The ZiiSound DSx is a complimentary wireless sub-woofer for the excellent D5x speakers.

With a width and height of 22cm, a depth of 29cm and a weight of over 4.6 kg it’s not overly huge but, at the same time, will certainly remain noticeable.

In matt black with cloth speaker covers it’s understated. There are 2 circular cloths on the sides – these are the “pressure drivers” – and one square cloth covering the whole of the front (the “master driver”). There are few connections and controls on the back – a power connector (the power supply is inline), bass level control knob and a link button. The latter is for linking the DSx to other speakers (with up to 30 metres of range) and working wonderfully easily. Behind the main front cloth is a white LED that shows pairing and power status.

The DSx will power down automatically (there isn’t a power button) when the master speaker looses connection or is switched off. This means you can place it in the corner of a room and forget about it.

I had this connected to my D5x and it sounded amazing – the bass (which I only had at the default half-way setting) was superb and really added to the already excellent sound from the D5x’s. To achieve this Creative have introduced a technology that they call SLAM™…

Featuring Creative SLAM™ (Symmetrically Loaded Acoustic Module) technology, the compact subwoofer delivers a thunderous output. This portless design is extensively tuned and utilizes a master driver and dual pressure drivers housed in a highly compact inert enclosure. The end result? Quick transient response of a small driver together and high-output capability and deep bass extension of larger drivers.

As always with Creative the packaging is excellent with a thick paper manual accompanying it.

Summary of Creative ZiiSound DSx

Just when I thought the ZiiSound D5x speakers couldn’t sound any better, they introduce the DSx subwoofer. Wireless, attractive and compact they are a brilliant accompaniment.

Reviewed by David Artiss on 24th September 2011.

Hots on the heels of the 2.2 update to the ZiiO, Creative have released a firmware update with various improvements and bug fixes.

Changes include…

• Adds support to enable you to display ZiiO tablet’s screen on a TV or Display Monitor via HDMI.
• Adds a feature to let you save contact information of friends and associates.
• Includes function for Skype^® voice chat.
• Supports Creative’s Over-The-Air firmware update application that automatically pushes updates to your ZiiO via Wi-Fi.
• Ability for user to format the on board memory (internal SD memory) in both Recovery Mode and also in the “Media & Storage” to ensure that it is FAT32.
• Updates the Amazon Kindle^® and Audible^® application.
• Improved microSD card compatibility.

It is also seems to include various graphical improvements (unless they came with 2.2 and I missed them) including some app launch animation.

Simply visit the firmware page from your ZiiO and install the update app. Reboot your ZiiO once done and the update is installed!

Also available is an update to the ZiiO optimised version of Flash.

If you’ve come to this post thinking I’m sharing some amazing strategies on making money from WordPress, you’ll probably be disappointed.

WordPress, and a result themes and plugins produced for it, are licensed under the GPL. What this means is that although you can product commercials versions, people are free to use and copy your results. Additionally, WordPress doesn’t integrate well with, for example, commercial plugins as there is no place for them on their site and, hence, no automatic updates.

Paid support is another option for plugin and theme authors but even they don’t seem to very popular, with one company who provides such support recently shutting down.

I’ve had a few requests to make changes to or write new plugins, but they usually don’t pan out particularly well – with so many plugins already available there’s usually a reason why one doesn’t exist

I get money from the advertising on this site but that barely covers the spiralling hosting costs. There are also various promotional methods further, but these are more to do with having a website rather than WordPress in particular.

So, getting rich is probably best left to the entrepreneur and those coming up with “the next big thing”.  But that’s fine with me – WordPress is GPL for a reason and it’s all about sharing. If I was in it for the money I’d have done something else instead!