Gadgets Blog

We know that the world is abuzz with the upcoming Palm Pre, but that doesn’t mean it should overshadow news of the new Palm Treo Pro that is now available from Bell Mobility in Canada. This Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional powered smartphone will target serious business users who want to simplify their IT infrastructures while keeping costs low, ensuring their users remain productive and happy. It is able to ride on 3G networks, making it suitable for on-the-go Internet surfing as well as keeping tabs with the latest emails without missing a beat.

Being a business-centric smartphone can only mean one thing - the Treo Pro will boast a wide range of connectivity options, including email, Wi-Fi, GPS, web and CDMA EV-DO Rev. A network capabilities. You won’t find the Treo Pro to be as bulky as its earliest predecessors, as it comes in a thin design that blends with a flush, high-resolution color touch screen display. One touch buttons for quick access to various functions make life a whole lot easier, while the full QWERTY keyboard remains to let you send out a flurry of text messages and emails without having to fumble with less than perfect virtual keyboards on the display. Nice to know Palm has not gone the way of the iPhone by offering a removable battery behind which is able to offer up to four hours of talk time.

Bell Mobility’s Treo Pro features a tightly integrated Palm and Windows solution for mobile workforces, supporting Microsoft Direct Push Technology that hooks up to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 SP2 or 2007, letting users remain up to speed with their email, contacts and calendars at all times. With Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, you will enjoy increased security, easier smartphone management and access to information on the corporate network. Bell Mobility clients can pick up the Palm Treo Pro for $99.95 on a three-year contract for a limited time only.

Press Release

ThinkGeek seems to have a penchant for remote controlled helicopters, and their latest attempt in this field is the Dark Blade 3-Channel R/C Helicopter. This surprisingly affordable $29.95 device is an original ThinkGeek creation, featuring a “futuristic drop-ship style design with precise flying characteristics and an innovative rear propeller system.” In addition, it is touted to be the smallest 3-channel R/C copter in the world at the moment, so we won’t recommend leaving the windows open while you fly this thing indoors lest it crashes to the ground with a strong gust of wind.

The Dark Blade 3-Channel R/C Helicopter has dual rotors on the top which spin in opposite directions. These opposite spinning blades cancel out uncontrolled torque making for incredibly stable flight. For forward and reverse motion the tail rotor then blows up or down, pitching the copter forward or backward and causing it to move in that direction. It’s a great control system and a pleasure to fly.

The rate of diminishing returns here ain’t too shabby after all - a 10 minute charge time results in a 7 minute fly time, which is much better compared to others we’ve seen in the market. We’d strongly recommend you getting rechargeable batteries to go along with it though, as half a dozen AA batteries are required at any one time to keep the whole gig going.

I guess you can call it a rite of passage for drivers where ending up with a flat battery is one of life’s curveballs. After all, most of us have suffered from one dumbfounded moment where we forgot to turn off the lights of our car only to realize that the battery’s as dead as dead can be once we return. With the Car Starter and Torch, you don’t have to worry about asking for help elsewhere (and getting fleeced by unscrupulous mechanics at the same time), as it is able to juice up your car’s battery in less than 15 minutes!

This must-have car gadget provides emergency power to recharge your battery and start your engine â€" without going near the bonnet and without jump leads! The Car Starter uses a 12V lead that plugs conveniently into your car’s cigarette lighter and recharges a dead battery in less than 15 minutes. LED indicators show the charge status of your vehicle battery, as well as the charge condition of the Car Starter. There’s even a builtâ€"in 12V DC socket suitable for powering gadgets like your mobile phone, PDA, car vacuum and tyre compressor!

£49.95 is the asking price for this tool, and it even comes with a built-in torch just in case of emergencies.

Want to go on an environmental friendly drive in your home but don’t know where to start? Well, instead of overhauling your entire home’s consumer electronics equipment, why not purchase this Energy Detective instead? This meter is able to help you shave off anywhere from 10% to 20% of your electric bill simply by measuring just how much juice you’re using at the moment. Once you have an idea of the amount of energy being sucked up by your home, you will then take more pro-active steps in reducing it. Make the process fun by turning it into a family project as well!

You no longer have to wait for the ‘electricity bill surprise’. Instead, TED will accurately tell you what your bill is going to be long before the electric bill arrives. With its patented solution to home energy management, TED quantifies electricity and displays the results on its easy-to-read LCD screen. Think of it as your home’s speedometer. With a two-second reaction time, TED provides immediate feedback on energy usage. You can see what you’re spending on electricity each second, as well as what you’ve spent so far today or so far this month.

We guess it won’t be long before you save money after investing $149.99 on this.

Folks living in the US who have long looked forward to the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic handset will be pleased to know that it has finally arrived Stateside after being released in other regions of the world earlier. This looks set to be a feature packed phone without breaking the bank, and potentially offers a high rate where bang for your buck is concerned. The 5800 XpressMusic allows you to tote around a stylish yet affordable music device that boasts a touch screen interface that will appeal to the mass market. More details on this seemingly invincible music phone right after the jump.

First of all, Nokia has ensured that its 5800 XpressMusic covers all bases to satisfy the cravings of more serious than casual music listeners, including a graphic equalizer, 8GB internal memory that can store up to 6,000 tracks on average, support for all main digital music formats and a 3.5mm jack. We heave a collective sigh of relief as Nokia included the 3.5mm jack since that would mean we don’t have to hunt for pesky converters to use with high quality headphones. Just in case you prefer to share your favorite tunes with those around you, there is always the built-in surround sound stereo speakers that can pump up the volume to rock your cubicle (as well as your immediate neighbor at the office).

Touch screen technology is well known to be intuitive, and this is why Nokia has taken this route with the 5800 XpressMusic. Granted, Nokia is still very far behind the game when it comes to building a user interface that relies on a touch screen, but at least they seem to be making progress. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is able to deliver easy and fast access to all music, video and photos via a one-touch ‘Media Bar’ drop down menu. This very same Media Bar also offers a direct link to the Web and to online sharing. Unlike other phones that need updates to support Flash, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic doesn’t with native Flash support for a seamless web surfing experience. Other features include a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl eiss lens, a virtual alphanumeric and QWERTY keyboard, a pen stylus and a 3.2″ widescreen display. You can pick this up for $399 before taxes and subsidies in the US.

Press Release

Panasonic has announced that it will offer a new line of DivX Certified HDTVs from Panasonic that are available in Europe (why not in other parts of the world?), and they will consist of the Panasonic VIERA Z1, V10 and G15 series that boast cutting-edge 1080p full-HD flat panels to enable consumers to easily playback high-quality DivX video straight onto the television. I guess there is much more reason to get those terabyte-class external hard drives and storage solutions now, while keeping your computer on all night long to download full HD movies (just make sure these are legit copies and not bootlegs - we don’t condone piracy here at Coolest Gadgets) in DivX format for viewing later in the living room.

Despite these times of economic hardship, some of us would still find that upgrading a TV to keep up with the Joneses (or just to have a better home entertainment experience) is at the top of the priority list, and Panasonic hopes to have a HDTV for every budget with their new VIERAs. The Z1, V10 and G15 series will consist of nine different models, and all of them will incorporate its next-generation plasma display panels (PDPs) known as NeoPDP technology to offer superior picture quality, higher efficiency and thinner dimensions. Thinner dimensions are good - as the world’s population continues to grow, urban areas get more and more crowded, so the lack of breathing space among the populace will indirectly result in smaller living room for all, so thin displays are more than welcome. Not only that, the VIERA CAST online content service will also be made available in Europe for the first time ever.

In order to view your favorite DivX video, all you need to do is load up your SD/SDHC memory card with the said video, insert it into the SD/SDHC memory card slot directly on the VIERA HDTV and you’re good to go. A 4GB SDHC card is able to store more than six hours of high-quality DivX video (not High Definition, mind you). Not only that, DivX content can also be streamed directly from a network as long as you have a DLNA server. This makes life much simpler for folks who prefer to playback their entire library of favorite videos straight from the PC to the TV without going through the hassle of transferring such content to the SD/SDHC memory card.

Press Release

If you’ve seen the Disney/PIXAR movie WALL-E last summer, then the Bandai NetTansorWeb robot will probably look strangely familiar. Robot Japan 2008 was the stage for Bandai as they presented the NetTansorWeb, which unveiled a new robotic friend with some interesting features.

The NetTansorWeb is designed with surveillance cameras, and can move around your house automatically while you are gone, checking for intruders. It has sensors that will avoid obstacles, which I can only assume stairs. You can also control the robot via Wi-Fi to check things that the autopilot is probably missing. I have no idea if you can operate the robot arms, but they look like they are just there for show. I hope that I am wrong.

Another feature of the NetTansorWeb is that it will send reports of its surveillance, and it will even blog its progress. That’s right, it will blog. It may not update your personal blog for you, but it can monitor the comments section and respond to requests for image re-uploads.

I’ve heard that the battery life is low at only two and a half hours. Is there any way it could recharge automatically, or by remote control? I guess we’ll see in December, when the NetTansorWeb is slated to come out in Japan for a price of about $500.

Source

It’s always great when modern design can have a slight geeky twist.  This edgy lamp may be called the Joker, but it definitely has a Batman type feel to it.  Which apparently it was meant to come off that way judging from the kid sitting under the lamp with a batman mask pinned to the top of his head.  It is nice that it could still look perfectly natural in any home and still remind you of your comic loving side.

Despite that the lamp looks so modern and new, it was actually created in 1970, when it won 1st prize at a Scandinavian Lighting fair.  It was created by Christian Raeder and despite that he created it in 1970, it’s still worth a great deal to purchase brand new.  It comes in white as well as black, black of course will appeal more to those that like the batman style look.  The light is currently up for sale on Morba’s online shop for $285.

Source: CraziestGadgets

I’m not really a fan of the Sony PS3, I’m more of a Wii guy. I guess I like the simplicity of the Wiimote compared to the button munching, finger cramping PS3 controller.

It appears that someone has developed some new controllers for the PS3 that are a little less burdensome on the digits. The first is the mLani Wireless FPS Controller. This is designed for those players who love PS3 games like Fallout3 and other First Person Shooter games, but would rather play them like they would on their PC. There is a mouse and what looks like a tiny joystick.

The second is a concept called the DualShock Vortex. This is simply your average PS3 controller, with a twist. The twist is that hinge in the middle there.

I’m not certain why, but someone designed the Dual Shock Vortex who the user can control it by twisting. I suppose this is for Hang On type games where the controls are like motorcycle handlebars. I’m not certain how this would come in handy for the aforementioned FPS games.

Maybe you should keep both controllers on hand for both types of gameplay. Unfortunately, none of my sites have any word on price or availability, for now.

Source 1 and Source 2

Usual rules, vote for what you think is the coolest gadget and leave a comment for a chance to win a $50 Amazon voucher.

Conductive Wire Glue

Wire Glue is great for repairing wires, gluing together electronic kits, and really, is a great safe (i.e. no heat) way of introducing children to electrical engineering. Get some now, and get in on the microcarbon revolution early.

The full post can be found on RGS.

The Great Sleeping Bear

According to designer Eiko Ishizawa, this unusual sleeping bag was created to illicit a variety of different emotions including feelings of being eaten by a bear, being a bear as well understanding what it would be like to wear a bear skin. One thing for sure is this sleeping bag will get a few laughs on your next camping trip. Just be careful not to get shot by an overzealous hunter or worse, be violated by a bear.

The full post can be found on coated.

Baby Mop, Put Your Infant to Work Around the House

Babies make a lot of mess, so why not put them to work by turning them into a miniature human mop? The idea is pure genius, the baby will do the things that he or she normally does and in the process leave you with sparkling floors.

The full post can be found on UberReview.

Shuttle XPC D’VO D1000 Gets 7-inch LCD Treatment

Shuttle latest cool Quad Core Barebone PC, the PC D’VO D1000 comes with a built-in 7-inch touchscreen LCD to let you control your media center on-the-fly and also act as a secondary display.

The full post can be found on Hardware Sphere.

Oboe: Japanese Robot To Make Human Memories Immortal

The Oboe was designed by Arnaud Deloustal as a robot that would ‘hang-out’ with the elderly and carry memories of them

The full post can be found on EliteChoice.

Wear a Gadget, Find a Friend

The users will have to enter their personality traits and preferences and the computer program will make it possible to be read by the small portable device

The full post can be found on TrendsUpdates.

The iChange: An iPhone Controlled Car

The iPhone already has the ability to tell you how to get from A to B, but now it will actually get you there. The iChange is the latest iPhone accessory… and it’s a car. The iChange doesn’t have a key slot or button to start-up its engine, but is controlled by your iPhone. To get your car going, clip your iPhone into a holder next to the steering wheel and a green “start” button will appear on the phone’s display. Simply touch the button and the iChange will rev up and be ready to take you off on your pizza run.

The full post can be found on Gaj-it.

Harmony 1100 Advanced Universal Remote Control

The Harmony 1100 Advanced Universal Remote Control is a great gadget especially if you have a problem with loads of remote controls lying around the house. This gadget supports more than 225,000 devices spread over 5,000 brands. The Harmony Universal Remote Control is sleek, stylish, easy to setup and use with its fully customisable touch screen capabilities.

The full post can be found on Tech Styling.

Fauna Sauna Spa Beds — Radiant Heat-Enhanced Pet Beds

A new line of Fauna Sauna Spa Beds has been announced. Fauna Sauna Spa Beds are the first radiant heat-enhanced beds for pets. Non-contact radiant heat, also known as far infrared, is comforting, soothing and safe for dogs and cats.

Research shows that radiant heat, where the heat source never touches the body it is heating, is superior to conductive heat, such as heating pads, and is commonly used medically for pain relief, reducing inflammation, skin irritations, swelling, arthritis, anxiety, injuries

The full post can be found on Super Cool Pets.

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This isn’t the first time that I have reported on the Pocket Album by Digital Foci, and I am glad the company gave me the opportunity to try out the Pocket Album Deluxe.

The Pocket Album Deluxe has an OLED 2.8 inch screen, which brings out the beauty of digital photo files with a contrast level of 10,000 to 1. Downloading the pictures to the Pocket Album Deluxe was simple, as the frame comes with special software that the user needs no CD for.

This program works right out of the box. All a user needs to do is simply plug in the Pocket Album Deluxe into his or her computer via USB to mini-USB cord, and the software program can be downloaded from there.

I couldn’t find any way to get the pictures to the frame without downloading the program. This is different than most picture frames, which are often recognized by the computer as a thumb drive.

The Pocket Album Deluxe has some other interesting features such as a calendar and various slideshow options. While it may not be used as a keychain like the original Pocket Album, it is easily portable, and comes with a carrying case and stand.

For more information on the Pocket Album Deluxe, feel free to read a related article here. If you want to go and purchase it, feel free to go over to the Digital Foci site and lay down $89.00.

We’ve reported on Personal Stress Relievers like the emWave before. Considering the stress levels some of us live at, I’m surprised there aren’t more products like it to help us keep our collective stress levels down.

I got to chance to try out the emWave at CES, and I was surprised that it worked so well. It would appear that someone has invented a personal stress reliever, or meditation device, that can connect directly to the user’s computer.

The HIMS Brain HUBI biofeedback device can take a readout from your fingertips and then displays a graph that shows your state of mind. I’m guessing that the user is going to need to breathe or somehow relax to keep their numbers on healthy levels.

So, is this the beginning of PCs that give a digital readout of your brain? I don’t see why not. In fact, could someone design a meditation device that is put into a mouse, then you would always have a mental readout of your stress levels. You would then learn how much stress your job really gives you.

The price of this device is about $206, which might give you more stress. Yes, I just can’t seem to escape the irony that much of our stress is invariably caused by technology. It’s nice to know that someone is making tech to bring our stress level down.

Source

It’s not uncommon to see designers pushing the barriers of design, to see what they can come up with.  A lot of times it’s with luxurious items that even if they became available the general public, it wouldn’t benefit them.  With this new design, it’s highly possible the general public won’t benefit, but you have to appreciate the designer looking out for those in zero gravity conditions.  It’s pretty obvious that any liquid would be difficult to deal with in zero gravity, well with this mug astronauts could ditch the heated aluminum bags and straws and drink coffee like it was meant to be.

The designer is technically Travis Baldwin, however, it comes straight from the brain of Donald Petit who was an astronaut during the mission STS-126.  Travis Baldwin offered up his services to help turn the design into an actual product.  By giving astronauts back one of the luxuries they give up while in a spacecraft, that luxury being their morning cup of joe.  They admit that it is difficult to predict how the cup would fair in zero gravity, but it should work.  The coffee is held by surface tension in the narrow bottom of the cup, the deep groove then acts as a wick that draws liquid up as it is removed.  The lip depression should hold the bead of the coffee in place at the top of the groove.  The entire thing features thin walls making it possible for this to be made out of disposable materials.

Source: Uberreview

You might actually recognize this tripod, it was shown here a couple years ago after being featured at CES.  However, at the time there was zero purchase info and not much general information.  What’s great about this tripod is when you go on vacation either alone or with your significant other, it always bites that you can get no shots of you posing in different areas (if you’re alone) or pictures of you standing affectionately with the significant other.  It always seems like everyone has those couples pictures while they were out traveling, but it just doesn’t seem feasible.  Either you brave trusting some random stranger to hold onto your camera or you attempt to set up a tripod and timer.  Most tripods are bulky and would be difficult to set up in a busy area.  Now with this Monsterpod it’d work out great even in the most busy areas.

The Monsterpod is said to stick to virtually any surface (over 1,000 different surfaces), it can even hang upside down.  The stand can then tilt and rotate to get the angle you want and is waterproof and dirt resistant.  If it does get dirty though it can be washed with water.  It will hold any camera up to 20oz, so you’d have to know how much your camera weighs.  Likely the larger cameras are going to be pushing it a bit, since a Nikon D70 Digital SLR weighs 21oz.   As long as the camera is under that weight it will stay in place for 1-10 minutes and sometimes even longer than that.  You can purchase it for $30 from Photojojo.

Source: Geeky-Gadgets

Apple’s very lucrative fee sharing arrangement with AT&T over iPhone fees may be coming to an end in favor of a new carrier … Verizon Wireless. If Apple’s interim CEO Tim Cook considers what to do with the current carrier arrangement over the iPhone, rumors are flying that Verizon wireless may be courting Cupertino for a similar exclusive arrangement for Apple customer loyalty. But most tech reporters agree that changing one deal with the devil for another is just as bad and Apple should consider tossing iPhone use wide open for all carriers, and customers to enjoy.

The initial arrangement with AT&T for subsidizing the cost of the iPhone was supposed to be for 5 years. In the course of such an arrangement, Apple has enjoyed a very lucrative profit sharing position as provider of what many call “the Jesus Phone.” But it seems that support for sticking with AT&T seems to be waining in the hallowed halls of Apple and considering that Verizon has been nipping at Apple’s heels since the iPhone’s inception back in 2007 with a promised iPhone killer (get in line) could it be that Cupertino is finally taking a look at the popular wireless carrier as a potential replacement to MaBell?

Rumors are rumors and Apple is no stranger to them. But frankly, it would be complicated, but a much more lucrative arrangement for Cupertino if they got out of the exclusive deal and opened the iPhone wide open for any carrier to carry. They’d probably sell ten times more phones that way.

Hat Tip â€" PMP Today