Krator is a relatively new player to the market and wants to shake things up with striking designs, decent quality at a reasonable price.

The Krator Neso 4 is a 2.0 channel speaker on the lower end of the Krator speakers and the features include:

• USB speakers deliver brilliant sound performance
• 5 watts R.M.S. output
• Easy-to-Go. Tiny size with wonderful sound
• Detachable Satellite Design
• An 3.5mm Stereo phone jack for audio output
• Adjustable Volume and Bass control provide maximum convenience
• Elegant design best fits for your living room and personal space
• Specifications:
• Power output: 5 Watts RMS output
• Frequency Response: 80~18Khz
• Connector: 3.5mm Stereo Audio Cable
• Controller: Volume, Bass controller
• Headphones Jack: Stereo 3.5mm Audio Jack
• Speaker Unit Driver: 2.75 inch paper dome unit driver
• Size of Satellite: W95 x H132 x D75 mm
• Power Requirement: USB Power

When we opened the box we were quite pleased with the looks of the Neso 4s which are based around a rain drop, though they are a tad light and plasticy. the rest of the contents were pretty basic, but lets face it the only thing you need are the speakers!

The speakers use USB for power and then a 3.5mm port for the sound, which is good or bad depending on how you look at it, you are restricted to a device with USB, but at the same time you didn’t have to faff around with another plug. Alternatively some speakers use USB for everything, which is convenient for a laptop but not so convenient if you want to use you iPod or whatever.

The sound quality of the sound quality of the speakers was a little tinny and certainly lacking base, they also didn’t go very loud. However for £15 you will always have questionable sound quality and for the price these speakers are a great upgrade for a laptop.

For occasional use, and mainly for laptops these are great speakers, however if you want some speakers for your desktop and have a bit more money we would suggest something with a little more oomph and possibly 2.1 for example the  Neso 4 Avante Garde 26Watt 2.1ch Speakers.

Thanks to Bitmore for providing the speakers to review.

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Krator Neso 4 5Watt 2.0ch ‘Droplet’ USB Speaker Review

Looking at Apple’s education announcement and the later statements by McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw that; 1.  school boards would have to pay the $14.99USD “pilot pricing” per year per student and. 2.a paper text book costs $75.00USD per book and is replaced once every five years or so, and that Mr. McGraw expected to make money on “volume”, I had to wonder how Apple was going to knife the publishers? There has to be a plan to take out the publishers, because it is in Apple’s corporate DNA to screw the old school content providers. They almost have to, because the scheme as presented has absolutely no cost savings to cash strapped American school boards, and the prospect of a huge investment into the Apple ecosystem.Here is how I think it is going to play out.  In the US, publicly funded schools are generally overseen by the various states and each county and or city has its own school board that is for the most part funded by local taxes. Apple is going to point out to the state oversight school boards (if the states don’t figure it out on their own) that they can create their OWN textbooks using their own state university resources (ie graduate students) Essentially, once the primary texts are done, its just  a mater of updating and revisions.  For example, the American State of Tennessee has 971,524 students enrolled in K-12. (Think of it as Grades 1-13) The cost of one Apple iTextbook at say $15.00 USD would be $14,572,680. Admittedly, the number includes the entire group of K-12, but, I could see using iPads in kindergarten even if they were not issued to students below 3rd or 4th grade. Assuming 6 courses per student per year and figure 6 textbooks (at least-don’t forget lab books in upper forms)per student, per year, doing the  iMath comes to at least $90USD a year. per student, not counting the cost of the iPads.  However, if the schools create their own content, even at market cost there is about a five year break even for the cost of an iPad. Over, $14 million  US dollars would pay for a lot of work study time to do the basic research and writing of the texts All that has really stopped many state school boards from doing their own textbooks was the economies of scale for for publication.Take out the printing costs and its a whole new match. One the textbook publishers are likely to lose.

Commentators have mentioned that nothing was said about university level textbooks. I suspect not only that was deliberate on Apple’s part, it is where textbook publishers will start feeling the heat. Uni professors love to inset their own spin on the texts they use, even to almost writing their own. In the US, college textbooks are hitting $200USD a book in many subjects. Whilst UK textbook costs are usually 20-50% lower in the US, everyone is looking to cut costs.  Not to mention the potential savings on classes where you get a lecturer who almost never uses the book, but often has other material to read.  In the college setting, an iPad based textbook ecosystem could pay for itself in the FIRST TERM.  The idea of updated content is particularly appealing for technical subjects. From  the university’s perspective, there would not be any real need to issue iPads, students would be expected to buy them.

Where is Apple in all this? Selling a lot of iPads. Where are the textbook publishers? Trying to steal the pudding of the record companies at the home for obsolete business models.

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Is this Apple’s plan for the textbook market?

Wanting to hook up Netflix to the new flatscreen? Well the job just got easier with the announcement of the debut of the Roku box in the UK and Ireland today.  Currently available for preorder only through Amazon, the little box that has allowed so many in the US to cut  cable or satellite bills by streaming content over the internet, can now spread its lie in inducing goodness here as well.

Roku LT

Roku will initially offer two models from its current lineup, the Roku LT at £49.99  and the upmarket Roku 2 XS at £99.99. Other than price, the main difference between the two products is that the LT does not have external storage options and is limited to 720p. Nor is it Bluetooth capable. The Roku 2 XS supports, true HD 1080p, has a slot for an miniSD card, Bluetooth, and both Ethernet and USB ports.The XS also has an enhanced game controller to get your Angry Birds on.  Because you don’t have enough addictive time wasters in your life, each set also has a free copy of Angry Birds. Both devices support b/g/n Wi-Fi.

Anyone familiar with the history of Roku would not be surprised by the introduction of the tiny player  following hot on the heels of the Netflix rollout. Roku started out as a division of Netflix, tasked to create a simple and easy to use device to stream video content over the internet to subscribers TVs, which was released in 2008. The group was quickly spun off as Netflix realized the need to be on as many products as possible and the creators of the Rouku box realized there was a lot more content out there than Netflix. The result was a win-win, with Netflix applications on the Sony Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360, not to mention many of the newer SMART TVs and Rouku becoming the streaming device of choice for over 2.5 million users, with access to over four hundred channels in the US, including HBO GO, Crackle, the Wall Street Journal, the TWIT tech network, and many music and international interest channels.

The press release issued today showcased Netflix the Wall Street Journal, Ultimate Fighting Championship, MLB.com, and  games such as Angry Birds.  The movie service Crackle will be available in the UK but not in Ireland. Music is also a bit thin on the ground, with Tunein and Classical TV on offer. In fact only forty channels were announced, although Roku officials were quick to add that they expect more channels to be added prior to the expected launch date in late January.

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Roku Players set to land in United Kingdom and Ireland in late January

Tech blog site Know Your Mobile recently reported that Amazon is getting ready to roll out the Kindle Flame in the UK according to the inevitable “source close to the launch”. The 7 inch tablet has been taking the US by storm, selling for about half the price of the Apple iPad. In fact, the American tech pundits speculate that Amazon takes a loss on every tablet sold.  The reason for this is that the Kindle Fire is really nothing more than a device to read books and watch videos with that just happens to be a tablet as well. Like game console makers, any loss on the hardware is more than made up by inducing customers to buy into the Amazon ecosystem of Kindle format books, Amazon movie and video rentals and even Audible audiobooks.

In all likelihood, the Fire has not been released in the UK as yet because Amazon needed more time to strike the UK content deals required to make the new tablet viable in the UK market and to beef up their UK data center. While Amazon has Loveflims, the licensing  for the Fire would require additional arrangements. Further, compared to what Amazon has on offer for US customers and especially US Amazon Prime customers, Amazon would have to line up far more content to compete with say, Netflix.   For example, I would be quite curious if the Fire supports the Android version of the BBC iApp player or BBC content will somehow be folded into the Amazon player.  Much of the Fire’s content is optimized via use of cached copies of internet pages that are located in Amazon’s data centers, all of which are reported to be in the US.  For the Fire to work effectively it would follow that location based services be served in the UK.

One thing is for sure, the advent of Nexflix in the UK should get Amazon to move things along for the Fire.

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Kindle Fire about to light up in the UK?

2012 looks to be the year we finally start seeing some decent size OLED TVs, 3 years after the launch of the ridiculous Sony XEL-1 OLED TV which had a meagre 11” screen and a giant £3,489 price tag!

At CES it looks like both Samsung and LG will be announcing a 55” OLED TV, and while there is not much information on either Engadget report that the Samsung is expected to be launched in the latter half of 2012 and:

There’s no colour filter needed here, either, as the self-emitting RGB sub-pixels take care of themselves; since light output on the Super OLED is controlled on a pixel-to-pixel basis, you can rest assured that your blacks will be deep and your whites bright. Other specs include a dual-core processor and 3D support.

Samsung 55-inch Super OLED. Image from Engadget

While Sony don’t appear to be joining the OLED party they are releasing their own technology called Crystal LED that relies on “ultrafine" LEDs mounted to each RGB colour, equivalent to the number of pixels, which is all affixed directly to the front of the display.

Sony are claiming 3.5 times contrast, 1.4 times the colour gamut and 10 times faster response time than LCDs.

Sony Crystal LED Prototype

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Large Screen OLED TVs finally on their way

Lost in the meda frenzy over the passing of Steve Jobs was Microsoft killing off the Zune HD. No, that was a mistake its alive. Yes, it is dead. Nope, that was another error. Apparently, at least as of this writing, the Zune HD is in fact discontinued.

“We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players.”

Bear in mind that this is found on the Microsoft’s Zune support page. You can find a big  BUY NOW button at the entry for the Zune HD. Following that link takes one to the American retailer Wal-Mart. The Zune UK web site has nothing on offer, nor does Amazon. Further complicating matters is that whoever runs the Twitter account for Zune support seems to have missed the memo as well.

The story here is not so much that the Zune HD has been discontinued, its not surprising as sales have been lackluster at best and Microsoft wants to steer users to Windows Phones as their all in one media consumption device, but that the announcement was so badly handled. It is quite obvious that the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing here. The timing was also interesting in that the original announcement was made the same day that Apple announced the iPhone 4S.  That was a good move on Microsoft’s part as the ending of the Zune HD was pretty much lost in the iPhone coverage.  However, the “red light, green light” of the days after not only ruined that, but given that journalists were looking for something to move on from the death of Mr. Jobs, Microsoft’s indecision has become more newsworthy with each change in direction.

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“Its dead Steve”

When iOS 4.2 came out to update your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch it opened the ability for AirPlay functionality. Basically AirPlay was Apple re-branding its AirTunes feature allowing compatible products to stream your media from iTunes through your home network whether it be photos, video or your music from any thing running the supporting operating system. There hasn’t been a mass amount of supporting products but today we have two new docking stations. One is the probably “reasonably priced” JBL On Air and the other a rather odd-looking and expensive Philips Fidelio Soundphere.

The JBL is ring shaped to distribute sound and the AirPlay tech allows you to stream your goods to it directly from your iPod/iPad/iPhone or any computer on your network running iTunes. It also has the traditional docking port for people without the AirPlay function and a colour LCD to tell you what’s going on as well as showing Album art too. It also has an FM radio Tuner and alarm clock options too. Sadly JBL haven’t put any release dates or prices as of yet but most of their other products are reasonably priced.

Yes they’re speakers. Looking like something out of a sci-fi movie these certainly are the future of iPod docking stations. Again using the AirPlay function you can hook up your compatible device and stream away. The odd shape isn’t just aesthetic though and has been designed to increase the quality of sound. The little speakers that stick out the top like antennae are tweeters. No not something to do with social networking but a loudspeaker designed to produce high audio frequencies. The difference between these and the JBL ones will most certainly be the price as these are being pencilled in at €799 or £687.

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AirPlay Compatible iPod/iPhone/iPad Speakers

“Fastest LCD screen on the planet” is on its way to us according to Dutch electronics giants Philips which has announced some details on its new 9000 Series Smart LED televisions. It makes you wonder where the line will be drawn at the ever increasing technology in television screens. Back in the old days of CRT screens little happened with them in 20 years in terms of the technology, it was more the design that changed, since the explosion of LCD and Plasma they get better so rapidly. Anyway back to the Philips 9000.

• Measures  less than 40mm in thickness
• Full Active 3D with Full HD Picture
• Real-Time 2D to 3D conversion
• 3D Max Technology – High Clarity and Sharpness (can process 2billion pixels per second – wow)
• 400Hz Clear LCD Panel
• 0.5 millisecond response time (where the speed comes from)
• 3D Super Resolution and LED Pro Technology – added brightness, “extreme” contrasts, vivid colours, deeper blacks etc
• 40W audio soundstage
• Smart TV – movie rentals, social network access, smartphone control
• Full screen gaming “either split screen in 2D mode or a 3D mode where each player can simultaneously see his or her view on the entire TV screen.”

Sadly there’s no details on the release date or the price of this little number but it certainly looks great and the specs are top drawer so you can expect it to be a little on the expensive side.

Source : T3

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Philips 9000 Smart LED TV

Seen by many as the tool of an idiot the bluetooth headset for the mobile gets a lot of stick. Understandable people need to use them to answer their phones whilst driving or on the treadmill at the gym but it seems to be frowned upon to use your headset if you aren’t doing that ie using it whilst in the shops, walking down the street, or just chatting to someone whilst sat in a coffee shop. That’s when it makes it look like you’re talking to yourself and lets face it you see someone wearing a headset walking down the street and you look at them like they’re weird. Admit it. There’s other advantages of Bluetooth headsets though. I have one. Solely for Playstaion 3 use on Call of Duty though. Anyway Samsung have expanded its lines with a few new models from a basic model to one with bells and whistles. Taxi drivers amongst us take note.

Offering multi-point technology, voice command functionality, Android support and SoundAlive stereo enhancements taking the Bluetooth headsets up a notch. Firstly we have the Modus 6450. This is basically a dual-use unit capable of the standard mono, sat on your ear style for hands free operation but also it comes with a stereo function with a set of headphones for both ear fun. This model has complete Android support can be operated by voice commands and has equaliser functions to get the sound you want. On a full charge the headset will give you 180 hours on standby and 6 hours of full talktime. It also has noise cancellation for the microphone a status LED for battery status and call status has the ability of active pairing and full Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR support. Samsung has slapped a $99.99 price tag on it.

HM3600 however this has a few less functions than the Modus 6450. Just with the on ear design it keeps the advanced pairing options, dual-mic noise reduction and voice commands. Weighing only 13grams a full charge will give you 300 hours standby and up to 9 hours talk time. Priced around $59.99.

Going to the budget end we’ve got the HM1610. Single microphone noise reduction, wind noise reduction, near end enhanced audio technology, active pairing, a2dp mono music streaming, bluetooth 3.0 +EDR are all the features of this model which shows its still packing some decent specs for the price. The battery will give you up to 6 hours of talktime and 250 hours on standby and will retial around $39.99

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Samsung Bluetooth Headsets

Connectivity between your devices and your TV especially those with camera/video functions is a must these days with new PMPs and mobile smartphones with HDMI out ports so you can see your images and videos in fullscreen, HD goodness. This has eluded portable Apple owners for sometime although there has been the component out lead which retailing at £39.99 was neither cheap nor the simplest form of outputting your goods to the telly. FINALLY Apple is releasing a HDMI adaptor. Yes that’s right lets not incorporate it into our future products, make the customer buy yet another accessory for their iPod, iPhone or iPad.

With the iPad 2 showcased last week Apple also demonstrated its new HDMI adaptor basically plugging into the Apple adaptor port at the base with a HDMI out port then attached to the adaptor. Supporting iPhone 4, 4th generation iPod touch and both the original iPad and the future iPad2. The iPad2 will output at Full 1080p HD whereas the others will only get up to 720p due to the fact the iPad2’s new A4 chipset will give the Full HD support whereas the older chipsets in the iPhone, iPod and iPad can’t handle it.

On the Apple store the HDMI adaptor is listed as the “Digital AV Adaptor” set as coming soon and with a RRP of $39 so if the American price reflects the UK price it’ll be a reasonable £25 or so which is a lot cheaper than the current price of the component lead.

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Apple HDMI Adaptor : iPad 1/2 iPod touch and iPhone supported