Let’s cut to it, shall we?

The Good: Cool styling. Low Cost. Versatile mounting (Can be an entertainment centerpiece or strapped to the back of a display). HDMI. Wireless and Wired Networking. 160GB internal storage. CPU Horsepower to spare. Can be used a local media, cloud-based streaming, online content in addition to being a multi-purpose computer.

The Bad: No simplified remote (It uses a wireless keyboard and mouse). Use of Win7 Premium Home might be too complicated for use as an entertainment center.

In any case, we’re getting on in the lab so we can tell you if this is a worthy addition to your uberGeek entertainment network.

But is that about to change?

FAVI Entertainment has just released two LED Pico-Projectors that look decidedly “untoylike.” Not only are they designed to last FAR longer than early units, but they’ve upped the resolution, brightness and added a standard input port. FAVI has also included memory slots so their projectors can act as standalone media devices. But the best part of the FAVI release is the price.. sub $300.

You may not have heard about Aerial7 before, but if you like quality sound, DJ quality gear and crave headphones that are equally at home connected to a turntable or your iPhone; you will. Aerial7 just release a trio of headphones that nicely straddle the worlds of professional audio, contemporary style and uberGeek necessity.

The TANK, PHOENIX and CHOPPER2 are Aerial7’s entry, midrange and Full-Size model of over-the-ear headphones. Each of them seem to share excellent speaker specs and and decked out in full padding and eye-catching styling. However, what makes them exciting to this writer is that Aerial7 has included little uberGeek touches like an inline microphone (so they can be used with phones), an adapter that enabled the unit to be used as a Skype headset, 1/4″ plugs and swivel-ear cups for comfort and flexibility.

We’ve asked for some lab time with all three headphones so that we can bring you a full review of how they work in the real world, but on paper at least, they impress.

From the Press ReleaseThe Gateway ID Series comes in a sleek silver casing that is punctuated by a unique aqua-blue touchpad that glows when touched, acting as a beacon for accessing entertainment and information. The Gateway ID Series will be available in two sizes: the Gateway ID49 has a 14-inch HD Ultrabright LED-backlit display and weighs 5.07 pounds, while the Gateway ID59 has a 15.6-inch HD Ultrabright LED-backlit display and weighs 5.5 pounds. The Gateway ID Series is protected by an aluminium alloy lid and measures only a slim 1-inch thin, so the notebooks are comfortable to carry and easily slide into a briefcase or book bag.

Why do I bring up these two random pieces of uberGeek desire? — Well I just received an email from some folks at StarTech.com about their brand-spanking new SATDOCU3S USB Docking Stations that offer not only an easy way to dock a hard drive, but also include the adapter to let you experience USB 3.0 speeds.

Game On!

From the Press Release: StarTech.com, a leading manufacturer of hard-to-find technology and connectivity parts, today announced the availability of two variations of their SATDOCKU3S USB 3.0 SATA Hard Drive Docking Stations. The SATDOCKU3SP and the SATDOCKU3SE offer users USB 3.0 host connection options, including a 2-port PCI Express USB 3.0 adapter (SATDOCKU3SP) and 2-port ExpressCard USB 3.0 host adapter (SATDOCKU3SE) respectively.

To put it succinctly, it’s irresponsible to use a Kindle without a cover. It’s so thin that it feels like one drop would be enough to kill it. This case will protect it and, furthermore, makes it more useable for me since it now feels like a normal reading experience as opposed to reading from a notepad style device.

Speck

The above is but a mere sampling of Speck’s offerings. However, the overall theme is that it will protect your precious and expensive devices, and it will do that in a stylish, sometimes quirky way. Clearly, this company not only has employees who have artistic vision, but, more importantly, they understand geek tech gear in such a way that they understand that their accessories must enhance, not replace, the design of the devices. It must add beauty without sacrificing utility. To me, Speck accomplishes this and I couldn’t be happier with the products I reviewed.

The case is solid and so, I would imagine that it would be quite protective in the event of a fall (something I don’t want to test). The cover comes on and off easy enough for you not to have to go pull out some tools in order to do it, but difficult enough such that it will not come out unless you purposefully intend for it to do so.

I bought the Candyshell Red cover for it prior to this model. I loved that cover, but, like my current iPhone case, it tended to be a bit slippery. The satin finish on this case makes it feel almost fabric-like which is decidedly non-slippery. I love it. The perfect MacBook case.

Other than Apple itself, it’s tough to imagine a better gift for an Apple Fanboy than a Speck accessory product. Don’t get me wrong, Speck will outfit non-Apple products like Blackberries and Kindles (more on this later). However, clearly Speck more than any other accessory company somehow manages to individualize and protect your Apple product while enhancing, not taking away, from its brilliant industrial design.

As an Apple Fanboy, I immediately open myself to criticism that I am too concerned with advertising to the world that, yes, I use Apple products. Form over Substance is a common phrase. While I would disagree with the point that Apple provides no actual value above its looks, one thing is for certain, no consumer electronic company makes better looking stuff.

It’s no secret that we at TTS are big fans of Gateway and their products. It’s not just that they’re stylish (though they are), or that they’re fast (which they can be), or that they’re dependable (as WE’VE found them to be), or that they offer the best bang-for-the-buck on the market (just true) — rather, it’s that our Gateway experience has been top-to-bottom the best of all the gear we’ve ever had through our labs. We know that the consumer experience is a notoriously fickle thing, and that what may be the most cherished piece of tech for one person could be the nightmare for another, but the innovation and price pressure that Gateway has brought to the market MUST be acknowledged by even the staunchest of tech-grouches. In our opinion, over the past five years no company has made style and performance more affordable for Joe-uberGeek than the boys with PCs in cow boxes.

When my brother, Fr. Robert — the uberGeek priest, asked me to review gear for TTS, I decided that I would do it if he allowed me to bring a less “techie” and more outdoorsy approach to the products that appear on TheTechStop. I’m somewhat of a geek, but my life consists less of sitting in front of a monitor and more of running, mountain biking and practicing martial arts. I asked the TTS uberGeeks to send me something that could take the bumps, bruises and beatings of a more active lifestyle. I wanted something that I didn’t have to treat with kid gloves. Tech that could survive real life.

What they sent me was the Otterbox “Commuter” and “Commuter TL” iPhone 3g/s cases.

FLO TV is starting a big push to make their service THE hot item for the 2009 holiday season. They’re pitching a “dedicated device that will let TV lovers watch their favorite news, live sports, children’s programming and entertainment on a dedicated device for mobile TV viewing.” — Sound cool, but the question is… what exactly does that mean?

From what I can piece together from their website, it looks like this is actually an announcement for two products. The first is a service that works over ATT or Verizon to deliver TV programming over a cellular network. The second product is a dedicated CDMA-based 3G device that will do a combination of streaming and content storage in a touch-screen enabled device.

Here’s a nifty little gadget that has made it into the TTS inbox just in time to be a gift for that special geek in your life!

The powerFUZE™ is a home/car charging system for your USB devices. It has an interesting design that should appeal to those with a gaggle of USB devices or DC-powered chargers. The base unit has two 1-Amp circuits, one that powers the built-in 5v USB port and one that energizes a 12v car accessory (formerly known as the “cigarette lighter”) port. Scosche includes a 12v accessory port to USB adapter that fits into the main unit, giving you two USB power ports that can each supply the industry-standard 5 watts of power to any USB device that needs a charge.

I just received this announcement in the mail and at first-glance it looks pretty darn promising. The Shift is a new line of desktops from MAINGEAR, producer of some seriously high-end desktops and notebooks. The CPU is either an Intel Core i7 800 or 900 series and the motherboard is either an Intel Kingsberg P55 or an EVGA X58 SLI. It’ll sport up to 8/12GB or memory and have room for up to 6 SATA hard drives. Video is driven by your choice of ATI or NVIDIA part and you can deck it out with the high-end audio of your choice.

While the specs are impressive, they’re not unique to the Shift. What the Shift DOES add to the world of high-performance computing is a no-nonsense all-aluminum and steel chassis (no plastic here) and a unique motherboard tray that rotates the motherboard 90 degrees so that your peripherals are accessible at the TOP of the case rather than in the back. MAINGEER also equipped the Shift with a closed-loop liquid cooling system that should keep everything from overheating while also limiting noise to a whisper.

I think that’s the idea behind Oregon Scientific’s Marathon Pedometer. This little $60 device is an accelerometer that can be clipped to a belt, worn around the neck, dropped into a pocket or left in a bag while giving you an accurate record of exactly how far you’ve walked/run over a day. There are no bell and whistles with this product – no downloading to your computer or uploading to the web – just a simple EL-illuminated screen that gives you step.distance counts, targets and estimates. In a way, that’s the best kind of pedometer, because it makes you focus on actually WALKING or RUNNING rather than playing with the tech.