Gadgets Blog News

Posted Mar 16th 2008 1:13PM by Ryan BlockFiled under: Household The Japanese are hyping Vista SP1’s impending release, but a roll of toilet paper printed with highlighted features is kind of uncalled for. You kind of have to feel a little bad for Vista — it just keeps getting crapped on these days.[Thanks, kaztm]Tags: mobile phone, dap, Ogg, home theater (Read the full post about ‘Vista SP1, SP1 toilet paper hit japan’…)

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Google has announced its Google Gears for Mobile that allows users to access their mobile Gears-enabled web apps even when there is no Internet connection. Initially, Google Gears was only for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices with Internet Explorer but more and more developers are already using the Gears into their online programs and services, thanks to the developer’s guide Google came up with for the developers. Finance website Buxfer and web-based office-suite Zoho were the first to use the Google Gears. What is ironic is that Google’s own products don’t support the Gears yet but are currently in the works. Charles Wiles of Google Mobile explained that Gears is best used when you suddenly can’t connect. (Read the full post about ‘Google gears up for Google Gears for Mobile’…)

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Sony Ericsson’s newest patent comes afloat, and it shows us a new type of device allowing up to three input interfaces. The electronic device has a main body, a flip attached to the main body and multiple input interfaces (it says here), so basically this will be some kind of new device in which you can enter data via any of the available ways. From the illustration above, you can see that this will be some kind of cellphone/smartphone with a flap on its face that can go both ways. It’s reversible, and two different input interfaces will reside on that flap alone, aside from the input interface located on the main body of the phone itself. (Read the full post about ‘New Sony Ericsson patent for “portable electronic device with multiple input interfaces”’…)

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Can you imagine splitting up your computer into several small devices and manipulating them individually to suit your own taste? A clever new prototype for such a device has been demonstrated by the researchers over at MIT Media Lab. Dubbed as “Siftables”, this new prototype aims to “enable people to interact with information and media in physical, natural ways that approach interactions with physical objects in our everyday lives.” They call Siftables an “interaction platform” that gives a user entirely new ways to control data with the application of technology from wireless sensor networks to tangible user interfaces. The technology behind Siftables is actually quite simple. (Read the full post about ‘Siftables, a prototype for little computers that could’…)

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Posted Mar 16th 2008 4:43PM by Ryan BlockFiled under: Gaming Today’s Wii homebrew hotness comes by way of Team Twiizers, whose new hack takes last week’s CameCube-free loader and enables custom channel icons that load hacked apps just like that. Getting from point A to point B still isn’t a cakewalk yet, though; you still have to load the Zelda / Twilight hack and use it to reboot your Wii to get that app into the channel space. (Read the full post about ‘Wii homebrew inches along, now has rudimentary channel support’…)

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Six additional Blu-ray players have just been certified by DivX, joining the ranks of Sony PS3 that received its certification at the end of 2007. Such certification is important because it means only one thing: 25 hours of DVD-quality video can now be saved on a single Blu-ray disc. Since the end of the format war, Blu-ray has been gaining more popularity with the gadget society. Michelle Abraham, an In-Stat Principal Analyst, said: “In-Stat expects worldwide shipments of Blu-ray players to reach 23 million in 2011. DivX is well-positioned to become a standard feature on Blu-ray devices, just as it has shipped in millions of DVD players worldwide.” Looks like Blu-ray players are here to say. (Read the full post about ‘DivX certifies six more Blu-ray players’…)

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Posted Mar 16th 2008 11:22AM by Paul MillerFiled under: cellphones, Home Entertainment, Wireless Yeah, all those sticky sweet stories about WiMAX actually happening this decade or possibly showing up in a device or two were really getting on our nerves. Now it seems the “little wireless standard that couldn’t” is back to form with a report from the Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group (SUIRG). Apparently those folks found “conclusive” results of “unacceptable” levels of interference from WiMAX of satellite signals in the C-band. (Read the full post about ‘WiMAX could interfere with satellite communications?’…)

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Frankly I don’t get the idea behind Logitech’s diNovo Mini. If you have a TV and you want to easily control it, you’d normally use a remote control right? If you have a laptop or a desktop and you want to work on it, you’d not sit too far from it right? Then what’s the use of a wireless keyboard that you can connect to your PC and TV? Well yeah, the diNovo Mini looks sleek, good and your friends would definitely say “wow, what a good looking small gadget you have there!” Other than that, the Logitech does some pretty standard functions that may either impress you or make you ignore it. (Read the full post about ‘Logitech releases the diNovo Mini, a remote control dressed up as a wireless keyboard?’…)

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So you think you’re safe? You think you can just carry on doing what you do in your life without thinking you’re in danger? Don’t you have any idea what’s going on behind the scenes when your computer automatically reboots, crashes, keeps sending your contacts suspicious emails or links to kiddie porn? If you do, then you wouldn’t have been here reading this. No, instead you would’ve been in a state of shock, like the rest of us who are in the know. Instead, you would’ve been curled up in bed, wondering how you managed to last so long without seeing the “real picture”. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, just take a look at the photo above. (Read the full post about ‘Wicked photos offer a closer look at computer malware’…)

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Posted Mar 16th 2008 7:55AM by Paul MillerFiled under: Desktops It sounds like Shuttle was being a little optimistic in January when it promised a $99 barebones PC and a $199 version with a full complement of internals and a Linux OS. That said, the KPC is still a decent deal, with the K45 barebones kit including quite a bit to be getting on with for $199, and the K4500 pre-configured system offering an Intel Celeron 430 processor, 512MB of RAM, an 80GB HDD and Foresight Linux pre-installed. Other perks that are present even in the barebones kit include Intel GMA 950 graphics, gigabit Ethernet, 5.1 audio, WiFi and a decent bit of room to grow. Newegg should start selling the K45 this weekend, while Shuttle will be selling a (Read the full post about ‘Shuttle’s KPC ready for prime time, starts at $299 for a ready-made unit’…)

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