Gadgets Connect

First it was Starcraft 2 and now it’s Diablo III? It’s like my junior high years all over again. Now if only the most responsibility I had was still handing in homework. They’ve finally done it. After eight long years since the release of the hugely popular Diablo 2, Blizzard announced Diablo 3 at their annual Worldwide Invitational in Paris today. No, it’s not going to be a traditional MMO like many were claiming it would be. Rather, it is relying on the same old hack and slash dungeon style of the first two games in the series. To the untrained eye, the new outing looks graphically similar to Diablo 2, much how Starcraft 2 resembles the gameplay of the original. (Read the full post about ‘Blizzard Announces Diablo 3: Say Goodbye To The Next 5 Years Of Your Life’…)

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Brother has introduced its newest inkjet multifunction printer, the MFC-6490W. Although it may seem just your usual high-end all-around printer, for Brother this printer is the first in their product line which can print, copy, scan, and fax on an 11-inch by 17-inch sized paper, which is the same size a fully spread tabloid newspaper. Features of the MFC-6490W include USB ports for connecting USB flash drives that allow for direct printing, PictBridge compatible ports, external multimedia cards, built-in auto-document feeder, dual paper input trays, four ink cartridges, a 3.3-inch color LCD which also serves as a control center for the printer. (Read the full post about ‘Brother intro’s the MFC-6490CW multifunction inkjet printer’…)

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It looks like the MSI Wind is finally getting ready to begin shipping to US customers. The Wind, which was listed in the MSI Shop and then removed has since been re-listed and is now showing a shipping date of July 7. Currently the Wind is simply just listed and is unavailable, with no pre-order option available. There are also limiting customers to a one Wind netbook per order because of limited quantities. The models listed will include the three-cell battery and they are retailing for $479.99. Amazon, who also has them listed for $479.99 with the three-cell batteries is still reflecting a 3 to 5 week time frame before the Wind will ship. (Read the full post about ‘MSI Wind to finally ship on July 7?’…)

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Motorola wants to rock your world with a new cell phone, the Motorola ROKR E8. This handset will be released a few days earlier than the highly anticipated 3G iphone, that is, on July 7th. This cell phone isn’t just a communications device, as it helps you get your entertainment chops in as well, being a rather formidable mp3 player in its own right. In addition, it will be the first Motorola device that boasts the company’s breakthrough ModeShift technology which was pretty hyped up at this year’s CES in Las Vegas. (Read the full post about ‘Motorola launches ROKR E8′…)

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Verizon Wireless and LG have teamed up to bring the LG Dare to the masses - at least those who are currently subscribing to Verizon Wireless’ mobile service. This summer looks set to be a hot one not only in terms of temperature (no thanks to global warming), but in the world of cell phones as well. While we all know that the 3G iphone is set to take the whole world by storm, this doesn’t mean we ought to overlook other handsets. The LG Dare features a roomy 3″ touch screen display complete with handwriting recognition, along with a host of other features found in high end handsets. It will hit Verizon Wireless Communications Stores from July 3rd onwards. (Read the full post about ‘Verizon Wireless debuts LG Dare’…)

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by Nilay Patel, posted Jun 28th 2008 at 8:35AM Progressive insurance has been testing out the MyRate driving monitoring system for a few years now (it used to be called TripSense), but it’s finally taking the system national, bringing pay-as-you-drive insurance into the mainstream. The little blue box plugs into your car’s ODB II diagnostic port (all cars made after 1996 have one), and studiously records your driving habits, wirelessly sending the data back to Progressive HQ (it’s not clear exactly how). Every six months, Progressive will crunch the numbers and issue a new rate for you based on how you drive — savings of up to 40 percent are possible. (Read the full post about ‘Progressive MyRate drive-monitoring device goes national’…)

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Brother has rolled out the first of its “Professional Series” line of color inkjet all-in-one units, and these printers aren’t shackled by the traditional wired setup since it boasts wireless networking capabilities. Targeting small office home office setups as well as traditional business functions, the MFC-6490CW offers innovative tools which cannot be found on other brands, including the all-in-one features such as printing, copying, scanning and faxing up to the ledger 11″ x 17″ size. With such capabilities, you might pick up your jaw from the floor after hearing that it costs just $299.99 to bring home one of these babies. (Read the full post about ‘Brother unveils Professional Series color inkjet’…)

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Never mind if you’re lost without a GPS navigation system to help you out - the Sat Nag is more than capable of breaking the tension by coming out with some real funny lines. Of course, once you’ve heard them all it gets old pretty fast, but still, the novelty is there. Press the button on the front and a very well-recorded, patronising woman’s voice will come out with one of a host of hysterical Sat Nav-type commands. With such crackers as: “I know you’re a man, but it’s been 35 minutes now, so can you please admit you’re lost and ask someone the way”; and “In 100 metres turn left. No right, err, no left. (Read the full post about ‘Sat Nag keeps the humor going’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 28th 2008 at 5:33AM Just think — Zappos has been shipping out shoes .9284 minutes after you order them for years with mere humans running the show. Now, your new kicks will likely be at your doorstep moments after you think of ordering them. Said e-tailer has just completed implementation of Kiva Systems’ Mobile Fulfillment System, which will see “a fleet of Kiva’s mobile robotic drive units and inventory storage pods” hit the company’s Shepherdsville, Kentucky facility. (Read the full post about ‘Zappos hires robots to take over inventory floor’…)

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I can’t help but feel the iPod Gramophone is somewhat akin to the PhonoFone II which we covered earlier this month. Handcrafted entirely of slip-cast ceramic to replicate the curvature and passive amplification of a French horn, this is the ipod gramophone that augments sound from an iPod without requiring auxiliary power or speaker components. The gramophone projects music using authentic horn acoustics; simply place Apple earbuds on the gramophones integrated cradles and music channels through the coiled tube and resonates out of the flared bell, resulting in warm, amplified sound up to 55 decibels (near the sound level of laptop computer speakers). (Read the full post about ‘iPod Gramophone’…)

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