Gadgets Technologies

If you’ve ever owned a car that doesn’t have air conditioning, you know that wonderful feeling of sitting in the middle of traffic sweating through your clothes. Without that wonderful component of your car, there’s really no good way to keep cool when stuck in traffic. That is unless you had one of these shirts. If you’ve ever installed a liquid cooling system in a computer, you’ll be familiar with this concept. The tubes you see carry cooled water all over your chest and back, thus cooling you down without getting you wet. You’ll need to hook the tubes up to a pump that pulls water from a cooler in your car. (Read the full post about ‘Cool Shirt is a liquid cooling system for your body’…)

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by Nilay Patel, posted Apr 28th 2008 at 12:45PMSteve Ballmer kicked up a little dirt last week when he said that Microsoft could “wake up smarter” and keep selling XP after the June 30 cutoff date if customer feedback demanded it, but as you’d expect, the company is busily trying to “clarify” that statement by saying that while it always listens to customers, XP is definitely going to die on the 30th. Well, apart from the ultraportable exception that’ll last until 2012 or so. And the backlog of licenses still in reseller’s hands. Oh, and a little company called Dell, which, as rumored, is going to take advantage of a Vista licensing loophole that allows it to sell a copy of Vista but preload XP instead. (Read the full post about ‘Microsoft says XP is definitely dead in June, Dell says it’ll keep installing it’…)

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Every Grand Theft Auto IV review is heaping a lot of praise on the game, and I hope that I can find out what the big deal is. I’m about two hours into the game, and I just wanted to share some first impressions, before everyone goes out and makes their inevitable purchase. Not to say that you shouldn’t probably buy it, but read on if you want to hear some negatives.

Graphically, the game is a cut above every other GTA title. This is to be expected, since it’s the first time the title has appeared on current-gen systems. As a lifelong New Yorker, it’s quite impressive to drive through neighborhoods you recognize.

(Read the full post about ‘First Impressions: I’m not sold on Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360′…)

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Not long ago we looked at a concept device that was a solar umbrella that could be used to recharge your electronic gizmos on the go. Today, we see a similar device that harnesses the power of the sun for reenergizing gadgets but can also be used as a place to put your beverage. I give you the SOLo Lounge Table. Created by Intelligent Forms Designs Inc., the SOLo Lounge Table is a table top recharge station equipped to harness the power of the sun and provide over 17 kilowatts of power on average each year. The energy is stored in a hidden battery array inside the table and can be tapped by the standard USB, lighter or 3-prong outlet to power all sorts of devices. (Read the full post about ‘SOLo Lounge Table recharges your gadgets outdoors’…)

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I’ve written in many of the past newsletters about mobile phones and staying connected. This past weekend I switched to a BlackJack II running Windows Mobile 6.1 and finally put my iPhone down, which has been my primary phone since June of last year, when it became available.

An unexpected thing happened when I made the switch: I found myself not wanting to constantly check the ‘Net. Don’t get me wrong, the BlackJack II running Windows Mobile 6.1 is a fantastic alternative to the iPhone (I’ll have a full review of 6.1 coming soon), but the fact that it doesn’t browse the web as effortlessly actually turned out to be a good thing for me.

First, I had developed a habit of bringing the iPhone to bed and surfing the web into the wee hours.

(Read the full post about ‘Are we too connected?’…)

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by Paul Miller, posted Apr 28th 2008 at 1:14PM While DXG has few aspirations to taste or quality, they sure know how to price this stuff. The new DXG-569V HD cam can shoot 1280 x 720 video at 30 fps, captures 5 megapixel stills and sports a 3-inch foldout LCD, all for the bargain basement price of $169. (Read the full post about ‘DXG-569V HD camcorder available for $169′…)

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Grand Theft Auto IV, what is probably the most highly awaited game since Halo 3, has been out for just a few hours so far, but it’s already being hailed as one of the greatest games ever. So far the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, but today it hits the streets so we’ll see what a wider audience thinks of it. In the meantime there is a lot reading out there, that is if you didn’t go out at midnight to get the game. Here are some of our picks:  Salon.com - review roundup Joystiq - review roundup NYtimes coverage (registration required) IGN GTA IV Launch Center (review / video review) Gametrailers video review Game|Life History of GTA Gamerankings That is just a small sampling, but you could read about the game all day if you wanted to. (Read the full post about ‘Grand Theft Auto IV arrives, rocks gaming world’…)

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I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t grow up admiring him, but Batman doesn’t impress me for some reason. The Batmobile, the Batcave, the Bat Signal, the bat-shaped gadgets . . . it’s all a bit much. I mean, we get it already. Bruce Wayne really has a thing for bats. You know, it’s one thing to take a theme and run with it, but it’s quite another to beat everyone over the head with it whenever possible. Bearing that in mind, you can be sure that when the 1GB Batman mp3 player from PopBox Collectibles is released this summer, I’ll have found something bearing a different likeness to buy for $80. Via CrunchGear. ………………………………. Shop for toys and gadgets in the Popgadget Shop. (Read the full post about ‘Batman MP3 player with batsuit ear headset’…)

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USB Sim Card Reader Just how fragile is your data? Every contact you know and every text you’ve received is stored on a scarily fragile and tiny SIM card in your mobile. The USB SIM Card Reader is a natty little widget that has a clever way of protecting us from our dependence on the electronic world. Losing your mobile, or worse having it swiped, is annoying enough, but loosing all your contacts can be downright catastrophic. The USB SIM Card Reader is a blistering simple to use gizmo that gives you peace of mind. It comes with software that enables you to back-up all the info on your SIM card to your PC, ensuring that you always have a synchronized copy of all your contacts. (Read the full post about ‘USB Sim Card Reader’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted Apr 28th 2008 at 8:58AMRemember that mention that Gigabyte was looking to dole out some sort of low-cost PC later this year? Can’t discern that from the hordes of other similar notices from nearly every other computer maker out there? Fret not, as DigiTimes has it that the aforesaid firm will indeed be rolling out a budget-priced subnote as early as June. More specifically, the M912 will feature an 8.9-inch panel (resolution still unknown) with an Intel Atom CPU, and according to “sources,” it’ll support either Linux or Windows XP and could come stocked with Bluetooth. (Read the full post about ‘Gigabyte M912 low-cost laptop to feature Intel’s Atom CPU’…)

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