Gadgets Blog

Most people are satisfied well enough with fairly affordable iPod docks.  Usually it’s not really needed to go over a couple hundred dollars for even the biggest music lovers.  However, if you’re looking for something extremely high end that will cost you a small fortune, this could be the dock for you.  Just by glancing at the dock, most people would be able to guess that this is no ordinary dock.  This is the kind of dock that you sell your car so that you purchase it.

Of course typically these will be purchased by people who have a serious chunk of change just lying around.   For the average person though, it’d take selling your car to be able to afford it.  The dock has a built-in wireless radio link option that can stream any audio signal.  That includes from your iPod itself, to any A2DP bluetooth enabled device.  Although I by no means think this is worth the money you’ll pay for it.  It would be great for those that want top of the line electronics.  You can pick it up for a whopping $12,000.

Source: GadgetVenue

This clock may be about as minimalist as it gets, but it leaves plenty of room on your part for a bit of creativity.  This clock consists only of two tiny discreet balls, anyone glancing at them would never know what they are.  Actually even after you have them all set up, it may take you a long while to figure out what time it is exactly.  With this around though, you get to choose the china you put these within, giving it your own personalized look.

They are two little magnets, the red one shows hours, whereas the small white ball shows the minutes.  Choose a cup and then a small plate, add water to them and drop in the magnets.  It then keeps time and there’s not even a need for batteries.  It doesn’t entirely explain how it all works, but I’m sure if you order it they’ll give more instructions on that sort of thing.  Despite that this is merely consisting of two little magnets, this clock is a bit on the expensive side.  The Water Clock will cost you $299 from Generate.

Source: Technabob

Every once in a while, somebody envisions a robot that feels plucked from a science-fiction movie or novel. Take this undersea robot concept from the Fraunhofer Institute, for example.

Believe it or not, this robot is designed to work independently and underwater. As you can see, the apparatus has four propellers for stabilization, and some arms too.I’m not certain what sort of projects that they have in mind for them, but deep sea exploration would be a good job, if it wasn’t for the pressures of deep water.

Many other blogs have compared its look to a certain robot that Neo wakes up to in The Matrix. Considering that these robots are programmed to act independently, how long will it be before they build more of themselves, and invade like the machines in The Matrix? The movie of that would be a combination of I, Robot and the 1977 William Shatner classic Kingdom of the Spiders.

The shape reminds me of this episode of GI Joe that takes place underwater. On this show, the evil Destro pulls out a ball that he calls a robot-opus and throws it at the good guys. Don’t ask me how he throws this underwater, but this tiny robot-opus ball opens up like an eye and sprouts eight tentacles to attack.

Well, time will tell if this concept robot becomes reality.

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Mother’s Day usually means tons of very cheesy and fairly cheap jewelry.  Well if you are going to pick up some cheesy jewelry, it might as well be useful too.  This heart necklace is probably more something a young kid would think their Mom would love, but sometimes moms still love this stuff.  It comes covered in crystals, so there’s no doubt that it will be eye catching.  Then it also hides away a USB drive.

Thankfully with this there are no worries of losing the cap to it.  The drive just slides away to be hidden within the heart.  It’s actually a handbag shaped heart pendant.  The drive itself is only 2GB, which isn’t anything stellar, but it works.  It also won’t break the bank to pick it up either.  You can pick it up from Gadget4all in either pink or white for $23.  You should probably get rush shipping though since Mother’s Day is right around the corner.

Source: Popgadget

Games like Guitar Hero and RockBand have been sweeping the video game nation, so why not create a musical game based on DJ-ing?

Yes, it would appear that Activision has created DJ Hero, a game that will require a new type of controller that you see here. Not much else is known about DJ Hero except that it will have different genres of music like hip-hop, R&B, Motown, electronica, and dance.

Does anyone think that it is odd that the controller is a turntable with a few “frets” on the record itself? I actually tried out DJing at the Experience Music Project, a museum in downtown Seattle. I realize that doesn’t make me a professional DJer by any means, but I don’t think there should be any buttons on the record album at all.

The only reason why I know about DJ Hero is because someone posted pictures of the controller on a twitter account appropriately named “DJHero”. It is amazing how quickly information spreads on the net.

DJ Hero is due out this fall, but there is no word on a price. We do know that Guitar Hero 5 is also due to be released, as well as a new game called Band Hero. Band Hero is apparently a RockBand or Guitar Hero: World Tour for the younger crowd, with a guitar, drums, bass, and microphone and an E10 rating with family friendly top 40 hits.

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It was only yesterday when we reported on the concept MID (Mobile Internet Device) designed by Jan Rytir. Now take a gander at the WiPC, designed by BlueRadios Inc.

WiPC? Because there is apparently a need for wireless mobile broadband devices, that’s why. Okay, that joke didn’t really work, but who wouldn’t want “access to Internet-based information and entertainment content as well as voice, data, and video communications”.

Of course, one of the limitations to the WiPC or any MID is that tiny screen to surf the net with. Fortunately, this WiPC has a high-resolution color liquid crystal micro display, and superior magnifying optics coupled with some video technology can create a “virtual 15 inch image”. I’m not certain how that is possible to enlarge that image of that size.

Still, you’ve got to admire the miniaturization process that BlueRadios has accomplished. According to the company president and CEO Mark Kramer, they have reduced a typical 5 pound laptop down to 3 ounces. Not bad.

This product will be available to “OEMs and large consumer electronics distributors with advanced operating systems such as Windows, Android, or Linux”. It can also support Bluetooth 3.5G, WiFi, and GPS. There is no word on a price as yet. Anyone want to comment with an estimate?

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Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader did make quite an impression when it was first revealed, and as time goes by, it is only natural for a successor to be unleashed. This time round, Amazon has upgraded the Kindle by calling it the Kindle DX which boasts a whole host of improvements including a more generous 9.7″ electronic paper display, a built-in PDF reader, auto-rotate capability for easy reading no matter which format the digital book/magazine comes in, and enough storage space to hold an average of 3,500 books - definitely more than enough space for your personal library. For voracious readers, you won’t find the Kindle Store to be short of reading material as it stocks up to 275,000 books (and counting) to date, including 107 of 112 current New York Times Best Sellers. All New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases have been priced at $9.99 unless marked otherwise, while major U.S. and international magazines and newspapers in addition to over 1,500 blogs are also available for your perusal via Kindle DX.

The 9.7″ display on the Kindle DX is impressive, making it 2.5 times larger compared to the predecessor’s 6″ display. In addition, it comes with 16 shades of gray that enables more graphic-rich content when it comes to professional and personal documents, newspapers and magazines, and textbooks. Since the display works using real ink without a backlight, it reads as naturally as printed words on a paper, doing away with common electronic reading device complaints such as eyestrain and glare.

The integrated PDF reader on the Kindle DX is also another welcome feature since many documents these days come in PDF formats, making it a snap to tote around wherever you go. In addition, you can always have people mail documents in PDF format to your Kindle email address, where you can then read them directly. You get 3.3GB of storage space inside, and boasts 3G connectivity that allows you to wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download or receive new content in less than 60 seconds, as long as there is a decent signal. You can pick up the Amazon Kindle DX y placing a $489 pre-order.

Press Release

You know those sticks of chewing gum? Well, System Design Studio decided to take that as an inspiration with their latest lamp, the iLamp. It features new technology that turns it into one literally flexible reading light source. Manufactured using white silicon while featuring an electroluminescent screen, the whole lamp itself can be bent in a jiffy and stay in place to boot, allowing you to shape it to your liking. Looks like the perfect addition to any modern home.

Source: Minimalismi

Bang & Olufsen is a well known name when it comes to super expensive audio and video products, and they stick to tradition with the latest BeoVision 4 103″ plasma display - not only is this one of the biggest plasma TVs in the market, it also comes with a luxury stand that is able to lift the screen and turn and tilt it to the optimal viewing position at the touch of a button.

The BeoVision 4 103-inch will travel on an U.S. tour for three exclusive press and customer events in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The events will present the sole opportunities to experience the product in person, as it will not be on display in showrooms (each one is built to order). The New York and Los Angeles events will be hosted at The Audi Forum on May 6th and Aston Martin Beverly Hills on May 20th respectively, and will feature Sofia Coppola Champagne as the official champagne sponsor. The Chicago event will be held at the Bang & Olufsen America corporate office on June 16th.

Just in case you don’t want to mingle with the ordinary at the above-stated events, you can always head down to any Bang & Olufsen showroom and place your customized order, where you can choose from black, silver, red, blue, and dark grey colors. It takes up to four months for your order to be built and delivered, where a wall mount version will cost you $93,050 while the one with a motorized floor stand will burn a $111,805 hole in your pockets.

Press Release