zen

Creative launching iPod Nano rival

Though most of its features mimic those of the iPod Nano, Creative's new Zen Style music player is trying to up the ante by including Bluetooth and a microSD card slot.

Available next month, the Zen Style M300 is Creative's latest attempt to carve out a bigger slice of the portable music player market.

The $79 device is a combination music, photo, and video player with a built-in FM radio and touch-control buttons to maneuver around the 1.45-inch screen. A built-in mic allows for voice recording.

The included Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity lets people listen to music through any compatible Bluetooth wireless headset as well as through Bluetooth wireless speakers. The microSD card slot can hold up to 32GB of music beyond the unit's internal storage space.… Read more

Second-generation Courb C-ZEN powered by Valence

The second-generation C-ZEN vehicle, from Courb, was unveiled earlier this month at the 2011 International Motor Show in Geneva.

The C-ZEN, which stands for C'est Z?ro Emission Nocive (English translation: "No Harmful Emissions"), has a range of up to 125 miles with a top speed of 68 mph, and is powered by a 15kW electric motor.

The French automaker is marketing the car to young, European urban dwellers.

Courb has partnered with Valence Technology, which will supply LiFeMgPO4 lithium phosphate batteries to power the C-ZEN.

"Valence has been supporting and developing the onboard electrical power … Read more

Can a 2-watt amp sound better than a 200-watt amp?

Americans love power. We buy 320-horsepower Chevy Tahoes to haul the kids to soccer practice. For home theater, the magic power number for receivers is 100 watts, and it has to be a seven-channel model, even though 80 or 90 percent of home theater buyers are perfectly happy with five-channel sound.

Americans equate power with quality, but I'm here to tell you there's another way. Sure, power is cheap, and a the-more-the-merrier strategy works well enough most of the time. Let's just be clear on what amplifier power provides: it defines the upper limit of how loud … Read more

Now Zen

According to Zencode's Web site, Zenkey is not a hard-boiled fruitbat. However, to call it a free desktop and system utility hardly seems to do it more justice than the developer's infrequent quirky reminders of what it isn't. Its Keystrokes feature creates versatile hot keys that can access just about anything on your system. Its Infinite Desktop extends your real estate as far as you like, with a handy map and a bunch of other useful features to keep track of it all, including the ability to "iconify" and "rollup" windows, set transparency, … Read more

CES: Stress relief made portable

LAS VEGAS--After a long, hard week at CES, a little stress relief is in order. But can you achieve a peaceful state through a portable PC gadget?

Being demoed at CES this week is the Emwave 2 personal stress reliever from HeartMath. This portable device lets you monitor your stress levels and help you calm down. Specifically, it monitors your heart rhythms as an indicator of how stressed you may be. To use the device, you connect it to your PC and place your finger on its small monitor. A graph charting your heart patterns then appears on the PC.… Read more

Decware's all-American amps wow audiophiles

Decware makes low power amplifiers and high-end speakers in the United States. Their entry-level Zen Triode amplifier ($775) pumps out 2 watts per channel, and if you need more get the 6 watt Zen Taboo ($995), or the mighty 26-watt Zen Torii ($2,495). The Zen Triode was the company's very first model and has charmed tough to please high-end critics on a regular basis.

Trust me on this; you'd be amazed how good a few watts can sound, and when they're matched with the right speakers, micro power amps can definitely play loud enough to annoy … Read more

Creative announces Android tablets, media player

Coming as a bit of a surprise, Creative today announced a pair of slates dubbed the ZiiO Pure Wireless Entertainment Tablets and a handheld media player called the Zen Touch 2 Wireless Entertainment Device. What differentiates these devices from Creative's earlier products is that they all run on the Google Android mobile operating system.

The ZiiO will come in 7- and 10-inch versions with screen resolutions of 800x480 pixels and 1,024x600 pixels, respectively. Both come in 8GB or 16GB capacities, making for a grand total of four variations. The 7-inch ZiiO starts at $278, while the 10-inch version starts at $332.

Based on Android 2.1 (Eclair), the differentiating factor of this tablet appears to be the inclusion of Creative's X-Fi technology. The company claims a superior audio experience and seamless Bluetooth stereo pairing. … Read more