Bolse® 7-Port USB 3.0 HUB USB 3.0 Cable (VIA VL812 Chipset), Compatible with USB 2.0

The Bolse USB hub is 5" x 2.75" x 1". It has 7 USB slots are located on the front panel of the unit. The back panel take the power code and USB plug that plugs into your computer. The top contains a light for each USB slots, and lights up when something is plugged in. The USB cord is 39". Its power cord cord is 45" long. The USB unit weighs 5.1 oz, the unit with the power plug and 2 cords weigh 11.6 oz.



The documentation states that this hub USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with USB 2.0. I tested with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1, and it is backwards compatible with both.



I tested the hub on Windows XP, Windows 7, and Linux. Each operating system I tested saw the memory stick plugged into the hub without problems.



To evaluate each port I tested each port by copying a large set of mp3 files totalling 638916 Megabytes. I measured CPU time and clock time. I wanted to test that all ports worked, I wanted to test if there was a significant difference in performance between ports, and I wanted to see if copying to multiple memory sticks at the same time would slow down the copying.



✔ First, I tested each port using 2.0 USB memory stick. I ran each test twice and the tables below show the average of two results for each port. I ran a total of 14 tests in this part of the test. All ports worked with a normal small variations in performances. The results of these are presented in the tables below.



✔ Second, I tested copying files onto two 2.0 USB memory sticks at the same time, to see of the copying slows down compared to working with one stick at a time. I ran 2 tests with 2 sticks at the same time, and the results below show the average of the two tests. The performance was slightly slower compared to test 1 (this is normal and expected).



✔ Third, I used USB 1.0 memory stick for comparison in speed and to verify that 1.0 USB memory stick works.



✔ Finally, For comparison I plugged the same memory sticks directly into the computer without the USB hub.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TEST#1 (single USB 2.0 stick)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Port1:_______0.551s (cpu) 1:19.06 (clock time)

Port2:_______0.544s (cpu) 1:19.12 (clock time)

Port3:_______0.542s (cpu) 1:15.96 (clock time)

Port4:_______0.890s (cpu) 1:23.06 (clock time)

Port5:_______0.408s (cpu) 1:18.72 (clock time)

Port6:_______0.547s (cpu) 1:18.77 (clock time)

Port7:_______0.536s (cpu) 1:19.41 (clock time)



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TEST#2 (two USB 2.0 sticks at the same time)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Memory stick #1: 0.926s (cpu time) 2:02.37 (clock time)

Memory stick #2: 0.826s(cpu time) 2:02.21 (clock time)



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TEST#3 (single USB 1.0 stick)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Port5:_______1.184s(cpu) 5:05.11 (clock time)



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TEST#4 (single USB 2.0 stick plugged directly into the computer)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CPU time: 0.851s

Clock time: 1:54.24



I am attaching a collage of 2 photos of this unit.  The first photo shows the front of the USB unit during

2 memory stick test. The second photo shows the back of the unit.



I was provided a sample for evaluation and I ran it through 19 tests in order to provide unbiased and honest review. The unit performed well and met my expectations for a 5 star rating.





You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review : HooToo® HT-CR002 External USB 3.0 Multi-in-One Card Reader (4 Memory slots)

HT-CR002 Multi-in-One Card Reader combines three USB slots and four memory card readers. The unit itself is fairly small 3.25" x 2.5" x 0.25". It needs to be plugged into AC power as well as USB slot on the computer. USB cord is 32" long. The power cord is 58". The card reader weighs 2 oz, the cords are 5 oz (most of the weight is in the power plug).



I tested the card reader on Windows XP, Windows 7, and Linux. I tested with USB 2.0 memory stick, USB 1.0 memory stick, 133x CompactFlash memory card, microSDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card, and Class 10 SD card. The only slot I was not able to test is Sony's MS memory stick as I don't have any devices that use it.



Each operating system I tested saw USB memory sticks and cards plugged into all slot in the card read without problems. USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with USB 2.0. I tested with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1, and it is backwards compatible with both.



To evaluate the card reader I tested each port by copying a large set of mp3 files totalling 638916 Megabytes. I measured CPU time and clock time. I wanted to test that all ports and slots worked and measure their performance. To test various USB devices I run the same set of tests so I can compare them to each other in "apples to apples" comparison. If some unit does not perform well I notice it by comparing it to the other devices I have tested. I ran a total of 18 tests and the results of these tests are presented in the tables below.



✔ First, I tested each of the three USB ports and three of the memory cards. I ran each test twice and the tables below show the average of two results for each port.



✔ Second, I tested copying files onto two 2.0 USB memory sticks at the same time.



✔ Third, I used USB 1.0 memory stick for comparison in speed and to verify that 1.0 USB memory stick works.



✔ Finally, For comparison I plugged the same memory sticks directly into the computer without the card reader.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TEST SET#1 (single USB 2.0 stick)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Port1:_______1.060s (cpu) 1:23.83 (clock time)

Port2:_______0.584s (cpu) 1:15.84 (clock time)

Port3:_______0.559s (cpu) 1:15.30 (clock time)



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TEST SET#2 (two USB 2.0 stick)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Port1:_______0.883s (cpu) 0:57.01 (clock time)

Port2:_______0.566s (cpu) 1:24.53 (clock time)



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TEST SET#3 (memory card slots)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



CF card:___________1.234s (cpu) 1:27.81 (clock time)

Micro SD card:_____1.523s (cpu) 1:09.36 (clock time)

SD card:___________1.241s (cpu) 1:46.49 (clock time)



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TEST#4 (single USB 2.0 stick plugged directly into the computer)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CPU time: 0.851s

Clock time: 1:54.24



I received this card reader for testing and review from the manufacture. I ran a large number of tests on this unit to provide an unbiased performance evaluation. Overall, the card reader performed well and based on these tests earned a 5 star rating. I particularly like that it has microSD port that I can use without an SD card sleeve.



I am attaching a photo of the unit that shows everything that came in the package including the card reader in a position where you can see all of its slots. The photo can be located by following 'customer photos' link under the main photo.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Gurin Electric Compact Dehumidifier

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Gurin Dehumidifier is 9" tall and 5.75" wide at the base. Its best feature is that it very quiet because it does not have a compressor, the worst feature is that it is not very effective in removing humidity. Both are not surprising and stem from the technology used in this unit. More on the technology itself at the end of the review, but first a few examples of what I observed in my use of this unit.



1. I originally hoped to use it in the bathroom while it is used for showers to keep the air dry, and to prevent fogging of mirrors. For several day, I turned on the unit each time the shower was taken, and turned off the unit when the shower was over. In that use the humidifier tank remained empty. Thinking back to how the Peltier method works as well to our Koolatron cooler (which also uses Peltier technology) I realized that short periods of usage do not work because the unit requires some time before it becomes effective. When we go on summer trips we pre-cool the cooler in the house for it to work well during the trips.



2. Then I took the dehumidifier to the basement, where we have a standard 50 Pint dehumidifier which fills its entire bucket in several days. I turned off the large dehumidifier, and left Gurin Dehumidifier there for 24 hours. After 24 hours the reservoir of the unit had 1 oz of water. I am attaching a photo of how much water it collected. After 24 hour of use the big electric plug of the unit got rather warm to touch, so I suspect it uses a significant amount of electricity.



Gurin dehumidifier is quiet and light because it uses thermoelectric method called Peltier. This method is most commonly used in cooling. In 1834 Jean Peltier noticed that when electrical current is applied to the junction of two different metals the heat is removed from one of the metals and transferred to the other. This is the main principal of thermoelectric cooling (and known as Peltier effect). The dehumidifier has cooling unit which is constructed from tiny metal cubes made from different metals. As electricity passes through the junctions between the cubes the heat is transferred and a fan vents the heat outside, a small amount of moisture is removed from the air in this process and condensed and this is the water we see in the reservoir of the unit.



So for this unit to work, it has to be turn on continuously, and it removes a fairly small amount of moisture from the air. It is very quiet, and if you need to remove only a small amount of humidity it will do an ok job.



I was provided this unit for a review and honest evaluation.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★☆☆

NEEWER LED Macro Ring Light 48 X LED with 6 Adapter Rings for For Canon/Sony/Nikon/Sigma Lenses

NEEWER LED Macro Ring Light is not as good as I hoped, but good enough to be useful in some situations. I am including a collage of 6 photos to illustrate my review.



The ring light came with 6 adapters (49mm/52mm/55mm/58mm/62mm/67mm), which fit both of the cameras I use. The adapters work similar to Cokin filters where you attach a metal ring of the adapter to the lens of the camera, and then slide the light ring into the adapter.



I selected this particular light ring because it could run on DC power as well a battery pack. The power pack is mounted in the hot shoe but the mount is used purely to hold the batteries in place on the camera. The ring does not communicate with the camera, once you turn on the light it is permanently turned on. The power unit is 3.75" tall and 1.5" x 1.5". It weight 4.2 oz with the batteries installed, and 8.7 oz together with the right light itself.



I hoped I would be able to hook up DC power to the ring without going through the hot shoe mounted battery back because my SONY NEX5 does not have a standard hot shoe mount. However, even without the batteries you need to use the power unit. Luckily the power unit has a 17" power cord so for the table top photography I can leave the power adapter laying on the table, and when shooting outdoors I can stick it into a pocket (I just need to remember to wear a shirt or vest with a pocket at the chest level). I like this approach better than using the cumbersome hot shoe adapter for SONY cameras.



As I mentioned earlier the unit provides continuous lighting (not flashing). There are a total of 48 LED lights and three settings: all lights on, left half of the ring is on, and the right side of the ring is on.



To demonstrate how the light ring works I am using a 17 inch power strip (this is a boring subject for sure but the length of the strip shows the light distribution very well).



There are two sets of photos, four are taken with the light 2 feet away from the object. Another two are taken with the light 6 inches away from the object. The photos are not edited in any way, just shrunk and stitched together. I took all pictures with a wide angle lens (18mm) so you can see the light ring in the shot - this makes it easier to see which lights of the ring were turned on, and also shows what you get if you use a wide angle lens. The photos were taken with the ring light being the only light source.



Photo #1 shows show the strip at 2 feet with the full ring of lights.

Photo #2 same lighting and distance but above the power strip rather than to the side.

Photo #3 shows strip at 2 feet with half the lights on, on the right side of the ring.

Photo #4 shows strip at 2 feet with half the lights on, on the left side of the ring.

Photo #5 shows the strip from 6 inches from above

Photo #6 shows the strip from 6 inches from the side



For photos take from 6 inches the ring produced pretty good results, however photos with the subject 2 feet away were not good. I hoped to be able to use the ring light at 2 feet, but the it did not produce sufficient amount of light for use at that distance. It does reduce shadows at the 2 feet distance when used in combination with another light source.



The bottom line, I found good uses for this ring light, but it did not totally live up to my high hopes.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★☆

Transcend 8 GB microSDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card

Transcend 8GB card and the sleeve worked well. I used the card for a video camera and it worked well. The card in the sleeve was recognized in my PC without problems.



To test the speed of the card I tested Transcend 8 GB microSDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card by copying a large set of mp3 files totalling 638916 Megabytes. I measured CPU time and clock time. For comparison I including numbers for copying the same set of files from and to hard disk of my computer, and to USB2 memory stick.



I ran each test twice, and the numbers you see is the average of the two tests.



✔ Transcent microSDHC : 1.482s (CPU time), 1:33.97 (clock time)



✔ USB2: 1.358s (CPU time), 1:23.53 (clock time)



✔ Hard Drive: 0.573s (CPU time), 0:00.58 (clock time)



Good price, card works well, I would buy it again.





You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Book review: How to Design and Make Bracelets with String, by Isabella Forrer

I found this guide very helpful and easy to follow.



The first part of the guide shows step by step examples of how to make string bracelets by tying various knots (half knot, half hitch, square knot, open square knot, butterfly knot, switch knot, alternate double half hitch). The extras section provided several methods for adding beads to the bracelets. The second part of the guide covers necklaces, braided jewelry, and on-line resources for string and beads.



The guide's instructions are clear, each step includes an illustrated drawing which shows exactly how to place the strings. The author included many nice photos of the completed bracelet so you have an idea of what you will get at the end. Anyone can make bracelets, however it will take some practice to make them as nice as even as the author's bracelets!



I was looking for a project that would be fun to do with a group of youngsters (boys and girls) and making string bracelets was a big hit! Everyone enjoyed tying knots and exchanging bracelets at the end. I could not have done it without this little guide!





You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Polaroid XS100 Extreme Edition HD 1080p 16MP Waterproof Sports Action Video Camera

This 6 oz video camera is fun to use and produced pretty good video. I am attaching a video taken with the camera and 6 photos of the camera itself to illustrate my review.



I took Polaroid XS100 camera with me on a weekend trip and recorded video snippets through the entire day. I made about 2 hours of recording (on a single charge battery charge). The attached video contains four clips took during this trip in various lighting conditions.



✔ Driving in the car

Note when the sun hits the camera you can see a bit of a halo from the dome that covers the lens. The anti-vibration feature of the camera is very effective in the car.



✔ In bright day light

Excellent color and sharpness especially when the sun is behind



✔ Inside a store

Worked well in a small quarters and fairly dim lighting



✔ At night

Very good low-light performance. The anti-vibration feature of the camera is not effective for larger scale shakes which is the results of the bobbing camera during a walk.



The camera has 170 degree wide angle lens. I used Class 6 MicroSD card. F2.8 Fixed Focus Lens focused well and performed well in low light. My video was shot as 960p.



Video options are:

1080p: 1920x1080p / 30FPS / 16:9

960p: 1280X960P / 30FPS / 4:3

720p:1280x720 / 60FPS (Slow Motion) / 16:9

720p: 1280x720 / 30FPS/ 16:9



Photo options are:

Resolutions 16MP, 5MP, 3MP, VGA

Photo Mode: Single / Burst (x10) / Time Lapse (5,10,30,60)



The camera records two formats of files at once - full size and low-resolution "thumbnail" video, which is useful for sharing.

My full size video was generated in .mov format. I converted it to .mp4 for editing with my Linux-based video editing tools.





   

The first photo shows everything that comes in the package: the camera, the pouch, HDMI cable, and a large number of mounts and sticky pads.



The camera is water tight up to 30 feet. The lens is covered with a dome (see photo #5), the back has a water tight lock (see photo #4). Photo #3 shows the back of the camera with the cover off. The top slot is for micro sd card, below is HDMI port, below it the charging port, to the left the selection for video format, on the right the reset hole.



Note: I had trouble turning on the camera for the first time after charging, but pushing the reset button fixed the problem and the camera turned on.



The video camera is operated by two buttons on the top of the camera (see photo 4). The long button with dots control video recording. And the smaller button in front is used to turn on the video camera on and off (with a slight hold) or take still pictures (with a light press without any hold).



Photo #6 shows the bottom of the camera where various mounts attach. The mounting screw is plastic and one has to be careful not to strip it with a metal mount.



Photo#2 shows the camera on 1 inch gridded mat for size reference. The camera weights 6 oz. It is 4 inches long, and the lens portion is 1 3/8 inches in diameter. The pouch has a Velcro closing, and it is possible to put the camera into the pouch even when it is attached to a mount.



Other starting and setting, the only setting you can change directly from the camera is the format (HD or FHD). To change other settings you need to connect the camera to the PC (Mac or Windows) and use the Polaroid software. For example, if you wanted to set the camera to take pictures on a certain interval. This requires you to pre-plan what you will do on each trip unless you can take a laptop with you. I wish I could control more things directly from the camera, but that would probably have made the camera larger.



If you have Windows-based PC Polaroid.exe is automatically installed from the camera into the micro sd card when you connect PC for the computer for the first time. If ou have a Mac you need to down load the software by from the web site (note that web site name is polaroidaction-dot-com (not polaroid-dot-com). Because my primary operating system is Linux the software did not get installed automatically and I needed to download Windows executable from the web site. The file name you download from the website is called setting_win.exe (not polaroid.exe as the file that is automatically installed).



The camera comes with HDMI cable that allows you to view and manage the content of your MicroSD card on your TV. However, I found that for me it easier to remove the MicroSD card and place manage it from the computer.



Polaroid camera comes with gravity sensor G-Sensor, which auto rotates the image even if you mount to the camera upside down. It is not totally fool proof as one of my video was recorded side ways. I must have rotated it after I turn the camera on but did not realize it. But the rest of around 30 videos were perfectly oriented.



Audio recording worked, but recorded audio sounds fairly low compared to my other video camera.



I was provided a sample for a review be it positive or negative, and I tried to cover both the positives and negatives of my experience.



Overall, I thought it was a fun camera to use and I thought it produced pretty good results.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★