Gadgets Future

Earlier this week I showed you how circuits boards were being recycled into jewelry in the form of necklace pendants for the ladies. Of course not to be outclassed by the girls, someone has thought of a simple way to adorn the formal tech geek when he wants to go out, “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”

These tech stylized cufflinks were fashioned out of two discarded Atmel EPROMs and mounted to a couple of cufflink posts. Apparently they were made as a special gift by JMarler for a friend’s birthday. They aren’t bad looking cufflinks and they would definitely be a conversation starter at a formal gathering. Certainly a fashionable way to reuse that would normally be thrown out.

Read more at flickr via BoingBoing.

by Nilay Patel, posted Aug 29th 2008 at 2:27PM
Blaupunkt’s TravelPilot nav units have never really stood out from the pack, but it looks like that’s about to change — the new TravelPilot 700 and 500 feature an integrated camera that displays realtime video with nav overlays on their 16:9 screens. That’s definitely a novel and intriguing feature, but there’s not a lot of information on how it works or what kind of hardware is under the hood to keep it running smoothly — with the 700’s estimated list price of $740, we’re guessing it’s pretty beefy. Both units also feature voice control, DVB-T traffic, live traffic, Bluetooth, and the usual PMP features, and the 700 also has a browser, email app, and VoIP client that work over Bluetooth tethering with your phone. Yeah, definitely intriguing — hopefully we’ll see this thing make it Stateside soon. Video after the break.

[Via Navigadget; thanks, Khattab]

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Filed under: GPS

In yet another invention taking advantage of what we have been getting for free for millions of years, some ingenious engineering students have figured out a way to use the power of the sun to create ice. The students from San Jose University have created a solar icemaker that doesn’t use electricity but is capable of creating 14 pounds of ice every day.

Unlike conventional ice makers that uses a refrigerant that gets pressurized by a compressor to get things chilly, the solar icemaker works like this: the unit uses the sun to heat a sealed liquid refrigerant which then becomes vapor when heated. At night, however, when the temperature drops and the vapor returns to liquid form and the area around the evaporator section of the icemaker becomes arctic, which of course makes it the correct temperature to create ice. Just add water.

Unfortunately the solar icemaker is rather large right now in its early stages. I’m sure, however, these students are well on their way to develop a more portable model that could change the landscape of future parties to come.

Read more at San Jose State University via DVICE.

Motorola Z10

Look! Hardware that breaks – on purpose! Shattered warranties aside, the Z10’s apparent bendy kick-slide design skews towards the flashy end of the spectrum, but hey, we’re not shallow. We care about what’s on the inside, too. But in the case of the Z10, after we took a good honest look at the interior, it turns out an innovative design is about the only thing this phone has going for it.

Though it’s billed as a “pocket-sized mobile studio,” this 4-ounce, platinum-trimmed phone is certainly no substitute for even a mediocre mini-camcorder (Exhibit A: the Flip Mino). So why drop $500 on the Z10 when you can get a 5MP camphone (Exhibit B: the Nokia N82) that shoots crisper stills and comparable vids? Beats us. Maybe it’s the intuitive editing suite: the Z10’s storyboard feature let us cut together a montage of clips and pics with cinematic fades, circle dissolves, music and title cards in less than 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the OS wasn’t nearly as user-friendly. We literally had to break out the instruction manual just to send a Bluetooth pic (no joke).

Had Motorola spent even half as much time making the software as innovative as its break-away hardware, the Z10 would have wowed us. But with its lacking OS and underwhelming camera, the phone didn’t feel ready for primetime.  —Steven Leckart

WIRED 30 fps vid clips don’t look too shabby. Quick, easy uploading to YouTube and Shozu. Storyboarding was a cinch. Camera shortcut button, plus auto-focus, great for snapping pics on the fly. Easy-to-access external microSD card slot is ready for 32GB.

TIRED 2.2-inch screen isn’t ideal for peeping videos. Only 3.2MP cam? (Tarantino wouldn’t settle for less than 5MP). Only a measly 1GB microSD included. Nav and Symbian UIQ more difficult to penetrate than Fort Knox. Curved slider makes lower keypad buttons harder to press.

$500 (unlocked), motorola.com

(Photos by Jon Snyder/ Wired.com)

If your phone is on this list, then the answer to that question would be “no.” And your question would probably be, “What the heck does SIMable mean anyway?”

SIMable is a thin chip that can be attached to your SIM card to fool your mobile phone into thinking that it has been unlocked. The price you pay? Apparently around $37, plus a hole that you have to cut out in your SIM card for aligning the SIMable chip. The company even puts to rest your doubts on how to accomplish that by “including a free cutting tool with every purchase.”

In the market since April of this year, the company now boasts success with the cracking of even the latest iphone 3G. Watch the video demonstration here.

Via Jason Langridge’s WebLog.

If you were wondering how new content was going to get on an Android mobile device, check out this post at the Android Developers Blog. According to the post, the Android Market will work similar to YouTube, will feature a feedback and rating system like YouTube, be hosted by Google, and all you need to do in order to get an application listed is register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it.

The initial rollout will include free applications, with an update soon after release that supports charging for an application, versioning, analytics, and more.

This sounds great to me, especially since it doesn’t seem that initially Google will police it too much. As Matt Miller at ZDNET pointed out, though, hopefully it doesn’t “turn into a collection of junk.” Only time will tell, but at least there will be a bunch of applications available at launch, which is always a good thing. And, you can’t beat free.

{ad}Read more about Android Market at Android Developers Blog via The Mobile Gadgeteer

by Paul Miller, posted Aug 29th 2008 at 7:17AM
A spec sheet is well and good (and trust us, these spec sheets are that), but when we’re talking Blu-ray players it’s really becoming a question of price: when will they drop? Well, if these Europe prices for the DMB-BD35 and DMB-BD55 from Panasonic are any indication, Panasonic’s answer is “not yet.” The BD35 is being priced at 399 Euro, while the BD55 will go for 499 Euro. Our guess is the conversion rates ($588 and $735, respectively) won’t apply here when these get shipped over to the States, but even at $399 and $499 these well-specced players aren’t doing themselves any favors in a Blu-ray market dominated by the PS3. There’s really nothing to say about actual “hands-on” impressions of these two, though we would like to say that we scoured Panny’s booth for the DMR-BR360V Blu-ray / VHS combo and were sad to come away empty handed, our tattered copy of “Titanic” unwatched.

Gallery: Panasonic reveals hefty prices, inner secrets of new DMB-BD35 and DMP-BD55 Blu-ray players

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Google is getting a new eye in the sky — and as a bonus, its rainbow-colored logo will be getting a ride on a rocket.

Satellite company GeoEye will launch a new orbiting imager on Wednesday, and Google has signed a contract making it the exclusive online mapping site to use the satellite’s photos. The search company also bought the right to slap its nearly-ubiquitous logo on the side of the rocket, currently being prepped for launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The satellite will be able to take photos at a resolution of up to 41 centimeters — enough to get a pretty decent photo of your Mustang convertible, but not enough identify the redhead in the passenger’s seat.

Because of a deal GeoEye has already signed with the U.S. government, Google will only get data with a resolution of 50 centimeters, News.com reports.

A second satellite, GeoEye-2, slated to launch in 2011 or 2012, will have a resolution of 25cm, company representatives promised.

Google to buy GeoEye satellite imagery [CNet News.com]

Read on for another picture of the Google rocket. Both images courtesy GeoEye.

GLab 2.0: Dylan Tweney’s Twitter feed and Delicious bookmarks; Gadget Lab on Twitter.

I’m a big fan of Bluetooth hands-free solutions which attach to the sun visor in your car. My experience has shown that typically these devices offer better sound quality for your calls because they are so close to your face while speaking. One such solution is the Supertooth 3 by BlueAnt.

It’s nice to have someone to talk to
One feature which sets the Supertooth 3 apart from other similar solutions is that it actually talks to you. When you first setup the device to pair with your phone a female voice walks you through the whole process. No doubt, that was a nice touch.

Once Supertooth 3 is paired with your phone then it will attempt to download your phone’s address book. While it does this the phone announces how many contacts it has loaded until it is finally finished. Once your contacts are downloaded then the device will announce the name of the caller when your phone rings. If the number does not match a contact then the Caller ID information is announced even if it is just a number.

That’s a pretty slick feature and it also adds safety since it helps to keep your eyes on the road as there is no Caller ID display you need to read. The device is even multilingual and supports six languages including American English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and British English.

This device is truly hands free

One thing you have to admit about most hands free devices is that they are not truly hands free. Typically you have to press a button to answer a call. That’s not the case with the Supertooth 3. After you get a call, and the device announces the name or phone number of the caller, you simply need to say “OK” to answer the call. That way there is no need for you to take your hands off the wheel.

Simple installation
I really like how the Supertooth 3 installs on your visor. Basically, there is a metal clip that attaches to your visor, the device then attaches to the metal clip by using built-in magnets on the back of the casing. This makes it really easy to take the device in and out of the car as needed without the need to pull the clip off of the visor.

It has its own battery
You don’t have to worry about a dangling cord coming from your visor to power the device. That’s because the Supertooth 3 has a built-in battery which offers 15 hours of talk time and 800 hours of standby time. If you need to plug the device into the car then you can use the included car adapter or bring it in the house and plug it into the AC travel charger.

Summary
So far the Supertooth 3 by BlueAnt is the favorite Bluetooth speakerphones I have reviewed. That’s probably due to its slim design, long battery life and voice prompts for setup and call announcements. I also really like the fact that I can answer calls just using my voice. You can pick up the BlueAnt Supertooth 3 for under US$100 from most online retailers.

Read more from the BlueAnt website.

I’m a big fan of Bluetooth hands-free solutions which attach to the sun visor in your car. My experience has shown that typically these devices offer better sound quality for your calls because they are so close to your face while speaking. One such solution is the Supertooth 3 by BlueAnt.

It’s nice to have someone to talk to
One feature which sets the Supertooth 3 apart from other similar solutions is that it actually talks to you. When you first setup the device to pair with your phone a female voice walks you through the whole process. No doubt, that was a nice touch.

Once Supertooth 3 is paired with your phone then it will attempt to download your phone’s address book. While it does this the phone announces how many contacts it has loaded until it is finally finished. Once your contacts are downloaded then the device will announce the name of the caller when your phone rings. If the number does not match a contact then the Caller ID information is announced even if it is just a number.

That’s a pretty slick feature and it also adds safety since it helps to keep your eyes on the road as there is no Caller ID display you need to read. The device is even multilingual and supports six languages including American English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and British English.

This device is truly hands free

One thing you have to admit about most hands free devices is that they are not truly hands free. Typically you have to press a button to answer a call. That’s not the case with the Supertooth 3. After you get a call, and the device announces the name or phone number of the caller, you simply need to say “OK” to answer the call. That way there is no need for you to take your hands off the wheel.

Simple installation
I really like how the Supertooth 3 installs on your visor. Basically, there is a metal clip that attaches to your visor, the device then attaches to the metal clip by using built-in magnets on the back of the casing. This makes it really easy to take the device in and out of the car as needed without the need to pull the clip off of the visor.

It has its own battery
You don’t have to worry about a dangling cord coming from your visor to power the device. That’s because the Supertooth 3 has a built-in battery which offers 15 hours of talk time and 800 hours of standby time. If you need to plug the device into the car then you can use the included car adapter or bring it in the house and plug it into the AC travel charger.

Summary
So far the Supertooth 3 by BlueAnt is the favorite Bluetooth speakerphones I have reviewed. That’s probably due to its slim design, long battery life and voice prompts for setup and call announcements. I also really like the fact that I can answer calls just using my voice. You can pick up the BlueAnt Supertooth 3 for under US$100 from most online retailers.

Read more from the BlueAnt website.