Showing posts with label gizmo freaks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gizmo freaks. Show all posts

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Burning Blu-ray soon be standard in Windows


In the near future, an update of the Windows operating systems should allow the user to burn Blu-ray without resorting to a third party software. Dubbed Feature Pack for Windows Storage, the necessary extension is currently in beta test. Ultimately, it should be proposed for versions XP, Vista and Windows Server 2008. A time supporter of HD DVD format led by Toshiba, Microsoft seems to have taken the party to fully follow the lead of the Blu-ray technology, developed by Sony in particular.

Alongside this interface offering support for burning Blu-ray, Microsoft offers within the Feature Pack for Windows Storage other two extensions: the first, called Active Storage Platform, will restrict a password or certification ' access to a USB device, while the second will allow рдеे management of smart cards and type ICCD CCID।

source: techarena ,

techarena

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave Pro


The Logitech Wave Pro might catch your attention: its "wave" design "cradles your hands" for added comfort. The keys themselves are shaped and laid out in such a way that your hands won't have to move much - if you know how to type properly, that said. If the hands aren't moving, the palms have to rest on something soft: a cushioned palm rest area. Each of us will have different keyboard preferences, so you really have to try one for a few minutes.

You're plenty familiar with the first half of the equation, but the new critter promises to last up to six whole weeks on a full charge, and the included USB plug enables users to charge and work if they're okay with a temporary tether. You'll also find a 1,600DPI sensitivity rating, MicroGear precision scroll wheel and eight programmable buttons. Look for the happy couple to land in the US in October and Europe in mid-November for $129.99, while the mouse alone will go for $79.99 two months earlier in each region

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

BOMB-USB Terrorist of design


Description

A BOMB on your Desk!!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

GMC to launch its upgraded pc case 'R-3 Corona Color'


GMC announced the launch of its upgraded pc case 'R-3 Corona Color' in Korea market, which is available in hot-pink, lime-green and ocean-blue.

Featuring vertically-equipped ODD, the R-3 Corona Color adopts a blue LED ring which appears on the front panel brings out the simplicity. Suggested price is 45,000(KRW).

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Infinite Storage Capacity for iPhones

The iPhone and iPhone 3G have been and are offered with storage capacities of 16GB at most. While many will find the 16GB is more than enough to store all their music, pictures, emails, and a good chunk of their video library, there are those out there with media libraries that can easily eclipse the iPhone 3Gs 16GB of flash memory. For those people, 16GB is a good compromise between media portability and handset size and cost, but far from an ideal storage capacity.

Apple patent application for remote iTunes media access for iPhone

Not only does a physical storage limit require users to pick and choose which media is transferred to the iPhone, but transferring 16GB (or more) of data (music, videos, pictures) can take quite a long time. Synchronizing the iPhone with just a few GB’s of data has proven to take longer than is convenient.

To that end, Apple is looking to bring almost infinite storage capacity to their iPhone and iPhone 3G handsets. The move would allow heavy media-users to virtually keep all their media on their iPhones, without having to pick and choose what music albums or videos make the cut in to the iPhone’s limited memory banks.

The breakthrough in endless storage capacity wasn’t made in flash memory technology or miniature hard drives, but rather in a fundamental change in the way Apple handles media storage. A recent patent application has come to light that details technology that would have iPhones and iPhone 3Gs streaming media, in real-time, from their desktop iTunes libraries.

“For instance, a personal computer can be turned on and connected to the Internet to enable a portable device to access the media items stored on the personal computer,” according to Apple.

Rather than having massive iTunes libraries sitting in their home computer, inaccessible to iPhones in the wild, future versions of iTunes and the iPhone’s Mac OS may allow users to stream the media wirelessly over the air to their handset. The technology relies on storing just the meta-data associated with the media content, which sports a significantly (1% or less of the media’s total file size) smaller footprint, in the iPhone’s flash memory. The metadata describes a media file’s attributes - file size, title, artist, creation date, etc. - but not the actual media content itself.

The “lightweight” metadata would in turn be represented on the iPhone as “virtual media items” that depict all the media stored on the home computer - playlist, video, photo, and mobile games. With smaller file sizes, metadata-as-media-items could increase iPhone storage by 100-fold. That 16GB iPhone may just be able to store 160GB of media (or more) in the near future.

“As a result, the user perceives that the virtual media items may be available on the [the media player],” Apple said. “In this manner, the virtual capacity of an electronic device may be increased.”

The patent application also allows for remote iTunes library management. iPhone users could reorganize, add, or delete media in their iTunes library while away from their computer. And, should the connection to the computer degrade or be lost, the remote control technology would pause or stop data transmissions to preserve media-file integrity. Additionally, iPhone and iPod users may see peer-to-peer device communications - the kind of device-to-device communication made popular by the Microsoft Zune.

“This type of communication can be referred to as peer-to-peer interaction. In this regard, one mobile device can communicate directly with another mobile device” or ” to a plurality of other mobile devices,” Apple said. “In the peer-to-peer environment, one mobile device can communicate with one or more other electronic devices (whether mobile or stationary) in the immediate vicinity. Data sharing can be performed when such communication is available.”

The iPhone’s 16GB storage limit will likely make way for a new 32GB storage limit with Apple’s mid-cycle iPhone 3G refresh next year, so power users will have a near-term storage boost to look forward to. But, in the long run, we could see remote media access taking the stage to allow for storage capacities reaching upwards of hundreds of gigabytes.


VIA: intomobile

The Dark Knight Xbox 360 spotted in the wild




As you've surely heard (and hopefully confirmed for yourself) by now, The Dark Knight is a runaway hit. So much so, in fact, that a number of manufacturers have figured it prudent to crank our hardware with the iconic Batman logo front and center. Next in line for admission on the bandwagon seems to be Microsoft, which apparently showed off a "limited edition" (read: likely one of a kind) Dark Knight Xbox 360 over in Taiwan. We know, you want the details -- eventual release dates, a price, the works. Unfortunately for us all, we're stuck with just that image above and hope for the future. Hey, at least you can let your imagination run wild.

Monday, August 4, 2008

The First notebook of lenovo: gorgeous IdeaPad S10


Earlier today, Lenovo officially announced that they were flinging their own slim ultra-portable into the netbook fray, and even in an over-saturated market filled with cookie-cutter products, the sleek Ideapad S10 is looking like the netbook to wait for.

Powered by Intel Atom N270 and 945 GSE chipsets running at 1.6GHz, the S10 packs a 10-inch screen, and the press release labors advanced heat-dissipation technology which will prevent irradiated scrotums. The specs list all the usual suspects in netbook tech: an integrated 1.3M camera, 2 stereo speakers, a 4-in-1 card reader, hard drives up to 160GBs and the usual tiered battery options: 3-cells and 6-cells. More interesting is the multi-touch capable pad and an Express Card slot for WWAN.

Color options involve black-and-white and whore-red. It's a lovely little netbook, no doubt, but it's almost a disappointment that Lenovo is following the standard netbook design motif and eschewing the traditional Thinkpad design. A clitoral nub would not go amiss, gents.

Prices are very good. The S10 will cost $399 for 512MB of RAM and an 80GB HDD or $450 for a 1GB, 160GB HDD model. The battery life (and whether or not the 6-cell battery will come stock) are the real hovering question marks here.

This looks like it'll be a winner when it comes out in October. Of course, that's the problem with netbooks: if you wait a month for a much-lusted-for mini-note to come out, something better will already have been announced.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Sandberg intros wireless keyboard / touchpad combo for HTPCs


Wireless keyboards with built-in pointing devices are usually pretty ugly, and Sandberg's new HTPC-oriented keyboard is no exception: sure, the dedicated Media Center Keys and 32-foot range are nice, but that two-tone color scheme is straight out of 1987. Plus, check the placement of the Media Center button -- yeah, that'll never get accidentally pressed. On the plus side, it's just £49 ($97), so you'll have plenty of scratch left over for fiber-optic lights and white shag rugs.

Philips Wireless Internet Cam Concept



Philips Spider Cam

In case you thought you were looking at something rejected on the drawing board of Minority Report, you should know that Philips is considering this concept web camera in reality.

You can also rest assured that this arachnid camera does not actually walk on walls, or even the floor for that matter. Yes, the legs on the concept camera are for looks only, but they help to position the camera in all sorts of viewing positions.

The camera wirelessly syncs to your computer via USB. So far, this Philips wireless concept is still under development by Flynn Product Design, but I’m not certain whether it should become reality or not.

After all, who really wants a creepy bug-thing on their desk that is always watching you?

Monday, July 28, 2008

10-megapixel compact camera Pentax Optio E60 Announced


Pentax is offering yet another casual point-and-shoot device - the Optio E60 compact digital camera. Features of the E60 include :-

  • 10.1 megapixels CMOS sensor
  • Optical 3X zoom lens
  • Auto Picture and Face Recognition modes
  • High Sensitivity Digital Shake Reduction
  • Image Recovery function (a Recycle Bin for the clueless)
Since this camera targets beginners, it naturally uses AA batteries that are easy to find no matter which part of the world you're in. The Pentax Optio E60 won't break the bank either, coming in just one color (black) this October for a shade under $140.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Star Wars Wii Laser Sword


Fans of the Star Wars franchise who own a Nintendo Wii can finally have a more realistic gaming experience with the Laser Sword add-on. Although it would work best with the Star Wars universe in mind, the Laser Sword would still double up as a decent weapon for sword-based games on the motion-capable console. A strong light covered the entire sword's surface, powered by three AAA batteries. You can choose to permanently leave the light on, or use motion detection instead where the sword will light up only when you move. I think the latter would be way more irritating as a flickering effect is introduced. How many Wiimote-based games do you play anyway that doesn't require you to move it? No idea on how much it costs though.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Three dimensional COMPUTER-MOUSE !



A Brand new concept for a computer-mouse that maps the intuitive movements of the user as input, to manipulate two and three dimensional objects in virtual space on the computer. It relies on our inherent knowledge of how to move objects in the real world. The extended field of motion serves to prevent muscle and tendon damage, and it's wireless capabilities ensure ubiquitous use throughout the household.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Tiny Solar Fan Makes You Look Crazy, But Will Keep You Cool



I don’t know about where you live, but the county fairs are in full swing in my part of the States. I live in the sort of area that is surrounded by corn, and people love to train farm animals to do tricks. It’s also rather hot out, and the people that attend such fairs have no issue with using strange contraptions to keep themselves cool. I really wouldn’t be surprised to walk past a farmer wearing one of these.

This little fan clips on your hat and gets power from soaking up the sun’s rays. Sure, it’ll probably weigh down your hat, and you’ll look pretty funny, but I guess it beats having a sweaty face. You can pick one up for just $10.

Buffalo's 8x Speed Blu-Ray Disc Recorder, World's Fastest (for Now)




Buffalo's upcoming internal and external BD recorder units can burn both single or double-layer BDs up to a sizzling 8x speed, and DVD ±R up to 16x. Of course Blu-ray technology is going to improve, probably following a similar pattern to DVD burning tech. But here's a funny: these drives use Panasonic SW-5584 units inside... and the speed may actually outstrip the currently fastest available Blu-ray burnable discs. Amusing, and a situation that can't last long. The drives are SATA-based (with USB 2 on the external unit) and will be available in Japan at first for around $380 for the internal and $440 for the external drive.

DanBall Shiatsu Finger Massager


If you’re looking for a better way to relax after a long day at work, the DanBall from Ekbo claims to be the latest technological breakthrough when it comes to relaxation therapy. Just stick 3 of your fingers into the holes on the DanBall and it will automatically apply an intense shiatsu massage to the pressure points on your fingertips for a full minute. At the same time your fingernails will be treated with infrared rays, which supposedly promotes growth, and a soothing melody/LED light show will help calm the rest of your body. The built-in lithium ion battery is also good for about 50 1-minute massages before needing to be recharged which takes about 3 hours.

Like with most devices that promise relaxation and relief from stress, there’s really no single technique that will work for everyone, so hopefully the Japan Trend Shop has a good return policy if the DanBall doesn’t work for you since it has a price tag of $1,999.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Sony Reader goes open, will be able to work with other booksellers

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While Sony's Reader has never received the the enormous press or enjoyed the supposed whirlwind sales of Amazon's Kindle e-book, and is certainly lacking in, erm, EV-DOness, the Reader is about to get one trick the Kindle doesn't have yet: openness. Sony will be shooting out an update on Thursday to allow the Reader to use purchased books in the protected EPUB format from whoever is peddling them, instead of being tied to the Sony's e-book store, or just DRM-free text and PDF documents. That openness should help Sony beef up its selection -- which is lagging behind Amazon's -- and will hopefully mark a bit of a turning point in the e-book market to more standards and, more importantly, more books.

Creative Decks Out Zen Range with Patterned Mozaic PMP


X-Fi,Creative is clearly in some kind of rush to get new media players out into the world: first the then the Krystal and now the Mozaic. It's a pretty standard offering, with music and video playing function, a 1.8-inch screen, FM radio and voice recorder, but, like the Nokia Prism, it's its keypad that makes it a teeny bit different. It's a mosaic-themed one, which you may either think is a tasteful dash of creativity, or a daft way of confusing the controls. In black, silver and pink colors, it's in either 2, 4 or 8GB versions for $99, $129 and $unknown.

Interesting iPhone tip - play music and a game at the same time



iPhone playing gameSome games can come with some pretty annoying, repetitive music. Sometimes you just want to listen to your own, or maybe even a podcast. Up until now, you would just have to deal with it. However, if you want to play your own music while you game on your iPhone, or just find that Super Monkey Bal music annoying, there is an answer. An interesting trick from Mac OS X Hints provides the solution to this question, and although it’s weird, it’s cool.

To achieve the ultimate music serenity, you must start by listening to your music. Then, start the game and wait for its music to take over yours. After that, press the sleep/wake button on the top of your phone. Press it once more to wake your phone and, voila, you now have your own music. You could also simply double tap the home button to bring up the iPod controls, but where is the fun in that?

Clean Your Keyboard With Magic Goo


Keyboards are gross and disgusting. Just think about the number of things your hands come into contact with every day. Now imagine how long you spend with your fingers on that keyboard in front of your computer. Finally, think back to the last time you actually cleaned your keyboard. Yea, that’s pretty freaking gross, and unless you have a dishwasher-safe keyboard, they aren’t very easy to clean. However, this Cyber Clean could really come in handy.

This stuff looks like a cross between Silly Putty and that Nickelodeon Gak stuff that they used to sell. Apparently you need do little more than roll this gunk around on your keyboard for a little bit, and your keys will be squeaky clean. You can get a pot that contains a little over a pound of this stuff for right around $16.

Sanyo offers clever Eneloop solution for Wii wireless controllers


Wii users may never have to take the batteries out of their wireless controllers again. Today Sanyo announced [JP] it has teamed up with Nintendo to develop a Wii battery and charger set that is based on the Eneloop concept. These low self-discharge NiMH batteries feature longer shelf life.

The Eneloop battery pack is placed on the back of the Wii controller. All you have to do after playing is to pop it into the charger stand and wait 220 minutes. The Wiimotes can then be used for up to 6.5 hours.

Up to 4 controllers can be charged by one AC adapter. Users don’t need to take off the silicone jacket from their Wiimotes as Eneloop cells are charged by magnetic induction (contactless recharging).

This is a great idea but it’s yet unclear whether Sanyo and Nintendo will offer the Eneloop set outside Japan as well (it hits Japan August 25th). Wii owners in this country will have to pay $23 each for the battery pack and the charger stand. The AC adapter will retail for another $9.