Gadgets and New Technologies

Kyrocera will be dropping a sleek and sexy new phone called the Neo E1100. It comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera, an internal 262k color display, flush keypad, bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, speakerphone, voice recognition, MP3 playback, and a 2.5mm headphone jack. No word on pricing or availability, so until then you’ll have to suffer. [ Source ] (Read the full post about ‘Kyrocera Set to Drop Neo E1100′…)

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Despite being a highly anticipated competitor to the Asus Eee, the Cloudbook ended up being a disappointment. The $400 sub-ultraportable notebook was widely panned by critics for its slow hard drive, overheating issues, and poorly designed cursor controls. Even though it largely followed in the footsteps of the Eee these issues, plus added in DVI and 30GB of storage, but lackluster overall performance and the gOS operating system quickly caused it to be tagged as a step down from the Eee PC. Taking the problems with the Cloudbook into consideration and the fact that a new crop of Eee PCs are on the way Everex has announced the Cloudbook MAX. (Read the full post about ‘Everex issues Cloudbook mea culpa: Cloudbook MAX’…)

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Posted Apr 1st 2008 8:14PM by Ryan BlockFiled under: Features, Laptops, Wireless Damn, Everex clearly stepped up their game with the Cloudbook MAX. Not that we want to harsh on the original Cloudbook or anything, but this thing is definitely in a different class — and the integrated XOHM WiMAX doesn’t hurt, either. Check out some hands-on shots taken at CTIA below.Gallery: Everex Cloudbook MAX hands-on (Read the full post about ‘Everex Cloudbook MAX hands-on’…)

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Posted Apr 1st 2008 7:37PM by Nilay PatelFiled under: cellphones We had heard whispers about the blackberry Curve hitting Sprint this month, and it looks like they were dead-on — say hello to RIM’s latest, the Curve 8330, all done up in black. Apart from looking way hotter than the silver version that’s made the rounds, you’re getting GPS, a 2 megapixel camera with video recording, Bluetooth, “enhanced” web browsing, and the usual suite of Sprint music and TV services. $179 with a two-year contract later this month, says Sprint. (Read the full post about ‘Blackberry Curve 8330 comes to Sprint’…)

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Posted Apr 1st 2008 9:20PM by Ross RubinFiled under: Features, Portable AudioEach week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment. The Slacker Portable is the proverbial elephant being inspected by blind men. One is the crop of portable MP3 players, to which the device’s service represents free, fresh music on the go in exchange for user control of track selection. Another is the bevy of online internet music sites such as Pandora, Last.fm, Finetune and others, to which it represents the leap from the beb to portable entertainment. A third is the traditional consumer electronics industry for which it portends a connected future. (Read the full post about ‘Switched On: Slacker in your slacks (Part 1)’…)

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Posted Apr 1st 2008 6:56PM by Nilay PatelFiled under: Misc. gadgetsWe think Creative acted pretty foolishly in forcing Daniel_K to remove his modded drivers that allowed various Creative sound cards to work up to spec under Vista — customers had already bought the hardware, after all — but Daniel seems to understand why he’s at the center of the firestorm. Speaking to Custom PC, Daniel Kawakami admits that promising faster releases for more donations probably raised some red flags, but he’s not happy that Creative took to publicly threatening him on forums, and says that a simple private email would have probably worked a lot better. (Read the full post about ‘Daniel_K speaks out about his modded (better) Creative drivers’…)

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Sound ID just rolled out its new HD300 Bluetooth headset that features their very own NoiseNavigation technology which claims to offer “pristine sound” as it isolates speech while reducing wind and background noise, courtesy of its dual microphones and DSP algorithms. This isn’t the first time a Bluetooth headset comes with these claims, but one must be aware that Sound ID has a bunch of “hearing specialists and top acoustic scientists” in their sweatshop somewhere The HD300 will be officially available for purchase sometime in Q3 this year, retailing for $119.99 a pop. I would’ve liked to see a better design, but I’ll take an average design with good performance any day. (Read the full post about ‘Sound ID HD300 Bluetooth Headset’…)

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Plasma TVs might beat out on LCDs when it comes to image quality, but next-gen LCD TVs ought to do much better as they bring brighter colors and a virtually infinite contrast ratio to the table, thanks to the efforts of Dolby and Sim2. Their new prototype LCD TV features a high dynamic range which utilizes a backlight unit from Sim2 comprising of 1,838 LEDs, capable of maintaining 1080p resolution in a 16:9 aspect ratio. The prototype has been rated at 4,000 cd/m2 in terms of brightness, and has a uniform luminance of 95% throughout the display. According to Dolby, this TV is able to deliver a “picture quality that matches real-world visual perception of depth, detail, and color.” No word on pricing or availability, but it won’t be cheap - I can guarantee you that. (Read the full post about ‘LCD TV Prototype Pave The Future’…)

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The Rickshaw GPS Sunglasses sounds pretty need, featuring a built-in GPS navigation system that relies on a tiny video LCD or audio voice feeds to provide you with the necessary travel information. Maps are provided via a microSD memory card. While the Rickshaw GPS Sunglasses sounds pretty good on paper, it is but a hoax being the 1st of April. Still, this is one idea that is worth working on for the future since you can keep your eyes on the road despite having all the information you need from the GPS navigation system right in front of you. (Read the full post about ‘Rickshaw GPS Sunglasses’…)

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The iphone’s main strength lies in its ease-of-use and multi-touch interface (of course, good looks do go a long way), and not many challengers have surfaced in these departments so far. The Samsung Sprint Instinct could be just the one to topple the iPhone, featuring the following specifications :- GPS navigation capability 3G/HSDPA support Sprint TV and Microsoft Live Search Haptic technology for tactile feedback 2 megapixel camera microSD memory card slot Bluetooth 2.0 connectivityThere is no word on pricing as at press time. (Read the full post about ‘Samsung Sprint Instinct An iPhone Rival?’…)

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