Gadgets Future

It’s no real secret that air quality in the home can be worse than the polluted atmosphere outside thanks to dust mites, flaked off skin, mold and a host of other bad stuff that make up the never ending battle of dusting and vacuuming the home. Hammacher Schlemmer now has a weapon to even the odds in that war with a vacuum cleaner that has built in UV lighting that treats the carpet while vacuuming.

Costing a whopping $500 US, the Germ-Eliminating Upright Vacuum uses a built-in 35-watt UV-C light to kill 99.9% of dust mites, viruses, bacteria, mold, flea eggs and other bacteria embedded in carpet as the vacuum cleaner’s disposable HEPA filter bag captures 99.97% of all particles as small as 0.3 microns, while the 6 1/4-amp motor sucks up your home detritus. The technology is based on the same technology found in hospitals to sterilize surgical instruments. The UV bulb is rated for 8,000 hours of use which can easily be a lifetime of sucking up at home while your spouse is busy sucking up at work.

The vacuum also comes with all standard attachments including a 13′ detachable hose with dusting brush for those out of the reach areas of the window sill, a crevice tool for hard-to-reach corners, and adjustable cleaning height to cover hardwood floors, rugs, tile, and carpet.

Source: Hammacher via Geekologie

<!– ch_client = “gadgets”; ch_type = “rpu”; ch_noprice = “1″; ch_width = 468; ch_height = 90; ch_color_title = “#B40505″; ch_non_contextual = 1; ch_nosearch = 1; ch_default_category = “89″; ch_font_title = “Arial”; ch_font_text = “Arial”; ch_sid = “Coolest Gadgets RPU”; ch_alternate_css_url = “http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/rpu2.css”; ch_target = “_blank”; var ch_queries = new Array( ” With UV Lighting, Sanitizing sucks” ); var ch_selected=Math.floor((Math.random()*ch_queries.length)); if ( ch_selected

Naughty gadget maker Tenga has unveiled their “New Adult Concept” lineup of “onanism cups” that offer male users five “never before experienced sexual sensations.” Choose from the Deep Throat Cup, Soft Tube Cup, Rolling Head Cup, Air Cushion Cup, and the invigorating Double Hole Cup. The devices are disposable, and Tenga stresses that you shouldn’t be using them repeatedly by “rinsing them out.” Ha Ha…gross! The devices are available now starting at 1500 yen ($14) —Japan only (sorry horny westerners!). [Product Page via Digital World Tokyo via Wired]galleryPost(’onanismcups’, 5, ”);

Alright, so I was fairly impressed with the Macworld keynote. Lots of neat little bits, and the MacBook Air is a pretty amazing sliver of a machine. But it’s not what many of us had hoped for. All I really wanted for Macworld was a 13-inch MacBook Pro. A serious but compact workhorse, not a sexy will-o-the-wisp. And now I’m too scared to even buy the current 15-inch MacBook Pro. Why?

Because the MacBook Air’s coolest feature—other than its anorexia—is the multitouch trackpad, and Jobs knows it will probably pop up in a MacBook Pro refresh in just a few months. It’s a simple formula:

Multitouch trackpad + green components + PowerBook-like black keyboard + redesigned case = dream machine.

Let’s not forget Penryn chips, either, which mean more speed and less power suckage. Actually, since the inevitable MBP update is now at least a few months out, we’ll probably see it launch with Intel’s Montevina platform, the successor to Santa Rosa which is expected in May.

Though these are all reasons to wait for the next wave of MacBook Pros, I can’t help but worry that a smaller MBP may never come. Apple likes to keep things nice and differentiated. I want a tight little beast of a machine, but there’s already a small MacBook and now here comes the Air, with its feather-light weight and fairy specs. This reminds me of the iPod crisis last fall: Apple, why can’t you give us one machine that does it all?

Posted Jan 15th 2008 3:29PM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable VideoSo let’s just boil down the newly-available firmware 1.1.3 to the nitty gritty, shall we? Here’s what Apple’s latest juicy morsel is going to do to your iPhone (or iPod touch, if that’s how you roll and you have $19.99 to spare) once you can finally reliably get it from iTunes:

• Maps: New hybrid view, same as Google Maps. Satellite imagery and street mapping available on a single view.
• Maps: Location triangulation. Uses nearby WiFi access points and GSM towers (on the iPhone, anyway) to roughly guesstimate your current location.
• Web Clips: Web bookmarks can now be saved as home screen icons, including zoom and location information.
• Home screen: Icons on the home screen can now be rearranged.
• Home screen: Up to 9 home screens can now be created and “flicked” between.
• SMS: A single text message can now be sent to multiple recipients; groups can be recalled for future use.
• iTunes: Movie rentals are now supported.
• iTunes: Support for lyrics.

Additionally, the iPod touch now features Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather, and Notes, all of which were previously exclusive to the iPhone. Cheers!

Posted Jan 15th 2008 1:37PM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Cellphones

Posted Jan 15th 2008 11:58AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Laptops, Wireless
Wondering how you were gonna install all your software on that forthcoming optical drive-deprived MacBook Air? Enter Remote Disc, which essentially enables users to “borrow” the optical drive of another machine on the wireless network and pass along the data sans wires. Notably, hosts can be Macs or PCs, meaning that even a household Wintel rig can be used to beam OS X applications to your shiny new MBA. No word on where the “special software” for the host machines will come from, but here’s to hoping it’s boxed right in from the start.

Out of the four big announcements at MacWorld today, the most significant was something that we all saw coming: an ultraportable MacBook. The name of this lightweight wonder is something we actually learned a few days ago when bits of news about it started to leak, though it is something that tech journalists have been predicting for months.

After all the speculation, rumors, leaks, and waiting, what we are left with is the MacBook Air. This notebook will measure in at 12.8″ x 8.94″ x 0.16-0.76 inch and weight 3.0 pounds, putting it in the same class as high-end ultraportables like Sony’s TZ and Toshiba’s R500, though it is a good deal thinner than other models. It will be powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor (1.6 or 1.8GHz) and be built around a 13.3″ 1280×800 LED-backlit display. Other features include 802.11n draft wireless, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor, and 2GB of RAM standard. The notebook will also feature a full-sized keyboard, iSight webcam, and MagSafe power connector.

Packing a MacBook into such a small aluminum shell is not cheap though–the starting price for the Air will be $1799. This base model uses an 80GB 1.8″ disk and the 1.6GHz processor. If you want the full Air experience you’ll have to drop $3098 on the upgraded model which will feature the 1.8GHz processor and a 64GB SSD for storage.

One serious downside with the Air is its limited set of external connectors. The curved exterior does not give room for a full set of peripheral connections so Apple has limited the selection to an audio jack, a single USB 2.0 slot, and Micro-DVI out, all in a pop-out door on the right side. The notebook does not have an optical drive, but Apple developed two options to solve this. The first is a $99 USB accessory drive which can work with the MacBook, the other is a software solution, called Remote Disk, that lets the Air connect with a computer on the network and read a disk from that system’s optical drive. This second solution will work with both PCs and Macs so it looks like it will be quite useful.

The Air will use an extra large touchpad that will be able to work with a number of different finger gestures. These will vary based on what program you are using, but they will be similar to those used on the iPhone. Using gestures like pinches and swipes it will be possible to do things like zoom in/out, go forward or back, or rotate a photo. The MacBook Air’s video fully explains this.

The Air is expected to have a battery life of 5 hours. This seems generous given the size and processor, but we’ll give Apple the benefit of the doubt, based on past performance. Assuming this number, the Air will not offer the life of ultraportables like Sony’s TZ, Lenovo’s ThinkPad X61s, or the Panasonic W7, but it has a larger display than these and is not running an ultra-low voltage processor. It’s worth noting that the system does not look to have a user-replaceable battery. So, just like with the iPhone, if the battery dies, the device has to be sent back to Apple and if it runs out while you are in the middle of a flight, you’re out of luck.

If you are looking for some better pictures, Engadget got some early hands-on time with the system. Check out that rocker-style up/down button–it looks pretty annoying.

The MacBook Air is available for pre-order now but it probably won’t be in the hands of consumers for about two or three weeks.

I swear that when I did the image for Variety’s report on HD DVD defections I never saw this hilarious version of Der Untergang, subtitled with very funny dialog about the last minutes of HD DVD in the bunker, the inevitable end of the war. The best part: probably when everyone leaves the room and the premonitory—and obvious—dig at Paramount and Universal. [Thanks Lukas]

JVC’s 32-inch flat panel LT-32E478 LCD is rocking the market not only with the highly updated technology but with its excellent audio-visual output for the best ever satisfaction for the owner. Its mentionable features such as Natural Cinema (3-2 Pull Down), Black Level Expansion, 4 Video Status Modes (Standard / Game / Theater / Dynamic) give the outstanding visual pleasure to the eyes of the viewer. And no doubt its 20 Watts Total Audio Power, Dual 5 cm x 12 cm Speakers, Advanced Hyper Surround, Smart Sound, Optical Digital Audio Output, Fixed Audio Output etc are the great solution for the music lovers.

Key Attibutes:

• No hassle HD with built-in ATSC tuner and Clear QAM
• New USB Photo Viewer
• 5 Point Color Management
• Powered by GENESSA
• 3D Y/C Digital Comb Filter w/Cross Color Elimination
• New unified remote with direct video input buttons
• ENERGY STAR® Compliant
• Motion Adaptive Dynamic Gamma
• VESA Compliant for wall mounting

This mind-boggling treasure in the field of LCD TV market is fully loaded with various attractive features which are obviously making this product unparalleled. The LT-32E478 LCD TV features High Resolution W-XGA (1366 x 768), Contrast Ratio of 1200:1, 500cd/m2 Brightness, 8msec Response Speed and 178º Viewing Angle promising outstanding image reproduction,

The JVC’s revolutionary LCD display LT-32E478 is highly on demand for its technical contributions like Dual HDMI w/HDCP Digital Video Inputs, Smart Video Input, Dual Auto Sensing Component Video Inputs, S-Video & 3 AV Inputs etc.

Source: JVC

<!– ch_client = “mmliewcf”; ch_type = “mpu”; ch_width = 468; ch_height = 180; ch_color_title = “0065CE”; ch_non_contextual = 1; ch_default_category = “200001″; var ch_queries = new Array(”JVC LT-32E478 LCD TV”); var ch_selected=Math.floor((Math.random()*ch_queries.length)); if ( ch_selected

Posted Jan 15th 2008 8:41AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Announcements
Got your final Macworld predictions in? Excellent. Steve takes the stage and the show gets started in just a couple of hours now, so run off that DO NOT DISTURB sign on the office printer while you still have a chance.

07:00AM - Hawaii
09:00AM - Pacific
10:00AM - Mountain
11:00AM - Central
12:00PM - Eastern
05:00PM - GMT / London
06:00PM - Paris
08:00PM - Moscow
02:00AM - Tokyo (January 16th)

Where you need to be:
Live Steve Jobs Macworld keynote
All Macworld 2008 coverage [RSS]