Gadgets

Cool 360 Degree Electrical Outlet

September 28, 2007

Who doesn't hate it when you try and plug two large A/C adapters into an electrical wall outlet, only to be frustated that you can only fit one? Not only do you have to install a bulky 6 outlet power strip just to connect two A/C adapters, but having a power strip on the floor of your living room doesn't exact pass the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor). Trust me, I've tried. Most of us need to power up our laptops, cellphones, and a plethora of other devices, so being limited to one outlet just plain sucks.

Posted in Gadgets

Portable GPS vs. in-car GPS

September 28, 2007

The debate of whether portable GPS units are better than in-car GPS units has raged for a few years now. I've always been a big proponent of portable GPS units, ever since I installed Destinator1 on a PocketPC 5-6 years ago. It was a heck of lot cheaper than spending $2,000 for an in-dash navigation system in my car. Well, Marketwatch apparently came to the same conclusion that portable GPS units often trump in-dash units in an article written today.

According to the article, Consumer Reports gives the highest marks to the Garmin Nuvi 660 at about $700.

Posted in GPS, Gadgets

Toshiba gigashot A100F 100GB Full HD camcorder

September 25, 2007

Toshiba announced their gigashot A and K video camcorders. The gigashot A100F features a 1.8-inch shock-resistant 100GB disk with 1/3-inch CMOS sensor. It features full HD video (1,920 x 1,080 or 1080i) recordings at 60fps with 16bit/48kHz Dolby digital stereo audio.

It uses high-quality MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video and will give you about 12 hours of video recording at the highest quality setting and around 23 hours in standard mode. You can also take 2 megapixel still photos.

Both the gigashot A and K series feature SDHC expansion, 3-inch LCD, 10x optical zoom, HDMI mini and component out, and USB for PC connectivity.

Toshiba brags that its 78.1 x 135.4 x 79.0-mm measurements make it the world's smallest "Full HD" camcorder with a built-in hard disk drive.

Posted in Digital Cameras, Gadgets, Home Entertainment, Video Hardware & Software

Apple to nuke unlocked iPhones

September 25, 2007

Apparently Steve Jobs has had enough of the hackers unlocking all those iPhones or AT&T got to him, because the next Apple iPhone update will "brick" unlocked iPhones. In a terse statement, Apple said, "Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed."

Don't you mean unauthorized iPhone programs on the Internet cause unlimited freedom and choice in choosing a wireless carrier? Ok, I get that Apple has an exclusive deal with AT&T in the U.S. and has to try and honor that contract, but c'mon, I have yet to hear of any unlocked iPhone causing "irreparable damage".

Posted in Gadgets, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Wireless

Skype + Mouse = MouseFone

September 19, 2007

Apparently converging Skype with USB mice seems to be a trend. You've got the Sony VAIO VN-CX1/B Skype mouse, the BeyondTel VM-01L optical Skype mouse, and now the Skype MouseFone ASG-143 from Sysgration.

So using this device how exactly do you pretend to talk your wife or girlfriend when you're really checking email, and surfing the web? With the mouse being used for voice, you're forced to use the keyboard and keyboard shortcuts to navigate around the desktop and all those keystrokes are sure to give you away. "Are you listening to me?

Posted in Accessories, Gadgets, Skype, VoIP

VoIP on the Nintendo DS Video How-To Guide

September 18, 2007

Just last week, I wrote about how pjsip's open source embedded SIP stack and media stack (written in C) was used to power VoIP on the Nintendo DS using the SvSIP client. Well, the pjsip blog now has a post including a Youtube video that shows how it's done. I'll include the video embedded here as well, but go check out the post since it includes overall impressions of the "VoIP on Nintendo DS experience"!

Posted in Gadgets, Home Entertainment, Video Games & Gaming, VoIP

Handwriting Recognition Keyboard - Cool!

September 18, 2007

Windows Tablet PCs already have handwriting recognition software, but alas our poor mortals with Windows XP or Windows Vista are forced to continue pecking away at our carpal-tunnel inducing keyboards. Well, today I learned that A1Pro has a cool new USB keyboard that combines... uhhh well a keyboard of course, along with a touch-screen pad for handwriting in your text data entry. Or at least I think it does handwriting recognition.

Posted in Accessories, Gadgets

Skype on the Apple iPod touch

September 5, 2007

In my previous Apple iPod touch post I forgot to mention that since the Apple iPod touch supports the same Safari browser as the iPhone, this enables you to run AJAX applications over its built-in Wi-Fi wireless connection. Thus, you can even run a VoIP application such as Skype on the Apple iPod touch using SoonR, the very first Skype for iPhone solution that I broke the news back in July. It leverages AJAX within the Safari browser. Another recent solution is IM+ for Skype, which should also work on the iPod touch.

Posted in Gadgets, Mobile Phones, TMCnet, Video Hardware & Software, VoIP, Wireless

Apple iPod touch

September 5, 2007

Apple unveiled the iPod touch, essentially a "phoneless" iPhone featuring all that glorious iPhone multi-touch UI functionality but without the AT&T contract. The iPod touch features WiFi wireless connectivity which not only lets you browse the web using its built-in Safari browser, but you can also purchase iTunes on-the-go. And yep, you guessed it, just like the Apple iPhone you can play YouTube videos on the first-ever Wi-Fi iPod. Alas, still no FM tuner damn it!

The iPod touch measures just 8mm wide and has a 3.5 inch widescreen touchscreen display. If fact, the touchscreen features the same multi-touch functionality as the Apple iPhone.

Posted in Gadgets, MP3 Players & Digital Audio, Video Hardware & Software

DigitalLife Is Coming to Town!

September 4, 2007

Just as surely as August rolls into September (unfortunately ...), DigitalLife is just around the corner! In a few short years, it has become best consumer electronics and entertainment event on the East Coast. (Maybe in the U.S.?)

Open to the public at the start of the holiday buying season, DigitalLife features the latest in home entertainment, video gaming, digital photos and movies, the mobile lifestyle, wireless services, music and movie download services, eCommerce, broadband content, and much, much more.

More than 200 exhibitors, from biggers like Microsoft, HP, Dell and to start-ups you've never heard of -- but very often with cool cool products.

Posted in Gadgets

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