Gadgets Blog News

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 5:05PM It was inevitable, was it not? With the success of HP’s 2133 Mini-Note, it was pretty obvious that the outfit would be working up a second edition, and according to Jerel Chong, HP Australia’s Market Development Manager for Notebook PCs, it’s already “looking at a similar device but at a lower cost.” Reportedly, the lower cost low-cost laptop will be ready for budget-conscience consumers sometime before 2009, though we have no idea what corners will be cut in order to hack down the price. Mr. Chong did mention that the cheaper edition would be less “durable,” but considering that we never viewed the original as a Toughbook replacement, we’re not so sure what he’s really getting at. (Read the full post about ‘HP mulling lower cost Mini-Note laptop’…)

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by Nilay Patel, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 4:04PMOkay, so there’s clearly a tube that dispenses marshmallows to the ASUS marketing department whenever it comes up with another product to slap the Eee brand on, because this just getting silly. In addition to the countless Eee laptops, Eee Box desktop, Eee monitor, Eee televisions, and other Eee-branded crap, we’re hearing the company is working on a line of accessories, including an external hard drive, optical drive, and WWAN card. (Read the full post about ‘Eee hard drive, optical drive, and 3G card continue to reduce meaning of Eee brand’…)

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 12:56PM We’re going to guess you’ve never heard of the Weemote, a little blue remote control made by a company called Forbis. The egg-shaped remote control and its parent company are reportedly in financial trouble ever since another company came out with something a lot of people are calling the “Wiimote.” While the Nintendo Wii Remote’s official name isn’t that word (we refuse to type it again), evil bloggers and retail chains have taken to the term and Forbis claims its brand has been diluted, confused, and passed up. Owner John Stephen told Game Politics that he would like nothing more than to have Nintendo buy out the trademark and let him move on to something called, oh, let’s say, the X Bocks, a new microbrewery project. (Read the full post about ‘Weemote maker wants Nintendo to buy his trademark, release him from this iron cage’…)

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by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 2:59PM Baby steps. When it comes to Palm’s mainstream businessphone line, that seems to be the name of the game, and the new Treo 800w is certainly no exception to the rule. So is it new enough, advanced enough, and badass enough to do the duty while still being sufficiently incremental to satisfy even the most easily-agitated suit? (Read the full post about ‘Palm Treo 800w gets reviewed on Engadget Mobile’…)

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Chinavasion recently unveiled their new MP4 player that they claim is the world’s thinnest portable media player. It even beats Brando’s disappearing screen mp3 player, in fact this 4GB CVSJ-1304 beats the former record holding device by a whole millimeter! To give you some perspective on how thin this 4.5mm thin device is, it would take 4 credit cards stacked on top of each other to be at equal thickness. It comes with a 1.8 inch touch screen, with a resolution of 160 x 128, supports media formats such as MP4, MP3, WMA, ASF, and WAV. Additionally, it comes with an FM tuner, a rechargeable battery and USB connectivity. (Read the full post about ‘Chinavasion claims they have created world’s thinnest MP4 player’…)

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I am always amazed with the new ways that we find to communicate. Ten years ago, most people didn’t use cell phones, and email capability was somewhat limited. Don’t even get me started on Instant Messaging or text messaging. Were they even around back then? Now, there is new way to communicate with Speak-A-Message. This is a free audio recorder that can make or send voice messages through email. It is available for download, and shows up on the computer screen as a separate window. The user has the option of putting a different “skin” on that window based on pre-programmed patterns or can even customize the skin with a digital photo. The user also has the option of adding sound effects to their message if they want. (Read the full post about ‘Speak-A-Message brings sound to your messages’…)

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The XARA iPlay Jacket is unique and different from any other jacket you’ve seen, since it comes in iPod-white color and boasts a space for you to store your iPod inside safely and securely. Of course, since the ipod is well-hidden within, it makes perfect sense that the XARA iPlay Jacket comes with a sleeve-based iPod remote control for you to choose whatever track you want to listen to without having to take out the iPod and put it back in again. Features include a mesh lining, bungy sleeves and hem for wind protection while inner cuff hand warmers are there to help keep your hands warm and toasty during those chilly days. The XARA iPlay Jacket will retail for $150. Product Page via OhGizmo! (Read the full post about ‘XARA iPlay Jacket’…)

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If your AT&T smartphone has a built-in GPS chip, then you’ll be pleased to know that AT&T has extended it’s Navigator to global coverage. What this means is that AT&T Navigator Global Edition comes with voice turn-by-turn directions, or text turn-by-turn directions. Both of these come in different language settings including English, German, Italian, or Spanish. In addition, coverage is now in 20 countries, which includes many in western Europe, North American, U.S. Caribbean, and six Chinese cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin and Qinhuangdao. (Read the full post about ‘AT&T’s Navigator now available in 20 countries’…)

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So we’ve all been there. That rush of panic when we’ve lost (or at least momentarily think we’ve lost) our cell phone.  When our phone contains lots of confidential data like bank info and emails, the panic level tends to rise even more quickly. Now we don’t have to just worry about Joe Finder using up our minutes, but now Joe Finder could access our bank accounts and read all those spicy emails we sent to Suzy at the office, uh-oh. This not even counting in the fact that the money spent on the phone is now down the drain. Enter your possible savior, the cell phone Superhero! (Read the full post about ‘It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s … a cell phone Superhero?’…)

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Alright, those of you that actually saw the Mystery Science 3000 reference, you get a sticker.  Granted, you have to go buy it yourself as well as pay for it.  This clock may appear to be just a perfectly innocent clock, one that seems to just sit there and tell the time.  Just like every other clock on the universe.  However, plug it in to your USB port and after flipping a fancy little switch it will come to life and show its true colors.  This sneaky little clock actually doubles as a fan.  This way you can hide the fact that you think your boss is just a big sissy who needs to crank up the AC a bit more rather than cooking their employees. (Read the full post about ‘The Amazing Brando now selling a USB Alarm Clock Fan’…)

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