TomTec MP1005 MP3 Player

Today i want to discuss the TomTec MP1005 MP3 player. The MP1005 is a €40,-($56,15) MP3 player that has touch screen and looks an awful lot like the iPhone, so that's a pretty good deal?

So that's what we are gonna find out. So let's unpack it and turn it on. The menu looks pretty cool and easy and familiar...

As you can see it's able to play music and video's, view photo's and text's. And you are able to record, explore, game and change some settings. Let's check out those last 4 features since there is no music on it yet. These features doesn't require much testing actually. The recording sounds clear and the exploring is easy to use.



The game button brings you to one single tetris game.



And the settings



The setting menu will allow you to change EQ, Recording quality, display backlight time, language, auto power and some other stuff. And now the thing what it's actually made for, the music!

To put music on the MP3 player you can just plug in the USB cable in to your comuter and the mini-USB in you MP3 and you are ready to go.



Nothing special. A clear interface with the basic functions. What i do think is special is the build in speaker on the back of the MP3.



I'm quite surprised about the quality of the videos you can play on this €40,- thing. The photo's are the same quality of course. The only thing i miss in the photo viewer are the zoom and rotate options. And the text viewer is nothing special too. It can only shows .txt files, but who buys a MP3 player for reading e-books?


accessories

With this MP3 you get some earphones, a USB cable and a charger. The earphones are nothing special and feel a little bit cheap but i do think the charger is quite cool.



There is no cable on the charger because you have to put in the USB cable to charge.

All in all this is best Mp3 i ever had so far. The first impression is good the the built in speakers and all. The only thing that is kind of weird is that TomTec the brand of this Mp3 player doesn't even have a website! But they do have a free to call service number.

Good:

• Cheap! (€40,- or $56,15)
  
• 2.4" touchscreen!
• Built-speakers
• Looks like iPhone
• Good sound, video
• TF Card(MicroSD) slot!
  

Bad:

• Looks like iPhone
• No website
• Only one game
• Pretty basic photo, text viewer
  

What to do with your old dvd burner

That's easy! Turn it into a burning laser!

This is one of the more dangerous DIY stuff. This tutorial shows you how make your own burning laser out of a DVD burner.

CAUTION: DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY INTO THE LASER OF TROUGH ANY REFLECTIONS! ALSO DO NOT USE A CD BURNER FOR THIS!(THESE HAVE INVISIBLE LASERS, AND CAN BURN YOUR EYES WITHOUT YOU KNOWING IT!). I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOURSELF NOR ANYTHING!



[SOURCE: Instructebles.com]

More DIY stuff later!

Google Chrome

Good

• Application shortcuts
  
• Fast
• Minimalistic design
• Crash control
  

Bad

• No add-ons
• Spyware (rumors)
  
• Minimalistic design
  

I'm sure we all have seen or heard about google's new application "Chrome". "Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier". At first I thought google was trying to compete against Firefox which isn't easy because of Firefox functionality and the thousands of add-ons to extend. That why I downloaded it and check what kind of new things it offers.

As says on the page Chrome offers "sophisticated technology" so let's compare these technology with the one f

One box for everything
Web search. Web history. Address bar. Suggestions as you type. One unified box serves all your browsing needs. Thats the first thing google mentioned. It works really easy just type in a word if Chrome can find it in your history it goes to that site, if not it googles the word. Firefox also have this feature and it work quite the same.

Chrome


Firefox

New tab page
The send feature Google mentions is "New tab page". Every time you open a new tab, you'll see a visual sampling of your most visited sites, most used search engines, and recently bookmarked pages and closed tabs. Hey! Firefox doesn't have this feature so 1-0 for Chrome right? No not exactly, a quick search in Firefox's add-on database results in a similar add-on called Speed-dialer which shows your favorite pages in the same layout as Chrome.

Chrome

Firefox

Application shortcuts
Another feature Firefox doesn't have is the Application's shortcut. Use web apps without opening your browser. Application shortcuts can directly load your favorite on line apps. This means you can open your favorite web application or website without the GUI of a browser. This is a pretty neat feature that firefox doesn't have and i couldn't find an add-on right away. So 1-0 for Chrome!


Dynamic tabs
Google also have Dynamic tabs! It sound cooler that is actually is. This means you can drag tabs out of the browser to create new windows, gather multiple tabs into one window or arrange your tabs however you wish -- quickly and easily. Firefox has the arranging part not the dragging out for a new windows part. Also with Firefox it doesn't look so smooth. Further this feature is not that interesting so we'll go on.


Crash control
This feature is cool and we need Firefox to have this really quick. Google says that every tab you're using is run independently in the browser, so if one app crashes it won't take anything else down. If it really does work yay! for Chrome!

To bad i couldn't test this feature because i don't know a website wich crashes my browser. But i don't really think it will work mostly the website causes the whole application to a crash and if this isn't the case with Firefox I don't know.

Incognito mode
When you are browsing in Incognito mode your leave no traces so you can easily visit your secret websites! Again a cool feature firefox doesn't have... by standard, the add-on "Stealther" does exactly the same.

Safe browsing
Not a very existing function. This function generates a warning page if you enter a phishing or a virus infected site. Firefox has this feature too and also IE7 I think. I did my best but i couldn't find a phishing or an infected site so i don't have a screen shot of the page.

Instant bookmark
This one is just to make the list look longer i mean c'mon? Every browser has this. They even all have stars to do it. So maybe more luck on the next one.


Import settings
Another list extender. Every browser has this.


Simpler downloads
And the final sophisticated feature is the downloads, they open as little bars at the bottom of the browser.

An add-on for firefox does this too.

Conclusion
After checking and comparing all features of Chrome with Firefox I changed my mined. Google isn't trying to compete with Firefox and if you think about it why should they, they are partners. I think they are trying to beat Internet Explorer which is also a hard job because IE comes with windows. Chrome is a simple clean browser which could beat IE6 easily. Personally i think Chrome could beat IE7 and IE8 too. For the slower computer Chrome is a good alternative to IE6 but Firefox's standard aren't that high either. Anyway, this browser does what is has to do.