Gadgets Connect

Best Buy customer Raelyn Campbell has filed a $54 million dollar lawsuit for the loss of her laptop. The story starts out innocent enough, Raelyn had purchased a laptop along with an extended warranty from Best Buy, after a while the laptops power switch broke and she had thought that warranty would prove to be useful. That is where it began to go downhill, originally told the repairs would take roughly two to six weeks it ended up going much longer. After several months it was determined that the laptop had never left the store and to make matters worse the laptop had been stolen, not to mention Best Buy had lied to her about the status for months. (Read the full post about ‘Best Buy losses laptop, customer sues for $54 million’…)

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Posted Feb 13th 2008 2:27PM by Donald MelansonFiled under: cellphones, Gaming, Peripherals Just in case you missed it, we though we’d point you in the direction of Engadget Mobile’s hands-on with Zeemote’s nunchuck-like JS1 mobile joystick, which promises to make playing games on your cellphone a slightly more enjoyable experience. As our own Sean Cooper reports, the controller works surprisingly well, with it boasting a size that’s comfortable to use but still small enough to slip it into your pocket. Hit up the read link below for plenty more pics of the controller, as well as a video of it in action courtesy of the folks at Mobile Game Developer. (Read the full post about ‘Engadget Mobile goes hands-on with Zeemote’s JS1 mobile joystick’…)

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Posted Feb 13th 2008 9:17AM by Darren Murph Remember that intriguing KP-900 that came our way courtesy of the FCC late last month? Turns out, this creature is getting all official on us today, with Universal proudly proclaiming that its newest IR / RF dual-use remote will be debuting at the Electronic House Expo in Orlando next month. The multifaceted gizmo is made to be retrofitted into any home that could use a wall-mounted home automation controller and a sophisticated home theater remote, and it should be hitting authorized dealer locations next month for $599. (Read the full post about ‘Universal’s dual-use KP-900 wireless keypad / remote gets official’…)

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Dell has announced their plans to purchase the business email services company MessageOne for a cash deal of $155 million. MessageOne was co-founded by Dell’s Michael Dell along with his brother Adam Dell and is owned in part by Impact Venture Partners and Impact Entrepreneurs Fund. The sale will put an approximate $12 million into a trust for Michael Dell, his wife and children with Adam Dell getting about $970,000 and their parents getting about $450,000. MessageOne is a downloadable piece of software that lets companies manage and archive e-mail while minimizing outages and helping to prevent data loss. It is expected to compete against similar services that are offered from Google and Microsoft. (Read the full post about ‘Dell to purchase MessageOne for $155 million’…)

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Posted Feb 13th 2008 9:41AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: cellphones We know it’s probably going to be pretty hard to believe this, but according to a recent survey of mobile phone users, Palm ranks absolutely last in customer satisfaction. If you believe what the folks at ChangeWave Research have to say (and the 4,182 people they questioned), only 30-percent of Palm users reported being “very satisfied” with their device, while companies like Apple and RIM garnered 72-percent and 55-percent, respectively. Of course, considering current trends with the company, and the fact that it’s just started paying out to users for repeated repairs on devices, this doesn’t come as much shock. (Read the full post about ‘Palm ranks last in satisfaction survey, no one surprised’…)

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Posted Feb 13th 2008 11:15AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Laptops Well, would you look at that. The image we’re certain your eyes are fixated on above is indeed the first look at Lenovo’s forthcoming X300 ultraportable, and it’s being provided courtesy of Walt Mossberg. ‘Course, if we were betting souls, we’d guess that nifty office envelope won’t be bundled in, but hey, crazier things have happened. As if a photo wasn’t enough, Walt also clued us in on a few more specs, namely the inclusion of a removable battery, three USB ports, WiFi, an integrated Ethernet jack and optional GPS / WWAN to boot. Heck, users will even be able to order this 3.12-pound critter with Windows XP if they so choose. (Read the full post about ‘Walt checks out ThinkPad X300, also fits in manila folder’…)

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LG is currently parading its Mark Levinson phone at MWC ‘08, also known as the LG-KM710. This collaboration between Mr. Mark Levinson and LG is meant to deliver a product that brings enhanced audio quality in a stylishly designed handset, hoping to propel LG even to greater heights as a top player in the global audio market. While looks are certainly important when it comes to the success of a device, functionality still ranks best IMHO. Tags: games, PDA, gadgets, Hi-fi (Read the full post about ‘LG Mark Levinson Phone On Parade’…)

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BlackBerry users, rejoice! There is now yet another social networking site for you to further lower your productivity. Known as BBMNATION, this unique portal enables you to hook up with other members using BlackBerry PINS. Although BBMNATION isn’t complete at this point in time, hopefully everything will be up and running in the near future. While this won’t usurp the position of Facebook in your life, it is a welcome distraction and you know, you could fake work on your blackberry when in reality, you are actually catching up with friends on it. (Read the full post about ‘BBMNATION for BlackBerry users’…)

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EU Commissioner Viviane Reding has given Europe’s mobile phone operators until July 1, 2008 to cut (in fact slash) their excessive roaming charges for SMS messages. Studies show that a text sent from abroad can cost £0.49 ($0.95), while transferring 1MB of data can cost £4.11 ($8.00). So what does Ms Reding mean by ‘slash’? Well she has warned that anything more than about 2 pence (about 4 cents) above domestic texting charges would be unacceptable, which would be really good news indeed. Not so good news on the data downloading market which is still seen as in its infancy, but she did urge for clearer warnings of the costs which would help in avoiding any shocking bills. (Read the full post about ‘SMS rates to get cheaper in Europe’…)

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One computer to rule the Internet. Sounds like something straight from a J.R.R. Tolkien novel, doesn’t it? The truth, however, may be stranger than any fairy tale, as IBM is proposing that one computer could run the Internet in it’s entirety as a web application.

The project currently codenamed Kittyhawk is based on IBM’s familiar Blue Gene/P architecture, which uses millions of processor cores in a working hierarchy matrix. The task, as one would expect, is still a large one, even for IBM. The estimate alone for the hardware requirements almost staggers the mind.

(Read the full post about ‘IBM proposes one computer to rule the Internet’…)

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