My days of complaining about the limitations of multifunction printers are over. Used to be you had to give up so much in one or more of the functions that it just wasn't worth the space and money savings to have one. But that was then and this is now.

I have consistently preferred Epson printers over the years and the RX680 (List $199, $129 discounted) gives me no reason to change that preference. I have been living with this unit for over a month and can report that it is an excellent machine, worthy of your hard earned cash. It is not perfect, but it is the best multifunction printer I've ever reviewed.
READ: Epson Stylus Photo RX680 Multifunction Printer

-- Posted 10 April 2008 by dtm

New Life For Your Old Tivo: Drive Upgrades & the Logitech Harmony One
My five year-old Sony SVR-3000 TiVo went south. The 80GB hard drive just up and died with no warning at all. Just wouldn't boot and made nasty clicking sounds. I have a nine-year old daughter who absolutely MUST have her Hannah Montana, so I had to move fast or risk major domestic unrest.

I seemed to me that this scenario must be playing out in thousands of households right about now. There were boatloads of TiVo Series II units sold around the time we bought ours and all those hard drives are winking out all over the world, slowly but surely. So I decided to build this article based on the experience of replacing the drive.
READ: New Life For Your Old Tivo: Drive Upgrades & the Logitech Harmony One

-- Posted 21 March 2008 by dtm

Adobe is Finally Working on Flash Media Player for iPhone
It's about time Adobe quite dragging their feet and got to work this essential part of the modern browser experience. Apple can downplay the importance of the Flash media player all they want but the iPhone simply must have it. Here are links to the AppleInsider story and the Wall Street Journal article upon which it is based:
AppleInsider.com article
Wall Street Journal article

-- Posted 19 March 2008 by dtm

Apple announces iPhone 2.0, releases application developer toolkit
Apple has announced the release of a software development kit (SDK) for iPhone, allowing anyone with $99 and a head for programming to create an application for the platform. Apple will be the sole distributor of these applications through iTunes and a new iPhone feature called App Store. Developers set their own price and receive 30% of revenue, the rest stays with Apple to cover the costs of hosting and distribution. Developers can choose to give their applications away for free, in which case Apple hosts and distributes them at no charge to the developer. In June Apple will release the iPhone 2.0 software update for all iPhones users free of charge.
Apple iPhone 2.0 Press Release
Apple iPhone Developer
Apple iPhone Enterprise

-- Posted 6 March 2008 by dtm

Review: WaterField Cargo Messenger Bag
I have become an accidental messenger bag collector. Yes, I do ride a single-speed urban assault bike and yes, messenger bags make perfect sense for short jaunts around town, but I think the real reason I prefer them is because they are masculine. Any proper messenger bag gives you the ability to carry your stuff around without the metrosexual overtones of the dreaded man-bag.
READ: WaterField Cargo Messenger Bag

-- Posted 27 February 2008 by dtm

What's wrong with the iPhone
I've just spent a month with a loaned iPhone and have a few thoughts to share. My friend Conrad has written several thousand words on the iPhone elsewhere on this site, so I won't duplicate his excellent work. And I agree with his overall assessment: the iPhone is a wonderful device, skillfully combining a superb mobile phone, a slick web browser, superior email functionality, a powerful personal organizer, and an iPod media player. But as sweet as it is, the iPhone is not all it can be.
READ: What's wrong with the iPhone

-- Posted 22 January 2008 by dtm

In The Works: World's Best Condenser Mics for the Stage
We've just begun working on our next roundup, this time focusing on pro music performance tools. Condenser microphones for stage vocals have become popular in recent years, offering performers a clarity and fidelity previously only available under recording studio conditions. Todays' stage condensers are nearly as rugged as their dynamic brothers, such as the ubiquitous Shure SM58. We'll be putting all the microphones to the test in a rehearsal space and on stage in a mid-size club venue.

-- Posted 9 January 2008 by dtm

Casio Pathfinder PAW-1300T7
Used to be if you wanted a rugged watch for hiking or diving, you paid a lot of money for it. Now the Rolex Explorers, Omega Speedmasters, and Tag Heuer Aquaracers mostly hang from the wrists of folks who want to look outdoorsy but would never expose their shiny timepieces to the elements. Nothing wrong with that, it's just the way some products go upmarket over time. And it makes sense in a world where you can buy attractive, durable, and supremely functional digital watches for less than what it costs to get a mechanical Swiss watch cleaned and tuned by your friendly neighborhood horologist.
READ: Casio Pathfinder PAW-1300T7

-- Posted 30 December 2007 by dtm

iPhone News & Reviews section
We have created a master page on our sister site Pen Computing that is devoted to in-depth iPhone reviews, news, and product announcements. Check it out.

-- Posted 30 December 2007 by dtm

Feature: iPod Sound Systems
There are dozens of iPod-compatible sound systems on the market. You can't swing a cat in a consumer electronics store without knocking over stacks of them. We've rounded up over 20 of the best, put them all on the bench and let 'em rip. What follows is our short list of the best in each category, with ties given where we couldn't pick a clear favorite. Some models sound so similar that the only way to choose is because of a unique feature or a cool design aspect. Price did not factor into the equation, since in virtually all cases the prices are so close as to be irrelevant.
READ: iPod Sound Systems

-- Posted 17 December 2007 by dtm

Feature: World's Best Headphones For iPod
The people who create the music you love don't hear their work the way you do. They all use speakers and headphones made for professionals -- pricey, ultra-reliable, serious tools you'll rarely see on any store shelf. Think Sting walks along his private beach in Tahiti with common iPod ear buds on? Can you imagine Springsteen sitting on a plane wearing those throwaway earphones the sky waitress hands out with the peanuts?

It's not about status or wealth or fashion, it's about fidelity. When your life's work is made of sound waves, you need to hear the truth and you need to protect your hearing. Truly great headphones provide both, and they're not as expensive as you might expect. If you love music, read on and hear like you've never heard before.
READ: World's Best Headphones For iPod

-- Posted 14 December 2007 by dtm

Google's optimizes Picasa photo sharing site for iPhone users
A practice run for Google's Android operating system for next year's smartphones? Yeah, but so what? The company has just optimized their Picasa photo-sharing service to intelligently display your photo albums on the iPhone, a smartphone you can enjoy today.

From the Google Mobile Blog: After you go to Picasa on your iPhone and log in, you can quickly see all your albums that you've uploaded to Picasa Web. If you click on any of the albums, you can get a full view of your picture with comments from your friends. Or you can click on Slideshow, sit back and watch the pictures scroll. You can also search for photos in your album or through community photos. Finally, with one of my favorite features, you can view your friends' albums through favorites.

-- Posted 13 December 2007 by dtm

Coming Soon: iPod Sound System Round-up
It's been pretty wild around the lab the last two weeks. We've rounded up the top 17 iPod sound systems for a contest of volume, fidelity, and features. It's designed to be a fair fight but some of these units are just so far above the others that it's almost laughable. Surprisingly, price is not necessarily the best indicator of quality in this race, as you will soon see. Stay tuned...


-- Posted 11 December 2007 by dtm

Coming Soon: The World's Best Headphones for iPod
We're putting the finishing touches on an article that may change the way you listen to music forever -- it certainly changed ours! The world's top headphone makers have sent us their finest offerings and we've put them all to the test. The results are in, boiled down to a short list of the best of the best. Yeah, it's tough duty but somebody's got to do it.

We expect to unleash this piece late this week, so if you're shopping for headphones, do yourself a favor and wait until you read our tough-but-fair evaluations.


-- Posted 11 December 2007 by dtm

Review: SeV Explorer Jacket
A coat, even one that is perfectly suited to a life entwined with personal tech, is still a coat. In the middle of the night, scrambling into something so you can drive your sick kid to the ER, it's just a coat and it had better do its job. Wallet, keys, mobile phone, grab the kid and you're out the door. This is no time to think about your iPod's earbud wires, okay? The SeV Explorer Jacket is a superb coat that'll keep you warm, make you look good, and let you brilliantly organize all your daily gear and effects within.
READ: SeV Explorer Jacket


-- Posted 11 December 2007 by dtm

Review: Voltaic Converter Solar Backpack
Green is good, no question. It's even fashionable. So does wearing a backpack brandishing three large solar panels make you cool or a tool? That's a call you have to make for yourself. I like the look of Voltaic's Converter in tan with green rimmed panels. It's less toolish than the same pack in Darth Vader black, blends better with outdoor environments, and is a bit cooler in the sun. If you are carrying a tuna sandwich in there, heat matters.
READ: Voltaic Convertor Solar Backpack


-- Posted 11 December 2007 by dtm

Feature: Let's Get It On (Your iPod)
Getting the music, photos, and video you want onto your iPod is accomplished by getting the files into your computer, either by purchasing songs or videos from the online iTunes Music Store, or by importing your audio CDs, personal photos, and home movies into iTunes on your computer for transfer to your iPod. Most of us have audio CDs already, so virtually everyone will end up using both methods eventually.
READ: Let's Get It On (Your iPod)


-- Posted 7 December 2007 by dtm

Feature: Choosing The Right iPod For You: 2007 Edition
In last year's edition of this guide, I wrote of the three iPod models that, "for all their aesthetic similarity, they are three very different machines." This year, the five iPod models are closer in basic features than before. But there are now two dramatically different user interfaces to ponder and some models can access the internet and even make phone calls.
READ: Choosing The Right iPod For You: 2007 Edition


-- Posted 7 December 2007 by dtm