Gadgets Control

Posted Jan 29th 2008 3:23PM by Paul MillerFiled under: Household If you’re like us, you’re sure to have fond memories of gathering around the radio in your jammies on Saturday morning and listening to the likes of Adventures in Odyssey and Life with Luigi; an experience that was only marred by the smell of your Dad’s rotting stereo speakers. Maybe that was just us? Well, perhaps you can learn to commiserate with this USB Aroma Radio + Speaker from Brando. It sounds a lot like that Aroma Geur radio we saw a while back, only it’s about $400 cheaper and probably much less likely to synchronize its aromas and LEDs to the music. You can also use the unit as a line-in speaker if you’ve had enough of radio — and wh (Read the full post about ‘USB Aroma Radio almost smells as bad as the regular kind’…)

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Although a few of the specialty gadgets we love are one-off items that can only be purchased directly from the manufacturer, most of them are things you can pick up in one big trip to the big box store. Or online. Or wherever you do your shopping. So which is it? Where do you spend your cash? Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you’re viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser. Tags: design, tests, Ogg Vorbis, speakers (Read the full post about ‘Question of the Day: Where Do You Do Your Gadget Shopping? [Question Of The Day]’…)

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If you happen to have a free CardBus slot on your notebook, I would strongly suggest getting this Device Wire Adapter (DMA) class from WUSB, bringing wireless USB to the masses. Unfortunately, there isn’t any word on either pricing or availability, so you will have to remain in the wired world until a formal announcement is made. Tags: buyers guides, video, hi fi, digital (Read the full post about ‘Wireless USB For CardBus Slot’…)

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The latest DirecTV 11 satellite just built by Boeing has the capacity to up the total capacity of their programming network to 150 national HD channels and 1,500 local channels. So get ready to fire up those HDTVs—the satellite is expected to launch in March. [Boeing] Tags: amps, video game, home cinema, mobile phone (Read the full post about ‘New DirecTV Satellite Capable of 150 HD and 1,500 Local Channels [Home Entertainment]’…)

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Posted Jan 29th 2008 3:54PM by Darren MurphFiled under: Portable Audio, Portable Video Yeah, we Americans have some pretty fancy toys to play with, but we still can’t help but feel a touch slighted each time one of these beauties emerges from South Korea. WithView’s HM-U500 sports a whole lot of screen and not much bezel, an ultrathin design and a 4.3-inch 480 x 272 resolution panel. Reportedly, the unit is available in 4GB and 8GB iterations and features an SD expansion slot, built-in camera, a kickstand, headphone jack, a T-DMB tuner, e-dictionary, and support for MP3, WMV, OGG, JPG, BMP, PNG and AVI file formats. No word on a price or anything, but for the US crowd who can’t just hop on the next fl (Read the full post about ‘WithView’s HM-U500 do-it-all handles DMB, makes Americans envious’…)

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Posted Jan 29th 2008 8:47AM by Evan BlassFiled under: Household Normally we’re supposed to be concerned about depleting ozone levels to the point where we inhabit one big sauna, but according to an investigative piece by the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), household air purifiers which produce the gas as a byproduct may also pose a significant threat. Studies cited by the Journal suggest that both ozone generation as well as filtration models can emit dangerous levels of the reactive gas, which can be harmful either when inhaled directly or when combined with other common chemicals. (Read the full post about ‘Air purifiers under fire for ozone emission’…)

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As you’ve probably gathered, the FCC website is chock full of unannounced gadgets—some more important than others. Finding these gadgets is a simple process, but for many, knowing where to begin is a difficult task. We’ve decided to throw together this how-to guide so you can find your own treasure chest of undiscovered gadgets…just like the pros! The Search Page The first step is knowing when and where to look. New FCC entries pop up every day of the week, but Thursdays seem to be the best day for new stuff. The page you want to search is the Electronic Authorization System. If you click the Search link on the top of the FCC home page, then choose FCC ID Search (or just click the link above), it will take you to the form that runs through the test files for all pending electronics. (Read the full post about ‘How To Discover Secret Gadgets on the FCC Site [Search And Destroy]’…)

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The Office for Metropolitan Architecture has designed this stunning 247,569-square-foot Science Centre for the Hamburg Hafencity, which is part of the Hamburg harbour, one of the largest ports in the world. The stunning ring design is composed of ten modular blocks, and it will include a science theater, aquarium, theater, offices, laboratories and retail area. It may be their painterly nature, but the rest of the rendering make it look quite surreal, in a Matrix-meets-Tetris kind of way. otterdam, January 22nd 2008): The Office for Metropolitan Architecture has revealed the final design for a Science Centre and Aquarium for the Hamburg Hafencity complex. (Read the full post about ‘Hamburg Science Centre and Aquarium Makes Us Go Ooooooooo [Architecture]’…)

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Posted Jan 29th 2008 8:25AM by Paul MillerFiled under: Transportation Apparently when you’re saving the planet with an all-electric car, there’s no need to kill yourself over safety. The Tesla Roadster has been granted a waiver in regards to advanced air bags by the NHTSA, since the “public interest is served by encouraging the development of fuel-efficient and alternative-fueled vehicles.” Standard air bags are still included, and Tesla apparently tried to comply with the advanced requirement, but told the NHTSA that it’s in the hole financially, and would have to cancel the planned sedan and “ultimately have to terminate its operations” if forced to go through with the fancy air bags. (Read the full post about ‘Tesla Roadster gets out of air bag requirement for green behavior’…)

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Gadget Lab’s Rob Beschizza has made himself a little piss-take of the MacBook Air. Curved corners—that’s an Ives-esque attention to detail you’ve got there— and a killer punchline. This one goes out to all the secret Luddites who read the Giz.

(Read the full post about ‘A MacBook Air Parody that Goes One Better than Wafer-Thin [Apple]’…)

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