Enter the Droid. I have to admit it… I want one. I’ve talked to several people who already have this device in their hands, and they’re more than happy with it. Several of them are even saying that they like it far better than they did their iPhones!! There’s buzz all over Twitter and the Blogosphere from people who are extolling the many virtues (and few pitfalls) of the new Droid.

I’m not even sure why it is I want one so much. I still don’t “need” a device that can do this much. But man oh man do I hope Santa puts one of these babies in my stocking! I would even happily post an extensive review here!

As I advance even more in my career, I know I will be traveling more and more often. I’ll get to attend conferences. I’ll be hanging out in Seattle with my boss. During times like this, the Droid would definitely come in handy. Also… well… geesh. Must I admit it? The Droid is just a sexy-looking device. I’m a Geek. And, I’m a girl. Can I help it if I’m attracted to gadgets and gizmos that are awesome to look at?

What phone are you currently using? Are you an iPhone fanatic, or are you grabbing a Droid as soon as you possibly can? What are your thoughts on either of these devices… or any other phones on the market? Our readers want to be well-informed as to which phones they should buy.

The recent rise in popularity of digital photo frames is no real surprise.  You can’t get a phone without a camera anymore, there are hundreds of models of digital cameras priced at or below $100.  With all those cameras, we have to have a way to display the pictures without paying for printing, right?

The market is currently flooded with photo frames.  Everyone is making them, and some are making them dirt cheap.  During the recent “Black Friday” deals, I noted frames starting at $29.99!  I bought one.  Wouldn’t you?  With such a price, one is forced to ask the following question: What kind of quality can I get out of a thirty dollar frame?

The answer is pretty simple – meh.  It has almost no onboard storage space and the display quality is moderate at best.  It only supports a few card formats, only accepts JPG images, and lacks in options.  What if I want a nice photo frame with lots of onboard storage space and great image quality that accepts a bunch of card formats, image formats and has tons of options?  The Image Moments line from Digital Foci promises all those things, and more.

Upon initial inspection, it’s a nice looking unit.  Very clean lines and classic look.  The 8″ model includes interchangeable frames, so you can choose which frame works best with your decor.

The display is clean and crisp.  You can certainly tell the difference between this and the cheap model that I purchased.  Each photo transitions smoothly without jumping.  The display is bright and easy to find small details.

The internal storage space is great.  The 5.7″ frame can display images at 640×480 (800×600 for the 8″).  If I were to shrink all my photos to that size I could easily fit thousands of pictures on the internal 450MB without the need for an external storage device.

The Digital Foci frames accept CompactFlash, SD Card, SDHC Card, MultiMedia Card, xD-Picture Card, Memory Stick, MS PRO, MS Duo, and MS PRO Duo memory cards so that no matter what your camera, this frame likely takes the card you have.  These frames also accept JPG, BMP, RAW, TIFF, and GIF image file formats.

The menu system and on screen options on the Digital Foci frames are the best that I have had experience with.  You can view your photos in thumbnail view, which is great for when you are searching for one photo to show someone.  You also have the option of organizing the photos into folders for quick access.  You can even specify playlists so you can have a different set of pictures playing when family comes over, and then switch back to a different set of pictures when you are the only one home.

The Digital Foci frames offer an interesting feature that you cannot find on cheaper models.  The photos are automatically rotated based on the EXIF data.  Now this feature greatly depends on your camera.  Mine automatically senses if it was turned to take a picture and stores that information.  The Image Moments frame was able to read that and adjust each picture accordingly.  This is a nice feature for someone as lazy as I am who doesn’t want to be bothered with rotating pictures before transferring them to the frame.

Now for the tough question, is this frame worth the higher cost?  Value is subjective.  Is it worth it to me?  From a high def perspective, the 15″ model will be worth the money because of the larger view size.  With the 5.7″ and 8” frames, I would likely never look at it that closely to be bothered with how crisp the image is.  The features that really set the DigitalFoci line apart are the large internal storage capacity, the on-screen display options, and the number of different card formats accepted.  You are going to have to decide if those features are worth it to you.

Overall I think the $149 (after rebate) spent on the Digital Foci Image Moments 8 frame is probably worth the money.  Many of the features will be even more exciting on the bigger sized 15” frame due out next year, but they still offer a lot in such a small package.  Just in time for Christmas, I would add this one to my list.

Appearance = Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Quality =  Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Ease-of-use = Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Features =  Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Performance =  Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Value = Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
===========
Overall = Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

One of the biggest challenges for personal and corporate computer users is the security of sensitive data.  When data is stored inside a corporate network, it’s usually firewall and password protected to ensure its safety.  Unfortunately for IT Security personnel, all their security is worthless when sensitive data is transferred by USB key.

To combat this security hole, many companies have switched to encrypted-only USB keys.  The problem with most encrypted USB keys is that the security can be turned off.  When a user gets tired of entering a password every time, they have the option to just go in and disable the software that encrypts the drive.

The solution is a USB key that offers encryption at the hardware level.  The SanDisk Cruzer Enterprise does just that.  The Cruzer Enterprise boasts 256Mb hardware-based mandatory encryption.  Let’s take a closer look at the offering from SanDisk.

The Cruzer Enterprise comes in 1, 2, 4 and 8GB size, which is surprising since the Cruzer is marketed towards “Enterprise” customers.  As a corporate user, I don’t use anything less than 16GB since anything smaller will not fit all the data I need to carry for work.

The price of the Cruzer is on par with its competitor the IronKey, however it lacks many of the features that make the IronKey such an alluring investment.  The price of the Cruzer is $80 for the 1GB and $240 for the 8GB.  This price may seem steep, especially compared to your typical USB key that you can pickup up at any electronics store, but remember, those are not hardware encrypted.

You may ask, why do I need a hardware encrypted USB key?  If you are not an employer who needs to require encryption for your employees’ USB keys, then you might not.  It’s nice, and generally more secure, but certainly not necessary.  Any USB key can be encrypted with a free download.  You can get faster keys with twice the storage space for the same price.

The real benefit to a hardware-encrypted device is in the case of theft. From a data retrieval perspective, it’s irrelevant if it’s stolen, because then you are likely not getting that data back anyway. The hardware encryption. however, will keep the average thief from using the USB key at all. They will just throw it away. With a software encryption option, your typical thief will be able to format the USB key and use it, but your data will still be inaccessible. In either case, your data will be safe from most people, but you will probably not be getting your data back.

The hardware encryption option does offer significantly better protection from an advanced hacker. The encryption key on a hardware encrypted device is stored on the device and cannot be transferred to a host computer. The hardware device also keeps track of the number of access attempts itself, rather than relying on the host computer to keep track.

Another major benefit to this device in an Enterprise environment is that the Cruzer has a password that cannot be turned off. It can be changed, but it must be a strong password, so it’s still secure, even if changed. If I were a company with sensitive data, that feature alone would be worth it.

Overall this product is really difficult to rate.  Is the price worth the security?  That depends on the level of security you require.  Do you have data that you need to secure from even the most nefarious of hackers?  Then you need a hardware encrypted USB key.  If your purpose is to keep your brother from looking at your diary, then a software option would be the best way to spend your money.

Appearance = Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Quality =  Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Ease-of-use = Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Features =  Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Performance =  Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Value = Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
===========
Overall = Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Photo Safe could be the answer to the woes of millions of digital photography enthusiasts.  If this little device works as advertised, I know it will change the way I do things, and it may for you as well.

The Photo Safe is not the only device of its kind.  The DigitalFoci device has competition from Epson, Wolverine, and a few other manufacturers.  If given the opportunity, I’ll compare them with the DigitalFoci.  However, from initial glance, they all appear to offer about the same things, but at significantly varying price ranges.  The 80Gb models range from the DigitalFoci at $130 to some very spendy units at almost $300!

What it is.

The Photo Safe is basically a portable Hard Drive with slots for all kinds of different memory cards.  It’s got a small display and one-button operation to move your photos from your memory card to the Photo Safe’s 80 (or 160) GB hard drive for safe and convenient storage.  All for the cost  of a good memory card, but with 80x the storage space!

What it works with.

The DigitalFoci Photo Safe II works with the following memory card technologies.  CF Type I (including Sandisk Extreme III, IV), xD-Picture Card, MMC, SD/HC Card, miniSD, Memory Stick, MS PRO, MS Duo, and MS Pro Duo.  Finding the right slot for each card is easy on the Photo Safe with clearly marked slots.

How it works.

The DigitalFoci has very simple one-touch operation.  You stick the card into the appropriate slot, the screen shows  that a card has been inserted, and you hit the copy button.  The screen goes into a percentage display so you can see how much has been done.

On the disk, the device creates a separate folder for each offload.  This makes finding the images easy.  It also curbs my concerns about offloading multiple times between the big offload to the computer.  Since the files are separated into different folders (even if the offloads are seconds apart and the exact same data), I don’t have to be concerned about overwriting files.

How it looks.

Aesthetically the Photo Safe is a good looking device.  It’s got a multi-colored plastic casing.  The screen is large for a unit this size.  The screen is backlit with a very bright green glow that makes the display easy to read regardless of how bright or dark it is outside.

The unit is just a bit larger than my Zune at 4 1/2” X 3” and fits easily into the palm of my hand.  The Photo Safe is not heavy (about 1/2 pound), and I really didn’t notice the extra weight when I put it into my camera case.

Speed.

I was not able to test the speed from the card to the Photo Safe.  There is just no testing mechanism that I know of to do such a thing.  What I did was time-test to give some idea of its capabilities.  With my Sandisk Extreme III card, I was able to transfer 1Gb worth of data in 3:43.  To compare, it took  me 3:16 to offload the same data directly to my computer through my card reader.

Durability.

To be fair, I have to question the durability of the Photo Safe.  While its plastic case may look good, it certainly doesn’t scream “rugged”.  A drop from a good distance will surely crack the case.  Each of the card slots has a rubber cover to keep out dust or water.  I believe that under normal conditions, the Photo Safe will fare just fine, however with it being all plastic, there is room for concern if something bad were to happen.

Practical uses.

You could use this device for so many things, it’s difficult to list them all.  In my time with it, I used it for some very interesting things.  I used it for the obvious task of emptying my card when I was out taking lots of pictures, which saved me from having to lug around my laptop and the card reader for it.

I used it out in the woods to take pictures off my digital trail cameras.  I found this especially nice.  I used to have to keep extra SD cards with me so that I could swap them.  With this, I just emptied the card onto the Photo Safe, then formatted the card and went on to check the other cameras.  Now I can get more cameras without having to buy more cards!  Wait until my wife finds out.

At a wedding, I got a picture of my wife and I from a friend, just by asking them for their card and downloading the contents to the Photo Safe.  In the past, I would have had to ask that person to email me that picture and hope they remember.

Also, the Photo Safe can be used as a portable hard drive.  When you hook your computer to it, it just installs as another drive.  You can copy files to it and transport them from place to place.  While I plan to keep it empty to use for photos, the ability for it to be flexible is there, which is nice.

Battery.

I ran the Photo Safe through the ringer a number of times.  I filled my card with 1Gb of pictures, then started offloading.  I offloaded repeatedly over the course of an hour.  I got to the 15th time and it stopped transferring 1/2 way through.

The Photo Safe did a good job keeping a charge when not in use.  However, like any battery powered device, the user has to be conscious of the battery and its limitations.  Ensure that you have it charged if you are going to use it.

The nice thing about the Photo Safe is that you can charge it almost anywhere.  I charged it with my cell phone charging unit in my car (MiniUSB Connection).  You can also charge it with any computer with a USB port.

Price.

Compared to its competition, the DigitalFoci is on the low side of the price range.  At $130, when you consider the obvious upside, it is a unit that’s well worth the cost.  The cost of a 32Gb card for my digital camera costs $299.  The Photo Safe has 80Gb worth of storage space, making it a very good investment.  The 160Gb version of the Photo Safe costs $189, which is still a steal for those who take a LOT of pictures.

Overall.

Overall there is a lot to love when looking at the DigitalFoci Photo Safe II.  The idea behind the technology is brilliant, the price is great, the transfer speeds are good, the size is nice, and the features are great.  Admittedly I have not used the DigitalFoci’s competition yet, but for the price, it’s a very worthwhile investment.  I will have one in my camera case from now on, and I recommend anyone serious about photography do the same.

For the most part, one GPS navigation system is just like any other GPS navigation system. Sure, some of them navigate better than others (this is usually because the manufacturer has better maps), some have better user interfaces, and some of the newer high end models even have fancy extras like MP3 players built in, but on the surface they are all designed to tell you where you are and get you to where you’re going. So why should you care which GPS you get? Simple, decide what you want out of the device and buy the one that has the features that match. If all you need is to get from point A to point B, go for something simple with an interface that you like and you should be pleased, but if you want a little “extra” out of your trips then you’ll need to look for a GPS with a little more “bang for your buck”.

So what’s so special about the Garmin Nuvi 350 Travel Assistant ? Let’s find out.

What’s the same: At first glance the Nuvi 350 is about the same as any other GPS system. Its size is on par with the vast majority of other GPS systems on the market (3.87″W x 2.91″H x .87″D). It’s very easy to slip into a pocket or purse or travel pack when not in use (it even comes with a nice leather carrying pouch to protect the screen). It weighs about the same as any other GPS (5.1 ounces) and the screen is of an average size as well (2.8″W x 2.1″H). Just like any other GPS navigator you can pretty much take it right out of the box, charge the battery, and start navigating.

As with any other GPS system, when you turn on the Nuvi you’re greeted with a safety disclaimer about how it’s unsafe to drive and fiddle with the thing at the same time (common sense). Once past the disclaimer you’re all set to “personalize the device”. You can navigate through the Nuvi’s setup menus using the touch screen and configure things like your home address, add common locations to your “saved” destinations, set up your system’s “personality” (whether you prefer to use the shortest route or the quickest route, what voice you’d like to hear when it speaks, volume level, etc..), and many different customizable settings.

What’s different: Unlike a lot of GPS systems you’re not locked in to one voice yakking at you from your dashboard. The Nuvi lets you choose from a wide array of default voices based on region and your preference towards the male or female voice. You can even download new voice packs from Garmin (I kept it on Australian English for most of my testing….just cuz). Unlike other GPS devices that I’ve seen, the Nuvi actually announces the entire maneuver, so instead of “Turn right in 1.5 miles” you hear “Turn right in 1.5 miles onto highway 75 North towards Lexington”. That’s really handy at confusing intersections. You also aren’t required to stare at some anonymous triangle meandering across the map on the screen; at Garmin Garage you can download custom vehicle icons that will show up on the Nuvi’s screen as it tells you where you are (I chose the police car icon).

Notice it’s called a “Travel Assistant”, not a GPS Navigation system. They call it a Travel Assistant because the Nuvi 350 also comes with a “Travel Kit”. The travel kit is a group of options (some free, some require an extra purchase) that help make your traveling experience a little better. The travel kit includes: a Language guide (a pocket translator, which does require a separate purchase to be fully functional), a Travel Guide (a mobile Zagat guide that gives restaurant reviews; also a paid extra), a Savers Guide (a mobile coupon book that requires a subscription), an MP3/Audio-book player (free! woohoo!), Picture Viewer, World clock, Calculator, and a measurement/currency converter. I don’t know about you but that sounds like quite a few extra features.

The only extra feature in the travel kit that I actually used was the MP3 player. You can load your MP3s onto an SD card (not included), load it in the device, connect the Nuvi to your stereo (it has a standard headphone jack) and start rockin your way to grandma’s. While the device is playing music you can switch back to the map view and continue your normal navigation, when the device needs to tell you something (like “turn left”) it will pause what you’re listening to and start the music back up once it’s done telling you what it had to tell you. This is a pretty handy feature when you’re in a rental car without your normal music or if you decided to leave your Ipod at home.

Now, you can find other GPS systems that have these same extras (especially the MP3 player), but what you can’t find is a manufacturer that encourages as much community contribution as Garmin. Through the Garmin community you can find and download A LOT of user generated content. You can do GeoCaching with the device by logging into the community area and connecting with your local “Cachers”. You can download custom POI (Points of Interest) that are generated by the Garmin community as well as other 3rd party contributors (you can, for instance, get a speed trap map of the United States and never get a speeding ticket again). You can even download guided audio tours that have been made for your area. Want to tour the cemeteries of New Orleans? Download the audio ghost tour and you’ll be scared right out of your seat.

What’s good: The Nuvi navigated well with clear and concise prompts. It was especially helpful that the prompts included the ENTIRE maneuver instead of just telling you to turn (a feature that MIGHT keep certain ambulance drivers out of lakes).

The navigation buttons are all pretty easy to locate and anyone who has used a GPS system before can easily figure out how to get from point A to point B in 5 minutes without consulting the manual.

The MP3 player is pretty handy and easy to find in the menu. Playing your sound files is as easy as opening them and letting the thing go on its merry way. You can even set the player to shuffle or repeat your tracks as it goes.

The user software (the Garmin Automatic Updater and the POI Loader) is extremely easy to use and it’s very easy to download/install the free enhancement packs (such as the vehicle icons and the language packs).

What’s not good: Certain trip options (like whether to choose the shortest route or quickest route) were buried a few menus deep and were more of a “one time” setting instead of being able to change them for each trip.

It also missed a turn on my trip to Louisiana that would have saved at least 15 minutes worth of swamp driving. I suspect that this COULD be fixed by a map upgrade but I didn’t upgrade my maps before I left.

I had a few issues with the MP3 player, specifically the volume control. It takes a bit of fiddling to get the volume on the device and the volume on your stereo to match.

There is no way to control the music and voice independently. The voice prompts seemed to always be louder than the music that’s playing through the GPS. If the GPS volume is too loud then you’re going to get a lot of distortion when the voice prompts start. This means that if you like to listen to your music loud, be aware that the voice will be oppressively loud and distorted when you need to make a turn. I have a feeling that this feature is better suited to listening to audio books rather than music since an audio book tends to retain a constant volume level and is all voice instead of complex sounds like guitars and drums. Of course this is just a hunch.

The “Travel Assistant” feature of the Nuvi was the feature that I felt set this unit apart, and the fact that each of the components cost extra was an issue with me. In order to take full advantage of the Language guide, such as adding different languages or getting the speech translation to work, you had to pay for the package. The Travel Guide will tell you about the hot restaurants in the area, as well as give reviews, but it’s yet another add-on, and if you want to save money at any of the restaurants, you’ll have to shell out some cash for the Savers Guide. I think some functionality of these features could have been included in the base price, while allowing you to upgrade to the full version later. For example, why not include restaurant listings as of the time of purchase and without reviews, but allow you to upgrade to get updates and reviews?

Conclusion: Overall I was satisfied with the functionality of the Nuvi. The interface was clean and had all of the features that you should expect from a navigation system. The user software (the Garmin Automatic Updater and the POI Loader) is simple to use and it’s very easy to download/install the free enhancement packs (such as the vehicle icons and the language packs). The convenience and ease of use of the Nuvi 350 make it an excellent navigation system, but what really sets it apart from others are the extra features, such as the Travel Guide or the Language Guide, which also cost extra. At $350 USD, it’s a little more expensive than an entry level GPS, and if you’re only looking for a device to get you from Point A to Point B, this may not be the most cost-effective solution. If, however, you put in the effort to take advantage of all of the extra features of this unit, then the Nuvi 350 is well worth the price you’ll pay.

Note: As a side note I’d like to extend a special thanks to the Garmin media relations group. Due to some unforeseen events in both my personal and work lives, I was unable to ship the device back to them in the allotted review time. They were very understanding and extremely patient with me.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I have used the Streets & Trips family of software for a few years now. I like the software. It’s always been easy to navigate, had good directions, some great features, and is easily configurable. Older versions of S&T were real heavy and burdensome on the system, but the more recent versions are lighter and run with a smaller footprint.

The Microsoft GPS is a small USB device. It plugs into any USB 1.0+ port on the computer, where it acquires the power it needs. It comes with a USB extension cord that has a suction cup attached so you can hang the unit from the windshield or you can stick it on the dashboard.

In testing, the GPS performed better than I had expected. When I noticed the suction cup on the USB cord, I thought the reciever would have to be hanging from the windshield. I decided to test this. Regardless of where I placed the receiver in the vehicle, it never lost signal. I tried it under the seat, in the glove compartment, in the center console, and even in the trunk. This wasn’t as much fun to test as I initially thought it would be, especially stopping every few miles to try another spot. Regardless, I was surprised by the results.

The operation of S&T is really simple. Start the program, start the GPS, enter a destination, and click Go. S&T does the rest. It configures a route based on your system settings from where you are currently to where you want to go.

During the trip, S&T tells you how much time you should have left. Unfortunately it doesn’t recalculate this time based on your current position. It’s based on where you start from, and how long it should take you to get to your destination. During my tests, I arrived at my destination as much as 15 minutes earlier than the stated arrival time. If you go off course and force it to recalculate a new path, it will recalculate the time. You can help get closer on your estimated time by setting your average driving speeds in the program.

As you drive, S&T gives you turn by turn audio directions. It warns you of impending course corrections, tells you how long you have to stay on the road you just turned on, informs you when you miss a turn or make an unexpected course change, and tells you when you arrive at your destination.

During my testing I purposefully made unplanned course changes and missed turns to see how S&T would react. Each time the computer audibly warned me of my mistake and told me that it was going to recalculate my route. S&T then automatically recalculated the route from where I was to the destination. This process usually took 15-45 seconds depending on the location. At times, the recalculations were merely instructions to go around the next block to get back on the original course. Other times it found completely new routes to the destination.

The only real drawback to using S&T as a GPS is that it relies on your laptop. If your laptop is slow or has bad audio or video you won’t get great results from the software. The audio on my laptop leaves something to be desired. In order to hear the voice tell me directions I had to have the radio turned down or off. Alternatively, if your notebook is large or heavy and your car is small, you may have a problem.

Overall Microsoft Streets and Trips 2008 with GPS Locator is well worth the money I paid for it. It’s simple to use, accurate, full of features, and reliable. If you are like me and you are going to take your laptop with you anyway, you might as well save the money and purchase this GPS versus going out and buying another piece of hardware.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

For those in the same situation, let’s take a look at the Digital Foci Pocket Album. This keychain weighs in at just over an ounce, sports a 1.5 inch color LCD screen and 8MB of onboard memory. The Pocket Album also comes with its own special software to manipulate photos and transfer them to the keychain.

The hardware

With a unit this small, there is no room for a lot of buttons. The Pocket Album has 3 simple buttons on the back: a Menu/Enter button and Up/Down buttons. The buttons are on the back of the unit towards the bottom and are pretty easy to manipulate, even with my big fingers.

The menu is easy to read and well laid out. You can change a lot of things for such a simple unit. There is a clock, Auto/Manual Slide Show, Contrast Control, and an Auto On/Off setting. The clock also has display properties so that you can set whether or not to show it and how to display it if you choose to show it. The Auto On/Off setting is a feature where you can tell the unit to turn on and then back off at set times.

The Pocket Album has an internal battery that recharges using either the provided USB/AC adapter or via a USB port on a computer. It takes 2 hours to fully charge and actually lasts between 8 1/2 and 9 hours on a full charge. The charging method is a little funky. When you plug the keychain in, it doesn’t just start charging like you would expect. It asks you if you want to USB charge, or USB transfer. Why can’t it charge while it’s transferring? Everything else that I have does. It’s a simple thing, but one that seemed odd to me.

The picture on the keychain is nice. You can’t honestly expect a lot out of a 1.5 inch screen. The picture is clear and you can tell what you are looking at. If you are looking for something that will show great detail, you have to look for a larger unit. The Pocket Album has a good picture for the size screen that it has.

The software

Remember how I said the charging method was a little funky? So is the software. The software and drivers come on a mini-CD. That’s not the bizarre part. There is no installer. The program is a single file executable and cannot run off the CD. A novice user is forced to figure out how to copy the executable from the CD to the computer. Then, if they want to keep things clean, they have to learn how to create a shortcut for the program.

I’ve been doing this a long time. I know that it would take a few extra seconds to set up something as simple as a self-extracting zip file on the disk that will create the shortcuts and place the executable where it won’t get accidentally deleted. Especially since the file can’t be run off the CD. This just seems like a very odd choice for Digital Foci.

Update – Digital Foci now has an updated version (1.2) of the software available on their website. This new version creates a folder and sets up shortcuts like you would expect.

Another oddity; every time you use the software, the keychain must be plugged into the computer. What if I want to manipulate my images while I am on a plane or in a car? If it can identify the keychain every time it’s run, it could identify the keychain the first time its run to activate the software. I can’t figure out the need to have it attached every single time. Theft shouldn’t be a big deal, there are many other free softwares out there that do much the same thing as this software.

Beyond all the abnormal eccentricities that make up the initial issues with the software, this is still a good software package. It’s very light and doesn’t bog down your computer. It’s intuitive. Cropping and rotating images is very simple. The limited menus are well laid out and easy to find what you need.

The best feature of the software is the resizing feature. When you copy images to your device, the software automatically resizes them to fit on the Pocket Album. With only 8MB of onboard memory, it’s important to maximize what you can fit on it. My camera takes images that are about 8MB each. It wouldn’t make sense for me to use something with that quality for display in a 1.5 inch screen.

The support

When I first installed the software, my Windows Vista laptop didn’t recognize the hardware. I followed all the suggestions on digitalfoci.com but still had no luck. I was forced to resort to technical support. Initially, tech support was worthless. Their first 2 email replies were copies right out of the user manual. When I finally got someone on the phone (at their request via email), they solved my problem in minutes. It was really quite painless.

The wrap-up

There are a few minor issues to work out for the next release of their software, but that shouldn’t take away from a decent product. Don’t expect the Pocket Album to knock you off your rocker. It’s a good device, but not outstanding. If you have a mom or wife who likes digital toys and takes digital pictures the Digital Foci Pocket Album is worth the $29.99 pricetag. It’s very light, small, and easy to use.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

It used to be you could just get in a car, turn the key, and drive. For the most part, there wasn’t a lot of difference among various makes and models, except between stick shift and automatic. Now some cars are so fancy they practically require lessons just to start the thing. Take my husband’s new car, for example. For starters, the key is basically a rectangular fob that is inserted into a slot in the dashboard. You then touch the start button to start the car. When you arrive at your destination, you don’t put the gearshift in park – you push the park button and it does it for you. (Oh, and to put it into reverse, you push the gearshift forwards – how counterintuitive is that?). You then have to push the stop button (which is also the start button) in order to turn the vehicle off. I can’t see my in-laws driving this car any time soon, if ever. They just don’t function that well with technology. It’s certainly not the first car you’d want to drive in an emergency situation. “Here, take my rectangular piece – my car’s over there!”.

It doesn’t stop there. This vehicle has Bluetooth integration, as well as an iPod hookup, all of which is very handy. My husband spends a lot of time driving for his job; this would appear to make it easier and safer for him to place and receive calls while driving, rather than trying to drive and dial at the same time. This is all controlled by a knob next to the gearshift, with which you can scroll through contacts in your phone, songs in your iPod, or enter an address in the navigation system, all while driving. It seems, however, like we’ve replaced one distraction with another. You’re no longer looking at your phone or shuffling through CDs, but you’re still focusing on the dashboard instead of the road, trying to find the closest Starbucks, the phone number for your next appointment, or your favorite song out of hundreds on the iPod. Also, since one knob controls all these functions, you have to look at what’s on the screen to select the appropriate function. Is this really any safer?

Another “enhancement” I’ve noticed in some cars is the ability to park themselves. Well, I once watched someone attempt to parallel park on a street in Washington DC by pulling in front end first. By the look of puzzlement on her face, I could tell she was wondering how the heck she was going to get the back end of the car into the space. She could have used this technology. In reality, though, do you really want your car to take over the thinking for you? And what happens if the technology fails? Will you be stuck in the middle of a lane, horns around you blaring, while you try to remember how to parallel park?

My biggest worry, however, is whether we’ve come to rely on computers too much. What happens if one of these computers locks up? Do you pull over to the side of the road and restart your car to reboot your computer? How many computers are waiting to lock up in there? I have a colleague with a Prius, who says he was told it has 14 separate computers operating onboard. Toyota can’t tell him how many have to fail before the car stops working. That’s why he has roadside assistance.

The first thing I noticed when I got this USB key is the attractive look to it. It’s a good looking unit with its black base and red, yellow and white accents. The activity light is blue, which seems odd for something in black/white/yellow/red, but whatever. This key has a rubberized exterior that gives it a nice rugged look. According to the materials that came with it, it’s waterproof and shockproof! I’ll try these features later; that way if I break it, I at least get to test it first.

There was no surprise that my Windows Vista and Windows XP laptops already had the drivers for this flash drive. Just for fun, I did some searching on the Corsair website and it was very easy to find drivers for all Operating Systems, just in case your OS doesn’t have native drivers for it.

I wondered about the lifespan of an investment like this, so I peeked at the Corsair website and found this interesting tidbit. This flash drive is “built with components guaranteed for 100,000 write cycles. With these, one can write over 210 GBytes of data to the drive each day, for ten years!” I can’t test this. I’m just plain not bored enough. So for this, I’ll take their word for it. At the very least, it’s impressive for them to put this out there and encouraging for anyone thinking about purchasing one of these units.

16GB is huge for a flash drive. I still have my first flash drive and it’s 16MB. At the time I got that, it cost 2X as much as this unit does. The retail price for the Corsair 16GB Voyager GT is $169.99. Bundled with the flash drive is a lanyard, USB extension cable, and a whopping 10 year warranty! Like most modern flash drives, this unit comes with available TrueCrypt encryption software that allows you to encrypt the files on the drive with 256-bit encryption.

Now then, besides the size, which is pretty good, even by today’s standards, and the long expected lifespan, what makes this flash drive worth reviewing? I’ve got the need — the need for speed. This thing is touted as being 4x faster than standard USB 2.0 flash drives. How can this be possible? Isn’t USB 2.0 just USB 2.0? Apparently not. According to Corsair, this drive has been optimized to take advantage of its advanced flash controller technology.

I think we’ve covered the general stuff, lets test see what this thing can do. To test I am using my Dell Latitude D830. This laptop has Windows Vista, 2GB RAM, a 120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive, and USB2.0 ports, all with updated drivers. I am testing the Corsair against a SanDisk Cruzer 16GB flash drive.

* Note – According to Corsair, the Cruzer is not a standard USB 2.0 flash drive. This is not the type of drive that they tested against when they got the 4X speed that they advertise. Corsair claims 4X improvement over standard USB drives. While this is technically correct, it’s determined by the memory implemented and not anything special with this drive. Compare the benchmarks to any other SLC drive, and the Corsair really performs on par with the competition, not much better.

Apparently there are two types of NAND Flash Memory, MLC (Multi-Level Cell) and SLC (Single Level Cell). SLC stores a single bit of data per cell, unlike MLC, which stores two bits of data per cell by varying voltage levels. All SLC memory is higher quality with better read/write speeds, a longer expected lifespan, and longer data retention time.

The 4X faster hype is pretty shady marketing. Is this drive going to be faster than a $15 cheapie at Walmart? Of course it will. That’s why bullies generally pick on the little guy, they know that when stacked against their equals, they might fall short. Nowhere on, or in the packaging does Corsair tell the real story behind their speed.

The use of the term “standard” USB 2.0 drives leaves a question, what is standard? Why aren’t SLC drives considered standard? Don’t get me wrong, this is still a smoking fast drive, and it is up to 4X faster than MLC based drives. I just don’t like the marketing behind it.

First, let’s start out small. I have a folder with 30 pictures from my digital camera weighing in at approximately 100MB. The competition took 22 seconds to copy the folder to the flash drive. The Corsair took 25 seconds to copy the same folder containing the same files.

Next, let’s copy 3 folders with 585 pictures. This test weighs in at a comfortable 1GB. After a reboot, I tried the Corsair first. During the transfer, the speed varied between 3 and 5 MB/sec. The Corsair finished this test in 5:49. Now let’s try the competition. Unfortunately for the Corsair, the competition finished this test in 4:20 with speeds ranging between 4 and 6MB/Sec. Far superior to the time posted by the Corsair.

My laptop must hate Corsair, right? Let’s see. We’re going to try the same test using another laptop. This one is a Latitude D610 with Windows XP SP3. While the Corsair did a little better (11 seconds) than on my laptop and the competition did worse (3 seconds), this test did show that it wasn’t my laptop that was the problem.

Let’s try again, this time with a single file that’s 1GB. This time the Corsair finished the test in 5:44. The competition took the file in 4:45. Again the Corsair did not fare well.

Bigger? Could this flash drive have some advantage when looking at larger files? I have a single file that is 7GB. Let’s see what happens. The Corsair completed this heavy task in 32:20, which relatively speaking is not a bad time for a file this large. The competition took this file in 32:37. Finally a win for the Corsair!

So how will this drive compare when we stack it up against something bigger? This time we will play with 20 folders and a few thousand files to total up a whopping 15GB of data. I didn’t have any 15GB files laying around to test with, so this will have to do. The Corsair is the first up with the monster test. Start the copy, start the stopwatch, go get something to drink. I wonder what’s on TV? Finally the first part of the test is complete and the Corsair stops the clock at 1 hour, 15 minutes and 22 seconds. Now it’s time for the competition. Seriously, folks, this is like watching paint dry. After another long wait, the clock stops at 1 hour, 31 minutes, and 3 seconds.

After an hour, the extra 16 minutes felt like an eternity. Unfortunately the Corsair did not fare so well in any of the other tests. I would say that this drive is certainly comparable to the Cruzer as far as speed goes, but far from superior.

The speed tests are over. After that mind-numbing task, it’s now time to have a little fun. I just got done staring at this flash drive for hours on end. Throwing it in the water sounds like a great time. The rubber outer shell and the rubber end cap certainly make it appear waterproof. Let’s see how it handles the water in real life. Plop. You know, this isn’t as much fun as I initially thought it would be.

The first try, I’ll leave it in the water for 15 seconds. After extracting the drive from the water, I perform a visual inspection. As I expected, it was wet. When I removed the end cap, everything under it was nice and dry. After drying the drive off, I tested it in the computer to find it working perfectly.

Let’s stretch the water test out a bit, just for fun. This time in deeper water and for longer. Let’s try a 5 gallon pail for a minute. My 18 month old loves this test. After extracting the drive from the bucket, I find that the part under the end cap is again dry. The drive still works in my computer. Success! You absolutely never know when a feature like this might come in handy. With things like snow, mud puddles, lakes, and torrential downpours, having all your data in waterproof case sounds like a good idea.

With the thick rubber cover on the Corsair Voyager GT I can imagine that it would fare better than most in a durability test. Most flash drives are durable. I’ve dropped all of mine many times with no negative effects. Unfortunately, without destroying this drive and the competition drive, there is no way for me to test which one is more durable. Quite frankly, I didn’t have to. We just posted this Corsair Voyager – 32GB Flash Drive at GTG! which he really put through the ringer.

Ludicrous Speed? This drive may be 4X faster than some drives, especially the really cheap ones, however its speed is certainly comparable to other drives utilizing the same NAND technology. Fortunately for Corsair, this drive far exceeds most of the competition in other areas. At 10+ years, the expected lifespan of this drive is impressive, especially with a 10-year warranty to back it up. It’s rugged and waterproof, which is an important thing for active people who carry important information. With 16GB, its got a lot of room to fit all your important files.

Even though this drive isn’t that much faster than its real competition, it’s still smoking fast. Regardless of shady marketing practices, when you take into consideration the speed that the Corsair Voyager GT does have, and the other very impressive features, this drive is certainly worth its $170 retail pricetag (especially since the street prices are currently about $99).

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

This year the US Government is dispersing extra funding to a large chunk of the US population. I had an epiphany with this extra money coming in – beyond paying off bills and buying beer, why not get that GPS that I’ve long been wanting? To that end I decided to contact Garmin to see if I could get a look at one of their products for review here. Like Christmas in early March, the Colorado 400t arrived at my doorstep just begging to be tested.

The Colorado 400t has a very “you can’t break me” look to it. When I first laid paws on it I had this urge to throw it down a flight of stairs. Fortunately, common sense prevailed when I remembered that Garmin has my Credit Card number. Nevertheless the unit certainly looks rugged. It has good heft, a large screen and a control layout that’s both simple, yet effective. Even for those wearing gloves.

I have the unit and have not thrown it down stairs, so now, where to start? Directions? Get serious, I’m a guy, I don’t read directions. I’m a computer geek, let’s install the software. It is Monday after all, I can get used to the software so that I can do something useful with the GPS this weekend.

The Garmin MapSource GPS Software looks fairly simplistic at first glance. As with most software it’s very easy to install. The initial screen shows a map of the United States and allows for many different things, including adding waypoints (coordinates of a specific point), routes, and distance/measuring.

The basemaps that come with the standard MapSource software are just barely more than worthless. They come with very little in the way of roads, no medium to small size lakes or rivers, and very little town information. This particular GPS comes with TOPO maps for the unit, but not for the computer. If you only plan to store waypoints and such on your computer, then this will probably be adequate. If you want to utilize the computer to add routes, verify waypoints, plan trips, and follow your tracks, the basemaps just won’t cut it.

If you are going to be even somewhat serious about this GPS, you need to add the TOPO maps for the computer – they are fantastic. All the small roads, lakes, rivers, and elevation changes are part of this package. You also get things like Airports, State/Federal land, cemeteries, parks, railroads, and many other great things that the standard maps do not have. The TOPO Map’s $120 price tag seems exorbitant, but to really get the most use out of the GPS, it’s well worth the cost.

We’ve looked over the software and it’s not Saturday yet. Let’s peek at the GPS to see what we can find. This particular GPS is setup with “profiles” for each of the different activities that you can do with it. The profiles are Recreational, Geocaching, Automotive, Marine, Flight, and Fitness. The different profiles change the way the trip computer reacts and how the display looks.

Beyond the normal functions of the GPS, there are a lot of neat features that come with this particular unit. I already noted the TOPO maps, but there is more, lots more actually. There are 2 “games” that can be played with this unit, Geocaching and Wherigo.

Geocaching is a sport where GPS users leave a “cache” somewhere and then share the location of that “cache” on the internet for other GPS users to download and find. These hidden treasures can really be anything as they are up to the discretion of the person leaving it.

Wherigo is a fairly new game and it seems like it could be a lot of fun. Think of this as a real life version of a computer game. Someone, somewhere on the internet builds a game and uploads it to the Wherigo website. These games can have storylines, virtual characters, virtual items, physical and virtual locations and many other things to help the player complete the game. The game is setup in zones and as the GPS user moves from zone to zone, the player might see videos, get directions, or receive tasks from the GPS. The GPS might also give them instructions to talk to virtual characters or perform virtual tasks. All-in-all, if I had the time, Wherigo would probably be something that would really interest me.

This GPS has an electronic compass which is actually quite nice. Once calibrated (a very simple process) it quickly orients itself and is very accurate. There are also large buttons so that even in the bitter cold, the GPS is easy to navigate with gloves on. The unit takes about 35 seconds from power on to having satellite signal.

The Colorado 400t also comes with some interesting features that aren’t quite as exciting as the ones previously mentioned. Things like an Image Viewer, Alarm Clock, Stopwatch, Calculator, and Calendar could all certainly be very useful, however just aren’t as much fun as running around playing games. The built-in Satellite Tracking screen is nice to see how accurately your GPS is calculating. The Elevation Plot would probably be a nice feature for someone in the mountains. The Sun and Moon shows you the time when the sun will rise and set and also shows the stages of the moon. The Area Calculation feature is pretty cool if you are checking out new property like I’ll describe later or you are a real-estate agent. The “Where To” function allows you to choose a city, waypoint, Geographic point, or pre-programmed route and draws a line between you and your chosen destination. With the 400t you can also share your waypoints and routes with other users via a wireless connection. Overall the extra features of this GPS are very impressive.

Now we’ve looked at the software, have a handle on where things are on the GPS itself, and have looked at the features, let’s go outside and play. I have new property that I recently purchased. Let’s see if I can figure out how to map out my boundaries using the GPS. The first step is to go out to each of the corner posts left by the surveyors and mark waypoints. Next, we need to input this information into the computer so that we can make a map out of it and make a route to follow. Easy enough right? It is with the MapSource software.

Click the “Receive from GPS” button and voila, the waypoints download from the GPS and appear right where they should on the map. Click the route button (it really is this easy, I couldn’t make it up) and click on each waypoint in the order you want to travel them. Once finished, click the upload to GPS button and it’s time to go back out into the cold. Everything went surprisingly well (although the GPS forgot to tell me how to get across the creek). One can of fluorescent spray paint later and I now know before I cross into my neighbor’s property.

This particular unit tracked very well in the thick cover of the woods on my property. No matter where I was on the property, every time I took the GPS out of my pocket it knew right where I was. It even had quite accurate maps of the small creek that runs through my property.

Now that we played out in the woods, let’s test the automotive profile on this GPS. Changing profiles from recreational to automotive is a snap. Once in the proper profile, I turn on the Trip Computer and fire up the SUV. Each time I looked at the GPS it agreed with my vehicle on speed and heading. At many corners I checked my location and looked at my route and everything looked great. No matter what speed I traveled and what back roads I took, the GPS kept up with me.

During both the woods and auto tests the 400t performed very well. Other than going inside in a building with a steel roof, I couldn’t get this GPS to lose its signal. There were a few points in very thick cover where the signal dipped a little, but nothing where it lost enough signal to lose itself.

Even though this GPS has an Automobile profile, its purpose is truly recreational. You can use this GPS to do turn by turn navigation, but you would have to program waypoints at each turn and program in a route between waypoints. It is possible, but if you are looking for an automobile navigation unit, you should be looking for a unit made specifically for that purpose.

During my tests, I did find a few faults with this GPS. Each time you turn it on, it defaults to the lowest possible backlight settings. You can’t even see the screen regardless of external lighting. You have to go into the settings and turn up the backlight. Maybe this setting is in place on purpose, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why. For me it was just a nuisance.

I can’t for the life of me figure out what the Hunt and Fish feature on the GPS is for. It’s a separate screen that shows “Good, Bad, Best, Worst” times on it. It’s supposed to be like an almanac and it pulls these times based on the area that the GPS is currently in. What I can’t figure out is what is good and or bad about those times? Hunting? Fishing? What kind of fish? What kind of game? It just makes no sense to me.

Overall I think the Garmin Colorado 400t is too much GPS for a novice like me. Its $600 price tag is certainly restrictive, even on a moderate budget. While it has many neat features like profiles, large color screen, easy “fat-finger-capable” button layout, and wireless waypoint sharing, these features just aren’t worth the extra money in my world. The functional parts of this unit like satellite reception, startup time, and ease of use are all comparable to other units that I have used.

If you are looking for a GPS to spend that extra government money on and you want a unit that’s color, with a large screen, great reception, quick startup, and plenty of extra things to play with, then the Garmin Colorado 400t is right up your alley. If, like me, you are interested in a functional piece of equipment without all the toys, you might be better off looking at one of the lower color HC Garmin models.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars