Gadget Access

Google just picked up another partner in its Literacy Project, Scientific Learning.

Scientific Learning will contribute free videos, lessons and software to the project.  Most interestingly they are bringing “brain fitness exercises” to Google’s Literacy Project via their “BrainApps” program.  BrainApps should help reading skills and mental processes.

Two BrainApps available now are “Lunar Tunes” and “Hoop Nut” meant to test your auditory skills.  I tested them out and they seem as if they would be quite engaging to young students.

The Literacy Project is Google’s tool for educators.  Google’s original partners in The Literacy Project are UNESCO’s Institute for Lifelong Learning and LitCam.  UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.  LitCam is the Frankfurt Book Fair Literacy Campaign. 

Seems like this project is in line with Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto.  The Literacy Project is also a great resource since it puts together the Google Book search, Google Scholar search, books and literacy blogs, Google groups, with Google’s Literacy search.  It is a very interesting blend of many Google services in one location. 

Read: [Google and Scientific Learning pair up]
Test yourself: [BrainApps]

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In a few weeks, Best Buy will formally introduce two of their own GPSs with their Insignia brand on them.  One of the GPSs will be the 4.3-inch NS-CNV20 and the other will be the 3.5-inch NS-CNV10.

These devices both feature integrated cellular connectivity.  This is the kind of feature that will make these GPSs stand out.  There is only one other GPS manufacturer that currently has cellular connectivity built-in to their devices and that is the Dash.  With this connectivity, both of these GPSs will be able to perform local Google searches, access Google Maps, real time traffic updates, and you can even find maps on your home computer and then forward them to your Insignia personal navigation device. 

Another nice thing is that Best Buy will not charge you any service fees for the first year.  However, no word on how much the service fees will cost when the year is over.  Since there are hardly any GPSs available with cellular connectivity, Best Buy’s two devices will probably sell well as they are considered high end GPSs.  Both of these products will be available October 19th; the NS-CNV20 will sell for $499 and the NS-CNV10 will sell for $399.

Via [Twice]

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Japan’s CEATEC technology exhibition kicked off last week and one of the prototype technologies to get a lot of attention for its innovative design is this new Fujitsu phone:

Instead of the old idea of a phone being a slider, chocolate bar or clamshell design, this phone would be all three, allowing users to flip it out in any direction they choose, as well as to separate the two component pieces altogether (without breaking it!) The two parts of the phone are held together by magnets and I think it looks both gorgeous and ingenious.

Via Textually.

For those of you who ordered your G1 and just can’t wait for it to get here, you can get your G1 fix right now (sort of).  A new site, launched by T-Mobile, offers a G1 emulator (pictured) so you can play around and get the feel for it ahead of time.

The site offers a full 360 degree view of the phone, visual instruction guides so you know what you’re doing, and, of course, the emulator itself.  Now, I’ve got to say, I tried this and if I wasn’t sure what to think of the G1.  I just don’t know if this would sway me into buying it.  It’s not that I think the G1 might not be a great phone, but because the emulator, itself, is pretty buggy and several features don’t work right.

Several places do offer up the warning “This screen is not fully functional.” Other places that aren’t fully functional don’t come with the nice little warning.  Nonetheless, at least it does give you an idea of what the G1 is all about.  As a side note, no, the GPS is obviously absent, so forget about playing with that feature for now.  You’ll have to hold out until the 22nd.

Via [techmeme] and [cellphonesignal]

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Google and Yahoo have announced that they will delay their controversial advertising partnership for about a month.  Both companies say the delay is designed to give them more time to deal with the Department of Justice and its concerns about a possible antitrust issue.

“The companies have agreed to a brief delay in implementing this agreement to continue our ongoing discussions with the (U.S.) Department of Justice,” Yahoo said in a statement. “We have had discussions with regulators and look forward to responding to their questions about this agreement.”

The deal allows Google to sell some of Yahoo’s advertising space.  Advertisers greeted the announcement of the deal with deep concerns and fear of higher ad rates.  Google claims that since it sells its ads via auction they have no control over prices.

August saw a 63% rise in Google’s web search market share, while Yahoo, once the premiere search engine, dropped to 19.6%.  Legal experts suspect the deal may be in trouble, especially after the DOJ brought in a top litigator to work on it.  Many believe the deal was created to fight Microsoft’s attempts to acquire Yahoo.  If the deal is approved, it will increase Yahoo’s annual revenues by $800 million.

Read[Reuters]

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Are you curious to find out what songs your friend has on his iPod? Why not make the discovery process a fun time with the iNo Quiz Game?

Specifically designed for iPod owners, this brilliant party game/speaker dock transforms your not-so-humble player into a fast and furious interactive music quiz. Just pop your ipod in the sphere, set it to shuffle, grab one of the wireless remotes and let battle commence. It’s like a hi-tech version of Name that Tune minus Tom O’ Connor’s terrible jokes. The first player selects an iNo playing card and tells opponents what element of the song they must identify: title, artist, album, etc. The first person to buzz in pauses the song. Correct answers equal points and a nice little ego boost; incorrect answers equal points deducted.

You can choose from black or white colors, and either model is going for £59.95. The former is currently sold out at this point in time.

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FROM GAMERTELL - The PS3 will easily keep gamers busy for several more years especially with firmware updates, controller and playstation Network upgrades and other add ons…
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Take a look under your working desk and chances are you’ll find a plethora of cables as well as power strips lying around, collecting colonies of dust bunnies while making you look more unkept than you already are. With the CableBox Out-of-Sight Cable Storage, you will be able to keep everything neat and tidy - after all, cleanliness is next to godliness.

Simply place your power strips or surge protector inside the CableBox (no need to unplug anything first) then stow away the surplus cable lengths, close the lid and you’re done. Designed with cable outlets on either side of the enclosure, CableBox will fit almost any size power strip with extra space for the cords, adapters, etc. Space is gained when using the CableBox. Designed to fit all shapes and sizes of surge protectors and power strips, the fire retardant plastic lid is also the perfect spot to place connected devices. CableBox is available in Black or White color choice. Included rubber feet prevent it from slipping.

This nifty home improvement idea can be yours for $24.99.

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LG has slowly but surely been gaining the trust by people worldwide for its brand of cell phones, and they have certainly come a long way from their humble beginnings. Here we have a brand new handset that is set to blow your mind away - the LG Renoir, also known by its more formal moniker, the LG KC910. This slim handset is packed with a bunch of features, including a full touch screen display as well as an 8 megapixel camera. Granted, cell phone cameras still lack the sensors to make them the equal of standalone digital cameras, but that doesn’t mean they cannot capture sweet looking images under the ideal conditions (bright light and stationary subjects). More on the LG Renoir right after the jump.

The 8 megapixel camera would be the focal (pardon the pun) point of this handset, since very rarely does any commercial cell phone feature a digital camera with such high megapixel count. It will feature Schneider-Kreuznach certified optics, a Xenon flash, auto and manual focus, sensitivity up to ISO 1600 and geo-tagging that helps you remember just exactly where you’ve taken that image no matter where you go. In addition, the Touch Shot feature allows the photographer to focus on any object siply by touching it on the screen, with the shutter firing automatically once the finger is removed. Touch Shot on the Renoir is the first for any cell phone, and greatly helps reduce camera shake in the process.

Other features of the LG Renoir include 3G HSDPA support and Wi-Fi connectivity to keep you connected to the Internet at all times, regardless of where you are (although your international roaming costs might fly through the roof, but that’s another story for another day). In addition, the A-GPS capability makes it a snap for you to access an online map, allowing you to get around even in unfamiliar areas. Interestingly enough, all these features are crammed into a handset that measures just 13.95mm slim. You will be able to pick up the LG Renoir in Europe next month, followed by Asia, Latin America and CIS releases in November. Would be interesting to see how the user interface is like, and whether it can hold a candle to Apple’s UI?

Press Release

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by Chris Ziegler, posted Oct 6th 2008 at 4:55AMWe’ve been holding off on running this until we got confirmation from Samsung on just what was going on, and now we have it; it’s official, folks — the Instinct’s latest firmware update is all about the browser. To quote Sammy, “most of the traits of this upgrade focus on improving the Web browser experience,” and the word on the street seems to be in line with that with faster page loading and generally fewer crashes being reported across the board. As best we can tell, it doesn’t solve every last issue in the book, but it’s awesome to see that Sprint and Samsung seem to be staying on top of this stuff. Have an Instinct? Sound off on comments with your update experiences.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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