| Our Meeting with Huntkey |
| Author: Gabriel Torres | Date: January 20, 2012 - 11:35 AM PST |
|
|
|
During this CES, we had the opportunity to sit down and have a private meeting with Huntkey’s president, Mr. Lewis, to clarify all the problems that we had with Huntkey in the past. As it turned out, Mr. Lewis is a very humble, sophisticated, and open-minded person, and all issues we had with his company were a big misunderstanding – from both sides. I am glad to say they are now a thing of the past. Huntkey thought that I and my websites (Hardware Secrets in the United States and Clube do Hardware in Brazil) were biased because we decided to expose the problem of its Green Star power supply series that can’t deliver their labeled wattage, yet not exposing other brands that have the same kind of issue. This, of course, couldn’t be farther from the truth. What happens is that we test many local brands on my Brazilian website, but these reviews aren’t posted on Hardware Secrets for obvious reasons. Since the people at Huntkey can’t read Brazilian Portuguese, they would come to Hardware Secrets and not find such reviews; they thought we were not posting “bad” reviews for other brands. (Sometimes manufacturers think that both websites are located in Brazil and targeted to Brazilians. Just to clarify, I live in the U.S. and Hardware Secrets is a U.S. company.) In fact, on Clube do Hardware we even created a special “award” for power supplies that can damage your PC: the “Bomb Award.” A complete list of these power supplies can be seen here. On YouTube, we have a channel with several videos of these power supplies exploding. We are proud to be very well-known for exposing products that can’t perform as expected, being open and very vocal in defending that all publications should have the same policy. However, we know of several websites that simply won’t post negative reviews, as they think manufacturers won’t advertise on them if they do. Some will even take money to post favorable reviews, or take down reviews if the manufacturer complains. How are users supposed to trust websites that say only positive things about all the products they review and take down negative reviews? The most important asset a news outlet has is its reputation; that cannot be bought. Once a publication loses its reputation, there is no turning back. In fact, from our experience, most manufacturers understand that they will get bad press from time to time. They also understand that if a publication detects a flaw in a product, instead of blaming the publication, they should go back to their R&D team, check to see if there really is a problem, and fix it. On the other hand, editors can’t simply say negative things just because they feel like doing so. Each criticism must be backed by enough evidence that there is, in fact, a problem. Editors must be humble enough to edit their reviews when the problem was on their side, and then update the review once the flaw was fixed. In all of the 15 years that I’ve been running hardware-reviewing websites, there have been very few companies that decided to blame us for negative reviews. ASUS was one, with their local representative in Brazil responding to our allegations in a certain review that “our product doesn’t have a flaw, because our products are the best and everybody knows it.” How can you argue with someone like this? Thankfully, we don’t have to deal with this person anymore. Then there was a local Brazilian brand that got a 400 W CWT unit, labeled it as 600 W, put on a fake 80 Plus logo, and then went nuts when we exposed it, telling their clients that we were completely wrong and biased. Fortunately, readers complained so much about them that they finally decided to start labeling their products with their true wattage. Another time, there was a completely unknown Chinese manufacturer that was behind a local brand in Brazil that was accusing us of getting money from its competitors to post the review showing that the product couldn’t deliver its labeled wattage. My answer to the Brazilian company was simple. I have a video here with your power supply exploding. Simply ask them for a video with the power supply delivering the labeled wattage. They never did. Instead, they sent a photo of the over power protection (OPP) test performed by their load tester, showing the unit’s labeled wattage on the display. Can you believe this? They labeled their power supply with the trigger wattage of the over power protection circuit, which is always way above the unit’s real wattage. And then there was Huntkey. Talking to Huntkey’s president, it is now clear that the whole mess was ignited by Huntkey’s distributor in Brazil. According to Mr. Lewis, the distributor told him, “How can I compete in this market where there are power supplies labeled with higher wattages selling for less?” This kind of mentality is what makes the Brazilian market have so much junk being sold, and I couldn’t disagree more. Just because some people sell junk from unknown brands doesn’t mean that you have to make your products compete with this junk. By selling products with fake specifications, the company’s reputation goes down the drain. Unfortunately, by trusting a local distributor with the wrong kind of mentality, Huntkey did something that hurt its image. To make things worse, in Brazil, people would sell Huntkey’s low-end power supplies as if they were high-end products. Low-end products are not necessarily bad products, as long as you know their benefits (lower price) and limitations (lower efficiency, for example). The problem is when you buy a Jetta expecting to have the performance of a Ferrari. I was surprised to hear from Mr. Lewis that he not only completely agrees with my point of view, but he also wants my personal advice on how to better serve the market. Finally, there was the situation in which I accused Huntkey of trying to bribe me. That was my bad. You see, they don’t speak English very well, and I got things mixed up as we got lost in the translation. (Our entire meeting was in Chinese, with the help of our business associate who is fluent in this language.) They truly wanted to advertise on Clube do Hardware, but this had absolutely nothing to do with the bad reviews. From the way the message was written, however, I assumed otherwise. All they wanted was to talk to know me better, and to better understand my background and the future plans for the websites. That is why it is so important to have face-to-face meetings, as virtual communications can blow things out of proportion. I want to thank Mr. Lewis for spending so many hours with us, and I hope this is the beginning of a long and positive relationship between us. 
click to enlarge
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The Electric Delorean |
| Author: Gabriel Torres | Date: January 16, 2012 - 9:52 AM PST |
|
|
After going to the CES for so many years, it is hard to find something that really catches our attention to the point where we have to stop and say, “Wow!” This year, our “wow” moment happened the minute we saw an electric Delorean. In fact, we’ve already seen an electric Delorean on the TV show “Motorweek.” The Delorean Motor Company also has declared that they will launch an electric Delorean in 2013. The electric Delorean displayed at CES, however, was presented by NRG Energy, to show what they can do and promote the company. See the pictures below. (The first one was taken by them; hence, their logo.) PS: If you are also a fan of the Delorean, don’t forget to check out this post and this post. 
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
|
|
|
|
|
|
| CES 2012 Coverage |
| Author: Gabriel Torres | Date: January 12, 2012 - 6:46 AM PST |
|
|
Instead of writing one big article with everything we saw during CES, this year we are posting separate news articles as soon as we have a break between our meetings, and you can see them in our “Latest News” section, available on the upper right-hand side of our home page. Due to the high number of new products we are seeing, we will probably have to keep posting our coverage for one or two days after the show is over. Stay tuned and enjoy! |
|
|
|
|
|
| Core i7 ”Sandy Bridge-E“ is PCI Express 3.0 |
| Author: Gabriel Torres | Date: December 9, 2011 - 3:08 PM PST |
|
|
The PCI Express controller available in the new LGA2011 CPUs (Core i7 Extreme Edition “Sandy Bridge-E”) is 3.0. Intel is waiting for the first PCI Express 3.0 video cards to arrive on the market (which will happen next month) to announce this. We made minor updates/corrections to our Core i7 3960X Extreme Edition review and to our Gigabyte X79-UD3 and MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) “First Look” articles. We apologize for the wrong information we published before and thank you for your understanding. |
|
|
|
|
|
| SkyMall’s Most Bizarre Products – Part 14 |
| Author: Gabriel Torres | Date: December 9, 2011 - 2:38 PM PST |
|
|
Fresh from the latest (Holiday 2011 issue) “SkyMall” magazine: - Visor with attached wig: The solution for bald people. Fantastic! I think I will buy one for myself!
click to enlarge
- Showerhead that changes the color of the water. Incredible. It is impossible to get cheesier. The copy says “create a spa-like environment.” If anyone knows of a spa with colored water, let me know so I can stay as far away as I can from it.
click to enlarge
- Toilet bowl-shaped water bowl for dogs and cats. I guess it reflects what these inventors keep thinking about.
click to enlarge
- Oingo Boingo lives! Garden gnomes inspired by the classic Dead Man’s Party album. Click here and here to understand if you are below 30! (Here is some trivia for you: Two classic comedies from the 1980s feature songs from this album, Back to School and Weird Science.) Awesome!
click to enlarge
As I was finishing writing this post, a close friend sent me a link to this incredible invention: a fart filter. Yes, you read it right. A filter that you put in your underwear to avoid any bad smell. The name is great, “Subtle Butt.” Now I am waiting for the sound dampening device that I am sure someone is going to invent. And, yes, now I am 100 percent sure about what these inventors spend the whole day thinking. Click here if you lost our previous selection. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Gabriel Torres on Computer America Radio Show - 09/27/2011 |
| Author: Gabriel Torres | Date: September 27, 2011 - 7:45 AM PST |
|
|
Folks, I will be interviewed at the Computer America radio show again today, 09/27/2011, from 7 to 9 PM Pacific Time (10 PM to midnight, Eastern Time). This time I will be talking about what I saw at the IDF (Intel Developer Forum). Sandy Berger, who is in charge of our cell phone, printer, and camera reviews, will be joining me. Check their website for an affiliated radio in your city, or listen live on the Internet. Updated 09/28/2011: Here are the audio files of the show: |
|
|
|
|
|
| New Quiz: Cooling |
| Author: Gabriel Torres | Date: September 19, 2011 - 6:16 AM PST |
|
|
We've just posted a new quiz on our website: cooling. It is a fun way to test your skills. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Hardware Secrets on Twitter and Facebook |
|
|
|
|
| Nerd Fashion Week |
| Author: Gabriel Torres | Date: August 18, 2011 - 6:44 AM PST |
|
|
Something I don’t understand is why nerds and geeks have to dress up like dorks, as if they were promoting the Salvation Army sale rack. While nerds are known to have above-average intelligence, they usually fail to do certain things that other people would consider obvious – like wearing clean, matching clothes. Maybe this is an opportunity for us to create a tutorial on that? Anyway, I believe that just because someone is a nerd, that doesn’t mean that he or she must wear a beat-up shirt full of holes; wear only T-shirts that say “Yeah, I am a nerd,” such as freebies from computer companies during trade shows; or wear black socks with a pair of white sneakers when wearing shorts. (Fashion 101: This is a no-no. You should wear white socks in this situation.) Then nerd guys don’t understand why girls don’t talk to them… I am the perfect example. While I am a nerd, I dress fashionably. In fact, most people when meeting me for the first time would not consider me a nerd, since I wear clothes from Calvin Klein, Guess?, GAP, Kenneth Cole, and many other name designers. (The fact that I only shop at T.J. Maxx and Premium Outlets and never pay retail price isn’t evident when meeting someone, is it?) But then, if you are a true nerd, you may think that dressing “normally” will remove all your “nerdness.” Not so. What about dressing better, but, at the same time, wearing an accessory that would still keep you in touch with your nerd self? This could be anything from a keychain with the logo of the Decepticons to a really cool nerdy watch – which is my personal preference. There are some options around. If you follow my “SkyMall’s Most Bizarre Products” series, you know about the watch where the hours are represented by square roots. 
click to enlarge
ThinkGeek is probably the obvious destination for people looking for nerdy gadgets, and they have really cool watches: the E.R. Beat LED Digital Watch shows time as if it were an EKG machine, the Infinity Invaderz LED Digital Watch displays time in a 3D field, and the LED Binary Watch shows time in binary, which may not be practical. 
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
But the most fashionable of them is the one recently released by Cadence, the 4-Bit Binary Watch, with leather straps and stainless steel body, where the hours are written in binary, providing the perfect balance between fashion and “nerdness.” This company was kind enough to send me one as a gift, and is offering a 25% discount to our readers, using the code “HardwareSecrets” when buying it at the manufacturer’s website. 
click to enlarge
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Gabriel Torres on Computer America Radio Show - 08/10/2011 |
| Author: Gabriel Torres | Date: August 9, 2011 - 9:48 AM PST |
|
|
Folks, I will be interviewed at the Computer America radio show again this wednesday, 08/10/2011, from 7 to 9 PM Pacific Time (10 PM to midnight, Eastern Time). Check their website to an affiliated radio in your city, or listen live on the Internet. Updated 08/11/2011: Here are the audio files of the show: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Archive |
| |
| February, 2012 | | S | M | T | W | T | F | S | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | |
|
| |
|
|
 Latest Content
Our Most Popular Articles
1,609,988 views
1,409,888 views
1,154,630 views
1,114,581 views
1,040,435 views
941,925 views
738,111 views
667,695 views
651,035 views
621,424 views
Latest Threads in Our Forums
by Ckmi1
by Luke
by Gabriel Torres
by Hardware Secrets Team
by Rafael Coelho
by Hardware Secrets Team
by Gabriel Torres
by c.hegge
by Gabriel Torres
by Hardware Secrets Team
|
