Author: Blancer

Want Your Music to Sound Like Schiit? Actually, Yes You Do

Product: Asgard Headphone Amp

Manufacturer: Schiit

Wired Rating: 8

Just because my audio expertise falls somewhere between Cupertino-issue earbuds and Justin Bieber doesn’t mean I want my music to sound like Schiit. Or does it?

At first glance, the Schiit Asgard Headphone Amp seems to be the kind of fully discrete (non-tube), single-ended (drains juice but sounds great), Harry Potter–in–hardcover–sized, brushed-aluminum beauty that even a Luddite could love.

But on first listen, the Luddite may realize it’s the kind of specialty device best left to the audiophile. While I did notice a perceptible increase in general clarity when I listened to some lossless White Album tracks on my Grado RS-1s, the improvement was pretty subtle. We’re not exactly talking swimming in an infinity pool as opposed to a drainage ditch here, people.

However, after some coaching I was able to hear an improvement in separation. That said, I did notice, for the first time ever, that the jet engine backs the entirety of “Back in The USSR.”

I thought my observations warranted a few second opinions. (Not the jet engine thing. That’s a fact.) So I passed it on to two Wired staffers who know a lot about music, which, as it turned out, is where their similarities ended.

The first liked the Asgard so much he wanted to buy it. His reasons? A nice smoothing of the frequency response, good price, U.S.-made parts, buttery volume controls and the beautiful design.

But the second echoed my assertion, reporting only a small decrease in muddiness at the high and low frequencies when listening through his Sony MDR-7506 headphones. He suggested that using low-impedance cans (which Schiit already urged us to do, but no one listens to Schiit) as well as plugging it into a decent stereo instead of an iPod, might yield more-exciting results.

What does this all mean? Well, if you are very sensitive to bad vibrations or spend a lot of time listening to Aphex Twin, the Asgard is a good bet, as it pretty much indisputably makes music sound better. If you still listen to the earbuds that came with your iPod, you would probably be wise to invest in some good headphones before you start dropping money on this Schiit.

WIRED Beautiful. Great price for refined construction and U.S.-made parts. Makes for a subtly better listening experience, by staying fuzz-free on even the most complex music. Awesome five-year warranty for parts.

TIRED This is hot Schiit, literally: After a couple of hours the amp gets almost too hot to pick up. Some listeners noticed a weird, buzzing sound. Not enough of an improvement for all but the most-expert audiophile.

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Thin Slice of LCD Goodness Brightens Up the Home Office

Product: V2220H

Manufacturer: BenQ

Wired Rating: 7

My life was about to be complete. I had just received the Knight Rider DVD box set and was gearing up my home office (which doubles as a media center) for a weekend of curly mullets, fast cars and smarmy talking computers. I just had one problem: My monitor was literally a holdover from the same era. I could almost hear KITT, “Your tech is obsolete, Michael.”

Thankfully, to help in my quest to attain true Hasslehoff nirvana, I tested BenQ’s V2200H monitor. Sporting a 1080 x 1920 Full-HD native resolution, it’s an ideal screen for watching movies without scaling or cropping, and the 16 x 9 widescreen format is also perfect for viewing two documents side by side for easy comparison and editing.

The V2200H easily handled any graphics task I threw at it. It was quick enough to keep up with even the fastest action games and Blu-ray movies without ghosting or blurring, while the LED backlighting helped maintain exceptionally even illumination with fantastic contrast levels.

The screen displayed very deep blacks and grays, yet still managed to keep the subtle details of shadows alive. Highlighted areas were very bright without looking washed out. This not only helped with movies and games, but also made text reading a bit easier on my tired eyes, and helped photo-editing accuracy.

Color reproduction can be fine-tuned to near perfect, if you’re patient and take the time to tweak all the individual settings. However, BenQs proprietary “Senseye” tech — which is used in the Movie, Photo, and Game modes — over-exaggerated contrast and saturation levels, making grays bluish and rendering skintones too red.

Aside from the usual DVI and VGA ports, the V2200H comes armed with an HDMI port and 1/8-inch audio-out port, so it can even double as a small TV … sort of. While you can connect virtually any HDMI equipped device, from a game console to an AV receiver, the V2200’s audio port emitted a horrible buzz while automatically switching video modes. While not a complete deal-breaker, you’ll definitely want to plug in an external set of speakers.

Measuring just over half-an-inch at it’s thinnest, the V2200H bulges out to over an inch near the video ports, but it’s a pretty sleek-looking monitor. Unfortunately, the lame stand is an Achilles heel. It can only adjust for 15 degrees of forward tilt, there is no swivel or height adjustment, but worst of all, the tiny base feels as tippy as a toy sailboat.

While BenQ’s V2200H has handicapped ergonomics and audio, it does have good graphics chops to handle daily computing, movie watching, and even multimedia or AV applications. After all, this screen made KITT’s hot wax look great without much hassle. The Hoff would definitely approve.

WIRED Very deep blacks and even lighting across the entire screen. Nonglare matte screen finish is great for mixed lighting environments. Good menu system and color adjustments.

TIRED Wimpy, wobbly base feels like it’s ready to tip over when you bump the screen. Audio port emits buzz when the screen switches modes. Senseye default color settings are cartoon-like.

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BlackBerry Torch Is More Evolution Than Revolution for RIM

Product: BlackBerry Torch

Manufacturer: RIM

Wired Rating: 7

Research In Motion (and its iconic BlackBerrys) used to rule the smartphone roost. That was until Wunderkinder like the iPhone and an army of Android devices crashed the party and stole some of the Canadian smartphone maker’s thunder.

But RIM isn’t going down without a fight. It’s set to unleash the full-featured Torch for AT&T.

After spending time with the device, it’s clear the Torch represents a natural evolution of RIM’s enterprise-centric hardware. It incorporates elements of touchscreen-heavy precursors like the Storm with the QWERTY-heavy workhouse chops of the Bold. The 4.37-inch chassis feels perfectly at home in-hand, and though the sliding design screams 2006, RIM’s eye for aesthetics gives the Torch an apropos sleekness.

BlackBerry Torch

At center stage is the handset’s 480 x 360 capacitive touchscreen. Though the 3.2-inch display is light on real estate and less than dazzling, it makes for a solid backbone for reliably smooth, touch-based navigation. Luddites wanting to toe-dip into this tactile sweetness still have the option of an optical trackpad, and the Torch’s tried-and-true QWERTY keypad. Hybrid input systems can sometimes become a clusterfrak of input ambiguity, but that’s surprisingly not the case with this handset. With the inclusion of a reliable onscreen keyboard, each input method feels competent, lithe and fully baked.

Once we got poking around, there was a lot to see. As one of RIM’s first phones to sport the overhauled BlackBerry 6 OS, features like multimedia playback, web browsing and search all have marked improvements. Booting up the music player reveals a splashy, album-art–heavy interface, and RIM wisely took a page from Android and included a front-and-center universal search toolbar.

On the web side, RIM ditched its dreadful browser in favor of a much more user-friendly Webkit-powered surfing tool. Social networking even gets a little integration love with a dedicated RSS-like feed that centralizes incoming data from Facebook, Twitter, AIM and G-Chat. Though we weren’t necessarily blown away by these features, they were all handled with relative aplomb. Even with its soon-to-be-outdated 624-MHz processor, the Torch proved reasonably adept at hopping between tasks.

BlackBerry Torch

If there’s one thing we can hold against the Torch, it’s that the handset is merely an evolution rather than a revolution. On one hand, it’s a sensible progression of RIM’s hardware focus — if not a well-rounded flagship for an otherwise industrious fleet. However, when compared to the smartphone pack leaders — in both specs and capabilities — the Torch falls shy of game-changing greatness. Diehard BlackBerrys probably won’t care either way (and to be fair, this is clearly RIM’s strongest contender to date), but unless you’re itching to join the fold, we suggest keeping your torch lit for something more powerful.

BlackBerry Torch

WIRED A smart fusion of utilitarian form and BlackBerry function. Rubberized battery door and volume rockers ensure a solid grip. Great clarity and call quality. Features du jour are in attendance: GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Sports an impressive set of EQ options for music playback. The definitive upgrade for hardcore BlackBerry users.

TIRED Not quite on the same level as an iPhone or Droid X. Ships with a paltry 4-GB memory card. 5-MP camera is behind the pack with washed out photos and 640 x 480 video. Not really a chatterbox at just over five hours of talk time. Next-gen face with a last-gen ticker.

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All Comments In Descending Order Page For WordPress

I want to show all the comments list in my wordpress 3.01 blog in a descending order by date with 500 comments on a wordpress page and pagination on top and bottom (a pagination plugin is installed so it’s code can be used I guess). This list should show the first few words of the comment, author name, date, number of comments to that same post in brackets and a small direct link to that post. Also I need a dropdown on the top by which we can select an author and load the comments by a specific author only. I have the exec php plugin installed which allows php code in the pages and posts. Lightweight and clean code should be used with the minimum database queries required.

Need 15000 Facebook Fans For A

I want to add my Face book fans. The growth must increase naturally Fans should be real people. No fake accounts.
The fan page carries its prestige, so there should be no risk involved. We cant have the page banned.
They must reside within the UK
All fans must be active – have real status updates that go back maximum of 15 days.
ABSOLUTELY NO fans are allowed to be spammers or be at risk of having their accounts deleted
ABSOLUTELY NO fans with profiles promoting pornographic, dating, gambling,

Interested applicants must reply with the following information, else you will

NOT be considered:
* Accurate date of delivery
* Face book pages with examples of previous Face book fan page work (required,
explanation of how it will be accomplished, no trade secrets, but general
information)
* Explain ways you will use to prevent being suspended by Face book

be reviewing to ensure all fans are real and according to requirements. All
fans must continue to stay with the page during this period of time.

Budget: Looking for the right provider(s) with an economic rate to handle lots of projects.

This project will be on a monthly basis on going work

Please bid only if you are serious and experienced in this area, thank you.

Speed Up Voting

Introduction: I am a representative of a fan site. We’re currently voting in an event and we don’t get any cash prizes in return but we get satisfaction for supporting our idol.

Requirement: We need a script to speed up our manual tedious voting process. Change IP is not required. If you’ve a similar script ready, it would be easier to customize.

Script details:
1) Login and Logout from yahoo account (1 account will do)
2) Feed data onto page
3) Captcha code to bypass

Payment: I can pay 50% upfront if you’ve a demo or testing script works. The remaining 50% to be paid upon getting the completed script.

Delivery: As soon as possible or 3 to 5 days.

Thank you.

Developing Course Manager System

Hi,

We have a site which is joomla based, users can book courses for their location/town. I need a good and quick developer to customize the following.

– Edit form fields which users book through. (The forms submit user details to a database and admin and user get email notification on booking.

– Create a new feature in joomla admin panel where we can list multiple bookings under one location for each course. (At the moment the developer has made it so when a course is created for a location it will only allow one booking option. But we require multiple options because we will have a course running for that location but at different times and dates and addresses.

*The developer we have cant meet these requirements, I will provide copy of the site for development on another domain.

We require project to be started immediately, and finalized by wednesday 18th i have MSN to discuss anything required

Regards, Thomas