Gadgets Connect

If you are going to spend US$399 for an Apple iPhone there is probably a good chance that you are going to use it to store your “life” on it. That means all of your contacts, pictures, email, Internet favorites, music and movies. It’s for this reason you would probably be pretty upset if you lost all of this data because your iPhone was damaged. Since the iPhone is a mobile device there is probably a good chance there is going to be at least a few people who will have to deal with a damaged iPhone which still contains data they want access to.

Luckily, iPhone users can now call DriveSavers if they get into that situation. DriveSavers has made a name for itself in the recovery of data from a number of hard drives which have been through all sorts of disasters.

(Read the full post about ‘DriveSavers comes to the rescue for iPhone users’…)

Share This

Pentax also has news on the point-and-shoot end. The Optio M50 is an 8-megapixel model with 5x zoom lens and wide-view 2.5-inch LCD screen. It ships in March for $230. The Optio S12 is a pocket-sized 12-megapixel shooter with 3x zoom and a dynamic range adjustment function for avoiding blown-out highlights. It arrives in April with a price tag of $280. The Optio E50 is a budget 8.1-megapixel camera that runs on AA batteries and will cost $150 when it arrives in March. (Read the full post about ‘New Point-and-Shoots fropm Pentax’…)

Share This

Lighting: which lamp to choose?Jan 24, 2008 Lighting is a very important thing. An exclusive beautiful lamp can totally change the view of the room. But here comes a question: what lamp should I choose? Should it be something laconic and functional, or is it better to buy an extravagant and outstanding lamp? At first, let’s talk about functionality and use. Adesso Boogie Architect iLamp is definitely the best one for a teenager or just a modern person. If you like listening to music and you have all your favorite songs on your iPod or any other compact music player, this lamp will make your listening more comfortable. But the lamp by itself is modern and stylish; it is made of steel and has pleasant color of champagne. (Read the full post about ‘Lighting: which lamp to choose?’…)

Share This

The Steam Wars contest keeps exciting us with new concepts after amazing examples like the TIE Fighter and X-Wing, the Pod Racer and the Imperial Shuttle. Here’s the Steam-Powered Speedy Bicycle, which promises to be “the Empire’s Finest.” In its simplicity, it’s probably my favorite so far. Someone should get Lucas and LEGO to do a game with all these Steam Wars vehicles. Or better yet, a full movie. [Flickr via Brothers Brick] galleryPost(’steamspeeder’, 6, ‘Steam Speeder’); Tags: gizmos, lcd, dap, hdtv (Read the full post about ‘Steampunk LEGO Steam Speeder Spurs Swooning Sensations [Lego]’…)

Share This

Posted Jan 24th 2008 12:01PM by Paul MillerFiled under: Gaming While a few companies have posted some hefty earnings this year, it’s hard not to be impressed with the sort explosive growth Nintendo — a 100 or so year old company — has seen in 2007. Profit for the nine months leading up to December 31st was $2.45 billion, up 96.3 percent from the same timespan in fiscal 2006. Naturally a huge chunk of that is the 20 million Wii consoles sold, 14.29 million of those in the last three quarters, and the related software title, but it’s pretty clear that the DS continues to shine, with 24.5 million sold in the last nine months, and most likely a higher per-unit profit. (Read the full post about ‘Nintendo’s 2007 profits almost double fiscal 2006′…)

Share This

According to a user over on the TreoCentral user forums, Palm is preparing to close its retail locations by January 31, 2008. At this time, there has not been any official confirmation, however with all the recent trouble that Palm has been having it has a ring of truth to it. The user “treoneo” of course cannot reveal his “source” so time will have to tell on this one. With all the recent popularity of the Centro, Palm’s troubles have been getting pushed into the back of our minds a little bit. I do mean a little bit though because I am sure its not hard to remember all the delays of Palm OS II, not to mention the recent employee layoffs. (Read the full post about ‘Rumor: Palm to close retail locations before January 31′…)

Share This

Looks like Canon’s PowerShot family has just grown even further with the introduction of the optically image stabilized 8.0 megapixel PowerShot A590 IS; the 8.0 megapixel PowerShot A580, and the creatively color-keyed 7.1 megapixel PowerShot A470 digital cameras. Check out specifications of the individual models after the jump. Tags: cameras, PDA, mobile phone, cellphone (Read the full post about ‘Canon has PowerShot Trio Out’…)

Share This

This anti-terrorism concept from researchers at Purdue University puts together miniature radiation counters built right into cellphones across the US. Each solid-state sensor would be able to sniff out radioactive sources from up to 15 feet, and then would send in the location to Homeland Security, the FBI and Jack Bauer, resulting in huge dirty-bomb surveillance system. Sounds like 24 meets Big Brother in 1984, but it is a pretty clever system and apparently it works right now. Professors Ephraim Fischbach and Jere Jenkins suggest that the electronics could filter out false alarms from medical radiation sources and radioactive potassium in bananas (wait, bananas are radioactive? (Read the full post about ‘Networked Geiger-Counter Cellphone System to Detect Radioactive Bombs [Radiation Sensor]’…)

Share This

Posted Jan 24th 2008 3:03AM by Paul MillerFiled under: Misc. Gadgets USB-based musicality is great and all, but sometimes you want to cut the cord and play live. IK’s StompIO USB stomp box is apparently the ticket to such a life of freedom, since it packs in a good amount of software amps and software controllable switches and the like, but it also does all its own amp modeling when away from the computer. The bad news is that freedom comes at quite the price: StompIO is available now for $1,050.Tags: digital, gprs, technology, pvr (Read the full post about ‘IK’s StompIO: the software amp without all the software dependency’…)

Share This

PENTAX announced today two new digital SLR camera models including the PENTAX K20D digital SLR camera with 14.6 megapixels and the PENTAX K200D digital SLR with 10.2 megapixels. Both cameras are equipped with advanced features including dust- proof and weather-resistant bodies, an improved PRIME image processor, and PENTAX developed Shake Reduction that works with any of the 24 million PENTAX lenses ever manufactured. All of these latest PENTAX products will be displayed at the PMA 2008 Trade Show from January 31 to February 2 in Las Vegas. The PENTAX K20D (body only) digital SLR model will ship in April 2008 for US $1299.95, while the PENTAX K200D digital SLR will ship in March 2008 for US $799.95 (with new 18-55mm lens). (Read the full post about ‘PENTAX Announces K20D with 14.6 Megapixels’…)

Share This