When we had the downright magnificent opportunity to toy with Philips' latest PMP line here in the States, we immediately noticed that the GoGear Opus stood out among the rest. The crew over at TrustedReviews recently spent some quality time with the 8GB version of that very unit, and while they found the audio quality to be "excellent," they seemed rather disappointed -- if not irked -- by everything else in the package. For starters, the whole solution just felt boring, with critics noting that its biggest problem was a lack of "excitement." Granted, none of this would matter at a rock-bottom price point, but for $100, there's an awful lot of competition. As we found during our short time with the player, these folks also noticed that the user interface was simply "old-fashioned," and that video playback was nothing to write home about. The bottom line? Unless you score some kind of spectacular deal, your PMP dollars are probably best spent elsewhere.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Philips GoGear Opus reviewed: solid audio, but painfully boring originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 18:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we had the downright magnificent opportunity to toy with Philips' latest PMP line here in the States, we immediately noticed that the GoGear Opus stood out among the rest. The crew over at TrustedReviews recently spent some quality time with the 8GB version of that very unit, and while they found the audio quality to be "excellent," they seemed rather disappointed -- if not irked -- by everything else in the package. For starters, the whole solution just felt boring, with critics noting that its biggest problem was a lack of "excitement." Granted, none of this would matter at a rock-bottom price point, but for $100, there's an awful lot of competition. As we found during our short time with the player, these folks also noticed that the user interface was simply "old-fashioned," and that video playback was nothing to write home about. The bottom line? Unless you score some kind of spectacular deal, your PMP dollars are probably best spent elsewhere.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Philips GoGear Opus reviewed: solid audio, but painfully boring originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 18:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Pygmy jerboas are probably the cutest things I've ever seen. And this is coming from a guy who raised a bunny that nursed an orphaned squirrel and three ducklings, so yeah. Youtube Thanks to taby and Andrew, who had like 1,000 pygmy jerboas and still had room for dessert.

Pygmy jerboas are probably the cutest things I've ever seen. And this is coming from a guy who raised a bunny that nursed an orphaned squirrel and three ducklings, so yeah. Youtube Thanks to taby and Andrew, who had like 1,000 pygmy jerboas and still had room for dessert.

We're big fans of recycling things into new and better things here at Lifehacker. Today's featured workspace aptly turns a bunch of wine cases into a sturdy and storage-friendly desk.

Lifehacker reader Brian Nuckelt was sick of crappy particle board tests. He decided he could do much better for much less by building it himself. He kept his eye out for some material to recycle into a new desk and lucked out by finding a bunch of wine cases out on a curb, destined for the trash.

We'd recommend, if you want to build a similar desk, to look for a similar find or ask around at local wine stores. You'd have to drink 96 bottles of wine to get the 8 cases that Brian used to build his desk.

The desk is constructed of the 8 cases he found, plus a $60 glass table top he picked up at Ikea. The entire thing is designed to be broken down easily for both rearrangement and moving. The boxes are secured to each other and to the desktop using deep throat C-clamps he picked up for less than a dollar each. Where the C-clamps meet the glass is protected with small rubber pads and the tension is only high enough to grip properly.

Brian's favorite thing about the design is that when it comes time to move the desk, everything is already in boxes and ready to be moved. He's had the desk put together for some time now and notes that despite its unconventional appearance it is far sturdier than any previous desk he's had. You can't go wrong with a desk made of repurposed materials with plenty of storage and a unique look. Great work Brian! For a closer look, check out the pictures below.

If you have a workspace of your own to show off throw the pictures on your Flickr account and add it to the Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell Pool. Include some details about your setup and why it works for you, and you just might see it featured on the front page of Lifehacker.

Look, we fully understand that September 5th is a long ways out, but don't think for a second that Microsoft isn't inking every last detail of its Zune HD launch in stone. That said, Windows expert and all-around good guy Paul Thurrott has been "told" that this very player will ship exactly on the fifth day of the ninth month of this year. Needless to say, that jibes with Microsoft's official line ("this fall"), but sadly, we've no other information to go on at the moment. In other words, feel free to pencil this one in, but keep that eraser handy -- cool?

[Via Zune Boards, thanks Joel]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Microsoft's Zune HD shipping on September 5th? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 17:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look, we fully understand that September 5th is a long ways out, but don't think for a second that Microsoft isn't inking every last detail of its Zune HD launch in stone. That said, Windows expert and all-around good guy Paul Thurrott has been "told" that this very player will ship exactly on the fifth day of the ninth month of this year. Needless to say, that jibes with Microsoft's official line ("this fall"), but sadly, we've no other information to go on at the moment. In other words, feel free to pencil this one in, but keep that eraser handy -- cool?

[Via Zune Boards, thanks Joel]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Microsoft's Zune HD shipping on September 5th? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 17:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Microsoft "guru" Paul Thurott says the Zune HD launches on September 5. Mind you, this info comes fresh from the Zune forums, so we'll slap a rumor on it for now with the caveat that it matches our earlier post about a September launch window. [Zune Forums - Thanks Joel]

The Food and Drug Administration might actually be able to protect us from dangerous food if Congress passes a bill recently circulated by six powerful members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The draft legislation would finally empower the FDA to quarantine suspect foods and slap violators with both civil fines and criminal charges.

Among other things, the proposal would put greater responsibility on growers, manufacturers and food handlers by requiring them to identify contamination risks, document the steps they take to prevent them and provide those records to federal regulators. The legislation also would allow the FDA to require private laboratories used by food manufacturers to report the detection of pathogens in food products directly to the government.

"This is a major step forward," said Erik Olson, director of food and consumer product safety at the Pew Charitable Trusts. "This has really been needed for decades. We're still operating under a food and drug law signed by Teddy Roosevelt."

The bill would help prevent a repeat of the Peanut Corporation of America's salmonella outbreak, but in order to truly protect consumers, Congress needs to charge a single agency with safeguarding our food supply.

House Calls for Closer Watch on Food Supply [The Washington Post]
(Photo: law_keven)