Gadget Access

One more Motorola Z heading for AT&T’s bonnet. The Motorola Z9 was leaked almost a year ago in 2007 and has taken its own sweet time to arrive at the FCC’s door. The Z8’s successor is also 3G capable and runs on Motorola’s Linux-based Synergy OS. While we weren’t too impressed by Z8’s weird sliding action, we did appreciate its multimedia versatility nonetheless. Motorola has now ditched the curved slider design, sticking to the more conventional straight slider approach in the case of Z9. Other known features include a 2-megapixel camera with flash, hot-swappable microSD expansion, a QVGA display, and Bluetooth with Stereo A2DP profile along with AT&T’s 3G-dependent Video Share feature. No details on when this phone will turn up, but as always we will keep you posted.

Via [PhoneNews]

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Posted Mar 14th 2008 1:47PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Misc. gadgets
Sure, it’s fun to say that one billion RFID cards are now at risk due to the Mifare Classic’s broken encryption, but it’s another thing to comprehend how widespread the fallout could potentially be — the London Underground’s Oyster Card is based on the chip, for example. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg: a new report says that the system can be broken in minutes using a typical PC — check the video after the break for a demonstration. We’ve also listed all the other now-potentially-vulnerable Mifare RFID implementations we could find, but there’s got to be more — put ‘em in comments!

Cities / countries using the Mifare Classic for access control and / or mass transit ticketing:

• London (Oyster Card)
• Boston
• Netherlands (OV-Chipkaart)
• Minneapolis / St. Paul
• South Korea (Upass, T-money, Mybi)
• Hong Kong
• Beijing
• Milan
• Madrid (Sube-T)
• Australia (Smartrider)
• Sao Paulo (Bilhete Unico)
• Rio de Janeiro (RioCard)
• Bangkok
• New Delhi

Posted Mar 14th 2008 12:10PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Storage
Looking for that perfect weapon of mass destruction to pair with The Button? This USB Bomb designed by Joel Escalona should fit the bill nicely. Unfortunately, it’s just a concept at the moment, but we’re sure with a little bit of Styrofoam and a whole bunch of black crayons you could get yourself on the FBI watch list in no time.

[Via technabob]

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve looked at enterprise opportunities for Apple vs. Microsoft.  I’ve looked at how Apple may be trying to leverage the iPhone machine into more enterprise sales and we’ve looked at the costs to do so.  This week, it is all about Mobile.

Today
RIM outsells everyone, 41% of smartphones purchased in the US were Blackberries (Q4 ‘07 data ).  Apple surprised many by getting 28% of the market to agree to an iPhone.  Windows Mobile came in at 21%.  What does this mean for enterprise?

blackberry isn’t going away.  Their phones are super handy and are entrenched in big business.  Personally I find the UI dated and feel under-dressed whenever I pick one up.  RIM has seen some service issues as of late causing many to think about alternatives.

Windows Mobile is perceived as stodgy, cumbersome and largely responsible for making the gaping whole Apple was able to walk into and supply something Windows Mobile users would love to have: ease of use.  Windows Mobile phones are cheap, available on every network and do the job.  This is the second time I am writing this today, “it is hard to beat free”.

Apple’s SDK announcement included Windows Exchange support.  Coupling Active Sync Exchange support with an SDK for 3rd party business apps (Salesforce.com etc) will put iPhone on the table.  The question is, at what point does an iPhone app become better than an app on another phone?  Anyone have that answer?

But will IT support it?  As if they have a choice.  When the guy who signs your paycheck says,”I am getting an iPhone and you are going to support it”, your choices are rather limited.  This will be a top down drive into enterprise as no one is going to pick a $400 phone to spread to the staff.  Think small to medium companies.

What?  $400 you say?  This is business, we expect discounts and I am sure Jobs has something behind his confident, “we will hit our sales target” which he repeats now like a talking Woody whose string is constantly pulled (bask in my nifty Pixar reference, which Jobs in on the board of).  I suspect an iPhone business discount will come into play here.  Here is the iphone Enterprise tariff only from AT&T, another sticking point:

For the higher ups who actually get to decide, enterprise will bite.  For us worker drones, I guess we can hope for Win Mo 7?  Or we can prey Android will have some business functionality?

What is your take?

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Asus has launched its newest 24-inch LCD monitor. The Asus MK241H boasts native HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) support for full HD 1080p video playback. It is equipped with a 1920×1200 16:10 high resolution panel that delivers multi-channel audio and uncompressed digital video. Translating these into layman’s terms, the Asus MK241H would give gamers and multimedia users the ultimate gaming and multimedia experience.

Asus has even upped the ante of the MK241H by integrating a plug-and-play built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam for high-resolution video and array microphones for the much needed push towards optimum video and audio pleasure. The webcam, microphone array, stereo speakers and earphone jack makes the MK241H useful for video conferencing as well.

The MK241H’s resolution is something to look forward for as it utilizes an exclusive Color Rich Technology that enhances video performance with higher-color-gamut and an extra 130% color space. High quality video output is made possible by the splendid video intelligence technology that fine tunes color, brightness, contrast and sharpness of the image display. This image display technology can be adjusted via hotkeys representing 5 different video modes, scenery, theater, game and night view modes. Each of these video modes gives new meaning to what is actually displayed on the LCD monitor.

Looks like Asus has pretty much covered all possible shortcomings of an lcd monitor as big as the MK241H. Even the problem of delayed image display and low response time has been addressed by Asus. The MK241H delivers 2ms (GTG) quick response time that ensures smoother video display and eliminates image delay and ghosting when playing video games.

Read [Asus]

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Posted Mar 14th 2008 4:02AM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Transportation
You know how we love the electric cars around here, but internal combustion sure does sound sexy — a big V-8 literally brings the noise in a way the nearly-silent whir of an electric motor can’t hope to match. Well, it looks like the mad geniuses behind the $80,000 Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid have hit upon an appropriately high-tech solution: speakers placed inside and out that allow drivers to give their rides any sound they want, including one described as “like something between a Formula One car and a jet plane.” Interesting, to be sure — but seeing as the Karma can hit 125mph and go from 0-60 in six seconds, we’d be happier if that rig just screamed at people to get out of the left lane.

[Via Autoblog]

If you are always in the airport, want to do yoga, or feel like you want to spend time in the middle of an erupting volcano, the new Sony MDR-NC500 noise canceling headphones are just the pair for you. Designed to take advantage of the newly developed DNC Software Engine, this baby will prevent up 99% of ambient noise from reaching your delicate little ears. That way, you can concentrate on whatever it is you want to do, for up to 16 hours using the internal Lithium-ion battery, or up to 28 hours with normal AA batteries. Now if only the whole world could afford its $399.99 price tag when it ships on March 21, then maybe we’d finally be able to achieve the fabled dream of world peace.

Product [Sony Style] Via [Akihabara News]

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Philips has presented a new digital frame that can do it all, unlike others on the market. On top of displaying JPEG images, it has other interesting features that can be used daily.

Those features being:

- alarm clock, in which you pick if you want to wake up to nature sounds, or the normal buzzer.
- radio so you can listen to your favorite shows
- USB port and a slot for SD memory cards, to store all the content (photos, music)
- support for MP3 and WMA files

The Philips AJL308 costs $130.

Product Page

via

The ASUS Eee ultra-portable notebook computers have been popular, not least for the price - in some cases a stunningly low $299 (in blush pink!) Other manufacturers are rushing to bring out competitors, so ASUS is moving its lean machine with the 7-inch screen into the mainstream.

The first models have run Linux and claim to be Windows-compatible, whatever that means. But the company has now formally announced a version with pre-installed Windows XP. It will also come with Microsoft Works and access to Windows Live, an online suite offering mail, messaging, a photo gallery, and kid-protection features.

Reviewers have been enthusiastic about previous versions of the Eee, although they concede its imperfections. The keyboard is cramped, with some keys very tiny. RAM is only 512 MB, also cramped these days when we all want to run several programs at once.

Posted Mar 13th 2008 6:07PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays, HDTV, Household
We can’t say we’ve really spent any huge amount of time wondering just how converged kitchen devices can become, but apparently, the designers at Pandigital have. Announced today, the Kitchen HDTV / Digital Cookbook / Digital Photo Frame (really, that’s the name) stays true to itself in three big ways: acting as a 15-inch 720p HDTV (ATSC / NTSC tuner included), a digital cookbook (with pre-loaded recipes and space for more) and a digital photo frame. Packed within, you’ll find half a gigabyte of memory, a built-in alarm clock and an integrated 6-in-1 media card reader. And considering all that sauce you’ll be slinging, you’ll be thrilled to know that it’s sealed with glass and boasts interchangeable faceplates to fit varying moods. Heck, this thing even handles Motion JPEG, MPEG4 and AVI files — not a bad way to spice up your kitchen (and spend $399.99), eh?