Gadgets Control

USB Battery Charger Preserve your power with The USB Battery Charger. Even though there are more USB gadgets than you could shake a stick at, the USB battery Charger is actually quite useful.This handy little charger allows you to use the power from your PC (Desktop or Laptop) to charge and re-charge up to 4 X AA and AAA Ni-Cd, and the eco friendly Ni-MH type batteries. (Stating the obvious), as with all USB gadgets Just connect the USB cable to a computer or laptop and begin charging those batteries!Approximately the size of a PDA the battery charger is an ideal travel companion for your laptop and won’t take up loads of storage space. (Read the full post about ‘USB Battery Charger’…)

Share This

Posted Jan 19th 2008 1:58PM by Darren MurphFiled under: Misc. Gadgets We know, hackers tend to get a pretty bad rap these days, but with some of ‘em out there creating ginormous gridlocks in Los Angeles and shutting down networks in enemy territories, we sort of understand the sentiment. Most recently, it seems that hackers are being blamed for “penetrating power systems (sound familiar?) in several regions outside the US, and in at least one case, causing a power outage affecting multiple cities.” That’s according to Tom Donahue, a CIA official, who failed to dole out critical details such as where or when the attacks occurred nor how many folks were actually left in the dark. (Read the full post about ‘Hackers reportedly targeting cities’ power systems’…)

Share This

A gazillion readers asked for it, so here it is: if you are reading Gizmodo now in the iPhone, you can bookmark us in your home screen and you will get a shiny Giz icon to add to your Springboard, for you to tickle every time you need a Giz fix. Tags: mobiles, equipment, wi-fi, cameras (Read the full post about ‘Gizmodo Gets iPhone Icon [Announcements]’…)

Share This

Line 6 has just dropped news on its Micro Spider which is part of the best selling Spider III family of modeling amplifiers, making this an essential friend of any self-respecting traveling guitarist. The Micro Spider features a quartet of Spider III amp models, an entirely new acoustic guitar model, half a dozen Smart Control FX (complete with reverb, chorus, and tap delay among others), and a precise chromatic tuner. All these are crammed into the Micro Spider that touts to bring intuitive functionality, total versatility and sensational tone to any budding guitarist who is looking for a chance to make it big time. They also say that good things come in small packages, so I would highly recommend that you don’t judge the Micro Spider by its size. (Read the full post about ‘Micro Spider from Line 6′…)

Share This

Posted Jan 19th 2008 11:13AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs Our eyes may still be slightly out of focus from the complete lack of sleep obtained while at CES, but the two Inventec UMPCs purportedly going by 7-A / 5-D sure look a heck of a lot different than the model we peeked in Vegas. As you can glean from the image above, the UMPC 7-A sports a nifty slider design that supposedly places the QWERTY keyboard at a “more natural angle” for the user. As for the so-called UMPC 5-D (shown after the jump), it ditches the aforementioned design and takes a more modular approach to satisfy those who just adore buying a new dock for every handheld they own. (Read the full post about ‘Inventec’s UMPC 7-A and 5-D get pictured’…)

Share This

We all do embarrassing things when we are young, but at least for my generation they tended to stay in the past and away from the eyes of prospective employers, but for todays social networking generation I wonder how much of what seems like a good idea now may come back to haunt them in the future as more and more employers turn to social networking sites to find out more about potential employees. But as ever with the Internet a new business trend is emerging to resolve this problem. Companies like ReuptationDefender will charge £20 to provide a monthly report about every piece of information about you on the Internet. (Read the full post about ‘Tidy up your Online Profile’…)

Share This

If you are a heavy user of high-speed Internet, your happy days of peer-to-peer downloading might soon be over. Time Warner Cable, currently the second largest U.S. cable operator, plans to shift from the standard flat fee to a usage-based billing scheme. The Internet subscribers in Beaumont, Texas are the chosen guinea pigs for the first trial run. The test is slated later this year but the terms had not been set yet. Since video downloading and streaming are very popular nowadays, the cable operator claims this is a strategy to minimize network congestion. Moreover, it assured the public that its impact is very minimal for only 5% of all customers are considered heavy users. (Read the full post about ‘Time Warner Cable to trial usage-based broadband billing’…)

Share This

The Flipstart pricing has been dropped, and almost to a point where it could be considered affordable. It was originally launched at a whopping $1999, initially it had a $500 price drop and when that price seemed to high to drive sales it was then cut in half, dropping all the way down to $699. It seems strange that an initial price of $1999 seemed logical now that they have it all the way down to $699, regardless, it now seems almost like a fair price. For those unfamiliar the Vulcan Flipstart is a “ultraportable PC” that has a small but full QWERTY keyboard with a 5.6-inch wide SVGA display and opens similar to a regular laptop. (Read the full post about ‘Vulcan Flipstart price slashed, now just $699′…)

Share This

Are you proud of everything on your office computer? Are those items you might not be so eager to display really hidden from the view and scrutiny of others? Alas, for the answer is now unequivocally “no.” Your office PC, thanks to Microsoft’s new Big Brother-style software, may now be considered a weapon loaded with ammunition! This new software is a lazy, ineffectual office worker’s nightmare, for it is capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical well being and competence. This monitoring system would enable computers to wirelessly pick up on a user’s heart rate, galvanic skin response, brain signals, body temperature, facial movements and expressions, blood pressure, and respiration rate. (Read the full post about ‘Microsoft Patents ‘SPY’ Software: Turn around and beware!’…)

Share This

As a fan of the Eee PC I have to say that I was a little disappointed to see this review from Walt Mossberg. I tend more often to agree with his reviews, however in this case I cannot fully agree, nor disagree with the comments that he made. While the points that he made are valid, I think the Eee is great for its intended market. An example is the keyboard is “cramped, but workable.” I cannot disagree, the keyboard seems very small at first, especially when compared to a full size desktop style keyboard and for a while makes typing very difficult, but the Eee is not really a primary use machine and the small form factor is what draws many to purchase one. (Read the full post about ‘Walt Mossberg reviews the Eee PC: Verdict, “cramped, but workable”’…)

Share This