Gadgets Blog

If you’re still not satisfied with how many items stay on your desktop and you happen to own one of the very sexy Macs, you’re in luck.  You can pick up this tiny shelf to put onto the back of the monitor.  Since it is on the back, it won’t be seen quite so much, so it’ll cut down on all that clutter.  Which with most people seems to be an issue at their desk, myself included.

Even if the back of your monitor is exposed and able to be seen, this shelf blends in well with the look of your Mac monitor.  You could use the shelf to store an external hard drive or an extra hub.  You could even place your iPhone or iPod there to charge up.  However, that might be a little on the inconvenient side of things to use it for that.  Plus I’d constantly forget that I’d placed my iPod on the shelf to be charged.  In order to keep the shelf in place, it just uses gravity and stays in place.  You can purchase it for $29.99 or you can purchase a 6 pack of them for $149.99 which saves you $29.95.

Source: Gearlog

Adesso was nice enough to send me their Wireless SlimTouch Ergo Keyboard (WKB-4100UB) yesterday, and I tried it out last night. I have reviewed wireless keyboards before, and since I use a laptop most of the time, I never really saw a need for one.

My opinion quickly changed. The thing that I really liked about Adesso’s wireless keyboard was the Internet and Application Hotkeys. I found that one touch of a button was good enough to access my Internet browser, e-mail, even a calculator.

It also had a Media Center Quick Access button located bottom center, and hotkeys for those too. It even came with Vista Hotkeys for Vista owners. I also liked the built-in touchpad, which put the left and right mouse buttons on the other side of the keyboard. I’m not really a big fan of touchpads, but this one almost made me a convert.

It also installed quite easy. All I had to do was insert the dongle, put the included batteries in, turn on the keyboard, and it was recognized right away. I didn’t even have to calibrate anything on my computer for the hotkeys, which included the volume controls.

In short, I am giving a Adesso Wireless Slimtouch Ergo Keyboard a good review. If you are interested in some wireless freedom from your keyboard, head over to the Adesso site and prepare to lay down about $76 for it.

Maybe I have seen too many Terminator and Matrix movies, but this shot of the human going inside of a robot just gives me the creeps.

The fact that the attached YouTube video that you can watch after the jump is called “Human Body Shredding Machine” doesn’t help. Clearly, I need to get over my robot issues and see that this robot rescuer, or Robocue, could truly save a life.

The basic concept behind this is that the Robocue can get to places that would be too dangerous for a human to get to. It is equipped with many sensors and cameras for remote operation up to 100 meters away, and the conveyor belt feature is equipped to put the injured human in a safe place for transport.

Of course, I can’t help but wonder what situation the Robocue could get into that a human could not do better. Sure, it may be able to enter a burning building without getting singed, but could it do it at a running speed? In other words, I’m not certain whether this Robocue would be up to the job in a real emergency.

Perhaps I got a little robo-bigotry like Will Smith’s character in I, Robot. I know that I’ve got a little irrational fear of this Human Body Shredding Machine video, but maybe it is because it reminds me of the people bulldozers from Soylent Green.

Source

If you are in construction, TV reporting, or any other job that requires you to bring expensive tools to another location, then you know the frustration of leaving tools behind. On a somewhat related note, I left a camera behind at a wedding that I went to last week, and all I could think was: “oh, I should have done a quick inventory of my things before I just drove off”.

DeWalt is thinking the same thing when it created Tool Link, a way of keeping track of tools with RFID tags. The system comes with an RFID scanner with software for a truck’s dashboard computer, as well as two RFID antennas for a truck’s bed.

It also comes with 50 RFID tags that can be attached to any tool. So when you leave the job, you can check the computer and see if any tools were left behind, and track down the ones that are missing.

Of course, you will have to make a database for this, and you might wonder if the $1,500 price tag to install Tool Link in your Ford truck is really worth it. Just think of it as insurance. Is it easier to pay the high price now, or keep paying every time a tool gets lost?

Source

I was recently given one of the new Samsung GT-C6625v mobile phones to play with. It’s aimed at the office worker who needs email on the move and with the monthly tariff starting at £7.50 per user it could be a very attractive option for companies looking to reduce costs.

The phone itself is very BlackBerryish with a full QWERTY keyboard below the 2.6” screen. It runs Windows Mobile and integrates with a company’s existing Microsoft Exchange Server for email, you get the usual mobile Office applications for reading and editing document, spreadsheets, etc.

The phone feels quite light weight and comfy, fitting my hand well (even if it is pretty large (the phone, not my hand)). It was a bit confusing trying to get into different applications as you had to entertainment to get to the camera, which is not where I would normally look for it. Overall it is certainly worth checking out if you have an office full staff that need email on the move.

The product specification and pricing information can be found on the vodafone site.