Gadget Access

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 30th 2008 at 1:44AM
var Need some irony with your angst-battered diet this morning? Swell, try some of this. Disney and Pixar are set to release their latest animated blockbuster, WALL-E, this summer. The premise of the film finds WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth-Class) cleaning up the Earth’s trash after rampant, unchecked consumerism made the planet uninhabitable. So how do they promote the film? You got it, they launch a new line of plastic WALL-E robots developed in partnership with Thinkway Toys which no child could possibly live without. Ultimate WALL-E will list for $190 when launched sometime this summer and feature 10 motors, a remote control, and plenty of sensors to avoid obstacles, respond to touch, and feel the mocking satire of its own existence. The bot will be joined by a $25 iDance WALL-E (think i-Species) and a $40 WowWee FlyTech Tinker Bell when they make their May 29th debut in San Mateo at the Maker Faire.

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Filed under: Robots

Genius has announced two new multimedia tablets designed specifically for graphic designers and artists, the G-Pen M609 and G-Pen M712. Both tablets are plug and play ready and will work with either Windows Vista or Mac OS X, and have a high resolution (4,000 LPI) screen display. The G-Pen M609 comes with a display measuring 9” x 5.5” (wide) / 7.25” x 5.5” (standard) while the slightly bigger G-Pen 712 touts a bigger display measuring 12” x 7.25” (wide) / x 9.5” x 7.25” (standard).

To make it easy for users to access Office, the Internet and other Vista or Mac functions, Genius has created the G-Pen M609 with 34 hot keys while the M609 has 26 hot keys. Other features of these two new Genius tablets include; rolling pads for scrolling/zooming/increasing volume, as well as hot keys that can be use for creating, writing, drawing, sketching and signing emails. The two tablets also come with a cordless pen. The G-Pen M712 is preloaded with Photoshop Elements 5.0, PhotoImpact 12SE, Macro Key Manager and Office while the G-Pen M609 has all the same software except for PhotoShop Elements 5.0.

Finally, the pricing, the G-Pen M712 retails for $249 while the G-Pen M609 retails for $195 and both are currently available.

Read [Business Wire] Product [Genius]

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To combat air pollution, noise pollution, and the constant rise of gas and oil prices everywhere, a little-known company called Pipistrel started work on possibly the world’s first commercial electric powered light aircraft, and they’re calling it the Taurus Electro. It’s a kick-butt two-seat ultralight aircraft with a 15 meter wing-span and is also intended for glider pilots. Right now, they’re still few steps behind completing the project but if they keep on it, the Taurus Electro just might start hitting runways everywhere by the end of 2008.

Tine Tomazic, the company’s test pilot, has confirmed that Pipistrel indeed has the technology to create such a thing already in their hands. And according to Pipistrel CEO Ivo Boscarol, the Taurus Electro’s battery pack recharges (yes, it’s rechargeable) at about the same time that it takes a cellphone to charge, and works just as efficient as its gasoline-powered counterpart.

All in all, the technology behind the Taurus Electro seems simple. It uses a lithium-polymer battery pack weighing 101 pounds for power, and with a wingspan of about 15 meters it achieves enough power to climb up to 6,000 feet up into the air, at a rate of 560 feet per minute. Pipistrel says that this still unpatented electric aircraft technology is costing them almost 1 Million EUR now, but once the final product comes out, you’ll be able to bag one of these babies for yourself at only $100,000 a piece (give or take a couple thousand). Continue reading for a video of the Taurus Electro in action.

Read [Pipistrel] Via [Wired]

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The Samsung Haptic SCH-W420 offers a 2 megapixel camera as well as the following features:

* 3.2in widescreen display
* 3G connectivity
* DMB for mobile TV reception
* Bluetooth 2.0
* customizable UI
* Samsung’s Haptic touch technology (vibration feedback) with 22 kinds of feedback

Via Trusted Reviews.

Dell has just added what they are calling a new “Spring” color for their XPS M1330 and M1530 notebooks, and what would seem to be perfect timing to potentially grab some Mothers Day sales; Flamingo Pink. According to Dell, “It was an easy decision” to add the new pink color because “while customers appreciate the sleek, no-nonsense XPS look, they also wanted a wider variety in color options.” In addition to the new pink, the M1330 and M1530 will still be available in the previous Midnight Blue, Tuxedo Black or Product (RED). With so many new tech items becoming available in a shade on pink, its almost become a standard color now.

Read [Dell]

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted Apr 29th 2008 at 3:04PM
French site MobileHub has gotten its hands on another Eee competitor rip-off — the Airis’ Kira 740 (aka, Kira 100) — and has given it the rundown. The initial impressions are about what you’d expect, besides coming with XP onboard, having 1GB of memory, a VIA C7 1GHz CPU, and a traditional 40GB hard drive, the mini-laptop is almost identical to ASUS’ entry. The screen resolution is the same 800 x 480, the keyboard is apparently a shot-for-shot remake, and it features familiar ethernet and WiFi networking options. You can see in the photo above that there are some minor physical differences, though in our opinion they’ve somehow managed to ugly it up + 30 percent. For €299 (or around $466) you can get yourself a Kira 740 sometime soon. Yay.

[Via SlashGear]

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Filed under: Laptops