Gadgets Connect

AT&T currently has a special $99 promotion on the red LG Shine, BlackJack II and the BlackBerry Curve 8310. The promotion is valid through Valentines Day, which for those that may need a reminder is February 14 and they all require a 2-year agreement with purchase. “Chocolates and flowers are standby gifts for Valentine’s Day, but this year we’re spicing things up by offering terrific deals for those who want to go with something different,” said Andy Wilson, vice president of National Marketing for AT&T’s wireless unit. A nice offer for those looking to make a switch to AT&T, all three phones (personally I would prefer the Curve) would make a great primary phone, especially for only $99. (Read the full post about ‘AT&T offering $99 Valentine Day specials’…)

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Posted Jan 19th 2008 3:37PM by Darren MurphFiled under: Peripherals, Portable Audio Yeah, the whole igloo comparison loses some steam once you peek this thing from the side, but when glancing it head-on, we can’t help but be overcome with imagery of our childhood days spent in the plains of Greenland. Unfortunately, this thing’s ability to conjure up said memories is probably its standout feature — well, aside from the RF remote that enables users to browse iPod content right on its screen (shown after the break). Outside of that, you’ll find a totally average speaker setup consisting of twin one-inch tweeters and three-inch woofers along with a set of touch-sensitive controls atop the device itself. (Read the full post about ‘DLO’s iBoom JukeBox mildly resembles an igloo’…)

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In case you haven’t noticed yet, there’s an eject button at the top right corner of the MacBook Air keyboard. There’s no disc drive, but you push it, something pops out. Somewhere. Click. Schwing. Poop. Some people say this key ejects the optional SuperDrive, but after countless—or maybe just three—days of in-deep investigation in cocktail bars and going through the garbage outside Jonathan Ive’s house, we’ve compiled a list of potential actions: • Ejects random F-15 Eagle National Guard pilot currently flying over the US. • Activates road speed bump. • Launches Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles while playing War Games with demented mainframes. (Read the full post about ‘MacBook Air Eject Key’s Rumored Alternative Actions [Apple]’…)

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A gazillion readers asked for it, so here it is: if you are reading Gizmodo now in the iPhone, you can bookmark us in your home screen and you will get a shiny Giz icon to add to your Springboard, for you to tickle every time you need a Giz fix. Tags: home cinema, video, design, consumer technology (Read the full post about ‘Gizmodo Gets iPhone Icon [Announcements]’…)

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Granted, Safe Eyes is no gadget but I still think it will come in handy for parents who want to make sure that they have done their level best in preventing their kids from all the various dangers and pitfalls of the Internet such as pornography and unsolicited e-mail from strangers. Safe Eyes has made its way to the Mac, offering special enhancements for Mac users. Some of the features include :- At-a-Glance Reports — See which websites and pages children have visited, which blocked sites they have tried to access, and which programs they have used with a new easy-use viewer. Mac-Style User Interface — A new Mac look and feel simplifies use for Mac owners. (Read the full post about ‘Safe Eyes for Mac users’…)

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Posted Jan 19th 2008 6:40AM by Darren MurphFiled under: GPS Quite frankly, we were a touch overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of new nüvis announced for CES, but apparently, Garmin has managed to recuperate from its own outpouring and is dishing out yet another newcomer. On the docket today is the nüvi 850, a Bluetooth-less navigator that attempts to compensate for its lack of handsfree support by featuring a 4.3-inch 480 x 272 resolution touchscreen, a rechargeable Li-ion good for around four hours, a microSD slot, speech recognition, a 3D map view, support for MSN Direct and a built-in media player. Additionally, you’ll find an FM transmitter, audio out and an internal (read: non flip-up) antenna to ratchet the style factor up a notch. (Read the full post about ‘Garmin’s pricey nuvi 850 shows up fashionably late’…)

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If you are a heavy user of high-speed Internet, your happy days of peer-to-peer downloading might soon be over. Time Warner Cable, currently the second largest U.S. cable operator, plans to shift from the standard flat fee to a usage-based billing scheme. The Internet subscribers in Beaumont, Texas are the chosen guinea pigs for the first trial run. The test is slated later this year but the terms had not been set yet. Since video downloading and streaming are very popular nowadays, the cable operator claims this is a strategy to minimize network congestion. Moreover, it assured the public that its impact is very minimal for only 5% of all customers are considered heavy users. (Read the full post about ‘Time Warner Cable to trial usage-based broadband billing’…)

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Posted Jan 19th 2008 11:13AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs Our eyes may still be slightly out of focus from the complete lack of sleep obtained while at CES, but the two Inventec UMPCs purportedly going by 7-A / 5-D sure look a heck of a lot different than the model we peeked in Vegas. As you can glean from the image above, the UMPC 7-A sports a nifty slider design that supposedly places the QWERTY keyboard at a “more natural angle” for the user. As for the so-called UMPC 5-D (shown after the jump), it ditches the aforementioned design and takes a more modular approach to satisfy those who just adore buying a new dock for every handheld they own. (Read the full post about ‘Inventec’s UMPC 7-A and 5-D get pictured’…)

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We all do embarrassing things when we are young, but at least for my generation they tended to stay in the past and away from the eyes of prospective employers, but for todays social networking generation I wonder how much of what seems like a good idea now may come back to haunt them in the future as more and more employers turn to social networking sites to find out more about potential employees. But as ever with the Internet a new business trend is emerging to resolve this problem. Companies like ReuptationDefender will charge £20 to provide a monthly report about every piece of information about you on the Internet. (Read the full post about ‘Tidy up your Online Profile’…)

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Posted Jan 19th 2008 9:06AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Laptops, Tablet PCs Fujitsu’s marvelously light LOOX U50XN — better known as the U810 here in the States — just keeps getting better. Apparently, to-be owners in Japan can now snag one with an oh-so-coveted 64GB SSD, though all the other specs look to remain identical to what we’ve already seen. ‘Course, adding such a fine piece of hardware won’t come cheap — as a matter of fact, you’ll be forced to cough up an extra ¥95,000 ($887) for the privilege. (Read the full post about ‘Fujitsu’s LOOX U50XN now configurable with 64GB SSD’…)

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