Zip Zip has introduced Lego USB flash drives. They will be available in black, white, red, green, yellow, and blue. Each one holds up to 1GB of storage and has USB 2.0 connectivity. These flash drives are much smaller than the traditional ones and sports a Lego look. They are 31 x 15 x 10 millimeters. They come with a lanyard that allows you to attach the device to your keyring. The price tag may seem a little steep at $48, but I'm sure there will be a ton of people wanting to buy these. If you are interested in Lego storage, you may want to check out the LaCie Brick HDD.
There are many myths going around on ways to unlock your car door if you, for instance, lock your keys in the car. Well, as with many myths you never know if they really work or not. Cell phones are not meant to transmit RF signal, which is what the keyless entry of your car transmits. But, most phones have a telecoil that allows the phone to interface with hearing aids. This coil may be able to pick up the RF that is transmitted by your keyless entry if it is placed close enough to the phone. Visit Hacked Gadgets site for some more interesting ideas on opening your car.
Logitech has introduced a universal touchscreen remote, the Harmony 5000. It is supposed to be easy enough for any user to set up. You program the remote by plugging it into your USB port and selecting the devices you wish to control, and then downloading the needed data. The remote has a 3.5 inch screen, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and a USB cable. Average programing time for the remote according to Lloyd Klarke, director of product marketing for Harmony, is around 30-90 minutes. This comes as a great relief to many. Many universal remotes such as this require a specialist to come out and program it for you which will in turn run up the cost of the already expensive product even more. For all of the features offered this remote actually comes in at a decent price of $499. Visit Logitech's website for more information.
Harmoa Kardon has introduced a new navigation system, the GPS-300, and is set to ship in about four to six weeks. It features a four-inch WQVGA touchscreen, turn-by-turn directions, and it supports English, Spanish, and French. It also boasts maps for both the US and Canada. This Navigation system has a compact flash card slot so that you can load some of your music. The MP3/WMA audio player has its own dedicated screen to show details about the song as well as album art. With a $299.95 price tag, this navigation system looks like it could shape up to be a great buy.
Moxia Energy Ltd. has a product called USB Cell Batteries. The batteries recharge in about 5 hours from any USB port. The batteries are NiMH batteries that can be used in normal battery applications. A 2 pack of AA batteries will cost around $19. For more information on the batteries and the other products they offer, visit USB Cell's website.
When around 100 million people who are using cell phones are baby boomers and seniors, do you think it's time that we make a cell phone with them in mind? That is exactly what Jitterbug did. They designed the Jitterbug and Samsung manufactured it. It comes in two models. One with a normal keypad, and one that only has 3 buttons (one to dial 911, one to reach a Jitterbug operator, and one that can be programmed with a number chosen by the user.) The Jitterbug is set up to make older individuals feel more comfortable when using the phone. Many individuals noted that the extra features that cell phones have just confuse them. The Jitterbug is set up so there is no signal strength indicator, but instead when the phone is flipped open if they hear a dial tone, they know they can make a call, and if they don't, they know they can't make a call. The Jitterbug has some features that many tech savvy individuals wouldn't want, but for the older technophobes, the features are welcomed with open arms. The Jitterbug has an earpiece that covers your ear and a microphone that is next to your mouth, rather than around your cheekbone. The rubber cup around the earpiece blocks ambient noise which makes the phone easier for the hearing-impaired to use. For more information on the Jitterbug, visit Business Week.
The Prada by LG, is Apple's answer to the iPhone. With a price tag of $600 the Prada will is Verizon's newest phone. The phone is 98.8 x 54 x 12 mm and weighs only 85 g. The display on the phone is 240 x 400 pixels and is a TFT touchscreen. Costing $100 more than the iPhone it will be interesting to see how this phone rates when it comes out.
Citibank recently announced that their customers can now do their banking on their cellphones. It can be done on any cellphone from any carrier as long as it has internet capabilities. With Citibank's service, customers have to download a special program onto their phone which will allow them to access their account on their cellphone, pay bills, transfer money, and much more. Shortly after Citibank's announcement, Bank of America followed suit releasing cellphone banking for their customers. No special program is needed to use cellphone banking through Bank of America. To make the information more legible, Bank of America chose to use wireless application protocol (WAP). Basically what this does is eliminate all superfluous graphics so that the text can be more easily transmitted and displayed. I'm sure before long, cellphone banking will become available through most all of the banks and it will be as common as internet banking is today.
Sanyo has just released their new Xacti E1 digital camcorder. The camcorder sports a unique, colorful case design. The camcorder is designed to handle being wet for up to an hour, under about five feet of water with no problems. This product will have a $500 price tag on it when it hits stores in June. This product comes with a 8GB SDHC memory which will allow you to store up to 10 hours of VGA-resolution video. It will also take still images at a 6 megapixel resolution. It is great for shallow water use, but should not be used deep water.
IO-Data has just announced the release of their 31-in-1 card reader. It will support every type of memory card format that is currently on the market. It is hard to believe that their are so many type of memory cards out there, but if you have one, you can bet that it will be compatible with this card reader, at least for now.
Ever wanted a Orange iPod Nano? Well here is your chance. Tide is giving away 6 orange Tide Nano's (one per week) for their Loads of Hope sweepstakes. To enter, you must purchase one of their vintage t-shirts with profits going to help rebuild some homes in New Orleans. This iPod is sure to be a collectors item, since there will only be 6 of them. Purchase a t-shirt now for your chance to win. For more information on the sweepstakes or to purchase a t-shirt, visit Tide's website.
HP is working on new concept called HDTV 2.0. The idea behind the concept is that each TV will be equipped with either an Ethernet or WiFi internet connection. The consumers television will now serve as their media hub. This will allow users to instantly download movies and save them on the television's internal storage device for on demand viewing. They will also be able to enable content derived any Internet connected PCs or media servers. Look for the first sets to be out from HP by the end of the year.
Recently Pure Digital Technologies introduced the Flip Video. This is a simple camcorder that uses flash memory rather than a tape. It is also a very affordable option if simple recording is all you wish to do. For around $100 you can get the 512-megabyte version which will hold about 30 minutes of recording. If you are looking for a little more storage, you can get the 60-minute version for only $130. It is about the same size as your average point and shoot camera. Don't expect any fancy camera options though, it only has 3 buttons, power, play, and delete. One of the main drawbacks is that the zoom isn't really useful. It is great to give the kids to do some recording, or for anybody wishing to do some short, simple recordings that don't need anything fancy. There is a flip out USB connector on the side of the device that you use to import the video. You can use the Flip Video on both Windows and Mac. It is very simple to use and is a much cheaper alternative to a normal camcorder.
Intel has recently created the world's thinnest laptop. In conjunction with Ziba Designs Intel has created the code-named Intel mobile Metro notebook. The notebook is less than 0.7 inches thick, which is only about one-quarter of an inch thinker than Motorola's super skinny Razr phone. This notebook weighs in at only 2.25 pounds making it one of the lightest portable computers. It will also be packed with Intel's speediest and most efficient components. The laptop boasts an incredible 14 hour expected battery life. The laptop will include a magnetically attached folder that will be able to charge the laptop wirlessly. This laptop seems to have it all and rumor has it that it may actually begin to be manufactured by the end of this year.
Today at 4:00 PM CST Dell will release 3 computers with Linux on them. They will be offering two desktops, XPS 410n and Dimension E520n, and one laptop, Inspiron E1505n, that will run Ubuntu 7.04.
Spout is an online movie community where movie lovers everywhere can come together and share their movie likes/dislikes with each other. Each person can create their own profile with lists of their favorite movies, their own movie reviews, and even their own blog. From the site you can connect with other individuals and read their reviews and see what movies they recommend. You can also create groups so that you aren't alone in the movie world. The site provides over 15,000 trailers that you can watch with trailers of all genres of movies and from several different eras. Moviemind is one of the new features of Spout. It gives you movie recommendations based on how you rate movies. The more movies you rate, the more accurate the recommendations are. Right from the site you can drag movies into your Blockbuster or Netflix queue, look it up on IMDb, purchase the movie from Amazon.com, see the TV listing for the movie, and more. The site provides a simple interface that is easy to navigate. I think being able to add movies to the queue of your current movie service is an excellent feature. They provide a great deal of option that any movie lover couldn't resist.
With a licensing agreement that is in its final stages, consumers may soon be able to legally copy the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies they have purchased. The new agreement could allow consumers to make a backup copy in case their original disc is damaged, and a copy for their home media server. The AACS (Advanced Access Content System), which is the copy prevention system used on these DVD formats, is calling the concept "managed copy." The idea of the agreement is that the content companies would be able to charge a premium according to how many copies of the disc were allowed. A system of servers either run by a third party or the studios themselves would run a system of servers that could enable the authorization of copies.
This is a modified computer mouse that is made from a real mouse. It is fully functional and uses a small travel size mouse. It is interesting, but kinda gross. I don't think I would ever be able to touch it without feeling like I needed to go get shots after I used it. For more pictures visit the above site.
