Gadget Access

by Paul Miller, posted Jun 21st 2008 at 8:18PM
Nintendo talks a big talk, but has never invested heavily in actually protecting its systems from those nefarious homebrew junkies. While the Wii Menu 3.3 did slightly break the Twilight Hack, it didn’t even bust up folks who already had the hombrew channel installed, and its protections against further hacks were minimal. Now the HackMii folks are back with Twilight Hack v0.1beta1, which bests Wii Menu 3.3, along with some other improvements for homebrew usage. We can’t tell if this is incompetence or benevolence on Nintendo’s part, or perhaps these hackers are just that good, but either way we’re lovin’ it JT-style.

• Read
• Permalink
• Email this
• 6 Comments

Filed under: Gaming

While the original XO Laptop in green is nice enough looking, there is always something that makes it sound special when its labeled as a limited edition. In this case the latest limited edition is a red model of the XO Laptop. There are reported to only be 100 of these special models made and they are all slated for the developers that are working on the dual boot Windows XP and Sugar Linux systems.

Aside from the red coloring, the models also offer 2GB of flash memory, which is the minimum required for Windows XP to run. No plans have been announced for a future release of this coloring, so chances are you will never see one in the wild, that is unless a developer goes against the path and decides to drop theirs on eBay, but I would not count on that happening.

Via [Gizmodo]

Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →

by Paul Miller, posted Jun 21st 2008 at 6:46PM
A few dubious screens from Apple’s upcoming OS X mini-update “Snow Leopard” popped up the other week, but now we’re staring at a full-on collection of shots from the folks at German site Apfeltalk. They seem legit enough, but given the fact that Snow Leopard’s improvements primary are under the hood, there’s not a ton to see. Most interesting is a new Safari feature to “Save as Web Application,” which creates a Safari-lite, double-clickable application out of any webpage. Google Docs, anyone? Other features shown off in the screenshots include Exchange integration and Javascript benchmarks, but it’s clear to see that Apple has perhaps a tiny bit more in store for Snow Leopard than what it’s letting on.

[Thanks, John]

• Permalink
• Email this
• 6 Comments

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Joining Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines, Delta has become the latest to announce plans to begin accepting a cell phone or PDA as a boarding pass. This new boarding pass policy is currently only available for passengers at LaGuardia International Airport in New York.

In addition this option is currently only available for those who are domestic passengers, and once at the airport they can check their bags at the curbside check-in and skip the regular check-in and proceed directly to the screening area. Once at the screening area, the TSA representative will scan the electronic pass and check your ID. Travelers using this method will also be asked to show the phone with the electronic pass at the gate just prior to boarding.

Via [treo central]

Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →

Joining Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines, Delta has become the latest to announce plans to begin accepting a cell phone or PDA as a boarding pass. This new boarding pass policy is currently only available for passengers at LaGuardia International Airport in New York.

In addition this option is currently only available for those who are domestic passengers, and once at the airport they can check their bags at the curbside check-in and skip the regular check-in and proceed directly to the screening area. Once at the screening area, the TSA representative will scan the electronic pass and check your ID. Travelers using this method will also be asked to show the phone with the electronic pass at the gate just prior to boarding.

Via [treo central]

Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →

So, you’ve holed up in your room for a whole weekend and now feel like you’re a spy yourself. But a spy isn’t a spy without technology to back him/her up. First thing on the list? Spy camera.

You’d want something inconspicuous–an everyday item which no one would suspect. A pen, perhaps. But why go for a pen when you can go for something that looks like a packet of gum? This Mini Gum Camera Recorder is a spy camera with a built-in 2GB memory. It can record in real time 3gp format video with a less than 500KB per minute file size. The device charges via USB, and playback is as easy as plugging it in your mobile phone or PC. Anyone can be a spy with this baby, you just have to pray nobody picks it up and tries to eat it!

More news for the June bride–June 2011, that is. Get married in space. Well, some 62 miles up there, to be precise, on the Rocketplane XP suborbital spaceplane.

The one-hour flight-plus-ceremony will cost $2.2 million, but it’s actually a bargain because the price includes the wedding dress. The price also includes a telecast for guests, but it appears that reception food and drink is still on you.

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 21st 2008 at 3:50PM
iriver’s Lplayer, which we just got done handling ourselves, made it over to the review crew at PC Magazine. As expected, both design and interface were smiled upon, and critics also felt the price was fair. Upon using the admittedly wee device, they seemed to have problems getting the click buttons to respond like they wanted, but aside from that, hardly anything negative was said. The broad codec support was praised, the built-in equalizer worked as advertised and the FM tuner / voice recorder were welcome extras. All in all, it was seen as a worthy rival to the ipod nano, and if you’re the type that prefers something different in the pocket, this puppy just might be the ticket.

• Read
• Permalink
• Email this
• 12 Comments

Filed under: Podcasts, Portable Video

by Paul Miller, posted Jun 21st 2008 at 12:40PM
These days, it’s pretty wild and crazy if a PMP manufacturer manages to do anything different than what’s already out there, so we’ve got a soft spot for Shenzhen’s EM-2811, being sold as the “Latte ICE.” Sure, nothing spectacular, and the 1GB-4GB capacity is seriously amature hour, but we like the look of the device, and the interface is pretty strong for a no-name DAP. There’s a miniSD slot to overcome that capacity handicap, a 2.8-inch QVGA screen, FM radio, voice support, AVI / MPEG video playback, and a built-in speaker. Tetris is included, but with the button layout we’re hoping they can finagle a couple emulators on there. Battery life of 4 hours video and 8 hours audio is painful, but overall the Latte ICE isn’t at all bad for a $70 starting price. Video is after the break.

[Via PMP Today]

• Read
• Permalink
• Email this
• 9 Comments

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

by Nilay Patel, posted Jun 21st 2008 at 2:30PM
Brain-computer interfaces have been popping up left and right lately, but the latest system from Germany’s Technical University of Braunschweig, might be the silliest one we’ve seen so far. While the system doesn’t involve the careful placement of electrodes, it does require you to don a large metal helmet fitted with sensors, which can even detect brain activity through hair — and makes you look like Magneto on a bad day. The system is solid enough to allow test subjects to control an RC car and researchers say the tech is similarly applicable to wheelchairs and prosthetics. Yeah, that’s great — we’ll stick with the dangerous neurosurgery implantation over this contraption, guys. Video after the break.

• Read
• Permalink
• Email this
• 7 Comments

Filed under: Misc. gadgets