Insignia's Portable HD Radio. NS-HD01. My Review.

Although you won't find every radio station has gone digital, HD radio is coming. Where I live only one station is up to date, but since I had a $50 gift card and some time to kill I thought I'd give the Insignia HD radio a try. The upcoming Zune HD player will have HD Radio reception in it, but Insignia beats them to the punch by being here now at your local BestBuy and at a reasonable price ($49.99). Check your local store, as my store had several but BestBuy.com didn't have any.

The controls are not all obvious. I highly recommend you read the user manual before getting to into it. You can let the radio charge up while you study up.

You'll find a covered mini USB port, hold switch, and a reset hole on the left side. Volume is on the right. The headphone jack is on the top edge.

There are only 10 channel Presets. A little disappointing as my area has more than 20 FM stations channels within reach.

A dated aesthetic. It's almost exactly the same size as my RCA Lyra Slider but a clutter of buttons around a tiny screen.

FM and digital radio, but nothing else. It would have been nice if it had a little memory or a card slot to store MP3s, as some times there isn't anything worth listening to on the radio. I guess that's what MP3 players with FM radios are for.

With the earphone jack on top, and all the controls on the face, it should work fine in a shirt pocket or the snug armband that comes with it.

The screen is just a little larger than an inch square (1.5" diagonal), but a slightly wider rectangle would have served better to display station and song info.

Volume control is on the side. A bit confusing as there are up and down and left and right buttons on the front that might have been more intuitive for volume control.

All in all it's a fine radio. Nothing amazing, but competent. Reception relies on your headphone cable, so you might get different results depending on the headphones you use. The included ones helped it find most of my normal stations.

Is it worth $50. Given that most MP3 players (other than ipods) include FM radios, I not sure. I think Microsoft has the right idea including HD and FM in the upcoming Zune HD. Yet if you've got $50 to kill and are impatient to try out HD radio in your area it's perfect.

4D

Tweakers. Great Portable Speakers For Your MP3 Player.

Here we have another "Good Thing in a Small Package". Tweakers, manufactured by Grandmax and available at Amazon.com for under $30 are the most well-thought out small portable speakers I've come across to date. They were a Engineering and Design Innovation award winner at this year's CES. In addition to the speakers you get a nice carrying bag. Tweakers will "stick" together, base to base, with the help of magnets. This make them an easy bundle to slip into the bag. You also get a usb adapter (for charging the speakers) and instruction sheet. That's it. Yet this little package has everything you'll need to share the audio from your MP3 player or pico projector with friends and family. Cables to connect the speakers to each other and your player are wound inside the body and extract when needed. The battery and amp is in one speaker. It connects to the other with it's retractable USB cable. The other speaker has a volume control dial and hides the 3.5mm stereo audio cable used to connect them both to your player.

The top of each speaker will twist to pop up (about 1/2") for what Grandmax claims in better bass (low frequency) reproduction. The effect is noticable, and I recommend you open up these little speakers for better playback. You won't be shaking the floorboards with these speakers, but they do a decent job for their diminuitive size. Bass tracks on my favorite songs are completely absent from these speakers, but mid range is helped quite a bit. The included specifications rate Tweaker output at 1.7 watt x 2. Fequency range is 280Hz ~ 16KHz. SNR >= 80db

You get just a little more than 14" worth of cable to stretch between the speakers. This will leave them 16.5" center to center at maximum stretch. You will notice some stereo separation if you're within 20" or so, but farther than that you might as well move them together.

They are powered by a lithium battery, which is charged via the USB port on your PC or with any 120vAC to 5vDC USB charger. Charging should take 2~3 hours. An LED glows Red when charging and Blue when fully charged. There is no indicated play time in the documentation, but I'm guessing it will vary depending on how loud you turn up the speakers. I've used them through two movies (3.5 hours) on my AAXA projector and the duration of this blog post, with no indication that they need charging. I recommend you do your own duration test before counting on them to entertain you for a long period between charges.

How loud are they? It depends on your source. Of the two dozen or so players I have no two have the same output from their headphone jack. You won't entertain a large crowd with them. They can be overwhelmed in a noisy room (like a cafeteria). If you gather a few kids around an entertaining movie from the AAXA projector, and can keep the giggling down, the Tweakers should do fine.

I rate Tweakers an A+. If you're in the market for some small portable speakers then these can't be beat.

4D

A Great Portable Computer Desk!

I'm a furniture designer, and a little bit famous for my own fold-up portable furniture designs. When I come across a piece of furniture so well designed and also portable as this Fold-N-Go Workstation available at Staples stores and Staples.com, I have to buy one. The one I bought has a slightly different desktop profile, but is identical in all other aspects to the picture above. The desk easily folds up and can be carried by one person. You may not move this desk very often, but when you need to move it you will appreciate how delightfully easy it accommodates you. Consider also how easily this desk will stow away in a closet or under a bed when you need the room or simply aren't using it.

Two casters allow you to easily move the desk around, even when loaded with a heavy PC. Lift the front a little and you can dolly the whole setup across your room. I've set mine up to hold my new iMac and there is plenty of room. There is a full depth shelf at keyboard level. I've got two external hard drives parked under there. The width of the desktop allows ample room for keyboard and mouse. The surface has a light texture to it, giving it a nicer feel than typical pressboard parts have. All shelves are 5/8" thick. I've noticed a little sagging or bowing in one half of the lower shelf. This may be the one bad mark for this product. If you put heavy components on the shelves, try and keep them toward the left or right edge where the steel frame supports better.

In summary this is a great product for a good price. If you're looking for a clever, portable, fold-up desk, this one should be at the top of your list.

4D