Gadgets Connect

Pentax’s long-rumored $1299 K20D is a shot square at Canon’s 40D and the Nikon D300. Besides price, it bests both in pure megapixel count—14.6 effective, with a new CMOS sensor developed w/ Samsung—and rocks the same top 3200 ISO (6400 expanded) as the D300. (Is it as impressively noiseless though?) Expanded Dynamic Range promises more contrast-y shots, plus image stabilization is built into the camera’s body. Like the 40D and D300 it adds a live viewfinder, but it’s a bit tinier, 2.7 inches to their 3, with less than a third of the D300’s resolution, so the screen won’t be nearly as gorgeous. It comes up a little short against the competition in a couple of other ways, too. (Read the full post about ‘Pentax K20D DSLR Gets Official With 14.6 Megapixels, Live View and Expanded Dynamic Range [Pentax K20d Official]’…)

Share This

If, when the NES emulator was released for the iPhone, you thought “boy, I wish this was SNES instead” and not “boy, this is totally unplayable with a touchscreen and not a controller,” then this pre-release SNES emulator should be awesome news for you. Otherwise, not so much.

(Read the full post about ‘The iPhone Gets an Unplayable SNES Emulator [Clips]’…)

Share This

Nokia’s Prism Collection has a brand new addition, and this time it is the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism that joins the fold. Targeting (obviously) design and fashion conscious consumers, you get, in Nokia’s very own words, “seamless diamond-cut design with a crystal centre key, the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism continues to highlight the geometric shapes and personalized style of the Prism Collection”. I personally think that the entire Prism Collection is an acquired taste, and to date I have realized that most of my mates think this line of handsets are just butt ugly - it is definitely a miracle that there are folks who would gush after those cold, calculating designs which in turn causes Nokia to continue manufacturing these ugly beasts. (Read the full post about ‘Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism unleashed’…)

Share This

We’d heard that AT&T’s U-verse service was getting a new top tier of 10Mbps downstream, up from 6. It’s official now, and still weak and girly (despite the “Internet Max” moniker) compared to Verizon’s competing FiOS, which has up 50Mbps packages in some spots. FTTP FTW, guys. [AT&T] Tags: gadgets, cellphone, Ogg Vorbis, video games (Read the full post about ‘AT&T Bumps U-Verse Top Speed to 10Mbps, Verizon FiOS Chuckles [Internets]’…)

Share This

Are you planning on picking up the new Macbook Air when it goes on sale in the not-too-distant future? Well if you’re going to pick up something that expensive, you’re not going to want to carry it around in a manila envelope all day. I don’t care how much of a wow factor you’re going to get when you whip it out that first time, it won’t last. You’ll need to get something that will actually offer a little protection while making it look good. Belkin has the perfect answer. Belkin has lined up a few different sleeves that should appeal to a wide range of MacBook Air carriers. The low-end Slim-Fit Sleeve is a simple neoprene sleeve that uses only a flap to contain your new notebook. (Read the full post about ‘Belkin announces Neoprene MacBook Air Sleeves’…)

Share This

Here’s a frightening but real proposition: if you are caught breaking certain traffic laws, not only do police have the right to search you—they can go through all your electronic data as well—your text messages, call histories, browsing history, downloaded emails and photos. In a recent academic paper, South Texas Assistant Professor Adam Gershowitz explains that because many traffic violations are arrestable offenses, just as a cop could search your pockets for drugs, said cop can also search your pockets for a smartphone and go through all its contents. The same is true for any standard arrest, and given the amount of data in current smartphones, it’s a scary proposition (even for law-abiding citizens like us). (Read the full post about ‘Cops Can Search You…and Your Phone’s Memory [Privacy]’…)

Share This

The ANEO GX-10 webcam comes with a twist - it has a trio of PC video interactive games to keep you occupied. The webcam is capable of placing you into the theme in real-time, translating your moves into the gaming environment. Sounds like something for kids, although I think adults who want to take a break away from the hectic office schedule would have a fun time with it as well. The ANEO GX-10 Webcam retails for $33 at Brando. (Read the full post about ‘ANEO GX-10 Webcam’…)

Share This

The Globus Mobile is a complete office workstation and chair hidden in a large ball. The concept by designer Michiel van der Kley can be moved to any place using its hidden wheels. When you want to work, you just swivel it open and bingo: you can slot in a laptop, perch on the padded chair and think up as many chicken-and-egg or ping-pong ball jokes as you like. [Michiel van der Kley via Yanko design] galleryPost(’globus’, 3,’globus’); Tags: MP3, hi fi, laptops, M4A (Read the full post about ‘Globus Mobile Is Office in a Bubble [Concept]’…)

Share This

If I’ve learned two things in life, it’s that it’s noble to jump on some bandwagons, and some things just look sexy in red. That’s why I was pretty happy to see that Microsoft and Dell were joining the (Product) Red charity for global AIDS relief, and that for every one of the sweet new red XPS One’s that are sold, $80 of the purchase will go directly toward buying 6 months of antiretroviral medication. If you buy a (Product) Red XPS M1530 or M1330, the donation is $50, and if you buy the red 948 all-in-one printer, somebody gets 10 days’ worth of medication. Some of you are skeptical about this program—tell me, don’t you think these numbers prove that (Product) Red is working? (Read the full post about ‘Dell and Microsoft See (Product) Red for Valentine’s Day [Product Red]’…)

Share This

This portable gaming beast not only plays games from three classic Nintendo systems, it runs on the power of the sun. Out of the box, the player can handle NES/Famicom, Gameboy and Gameboy Color titles, as long as you can get the ROMs transfered to an SD card. Of course, I won’t tell you how to do that, but that’s what search engines are for, right? In addition to taking on retro gaming sans batteries, the Mobile Power Station plays popular audio and video files, including MP3, WMA and MP4 (converted to AVI) formats. The compact player features a 3.5 color display, 2GB of built-in memory and an SD slot for up to 2GB more. (Read the full post about ‘handheld nintendo emulator goes solar’…)

Share This