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A while ago I reviewed a pair of headphones that I really liked and still use today from Ableplanet. When I got a new pair of headphones from them to review, I was really excited to see what else Ableplanet had to offer. Ableplanet headsets feature their patented "linx audio" noise cancellation technology that work pretty well with the N200 that was reviewed before and I expected more of the same with this new headset, Ableplanet’s clear voice TL300.

The TL300’s also feature Ableplanet’s "linx audio"  technology and this is a voice headset, meaning there is a mic.

Whats in the box.

Just like the previous pair of Ableplanet headphones, these came in a similar fashion. Inside the box were the TL300 headset and a nice cloth carrying bag. The carrying bag was very similar to the one that came with the N200’s, a Black cloth bag with the ableplanet logo. Also in the box were 2 adapters. 1 adapter had your usual mic and earphone plug and the other adapter was the larger stereo plug.

The first thing I noticed about the TL300’s were how light they were. the earpiece is the "cub style" earpiece, which mean it sits on top of your ears, instead of encasing your ear. There was a nice leather-like cushion around the earpiece and more or on arm portion of the headset (the portion that sits on top of your head while wearing). I put the headset on and it felt comfortable and light on my head. The mic stem is the flex style that you can adjust almost any way you like. I used the 2 prong adapter to connect the headset to my laptop (what I used for most of my testing). and the cable is a long enough length that I can comfortably use the headphone without worrying about the wire.

How well do the TL300’s work?

Ive had the TL300’s for a good amount of time and made food use of them is several types of scenarios. At first I used them like I used the N200’s. Listening to music and while watching DVD’s or other media. I used them in normal situations where there was little to no room background noise and in areas where there is a good amount of background noise. One thing I notice on first use was that the TL300’s were not powered (the N200 was powered). The lack of a active noice cancellation feature showed. While there was decent noise cancellation while listening to different types of media on my laptop, the "linx audio"  feature didn’t work quite as well as the N200’s. When listening to media at times where there was a lot of background noise, the noise cancellation feature (or lack there of) was really noticeable.  At times where there was normal background noise, such as people talking or a tv running, they performed sufficiently.

As far as the sound quality, the Linx audio technology does what I expect. Sound was clear and crisp. The TL300 is geared to be used for voice situations more so than movie or music watching but they fared pretty well as a general purpose headset.

Next I used the TL300’s with 2 separate applications. I used them with skype and my Magic jack, and I also used them with audacity. In VOIP and Podcasting applications, the TL300 really shined. in VOIP applications, the TL300 had excellent voice quality, as far as me listening to the person talk. Voices came across the earphones really clear. there were some times while using skype that the conversation sound almost as good as a regular analog telephone.

My voice transmitted clearly also, there was never a time where the people I talked to using those 2 Voip application couldn’t understand me. Recording basic talking with audacity produced a clear, understandable voice. I feel like my voice was a tad clearer than it had been in the past when I was podcasting (I used a logitech USB headset then).

There is always a bad…even if it is a small bad.

 There isn’t too much I can fault the TL300’s but there were a few things about it that I had to mention. Wearing the TL300’s are really a joy if you are wearing them in short burst’s. I found with long sessions, the earpiece started to get a little uncomfortable for me. Like I mentioned above, the earphones are the cup style that sit on your ears. the leather cushion feels ok at first but after a while you will be able to feel the plastic circle under that cushion pushing against your ears. This little annoyance is amplified just a little by the sweating that the leather may cause. If you were going to do something like a hour or longer podcast, you would really start to notice and maybe have problems with that.

Also, I was a little disappointed by the lack of any real noise cancellation. maybe Im spoiled by the N200’s, I would consider the TL300 a lesser class headphones and I had to keep reminding myself of that.

Conclusion

The TL300’s does a great job for voice applications. if you are a podcaster or skype user that want a nice quality sounding voice for under $60 bucks, these will really do the job. although I think the voice quality of the TL300’s was superior to the Logitech I used for podcasting, I think I would just stick with the Logitech headset for the long term comfort and USB in those situations. the voice superiority wasnt so much better that it would cause me to pick the TL300 over the Logitech USB headset.

For general use (music and movie watching), while the TL300’s did pretty well, you can find something that perform as well or maybe better for less cost. The TL300 is optimized for voice applications and I would recommend getting them if that is going to be your main use.

You can buy Ableplanet’s TL300 clear voice headset for $59.99 at Ableplanet’s website.

When Sony first released the PSP, I really had no interest in handheld gaming. What really gave got me excited about that particular handheld device was Chris Pirillo going on and on about how great it was in one of his podcast. I bought one and yea it is a great little device, has a really impressive screen and PS2 quality games. I found myself playing Midnight club 3 all the time.

The only problem is the button layout on the thing really put a hurting on my hands, so much so that I eventually gave it up and sold it. Too bad cause I really had fun with it. Sony just announces the successor to the PSP

The PSP GO.

As you can tell by the picture there are some immediate differences. First the control portion of this console slides from under the screen. Will that help with the problems I had with the original? I don’t know but maybe it will be a step in the right direction. The screen itself is a little bigger than the old PSP but the overall size of the PSP GO is a little smaller. (correction: the PSP Go screen is a little smaller than the original PSP screen)

The UMD drive, which was Sony’s proprietary disc drive has been axed and now there is a larger 16gb built in flash memory that will hold all of your info and games (there is also a memory stick Micro slot for additional storage). As far as what the PSP Go can do, its still pretty much the same handheld system. Now games are delivered electronically only through Sony’s new (revamped) media/game store. You can purchase games on your PC or via your PS3 console and download them to your PSP GO via WiFi.

Same PSP, with a new design and game delivery system. looks pretty good but the $250 price tag is a tad much.  The PSP Go is set to release in fall 2009.

This little Pico projector looks like a gadget lovers dream. A small projector, fits in the palm of your hand, that can display a 60" image from your media player on a wall or screen. Imagine the possibilities, your friend still has that 19 inch color TV that they have owned since high school but always insist that everyone hangs out at their place to watch movies or the game? No problem…grab your AAXA P1 pico projector and your all set.

This projector is a mini projector so it has "mini" capabilities. For example, the image it displays will only be 640×480 so you wont be displaying any HD content. The Pico projector also only has about 12 lumens (brightness) so you will have to make sure you can make the room pretty dark. Other than that, for something you can put in your shirt pocket, you have a nice little mobile media device.

As far as what you can use as a media source, the Pico projector has inputs for iPods and other USB based storage devices. You can also connect anything to the projector as long as it has RCA outputs. There is a built in speaker and a headphone jack. There is also a 1gb of storage on board and a microSD card reader. you could potentially put a bunch of media on a microSD card and carry just the Pico Projector and the memory card and be set for a night of watching all of your bittorrented or ripped movies and tv shows.

The AAXA P1 Pico Projector is on sale now for $259.99

Here’s a question….

My LCD tv has a VGA input but its too far away from my PC to be used without running wires all over the place…What should I do?

Connecting a PC to your TV makes a lot more sense these days, with all of the ways to get video content from the web, and all of the movie and tv download stores popping up people are looking for ways to take advantage of that content with their shiny new LCD or Plasma televisions. There really isnt a excellent solution to do so as of yet, other than just making your PC a permanent fixture in your living room. While I dont think this is the complete answer, the IOGEAR wireless USB to VGA adapter seems like it may be a step in the right direction.

This kit comes with a Wireless usb adapter that you plug into your PC or Laptop. Then there’s a wireless VGA adapter that plugs into your TV or Monitor. The Wireless USB adapter will then act as a display output were you can set your PC to extend its desktop. the VGA adapter will pick up the signal and display your extended desktop on your TV or monitor. The good thing about this kit is that it will display at resolutions up to 720P. the bad thing is that it doesn’t transmit sound.

Transmission can be broadcast wirelessly up to 30 feet away (15 feet at 720P) so its got enough range to transmit from your PC from across the room or in some cases from another room. but like I said…sound is the main issue, and is something you would have to find another solution if you want to hear what you are watching.

To read more or purchase you can find the IOGEAR wireless USB to VGA at Amazon for $144.97

A few post back I talked about Lacie’s new "itsakey" USB thumbdrives that are shaped like…keys. I always like to keep a thumbdrive on my keyring but the only problem is even though many have slots where it looks like you can put it on a key ring…it doesn’t work so well.

I ordered the 8gb "itsakey" usb drive when I wrote that post and I received it yesterday. Im not going to do a full review of the product…its a USB flash drive, like every other usb flashdrive. One thing I noticed when I opened the package that isnt so obvious when you are looking at the pictures is the overall size of the drive. Its a lot bigger than I thought it would be. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of the size of the drive itself.

Here we have the drive next to a quarter and a regular size house key. My expectations from the picture would be that it was about the size of a house key but as you can see in the picture, its a good deal larger.

Here is the USB drive I currently have. that drive is the typical size of most USB thumbdrives you find today. Again, the Lacie Itsakey drive is a good deal larger.

Here is the Lacie drive next to the largest key I own. A Nissan car key, which is a pretty big key, as most car keys are now-a-days. The Lacie drive its about the same size as the Nissan key…edging it out a little.

The Lacie key is still a pretty slim key, a little thicker than a normal key, and it is light weight. Even though it is bigger than I thought, it still fits nicely on a keychain…that’s if you don’t have too many keys on the key ring

RIght on the heels of me selling my iPhone comes an announcement from Apple that the iPhone will be upgraded to its 3.0 version.  This upgrade is just a software upgrade and will be freely available to iPhone owners. but the significant thing about this upgrade is the addition of a few widely wanted features.

Copy n Paste

MMS (picture messaging)

Stereo bluetooth

Dock assesory support

Seems like many of the complaints I have has witht he iPhone will be fixed with the 3.0 update.  well for some people. some of the features such as MMS and A2DP will not work on the origional iPhone due to changes that was made in the hardware since the origional.  but all you 3g owners will get all the new features for free. iPod touch owners will have to pay for the upgrade.

For more info and details of all the new features (a lot more than I have mentioned here), check out GDGT’s live coverage of the event

About 4 days ago, I did something that many will think was crazy. I sold my iPhone. I have always stated the problems I had with the iPhone, but all in all, I generally liked the phone. I had gotten use to having that app store at my fingertips. The iPhone has also became my full time music / podcast player.  So what brought me to this decision? What phone did I get to replace it?

Well to answer the second question, I bought a Blackberry Bold, which so far Im loving. Now on to what led me to make this decision to sell the iPhone and buy the Blackberry Bold…

As you know, I had a few problems with the iPhone. I dont like the virtual touch screen keyboard, and the lack of MMS (sending and recieving picture messages) annoyed me to no end. I know, if you listen to the latest GDGT podcast (3.19.09) they downplay the lack of MMS as not being important but every time someone tries to send me a picture and I have to explain how they have to send it to my email, or how I have to always find out the email address of the persons cell number to email a picture to thier phone was really annoying. Those 2 things alone led me to constantly want a new phone.

There is one problem I have had that I never mentioned in any post about the iPhone. That was how slow the phone was whenever I wanted view the web. I had a 2g iPhone with only the EDGE data transer speeds. It has always been a problem but my way around it was to always connect to my network through WIFI when I was at home and pretty much not use the web when I was out and about.

Recently, I have been using my data connection more and the slowness of the network has really been bothering me. Thats when I decided I wanted a phone with 3g. When I started looking, I ruled out the 3g iPhone because of the other problems that I have with the phone (some of which I found will be fixed with the 3.0 iphone update). Thats when I settled on the Blackberry Bold.

So far, the Blackberry Bold is a better phone as far as features and functionality. it does however lack the "coolness" factor that the iPhone has (the Bold is cool but just not as cool as the iPhone). Im pretty happy with it and will probably do a full review after I have had a few weeks with it.

Check this picture out…notice anything?

Yep thats a USB flash drive, about time there is a USB drive that actually fits well on your key ring. LaCie’s itsaKey USB flash drives will make a lot of people like me that always keep a USB drive with them a lot happier. There are 3 different "key" shapes to choose from. 2 comes in 4gb and 8gb with the third being a Micro SD adapter instead of having its own memory.

the prices range anywhere from $9.99 to just under $30 (depending on which size and design you get). Check out LaCie’s product page for more info

Are you one of those unlucky Xbox 360 owners that got your white box before HDMI was added? Before my 360 red ringed for the second time a few wees ago that was me and I was considering getting a one of these HDMI adapters from XCMLIVE.com.

What this adapter does is give non HDMI 360’s an HDMI port. it plugs into your normal Xbox 360 video port and converts the signal from analog to digital on the fly so taht it can be displayed using a HDMI cable. There’s also a port for your optical sound if that is what you need and a DVI adapter.

The price on the XBOX 360 HDMI adapter is…well the price is the one thing that makes this product almost not worth it. Get this….$109 bucks!!!!!

I have an Xbox 360. My brother has a PS3. There are a few games that we both have on our systems. My problem is this, I don’t like the PS3 controller. I feel that the analog sticks are in a bad place on the PS3 controller. They are in a spot where If you are playing a FPS game, or any game that uses the typical FPS style control, you have to angle both thumbs downward and inward. That makes my hands hurt after a while. The second thing I don’t like about the PS3 controller are the shoulder buttons. I rather have the triggers. Not only are the triggers in a better place on the back of the 360 controller, triggers just feel a bit more natural than pressing buttons. Especially when playing a racing game where your acceleration is based on how far you pull the trigger.

This is something that many people don’t talk about as much any more. Frankly, I think the PS3 controller has a really bad design when it comes to games that use both analog sticks. Many playstation fans bought a PS1 when the PS1 controller was the best controller available. Then the analog sticks were added. Then there was the PS2 and now the PS3. That’s 3 generations of gamers that have been using the same controller. They don’t realize how bad that controller is for playing games that use both analog sticks. One can argue which controller is the best but lets be honest, the 360 controller trump’s the PS3 controller in every way (except the D-pad). So what do I do when I go to my brothers place to play a game that I’m use to playing on the 360?

Well one option is to get a Cross Battle Adapter and bring my wired 360 controller.

The Cross Battle Adapter basically allows you to plug your 360 controller into a PS3. Once connected, you have the controller goodness of the 360 controller without being handicapped when playing COD4 on your friends PS3. If you want to play a little dirty (don’t know how this will help you in a FPS), There are switches for each button on the Battle adapter that you can toggle to give that button turbo. Thats where you can hold down the fire button and it will repeat that action over and over as fast as it allows.

The Cross Battle Adapter will cost you $49 bucks at Consoleshop.com