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D-Link Express EtherNetwork Network Storage Adapter
Sure, on paper this sounds like a great device, enabling any home user to have NAS (network attached storage) at their disposal. In layman's terms, that means you can take any USB 2.0 (or 1.1) external hard drive and attach it to your home network, making it available for use by any network connected device in your house, even if all your PCs are off. Unfortunately, the grim reality is that this product is hardly better than a paperweight. First, any drives connected to it have to be FAT32 formatted. Due to the restrictions of the built-in Linux OS, NTFS is not supported. Second, and more importantly, you will absolutely want to smash this product against your walls because of its unbearably slow performance. File transfers and copies, even browsing files on an attached USB 2.0 hard drive, feel like they are being done in frame by frame slow motion. The exact same external hard drive, when attached to my PC's direct USB 2.0 connection is absolutely blazing compared to this device. I was more than willing to just directly hook up my external hard drive to my PC and simply share it as a network drive than put up with the huge performance loss (on the order of 300%). The shame is all the greater, since D-Link actually makes some of the best Ethernet and WiFi routers on the market. Bottom Line: Avoid at all costs!
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Nintendo DS
I was pretty skeptical of the DS when it was first launched in 2004. My first impression was that the device was a gimmick, some kind of last ditch effort by Nintendo to thwart the announced PSP. I already owned a GBA SP, and had about 15 titles for it, none of which I played very often. They were simply not that compelling. I had few reasons to think the DS would be any different, so I conveniently ignored it for the first few months of its existence. Happily, I was mistaken. I learned more about the device from all the footage at E3 2005, especially the Nintendo press conference, and came away somewhat intrigued. I began to learn about Zoo Keeper, Polarium, Meteos, Electroplankton, Nintendogs, the upcoming Age of Empires, etc. The wide array of inventive stylus-controlled puzzlers and totally new experiences drew me in. The introduction of the Electric Blue color came at an excellent time. Blue is my favorite color, and I simply cannot stand silver or gray electronics of any kind. They remind me of a drab PC or 1970s audio/video equipment! We then tried WarioWare: Touched in the stores, and were pretty much hooked on the new experience. I snagged a copy of the free super-glossy DS product book available near each display model, and my anticipation grew. Nintendo's multi-tiered marketing is brilliant. The TV commercial, the well chosen and abundant DS display models (I have yet to see a single one for PSP) and the slick advertising booklets all worked and drew me in. Both of us now own their own Electric Blue DS. We both think the hardware and experience is phenomenal, one you can't get anywhere else. The stylus control is almost like a mouse, but in some ways better. It's a very immersive control mechanism. The microphone is going to get even more use in the future. Be sure to check out our DS game reviews in the games section. Do I want more from the DS? Sure, I'd love for it to have web browsing abilities and an online service using the headset mentioned in the manual, for an experience like "Xbox Live on the go". But, you can't have your cake and eat it too. I'll be happy with the fact that we can play each other wirelessly from across the house and soon will be able to take on Internet players too. |