Gadget Access

The Wall-E is a robot cartoon (and title of a movie) made by Pixar which will be presented on the theaters on the UK during the upcoming weeks. Kids will probably fall in love with the Wall-E robot in 3 seconds or maybe less, so get ready to spend 40.

This replica named U-Command WALL-E is basically a remote controlled robot, that is able to do a lot of moves, turns, dancing, and even a bit of speaking.

There are other models such as the iDance WALL-E. Like the name suggests it is related with music and includes an audio jack that is compatible with almost all MP3 players and other audio sources. In this case, the robot’s chess works as a speaker and the price tag is cheaper - 20.

Disney thought that 2 Wall-E products weren’t enough, so they decided to add the Interactive EVE robot which is able to interact with other robots of his kind, and the BnL Truck Electronic Playset.

Also features light-up eyes and sound activation functionality.

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 7th 2008 at 8:31AM
Wait a second — are absurdly large, overdecorated gaming desktops making a comeback? With Acer’s Aspire Predator and ASUS’ ARES CG6155 lighting up eyes everywhere, we’re beginning to think yes — particularly when you take one glance at Packard Bell’s elephantine ipower X2.0. Revealed at the Electronic Sports World Cup in Paris, this beast features a tremendously large, high-gloss chassis, a liquid cooling system, a dedicated lock to keep PCB snatchers at bay and a nice array of components including Intel’s Core 2 Quad / Extreme processor, a Blu-ray optical drive, hybrid TV tuner, up to 3TB of storage, a NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2, a 21-in-1 card reader and a gaming keyboard / mouse. Somehow, Packard Bell is managing to offer this thing up for anywhere between £999 ($1,979) and £infinity, but don’t count on securing one ’til Christmas. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via Trusted Reviews]

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Filed under: Desktops

Well all remember that day and the knowledge of those caught in the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center. Innocent people caught between flames and flight with their only choice being how they will leave this world. Many choice the latter and jumped. And as a result, the images of 9-11 are forever etched in our memories. No doubt, this has been the inspiration behind The Wizard Escape System, a rig which promises to give those caught in a raging high rise fire a third option.

The design concept is rather simple. A body harness, a long and strong steel cable, and and a play-out pulley system which will carefully, but quickly, lower a survivor to safety. And it’s all self contained in a suitcase small enough to fit in the corner of your office. When office workers are stuck with a last resort, they put on the harness and attach the lifeline from the suitcase to something heavy enough to carry their weight. The suitcase pulley system will be anchored to a desk or poll and will play out the lifeline, thereby lowering the survivor to rescue workers below.
Unfortunately, in the concept, the suitcase only carries about 250 meters of Kevlar strengthened wire. So it can only realistically be deployed in buildings below ten stories. However, those working in dramatic high rises the height of the WTC can always get their skydiving license and cry Geronimo.
Hat Tip: D’Vice http://dvice.com/archives/2008/07/the_wizard_esca.php

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Thanks to everybody who voted and/or commented on the previous coolest gadget of the week, I think it went quite well especially as we started it on a public holiday in the US. The winner of the $50 gadget voucher goes to random commentator JD (”Miracle berry tablet! If you’ve tasted my wife’s cooking you’d want one too”), we’ll be in touch.

So what was last weeks coolest gadget:
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In first place with 26% of the votes we have, Broadband Internet in your Car .

With in-car broadband internet, you can enjoy your favorite shows, check your mails and be updated with the latest news while on the road. Of course, if you are one of those who believe that everything is better on the laptop, a Wi-Fi hub is part of the package.

Read more about broadband Internet in your car over on Car Tuning Central.

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In second place we have EZVision Eyewear (18% of votes)

The best thing about watching a movie in a cinema is being able to completely focus on the latest instalment of Indiana Jones without any interruptions, not even from a light bulb. To bring this cinematic experience to your home (or indeed to work, the park, the bus, a plane) it would be well worth investing in a pair of EZVision Eyewear.

Read more about these cool glasses over on Gaj-It.
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Both receiving 13% of the votes we have our first joint 3rd place.

Ovei Home Theater Pod

It looks comfortable in an airline seat cum coffin sort of way and it has climate control (the same type of climate control that is used in F1 cars).

Full post over on Uber Review.

Green Piece - Wind ups

Wind-up radio king Trevor Baylis has upped the ante to bring us a wind-up media player.

More info on Decide What to Buy.
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Thanks again to everybody who submitted, voted and commented, the next coolest gadget of the week will be on Friday.

Want to hear about future contests first? Subscribe to our daily digest via email or RSS.

If you’re a fellow gadget blogger and would like to be included in next weeks contest please check out how to enter CGOTW.

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Rogers customers can now get their very own Motorola ROKR E8, courtesy of Best Buy Canada. The specs remain the same as the US based model that was recently launched with T-Mobile, however its a little less expensive. Best Buy is offering the ROKR E8 for $149.99, however it does require a three-year agreement. Even at this slightly lower price, I still feel that the E8 is a little expensive.

Product [Best Buy] Via [mobilesyrup]

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My, my, Google. It seems the words “Google” and “Privacy” can be found in quite a few articles across the internet as of late. Quite a few falling on the non-flattering side. Perhaps that’s why Google finally made a point of updating their main page to a never-before offered link to their privacy terms AND posting about the update on their corporate blog.

The issue was brought to the light in the first place by NY Times reporter Saul Hansell, when he asked if the company was violating California law by not posting a link to its privacy policy on its home page. The answer? Yes. That is when privacy advocates jumped in and became involved. Although in what is seeming to become an “oh so Google” move…it wasn’t done until Day 31 when the legal time frame following notice is 30 days.

For quite some time now, Google has been so very proud of their “nice and clean” 28 word home page. So, in order to not mar that image, when they added the new link (simply called “privacy”), they had to remove one of the words already on there. Off came “Google” at the bottom of the page. Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience, says that she felt it was pretty obvious what page the user was on, so it was a safe word to remove. Somehow I think right now Google has bigger issues in front of them than how many words are on their home page.

However, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Marc Rotenberg, said Saturday that his group is “pleased” with the decision.

“This was not only required by California law (and Google is a California corporation) but is also the standard practice for commercial Web sites.”

Mr. Rotenberg’s company, along with the Privacy RIghts Clearinghouse and World Privacy Forum had all joined together to push for Google to make the change to clearly state their privacy policies. Although happy that Google is now showing this, Pam Dixon of World Privacy Forum still admits that “privacy policies are not a guarantee of perfect privacy practices.”

Somehow that line doesn’t really shock me.

Read [CNet]

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I’m not certain whether we are at the point where everything is visible on a genetic test, but in case you don’t know, those DNA tests are pretty complex.  Fortunately, some scientists at Berkeley have created a technique that uses something called electrostatic tech. 

All a user has to do is put their DNA sample on a microarray surface.  Then these negatively charged things called microspheres are spread across the surface, which can push themselves into clumps as they move away from the like-charged DNA and RNA areas. 

These clumps are apparently easy to see, so easy that they can be recorded by an ordinary cell phone camera. 

Putting DNA on a mircroarray and taking a picture of it on a cell phone camera is a lot easier than chemicals and instruments.  This new process could be used in underdeveloped third world countries, and help them prevent disease and other genetic disorders. 

So, what will this lead to?  Perhaps an age where DNA testing becomes a lot more common.  I suppose that might be good thing if we could really prevent some problems.  Of course, how good is genetic testing anyway? 

Via [DVICE]

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These amazing peel & stick solar power panels from Lumeta are literally what it sounds like. Simply peel off the backing, and lay them down on a rooftop. Hook up the cabling and power connectors and you’re good to go. Hit the jump for an video of 2 workers laying down 6 of these 8′x4′ panels and hooking them up in less than 35 minutes.

The lumeta Power-Ply 380 photovoltaic panels don’t require any special infrastructure or mounting units, but simply lay flat on rooftops, making for very fast installation.

This is another in what will be an increasing number of products that are becoming cheaper to produce and purchase that will aid in moving the world away from fossil fuels and towards a cleaner environment.

Posted in Home Automation, Miscellaneous

In early 2009, Nokia is set to release its new HS-67WL Wireless Loopset, which will provide people with T-coil equipped hearing aids or cochlear implants to obtain better audio quality and hands-free operation of cell phones and other portable devices. The device is compatible with Bluetooth handsets, and enables users to receive calls wirelessly through their hearing aids as well as vibrating alerts, while filtering out background noises. It comes with a neckloop and a single button to handle calls.

The Loopset is expected to be priced at around 200 Euros.

Via Gearlog, by way of textually.org..

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These amazing peel & stick solar power panels from Lumeta are literally what it sounds like. Simply peel off the backing, and lay them down on a rooftop. Hook up the cabling and power connectors and you’re good to go. Hit the jump for an video of 2 workers laying down 6 of these 8′x4′ panels and hooking them up in less than 35 minutes.

The lumeta Power-Ply 380 photovoltaic panels don’t require any special infrastructure or mounting units, but simply lay flat on rooftops, making for very fast installation.

This is another in what will be an increasing number of products that are becoming cheaper to produce and purchase that will aid in moving the world away from fossil fuels and towards a cleaner environment.

Posted in Home Automation, Miscellaneous