Lexmark S605 All-in-One

Lexmark S605 All-in-One

This Lexmark all-in-One printer is one of the new Internet-connected printers. Not only does it print, scan, and copy, but you can get the weather, your personal calendar, or stock information on its screen. You can print photos directly from a memory card. You can automate tasks like emailing a scanned document to a certain group of people. You can even use the printer’s screen like a digital picture frame to show off your photos. It can be set to automatically print on both sides of the paper.

The printer has the best touch screen that I’ve seen on a printer. It also had very good print quality and performs all functions more than adequately. So what’s not to like?  Well — I spent several hours on the phone with Lexmark tech support to get the printer set up and wound up with the printer printing, but throwing up a Windows error every time it prints. The Internet connectivity which is accessed by mini programs that Lexmark calls Smart Solutions,  is difficult to set up and use. And not too many solutions are currently available.

However, I must give  Lexmark an A for effort. After I posted my review on Hardware Secrets, they contacted me to try to resolve the problem so that other users will not be confronted with the same errors. They have not yet notified me with the resolution, but I am sure it will be forthcoming.

Here is my summary:

The print quality and good solid print, scan, and copy functionality make this a good All-in-One. The wireless networking was easy to set up, but Lexmark obviously has some problems with their interconnectivity. While adding features and Internet connectivity is certainly admirable, the average consumer doesn’t want to spend hours on the phone with tech support to set up a new printer and certainly doesn’t want to use a printer that throws up errors every time it prints. I might have had more of a tendency to recommend this printer if their tech support could have solved our problems in a timely manner. This printer is a part of a brand new line for Lexmark and perhaps the problems that we had will be resolved, but there is no guarantee.

That said, the touch screen is superior. The interface is clear and easy. While the SmartSolutions might be a reason for a techie to purchase this printer, this technology is still in its infancy. There will have to be a lot more applications that are easier to use before the average person will want to make the leap.

While the S605’s quality and performance are excellent, the problems that came along with this printer make it difficult for me to recommend it.

Pros

• Excellent large touch screen
• Great easy-to-use interface
• Speedy printing
• Wireless networking  is easy to set up
• Customizable SmartSolution applications
• Good quality prints

Cons

• SmartSolutions difficult to configure
• Difficult to  close the touch screen
• Plagued by software/driver/connectivity problems

My full review including pictures can be found at Hardware Secrets.

Available at:

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One thing that has recently bugged me is that fact that some printers now come with starter toner and/or ink cartridges. That means that you buy a new printer, expecting that your initial purchase will get you though at least a few months and you find yourself needing to purchase addition ink in as little as a week or two. So I will be sure to mention that in my reviews.

Come back later for my first printer reviews featuring all-in-one printers from Kodak and Lexmark.

I just found an great solution. Someone at a company called Burton Technologies came up with the brilliant idea of creating a soft in-ear

flexible overlay for the hard ear buds. They are called Acoustibuds. You simply pull them on over the hard earbud. They are flexible and can be angled so they can be adjusted to fit the shape of your ear canal.

Acoustibuds on iPod Earbuds

Acoustibuds on iPod Earbuds

It took me about two minutes to angle them properly for my ear and I immediately found them to be comfortable and to have a very secure fit. In fact, I even wore them while I worked up a good sweat on a treadmill and they still stayed in place.

I was also amazed by the fact that the music sounded better, although after I thought about it, that might have been expected. Since the Acoustibuds fit better in the ear, the sound obviously goes into the ear better. Also, they block out outside sounds better.

These would be perfect with the iPod Shuffle since you must use the hard Apple earbuds with the Shuffle. I also found that I can use them with my Jawbone and other Bluetooth headphones.

For $19.99 you get two different sizes in the box. One fit my ears, the other fit my husband’s, so they were perfect for us.

At last, a simple idea that works!

Sansa Fuze

Sansa Fuze

Although the iPod is the most popular portable digital music player, there are cheaper alternatives that also give you added features. The Sansa Fuze is one such player. In size, it is similar to the iPod nano.

The Fuze, however, does a few things that the iPod cannot do. It has a great FM radio, a voice recorder, and excellent battery life. The Fuze also supports a wider range of music formats than any other player I’ve looked at. You can increase your storage with a MicroSD card and the music on the card is fully integrated with the music on the player.

I got to review the cool-looking red one! Check out my full review at Hardware Secrets.

Last year I had the privilege of meeting Don Borislow, the inventor of this product at the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas. I tried the magicJack then and was impressed by both the product and the business plan. However, I was reluctant to recommend a product so new and so inexpensive. The magicJack sells for just $39.95 with the first year’s service included. Once you have the small magicJack device, you pay only $19.95 a year for service or five years for $59.95. Could Don keep his price point low? Could he deliver on his plan to give every magicJack a unique telephone to make and receive calls? Could he make this device as easy to use as it needed to be for the average user?

After watching the magicJack for over a year, I found the answer to these questions was a resounding “YES”, and I can now highly recommend the magicJack. It lets you make free local and long distance calls, gives you a distinctive telephone number, and even includes call waiting, voicemail, and caller ID.

magicJack

magicJack

The magicJack is a small device, approximately 1 ¼” x 3” x ½”. It has a USB port on one end and a place for a regular telephone cable on the other. To use it you simply turn on your computer, attach any regular telephone with a regular telephone cable, and plug the magicJack into the USB port on your computer. The computer automatically recognizes the magicJack and sets it up for you. You are then asked to fill out a form with your name, address , and email. At that time you also choose the telephone area code you would like and a unique telephone number is generated for you.

magicJack then sends you an email which you respond to in order to activate your magicJack. As soon as that is done you can start making and receiving calls. The entire setup process takes no longer than 20 minutes and the instructions are clear and easy-to-follow.

I tried the magicJack on several computers including Windows XP, Macs, and Windows Vista machines. It worked well on all, even the 64-bit computers. The only caveat is that the magicJack needs a good USB connection. I found that some of the time plugging it into the front USB ports did not work. It needed to be plugged into the back of the computer.

You can place calls through the easy magicJack window that appears on your computer when the magicJack is attached. You can also place and receive calls by simply picking up the handset. I set the magicJack up with my wireless phone system, so I can make and receive calls throughout the house. The calls have all been as clear as when I use a land line. BTY, you don’t need any telephone line for the magicJack. You just need a computer.

You will, however, need to have a high speed Internet connection like broadband, cable, DSL, wireless, Wi-Fi, or FIOS for the magicJack to work. You can only make and receive calls when your computer is on. However, if you turn the computer off, the magicJack voice mail will take a message for you.

If you have a laptop, you can travel with your magicJack and use it for no-cost calls from your hotel room. You can take it to any country in the world and make calls back to the US for free. The address that you give on the registration is used for 911 calls. Obviously, you won’t be able to use the magicJack for accurate 911 location-based calls if you take it on the road.

The magicJack is an amazing little device that can save you a lot of money. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee. You do need to give your credit card information when you order, but they don’t charge your card until the 31^st day. So you have plenty of time to cancel without any hassle. I’d say, “Give the magicJack a try!”

MagicJack

The New Zune

The New Zune

That said, I want you all to know that Microsoft did a spectacular job with the 2nd generation Zune. It is small and sleek. It sounds great. The software is dynamic. It handles a wide variety of different audio and video formats. Microsoft has added a lot of content to their Zune Marketplace including videos and TV shows. They are even starting to produce their own original content.

Microsoft also changed the subscription service in a way that really benefits most subscribers. Now, for $14.99 a month you get to listen to almost all the 3+million songs and you get to keep 10 tracks a month to keep in your permanent collection. It’s like purchasing a CD a month and getting a whole lot more!

If you just want to play your own music on a portable player, the iPod is good, but if you are a real music lover the Zune is for you. It lets you listen to all of the music you love and the Zune Community helps you find new music as well.

I looked at the Zune 4 which is a 4GB flash memory model that sells for $100. My full review of the Zune, including pictures and specifications is posted at Hardware Secrets. Be sure to check it out!

Lumix FX500

Lumix FX500

This small point-and-shoot digital camera has10 megapixels, a 5X Leica zoom lens with a 25mm wide angle focal length, and a large 3″ touch screen. This is a versatile camera that can be used for close-ups as well as wide shots and it still fits easily in a shirt pocket. If you are looking for a small digital camera that does a lot, this one fits the bill. It has a large variety of scene presets, red-eye reduction, and face recognition. It can even take HD movie clips….and the pictures are excellent. Check out my detailed review along with specs and pictures on HardwareSecrets.
The suggested retail price is $399, but it is cheaper on Amazon
.

Olympus 570

Olympus 570

This Olympus is not considered an SLR because it does not have interchangeable lenses. Instead, it has a powerful, but compact 20x optical zoom wide angle lens. You can do as little or a much as you like with the 570. It has full manual control, but also works well in Auto mode and has 21 preset screen modes to choose from.

Other features are face detection,  dual image stabilization, and  It also has two features that are wonderful, but not always found in cameras of this type: It has a hot shoe for an external flash and also has the ability to shoot in both JPEG and RAW formats.

Read my full review at HardwareSecrets.com.

Retail: $449.99

A Workhorse

A Workhorse

This Satellite comes with a clear and crisp 15.4 inch TruBrite widescreen display that has good viewing angles. The 1280 x 800 screen resolution may not suit those who like to keep many windows on the screen, but it is perfect for the average user. The mat black full-sized keyboard has clearly marked keys and an excellent feel. The black keyboard is surrounded by a mat silver surround that incorporates a responsive touchpad. Multi-tasking is no problem with this laptop’s Intel Centrino processor technology and Core 2 Duo processors. (The L500 can also be purchased in an AMD dual core processor configuration.) It has built-in 802.11 a/b/g wireless support.

Although this laptop doesn’t have a fingerprint reader or bright color exteriors, it does have just about everything that you need for everyday computing. The built-in webcam with 3.0 megapixel resolution and the built-in microphone are useful tools. The Webcam is especially easy to use, just move your cursor to the left side of the screen, and the webcam software pops up allowing you to start the camera, control the settings and add fun effects.

There is a memory card reader for SD cards and Memory Sticks. The 160 GB hard drive (5400rpm) is large enough for most business and/or home use. My test unit came with 2 GB (PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHz SDRAM) memory, which is plenty for the Windows XP Professional operating system that came pre-installed. The L300 is also available with Vista Business with the downgrade media necessary for Windows XP Professional. This is a great feature that gives you the best of both worlds. Try Vista and if [you don’t like it, go back to XP at no additional cost.

This Toshiba L500 comes with a DVD-SuperMulti drive which supported every format I threw at it. It also has a modem, 10/100 Ethernet port, stereo speakers, and a PC ExpressCard slot. It has three USB ports. I really like the fact that it has two USB ports on one side and one on the other. This gives you the choice of using whichever side is more convenient. For instance, if you are left-handed and use a USB mouse, you can attach it to the left side of the computer. If you are right-handed, you can use the ports on the right. This is something that all laptop manufacturers should take note of.

The only useful thing missing was built-in Bluetooth. There is also no S-Video or HDMI port, but this is not surprising. The XP Professional and/or Vista Business operating system is aimed more at business use rather than home entertainment use.

The software that came with the computer included the Toshiba Disc Creator, Google Picasa™, InterVideo® WinDVD®, Toshiba ConfigFree, which is a utility to help you connect to Wi-Fi networks. The Toshiba Recovery Disc Creator is also installed with an icon on the desktop. However, I was never prompted to create the disks, which is a reminder that most users will need to remember to make the recovery disks well before they need them.
There are also two 60-day trial pieces of software, Microsoft Office Professional 2007 and Norton 360™ All-In-One Security.

In normal everyday use, the Toshiba was strong and sturdy. I enjoyed the mat finish which always looked professional and didn’t attract fingerprints. The computer also performed well, even for intensive graphic tasks and multi-tasking. Benchmarks done by others rate the L300 average in performance. At 5.7 lbs. it is a little heavy, but still tote able.

The battery life is adequate. Expect to get 2-4 hours depending on the screen brightness that you prefer and if wireless is enabled or disabled. The L300 is wonderfully quite and doesn’t seem to generate much heat. All-in-all, it is a good, solid performer that is quite and sturdy.

Reviewed: Toshiba Satellite Pro L500 L300-EZ1005X

Pros:
• Good design
• Full-size keyboard
• Crisp, clear screen
• Easy-to-access ports
• Webcam & microphone
Cons:
• Somewhat heavy
• No Bluetooth

Specifications:
• Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1GHz processor
• 2GB RAM DDR2
• Intel X3100 Integrated Graphics
• 160GB (5400 rpm) hard drive
• Windows XP Professional
• 15.4″ WXGA 1280×800 screen
• Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g)
• 10/100 Ethernet LAN
• Modem
• VGA-15 pin
• DVD-SuperMulti drive (+/-R double layer) supporting up to 11 formats
• ExpressCard Slot
• SDCard Slot
• 3x USB 2.0
• Stereo headphone and mono microphone jack
• Integrated Webcam
• Lithium Ion battery
• Weight: 5.7lbs
• Retail Price: $899