Digital Bits Technology Column

Droid RAZR review

Andy Kaiser — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:41:52 +0000

The original RAZR cellphone was a clamshell flip-phone released by Motorola in 2004. for a time, they were very popular, being well-made, reliable, and a nice design (they were fairly small and thin, yet very ergonomic and functional). Motorola has released a new smartphone iteration of the RAZR line, which (to differentiate from the original) [...]

Droid Bionic review

Andy Kaiser — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:39:03 +0000

The Droid Bionic is a high-powered, multimedia smartphone offering from Verizon Wireless and Motorola. Is becoming part of a trend mentioned by techie luminaries years ago, one that never really got off the ground, until, perhaps, now. In ye olden days (this is what I call the 1980s and 1990s), cellphones were new and rare. [...]

Kickstarter: Crowd-sourcing funding for makers and creators

Andy Kaiser — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:49:35 +0000

Kickstarter is a very interesting service that could be the future of funding. It takes out the middle-man and provides creators with direct access to funding from the fans who want to support them. Put in simple language: A creator asks for money and offers rewards in exchange for contributions. If the project meets its [...]

Review of Motorola Droid 3

Andy Kaiser — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 16:59:23 +0000

The Droid 3 is the latest in the Motorola Droid lineup. Like the other Droid phones, the Droid 3 is distinctive. It’s a “blockier” design than most other smartphones out there. The Droid line takes the utilitarian view, and thinks that a defined-line, harder-edge approach will appeal more to some than the current standard of [...]

Xperia Play review – PlayStation games on an Android smartphone

Andy Kaiser — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 03:15:11 +0000

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play – which from here on out we’ll call the “Xperia” – is a cellphone well-designed for one thing, gaming. More specifically, it’s a Playstation / PSP emulator that does a great job in bringing Sony Playstation ports to an Android smartphone. When the Xperia is closed it’s in stealth mode, [...]

Review of Plants vs Zombies for Nintendo DS

Andy Kaiser — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:02:43 +0000

I love Plants vs Zombies, but in the case of Plants vs Zombies for the Nintendo DS, the port wasn’t done very well. Or rather, all the game elements are there, but with no attempt to compensate for the DS’s weaknesses. I recommend against it if you’re new to Plants vs Zombies – in that [...]

Windows Phone OS 7 and HTC Trophy review

Andy Kaiser — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 04:46:20 +0000

For those with the right needs (or perhaps those with the right sense of adventure) the HTC Trophy brings a double bonus. First, it’s a smartphone with world coverage, and is small, light and fast. Second, it’s Verizon’s first phone running Microsoft’s contribution to the 2011 smartphone OS market – the HTC Trophy runs Windows [...]

HTC ThunderBolt review

Andy Kaiser — Thu, 26 May 2011 03:48:13 +0000

The HTC ThunderBolt is an Android-powered phone that’s heavy on multimedia features, and is therefore heavy on fun. The phone is fast – performance was great for video playback and gaming. (The ThunderBolt comes with many preloaded games, including “Rock Band”, which is kind of like Guitar Hero for Android. It’s fun and I spent [...]

Abobe Photoshop vs. Corel Photo-Paint: Why I switched

Andy Kaiser — Thu, 12 May 2011 22:57:06 +0000

I’ve been a Corel user for a good chunk of my life. I’ve dabbled with the Corel Graphics Suite since version 6, released in 1995. Now I’m done with Corel Photo-Paint and am using Adobe Photoshop. From 1995 to 2011 is a long time to dedicate to a particular company, much less a particular program. But [...]

Motorola Xoom review

Andy Kaiser — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 03:42:58 +0000

The Motorola Xoom Tablet PC won CNET’s “Best of Show” award at CES 2011 for being “the most potentially disruptive technology”. While I think “disruptive technology” sounds more applicable to airport backscatter X-rays challenging the concept of personal privacy, or social media enabling political revolutions in Libya and Egypt, I get the point: In terms of [...]

Amazon Kindle 3 review

Andy Kaiser — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:47:25 +0000

One of the most interesting things about this technology is that it’s so new and so revolutionary, the market hasn’t even agreed what to call it yet. And of those who seem to have settled on a name, no one agrees how to spell it. The Amazon Kindle sales pages call it a “Wireless Reading [...]

SolarVision NoiseHush N650 review: Solar bluetooth hands-free speakerphone

Andy Kaiser — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:53:53 +0000

The NoiseHush N650 is a solar-powered bluetooth hands-free car speakerphone. That description is much easier to type than it is to say, but all those words are necessary. The NoiseHush is a great addition to any smartphone user who wants a car kit – it works well and it’s easy to use. I’ve used hands-free [...]

Galaxy Tab review

Andy Kaiser — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 01:03:20 +0000

The Galaxy Tab is an excellent adaptation by Samsung for their first entry into the tablet PC world. In this case, the Galaxy Tab has inevitable comparisons to the Apple iPad, and it should – conceptually the Tab and iPad are very similar devices, only one is designed by Apple (that’s software and hardware) and [...]

Droid Pro review

Andy Kaiser — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 01:06:17 +0000

The Droid Pro is the next smartphone in the “Droid” series, a specially-designed combination of operating system and hardware from Google and Motorola. With the Droid Pro, while I feel the smartphone has some drawbacks, it’s still well-suited to the right type of user. First, the basics: the Droid Pro is a smaller smartphone with [...]

Samsung Fascinate review

Andy Kaiser — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 01:08:47 +0000

The Samsung Fascinate is another great addition to the Google Android-powered phone lineup. Its notable features are size and performance. This is a smaller, lighter phone that uses the Samsung Galaxy S interface, something that continues to impress me. The end result of the Fascinate is a great 3G smartphone. While I’m not wild about the [...]

Monaco mobile phone solar charger review: Power cellphones and small electronics with solar-powered battery backup

Andy Kaiser — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 01:09:57 +0000

Many products today require USB charge cables. While there is no single standard in USB cable size, it’s still much easier today, with fewer proprietary charge cables for a cellphone. For the most part, most cellphones (and many other small electronics) are compatible with these kinds of USB interfaces: USB Mini-USB Micro-USB USB provides a [...]

Droid 2 review

Andy Kaiser — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 01:22:31 +0000

The Droid 2, as the name suggests, is the second iteration of the incredibly successful Motorola Droid. Since the first Droid, Google’s Android operating system has been a smash success. It propelled Google’s Android-OS smartphones onto center stage and arguably stole the spotlight away from Apple’s iPhone. In my review of the first Droid, I loved [...]

The best digital camera for kids

Andy Kaiser — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 01:23:00 +0000

My daughter loves to take pictures. It all started not so long ago, when she would see me or my wife take pictures with our (moderately-expensive) digital camera. “Can I take a picture, too? Pleeease?” My wife and I of course couldn’t refuse. But we were overly cautious – we stressed the importance of using [...]

Droid X review

Andy Kaiser — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:26:27 +0000

The Droid X is another of Motorola’s entries into the extremely popular Android smartphone market. Like most of the Android phones, this is a stellar performer – The Droid X is a phone where there’s very little to complain about and much to admire. Droid X hardware and performance Yes, there are some new features, [...]

HTC Incredible review

Andy Kaiser — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:33:51 +0000

If you’re looking for an Android-powered smartphone, the HTC Incredible is the one you want. If you’d like a proper analysis and more detail about the Incredible, of course keep reading. But if you’re just wondering if the Incredible is really all that good, then I’m telling you now: Yes. Yes, it is. I suppose [...]

Hear messages over Bluetooth: Review of the DriveSafely MotoSpeak text-to-speech reader with the Motorola H17 headset

Andy Kaiser — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:30:40 +0000

I’ve just been introduced to an excellent combination. Literally, within seconds of using it, I realized how much I’d wanted this kind of functionality. Unfortunately, it’s not available on my own cellphone yet (the Palm Pre), but should be soon. What I’m talking about is the ability to listen to text from emails and messages [...]

Stress-testing and review of the Casio G’zOne Brigade cellphone

Andy Kaiser — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:35:08 +0000

The full name of this phone is the “Casio G’zOne Brigade”. On the box, each of those three words is printed in a different font. To prevent confusion and annoyance, for the remainder of this article I’ll simply call this phone the “Brigade”. The Brigade gave me a very good first impression. It’s clearly tough [...]

Review of the Motorola Devour with MOTOBLUR

Andy Kaiser — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:36:56 +0000

The Motorola Devour is another phone in the steadily-increasing array of Android-powered smartphones, with a Google-designed operating system and application store. The Devour also comes with features essential to those who message often. In fact, the Motorola Devour comes with “MOTOBLUR” (yes, you apparently must spell it in all caps!) – MOTOBLUR isn’t really a [...]

Review of Palm Pixi Plus, the Palm Pre, and Palm WebOS

Andy Kaiser — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:38:57 +0000

[From left to right, we see the Palm Pixi Plus, then the Palm Pre Plus with its keyboard closed and extended.] I recently had an interesting experience: my Verizon media rep gave me a temporary demo phone for review – a Palm Pixi Plus.Cool, I thought, I could finally have an extended look at the [...]

Wireless network security basics

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:26:52 +0000

This intro to wireless networking setup and security is written with the assumption that the reader has a basic understanding of wired networks, because in terms of protocol, wireless works almost the same way. The difference is in the wireless component and associated hardware configuration. Equipment To create a home network, you need a single [...]

HTC Droid Eris review

Andy Kaiser — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:41:51 +0000

The HTC Droid Eris adds more ammunition to the increasingly frightening anti-iPhone cannon. In this case, we get another slick combination of Google guts and HTC skeleton, all running on Verizon’s network. The Droid Eris is another great smartphone. For those of you unfamiliar with Google’s Android operating system, first read my review of the Motorola [...]

Review of the Motorola Droid from Verizon Wireless

Andy Kaiser — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:44:52 +0000

The Motorola Droid is Verizon’s first smartphone running the much-touted “Android” operating system. The Android OS is fairly unique because it was built from the ground up by Google, and is released with a free software development kit – whoever wants to create applications for Android devices can do so. My understanding is that Google [...]

Verizon HTC Imagio review

Andy Kaiser — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:46:39 +0000

The HTC Imagio is a great phone. There. I’ve said it. Now I’ll tell you why. In the tradition of techies everywhere, I’ll do so by making a list. There are three significant features making the Imagio a quality phone: Microsoft (Microsoft?! …Yes, it’s true, but keep reading), the HTC hardware and Verizon: Microsoft (and [...]

Verizon Song ID review and accuracy testing

Andy Kaiser — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 01:50:54 +0000

Verizon Wireless has a feature on their cellphones that sounds very cool: while listening to music, you can let your cellphone listen for a few seconds, after which it will identify the song, artist and album. The full name of the application is “Verizon V CAST Song ID”. It’s a free application from Verizon that [...]

BlackBerry Tour review

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:53:20 +0000

The BlackBerry Tour is a “world phone” from Verizon Wireless, giving users the ability to make voice calls in over 220 countries and get email and Internet in 175 countries. That’s a lot of places to visit. BlackBerry Tour features Physically, the BlackBerry Tour looks a lot like the BlackBerry Curve. Under the metaphorical hood, [...]

HP Mini 1151NR review: The first netbook from Verizon Wireless

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:54:39 +0000

The HP Mini 1151NR is a new generation of laptop computers called a “netbook”. You’re going to be seeing a lot more of these! For those unfamiliar with what a netbook is, think of it as a small computer. Much bigger than a cellphone, but much smaller than your average laptop. The picture shows the [...]

MiFi 2200 review: Verizon’s multi-user mobile hotspot

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:55:40 +0000

The MiFi 2200 gives you the ability to have your computer (or any WiFi-capable device) connect to the Internet using Verizon’s cellular data network. Put simply: get online from anywhere there’s a Verizon network. Yes, that includes the beach. It’s very compact and simple: the MiFi 2200 is a small black box with a power [...]

Samsung Alias 2 review: The first E-ink cellphone

Andy Kaiser — Sun, 31 May 2009 01:59:16 +0000

The Alias 2 is a solid cellphone with one significant feature. That feature elevates the phone enough that I believe it’s currently the best of its class. That feature is “E-Ink”. Specifically, that’s what the Alias 2 uses for its keyboard. Technically, the keyboard is “virtual” – the phone’s buttons can change depending on what [...]

LG Versa review

Andy Kaiser — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:00:27 +0000

The LG Versa is a slick phone with common features implemented in a fairly unique way, and some unique features implemented very well. In some phones, this comes across as forced, or making the user tolerate certain features in order to use the device. With the Versa, I experienced no such problems. I didn’t have [...]

Roku review: Watch streaming Netflix on your TV

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:01:56 +0000

[Thanks to Howard Paul for his contributions to this review of the Roku.] If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you may have used the “Instant Queue”: instead of waiting for a movie to be shipped to your house, you can instead watch it streaming on your PC. No waiting. You can get videos, television and movies [...]

BrainWave Generator software review: Boost your energy the old-fashioned way

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:38:54 +0000

My usual morning routine is to lurch out of bed, barely-awake, staring around confused as I try to figure out where and who I am. Though this method works well, I’ve had an enlightening experience: One day, immediately upon waking, I drank a can of pop. Ah, my sweet friend caffeine. I’m used to drinking [...]

Astronomy educational software takes you up, up and far, far away

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:29:36 +0000

Just for a moment, you need to be a superhero. For the trip we’re taking, you need to be Superman, Silver Surfer, or any super-duper fella with the ability to fly and who doesn’t need to breathe. You’re going straight up. Crashing through the roof of your house, you shoot through the bright sunlight sky, [...]

Help listen for ET with SETI@Home

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:09:56 +0000

Silence falls over Proxima Post at the Top Secret Military Base. Eyes grow large as the control room loudspeakers broadcast a strange, warbling, gibbering sound. “Hold on… Enhancing…” A technician peers intently into a monitor, adjusting his glasses with one hand, slowly twisting a dial with the other. The odd noise resolves into a musical-sounding [...]

How to read books on an iPod

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:08:10 +0000

The iPod does not have an ebook-specific reader, or just a text format good for reading ebooks. It’s unfortunate, because the style and capabilities of iPods make them perfect for such functions. Sure, you can use the iPod as a portable hard drive to read ebooks on any PC. But if you want to use [...]

Morphing pictures into video is fun, easy and free. Just ask Georgia Clobberts.

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:51:04 +0000

George Clooney and Julia Roberts, sittin’ on your screen, M-O-R-P-H-I-N-G. Morphing is used so often in movies, it’s become a science-fiction special-effect cliché. The hero, monster or robot stops during the middle of a chase, fight or conversation, and faces the camera. Features start to blur, stretch and warp. In just a few seconds, [...]

Motorola Rapture review

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:09:12 +0000

The Motorola Rapture from Verizon Wireless is a slick-looking basic cellphone with one very handy (and not so basic) feature. When the clamshell phone is in closed position, the front display of the phone is touch sensitive! This allows you access to certain features that don’t need an open phone for operation. It gives the [...]

Computer security scams, and how to test your antivirus software

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:08:03 +0000

“Your PC needs a tune-up – click HERE to begin!” “Make your PC go faster for FREE!” “You’re being spied on – protect yourself NOW!” What do these sentences have in common, apart from the gratuitous capitalization and pointless exclamation marks? That’s right – they’re Internet ads that most everyone is exposed to. I get [...]

Review of Mobile TV by Verizon Wireless

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:07:21 +0000

Mobile TV is a recent and impressive offering by Verizon Wireless. The name itself is the perfect description: Mobile TV is TV streamed to a mobile device. Yes, it’s TV, including primetime as well as popular cable channels. Yes, the video and audio quality is very good. Yes, I like it. My demo of Mobile [...]

BlackBerry Storm2 review

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:06:04 +0000

This article is a continuation of my review of the BlackBerry Storm. Be sure to read that one first, particularly if you’re unfamiliar with the BlackBerry Storm. It’s a different enough cellphone (mostly in a good way!) that users need to know what it is, how it works, and under what conditions you should purchase it. [...]

BlackBerry Storm review

Andy Kaiser — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:02:36 +0000

[Andy's note: After this article, be sure to see my review of the Storm2.] The BlackBerry Storm from Verizon Wireless (also called the BlackBerry 9530) is an excellent smartphone. Comparisons and contrasts to the iPhone are of course inevitable, but the Storm can hold its own. It’s not an iPhone killer, but it does have some [...]

Blatant media piracy: Not just for south-Asian countries anymore

Andy Kaiser — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:41:22 +0000

“The only cure for the fear of falling is to jump.” -Carl Jung Mike from Hotmail.com asks: “I know of people that download and copy songs and movies via the internet. They (and everyone else) seem to do it all of the time. Is this legal? The younger generation seems to think that since it [...]

Free ebooks, libraries and text reading software

Andy Kaiser — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 04:11:24 +0000

Hollywood loves remaking successful books, and the last few years give many examples. Around the World in 80 Days, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and I, Robot are just a few. Trying to count remakes of Dracula, Tarzan or The Three Musketeers is more difficult than getting cheap popcorn and drinks at a movie theater. When a blockbuster releases, we [...]

ScanGauge review: Save gas by adjusting nut behind the wheel

Andy Kaiser — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:40:42 +0000

Where is personal responsibility? It’s tossed out the car window at 70 MPH. Gas prices are brain-numbingly, irritatingly high. Yet we putter through traffic in our 250-horsepower cars, drinking gasoline like I drink Tang. I know my limits. I can’t convince America to stop driving big gas-hungry cars and put more automotive research towards fuel [...]

Non-violent video games

Andy Kaiser — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:33:32 +0000

I recently went to relive my childhood arcade experiences. Expecting to relive my glory days, I went back to an arcade with bills clutched eagerly in hand. And man, was I disappointed. The majority of games seemed to be shoot-em-up, blow-em-up and drive-em-around. I went to another arcade, and yet another, and encountered the same [...]

How to make your own Karaoke and a cappella songs

Andy Kaiser — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:24:16 +0000

Some people just don’t like Barbara Streisand. Sure, they say, she sings pretty well, but it could be done better. Not limited to Babs herself, but pick anyone. From Abba to Led Zeppelin, people excel at assuming they’re better than naturally-talented, expertly trained professionals. And we all know what happens when you assume: You end [...]