EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES

Jun 29, 2003 | hardware

Your new computer probably includes USB 2.0 ports – physically identical to USB 1.1 ports, but capable of transferring data at much higher speeds. One interesting way to use them is to buy an external hard drive. Like everything else, external drives have been...

TERMINATOR 2: MAXIMUM HARDWARE

Jun 11, 2003 | computers, hardware

There’s yet another release of Terminator 2 on DVD, the “T2: Extreme DVD” in a cool embossed metal box. One of the features you’ll see advertised is an ultra-high resolution version of the movie with 5.1 sound for your PC, in addition to the regular version for your...

HARDWARE WARS

Jun 4, 2003 | computers, hardware

Dell continues to dominate the computer market, of course. Here’s what some of the other players are doing. Sony just announced its summer lineup, loaded with multimedia components (DVD rewritable drives, digital video recorder software, and the like), at the higher...

UNDERSTANDING THE CENTRINO

Apr 3, 2003 | hardware

Intel is doing an all-out media blitz to establish “Centrino” as a brand name that you know and love. Hey, it worked with “Pentium.” Here’s an article that cuts through the advertising hype and the confusing names and features. Highly recommended if you’re considering...

HOME MEDIA CENTERS

Mar 31, 2003 | audio, hardware, video

There’s an exploding market for home media centers. I can’t cover all the new equipment, but maybe this will help. I have a huge digital music library on my computers, which I maintain scrupulously – all sorted into folders, with ID3 tags for artist and album and...

SLOW COMPACT FLASH CARDS

Feb 14, 2003 | hardware

Costco has tempting prices on the SanDisk line of memory cards – Compact Flash, Smart Media, Memory Stick. I’m all set up with USB 2.0 ports and a USB 2.0 card reader, and I couldn’t figure out why it was taking so long to copy mp3 files to my card. Turns out there’s...