I have always liked iRiver products but after the iRiver Clix2 I am a huge fan and really like their products. Now iRiver is coming out with the Spinn which has a new analog Spinn System Toggle Wheel, plays music and videos, displays photos, FM Tuner, Recording Capability, DMB, Flash 2.0, Text Viewer, and an e-Dictionary.

The Spinn comes in 4 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB versions featuring a 3.2 TFT-LCD Screen, Bluetooth 2.0, and 30 Frames Per Second viewing in MPEG4 Format. No price has been specified yet, but I would like to get my hands on one when they do anounce it.

Link: UnCrate

 

I was looking at a lot of different upscaling products but I wanted one that could really produce true scaling quality. After looking around I purchased the Denon 3930 for 400 KD about 7 months back now.

After putting this machine through its paces I think this is a very high quality product from Denon. This Denon upscaler produced the sharpest picture I have seen from the upscaler that I was looking at using the test disc at the time. From my testing of all different types of video, movies, anime, tv series, and burned discs I have seen this quality reflected on all the different materials. The video quality seems more life like when watching all the different shows, you don’t realize how good it is until you go back to a normal dvd player and realize how bad it looks. The sound is also clearer and cleaner when played from the Denon, it feels for spatially defined from other players.

I have been very happy with the purchase since it has also improved the quality viewing of my anime, movies, and other video. With all the features this machine packs I think that whoever is looking for quality upscaling with all the necessary features to make it complete. Everything is great about this product, if only it was a little cheaper it would be the perfect product.

Link: Denon

Rating:

I have been in need of a bluetooth headset for a while now but I haven’t fond of the ones that have been out. I drive a manual so bluetooth is essential, when I don’t have handsfree its difficult to answer the phone even though I have pretty much perfected it, I prefer not to.

I wanted something I can clip or hang around my neck, I saw this bluetooth product a few months back and I decided to try it out. I have liked the way SonyEricsson have designed their headphones since regular headphones don’t fit me and hurt after a while. These headphones fit directly into your ear and you can hear everything clearly, what amazed me is how loud this headset it, you can clearly hear people.

This headset is target for MP3 playback of the phone which my W880i does perfectly if I used it that way, the only track I have is the theme song to 24. I have been amazed at the strength of this bluetooth headset, previous headsets would act up and the voice would start crackling at 5 meters (Clear Line of Sight) even if they are rated at 10 meters, but this headset has been able to keep the connection at more then 9 meters clearly, and if does a decent job from behind a wall. The microphone is good, but it also picks up background noises, but not too bad.

The right ear piece has the mouth piece which you speak into, and the left ear piece has the button to end and pick up calls, very simple.

The screen is something else, it is a very simple screen but it does everything. It shows you the name of the track (rotates if it is long), it shows you the name of the caller and shows both Arabic and English which was a surprise and a huge plus.

I thought the price was a bit steep, but it turned out to be a fantastic product and I have been very happy with it.

Price: 35KD

Link: SonyEricsson

Rating:

They are coming up with another one, I think Logitech has been the most successful company in making affordable Universal Remotes, I have been thinking about purchasing one for the past couple of months because of the multitude of remotes that I have and at this point I would like to purchase this one that is coming out in Feb 08.

It has a 2.2 color touch screen, an ergonomic design, and an intuitive button layout.

It has activity based control such as (“Watch a Movie”, “Play XBox”, “Surf Web”) to activate the right set of equipment and channels for all the different machines. The best part is the ease of programming this remote from the well developed GUI. It has a piano black top and silver base, and charged wirelessly through the USB charger.

Price: $250

Link: UnCrate

Onkyo TR-SX875

Price: 480 KD (Not including 40 KD shipping from UK)

Denon 3808

Price: 459 KD (Available from Panasonic Yousifi) , 533 KD (Amazon without shipping)

I have been going back and forth on which choice to upgrade my A/V reciever, I have a two year old reciever which does a good job but doesn’t help me when all my devices have HDMI output. Both these A/V Recievers having 1080p upscaling, and all inputs (S-Video, Component, and HDMI) are upscaled to 1080p and outputed thourgh the HDMI output. Between these two products its just a matter of price, all of them provide what I need for the speakers, subwoofer, and screen. What I find surprising that the Denon 3808 is cheaper in Kuwait then it is online.

 

I have been waiting for my items for the past 10 days and I see them in my mail box, below is how they listed the packages. I have no clue which DVDs are what, but the way they packaged them is hilarious, its because I ordered through the other sellers through Amazon since they were cheaper. I don’t even know what the case and CD are, I don’t think I ordered any of those items but they might have been misinterepreted.

• Gloves
• DVD
• DVD
• DVDs
• Camera ACC
• DVD
• Case
• CD
• DVD

Now we shall see which will go through inspection and which will slip through.

I have seen disc printers for a while now, I remember trying them back in the day and trying to stick whatever I printed onto the disc and it was a mess. The Dymo DiscPainter is the first Disc printer that I have seen that really does the job, it integrates with Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, or the included Dymo Discus software. It features Rapid Print technology meaning it can print onto a DVD or CD while the disc is spinning and the whole printing process takes about one minute.

This is a great product, but I only burn DVDs and CDs once in a while these days since everything is hooked up to the entertainment center, but its still a very good product.

Price: $280

Link: UnCrate

I called Alghanim Electronics to check on the status of my Creative Zen and I got answer I wasn’t really expecting. They told me the hardware is gone and the board has to be replaced. I asked them how much it costs, they told me the cost of the unit since it has to be ordered and it isn’t covered under warranty since I got it from out of town.

I have to say that this is very frustrating, I had a feeling they might say it will take a while to fix but not like this. If the firmware is shot it just needs a clean reinstall but they need the right equipment, which it seems they do not have. The listed Creative Dealers say they don’t have Creative and they don’t even know what it is, they are Al Sarraf Electronics and they are clueless. Now I have a 60 KD paper weight to keep or a projectile weapon, at least I have my iRiver.

The search started early morning, I usually place my work phone on the pile of books right next to the door since its the farthest it could be from me and I won’t forget its location. One morning I put my hand where I thought it would but it wasn’t there, so then I thought it was in my car but it wasn’t there either, so I came back and searched the room and I kept calling it. The phone was ringing but I couldn’t hear in it in the car.

I tried searching the car again even though I thought it wasn’t going to be there. I could hear it ringing when I called, but no sound in the car. So at that point I tried tracking my own steps and the places I could have taken the phone out. Lucky for me I only take out my phone at work or at home, not at random places or when I’m visiting some place. So there were only a few locations I could have left the phone.

Possible Locations:

• Work Location 1
• Work Location 2
• Home
• Car

There were only two places left, and after getting to location 1 and it wasn’t there so there was only one more place or the damn thing was lost. Lucky for me when I went there I found it under a pile of papers that I was going through in office location 2 when I was working late in the evening. I’m lucky that all my contacts are in Outlook so I just have to sync to get things going back again, it just really is bad to lose a phone.

I do this every once in a while, I save up all the items I want from Amazon, then I sift through them and adjust the items. Sometimes I take things off, and sometimes I add a few things. There were some really good deals on HD-DVDs, and there were some classic movies that I had to have. The funny part is I haven’t seen Blade Runner even though I am huge sci-fi fan so this is something to watch. I’m also picking up a lens I have been looking at for a while, I have a few lenses in mind but this Canon fixed lens will do a great job for my need.

• Alpinestars SPS Gloves
• Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector’s Edition) [HD DVD]
• Army of Darkness [HD DVD]
• The Italian Job [HD DVD]
• Highlander – The Search for Vengeance (Animated)
• The Bourne Trilogy (The Bourne Identity / The Bourne Supremacy / The Bourne Ultimatum) [HD DVD]
• M*A*S*H – Martinis and Medicine Complete Collection
• Harry Potter Years 1-5 Limited Edition Gift Set [HD DVD]
• Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Digital SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLR Cameras

Now I just hope I get my items in the next coming weeks.