REVIEW: Arctic Sound E352 Earphones

Chances are you have an iPod or an mp3 player, or listen to music on your notebook. At some point in time, you may have taken a look at a speaker, headphone or another device where you can listen to music. The mobile world, however, presents different choices -- headphones -- to couple with mobile audio players.

I was recently sent a set of earphones, specifically the high-end Arctic Sound E352. I am familiar with Arctic Cooling as a company that produces high quality cooling products but not audio products. As the brand name suggests -- Arctic Sound -- they are now into audio as well. I will test this in my Sony Walkman, Nokia N70 Music phone, iPod and Dell D630 notebook.

The product comes in a package that is clear and you can see the attractive wood-stained earphones. Whats the use of having nice attributes if you don't show it off, right?

Having inspected the aesthetics of the earphones, I was anxious to give it a spin.. I plugged it on the Sony Walkman, then the N70, the iPod and the notebook. The experience is quite undescribable, as you would almost forget that you are wearing earphones. The bass is deep and low. And the sound quality is very good. If you think it looks good, it sounds way better!

The 3.5mm jack is gold-plated and such attribute often translates to better quality. It also comes with a zipper lock case that has a spool-like foamy material to keep the earphones tangle-free.

Not only that, the set of earphones also comes with small, medium and large silicone caps designed to enrich the listening experience and block ambient noise. I tried talking to my wife while listening to the music and it made me wish I knew how to lip read. It is indeed very effective at blocking noise.

The earphones are also very comfortable to wear. It would have been better if it is water-resistant, for jogging and workouts, but I'm not sure about this yet. I could verify that with Arctic Cooling and let you know.

Overall, the remarkable listening experience with Arctic Sound E352 changed my perspective about earphones. With the E352 as the model, earphones can sound better and compete with headphones in producing quality audio.

For more information regarding the Arctic Sound E352, check out its product website. Thanks to Arctic Cooling for sending a product sample for review.

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HOW-TO: Resolve Error 619 Dial-in Message

Wireless broadband technology using USB modems are entering the mainstream market. And with the widespread adoption of the local cellular carriers/providers and the accompanying marketing and competition, its reach is gaining ground not to mention prices dropping. The many advantages include pre-paid on-demand kits.

For many who have wired broadband kits, the USB modem broadband can serve as backup broadband in cases of trouble with the wired broadband. The mobility it offers is another big bonus; and, where wired broadband has no reach, the wireless broadband can as long as there is cellular network coverage.

Imagine this: Upon buying the modem, you test it out, install the packaged software and try to connect.. Just PERFECT! You are able to browse. Then you go home.. plug the USB modem back in.. and ERROR! You go back to the store and they can't figure it out as well. It may not be that easy as you thought it was..

However, one may run into a similar scenario above when trying to connect (or dial-in) to the wireless network -- its "Error 619: A connection to the remote computer could not be established, so the port used for this connection was closed." (below is a screenshot of the error message). And while trying to resolve it, googling the error returned thousands of results and it seems this error is very common.

I tried to be more specific with the searching by indicating the Huawei E220 modem I have but it seems there are many of us who are in the same boat. So it seems the problem is more serious than I thought.

While most forums indicate that this is a problem with the APN setting of the mobile network, I encountered a simple solution while trying to resolve the problem -- I tried to move the modem on to other USB ports.. and Eureka! after plugging to the third port I was able to connect. It is not the APN as I was using the "Dynamic" setting (see below).

So I tried replicating the problem.. When installing "Mobile Partner" (or the applicable software for your USB modem), note the USB port you plugged the modem into. When dialing in to the mobile network, ensure that the modem is plugged to the same USB port used when installing "Mobile Partner". Doing this I had not encountered the same "Error 619" even though I had the APN settings set to "Dynamic".

I hope this simple solution it helps you out in your dilemma.

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HOW-TO: Setup BlackBerry Level 1 Messages

Having a BlackBerry (or BB) is both a boon and a bane. You won't have reasons of saying you haven't read mails as your emails are automagically forwarded to your mobile device. On the other hand, you are virtually connected as long as there is cell coverage or wifi.

Given that, let us make the most of the many advantages of the BB -- Level 1 messages. But first, what are Level 1 messages exactly? Level 1 messages are mails forwarded (or "filtered") as important messages. This functionality is quite useful! It can be used to separate or filter important emails from ordinary ones. Or if you work for a support team, you can use it to filter alert mails from your monitoring systems.

Download the BlackBerry Desktop Manager. Upon install and the subsequent reboot (unfortunately you cannot bypass this reboot), launch the BB desktop manager. Version 5 will have a similar screenshot as below.

Connect the BB via USB and authenticate if required. Once status is "Online", click on "Email Settings".

Get to the filters tab and click new. On the "From" field, input the source email address. For company mail you can use the wildcard (*) for *@yourcompany.com or import a list from your outlook contacts.

Toward the bottom of the window tick "Forward the email message with high importance notification". The filtered message then becomes a Level 1 message. You will be seeing screen similar to the one below.

Accept the changes and all that is necessary is to change the alert profile for Level 1 Messages, both in the holster and out.

The first time I tried this out, it wasn't all that perfect. But L1 Messages worked wonders for me after fine tuning -- I set an audible alert tone only upon receipt of an L1 message.

Hope this article helps you out as well.

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TECH: Prototype Nokia Phone Recharges Without Wires

Yes.. You have read the title right: "Prototype Nokia phone recharges without wires".

Pardon the cliche, but it's one of the holiest of Holy Grails of technology: Wireless power. And while early lab experiments have been able to "beam" electricity a few feet to power a light bulb, the day when our laptops and cell phones can charge without having to plug them in to a wall socket still seems decades in the future.

Nokia, however, has taken another baby step in that direction with the invention of a cell phone that recharges itself using a unique system: It harvests ambient radio waves from the air, and turns that energy into usable power. Enough, at least, to keep a cell phone from running out of juice.

While "traditional" (if there is such a thing) wireless power
systems are specifically designed with a transmitter and receiver in mind, Nokia's system isn't finicky about where it gets its wireless waves. TV, radio, other mobile phone systems -- all of this stuff just bounces around the air and most of it is wasted, absorbed into the environment or scattered into the ether. Nokia picks up all the bits and pieces of these waves and uses the collected electromagnetic energy to create electrical current, then uses that to recharge the phone's battery. A huge range of frequencies can be utilized by the system (there's no other way, really, as the energy in any given wave is infinitesimal). It's the same idea that Tesla was exploring 100 years ago, just on a tiny scale.

Mind you, harvesting ambient electromagnetic energy is never going to offer enough electricity to power your whole house or office, but it just might be enough to keep a cell phone alive and kicking. Currently Nokia is able to harvest all of 5 milliwatts from the air; the goal is to increase that to 20 milliwatts in the short term and 50 milliwatts down the line. That wouldn't be enough to keep the phone alive during an active call, but would be enough to slowly recharge the cell phone battery while it's in standby mode, theoretically offering infinite power -- provided you're not stuck deep underground where radio waves can't penetrate.

Nokia says it hopes to commercialize the technology in three to five years.

Source: Yahoo! Tech

Now imagine harnessing this power technology for other uses.. like notebooks (power on the go), portable gaming consoles, PDAs.. The possibilities seem endless.

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