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No-noise headphones from Sennheiser

TechtalkRadio took the opportunity to take a look at the latest Sennheiser Portable headset, the PXC 250-II which featured the companies acclaimed Noise Cancelling Technology.

Personal Travel Headphones
The Sennheiser PXC 2500 II

The Phones themselves are foldable and fit  nicely in a handy carrying pouch which is provided in the box.  The pouch is multi-function and includes a couple of pockets for storage, the largest area for the folded Sennheiser PXC 250-II.   There’s a smaller pocket (3×7 inches) where an included in-flight audio adapter and spare batteries for powering the Noise Cancelling can be held.  For those carrying many different items, they may enjoy the designers inclusion of a belt loop to carry the pouch.

Carrying the headset is one way to get them from point A to point B, the other is to wear them! As the Sennheiser PXC 250-II rest on the ear, users will note that the headphones are very light and comfortable, great for those on long flights or train rides. We also found that if you are laying in bed, and your head is on a pillow, the pillow should not interfere with them (as can happen with headphones that have larger cups).

Total cable length is 4.9 feet:  2 feet of cord from the plug to the battery compartment, and 2 feet 8 inches of cord from the battery compartment to the headphones.  The plug is 1/8 inch (3.5mm).  An in-flight audio adapter (dual 1/8 inch, 3.5mm mono plug) is included for use on some airplanes.

Optimized for portable media players and in-flight entertainment systems, using one AAA battery, the NoiseGard technology can cancel up to 80% of noise.  Without NoiseGard activated, the headphones also function well.

On the in-line volume control, which houses the battery, is a belt clip.  The headphones, and the volume control, will function without a battery inserted into the unit…when the switch in the “on” position the headphones will mute.  With a battery installed, and when powered-on, the red light will glow on the switch.  I noticed that the audio quality improved with Noisegard:  there was more bass.  The frequency response is 10 to 21,000 Hz. We were impressed with the quality of the sound and comfort level of these Portable headphones. The MSRP for the phones is currently $259.95 and more information can be found at http://www.sennheiserusa.com/private_headphones_noise-cancelling-headphones_502818

 <Update> Sennheiser has announced new Gaming Headsets – visit http://www.techtalkradio.com/hardware/sennheiser.html for the latest

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CyberSecurity month


This month, October, is the 7th Annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month.  It is to remind us that we need to focus on improving online safety and security awareness.

Some of the ways to do so is to:
regularly back-up files and data…
update software (operating systems, programs, drivers, etcetera)…
use anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware, and anti-spam software…
and use connections that are secure (those that require passwords, and use passwords that are very strong).

For more information on the campaign go to http://StaySafeOnline.org

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free Mac software, Oct. 1 to 4

“Come and get it!…”

============================

Date: Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 6:33 AM
Subject: CampTune 7.5 for Mac® OS X
To: <slick@techtalkradio.com>

Today I’d like to inform you about the…3-Day Giveaway of CampTune 7.5 for Mac® OS X – a handy utility that easily redistributes disk space between Windows® and Mac® partitions.

The software, normally priced at $19.95, will be available for your readers from Paragon Free portal: http://www.paragon-software.com/free/giveaway.html …FRIDAY  October, 1,  03:00 am (NY Time) till MONDAY October, 4,  03:00 am (NY Time)!

Please note that this free version requires registration.
The detailed product information is available at: Paragon CampTune 8 for Mac® OS X website

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The Facebook Effect, book review

“The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company that is Connecting the World”
By David Kirkpatrick

book cover

The website “Thefacebook” was created in 2004 (February 4) at Harvard University.  It has become what we know today as “Facebook”…

On page seven, it is explained that:  “…The Facebook Effect happens when the service puts people in touch with each other…about a common experience, interest, problem, or cause…”

The book begins with the story of Mark Zuckerberg’s arrival at Harvard, and an initial computer project he designed that would lead to the beginnings of the type of service Facebook has become.

If you’re interested in the history of social networking, there is a lot of information in (chapter three of) the book about it:  services that were, and are, in this category….some of them no longer exist, some do…how others have matured from what they were, to what they are…

As I’m reading the book, I’m seriously considering NOT watching the upcoming movie “The Social Network”.  I can’t imagine that I will appreciate it because I expect the movie to take some artistic liberties in its presentation of events, as other similar movies have.  I guess I’m more interested in facts than drama…

There’s much explanation about how Facebook was financed.  A lot I don’t understand, but anyone interested in how business investement can be done should enjoy the depictions of how some funding was courted…and others discouraged.

For me, some of the major timeline markers of the evolution of Facebook are:

  • changing from “Thefacebook” to “Facebook” (2005 September 20)…
  • when it began, Thefacebook was designed to service college students…in the fall of 2005, it allowed students in high school to use the service…
  • in May of 2006, Facebook was opened to businesses and companines including the military…
  • September 26th (2006), Facebook launched open registration which allowed the general public to become members…
  • and (as of 2009) Facebook is the world’s largest photo site, besting Flickr.

After reading halfway through the book, it becomes less “sexy” to me.  There’s a lot of great information in it about the organism of Facebook…the people in the company, and how they have functioned together…but after long periods of reading I am reminded of Charlie Brown’s teacher (what I take-away is in a haze of information, scenarios, and stories).  I don’t think it’s the writing…my perception is probably enhanced by the circumstances under which I am reading the book…

[After learning about the movie “The Social Network”, and the “The Facebook Effect”, I wanted to review this book and have my review available (at least a week) before the movie was in theaters.  The week before the movie was released, I needed to spend an entire week attempting to salvage data from old hard drives.  When I was able to return to reading, it seemed that all the stuff that held my attention had been read…and, with only a few days left before the release of the film, I found myself trudging through the book.]

There are a lot of great descriptions of how Facebook came to be, and where it may go.  Take your time digesting this book.  Some of what is in it can come in handy in the future if you are in similar situations and need to consider what actions to take, and how to react to issues of a beginning and growing organization.

On page 340 I found the “Notes” section:  notes that pertain to pages I have read.  As I was reading, I did not see ANY footnote markings, so you need to be aware of this BEFORE you being to read so you can consider referring to this “Notes” section as you go along (to see if any of the notes enhance the section you are reading).  My preference is to have the “Notes” section at the beginning of the book so I know it’s there, and can refer to it as I am reading the book…

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Facebook-Effect/David-Kirkpatrick/9781439102114

http://www.facebook.com/thefacebookeffect

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USB 3.0 is here! And, it’s fast…

We received USB 3.0 port adapters from TRENDnet…I’m in possession of the 2-Port USB 3.0 ExpressCard Adapter, model TU3-H2EC.

expresscard USB 3.0 adapter
TRENDnet TU3-H2EC ExpressCard USB 3.0 Adpater

(“SuperSpeed”) USB 3.0 can provide data transfer rates as high as 5 Gbps, which is ten times as fast as (“Hi-Speed”) USB 2.0. USB 2.0 can go as fast as 480 Mbps. (USB 3.0 is also faster than “FireWire 400”, “FireWire 800”, “FireWire S1600”, and “FireWire S3200″…)

USB specifications can be found at http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/

USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 devices, and supports all current USB speeds: Low-speed (USB 1.0: 1.5Mbps), Full-speed (USB 1.1: 12Mbps), High-speed (USB 2.0: 480Mbps), and SuperSpeed (USB 3.0: 5Gbps).

An external power adapter is supplied to enhance the ExpressCard in case USB devices try to draw too much power from USB ports.

It’s compatible with Windows 7, Vista, and XP.

Andy has the 2-Port USB 3.0 PCI Express Adapter, model TU3-H2PIE…

We’re waiting on delivery of USB 3.0 devices…as soon as we get some we’ll talk about them on our shows, blog posts, etcetera.