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December 14, 2004 |
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This week in the Buzz, the usual low-priced gadgets made their appearance--from a wireless digital audio receiver to a hot little keyboard-equipped phone. But the biggest buzz was conveyed upon the Jens of Sweden MP-400--a version of which comes plated in solid gold.
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Jens of Sweden
We prefer to believe that you were all searching for information on the 1GB Jens of Sweden MP-400 Excentrique, the version of the new MP400 line that comes coated in 24-karat gold. After all, gadget news can't always be confined to the "bargain" variety, and a gold-plated MP3 player is a welcome distraction from stretching the old budget for a decent LCD monitor. The entire MP-400 line includes seven colors, and even the non-gold-plated models will set you back close to $500. Still, they're tricked out: built-in FM tuner, line-in recording, voice recorder, stylish and low-power OLED blue and orange screen--oh, yeah, and they're about the size of your thumb and are meant to be worn around your neck. Important note: It's pronounced "Yens" of Sweden.
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Macsense MP-100 HomePod
The HomePod is a wireless digital audio receiver--basically, it's a Wi-Fi boombox. If you have a wireless network set up at home, you can stream the music on your computer to this little jobbie, either by plugging it in to your stereo or headphones or just setting it next to you and listening through its speakers. Although it's made by Macsense and it's white and looks like an iPod and has "pod" in the name, it works on Macs and PCs both--at least until Apple comes along and sues (or makes one itself, as previously
predicted by our esteemed colleague Eliot Van Buskirk). Why so popular? Despite a retail price of around $250, it can be had on Amazon right now for right around $150. Beware, though--a little birdie named "CNET editors" tells us the HomePod may be cheap, but our upcoming review will ding it for, basically, not working that well.
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Dell W2600
We're not sure why Dell's 26-inch LCD TV (or computer monitor) showed up so high in the search results this week; guess it must just be the season. It's not on sale, but it is one of the least-expensive 26-inch LCD televisions on the market, and it offers a ton of features. It's HDTV ready, but you'll need a separate HD tuner to watch HDTV. It can plug into just about any home-theater component or computer, and you can even add an optional memory-card reader if you want to view digital photos on it. It retailed for just under $2,000 but can now be had for about $1,500 from Dell. In sum, it's pretty new, it's cool, and you all apparently just noticed.
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Princeton LCD 1700
Think an LCD monitor is out of your reach? Think again. This guy is on sale for $199. That's less than $200 for a 17-inch LCD monitor--in a category where the cheap monitors usually start at $300. Is it good? Maybe. It's analog only, but our sources tell us it'd be just fine for a nontechie person who's not going to use it for digital photos or power users or anything. You could also plug it into your laptop, and you know what? It's just doggone cheap.
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Motorola A630
Another holiday shopping deal, and this time it's on a good product. The Motorola A630, which retails for $150 (and started at $300!), can currently be had for all of $50, which is an awesome price for this phone. On the outside, it looks like a standard phone--numeric keypad, small LCD, and so on. It's tiny, too--about the size of a pack of gum. Then you flip it open, and it has a bigger color LCD and a full little QWERTY keyboard. Also, of course, the usual phone features plus camera, Bluetooth, syncing with Outlook, and pretty good battery life.
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