Gadgets Technologies

© 2008 John Bentham Are you “tech help” for your Mom and it’s driving you bonkers? “Dear, just show me how to re-size this photo so I can send it to Aunt Patti.” “Why are my photos always so dark?” “What’s this Photoshop everyone’s talking about?” Then give yourself and your Mom a gift of a digital camera class through Panasonic’s Digital Photo Academy, a series of nationwide digital photography workshops, which is offering a Mother’s Day special so when a course gift certificate is purchased for a mother, the gift giver can attend the same class with Mom at no additional cost. (Read the full post about ‘No more tech help for Mom - Give her a photography class for Mother’s Day’…)

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As expected, Lenovo today launched the U110 ultra portable entertainment and fashion-oriented notebook computer. The $1,899 IdeaPad U110 is the company’s “star” offering with great useful features such as VeriFace Face Recognition technology, Dolby Home Theatre and the MultiMedia Control Center, a built-in camera, WLAN, Ethernet and Bluetooth. (Read the full post about ‘Lenovo IdeaPad U110 Officially Launched’…)

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Back on the market for a new music player and you want to avoid the Apple store, the Apple geniuses, and personally you like FM radio and on/off button? A favorite company of mine, Sansa, has recently released the newest member of their family, Sansa Fuze. Smaller than your credit card (if you lose things this is not a selling point), Fuze comes with 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB of storage. If you get the 8GB you’re getting a guarantee of 24 hours of battery life and room for up to 2000 songs (est. 4 min songs). Download and watch your favorite video on Fuze’s 1.9” color screen. Tune into public FM radio with 40 present stations. Make your mental notes real audio ones with the built-in voice recorder. (Read the full post about ‘Sansa Fuze: Righteous iPod rival’…)

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The difference between iPhones one and two? Speculation. Steve Jobs showed off the original iPhone six months before it shipped. This isn’t Apple’s usual modus operandi. Usually the company’s products are top secret until launch day. The break with protocol was ostensibly to stop the design being leaked by the FCC approval process (although why this hasn’t happened for iPhone 2.0 is still a mystery), but had the side effect of quelling the inevitable rumor-hysteria that would otherwise have overshadowed the launch. Sure, the free publicity would have been great, but as groundbreaking as the iphone was, it couldn’t have lived up to a device dreamed up by bloggers and fanboys. (Read the full post about ‘IPhone Rumors Gone Wild: Plastic Case Photos, UMTS ‘Test’ In Austria And Chinese Handwriting Recognition’…)

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The Nikko R2–D2 DVD Projector Limited Edition is an improvement over its predecessor, now capable of throwing a massive 260″ image onto your screen or wall compared to the 80″ version in the older model. In addition, you get :- 1,800 lumens brightness 1,800:1 contrast ratio ipod dock Memory card slot USB port Integrated surround sound 20W speaker system FM transmitter Millennium Falcon remote controlYou’ll need to fork out more as well - to the tune of $2,900, to be exact. (Read the full post about ‘Nikko R2–D2 DVD Projector Limited Edition’…)

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The Blu-Jacket you see here is designed by Lunar and uses flexible organic e-paper to show passers-by your current mood (that is, if they’re not too hot when it comes to reading facial expressions), a choice of subway maps (as shown) or even play back advertisements. I wonder how sustainable this is - after all, it would give plenty of ‘wolves’ out there an excuse to stare at an ample chest, claiming that they’re trying to trace their train route from home to the workplace. Anyways, this will probably be out of reach for most people as electronic fabric isn’t exactly the cheapest in the whole world and chances are it will cost many thousands of dollars.

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It’s official: After years of delays, T-Mobile launched its new 3-G data network in New York City on Monday. Contrary to previous reports, which claimed the rollout would initially be voice-only, the service does in fact include data. That’s the good news. The bad news is that if you live somewhere other than NYC, the 3-G data train may take a while to get to you. According to carrier, the plan is to expand its UMTS/HSDPA network to “be available in cities where a majority of its subscribers currently use data services” by the end of the year. From Monday’s press release: T-Mobile’s 3-G network supports voice and data services consistent with available service and handset offerings. (Read the full post about ‘T-Mobile Rolls Out 3-G Service in NYC — With Data’…)

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Comfortable headsets are great when you can find them. If they are cordless it’s even better. Now add the ability to listen to your ipod wirelessly for up to 10 hours straight. If that is not enough – what if you and three other people could share the wireless connection? Have I peaked your interest yet?

Kleer (good name when talking about headsets) and DigiFi have joined their resources to give us a cordless headset with CD quality sound known as Opera. A bit rich at $98 but an interesting concept I must say.

Opera is not your ordinary headset. It wraps from behind your head and up over your ears.

(Read the full post about ‘DigiFi, Kleer partner to offer up Opera wireless headphones’…)

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It really wouldn’t be stylish to be caught cranking this USB power charger to rev up your cell phone battery, but in all probability, that would be the last thing on your mind if the battery went lifeless during an important call. This cute little power charger connects to cell phones, cameras or any device with a USB cord. All you have to do is crank the handle on the charger fto add those few minutes of extra battery time on the connected device. Precious and completely eco-friendly. The charger kit contains adapters to fit most cell phones (Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, and LG) and weighs a negligible 6 ounces. And at $39, it fits the wallet quite decently too. Available from National Geographic Online. (Read the full post about ‘Eco-friendly Hand-Crank USB Power Charger’…)

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What ever happened to killing two birds with one stone? This - the Sigma APO dual USB charger from Japan. As the name suggests, it will have a total of two USB ports so you can charge two devices with it simultaneously. Not exactly groundbreaking technology, but it’s something road warriors such as yourself would gladly appreciate, I’m sure. It’s light, weighing in on only 43 grams, and runs 1000 mA in total for each port. Meaning that each device gets half of that, 500 mA whenever it is plugged in to it. So now you can relax, and watch your ipod and cellphone get charged while you do nothing. You know you can’t play with devices that are charging, don’t you? Ah, multi-functional devices. (Read the full post about ‘Sigma APO dual USB charger revives two devices with one plug’…)

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