Sharper Image iPod Travel Soother

Sharper Image has come up with this Travel Soother that will work with your iPod. The Radio Alarm Clock will connect to iPods and other players, supplying an external speaker for you to listen to your music files out loud - although just how good the sound quality is going to be from one speaker remains to be heard. Not only that, the Travel Soother also has a built in Sound Soother which basically plays calming sounds to drown out noises that might disturb you. Sounds include things called "Fireside," "City" and "Wind Chimes." There's an FM/AM radio with a choice of alarm sounds with 6 presets for FM and 6 for AM. Not quite sure what to make of this, but if you're looking for some external speakers for your music player, it might make a decent solution - with the added benefit of the extra features.

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Posted at 06:07 AM in Apple iPod, MP3 players, Music | Permalink

March 30, 2005

Virtual driving online

Boy, we were excited when we heard that Blinkx, an online TV search tool, had inked a deal with verdictoncars.com, 'to enable users to view virtual test drives.' Excited until we read on in the release that by virtual it meant footage of real people driving the cars, not a system that used latest 3D graphics to let us burn through Virtualville in the Ferrari of our dreams. The system lets you watch ad-type videos of gorgeous people driving cars viewed from pleasing angles. Perhaps it is of interest to high end motor buyers, but it certainly isn’t online motoring as we’d imagined it.

Posted at 06:04 AM in Gadgets, News | Permalink

March 29, 2005

Apple bites back

Oh dear. It looks like Apple has already found a way of disabling the Pymusique bypass of its Digital Rights Management system. While we always believed that Pymusique had the life expectancy of a music pirating hippy in a room full of corporate lawyers, this little affair has had an unfortunate knock-on effect. From now on all those wishing to purchase and download Apple music must download the latest iTunes (version 4.7.1).

Posted at 06:03 AM in Apple iPod | Permalink

March 28, 2005

Channel Five first to offer programme downloads

OK, so illegal copies of TV shows have been floating around the internet for quite a while now, but at last some marketing genius at UK TV station Channel 5 has realised that it might be possible to legalise it, package it and flog it. For as of Monday, fans of the motoring show 5th Gear will have the opportunity to download content to their PCs for a fee of £1.50. This is apparently the first time a UK TV station has offered a download of one of its current programmes. So what’s next? With a little luck soon we’ll be able to catch up on missed episodes of 24, check old Neighbours story lines, and maybe even watch archived Countdown footage all day. Here’s hoping.

Posted at 06:02 AM in News | Permalink

March 25, 2005

Handheld Gaming's Next Wave

The next generation of home consoles is still some time away, but the handheld war has already arrived. The Big N (or "Nintendo" for those of you with a life) has long dominated the handheld market, but rival Sony has entered the fray with both controllers blazing. Its entry in the battle, PlayStation Portable (henceforth known as the PSP), goes on sale at midnight. Naturally, the unwelcome competition has Nintendo fearing for its fiscal future, and rightly so. Sales of Sony's game playin', movie watchin', music rockin' machine are expected to be brisk. Searches are certainly heating up on the $249.99 (plus tax) toy -- over the past month, we've seen mondo spikes on "Sony PlayStation Portable" (+378%), "Sony PSP release date (+422%) ," and "Sony PSP games" (+71%).

Part of what makes the PSP so powerful is its ability to do more than just play Qbert. Searches on "PSP movies" and "PSP music" indicate fans are eager to learn more about its multimedia talents (hint: your DVDs aren't gonna work). Interest in the PSP's lineup of games is a decidedly mixed bag. Big gun title "Metal Gear Acid" isn't garnering many searches, but queries on "Twisted Metal Head-On" are on the rise. We're also seeing a stampede of searches on "PSP review," indicating many gamers will take a wait-and-see approach before trading in their Game Boys.

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Posted at 06:04 AM in Handheld | Permalink

March 24, 2005

First ever free TV station for 3G mobiles

Details are sketchy but it appears that Luxembourg-based Tele2 looks set to win the race to deliver the first worldwide free TV station that’s accessible from 3G mobiles. Tango.tvis set to launch imminently, though quite what it is going to show is anyone’s guess .Tele2 has also unveiled Sunshine Radio, which it is billing as the first net radio station for 3G phones. If you’re in the mood for bland inoffensive pop grooves coming at you straight out of Luxembourg, get out your mobile and rock on here.

Posted at 06:08 AM in Cell Phones | Permalink

March 23, 2005

Poker on your mobi

PokerRoom.com, Sweden’s massive online poker site is going mobile. From April, the site, which apparently has over 3.5 million users, will be available to Sony Ericsson K700i owners. And what’s more you’ll be able to gamble with real money too, although you’ll still have to the option to practise with play money or against a computer player. The game offers an experience interactively that has not been available in any mobile poker games before. Players can choose between three different views; Normal View which has graphics similar to those seen on PokerRoom.com, Symbol View which gives a view over the whole table with simplified graphics or the Text View which also gives history of how the hand was played. Additionally, there is a chat function allowing players to text one another during the game.

Posted at 06:06 AM in Cell Phones | Permalink

March 22, 2005

Logitech's gaming mouse

Anyone whose battled in the frantic melee of Unreal Tournament, laid down a barrage of deadly accurate sniper fire in Counter Strike or crushed vast armies in Rome: Total War knows the value of a good mouse, which is why the Logitech MX518 Gaming Grade mouse is set to cause a stir.

Although benefiting from the ultra precise 1600dpi resolution, Logitech has taken into account that hardcore gamers will often need lower resolution for pixel precise aim one moment and lightning fast movement the next. To that end the mouse boasts a revolutionary new system that enables the mouse sensitivity to be changed at the touch of a button. All these settings can apparently be quickly and easily tweaked in suite of advanced driver and interface software to ensure that every player can have their own setup uniquely tailored to suit them.

Logitech has also widened the data path to ensure that previous issues of USB mice eating up valuable CPU cycles have been overcome with a new 16bit system. The MX518 will retail for $49.99 when it hits the shelves in April.

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Posted at 06:02 AM in Gadgets | Permalink

Vonage Third Party Call Control

Third party call control allows third party developers to write their own software applications to initiate a call from their Vonage phone to any other phone in the world.

For example, an Outlook plug-in could be created that would initiate a call by clicking on a phone number in the Outlook contact list. Another example would be a browser plug-in that would place a call to a phone number on any web page.

You will need your Vonage account login/password and your Vonage phone number to use this feature.

Vonage exposes two HTTPS URLs to make this happen.

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Thursday, Mar 17, 2005

Samsung Cell Phone for $9.99 w/ Verizon

At radioshack.com with verizon cellular plans from $34.99/mo

RadioShack.com is featuring the compact 3.6 ounce Samsung A650 cell phone with any new cellular plan for $9.99 at time of purchase with free 2-Day delivery. It's available with Verizon cellular plans starting as low as $39.99 per month for the Verizon America's Choice 450 Plan.

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Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005

PRICE DROP: Motorola RAZR V3 $209.99

New low price on RAZR cell phone for new cingular customers

The hottest new cell hone in years is now $209.99 after rebate at Intelenet Wireless with any new Cingular cellular plan. That's the lowest price we've seen on this ultra-slim Bluetooth camera cell phone.

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Tuesday, Mar 15, 2005

Ear vacuum cleaner

The Ear Vacuum Cleaner is today's how-can-we-live without-it Japanese gadget. It is suitable for all ages, compact and runs on batteries. Its strong suction keeps your ear canals clear of wax and other debris.
Comes with a cleaning brush and two nozzles.

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Monday, Mar 14, 2005

Sony Flat-Panel Monitors

The good: Stunning design; unholy brightness; sharpness & contrast; dazzlingly vibrant colors; competitive price.

The bad: Only analog RGB inputs; wide bezel; minimalist feature set.

The bottom line:Everything you’d expect from a Sony: Incredible looks, great performance and, given its visual capabilities, a solid price tag.

At first glance, Sony’s latest SDM HS-93 Flat Panel LCD (liquid crystal display) looks incredible--and is even more stunning when turned on. From its mammoth 19-inch viewable screen, to a 170-degree viewing angle, to an almost unheard of contrast-ratio of 700:1, this head-turner of a panel will not only impress Sony-style fans with its sleek looks and visual prowess, but also laggards intending to make the transition from CRT to LCD. Forget extras, though; to keep pricing at a competitive S$1,699 (US$985) Sony has skimped on the SDM HS-93's feature set.

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Cebit 2005: First day round-up

Cebit 2005, one of the world's most important technology fairs, has opened its doors in Hanover, Germany.

The fair showcases many of the consumer electronics and technology products that will be released to the market in the coming months.

The latest announcements and developments will be published here over the next week of events.

THURSDAY 10 MARCH

APPLE JOINS BLU RAY
Computer giant Apple has thrown its weight behind the new high-definition DVD format Blu-ray, according to backers of the format.

"Apple has joined us," said Victor Matsuda, vice president of Blu-ray disc group Sony Corporation of America, at a presentation at Cebit.

Blu-ray, backed by 100 firms including Sony, is competing against Toshiba and NEC-backed HD-DVD to be the format of choice for future films and games.

MOTOROLA iTUNES NO SHOW One of the early talking points of Cebit is the lack of the much heralded Motorola phone to incorporate Apple's iTunes software.

The phone firm had said the device would debut at the fair.

Volker Haebel, marketing director of Motorola's German division, said many people had been asking about the phones and a launch could come in the United States within a few weeks.

INTEL AND SAP TEAM UP US chip maker Intel and the German business software firm SAP, are teaming up in the area of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to develop applications that could eventually replace bar codes on products in shops.

RFID uses electronic labels with tiny microchips to identify individual items via radio signal and is already used in warehouse adminstration by big distribution companies such as Wal-Mart and Metro.

But the relatively high price of the chips has so far prevented their more widespread use, while consumer concerns that their shopping habits could be monitored have started to surface.

HARD DISK IN A PHONE Electronics giant Samsung has unveiled a mobile phone with a three gigabyte hard drive built in.

The SGH-i300 phone is designed for multimedia use, specifically music.

Mobile handset manufacturers are targeting the successful MP3 hard disk player market - which is currently dominated by the Apple iPod.

The company also unveiled a phone with a seven mega pixel digital camera - the highest resolution camera currently on the market.

PALM READER Fujitsu has launched a "Palm Vein" scanner which can identify people without any direct contact.

The company speculates that the scanner could be used by bank customers to withdraw funds from cash points with a single hand gesture.

The device uses infrared light to scan the palm vein, creating a map of individuals' hands to check the unique vein layout to identify users.

Data about your hand layout can be stored on a computer or on a bank card.

Thursday, Mar 10, 2005

The robot that teaches golf swings

Top Swing is a robot used to learn or perfect golf swings. Using computer controls, it allows the individual nuances of every swing to be taken into account, as well as the body height and range of motion of the player.

Top
Swing consists of six shafts controlled by a PC, and the shafts conjoin together at a point to which a golf club is fastened.

No, it's not a Japanese wacky invention. It's 100% made in Germany.
Movie.

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Wednesday, Mar 9, 2005

Massaging Bed Rest with Heat

"Relieve the day's tension with a soothing, heated massage right from the comfort of your bed. Choose high or low speed or an innovative pulsating program to invigorate sore muscles. Add concentrated heat for gentle relief to your lumbar region and lower back. Flexible LED reading lamp bends into any position to properly light up reading materials or any project. Constructed of a high-density material and layered with soft, visco-elastic foam, the bed rest ergonomically contours your back for maximum comfort and
support. Bed rest folds down for easy storage during the day. Light uses 3 C batteries (not included); heat and massage use included AC adapter."

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More News: User Interface Design
Resources: Ergonomics, User Interface Design, Human Factors

Tuesday, Mar 8, 2005

myPower external iPod battery

I love my iPod so much that I feel a little guilty criticizing it, but I can't hide it anymore: the battery life really really disappoints me. Apple says the 4G iPods have "up to 12 hours" of playback time on one charge but I think in reality it's less than half that. You can practically see the little battery indicator slide down with each song.

myPower, an external iPod battery by Tekkeon, more than triples the battery time by adding 32 hours of playback in a 5.6 oz power dock. The myPower uses the iPod's charger cables so you don't have to carry additional adapters. When the myPower is connected to your PC for charging, the docked iPod is also connected to your PC so you can manage playlists, download or listen to music. There's also a line-out for connecting the myPower to speakers. Also a belt clip for attaching the whole nearly 10 oz. package to your pants. I don't know if I'd wear this (I'm not quite that geeky) but I'd love to have it for my car or for long plane rides.

Available now at Tekkeon for $90. Seen on Japan Today.

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Monday, Mar 7, 2005

On/Off lampshades

The On/Off lampshades are printed on both sides. Switch on the light to discover what really happens in the innocent looking scene.
Eight styles available, including Bank robbery (my favourite), Birdeye and Skeletons.
US$19.99/set of 3

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Tatung's Elio iPod Photo alternative

We're trying to wean ourselves off referring to everything as an iPod "killer" since we - and everyone else - have been saying that with alarming regularity for many months, and it's now abundantly clear that the iPod family is far from being killed. But Tatung's elio player at least adds another option to the mix. The 20GB hard disk player is a photo jukebox that will set you back £230. The 2.2-inch screen displays 65,000 colours and the player supports MP3, WMA, and WAV music files and JPEG photos. Considering the 30GB iPod Photo costs just £19 more at £249, this isn't exactly a budget alternative, but it does at least offer direct transfer of images from digital cameras via a USB connection as well as an SD memory card reader.

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Thursday, Mar 3, 2005

Bluetooth stereo headset on sale

Shoppers at the the Carphone Warehouse will be able to grab themselves a pair of Bluetooth headphones as of tomorrow (1 March) in the form of BlueShark Systems' Sonorix headset. The headphones, which cost £175, aren't just able to direct music wirelessly from a PC to your ear, they can also play back MP3 music files thanks to the in-built 128MB of flash memory. The Bluetooth audio player also lets you make wireless phone calls, with the side mic picking up your every word. The headset looks reasonably small to us, and the inclusion of a charging dock and a USB Bluetooth dongle for adding wireless to your computer, makes the price far easier to stomach.

Blue Shark

Wednesday, Mar 2, 2005

JVC's headphone selection

JVC has been taking the trouble to show us some of its new gadgets for the coming year. These Gumy earphones weren't the most top spec things on offer, but they certainly look nice and bright and that's good enough for us. The idea behind the soft touch earbuds is that they'll be on point of sale displays in shops so that people will hopefully pick up a pair on a whim. Since they only cost around £3 this seems highly likely to us. We've got a pair and they do the job nicely. Also on show were these HA-E200 headphones which will set you back a few quid more.

Tuesday, Mar 1, 2005

Inverto: 80GB Digital PVR

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Unbeatable's just got its hands on a new PVR that's set to go on sale this week. The Inverto IDL 7000 PVR is an 80GB hard disk recorder that comes with two digital tuners so you can record two channels (or record one and watch another). It gets a bit tick from us for including digital, since pretty much all the big league PVR manufacturers are still stuck on analogue (what with Freeview not being such a selling point in Europe and all...) The finish is as white as the snow currently outside our London abode and the price is £219.99. Other features include PiP Channel Search14 Day Programme Guide, Series Record (Weekly/Daily), Instant Replay, RW Live TV, Twin Scart Sockets (RGB Loop) and Trick Playback Modes.

Monday, Feb 28, 2005

UltraStethoscope Works Through Clothes

Highland Innovation Centre, Ltd. shows off their new UltraStethoscope, offering "improved sensitivity, convenience and PC compatibility." A teaching version will be available soon, allowing multiple users to listen simultaneously. ("Hear that? That's pneumonia," et cetera.) "The improved sensitivity of the UltraStethoscope allows it to operate through several layers of clothing," which ruins half the fun of metal-on-flesh hissing. PC connectivity lets users store and compare sound samples and volume control prevents the customary hearing loss associated with someone flicking your 'scope when you're not looking.