel... so I'll not do that here ;)

My interest is with personal computing & digital communication: the computer as a tool, a means to an end. Compare it with a car: I like to drive, I'm not a mechanic. So you'll not find much technical jargon in my review - at least no unnecessary difficult words. I like to keep it simple, and find ways to explain complex concepts in words the rest of us understand! For the technical reader: there are many places on the web, where you can find more information than you'll ever need. Here I will tell you how I took this little machine for a test drive, what I found out about it from the (end)user's point of view.

So I "test drive" different pc's, and look for innovation in software. That's why about four years ago I installed a Compaq (Windows XP, and Linux) and a Mac Mini (MacOSX) connected to one set of keyboard, mouse, and flat screen. With a switch from A to B and back I could work on the desktop of my choice of the moment. If I got you lost: compare it to driving different cars, with different kinds of fuel, like gasoline, diesel, or lpg. Still looking for the "fuel cell car" on the road ;-)

About three years ago we were lucky to get a permanent connection to the internet, and I switched on my Mac Mini 24/7 to work as a desktop, and a personal server (in that way I could reach my information from anywhere - for instance from the internet caffee while on holiday) I chose the Mac Mini, because it was the smallest unit I could find at the time, and it takes about 30 watts, as opposed top the tower unit with some 100 watts.

Of course I have been on the look out for a unit using less energy, because or electricity bill is way too high! And now is the moment: I get a chance to meet the Norhtec MicroClient SR. I'm quite excited to see what it can do...

Time for a Change

When the little unit arrived I couldn't wait to install it, but as it turned out I had to have some patience.
As you can see on the picture, the power adaptor has two flat pins. In the Netherlands we have two round ones, so I bought a conversion plug. The shopkeeper told me, it is the only model available here. So I had to cut off the edge with a little saw to make it fit. It was a minor challenge, and it was fun. But it would be nice of Mr Norhtec if one could order the right plug straight way... As it is now: check your local situation! And yes... on the plus side: the adapter covers 110 to 240 Volts.

Once I saw the powerlight my first trials were disappointing because I couldn't get the unit to work. In the package there was no clear indication what components were inside, nor if and what operating system is pre-installed. And I didn't have a clue at that point what a CF was. It has a hard drive indicator, below the on/off indicator. So I assumed a drive inside... and expected it to be plug and play. It turned out to be plug 'n pray, with no clear "quick start guide". The documentation in pdf format, being very technical about the hardware, gave me no clues except to open up the unit and see for myself if there is a hard drive inside. Nope... so I'll have to find something else to get it going!

Now at such times I feel like a newbie all over again: someone looking at new equipment, and software for the first time. In a sense that is true: but then I feel I've become "an experienced newbie" by now. The world is a big place, and new technologies are thrown at us at an enormous rate. So keeping up with everything is a full time job. I missed out what a CF is?! Can anyone blame me for that? This time around, I learned a lot in a few days... What's my occupation? I'm an experienced newbie... ;-)

So looking back the only negative thing I can say about my experience so far, is the complete lack of a simple end user "quick start guide". As it turns out, I feel this is high quality equipment, which is - probably - mostly shipped to computer experts who know their stuff, and the ins and outs of hardware and software. With this review I'll attempt to change that: I'll include a tutorial on how I set it up! So if you read on, you can learn the easy way... and your setup should be a smooth sail.

Puppy Linux and USB Flash Drive

During the last three years I have been experimenting with Puppy Linux, and find that with every new version it becomes better. In my view the current version 4 works nicer than the other big Linux flavors I have tried (Ubuntu, Suse, RedHat/Fedora), and it now rivals the big popular commercial operating systems on the market! In some respects it is the best around: a complete, modern system in less then 100 Mb... Hey, big Giga Brothers: this little Puppy from Western Australia is starting to bark like a grown up dog ;-)

I had read about Puppy Linux (and some other flavors) on a USB stick. So I wrote an email to the manufacturer asking if that this is possible with the MicroClient Sr. Although they were very responsive, they gave me no clear "yes" or "no". Judging from what I read on the web I thought it would be worth trying: I had this 4 gb USB stick lying around anyway (which had cost me about 30 us$ at the time - they're a bit cheaper these days). The instructions on PendriveLinux.com were very encouraging, and as it turned out: if you can re-install Windows on your computer, installing Puppy Linux on a usb stick is much easier. So ease of use is no more an excuse to stay with the Big Dog... this Little Puppy is eager to learn some tricks ;-)

Energy Consumption

To confirm the amount of energy used by the different components, I put an energy meter in the socket where all the equipment draws its electricity. The router, and the phones take up a constant 10 watts: they have to be on if we want our phones to work. Turning on the Mac Mini brings it to some 40 watts, with bursts up to 90 watts with extra hard disk activities - so the average use of the Mac Mini I estimate between 35 and 40 watts. Then I have a switch that turns the monitor on and off. I was surprised to see this little 15 inch flat screen takes 60 watts in use, and 40 when on standby.

Turning on the Compaq tower it burns some 100 watts with bursts to 180 with disk activities: so there you have an average of 110 to 120 watts. That's some three times that of the Mac Mini.

Switching off all the equipment (except for the router and the phones of course), I installed the newly arrived MicroClient Sr. When I switch it on the combination draws 19 watts, with some peaks going to 24. So the estimate is on 10 watts for this tiny unit, which has no hard drive nor fans: it can work entirely off a usb-flash.

Some Calculations

Let's do some calculations to see what I will be saving compared to the Mac Mini setup I had. I'll not exaggerate it, so it should be even better. Say I save 20 watts (it's more like 30 watts), that makes: 0,02 kW x 24 hrs x 365 days = 175 kwh/year x 0,25 euro = 43 euro x 1,5 us$ = 65 us$

Did you get that? I am going to save an estimated 65 US dollars per year on energy, as compared to the Mac Mini.

The setup comes to:

MicroClient Sr $195
Shipping $45
USB 4Gb $20
Donation to Puppy Linux $10
Making it a total: $270

So compared to the Mac-Mini the break-even point 270/65 = 4,15 = just over 4 years. Although I wasn't able to obtain information on the expected life of the unit, my educated guess is: with quality - and no mechanical - components it should live at least 8 years?!

If I make the comparison with the average tower unit: let's be very conservative and say it saves 70 Watts.
0,07 kW x 24 hrs x 365 days = 613 kwh/year x 0,25 euro = 153 euro x 1,5 us$ = 230 us$/year
270/230 = 1,2 years

So compared to your average tower unit: after little over a year the savings on energy costs will have earned back the investment. This is assuming you keep the unit on 24/7 as a personal server, of course. You could make some calculations estimating the hours per year you have your unit switched on, to see what it's like for you.

Of course the "mileage" will vary with local situations, but it gives you an indication! If the above sounds all Double Dutch to you, don't worry: in plain English I would say that the MicroClient Sr uses a third of the power consumption compared to the Mac Mini, and only one tenth compared to the average tower unit. And in my situation the little unit is just as responsive / works just as fast - if not slightly faster. Having the little Norhtec machine switched on, and the other two switched off.... just feels right.... don't worry: I'll put the "big" machines to good use still!


And by the way: don't look down upon my "home grown laboratory"; many new ideas were thought out in the living room or in a garage!!! And yes: very limited research budgets, make very creative...... with legal software!!!

Why the Senior?

Why did I the choose the MicroClient Sr and not the Jr version? If I would only use the machine as a client: browsing the internet, doing some wordprocessing, making calculations in a spreadsheet - the "normal office work" - the Junior with 128 Mb RAM would have been quite sufficient. In my situation though I can use the 512 MB RAM in the Sr: besides the normal office work I want to run three instances of Comswiki (= personal server) so I can use my wikis all the time from everywhere. You wonder: what is Comswiki? Here you may find some answers!

My Cookbook

After telling you some background on how, and why I got the MicroClient Sr in good working order, you can get a head start with this cookbook.

What you will need:

• working PC with Windows/Linux, with a cd burner and a free usb slot
• cd burning software
• empty cd
• usb flashdrive preferably 2 to 4 Gigabyte
• a switch box and cabling to connect your new computer to the same keyboard, screen, and mouse (or just replace your old with the little new machine!)
• enough money on your bank account (or a kind donation from someone who has!)
• an ounce of patience
• a pinch of an adventurous spirit - because you'll leave the trodden path :-)!
• and being happy to learn something new

• go to the Norhtec Website , and order the MicroClient Sr when you're ready

• Get to know Puppy Linux
• Download the ISO and burn the cd
• Take your new liveCD for a spin, and fall in love with a Puppy that is starting to bark like a big dog ;-)
• Use the Universal installer to put your Digital Puppy on a USB Flashdrive

• Comswiki
  • Download
• Firefox Browser
  • NoScript
  • AdBlock Plus
  • Element Hiding helper

Conclusions

At the start of my review I already gave you my clear advice: do your bank account, and our planet a favor and go for this little powerhouse. If your experience will be like mine your ride won't be without wrinkles, but it will be fun and very rewarding. You'll teach your Puppy some tricks, and it'll teach you new ways of doing things! And you'll find out, that this little creature is starting to bark like a grown up dog! Of course my setup has now only been running for a week, but I am already confident that in time my Puppy Love will become a mature mutual trust and friendship for life...

INSIDE THE BOX

The Homestar PURE is shipped in a compact package which includes two northern hemisphere star discs (one with constellations marked, one without), a slew of Japanese paperwork and of course the unit itself.

Apart from a notice from Brando about the unit not being a toy, etc., everything inside is in Japanese. This isn’t really a problem however, as the Kanji is supplemented with easy to follow diagrams. And besides - after the initial shock of actually owning your own home planetarium - the Homestar PURE is extremely easy to use.

THE EGG

The Homestar PURE stands 160mm tall with a diameter of 110mm. It’s shape is reminiscent of an oversized egg in a suitably oversized egg holder. With the lid on, the unit is very neat and uniformly black except for a small white constellation and the words, “Homestar PURE.” Lifting the lid reveals a slightly smaller egg shaped dome with the same Homestar logo along with the unit’s control and setup mechanisms.

With the lid off, atop the Homestar PURE is a 35mm projection hole through which the stars are beamed up to your ceiling. When in use, a 20mm ring around the opening’s edge is used to focus the star image onto your ceiling. Unfortunately, this focusing ring doesn’t match the rest of the unit’s fairly precise build quality and makes adjusting the focus a little haphazard. More on this later.

Half-way down the side of the Homestar PURE is a small ON/OFF switch which is accompanied by a small green LED (lit during operation). Perpendicular to this switch is a small dial, which allows you to manually rotate the projection.

This small dial is also used to pull out the Homestar PURE’s disc tray, where the star disc sits. Each star disc is 60mm in diameter and a sturdy 4mm thick. The Homestar PURE comes with two discs - both of the Northern hemisphere. One disc is a clean image of the night sky, while the other has constellation lines superimposed on it. I was a little worried the constellation disc might have Kanji constellation names all over it but this was not the case. I can also report that the optional Southern hemisphere constellation disc is also devoid of text.
 
Inserting a star disc is straight forward and the tray feels fairly robust. Despite their thickness, I’d say the star discs are pretty fragile - think CDs/DVDs - as the image they contain may be tarnished should finger prints or other contaminants be introduced on their surface.

On the Homestar PURE’s underside is a small compartment holding 4xAA batteries. Batteries are not included. Powering the Homestar PURE via a power outlet is not possible.

PROJECTION

Of course, what most people have been skimming this review for is details about the quality of the actual projection. To put it bluntly, the first time I viewed the projection in a completely dark room I was completely blown away.

The Homestar PURE’s light creates an excellent image when projected at the recommended distance of 2-2.30 metres in a completely darkened room. Brando’s claim that the Homestar PURE can projection 10,000 stars isn’t unrealistic. The stars are vivid and at a glance the image is very believable, with the milky way literally presenting as thousands of tiny points of light. When you sit and study the image - admittedly after the initial shock of how good it looks - you do notice some of the Homestar PURE’s inevitable limitations.

The image at the very edge of the projection - therefore furthest from focused point - lose proportion and become blurred. The other discrepancy avid star watchers will identify is that the apparent high magnitude of brighter stars is created by projecting them as discs rather than points of light. Finally - and this isn’t really a criticism - the room really needs to be pitch black. If you can accept these shortcomings - and I suspect all but the least amateur of astronomers would - you will enjoy a magical sight of the night sky - Minus the freezing wind and pesky cloud cover.

As hinted at earlier, the focusing ring (located around the projection hole) can be used to focus the star image. While its loose fitting nature makes it a little cumbersome, it does improve the image clarity at the centre of the projection, but does little to reduce the blurred outer edges. Using the dial on the side, the star image can be rotated clockwise or counter clockwise. Rotating the image is only as smooth as your hand and while it gets the job done, it highlights the missing motorisation found in the Homestar PURE’s more expensive cousin.

CONCLUSION

While there is no doubting the Homestar is cool - and it is -  it is the kind of device that I would normally buy, use, and forget. I say normally, because the Homestar PURE has a completely brilliant feature I have neglected to mention earlier. Once turned on, the Homestar PURE automatically turns itself off after thirty minutes.

It may not be immediately apparent but this simple feature takes the Homestar PURE into a league of its own. See, we’ve reviewed ways to wake you up refreshed and now I present you with one of the most relaxing - and brilliant - ways to fall asleep.

While I am tempted to tell you that the Homestar PURE is awesome - and that you should go and buy one now - I feel the need to state that the Homestar PURE won’t replace your PC planetarium software - and certainly won’t stop you from going to a proper museum planetarium.

Despite its technical misgivings, the Homestar PURE is an excellent product. Not only is it a great conversation piece and a brilliant sleep inducer, but it is easily accurate enough to teach basic astronomy with.

And so now I will say it: The Homestar PURE is awesome - go and buy one now!

The Homestar Pure is available from Brando for $122US and comes complete with two Northern Hemisphere star discs. For those who want to see the Southern sky, Southern hemisphere discs can be purchased as a $68US option.

PLEASE NOTE: All images in this review were taken with a digital camera using a long exposure and have not been touched up or enhanced save for cropping and slight colour correction - The projection is that good! Also please be ware that the photos featured are of a projection of the optional Southern Hemisphere discs which are not normally included in the Homestar PURE package.
 

No really.

With the sheer multitude of USB Flash drives available, manufacturers must constantly try to outdo each other. Riding on the success of Asus’s Eee PC, Adata has created a specially branded Eee PC version of its sleek s701 flash drive to stand out from the crowd.

Read on for more..

Adata has a thing about creating small flash drives. We reviewed the PD-19 a while ago and while we were quite impressed, its folding mechanism seemed a little on the fragile side. Improving on the PD-19, the s701 series of flash drives does away with the less than ideal flip mechanism and runs with a neater, more secure slider format.

At 38mm long, 20.5mm wide and a tiny 8mm thick, the s701 is small enough to sit on your keyring unobtrusively. And with its sturdy design, durable enough to survive there.

The s701 comes with a lifetime warranty and claimed data retention of up to 10 years.

While the white Eee PC Edition of the s701 makes for a stylish companion to your Eee PC, the s701 range of drives are available in a variety of colours and capacities - from 2 to 8GB.

To find out more about the s701 range and where to purchase these stylish drives, visit Adata’s website. 

First Impressions
Unlike a lot of conventional Bluetooth headsets, the Dragon immediately differentiates itself with an elongated circular shape.  For those diehard Star Wars fans like myself, it evokes images of the Hapan Dragon.  At only 66 x 32 x 57 mm (HxWxH) and 25.5 g, it is a svelte little unit with an ear bud to fit just inside the ear.  The unit comes with a detachable ear wrap which I found to be a necessity in order to wear the Dragon properly.  The good thing is that it sits flush against my cheek.  The smooth curve is interrupted only by a single multi-function rocker switch.


Dragon In Flight
As expected the first time the Dragon is powered up it enters into pairing mode.  Pairing with my Nokia N80 was a breeze and by pressing the switch again once, the Dragon re-enters into discoverable mode ready for another device such as a second Callpod Dragon.

With the Dragon firmly secured, the ear bud helps to filter out background noise.  The incoming sound quality is excellent for most part although I found it to be on the softer side.  By pushing the rocker switch I can easily increase the volume, however at maximum volume the incoming sound became distorted and conversations were difficult to understand.  By bringing the volume down one notch made it clearly understandable.

The outgoing sound was not quite the same quality although it was perfectly understandable even in a noisy environment.  There was a slight hollowness and echo in my voice and a humming noise in the background once in a while.

For some reason, I was unable to use the Dragon to answer incoming calls on my phone.  It is a mildly annoying issue although not detrimental as I have a habit of looking to see who is calling before I answer.

Dragons In Tandem

Connecting two Callpod Dragon headsets together in 2-way communication mode is a straightforward process.  The first Dragon needs to be in discoverable mode and the second Dragon to be powered on with the multifunction button held down until the blue LED flashes repeatedly.


Other Features
The Dragon is rechargeable via a mini-USB port and the connector is a very firm fit.

The Dragon Upgrade Wizard is available as a free download from the Callpod website, allowing firmware updates to happen as they are released.  The installation of the Upgrade Wizard is straightforward, however I had problems getting my machine to connect to the Dragon itself.


Gripes
Aside from the volume issues I mentioned earlier, there were three other major issues I encountered with the Callpod Dragon.

Firstly for some reason, I experience consistent disconnections from the Dragon soon after I am connected on a call.  The second issue I encountered was having the Bluetooth connection to be active but no sound coming through via the Dragon.  Both of which I seem to be able to fix for a period of time by deleting the pairing from my phone and starting from scratch.  The workaround would fix the issue for a while before it returns again.

Thirdly when I have the GPS software running on my phone, there is a a delay from when the software would verbalise instructions to when the Dragon would kick in.  This usually results in me hearing just the last word of the instruction like "left" in "after 100 m, turn left".  This drove me slightly insane as I would need to disconnect the Dragon in order to hear my GPS instructions clearly, yet have to reconnect the device if I receive an incoming call.


In the Box
The Dragon headset package comes included with the following:
* Class 1 Bluetooth headset
* Large ear wrap
* AC/DC wall adapter
* Car charger
* USB charging cable
* 5-pin mini USB adapter for Chargepod
* Carry pouch
* User manual

Conclusions

The Callpod Dragon has some good points and bad points.  Brute Bluetooth strength is definitely one of the strong points with its incredible 100 m range particularly in the walkie talkie mode.  Combined with operating time of up to 8 hours of talk and 300 hours standby makes it a good proposition.  Additionally, the comprehensive charging kit covers all the bases if you do happen to run low on power.

However with my issue of Bluetooth disconnection and loss of sound coming through the Dragon, 100 m is a fair distance and I certainly can't cover that in anything close to 10 seconds.  Chances are that the problem is particular to my phone, and what would I be doing 100 m away from my phone?

The Callpod Dragon is available from here for USD$129.95.  Currently in stock is Titanium Silver and Black Chrome, with Carbon Fiber finish to be added to the product line.
 

And also: what sort of range can you expect from the RangePlus?  Will it cover your whole house? 

Let's find out.

One of the good things about ordering a router from Linksys is the confidence you can have in their product line when it comes to anything to do with wireless technology.  Their stuff just works.  And reliability is more important than good looks or having possibly all the features you could have.  Not that the box is ugly, far from it but it is rather plain and utilitarian.  It doesn't draw attention to itself and that might even be a good thing. 

Feature wise, it has probably all you would ever need except wireless-N, contrary to the idea that you might get from the literature.  The Linksys site proclaims: Much faster than Wireless-G when connected to Wireless-N.
A bit confusing as it seems to indicate support for the latter, which is not the case.  Support for wireless-N is not a big deal (yet) is most networks are based on the wireless-G protocol.

But it is very possible with the help of the Wizard to get your settings right and start enjoying the benefits of sitting anywhere in your house with your laptop and to be connected to the Internet. The wireless signals are protected by industrial strength encryption and your network is protected from Internet attacks by an SPI firewall.
The only small hiccup I encountered was trying to guess at the default password which normally is Admin...

As with most wireless routers, the RangePlus is in fact three devices in one box. First, there is the Wireless Access Point, which lets you connect to the network without wires.

There is also a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100 Switch to connect your wired Ethernet devices together.

Finally, the Router function ties it all together and lets your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection.

The RangePlus is equipped with Multiple In, Multiple Out (MIMO) technology.

Normally, wireless networking technologies are confused by signal reflections but the WRT100 actually uses these reflections to increase the range and reduce dead spots in the wireless coverage area. How does this translate into real range in your house or office?
I've got a pretty large house and with the router in the middle of the house you have absolutely no problems in reaching the furthest vestiges. 

However, my office is in one corner of the house and the lounge a fair distance away.  In this situation I noticed a distinct drop off of signal strength.  I might play around a bit more with the router positioning to get an optimal signal throughout the whole house.  Much depends also on how many walls or floors the signals have to traverse.

As a side note: I'm all for wireless technology as I hate the mess that wires can create.  There is one area of concern though: I would not set up any wireless devices that emanate strong signals too close to my body.  I'm careful with my mobile phone and will be even more careful with the powerful signals coming from any wireless router.  Find a good place for this device away from your desk if possible-just to be on the safe side.

• very reliable
• easy to set up
• excellent range
• extensive security features
• good value for money at well under AUD100. Similar for US dollar prices.
  

There are virtually no negative points which makes the Linksys WRT100 RangePlus an excellent buy if you are in the market for a wireless router.
Highly recommended.

Computerworld

At a Glance

As a network storage solution, the DNS-323 has everything the tech savvy user would expect: Gigabit Ethernet, dual SATA drives, print server capability via USB, Auto HD spin-down settings and of course RAID. The package contains a power supply, as well as a user guide along with some other miscellaneous paperwork.

The unit is finished in stylish black aluminium and at 19.5 x 10 x 12.5cm is a little larger than three 3.5” hard disk drives. There is an on/off button located on the front in the form of a D-Link logo - which is just above three LEDs providing network and drive access notification.

The rear is populated by an exhaust fan vent, a USB port, Gigabit Ethernet and a power supply port. On either side of the fan vent rest two sturdy hard drive removal levers, should you want to upgrade or replace a failed drive.

Internally, the unit contains two SATA drive bays which are almost too easily accessed by simply sliding up the unit's face plate.

What is a NAS RAID Box Anyway?

NAS stands for Networked Attached Storage and refers to a storage device that connects directly to your network via Ethernet (or sometimes wifi). This allows the unit to be accessed by any computer on your network - or even across the Internet. Unlike regular external hard drives, NAS devices do not need to be directly attached to a computer to function.
 
RAID used to be associated with expensive high end servers but as consumer data has increased in size and importance - RAID is becoming more and more available to average-Joe consumers. RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive/Independent Disks and is basically a technology to improve reliability and performance of large amounts of storage space.

There are many RAID levels but the DNS-323 supports the two most common in the consumer market - RAID 0 and RAID 1. With the DNS-323, RAID 0 (also known as spanning) allows you to set up the two SATA drives to appear as one large drive. For example, two 750GB drives would appear as approximately 1500GB. I say approximately because with overheads and inconsistencies in how we count mega/gigabytes, one is always short changed. Without getting technical, RAID 0 offers an improvement in drive performance but offers no fault tolerance. If one of the two installed drives fail, all data is lost.

RAID 1 (also known as mirroring) sets up two drives as a mirrored set which usually provides little (if any) improvement in performance, but offers excellent protection against hardware failure. In a RAID 1 configuration, the two hard drives in the DNS-323 contain exactly the same information. This online backup comes at a price, however: The two 750Gb drives from our earlier example would allow for only 750Gb of usable storage space, albeit with far greater resistance to hardware failure.

Setup

After dropping in two 750GB SATA drives, I plugged in the power cable, connected the DNS-323 to my router via gigabit Ethernet cable and was ready to go. I pushed the unit’s D-Link/on button which started to flash blue as it fired up. I quickly jumped into my router setup page and found that the D-Link had been issued the the next available IP address via DHCP. I opened a new browser tab, typed in the address and wammo.. a neat login screen met me.

For those less willing to find the network address via their router, D-Link also provides a small tool for locating the DNS-323. The D-Link Easy Search utility also allows you to easily map the device to a drive letter and offers a direct link to the DNS-323’s configuration page. Being my first adventure in NAS/RAID boxes, I found it very easy to setup the device without this tool but its inclusion should help make the transition to mass network storage a little easier for Joe “What the hell is an IP address?” Average.

After logging in (via a web browser) I quickly ran through the configuration pages and effortlessly had the DNS-323 turn my two 750GB hard drives into a single RAID 1 (mirrored) drive. As mentioned earlier, RAID 1 mirroring effectively halves the storage capacity but provides excellent peace of mind. In short - should one drive fail, the other will act as a completely up to date mirror of the failed drive.

The DNS-323 buzzed away and a progress meter appeared in my browser to let me know how the RAID initialisation was going. About ten minutes later my browser displayed, “SUCCESS” and prompted to me to reboot the DNS-323. I’ve always considered RAID and NAS to be a little on the technical side, but this was child’s play.

After a reboot I was up and running. I spent the next few hours transferring data to the drive from various destinations across my network without any problems. While transferring my files to the DNS-323 it got rather warm to the touch, but I suspect this is the whole point of the heat dispersing aluminium casing. Throughout the transfers, the box reported temperatures no greater than 49 degrees Celsius.

Considering the room temperature was in the thirties during the transfer, I found the temperature of the device to be quite acceptable. Under more sedate conditions, the unit displaced far less heat and was merely warm to the touch - even under load. Typical temperatures reported were in the high 30s.

Living with the DNS-323

Over the past two months, the DNS-323 has become the hub of all our family’s data from audio/video to office documents and it hasn’t missed a beat. The drive is incredibly handy and really, once all the bulk of your data has been transferred to it, the DNS-323 looks after itself.

The unit automatically sets up global access to the NAS at (IP address)/volume_1. This can be overridden by setting up users or groups of users and be used to limit access to specific areas of the drive/limit privileges - ie: read only access.

The unit has built in FTP server/Universal Plug and Play AV Server/ITunes Server capabilities and if required a DHCP server can be engaged.

Print Server

I connected my Canon IP4300 photo printer to the DNS-323 via USB and after turning it on, found it was recognised by visiting the DNS-323’s status page. Setting up a printer was relatively easy - after I worked through an odd problem. While originally setting up the DNS-323 I gave it the network device name, “NASbox” which caused me some trouble. It appears that either Windows XP or the DNS-323 had a problem with the capital letters in the device name. When I changed the name to “nasbox” (all lower case) everything worked fine, however.

Browsing to the unit's IP address (in Windows explorer) revealed the shared folder Volume_1 as well as the newly connected networked printer, oddly named “IP.” Double clicking the printer caused Windows to prompt me to install the drivers - which I did. Quite simple really.

While I had relatively little trouble setting up the printer, it is worth noting that the manual is fairly light in this regard. To help out less technical users, D-Link could perhaps add a printing wizard to either the DNS-323’s setup page or provide assistance via its “Easy Search” utility.

The device ran fairly quietly - even when under load - and never got hot enough to warrant any sort of concern. When creating users, the unit imposed an eight character password limit which is a little low for my liking but beyond this, the DNS-323 has little going against it.

In fact, the only improvements I would suggest would be to add a “magic packet” power on feature and perhaps the ability to plug in an external drive via USB. Of course, after all is said and done, snazzy features are not what a RAID NAS box is all about. It’s about peace of mind.

And in this regard it passed admirably: The more I used the unit, the more convinced I became that the DNS-323 was a trustworthy storage solution for my family's precious data.

The D-Link DNS-323 has a street price of around $300AU and is available now. For more information, including where you can pick up one of these sleek boxes, surf on over to D-Link’s website.

Watts in a name?  Well, that must have something to do with electricity, doesn't it? 

It's pretty elementary as Sherlock Holmes would say to his inquisitive offsider, Watson.

I love the name that DIY Kyoto has given to this energy monitoring device. 

Do It Yourself Kyoto is also pretty indicative of the type of company behind this. 

So let's see what the Wattson is capable of telling us apart from all the pretty colours and numbers.

If you have been reading DigitalReviews.net from way back you will know that we have a passion for being able to monitor our energy use.  See for instance the review we did on the Kill-a-Watt Energy Monitor a few years ago.  This device was conceived to basically to monitor individual appliances.  The Wattson however will monitor your total electricity use and displays it on a cool looking device.

And this is probably the whole point of the Wattson: the device is so good-looking with its enigmatic glowing colours that emanate from it and with big red numbers displayed on the top that it has to be a talking point in your family and with friends that visit you.  Which directs you to the energy consumption at that very moment. Do you really need to have all these lights switched on?  Particularly when the Wattson is glowing red-hot, indicating pretty heavy electricity consumption, see what you can switch off.

Mind you, the Wattson itself does use some electricity as you may suspect.  Admittedly, it's only some 5 Watts but still, you would not want it wind powered, would you? The other, not so tree-hugging aspect, is that the wireless box that clips on to the main electricity cable, also uses electricity in the form of four AA batteries.  They last only six months on average even though you can set the device to transmit data less frequently so that you can stretch out this time to about 12 months.  I just wonder if it would have been possible to use induction to power the wireless box? It may not generate enough power as it has to transmit data over some 100 meters.  If there are any obstacles, like walls, in between than this is may be reduced to 30 meters.

Installation

It's pretty straightforward and relatively simple to install a Wattson. The manual (on recycled paper, of course) is a pleasure to read. Then it's a matter of clipping something around one of the main electricity cables in your meter box...

That is, if you can see one.  In my case the electricity box on the house was so neatly organised with all the main cables tucked away behind a panel, that I was not game to discover any further.  However, we also have a main panel located about 60 m from the house.  You can see from the picture that it was not quite that easy.  I had to gingerly grapple the only cable that I could see which had a bit of slack. 

There is another complication with the type of setup that I have here at home.  We have a so-called Smartmeter which has different tariffs according to the time of day. The idea behind this Smartmeter is of course to encourage electricity consumption outside of the peak times which the company stimulated by lower tariffs.  Well, that lasted a few years until those tariffs have been jacked up as well...

So the Wattson will not correctly indicate the real cost as we have four different tariffs instead of one!  However, you can still get a fairly accurate reading of the total kilowatts that are being consumed.  I have always been doing that myself anyway on the first of every month.  I have an historical record going back many years as we have to read the meters ourselves and send the readings to the electricity company every couple of months.

The Wattson will help you do this monitoring for up to 60 days through the Holmes software which you can use to tweak the numbers. The software can be downloaded for the DIYKyoto site.  If using too much electricity is an (ecological) crime, then Holmes is the ideal partner in crime detection!

Using and Reducing

So once the wireless transmitter has been installed in the meter box it's time to plug-in the main display unit.  There's only one button on the device and that is a toggle switch to display both the colours and the numbers, numbers or colours only and a night mode.  Cool blue is good, hot red is bad for your wallet.  I was surprised to see that with only my desktop plugged in (sure, it's a big one) the unit already displayed an indigo colour.

Initially I had the unit installed in the kitchen, being closest to the wireless transmitter.  Later on I unplugged it and walked around the house with it to see how much range I could get out of it.  Yes, it made it to the lounge and to my office but at other locations I got the message Out of Range on the display.  It's good to see that this unit also has rechargeable batteries even though they last only a few hours or so.  It is handy to take it with you to different locations in the house to see the immediate effect on the unit as you switch on the big fellas like the heaters, dishwashers and washing machines.

The Wattson displays the cost in British pounds but the currency can be changed with the software.  I think that it's an effective deterrent to using lots of electricity when the Wattson displays the total cost of what you are using currently if you left it on for a whole year!

And very interesting is also that the Wattson makes use of tilt technology.  By tilting the Wattson the unit of measurement changes from Watts to pounds per year (this is currently set at 30 pence per kilowatt hour)

Deduction

The Wattson from DIY Kyoto costs about £150 which translates into just under $300 US.  That's not inexpensive and there are a few cheaper alternatives on the market, particularly in the UK.  The Wattson though is the Rolls-Royce where you do pay for a prestigious display. Personally, I like it very much and not just because of its good looks.  Saving electricity is a family affair: I cannot be the policeman to switch off the devices in the house after everyone else.  Everybody needs to be convinced about it and the Wattson makes it painfully clear to everybody in the lounge when things are left switched on unnecessarily.  There is the danger that, for instance in winter time when a lot of heating is required, people get used to seeing red...

The Wattson can also make it very clear that something has been left on inadvertently and as such can really make a difference in your wallet.  Highly recommended.

Technical Specifications

    * Able to measure single, twin and three phase systems (extra clips required).

    * 12.5KW max per phase.

    * 1W resolution of display.

    * 14 segment LED digital display.

    * RGB LED full colour ambient light.

    * 32kb non-volatile EEPROM internal memory

    * 433Mhz transmitter / receiver, approx. 30m range.

    * 3 – 20 second refresh rate, user changeable.

    * 3 – 6 month battery life (Sensor).

    * USB 1.0 and 2.0 compatible.

    * USB-A to USB mini-A cable supplied.

    * Currency changeable: £. $, €.

    * Casings made from Polycarbonate, Polypropelene and ABS.

    * Display: 105mm X 170mm x 55mm.

    * Transmitter: 110mm x 84 mm x 26 mm.

    * Software Mac and PC compatible.  World from

A slew of Seagate drives landed on our desk the other day in the middle of what seems like the hard drive hunting season: after the initial flurry of excitement about increased SSD capacities it looks like hard drives are back in the limelight with new capabilities.

 

We will be doing in-depth reviews on a number of them such as the Drobo robotic storage system, the Rebit and hopefully also the Seagate BlackArmor.

For now, let's have a very quick look at what else Seagate offers:

Maxtor OneTouch 4

Available in:

* 250 GB

* 500 GB

* 750 GB

* FEATURES & BENEFITS

Automated OneTouch™ Backup Back up your files with a push of a button or set up the software to perform automatic backups.

USB 2.0 Interface Plug and play.

750GB Capacity. Stores 240,000 digital photos, or 750 hours of digital video, or 12,495 hours of digital music.

7200 RPM, 16 MB cache buffer

Easy to Use Interface for drive management and backup scheduling.

Simple setup

* SPECIFICATIONS

Hard Drive 3.5 inch ATA with ATA 133 interface

RPM 7200

Cache Buffer 16MB

Interface

* USB 2.0 and 1.1 compliant

Sustained Transfer Rate

* USB 2.0 33MB/sec

Bus Transfer Rate

* USB 2.0 480Mb/sec

Dimensions 2.5 x 5.88 x 6.75 in (63.5 x 149.35 x 171.45 mm)

Weight 2.2 lbs (1 kg)

AC Voltage 100-240 VAC

Input Frequency 47-63 Hz AC

Compatibility Mac and PC

PC Requirements

* Pentium III, 500 MHz equivalent processor or higher

* Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, Business

* Microsoft Windows XP Home, Professional, Media Center Edition

* CD-ROM drive for Maxtor SafetyDrill™

* 256MB RAM or more as required by operating system

* Internet connection (for software updates)

Macintosh Requirements

* Mac OS X 10.4.7 or later

* 256MB RAM or more as required by operating system

* Internet connection (for software updates)

* WHAT'S INCLUDED

External hard drive

Backup and OneTouch Manager software applications

USB 2.0 cable

External AC power supply

Quick start guide

Maxtor 5-Year Limited Warranty

Review:

http://www.macworld.com/article/131802/2008/01/maxtoronetouch4.html

Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500GB

Specifications

 Capacity: 500GB
 Form factor: 3.5”
 Interface: USB 2.0
 Spindle Speed: 7200RPM
 Cache: 8MB
 Warranty: 5-year limited warranty
 Weight: 2.0 kg
 Dimension: 7.5" tall x 1.6" thin (without 3.2" wide base) x 6.4" deep

Warranty1 Year Manufacturer's return to base.

Review:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/should-you-sign-this-freeagent%3F/seagate-freeagent-pro-portable-hard-drive-review-and-gallery-258350.php

Seagate FreeAgent Go 160GB

Specifications

Capacity: 160GB

Form factor: 2.5”

Interface: USB 2.0

Spindle Speed: 7200RPM

Cache: 8MB

Warranty: 5-year limited warranty

Weight: 1.5 kg

Dimension: 17.7 tall x 121.9 wide x 99 mm deep

Warranty           1 Year Manufacturer's return to base

Review:

http://reviews.cnet.com/hard-drives/seagate-freeagent-pro-usb/4505-3186_7-32378630.html

Is the Popcorn Hour A-100 the new High Definition equivalent?

Read on for our review..

Introduction

I am a little ashamed to say it, but when a friend first mentioned the Popcorn Hour, I had no idea what he was talking about. It’s a media centre: Full HD - Plays everything - Under $200US. This sounds like one of those “Choose two” quips - but not this time.

The Popcorn Hour A-100 is a small box the size and shape of a 3.5” external hard drive enclosure that costs less than a reputable DVD player and plays back every media format known to man. Okay - Maybe that is an exaggeration, but the simple fact is that I’d go out on a limb and say that the A-100 can playback 90+% of video currently found on the Internet today.

A Closer Look

The quaint little box measures 13.5 x 27 x 4cm and is well finished with a glossy front and gunmetal grey aluminium on the top and bottom. The two side panels are made up of small metallic pieces of mesh which help keep the unit cool under load. The front panel has three indicators lights, two USB ports and the words “Network Media Tank” adorned on the front.

The top of the box features a large Popcorn Hour logo. Please be aware that when I say box I really mean small box - The unit is positively tiny compared to everything else in my TV cabinet.

The back of the unit features an array of connections which cater for most, if not all current generation audio/video playback options: Composite, S-Video, Component, RCA Audio out, Coaxial S/PDIF and HDMI. The Popcorn Hour A-100 also features an Ethernet port for streaming videos (and more) as well as a fairly standard 12V/3A plug port.
 
Amazingly, the inside of the A-100 is mostly empty space. A small circuit board shows off its compact design with the main chip cooled via a heat sink. The Sigma Designs SMP8635 is arguably the number one video playback chip on the market today. It is also important to note that there are no fans in the A-100, making it perfectly silent during operation - With one, albeit large caveat which I will reveal a little later.
 
The A-100’s interior appears far too spacious until you realise there’s an IDE connector off to one side, along with the screw holes needed to affix the drive.
 
So, let’s recap: The A-100 is a small box that can playback squillions of file formats (right up to 1080p), comes in a tiny form factor, can fit a 3.5” hard drive within it, has digital audio out, HDMI output, an Ethernet port and two USB ports.

But wait.. there’s more.

The A-100 can be used as a NAS drive, Bittorrent download box, online media (YouTube, etc.) player and even a DVD player when a compatible external USB DVD-ROM drive is attached.

In the box, the A-100 is accompanied by a quick start guide, a few introductory notes, a fairly hefty looking HDMI cable, a remote control, two AA batteries, an internal PC power connector converter cable and a universal Power brick with US cord.

Wow.

Interface

After unpacking the unit, I hurriedly found an old power cable lying around (the unit ships with a /non Australian/ cable) and plugged the unit in. In complete silence, the A-100’s opening screen appeared on my old SD television: A full colour Popcorn Hour logo with some text recommending I back up my hard drive regularly. Not confidence inspiring, but valued information I suppose.

It is at this point that I realised the unit has no ON/OFF button. The unit can be put into a stand-by mode via the remote which switches off all video output, but retains power so that the NAS/Bittorent functionality can continue to operate while the unit is turned off.

After a few more seconds, the unit become interactive with its white on blue user interface.  The interface is plain but generally functions well. I say plain because I’m inevitably comparing the interface to XBMC. The fluent and intuitive Project Mayhem III skin of XBMC has had many years to mature and is just about perfect. In comparison, the A-100’s interface is plain and simple. Having now used the A-100 for two months, I can happily say the interface does get the job done, albeit without any frills or glossy thumbnails.

The A-100s menu system is again, simple but generally intuitive. The setup menu allows you to configure most things you would expect in a box of this kind, including how digital audio is handled (analogue or optical output), network settings, etc.

Usage

I had little problem setting up the A-100 so that it was able to access my existing network shares but found an annoying flaw in its network implementation. The firmware shipped had no provision to store network passwords for future use. And here is where the rose coloured glasses lose focus, somewhat.

The network saving issue was one of many small niggly things that annoyed me during testing. While I understand that the latest firmware iteration fixes this issue - and the Popcorn team need to be commended for their regular updates - The A-100’s operation two months in, feels a little unfinished. Not enough to put me off the machine, but enough for me to vocalise my open annoyance at this “always in beta” mentality technology companies seem to have adopted these days.

After I installed a 750GB 3.5” drive and began loading it up with videos to test I came across the second major annoyance - Due to a bug, the unit was unable to spin down the hard drives. Some may argue that this isn’t such a big deal, but with no /off/ button, the drive would be running 24/7.

While I understand this has also been fixed with updated firmware, I found the A-100 with an internal drive installed to be far too loud and too hot to be a worthwhile proposition. With a hard drive installed, the temperature of the A-100’s lid was very hot - too hot for my liking - and the vibrations it caused produced a horrible humming sound throughout my living room.

After removing the drive, the unit returned to its cool and completely silent operation. While this meant a loss of Bittorrent and NAS support, I felt this was the best course of action. If you were to install a drive in this device, I would recommend an expensive (and near silent) media drive or better yet, with some slight modifications, a low RPM 2.5” laptop drive which should reduce heat and noise.

In any case, I quickly found streaming videos over my home network worked so well, that installing an internal drive seemed redundant.
 
Video Playback

We’ve had the Popcorn Hour for about two months and in all our tests - we’ve tried at least two hundred different videos of various formats, codecs and resolutions - only five files refused to play properly. And in all five cases, it appears that the files themselves had issues. Two refused to play on our codec rich PC and upon closer scrutiny, the other two appear to have had VBR (audio) issues. The final problematic file refused to play because the audio was not interleaved properly.
 
The best way to sum up our playback test results is to say that we found it incredibly hard to get the Popcorn Hour to not playback our files. 720p, 1080p. All flawless. AC3 - no problem. This goes for playback from an internal drive, external USB drive (connecting a generic USB drive via USB), streamed via wired Ethernet or even via external USB DVD-ROM drive.

In a bit of cross-reviewing I connected the USB Geek DVD-ROM drive via single USB cable and the A-100 happily played back region free DVD content from it.

The image quality was excellent bar a strange contrast issue. When initiating playback, the A-100 seems to adjust the contrast, /lightening/ the image as it displays a short “buffering” message. This new brightness is retained during playback washing the picture out somewhat. Adjusting the image to reduce the contrast - using my TVs “cinema” button - completely cured the problem, but one can’t help to think that this is yet another annoyance that should/will eventually be rectified in a future firmware release.

Beyond this contrast issue, the picture was stunning, with bright colours and incredible detail. To once again use XBMC as a baseline, old videos which looked mildly blurry on the Xbox looked much brighter and sharper using the Popcorn Hour. While it pains me to say it, in picture quality terms, the A-100 left XBMC for dead. In fact, it left me wondering how much use my Onkyo DVD player would be getting in the future!

All content played back incredibly smoothly and no matter how complicated a scene we could throw at it, the A-100 produced silky smooth 1080p playback. And that is the thing about this unit - Basic video playback of all formats was simply breathtaking. Upscaling of lower resolution content was also excellent. In picture quality terms, the A-100 easily put much more expensive equipment to shame.

The Beta Blues

As stated above, the unit’s output quality is excellent - I’d say exemplary. Where the A-100 drops off this mark is quite literally everywhere else. Now this isn’t to say everything else is rubbish - It’s not - and not by a long shot - but when compared to the breadth and quality of video playback, everything else feels somewhat unfinished. One way to look at it is that all development was put into playback first and foremost, to the detriment of interface, bug free functionality, etc.

•    When initiating playback, the A-100 buffers content which grates a little - particularly when buffering 1080p content over its 10/100T Ethernet connection. While bearable, the A-100 would benefit from a Gigabit connection.

•    Fast forwarding and reviewing content is unavailable with higher resolution video and subtitle support, while improving with each firmware update, is really not 100% complete as at the time of writing.

•    As I’ve already mentioned, the interface is lacklustre and should really allow for skinning or at the very least, the use of custom/content generated thumbnails.

•    The A-100 is unable to read within RAR files or create and recall bookmarks for all file formats. Again, these are both throw-backs to XBMC which works so well.

Of course, these complaints are really matters of polish. Would I trade these imperfections for a reduction of codec/file format support or lower image resolution/quality: Of course not, and that is the real kicker.

In this reviewer’s opinion, despite its annoyances, the A-100 is currently the most affordable and best game in town.

Specifications

Connectivity

• Bonjour
• UPnP SSDP
• DLNA
• Windows Media Connect
• Windows Media Player NSS
• SMB
• NFS
• HTTP servers: myiHome, WizD, SwissCenter, MSP Portal, Llink, GB-PVR
• BitTorrent P2P
• NAS access : SMB, NFS, FTP

Web services

• Video : YouTube, Google Video, MetaCafe, VideoCast, DL.TV, Cranky Geeks
• Audio : iPodcast, Radiobox, ABC News
• Photo : Flickr, Picasa
• RSS feed : Yahoo! Weather, Yahoo! Traffic alerts, Yahoo! Stock, Cinecast, Traffic Conditions.
• Peer-to-peer TV : SayaTV
• Internet Radio : Shoutcast

Media files supported

• Video containers:
  • MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V)
  • MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG)
  • MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS)
  • VOB
  • AVI, ASF, WMV
  • Matroska (MKV)
  • MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4
• Video codecs:
  • XVID SD/HD
  • MPEG-1
  • MPEG-2
    • MP@HL
  • MPEG-4.2
    • ASP@L5, 720p, 1-point GMC
  • WMV9
    • MP@HL
  • H.264
    • BP@L3
    • MP@L4.0
    • HP@L4.0
    • HP@L4.1
  • VC-1
    • MP@HL
    • AP@L3
• Audio containers:
  • AAC, M4A
  • MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA)
  • WAV
  • WMA
• Audio codecs:
  • WMA, WMA Pro
  • AAC
  • MP1, MP2, MP3
  • LPCM
• Audio pass through : DTS, AC3
• Photo formats : JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
• Other formats:  ISO, IFO
• Subtitle formats : SRT, SMI, SUB, SSA

DRM

• Cardea DRM (WMDRM-ND)

Chipset

• Sigma Designs SMP8635

Memory

• 256MB DDR SDRAM, 32MB Flash

Audio/Video outputs

• HDMI v1.1 (up to 1080p)
• Component Video (up to 1080p)
• S-Video
• Composite Video
• Stereo Analog Audio
• S/PDIF Coax Digital Audio

Interface

• 2x USB 2.0 host
• Parallel ATA

Network

• Ethernet 10/100

Power

• 12V DC, 3A

Dimension

•  Width 10.5"(270mm) x Depth 5.25" (132mm) x Height 1.25" (32mm)

Weight

•  2.2 lbs (1Kg)

Package Content

• NMT A-100 (HDD not included)
• 100~240V Power Adapter and 3 Prong Flat US Power Cord
• 1.5M length HDMI cable
• Remote Control with 2 "AAA" batteries
• Quick start guide

Conclusion
 
The Popcorn Hour A-100 is one of the new breed of hardware devices which looks as if it will forever be in beta. While the firmware has already been updated since we received our unit - and solved some issues - it isn’t complete. And I suspect it will never be.

The A-100’s video playback is superb and I’d rate the firmware as 90%+ complete in this area. Some notable caveats are fast forwarding HD content as well as some minor subtitle issues. Decoding of video and general playback of common video formats found on the internet, however, is excellent - The best I have ever seen.

The features and general user Interface however is a little undercooked. Annoyances like not being able to remember network passwords, plain interface, lack of skinning or thumbnail support, etc. suggests the firmware is far less complete in this regard. Having said this, I found our review unit to be generally stable, with a remove the power cord reset being required only a handful of times.

Despite all these misgivings, I am totally sold on the unit - While making it look nice and making it run bug free are things all hardware should do out of the box, the reality is this unit is here to playback video - and this it does very well.
Add to this a little faith that the Popcorn Hour people will slowly weed out these annoyances with continued regular firmware updates and the A-100’s value is unbeatable.
 
Do I miss XBMC: Yes. But watching movies in 1080p with zero slowdown or pixelation issues trumps glossy icons and reading within RAR files every time.

Sorry team XBMC, but the king is dead. Long live the King.

The Popcorn Hour A-100 is available for purchase directly from the Popcorn Hour website for $179US.

Read on for the low down on this compact unit.

In the box

The USB Slim Portable DVD-ROM package comes complete with a brief manual, an 8cm driver disc and two USB connector cables. The standard USB A/B cable is supplemented by a USB to power cable.

The drive is very neatly designed and from a distance, appears to be composed of the same black material of Arthur C. Clarke’s monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Upon closer scrutiny however, the uniform blackness gives way to small details: The front of the drive has moulded “Compact Disc” and “DVD-ROM” logos, which are accompanied by a small eject button and green LED. The customary /paperclip/ hole for manually ejecting discs is also where you would expect it to be.

The base of the unit has four small rubber stoppers as well as some etched information about the drive’s fragility and the importance of reading the manual - A little rich considering how thin the manual is, really.

The rear of the unit features a female B type USB port along with a generic power port for use with the included power to USB cable. All in all, the drive is a very neat package with tight seals, clean edges with a minimum of fuss.

Usage

While the drive comes with two USB connectors - one for data and one for power - the DVD-ROM drive worked flawlessly on every computer we tested it on, with just the regular A/B USB connector connected.

When connected to our Windows XP machine, control panel reported the drive to be a “HL -DT -ST RW/DVD GCC -4244N USB Device” with 2Mb buffer. The drive reports that it can read the following media types:

•    CD-ROM
•    CD-R
•    CD-RW
•    DVD-ROM
•    DVD-R
•    DVD-RW
•    DVD+R
•    DVD+RW
•    DVD+R DL
•    DVD RAM

We had no problems reading a variety of discs in this drive and in basic CD-R read tests, the drive produced a random access seek time of around 50ms and a maximum read speed of just over 17x or 2592kB/s.

While the drive’s write features are relegated to the Compact Disc (non DVD) realm, it does support buffer underrun protection. Both CD-R and CD-RW recording is supported with a reported maximum speed of 24x.

We managed to burn a 677Mb (77:02 minute) CD-R of random data in 5 minutes, 36 seconds with a peak write speed of just over 20x using Verbatim media.

It is also worth mentioning that in both read and write tests, the drive produced little noise - even at full speed.
 

Conclusion

Throughout our testing the USB Slim Portable drive was connected to a variety of computers and performed without any problems in all instances.  In fact, when we connected the drive as part of our Popcorn Hour A-100 review, the device was recognised by the unit instantly and played back DVD video flawlessly.

First Impressions
The BT5020 headset is a work of art with its minimalistic approach, ultra slim profile and matt black finish on the broad side.  Only 9 mm thick, the headset has polished black finished edge, and buttons for volume control, power and call response.  The latter two buttons are separated by a micro USB charge port.
 
The A7010 hub is smallish complete with a corporate matt black finish and looked great next to my Linksys desk phone.  The top surface of the A7010 is interrupted only by a single raised button used for pairing devices.  The main controls are hidden underneath a removable cover as they are generally not required once the initial set up is completed.


Initial Configuration
As you would expect with any Bluetooth headset, the pairing with the mobile phone was simple and straightforward.  At the mature end of this particular technology I expected no less.

The A7010 hub on the other hand, was slightly more complicated due to its particular requirement depending on the desk phone type.  Whilst the function of the A7010 does not change, the physical connections from the desk phone to the A7010 depend on:
  * availability of headset port on desk phone;
  * availability of phone lifter; and
  * whether the headset port is of a RJ11 socket.

My desk phone has a standard 3.5 mm jack for headsets and there was no phone lifter.  This necessitated the standard earpiece from the phone to be connected to the A7010, and a (supplied) cable from the A7010 to be connected to the desk phone.  The exercise was simple and straightforward.  The A7010 has a dedicated power supply which is small enough to not encroach over a single power socket space.

The pairing of the A7010 and BT5020 was again straightforward.  The A7010 can be put into pairing mode by holding down the single button on top of the unit until the LED glows blue.  This indicates that the A7010 is in search mode and will remain in that state for five minutes.  The BT5020 needs to be put into pairing mode as well.  I managed to get everything connected and paired on the first go without any issues.


Jabra in Action
As earpieces go, the BT5020 is small and lightweight, comfortable enough to wear for an extended period.  The controls takes a little getting used to as the device is so light.  Initially I found that when I pushed the volume buttons I would also hit the power button or hang up button by accident.  After a few days of irregular usage, I found that I was better able to control my thumb position so that for the most part I would not inadvertently hang up my phone calls.

The A7010 has two controls underneath the cover.  The first is a dial tone switch which assists in finding the setting with the clearest sound.  The second is a microphone volume controller which regulates how loud you sound to the listener.  In my case I had to move the dial tone switch to the "F" setting, and microphone volume just a shade under “medium”.


User Experience
The sound quality of the BT5020 headset was excellent, with clear crisp inbound and outbound sounds.  The outbound quality was such that in most cases the receiver was oblivious to the fact that I was using a Bluetooth headset.  The noise cancelling algorithm worked a treat.  Even when driving at speed with the windows down, I found my listeners were aware of a noticeable change in the sound but unable to definitively identify the change.

The vibrating alert on the headset is a feature that I have not had previous exposure to.  I found the vibrating alert highly effective though mildly disconcerting (to have an object vibrating on my ear).  The BT5020 also gives audio (in ear) and visual cue when there is an incoming call via the LED on the headset.


Gripes
I have two little gripes to note.  The earpiece which is on a rotating stalk to make the BT5020 interchangeable for both left and right ear use is a little too easily rotated. I found that sometimes I would rotate the earpiece without meaning to.  I would prefer the resistance to rotating the earpiece to be higher to minimise the problem.

Secondly I would like an indicator on the A7010 hub to indicate that it is connected to my headset so that I can tell when it is back within range.

The charger for the BT5020 headset is an AC adapter - I would much rather an USB option similar to an iPod charger for flexibility.  Conversely a charging dock on the A7010 would be nice. However the BT5020 has an excellent battery life of 10 hours of talk time and 300 hours standby which means I really do not need to charge it that often.

Conclusion

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