Gadgets Device

Asus has just released its new USB-N11 wireless-N USB adapter that is able to conjure a protected wireless environment at the push of a button, minus all the hassle of a complicated set up. Being fully 802.11n compliant, you don’t have to worry about upgrading your hardware in the near future to accommodate a faster wireless standard, and it is fully compatible with all other 802.11a/b/g devices as well. Not only that, the USB-N11 adapter plays nice with a wide gamut of operating systems including Windows, Linux and Mac OS. No idea on how much this will cost though, but don’t you just love one button-to-do-it-all concepts? (Read the full post about ‘Asus USB-N11 Adapter’…)

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FROM APPLETELL - Add another win for iphone gaming, as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be released for the popular touch screen device in mid September. MORE » Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed → Tags: DVD, high definition TV, camera, cellphone (Read the full post about ‘Fight the dark side on your iPhone or iPod Touch’…)

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Let’s face it. We can’t always explain why people do things - like this Bluetooth headset project for example, called the iGiveUp. Someone decided it would be a good idea to place a bluetooth headset inside an airsoft gun so it looks like you are talking on your mobile phone with a gun to your head. Calls are answered or ended by pulling the trigger on the gun. Of course I ponder that the creator thinks this is very hillarious in public, right up to the point where the SWAT team tackles him to the ground and he gets dowsed with a full can of pepper spray - if he’s lucky. That being said, if you would like to follow in his outrageous footsteps and make one for yourself, the instructions seem simple enough to follow. (Read the full post about ‘Bluetooth Gun Headset takes calls/draws unwanted attention from Police’…)

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For what seems like years, users have asked for gmail to be accessible offline and Google is finally going to acquiesce to their demands.  Coming in approx 6 months, both Gmail and Calendar will offer you the chance to move offline.  Early testers saw a dialogue box allowing them to save 3 months of appointments locally. Allowing these advances is something called Google Gears which exists to facilitate a smooth transition between online and offline realms.  We’ve expected good things from Google Gears for a while now, but it is good to see some progress later rather than never. This news comes from Andrew Fogg’s twitter (where I get all my news) and he warns that it may be just for enterprise users; he is not sure but did see a demo. (Read the full post about ‘Breaking: Gmail goes offline?’…)

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Just about anyone who has ever shot a wedding or a sporting event and tried desperately to get that almost unattainable shot loved their Canon 200mm f/1.8L lens. It offered up a great combination of focal length and aperture speed which made those otherwise unattainable shots possible. So, back in 2003 when Canon went and announced they were actually discontinuing that lens, you could practically hear the tears and shocked gasps of photographers around the globe. Now, finally, five years later, Canon announced the replacement for this legendary lens: the Canon 200mm f/2L IS.  Can you almost hear the crowds clapping in glee? Now, anyone that was upset by the f/1.8L being replaced, Canon more than made up for it with the f/2. (Read the full post about ‘Canon’s newest great is a relief for those missing the 200mm f/1.8L lens’…)

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A 43 year-old computer engineer by the name of Terry Childs has brought San Francisco to its knees by locking the city out of its main network.

The network stores information such as the payroll details of city employees, law enforcement documentation, countless e-mails and even the local jail records. None of it can currently be accessed though, because Mr Childs, employee of the Department of Technology, is keeping the password to himself as he sits in jail this week.

His motives for locking everyone out of the system are not totally clear. It may be tied in to recent disciplinary measures taken against him and management attempting to fire him.

(Read the full post about ‘Unhappy engineer locks San Francisco out of city network’…)

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Let’s face the cold, hard facts. Transferring data between one device and another can be quite the headache especially when you have different options such as USB and FireWire (for those living in a wired world) while the wireless environment relies on infra red, radio frequencies and Bluetooth technology to get the job done. There is a new consortium that is being formed by many notable names in the world of consumer electronics so that a specification can be developed to help products interconnect with one another seamlessly. This new technology has been dubbed “TransferJet”, and it will be able to cater for rapid transfer of high resolution video, music and images when released to the masses. (Read the full post about ‘TransferJet Consortium to make interconnectivity a snap’…)

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Polish designer Damian Kozlik has come up with the X-Watch timepiece concept that aims to make it user friendly with both the sighted and blind in this world. The rubber strap housing comes with an array of LEDs located behind graduated glass, featuring extruded Braille numbers that crossover, highlighting the correct time at the center. It certainly is harder to tell the time at a glance in this way compared to using an ordinary analog or digital watch, but that’s a small sacrifice considering the cool factor of the X-Watch and the ability for it to be used by the blind. Perhaps an ordinary watch with a voice telling the time would be more convenient? (Read the full post about ‘X-Watch Concept’…)

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While most people expect falling prices, consumer electronics makers scramble to add features to justify constant or higher prices. This is no different for this particular player. Let’s tale a look at the improvements: Picture-in-Picture (also called “bonus view”), read error correction (scratched discs), Ethernet access for firmware and other updates and an upscaling algorithm called “Precision Cinema HD Upscale” to nicely magnify standard-definition content to HDTV resolutions. “We leveraged our expertise in film production and digital technology to build a machine that movie fans would truly love,” says Chris Fawcett, vice president of marketing for Sony Electronics’ Home Products Division. (Read the full post about ‘Sony Releases BDP-S350 Next-Gen Blu-Ray Player’…)

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The folks over at the Technical University of Munich are hard at work developing a type of robot that could help you out in the kitchen. Clearly aimed at those people who don’t know how, or are too lazy to cook for themselves, this robot chef can also set the table. As opposed to using strictly visual and range sensory inputs, this robot uses a series of RFID tags placed in the dishes and untensils around the kitchen to let it know what is what. This apparently gives the robot an edge in processing tasks and involves a lot less coding. (Read the full post about ‘New robot cooks up a storm in the kitchen with RFID’…)

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