Gadgets Device

A Santa Clara, California startup called Montalvo is hoping to win some of the chip market away from Intel and AMD. Silicon Valley venture capital firms have pumped US$73 million into the startup, and they are apparently hoping for a big payoff. Montalvo is headed by Transmeta’s former CEO and they follow Transmeta’s goal of bringing low power chips to the masses.

The idea is to put together multiple x86 chip cores of varying complexity and offload minor tasks to the lower power/less complex cores to keep power consumption to a minimum.

(Read the full post about ‘Startup Montalvo to offer up x86 competition’…)

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For those who love typing late into the night (or surfing questionable websites), there is the Thanko SIRE2SET silent multimedia keyboard. I guess this is best used with an equally silent mouse that Thanko already has. The SIRE2SET keyboard can be hooked up to two PCs through a couple of separate USB connections, where you use a sliding switch on the keyboard to decide which PC you want to work with. Too bad this is a Japan-only product, retailing for $46. I can forsee folks with two workstations having this - one for them to surf the latest celebrity scandals, switching over to the actual work PC whenever the boss walks by. (Read the full post about ‘Thanko SIRE2SET Silent Keyboard’…)

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The U-Mate Lap-Around-Japan pedometer is definitely one healthy idea to encourage folks to walk more. It takes a different method to mark the number of miles you and your sneakers have covered, doing away with tradition that involves showing off the same old landmarks such as a skyscraper, convenience store and roadworks, but instead transforms the miles into the Japanese coastline. In addition, it keeps you to speed by entertaining you with the geography of Japan just in case you were sleeping in class back at school. For example, assuming you take one mile to reach your office by foot and the same distance back home after work. (Read the full post about ‘U-Mate Lap-Around-Japan Pedometer’…)

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This problem always seems to happen when I’m dining at a restaurant: I have read the menu, and made my selection. However, the waiter or waitress never seems to come around, even though I’ve got the menu folded up on the corner of the table. I then have to wave my hands to get his or her attention, and that is just plain awkward. Okay, I guess it is not really a problem per se, but this is the digital age, for crying out loud, and there is always a technological alternative to the middleman. A Japanese manufacturer has addressed this issue with the Deli-Touch. The Deli-Touch is a digital pen that looks a lot like the Fly Fusion from Leap Frog. (Read the full post about ‘Deli-Touch Digital Pen’…)

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The Corsa C’Mon’s! - Moo 10 inch Talking Plush We’ve been waiting years for a teen phenomenon like this. Moo, for those of you who aren’t fully plugged in to the matrix, is the piano/keyboards virtuoso of the C’mons, the Barcelona ‘band’ that so epitomised the spirit and style of a certain small car that they were selected to appear in its recent set of TV ads. See price Tags: gadgets, game, consumer electronics, tests (Read the full post about ‘The Corsa C’Mon’s! - Moo 10 inch Talking Plush’…)

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In a surprising move, Apple has eliminated the Xserve RAID from their product line. On their website, the Xserve RAID page has disappeared and now takes you to a new page where they offer the Promise VTrak E-Class RAID in its place. From the new Apple webpage: The Promise VTrak E-Class RAID Subsystem delivers outstanding performance, reliability, and expansion for video and server applications. Configure up to sixteen 750GB 7200-rpm SATA or 300GB 15,000-rpm SAS drives in a 3U rack-optimized enclosure for up to 12TB of raw capacity on one or more RAID sets. Promise RAID is an ideal storage solution for direct-attached or SAN-based server and workstation applications, qualified for use with Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, Final Cut Studio 2, and Xsan 2. (Read the full post about ‘Apple Kills Xserve RAID, Introduces VTrak and Xsan 2′…)

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Is nothing immune to the onslaught of Swarowski? Now the classic board game Scrabble has succumbed to the crushed glass game, and the glittering result is on show at the International Toy Fair in New York.The board is encrusted with 30,000 little shards of not-diamond, and is expected to fetch $20,000 when auctioned this summer. And while the money is going to a good cause (St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital), we, as ever, can’t understand the psychology of a person who would drop so much cash on something so inherently worthless.Swarovski relies entirely on its brand to generate value. (Read the full post about ‘Scrabble Celebrates 60th Anniversary with $20,000 Crystal Covered Set’…)

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The Music Light concept is a light show device that measures certain sound frequencies in order to keep the crowd entertained. This concept takes the action up a notch as it is able to visualize sound by moving light pulses up and down, rippling and shifting colors simultaneously. As for the wearer, it probably won’t affect him/her that much since most people won’t bother staring at their cord, but the benefit targets passers-by more than anybody else. Tags: TV, MP3, ipod, home theater (Read the full post about ‘Music Light Concept’…)

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Don’t you just hate it when the doctor orders you to take half a pill of this and half of that? Why can’t they make a whole pill that has half the strength instead? Anyways, if you want to rid yourself such hassle since you lack the nimble skills required to perform a perfect half split on pills, there is the Pill Splitter and Crusher to help you out. Need half a dose, or need the pill crushed for easier ingestion? This handy device does both. Also has storage for extra pills. Compact, fits in pocket or purse, so it’s always with you. Great for your medications or your pet’s. The Pill Splitter and Crusher retails for an affordable $5.99. (Read the full post about ‘Pill Splitter and Crusher’…)

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Since HD DVD is dead (but not buried just yet), what are you to do if you are an early adopter? Why, the answer is pretty easy. All you need to do is convert your HD DVDs to Blu-ray and you’re done. At least your new movie collection will be able to survive the death of hd dvd, unless of course, you pick up a hybrid player. While the process sounds simple, it is actually pretty hard to do so due to the complex technology involved. Check out the wiki on how to do it. Tags: DAB, Gadget, games, digital (Read the full post about ‘HD DVDs to Blu-ray’…)

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