Gadget Access

Posted Feb 18th 2008 4:02PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
Oh, how the times have changed. Merely months ago we caught Frank Simonis, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association, firing off all sorts of vitriol at the red camp, and now that the wheels are falling off of the hd dvd wagon, we’re seeing quite the change of heart. According to a recent interview with Tech Radar, Mr. Simonis was quoted as saying that Toshiba and Microsoft, along with any other company, is “more than welcome to join the BDA.” He continued by stating that if “Toshiba decides to drop HD DVD, it would extend the hand of friendship to them.” Yeah, it’s kind of cute to see such lovey-dovey phrases being thrown around, but we’ve all ideas none of these heartfelt feelings are easing the sting felt by Toshiba right about now.

Posted Feb 18th 2008 5:34PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: HandheldsDetails are pretty light on this one but, according to Crave, HP recently dropped word in an “informal chit-chat” that it is now prepping its very first UMPC, which apparently could hit the market as early as late spring of this year. Most interestingly, HP reportedly said that “you won’t even need to consider this purchase,” adding that, “you’ll buy it like a handphone without a thought”. What’s more, HP also apparently boasted that one of the “key areas of improvement” would be in battery life, although unsurprisingly didn’t get any more specific than that. Even more vaguely, HP went on to describe the device as a “lifestyle accessory,” which would cater to “professionals as well as youths.” Needless to say, that’s quite a bit of boasting for HP to live up to, but Crave at least seems confident that the device is in fact in the works, so we’ll hopefully be able to see how things pan out for ourselves soon enough.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Posted Feb 18th 2008 5:06PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: StorageWe’ve already seen a couple 2.5-inch SSDs hit 128GB, but Mtron, our new favorite crazy storage vendor, has just announced a 1.8-inch 128GB SSD. That’s the same size as the drives in the macbook air, Latitude XT, and Lenovo X300 — and since drive height isn’t as closely related to storage capacity for SSDs, look for 1.8-inch SSDs to become the new standard in most new laptops as capacities increase and prices fall. Of course, “prices fall” is the operative phrase here — Mtron’s 1.8-inch 128GB disk will probably set you back some $1600 when it ships in April. Yeah, we’ll stick with the platters for now.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Posted Feb 18th 2008 2:18PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable VideoThis one’s still just a bunch of whispers and coincidences, but we’ve been hearing that Apple may lower prices on the iPhone and ipod touch in the next few months and drop the 8GB touch. Word is that falling flash prices coupled with the desire to introduce the 3G iphone at an attractive price point will lead to the 16GB iPhone falling to $399, along with similar touch price drops: 16GB for $299 and 32GB for $399. It’s not clear what’ll happen to the 8GB iPhone, but everyone seems to agree that the 8GB touch is on the way out — we actually think a $199 8GB touch would fly off shelves, but that’s probably cutting margins razor-thin. We’ll see when we see — and if flash prices are really falling that fast, it’ll be interesting to see what happens to iPod nano pricing as well.

Sumvision really has, er, some vision when it comes to MP3 players. This 4GB model comes with a 2.8″ touch screen display (don’t they all try to emulate the iphone these days), all decked out in a stainless steel case and a microSD memory card slot just in case you want to lug around an additional 2GB worth of songs. At £60 a pop, is the Sumvision ICE 1000 worth every penny? You check out the specifications after the jump and decide.

• Screen: 2.8 inch (320 x 240 pixels) TFT panel.
• Capacity: Built-in flash memory, up to 4GB.
• Memory Card Slot: Supports microSD card, up to 2GB.
• Operation buttons: Touch-panel.
• FM Stereo Radio: 20 channel presets manually and automatically.
• Power supply: Built-in Li-polymer rechargeable battery.
• Play time: MP3: More than 10 hours. (Screen off, with earphones)/MP4 or Games: More than 4 hours.
• Speaker: Built-in speaker.
• Weight: 62g.
• Dimensions: 90mm (L) x 55.5mm (W) x 12mm (H).
• Synchronous lyrics. (LRC format).
• Picture browse (JPEG format).
• E-book (TXT format).
• Recording function: Voice recording / FM stereo radio recording (internal).
• Play function: Audio files: Support MP3, WMA, etc. format files.
• Video files: Supports AVI(XviD) format files. ALL files must be converted to MP4 (XviD) format (software included).
• 7 equalizer modes (Normal, surround 3D, rock, pop, classic, bass, jazz)
• 7 play modes (Once, repeat one, folder once, folder repeat, all once, all repeat, introduction)

Source: Nexus404

I remember as a teenager back in the eighties the quick phenomenon of “kid leashes”. These were dual bracelets that attached with some phone-cord like line, designed to keep the kid a safe distance. This was a market that I was glad never took off.

However, I am a parent now and know the general feeling of complete nervousness that occurs every time my children just up and run off in a public place. I think the only thing that keeps me from purchasing a “kid leash” are my not-so-fond memories of controlling parents.

However, there is a technological alternative: the In-Reach Child Tracking System. This device has an ankle bracelet that is reminiscent of those under house arrest or parole. There is a child sensor belt for the parent.

Apparently, you set a boundary for your kids so that if they go outside it, an alarm will sound. This boundary can be as low as 10 feet or high as 300 feet. I found that the Product Page is very unspecific about everything that it can do, but it comes with a Child Panic and Parent Alert Button.

If you are a nervous parent, perhaps this will calm your nerves. It is available at the Security Safety Spy site for about $44.95.

I guess reindeer don’t quite make the cut for Santa any more as he is sick of flying second class.

Fly Santa right into your living room with this neat 2CH RC helicopter. It is made of a unique material that withstands crashes, and also it is very lightweight. It comes with auto stable and precision speed technology which makes it easier to fly. The Santa Mini RC Helicopter comes with an internal 3.7v 60mAh Li-Poly battery, the newest in RC battery technology. It comes with a full function super wide infrared controller which allows you to go up, down, left, and right. You can even fly with your friends with 3 different frequency bands. This Santa Mini RC Helicopter comes Ready-to-Fly right out of the box, all you need is 6 AA batteries.

The Santa Infrared Mini RC Helicopter can be an (extremely) early Christmas present for $29.95.

Rumor has it that Verizon Wireless is going to begin offering unlimited voice, data and message plans. With some good news that these will become available as early as February 19. The rumored plans are said to have several options to include:

• $100 - Nationwide Unlimited (voice)
• $120 - Nationwide Select Unlimited (voice, SMS, MMS)
• $140 - Nationwide Premium (voice, SMS, MMS, VZNav, VCAST, email)
• $150 - Nationwide Email and Messaging (voice, SMS, MMS, and data)
• $170 - Nationwide Global Email and Messaging (voice, SMS, MMS, and international data)
• $200 - Family plan with two lines, $100 per additional line.

In addition to the wonderful unlimited options these plans are also reported to include no roaming or long distance charges, be available with one or two year agreements, have no contract extensions for current users and include Mobile Web 2.0 portal access. Possibly the best part, assuming these rumors are true is that the 5GB data cap is out.

Via [Engadget]

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Back in the late 80’s when most PC games involved rudimentary graphics or were text-based games, Apple’s reined supreme in non-console gaming with graphically intense and gorgeous games like “Falcon”, a flight simulator that PCs took a decade to catch up with! Since then, times have changed and game developers have treated the Macintosh platform as a secondary port to PCs, if game developers entertained the Apple market at all.

Now it seems gaming developers are starting to warm back up to the Mac platform as big names like Electronic Arts announced games like “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”, “Battlefield 2142″ and “Madden NFL ‘08″ for the Mac. As a further push of confidence from EA, the anticipated game “Spore” will be released for the Mac and PC simultaneously.

With gaming developers coming back around to the Mac platform, only time will tell if hard-core gamers, or even casual gamers, will develop new perceptions about Macs not to mention the ability to tweak the computer’s performance with higher end audio and video cards not to mention overclocking the processor to squeeze every last bit of performance… for the same price as a PC.

My take on Mac Gaming is that switching to the Intel platform was a positive step for gamers, but game developers are watching the demographics of Mac users and the share Apple holds of the computer market (estimated at 10% currently) because in the end they are only going to make games on platforms that will provide profit. While market share is increasing, those “converts” are not gamers unless they have their gaming PC sitting next to the Mac.

Do you know anyone in your circle of friends who does not yet own a cell phone? Probably not, as all and sundry have already picked up a handset regardless of age and economic background. After all, cell phone manufacturers have long catered their handsets to people from all walks of life, ranging from super cheap phones to high ends ones that seem to be able to do everything. The keyword for the latter group is ’seem’, as Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser thinks otherwise. The man says that everyone will eventually carry at least a couple of cell phones since there is no perfect handset that is capable of doing everything you want and provide everything you need.

According to Glaser, “his belief was fueled by differences in input methods, size, and functionality between devices.” He even goes on to say that “no single phone can do everything easily, which is why the public will be driven to carry multiple devices. Mobile penetration won’t stop at 100%. It will go to 200 percent because the notion of a single device that does it all isn’t the way (the market is) going to go.”

Do you agree with Glaser? After all, there are serious repercussions to think about should everyone start to carry double the handsets. We will have even more headache trying to dispose of these phones whenever we make an upgrade, our pockets will be way heavier, we will consume a larger amount of electricity trying to juice up dead batteries – the negative aspects are nearly endless. Not to forget, you have double the chance of somebody calling you in the cinema and disrupting everybody else’s enjoyment of the movie. Are you already carrying two handsets to begin with? Remember, those mobile carrier fees can surely add up if you’re not careful.

Source: ArsTechnica. Image courtesy of www.w3.org.