Gadgets Connect

Parrot at CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas presented the first of its wireless Bluetooth products which feature Near Field Communications (NFC) technology,making pairing of Bluetooth devices a snap. Some of these products include a digital photo frame and a trio of stereo speaker systems as well. First of all, what is NFC technology? Well, read on after the jump for further details. NFC is an extremely short-range (4.0 in. or 10 cm) wireless communication technology that dramatically simplifies the pairing of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices. Essentially, it enables devices to automatically recognize and pair with each other when they are in close proximity. (Read the full post about ‘Parrot Blueooth devices use NFC’…)

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Over the past year or two we have seen a steady progression in the quality of design put into desktop kits. Keyboard and mouse bundles have been around for a long time but the high-end products that we have been seeing recently are really setting themselves apart from simple tools for text input and cursor control. This is often coupled with pretty serious increases in the price of these desktops with some models reaching the $150 price point and some getting much higher than that.

Logitech’s new MX5500 desktop is a very attractive desktop kit that combines Logitech’s highly praised MX Revolution laser mouse and a wireless keyboard.

(Read the full post about ‘Review: Logitech MX 5500 Desktop Revolution’…)

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Posted Apr 2nd 2008 12:31PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Wearables
Right on cue, Nike’s making things official with its oft-rumored (and still unpriced) Nike+ SportBand and even had the time to toss in details about Nike+ Coach, too. The band, which opens up features at the NikePlus website along with enabling runners to check out distance, pace, time and calories burned, is indeed marketed as a standalone device for those who’d prefer not to have a DAP flanking their arm when exercising. Moreover, the outfit’s online Nike+ Coach system will allow runners to have the information they need to appropriately train for long distance events or achieve customized goals. (Read the full post about ‘Nike+ SportBand, Coach gets official’…)

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With CTIA going on this week there are a lot of new phones being announced. One of which is the MOTO Z9 for the AT&T network. This sleek slider is packed with enough features to keep almost anyone happy. The new MOTO Z9 is the first to feature the in-car GPS dubbed AT&T Navigator for those times where you’re lost or in unfamiliar territory.  It will give you turn-by-turn directions as well as locate hotels, restaurants, gas stations and more so you don’t find yourself driving around looking for one. If you’re a media junkie the you’ll appreciate the Video Share feature which will let you send streaming videos to your friends straight from the phone. (Read the full post about ‘Motorola launches the new Z9 on AT&T’…)

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There are three things I’ve always liked about Garfield: his love for Pooky (his teddy bear), the way he looks when tucked into his bed, and his appetite for pans of lasagna. Today I think I’ll add a fourth thing: the cost of his mp3 player.

The Garfield MP3 player may only have 256MB of internal flash memory, but it’s got an SD card slot, comes with matching earbuds, has a built-in microphone for voice recordings, and is only $8. For an additional $6, Surplus Computers will even give you a free 1GB SD card.

Beat that, Nermal!

Via Chip Chick.

Tags: laptops, digital, Hi-fi, AAC

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Posted Apr 2nd 2008 12:12PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Storage
Confused by all the various permutations of Western Digital’s My Book line of external drives yet? No? Well, go ahead and add the My Book Studio Edition II to your stack of flashcards, Mr. Smart Face. Just like the previous 2TB My Book products, you’re getting two RAID 0 drives in a quad-interface external case, only this time it’s the updated My Book Studio design. WD’s also gone and upgraded the drives themselves to GreenPower units, which run cooler and use less power, and Mac users will be pleased to know that everything comes HFS+ formatted. Got that? Expect a quiz in the near future. (Read the full post about ‘Western Digital pumps out the My Book Studio Edition II’…)

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Vehicular accidents due to sleepy drivers are a leading cause of death in the United States (or the world, for that matter). And it surprises me to know that not many people give thought or try to find ways to prevent such things from happening, even though the next person to doze off behind the wind shield could be them. But Mariana Figueiro and her colleagues at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York suggest that drivers take 30-minute blue light “baths” at truck stops and gas stations to keep them from falling asleep while driving. That would work, only you first have to find a way to build the blue LEDs in the cars to have the most efficient set up possible.

(Read the full post about ‘Researchers plan on using blue LEDs to keep sleepy drivers awake’…)

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Publishing 10 million articles across 250 languages is not an easy task, but Wikipedia has managed to do exactly that. OK, maybe collectively millions of volunteer workers from around the world did the job for them, but still, this is an event that cannot go uncelebrated. And to think, a lot of other web sites are struggling with just hitting their 1-millionth article mark.

Wikipedia is happy that it has reached it’s 10-millionth article with a Nicholas Hilliard write-up, made by user Pataki Márta on the Hungarian Wikipedia web site. And while it’s nice to see Wikipedia steadily increase in popularity and volume of content, one can’t help but feel bad for them knowing that they are barely able to sustain their growing business from within.

(Read the full post about ‘Wikipedia congratulates self for hitting 10M article mark, wishes it was real money’…)

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Guess there is a probability that the Lenovo IdeaPad won’t be heading westwards, which means we might lose out on seeing Lenovo’s Atom-powered Mobile Internet Device in retail stores. So long, 4.8″ display, portable high-speed Internet access, GPS navigation, PIM applications, a digital camera and a Web browser!

(Read the full post about ‘Lenovo IdeaPad Could Fail Western Journey’…)

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Creative has announced the TravelSound i80 portable speaker system that clearly pumps out sound that is much better compared to generic headsets bundled with your PMP/mp3 player. The i80 targets the most recent iPod nano, and shares a very strong resemblance to the i50 which targeted the ipod Shuffle then. The Creative TravelSound i80 has appeared on the Creative Asia site at this point in time, so it remains to be seen whether it will hit other markets in the world. The Creative TravelSound i80 has been slated for a $130 release sometime this summer. Tags: cellphone, gear, dvr, lcd (Read the full post about ‘Creative TravelSound i80′…)

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