Creative : EP-430 Noise Cancelling In-earphones

Creative has introduced a new in-earphones model - EP-430 - that comes with color options. These noise-isolating in-earphones are ergonomically designed to minimize external surrounding noise and provide long hours of pure music listening experience. The Creative EP-430 In-Ear Earphones are available in six bubble gum type colors of red, pink, blue, yellow, grey and black to "suit the vibrant everyday lifestyle of users."

The Creative EP-430 In-Earphones claims to feature powerful bass effect, delivering a fuller and richer range of sounds. We will have to see that in the review. The in-ear design isolates noise in the background, allowing users to fully immerse themselves. It comes bundled with 3 pairs of interchangeable soft silicone tips in different sizes.

The Creative EP-430 In-Ear Earphones will be available at a suggested retail price of Rs. 899. For more information about the product, please visit www.in.creative.com. (story Link)

Under 100$ Great 25 Gadgets

It's no secret that consumers are watching what they spend. I, for one, have had to rethink my tech purchases. As much as I'd love a big-screen HDTV and new gaming console, the smarter option (for now) is to keep on top of my mortgage payments and high heating bills.

With the majority of Americans cutting back on their purchases, online retailers are faced with lots of challenges of their own. comScore recently released its 2008 fourth-quarter retail e-commerce sales estimates, and the results aren't pretty: Online retail spending declined 3 percent versus one year ago; that's the first quarter of negative growth since 2001 that comScore has reported. For all of 2008, though, retail e-commerce grew 6 percent to $130.1 billion—but this number represents a substantially lower growth rate than in previous years, comScore reported.

The times sure look dismal, but that doesn't mean you have to miss out on cool tech gear. You probably won't go out and drop a few hundred on a camcorder or netbook, but a $99 digital camera or a $50 speaker system definitely seems reasonable.

So if you're in the market for a new digital camera, MP3 player, or other tech product, and you don't want to spend a fortune, here are our 25 affordable recommendations. All of these tech products were rated 3 stars or better by our PC Labs analysts and editors.

Editor's Note: All listed prices are current as of the date of publication—and apt to change quickly and often.

DIGITAL CAMERAS & CAMCORDERS

Casio Exilim EX-Z9
Editor Rating:
Price: $99.95
The EX-Z9 is an easy-to-use, entry-level shooter that takes terrific daylight shots and continues Casio's tradition of quality video recording in digital cameras.

Fuji FinePix J10
Editor Rating:
Price: $88.95
The 8.2-megapixel Fuji FinePix J10 is an inexpensive camera that's great for beginners. It has an easy-to-use menu system and effective image stabilization.

Creative Vado Pocket Video Cam
Editor Rating:
Price: $64
Creative's 2GB Vado pocket camcorder improves on its prototype, the Flip Ultra mini camcorder, with a sleeker and slimmer design and a larger screen.

AUDIO PLAYERS

Samsung YP-S2
Editor Rating:
Price: $29
The Samsung YP-S2 is an excellent alternative to the iPod shuffle. It's small and lightweight, has 1GB of flash memory, and comes with gym-friendly earphones.

iriver Lplayer
Editor Rating:
Price: $99.99
This 4GB iPod nano-esque player is a viable alternative for those not tied to iTunes. It offers good-looking graphics, easy, push-screen navigation, FM radio and recording, and voice recording.

Slacker Portable
Editor Rating:
Price: $99.99
The innovative Slacker Portable does a good job of letting you take customized Internet radio with you. This 8GB player refreshes music automatically via Wi-Fi, has a huge screen for album art and artist bios, and lets you ban songs you don't like.

COMPUTER SPEAKERS

Hercules XPS 2.1 Lounge speakers
Editor Rating:
Price: $50.99
The Hercules XPS 2.1 Lounge speakers from Guillemot certainly sound as if they cost more than $50. They can handle deep bass even at high volumes (although if you push them to the absolute limit, they will distort). The wired remote looks clunky but has a bass level control, which lets you tailor the sound to your tastes.

Logitech Z-5
Editor Rating:
Price: $64.99
The bargain-priced Logitech Z-5 speaker set delivers crisp highs and comes with a remote that lets you control your iTunes and Windows Media Player library.

HEADSETS & HEADPHONES

Motorola MotoROKR S9-HD
Editor Rating:
Price: $90.45
Motorola's well-designed and affordable S9-HD may finally give stereo Bluetooth headsets a good name. It's more comfortable to wear than true in-ear designs and comes bundled with an iPod adapter.

Fatal1ty USB Gaming Headset HS-1000
Editor Rating:
Price: $56.99
The Creative Fatal1ty USB Gaming Headset HS-1000 is a good sub-$100 USB headset, and the virtual surround CMSS-3D, X-Fi Crystalizer, and ambient EAX effects sound great.

Sennheiser PX100
Editor Rating:
Price: $37.95
With the PX100, you get excellent audio performance for the price. Plus, these comfortable headphones sit on the ear, delivering respectable bass with very little distortion.

Philips SHE9850 In-ear Headphones
Editor Rating:
Price: $82.99
Philips's comfortable earphones certainly aren't bass-heavy, but they offer a reasonable amount of low-end presence. The included shirt clip helps cut out cable thump, too. (story Link)

Confirmed: Zii StemCell Computing Is Media-Savvy System on a Chip

The smoke surrounding Creative's rumored offshoot, ZiiLabs, cleared today at CES, where it was revealed to be a media-application processor developer with a very slick system-on-a-chip, less consumer product than building block for many.

Yeah, I know, you see "StemCell Computing" and you kinda want something goopy and weird that could perhaps, when given enough density, clone a Shakey's pizza shop. But the folks at Creative—including the chairman, my old buddy Sim Wong Hoo—are pretty stoked about this little system on a chip, the ZiiLABS ZMS-05 SoC, which comes out of the acquisition of the company formerly known as 3DLabs.

I suspect this is the last time the mainstream gadget media will hear about Zii directly until there are Zii-powered electronics bopping around, but that might not take long, as the following press release promises a "complete, powerful and energy efficient platform with a very rapid time-to-market."

Dreaming big, they even say that the technology allows "virtually unlimited chaining" to form "a state-of-the- art ‘hypercomputer’ with many petaflops of processing power...100 times smaller, 100 times greener and 100 times lower cost than conventional super computers." Sounds pretty good, in a crazy future's-so-bright sort of way. Good on you, Creative and ZiiLabs—now let's see some dang ZiiToys!!!

Creative Launches the Zii Platform and Ushers in the Era of StemCell Computing
Creative Forms ZiiLABS and Ushers in the Era of StemCell Computing Where Nano-Sized Super Computing Will Be Available in Our Daily Lives through Flexible, Tiny, Powerful and Scalable SoC

CES, Las Vegas, NV - Jan. 8, 2009 — Creative Technology Ltd. today announced the formation of ZiiLABS™ (a wholly owned subsidiary of Creative), with the combination of 3DLABS — which has a 25-year history as a leading innovator in programmable graphics, media and applications processing — and resources drawn from the largest product group in Creative, the Personal Digital Entertainment group.

The formation of ZiiLABS, the launch of the new ZiiLABS ZMS-05 SoC (System-On-Chip) and the new Zii™ Platform today usher in the new era of StemCell Computing™. The new ZiiLABS ZMS-05 SoC (System-On-Chip) will be unveiled and demonstrated from January 8-11 at the Consumer Electronics Show, South Hall booth #30651.

“We have invested a billion dollars and 10,000 man years of R&D effort over the last 25 years in platform solutions,” said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative Technology Ltd. “The combination of the technology from 3DLABS and the product development prowess of our Personal Digital Entertainment group delivers a complete, powerful and energy efficient platform with a very rapid time-to-market for our partners – the Zii Platform.”

“We now look to shaping the future of computing with the introduction of the integrated ZMS-05 media-rich processor, and ushering in the new era of StemCell Computing where we will bring the incredible benefits of nano-sized super computing right into our daily lives,” said Hock Leow, president of ZiiLABS.”

This StemCell approach has benefits in terms of:
· Flexibility — Utilizing a breakthrough technology comprising of programmable Processing Elements (PEs) which are basically Software Defined Silicon
· Scalability — 10Gigaflops to Petaflops (1015 floating point operation per second)
· Energy Efficiency — Huge processing power of the ZMS-05 SoC enables it to perform more in less time, equating to low power consumption
· Complete Solution — Ready-for-Market Zii Platform Solutions (full Story)