Gadgets Blog

Looks like Polaroid has announced a ship date for the Polaroid Pogo. Or should I say month? According to Like Cool, Polaroid will ship the Pogo Instant Digital Camera next month. If you recall, the Pogo was the merging of a digital camera with the Zink portable printer. The Zink, which stood for “zero ink” prints a smidge-proof, water-resistant, fade resistant print with a no ink, heat activated process. Polaroid has been waiting for this development (pardon the pun) so they could finally get back to what their core business was … instant print pictures.

When instant print film died a lingering death (which Polaroid finally put out of it’s misery by simply stopping production), they wandered the wilderness of digital cameras with lackluster designs which could be consider “also rans.” Copies of what everyone else was doing. But it’s identity was always about instant print images and now, it can finally get back to that with the Pogo. But could it have killed them to make the print the classic Polaroid look with a chin on the bottom?

The Pogo will provide a 5 megapixel image, but sadly, no zoom lens. It will include a 3” color LCD screen and expanded SD memory. It will print a 2×3” digital print in about a minute. Cost of the Pogo will run about $200, with 30 sheets the Zink paper to cost $12.99.

Welcome back to the party, Polaroid!

Everyone knows that vintage Gameboy is the best, well with technology moving so quickly, it’s hard to show your old Gameboy some love.  Well now you can show your appreciation for vintage gaming every single time you whip out either your iPhone or iPod Touch.  This skin announces loud and clear that you remember the good old days, when overly pixelated video games were the norm.

This was created by Michael Sison, who did admittedly make the skin a little bit on the girly side.  The heart sitting squarely at the center of the screen is a bit much for my tastes.  However, I’m willing to overlook it, since it so charmingly captures the true essence of the old Gameboys.  The iPod Touch skin will fit both 1st and 2nd generation iPods.  The iPhone skin fits all sizes of iPhones.  You can purchase the skin on Infectious for $14.99.  That cost includes the small piece for the front, the larger one on the back and an extra Infectious logo.

Source: CraziestGadgets

When you picture a laptop case, I imagine this was nowhere near the visual you would conjure in your head.  This looks about like the more expensive equivalent of just scotch taping bubble wrap around your precious laptop.  This cover protects your laptop at all times and can stay on even when it’s in use.  So you won’t have to worry about it being hurt while it’s outside of a case.

The case has a built-in carrying handle, so you don’t have to carry a laptop bag all of the time.  It’s also slim enough that it could still fit within a laptop bag.  All of the materials are environmentally friendly too, which is always a nice bonus.  The manual is tragically in Japanese, but somehow I doubt that you’ll need a whole lot of directions in order to figure out the case.  You can choose between two different sizes, the 13 inch and 11 inch.  It’ll cost you $38 from the Japan Trend Shop.

Source: GeekyGadgets

When Canon released the 21 MP 5D Mk. II complete with 1080p full frame video, serious videographers were drooling. And after seeing such shorts as “Reverie,” by professional photographers using the video feature to shoot some serious cinematic imagery, the chief complaint was that the 5D Mk. II’s video feature was purely automatic. That there was no ability to control manually the exposure or shutter settings for the video feature, was always a thorn in professional videographers side. No more. According to CNet, a firmware update for the $2500+ camera body is coming which will give photographers the keys to the video kingdom.

The basic reason why Canon left out manual control for video was simply because they considered video to be the “icing on the cake” to the core feature of the camera, which was obviously to shoot digital still images in high resolution. But they did such a great job with the quality of the full frame 1080p video that 5D users were screaming for Canon to release the manual hounds.

“This new firmware will accommodate a great number of user requests for manual exposure control in the EOS 5D Mark II video mode. Manual exposure control while shooting video on the EOS 5D Mark II is expected to make a big impact with cinematographers and videographers using the 5D Mark II for high-end HD video production,” Canon said.

The ability to control the ISO, f stop and shutter settings for the 5D Mk. II will allow the camera to become a serious cinematic contender for budding filmmakers on a budget. The new firmware update will be available next month.

Hat Tip â€" Crave

Here’s a speaker that I’m surprised I haven’t seen around before, purely because it’s a fairly logical combination.  I’m not a huge fan that it only comes in the cheesy bright pink, but it’d be a great speaker for women.  If you are one that enjoys having the option of hooking up your MP3 player to a speaker, this could easily be dropped into the bottom of your purse.

It has the shape of a compact and even has the added feature of having a mirror on the inside.  The face plate on the very top can be changed out to show something a little more personal.  Such as a family photo or a picture of a recent girls night out.  The unfortunate thing about this speaker is that instead of being USB powered, it needs 3 AAA batteries.  It’s not the end of the world, but it’d be nice if it was rechargeable.  You can purchase the speaker for £14.99 or about $24 from BB Shopping.

Source: Gadgenista

Have you ever parked your car in a large parking lot, and forgotten where it was? From there it becomes a quest. I remember when I visited Walt Disney’s EPCOT Center and it took me a half-hour before I could find my rental car.

Now if I had the Travel Honey GPS Location Finder from Chinavision, I would have found it right away. That, or I could have written down the coordinates as I left my vehicle behind. Of course, this is why we have technology, right? So we don’t have to write things down on scraps of paper.

With the Travel Honey, you get out of your car, then push a button on the GPS location receiver and finder for two seconds. After you are finished with your business or pleasure, you push the button again, and an arrow will point to where you need to go.

As you can see by the photo, it works like a compass, only a little easier. It will blink when you are within 50 meters, and turn blue within 15 meters. This could be a problem when you are in a parking lot, unless you intend to walk in between the parked cars.

Of course, who says that this device has to be used just for parking? You could use this to find anything that you need to come back to later, like a hotel or campsite. You can even use it as a USB dongle for your laptop, which will turn it into a GPS device, provided the proper mapping software is installed.

This would make the Travel Honey a GPS Receiver, Location Finder, Data Logger, and even a Photo Tagger. All for just $54 on the Chinavision site.

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It’s summer right now in my little corner of the world, and there is nothing that I like better than to go out in the sun and wind and fly a kite. However, if I wanted to, I could just stay inside, watch TV, and fly the Silverlit Kazoo indoor kite.

I know what you are thinking the moment you saw the title: an indoor kite? What are you, nuts? Is this designed for people who have a wind-tunnel in their living room?

Actually, the Silverlit Kazoo comes with an electric motor that is able to keep it aloft in the absence of wind. Now, you could say that the Silverlit is not a kite per se because of the aforementioned electric motor, and I would agree.

The motor is tethered to a remote control that requires 8 AA batteries in order to function. I am guessing that the remote just has a button to control the speed of the propeller motor, and nothing to control the direction or height of this “kite”.

However, the product is billed as the “Silverlit Kazoo Electronic Remote Control Indoor Flying Kite”, so if you want to check it out for yourself, go over to the HobbyTron site and order it. It only costs $14.95.

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“Go DJ! Yeah DJ!” That’s the jingle for Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, a new video game with a controller that is quite similar to DJ Hero.

As you can see, it comes with a turntable with a somewhat authentic vinyl record attached to it. There may not be an arm for you to scratch up the vinyl, but there are five buttons with a cross-fader. Scratch will allow the player to upload samples with a compatible USB mic, as well as use the preloaded ones.

As of now, I am not certain what console this will be available for. You might be able to see that there is an X, circle, square, and triangle for the buttons, so is it for Sony Playstation? The peripheral certainly seems versatile enough to be used for any console system, even a PC.

I believe that I previously mentioned how the controller on Scratch resembles the one for DJ Hero. If I had to choose the one that I would use, I would probably use the one from Scratch, as its buttons are on the side of the turntable and not on the turntable itself.

By the way, the Scratch controller can be used by both left-handed and right-handed players. I’m not certain if DJ Hero allots for that.

I guess we will see in the fall, when Scratch is due for release. There is planned to be a preview of this game at E3 if you can’t wait that long, though.

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You won’t really go wrong with the Pratesi Guitar Backpack, especially if you’re a hardcore music lover. This special guitar-shaped bag is made from premium vegetable-dyed calf leather (talk about being organic!), where it will come with an integrated mini speaker as well as outlet for you to hook up your favorite MP3 player. Other features include inner slit and zip pockets located alongside the shoulder strap for that sophisticated musician look, although don’t expect the two AA batteries power the speakers to unprecedented heights in public. It will take a fair bit of busking with the Pratesi Guitar Backpack in tow to recover the $398 you spent on it…

Source: Likecool