Ok, I know what you are thinking. Here comes another startup company touting yet another ipod related set of products. The slick hand stitching and custom leather look of Phiaton's [Fee ah ton] Primal Series headphones certainly fits the bill of a company attempting to ride Apple's coat tails to the top of the personal music market.

Upon first look thats exactly what crossed my mind too. But these products boats quite a pedigree. They are made by a company called Cresyn, a Korean company that has made components for Sony, Audio Technica, Kenwood, and many others since 1957. So you have probably already been listening to their merchandise for some time.

The PS-500 series is the performance focused model of the line. These full sized head huggers claim a frequency range of 5hz-30,000hz reaching well above and below what our feeble human ears can identify (perfect human hearing covers from 20hz-20,000hz). You won't catch me complaining about super deep bass response or crystal clear high end. Plus they sport a high level of sensitivity and a huge amount of power handling. In short these things will rock your dome with the lowest lows and highest highs your ears can take before ever coming close to their point of distortion.

For you technological ninjas out there in need of something a bit stealthier, the Primal series offers up their PS 200 in-ear headphones. These lightweights still hit like their big brothers with a range of 8hz- 30,000 hz. They accomplish this impressive statistic by using a tiny woofer and tweeter just like your regular speakers, only these are sealed to your earholes with airtight memory foam tips. The in ear design also offers isolation from whatever's bugging you. Long flights, noisy metro cars or just the creepy guy who won't stop talking to you on the bus. Add to that their distinctive design and you've got a real crowd pleaser.

In ear headphones aren't for everyone though. For those of us who find them annoying but still need some isolation the PS 300 NC offer the perfect solution. Their active noise canceling system uses a custom designed “lithium-polymer” battery to provide 20 hours of uninterrupted listening.. Although I hope for your sake you'll give your ears a break and not test that claim. These are ready to travel with you with extension cables, four adaptors to recharge wherever you're stuck, and an extra battery all in a carrying case.

Posted By FreeLoader: Cmarks

Finish What You Start...

I put a lot of effort into not turning this website into my personal rant space. I'm not the only member of the ESH Crew. My pet peeves may or may not be shared by the other editors or even you, our loyal readers, but something happened yesterday that to this very moment still pisses me off to no end. Allow me to explain.

If you are a regular visitor to this site, you know that I [like most of the ESHer] work a day job. This "do this in order to get your bills paid" obligation requires that I use the D.C. mass transit system to get from my humble apartment into the district. While most people tend to hate mass transit, I have been one of the few to totally embrace and love it.

I love riding the train in and out of work.

My commute into work [which is shortly over 40 minutes] is something I look forward to each day I go into work. The train I catch starts out just late enough to miss the morning rush hours, so I always get a seat. People soliciting for their respective religion/magazine/money have all left the station by the time I get there so it's a simple and smooth transition from point A to point B. I take my seat, pop in my earbuds, and watch some video on my iPhone or listen to some podcasts. It's great. Let me rephrase that. It's normally great.

Yesterday, I was running late leaving work and just barely caught the train. And by just barely I mean I had to run to make it to the end of the car in front of me. There was no place to sit, so I had to stand over the in the corner. No big deal, as the next two stops are usually the most popular stops for people exiting the train. So I, following my routine, proceed to whip out my earbuds and iPhone to start watching some video on my way home. I had started a movie in the morning and was picking up where I left of. The movie I started was SuperBad [which I'm loving by the way] and realizing that it probably isn't the best movie to watch in the wide open space, I backed myself into a corner to keep the screen from reflecting off of any surfaces and decided to not sit down at all during my trip home. I didn't want any of the people sitting behind me to be forced to see anything that they may find upsetting.

When we got to the next stop at least twelve people exited the train like normal, but a bigger bunch got on. I think a lot of people were running late because of the bad weather that was heading our way. So the train car became a little crowded. A very tall guy and his "lady friend" ended up standing near me. There were a couple of single seats available, but I guess they decided to stand until two seats together were available. I dunno, and now I don't really give a damn. Anyways, the tall dude is the closest too me and from the corner of my eye I'm able to see that he's looking down over my shoulder at the movie. I can hear him chuckle a bit, and think to myself, "oh cool, he "gets" this movie too," and decide to pay no more attention to him. I focus back on the movie. I'm at the part where Seth finally realizes what the stain on his pant leg is. It's a priceless moment really, but just then I catch more motion out of the corner of my eye. It's from the couple near me. Turns out I wasn't the only one that heard the tall dude chuckle, his "lady friend" heard him as well. Curious as to what he was laughing at, she moved in closer to me [she was also taller than me... what can I say, I'm mad short] and peeked over my shoulder at my screen. She however, did not "get" the movie, and started a tirade of what I can only call verbal diarrhea that in some circles passes for conversation not only with her "man friend," but eventually with others on the train as well.

It seems that this "lady" had taken huge offense to what I was watching on my iPhone. From the early bits of her little public speech I was able to gather that she felt that I had invaded her private space by having my video on and that my watching content "like that" in public just goes to show what little I care about the world I'm surrounded by. When her man friend only silently shrugs in total fake agreement, she gets louder and tries to recruit a couple of the people around her in her cause. "Well I don't think it's right to watch porn in public? And I doubt anyone on this train will either!" And, I'd agree with her on any day. Pornography in public is never a good idea. Kids are everywhere these days, and where there are kids, there should NOT be porn.

But I wasn't watching porn, I was watching a comedy.

I was watching said comedy on a device whose screen is less than four inches wide. I was listening to said comedy using a set of in ear earbuds, so there wasn't an audible noise coming from me. I never invaded "her" space, if anything she invaded mine. I was off in a corner by myself. I had my back to a non-reflective surface. Each of those people had to move from their original positions to look over my shoulder to view what I was watching. I didn't invite them over. At no time did I walk over to them and shove my iPhone in their face like, "Look! Look! You know you wanna watch my movie! If you're good I'll pause on the frame with the nipples!" So why am I looked down on, and made to feel the villain here when I've done nothing wrong. Who the hell are you to pass judgement on how I get through my daily commute? Who the hell are you to pass judgement on any person keeping their entertainment to themselves? Why does anyone person feel like they get to enforce their will on another on the basis of disagreeing personal opinions?

When she doesn't get the uproar that I guess she was looking for from other patrons on the train, she looks back down at me as if to shame me into turning my video off. The sad thing, is for a moment I was about to do it. I don't like rocking the boat unless it's really necessary. "NinJa" is just part of my pen name. I'm a gamer and not a fighter.

As I moved my fingers over the screen of my iPhone I realized that if I stopped this movie from playing, I would have let this "lady" completely bully me into doing something I didn't want to. I'm a grown ass woman, and I don't have to do a damn thing I don't want to. So instead of turning off my movie, I just turned my volume up and shifted my weight.

That "lady" wasn't pleased at all. She shook her head, rolled her eyes, and whipped out her Blackberry. One thing that I'm fairly sure of, whatever she was looking at on her Blackberry wasn't nearly as entertaining as my movie.

Finish What You Start...

Samsung says shaken, not stirred up into an error panic.

In pimping their solid state internal drive they have created a vibration demo video to show you just why you'll want a big honking SSD in your laptop.

Submitted for you approval. Thanks to TooLean for the linkage.
Shake N' Break

Finish What You Start...

When it comes to great looking high fashion tech accessory cases you can have practical but ugly, great design but not really useful or you can get both great design and practicality but you are not going to get both without paying big bucks.

As a result we end up with mediocre bags that fit are needs but really were made with the supposed "hip" business men in mind... but no more Golla's new spring collection fills our particle side as well as having a mean design sense. They make every thing from bags for your phones and ipods to laptop sleeves and backpacks. The company is based in Finland and all of there products have a great European style to them yet the designers have thought about all the ways people are going to be using there technology.

Music Bags
The music bags really stood out to me because while they were design with the mp3 player in mind they really can be for a variety of devices from you phone to camera. There are multiple pockets where you can slip in an ID or metro card and there is even a great zipper pocket on the back so you can put items you want to be really secure. They have also opted to not do a belt clip in favor of a small carabineers which I think will led it's self to be more versatile.

Backpacks
Golla also introduced new colors with both males and females in mind for there backpack collection. For anyone who has had to dig through there bag trying to find that one item that you swear you had with you only for it get lost in the dark pit then this is the bag for you. The back compartment is for you laptop but unlike conventional backpacks you load your computer from the side making it so much easier to fit everything. The second compartment where I at lease end to just dump everything else into has see-through zipper compartments so you can put everything into it perspective place. But just in case you forget where you put it you phone those see-though pocket come in handy.

So the final part where can you get these bags? Depending on what you are looking for there are a variety of places from cellular store like AT&T Wireless for the phone and music bags to Target for the laptop sleeves and backpacks. While the holidays are over and we are all strapped a little for cash now you can think of these are part of your New Years resolution to get organized.

Posted by FreeLoader Megwin

Finish What You Start...

With Warner announcing that they will be moving from title releases on both high definition formats to [eventually] just Blu-Ray, you have to imagine that the HD DVD camp feels a little defeated.

And when I went by their booth here at CES, they sure looked that way. I strolled up to the booth late afternoon and my first impression before I spoke to anyone was, "wow, you look like you need a drink." I'm sure that every journalist that hit the South Hall show floor on Monday made a beeline over to their booth to question every representative about the announcements, but when I got there I just hung back for a moment. I gathered my thoughts and questions and then headed over to the booth.

I could tell that the guy I was heading toward at the booth caught a glimpse of my badge before I was in earshot as his smile started to fade away. When I finally reached him [foot is still a bit gimpy so I don't move too fast yet] after a short introduction I made my first statement: I'm not going to ask that question. the look of stunned amazement and then relief that came over his face was priceless. I wanted to take a picture of it, but I thought better of it. Besides I'm lazy.

Anyways, when he realized I was serious, a smile returned to his face and he began his spiel on HD-DVD. He was well informed about the product he was representing, and honestly believed that HD-DVD had a viable future, and I was happy to let him believe that. Who am I to tell him Santa isn't real and the Easter Bunny is a lie made up by candy companies? Nobody, that's who. I mean I had a lot of questions around the eminent demise of HD-DVD? Questions like, "now that nearly 70 percent of all feature length film studio work as well as television content will be moving to Blu-Ray exclusively, how do you [the HD DVD camp] plan to revitalize your format in hopes of staying alive? How long do you think the HD DVD format will survive if other content providers jump ship? Which in hindsight would have been a great question to ask as the new rumor about Paramount jumping to the Blu-Ray only ship swirls 'round the interweb.

But one of those thoughts that I gathered as I was walking up to the guy was this guy looks like he needs a stiff drink desperately. And while I couldn't give him a drink, I could give him a break. He's got three more days of dealing with awkward question, oppressive journalists looking for sound-bytes, and a never ending swarm of people looking to get free movie discs before they disappear forever. The least I can do is give this guy a break for 30 minutes and let him give the speech that he's rehearsed umpteen million times before getting to Vegas. So that's what I did.

At the end of the tour, I looked him dead in the eye, thanked him for his time and the information. I gave him my card, and went on my merry way. Good deed for the day done. But in case you missed it, HD-DVD = Dead. Especially if Paramount goes exclusive to Blu-Ray. It would leave Toshiba and Universal as the last pair standing and that just isn't enough to make it moving forward. It's sad, because HD-DVD is not a bad format, but when the high definition development camp got split with Sony saying, "we'll roll our own thanks," that it was only a matter of time before bad things happened.

I don't want you to be sad though, so here's a picture of a model of Bumblebee from the Transformers movie.

Finish What You Start...

I hope you folks have gotten all of the commercial crap done and over with so you can now sit back, and enjoy the rest of the holiday season. But on the off chance you haven't, here's a quick tip for you. If you still have some gamer folks, technophiles, or anime fans left on you list you still have time to get them something they'll love.

For the anime fan, you can gift them a copy of the anime Trinity Blood either via iTunes as a digital download or from your local Best Buy on the way to their house in the morning. Trinity has some deep moments, some light ones, characters that you genuinely come to care for, and a sexy vampire Vatican priest. What more do you need? If that may not get your otaku friends' attention, try handing them a copy of Death Note or Le Chevalier D'eon.

Now, that tricky technophile, and technophiles are damned tricky people... make no mistake. Now you could go the iPhone route, or get them something that they will worship you for, the Slingbox Solo. With this gift, they can watch TV [HD or SD] anywhere in the world from their computer or cell phone. Compatible with both the Windows and Apple platforms, you nearly can't go wrong. [Especially since it'll only set you back $180 buck]

And that gamer? Simple. Give them a $200 buck gift card to Game Stop. Why $200? Why Game Stop? Well, Game Stop works best because they sell used games for consoles as well as games for the Windows platform and DVD's. A gift card for this store will pretty much cover any video gamer you may have yet to buy for. They also sell some of the more popular trading card game card packs so you may even be a hero to that non-digital gamer friend you have. Why $200 bucks? Simple. A brand new game on the XB360 system or PS3 will run you between $60-$80 plus tax. You can't guarantee that your particular giftee will only purchase used titles. By giving them a couple of bones to play around with you give them the option to shop the new stuff and walk out with a couple of titles or dive deep into the previously played and take home a treasure trove of gaming, video goodness. Either way, you end up the person they brag about to all their other friends. Plus 10 awesome exp for you.

Finish What You Start...