Gadgets Blog

Belkin is back with the Belkin TuneCast Auto Live FM transmitter alongside their very own ClearScan Live software application that will allow both iPhone and iPod Touch owners to gain easy access to their FM transmitter, picking out the most suitable radio frequency to play music in the car.

ClearScan Live allows the iPhone to display the FM frequency and the controls on its screen. This hardware-software combination is the first to utilize an iPhone application to control FM transmission and utilize GPS coordinates to determine the clearest FM frequency at the user’s location. TuneCast Auto Live capitalizes on the ability of iPhone OS 3.0 to enable application control of hardware accessories, with ClearScan Live as the first application to interact with an iPhone FM transmitter accessory. Together, the Belkin hardware and software provide a powerful tool for people to easily control and listen to their music in their cars.

The Belkin TuneCast Auto Live FM transmitter will arrive across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia later this Fall, retailing for $79.99 a pop.

Press Release

Most smartphones these days come with GPS navigation capability, but they were made by companies that have phones as their primary business. Turn the tables around and you’ll get the Pharos Traveler 137 GPS Smartphone - this is a GPS unit with cellphone capabilities, or should we call it a cellphone with GPS navigation skills? Regardless of what you classify it under, we’re pretty sure you’d be well pleased with the following specifications :-

• Qualcomm MSM7201A 528MHz Processor
• 3.5” WVGA 480 x 800, 65K color TFT LCD with touch panel
• Tri-band AWS 1700/1900/2100 MHz, UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA: 384K/7.2M/2Mbps
• Quad-band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Built-in GPS
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
• FM transmitter
• 3.1-megapixel camera
• 0.3-megpaixel front camera
• Free real-time traffic, gas price, movie and weather information

This cute little number will retail for $599.95 - pretty hefty since it comes unlocked and is not subsidized by any carrier.

This is one of those drives that you wouldn’t expect it to be a USB drive concealed within.  It looks more like something someone would stash a little Tylenol within.  Instead it’s a small USB drive that allows for you to store random files inside.  It’d be a humorous keychain for nurses and various medical workers to carry around.  Of course it won’t discriminate if you’re not within the medical field, it’ll still safely store your files just the same.  Plus it can be attached to your keys as a keychain.

Once again this is another one that the keychain part is attached to the cap.  Which makes me a little concerned that it would stop clinging to the lid so well and the drive itself, with all of your data, would be dropped and lost.  The serious down side of the drive is that it’s only a 64MB drive.  That still leaves room for 40 photos though or 30 minutes of MP3s.  Still, it’s not exactly a decently sized drive.  The drive will cost you £10.95 or about $18 from GiftLab.

Although this isn’t likely to appeal to the average geek, it might appeal to the very girly female and especially to young females.  This cute ladybug works as a mouse and gives your computer a less boring look.  After all, so often computer feature nothing but blacks and grays, which is fine, but it does get a touch monotonous.  It also doesn’t have quite the cartoon-like look that the other ladybug mouse I’ve seen had.  Since it’s not so cartoonish, it makes it a better prospect for women who enjoy anything with a ladybug theme.

It’s a mouse, so the specs are pretty basic, it’s thankfully an optical mouse.  I have on occasion come across a novelty mouse that wasn’t optical.  It connects through your USB port and since it is just a mouse it will of course work with either a PC or a Mac.  It’d be a great mouse to take to work if you can get away with it.  Just to add a little more color to your office environment.  The mouse is being sold through Lazy Bone UK and not at a bad price either.  You can purchase it for $28.95.

This is a small gadget that would definitely come in handy.  It’d be one of those things that makes traveling or even your day to day life a bit more simple.  It can charge all of your USB gadgets and it does so in a versatile manner.  Making it so you are unlikely to ever be somewhere that you can’t charge it up.  Just plug it into your car and you can charge up your iPhone or iPod while you’re on the go.

It also can be plugged into the wall as well, so if you’re not able to get access to a computer someplace that has an outlet, you’ll still be able to get charged up.  It doesn’t require a three prong outlet either, so if you’re visiting family that lives in a house where three prong outlets are scarce, this would be great to have handy.  There is also a status LED light that lets you know that the outlet is providing the power you need to charge your gadget.  You can purchase the Car + Wall Plug USB Power Charger for $12 from USB Geek.

Source: GeekyGadgets

It is nice to see companies taking more responsibility in keeping the planet clean with each product release without sacrificing on performance, such as LCD monitors and now, cellphones. Sony Ericsson just unveiled a couple of GreenHeart pioneer products that underline the efforts the company is taking when it comes to environmental sustainability, featuring eco-friendly products that won’t compromise on product design and functionality. The two handsets on parade today would be the C901 GreenHeart as pictured as well as the Naite.

The flagship C901 GreenHeart will comprise of an electronic, in-phone manual that does away with the standard paper version - good thinking on their part. Now all they need to do is to sell a gazillion of these handsets in order to make a real, significant impact when it comes to deforestation prevention. Well, sarcasm aside, this move looks set to save more than 90% in paper, further reducing the environmental impact during transportation of the final product as it would mean a more compact packaging. As for the case, the C901 GreenHeart handset uses at least 50% recycled plastics within, while the optimized display light sensor will further reduce your carbon footprint.

Interestingly enough, the Sony Ericsson C901 GreenHeart will be equipped with a WalkMate application that enables users to literally walk the talk as it goes about calculating the exact number of steps you’ll take in an equivalent journey traveled by car, showing how much CO² you save in the process whenever you walk to your destination instead of drive.

Some of the features found on the Sony Ericsson C901 GreenHeart will include :-

• Smile shutter
• One-click uploading
• Face Detection
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• UMTS/HSPA 900/2100.
• 5 megapixel camera with 16x digital zoom and xenon flash
• Video recording capability
• Bluetooth stereo A2DP connectivity
• 2.2″ 240 x 320 resolution TFT scratch-resistant display
• Memory Stick Micro slot

Press Release

LaCie is back this time round with not some variant of an external or portable hard drive, but the LaCinema Black Series of media players instead, coming in both PLAY and RECORD varieties. By expanding their range of Wireless HD media players, LaCie has certainly stepped out of their comfort zone, giving some competition to players in this market with Neil Poulton-designed products that are pleasing to the eyes this time round. Both models from the Black range were specially constructed to optimize the way consumers access and play content straight off from their HDTV.

The LaCinema Black PLAY and RECORD will boast some of the most up-to-date home networking capabilities right smack in your living room, at least that’s what the press release claims. Users will be able to select from a direct network connection, but I suspect that more people would prefer to opt for the Wi-Fi connection since that is more or less a given in most homes these days. Regardless of your choice of connectivity, you will be able to use this new player to store music, movies and photos from any computer on the local network. An integrated UPnP client player makes it a snap for users to access media content from a networked PC or Mac from anywhere in the home.

In tandem with the High Definition age that we now live in, the LaCinema Black PLAY and RECORD will enable users to enjoy downloaded HD movies and television programs straight on their new flat panel display, virtually ensuring that you will need to have a HD-ready TV in your home before you decide to pick up either player from LaCie. Shared features among the two include 1080p resolution decoding capability for movies and TV shows, HD JPEG photos and 1080i upscaling of Standard Definition movies. Prices for the LaCinema Black line will start from $429.99 onwards.

Product Range

Sanyo is no stranger when it comes to projectors, regardless of whether they are of the LCD or DLP variety. This time round, they will be unleashing two more portable projectors to the market - the PLC-XW250 and the PLC-XW200, where these two models will target the education field without breaking the annual budget, boasting outstanding cost performance with an eco stand-by power mode that sips just 0.4 watts of juice. Coupled with their very own “Easy Setup Function”, getting one of these up and running even by a newbie should be a snap.

Their power consumption of 0.4 watts places both the PLC-XW250 and the PLC-XW200 under the category of “most ecological data projector” from Sanyo’s stable. When the eco power stand-by mode kicks in, it helps you save approximately 80% of the energy that is consumed by similar previous Sanyo projectors. This is made possible by a redesign of electrical circuits, fully complying with the EuP-Directive Lot 6 and the EU RoHS Directive. Not only that, the packaging that both of these projectors come in are also environmentally friendly, being made out of pulp molds that can later be recycled as used paper.

What’s so great about the “Easy Setup Function”, you ask? Well, it includes Auto Input Signal Search, Auto Vertical Keystone Correction and an Input Guidance Function. Firstly, the Auto Input Signal Search will be able to detect the input signal automatically and make the relevant changes to internal settings. Secondly, the Auto Vertical Keystone Correction function will be able to automatically detect its position angle and make corrections for any image distortion. Last but not least would be the Guidance Function that shows on-screen connection instructions whenever there isn’t any input signal detected. Sanyo will be rolling out the PLC-XW250 and the PLC-XW200 later this month, retailing for $895 and $795, respectively.

Press Release

Asus is one versatile company that seems to have dipped their hands into just about anything and everything imaginable. Their latest release would be the Asus O!Play HDP-R1 HD Media Player - offering users yet another way to stream and enjoy a vast array of high definition content on your flat panel displays at home (if you’re still stuck with a CRT, isn’t it about time you got on with the times, mate?). Let’s take a closer look at what the O!Play HDP-R1 HD Media Player is able to offer the home theater buff, hopefully it will be able to come up with satisfactory nods all around instead of being sold short.

The Asus O!Play HDP-R1 holds the distinction of being the first (and only, to boot) High Definition media player which will tout the ability to handle a wide range of file formats, and among those include MPEG1/2/4, H.264, VC-1, and the ever popular RM/RMVB. Playing nice with a vast array of video formats isn’t just the only thing the uniquely named O!Play HDP-R1 is good at - it also allows users to share both videos and photos straight from their PCs and notebooks in enhanced clarity and high definition with anyone else who has an internet connection, all straight from the living room (or conference room if you’re more of the business type of person).

The remote control even comes with a dedicated button for music shuffle, allowing you to indulge in some random audio goodness during moments when you want to be pleasantly surprised by your own digital music collection. The inclusion of an eSATA interface on the O!Player HDP-R1 itself enables users to experience up to 6 times faster transfer speeds as compared to USB 2.0 under selected situations, virtually doing away with delays that are normally associated with video streaming, what more in high definition this time round.

Press Release

It’s that time of the week where we can while away a bit of “work” time looking at what’s cool gadget wize around the web (vote and leave a comment for a chance to win a $50 Amazon voucher).

Ecco GPS Keychain Saves From Exhausting Searches For Lost Vehicles

Forgetting where my car is parked is something that happens to me on a fairly regular basis, which makes the Ecco GPS an enticing gadget to say the least. It is a GPS unit that serves only one function, to reunite you with your vehicle with the bare minimum of legwork.
It only holds three locations, but I only have one car so it sounds alright to me. Ten minutes of use per day will get you two weeks of battery time, and it is rechargeable via USB.

The full post can be found on UberReview.

Xbox 360 - Project Natal

Project Natal is Microsoft’s next generation control system. Similar to the Wii, this new system requires a sensor bar, but unlike the Wii, the bar incorporates a camera, motion sensors and a microphone that can detect full body motion. This new system will allow for a whole new level of game play and interactivity without the need for game controllers.

The full post can be found on Coated.

Portable Misting Tower: Cool Down this Summer

A great way to keep warm as you’re soaking up the incredibly hot sun we’ve been having this week, the Portable Misting Tower does exactly what it says on the tin- it’s a 7′2″ tower which is portable and gives out mist when attached to a regular garden hose. A fine mist of water is sprayed from the top bar, falls on your skin and returns your body temperature from Mercury to Pluto (or at least Earth). Good for BBQ, sun worshiping and even the plants come Autumn!

The full post can be found on Gaj-It.

Alienware M17x Gaming Laptop

Alienware are back with a new re-designed and updated gaming laptop in the form of the Alienware M17x - this “beast” of a gaming laptop features top of the range components to provide high performance gaming in a new anodised aluminium case design and also has a rather cool illuminated keyboard - if you do a lot of your gaming on the move, then this stylishly beats carrying a huge desktop PC around with you!

The full post can be found on Zath Hi-Tech Gadgets.

Ice Shot Glasses

Gadgets don’t come much “cooler” than this. Because of the recent heat wave the GFM office has found itself craving cold booz (form about lunchtime onwards). This prompted a search for a gadget that would satisfy our craving. The Ice Shots Glasses were the result of our, minuets of searching. Check out the full post to see the “3 best drinking twists” for these brrrrrrrrr’illiant little glasses.

The full post can be found on Gadgets-For-Men.co.uk.

NEC CRV43 43 Inch Curved Monitor

NEC has launched their new 43 inch curved LCD monitor the NEC CRV43, and from the looks of the photos this would be great for gaming.

The NEC CRV43 features a resolution of 2880 x 900, a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, USB 2.0 connectivity, a DVI-D and HDMI 1.3 connections, and it provides a 32:10 aspect ratio.

The full post can be found on Geeky Gadgets.

Save Your Tunes With U Record Converter

For those who still have cassette tapes and old LPs (you know who you are) but still want to save them for eternity, the Ion MixMeister Music Converter will do the trick. It is a simply plug and play USB connection with no drivers needed. The 5.5 x 6.2 x 3.5″ device with software will record analog tunes, edit and get rid of that nasty hissing.

The full post can be found on Networking Audio Video.

Gadget charger pump

Perfect for festivals and outdoor activities, the power pump will charge your phone, MP3 player and all your other gadgets. Just a minute or so on the power pump will charge your phone enough to make a five minute phone call.

The full post can be found on Decide What to Buy.

Thanks again to all the sites for their submissions now over to you guys for voting (don’t forget to leave a comment with your reason for a chance to win a $50 Amazon voucher).

Want to hear about future contests first? Subscribe to our daily digest via email or RSS.

If you write for a gadget themed blog and wish to be included in next weeks contest check out the CGOTW instructions page.

The Fujitsu Flepia is the first e-book reader to have a color e-ink screen, but it probably has the highest price of $1,025. That is probably a little too high for most consumers, even if they are tired of monochromatic screens.

Fortunately, iRex has promised to make a high-tech color, writable ebook reader by 2011. For those of you not familiar with iRex, they are a Philips company spinoff who just completed a second version of the Iliad, an e-book reader with an 8.1 inch display, 256 MB worth of memory, and a $600 price tag.

One can only hope that iRex’s future color e-book reader will be lower in its price, but the company does promise a brightness level three times higher of most displays, thanks to their “subtractive color mixing”.

Subtractive color mixing is some new e-ink technology that sounds unique to iRex, and it will allow “print-quality visuals to magazines and other full-color publications”.

Too bad iRex doesn’t have an exact date when they plan on getting this color e-book reader on the market. I would really like to mark it on my 2011 calendar (not that I have one). Of course, by the time we get to 2011, every electronics company might be offering a full-color e-book reader. Then all those monochromatic Kindles and their derivatives will end up looking like a dial-up modems.

Source

Remember in the mid-nineties when all those ergonomic keyboards started coming out? I remember all of those consumers who thought: “hey, that just looks weird”. This is exactly my thought when I first saw the Combimouse.

I mean, look at the half of the keyboard on the right, it looks like an arrow pointing to the left half! Actually, the purpose of that right side is to slide around on your desk just like your mouse, only without the shifting of your hand to click anything.

By the way, the right side of the keyboard only acts as a keyboard if there is no movement on it. Once there is movement, the cursor will move and the keys become mouse buttons.

According to my source, it has been successfully tested at Wichita State University. However, this looks like one of those devices that will require you to relearn something that you already know by instinct. Let’s hope the few seconds you shave off your day from shifting your hand from the keyboard to the mouse is worth this re-learning experience.

Of course, you never know what accessory will be the next big thing, even if the user has to change his or her lifestyle. If you want to be a co-investor on this, just head over to the Combimouse web site.

Source

Take a look at this curvaceous new monitor from NEC. What you are looking at could easily be the shape of the future. I mean, look at it! It’s so sexy-looking as it bends around you.

Okay, I’m not going to go any further with my praise of the CRV43 monitor, so let’s just get to the facts. It is a 43-inch display with a native resolution of 2880 x 900 and a 32:10 aspect ratio.

It also has a 12-bit color depth, as opposed to the 6 or 8 bit color depth from most monitors. The contrast ratio is a 10,000:1, and as for ports, it has HDMI and single link DVI connections, as well as one USB, at least.

According to NEC, they have “seamlessly blended” four panels for a “unique adaptation of DLP technology”. The panels allow for a response time of 0.02 milliseconds.

Now for the sad fact: this monitor costs about eight thousand dollars. Dang! I was really starting to get to like it. Who am I kidding, I loved it the moment I saw it. There is something about that curvy look. Maybe because one day I envision our monitors curving around us, for a very immersible experience. Until then, NEC has really got to come out with a less expensive version of this product.

Source