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Hands-On: Chumby Classic vs Chumby One

Norman Chan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:30:34 -0600

The newly released Chumby One arrived in the mail today, and we couldn't wait to see how it compared to the original digital connected companion device. The Chumby, in case you haven't heard of it, is a multi-function gadget that can serve as an alarm clock, RSS reader, gaming device, or music player. It connects to the internet with Wi-Fi, and runs user-created widgets to do cool things like read your Gmail or send you Twitter updates. You interact with it through a 3.5 inch resistive touchscreen, but it also has an accelerometer inside, since it's made to be held and encourages user interaction.

We liked the first Chumby an awful lot, and the One doesn't look like it's meant to be a successor or replacement for that. In fact, we're not sure not exactly sure how the Chumby One is being positioned in the marketplace. One the one hand, it's a budget model, sacrificing the original's squishy appeal for a significant price cut. On the other hand, it also adds new functionality that makes it a better device than the Chumby Classic.

First, the ceremonial unboxing ritual. The Chumby One comes in a utilitarian cube-shaped box, as opposed to the cute canvas sack of the original. This may seem like a minor change, but it's representative of the major difference between the two models -- the Chumby one is now housed in a rigid plastic chassis as opposed to malleable Italian leather.

At the top of the device is a large button, which is actually larger than the one hidden under the first Chumby's "skin." Hitting this button takes you to the home screen or turns off alarms. There's also a new physical knob on the right side of the Chumby One, which is very convenient for quick volume adjustment when you're playing music from a connected iPod or Pandora.

Here it is compared to the first Chumby. The One looks and feels much smaller, though without the soft shell, it's not nearly as comfortable to hold in one hand. Since the touchscreen works best when you're gripping the Chumby with one hand and navigating with your other hand, the experience loses a little bit of charm and whimsy. It feels less like playing with a digital pet and more like, well, an alarm clock. Whether that affects your emotional connection with the Chumby is up for debate.

The back of the device has a few minor changes. There's only one powered USB port, and the speaker is positioned above the ports instead of at their sides (a change from stereo to mono). There's still a headphone jack, DC power connector, and power button, but their placement has been optimized to avoid accidentally turning off the Chumby.

On the bottom, you'll find a slot for the removable battery. Yes, the Chumby One comes with a replaceable Fujitsu battery so the Chumby can operate without being connected to a power outlet. We haven't had a chance to test out how long this battery lasts, but replacements sell online for about $15 bucks. Being able to take the Chumby along with use on trips is a definite plus. You can also note the FM antenna cord that comes out from the base of the unit.

For international travelers, the Chumby One also comes with a variety of outlet convertors.

Operationally, the Chumby One functions exactly as the first Chumby does. Since it's powered by a faster 450MHz processor (up from 350MHz), launching the Flash-based widgets, as well as normal menu navigation, feels more responsive. Widgets still take a few seconds to start up, and you still have to set up account-based widgets on the Chumby website. The resistive touchscreen works well enough, but we still wish it was capacitive. Resistive screens tend to "stick" a little when we try to use any kind of gestures -- they're much better for pressing icons than sliding bars.

Even with its faster processor, the Chumby is best used for text and image-based content. Video feeds, like TrailerAddict's widget, still don't seem optimized -- movie trailers we tested weren't silky smooth.

As we mentioned earlier, another new feature is FM radio tuner. You can see the interface below.

Chumby works great as a music player, and come with a wide selection of built-in internet radio feeds. It also plays music off of connected iPods, but won't play from music from an iPhone. One problem we encountered was that we couldn't get iPhone charging to work off of the Chumby's USB port. This wasn't a problem we had with the Chumby Classic, and hopefully it's just a bug.

But the biggest consideration for the Chumby One is its price of $120 (currently on a pre-order sale price of $100). That's about half of the Chumby Classic's $200 price, which put it out of reach for many people. $100 is still a lot of money if you only plan on using it as an alarm clock, but if you're willing to download and experiment with the Chumby widgets, the Chumby One makes the investment a lot easier to stomach.

The Chumby One is available for pre-order now and ships on November 25th.

Web App of the Week: BackupURL

Florence Ion — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:30:00 -0500

We’ve decided to add on to our “of the Week” series by featuring a resourceful and easy-to-use web application at the end of the week. This week, we’d like to introduce you to BackupURL, a web service that allows you to create a copy of any text-heavy website you desire and share it without the fear that it will go offline.

BackupURL stores a cached copy of your webpage and its text to a ready-to-share page, which is accessible from an already shortened link. This service is great for students who are afraid their research material and resources will go offline, or professionals who want to hold on to those important blocks of text.

We tested Backup URL to see how well it worked with caching script-heavy websites. We found some random .pdfs on display at Slideshare and plugged them into BackupURL. Fortunately, the page was still intact when we accessed it through the shortened link. However, we did noticed that trying to back up, say, Gmail inboxes, didn't work at all, and that the photos on the cached site were still linked from the original domain. Still, if the content is the most important part of a site that needs to stay intact, use BackupURL as your shortener and rest assured that your link is still accessible.

Visit BackupURL here.

Every Thursday, we pick a new Web App as our favorite of the week. Have a Web App that you can't live without? Send suggestions to florence [AT] maximumpc.com with "Web App" in the subject line.

Hands-On with Western Digital's TV Live HD Media Player

Norman Chan — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:00:00 -0500

Possibly the media pirate's perfect movie and music streamer

Yesterday, Western Digital officially announced the second generation of their WD TV HD media player. In our review of the original device, we loved its ability to play back almost any video we tossed at it, but lamented its inability to handle encrypted media files. Since then, Western Digital has issued a series of firmware updates that improve format compatibility (including DivX), but the new WD TV Live adds new hardware features as well. Most notable is the addition of an Ethernet port to connect the WD TV Live to your home network. That means you can not only stream movies from your desktop PC or NAS boxes to the WD TV Live, but also get video, music, and photo content from the internet. We received a retail sample of the new system, and tested it to see if these new features are worth the $50 price bump.

First, a quick briefing on how the WD TV Live and its previous iteration work. The WD TV system is a media player, but video and music files aren't stored on the device itself. You connect USB hard drives or flash keys to either of the two USB ports on the back and the top of the player, and the WD TV reads files off of those storage drives to play onto a connected television or monitor. The first WD TV launched with support for most standard video formats (MPEG, WMV, H.264), 1080p resolution and high-bitrate playback, and used HDMI or Composite video connections. Its support for community-adopted video containers, like MKV and H.264 AVI files, made it a popular alternative to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for media playback.

In addition, the firmware for the WD TV has been open source, which has led to 3rd-party firmware updates that have added neat functionality to the player, including USB optical drive and limited network adapter support. The WD TV Live utilizes new internal hardware, so it's unclear that existing 3rd-party firmware will run on it.

The WD TV Live's packaging is very similar to the original's. Included in the box is the player (which is about the size of a portal hard drive, only thicker), an IR remote, AAA batteries, power adapter, and video cables. The box includes both Composite and Component cables, though they're cables with 3.5mm jacks on one end to plug into the WD TV. Neither the first WD TV nor the WD TV Live include an HDMI cable, though everyone knows they're relatively cheap to buy from monoprice.com.

Also new is a warning sticker on the back of the WD TV Live, reminding you not to stack USB hard drives on top of the player. In our experience, the player gets pretty hot when playing back 1080p video, though we've never had one of these devices die on us from overheating. Still, it's a good idea to keep the player on its side during use, and avoid placing it on top of or around other hot gadgets.

Physically, the WD TV Live (on the left in the above photo) is exactly the same dimensions as the original. WD opted for a matte grey finish as opposed to the glossy black of the original, which was prone to greasy fingerprints. We still prefer the black finish. The HDMI logo has also been removed from the front face of the device.

On the rear of the player, you can see the new Ethernet port as well as the modified Composite and Component video out ports. If you choose to use the Component connection, you'll have to output audio from the Composite port (for stereo sound) or use the Optical port for 5.1 audio playback. The HDMI connection outputs both audio and video.

Here's a quick glance at the differing format support, as indicated from the packaging (WD TV Live on the right). The original WD TV box is a little out of date, since new firmware has expanded what type of files the WD TV can play, including a wide range of soft subtitles. DRM-protected files are stil not yet supported. But enough about specs -- let's turn this thing on!

System boot up on is a tad faster than the new player, but the thing we noticed most was how responsive the new menu is. Optimizations in hardware and the OS software have paid off, and navigating around the WD TV doesn't feel sluggish at all. This is a necessary improvement, since there are more menu categories to browse around this time around.

The actual menus aren't changed much from the first WD TV. Cosmetic changes like a darker blue background aren't a big deal -- you still navigate around the layered menus using the arrow keys. You can use the included remote to work the menu system, or pair the WD TV with a universal remote like the Logitech Harmony series.

The first thing you'll want to do is set up the Network configuration. The WD TV has an automated setup process that detects your router settings and DLNA network drives, including Home Servers and NAS boxes.

We ran the WDTV through the gamut of numerous video and audio files of varying size, bitrate, and formats, and the WD TV Live handled them all with ease. Everything from MP4s ripped from DVDs using Handbrake, 1080P WMV movies from Microsoft, or even MKV H.264 Blu-Ray rips with embedded subtitles and 5 audio channels played back without problems.

HD video stored on a Windows Home Server was instantly detected and flowed over a wired connection without any loss of quality. When we connected the WD TV Live to a hacked router that acts as a wi-fi bridge to try streaming video over 802.11g, video playback was a little more limited -- very high bitrate files occasionally stuttered. You definitely want to be on a 802.11n network to stream high def content. Western Digital plans on selling its own wireless Ethernet adapter for the WD TV Live, but there's no work on what wi-fi standards it'll support.

On to the new connected features. WD TV can tap into Youtube to play video, but browsing options are pretty limited. You can enter channels showing the newest, most popular, highest rated, or "featured" videos, but searching for specific content is a tedious process. Entering search terms is done with the arrow keys on your remote, and it took us at least 5 minutes to find specific movie and game trailers. However, you can log into your Youtube account to visit favorited channels and user subscriptions.

By default, Youtube will stream the Hi-Quality of HD version of a video if its available. You can turn this off if you're on a slow or shakey internet connection.

Online music streaming is actually a pleasure to use. Menu entries for Pandora and Live365 let you log into an account and access online radio feeds. The player experience replicates the features of those services you'd find on their respective sites, as well. We're not sure how many people actually want to stream online radio to their TV, but the option is there.

Finally, you can browse Flick's photo content with pre-configured feeds, such as the last week's worth of "interesting" photos. Again, this is more of a novelty feature than an actual practical one -- we don't envision many people rummaging through Flickr on their TVs out of boredom.

One disappointment is that most of the pictures we opened from the Flickr feed turned out to be the low-resolution photo, which then isn't stretched out to fill the screen.

From our early tests, the WD TV Live looks to be a worthy successor to the WD TV. It's most attractive features haven't changed -- video aficionados and media pirates alike will still be drawn to it for its wide file format support. The Ethernet connectivity and streaming feature, however, really makes this a true contender as the dominant media player in your home theater setup. The device's small profile, relatively low power usage, and whisper quiet operation makes it more ideal than the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 for in-network media streaming. Whether that's worth $150 or adding another media player to your TV stand is up to you.

Note: As of the time of writing, Best Buy is selling the WD TV Live for $120 (may be backordered)

Qnap TS-209 Pro II

David Murphy — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:08:40 -0500

Based on the name alone, one would expect Qnap’s TS-209 Pro II NAS box to offer more features than its predecessors—particularly our leader in this storage category, Qnap’s TS-109 Pro. And while the former does allow for increased capacity, it does not provide significant improvements in performance or offer more features than the TS-109 Pro, which has been out for more than a year.

The TS-209 Pro II differs from the TS-109 Pro in two fundamental ways: First, the TS-209 Pro II is a two-bay device that only requires you to remove a faceplate to access the hot-swap drive bays, a much simpler process than the disassembly required to stick a new drive in the single-bay TS-109 Pro. Second, the TS-209 Pro II sports 256MB of internal DDR II RAM, double the internal memory of the TS-109 Pro.

We assumed—perhaps incorrectly—that this additional memory would do something, anything, for the TS-209 Pro II’s benchmark performance. It does not. In fact, even after we added a speedy Velociraptor drive to the unit to eliminate any kind of hard drive bottleneck, the TS-209 Pro II was still unable to top the TS-109 Pro in any benchmark. The TS-209 Pro II took an extra 18 seconds to transfer 659MB (180 files) from our computer to our NAS in our small-file test. In our large-file test, the TS-209 Pro II took more than a minute longer than the TS-109 Pro to transfer a single 2.79-gigabyte file.

The TS-209 Pro II is fast when compared against the entire category of NAS devices. But it’s not faster than our speed champion, the TS-109 Pro. Nor do any compelling features push it above and beyond its predecessor. The latest firmware update to the TS-109 Pro gives that device the same features and options as the TS-209 Pro II, including a BitTorrent downloading application, a networked webcam surveillance application, and an iTunes streaming service. The TS-209 Pro II differs only in its RAID offerings, due to its support for two hard drives versus the TS-109 Pro’s one.

We dislike that the TS-209 Pro II drops the eSATA connection that was included with the TS-109 Pro. It’s not a mission-critical deletion, but we’d still much prefer to back up the contents of our NAS box over a speedy SATA connection rather than USB. It would also be nice to have a friendlier hot-swap setup in the front of the TS-209 Pro II. Removing the front bezel doesn’t pain us, but in a perfect world, we'd be able to insert drive without having to take anything off of the device first.

The TS-209 Pro II is a fast product with a bounty of features beyond what we typically see in NAS products, it’s just not among the speediest NAS devices we’ve tested. If you don’t need the increased storage that a second drive bay brings, you’re better off purchasing one of the company’s faster single-drive options—like the TS-109 Pro.

AirDrives

Tom Edwards — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:00:00 -0500

Every once in a while, we actually step away from our computers to get some exercise—and do our best to avoid the cavalcade of cars, bikes, and pedestrians that share the roads with us when we go for a run. Until recently, we had eschewed wearing headphones when we pounded the pavement, but AirDrives earbuds have us rethinking this position. By fitting around your outer ear and lying just in front of your ear canal, rather than inside it, AirDrives allow you to hear the music on your MP3 player but still be aware of environmental sounds, so you’re less likely to be clipped by a car you didn’t hear coming. And although they aren’t inserted within the ear, the AirDrives remain snug, even after a long run, and remain in place much better than designs that lack an over-the-ear loop.

AirDrives won’t provide you with the most impressive audio experience, however; low tones, in particular, get lost in the mix. And if environmental noise is particularly loud, you’ll be tempted to turn the volume up to the max, further worsening sound quality. However, another benefit of the outside-the-ear design is that even if you turn your MP3 player up to 11, the AirDrives are much less likely to harm your hearing than in-ear buds.

These buds aren’t the ideal choice for situations in which you want a noise-cancelling experience, on an airplane for example. And even at the gym, you’ll likely want a headphone that blocks out the techno emanating from the spin class next to you. But when you want to listen to music yet still be aware of your surroundings—on the slopes, on the road, in the office—AirDrives are your best option.

Unboxed: The NZXT Khaos

David Murphy — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:00:48 -0500

We were hoping to find a giant Chaos insignia on the side of NZXT's newest case, but alas, it appears the chassis manufacturer isn't as big a fan of Warhammer as we thought. Naming conventions aside, this bold new aluminum case presents an imposing sight. Dubbed the Khaos, the full-tower chassis clocks in a smidgen over two feet in height and width. With that monstrous size comes support for up to five 5.25-inch devices, one 3.5-inch device, and eight hard drives.

But the new NZXT chassis isn't all beast. There's a bit of beauty inside this all-black chassis. See for yourself in our full gallery of sexy unboxing photos!

The Khaos retails for a hefty $400. To find out if it's worth the investment, be sure to stop back for our full review of the up-and-coming chassis next week!

MSI K9A2 Platinum

Gordon Mah Ung — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:08:47 -0500

If you want AMD performance without the cost, MSI’s K9A2 Platinum might be the ticket. It’s a bare-bones yet performance-oriented board for Phenom procs.

Based on the AMD 790FX chipset, the MSI K9A2 Platinum sports four x16 physical PCI-E 2.0 slots. While most boards today sport six expansion slots, MSI goes the max with seven slots. Four are full-length PCI-E slots, two are PCI and the seventh is a dinky x1 PCI-E. You pay a price for it though. The extra slot forces the top slot so close to the RAM that you’ll have to remove the GPU if you want to pull the RAM out.

Also irksome are the six SATA ports, which point straight up. If you run a large PCI-E card in the slot above it, you’ll block access to some or all of the SATA ports. The K9A2 Platinum also gives you a slight edge over its direct competitor, the Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe Wi-Fi in SATA. You get two eSATA ports and MSI uses a Promise controller that supports both SATA and SAS drives. If you’re a true drive aficionado, thisdoes give you a cheap and easy way to access the higher-speed SAS drives that you just can’t get in SATA today.

Like the Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe, the K9A2 Platinum uses a fairly moderate heat pipe design for the north and south bridges and the voltage regulators. That’s perhaps one of the better messages with the 790FX chipset–thermals. While Nvidia can’t make a cool-running chipset to save its life, ATI’s chipsets have always been spectacularly miserly in thermal generation.

What you get in heat savings, though, you give up in south-bridge functionality. The SB600 maxes out at four SATA drives while Nvidia chipsets give you six ports. Ethernet port teaming and other advanced features such as packet prioritizing are also MIA when compared to comparable Nvidia chipsets.

On the performance front, we found the board to be the equivalent of Asus’s pricier M3A32-Deluxe Wi-Fi board. That’s no surprise though. Unless a vendor has screwed up the BIOS, Phenom and Athlon 64 chipsets rarely show much of a performance difference due to the on-die memory controller. So with our 2.5GHz Phenom X4, GeForce 8800GTX, 2GB of DDR2/1066, and Windows XP Professional installed, it was pretty much a tie. That’s something we’re likely to see as Intel adopts an on-die memory controller as well this year.

One thing we continue to love about MSI boards is the company’s updating utility that will search out and install driver and BIOS updates for you. It’s damned better than Asus’s horribly slow website and update utility, which successfully connects with a server only one out of five times.

Not all is good with MSI utilities though. If you ever have to update the BIOS via DOS and floppy disk, may the gods help you. You don’t just boot from a floppy disk, update the BIOS, and call it a day. You have to boot onto a floppy disc that can create a RAM disk. You then copy the BIOS file and updater to the RAM disk and flash from there. If you try to flash directly from floppy disk, kiss the BIOS goodbye. Fortunately, the windows-based updater works 90 percent of the time so it shouldn’t be an issue for most folks. Still, it’s annoying at best. If Asus and every other vendor can perform disk-based BIOS updates without the need to use a RAM disk, why can’t MSI?

So where does the MSI fall? The SATA ports could be placed better, but even that’s not a fatal flaw, as there are plenty of x16 physical PCI-E slots. What we do like is the SAS support, one extra PCI-E slot, better web support, and a pretty damned good street price of $150.

790FX Hoedown

Gordon Mah Ung — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:20:21 -0500

Looking for the AMD 790FX motherboard reviews promised in the July 2008 issue? Click the title or picture to jump to the relevant review!