Gadgets Connect

Posted Jan 25th 2008 12:35PM by Richard LawlerFiled under: HDTV, Home EntertainmentFirst spotted in FCC pics back in August, the Slingbox SOLO has finally hit the review circuit. Lacking the hardware-assisted HD streaming output of the just announced Slingbox PRO HD, the SOLO brings the original Slingbox Pro’s HD inputs and VGA-res output to a dongle-less existence. The people at PC Magazine hooked up up the ‘box and found plenty to admire in Sling’s software and easy setup, pausing only to lament the short included ethernet cable and lack of WiFi. (Read the full post about ‘Slingbox SOLO gets reviewed’…)

Share This

The iPhone is a popular gadget, there is no doubt about it. As with all popular gadgets, people tend to get a little overenthusiastic. This enthusiasm can take multiple forms—like waiting in line for days to get the product, dressing up like the gadget for Halloween, or selling cheap knockoffs or completely ridiculous accessories.

(Read the full post about ‘10 Examples of the iPhone Making People Crazy [Iphone Madness]’…)

Share This

Now here’s a good idea — a chair that doubles as a wardrobe! Handy for small NY or Japanese apartments and a great place to hang your coat at a restaurant. Designed by Erohina Yulia, it was a reddot Design winner last year so let’s hope it makes it out of the concept stage. via I New Idea. Tags: gear, gadgetry, MP3, lcd (Read the full post about ‘Chair Wardrobe’…)

Share This

In typical Valentines Day anticipation we are beginning to see a whole range of pink gadgets coming. The latest addition comes from Verizon in the form of the Blackberry Pearl 8130. The specs will be the same as the regular silver 8130 which includes Broadband Access Connect, built-in GPS, 2-megapixel camera with flash, video capture, microSD storage and Bluetooth. The Pink 8130 is not officially for sale yet, currently its just listed on their upcoming handsets page, however the rumored date is January 28. (Read the full post about ‘Pink Blackberry Pearl 8130 coming to Verizon’…)

Share This

Posted Jan 25th 2008 10:21AM by Paul MillerFiled under: Laptops, Peripherals It all looks innocent and feasible on the surface, but behind the scenes we have no idea how realistic this gaming keyboard from United Keys is ever going to get. Sure, word of a manufacturing deal with FoxConn is good news, but it turns out a key employee has a bit of a history with false product launches. The man is Valdi Ivancic, of Medison fame — that $150 laptop that never was. Valdi spent seven months with United Keys in 2005, and then went on to purportedly found his own company named “Swedish Keys.” What’s unclear is the relationship between the two companies, but we’re not going to get our hopes up for much product from either until it shows up on store shelves. (Read the full post about ‘Don’t hold your breath for OLED key alternative: United Keys guy has a history’…)

Share This

Posted Jan 25th 2008 8:59AM by Evan BlassFiled under: Handhelds All five of you who have been waiting patiently for Sony to upgrade its mylo Personal Communicator should be pleased to learn that the revised internet tablet has finally gone on sale at SonyStyle. With its high-res 3.5-inch touchscreen, 1GB of storage, and improved Flash support, the $299 mylo 2 does indeed offer a number of attractive feature bumps over its predecessor — however, we’re still a little wary of how Sony’s positioned this product in the market. But hey, what do we know: apparently they pushed enough first-gen units out the door to give this restyled number a shot. Starts shipping on the 28th, in either white or black, says Sony.[Thanks, Michael E]Tags: hi fi, (Read the full post about ‘Sony mylo 2 on sale’…)

Share This

Once upon a time, when animation was in its infancy, cartoons were much more dangerous to watch. Each frame was painted on a section of cave wall. In order to see the animation, you’d have to run down the cave at a constant speed blinking your eyes repeatedly. Many lives were lost as folks tripped, ran into cave walls, or were eaten by giant, cave-dwelling lobsters (it’s true - look it up). Eventually, the zoetrope was created, which saved a lot of lives. And in 1877, a man by the name of Charles-Émile Reynaud invented the praxinoscope. It was an improvement on the zoetrope (it kept the viewing area still and only moved the images), and a great improvement on being eaten by lobsters. (Read the full post about ‘Praxinoscope Early Animation Kit’…)

Share This

16 year-old Marco Facciola built this completely wooden bike for a school project, managing to avoid using any metal at all. Yes, this wooden wheeled wonder even has a chain and gearing made of wood, held together with wooden joints and glue. The detail in the free-wheeling ratchet and spacers between the chain links, pinned with tiny dowels, is amazing. Marco had to complete this as a non-academic project for his International Baccalaureate, and inspiration came from his grandfather, forced to make wooden wheels for his bike during the war due to rubber shortages. (Read the full post about ‘High School Student Builds 100% Wooden Bike [Wooden Bicycle]’…)

Share This

Looks like the world is looking for something fresh musically these days, as the trend seems to be leaning towards building your own musical instruments. While efforts to date seem to rely on digital technology too much with results that aren’t too pleasing to the ears, at least it is a start. The Drum Buddy is one such example - why don’t you check out the video (requires QuickTime) and leave us a comment on what you think about it? Open source music - who would’ve thought? Tags: camera, video games, sat-nav, video (Read the full post about ‘Drum Buddy’…)

Share This

The Mozilla Security Blog has a post concerning a vulnerability that exists in the Firefox browser even when fully-patched. The vulnerability relates to extensions installed for Firefox that are “flat” rather than contained within a .jar.

A “flat” extension is different because it allows someone to travel outside the extensions directory to locations that are known about on a hard drive. An attacker could therefore explore what other software a machine has installed using this vulnerability.

(Read the full post about ‘Fully-patched Firefox browser has extensions vulnerability’…)

Share This