Apple iPod nano 4 GB Silver (3rd Generation)

An anodized aluminum top and polished stainless steel back. Five eye catching colors. A larger, brighter display with the most pixels per inch of any Apple display, ever. iPod nano stirs up visual effects from the outside in. And it'll wow you for hours. Play up to 5 hours of video or up to 24 hours of audio on a single charge. All that staying power and a wafer thin, 6.5 mm profile makes iPod nano one small big attraction.

Cover Flow
If a picture says a thousand words, think of what all the album art in your collection might say. With Cover Flow on iPod nano, you can flip through your music to find the album you want to hear. Use the Click Wheel to browse music by album cover, then select an album to flip it over and see the track list.

Music
Use the Click Wheel to adjust volume, navigate songs, browse in Cover Flow, or explore the Music menu by playlist, artist, album, song, genre, composer, and more. Want to mix things up? Click Shuffle Songs. iPod nano makes your music look as good as it sounds, thanks to its bright color display.

Movies
Buy movies from the iTunes Store and you can sync them to your iPod nano to watch anywhere, anytime. Up to 5 hours of video playback means you can watch two movies back to back. And for your viewing pleasure, the 320 by 240 pixel display with a whopping 204 pixels per inch is 65 percent brighter than before.

TV Shows
There's always something good on iPod nano. Browse thousands of episodes of your favorite TV shows on the iTunes Store, buy them for just $1.99 each, then sync them to your iPod nano. Watch last night's episodes this morning, or buy a whole TV series and play a pocket size marathon.

Podcasts
The iTunes Store features thousands of free video and audio podcasts, including indie favorites and offerings from such big names as ABC News, Comedy Central, ESPN, PBS, NPR, and many more. Browse and subscribe to podcasts, then sync them to your iPod nano. You can even play video podcasts on TV using an optional Apple component or composite AV cable.

Audiobooks
The digital shelves of the iTunes Store are stocked with thousands of audiobooks including exclusives like the entire Harry Potter series so you can catch up on your reading wherever iPod nano takes you. iPod nano even recognizes where you left off reading and bookmarks your place.

Games
Put hours of fun at your fingertips. iPod nano comes with three games Vortex, iQuiz, and Klondike and you can download more from the iTunes Store for $4.99 each. All iPod games are designed specifically for the iPod interface. And all of them look great on the 2 inch color display.

Photos
iPod nano holds up to 7,000 photos you can sync from your Mac or PC via iTunes. Use the Click Wheel to scroll through photo thumbnails. To see a photo full screen, click the center button. You can even view your photo slideshows complete with music and transitions on a TV using an optional Apple component or composite AV cable.

Altec Lansing T612

Before you look at the $199.95 Altec Lansing T612 speaker system and yawn, you should know it has an ace up its sleeve the ability to work with an iPhone. More important, it works with the iPhone without having to switch the phone to Airplane mode a first among docking speaker systems. Previous speaker systems either weren't compatible with the iPhone or suffered from annoying GSM crackling. The T612 also works with iPods, of course, but merely average sound quality holds back this otherwise welcome product.

Setup is a 10 second affair you just plug in the 8.2 x 14 x 5.4 inch (HWD) speakers and turn on the power. A plastic adapter in the dock makes the iPhone the default device, but you can remove the adapter and dock any iPod with a dock connector.

The T612 charges the device while it's resting in the dock. You operate the T612 either by pressing buttons on top of the unit or via a small, easy to use remote control that lets you play or pause the music, turn the system on or off, and also adjust volume, bass, and treble settings.

Altec Lansing has implemented a clever system to communicate volume, bass, and treble levels. A row of blue LEDs lies behind the speaker grille in the middle of the unit. Though they are not visible during normal operation, they briefly appear when you adjust volume, bass, or treble to show you the level of that setting. We're happy for the visual feedback when making adjustments, and given how annoyingly bright blue LED's can be, we're also happy not to have to look at them all the time.

The T612 has four internal speakers two 3 inch full range drivers and two 1 inch tweeters and its output is rated at 60 watts RMS. The T612 does not have a subwoofer, but Altec Lansing tries to compensate with bass enhancement technology it calls XdB, which simulates the sound of bass tones. Although the XdB technology is reasonably convincing, it's still no substitute for an actual woofer. The T612 is capable of extreme volume despite its size, but sound gets a bit muddy when you really crank it up.

Cambridge SoundWorks i765

The $499.99 Cambridge SoundWorks i765 might seem like nothing more than an overpriced clock radio. But it's actually a surprisingly good miniature home entertainment system with a lot of well implemented features. Its exorbitant price tag will surely scare away a few audiophiles, but those who plunk down the cash will be impressed by its overall performance.

Setup is simple and only involves plugging in the AM antenna (the FM antenna is internal). The i765 can play music from any iPod with a dock connector, and includes eight plastic adapters that allow any iPod including the new iPod Touch, Nano and Classic to fit into the dock.

It can also play CDs and DVDs, and supports MP3 and WMA playback from media recorded onto discs. If you connect the i765 to an external display, you can also watch DVD's it can even play videos from a video enabled iPod, and has an auxiliary input port, too. While the device provides AM and FM radio, it lacks support for satellite radio.

Though we're always dubious of miniature systems that promise big sound, the i765 delivers on that promise, and then some. The little 1.6 inch tweeters belt out crystal clear highs while the built in subwoofer covers the bottom end surprisingly well. Of course, there's only so much bass a little woofer can thump out, and the bass tends to get drowned out somewhat as volume increases. When watching DVD movies, soundtracks sounded surprisingly good thanks to a "wide" audio option that projects the sound to the left and right for a "wall of sound" that is very convincing.

If you dock your iPod into the unit, it will charge the iPod while connected and display track information on its easy to read LCD for the song playing. You can also skip tracks and play or pause songs on your iPod with the remote control. The i765 doesn't officially support the iPhone, but we were able to charge our iPhone and play music on it without problems. The bundled remote control is decent and includes buttons for every feature, including a snooze button you can press when the alarm goes off.

It also lets you tweak bass and treble levels, whether text scrolls or stays static, and snooze length. You can also save 16 FM radio presets and eight AM presets. The i765's dual alarm clocks are easy to configure, allowing you to select a CD, iPod tunes, radio station, or a simple chime as the wake up music. You can also manually adjust the alarm volume and snooze length, as well as set a sleep timer if you want to doze off to music. We had difficulty setting alarm times with the remote, however, as the i765 often refused to register button presses, but we were able to adjust settings by pressing buttons on the i765's faceplate.

Creative Aurvana X-Fi

Creative introduced us to its own Aurvana X-Fi Noise-Canceling Headphones, for the same price ($299.99) could they really be better than the industry leader? As it turns out, yes and no. Listening was indeed a pleasure, with the Aurvana X-Fi delivering very good sound quality in both our music and spoken word tests. The sound was equally clear with the noise canceling function enabled as without (Bose gives you no option).

How you intend to use the noise canceling capabilities will determine which of these headphones is best for you: We found the Aurvana less effective than the Bose when blocking out ambient noise in our screechy Computer Shopper server room and on airplanes. But the Aurvana was better when being used just for the purposes of listening to music in an already quiet environment the QuietComfort 2's noise canceling added a quiet hiss to the background sound that the Aurvana's didn't.

Like the QuietComfort 2, the Aurvana comes with a selection of accessories to help fit any listening environment a quarter inch adapter is just what's needed for plugging into a studio sound system, a two pronged adapter is ideal for certain airplanes, and a five foot extension allows you plenty of room to move.

(The cable connecting the earpiece to what you're listening to is itself three feet long.) One difference : The Aurvana requires two AAA batteries, as opposed to the QuietComfort 2's one.

That extra battery likely powers two other audio enhancing features the Aurvana X-Fi introduces, which may be turned on or off with buttons on the right earpiece (where the power switch is also located).

The first, the X-Fi Crystalizer, is billed as a way to restore "detail and vibrancy" to compressed music (such as MP3s) and movies, and activating this especially during orchestral passages definitely brightened and livened up the sound. (We don't recommend using it when listening to radio programs or podcasts, however the Crystalizer had the opposite effect there, dulling the bass sounds a bit too unpleasantly for our taste.) The other option, X-Fi CMSS-3D, supposedly gives stereo music and movies a "virtual surround sound" feel, but we were dissatisfied with the results, which stripped away the crispness and clarity the noise canceling and Crystalizer add.

iSkin Cerulean F1

The $189.99 iSkin Cerulean F1 + TX is no different. Though this pricey Bluetooth headset actually looks pretty inconspicuous (that's a good thing), audio quality and wearability issues (as well as a few other design and performance quirks) make it hard to recommend. With its Cerulean set, iSkin includes everything you need to listen to your tunes wirelessly, whether you're using an iPod, an iPhone, or a computer.

The device will also work with most Bluetooth enabled mobiles phones and MP3 players. The package comes with the Cerulean F1 wireless headset, the TX transmitter (which attaches to any dockable iPod, but not non-Apple MP3 players), and a TX to USB adapter that lets you connect the TX transmitter to a computer. Also included is a USB cable for charging the headset, two sets of plastic ear loops, and a set of rubber and foam earbud covers.

In designing the Cerulean F1 headset, iSkin clearly took cues from the Jabra BT8010. Like the BT8010, the F1 features two thumb sized earpieces that loop over your ears like traditional Bluetooth headsets the two headsets are connected via a cable that you wear behind your neck.

(Unlike the BT8010, the F1's connecting cable is not detachable). The F1 earpieces are lightweight and discreet, which is great considering that most Bluetooth headsets aren't.

The left earpiece contains the battery, while the right earpiece houses built in controls for powering on the earbuds and microphone, increasing or decreasing volume, rewinding fast forwarding songs, and ending taking phone calls (when paired with a Bluetooth equipped cell phone). Unfortunately, the volume and track control buttons were too small for our fingers. In fact, when wearing the headset, we found it nearly impossible to hit either button without taking the earpiece off to look at where we were pressing.

Pairing the F1 headset with the TX receiver was a lot easier simply plug the receiver into your iPod, power on the F1 headset in pairing mode, and the two will instantly recognize each other. The headset and transmitter are great for broadcasting across short distances, such as from your pocket to your ears, and they're also reliable at longer ranges. iSkin rates their maximum operational range at 33 feet in our tests, we maintained a solid signal between walls, through closed doors, and around other wireless devices in our apartment.

One quibble we found that, when kept in our pocket, the TX transmitter disconnected from our iPod Nano too easily. We also had issues with our music's audio quality. Though songs came through clear and loud, they seriously lacked bass even our iPod's bundled headphones offered more oomph during certain tunes.

Carbon Reduction Awareness Gadget

Increases the awareness to alternative energies, as a source to reduction of carbon emission.

Add To Website - Add To GoogleView XML

IBM BLUE-GENE/P

IBM Blue-Gene SuperComputerThe Blue-Gene/P is extremely related in setup to the Blue-Gene/L however, the P has 4 processor cores per chip in comparison to the L�s 2. The element is quite the workhorse audacity 450.3 teraflop/s and is stock up at the DOE�s Argonne National Laboratory, but administers to keep their power bills low (or at smallest amount lower, as they are working a giant super