News about Gadgets:
Review: New Amazon Kindle 3
The new Amazon Kindle 3 has been the most hyped eBook reader of the year.
With a hugely competitive £109 price-tag, decent specs and the backing of the UK’s biggest book etailer, even before launch it’s made many of the other eBook readers out there look outclassed and hugely overpriced.
Folding Shower Lets You Choose Where Your Shower Goes
If memory serves, the last time we showcased a folding piece of bathroom gadgetry, it was a toilet — and it was far more compact than this big thing is. Not that we’d expect a shower to be all that compact, but considering the market that the designers are aiming this thing for, we would think that size would be a focal point. As of right now, the designers are looking for a manufacturer and distributor to bring the Folding Shower to the world, so it at least sounds like they think they’ve got a great idea.
Logitech Revue Google TV box hits the FCC
BlackBerry Curve 9300 gets FCC approval?
Like many companies, RIM generally does a superb job of concealing model numbers of unannounced devices when it files for FCC certification — but given what we know of Waterloo’s product pipeline, we think it’s safe to take a stab at what we’re looking at here. In all likelihood, this is the upcoming Curve 9300, evidenced by the general shape of the rear and… well, the obvious “Curve” label up top. This particular unit appears to have triband CDMA including AWS, meaning we could definitely see it launch on some of the AWS-packing regionals like MetroPCS. Physically, it’s a step up from the 8500 series below it — but by all appearances, it’s not a major redesign. How about that 9800, RIM? Read the rest of this entry »
LG debuts Optimus smartphone series, Froyo-powered ‘One’ and ‘Chic’ arriving first
While all of you Droid, Incredible and EVO 4G owners wait patiently for an official Froyo update to call your own, LG’s wasting no time introducing its first phones based on the latest and greatest Android build. Over in the UK today, the company has decided to launch the Optimus Series, a family of smartphones that’ll run “on a range of operating systems as well as Android.” If all goes well, LG will introduce around ten new smart devices worldwide in the second half of this year under the Optimus label, though only two are being partially revealed for now. The Optimus One with Google and Optimus Chic will both ship with Android 2.2 onboard, with the latter being specifically aimed at fashionistas who just might appreciate the “sleek curves” that make themselves so apparent. Further details surrounding pricing, availability and specifications remain to be seen, but here’s hoping this is just the beginning of the Froyo flood to come. Read the rest of this entry »
Pressure-sensitive drawing headed to iPad in free software library (video)
“The iPad’s IPS panel is pressure-sensitive, you say?” No, that’s not quite right, but with some clever software and a special capacitive stylus, the folks at Ten One Design built a convincing proof of concept anyhow. While we’re not quite sure how it works, the current theory states that the soft tip of the stylus expands like a brush when you press it down, generating a “larger press” that can be detected by the hooks in Ten One’s code — which they soon plan to share as a free software library (assuming Apple allows) with developers around the world. See it in action in a video after the break, and if you’re feeling your inner Rorschach today, let us know what you see in the above drawing. Read the rest of this entry »
Intel Connected Cars will record your bad driving for posterity, take over if you’re really screwing up
Intel’s latest Research Day has sprung up a new vision for “smart” vehicles; a vision that frankly chills us to our very geeky core. Cameras and sensors attached to an Intel Connected Car will record data about your speed, steering and braking, and upon the event of an accident, forward those bits and bytes along to the police and your insurance company. Just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn’t it? Don’t get us wrong, the tech foundation here is good — having cars permanently hooked up to the ether can generally be considered a good thing — but what’s being envisioned is as obtrusive as it is irritating. Oh, didn’t we mention that the cars can become self-aware and overrule you if you try to bend the rules of the road? Because they can. Read the rest of this entry »
HP Photosmart D110a ePrint printer earns 5-star reviews despite lacking ePrint… wait, what?
See the bullet for HP’s new D110a Photosmart e-All-in-One that says, “HP ePrint for printing anywhere.” Well, you can ignore that for now. While HP proudly lists ePrint — the ability to print PDF, JPEG, and MS Office documents received as attachments from any email-capable device — as a flagship feature on its newest line of web-connected printers, it’s not a working feature and it won’t be until a software update is pushed out at the end of the month, according to support forums. Unfortunately, there’s no notice of this on HP’s own retail listing for the D110a (HP’s first ePrint-capable printer), Amazon, or in brick-and-mortar shops like Best Buy. And curiously, that trio of 5-star “customer reviews” on HP’s own site fail to mention the missing feature at all. Instead, owners will only discover this after calling the HP help desk or checking the growing list of disgruntled rants in HP or Amazon support threads. Not cool HP, not cool.
Researchers say any USB peripheral could steal your data, even a coffee-cup warmer
So you’ve got a nice secure thumbdrive, but did you ever think to lock its port? Engineers at the Royal Military College of Canada say the plug and play functionality built into most computers automatically trusts whatever’s plugged into the USB slot. That doesn’t just go for flash drives left out on the street, but all manner of other peripherals as well, as the trio of triumphant researchers demonstrated when they (presumably) infiltrated colleagues’ offices with a totally sweet spy keyboard. That particular device flashed an LED or made the mark’s sound card warble to covertly transmit stolen data, but such exotic methods are reportedly not required — so you’ve yet another reason to cringe when your coworker trots out his Humping Dog. Read the rest of this entry »
iOS has a bigger dev army than Android, but will cross-platform apps rule the day?
We oftentimes hear raw numbers of apps bandied about in mobile OS comparisons, but we rarely get any idea of just how many developers are behind the scenes working for each platform. This is the void of knowledge filled by AppStore HQ today, who have gone to their dev directory — claimed to be a complete listing of all 55,000+ coders whose work is currently available for consumption in the Apple App Store or Android Market — and stacked them into neat piles of Apple, Google and Gapple programmers. It’s immediately apparent that single-platform development is the norm (with Apple holding the predictable edge), but AppStore HQ also provides a list of some of the most well known (and well funded) apps doing the cross-platform dance, and suggests that a movement is afoot toward making software available for both sets of users. Then again, the BNET article below points out the difficulties faced by smaller outfits, who might struggle to find the resources required to port their content over and maintain the skills required to be multi-platform, resulting in them sticking to one environment, irrespective of what allures others might throw their way. Give them both a read, we say. Read the rest of this entry »
Iran’s got a walking humanoid robot, too
Two years ago, Iranian students built Sorena, a white humanoid machine that reportedly wheeled about via remote control. For 2010, robots experts at Tehran University decided to update the creature — and apparently, channel a little bit of Asimo. Surena 2 was unveiled by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week, its purpose unknown. Named after a famous Persian warrior, the robot stands 4.7 feet tall, and can walk about slowly carrying its own weight of 99 pounds. Gulf News reports the robot will get vision and speech modules later on down the road. If it ends up conducting orchestras or performing show tunes, we’ll be sure to keep you informed. Read the rest of this entry »
LG confirms Android tablet for Q4 2010 launch, Froyo for Optimus Z
Now this is jolly good news. LG, which already has a Windows 7 tablet in the works, is gearing up to service those with a hankering for some Android in their slate computers as well. Clearly unwilling to fall behind its fierce rival Samsung, LG has just announced that it’ll bringing out its own Google-centric tablet before the end of 2010. Indications are that it’ll be different (presumably better) than current offerings on the market, but alas there’s nary a peep about what that might mean on the spec sheet. In other machine-translated news, the Korean company is also planning a new version of its SU950 handset, aka the Optimus Z, which will come preloaded with Android 2.2. Current owners of the phone need not despair either, as Froyo upgrades are planned for them by the fourth quarter as well. Hmm, all this Q4 and 2.2 action flying about, would be nice to think this tablet would benefit from the same treatment. Read the rest of this entry »
Motorola XT502 with Android 2.1 gets teased in China, out-KIRFs itself
HTC Vision with Android, full QWERTY in the wild?
For reasons seemingly known only to Peter Chou himself, HTC has mostly steered clear of producing high-quality physical QWERTY devices running Android, despite the fact that there might be no phone manufacturer in the world more skilled at making them (let us remind you of the Touch Pro2, among many others dating back the better part of a decade). Anyhow, we caught wind last month of a possible entry in the form of the so-called “Vision,” but we didn’t have any visuals — just a user agent profile that may or may not amount to anything. Well, that seems to be changing today with a couple blurry shots out of a Croatian site that allegedly shows the goods featuring a 3.7-inch display, a 1GHz processor (Snapdragon, we assume), and Android 2.1 with Sense (the launcher looks like stock Android in this photo, but the status bar is clearly HTC custom). At a glance, it doesn’t seem to be the prettiest thing in the world — but for a form factor traditionally associated with power users and suits, this might be just the ticket.
Samsung Intercept ambushed in the wild, features higher res screen (video)
When we first got word of a Samsung Moment successor, we were concerned it would be too little, too late… but this week a man headed off Sammy’s new Intercept at a Best Buy (for $100, reportedly), and there’s slightly more to this device than it originally seemed. While the form factor and features are familiar enough — a QWERTY slider with a 3.2 megapixel camera and 3.2-inch screen — that display apparently sports a 800 x 480 resolution now, the keyboard seems much improved, ports and buttons have been thoroughly revamped, and the whole unit’s been given a lovely sheen. No word on internal specs quite yet — and no Froyo, either — but you can judge how responsive it is for yourself in a video after the break.
Balanzza Mini Digital Luggage Scale
Don’t you just hate it when you go to the airport and check in your luggage, keeping your fingers crossed that a nice, broad smile with a wink will help you squeeze past the additional kilos onto the conveyor belt without forking out insane amounts of money that airlines charge? Well, you can easily avoid such a potentially embarassing situation if the attendant turns down your request (suggested via body language or otherwise), making you look like a miser who can afford to buy a plane ticket but can’t fork out the extra dough just to get that huge suitcase across the Atlantic. Well, best be prepared from home we say, with the Balanzza Mini Digital Luggage Scale more than ready to help. This £19.99 device lets you know how much your luggage weighs – all you need to do is attach your bag to the strap, pick it up by the scales and get a reading through its display. Switchable between lbs and kgs, it helps you bring only what is necessary, so that you can use the saved money on your vacation. Be warned that it has a maximum weight reading of 44kg or 111lbs. Read the rest of this entry »
Lolly makes waffles on a stick
Any food that you can put on a stick just becomes ten times better. Thankfully now instead of just sitting at a table and cutting up your waffles like you do every single time, you can eat your waffles off of a stick. I’d bet you didn’t think that waffles could get any better, but they just did. With this odd little waffle iron you’ll be able to eat your waffles in the proper manner.
Kitchen Scale Wall Clock
This wall clock may appear to be nothing more than a very retro looking wall clock that attempts to mimic the look of a record. In reality this kitchen clock does double duty. As well as letting you know the time, this thing also can weigh things while you’re cooking in the kitchen. That way you have it handy for those particular recipes that give weights instead of cups or numbers of items.
