This post was written by Fedrick Chan
Taxan KG-PS125X Wireless DLP projector offers good value for money. Connections look sparse at first – all you get is VGA, S-Video, composite and 3.5mm audio inputs on the rear panel – but these disguise more comprehensive potential. It’s not the smallest unit in the world or the sexiest to look at. The thick black plastic casing has a finish that looks like it will resist scratching. It even turns the lamp off when you close it. All is forgiven, however, when you take a look at the price.
U.S. Robotics (USR) has taken a couple of its old-timers and bundled them together to provide a complete broadband and wireless solution. The package consists of its USR9108 ADSL2+ Gateway and USR5421 USB wireless adapter with both products supporting USR’s MAXg technology, which claims speeds of up to 125Mbps. The router is an imposing slab of silver plastic which provides the obligatory quad of switched Fast Ethernet ports along with an integral ADSL2+ modem. The management interface is a simple affair with easy access to the various functions.
Axis’s 207MW Wireless Network camera isn’t much to look at but its compact chassis hides a wealth of features. The camera provides full motion detection along with support for both Motion-JPEG and MPEG-4 compression. Installation beats the same path as all Axis cameras. Bandwidth demands are quite high so for wireless links reviewers would only recommend using this camera over an 802.11g link. Nevertheless, for sheer image quality the 207MW is quite superb and it augments these abilities with an impressive range of surveillance features.
VMware announced the launch of its VMware Mobile Virtualization Platform. The new platform lets mobile phone users work with multiple virtual phones at the same time. The new Mobile Virtualization Platform is similar in concept to the company’s ESXi server virtualization technology. MVP is a thin layer of software that is embedded on a mobile phone that puts the phone’s operating system, applications, and data into any virtual machine that is separate from the underlying hardware.
Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-G1 is a revolutionary camera that delivers on its promise of SLR-like quality in a compact body. Build quality and design are up to Panasonic’s usual exemplary standard, and despite its small size the camera handles well. In terms of performance and especially image quality it matches other Four-Thirds system DLSRs. The autofocus system is amazingly fast, which helps the G1 to have a very impressive shot-to-shot time. The only downside is the high price compared to an entry-level full-size DLSR.