Gadgets Connect

by Darren Murph, posted May 29th 2008 at 1:01PM Nothing too exceptional here, but Panasonic has just released its new LB80 series of LCD projectors. The PT-LB80NTU, PT-LB75NTU and PT-LW80NTU beamers (and the widescreen counterpart, PT-LW80NTU) all tip the scales at under 7-pounds (that’s the “lightest in their class,” so we’re told) and feature built-in wireless in order to connect to PCs sans cabling. The whole lot boasts resolutions ranging from 1,024 x 768 to 1,280 x 800 and brightness levels from 2,600 to 3,200 lumens. (Read the full post about ‘Panasonic intros LB80 series of LCD projectors’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted May 29th 2008 at 11:50AM Iomega’s getting quite fed up with listing those GBs, and thus, it’s exceptionally thrilled to be offering up a brand new 1TB model for your consideration. Fittingly christened the Super eGo, the external hard drive you see above packs a single one-terabyte HDD, USB 2.0 port and a one-year warranty. (Read the full post about ‘Iomega introduces 1TB Super eGo external hard drive’…)

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by Donald Melanson, posted May 29th 2008 at 1:54PM Night view isn’t exactly a new technology, but Toyota’s latest implementation of it in its Crown Hybrid luxury sedan is a bit different than most. Unlike the company’s previous effort, which displayed images straight on the windshield, this one makes use of an LCD in the dashboard, which also does double duty by displaying the speedometer and all the vehicle’s other vitals. What’s more, the system also takes things to Terminator-like levels with a pedestrian recognition system, although that apparently only works at speeds below 60 kilometers per hour (the company says it’s also working on a means of recognizing bicycles and animals). (Read the full post about ‘Toyota rolls out Night View-equipped, pedestrian-finding Crown Hybrid’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted May 29th 2008 at 10:10AM Okay, so this isn’t the finalized SKU or anything (it’s an “early sample,” if you must know), but it’s close enough to the real deal to warrant a dissection. The model shown here came sporting a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB Seagate hard drive and built-in gigabit Ethernet / WiFi / Bluetooth. Best of all, you’ll see more than flashes of EBOX PCB when you step into the read link below — you’ll get a lengthy list of initial impressions too (hint: it’s rather impressive). (Read the full post about ‘ASUS EBOX cracked open for world to see, previewed’…)

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Michael Largent, a hacker from California, has managed to use the tiny verification payments used by services such as Google Checkout, E-Trade and Schwab to collect over US$50,000.

Verification payments are very small payments, usually of only a few cents, sent to the bank accounts of new customers that have signed up for a brokerage account. The payment helps to verify a bank account and customer are real.

Largent wrote a script that could open such brokerage accounts and used it 58,000 times with the payments being deposited across several personal bank accounts.

(Read the full post about ‘Hackers uses verification payments to amass $50,000′…)

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Started back in November of 2005, gamers who owned a Nintendo DS could waltz into their local McDonald’s and take advantage of a free WiFi service set-up for the DS. So while customers gobbled down a lunch with a Big Mac and fries, they could also get in a few multiplayer games with a few titles like Mario Kart DS, Diddy Kong Racing DS, or Metroid Prime Hunters just to name a few.

Unfortunately those Nintendo DS good times appear to be over as the DS WiFi service at Mcdonalds has been discontinued. The reason for the service shutdown is the result of the US contract, put together by Nintendo, McDonald’s and WiFi provider Wayport, expired last November without anyone seeing the need to renew it.

(Read the full post about ‘Nintendo DS WiFi service at McDonald’s is discontinued’…)

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The direct-to-TV movie/video rental market is heating up with each of the major industry players coming up with their own proprietary movie rental services for the movie-watching public. The latest news that we have is coming courtesy of TiVo which has just sealed an agreement with Disney-ABC and CinemaNow to a offer direct-to-TV movie rental service. Under the said agreement, TiVo subscribers can now download their favorite Disney movies from TiVo for a 24-hour rental period. This deal will boost TiVo’s lineup of movie offerings coming from major movie studios as well from Amazon Unbox, Music Choice and other movie content providers. (Read the full post about ‘TiVo prepping 24-hour Disney movie rental service’…)

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And you thought that Eudora was an e-mail management software all along. This unique piece of furniture lights up at night, offering a soothing glow in your living room without the need to purchase additional lamps. Made from fiberglass, the Eudora is by no means easy on the pockets with a $2,949 price tag, but if you’re the type who spends money you don’t have on things you don’t need to impress people whom you don’t like, then you can’t really go wrong with the Eudora. Tags: plasma, camera, DVD, cameras (Read the full post about ‘Eudora Fiberglass Chair’…)

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Photo [Felipe Skroski/Flickr] Every gizmo needs its niche. While the actual hardware changes and often brings real innovation (touch screens) there is a long list of seemingly always appealing magic words, which inevitably get tacked on to otherwise banal gadgets to set them apart. These can be "smallest" (although curiously almost never "biggest"), "lightest" or "toughest". There’s one other "feature" which, ahem, surfaces from time to time, and that’s the Waterproof Gadget. Some of these are genuinely useful, like the underwater camera or the diver’s watch, but some are completely useless, to the point of making us wonder "why?" Sony Sports Walkman Sony’s original Sports Walkman came in the obligatory color to denote water resistance: bright yellow. (Read the full post about ‘The Best And Worst Waterproof Gadgets’…)

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NEC will be rolling out its new 3G cell phone known as the N706ie in Japan, with the main talking point (no pun intended) being a total talking time of four hours, which should be long enough for you to share all your sordid stories with your best friend without missing a beat. Specifications consist of :- 3″ WQVGA display 2 megapixel camera 1-Seg mobile TV support FOMA serviceThe NEC N706ie measures 105mm x 49mm x 16.6mm and tips the scales at 115 grams. It will only be available in Japan this September at a yet undisclosed price. Tags: CD, high definition TV, dvr, pvp (Read the full post about ‘NEC N706ie Cell Phone’…)

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