Gadgets Blog News

by Nilay Patel, posted Apr 25th 2008 at 5:22PM Let’s preface this by saying that we honestly have no idea what’s going on with the hot BlackBerry 9000, but Fortune is reporting that it’s delayed due to either a) AT&T concerns over call quality; b) AT&T concerns over launching a 3G blackberry and the 3G iphone at the same time or; c) or something else entirely. That’s news to our homeboy Boy Genius, who thinks Fortune needs to start double-checking its model numbers and code names before it starts rumor-mongering, and points out that he’s been on top of power-management-related 9000 delays for a while now. Testy! (Read the full post about ‘Blackberry 9000 release rumors swirl’…)

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Summer is coming soon, so it makes perfect sense that the mercury is going to shoot up pretty soon with everyone opting for thinner cotton shirts. The USB Flower Fan provides some much needed relief, drawing power from your computer’s USB port in order to power the USB Flower Fan. Alternatively, if you aren’t in the vicinity of a USB port, there is always the option to use a trio of AAA batteries instead. The blades are made out of plastic for your safety, and despite that, it is able to generate a pretty strong breeze to help you cool down. The USB Flower Fan retails for $11.50 a pop.
Email to a friend Leave a comment Subscribe because know why (via email or RSS)! (Read the full post about ‘USB Flower Fan’…)

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Everyones favorite love-to-hate retail chain is now celebrating their grand re-opening with 15 current locations and a new one to top it off. While 13 of those are located in Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico will also share in the joy of everything that CompUSA has been lacking to offer in the past. If you remember back when the CompUSA demise first came about, they were being snapped up by Systemax, who is better know as the owner of Tiger Direct. Sadly the Tiger Direct retail locations have not been know for a stellar in-store experience, which is reminiscent of the CompUSA’s of the past. (Read the full post about ‘CompUSA gets a second coming in Florida’…)

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In most places across the world, at any given time of day, you can walk up to any random person and be sure that he/she owns a Nokia. Then when you ask that person why he/she owns a Nokia, you’ll be given an anecdote about its user-friendly interface, nice styling, satisfactory performance, etc. And it shouldn’t surprise you, because those are the reasons why Nokia skyrocketed in the mobile phone making game. Another thing that’s not surprising is Nokia’s apparent low profile in the North American handset market, mainly because it just would not succumb to the carriers’s requests to modify their phones in order to match some “specific criteria.” This will soon change, however, as Nokia finally decides to change it’s tactics in order to recover their stronghold on the US market. (Read the full post about ‘Nokia willing to bend over for wireless carriers to increase market share’…)

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted Apr 25th 2008 at 1:57PM Oh bum bot. We remember when you were fresh out of the hands of creator Rufus Terrill. Now look at you — featured on the Colbert Report. You may have seen photos of this vagrant-deterring robot before, but you haven’t lived till you’ve seen the hard-hitting, in-depth coverage that Stephen Colbert delivers on it. (Read the full post about ‘Homemade security ‘bum bot’ turns up on the Colbert Report’…)

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Switzerland’s schools have announced they will stop using Windows and instead switch to the Linux operating system Ubuntu. Up until now the school system’s 9000 computers were set up to dual boot to Windows and Ubuntu. The country’s Department of Public Instruction has become serious fans of Open Source software. Their reasons are the money it saves them and the relief it gives students who may not be able to afford Microsoft’s expensive software packages such as MS Office. The director of the Media Service Schools, Manuel Grandjean, said the move would also “avoid providing captive customers for large companies.” The Swiss are not the first to make the switch. (Read the full post about ‘Swiss schools abandon Windows in favor of Ubuntu’…)

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“Athletic Performance Sensing and/or Tracking Systems and Methods” is the title of a new patent applied for by Nike, in relation to its collaboration with Apple on something called Nike+iPod. While you probably thought that Nike finally ditched Apple when it released the Nike+ Sportband, this new patent reveals that Nike and Apple are actually on planning a few new things for their Nike+ipod team up, including adding support for activities other than running (such as yoga, karate, pilates and free weights) aside from expanding into the iphone and iPod touch lineup. (Read the full post about ‘New Nike+ iPod patent reveals interesting new features’…)

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by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 25th 2008 at 11:51AMIt’s already hit Korea, but it looks like those of us that don’t live in the land of Samsung can now finally get our hands on the official, non beta Blue Wave 3 firmware update for the company’s fan-favorite YP-P2 PMP as well. Otherwise known as version 4.13, the update brings a whole host of improvements, including a decent batch of new GUI themes, a new fullscreen playback mode, a calculator, and some additional brightness and speed controls for video playback, among other things. Of course, as Samsung is wont to do, it’s already teasing us with its Blue Wave 4 update, which promises to take the player to even greater heights with customizable skins, Bluetooth-based games, subway maps, and voice recording, to name just a few improvements. (Read the full post about ‘Blue Wave 3 firmware update for Samsung P2 heads out of beta’…)

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It took a while, but now DSL is starting to compete with cable modem service on speed, as Qwest announces that they’ll be offering 12 and 20 Mbps DSL service in 23 markets. When you call up, just ask for Qwest Titanium, or Qwest Quantum, as the services will be dubbed.

Sorry, but will I know you’re drooling over this, you’ll have to wait closer to the end of the year if not early 2009, and you’ll need to be prepared to shell out $65/mo for the 12Mbps and $100/mo for 20. Hmm… perhaps cable may still win this speed war.

Posted in Networking & Internet

Tags: speaker, dvr, mobile phone, digital

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Filed in archive Competition by jim on April 26, 2008 If you love outdoor photography, and you've never visited any of the USA's National Parks, then there's a treasure trove of photo opportunities waiting for you. I took the one above in Zion National Park during early November, 2006. I haven't been to many National Parks because I caught on to them too late in life; but the ones I've visited have provided me with all the "photo ops" I could have hoped for. Because of various medical problems, I haven't been able to get to the better parts of many parks so I know there's even more to be explored, a lot more. (Read the full post about ‘Canon’s National Parks Digital Photo Contest’…)

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