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24Dec 2011

ReTrak Retractable HDMI Cable

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ReTrak, popular in the US, are now selling their range of products in the UK at retailers such as PC World, Dixons and Amazon.

You may have come across retractable cables before – often found on portable mice for laptops, they wind excess cable into real which is suspended half way along the cable length. What ReTrak have done is improved upon this, added other new technologies and then created a huge range of products. Basically, what you get are a range of electrical accessories that take up as little space as possible.

Their range includes computer, visual and audio cables along with power supplies, headphones, iPhone and eBook products, mice and even a retractable mouse mat with built-in USB hub!

What I particularly like about ReTrak’s range of cables is that even when they produce a version with multiple connections, they still make individual cheaper versions too.

Take, HDMI cables. ReTrak have 4 in their range – 3 with specific connections and 1 with a “exchangeable tip” connection.

The 3 with specific cables all have a standard HDMI male connector on one side and then either another matching connector on the other (EUCABLEHDAA) or a micro (EUCABLEHDAD) or mini (EUCABLEHDAC) connector. The first is the “standard” connector that you’ll probably find on your PC, monitor or TV. The mini and micro connectors are often found on smaller devices, such as tablets or mobile phones – the micro is a lot smaller and lots very much like a micro USB port.

What all 3 cables have in common is their high quality retractability (however, due to the extra size of the reel needed to accomodate the wider HDMI cable, there’s now a button that automatically reels the cable back in), 1.5m cable length, version 1.4 compatibility, 10.2 GB bandwidth and 3-year warranty. Oh, and they all retail at £29.99.

I tried the standard connector to plug my ThinkPad Edge into my Samsung HD TV. It worked with any hitch and the image and sound was perfect.

Lastly, there’s the “multi pack” version which has interchangeable connectors. By default it has a standard HDMI connector on both ends, but also comes with a micro, mini and VGA connector which slots onto either end to convert the format. Indeed, the standard reel is the same one as in the EUCABLEHDAA pack. Each connector holds in place by two plastic “legs” which slot into ridges that run down the standard connectors edge. The cable is the same standard, bandwidth, etc, as before and still comes with a 3 year warranty. The RRP reflects that this is a 4-in-1 cable and retails at £39.99.

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Summary of ReTrak Retractable HDMI Cable

Without the re-tractability the standard cables can be had for a lot less. However, all 4 cables are excellent quality, as always for ReTrak, and if portability is what you need these are superb. The 4-way multi-pack version is particularly good value.
Star Star Star Star Star


Reviewed by David Artiss on 24th December 2011.

21Dec 2011

ReTrak Micro USB 3-in1 Wall Charge & Sync

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ReTrak, popular in the US, are now selling their range of products in the UK at retailers such as PC World, Dixons and Amazon.

You may have come across retractable cables before – often found on portable mice for laptops, they wind excess cable into real which is suspended half way along the cable length. What ReTrak have done is improved upon this, added other new technologies and then created a huge range of products. Basically, what you get are a range of electrical accessories that take up as little space as possible.

Their range includes computer, visual and audio cables along with power supplies, headphones, iPhone and eBook products, mice and even a retractable mouse mat with built-in USB hub!

I’ve now had the opportunity to review a number of ReTrak products and, I have to say, I’ve now find my personal favourite!

There are 2 variations of this product, with slightly different plug socket variations. Both, however, come with a retractable 1m cable with a male USB connector on one end and a micro USB connector on the other.  Alone this cable can be used for connecting various products to a computer’s USB port – many phones (inc. Blackberry, Android, etc.), MP3 players, cameras, Bluetooth headsets, the Amazon Kindle and even the Sony Ericsson LiveView. Use it to sync to or charge from the computer.

However, you also get a mains socket with a female USB connector. Plug the supplied USB cable into it and you now have a mains charger for the very same devices. It uses the same ThinPlug technology as their laptop chargers, which means that the earth pins folds down, leaving a flat plug – much more convenient for storage. An LED light lights up when the mains power is on – reminding you that power is in use even when you don’t have a USB socket connected to it. Power is 1000 mA, twice the power of many equivalent chargers, giving your device a quicker recharge time.

The two versions available are the UKM5GTHINW and the UKCHGWSCM5 – the former is a thinner, longer plug, which sticks out further from the socket. The latter sticks out less but is a lot rounder as a result.

Both  come with a 3 year warranty and will retail around the £19.99 mark.

Gallery

Summary of ReTrak Micro USB 3-in1 Wall Charge & Sync

Fast recharge, folds neatly up and a reasonable price too – this is a brilliant use of retractable cables and the ThinPlug technology. Well worth having.
Star Star Star Star Star


Reviewed by David Artiss on 21st December 2011.

21Dec 2011

Connecting a Samsung Galaxy S2 to an iGo/ThinkOutside Stowaway keyboard

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I bought an iGo (ThinkOutside) Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard some years ago to go with my Nokia N95. However, since getting rid of the Nokia I’ve not had a device that would support it. However, after some tinkering I’ve managed to get my Galaxy S2 to connect to it.

Here’s how it’s done…

  • Open up the Stowaway and hold down Ctrl, Fn and Fn at the same time. The LED above the letter T should start flashing
  • On your Samsung ensure Bluetooth is active and within the Bluetooth settings select “Search for devices”.
  • After a short while the keyboard should appear on the list – select it.
  • A Bluetooth pairing request screen should appear (see image to the right). This asks you to enter a PIN – this pin is the number at the end in quotes.
  • On the Stowaway keyboard hold down Fn and type the numbers in. Finish with Enter.

The keyboard is now connected and every time you open up the keyboard in future and press a key, assuming Bluetooth is enabled on the phone, they should now connect.

The only issue you’ll experience is with key mappings. Letters and numbers work, as does the Enter key. You can move around the screen using the arrow keys without a problem. Numlock doesn’t work, nor does any of the shortcut options. Here are additional keys that do work…

  • Back – Fn and Tab
  • Home – Fn and Arrow left
  • Switch off / on – Fn and Arrow right

My final point is that although I’ve only tried this on my S2, there are probably other Android devices this works with – although Google say this will be different from phone to phone (more to do with the hardware support rather than just the OS).

 

14Dec 2011

How to drive traffic to your blog with Artiss Draft List

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I’ve just launched version 2 of my Artiss Draft List plugin for WordPress and if you’ve not tried it, it’s really worth a punt. In a nutshell, it lists on your blog any posts (and/or pages) that you have in draft. This can provide an ideal, and unique, way to promote posts before they are published. Output is in text so will be picked up by Google, adding SEO advantages (see below).

But let’s get back to the plugin. Once installed you have option to use a sidebar widget, use an in-post (or page) shortcode or even just manually call it via PHP. A new templating system allows you to define exactly how the results are output – yes, you can output a list of draft posts, but what about adding an author name, word count or date of last update? All of this is possible.

It’s all cached so takes as little resource as possible and you can even exclude certain posts from being included in the list (this is done in the editor itself). Finally, you can make sure that the list only includes drafts for a particular time period – for instance, any created in the last month.

Scheduled posts are not excluded either – these can be included and can be indicated via an appropriate icon.

So, how does this help SEO? Well, let’s take a live example from my site. I recently had a product review post in draft. Searching for that product in Google, gave the following result (click to see a larger view)…

As you can see all the top results in Google are for my site – even though the review hasn’t been published. Instead the fact that the text is in the list of drafts within the sidebar has already attracted attention to my site and getting me listed. Of course, this is quite an obscure product so don’t expect top billing in Google for anything as a result. But it does help with your SEO and it give your readers a helpful insight as to what to expect soon.

Download Artiss Draft List from WordPress.org.

14Dec 2011

Signalex Game Card Case Plus+

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This review is part of the 1 Pound Challenge - can you find a decent gadget in a pound shop?

The Signalex Game Card Card Plus+, although not stating so, if for the storage of Nintendo DS games (it does show an image of a DS on the packaging, though). The “Plus+” bit, however, is because it can also be used to store SD cards as well (if you have a DSi then these are used for storage).

The case itself is made of cheap looking black plastic – most of it is matte, with the exception of panels on the outside which are glossy – I would have preferred the whole item to have been matte. There is a lid of each side, with storing 3 game cartridges behind it (so 6 in total).

With the case you get a soft rubber insert that converts one of the compartments from DS cartridge storage to SD card – this works really well.

In one corner of the case is a loop of plastic, allowing the case to be secured – say, to a wrist cord. Size wise it’s  108 x 46 x 14 mm, so quite compact.

It’s available to buy from Poundland.

Summary of Signalex Game Card Case Plus+

Compact, holds DS cartridges and/or SD cards neatly and just one pound. A bargain.
Star Star Star Star Star


Reviewed by David Artiss on 14th December 2011.

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