Gadgets Connect

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 5:03PMGetting the low-down on your body fat percentages can involve a scale, calipers, calculator, spreadsheet, and lots of math. Enter the Tanita Ironman Segmental and Full Body Composition monitor. This torture device comes with retractable hand-grip electrodes that measure each body quadrant’s water, muscle mass, bone mass, BMR, visceral fat, metabolic age, and physique rating. Engadget Fitness Club (EFC) public service note: keep in mind that electrodes of this sort can be a bit inaccurate based on your water weight. Most fitness experts consider calipers to be the most accurate way to get body composition data even though they’re a bear to use. (Read the full post about ‘Tanita works out the Ironman segmental body composition monitor’…)

Share This

Moog synthesizers have been around since the early 70’s. You’ve heard them on countless songs and you may have even played one yourself. They’re iconic instruments that have been used by everybody from Geddy Lee to Trent Reznor.

In the 90’s, Moog Music went out of business, but re-emerged in 2001 under the helm of the company’s founder Robert Moog once again. They have been churning out top-of-the-line synthesizers ever since. Today, they’ve moved into a market that they helped to innovate in the 80’s with the first keytars. That’s right, Moog is making guitars now.

(Read the full post about ‘Moog releases innovative new guitar’…)

Share This

Father’s Day is just a few days away . . . but there’s still time to grab that perfect gift for your dad to make him believe you’ve been planning the moment for weeks (or at least an hour or two). Here are some of our favorites this year: Almost indestructible camera If your dad can’t bear to put away the camera, even while at the beach or pool, or while say, trying to escape a monsoon, then he’ll surely appreciate what is deemed the World’s Most Durable Camera. The Olympus Stylus 1030 SW is both shock-proof and waterproof, and can resist up to 222 lbs. of pressure. With 10.1 megapixels, a 3.6x zoom lens, and a transreflective LCD screen that is viewable even in bright sunlight, it’s good enough to be dad’s only camera. (Read the full post about ‘Father’s Day Gift Guide’…)

Share This

Nerds aren’t typically known for being great surfers. In fact, it’s a rare occurrence for most us nerds to even be seen on a beach. Our pasty skin just burns too easily. Maybe that’s why we should be wearing these wetsuits, even if we don’t go in the water. Just to cover up our precious skin. If your thick glasses and rib-poking skinniness wasn’t enough fuel to spur the fire under the beach bullies butts, wearing one of these Superhero Wetsuits will surely do the trick. Resembling the superhero pajamas we use to wear as kids, these wetsuits allow you to display your comic book fanaticism, even when your not sitting around in your parents basement reading the adventures themselves. (Read the full post about ‘Superhero Wetsuits Make You A Target For Beach Bullies’…)

Share This

With summer just around the corner, it won’t be long until pool parties are in full swing. And if you aren’t one of the rich and famous that has a wetbar installed at the end of the pool, getting drinks to your floating pool guests can be a little bit tricky. Now you can have fun getting refreshments to your guests with this nifty little gadget that brings drinks and snacks right to them. The RC Snack Float is a motorized floating drink and snack tray that can be driven around a pool via a remote control unit. The floating compartment can hold up to five drinks and has a middle section for placing chips or other snackables. The RC Snack Float runs on one 9-volt battery and six D-cell batteries (both not included) and costs around $50. (Read the full post about ‘RC Snack Float brings you refreshments while you relax in the pool’…)

Share This

XM Radio has reached terms with EMI Music bringing to an end their lawsuit over XM’s Pioneer Inno player. The Pioneer Inno brought a rash of lawsuits from other record companies when it was introduced since they were not too excited about the player’s ability to record satellite radio content. XM had reached similar agreements with Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and SONY BMG over the player as well. The lawsuit against XM was first brought by a number of records companies back in May 2006. These companies feared that the player would intrude on CD and music download sales since the radio was portable and able to properly label recorded content with artist and song title. (Read the full post about ‘EMI settles lawsuit over Pioneer Immo XM radio’…)

Share This

You remember back in the nineties when everyone was tacking on “Extreme” as a descriptor for whatever it was they were doing? Whether it was something risky like mountain biking or something mundane like Mountain Dew, everything was “EXTREME!” I guess it was a response to the Extreme sports fad that is still going on, and will probably never die. The 360 is another extreme offering from a designer Francesco Sommacal. Instead of standing on the board like skateboarding or snowboarding, the user actually sticks his or her feet in the wheels itself, giving a whole new level of control. The wheels are thick and rugged, allowing the 360 to traverse areas that a skateboarder or inline skater can’t normally play in, like gravel and grass. (Read the full post about ‘360 is the New Extreme’…)

Share This

The initial news about Voodoo’s upcoming Envy notebook did not reveal much information concerning the components. We knew it would use a 13.3-inch display, like the ThinkPad X300 and macbook air, and that there would be an SSD option, but details were sparse. By visiting VoodooPC.com you can now find the complete specifications for the system from a PDF. CASING - Carbon fiber with custom micro-weave design DIMENSIONS - 12.65 inches x 9.04 inches x .70 inches - Weight starting at: 1.53Kg = 3.373 lbs. (Read the full post about ‘Voodoo Envy to use same processor as X300 and Air’…)

Share This

Whether Japanese cell phones have become too complex?Jun 11, 2008 Japanese cell phones have been considered the most advanced for a long period of time. Their features seemed to be very remarkable. For example, Japanese enjoyed location tracking, mobile credit card payment and live TV. Americans could only dream about such functions. But suddenly there appeared an opinion that the majority of these features are hard to use or not used at all. It was also said that the average person uses just about 10 percent of the features on his cell phone. According to the opinion of the Japanese, dozens of buttons and combinations are too complex to use. (Read the full post about ‘Whether Japanese cell phones have become too complex?’…)

Share This

You know what would be really cool? An extension application that not only told you your word and character count, but also calculated the distance your writing would span if you were to line up all of your text in a straight line. Sure, it wouldn’t have much use unless you were planning on making one gigantic banner, but it would be pretty nifty. While an application like that might be even too geeky for the masses, for those still writing with the old pencil and paper, this 3 Mile Pencil lets you know how far your text would span if you were to arrange it all in one gigantic line. It might not work great for those who doodle, but for the avid journal writer, it can put your writing in perspective. (Read the full post about ‘3 Mile Pencil: How Far Can You Write?’…)

Share This