Gadgets Future

Wayne over at Gear Diary has unearthed some helpful tips from Apple for extending the life of your iphone 3G battery. First off, shut off 3G. Second, shut off location services. Third, shut off push mail. Fourth, turn off WiFi. The list goes on and on.

Basically, to save your battery life, just shut off all of the features that you bought the 3G iPhone for. Seriously though, you can mix and match and some of the tips aren’t so bad, considering a lot of users probably didn’t even realize they could shut these features on and off.

Yesterday I shut off push e-mail and dimmed the brightness. I enjoyed a bit more battery life so today I’ll shut off location services and a few other things and see how long I can go, since I can easily turn them back on when needed.

Reports on the web state that the battery life of the iPhone 3G is on par with other 3G phones. Having used many 3G phones on AT&T’s network, I can say that I disagree with that. While I used to charge my phones each night, I didn’t have to.

Read more of the tips at Apple.com. Thanks to Gear Diary for the link.

Sony has announced several new models of its famous VAIO notebook series. One of these is the VAIO BZ series notebooks geared for the business and IT professional. This lightweight notebook PC features a 15.4-inch LCD widescreen display with an option to have an anti-glare screen using Sony’s XBRITE-ECO LCD technology. The VAIO BZ series notebooks are also said to be made of a durable magnesium alloy casing and include a G-Sensor Shock Protection technology that would protect the machine from bumps, knocks and accidents usually encountered by users who bring their notebook PCs while traveling.

Now for its technical specs, the Sony Vaio BZ notebooks feature Intel Centrino 2 processors, Wi-Fi 802.11, biometric fingerprint sensors, a Trusted Platform Module compliant chip, hard disk drive password protection software for data security, Windows Vista OS with an option to downgrade to XP and other hardware configurations that would depend on users needs. In addition, the Sony Vaio BZ notebook series are Energy Star 4.0 and EPEAT compliant and are said to incorporate some environment-friendly features including mercury-free LED backlit LCD. And finally, like we said the VAIO BZ notebook series is a lightweight piece of hardware weighing less than 6 pounds.

The Sony VAIO BZ notebooks will be available later this month and retail starting at around $1000.

Read [Sony Press Room]

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The iPhone 3G might have a rather poor battery life compared to its predecessor, but according to tests by PC World, it still comes out ahead of other 3G smartphones. It even beats phones on Sprint and Verizon’s EVDO networks, which should be less power hungry as they only use the 3G network for data, not voice and data like HSDPA/UMTS.

If the Samsung Instinct and the iPhone were at high school, they would be the two cool kids wearing leather jackets and gunning their jalopies towards each other on an old dirt road, waiting for each other to blink. And so it is in the talktime test you see above. The Instinct was the only phone other than the iPhone to break the fiver hour barrier, coming in at just five minutes behind the iphone.

All the other phones stood at the sidelines cheering these two on, and — to further strain the metaphor — the Palm Treo was the nagging, bobby-soxed girlfriend in the passenger seat, telling our hero to “Stop, it’s just not worth it. You have nothing to prove to me.”

Well, no, Treo, iPhone has nothing to prove to you, with your pathetic three hours and fifty three seconds of talktime. You’ll be lucky if he even invites you to the prom.

3G iPhone’s Mediocre Battery Life Still Beats Rivals [PC World via Daring Fireball]

Flash memory is incredibly popular, being used in many of our gadgets and increasingly being used as a mass storage solution in our laptops. But it does have one drawback – limited lifetime.

Today’s Flash memory chips have varying lifetimes based on the way in which they are used. The amount of wear is measured by the number of times a section of the memory is written to and in the most drastic of cases could lead to memory wearing out in just a few years.

Japanese scientists have developed a new form of Flash memory that could alleviate all our fears about just how long our Flash memory will last. These new memory chips, called ferroelectric Nand Flash (FNF), can be written up to 100 million times, compared to today’s Flash memory that is thought to be limited to around 500,000 rewrites.

FNF has additional benefits as well. Current Flash memory is only now being produced at 30 nanometres, but FNF will work at 10 nanometres. It also uses significantly less power with today’s Flash memory requiring 20 volts for rewriting, FNF needs just 6 volts.

The research and development of FNF has been carried out at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology housed at the University of Tokyo. No details of when we could start to see this memory used have been announced.

Read more at Vnunet.com

Matthew’s Opinion
Flash memory is certainly here to stay and continues to expand the number of devices it is used in. Therefore this new memory is very good news as it has multiple positive features allowing us to use less power and have our gadgets working longer without worry of the memory giving up.

The drop in power usage is significant enough that we could see battery times extended in devices. The 100 million rewrites also means worries about memory failure can be forgotten as the chips will last longer than their users under normal usage conditions.

Sony has just introduced the new VAIO Z Series notebooks that brings a sleek and powerful machine in a lightweight package. It tips the scales at slightly over 3 pounds, featuring a vivid 13.1″ widescreen display backed by Sony’s own XBRITE-DuraView LCD technology that offers scratch-resistant durability and 100% color saturation. Depending on the model chosen, you will be able to get a maximum high resolution 1,600 x 900 widescreen display, offering a wider workspace compared to a standard display despite sharing the same footprint. The keyboard panel is covered by a seamless sheet of brushed aluminum, framing its individual keys. Spaces between keys have been precisely engineered to create a comfortable typing experience so that mistakes can be avoided, but it is always better to get off on the right footing beforehand.

The unit is housed in a durable carbon-fiber casing to help endure the knocks, bumps and accidents common to frequent travel. It also incorporates G-Sensor Shock Protection technology to counteract sudden movements helping to prevent damage and data loss. It is powered by new Intel Centrino 2 technology, the chipset designed for sizzling performance, unbelievable system responsiveness, and energy efficiency. Road warriors will love its built-in 802.11n wireless LAN capabilities making it faster and easier to connect to compatible wireless networks with greater performance and range than ever before. For blazing-fast wireless access beyond networks and hotspots, the unit features optional built-in wireless Sprint Mobile Broadband, the nation’s largest wireless broadband network.

In addition, you will be able to choose the optional Blu-ray Disc optical drive if you want to enjoy high definition movies on the go, although the screen doesn’t exactly do the images justice. You’d best use the included HDMI output though, so make sure there is a full HD-ready TV or projector at home to maximize this feature. Other features include a biometric fingerprint sensor, a Trusted Platform Module compliant chip and proprietary hard disk drive password protection software that prevents protected data from unauthorized access. Prices start from $1,800 upwards, while an SSD model will begin at $2,300.

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Transcend aims to move heads with the new StoreJet 25C portable hard drive that targets business travelers who want a more striking manner to tote their data around. It is able to carry hard drives up to 320GB in size, and is protected by a luxurious polished stainless steel case with a piano-gloss connection panel. It measures 124mm x 78mm x 14mm and works with all major operating systems including Mac and Windows. You will be able to choose from 250GB and 320GB capacities with the Transcend StoreJet 25C, and the jury is still out on this one where pricing details are concerned.

Toshiba is joining the fray of laptop manufacturers who are riding the wave Intel’s Centrino CPU’s with the release of the new Satellite Pro S300 laptop. According to Toshiba, this affordable machine is geared for business professionals and is packed with a 2.4 GHz P8600 Core 2 Duo Centrino processor as well as Intel 4500MD integrated graphics.

The Satellite Pro S300 boast of built-in docking capabilities, a 1.3-megapixel webcam with business reader software and Toshiba’s EasyGuard technology features that include HDD protection, a spill-resistant keyboard, fingerprint reader and Trusted Platform Module. In addition, the laptop also features Toshiba’s sleep-and-charge USB port which lets you charge mobile device whether the laptop is on, off, in sleep mode or hibernation mode, and eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port for high-speed data transfer.

The Satellite Pro S300 will be available for a starting price of $1,299.

Read [Business Wire]

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Some developers are getting fed up.  Just a few months ago, they were the hope for higher level of happiness with our phone.  Now, they’ve become teenagers: depressed, full of angst, holding ill will toward “the man”.  In the developer forum, a petition has been presented that is gaining some steam with a reasonable list of demands: let us know WTF is going on.” I am paraphrasing here.

With this past weekends news of 10 million iphone apps (and I am personally addicted to sifting through the App Store in my free time - damn Apple), you’ve got to wonder how strong a temptation it is just to give up on Android’s promises and move on.  Surely Google is feeling some of this:

In my personal opinion it is not the right choice to keep developers in the dark. We, the developers, are the absolute base of success to the whole Android platform. The presentation with GoogleIO was a goodfirst step but for me it was nto enough.

I am not keen to find out I’ve painted myself into a corner over the summer when an SDK update finally comes out. I guess I’ll hang out at the beach more. Summer of no code…

i lost patience long ago. will keep coding/waiting untill the end of july. then ill eigther switch to the iphone (if sells are good) or windows mobile. i see absolutely no use in working with a barely finished SDK on an emulator without a piece of hardware in my hand. mobile phone development is no fun if you cant test it MOBILE.

Then we have a supposed quote from Google that says they are considering a branded mobile phone: the Gphone lives!!!  Doubt it.

Petition: [Google Forum] Related article [the register]

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Dell has just announced that it will start offering a free software update for Latitude XT owners that will bring them multi-touch capabilities on their XT machines. By upgrading their XT’s firmware users will be able to maximize the full real estate of their XT’s screen.

Once the XT’s firmware is upgraded, users can start using their XT’s screen to scroll through web browsers and productivity application as well as zoom in and out various contents just by placing two fingers on the screen and moving them together horizontally or vertically. Users can also program a double-tap gesture on the screen to to launch an application or to turn the machine off. This feature is somewhat similar to the multi-touch capability of the macbook air’s touchpad..

The firmware upgrade is available at http://support.dell.com. If you want to find out how this multi-touch capability works, keep on reading to watch the video demo.

Read [Dell]

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Do you love to entertain friends and family often? If you are like me, you probably feel like you are going to melt outside during the hot summer evenings. Unfortunately, for a lot of people out there with the same aversion to heat like me, it just doesn’t seem like much fun to get out there and slave over a hot grill or even spend time on the back patio. This professional quality mist cooling system will turn your back patio into a nice place to go on those scorching hot days. The mister appears to be extremely easy to setup. It is just a matter of snapping everything together, putting the line where you want it, and connecting a water hose to it. The gadget requires no power and without any expansion will cover a 100 square foot area.

Gimme!

Price: $47.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Posted in Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation, Sports, Health & Fitness, Outdoors