How to build battery-powered USB charger

You might have noticed by now that whenever you really need your iPod, it is always out of juice. A computer or a wall charger may not be around either, especially if you are travelling. Why not build your own portable battery powered USB charger? It’s easy.

Components required: An Altoids tin or any other metal container of the same size. A 9-volt battery. A voltage regulator (available at any electrical/hardware shop). A female USB port (available at any local computer shop).

Make a hole on one end of the tin using a cutter and fit the USB port into it. Use tape to hold them together. Place the battery in the tin. Solder its wires to the regulator and the USB port using the following diagram. Be careful. Use double-sided tape and make sure the battery and the regulator are secured in the tin. Connect one end of your USB cord to the female USB port and the other end to your iPod and you are done. This charger can be used with any USB enabled device.

Gigabyte's USB 3.0, SATA 3.0 Mainboards

Gigabyte has announced seven new Gigabyte P55A-series motherboards featuring new Fast 333 onboard acceleration. Three technologies USB 3.0, SATA Rev. 3.0 and three times boost in USB together combined offer blazing fast data transfer speeds to Intel P55 Express chipset based Gigabyte motherboards.

New Gigabyte motherboards are Windows 7 ready, support LGA 1156 socket bearing Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors with DDR3 memory modules. The seven new Gigabyte P55A series use USB 3.0 certified host controller from NEC Electronics. As per the USB 3.0 specifications, phenomenal 5GB/sec speeds are promised. But this will help only when more USB 3.0 specification based peripherals would be made available in the market.

The seven Gigabyte P55A series motherboards are:

GA-P55A-UD6
GA-P55A-UD5
GA-P55A-UD4P
GA-P55A-UD3P
GA-P55A-UD3R
GA-P55A-UD3

Supporting the all new Serial-ATA revision 3.0 version, high-speed storage devices can offer data transfer speeds of up to 6Gbps. SATA rev 3.0 is capable of boosting transfer speeds by up to four times than those available in SATA 2.0 when storage drives are configured in RAID 0 mode.

Apparently, Seagate's Barracuda XT would be first hard disk to support SATA rev 3.0 connectivity interface. However, we'd like to know if the Windows 7-iPhone sync woes would continue with these new motherboards based on Intel P55 series chipset. Asus had also launched USB 3.0 featuring Asus P7P55D-E Premium motherboard

9 disappointments in iPhone 3G S

New iPhone is here, iPhone 3G S. iPhone 3G S offers as many as 100 new features and more than double the speed of the earliest version. Plus, it comes with a price cut. Seems like users have got all they wanted and wished for in the new gadget. Not really!

iPhone 3G S though offers a lot, still leaves a lot wanting. The revamped iPhone disappoints users on many counts, some which were on top of their wishlist for the new iPhone.

Here are the 9 things that disappoint many users in iPhone 3G S.

No change in looks
Apple products are known for their design. Apple iPhone too scores high on looks. But a change is always refreshing. So, a change in looks was high on users' wishlist. However, the new iPhone 3G S disappoints with almost nothing new in terms of appearance.

The phone looks exactly same like its predecessors with same dimensions and screen display. iPhone 3G S, in both 16GB or 32GB variants, will be available in black and white colour options.

Camera
Apple finally upgraded iPhone's camera megapixel. iPhone 3G S offers 3 megapixel camera over 2 megapixel in the previous version. However, 3 megapixel looks pale in front of the higher megapixel camera smartphones that are flooding the market.

Recently, world's top cellphone maker Nokia unveiled its second touchscreen phone with 5 megapixel camera (with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash). Other iPhone rivals including Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson boast of a portfolio of higher megapixel camera phones.

No Flash
iPhone 3G S also disappoints fans looking forward to Flash support in the new version. The latest iPhone too offers no Flash support. In case users wish to see those multimedia files that require Flash, they will have to do away with them.

Presently, when users browse through Web pages with Adobe Flash, it displays empty spaces with missing icons. Earlier, Apple said that Flash would run too slowly on the iPhone.

USB port
Another big miss in the new iPhone is the absence of a standard USB port. iPhone 3G S comes with a proprietary USB connector rather than a microUSB. This means users have to shell out extra money to buy separate cables to use phone's USB features.



User-replaceable battery
Like the all earlier versions iPhone 3G S too does not come with user-replaceable battery. Apple has increased the battery life but it does not still allow users to replace battery when it runs out of juice.

Apple had earlier reportedly said that it left out the user-replaceable battery because it adds bulk and weight, but users can't help comparing it with other smartphones.

No front-facing camera
Though Apple has fulfilled a long time wish by enabling the device to record videos, however, iPhone 3G S still lacks front-facing camera for video conferencing. This means the device is not capable of sending videos across a Wi-Fi or cellular network in real time.











No high-resolution screen
Another disappointment is no upgrade in screen resolution. Apple has made no enhancement in the iPhone 3G S screen resolution, which is same as its 2007 and 2008 predecessors. It has 480 x 320 pixel resolution at 163 ppi, same as the iPhone 3G's. Recently-launched Nokia N97 boast of a wide touchscreen that has a 16:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels.

No HD support
As speculated, iPhone 3G S does not support HD (high-definition) content. iPhone 3G S supports 640 x 480 videos as its predecessors and is not capable of playing higher-resolution videos. The phone supports video formats: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 x 480 pixels, 30 frames per second.

HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition (SD) video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1280 720 pixels (720p) or 1920 1080 pixels (1080i/1080p).







iPhone FM transmitter
Another big rumour doing rounds was an iPhone FM transmitter chip. However, it remained a rumour only. iPhone's new model does not offer support for FM Transmitter. Some reports claim that the chip would have enabled faster wireless connection and FM transmission.

Source : TOI

The New Transcend T.Sonic 320

I’ve just bought a new Mp3 player, the Transcend T.Sonic 320. It’s simply amazing. I bought it for Rs.2300 at Spencer Plaza in Chennai on 13.09.2008. It’s a 4GB USB flash drive that has a built in USB connector. It is compact and portable, with measurements of only 85.5mm by 25.5mm by 13mm. Weighing in at a mere 29g (with rechargeable Li-ion battery), the T.sonic 320 is light enough for users to conveniently carry around all day long in a purse or pocket. Its special high-gloss front face is attractive and blends well with any fashion motif, so you can even wear it around your neck to show off your unique personal style. Additionally, the T.sonic 320 has a brilliant dual-color OLED display that can easily be viewed at any angle, even in broad daylight. As a high capacity portable music player, the T.sonic 320 allows for storage of up to 1000 songs, and provides 15 hours of seamless music entertainment on a full charge(when screen saver set to “Blank” and “Lyrics Sync” disabled).

The versatile T.sonic 320 also features several useful value-added functions, such as a built-in FM radio that can be easily recorded on the fly whenever you hear something you like. Other functions like A-B repeat and variable playback speeds are excellent tools for students and professionals alike, allowing easy review of important class lectures, meetings or foreign language lessons. Above all, the T.sonic 320 is a great music player with support for MP3, WMA, WAV, and even WMA-DRM10 subscription music. To adjust the music output, you can select from not only the seven built-in equalizer modes, but also Transcend’s special USER EQ mode that lets you create your personal music style. Moreover, the T.sonic 320 includes a karaoke-style Lyrics Sync function so you can sing along to your favorite tunes with perfectly synchronized lyrics text display.

The compact, feature-rich T.sonic 320 supports display of 13 languages and comes bundled with a unique software application that allows you temporarily lock your computer, password protect files and partition the MP3 player’s memory into Public and Private areas.

Features
- MP3 Player – supports MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM10 (subscription music) and WAV music formats

- Recordable FM Radio with 20 station presets
- Advanced Digital Voice Recorder
- Karaoke-style lyrics display
- Dual-color OLED screen displays clear text at any angle and in any light
- VAD (Voice Activity Detection) for high quality gapless audio recordings
- A-B repeat function allows you to continuously replay a designated section of a track
- Variable track playback speeds
- Supports 13 languages including menus, song/album title, artist name and lyrics(English, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Greek, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Simple Chinese, Traditional Chinese)
- USB flash drive capabilities for data transfer and storage
- Included software can be used to lock your computer and password-protect your files
- 7 Equalizer effects, including a customizable USER EQ setting
- Internal rechargeable Li-ion battery provides over 15 hours of continuous music playback when screen saver set to “Blank” and “Lyrics Sync” disabled.
- Built-in USB 2.0 connector for easy computer connectivity and fast file transfers
- Real Time Clock displays local and world times

Specification:

Capacity and Color	:	2GB(Burgundy) 4GB(Sapphire) 8GB(Dark Black)
Dimensions	:	85.5x25.5x13 mm
Weight	:	29g (with Li-ion battery)
Display Type and Size	:	1 inch Dual color OLED
Display Resolution	:	128x64
Music Formats	:	MP3, WMA, WAV and WMA-DRM10
Recording Format	:	IMA_ADPCM (WAV)
FM Function	:	Worldwide - 87.5~108 MHz Japan - 76~90 MHz
Battery Life	:	15hr (when screen saver set to “Blank” and “Lyrics Sync” disabled)
Battery Type	:	Lithium-ion
Compression Rates	:	32Kbps to 320Kbps
Erase Cycles	:	≥ 100,000 times
S/N Ratio	:	≥ 90dB
Certificates	:	CE, FCC, BSMI
Warranty	:	2 years (Lithium-ion Battery : 6 months)

Moreover, there is no need to use special software for copying songs into the drive as that of I-Tunes player for IPods. It’s simple drag and drop functionality is an added feature. Also we can customize songs that suit our mood by making playlists. Although the software that comes along with the player does not have this feature, the newer version that is available for download in Transcend’s website has it.