Gadget Access

Posted Mar 10th 2008 6:43PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
Energy Sistem is making a play for your DAP dollar with the steel-crafted Inngenio 6000. The player runs a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, with a built-in speaker, 2GB of storage and microSD expansion along for the ride. FM, voice recording, an e-book reader and some games are all included, and you can manage MP3, WMA and XVID playback. It’s available now — at least in Spain — for €90 (about $138 US).

[Via PMP Today]

The selection of wireless keyboards is enormous nowadays, but very few of those have an included trackpad.  Brando, with its latest Wireless USB Keyboard, aims to change that. Its main draw, obviously, is its touchpad on the right side of the keyboard. That is exactly what it sounds like, a laptop sized touchpad on the keyboard, complete with mouse buttons for all your clicking purposes. Brando’s keyboard also features 11 hotkeys, which can control your web browser and media player, among other things. A neat feature is the ability to let it run via USB, when within range, this conveniently saves battery life. The USB Wireless Keyboard retails for $57 and is available now. Beware, Mac users, it is not compatible with your machine out of the box.

Product [Brando]

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Posted Mar 10th 2008 2:45PM by Donald MelansonMicrosoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie isn’t normally one to give interviews, but the man himself did find a bit of time recently to chat with Om Malik of GigaOM, where he talked about the economics of cloud computing and the relevance of the desktop, among a myriad of other topics. On that latter point, Ozzie says up front that a student today or a web startup “don’t actually start at the desktop. They start at the web,” but he goes on to say that while there are things that the web is good for “that doesn’t necessarily mean that for all those things that the desktop is not good anymore. What I think is important is to re-pivot the center of what we are trying to accomplish.” On the topic of cloud computing, Ozzie goes so far as to say that he thinks “all of these utility-computing services, as they’re born will either be breaking even or profitable,” adding that “at the scale that we’re talking about, nobody can afford, (even Microsoft) can’t afford to do it at a loss.” Of course, he goes on to elaborate further on that and other subjects, so be sure to hit up the link below for the complete interview.

Need to open a folder on your computer but you’re feeling a bit too lazy to move your fingers? Tobii Technology is here to the rescue, with the introduction of their OEM eye tracking technology during this year’s annual CeBIT trade show. This technology can further be applied to gaming, medical and vision diagnostics, market research set-top boxes, 3D displays, and as well as in automotive safety. The list goes on to include computer interfaces in medical, industrial and military environments.

Personally, I think this would be a great feature in vending machines, where it would enable anyone to look at a particular product (a hot/cold beverage, tissues/napkins, etc.) and claim the item at the push of a single button without having to go through the currently difficult process of pushing two to three stubby nubs. According to Tobii, this will provide new and unique opportunities for product enhancements to companies as it offers customized OEM eye tracking components for seamless integration into various devices.

Imagine all the time you’d be able to save by skipping through the the necessary left/right clicking and gaining access certain programs or parts of your computer directly just by looking at them. And apart from being a time saver, this will also contribute to analyzing user thinking and behavior. Presumably, this technology is still in its beta testing stage but expect it to be one of the most talked about upcomings later on this year once it finally goes mainstream.

Via [Aving.net]

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Posted Mar 10th 2008 1:44PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Displays HANNSpree’s never been one to shy away from unconventional designs for its TVs, but the company has really outdone itself with its new “HANNSMilano” model, which it says is “inspired by today’s modern woman.” That inspiration apparently resulted in a genuine leather exterior with “intricate detailing,” which surrounds a wholly unremarkable 9.6-inch LCD screen — with a handy carrying strap rounding the look, of course. Sadly, there’s no word on a release ’round these parts, but those in the UK will be able to get their hands on one of these later this month for £130 (or about $260).

When people refer to Facebook fatigue and more generally “social network fatigue,” it can mean two different things, either that (1) you’re bored with social networking and are spending less time with it, or (2) you’re generally exhausted from spending too much time keeping up with online interactions with your friends and updating your information. Web 2.0 Asia suggests that social network fatigue hit Korea and Japan a little earlier, in the same way that certain tech trends hit and then decline in Asia ahead of the U.S. and Europe. Apparently, Cyworld in Korea and and Mixi in Japan, have been losing their appeal with users for whom the novelty of online networking has worn off.

Take our poll and let us know where you stand.

Links to articles about social network fatigue:
‘Facebook vatigue’ kicks in as people tire of social networks, The Register.
Facebook Fatigue, Economist.com.
Facebook Fatigue: There Is Hope, Portfolio.com.

Posted Mar 10th 2008 1:12PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio
You know how Apple products get when they’re around their “lesser” consumer electronics counterparts at parties. It starts with a lack of eye contact and some foot scuffing, and ends badly with a scene in close proximity to the punch bowl. That said, Inkel’s giving it a shot with this here IDS-1500 WiFi phone dock, which mixes an iPod dock with internet radio functionality and song playback through the phone. Not a bad combination in the least, so as long as the ipod steers clear of the alcohol. No word on price or availability.

The European corporation of Hannspree has come up with an original product that combines a handbag and TV in one, can you guess its name?

Some people will call it the Handbag TV, which on the outside features genuine leather in two tones. As for the technical specifications, the television comes with a 9.6-inch LCD TV and includes a carry strap + an easy way to store all the cables.

For 130 ($260) you can have a handbag and watch TV at the same time - it is suppose to launch later this month.

via

Allistar Croll over at GigaOm wrote an interesting piece on Saturday about Microsofts current battles on three fronts: Consumer, Enterprise and Developer as seen from Mix08.  In each battle, Microsoft is portrayed as a lumbering giant, struggling to catch up to where Croll says are the market drivers.  Multi-front battles are tough to win, how will Microsoft face each challenge?

Here is a breakdown of his position:

Consumer: We live fragmented lives.  We use Google for search, iPods for music, Windows for home PC needs…Microsoft will push it’s One OS theme that will effect our lives here, there and everywhere.
Enterprise: Expect MS to put some cash into mobile.  With the purchase of Danger, Windows Mobile is free to attack blackberry.  No one is ready to trust the cloud completely and Microsoft will ride that pony to the bank.
Developers:  Microsoft is breaking coding down and making it easier to retain developers. 

Flanked by Apple’s cooler desktops and devices, Google’s insight into users, and the Nintendo/Sony console world, Microsoft is struggling. Windows Mobile isn’t a consumer handset like the iphone. Live hasn’t really taken off. Vista flopped, with the company embroiled in claims that it overstated the number of machines on which it would run. And the Xbox, despite its success, has an alarmingly high recall rate.

Croll puts a lot of emphasis on Silverlight and its ability to be the cash cow; the connecting cool tool to income.  Could Silverlight become the future path for Microsoft?

Read [GigaOm]

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This new PMP by Teclast, is a pretty nice and comes loaded with many cool features and isn’t really too expensive. It was previously thought that it would measure about 15mm in thickness, which is pretty thick, but now it’s known to measure out at just 7.9mm. It comes with a circular rotation device and a button in the middle, similar to Apple’s iPods and other MP3 players.

Otherwise, it comes in two different colors, black and white, and it comes with PlayFX for sound enhancement. It features a 2.4-inch TFT QVGA LCD screen with a resolution of 320 x 240, and comes in three different models - 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB. The interesting part about the M25 is how many formats it can support, for audio it supports MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, and AAC. For video, it can support AVI, RM, and RMVB. Furthermore, it supports a few languages including English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. It even comes with 30 FM customizable stations to boot.

No word, however, on pricing or availability at this time.

Via [PMP Today]

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