Gadget Access

Novatel Wireless has announced their latest in high speed USB modems. The Ovation MC930D will offer speeds up to 7.2 Mbps down and 2.1 Mbps up on any network that uses the 2100 MHz band, all in a nice small package. The modem measures in at just 70 mm x 25 mm x 12 mm.

The MC930D offers simple installation with the necessary software preinsalled on the internal memory of the modem and ships with a dual USB Y-cable to help boost power in in areas with poor signal strength. The MC930D will be available beginning in February but pricing information has not yet been announced.

Read [Novatel Wireless] Via [I4U News]

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Pioneer are truly leading the way with their plasma HDTVs over the recent years, and their recent Kuro range are currently the world’s best. The Pioneer PDP6010FD is a large 60-inch plasma HDTV from the Kuro line, all of which have received great reviews from both professionals and also proud owners of the sets.

The 60-inch PDP6010FD has a full HD 1080p plasma screen offering a 1920×1080 pixel resolution and can accept all HD formats. Upconversion of standard definition content is very good, making the image very acceptable and HD content is very impressive indeed. The Pioneer PDP6010FD has excellent black levels and colors for a very impressive viewing experience.

From the other Kuro’s we have seen, we can be sure that the PDP-6010FD is just as impressive as they are. Inputs include HDMI, component, composite, s-video and a dedicated PC VGA input.

Posted Feb 13th 2008 9:52AM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: cellphones
Nokia’s been putting quite a focus on contributing to a greener, healthier world as of late — still running off the high of winning Greenpeace’s praise, perhaps — and its latest concept, unveiled at MWC, takes the commitment to an extreme. The “Remade” phone is exactly that: a handset made entirely of recycled stuff. The case and keypad are fashioned from tossed cans, for example, and apparently, even the electrical components (never mind that the Remade can’t actually place a call in its current incarnation) are entirely reused. No plans have been revealed to produce the Remade or anything quite like it, but the way Nokia’s going — and the way we’re throwing away tin cans — we wouldn’t be surprised if it happened down the road.

There are some heated socks that work via USB, but this one only needs two D batteries in order to get your feet and legs warm.

According to the details of the special socks, they aren’t suppose to overheat, which is a good thing of course. And there is also no chance of a “high” shock due to its low amperage.

As for the heating and temperature specs, there are two modes - high or low - which provide a continuous heat for 10 hours, and 12 hours, respectively. Perfect for those that are in constant contact with snow!

Thermostat is made from hollow-core fibers that trap air to keep you warm while also moving moisture away from the skin to keep you dry.

Priced at $25.

Product Page

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A Space Shuttle Bunk Bed looks and sounds like a good idea until you see the price. It costs $2595, which virtually ensures that you will insist that your kid or kids hang onto the bunk bed for a little bit longer than will be socially acceptable. When they are six or seven years old, they will be the envy of all their friends, a few years later, however… well I don’t need to tell you. Let’s just say that they will have to learn to take care of themselves.

Price: $2595 from My Moon Drops

Source: Nerd Approved

Every once in a while, somebody takes two of my favorite things and manages to combine them together in happy unity. Case in point: Electric Arts (EA) new advancements in Nerf and Wiimote technology.

EA plans to release this Nerf/Wiimote combo in tandem with a new game called Nerf N-Strike. This contraption that you see to your left doesn’t yet have an official name, but it is a Nerf shooter as well as a Wiimote for first person shooter games.

EA has been working with well-known toy company Hasbro on many products. These two companies have been developing video game versions of its most popular games, including Yahtzee, Trivial Pursuit, Operation, and Monopoly Here and Now: World Edition.

Now I will finally be able to literally shoot something when I play Wii games, and I don’t have to worry about cracking the TV screen. I wonder if this blaster shoots Nerf disks or suction cup darts, because it would be cool to have the darts stick to your television screen.

I can’t help but wonder what kind of game Nerf N-Strike will be. If this product is targeted to the younger crowd, then “get ready for some family-friendly bloodless action!” I guess we’ll have to wait and see, as no release date or price has been set.

Source

Best Buy customer Raelyn Campbell has filed a $54 million dollar lawsuit for the loss of her laptop. The story starts out innocent enough, Raelyn had purchased a laptop along with an extended warranty from Best Buy, after a while the laptops power switch broke and she had thought that warranty would prove to be useful. That is where it began to go downhill, originally told the repairs would take roughly two to six weeks it ended up going much longer. After several months it was determined that the laptop had never left the store and to make matters worse the laptop had been stolen, not to mention Best Buy had lied to her about the status for months.

In an attempt to make this right, Best Buy had initially offered her a $900 gift card. Which sounds nice until you find out that she originally paid $1,100 for the laptop. She had also software and other irreplaceable items such as photos, music and personal information on the now lost laptop.

One nice bit is that Raelyn will admit that she choose the $54 million figure for the sole purpose of attracting media attention and according to her she is the “first to admit that it is a ridiculous sum of money.”

I have to admit that when I first read that she was suing for $54 million I thought she was just plain crazy, but after reading more of the story its nice to see she admits its a “ridiculous” amount of money and she is using this in an effort to get Best Buy to make changes and hopefully prevent this from happening to another customer in the future.

Read [Best Buy vs. Consumer Protection Blog] Via [The Consumerist]

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Product: ARCHOS TV+
Price: 250GB for $349
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros:Tons of features, full of promise
Cons: Not a hook-it-up-and-go solution
Overall: A nice piece of hardware that needs some mainstreaming for US use

Out of the Box
I was extremely excited to get my hands on the ARCHOS TV+ after getting the demo at CES.  All of the promised features, gobs of storage, and low starting price had me really stoked to give it a go.  I’ll note there that during the demo @ CES, their WiFi network was down, so I missed the internet demo.  But more on that in a bit.

Out of the box you’ll see more connection options than any other player (at least that I’ve witnessed).  Hooking it up was pretty simple and there is a wizard to give you boost.  For me, the wizard didn’t pop up as should have been the case, but mine is a demo unit and I got to figure out how to start the wizard.

Off and running…kinda
Once the easy part of hooking it up was done, I picked up the remote and started to play with it.  The remote has two main navigation parts, the right up/down/left/right buttons for navigating the home screen and a mouse-like wheel with left and right buttons for navigating on the web.  It was a bit odd switching back and forth.  I set up my DirecTV for the program guide and started checking with it.

The guide download brought in two days of programming that allowed me to move around quickly day to day, hour to hour.  Selecting a program to record was easy, just one button click and you’ve got it scheduled.  For some reason, the guide did not automatically load for more days as my time with the unit passed, so I’d have to go in and download it again.  TiVo users and even basic DVR functions were missed here.  You can’t get into high level recording options like first-run and the like. I haven’t looked at a program guide in a while with my TiVo , I simply enter the title and Season Pass it, so using the ARCHOS was cumbersome.

How about a movie?
Settling down for a night in on the sofa, I thought I’d go online and watch the episode of House my TiVo messed up after the Super Bowl, so I cruised on over to the Fox site and couldn’t get on.  Seems the Fox site uses Flash 8 and the TV+ supports up to 7, so no go there.  So over to the CinemaNow content portal ARCHOS has partnered up with.  The choices were OK, but they didn’t have the new release movie I was searching for.  There did seem to be a lot of adult-content. 

WiFi
The WiFi connection worked well, but slow.  I compared surfing speeds accessing Gadgetell.com on the ARCHOS vs. a laptop running Windows XP and my ipod touch; definitely not apples to apples, but the experience for the average consumer should be.  The ARCHOS unit came in last place, confirming the lag I was feeling was real, not traffic on my network.  I was able to get to sites, but on my monster 27” screen, the web didn’t look good.  Surfing the web was OK, but using the remote was a little awkward.  Typing on the remote however, was great.  It basically is the bottom half of a QWERTY smartphone.  Sitting far from the TV made it tough to read text on some pages, ARCHOS realized this and added a zoom feature but it didn’t behave well.

I was able to access files and, music and photos pretty simply.  This worked very well.  There are some widgets you can hook up for weather and games and the like.

Extras
It should be noted that there are plug ins you will have to buy to get some functionality from the unit.  At $20 a pop, it should be taken into consideration when pricing a system out. 

The unit has a USB slot, so you can hook in your camera and upload straight to the ARCHOS hard drive and view images.  Using the TV+ with your ARCHOS player is a great combination, allowing you to take your media with you at the drop of a hat.  Transfer rate speeds are impressive.

Bottom Line
This unit has potential.  All the parts are there, great connectivity, options galore but what isn’t there is the piece to pull it all together in a neat little package.  No matter how much I wanted to fall in love with the unit, I found that I just didn’t want to play with it.  Whether it was incompatible plug ins, slow connection speeds, or a DVR that was less than what I am used to, it just didn’t work for me.  I get the feeling that this thing works very well in France, where it is designed and seems geared for.

With a better online content partner, some updates to the plug ins (which all ought to be included in my opinion, perhaps a TV+ Pro version where you don’t feel “nickeled and dimed” to get the functionality that draw you to the unit in the first place) TV+ would have been a huge hit for me.

I am hoping for an update, a better content partner (like Netflix perhaps?) and it will be something that we no longer want, but need.

Product page [ARCHOS]

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Posted Feb 13th 2008 6:46AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Household
Sexism at its finest, Roto-Rooter! Sure, we understand the pink decor, magazines and other frilly paraphernalia, but the guy version of this “pimp my bathroom” setup had a television about four times the size of this dainty little number. That said, what girl wouldn’t want an ipod touch next to her commode blasting tunes while she grinds instances with her level 80 priest on a pink Sony Vaio and brushes up on her Wii Tennis skills for the tournament that weekend?

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

Pretty soon, endoscopes would be a thing of the past. After all, those “small” scopes have become big, sluggish, and too expensive with the invention of this new device.

The new reusable pill-sized camera was developed to determine the early signs of esophageal cancer. Unlike the standard endoscope which is a centimeter wide and can only be used on a sedated patient, this device is encased in a capsule and is only as big as other standard capsule medicines. The only difference between this device and a real medicine is that this device has a 1.4 mm thin tether which could be used to navigate the camera and to pull the capsule out. Best of all, while the standard endoscope costs around 2,600, this reusable pill-sized camera only costs a few hundred. Human testing for the reusable pill-sized camera will begin in a month and the release — hopefully soon.

via