Gadgets and New Technologies

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 15th 2008 at 3:02PM
As the Centrino 2 train rolls on, we’ve found yet another standout that has already hit the test bench. The recently revealed SL400 is being aimed directly at mobile business professionals, but it’s also potent enough to handle basic 3D gaming and the occasional Blu-ray flick on those intercontinental flights. According to reviewers over at Laptop, this 14.1-incher was pretty swank overall, though a few minor niggles kept it from snagging a coveted Editor’s Choice award. First, a number of the ports are recessed, which may or may not grate your nerves, and while overall performance was satisfactory, the sluggish 5,400RPM hard drive was definitely frowned upon. (Read the full post about ‘Lenovo’s ThinkPad SL400 gets reviewed’…)

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Take a look at the Xbox 360 controller above - doesn’t it just burn your eyes? Forget about regular black and white - the world’s in color these days, as you will be able to pick up a bright red and equally stunning green (as seen above) color. I wonder when the consoles will follow suit, hopefully not though. You will be able to pick up a matching rechargeable battery and a play-and-charge kit to go with the wireless controller for $64.99, saving you $5 if you decide to purchase them not as a bundle. (Read the full post about ‘Xbox 360 Controller Gets New Colors’…)

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Wayne over at Gear Diary has unearthed some helpful tips from Apple for extending the life of your iphone 3G battery. First off, shut off 3G. Second, shut off location services. Third, shut off push mail. Fourth, turn off WiFi. The list goes on and on.

Basically, to save your battery life, just shut off all of the features that you bought the 3G iPhone for. Seriously though, you can mix and match and some of the tips aren’t so bad, considering a lot of users probably didn’t even realize they could shut these features on and off.

Yesterday I shut off push e-mail and dimmed the brightness.

(Read the full post about ‘Save iPhone 3G battery life by shutting off 3G’…)

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Hrmph. Looking at these Office Fairy Lights ($12.95) from Baron Bob, I can’t help but feel a little annoyed. No, I don’t mind that the stars attached to the 36″ string of lights are actually made of plastic. I’m reasonable enough to understand that the fairies can’t deprive the night sky of real stars just to dress up the earthlings’ computer monitors and laptop screens. But to power the lights via USB when there are endless supplies of pixie dust available in Fairy Land? Well, that’s just insulting. Via Nerd Approved. (Read the full post about ‘Computer fairy lights powered by USB’…)

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The Apple iphone 3G offers a 2 megapixel camera as well as the following features:

* Photo geotagging
* 3.5-inch widescreen Multi-Touch display
* 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 ppi
* Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
* Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
* Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 1, 2, and 3), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
* Stereo earphones with built-in microphone
* UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
* GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
* Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
* Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

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Tokyoflash, a Japanese watch importer, has just announced they will be releasing a whole new bunch of unisex watches for their Nekura series. The watches all have that nice sleek metallic look and one is even inspired by a speedometer. The line itself is definitely for those that enjoy an almost industrial look added to their watch. Even while looking industrial, they still manage to make it chic. The fact that they are unisex is even better, it seems like thick heavy watches like this (which is my favorite kind of band) never come small enough for women. This new release will include five new watches, which are custom engraved and the wristband made of brushed stainless steel. (Read the full post about ‘Tokyoflash’s new line of watches feature custom engraved wristbands’…)

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Transcend aims to move heads with the new StoreJet 25C portable hard drive that targets business travelers who want a more striking manner to tote their data around. It is able to carry hard drives up to 320GB in size, and is protected by a luxurious polished stainless steel case with a piano-gloss connection panel. It measures 124mm x 78mm x 14mm and works with all major operating systems including Mac and Windows. You will be able to choose from 250GB and 320GB capacities with the Transcend StoreJet 25C, and the jury is still out on this one where pricing details are concerned. (Read the full post about ‘Transcend StoreJet 25C’…)

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This new GPS by the Spanish company, Keruve, is a pretty cool one because it basically displays where certain people are located. Basically, you can find out the location of those wearing the special bracelet that it comes with. The bracelet itself is waterproof and is designed to stay on your wrist, unless you decide to take it off, and that requires the use of a special tool. This is good for those who have Alzheimer’s and your family is trying to look after you, using this bracelet, you can always know where that person is. An alarm even goes off when the battery is low, and the battery life is really good, about three and a half days. (Read the full post about ‘Keruve offers GPS device to help track your loved ones’…)

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After 5 days now with the new iPhone 3G my feeling is, “well done, Apple”. Well done on the hype, the expectations, the ability to get people to line up day after day for fear that iPhones will soon become extinct, even though more and more get “unexpectedly shipped” each day. Do I sound bitter? Actually, I did very little waiting in line, although I gawked a lot, because it was a hot, hot weekend and I saw people looking near death as they waited for hours in the sun. The lines were spectacular, and all made possible by the in-store activation that was required for each iPhone sold, a procedure made interminable by the overload on the iTunes servers. (Read the full post about ‘iPhone 3G- is it worth the fuss?’…)

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Panasonic has released a couple of new Toughbook models based on Intel’s new Centrino 2 platform. They are the 15.4″ Toughbook 52 and the 13.3″ Toughbook 74. They will both share :- 1,066Mhz bus speeds Intel graphics chipset 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity 160GB storage The only difference would be the screen size, and they will be able to resist most shocks and spills thanks to the magnesium shell, complete with internal connections that bend rather than break and a splash-resistant keyboard. The Toughbook 52 and Toughbook 74 will retail for $1,949 and $3,199, respectively. (Read the full post about ‘Panasonic Toughbook gets Centrino 2′…)

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