Gadgets Device

Can anyone duplicate the enthusiasm Apple has built here?  Like me, I am sure you’ve read all about yesterday’s Apple event.  Perusing the forums this morning and it feels a bit like Christmas, doesn’t it? Apple over delivered on a promise they under sold.  Originally an SDK was a no go.  Then, Steve gave it some thought and built something amazing and amazingly simple at the same time: a way to get applications through them to the public all while maintaining control.  How excited are the developers?  I think the SKD download server crashes says it all. I think Fake Steve Jobs sums it up best, Seriously, folks, it’s game over. (Read the full post about ‘Gadgetell Rant: Apple becoming “untouchable”?’…)

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In the hopes of recovering from its losing trend, Pioneer Corp. of Japan have announced they will stop producing plasma display panels (PDPs) and will resort to buying its requirements for the product from rival company, Panasonic. In an issued official statement, Pioneer said that the company has judged that maintaining the cost competitiveness of PDPs against projected sales volumes will impede the company’s growth. What was once a strong contender in the electronics industry, Pioneer fell behind rival companies such as Panasonic’s Matsuhista and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co., as well as LG Electronics. (Read the full post about ‘Pioneer to stop production of Plasma display panels’…)

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The Urban Tool perCushion is definitely unique, bring a mono-speaker cushion that features Bluetooth connectivity. Unfortunately, it will retail for approximately $500 which is way too much for what it costs, considering you don’t even get stereo audio from it. The Urban Tool perCushion will ship sometime between October and this Christmas, and works with virtually all Bluetooth audio streaming device. Tags: game, Gadget, mobile devices, home theater (Read the full post about ‘Urban Tool perCushion’…)

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Here’s a microSD memory card reader that is perfect for all thsoe lovey-dovey couples. In addition to being a microSD card reader, it also doubles up as a USB flash drive as long as there is a microSD card within. If you are already rocking to microSDHC cards, fret not - this device supports such a format as well. They’re really handy to carry around though, measuring 31mm x 22mm x 7mm and weighing 5 grams. Available in black and red colors, the USB Heart-to-Heart microSD card reader retails for $10. Tags: home theater, gprs, equipment, cool gear (Read the full post about ‘USB Heart-to-Heart microSD Card Reader’…)

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We just received our Apple Time Capsule this week, and it’s happily backing up my files right now. Time Capsule, in case you haven’t heard of it, is a WiFi hub that supports the new 802.1n standard and also contains a hard drive for backups using the Time Machine feature of OS X Leopard. I purchased the 1 TB model, which costs $500. A 500GB model is available for a much more reasonable $300. I won’t be able to do a detailed review until a month or two has gone by, so I can try restoring some backups, but in the meantime here are some first impressions: It’s big. I imagined it being the size of a mac mini, but it’s actually wider, about 8″ square. (Read the full post about ‘First Impressions: Apple Time Capsule’…)

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With HD DVD officially having been declared a dead format, this news should not come as much of a surprise, but Samsung has officially killed off the BD-UP5500 combo player. The BD-UP5500 was originally introduced at CES this past January and seemed to be a dead product right from the beginning. In a statement from Samsung they seem to feel that it still remains a good product, but not really a needed product. According to Samsung that while it “remains a practical solution…the window of opportunity is smaller than it was before. In light of recent announcements, Samsung will not introduce the BD-UP5500 Duo HD Player.” Current owners of hd dvd media may need to start looking for a replacement to their current movies, possibly sell them off on eBay and move over to Blu-ray. (Read the full post about ‘Samsung ends BD-UP5500 combo player, before it even existed’…)

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Posted Mar 7th 2008 11:26AM by Donald MelansonFiled under: Portable Audio, Portable Video MPIO’s many PMPs may not always turn heads, but it looks like the company has done alright for itself with its new V10 player, which boasts a 3-inch WQVGA touch screen display and some all around decent specs. That includes 8GB of storage (with an SD card slot for expansion), an FM tuner, TV output, and support for just about every audio and video format you could ask for, with Windows CE 5.0 serving as the basis for it all. No word on pricing or availability just yet, but you can catch a glimpse of it in video form by hitting up the link below. (Read the full post about ‘MPIO intros V10 touch screen-based PMP’…)

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Posted Mar 7th 2008 8:57AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Transportation If you can believe it (and we think you can), Toyota is already hard at work on a new battery system to replace its lithium-ion units currently slated for use in upcoming models. According to a report in Automotive News Europe, the company is hoping to adopt a more advanced battery for its hybrid vehicles in about 12 years as part of its Global Vision 2020 plan. The automaker won’t say what technology it plans on moving towards, though it has suggested that air-zinc batteries could be a possible solution for maintaining its dominance in the hybrid vehicle market. In June the company will launch a new division dedicated to developing technologies fo (Read the full post about ‘Toyota already looking beyond lithium-ion batteries’…)

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There’s nothing new about electronics kits–I had one as a kid from Radio Shack, and I remember sitting over my desk, cutting and stripping wires and hooking up battery clips and the like. My problem was that the kit ended up as an unholy tangle of wires and loose clips and cardboard cutout diagrams after my first attempt to make a project, and the kit seldom survived the first attempt to wire up a telegraph key or flashing light. That’s why I was impressed with Snap Circuits electronics kits when I was looking for an electronics kit for my son. All the Snap Circuits components–resistors, transistors, ICs, LEDs–are mounted on solid, durable, clearly labelled plastic modules with familiar metal button snaps that you use to connect them. (Read the full post about ‘Snap Circuits Electronics Kits’…)

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Brano Meres C-Thru Road Frame owes more to bridge construction than to bicycle design. Completely hand-built from carbon fiber rods, the project took Meres over 300 hours: each of the rods were glued with epoxy resin and the joints individually bound with carbon fibers. Only the rear dropouts and the headset cups are made from other materials – titanium and aluminum respectively. Meres is a trained engineer, and it shows. Take a look at the close-ups of his handywork below. His next project, also pictured, was decidedly lower tech. Brano made himself a bamboo bike, which he says gives a better ride than the carbon fiber model. And it’s a lot easier to grow the tubes than to build them. (Read the full post about ‘Home Made Carbon Fiber Bike’…)

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