If you want to save on your electric bill and Natural gas bill or just make money sign up customers. Check out this web sites:
http://bsbliss.ambitenergy.biz
Illinois Pre-Launch Web Address
http://bsbliss.ambitenergyil.com
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Skullcandy iPhone FMJ
by Tim Gideon
I'm often asked if I know of any excellent but cheap upgrade earbuds, because the querying party doesn't want to spend a lot but still demands superior audio performance. My answer is always "No." After all, you get what you pay for, right? Skullcandy is a manufacturer that offers reasonably priced earphone upgrades, but they're certainly not cheap. At $80, I consider the Skullcandy iPhone FMJ a great example of affordable, quality earphones that provide a big step up from the 'buds you'll get with almost any digital music player or cell phone.
The headphones are ergonomically well designed but may be a bit flashy for some—you'll either love or hate these edgy earbuds that feature earpieces emblazoned with skulls. There are black, silver, and chrome versions—mine were silver. The cable is bright silver in a transparent plastic coating, and the mic and phone button sit on an oblong, capsule-shaped piece of plastic on the left earpiece's cable. Also included is a small carrying case with a black, rubbery circular zip-up pouch featuring an embossed skull logo.
The iPhone FMJ has a thin 3.5mm connector that—you guessed it—works with the iPhone's recessed jack. It also features an in-line (on-the-cable) microphone so that you can answer calls and drop them with a click of its single button near the mic. The earphones sat well in my ear and eliminated some outside noise without ever coming loose. This should hold true for most ear types, since the iPhone FMJ comes with a few different silicon ear-tip sizes.
Anyone who compares these earphones to the earbuds that come with the iPhone will immediately notice the difference. First of all, since they are earphones, they go inside the ear canal a bit, as opposed to earbuds, which are flat and generally don't create a good seal. The most noticeable difference is the increase in low-end frequencies, or bass, with the iPhone FMJ. It's not booming, but it's certainly present, making tracks from The Knife, for example, an electronic group that features deep bass beats, feel much fuller than they ever could with earbuds. I just wish the sound were a bit brighter. And even with its rounder low end, the iPhone FMJ doesn't distort at high volumes. (Still, you shouldn't be listening to sound that loud if you want to be able to hear 30 years from now!)
The phone feature of the iPhone FMJ worked perfectly—I made and received calls on an iPhone with no problems. When you're listening to music, the ringtone from a call will interrupt, and pressing the button on the in-line mic answers the call. To disconnect you press it again to resume your tunes.
The iPhone FMJ's closest competitors are probably the lower-end offerings from Shure (which require an optional accessory to work with the iPhone) and Ultimate Ears (the Super.fi 4 vi is iPhone-ready), as well as some gym-friendly (but non-iPhone compatible) options from Sennheiser. Spend some more cash ($179) and buy the Etymotic hf2 if you're looking for high-caliber audio performance in a dedicated iPhone stereo headset. At this lower price point, however, the Skullcandy iPhone FMJ may not be a standout audio performer, but it delivers dependable sound in a flashy and interesting package.
Skullcandy offers a limited lifetime warranty on all its products. For more information, visit: http://www.skullcandy.com/warranty-information.html
I'm often asked if I know of any excellent but cheap upgrade earbuds, because the querying party doesn't want to spend a lot but still demands superior audio performance. My answer is always "No." After all, you get what you pay for, right? Skullcandy is a manufacturer that offers reasonably priced earphone upgrades, but they're certainly not cheap. At $80, I consider the Skullcandy iPhone FMJ a great example of affordable, quality earphones that provide a big step up from the 'buds you'll get with almost any digital music player or cell phone.
The headphones are ergonomically well designed but may be a bit flashy for some—you'll either love or hate these edgy earbuds that feature earpieces emblazoned with skulls. There are black, silver, and chrome versions—mine were silver. The cable is bright silver in a transparent plastic coating, and the mic and phone button sit on an oblong, capsule-shaped piece of plastic on the left earpiece's cable. Also included is a small carrying case with a black, rubbery circular zip-up pouch featuring an embossed skull logo.
The iPhone FMJ has a thin 3.5mm connector that—you guessed it—works with the iPhone's recessed jack. It also features an in-line (on-the-cable) microphone so that you can answer calls and drop them with a click of its single button near the mic. The earphones sat well in my ear and eliminated some outside noise without ever coming loose. This should hold true for most ear types, since the iPhone FMJ comes with a few different silicon ear-tip sizes.
Anyone who compares these earphones to the earbuds that come with the iPhone will immediately notice the difference. First of all, since they are earphones, they go inside the ear canal a bit, as opposed to earbuds, which are flat and generally don't create a good seal. The most noticeable difference is the increase in low-end frequencies, or bass, with the iPhone FMJ. It's not booming, but it's certainly present, making tracks from The Knife, for example, an electronic group that features deep bass beats, feel much fuller than they ever could with earbuds. I just wish the sound were a bit brighter. And even with its rounder low end, the iPhone FMJ doesn't distort at high volumes. (Still, you shouldn't be listening to sound that loud if you want to be able to hear 30 years from now!)
The phone feature of the iPhone FMJ worked perfectly—I made and received calls on an iPhone with no problems. When you're listening to music, the ringtone from a call will interrupt, and pressing the button on the in-line mic answers the call. To disconnect you press it again to resume your tunes.
The iPhone FMJ's closest competitors are probably the lower-end offerings from Shure (which require an optional accessory to work with the iPhone) and Ultimate Ears (the Super.fi 4 vi is iPhone-ready), as well as some gym-friendly (but non-iPhone compatible) options from Sennheiser. Spend some more cash ($179) and buy the Etymotic hf2 if you're looking for high-caliber audio performance in a dedicated iPhone stereo headset. At this lower price point, however, the Skullcandy iPhone FMJ may not be a standout audio performer, but it delivers dependable sound in a flashy and interesting package.
Skullcandy offers a limited lifetime warranty on all its products. For more information, visit: http://www.skullcandy.com/warranty-information.html
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Video: Sony's BDZ-A70 Blu-ray recorder with 1-touch transfer to Walkmans, cellphones, and PSPs
Now we're talking Sony, this is the type of integration we expect to see on the heels of your promise to cash in on portable video after losing the audio battle to Apple. As a Blu-ray recorder, the BDZ-A70 features all the in/outs you'd expect, a 320GB (the new BDZ-T90 offers 500GB) disk with the ability to burn to dual-layer BD-RE media, and a host of analog and digital tuners. Great, but what's most notable here is the new one-touch video transfer to Sony's PSP, select mobile phones including NTT DoCoMo's FOMA 905i, and video Walkmans like Sony's new NW-A820. As you may have noticed, those are all Japanese products. Appropriate given the Japan-only launch of these players in April for about ¥170,000 ($1,658). Still, we're pretty sure they'll go global soon enough.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Cyberoam CR 25i
This UTM (unified threat management) device provides firewall, VPN, antivirus, antispam, intrusion detection and prevention (IDP), and content-filtering features on a per-user basis. The Cyberoam CR 25i comes loaded with high-end features not usually found in a product at this price level, like failover capability and the ability to support multiple Internet connections at once. Setting it up wasn't easy, but the CR 25i deserves credit for its flexible configuration options, extensive security, content filtering, and bandwidth management features.
When setting up the CR 25i, all I had to go on was the quick-start guide with its tiny print and pictures of a unit different from the one I received. But this is the type of product you can't install without following the instructions, so I got out my magnifying glass and trudged along—into the first wall.
The device has four Ethernet 10/100 ports on the rear that are not labeled. Not a big deal, you might think, but you can perform the setup only through port A. My odds were 50-50: Port A was either on the far left or far right. I made the wrong choice and woke up in a dark dystopia with a jack in my head and a guy named Morpheus staring down at me. Okay, not really, but Cyberoam should not make the poor IT guy setting up its units guess. Sorting out even such simple gotchas takes time. After I connected to the other port A, I was able to log into the administration interface. I ran the network configuration wizard, which walked me through configuring Ethernet ports and some basic settings.
The CR 25i does not support SMTP authentication (which means I couldn't use it to send e-mail alerts about security conditions, because my server—as well as many others—requires SMTP authentication), yet I was forced to enter information for e-mail alerts. Even though I wouldn't be able to use the feature, the wizard refused to let me advance if I left the e-mail settings blank. I was also disappointed to find that not only are DHCP services off by default, but you have to configure them manually. The good news is that a latch holds the power cord in, so you won't accidentally disconnect the power when you've almost finished this onerous installation.
Identity-based security management is the key to the CR 25i, so you'll want to use those features, but you've got to do some planning first to determine which privileges (and restrictions) should be assigned to which users and groups. If you're already running a network directory service such as Active Directory or LDAP, then you can simply connect to whichever one you're using and begin assigning security profiles to users and groups. If not, you'll have to create users, passwords, and groups on the CR 25i itself and then install a small client on each workstation in your network.
Strangely, you download the client (available only for Windows and Linux, although others can run an HTTP only client) from the help menu. This is sort of a theme with the product's interface: Many common settings are buried three menus deep; you have to drill down that far just to turn on virus scanning! I was able to find everything I was looking for eventually, but compared with the GUIs of other UTMs I've reviewed this year, such as the SonicWALL TZ 180 and the eSoft InstaGate 404, this is competent and nothing more.
When setting up the CR 25i, all I had to go on was the quick-start guide with its tiny print and pictures of a unit different from the one I received. But this is the type of product you can't install without following the instructions, so I got out my magnifying glass and trudged along—into the first wall.
The device has four Ethernet 10/100 ports on the rear that are not labeled. Not a big deal, you might think, but you can perform the setup only through port A. My odds were 50-50: Port A was either on the far left or far right. I made the wrong choice and woke up in a dark dystopia with a jack in my head and a guy named Morpheus staring down at me. Okay, not really, but Cyberoam should not make the poor IT guy setting up its units guess. Sorting out even such simple gotchas takes time. After I connected to the other port A, I was able to log into the administration interface. I ran the network configuration wizard, which walked me through configuring Ethernet ports and some basic settings.
The CR 25i does not support SMTP authentication (which means I couldn't use it to send e-mail alerts about security conditions, because my server—as well as many others—requires SMTP authentication), yet I was forced to enter information for e-mail alerts. Even though I wouldn't be able to use the feature, the wizard refused to let me advance if I left the e-mail settings blank. I was also disappointed to find that not only are DHCP services off by default, but you have to configure them manually. The good news is that a latch holds the power cord in, so you won't accidentally disconnect the power when you've almost finished this onerous installation.
Identity-based security management is the key to the CR 25i, so you'll want to use those features, but you've got to do some planning first to determine which privileges (and restrictions) should be assigned to which users and groups. If you're already running a network directory service such as Active Directory or LDAP, then you can simply connect to whichever one you're using and begin assigning security profiles to users and groups. If not, you'll have to create users, passwords, and groups on the CR 25i itself and then install a small client on each workstation in your network.
Strangely, you download the client (available only for Windows and Linux, although others can run an HTTP only client) from the help menu. This is sort of a theme with the product's interface: Many common settings are buried three menus deep; you have to drill down that far just to turn on virus scanning! I was able to find everything I was looking for eventually, but compared with the GUIs of other UTMs I've reviewed this year, such as the SonicWALL TZ 180 and the eSoft InstaGate 404, this is competent and nothing more.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Netgear ReadyNAS Duo
by Oliver Rist
We loved the Netgear ReadyNAS NV+, and we gave it our Editors' Choice award in 2007. But that powerful unit might just be more machine (at a higher price) than many home users need. That's where the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo comes in. This new box, aimed more at the home than at small or midsize businesses, takes up less space and has a few new software tweaks aimed at pleasure rather than work. Aside from that (and lower cost, though it's pricier than some competing products), it's very similar to the ReadyNAS NV+.
Where the ReadyNAS NV+ comes in a chromed-out box large enough for four hard drives, the ReadyNAS Duo opts for a small black case just big enough for two. Among other advantages, the device is even smaller than that of its primary rival, the Buffalo LinkStation Pro Duo (LS-WTGL/R1). First and foremost, it supports hot swapping and makes the task easy, thanks to a front-mounted door that provides access to easy-swap drive enclosures. The LinkStation Pro Duo doesn't intend that users hot-swap anything: You've got to open the case with a screwdriver and disconnect the SATA cables to take out a drive. Also, the Buffalo has just one USB port, as opposed to three (two on the back, one in front) on the ReadyNAS Duo. In addition, the Netgear has a front-mounted Backup button that automatically kicks off a one-step backup of its drive (or drives).
Ironically, the only hardware feature that the Buffalo box has and the Netgear doesn't is the two hard drives. If you order a 500GB ReadyNAS Duo, the company ships it with a single preinstalled 500GB drive rather than two 250GB drives. Unless you specifically request a pair of 250GBs, you'll get one. Our model came with a single 500GB Western Digital SATA. That's a little weird, since most of the Netgear's benefits require dual drives.
Still, if you've got the green, adding another drive is easy enough given the box's hot-swap capability—and the process is made even easier by the proprietary X-RAID technology, which lets users plug in a secondary hard drive of any size as long as its capacity is equal to or greater than that of the original. Slide the second drive in and it will start chugging away, no extra effort required. The X-RAID technology saves you from rebuilding the array manually, so you don't need to store your data elsewhere while inserting the new drive.
Those USB ports also make the device more flexible than its primary rival from Buffalo. Where the latter can accept only hard drives, the Netgear handles additional USB hard drives and flash drives, printers, and even a Netgear USB wireless adapter, so you can convert your ReadyNAS Duo into a wireless device. Netgear currently does not have a USB Wireless-802.11n adapter, but if your wireless router is from Netgear, it will likely support the company's Super G implementation. That's Netgear's technology for using two Wireless-G radios in tandem to provide up to 108-megabit-per-second throughput, which should be enough to stream even HD media content. Note, however, that I didn't test that.
We loved the Netgear ReadyNAS NV+, and we gave it our Editors' Choice award in 2007. But that powerful unit might just be more machine (at a higher price) than many home users need. That's where the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo comes in. This new box, aimed more at the home than at small or midsize businesses, takes up less space and has a few new software tweaks aimed at pleasure rather than work. Aside from that (and lower cost, though it's pricier than some competing products), it's very similar to the ReadyNAS NV+.
Where the ReadyNAS NV+ comes in a chromed-out box large enough for four hard drives, the ReadyNAS Duo opts for a small black case just big enough for two. Among other advantages, the device is even smaller than that of its primary rival, the Buffalo LinkStation Pro Duo (LS-WTGL/R1). First and foremost, it supports hot swapping and makes the task easy, thanks to a front-mounted door that provides access to easy-swap drive enclosures. The LinkStation Pro Duo doesn't intend that users hot-swap anything: You've got to open the case with a screwdriver and disconnect the SATA cables to take out a drive. Also, the Buffalo has just one USB port, as opposed to three (two on the back, one in front) on the ReadyNAS Duo. In addition, the Netgear has a front-mounted Backup button that automatically kicks off a one-step backup of its drive (or drives).
Ironically, the only hardware feature that the Buffalo box has and the Netgear doesn't is the two hard drives. If you order a 500GB ReadyNAS Duo, the company ships it with a single preinstalled 500GB drive rather than two 250GB drives. Unless you specifically request a pair of 250GBs, you'll get one. Our model came with a single 500GB Western Digital SATA. That's a little weird, since most of the Netgear's benefits require dual drives.
Still, if you've got the green, adding another drive is easy enough given the box's hot-swap capability—and the process is made even easier by the proprietary X-RAID technology, which lets users plug in a secondary hard drive of any size as long as its capacity is equal to or greater than that of the original. Slide the second drive in and it will start chugging away, no extra effort required. The X-RAID technology saves you from rebuilding the array manually, so you don't need to store your data elsewhere while inserting the new drive.
Those USB ports also make the device more flexible than its primary rival from Buffalo. Where the latter can accept only hard drives, the Netgear handles additional USB hard drives and flash drives, printers, and even a Netgear USB wireless adapter, so you can convert your ReadyNAS Duo into a wireless device. Netgear currently does not have a USB Wireless-802.11n adapter, but if your wireless router is from Netgear, it will likely support the company's Super G implementation. That's Netgear's technology for using two Wireless-G radios in tandem to provide up to 108-megabit-per-second throughput, which should be enough to stream even HD media content. Note, however, that I didn't test that.
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