Gadgets Future

A massive new online business is scheduled to launch on July 11: Apple’s App Store - an online hub for third party iPhone and ipod Touch applications.

Beginning later this month, developers will begin to upload apps to the store accessible by iphone users or to a new section of the iTunes Store, sharing revenue from app sales with Apple in a 70/30 split. These apps will be in addition to the 1,700-odd apps already developed for the iPhone’s Safari web browser.

One of the games people are looking forward to playing is Super Money Ball. Sega’s Ethan Einhorn showed off Super Monkey Ball on stage at the WWDC. According to Einhorn, after 8 weeks of development, the developers have created 110 stages.

The new 3G, GPS-enabled iPhone should open up a world of possibilities for clever developers in the realms of gaming, entertainment and enterprise applications.

In related news, the AOL Radio app for the iPhone won for Best Entertainment Application at the 2008 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), providing users free access to over 350 online radio stations (including 150 local CBS radio stations) and more than 200 AOL Radio channels.

Other WWDC iPhone App winners:

Best iPhone Game:
Enigmo by Pangea Software

Best iPhone Social Networking App:
Twitterrific by the Icon Factory

Best iPhone Productivity App:
OmniFocus by the Omni Group

Best iPhone Healthcare & Fitness App:
MIM from MIMVista

Via methodshop

Posted in Miscellaneous

It looks like the G810 from Portege will become available shortly, the reported date being June 20. As we have learned in the past, the G810 will be a Windows Mobile 6.1 based smartphone. In addition it will also feature a 2.8-inch 320 x 240 touchscreen display, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, built-in GPS & A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, a 3-megapixel camera, an FM radio with RDS and a microSD card slot with support for up to 4GB of additional storage. The G810 will also have support for both HSDPA and HSUPA. We have the launch date, we have the specs, however we are still missing the price as Toshiba has yet to announce that detail. Overall the G810 should make for a nice higher end smartphone.

Via [Akihabara News]

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by Paul Miller, posted Jun 14th 2008 at 7:02PM
Not willing to lay out the cash required to sneak the official Super Famicom Wii controller into the States? Don’t feel like going through the insanity of making your own wireless NES and SNES controllers for the Wii? Raphaël’s epic X2Wii project might just be your ticket to Virtual Console bliss. He’s worked up an adapters for the NES, SNES and N64 controllers to plug straight into your Wii’s GameCube port, and while they certainly aren’t simple, it’s all DIY magic.

[Via Hack a Day]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Google has just introduced two enhancements to its mobile service to provide users a faster mobile search experience through a fast loading mobile homepage and better iGoogle gadget management.

First, they updated their mobile homepage to make mobile access faster than before. When users visit google.com using their mobile browser, Google will cache the homepage so that when users bookmark the homepage, they will have quicker time when loading it during their next visit. This is possible no matter where users came from, whether through the mobile browser or through Google’s mobile search plug-in.

The second enhancement has to do with the mobile version of iGoogle. Google has linked the iGoogle gadgets that appear on a user’s mobile home page to the iGoogle page on their desktops. This means that users can now rearrange the gadgets that display on the mobile iGadget from their desktop, allowing for easier iGoogle gadget management.

In addition to these two new features of Google mobile, a read “more” option was also added on any RSS gadget. This makes RSS reading easier and quicker while users are doing it through their mobile phone.

Read [Official Google Mobile Blog]

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For podcasts lovers who are tired of connecting their MP3 players to a PC to download the podcasts they want, CastGrabber is offering something that would make your lives easier. OK, we mean to say that part of your life that you devote to downloading podcasts, and not life in general.

According to the CastGrabber product information listing, the device is a sort of a universal docking station for MP3 players which when connected to a network automatically grabs podcasts and transfers them to the MP3 player. How the device does this is a mystery to us, but it does require an initial setup using your PC.

To download podcasts on your mp3 player all you have to do is plug in the CastGrabber device into a network, connect your MP3 player to the device using the supplied USB cable, create an account at CastGrabber, choose the podcasts that you want to download, and then let the device do the rest of the downloading tasks. How we wished it was always that simple and easy.

In addition to downloading podcasts, CastGrabber will also charge your MP3 player as well. And yes it supports a variety of MP3 players including the ipod (except the iPod Touch), the Zune as well as some from SanDisk, Samsung and also Sony.

Product [CastGrabber]

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by Paul Miller, posted Jun 14th 2008 at 2:45PMRemember middle school? These guys do. NVIDIA, AMD, VIA and now SiS (only two capital letters? Not trying hard enough) have all teamed up in a fight against Intel of truly pubescent proportions. Intel has denied accusations of hiding the USB 3.0 spec, since it’s not their spec to hide, and claims it has no obligation to disclose its actual host controller specification before it’s ready. This apparently has the other chip makers scrambling to make their own host controller, so they aren’t beholden to Intel’s schedule. That could cause problems for the end product — if they don’t build theirs exactly like Intel’s, and with Intel’s already being on the market by the time they’re done, they’ll have to return to the drawing board and possibly delay their release by nine months. They claim this could give Intel two years of zero competition in the USB 3.0 space, but Intel figures since it plans to release the spec for free, is investing heavily in its development, and isn’t done yet anyways, it doesn’t owe those companies a thing. This just gets better and better.

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Filed under: Peripherals

Now flash your beautiful photographs in a key chain cum photo frame manufactured by Avlabs. Available in a compact size, AVL969 - Avlabs 1.5" Digital Photo Frame is easy to carry around wherever you go. Believe it or not, AVL969 - Avlabs 1.5" Digital Photo Frame offers you an easy way to display pictures to your friends and family simply by downloading from your PC.

Features

• Easy to set up & operate.
• Supports single mode or slide mode.
• Includes key chain, lanyard and USB cable.
• Lithium battery included.

Feel free to store up to 80 photos in the 8 MB memory of AVL969 - Avlabs 1.5" Digital Photo Frame. With this digital photo frame, you also get a full one-year warranty. Sporting a 1.5-inch LCD screen, AVL969 - Avlabs 1.5" Digital Photo Frame supports JPEG, BMP, CIF and TIF format.

Price and Availability

AVL969 - Avlabs 1.5" Digital Photo Frame is available at a price of $ 22.00.

Source : Avlabs

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Visioneer is proud to present you with its new Patriot 470 The Duplex Scanning Solution, best known for its One Touch scanning. With Visioneer Patriot 470 The Duplex Scanning Solution, you can send documents to preselected destinations like searchable PDF. Visioneer Patriot 470 The Duplex Scanning Solution is compatible with more than 250 ISIS Certified applications.

Features

• GSA Compliant.
• Includes Kofax VRS image enhancement software.
• TWAIN 7 ISIS Drivers.
• Visioneer SKU Number: SXP4701D-U.
• ScanSoft PaperPort and ScanSoft OmniPage Pro OCR.

Use Visioneer Patriot 470 The Duplex Scanning Solution for an amazing 33 ppm and 66 ipm speed in duplex mode. Incorporating the revolutionary OneTouch scanning technology, this product is one of the fastest and easiest scanning solutions available in the market. Featuring 600 dpi optical resolution and 48-bit internal color and a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface, Visioneer Patriot 470 The Duplex Scanning Solution comes packed with various new softwares.

Price and Availability

Visioneer Patriot 470 The Duplex Scanning Solution is available at a price of $ 1,195.00.

Source : Visioneer

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Its been a while since we first saw the Nokia N78 begin to show up online, it hit the FCC back in mid-March and since then it has always been touting a built-in FM transmitter as an included feature. Considering the music capabilities of the N78, that should be a welcomed feature, while playing music through an FM transmitter over your car stereo is not always a perfect solution, its easy to set up and very convenient. Sadly new details are beginning to surface that are claiming that at least some of the Nokia N78’s will not include the FM transmitter.

While Nokia has not offered up any official comment, it is speculated that it was left off due to legal reasons as it is against the law to operate a radio transmitter without a license in some areas. From what we can tell, the Nokia N78’s will ship without the FM transmitter in France, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Ireland and Italy.

Via [IntoMobile]

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 14th 2008 at 11:46AM
Remember Green Plug? That universal connector we detailed last month which aims to replace wall warts and help Mother Earth out in the process? Turns out, said outfit has just landed its first real believer as Westinghouse committed to using the smart power technology. Even Darwin Chang, Westy’s CTO, admitted that his firm “wasn’t the largest, but somebody has to be the first.” Chang is hoping that utilizing said tech will help it cut costs by eliminating the need to ship power adapters with its wares, but we’d say that’s being pretty optimistic. Really, the only way that will go over well is if hordes of other firms jump on the (currently desolate) bandwagon in short order — any takers?

[Via PCWorld]

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV