Gadgets and New Technologies

It’s the time of the year. To buy or NOT to buy a new phone. As far as I can remember, ever since mobile phones came out, I’ve always had this guilty pleasure of buying a brand new phone every single year. I only stopped this extravagant habit of mine when I started earning my own money and started realizing that money (obviously) didn’t come from trees. I remember being stuck with a Sony Ericsson P900 for almost 2 years (I had no job and couldn’t afford to buy a new one, haha). Wow, 2 years. Trust me, that’s a pretty long time to be with a mobile phone. Most mobile phones nowadays only have a life span of a year with an owner, especially with different models sprouting around like mushrooms. (Read the full post about ‘How Often Do You Buy A CellPhone?’…)

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Posted Mar 14th 2008 11:21AM by Paul MillerFiled under: Portable Audio, Portable Video Those of you hoping to have your mind blown can go ahead and leave quietly out the back, but for anyone else hoping for a dirt-cheap and fairly lovable DAP, the Sansa Fuze from SanDisk might just fit the bill. PC Magazine and CNET put the player through its paces and came out with a few nice things to say about it. Starting at $80 for 2GB and ramping up to $130 for 8GB, the player is certainly a good deal, and its diminutive form factor — a compromise between the Clip and the View — measures a mere 0.3-inches thick, while still managing a quality feel and a microSD slot. (Read the full post about ‘SanDisk’s Sansa Fuze reviewed’…)

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Oyster cards, the high-tech RFID swipe cards used to gain access to the London Underground, have been pwned. Pro crackers have unlocked the card’s cryptography system, which turns out to be garbage of the "security through obscurity" order. Bruce Schneier asks, "when will people learn not to invent their own crypto?," a question which might echoed by anyone else dumb enough to have licensed Mifare. All the researchers had to do was examine the chip’s conductive pathways, as one might do to an old arcade chip to get it emulated in MAME."The research team was able to obtain the card’s proprietary encryption scheme by physically dissecting its chip and examining it under a microscope. (Read the full post about ‘London Underground’s Oyster Cards Cracked’…)

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Kingston has introduced a unique usb flash drive that comes equipped with a built-in media card reader! The DataTraveler Micro Reader could be a great gadget for people who constantly move data from one device to another. [ Source ] (Read the full post about ‘Kingston DataTraveler Micro Reader usb drive with built-in media card reader’…)

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Posted Mar 14th 2008 8:10AM by Paul MillerFiled under: Robots Maybe we’ll never know how Comedy Central could run a show like “BattleBots” and not have it be the greatest thing ever. Lucky for us, the concept is getting another shot at life thanks to the fine folks at ESPN 2 and ESPNU. The new show format will have an increased emphasis on the behind-the-scenes nerdmergencies in the “pits” when the bots need tweaking or full on repairs. They’re also going to do away with the annoying wedgebots (similar in principle to this Microsoft bot up above, just more annoying), beef up the arena hazards and add a new expirimental class for featuring other bot types competing in what are hopefully equally destructive forms. (Read the full post about ‘BattleBots headed to an ESPN near you — now with less suck’…)

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The macbook air has a new rival now from Frontier, known as the FRLN. While the FRLN won’t be as thin as the MacBook Air, it takes up less space with a 12″ LED-backlit screen, tipping the scales at 2.75 pounds. It also prides itself in being tough when the situation calls for it, capable of withstanding up to 265 pounds of pressure while surviving drops from up to 2.5 feet without any hiccup. Those suffering from butter fingers can also rejoice knowing the the keyboard itself is water-resistant, so don’t worry about leaving your drinks around while working. It is powered by Intel’s 800MHz A110 processor and comes with 1GB RAM, an 80GB hard drive and WiFi connectivity. (Read the full post about ‘Frontier Challenges MacBook Air’…)

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If paying 3x for a fancy wooden USB thumbdrive doesn’t entice you, maybe getting it with a custom engraving will. Zana design’s skills don’t go far. Their "flash drive with style" ad has a jagged font, imposed on an Amiga-style gradient and what appear to be photoshopped renditions of the advertised engraving. Yuk. As such, it’s still the perfect gift to go with the walnut dashboard in your uncle’s 1980s Jaguar, just moreso. Assuming that you’re ready to pay $56 for a 1GB drive or $105 for an 8GB one, that is. Product Page [Zana] (Read the full post about ‘Engraved Fancy Thumbdrives Cost a Little Extra’…)

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Asus has launched its newest 24-inch LCD monitor. The Asus MK241H boasts native HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) support for full HD 1080p video playback. It is equipped with a 1920×1200 16:10 high resolution panel that delivers multi-channel audio and uncompressed digital video. Translating these into layman’s terms, the Asus MK241H would give gamers and multimedia users the ultimate gaming and multimedia experience. Asus has even upped the ante of the MK241H by integrating a plug-and-play built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam for high-resolution video and array microphones for the much needed push towards optimum video and audio pleasure. (Read the full post about ‘Asus unveils 24-inch LCD monitor with built-in webcam’…)

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Posted Mar 14th 2008 12:56AM by Sean CooperFiled under: Handhelds Remember the rumor we saw floating about a few weeks ago about a Nokia N810 refresh? Well, the lads at The Boy Genius Report are reporting — on a rumor mind you — that Nokia is set to launch its N810 refresh with WiMAX at CTIA in April this year. Interestingly, the name will remain the same, and not be labeled the Nokia N830 as we’d first thought. Yeah, it’s only a rumor at this point, but we’re thinking that giving this radio-less internet appliance a bit more reach is nothing but a good thing. (Read the full post about ‘Nokia N810 with WiMAX set to launch at CTIA on April 1st?’…)

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Posted Mar 13th 2008 8:31PM by Donald MelansonFiled under: Storage Apparently catering to the few folks out there that feel they have too few USB flash drives, Ultra Products recently let loose this so-called SpaceStation 6, which comes with no less than six tiny thumb drives that can be neatly concealed and used as the mood strikes. Of course, there’s no hub action going on here — which would be convenient — and the slots likely won’t play nice with your current stash of flash drives. (Read the full post about ‘Ultra SpaceStation 6 offers up 12GB flash drive six pack’…)

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