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Amplitube iRig

Review: AmpliTube iRig for iPhone/iPad – Guitar Amp & Effects Rig

Amplitube iRig

As an amateur guitarist, I’m always trying to emulate my favorite guitar players, and of course, their sound. But without their rack of effects, getting even close to their sound is tough. And once upon a time, effects were very expensive, but as home computers have become more commonplace, effects have found their way (at least partially) into software.

Within the last few years, the iPhone has become one of the hottest gadgets to own. Enter IK Multimedia who have decided to marry the iPhone to a guitar effects rig in the form of the AmpliTube iRig. I got a chance to review this gadget and its associated iPhone app.

Anonymizer Universal

Review: Anonymizer Universal, Privacy and Identify Protection

Anonymizer UniversalThe Geeks received an invitation to test Anonymizer, Inc.’s new consumer-based online privacy and identity protection service called Anonymizer Universal which was released in June. Anonymizer Universal creates a secure and encrypted VPN tunnel between the user and The Anonymizer Network to prevent interception of identifiable information, or “packet sniffing.” The technology protects the user by replacing their personal IP Address with an anonymous IP Address daily. One of the differentiators from other anonymizer’s that are browser-based, Anonymizer Universal works for all Internet activity including accessing the web, obtaining email, streaming music, instant messaging and playing online games.

In addition to traditional Windows and Mac Operating Systems, Anonymizer Universal also protects a user’s mobile Internet activities. For example Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch devices use a “Connect/Disconnect” interface that runs silently in the background to establish and tear down the VPN session. The service only requires a simple download, and can be up and running immediately. Anonymizer Universal’s retail price is $79.99 (U.S.) per year, and is available via the company’s website (www.anonymizer.com) and select Anonymizer Authorized Resellers which provides a license good for one computer and one mobile Apple device.

This video was created to demonstrate the service:

Read the review after the jump

Hackers by Steven Levy - book cover

Book Review: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy

Hackers by Steven Levy - book coverSteven Levy’s seminal historical and story-told book, Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, has just received a 25th anniversary birthday present – a facelift and updates that include Facebook’s Mark Zukerberg, Bill Gates, Richard Stallman and the Woz, Steve Wozniak and a new publisher in O’Reilly Media.

If you consider yourself a computer geek, hacker, enthusiast, a wanna-be or just interested, then you absolutely need to read Hackers. It tells the story of how the original set of ‘hackers’ started off in various places such as MIT’s basements, garages, and bedrooms and evolved (sometimes) into companies, big and small that changed the way the world looked at and interacted with computers.

sennheiser EZX 60 Bluetooth Headset

Review: Sennheiser EZX 60 Bluetooth Headset

sennheiser EZX 60 Bluetooth HeadsetToday, we’re reviewing Sennheiser’s Bluetooth headset, the EZX 60. The EZX 60 is a no-frills, lightweight, noise-cancelling Bluetooth 2.1 headset with long battery life.

The EZX 60 is a BT 2.1 +EDR set with compatibility with BT 1.1, 1.2 and 2.0, and the talk time is rated at up to 7.5 hours.

Introduction. Having been always impressed by Sennheiser’s audio quality in their headphones, I was eager to take their shot at Bluetooth headsets for a test drive. I was not disappointed. I’ll break it down by a few key areas.

Review: Dymo Printable Postage Sheets and Software

Endicia/Dymo has a new combination product for printing USPS postage from the comfort of your own home. Called Printable Postage, its 2 main components are a free piece of software for Windows/Mac and the Printable Postage sheets. You also need an Endicia/Dymo account where you can buy USPS postage for printing to the sheets.

Review: Mozilla Weave keeps your Firefox installations in sync

mozilla weaveMozilla Labs has just released Weave 1.0 and (so far) it rocks for sync’ing up my Firefox installs on different computers. Weave is actually a lot more than just a synchronization tool, but that’s the first service to come out of the project.

So what’s the point of it? Let me paint you a picture: I’ve got desktop and laptop computers that I run Firefox on, and it’s a pain to have to re-implement, transfer and/or update settings, tabs, history, bookmarks, etc. whenever any of those changes on 1 or the other. Weave now takes care of that for me automatically.

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen

Review: Livescribe Pulse Smartpen

Livescribe Pulse SmartpenOnce you start using a Livescribe Pulse Smartpen, you won’t want to go back to using traditional pen and paper. Yes, even pen and paper have received an e-age tech makeover.

So what does the Pulse Smartpen do? First, it records the audio it ‘hears’ either directly from the pen, or via the stereo microphones embedded in the headset if it’s connected to the pen.

Second, it maps that audio exactly to what was written on specially printed micro-dot paper. You can go back to your notes, press the tip of the pen at any point in the notes and the pen will start playing back the audio at exactly that point in time. This works amazingly well.

Review: Able Planet NC300 True Fidelity Noise-Canceling Headphones

Able Planet makes a variety of audio products mainly in the headphones and earphones category that employs some of their own technology. We reviewed one of their noise-canceling headphones, the True Fidelity NC300 with their LINX AUDIO technology. Here are the results of our testing.

Introduction
The NC300 are over-the-ear headphones with an adjustable and padded headband that uses powered noise-cancellation technology that runs on a single AA battery that inserts into one of the ear pieces. While we could give a completely ‘standalone’ review, audio being such a subjective topic, we decided instead to (in many categories of testing) compare it to our favorite noise-canceling headphones, the Audio Technica QuietPoint ATH-ANC7.

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