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Samsung M400 does simple cell phone duties

If you're looking for a simple cell phone on Sprint, the Samsung M400 could do the trick. Configured as a flip phone, the silver handset has a small external display that shows the battery level, time, and alerts. Inside, a 2.4-inch screen navigates you around.

The M400 has a 1.3-megapixel camera launched by a dedicated hardware button on the side; there are personal essentials like an alarm clock, speakerphone, and browser; and in-case-of-emergency (ICE) settings round out the intentionally limited feature set. It also supports Bluetooth 3.0 for pairing with headsets and transferring photos.

As for … Read more

Denon AVR-E400 review: A somewhat simpler AV receiver at a cost

Even the most die-hard home theater buffs will admit that setting up an AV receiver can be a chore, and that goes double for those who don't know what they're doing. Denon's AVR-E400 ($600 street) is at the top of the company's midrange AV receiver line, for which the company has focused on ease of use in 2013. There are worthwhile improvements: an onscreen setup guide, a simpler remote, and push-in speaker connectors that are more convenient with bare speaker wire.

But in other ways, the AVR-E400 misses the mark. It's hard to truly herald … Read more

Logitech thanks science for new 'G' PC gaming accessories

Logitech has rebranded its gaming group division with six mice and keyboards, along with two new headsets that make up the company's latest "Logitech G" lineup. Using infrared technology and a bit of science to determine optimal hand position, the new G100s and G400s optical mice are both clues to the company's commitment to innovation, with a new sensor technology called Delta Zero that promises to improve accuracy at any speed.

The G100s, G400s, G500s, and G700s gaming mice are all equipped with a "hydrophobic" coating that repels palm perspiration to keep your hand … Read more

How do you like your headphone sound: Accurate or bassy?

Most of the headphones I've tested over the years weren't designed to have a neutral balance of bass, midrange, and treble frequencies. Manufacturers are well aware that most people like bass, and that buyers tend to favor one headphone over another based on how much bass it produces. I think that's obvious, but a recent study cited in Brent Butterworth's blog countered that assumption. "The Relationship between Perception and Measurement of Headphone Sound Quality," a paper by Sean Olive and Todd Welti presented at last October's Audio Engineering Society convention found that a … Read more

Microsoft Surface Pro shows off its inner ultrabook

Is the Surface Pro a tablet or a laptop? Well, let's put it this way: benchmarks put it squarely in the laptop category, leaving Apple and Android tablets in the dust.

Chip review site Anandtech ran benchmarks on the solid-state drive in Microsoft's new Surface Pro tablet, underscoring the performance gap with the flash drive in Apple's iPad 4.

It's a "full blown" SSD, wrote Anand Shimpi of Anandtech, referring to Micron Technology's C400 solid-state drive in the Surface that Anandtech tested.

The Micron SSD posted speeds of 400 megabytes-per-second when reading data … Read more

Buffalo unveils LinkStation 400 NAS with BuffaloLink cloud service

LAS VEGAS--Buffalo upgraded its cloud-based service for NAS servers today, introducing the new LinkStation 400 Series. This is the first NAS server to come equipped with the company's updated BuffaloLink cloud storage system.

In a nutshell, the cloud-based service is intended to offer users an easy and secure way to access their digital content remotely via the Internet. Prior to this Buffalo has been offering Pogoplug-style cloud-based features via its CloudStor line of NAS servers, but that hasn't been much of a success.

The company says BuffaloLink was redesigned from the ground up and is hosted on … Read more

Lenovo touches up its IdeaPad laptop back catalog with U and Z Touch

LAS VEGAS--Touch, anyone?

Two of Lenovo's IdeaPad lines will be joining the touch fray this year: both the IdeaPad U310/410 and IdeaPad Z400/500 have multitouch screens. Much like USB 3.0, HDMI, and solid-state drives were in previous years, touch seems to be the de rigueur Windows laptop upgrade of early 2013.

The IdeaPad U310 and U410 Touch ultrabooks, previously reviewed by CNET, are thin notebooks with more than a passing resemblance to a MacBook. The new 2013 versions are equipped with up to a third-gen Intel Core i7 processor and dedicated Nvidia graphics in the U410 … Read more

Sprint steers Samsung M400 toward seniors

If you're looking for a simple cell phone, it's hard to find one simpler -- or cheaper -- than the simple Samsung M400. The basic flip phone comes free with a new two-year service agreement, after a $50 mail-in rebate.

Features are intentionally sparse on the M400, and include a 2.4-inch internal display, large dial pad buttons, and emergency settings to call 911 and your selected ICE (in case of emergency) contacts.

Voice dialing is fairly standard on even the most straightforward of phones, but Samsung has added text-to-speech readout capability that voices a variety of information, … Read more

Gates up, Zuckerberg down in latest ranking of super-rich

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates held onto his No. 1 position for the 19th straight year in Forbes' annual ranking of the 400 richest people in America.

Helped by the appreciation in Microsoft's stock in the last year, Gates' $66 billion net worth increased by $7 billion from a year earlier.

He was joined on the list by fellow tech moguls Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, whose $41 billion put him in the No. 3 spot. Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos finished 11th with $23.2 billion. Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google held down the 12 and 13 spots … Read more