Logitech PlayGear Pocket Slim (PSP)

Soon after the original Sony PSP (the PSP 1000) hit the market a few years ago, Logitech put out the PlayGear Pocket, a protective carrying case for the Sony gaming handheld, which we really liked. Now Logitech has released the same case for newer, slimmer PSP models (the PSP 2000, released in 2007, and the PSP 3000, coming October 2008). It's basically the same case, just a little smaller. As a result, most of what we said in our earlier review applies to this case as well.

This simple yet sleek case is made of hard, clear plastic, but it's lined with firm, black foam rubber, so it appears to be predominantly black. For creative types, the good news is the rubber lining slips out, allowing you to slide your own artwork between the plastic and the foam, thereby customizing the look of the case. That's why Logitech describes the product as skinnable. (Key the words "PlayGear Pocket skins" into Google and you will find plenty of designs that you can print out on a color printer and cut out to fit in the case).

Your slim PSP fits snugly inside the PlayGear Pocket Slim, and because there are cutouts in the plastic, you can plug your headphones in as well as charge the unit while it remains in the case. In fact, you'll probably remove your PSP only when you're swapping in a new game (or memory card) or transferring files via the USB port. That's right: the PlayGear Pocket is designed to be attached to your PSP while you're playing games. And what's interesting is that, by essentially widening your Sony PSP, it seems to make the PSP more ergonomic, particularly when it comes to repetitive use of the shoulder buttons. Another bonus: the top of the case folds down, effectively turning the case into a stand or an easel for viewing movies or videos.

The PlayGear Pocket has only a couple of small downsides. The first is that it doesn't offer any place to store UMD games or extra memory cards. For that, you'd have to go with something like Sony's own PSP Traveler Case. The other minor downside is that over time the case will get scratched up. For many, that won't matter. And in fact, it's pretty much the point: scratch your $15 case, not your $170 handheld.

Like we said about the original PlayGear Pocket, the Slim version is an excellent option for both protecting your investment and making it more comfortable to play with.

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Product review - Computrace LoJack for laptops

In this product review I'm going to take a closer look at a piece of software that has the potential to recover your laptop should you ever become the victim of laptop theft. Laptop computers are the perfect item for thieves; they are easy to grab, they are worth a fortune and they are pretty easy to resell.

Laptop thieves are everywhere; it could be the person standing next to you on the train, it could be the maid cleaning your hotel room, it could even be the strange guy walking down the hallway at your office. There are some basic physical methods to protect your machine, but in the end, you will always run the risk of losing your machine, no matter what you do.

This is where my review product for today can help; LoJack for Laptops is a piece of software that combines 2 basic components into one security solution; one part is the software itself, the other is the LoJack theft recovery team.

I first became interested in LoJack after a friend at a large company told me some stories of how LoJack helped them recover machines that were reported stolen. They even found a stolen machine inside the home of the staff member who filed the theft report. LoJack has a very impressive recovery record, and on average 60 stolen machines a week are returned to their rightful owner. To read some of the success stories, check out their website.

The first step in protecting your machine is to install the LoJack software on the PC. The installation process takes about 5 minutes and requires you to enter a serial number which is included with the package. Then you provide LoJack with your personal information such as address, email and phone number. LoJack also offers the option to purchase the software and serial number directly from their site.
In order to verify that the installation was successful, the software makes a test call to the LoJack servers. This also lets you change any firewall settings if necessary. From now on, your computer is invisibly protected by LoJack.

In the event your laptop is stolen, you first call the police, then you contact LoJack and provide them with the information they'll need to initiate a search. They will then go to work tracking your laptop. The entire success of LoJack is based on the stupidity and greed of the common thief; most of them will take your computer home, plug it in, and surf the web. Of course, they are unaware that the moment the machine connects to the Internet, it "phones home" and lets the LoJack theft team know what they need to know in order to recover the machine.

Once installed, LoJack is invisible to the user. It doesn't show up in your programs list, and it can't be easily uninstalled.

Of course, this software protection is no replacement for common sense, and some physical protection from a laptop lock and an ID tag like those from yougetitback or trackitback.

LoJack is available in three different versions; the standard version costs just $39.99 and provides basic laptop recovery. The premium version adds remote data deletion and a service guarantee. The third version is aimed towards corporate users, and includes things like asset management. The purchase price protects your laptop for 1 year, so you will need to renew this subscription yearly in order to keep the protection active. LoJack for laptops is available for Windows and Mac users. As part of a "back to school" promotion, you can purchase LoJack standard for just $29.95.

The data deletion feature in LoJack Premium lets you remotely wipe everything off the laptop, which is especially important if the machine contains sensitive data. The service guarantee protection means LoJack will recover the machine, or you'll receive up to $1000.

$40 is a pretty low price to pay for protecting a laptop easily worth $1000. In my opinion a product like LoJack is a "must have" if you travel with your laptop. There are however several downsides; the product will not work outside the US as LoJack will be unable to recover it. There are also several ways an experienced thief can disable the service, but I won't make their lives easier by describing them. All you need to know is that the average dumb laptop thief won't know LoJack is installed, and that LoJack has a proven track record at returning machines to their owner.

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New Product Review: Take Personal Pocket Safe

While moving recently, I had to sort through piles of bills, documents and records that were housed in a clunky, old file cabinet. Some of this paperwork went back years, and I had to review every page to try and figure out what was relevant and what was not. Ultimately, the whole experience led me to believe I need a better method of organization.

Then, a couple weeks ago, InventHelp’s Invention & Technology News published an article about an invention called the Tâke Personal Pocket Safe. For those who missed the article, the Tâke Personal Pocket Safe is a small flash drive that requires an external password (a feature I believe every flash drive should have) and includes its own information-storage software. While our article certainly painted the Pocket Safe in a favorable light, a PR rep for the company was quick to note the device has a number of benefits beyond storing web usernames and passwords (the aspect of the invention we focused on). She even provided a sample product so I could check it out for myself. So I did...

A small instruction booklet explains to users in a few quick steps how to set the PIN Code and activate the device. From there, you simply plug it into a computer’s USB drive and the software opens. Though a voice guides users through setup, the software is basically intuitive. Icons are listed down the left side of the screen for different information categories (e.g., financial accounts, credit cards, website logins, vehicle records, insurance policies, real estate, etc.) and when a user clicks on an icon, information fields appear to the right. As the user enters info, the Pocket Safe saves it automatically, so there’s no chance of losing data. Individuals also can attach files to accounts (such as scanned copies of insurance policies, vehicle information, product warranties, tax records, etc.), and an additional “miscellaneous” section allows for attachment of anything else (like secret photos or a copy of your latest novel). The company claims the device can keep “70 years of bills and bank statements, health records, and scanned copies of important documents”, so there should be more than enough memory for the average user.

Immediately after using the safe for the first time, I wished I’d had it when I moved. All those questionable papers that made me wonder should I keep this or toss this? is this a necessity? could have been easily scanned and saved in the Pocket Safe right alongside their corresponding accounts - allowing me to get rid of excess paper and still breathe easy. In the week since I started using the Pocket Safe, I’ve reduced my paper records to a single folder. And, along with decreasing paper clutter, there is also an eco benefit to using the Pocket Safe. Individuals who like to hold on to their monthly statements (bank statements, credit card bills) can opt to receive paperless versions and save them in the Pocket Safe. While organizing account information is usually a grueling task, the Tâke makes it easy. No more sifting through papers or folders to find a particular document; with the Pocket Safe, you can access any record in a couple clicks.

Of course, many people will still worry about placing so much personal information in one place. I must admit, I myself was a bit nervous at first (despite the extremely unsecure file cabinet I had it all in before). But, assuming individuals keep their PIN codes to themselves, the Safe is a tough nut to crack. The company estimates it would take a person ten years, working 24 hours day and 7 days a week, to randomly guess a code. And if someone tries to smash open the casing, all information automatically deletes. Now, you’re probably thinking: but the information would still be lost. But Tâke has an answer for that too: online backup. The Never Lost backup service is free for 60 days and then $19.95 for a 12-month subscription. Another option I thought of is to buy another Tâke Personal safe as a backup and keep it in another area - like at the office or in a safety deposit box (you know you live in unsecure times when you dream up ways to backup your backup). Granted, I don’t work for the CIA or anything, but I felt secure enough with the Pocket Safe to make it a mainstay in my record keeping.

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Review: Song Remains (Mostly) the Same in Rock Band 2

Stop me if you've heard this one: Gamemaker releases brilliant work of genius, follows it up next year with the same exact thing.

It happens all the time in the videogame biz -- as soon as a publisher has a breakthrough hit on its hands, you can be sure it'll want another version for next Christmas. And so, here's Rock Band 2, just like clockwork. MTV Games hasn't made any major changes to how the game looks or plays, so if you've spent any time tapping on plastic drums with a room full of virtual band mates recently, you know exactly how this one is going to go down.

But that doesn't mean you don't need Rock Band 2. Oh, quite the contrary: If you're still getting your buddies together every few weekends to play the original, you absolutely must buy Rock Band 2 -- for the new music, but also for the relatively minor but highly desirable improvements MTV has made.

I don't want to seem like I'm diminishing the hard work that developer Harmonix Music Systems has clearly done here. No, the lads from Cambridge did not add new instruments to Rock Band: no keyboards, no sousaphones. No, unlike rival Guitar Hero, there is no new feature as nakedly ambitious as a music-creation mode. What they have done is to refine every feature from top to bottom for Rock Band 2, creating a true version 2.0 product.

But before we get into that, let's assume you have never heard of Rock Band before. Let's assume you have never experienced the joy of playing a music game that lets four players team up, taking lead guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Let's assume you don't know the sheer joy of cooperative music gaming, each player following their own part but contributing to a shared score. You are an incomplete person.

Music games are now one of the biggest genres in the industry, and Rock Band is the best of the bunch. Even though tapping out rhythms on the plastic buttons of fake guitars and drums isn't really playing music, these games are so compelling because they make you feel like a rock star.

The Rock Band 2 disc features about 80 new songs to rock to, spanning a variety of styles. There's AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock" and Metallica's "Battery," sure, but there's also Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac and Blondie. There's even "Shackler's Revenge," a track off of Guns N' Roses' vaporware album, Chinese Democracy.

But what if you like your old Rock Band songs better? No matter: By re-upping the license fee with a flat payment of $5, you can export most of your Rock Band songs to your console's hard drive. Rock Band 2 will then pull them straight into the game. All the music you downloaded for the original Rock Band will work seamlessly with Rock Band 2 as well.

One of the welcome upgrades to Rock Band 2 is that the song-selection menu has been dramatically overhauled. Not only is it easier to find the song you want, but the difficulty level of each song is broken down by instrument. So, for example, if you have an expert guitarist playing with a beginning drummer, they'll be able to pick songs that are appropriate for both of them.

The solo game has been more heavily altered. Instead of separate song-by-song single-player challenges for each instrument, everything has been smashed into one mode, called "World Tour." You'll create a band, then take them from garage gigs to superstardom. You could only do this with multiple players in the first game, but the Tour experience is now seamlessly integrated across the entire game. You can begin a tour by yourself, switch instruments midway through, add more players at any time or go online and invite remote players to join your tour.

If you're looking for a single-player experience that's closer to the original's, Rock Band 2 features "Tour Challenges," a series of increasingly difficult groups of songs that challenge you to use specific instruments. And then there's "Battle of the Bands," challenges that Harmonix will constantly update through online delivery. Every day you log in, there will be a new challenge, and your scores will be compared to every other band's.

But all of these new features are really just iterations on a theme, the same songs wrapped in different packaging. What grabs me most is the "Drum Trainer" feature. These aren't songs. This is Harmonix's attempt to turn Rock Band drummers into actual drummers by teaching them a variety of different beats. There are about 75 different drum beats that you can play on an infinite loop, and you can adjust the tempo on each. Master these, and you'll be building real skills that transfer onto real drum sets. A "Fill Trainer" even teaches you cool little riffs to play when it's time for a drum solo.

You can play Rock Band 2 with Rock Band or Guitar Hero instrument controllers, but a new guitar and drums have been released specifically for this game. Both new input devices are wireless, which is especially welcome with the drum controller, which also sports a metal-reinforced kick pedal and bouncier, quieter drum pads this time around.

If this is one of those unfortunate game reviews that reads just like a list of features, that's as much Rock Band 2's fault as it is mine. Rock Band 2 is a massive bullet-point list of new features, each of which makes playing the game a little bit more fun, a little bit less annoying. MTV has played it very safe: It has not broken anything, but neither has it taken any great risks to add any feature that is mind-blowingly new, the way it did when it added drumming and vocals to Guitar Hero in the first place.

It's more than enough to make Rock Band 2 worth a purchase, but I'll still have my eyes open for the next big thing in music games.

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Review: iDiary for iPhone

Diaries are typically for keeping secrets or intimate thoughts safe. That’s why they have locks. When I was a kid, I had a Snoopy diary with a little locking clasp on it. I wrote about girls I had crushes on in third grade. If that diary ever fell into the wrong hands, boy would I be red in the face. Come to think of it, I’m not sure when I last saw it …

Product: iDiary
Rating Company: Triple Creeks Studio
Price as rated: $7

Do people keep diaries anymore in the age of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter? Maybe some do. I still maintain an irregular journal the old fashioned way, handwritten in a cheap bound faux-leather volume. Venting on the page “for your eyes only” can be cathartic now and then, and far less destructive than if those thoughts were to end up on the Internet.

In the digital age, diaries have passwords and encryption keys. And as more and more people hold their lives in the palm of their hands, diaries are short squibs tapped out on touchscreens.

The Days of Our Lives: iDiary uses an easy-to-navigate calendar interface for jumping from entry to entry.

Enter iDiary, a marginally useful application for the iPhone and iPod touch. I stress “marginally” because it’s difficult to imagine anyone using this app to maintain lengthy and intimate accounts of their daily lives. The world’s fastest typist on an iPhone touchscreen would still be slower than a person writing longhand. What iDiary is, then, is a notepad with password protection.

If that’s what you need, iDiary does the job well. When you run iDiary for the first time, you are prompted to enter a password. Don’t lose it. iDiary employs Blowfish and MD5 encryption. Try to alter the diary without authorization, and iDiary will display a terrifying message: “Corrupted data.”

iDiary functions as a day planner. The calendar-interface is easy to navigate. In monthly view, a blue underline appears below each date with a diary entry. Touch the date and a preview of the entry appears below the calendar at the bottom of the screen. Double-tap the date or touch the “Edit Diary Entry” button, and a yellow notepad pops up. Then simply type in your entry and click save. Easy.

Take Note: The interface for an iDiary entry looks a lot like the iPhone’s built-in Notes app.

The only way to export an entry is through the device’s built-in Mail function. The product developer helpfully notes that the e-mail function lets users “share your journals with your friends and family.” But aren’t there more convenient ways of doing the same thing that don’t require a password-protected app?

iDiary Lite is exactly like iDiary except without the encryption. So the vast price differential—$7 versus $1—comes down to password protection. If your diary entries are extremely sensitive, then the extra $6 may be worthwhile. If not, go with the Lite version.

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Product Review: NEO by Alphasmart - The Rubber Meets The Road

I actually reviewed the NEO some time ago. For those of you not familiar with this ‘gizmo’ it is a highly portable word processor that runs forever on 3 AAA batteries. It has a full sized keyboard, and a small screen that shows 6 lines of text,

This may not sound very elegant to you high rolling Vista users, but for the guy on the go, this is the cats meow!

As I said, I have already reviewed this item, but it is one thing doing a review in the comfort of your home, while it is an entirely different experience doing it in real life. Last week my wife and I, and yes were are perfectly certifiable, decided to take a 2,500 mile trip by Greyhound Bus. You are probably wondering why we would subject ourselves to such an endeavor, and my only answer is ‘because we can’. Sensible, we may not be, but we certainly are adventurous.

For four days the Neo was the only device I had. Battery life is absolutely amazing, the 3 AAA batteries just keep on ticking, the unit itself is light weight and durable, and you can trust me when I say I put it through hell. I had it squeezed into a bag with a dozen books, and various other paraphernalia, it got dropped, kicked, shoved under seats and overhead bins, mauled by customs, and abused by me. It came out in much better shape than either Jan or myself!

What really impressed me though was when we reached our destination in the heart of Mississippi (I am still trying to learn to spell it, thank goodness for the spellchecker on the NEO). Our main computers are currently on route, or more likely sitting in some customs shed at the border! Seeing as Jan and I make our living Online, being without computers was not an option. My solution was to bring a couple of ancient but lightweight laptops, Toshiba Portege 3110CT’s to be exact. With no CD ROM I had to get creative with an Operating System, I found a Linux Debian distribution that could be installed over the Internet. While not ideal by any stretch of the imagination (Check rant here) they were at least a partial band aid till the other junk arrives.

In my previous endeavors with the NEO I had only tried uploading files in the Windows world. I powered up one of the laptops, connected the USB cable, and guess what? The NEO worked flawlessly! My articles uploaded with no problems whatsoever. No fiddling around with drivers or software, you just press the send key and you are done!

In fact the NEO has now become my prime source for typing. I have a deep dislike for laptops, the keyboards are always way to squishy for my fat little fingers! The NEO on the other hand offers a full size and very well configured keyboard that has a really great positive feel to it.

Kudos to Alphasmart for making this little beast. It may not be ideal for everyone, and yes, the small display takes a little getting used to, but once you start using the little critter it works great. Another endearing feature in my mind is that Alphasmart have not tried to reinvent the wheel. The word processor has been designed to use the same set of keyboard shortcuts that MS Word uses. Ctrl a, Ctrl x, Ctrl v, etc. all do exactly what you would expect them to do. This was a real boon to me, as I set out on the trip without the user manual! There were a couple of keyboard shortcuts that I could not remember, but the built in Help system fixed that for me.

Great product, I can not recommend the NEO enough.

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