Gadgets Connect

by Nilay Patel, posted May 9th 2008 at 7:01PM Dell might have announced its “500″ laptop for emerging markets last month, but we didn’t get so much as a screen size out of the company as far as details, leading to speculation that it was working on an Eee-class ultraportable of its very own. Sadly, that doesn’t appear to be the case — the Vostro 500 just popped up on Dell’s support site, and it’s not much more than a Intel version of the Vostro 1000 with a 15.4 in display, Celeron processor, and integrated Intel 965 graphics. (Read the full post about ‘Vostro 500 appears on Dell’s support site’…)

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by Donald Melanson, posted May 9th 2008 at 12:50PM Uh oh, it looks like we’ve got a full-fledged robot controversy on our hands. At the heart of it, as you might have guessed, is the recent obliteration of a harmless Pleo by a so-called ComBot known as Vicious Verdict at Maker Faire 2008. According to a UGOBE rep posting on the PleoWorld forum, the company is having none of it, saying that the “stunt” was done without its authorization or approval, and that there was “quite a ruckus” about it in UGOBE’s office after they learned of the incident. (Read the full post about ‘UGOBE “shocked and appalled” by destruction of Pleo at Maker Faire’…)

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Sharp and Amimon, an emerging leader in semiconductor technology for wireless high-definition video, have combined their technology to bring wireless HDTV experience to users of Sharp’s LCD display units. Slated for a release in Japan soon, Sharp’s super-thin X-series LCD displays will be equipped with Amimon’s Wireless High Definition Interface (HDMI) 1080p wireless technology. For us users, this simply means that we would no longer have to connect any cables to our TVs since all the necessary wires and cables of the Sharp LCD displays will be tucked in a separate set-top box. The LCD setup can support up to 100 feet of distance between the display and the set-top box, and could even pass through four or five walls. (Read the full post about ‘Sharp improves on the X-series LCD display with wireless technology’…)

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JVC has rolled out its new RA-P30 ipod Audio System that comes complete with the following :- Stereo speakers with 3D surround sound FM radio Alarm clock Remote control AUX Available in silver and black this June, there is no word on whether it will be available outside of Japan just yet. Tags: technology, gadgets, gadgetry, AAC (Read the full post about ‘JVC RA-P30 iPod Audio System’…)

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Germs suck. Using UV light at germicidal wavelengths, odor-causing fungus and bacteria are destroyed with a pass of the Cleanse Light.

To coincide with one of the two peaks the germicidal effectiveness curve, the Cleanse Light emits about 86% of it’s light at 254 nanometers. UV light at these germicidal wavelengths causes adjacent thymine molecules on DNA to dimerize inhibiting replication rendering the microorganism harmless.

(Read the full post about ‘Cleanse Light’…)

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After our keyboard nerd-out on Wednesday, we bring you news of another classic battleship of a keyboard, the Customizer. Based on the IBM Model M, the Customizer from Unicomp uses the same buckled spring design as the original for good tactile feedback. You get the choice of USB or PS/2 cables, although unlike many modern keyboards it doesn’t have any USB ports on the body. It’s also noisy as hell. But at $70 it’s not crazy, especially if you consider that the Kentucky made Customizer will probably last a lot longer than the cheap crap that shipped with your computer. As Gadget Lab reader Paul W Jones says: If keyboards were cars, the Unicomps would be a Bentley. (Read the full post about ‘Customizer Copies Classic Keyboard: Conclusion Convincing’…)

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SAMSUNG GLYDE There’s something undeniably sexy about touchscreen phones. It’s probably the fact that using such an advanced interface for mundane tasks just oozes cool. But let’s face it — if a touch-based phone requires more than a couple taps (or worse, input from a QWERTY keyboard), all of that pseudo-futuristic badassery is wasted. Samsung’s Glyde, a phone which woefully shares its moniker with a personal lubricant, is a perfect example of this at work. There’s a lot to love about this phone on the surface — it’s elegantly minimalist, light weight and versatile. At 4 x 2 x.7-inches it shares the form factor of its cousin the F700, making for a slick, pocket-friendly presentation. (Read the full post about ‘Review: Samsung Glyde Cell Phone is a Slick Slip and Slider’…)

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Tags: gizmos, gps, speaker, gadgetry

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It took a while, but Dell seems to finally be getting the hang of the whole beauty and elegance in design thing. This is evidenced by a new batch of leaked photos showing off company’s forthcoming Inspiron 1435, 1535 and 1735 lappies. Note the slick tapered wedge design, similar to similar to Dell’s XPS 1330 and 1530 models, as well as the flush glass edge-to-edge display. Overall, we’d have to say the whole package looks rather, well, classy I guess would be the word. According to leaked documents obtained by Engadget, the three laptops will all come with slot-loading drives (as well as a Blu-ray option), a capacitive touchpad and multimedia buttons, an optional backlit keyboard and processors up to Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz. (Read the full post about ‘Dell’s New Inspiron Lineup Leaked’…)

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Twitter is the microblogging platform taking social media by storm. Communicating in 140 characters or less might not sound like the preferred method of socializing, but aside from being totally productive for networking, it also happens to be a lot of fun. It’s in fact so fun, that non-humans are even getting into the mix. And we’re not talking about just some spam bot. Thanks to the help of the Botanicalls Twitter Kit, your plants can even use the Twitter platform via a networked communication system for keeping you notified about its needs. A special moisture sensor placed inside of the plant’s soil is made to detect when the foliage is lacking water. (Read the full post about ‘Botanicalls Twitter Kit Keeps Your Plant Talking In 140 Characters Or Less’…)

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