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 much space as possible.

The latest ReTrak product that I’ve been looking at is their headphone splitter cable. This is a male audio plug which then separates into 2 female audio connectors. Essentially this allows 2 people to share one audio output.

As with the other products in the range the cable coils away onto a retractable reel – and, again, the quality is excellent with a smooth action both ways.

The cable is 1m in length and all the connectors are gold plated. It comes with a 3 year warranty, which is excellent if you’re worried about the retractable mechanism.

For testing I passed this to my 13 year old daughter – just the kind of person likely to want to share music through separate headphones. In fact, she’d bought a headphone splitter in the past.

She found the output extremely good (in fact she thought it sounded better than connecting directly into her iPod – not sure how that would work though!) and was impressed that each output was stereo – the splitter cable she bough before simply split each channel into a different headphone, meaning that each listener had monaural output. Her only negative was that she found that the 2 cables would sometimes get a little tangled when retracting.

The ReTrak Headphone Splitter Cable can be found at Amazon for £14.99.

Summary of ReTrak Headphone Splitter Cable

An excellent quality headphone splitter with the added bonus of the compactness that the retractable mechanism gives. Because the cable splits into 2 it can get a little tangled at times but the length warranty ensures you don’t need to worry.

Reviewed by David Artiss on 9th February 2012.

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This unbranded (other than the ITP Imports name in small print on the back – this appears to be a range exclusive to PoundWorld) retractable has been designed to connect your iPhone or iPod to your PC. It has a 75cm cable which winds onto a reel, in a similar way to the reTrak products. The difference here, initially, is the price – retract equivalents are ten times the price at least. In fact on inspection the reel mechanism seems very similar to the reTrak version so I had high hopes of a product well worth the pound.

The cable reeled in and out without a problem even after repeated use. The mechanism felt a bit rougher to me than the reTrak, but my daughter felt this was easier to use.

The plastic connectors on either end let it down though – they appear to made of very cheap white plastic which you feel wouldn’t last very long. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the biggest problem. After some initial problems getting the iPod connector to fit into my daughter’s iPod Touch we got it to connect to the computer. That was the first and last time it did – after that nothing happened. It would appear that it simple failed after one successful use.

This came from PoundWorld but an equivalent Signalex branded version can be bought at Poundland.

Summary of Retractable USB iphone & ipod Cable

For a pound the reeling mechanism works well but the connectors on the ends are so cheap that failure is always imminent. Save the pounds and get a quality version with a guarantee!

Reviewed by David Artiss on 23rd January 2012.

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Some time ago my hosting package was done away with to new users and they continued to support existing customers. However, at each turn they’ve attempted to push me towards a virtual server option that I had no interest in. Bandwidth and disk space limitations have caused my costs to spiral yet Memset have put more pressure on me during support. For example, the other day I needed to housekeep some folders from the site that I couldn’t, for one reason or another, access. In the past they’ve been quite happy to do this for me – after all as I’m not in control of it I don’t always have the access I need. This time they warned me that in future they may charge me. Excuse me? They are hosting for me, I have no control over the PHP or Apache installation and the security restrictions. If these restrictions prevent me from removing some files, it’s hardly my problem.

Equally when I kept finding my MySQL database was done on repeated mornings, their solution was again to suggest that I move to a server package where I could control this.

The last straw was when I tried to downgrade my bandwidth requirements. Memset let you add on file size and bandwidth to your package for an additional monthly fee. After some recent caching issues my bandwidth went out of control so I bought some more to get me through one month. Now it’s under control I tried to downgrade to what I had. However, I was helpfully told that I couldn’t and had I thought about a Virtual Server package.

I’ve searched for new hosts in the past but not found any that truly stand out. I’ve tried moving a couple of times but pulled out after finding the new host didn’t offer all the features I wanted in the end. However, after a search yesterday I came across Tsohost. And it was astonishing – glowing reviews and superb value for money.

In the end I purchased their standard hosting package for £34.99 a year. I was paying £15 a month for Memset. This gives me more bandwidth and file space than I had at Memset and with better support – including a helpful customer forum (always useful for looking for problems before you sign up!). They appear knowledgeable and are regularly responding to issues on the forum (as well as writing up articles on how to resolve issues).

The transfer went ahead yesterday – I did it all manually and, yes, I cocked it up. After a stressful evening I got it working. The site is faster than it was at Memset (about 3 times quicker based on home page timings).

And I, for one, welcome our new hosting overlords. I for one expect this won’t be the last time they get a mention on the site – and hopefully always positive.

 Update 19th Jan:

Having some problems, but not the fault of tsohost. The move of my blog from one host to another appears to have unsettled one of the plugins that I’m using and it’s looping, constantly accessing this site and sending my bandwidth use through the roof. I disable the most likely candidates yesterday and that appears to have worked – now it’s a case of narrowing down the culprit. Thankfully (in a weird way) my personal blog is having the same issues so I can cross-check the plugins that I’ve disable here with those that I’m using on that one – it’s now down to 2.

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There are a number of card readers on the market, but this one I particularly like. It’s only compatible with 4 card types but it’s the latter card that’s most interesting – MS, SD, Mini SD, Micro SD. Unlike other card readers which say they are Micro SD compatible, but they expect you to use a converter in the SD card slot, this has a slot for Micro SD cards.

The reader is really quite compact measuring just 7.5cm long, 2.5cm wide and 1.6cm deep. The top is see through plastic of different colours (mine is blue) and the rest of the device is sold white plastic. There is a long loop at one end, meaning that you can add this to a keyring if you wish. A 2cm captive USB cable tucks underneath.

Plug your memory card in and you’ll find the speeds are comparable with pretty much any other card reader (including those built into laptops).

Signalex has recently repackaged the product and it can be found on the Poundland website. It appears to be the same but they are promoting the fact that it is USB 2. I believe the current one is already USB 2 as the speeds it was reporting were higher than USB 1 would be able to produce.

Summary of Signalex Multislot USB Card Reader

Brilliant – compact, cheap and has it’s own very useful micro USB port. An essential for any PC user’s toolbag!

Reviewed by David Artiss on 3rd January 2012.

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

PoundWorld are selling something that’s named (deep breath) “2 in 1 Laptop Screen Protector & Mouse Mat”. Basically, it’s a thin, black mouse mat with a rubberised back that measures 12 x 8 inches (approx.). It’s sold flat in a cardboard sleeve.

It’s “2 in 1″ because it can be stores on the top of a laptop keyboard when the lid is closed. This protects the keyboard from damaging the screen (yes, this does happen – the TrackPoint on my ThinkPad Edge, for instance, leaves a mark on the screen). However, I’d only recommend doing this if you feel the hinge is strong enough and the lid doesn’t “latch” into place (i.e. if you simply fold it down then this should be fine as the mat won’t cause an undue pressure). At 12 x 8 inches it’s unlikely to be big enough to cover the keyboard, but meerly keep it seperate from the screen. Well, unless you have a Netbook or small laptop – it’s far too big for my Edge 11.

Although it’s sold primarily as a screen protector it’s greatest strength is as a mouse mat. And it works really well – as good as the gaming mouse mat I bought some time ago for a lot, lot more than £10 (and that came rolled up and took an age to get to go straight!).

Summary of 2 in 1 Laptop Screen Protector & Mouse Mat

As a mouse mat this is brilliant – well worth the money. It’s use as a screen protector, although this works, is suspect as jamming something between a closed laptop lid is only likely to cause problems in the long run. Ignore the latter, concentrate on the former and it’s great!

Reviewed by David Artiss on 2nd January 2012.

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Yes, the keyboard is very mucky!

I’m not sure what to make of this one. It works well and seems excellent value, but I’m not sure what do use it for.

This is the Signalex USB LED light. It costs £1 from Poundland. It plugs into a USB port and has a flexible arm (and of good quality too), about 20cm long, on which is a cylindrical tube, just over 16cm long, containing 5 bright white LEDs. Plug it in and it lights up.

But light up what?

The cylinder appears to be stuffed with a curl of silver card so the LEDs bleed through to the back, meaning that if the lights are turned away from you, you can still see them. Besides, any laptop screen will reflect the light back. The arm isn’t long enough to have the lights reflecting down on the keyboard without it getting in the way of viewing the screen.

So what do you use it for?

I’ve found one use – my keyboard at work has a USB port in the back and plugged in there I can get it to illuminate my keyboard. However, light at work isn’t a problem so I’m unlikely to use it. But, I guess, it’s a start.

Summary of Signalex Ultra Bright USB 5 LED Light

It works. Very well. The lights are bright and the whole thing is of a reasonable quality – certainly worth £1. But what do you use it for? If you can think of something, then it’s worth the money.

Reviewed by David Artiss on 1st January 2012.

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When I received it, I took the phone out of the box, put the SIM card in and generally checked that all seemed fine. There’s nothing worse than being given something expensive as a present only to find it a “lemon” on the day! I also took the opportunity to upgrade the phone’s firmware as well to the latest (if that goes wrong it could “brick” the phone, so doing this straight away seemed the sensible thing to me). This went well, so I packaged the phone back up.

Come Christmas, my daughter was very happy with her phone. Unfortunately, after a few hours, things turned sour. Whenever she left the phone it would lock (as it’s supposed to) but then turn itself off. A quick Google found that other users had experienced the same problem but I couldn’t find a solution. The PC software that you can use with the phone comes with a “repair” option but that refused to work (see screenshot to the right). A system reset didn’t solve the problem either. However, I did find that it didn’t turn off if the phone was charging.

Anyway, Christmas being Christmas (relatives to visit, etc) I wasn’t able to call O2 until Wednesday 29th. I rang Customer Services and they were very pleasant and happy to help. When they realised that there was nothing they could do and the phone would need changing, they put me through to their “exchange and repair” department. That’s where it went wrong. The new lady I spoke to was short with her responses, unhelpful and, unfortunately, speaking on a bad line which made the whole conversation even more difficult.

When she looked up my details she realised that I’d had the phone over a month. Therefore, it would need returning to be “repaired”. I explained that it was a Christmas present, so she said she’d speak to a manager. This seemed to take a while and when she returned she said that it was policy to wave the usual month limit in this situation¹.

Next, she told me that the phone was out of stock. Funny, they were selling it on their website. At this point they managed to find stock.

Finally, she gave me the details of where to send the phone and told me they wouldn’t send the new one until they’d received it – this may take up to 2 weeks. I sent the phone that day. The next day the new one turned up².

This phone works fine but, oddly, came with a more recent version of the firmware than the original had shipped with. None-the-less, it didn’t have the latest. BUT, I haven’t updated – I don’t know whether it was this update that caused the original issue or not. Unfortunately, I never noted the original phones initial firmware level but, for interest, the replacement phone (sans power issue) is on 4.0.2.A.0.42. The latest level is 4.0.2.A.0.58.

A return to form from O2 on their poor customer service. Meantime, I have contacted Sony Ericsson to see if they can shed any light on this problem.

1. question – if this is standard policy, why did she not say anything about this first, but speak to a manager instead?
2. obviously inept in multiple ways

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The microphone built into a laptop can often be a compromise – providing a basic facility, whilst keeping it as small as possible. And if you’ve got a desktop then you may not even have a microphone.

So, can one for just £1 do the job?

The Signalex Computer Microphone, available from Poundland, doesn’t get off to a good start – get it out of the green and white packaging and you have a drab looking black microphone made of very cheap plastic. In fact the plastic wasn’t quite cut properly on mine so there was a sharp “shard” sticking out of the very top. Although it boasts that it “pivots on base” this simply means that it tilts forward. Because the base isn’t very heavy you don’t have to tilt it very far before it starts to fall over.

At full height it stands at 21cm tall and has a 1.5m captive audio cable on it. Near the top of the microphone is an “on/off” slider which cuts the sound off when in the “off” position. This switch is of very low quality and, very stiff, I couldn’t tell which position it was in most of the time.

All of this sounds bad which, to be honest, it is. Until you use it.

Here are recordings I made with an in-build laptop microphone and then with the Signalex (click on either to play)…

Summary of Signalex Computer Microphone

Poor quality plastic, falls over easily just generally looks and feels awful. But it’s a vast improvement of built-in microphones and, hence, well worth a pound. Recommended!

Reviewed by David Artiss on 28th December 2011.

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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 much space as possible.

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.

Gallery

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.

Reviewed by David Artiss on 24th December 2011.

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ReTrak, popular in the US, are now selling their range of products in the UK at retailers such as 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 much 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.

Reviewed by David Artiss on 21st December 2011.

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