creative

Donald and Jasmine finally get their hands on the new Zen X-Fi--along with another new treat from Creative--and throwdown over the faults and virtues of the player. Also, find out the top 5 ways to discover music by only lifting a single finger. Listen now: Download today's podcast

Creative Zen X-Fi reviewed

Creative Zen Mozaic reviewed

MP3 players with good bundled headphones

Music discovery for the unhip & unmotivated

Creative's Zen line of MP3 players is possibly one of the most extensive we've seen, especially if we take the company's Asia-specific devices into account. And Creative shows no signs of deviating from its plan to offer feature-packed players at impressively low price points.

Evidence of this is apparent in the Zen X-Fi, a compact multimedia machine that's the first portable device to integrate Creative's X-Fi technology. The 16GB and 32GB versions are also the first Zens to pack in Wi-Fi capability, and without skimping on the usual array of features we've come to … Read more

I'm often asked if there are any decent MP3 players out there made for needs of the elderly (i.e., large controls, easy to use, and hard to lose). Well, we finally have a contender with this giant wooden version of the Creative Zen Stone.

Hot on the heels of Creative's ambitious Zen X-Fi MP3 player, this fan-created version of the Zen Stone is fully functional and hopefully poised for eBay any day now.

(Via Make)

After much anticipation, we've finally gotten our greedy little hands on the Creative Zen X-Fi. While we put the player through its paces for the in-depth review, we thought you'd appreciate a closer look. One thing we can tell you right off the bat: the Zen X-Fi is an incredible value given all the features, but we're a bit disappointed that it's encased in plastic rather than metal. The slideshow has more gory details, but here are some highlights to get you started:

Creative Labs knows audio, and we're not just talking about sound cards. The company's line of Zen MP3 players has consistently earned good marks for sound quality, features, and value. Perhaps the favorite of all these devices has been the Zen V Plus, an adorable budget player with an ultracompact design. In fact, the Zen V Plus has been popular enough to let Creative rest on its laurels for more than two years.

But now the time has come for a refresh, and that refresh is in the form of the Zen Mozaic, a uniquely designed device with … Read more

"We're doing all the things we tell our clients not to do," admits a strategy director at a renowned design and innovation firm, "it is ironic." He's not alone with his assessment. Other employees of creative firms (let's just use this label as a catch-all for all design, innovation, marketing, brand, and advertising firms) secretly confess that while they go out preaching to their clients about the importance of open innovation, brand consistency, or a distinct, provocative marketing messages, it is the very absence of all of which that often severely hampers their … Read more

While Bill Gates rightly argues for "creative capitalism" that will "most effectively spread the benefits of capitalism and the huge improvements in quality of life it can provide to people who have been left out," his old company, Microsoft, continues to ignore one of the best ways to drive value into and from those developing economies:

Open source.

Proprietary software treats developing economies as "vassals" to Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, SAP, etc. Open-source software, on the other hand, gives developing economies the raw materials to build up their own IT ecosystems. Instead of shipping rubles back to the US to pay for US-developed software, Russia and the developing IT economies of the world can keep their currency local, and then start inviting others' currencies in.

Some criticize Gates' proposals as misplaced. I tend to agree, but not for the reasons these critics highlight. No, I think Gates simply isn't "creative" enough in his capitalism. He suggests:… Read more

So you got yourself some Adobe CS3 products, but you're still trying to get your workspace organized or iron out your cross-product workflow or how to use the Puppet tool in After Effects? Apparently lots of other people are in the same position according to a case study from EffectiveUI, developers of Adobe's online Video Workshop application built using Adobe Flex. The tutorials have seen more than 5 million plays over its first year.

The video tutorials cover 22 of Adobe's products including all the CS3 components and span 47 topics. The information comes from product experts … Read more

Creative has released the details of its new Zen Mozaic MP3 player, an attractive heir to the relatively antique Zen V Plus series. It's currently available only in Singapore, the Creative Zen Mozaic is offered in three colors (silver, pink, and black) and three capacities (2GB, 4GB, and 8GB). The Mozaic's features include a 1.8-inch screen, FM tuner, voice recording, photo viewer, video playback, calendar, built-in speaker, and support for MP3, WMA, WAV, and Audible audio formats.

There's no telling when the Zen Mozaic will hit the states, but it's safe to expect prices comparable … Read more