Gadgets Blog

Remember the Eye-Fi card that made waves some time ago with its ability to offer Wi-Fi connectivity alongside a sizeable amount of memory whenever you plug it into a non-Wi-Fi-capable device? Well, technology has advanced to a point when Wi-Fi connectivity is shoved into something much smaller - a microSD memory card this time round. Just in case you just crawled out from a rock or something, a microSD memory card is no larger than your fingernail, which makes this feat all the more amazing. Available from KDDI Corp., it comes mounted with a wireless LAN IC compliant with IEEE802.11b/g, a transceiving antenna, passive components and so on. There is no word on a release date as at press time though.

Source: Tech-On

Okay, I’ve been covering 3D items like mad since CES, and I think we are at the point where we are either sick of 3D or will demand it as our new standard.

Today’s 3D offering is the V-Screen. Just to let you know, it is not designed to screen out any violence on any screen, but it is an attachment that, when placed over a PSP screen, can bring the action to the next dimension.

Actually, I believe the actual quote is “enhances the perceived depth of the 2D screen image”. So will any glasses be needed? I hope not, because I’ve discovered that wearing goggles while playing a portable gaming system in public places makes you look really geeky. This is why video goggles aren’t really selling like hotcakes, even though the technology is getting better.

Unless you have to press this up to your face in order to get it to work. Please, no, not again. We already tried that with Virtual Boy, remember? It didn’t sell, and people weren’t interested in 3D gaming with that contraption.

Well, we shall see how the V-Screen fares, but this is the only information that I have on it right now. I don’t even have a price or availability date.

Source

I’m sure all of you have seen Ghostbusters, a movie with jokes that never get old, even after 25 years. There was one line I remember that isn’t quoted as often as “He slimed me”. It’s when Bill Murray says to Harold Ramis: “Hey, this reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole in your head, remember?” To which Ramis replies: “That would have worked if you hadn’t stopped me.”

That’s all we hear of that incident during that film. Still, the idea of drilling someone in the head to cure them of ills goes back to ancient times. Fortunately, High-intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) beams can do the same thing, with less, ahem, penetration.

All one needs is an MRI machine and ultrasonic device, and doctors have a way of pinpointing malignant areas with soundwaves and burning them off. It has already been used to remove benign tumors in the uterus, and it appears that it can do the same for the breasts and the brain.

Of course, the biggest problem with using ultrasonics on a patient’s head is that they tend to overheat his or her brain. I realize that wouldn’t be comforting to any patient with a brain tumor, but InSightec has developed a head harness so that cooler heads will prevail.

HIFU could also be used on other conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease. I’m guessing Team Fox is going to be looking into this one.

Source

I always appreciate the awesome designs that are completely mind blowing.  However, sometimes it’s nice to show a little appreciation for the simpler designs.  After all, they are the ones you’re more likely to see hitting the stores and making your day to day life a little bit more convenient on a regular basis.  Yes, the over the top designs have their purpose, but so do the everyday ones.  This clock definitely falls under the simpler designs, but it would make things a little easier.  Hang it on the wall and then you can write down quick notes for you or your loved ones.

It would thankfully make it possible to have less items cluttering up your wall space.  With this you’d just need this instead of a clock was well as a message board.  It’d be great for anything from your kitchen to having it hung within your office to remind you of meetings.  Sadly this is of course still a design, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this one make it to stores.

Source: Gizmodiva

For those of you with a his and hers type bathroom, this toothbrush sanitizer would be the perfect fit.  There are several different types of toothbrush sanitizers out there, you just have to find the right one for your bathroom.  If there are only two of you that use the bathroom, then this one would work out great.  It sanitizes two toothbrushes at once, but no more than that.

It also of course stores them away inside of a protective area.  Which means no germs will get on your toothbrush from laying out on the bathroom counter top.  That’s especially nice if you’re aware of how many germs get tossed into the air every single time someone flushes the toilet.  The UV technology will destroy up to 99.9% of germs that it comes in contact with.  The sanitizer runs on batteries, although they don’t state what type.  You can purchase it for $39.95 through Amazon, which isn’t really too bad of a price.

Source: GadgetGrid

I’ve reported on Digital Foci products before, and they are a company that does not disappoint when it comes to their digital photo frames. The Digital Foci Photo Book is no exception to that rule.

The Photo Book PBK-080 harkens back to the days when people stored their photos in quality albums. It has a leather-like case that magnetically seals, and, once fully charged, the user is free to download his or her photos through memory cards or by USB flash drives to internal memory.

The downloading was quite simple as it recognized my photo folders from my thumb drive right away, and they copied and pasted into the Photo Book for permanent storage. There is about 4GB worth of storage on the device itself, and it can even do video.

I found that the Photo book arranged my photos in a very classy way, and even had music. I’m not certain how to change the music, but I was able to do some pretty cool slideshows that looked very good on its 8-inch screen.

In short, the Photo Book from Digital Foci is the perfect gift for anyone in the family who is into collecting old photos or scrapbooking. It is also a very professional tool for those who want to make business presentations as well. You should be able to purchase it at the Digital Foci site for about $189.00

I’ve never really had a ton of USB items that needed plugged in, but even with as few as I have, it can be extremely frustrating when you run out of ports.  Then you get an extra hub and of course, that one fills up eventually.  So although you may not really need 10 different USB ports, you’re just giving yourself the option to have a lot plugged in at once.  It’s always better to have too many USB ports rather than too few.

The Elecom Compact 10 Port USB Hub would definitely leave plenty of breathing room to grow.  Which would be especially nice for those that have a family computer.  You could leave more plugged in and not have to worry about anyone fighting over who gets to use the spare port to charge their camera or iPod.  The USB Hub comes in three different colors, you can purchase it in either black, silver or white.  You can find it for ¥ 9,500.00 or about $101 from Geek Stuff 4 U, which might be a little more than some are willing to spend just for a little extra convenience.

Source: GeekyGadgets

I’m not certain how this pedal-powered monorail system got to be called the Shweeb, but I don’t really care. And you got to admit, it is a very cool invention for something that rhymes with “dweeb”.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to travel in a transparent monorail car that moves not by machine, but by the user’s command? So go ahead and make those phone calls and text messages while you are behind the wheel. All you have to worry about is the car in front of you, and you can stop anytime. By the way, the Shweeb “car” moves faster than an ordinary bike.

Just to let you know, there is no plans to implement the Shweeb as a new system of mass transit. I’m sure a lot of you are going “Awww” right now, and that is completely understandable, because it sure looks like a lot of fun.

Still, single riders on one rail? That would never work in big cities. Can you imagine the traffic if someone died in mid-pedaling? Better to use moving sidewalks and plastic air tubes like on cartoons such as The Jetsons and Futurama.

However, if you want to ride the Shweeb, all you need to do is go to the Agroventures Adventure Park in Rotorua, New Zealand. It will cost about $30 to go on this three-lap ride, though.

Source

I thought that Samsung was cool with its New Touchscreen Vending Machine. Little did I know that design company Bsquare was working on a Soda Fountain that is far more advanced.

Bsquare’s soda dispenser is also a touchscreen, but this one is designed to give the user over 100 flavors. Some of these flavors are ones that I have never heard of here in the U.S., like Raspberry Coca-Cola and Grape Vault. See a video for it after the jump.

If you have ever worked at a restaurant with a soda fountain, then you know the necessity of changing out the carbonated water and sweeteners. I remember when I was working at a pizza restaurant, and I had to haul a huge canister of Coke syrup when we ran out of Coca-Cola. The Bsquare soda fountain doesn’t use that technology, as it uses “highly concentrated flavor cartridges with microdosing technology”. I’m sure that would have saved me a lot of labor back then.

One of the best parts of Bsquare’s soda dispenser is that it is connected to the net. That means restaurants can order more supplies as needed from the soda fountain itself, and they can download new “recipes” of cola as they come.

Well, this is definitely something that will be seen in restaurants of the future, but what if I want a Pepsi?

Source

Modem Mate will be releasing their new external antenna for USB-based 3G modems which happen to lack an antenna connector. This device will couple inductively with the internal antenna of most 3G modems, and will ship with an adapter that comes with its very own fastening strip for attaching/detaching the coupler to a 3G modem. The antenna itself can clip to the upper portion of the display in order to achieve the best signal strength possible, and is touted to amplify both HSPA/3G and EDGE/GPRS signals. Initial reports claim that up to 2 dBi can be added to the signal’s strength, but it’ll take a fair bit of testing to confirm that. Looks like it will be out in Europe first considering the €40 price point quoted.

Source: Electronista

Summer’s here for those of us living in the northern hemisphere, and it is a good idea to go out and get enough sunlight wherever you are before the chill of autumn descends yet again, ushering us into another winter season. While you’re outside, you might as well take full advantage of the situation by spending some time with family, bringing your kid to the nearby park and flying a kite with him. What you didn’t let Junior in on was this - yours is a Spy Kite.

Available only at Hammacher Schlemmer, this is the kite equipped with a digital camera, enabling you to take aerial pictures from as high up as 80′. The camera secures to the underside of the 47 1/4″ x 23 1/2″ delta wing kite and can be set to take a picture at 15-, 30-, 60-, or 90-second intervals. It can store up to 25 pictures at 640 x 480 resolution or as many as 305 pictures at 320 x 200 resolution on its built-in 4 MB memory. When your flights are complete, the camera connects to your computer running Windows XP or Vista via USB for image downloads. The kite is made from durable nylon with sturdy fiberglass supports. Requires two AAA batteries.

We can think of many purposes where this can be used, so don’t be surprised if you happen to be sunbathing in the buff and seeing this kite hovering above your compound. How many of you out there will fork out $89.95 for this?

Samsung Mobile in America has just announced the commercial availability of its latest device known as the Samsung Mondi. The Samsung Mondi is touted to be the most advanced Mobile WiMAX-enabled handheld device Stateside at time of publishing, featuring a touchscreen display for easy navigation. Just in case you were wondering what Mondi means, it stands for “world” in Latin, and was specially designed to be used with the Clear Mobile WiMAX service from Clearwire in the activated markets of Atlanta, Las Vegas, Portland, OR and future WiMAX markets.

What does the Samsung Mondi offer? For starters, it is able to take advantage of superior upload and download speeds in comparison to that of comparable devices running on 3G networks, all the while making full use of the growing and widespread connectivity of Mobile WiMAX. Not only that, should you be out of WiMAX coverage at that point in time, there is always the good old fallback of Wi-Fi connectivity thanks to such a built-in connection within the Samsung Mondi.

You can pick up the Samsung Mondi in a solid black finish, where it holds a hidden full QWERTY keyboard when fully closed, revealed only when the device slides open horizontally. Other features crammed by Samsung into the Mondi include multimedia capabilities, instant access to E-mail, Internet, video content and business applications. Not only that, a wide range of services such as Fring, Gypsii and Windows Live Messenger are also supported to make sure that you are able to keep in touch with family and friends all over the world. The Samsung Mondi will also make sure that you remain on track virtually wherever you are, thanks to integrated GPS navigation through Route 66, providing turn-by-turn directions. We’re rather curious to know how many people would have pockets big enough to slip in a $349 4.3″ touchscreen display device, so you might want to stock up on those baggy rapper pants instead.

Press Release

Gateway is back with a bang - this time they have unveiled their latest netbook, the sleek and compact Gateway LT2000. What does Gateway offer in this package though? Just like many other netbooks in the market, you can’t really expect the specifications to differ much, and to this effect, the Gateway LT2000 does not “disappoint”. Coming in a sleek and compact design, you get a 10.1″ TFT LED backlit display fitted into a chassis that measures no more than an inch thick while tipping the scales at a mere 2.62 pounds, ensuring it is a snap to tote around even on long trips, making sure your shoulders do not get strained any more than they already are. It will share a somewhat similar design found in the Gateway LT3100 netbooks that were released last month, and you will be able to choose from NightSky Black and Cherry Red color schemes that will feature an engraved Gateway logo and modern silver trim accents.

Expect to find the following system specifications in each Gateway LT2000 :-

• Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache)
• Genuine Microsoft Windows XP Home (Service Pack 3)
• 10.1-inch WSVGA 16:9 ratio TFT LCD (1024×600 resolution)
• Mobile Intel 945GSE Express Chipset
• 1024MB DDR2 533 MHz SDRAM
• 160GB SATA 5400RPM Hard Drive
• Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader
• 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED
• Web Camera
• Two Built-in Stereo Speakers
• Dolby Headphone Technology
• Three USB 2.0 Ports
• 3-cell Li-ion Battery
• Chassis: NightSky Black
• One-Year Standard Warranty

We think that the $299.99 price point is extremely decent, but for those who want to pick up the Cherry Red Version, they can do so by forking out a similar amount that will be able to snag the Gateway LT2021u. All purchases will come with preinstalled software such as Microsoft Works with Office Home and Student 2007 Trial, Gateway Recovery Management, Adobe Reader and Norton Internet Security 2009 Trial.

Press Release

Toshiba gets in the right frame of mind by releasing a bunch of new Digital Media Frames in order to take photo sharing to unprecedented heights, as these devices are able to deliver real-time information through its partnership with FrameChannel. Among such real-time information available at the user’s fingertips include personalized weather, traffic and sports scores alongside the capability of accessing both music and video to any room within the connected home. This trend-setting product category makes the standard digital photo frame all the more interactive, since you can now share priceless memories with friends and family regardless of where they are automatically courtesy of FrameChannel. It can link favorite content from other social sites including Flickr, Photobucket and Facebook.

You will be able to access the feature-packed channels via Toshiba’s FrameChannel partnership, customizing the categories according to information that only you want. There are more than 1,000 free channels available at this moment, spread across 19 categories with selections like People.com, Men’s Tennis, 3-Day Forecast, Stock Quotes and Facebook, among others. Users who decide to subscribe to their favorite channels will see the Toshiba Digital Media Frame automatically update with real-time information, keeping you in the loop at all times without making you feel left out whenever your mates start discussing last night’s game scores at the water cooler.

Toshiba makes sure their Digital Media Frames won’t disappoint in terms of design, coming in a high gloss exterior (ala fingerprint magnet) alongside a high resolution display, a tilt sensor that adjusts the image automatically in its respective formats, easy navigation, touch sensitive controls that light up whenever pressed and a fully customizable interface to suit your personality. You will be able to choose from 8″ models that will come in in black (DMF82XKU) or white (DMF82XWU) with an acrylic front finish and eye-catching reflective trim, while the black 10″ model (DMF102XKU) comes with a striking faceplate design and a slim profile. The 8″ and 10″ models will retail for $179.99 and $229,99, respectively, when they hit the market later this August.

Press Release