Gadgets and New Technologies

What would you give up to get a 50″ plasma television? That’s the question Comet, a U.K. retailer, asked of 2,000 respondents. According to the survey results, it seems like they would give up a lot.

17% of men said they would sacrifice watching football, and 25% of those surveyed said they would stop eating chocolate. It also seems that a 50″ plasma television is a good motivator to quit smoking, since 25% said they would give up smoking for the television. That seems like a lot for just a television, but a lot of people were willing to give the ultimate sacrifice.

(Read the full post about ‘What would you give up for a 50-inch plasma tv?’…)

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Camera Core reviews the Motorola MOTORIZR Z8 and writes, “The Z8’s digital camera is not really that great. It comes in with an integrated 2-megapixel fixed focus camera. Located at the back of the handset, it can be used even when the handset is closed. It comes equipped with an 8X digital zoom. You might be amazed with the number, but don’t be fooled, with digital zoom, pictures decreases in quality. There is also a self-timer that can be used o stop blur from movements on the pictures.” Read more about the Motorola MOTORIZR Z8. (Read the full post about ‘Motorola MOTORIZR Z8 Review - Camera Core’…)

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Apple has provided more fodder for the "When are they going to get into video games?" debate with a new trademark filing which seeks to extend the Apple brand to  "hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games.” Let the speculation begin on what this might mean for a a future iPhone.Apple Gaming iPod On The Way? (Read the full post about ‘Apple Looking at Video Game Market?’…)

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Traditional gift-giving for Valentine’s Day is mainly focused on the woman as the receiver of gifts, but apparently, this is not so in Japan, where Suntory (Japan’s oldest distiller) and Lotte (confectioner) have blended their efforts to concoct this whisky chocolate (the 12-year old whisky oozes out of the middle like caramel). Via Trends in Japan (which tells us that in Japan, women give men chocolate on February 14th, and men give women gifts on March 14th). (Read the full post about ‘Single Malt Whisky Chocolate, a manly gift for Valentine’s’…)

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Several companies at GSMA are showing prototypes running the Google-backed open-source Android operating system (aka the “GooglePhone”), and judging by the crowd reaction, these “phones” are the hit of the show. The one above is Qualcomm’s effort, and there are also examples from ARM, NEC, Texas Instruments, Wind River, and Marvell.It’s not fair to laugh at the huge circuit boards: These are design prototypes and will of course be shrunk down to a fraction of this size. But despite the fugly appearance, these Android phones are the buzz of the show. At the NEC booth, the guy pointed me straight past the other boards saying, “This one is the Android. (Read the full post about ‘Hands on With the GooglePhone, aka Android Phone’…)

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Posted Feb 11th 2008 7:45PM by Nilay PatelFiled under: CellphonesAfter the QTrax debacle, we were a little wary when we started hearing rumbles about a similar service from OmniFone called MusicStation Max that promised, flat-fee, unlimited downloads from all the major labels to your cellphone with no expiration dates — but color us surprised, it’s for real. OmniFone’s MusicStation is already a player in the European mobile music game, partnered with giants like Vodafone, and the MusicStation Max launch seems like a natural evolution in the vein of Nokia’s Comes With Music program: consumers will buy a pre-licensed MSM phone — the first will be available from LG in a few months — and be able to download away for 12 to 18 months, with the ability to sideload back to a computer or to other licensed phones. (Read the full post about ‘MusicStation Max offers unlimited free music downloads to your mobile’…)

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Remember that Optimus Maximus keyboard auction we showed you a little while back, well the auction has ended, keyboard has sold and we can only imagine the seller was very pleased. With a final bid of $2,750 it has sold for quite a bit over the regular retail price of $1,564.72. Wonder if the buyer will follow through with the purchase or if this will have to be re-listed for another attempted sale. Read [eBay] Via [Engadget] Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed → (Read the full post about ‘Optimus Maximus eBay auction has ended, keyboard sells for incredible price’…)

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Posted Feb 11th 2008 11:10PM by Nilay PatelFiled under: Cellphones, Storage Seeing as cellphones are usually connected to mobile networks, we’d think the problem of content distribution would basically solve itself, but a company called Vmedia Research is at Mobile World Congress with a new type of optical disk designed just for phones. Using a blue laser, a 1GB, 32mm MiniDisc-esque Vmedia cartridge can hold a full DVD-res movie using H.264 compression, as well as limited special features. Vmedia’s demoing the tech on an upcoming Spice GSM handset, which has a 2.8-inch screen and a PSP UMD-like door for inserting the disks. (Read the full post about ‘Vmedia’s cellphone optical disk system is probably not the next big thing’…)

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Posted Feb 11th 2008 5:55PM by Nilay PatelFiled under: Laptops, WirelessIt’s not all just cellphones at Mobile World Congress — HP and Qualcomm have just announced plans to ship laptops with Qualcomm’s Gobi dual-3G chipset that supports both EV-DO and HSPA. That means you won’t be locked into a carrier when you buy a laptop with an integrated WWAN modem — and hardcore road warriors with multiple subscriptions will even be able to switch on the fly to the network with better coverage. (Read the full post about ‘HP to integrate Qualcomm’s Gobi EV-DO / HSPA chip into laptops’…)

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Even though it’s the age of digital cameras, Polaroids still hold a special place in my heart. Don’t you just remember the days when you would wait eagerly for a Polaroid photo to fully develop? It was like magic! And until now, everytime I get a Polaroid snapshot, I’d be acting like a little kid, waiting for the photo to appear. Now with the news that Polaroid is closing its last film plant in Corcord, Mass, I am very, very, very sad. I think I should stock up on those Polaroid films. Like right now. (Read the full post about ‘Death of the Polaroid!’…)

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