Gadgets Blog News

Posted Mar 2nd 2008 3:40PM by Chris ZieglerFiled under: cellphones, Handhelds A table of release dates dug up on Sony Ericsson’s own site suggests something powerfully depressing, which is that the XPERIA X1 has been pushed all the way out to February 10, 2009 (notice that the date is in European format — we’d just give up now if it were actually October 2, 2009). While the presence of the page on the company’s very own domain is pretty damning evidence, we’re still holding out hope that it’s a typo or an oversight; late Q2 of ‘08 was mentioned at MWC, and we really don’t see how it’s possible to push out a phone nearly three-quarters of a year just weeks after its initial announcement. (Read the full post about ‘Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X1 delayed until next year? We think (hope) not’…)

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If you are not worried about data, then Sprint’s other unlimited plan may be something to consider. The second unlimited plan, which is more in-line feature with the other major carriers. Sprint’s plan goes for $10 less than the other carriers and costs $89.99 a month, it includes unlimited voice, messaging and direct connect. In addition to the lack of data, this plan also does not include the Sprint TV and GPS services. Personally for just $10 more, I would suggest going for the $99 Simply Everything plan and getting all those extras, but I suppose there are a lot of people out there who could care less about surfing the web or watching TV on their phone. (Read the full post about ‘Sprint also has another unlimited plan, this one is $89.99′…)

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While there still is not a price to be found, the 9@9j has been officially released and with that comes the full list of specs. Of course we have already seen the unique battery system. The 9@9j contains a standard Li-Ion battery that offers 8 hours of talk time and 1 month of standby and a single AAA battery that serves as a backup and offers up to 2 hours of additional talk time and up to one week of standby time. As for the rest of the specs; the 9@9j features Quad band GSM (900/1800/1900/850 MHz)/GPRS connectivity, a 1.3-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, USB 1.1, stereo Bluetooth A2DP support, an FM radio and a 176 x 220 color TFT display. The 9@9j has been release (as of now) only in the Asian market. (Read the full post about ‘Philips makes the Xenium 9@9j official’…)

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Posted Mar 2nd 2008 1:35PM by Thomas RickerFiled under: Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video It’s big, thick, lacking any sort of keyboard and not all that pretty. But if you’re aching for ASUS’ next gen UMPC to cut loose from the product chute then the R70a is it. Besides toting a 7-inch display with Vista tucked inside a 120GB disk (we think) purring along on a 1.6GHz processor of unspecified Intel make (Silverthorne, please?) we really can’t tell you much. Forgive us but the show doesn’t open for a few more days — instead of marketing types the booth is currently staffed with a mustachioed security brute named Dieter. (Read the full post about ‘ASUS busts out 7-inch R70 UMPC at CeBIT’…)

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We’re always looking for ways for our laptops not to get overheated. But what if I say that the heat your laptop gives out could be harnessed for good use? A contender in the Greener gadgets Design Competion 2008, DORmino is the name of an eco-friendly mouse. The DORmino harnesses heat generated by your laptop and through its nanowires as well as induction charging technologies, heat is turned into energy which powers it. Since many leave their computers on for days at a time, using this wireless peripheral powered by mere heat seems ideal. I can’t wait to see it fully-developed and in the market. But ’til then, I’ll tough it out with my mundane mouse. (Read the full post about ‘DORmino: All It Needs is The Warmth of Your Laptop’…)

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Posted Mar 2nd 2008 10:53AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Handhelds Enter the Cuso PC S600 “UMPC,” your ticket to near-constant ridicule from friends and family. Sure, you’d think with specs like the blazing 266MHz ARM CPU, 1GB or 4GB of flash memory, 802.11b WiFi, miniSD support, playback of MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV, OGG, AAC, APE, AVI, WMV, DIVX, H.264, ASF, and 3GP files (um, with the freeware app TCPMP), and all kinds of Windows CE-powered document handling (TXT, DOC, XLS, PDF, PPT, PPS) you’d be all set, but we don’t think it’s that simple. There’s something about that cheap looking plastic casing, stereo speakers, and totally out of line use of the term UMPC that tell us this probably isn’t much more than a glorified PMP. (Read the full post about ‘The Cuso PC S600 is not the UMPC of your dreams… or a UMPC’…)

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In an age where everyone carries cell phones, I tend to wonder why people still wear watches. I’m sure that not everyone wants to pull out their phone whenever they want to know the time, so I guess I can understand. I’m perfectly content with looking at my phone or iPod, so I rarely even consider putting on a watch. If I’m going somewhere important I might put on my trusty pocket watch which was a gift from my wife so I don’t look like a huge dork every time I whip out my iPod to check the time. Somehow I don’t think that putting on this new 8GB Multimedia Watch would make me look like any less of a dork. Since the days of Dick Tracy people have envisioned watches that can do just about everything. (Read the full post about ‘Multimedia Watch has 8GB of storage and a 1.8-inch screen, won’t impress the ladies’…)

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Posted Mar 2nd 2008 6:20AM by Ryan BlockFiled under: Digital Cameras Looks like the Sigma DP1 has a date and price: according to their site, it’ll be out tomorrow for ¥89820, or about $850 US. Those that just can’t wait to find out more about this sucker should check out Pop Photo’s very early first impressions. (Read the full post about ‘Sigma DP1 priced, dated, and manhandled’…)

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Posted Mar 2nd 2008 2:54AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Transportation If a wave of déjà vu just hit you like a ton of bricks, fret not, as this most certainly isn’t the first (or second) time we’ve heard of researchers looking to the seas to create more intelligent / nimble submersibles. Apparently, a few more folks have gotten involved, as gurus from Drexel, MIT, Harvard and George Washington are now collaborating to develop a “fish-like fin to make autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) more agile.” Apparently, the current iteration has improved on prior versions by eliminating drag during part of the “cut and sweep” motion. The general idea is to combine several of the fins in order to “allow robotic sub (Read the full post about ‘Researchers creating flexible fin to make AUVs more agile’…)

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Windows Vista has been out for over a year now, and yet many people are still hesitant to upgrade, and frankly, I don’t blame them. I have one machine that runs Vista, and that’s only because it came installed on my laptop. For many reasons I’m just not ready to upgrade the other half-dozen machines in my house, one of which is that I don’t want to shell out all of the extra dough when XP is doing just fine. Apparently there are plenty of others thinking the same way, and thankfully Microsoft has been listening. They have announced that later this month they will be cutting prices on their latest versions of Windows.

The price cuts will range from $30 to $80 depending on which version you decide to purchase.

(Read the full post about ‘Microsoft announces price drop for Vista’…)

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