newstrends
Latest news and views
Home on this range Packard Bell is the number one home PC brand in the UK, France, Netherlands and Belgium, according to Gartner Dataquest – and the company wants to do the same in South Africa. The launch of its new imedia, ixtreme and ixtreme duo could go some way towards fulfilling that strategy, and NEC Computers SA MD Fadi Dayoub says the company’s research shows that consumers are worried that as the desktop market matures, brands will cease to innovate. “In our quest to bring the concept of digital entertainment at home to life, we have brought new thinking to bear of the three most important aspects of any PC: design, technology and ease of use.” The new xtreme duo 7375 is not only curvaceous, but comes in two parts – the main tower unit is designed to sit under the desk, while the “Double-Decker”, its satellite unit resides on the desktop and contains the optical drive, USB 2.0 ports and 6-in-1 media card reader. It uses Intel Pentium IV hyper-threading technology at 3 GHz, and features a DVD-RW writer, wireless keyboard and mouse, and the option of the retro design of the 17 CRT monitor or the more futuristic design of the 15 and 17 LCD monitors. The range is available from Incredible Connection stores.
Hot to Tron Don’t be put off by the corny 1980’s movie this game is based on. Graphics in both movies and games have moved on a lot since then as this video game about being inside a video game shows. Tron 2 by Buena Vista Games is a story-driven, first-person action game that propels the player into an alternate universe inside a computer. As Jet Bradley (son of the original film’s hero Alan Bradley) you will combat digital
opponents using guns, rods, grenades, missiles, and the iconic Tron disc, which slice and dice your virtual enemies. It offers intense action, deadly battles, and high-speed light cycle races. The game features over thirty levels of first person shooting action coupled with lightning fast light cycle races on the mindbending game grids. The light cycles in the game have been redesigned by Syd Mead, the world famous film concept designer,
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who has notched up Tron, Blade Runner and Aliens as credits. The trademark Tron fluorescent glow has been replicated in the game by nVidia, so fans of the original movie should be happy. The high-tech locations involved come straight out of your home or office computer. Expect to fight battles in a power router, Internet hub, and a virus infected server. Buena Vista games has outlined a fairly high-end minimum
system to play the game. It should have Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, a 500MHz Intel Pentium 3 or AMD Athlon processor, 128 MB of memory (256MB for Windows XP), a 32MB Direct3D compatible graphics card and 2.4GB of free hard disk space. The company has recommended that systems pack a 1GHz Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor, 512MB of memory and a latest generation graphics card.
newstrends
Latest news and views
Reveal SA’s hidden talents Nokia’s Great South African Journey initiative aims to collect stories, images or moments of greatness that are uniquely South African. “Nokia is about connecting people and is taking this time to focus on the positive of South Africa, from the metropolitan to rural areas, to reveal hidden talents – anything from artistry, stories of great hospitality, the wisdoms of your oldest citizens and a photograph of the newest born babe; the budding
entrepreneur who has created a uniquely South African craft and the homebody with the greatest traditional recipes,” explains Michelle Stephen, advertising & media director for Nokia. Five 10ton, 22 metre long, four metre high, 2,5 metre wide trucks, with four crew members aboard, are travelling across the country setting up in 260 places. 150 000 km will be traversed as the crews search for great local craft and art; performers and local musicians; characters and stories; businesses that are helping to connect people; inventions, great architecture; and great schools, teachers and students.
The town, city or community to have best showcased its local greatness and its stories of connection will receive tools for it to develop its own marketing campaign. In an essay competition, nine underprivileged young people – one from each province – will win bursaries to attend a four year degree at CIDA University in Johannesburg. This bursary will include tuition, books, food, accommodation and transport for the full four years of study. ! For more information, call Michelle Stephen on (011) 799-7400 or 083 255 9676, or see www.nokia.co.za
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The Axiz Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 Ian Rayner, Kingston brand manager at Axiz, has voted the Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 as his top product for the year. This is a high-speed USB 2.0 flash memory key that combines high storage capacity – it holds almost 500 times more data than a standard floppy disk – fast data transfer rates and data mobility. Its five-year warranty, data security features and wide application support, make it an almost mandatory business tool, for data transfers or critical data backups. Price: Check with your local dealer
Photo-fancy
Kalliba MP3 Plus
means users can capture urgent memos or ideas when paper and pen prove elusive.
Lexmark P707 A keen digital photographer, Samantha Galliet, Lexmark product manager at Axiz, nominates the P707 as her top of the pops. This printer is designed for home digital photography enthusiasts. It features a built-in multi-type memory card reader to facilitate the uploading of digital files to the computer, image editing software to enhance and edit photos, and six-colour, frameless printing. It offers up to 4800x1200dpi resolution for true photo quality, as well as optical paper-type sensing and cartridge alignment and produces a 4x6 print in less than 90 seconds. Price: R1025* Burn baby burn
Price: R899* for a 64 Mbytes version.
Kingston DataTraveler 2.0
Kalliba to go Two products that Bruce Murphy, memory brand manager at Axiz, says he cannot live without are the Kalliba MP3 Plus and the Kalliba Pen Drive. Kalliba MP3 Plus The Kalliba MP3 Plus combines a removable USB storage device with audio capabilities, supporting MP3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) file formats. The LCD display shows the track number, name and volume settings, while the built in graphic-equaliser offers preset levels for pop, rock, jazz, and so on. One AAA battery delivers approximately 10 hours of music playback, while the digital voice recorder
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Kalliba Pen Drive The Kalliba Pen Drive offers the dual functionality of a removable USB storage device with a traditional pen, in an elegant package. The drive moves the portability of data to the next level, making it even easier to slip into an executive folder, briefcase or handbag. The drive offers data capacities of 16 Mbytes up to 256 Mbytes and is targeted at the business person who wants to get more functionality but carry less around. Price: 128 Mbytes configuration retails at R559*
LG All-format DVD writer Anyone who does a lot of music recording, or movie making, needs to have LG’s GSA-4040B Super Multi CD/DVD Re-Writer, the only DVDWriter in the world to support all three DVD formats – DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and DVD-RAM, says Philip Henning, LG product manager at Axiz. This drive enables the user to read and write any CD/DVD format media available on the market, making it a hassle-free product. Record up to 4.7GB of data on DVD media with a 2 Mbytes buffer with Superlink buffer under-run error protection. Price: R1 999*
Kalliba Pen Drive
* All pricing is approximate suggested retail pricing (SRP). However, due to many variables, including the changing exchange rate, pricing may be different by the time you read this. Always first check with your local dealer for local availability, specifications, pricing and any other details.
e l i f o r P
choice phone jack means that urgent memos or important brainwaves can be recorded while on the go at the touch of a button. It can also be used for leisure since it plays back MP3 stereo through the audio jack. Price: Retails from R3 999*
Genius 5.1 speakers
Loud and proud
Genius 5.1 speakers (entry level) Shandu Davhana, peripherals product manager at Axiz believes that these 2500W (PMPO) stereo 5.1channel wooden speakers, designed with home entertainment in mind, are absolute must-haves. User-friendly controls on the front panel feature a separate master, centre, woofer, surround and a 5.1ch/stereo switch mode to allow the user to select exactly the required sound. It includes a cordless remote control, 6 wooden cabinet speakers, and is PC and DVD compatible. Price: R1085* HP – source of wonder Margie Adam, acting product manager for HP notebooks and iPAQs at Axiz, has nominated these HP mobile devices as her top products for the year.
HP iPAQ 4150 The HP iPAQ 4150 with 64 Mbytes of SDRAM features all possible connectivity and expansion functionality thanks to the infrared, integrated WLAN 802.11b, integrated Bluetooth and integrated Secure Digital expansion slot. It has a dazzling Trasflective Type (TFT) 16-bit colour with LED backlight display, measures only 113.6mmx 70.6mmx13.5mm and weighs just 132g. The integrated microphone, speaker and 3.5mm head-
NX7000 The HP Compaq Business Notebook nx7000, one of the thinnest widescreen notebook PCs available, measures 1.3-inches thin and weighs only 2.94kg. The Intel Centrino mobile technology ensures up to 5 hours of battery life and the integrated Secure Digital Multimedia memory card slot permits quick transfer of multimedia or other files between the PC and other devices. The Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 LAN offers 802.11b Wi-Fi network connectivity, and optional Bluetooth integration extends that connectivity to enable mobile workers to synchronise and share data with other Bluetooth-enabled devices. Price: R12 999* HP Tablet PC 1100 HP’s newest Tablet PC 1100 features the Intel Pentium M 1.0GHz or Celeron 800MHz processor, the Intel 855 chipset and the Nvidia
NX7000
GeForce 4 Go 420 32 Mbytes (4X AGP) graphics card. Select models include 333MHz DDR memory and integrated Bluetooth. Other features include the integrated Type III MiniPCI WLAN card; a dedicated Secure Digital slot for removable media and integrated infrared. The battery-free, pressure sensitive pen supports writing functionality. The award-winning design of this ultra-lightweight device facilitates the portability features, while the magnesium alloy case ensures the durability of this business tool, which is scheduled for availability early in 2004. For more information, or the name of your closest dealer, contact Claire Clarke at Axiz at (011) 237 7000 or visit www.axiz.com.
iPAQ 4150
Tablet PC 1100
December 2003 Windows Southern Africa 51
CHARGED C HARGED | H HOTSTUFF OTSTUFF
HOTSTUFF HO OTST S UFF Self-positioning sp speakers, peakers, micro machines, and a the finest hi-fi ever to gr grace race these pages. Possibly.
SAMSUNG VP-D97I Now N ow you you can can a afford ffo ff ford tto ob become ecome a d digital igital w wunderkind underkind WHY YOU WA WANT ANT IT: Because this new camcorder showss just how much eve en high-end high end digital video technology is finally finaally even starting to move mo ove into the reach of the common-or-garden common-or-garden consumer’s pockets. pocke ets. It’s both a camcorder as well as a still camera, capable of o giving you SXGA (1280x960) shots. And it’s i got z y to a 12x optical zoom, plus a smart-shoe on top, allowing you attach an optional video light, flash, and external zoom microphone. WHAT YOU GET: GE ET: Mini-DV, built-in flash, Memory Stick, MJPEG M recording, USB B and FireWire functionality, remote control, contro ol, video and stilll camera picture editing software. A varietyy of consumer-frie ndly features, including Easy-Q, where you u tell consumer-friendly the camera what wh hat conditions you are filming in, and it adjusts adjusts itself to handle handle them. COST: R8 499-99* 499 9-99* 0 11 5 49 1527 1527 549 011 www.samsung.co.za www.samsung.co.za
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HOTSTUFF | CHARGED
B&W SIGNATURE 800 Simply the best that B&W can do WHY YOU WANT IT: Music is a way of life. Not something to occupy your time during the drive to work. You’ve heaped cash, hours and tears on your home system and now you need a speaker that’s as pure as your demands. The Signature 800 boasts a transparent clarity that will cut you to your soul with a perfect recording – and expose an inferior one in horrific detail. Make sure your installation can keep this beast in check. WHAT YOU GET: A three-way vented box with mid-range cones fashioned from woven Kevlar. Finished in grey tiger’s eye maple with Connolly leather. Each speaker stands 450mm high and weighs some 125kg. The Signature range is a reworking of B&W’s popular Nautlius speakers, placing the crossover network into a large cast aluminium bass and using film capacitors and air-core coils exclusively to transform its delivery of bass. COST: R221 990* per pair www.hfxsystems.com
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CHARGED | Digital lifestyle
Mobile disco >> SIEMENS M55 Kitsch, cool or a mix of both? Like every high-end phone these days it’s got a colour screen, works virtually anywhere in the world due to its triband status and has a facility to attach a fun camera to it. What marks the M55 out is its loud orange appearance and programmable light effects on the side of the phone that herald incoming calls. Its other novelty is a “Cubaisis” synthesier application that enables you to compose and mix polyphonic melodies, meaning you can be directly responsible for how irritating your ringtone is to others. R2 539.35* www.my-siemens.com
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Digital lifestyle | CHARGED
Dynamite... >> P707 PHOTO JETPRINTER Lexmark’s P707 Photo Jetprinter was developed for digital photographers interested in creating home prints that rival photo lab quality. It can print borderless images in multiple formats, is capable of printing a 10 X 15cm photo in normal mode in about 60 seconds and has very friendly software drivers that guide a user through setup. The “printing progress” bar clearly indicates what levels of ink are still available in the cartridges and when a cartridge needs to be changed the user is prompted with questions about the cartridge so that the machine can adjust. www.lexmark.co.za R1 299*
Slim sound >> PANASONIC HT900 The notable aspect of this all-in-one home theatre kit is its DVD-CD player. With slimness bordering on the anorexic it still manages to juggle 5 discs at a time and play just about any format you desire. The player is complemented by Tall-Boy speakers and a relatively meaty sub-woofer giving a total output of 600W. R7 979* www.panasonic.co.za
Elvis lives >> ELVIS PRESLEY JUKEBOX Based on a design from 1946, Wurlitzer gives this limited edition jukebox an Elvis twist by engraving the King’s signature on the clear front. Pictures of memorable moments in Elvis’s life, along with rotating lights that continuously change colour, complete the kitsch appeal. It holds up to 100 CDs and boasts a 200W amplifier. Available through the website it can even be used as a giant alarm clock by programming it to wake you up with your favourite tune. Order from website: $8 100 www.wurlitzer-jukebox.com
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CHARGED | HOTBOTS
THE MAID It looks a bit like an unfinished remote control car and functions in a similar manner. Instead of a portable controller you use a PC to communicate with and guide the Cye. Once the software is downloaded the compact wheelbot can be used to do things like carry dishes or deliver mail. Scheduling software means Cye is programmable to perform different tasks at different times of the day. Optional extras include a wagon that increases the load Cye can transport and an accessory that allows you to attach any upright vacuum cleaner to the robot so it can clean the floor. Its spiky wheels are made out of the same material as skateboard wheels and zip the robot around at a speed of approx 3 feet per second. www.personalrobots.com
THE BUTLER Sort of a cross between R2D2 and Metal Mickey, Roboscout’s chief talent is serving drinks. You can load up to one kilo of food and drink onto trays attached to its one metre frame and then move the metal bin around via a hefty wireless remote. Its eyes contain surveillance cameras that relay images to a screen on the controller. You can also use Roboscout like a giant walkietalkie by speaking into a microphone on the remote. Alternatively it possesses dozens of programmed phrases. Although consistent exclamations of “whoops” or “comin’ through,” as its infrared sensors detect obstacles, or one too many renditions of “I’m a little robot da, da, da” might induce you to kick the damn thing over. At which point it will announce: “That hurt” and “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up! Repeatedly. www.sharperimage.com
WEIRD SCIENCE DJ KILLER HP is working on a robotic DJ that delivers a perfect mix, choosing tracks dependent on the response of the crowd. It can’t cut, scratch or mix with irregular beats so turntablists can rest easy. But rent-a-beat DJs beware as it apparently “works well with most house, techno and trance.”
CARE BEAR You might think that robot teddy bears are strictly for kids but Matsushita’s are aimed at the elderly and terminally ill. The bears monitor patients’ conditions and remind them to take their pills. They also communicate remotely with nurses if any unexpected changes occur.
DON’T FANCY YOURS MUCH A company based in Scotland is behind an android designed to ‘scientifically calculate’ a woman’s beauty. Nicknamed ‘Doki’ the robot uses a head stuffed full of cameras to identify its subject’s sex. Then, because apparently a woman’s attractiveness to men is more dependent on looks, it is able to estimate a woman’s beauty. Intelligent Earth hopes to market the robot as an electronic personal assistant.
THE GARDENER Very few people enjoy mowing the lawn. Admit it: if you can get out of it you will. Meet Robomow, which, being a dumb hunk of semi-independent, whirring metal, doesn’t mind doing it all. The mower works in tandem with an active wire you place around the edge of your lawn and then leave. Sensors in the machine detect the perimeter wire as it mows and the robot stops and moves on accordingly. It mows in a triangular pattern in many different directions, apparently meaning that it can cut any lawn regardless of its shape. As it mulches as it mows you don’t have to worry about what to do with the cut grass. Get extra perimeter wire, get creative and make your own crop circles. www.robomow.com
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CHARGED | HOTSTUFF
Micro
Machines Simply the smallest kit in town
SIEMENS SL55 Forget the bland brand of yesteryear, Siemens’ latest tri-band SL55 leaps into pole position as the smallest phone we could find on sale. The sliding front opens to reveal a tiny keypad, while the upper half holds the 12-bit (4 096 colours) display. Weighs 79g. R4 443.86* www.my-siemens.com
PANASONIC SV-AV20 The ultimate miniature powerhouse? Shoot home movies, snap stills, play back MP3 tracks and then record your own voice, all on a gem small enough to nestle in your palm. Includes 32MB SD card. R4 560* www.panasonic.co.za
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NIKE TAILWIND Lace this lightweight gizmo to your running shoes and pound the dunes without glancing at your watch every few seconds. It’ll monitor speed, distance, calories burnt and total exercise time. Leaving you free to contemplate the joys of long-distance running. R1 499* www.nike.co.za
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