Vertical Technology Blog

I have been contemplating an upgrade to my Toshiba laptop but when dealing with laptops you have more than one option.  Instead of upgrading to a newer model, I could reformat and work on upgrading the memory.  I have been using my iPhone far more than my laptop lately and I haven’t put to use mobile broadband options because I have a setup at home that’s perfect.

I used to do more gaming with my system but since I lack the time, WoW hasn’t been the center of my life.  I don’t really need the power of a gaming system but I do need something that can keep up with my photo editing and multi-tasking.  I tend to do quite a lot of that with reviews and blogging.

If I do decide to upgrade I will probably shop laptops and the newer netbooks so that I know what my best buy would be.  For now, I will consider a reformat and a little more RAM to keep things going until it’s more convenient to spend the money on a better system.  There are some great deals on desktops, too, but I prefer to work with a laptop so that I can take it anywhere I travel.  That is a convenience I just can’t give up.

About 4 years ago I considered myself a hardcore case modder.  I got a new case and took my Dremel to it and after 30 hours of work and many case fans later I had a computer case sporting no less than 9 LED 80mm fans complete with cold cathode lighting inside.  It looked great when it was lit up but it sounded like a B-12 bomber was in the room with you. 

Water cooling was always there, but out of my budget and to be honest I didn’t feel comfortable putting water that close to my precious gaming rig.  Hardcore Computer (www.hardcorecomputer.com) has an unexpected alternative.  They have created a dielectric mineral oil cooled PC they call The Reactor.  The really interesting thing is that the coolant is not piped throughout plastic tubing and blocks attached to critical points in your PC case. 

The whole computer is immersed in a case filled with the oil.  This has been done with a 10 gallon aquarium and cooking oil, but after a few days it will get a nice stench to it.  Standard platter hard drives are not used in their configurations.  Instead they use SSD drives so they can be submersed as well.  Hardcore Computer systems start out at $4000 and go up as much as $11,000.  Not a bad way to blow through your kid’s inheritance.

Motorola has released the Motopure H12 which utilizes CrystalTalk 2-microphone technology which works to cancel any outside noise and make your voice clear to listen to for your callers.  The speakers that are incoming offer multiple choices of cushions so that you can pick the best fit.

The Motopure H12 is small and has a great look.  The sleek design of the H12 impressed me and the light fit made it easy to forget that I had the bluetooth on my ear.  With a talk time of 5.5 hours and a boasted standby time of 200 hours, the H12 is certainly easy to add to your list of wants, and will keep you mobile at your busiest times.

The Motopure has an automatic low power mode and LED light to help you keep up with your battery use.  An easy to use USB charger and dock kept the H12 powered up when not in use and I loved the ability to answer, end, reject, mute and hold calls with the touch of a button.  The Bluetooth Class 2 wireless technology is a must-have and the range of the headset is up to 33 feet.

Overall, a great experience with easy charging, light wear and easy-to-hear conversations.

Being a notebook user I really enjoyed using the Kensington Si750m Notebook Laser Mouse.  It features an easily held shape that was very comfortable with extended use.  The high resolution laser sensor was quick to react to my pointed movements and the mouse is nicely compact.

You store the receiver inside the mouse and when you place it inside, the mouse automatically turns off to save your batteries.  It has 2.4Ghz high-speed performance, and I even used this while gaming, it did wonderful.  I didn’t test out the range but they claim it has up to 30 feet.

The battery lasted and lasted, they say it should hold about a 6 month charge with only 1 AA.  I’m still testing this.  Being easy to use and lightweight make it a first choice when I am packing my laptop up to take it with me.  I don’t fret over the size or weight and it’s easily stored in a side pocket of my laptop case.  It has a small footprint but that didn’t interfere with the use.

Kensington offers a free 5 year warranty and technical support with each mouse and they have a metallic pink version for those of us that like to flaunt our Diva selves.

NetBlender has BD Touch technology that will work directly with BD Live and allow your iPhone or iPod Touch to interact with your Blu-ray player.  BD Touch would utilize the geo location features of your iPhone, the 3D sensors and easy to use QWERTY keyboard to enhance your experience.  This opens doors for you to enjoy a large amount of data trading between your gadgets.

You could keep detailed lists of your Blu-ray collection and get movie suggestions that match your taste.  While the movie is playing, trivia and extra information about the movie can be displayed.  Games and other features could definitely enhance things for you as well.  All of these things can happen as the Blu-ray is playing.

Also, your iPhone can be morphed into a lovely remote control for your Blu-ray player and keep things easily controlled from afar as you enjoy your collection.  It works over a WiFi connection, so no matter where you are located, if you have that, you can enjoy BD Touch technology fairly easily.

For such a company as Apple, with a name that so many are familiar with, it’s still a great claim to be on top of the “brand” pile.  You can be known as a brand for good or bad things, and overall, people are saying they put Apple in the number one spot even though they have had a few things try to slow them down.

Brandjunkie.com claims that with six out of ten questions, Apple stays on top of the rest as a name that people believe in when buying products.

They point out that innovation is of huge value to those surveyed, along with reliability and simplicity.  Read up on the results over on the site and you’ll see other brands mentioned like Microsoft and Nike.  I enjoyed reading this article and seeing how brand names impact our society so much.

Grace Digital has a wonderful gadget named the XLink that is a cellular bluetooth gateway.  It utilizes your home phone convenience and merges that with your cellular phone usage.  XLink was super easy to set up and worked on my first try.  I followed the simple instructions, plugged the XLink into the phone and immediately found the XLink in my Bluetooth list.

The connection was easily established and the sound was clear.  It connected my cellphone with a standard cordless that I had in the house.  Then, I was able to use my home phone receiver but all the calls coming into my cellphone rang into the house phone.  I can see this being very practical for people with National plans that desire to call long distance with a cellphone plan but wish to use the home phone receiver.

Simple to use, very few buttons, easy to understand lights and the convenience of Bluetooth were great combinations.  Caller ID and Call Waiting work just fine, so you don’t sacrifice features, here.  You can also connect the XLink to your PC for more advanced use.

The Price Point office desks are a good quality product that offer more than just a pretty new desk for your offices.  They will show you that they surpass their competitors with durable and strong models that will last longer.  With 25mm thick desk tops, compared to the standard 18mm thickness, you will have less chance of the desk bowing.  Buying quality office furniture can be one of your first steps in running a quality company.

They also improve their desks with 2mm thick edging, another great upgrade in comparison to the usual 0.6mm thick models that are offered elsewhere, and they top it off with an 8-year guarantee for their customers. 

Check out the pricing on the Price Point site and don’t forget to view their office storage options with tons of filing cabinets, shelves and other quality items to choose from.  They even have artificial plants to brighten up your spaces once you’re done with the basic design!

As a gamer, I look for good sound in a headset, and the Razer Piranha has that perfected.  With noise-filtering for the microphone, your teammates or gaming pals won’t miss a word you say.  Comfort is first with Razer, too.  Ergonomic designs are a focus for this company and these Piranha headphones happen to have adjustable earphones to help with every movement you make and keep your long hours of gaming less about your comfort and more about your enjoyment.

Another plus for Razer is the cable, they took extra time to ensure it’s durability by covering it with a braided fiber.  I had no problem just plugging it in and using it, either.  No annoying wait to set it up.

Not only are they awesome to use for the excellent sound and quality but they also have added ‘gadget addict’ features like the lovely blue icon on the sides and blue lighting on the control that’s attached to the cord.  If you’re into case mods. or just like to show off your favorite brand, Razer has your number.  Shop their site and keep watching for new items.  They keep adding more things for me to drool over.

I love their company motto, too:  “For gamers, by gamers.”  Who better to design my stuff but someone that has something in common with me?  They have a new mouse coming, too, and I hope to feature the Salmosa here as soon as I get more details.

This DVD player was quite an experience for me as it’s completely feature-packed and with so much to offer, I wanted to test out the many different ways this player can work.  The OPPO 1080p offers extremely good image quality when outputting movies that I had on hand.  It has DivX/Xvid support, too, so you won’t find yourself having to convert movies in order to view them on your TV.

The player utilizes the 7.1 Channel audio with Dolby Digital Surround EX decoding, which means you will feel like you are in the middle of the movie and your speakers will bring you each delicate sound as it was meant to be heard.  You can also use the USB 2.0 for external gadgets that you store photos or videos on, and a slide show that uses the resolution of your HDTV to show your photos off to others.

And, to deliver you the best quality, the player uses HDMI for a crisp look and sound.  Delivering high-quality video and audio without the hassle of multiple cables, this is one feature I was quite impressed with.  I certainly recommend you look at the features on the OPPO site, I could only outline my favorites here, and the pricing of the OPPO is incredibly competitive, in fact I feel that it performs on the higher range and is priced with the lower ranged products, which makes it really shine!

OPPO also features a product comparison chart so that you know which player would best suit YOUR needs.