Gadgets Future

This morning Palm released some official press photos of the Treo Pro. Not much is known about the Treo Pro other than that it runs Windows Mobile 6.1, sports a flush 320×320 color touch screen, Wi-Fi, GPS, 256MB ROM and 128MB RAM. No mention of price or availability yet but the info definitely appears to be leaking out.

Slashgear has grabbed a video of it in action, along with a number of official and non-official press photos.

From what I’ve seen it looks like a really solid device. I love it when Palm puts its special sauce on top of Windows Mobile, and with the latest flavor of Windows Mobile I can only imagine what Palm has done to improve the functionality.

The Treo Pro could definitely be a contender if it sports enough RAM, runs a fast enough processor, and is easy to use.

Check out the video and pics at Slashgear.com

For years now, people have been using Zazzle’s website to make shirts, mugs, and buttons with any image imaginable emblazoned on them. In the past couple of years, though, the company has upped the ante with new choices such as stamps (yes, you can actually make a roll of stamps with your face on them), business cards, and now, shoes.

Zazzle has teamed up with Keds to offer completely customizable shoes at relatively inexpensive prices. Starting at $50, you can choose from 5 different styles and then, you can pretty much do whatever you want. Add text, pictures, colors, or patterns to your own individual taste. I was playing around on the site and it all works pretty easily. There’s even the same nice little built-in tool that helps crop, re-size, etc, which was previously found on all of the other Zazzle products. I would have ordered a pair before I even started writing this, but those five different styles I mentioned a second ago only pertains to women and children, men just have to sit and imagine what awesomeness we could make if we were allowed to.

Their website claims that these aren’t only the first completely custom shoes available, they’re also well-made:

We hand-craft each shoe with industry best standards and feature a unique printing technology to ensure you get a shoe with unparalleled printing brilliance that will withstand the wear and tear of everyday life.

Of course, that could all be marketing-speak and until you see one live I’d remain skeptical.

Read more at Zazzle, found via CrunchGear

If you happen to own a dog whose bark is worse than its bite, perhaps installing the Ultrasonic Barking Dog Deterrent in your garden would be a good idea.

Disguised as a birdhouse, this patented outdoor behavior modification device quickly and humanely restores peace and quiet for those vexed by a dogs nuisance barking. When a dog barks within range of the birdhouse, it emits a harmless ultrasonic tone, inaudible to humans, that startles the animal into silence. The dog quickly associates its bark with the unpleasant sound, which conditions him to curb this undesirable behavior. An on/off switch with three sensitivity levels (15 ft., 30 ft., 50 ft.) lets you control the units effective range, and a test mode enables you to verify the device is functioning properly. Its weather proof ABS cabinet can be hung from a tree limb, mounted to a fence post, or hung on a wall.

A single 9-volt battery is able to power this for approximately 2 months, while LEDs on it will let you know just how much juice is left inside. The Ultrasonic Barking Dog Deterrent can be yours for $69.95.

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A while ago, we covered Fisher Price’s FP3 player, a durable device that allowed young children to play MP3s. It appears that Fisher Price is now creating more tech-savvy toys for younger users.

One of their latest on this line is the Kid-Tough Portable DVD Player. The product is just what it sounds, a device that can play DVDs with a rubberized shell for extra protection. It can withstand a good drop, and won’t stop or skip tracks.

The screen is at 3.2 inches, and the battery life is not long, at only two hours. That might be just long enough for a short film on a short trip. Don’t be surprised if your two kids will be fighting on who gets to hold it.

I would hope that this isn’t the first DVD player for younger users, but it certainly won’t be the last. Assuming Blu-ray takes off, disc formats for entertainment aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon.

There is only one problem: I have three kids myself, and I don’t really want them touching the DVDs themselves. I’ve got a collection of films with fingerprints and smudge marks on them, and you can imagine how well they play.

However, if you think this is something you can give your kids, you’ll have to pay $149.98.

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Archos is entering the Mobile Internet Device (MID) market with the Archos 5. The company is best known for its portable media players (PMP), but it shows that it can adapt itself to changing consumer demands by providing a persistent internet connectivity. Someone that that I know said: “the computer is the display”, and it’s very true with the Archos 5 five-inch touch screen display: a width of 800 pixels wide should allow a closer -to-desktop (I hate to use “true”) web experience not found on mobile phones. Of course that’s only useful if there’s a 3G connection. Well, a 3.5G one to be precise. The integrated web browser is Flash-compatible (Youtube…) and we hope that it is Ajax-compatible too, but we don’t know for sure. The user interface design is unknown too, but we’ll look into it. Specifications and pricing in the full post.

The long wait is over, it is official: Rogers Communications will offer the blackberry Bold on Thursday, August 21st , for a price ranging from $300 to $400 according to RIM’s co-CEO Jim Balsillie. The pricing details were still not revealed, and AT&T will be its major carrier in the US.

Back in January, Google opened the doors on a new mobile website for YouTube. Now in August, the company seems to want to make some money off of their investment. This week Google announced that it has begun testing ads on its mobile YouTube website.

The test ads will appear on “select pages” for the mobile site in the U.S. and Japan. Millions of users visit YouTube on a daily basis, so naturally Google wants to make the most out of that advertising market whether the person is on a desktop computer or mobile phone. Google stated that the ads will “contribute to the user experience”.

Like one of the comments on Google’s Blog states, I think Google is kidding themselves if they think ads contribute to the user experience. Okay, I suppose they are trying to make the case that users will now have the ability to browse and interact with services and products in a whole new way. Nevertheless, it’s kind of like saying that television commercials enhance the viewing pleasure of your favorite show. That seems to be a stretch…

Read more from the Google Blog.

While everybody seems to be going green these days, some people on the other hand, are focusing on the exact opposite. This latest thumb drive is made of cedar wood, which certainly wouldn’t make Mother Nature too happy. If you’re hell bent on trying to reduce the number of trees in our world, each of these 1GB thumb drives will set you back about $62.

You’ve heard that Nike+ for iPhone was coming, but here are the first screenshots of the application running on the iphone. I don’t have much more information, but you get the picture: the software collects data and can display all kinds of analysis about your progress and so on… via iPhon.fr

Verizon Wireless has announced an upgrade to their Chaperone service. Verizon Wireless’ Chaperone service was first launched in 2006 and gives parents the ability to identify the exact location of their child’s cell phone. Now, Verizon Wireless has released Chaperone 2.0 with even more features.

Some enhancements include the ability to locate multiple child devices at one time and even send text messages to more than one child using Family SMS messaging. Verizon Wireless has also leveraged VZ Navigator so that it too integrates with the Chaperone service. Now, once a child device is located, VZ Navigator can give you turn-by-turn directions to that location. Other new features include a redesigned Chaperone website and Chaperone Parent mobile device. Chaperone 2.0 is avilable for US$9.99 per line per month.

I like how Verizon Wireless makes the distinction that it can only locate the child’s phone and not the child itself. A child could just ditch their mobile phone over at a friends house and do what they want. Of course, they’d have to explain to Mom and Dad why they couldn’t answer their mobile phone when they called. Also, I can’t imagine a teen without their cell phone. That’s too big of a sacrifice.

Read more from the Verizon Wireless press release.