Gadget Access

A mixture of a powerful battery and the most efficient solar cells are used in this charging unit. The Solio Magnesium charger was built to meet demands of those who are frequent travellers. The Solio is rugged allowing it to be taken most places with out risk of it breaking and it can power a bunch of electrical devices. It is an upgrade from the older model reviewed over here.

There are two ways to charge the Solio Magnesium. The first is to charge it by sun power (solar energy) and the second way is to plug it in to a wall if the sun is not shining. Energy captured from the sun or from the power outlet on a wall, is stored in a rechargeable battery which claims to be able to hold this power for over a year. Enough power is stored to charge an average cell phone 3 times over. If you pop this thing in the sun for an hour then you have about 25 minutes of talk time when connecting to a phone, or about 1 hour of music on an ipod.

The Solio Magnesium Solar Charger costs $199.

Product Page Via: GeekAlerts

Guest post by Matthew of Gadget Venue.

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by Ryan Block, posted May 12th 2008 at 10:02PM
var We’ve got some news that’ll make a PC gamer or two weep: the Wall St. Journal is reporting that as of next month Dell will be dropping four models of XPS performance PCs to focus solely on pushing Alienware. Certainly no surprise though, we’ve been waiting for this move since they picked the company up back in 2006. Of course, there will be certain challenges, namely how Dell will keep its Alienware brand separate (read: pristine) — as its done since the acquisition — yet be able to offer performance PCs on its site alongside the rest of its machines. It’s also unclear what will happen to is XPS line of laptops, since those are big sellers as well, but we’ll all have to wait patiently for the bomb to drop before knowing for sure what Dell’s cutting and what they’re not. [Warning: subscription required]

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

Here is how to take the ubiquitous car remote and bring new ideas to it.  Add in a screen with Kindle-like E Ink and you’ve got a notice you are low on gas, maybe your tires are low, or your oil life is nearly depleted.  This is just one of the cool things ultra low power E Ink can bring.

This specific device by Delphi, allows users to locate their vehicle in a sea of look-a-likes; turn on the car, adjust the climate in the car, and more.  Interesting and fun, who doesn’t love that?  Delphi says in volume, E Ink device can be made economically. 

The flexible shape of the E-Ink screen means this kind of innovation is coming to more and more devices like microwaves, refrigerators and remotes.  Where else would you love to have a simple screen for data?

Read [BusinessWire] via [dvice]

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by Paul Miller, posted May 12th 2008 at 1:48PM
It looks like Apple might finally ready to give up its demands for straight up and down $1.99 TV show pricing on iTunes. If you’ll remember, Apple and NBC had quite the squabble over price flexibility and margins last year, and some other show providers have held off providing content until they can get a more favorable deal from Apple. It seems one of those content holders was HBO, with word on the street that Apple is finally going to bow to desires for flexible pricing, and has signed up HBO to kick things off. Apple has also in recent months added NBC Universal shows to its UK store with variable pricing, which might be a sign that a return to the US store isn’t far off.

[Via Silicon Valley Insider]

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Filed under: Portable Video

by Paul Miller, posted May 12th 2008 at 2:20PM
Nintendo just brought WiiWare to the States, which means you can finally download original games to the console — not just the classics available on the Virtual Console. While we’re sure the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles entry and the charming LostWinds platformer will do quite well for themselves, we’ve been drooling over Defend you Castle, the Flash version of which has sucked more productive hours out of us than we’d care to admit — unemployment here we come! Games range from 700 to 1,500 Wii points ($7 to $15) and are available now.

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Filed under: Gaming

by Paul Miller, posted May 12th 2008 at 11:03AM
Good news and bad news on the imminent 3G iphone front. O2 apparently got another batch of 16 giggers in stock, since it’s currently accepting orders, while the 8GB remains out of stock, and both phones remain unavailable on the US and UK Apple Stores. More encouraging, however, is the new listing of an “iPhone Black” model on AT&T’s account management site. There’s nothing else on the site to hint at specs or release or whether this is indeed the upcoming 3G iPhone, but it does fall in line with the word we have on a glossy black back for the much anticipated phone. Whether all this means we have weeks or months to wait is anyone’s guess, but there are plenty of encouraging signs out there for the true believers to cling onto.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Telecom Italia Mobile’s Executive VP Luigi Licciardi claims they’ll be selling the iPhone 3G next month. How’s that for clarity? [Thanks, Giovanni]

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Filed under: cellphones

by Darren Murph, posted May 12th 2008 at 2:52PM
Sanyo’s got a new duo of projectors hitting the Japanese market today, the LP-XC55 and LP-XC50. Both beamers boast white motifs, a boisterous 7-watt internal speaker, 1,024 x 768 resolution, a security bar enabling extra thick cabling to hold it in place and the Active Maintenance Filter system for easy maintenance. Essentially, the latter enables the filter to last longer between changes and “automatically senses when airflow is obstructed by dust, and advances the cartridge to the new filter.” The only notable difference between the two is the 3,100 ANSI lumens (XC55) / 2,600 ANSI lumens (XC50), and of course, the ¥365,400 ($3,529) / ¥312,900 ($3,022) price tags.

[Via AboutProjectors]

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Filed under: Displays

There can be no need as basic and as urgent as the need to satisfy the call of nature. Coming to the point, if you were ever (again) caught in a situation where your bladder wants to do the talking and the only problem is that you are out on the street, fear not as MizPee will help you squat in peace. MizPee is actually a service which lists closest and cleanest toilets, so you don’t have to waste painful moments looking for one yourself. So, provided you have an Internet ready device, you can query the site for nearby restrooms by entering information about your current location.

In return, you can help expand their database of loos by listing ones that are not on the site or by rating those already listed. After all, one good turn deserves another, eh?

Via Chip Chick.

Sony Ericsson recently had not one, but two new handsets hit the FCC’s approval list. The lucky phones are the R300 Radio and the C902 Cyber-shot.

The R300 Radio is the less exciting of the two, and is aimed more at developing nations. This handset will be more on the basic side with a 1.8-inch color display, VGA camera, as well as a built-in AM and FM radio. The R300 will also feature Sony Ericsson’s TrackID application so users will be able to record small portions of music and be able to get the details such as artist, track and album names.

The C902 is a little more on the exciting side, its still a basic looking candybar style phone, however it will offer a 5-megapixel camera that has facial recognition and auto-focus. In addition the C902 will offer quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) and ActiveSync support as well as feature a MemoryStick Micro card slot and Nokia’s task switcher button for all of you multi-taskers.

As usual with FCC related information, its always unclear when or even if we will see them landing here in the US, but as always we here at Gadgetell will keep you up to date.

Via [IntoMobile]

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The GBDisk RS1 series of Serial ATA (SATA)-compatible industrial silicon disks is the latest addition to TDK’s roster, which will be made available in June with up to 16GB capacities. High-speed, frequent data writing and maintaining data reliability come first with the GBDisk RS1 series. And because of that, it features single level cell (SLC) NAND Flash memory, and GBDriver RS1 SATA controllers for use in NAND Flash memory controller ICs.

It also offers complete power interruption tolerance, error correction, distributed data writing, and bad block management. Basically, these are new types of hard disks, coming in at the same size as current generation HDD’s (2.5-inches) that should offer fast start up, stringent shock resistance, and low power consumption. It’s been reported to be already Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL)-certified, and now if only they could bump up the storage a bit more than 16GB’s, then we’d all be happy. Or at least, those who need to use hard disks in industrial equipment.

As of now, pricing is unknown, but as earlier mentioned, production will start in June 2008.

Via [Tech On]

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