Gadgets Future

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 23rd 2008 at 11:18AMThough not quite as bad as toting the GPS module around with you, one particular marijuana farmer had to be mighty embarrassed / wondering what he ever did to deserve such bad luck when a GPS-equipped turtle meandered into his crop. As the story goes, a close friend of the police — a box turtle with no fear of Big Brother — just happened upon a pot stash on US park property. Clearly, Mr. Isiah Johnson (the culprit) was heavily stoned when choosing US land to farm his ganja, and now he’s in custody until he’s “extradited back DC to face drug charges.” And you thought all you had to do was dodge those CCTV cameras…

[Via TechDigest]

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Filed under: GPS

The citizens of the UK are in for a nice treat with this new TomTom GPS they are getting soon. The TomTom GO 940 LIVE is an upgraded model to the TomTom GO 930 (pictured above).

The main differences between the 940 and 930 are IQ routes, Lane Assist, and Enhanced Positioning Technology. The LIVE in the name of the GPS stands for live HD traffic updates that comes from a subscription to HD Traffic. Another feature that the 940 comes with is Google Search. By using an available GSM connection the owner can access Google Search from the GPS. Unfortunately, the TomTom GO 940 is set to be pretty expensive costing 468 Euros, or around $871 US. In addition, the LIVE subscription comes with a complimentary 3 month trial, but after that it will cost $10-$15 a month.

TomTom GO 940 LIVE is ready to be pre-orded on Handtec, no word on actual shipping date.

Read [Handtec] Via [GPSLodge]

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If you don’t like kids to mess up your lawn, why not get the Talking Wicked Witch Of The West? This nasty piece of work will definitely scare those who lack the necessary intestinal fortitude away from your home, although with the amount of horror media saturating our kids’ minds these days, they might end up loving the Talking Wicked Witch Of The West.

This is the 5′ 2″ tall statue of the infamous Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz that repeats the classic phrase “I’ll get you, my pretty… and your little dog, too!” spoken by Margaret Hamilton from the original 1939 film’s soundtrack when unsuspecting visitors activate its sound and vibration detection sensor. Suggestive of all the iconic character’s powers of enchantment, the witch stands menacingly with outstretched green clawed hands, and issues her warning - the leitmotif “Almira Gulch’s/Witch’s Theme” followed by Hamilton’s own voice - from a built-in speaker. Made from polyresin and painted in high-gloss lacquer for a look that resembles the finest porcelain, the statue’s facial features replicate the same striking details from Hamilton’s character, including the green skin, pronounced nose, gnashed teeth, wavy black hair, and furrowed brows - even the wart on the right side of her elongated chin. Every detail of the witch’s costume is reproduced, including her billowing black cape, bodice, full-length puffed sleeve dress, pointed hat with scarf, and belt pouch. For indoor or protected outdoor use. Requires two AA batteries.

I’d be careful about leaving this outside my home though, especially when it costs a whopping $2,500 to bring home in the first place.

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FROM APPLETELL - BusinessWeek claims to have some information that points to Apple’s plans to build over 40 million iphone 3Gs during the next 12 months.
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by Paul Miller, posted Aug 23rd 2008 at 10:02AM
We’ve been tracking the AirCar for near centuries in Engadget Time, but MDI’s little car that could-maybe-possibly seems to have finally taken to the streets. The car has been seen sporting French plates, meaning it’s actually been approved for use there — unsurprising, considering the car’s 2009 planned launch in France, but exciting nonetheless. The car boasts a 50 mile range running off of compressed air, and can stretch that further by heating up the air with another power source. It might not solve world hunger, but we’re just happy to see compressed air playing a featured role outside of cleaning our keyboard and propelling Airsoft pellets at our cat.*

*We’re kidding. Cats are awesome.

[Via AutoblogGreen]

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Filed under: Transportation

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 22nd 2008 at 11:04PM
Oh sure, you’ve been able to buy digital camera-equipped binoculars for years now, but finding one that does video (particularly with the camcorder you already own) has been a continual struggle. Thanks to one engineering soul, you can forge ahead with your plans to video all sorts of sights by adding a CCD eyepiece to any ‘ole set of binoculars. Once installed, you simply hook up your camcorder (hope it has video in), mash record and get to gazing. Be careful what you look for, though.

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Filed under: Digital Cameras, Misc. gadgets

by Donald Melanson, posted Aug 22nd 2008 at 9:31PM
ZPower has made a few promises before that haven’t exactly panned out, but that apparently hasn’t stopped it from making another bold claim at IDF this week, with it boasting that its newfangled Silver-Zinc battery will be rolled out in a “major notebook computer” sometime in 2009. According to ZPower, that battery will provide up to 40% more runtime than traditional lithium-ion batteries and, just as importantly, be far more “chemically stable” than its sometimes explosion-prone lithium-ion counterpart. ZPower also looks to be going the extra mile when it comes to recycling the batteries, with 95% of the battery itself apparently recyclable, and the company offering “financial discounts” to folks when they trade in their old Silver-Zinc batteries.

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Filed under: Laptops

by Paul Miller, posted Aug 23rd 2008 at 1:15AM
Lebedev’s design crew never seems to be short on surprisingly obvious and yet entirely fresh takes on every day objects, and the new Folderix flash drives are taking that ethic to entirely new and conveniently functional heights. The 4GB drives come in a myriad of colors, are available today and will run you a fairly steep $55. Literal folder design? Priceless.

[Via Electronista]

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Filed under: Storage

Yamaha has finally taken up the task to ship it’s BODiBEAT device that threw up quite a storm when it was first unveiled. Just to recap, the BODiBEAT prides itself in being the first music player in the world that is able to select songs that match the pace of the user’s workout. This is made possible by synchronizing automatically one’s musical selections to the steps of the user’s walk or run. I wonder what happens when most of the songs are of the same beat, will the software tear its virtual hair out in frustration due to being unable to find a match? I would normally think that once a person’s workout pace drops, it is imperative to pick up that lost pace by increasing the speed of music and not the other way round, but I won’t argue with Yamaha on this point.

BODiBEAT comes with BODiBEAT Station, software that automatically categorizes each downloaded song by beats per minute (bpm), and a small heart rate monitor that clips gently onto the user’s ear. Designed to maximize fitness activities such as running, walking and dancing, BODiBEAT also tracks the metrics of these workouts, including distance, time, pace and heart rate. BODiBEAT includes an armband and is ergonomically designed for ease-of-use and exceptional comfort during active pursuits. BODiBEAT features 512 megabytes of skip-free internal flash memory, and offers approximately 12 hours of playback when fully charged. BODiBEAT has four main operating modes: Free, Fitness, Training and Music. In Free mode, BODiBEAT automatically matches the music to the exercise pace, selecting songs that mirror the tempo of the user’s jogging or walking speed. Fitness modes include Walk Fitness and Jog Fitness, each of which works in conjunction with the heart rate monitor to select the most appropriate music for optimal aerobic exercise at the user’s fitness level. Like a personal trainer, Training mode tells users when to speed up and slow down for ideal results, and it does so while playing their favorite music. In Music mode, BODiBEAT functions as a standard portable audio player.

The Yamaha BODiBEAT can be yours for $299.99. Expect to see these appear in gyms pretty soon.

Press Release

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by Darren Murph, posted Aug 23rd 2008 at 7:41AMHey, hackers! Now that we’ve got the attention of millions upon millions of incredibly talented individuals, here’s your next challenge. India’s Airtel — which is offering Apple’s iPhone 3G at a near-stratospheric price — has claimed that “even the most deadly hackers on the planet won’t be able to crack the codes that support the iPhone’s Airtel applications with rival company SIMs.” Just so you know, it appears that Airtel worked with Apple to develop “operator-specific iphone applications,” which is an interesting tidbit in and of itself. But let’s focus on the task at hand here, and that’s proving that making ridiculous claims about impenetrability always comes back to bite ya.

[Image courtesy of Zedomax, thanks Akshay]

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Filed under: cellphones