VideoLAN Client (VLC) Player
VLC (VideoLAN Client) is a multimedia player for various audio and video formats like MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, mp3, ogg and many more. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on high-bandwidth network.
* It is free
* It supports a large number of multimedia formats
* It can also be used as a streaming server
VLC’s Technical Info
Title: VLC Media Player 0.9.2
File name: vlc-0.9.2-win32.exe
File size: 13.81MB (14,482,140 bytes)
Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/XP64/Vista64
License: Open Source
Home page: www.videolan.org
Samsung YP-S3 Slim MP3 Player(4GB)
Samsung announced the new full multimedia functionality Samsung YP-S3 portable MP3 player offers a sleek and stylish design along with loads of features.The significant feature of Samsung S3 slim is Samsung’s Digital Natural Sound engine 2.0 (DNSe) technology which provides High-Quality acoustics that are optimized for playback through a set of earphones.It also features a 1.8” TFT LCD, MPEG-4, MP3, WAM, OGG and TXT support, a folder navigation option, and a nine-band user EQ.
The Samsung S3 Slim offers a smooth, sturdier feel and more rounded edges along with clear-coated metallic body. The S3 is available in a vibrant selection of shades: black, blue, green, red, and white. It also includes a glowing touch-sensitive controls screen live beneath the shiny exterior and light up only when activated by your finger.It’s also a good value and offers an excellent sound quality with twelve pre-audio equalizer (EQ), Concert Hall, studio and rock. The YP-S3 also supports Street-mode used during in noisy environments, where users can use the equalizer, 3D Sound and Bass Boost, for a hearing on measure.
Review: Logitech Squeezebox Duet
The Logitech Squeezebox Duet is an ideal network digital audio system along with its excellent iPod-like remote with color screen and scroll wheel control. The Logitech Squeezebox Duet supports Wi-Fi and Ethernet home networks where it provides access to PC-based music files as well as free Internet radio, podcasts, and premium online music services including Rhapsody, Sirius, Last.fm, Slacker, MP3tunes, Live365, RadioIO, RadioTime and Pandora.
The Logitech Duet system includes two different parts: the Squeezebox Receiver base station and the Squeezebox Controller remote. The multi-room controller remote offers a brilliant 2.4-inch colour display, scroll-wheel navigation making it easy to browse, select and play music, familiar menus and intuitive buttons. The controller includes an SD slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack,an IR transmitter, a small speaker and a three-axis accelerometer.
The Logitech Squeezebox Duet network digital audio system offers a high-fidelity 24-bit DAC, audio rendering technology, and crystal clear CD-quality sound. The Squeezebox Duet can draw audio from two main sources: the Internet via Wi-Fi and Ethernet home networks or a networked PC–Windows, Mac, or Linux. Where the wired ethernet and true 802.11G Wi-Fi support provide excellent range and connectivity, offering Music everywhere.
Features:
* Unlimited access to digital music
* Multi-room controller
* Unsurpassed sound quality
* Reliable connectivity
* Easy to set up and use
* Music everywhere (surrounding sound)
* No computer needed
Review: Microsoft Zune 80GB
The 80GB Zune is a newly design second-generation model of the Microsoft Zune iPod series with its higher capacity, big screen and built-in WiFi. The 80GB Zune iPod is featured with a 3.2-inch glass LCD, a user-friendly interface, exceptional navigation control, audio and video podcast support, a superlative FM radio with RBDS information, wireless syncing and sharing. The 80GB Microsoft Zune MP3 player also offers you a good audio quality, high-quality earphones and a built-in composite-video output along with Zune Pass music support and Zune Marketplace PC software.
The Microsoft 80GB Zune offers a gorgeous and stunning slim looks combined with its luxurious large 3.2 inch LCD screen that provides a more scratch-resistant surface with less optical distortion than the ubiquitous plastic variety. Microsoft includes a unique navigation control in the 80GB Zune MP3 players having an intermediate design between standard four-direction navigation pad and a laptop’s touch pad. The Microsoft 80GB Zune is available in black version where its body is covered with a matte-finished aluminum etched with the Zune logo at the back.
The Microsoft Zune uses the Zune software a hipster-skinned version of Windows Media Player and provides its interface is shockingly clean and bright.The Zune is also very beneficial in iTunes with its Zune Marketplace PC software, but its missing the TV and movie content found through users. In spite of loads of brilliant features the 80GB Zune lacks in the USB connection, Wi-Fi music streaming and the EQ features.
Features:
* 80 GB digital media player stores up to 20,000 songs, 25,000 pictures or 250 hours of video
* wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing so you can swap tracks and other media
* Big, bright, 3.2-inch LCD color screen, 320 x 240 pixels
* Compatible with Zune Marketplace for media downloads and subscription services
* Automatically imports your existing music, pictures, and videos from iTunes and Windows Media Player in a variety of formats
Review: Creative Zen V Plus 4GB
The Creative Zen V Plus is a stunning, compact, solid-state flash MP3 player featured with the vivid OLED display and great sound quality. The Creative Zen V Plus is packed to the gills with features, including an FM radio, voice and line-in recording, photo and video playback, and compatibility with subscription WMA tracks and offers impressive performance, that makes it an excellent option in the lower-capacity MP3 player / radio. The Zen V plus is creative’s first flash player to be offered with up to 16GB of memory.
The beautiful curvaceous design of the Creative Zen V Plus are available in the two color palette white or black versions. It offers you the vivid 1.5-inch OLED display which is viewable from any angle without compromising screen real estate as well as includes a Creative software consisting very useful applications. The Creative Zen V Plus is very user friendly where all menus are straightforward. The Zen V plus also offers fabulous sound quality and battery life along with an FM tuner with 32 autoscannable presets; FM, voice, and line-in recording; an alarm clock and calendar; and even PIM functionality, with the ability to sync tasks and contacts from Outlook. Inspite of all the Zen V plus lacks in USB host capability and built-in Wi-Fi and it’s small joystick is making bad impression on user.
Features:
* 4GB hard drive holds 2,000 songs
* Also plays video clips
* Listen to FM radio stations
* Records directly to your MP3 player
* Direct Line-in recording from CD player or other source
* 1.5″ OLED display
* 1-touch 5-way navigation joystick for easy access to all menus
* 8 preset and custom EQ settings
* Supports subscription services, synchs with Microsoft Outlook and has a built-in voice recorder
* 1-year limited warranty
Review: Magellan Maestro 4250
The Magellan Maestro 4250 is a solid mid-level portable navigation system which includes voice commands, text-to-speech directions, an accurate, high-sensitivity receiver, integrated traffic tracking and avoidance, and Bluetooth hands-free mobile phone functionality. The Magellan Maestro 4250 is more compact and lighter than the other Maestro portable navigators.
The Magellan Maestro 4250 sports a 4.3-inch touch screen that shows off 64,000 colors at a 480×272 pixel resolution as well as supports an auto night-dimmer that provides a sharp and clear picture. The system provides guidance according to text- and voice-guided urn-by-turn directions, plus text-to-speech functionality and by SayWhere the system will speak actual street names.The Magellan Maestro 4250 is equipped with an SiRFStarIII GPS chip and comes preloaded with Navteq maps of the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Alaska.The 4250 also includes an automatic route recalculation, a detour function, multidestination trips, and support for traffic capabilities along with 6 million points of interest (POI). It also offers you AAA TourBook guide enable you to find business and recreation spots throughout the U.S. and Canada. Inspite of all the Magellan Maestro 4250 suffers some general performance delays and glitches.
Features:
* Voice Command; AAA TourBook reviews and ratings
* 4.3-inch WQVGA full-color, anti-glare, touch-screen display
* Bluetooth for hands-free calling
* SmartDetour prompts drivers to route around traffic and delays
* Simple, intuitive interface; Utlra-thin design, only .7 inches deep.
Review: HP iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion
The iPAQ rx5900 Travel Companion is the best hybrid PDA/navigation device yet by HP, in partnership with TomTom. The HP iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion delivers a sleek all-in-one navigation, productivity, and entertainment device to mobile professionals with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, enough memory out of the box to store all the maps you need, and a friendly user interface. The HP iPAQ Travel Companion is full-function Windows Mobile 5.0 handheld also has a integrated 802.11b/g wireless LAN and Bluetooth wireless technologies.
The HP iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion is a sleek device, both as a portable nav system and a PDA. The iPAQ’s thin, stylish design fits simply in the car and very comfortable to take with you wherever you travel. The HP iPaq comes with stunning streamlined look and attractive silver casing and burnt-orange accents. The 3.5-inch, QVGA touch screen has a 240×320 pixel resolution and features an antiglare coating as well as quick links to Navigation, Entertainment, Travel Assistant, and the Internet. The HP iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion is equipped with a SiRFstarIII GPS receiver and comes loaded with maps of North America and TomTom Navigator 6 software as well as Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Edition, which includes the full Microsoft Office Mobile Suite. The HP iPaq can also entertain you with your favorite music, view your photos and videos, surf the web, or play games as well as navigate and let you stay connected wherever you travel.
Review: Garmin Nuvi 500
The newer Garmin Nuvi 500 is also a hybrid GPS that combines the best of Garmin’s various GPS products into a single, easy to use device that’s equally at home on the road(car), trails, or water(boat) and offers a better design and user interface than the CrossoverGPS with faster performance to boot. The Nuvi 500 is a waterproof version of Garmin GPS navigators and features water-proof hardware, a removable 8 hour battery, electronic compass, preloaded with topographic maps of the US (including Hawaii and Puerto Ricoincluding Hawaii and Puerto Rico) and it can be upgraded with additional maps, traffic, and MSN Direct.
The Nuvi 500 is the most stylish and compact design by Garmin’s GPS system in the Nuvi series which sports a compact rectangular shape and comes in a charcoal gray color as well as more sleeker than the Magellan CrossoverGPS, and also features a waterproof casing.The Nuvi 500 includes the smaller display size of 3.5-inch QVGA touch screen with a 320×240-pixel resolution, since it is also designed for use on foot and on a bicycle, at the same time the Nuvi 500 has an easy-to-use interface and all the onscreen icons are large and clearly identified. The Nuvi 500 offers turn-by-turn, text- and voice-guided directions, but it doesn’t support text-to-speech functionality.The Garmin Nuvi 500 also includes a automatic route recalculation, detour function, the Garmin Lock security feature, picture viewer, a world clock, a calculator, and a unit converter. The Garmin 500 Nuvi can also be used for bicycling, walking in pedestrian mode, or loaded with optional marine charts for boating.
Features:
* GPS Navigator with 3.5 in Easy to Use, Touchscreen Interface
* Preloaded with Highly Detailed City Navigator North America NT Lower 48 States Plus Topographic Maps for the U.S
* User Modes Include Driving, Boating, Bicycling and Walking
* Turn by Turn Directions with Voice Guidance / Turn Right in 500 Feet
* Features Wherigo Player, HotFix Feature, Garmin Connect Photos, and Waterproof Design
Review: Mio Moov 310 GPS Navigation
Mio unveiled new GPS: The Mio Moov 310 portable navigation system have a 4.3″ TFT Anti-Glare Touch Screen (480 x 272), and come with the text-to-speech functionality, a one year free Traffic Messaging Channel (TMC) subscription to real-time traffic updates.But the the Mio Moov 310 sufferes from sluggish performance and slow route calculations.
The Mio Moov 310 comes in a sleek black casing and a slim rectangular shape that’s similar to the Mio C520’s.There’s a spacious 4.3-inch touch screen on the front with an antiglare coating and 480×272 pixel resolution.The display is sharp, but colors tend to wash out a bit in bright daylight.The Mio Moov 310 comes packaged with a car charger, a TMC antenna, a USB cable, a vehicle mount (windshield and dash), a software CD, and reference material.The Mio Moov 310 is equipped with a 20-channel SiRFstarIII GPS receiver with SiRFInstantFixII (for faster satellite acquisition) and comes preloaded with maps of the United States and Puerto Rico.The Moov 310 also support multidestination trips, and there’s a database of 3.5 million points of interest (POI) to help you with any services. The Mio Moov 310 in-car GPS is a nice set of navigation features for a wallet-friendly price.
Features:
* Text-to-Speech for Turn-by-Turn Voice Guidance
* 1 Year FREE Real-time Traffic Alerts
* Stylish design
* Preloaded U.S. Map of All 50 States and Puerto Rico
* Preloaded with Over 3.5 Million Points of Interest
* No More Waiting for GPS Signal with SiRFInstantFixII
* 4.3” Touchscreen Interface
* SD / MMC Slot
Review: Sony NV-U83T
Sony debuted at CES with its new the NAVU-U NV-U83T is one of 2 new GPS devices by Sony. The Sony NV-U83T boasts a spacious 4.8-inch touch screen, and you can perform certain operations with the swipe of your finger. The Sony NV-U83T is a seemingly attractive in-car GPS with a large display and useful navigation features but its hard for the U83T to compete with the other GPS navigators in the market because of its ugly side with poor directions and subpar performance.
The NV-U83T features an extralarge 4.8-inch touch screen and with its 480×272 pixel resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio, maps are nice and easy to read on the unit.The U83T is also featured with text-to-speech, real-time traffic and gesture command controls, nearly 5 million points of interest, 2GB of embedded memory,Bluetooth hands-free calling capability and Sony’s “Position Plus” engine, which offers an approximate location when the unit can’t connect to the GPS satellite. The Sony NV-U83T include a unique feature called Gesture Commands that enables you to perform certain functions by “drawing” symbols on the touch screen with your finger. Satellite acquisition time is erratic and route calculations weren’t the most efficient one in the U83T.
Features:
* 4.8-inch color touchscreen
* Realtime traffic updates
* Bluetooth capable for handsfree conversations
* Gesture command