Manufacturer: Newer Technology
Current Retail Price: $57.99

“What does a desk lamp have to do with gaming?”, you may well ask.  I will answer with another question, “Where do you keep your gaming computer?”  Chances are that if you have a gaming PC tower it’s going to be on (or under) a desk.  Failing that, there should certainly be some part of some room in your home that at least occasionally needs to be illuminated beyond what light occurs there naturally.  This is where the NuGreen LED Desk Lamp comes in.  We’d been looking for a replacement for the old fashioned bankers lamp that had illuminated our PC gaming desk for quite some time and were intrigued when the NuGreen showed up on our doorstep.  Was our time with the NuGreen illuminating or did it leave us in the dark?  Read on to find out.

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USB hubs are certainly not bleeding edge technology, but with USB 3.0 becoming increasingly common in both computers and new USB devices the one or two USB 3.0 ports you get on your computers are hardly enough to run all of your speedy new USB 3.0 devices.  Luckily enough, USB 3.0 hubs have come down in price quite a bit lately, so there are many different kinds to choose from.  Anker was kind enough to send us a review unit of their “Uspeed USB 3.0 7 Port Hub + 1 Charging Port” that sports some interesting features including an external power plug and a special burgundy charging port that supplies an above-average number of amps to charge USB devices more expediently.   Did our testing of this USB hub leave us wired or tired?  Read on to find out.

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Anyone who maintains a gaming PC for more than a year or two will know that technology changes so quickly that you’re forever swapping various parts out of your tower to continue being able to play the latest games at a needlessly high but awesome 100 FPS or more.  With the advent of Solid State Drives (SSDs) that are quickly becoming more affordable, most PC gamers are bound to end up with a 3.5″ HDD or two that have been orphaned or re-purposed for archiving by a shiny new SSD.  Instead of having these drives collect dust or be assigned drive letter Q: and be rarely looked at, Newer Technology has come out with a simplified version of its Voyager Q SATA drive dock that drops FireWire 400/800 and eSATA support in favour of a much lower price point and a handy on/off switch.  Read on to find out if the Voyager S3 docked us like a hurricane.

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A problem I’m sure is common to most people who live in colder climates in this day and age is that it’s quite frustrating when you’re shovelling snow or waiting for a bus and you can’t use your smartphone without taking your gloves off and risking losing feeling in your hands for the rest of the day.  While there are several touch screen glove solutions floating around out there to ensure our hands live for another day, most will either run you between $20-$30 for a single pair or be of such poor quality that they’re essentially useless.  This is where Newer Technology comes in with their $9 NuTouch conductive touch screen gloves.  Do these gloves keep your hands toasty-warm while letting you use your touch devices, or do they leave you out in the cold?  We’ll touch on our time with them after the jump.

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It seems like every electronic device that you get these days is supposed to be charged via USB.   Most of them come with USB/AC adapters, but these can take up a lot of wall outlet and power bar space.  This is where NewerTech comes in with their Power2U wall outlet that features 2 USB ports in addition to the usual pair of AC outlets.  We were able to put a black unit through its paces recently, so is the Power2U the revolutionary space-saver it sets out to be or should it be charged with inadequacy?  Read on to see what kind of electrifying experience we had with the Power2U.

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Cost: $10.99 US
Length: 6 ft.
Manufacturer: ps3hdmicable.com

With the gaming market trending very quickly to HD audio and visuals, we find ourselves in need of a lot more equipment to get the most out of our games.  I myself have purchased HD TVs, surround sound systems/headphones, PC gaming rigs, and video game systems all to take advantage of the higher resolution and clarity offered with cutting-edge technology.  Well, even if you have all of the fancy gadgets, you’re still going to need a ton of cables to hook everything together.  With all of the cables to buy, it’s best if you can get them on the cheap, as long as it doesn’t risk reducing the all-mighty clarity that your system will produce in the end.  We recently had a budget-priced HDMI cable (that of course works on all HDMI-compatible devices) sent to us for review, so read on to see how it fared.

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