Gadgets 2008

by Donald Melanson, posted Aug 27th 2008 at 5:57PM
The two-inch-square Space Cube computer has apparently been making the rounds in Japan for some time now, but PC Pro has finally managed to sneak one into the UK and, thankfully for us, they’ve decided to share. This one packs a 300MHz NEC VR5701 processor, 64MB of RAM, a 1GB CompactFlash card, and a special version of Red Hat Linux, along with a single USB port, VGA out, built-in Ethernet and, most importantly for its target market, a SpaceWire port, which is used by the likes of NASA and the European Space Agency. Unfortunately for hobbyists that may have gotten their hopes up, while the price was initially estimated to be a reasonable $325, it now looks like it could be demanding upwards of £1,500 (or over $2,700) but the time it’s officially released outside of Japan, although it seems like it will at least actually be sold to the general public.

[Via Slashdot]

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Filed under: Desktops

by Paul Miller, posted Aug 27th 2008 at 2:50PM
Oh, Nuvifone, how you disappoint us. Over here at IFA we just managed to get a Garmin rep to whip out his Nuvifone prototype for a quick look, but sadly, almost a year after the device was first announced, there really wasn’t anything new to see. We still aren’t allowed to take video of the interface, or really see much of the phone other than the home screen, and when the rep tried to show us how the Nuvifone kicks the iPhone’s ass in navigation, the Nuvi promptly crashed — so at least those two have that in common. Not that we should be surprised, Garmin mentioned last month that the phone had been delayed into 2009, but we’re quickly running out of patience, as well as any scrap of remaining hope for this thing to actually matter when it does arrive. Peep the gallery for a little bit of iPhone 3G versus action.

Gallery: Garmin’s Nuvifone teases its way through another trade show

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Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Handhelds

Are you bored at the office? I’m sure we’ve seen plenty of remote controlled toys in the past, but that won’t stop me from adding the R/C Mini Tank to our annals.

R/C Mini Tank is the coolest racing car you have ever seen. It is designed in the military tank shape. It can be charged on the remote control which is powered by 3pcs AA batteries only. Just install the batteries and enjoy playing it with your friends. Here comes with Green Tank and Camouflage Tank.

It certainly doesn’t look too professional, and too bad there are no laser fights you can hold with this, otherwise you and your mate could build an elaborate obstacle course, waiting for someone to make that fatal move first. The R/C Mini Tank will retail for $14.50 a pop.

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HTC had recently followed up the S730 with a newer model, appropriately named the S740.  As you can see, it looks a lot like the Touch Pro mixed with the Touch Diamond. 

It definitely has the makings of a gem with its candybar model with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.  It runs with Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard, and has a 2.4-inch QVGA screen. 

Other features include a 3.2-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, GPS, 256 flash memory and 256MB of RAM.  It is set up to run on WCDMA/HSDPA networks, or GSM/GPRS/EDGE. 

The S740 should surface sometime next month in Europe, but there is no word on a price as yet. 

Via [Gizmodo]

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Camera manufacturers are always thinking of ways to make their products stand out, so I guess the combination of Canon, tennis star Maria Sharapova, and 2.22 carat white diamonds was inevitable.

To celebrate the launch of their new limited edition range of cameras, the Canon Powershot Diamond Collection, Canon is giving away five of the dazzling gadgets via their website. They all feature 88 white diamonds around the lens which… well, it serves no purpose at all, let’s be frank, but it looks pretty.

Via Geeksugar.

In private beta testing mode since January, the England-based ProofHQ has just opened it’s program up to the the public. What makes it so appealing to so many is the obvious allowance for collaboration. ProofHQ makes this simple with the use of several formats on the web. Blogs, social media applications…users are able to comment and give feedback on a project that can be seen by anyone working on it by using embeddable objects.

There is no cost for this new personal version, unless you want to upgrade to a more advanced package that offers more storage.  The free package only allows for five proofs a months (50 megabytes of storage), and the upgrades run anywhere from $29 to $99 a month. However, you can get a feel for it to see what you think by taking advantage of their 14 day free trial offer. It is both PC and Mac compatible.

The whole “cloud collaboration” idea isn’t a new one. There are several other companies out there doing much the same thing. You have for instance, Conceptshare, Octopz, Scribd, and the well known Basecamp.  What is especially handy about ProofHQ is that users of Basecamp are able to integrate ProofHQ right into their Basecamp program. Or for those more familiar with Scribd, in ProofHQ, you can also embed items you need to proof right into your site and have other people leave feeback since your document lives inside an embedded file viewer that runs on Flash. When it’s time to make edits, just kick over to the full editor. One downside is that there isn’t any video conferencing or chat (like Octopz offers), but although there isn’t any real-time collaboration in these modes, changes do get shown to other viewers as soon as they are made to a project.

At this point, the biggest perks separating it from the others really are the ease of use, and the fact that you can merge it with another program you may already be using.

Via [CNet]

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by Darren Murph, posted Aug 27th 2008 at 9:44AMThe always-imaginative gurus at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft never cease to amaze, and at this year’s IFA, they’re delivering once more. The so-called “virtual mirror” gives to-be garb buyers an accurate look at what different outfits look like on their person without requiring them to try a single thing on. Granted, shopaholics are apt to detest this thing, but anyone with better things to do than try on four sweaters to see which one makes them look fat should be completely in love. The concept here is far from new, as we’ve seen both virtual makeover machines and fitting room enhancers before. Still, Fraunhofer’s dream of getting you suited up and out of the store in mere minutes is one we’d love to see come true. Just don’t ditch the traditional stalls too soon — we wouldn’t want any kind of worldwide uprising.

[Via Physorg, image courtesy of Flickr]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wearables

by Nilay Patel, posted Aug 26th 2008 at 10:14PM
Dell’s Inspiron 13 made its Wal-Mart debut earlier this month, but now the budget back-to-school lappy is ready for you to trick it factory-style on Dell’s site. Nothing too crazy on the options list, and it looks like you’re stuck with some form of integrated graphics no matter what — but hey, when the most extravagant configuration maxes out at $1,149, you can’t be too picky.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Laptops

by Nilay Patel, posted Aug 26th 2008 at 11:09PM
Sure, the Nikon D90 isn’t going to be any huge surprise when it arrives at this point, but it looks like whatever ta-da moment Nikon had planned just got upstaged by USA Today, which is running its piece on the new cam just a little early, complete with quotes from Nikon’s senior technical manager. Nothing we don’t know about here: 12.1 megapixels, 3-inch Live View screen with HD video recording and a kit price of $1,299. Not bad — and that HD video mode certainly sounds intriguing. At least detailed specs will still be a tiny surprise, eh?

Update: Nikon press release makes it official. Read it here.

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

With the slew of USB flash drives in the market nowadays, the gadget has become as exciting as a couple of snails racing for the finish line.

I’ve seen a lot of varieties these days when it comes to design, and these bejeweled USB thumb drives by Brando are among the sparkliest, most eye-catching ones which really make people want to get them. Brando’s Jewel Thumb Drive line is composed of numerous styles and designs, each one laden with glittering decorative crystals. They have a storage capacity of 4GB and can either be attached to phones or be used as necklaces using the straps included in the package.

There are six of these bejeweled USB thumb drives available for sale at Brando. First of which is the one pictured above in the shape of a tear drop. The other models are the ones pictured below:

USB Jewel Thumb Drive (Diamond)

USB Jewel Thumb Drive (Ribbon)

USB Jewel Thumb Drive (Fortune)

USB Jewel Thumb Drive (Skeleton)

USB Jewel Thumb Drive (Classical)