Short Version: This thing goes under your laptop to keep it cool. It works and it’s great for a quick back massage mid-day.
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Here’s USB Man, a little guy that takes the ordinary and mundane task of sharing a USB port and makes all that the aforementioned activity entails ever so slightly less ordinary and mundane. The best part is that “his heart lights up to let you know he’s powered on.” Looking good, USB Man. He costs $27.99 at ThinkGeek.com.

Quick Version: This handy, compact, five-in-one power doodad from Kensington turns one outlet into three plug-ins and two USB charging ports for $24.99.

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Now that I’ve had a couple days with the Turbines, I think it’s time for a full review.

I’m sad to say that my initial praise may have been premature having listened to a few CDs (I had to open up moving boxes in my apt to find one) and comparing these against my Shure SCL3s and Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pros. I also brought in my secret weapon Dave R. to consult. He’s a professional sound engineer who specializes in monitors and has toured with The Cure, The Used, Linda Ronstadt, Interpol, Yellowcard and Fall Out Boy, so he knows this stuff inside and out.

With any in-ear monitor the biggest challenge is to find a tip that actually isolates and blocks everything out. I’ve found that foam tips work best, but the Turbines come with two types (trees and mushrooms) each having three sizes. You might as well skip the mushrooms because they don’t block anything out. Read More

When I took on the task of reviewing printers I worried that I’d be so bored that I’d fall asleep at the keyboard, leading to a review full of jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjllllllllllllllllllllmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm and a keyboard full of slobber. Luckily, the Epson Artisan 800 kept me awake and excited and, dare I say it, enthused about the state of printers.

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Short Version: At well under $600, the 25.5-inch ViewSonic VA2626wm is a good monitor for those of you who want to get into the huge LCD game at a reasonable price. While considered to be somewhat inferior to the comparable Samsung 2693HM, the ViewSonic carries an enticing $50 mail-in rebate until the end of November. Also, it’s good as a computer monitor but it’s even better hooked up to an Xbox 360.

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Bone conduction is an odd beast and, frankly, it freaks me out, which is why I was hesitant to use the Audio Bone headphones for a few days. On the other hand, my hearing is pretty bad and I’ll do anything to keep earbuds from blowing out my eardrums. They may look funny, but the Audio Bone headphones work quite well and may save me from having to wear hearing aids in the future. Read More

Quick Version: Sometimes e-mailing files to yourself or dumping stuff onto a USB drive gets old. Kensington’s plug-and-play USB cable makes sharing files between two computers stupidly easy. If you’ve used a USB port before, you’re pretty much set.

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Short Version: The Medis 24/7 Power Pack makes for a good, easy-to-use emergency charging kit to keep in the car or for use anywhere without access to conventional power. At $30 to $50, it’s relatively inexpensive as long as you use it sparingly.

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If you really, really like racing games, you could plunk down a couple hundred bucks for a good wheel and pedal set made of plastic and rubber or you could really let everyone know that you’re serious with one of these Trackstar 6000 sets.

It’s probably closer to the steering wheel and pedals in your actual car than anything else, as the wheel features fluid damped steering and cam and ball bearing something-or-other. Resistance is provided by spring tension, so I’m guessing this feels pretty close to driving on a real road. It’s all wrapped up with a USB connection for your PC so you can play Hard Drivin’ or Need For Speed: Miles Per Gallon or whatever the cool racing games are nowadays.

There are three sets available, running from $989 to $1398 depending on how big your pee-pee is serious you are about racing simulators.

[via Red Ferret]

The Solo Tabletop RF-Armor from Revolabs is a high-end wireless microphone system using 1.92 to 1.93 GHz for its radio transmissions, with enhanced shielding which allows it “to operate cleanly even when in direct contact with all wireless electronic devices known to cause unwanted audio interference, such as GSM mobile phones, smart phones, etc.”  The base station connects to your PC by a USB cable, and no drivers are needed: it just shows up as a USB audio device ready to go!

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A little about me; I don’t like the word “buffering” to be quite honest with you. It’s not the word itself, it’s that I used to see that word all the time when I’d try to use my Xbox 360 to stream HD videos from my PC.

As this is a review of a powerline networking product, I’m happy to report that said product – the Corinex GameNet – works really well. If you want to get the Ethernet experience on your gaming console without having to run wires all over your house then the GameNet is a solid option, especially if you’re concerned about lag.

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Microsoft’s new mobile mouse sure looks good, but does the thing even work? *Spoiler warning* Yes! It works great. *End Spoilers*

Check out the full review on the next page.
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I’m not the type of person who puts stuff in protective cases. I feel it’s like putting one of those leather bra things on the hood of your car; sure, it’ll protect the front of your car from rocks on the freeway, keeping it in perfect shape for when you sell it – but in the meantime, you’ve still got a funky looking leather bra thing on the hood of your car.

That said, I was intrigued by the idea of the Griffin Clarifi case for the iPhone 3G. While it’s primarily a protective case, it’s got a trick up its sleeve: the backside features a sliding close-up lens, theoretically allowing you to focus on items much closer than you’d otherwise be able to. So, does it work? Check after the jump for photo examples and more details.

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You’ll like it if you’re looking for a high-quality webcam with decent software, autofocus, and good low-light performance.

But not if you’re a Mac user or you can’t justify spending $100 on a webcam for simple stuff like videoconferencing and short, quick videos.

Full review (with video) after the jump…

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KG writes his Citizen Review of the Steel Series Ikari Laser Mouse, making us very proud and happy.

Well it’s been about a month now since I received the SteelSeries Ikari Laser Mouse from the guys at CrunchGear. Between work, night classes for a masters degree, and various other things life has thrown at me I really hadn’t had much time to give the Ikari a thorough look until a few weeks back. By the time I finished writing my review Devin had given the Ikari a spin as part of Mouse Review Week. Since most of the nitty-gritty details are hammered out in that review, I won’t reiterate them here – instead I’ll try to address some points Devin had made.

First and foremost, the Ikari doesn’t look like any mouse I’ve ever used before, although the phrase “goth squid” never came to mind. Opening the UPS box and taking a look at the mouse I thought Biggs had gotten me good and had sent me a left-handed version; I was wrong. As Devin pointed out, it does appear as though it’s designed for a reclining grip (my preference) and the form nicely and comfortably supports the entire hand. The Ikari is a very light mouse and doesn’t come with any sort of tools to configure weight as I know several other high-end gaming mice do… personally I think this is a marketing gimmick and find that heavier mice only make you have to work harder to move it, but if you are looking to a heavy mouse then the Ikari isn’t for you. Overall the mouse felt like a natural fit to my hand comfortably resting my palm on the back end of it, and was light and extremely easy to use.

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Giving a man of any age a powerful laser is like giving a bear an AK-47: it’s in his very nature to point it at things and look menacing. Thankfully, the bear is rarely able to do any damage – no trigger finger – but the man, be he 16 or 65 or 33, will definitely aim it at something that will inevitably reflect the laser back into his own eyes, rendering him temporarily blind and making him freak out thinking that he is now sightless. I speak, friends, from experience.

WickedLasers makes, well, wicked lasers. Instead of the standard red-dot laser pointer you buy at Odd Lots, WickedLaser imports amazingly powerful and expensive lasers for the home hobbyist.

So read on, laser troopers, for a bit more info and a contest.

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It’s the final review of Mouse Review Week! Are you freaking out? I know I am! Because I’m finally reviewing this Razer mouse I’ve been too busy using for the last month or so. You guys have to watch the video because I took extra care on the ending. Not so much on the screencast portion (wtf@encoder). Click below for a few words and pictures if you haven’t had enough after the epic mouse journey above.
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Mouse Review Week glides on with Kensington’s modest but successful offering. This is a short review because it’s a little mouse. Click below for pictures and a couple paragraphs.
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The video’s a little longer than the others because I… I mean you love hearing my voice.
It’s another one! For our fourth mouse in the glorious Mouse Review Week here at CrunchGear, it’s the SteelSeries Ikari laser mouse. Sounds serious! We’ve already handled mice for the large-handed and small-handed — will this be the one for the rest of us? Let’s find out. Death from above, text from below! I mean video from above.
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