Gadgets Blog News

Posted Jan 26th 2008 11:03AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Portable Audio, Portable Video Call it fate or call it luck, but regardless of what you deem it, the latest wave of Cowon price drops will certainly save you a few bucks. Judging by listings at JetMall, Cowon has slashed dollars off of price tags attached to a variety of its devices, including $50 off of the luscious Q5W, $20 from the A3 30GB and some $90 from the 16GB iAUDIO 7. What’s more, the entire Q5W lineup now comes with a free GPS cradle and a warm fuzzy feeling to boot. (Read the full post about ‘Cowon price drops abound’…)

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Posted Jan 26th 2008 1:08PM by Darren MurphFiled under: Robots We’ve witnessed our fair share of Robovies, and let’s just say we’ve a healthy fear of ‘em. That being said, we’re fairly certain we’d come darn close to fainting or reacting violently should the creature pictured above approach us while shopping ever. Nevertheless, this humanoid is apparently allowed to run amok at Universal Citywalk Osaka as the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute tests out its ability to interpret signals from cameras, sensors and RFID readers and determine which patrons are thoroughly lost. When it recognizes a stumped individual, it wheels over, confirms their state of confusion and politely offers directions to their destination of choice. (Read the full post about ‘Crowd-monitoring humanoid helps lost mall patrons, likely freaks them out’…)

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The GPS market is a very competitive one, and it is hard for companies to make their name well-known when competing against giant companies like Garmin and TomTom. Today, Empower announced that they would be selling three new GPS units in the North American market. In the PowerPlay lineup comes three GPS models, the first being the P2000. First thing you should know is that all 3 models feature 4.3-inch touch screen and Bluetooth connectivity for hands free calling. Now, the P2000 is a pretty basic model as it only comes with navigation, Bluetooth and traffic advisory data. Next up, we have the P2200 and basically the only extra thing that this comes with is a built-in camera. (Read the full post about ‘Empower ready to enter GPS market’…)

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Posted Jan 26th 2008 10:11AM by Darren MurphFiled under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Portable VideoCES 2008 brought us plenty of gimmicky 3D-related gadgetry, a bit that was respectable, and apparently, the TDVisor-HD. Nearly three weeks after the show concluded, TDVision Systems has just now gotten around to tossing out a press release boasting about how much fun was had by folks stopping by and checking out the “world’s first portable, all digital, high-def 3D visualization system.” Unfortunately, we’re left to ponder on precisely what this thing is, but as best we can tell, it’s yet another Virtual Boy-esque device, ‘cept this one does 720p (and 3D). Per usual, a price and release date are conveniently absent, but consideri (Read the full post about ‘TDVisor-HD: world’s first “portable” 720p 3D visualization system is still impractical’…)

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Posted Jan 26th 2008 8:06AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Gaming Finally, you can relive your really good youthful memories via the Wii and its latest Virtual Console addition: the Sega Master System. That’s right, if you happen to be nostalgic for a certain Z80A kind of action — and you live in Japan — you need only look to Nintendo’s cash-cow for help. Starting this February, you can play Fist of the North Star and the hallucination-inducing Fantasy Zone to your heart’s content, though just like other VC offerings we expect to see more games and more territories included later on. What’s important for Nintendo to know is this: the sooner we’re deep in a game of Wonder Boy in Monster Land, the happier everyone will be… (Read the full post about ‘Wii Virtual Console getting Sega Master System games’…)

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Posted Jan 26th 2008 6:01AM by Nilay PatelFiled under: Misc. GadgetsIt’s no secret that Apple Legal is, ah, aggressive when it comes to protecting its various fruit-flavored intellectual property, but a company called BlueAir just filed a lawsuit accusing Apple’s lawyers of outright harassment over BlueAir’s AirPOD air purifier, pictured at right. Seems BlueAir has been trying to register a trademark on the product, and instead of filing an opposition with the USPTO based on consumer confusion with the iPod, Apple’s attorneys have just been sending BlueAir angry letters and threatening massive legal fees. (Read the full post about ‘Apple accused of harrassing an air purifier company’…)

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Posted Jan 26th 2008 4:05AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Laptops There’s nothing quite like hearing a group of network talk-show hosts heaping praise on a piece of technology they barely understand to jumpstart your day. We think you’ll agree that listening to Matt Lauer loudly declare “It’s awesome!” and watching Meredith “You’re blowing the whole schtick” Viera vigorously mime licking the new MacBook Air is pretty wretch-inducing stuff — though Al Roker informing us that if you want the SSD, you’ll only have to pay “a little bit more,” was definitely one toke over the line. Thanks for ruining our breakfast guys. Every breakfast.Watch the video after the break. (Read the full post about ‘The Today Show’s Meredith Viera licks the MacBook Air’…)

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No, these striking images weren’t made using Photoshop trickery. They were actually taken using a unique process which involves placing photographic paper onto an object, placing them both on a high-voltage plate, then cranking up the juice. Referred to as Kirlian photography, the technique dates back to a 1939 discovery (by a man named Kirlian, of course) that when an object is placed on an electrified plate, tiny coronas around the item can cause photo paper to expose in unusual and beautiful ways. Over the years, the effect has been co-opted by various new-age charlatans and snake oil salesmen with claims that the images were indications of some sort of paranormal “aura”. (Read the full post about ‘kirlian images: electricity meets photography’…)

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Posted Jan 26th 2008 2:02AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Cellphones If our solemn word wasn’t enough to convince you of trouble in retail-ville for Palm, take this news as empirical. According to the smartphone-maker, it is officially shuttering all of its retail locations but one over the next five weeks. Originally, we thought that the airport locations would steer clear of the axe, but news today is that 34 stores total — 26 airport-based and eight branded stores — will be saying adios before long. Sure, this news doesn’t sound real hot, but Palm claims they want to cut costs and focus on its next-gen phones, which is what we’ve been asking them to do all along… (Read the full post about ‘Palm to close all retail locations but one, for real’…)

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Posted Jan 25th 2008 10:23PM by Nilay PatelFiled under: Portable Audio, Portable Video We thought the SmartQ T5 was a solid little player with decent codec support when we first spotted it back in August, but SmartQ’s gone and updated it to the T5-II Deluxe Edition, featuring a new video chip that supports TV-out, AV-in, and the RMVB codec, which supports 1024×576 video. Unfortunately, the screen resolution remains at QVGA, but the actual panel’s also been bumped up to display 16.7 million colors. (Read the full post about ‘SmartQ T5 flash player gets updated, taunts us from afar’…)

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