Gadgets Control

Considering how cold the winter is where I live, I could certainly use the Real Fireplace Illuminational Heater right now. The Real Fireplace Illuminational Heater was developed in Japan, and I am told that they have some pretty cold winters. In fact, many apartment dwellings in Japan are not well insulated and do not have fireplaces. It appears that this device solves both of those dilemmas. You can clearly see how this device creates a realistic flatscreen display of a fireplace. It certainly is much better than those fake fireplaces with the rotating red and yellow light underneath some fake plastic “ashes”. (Read the full post about ‘Real Fireplace Illuminational Heater’…)

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PMA is a busy, busy period for everyone involved in the imaging business, and the same can be said for Sony. The company has just introduced a couple of photo printers that boast one touch printing as well as in-printer photo editing features, allowing even the most clueless person to be able to print out some rather decent images straight from the camera without any need to know about Photoshop and its wonders. The two photo printers in question are the Sony PictureStation DPP-FP95 and DPP-FP75, being small and portable enough to be carried around anywhere without snapping a tendon in your shoulder or something. Since these photo printers are light enough to tote around, they can be taken to different events for instant printouts. (Read the full post about ‘Sony helps simplify printing process’…)

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We have reported on portable camcorders from Mustek one year ago, but the DV300T is one of the most unique designs of any recorder out on the market today. This camera definitely has the YouTube generation in mind as it has a VGA CMOS sensor for filming sub-NTSC or PAL type video. As for still shots, it can do about 3.1 Megapixels which is “Interpolated Resolution by Security Standard VGA Sensor”. I’m not certain exactly what that means, but it sounds like it means that there is some sort of digital image stabilization happening here. That sounds hard to believe, considering the device only has 64 MB worth of memory. However, that is expandable with SD cards. (Read the full post about ‘Mustek DV300T Portable Video Camera’…)

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The Official Shoes of Gadget Lab don’t seem to be getting any closer to production, but the Maloof brothers, who run the McFly 2015 project, have the next best thing: Stickers.

The self-fastening sneakers from Back to the Future II are possibly the ultimate gadget-nerd footwear, and while the brothers fight for Nike to actually make the things, they’re giving away stickers in a promo competition. Co-Founder Mickey Maloof emailed us with the details: “Visit the website […] and tell us what the moon says (yeah, it’s a talking moon)”.

Anyone in the world who has an address can enter.

(Read the full post about ‘McFly 2015 Competition Announced’…)

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Here’s an interesting alternative to tossing your old iPod into a recycle bin: Follow the lead of Norwegian avant garde musician Espen Sommer Eide and turn it into a kind of musique concrete instrument. Eide’s "Slattberg" combines an old iPod running Linux, a couple of chunks of open-source software, an old loudspeaker and amp and a big ol’ crank.

The result is a contraption that works sort of like a hurdy gurdy and sounds like the entire Sonic Youth catalog played in unison on a public library record player.

(Read the full post about ‘Old iPods Make Artful Racket’…)

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Reports are proliferating of updated iPod Classics buzzing headphones with potentially circuit-frying extra electricity. Owners report that after updating to firmware 1.1, spare electricity dribbles to the headphone jack and docking connection, even when the iPod is turned off. The curent has been measured at 500mV, enough to potentially damage sensitive headphones. Further kvetches describe related problems with static-laden sound after applying the update.Apple’s iPod Classic Could Be Harmful to Your Headphones [The Street] Tags: Hi-fi, audio, design, cool gear (Read the full post about ‘iPods Frying Headphones?’…)

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When Sprint and Nextel merged, many Nextel customers feared the iDEN technology that powered the Push-To-Talk service would be passed over as the new company pushed more products in line with what Sprint already offered. Sprint has a special message for Nextel Direct Connect customers.; its commitment to the iDEN network remains.

Best of all, not only will Sprint look to continue to support the iDEN technology, the company now wants to enhance it in 2008. This includes combining the Direct Connect service with Sprint Mobile Broadband data capabilities. So, instead of just using Push-To-Talk, you could also push-to-x, whether x is an image, text message, or information.

(Read the full post about ‘Sprint to Nextel customers: Direct Connect is here to stay’…)

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Posted Feb 1st 2008 11:34AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: GamingAccording to a report, the next iteration of PS3 packages has been all but confirmed during a GameStop conference call recently. Apparently, the 80GB version of the console is dead, and is due to be replaced by a 120GB model bundled with the Dual Shock 3 controller — just like we mentioned a few days go. There’s no set price or release date, though speculation is that it will turn up by GDC. (Read the full post about ‘New PS3 SKU practically confirmed by GameStop’…)

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Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has said that the company can’t keep up with demand for its ebook reader, the Kindle. At Amazon’s fourth quarter earnings call, Bezos detailed a Wii-like success for the ugly white box: Kindle is, in terms of demand, is outpacing our expectations […] We’re working very hard to increase the number of units that we can build and supply per week.This comes alongside the news that Amazon wants to buy the audiobook company Audible, for a planned $300 million. (Read the full post about ‘Bezos Says Kindle is On Fire’…)

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Lovers who can’t bear to be apart from one another will definitely find the LED Love Finder Shirt a perfect gift this Valentine’s. Whenever both of you are wearing the shirt but are apart from each other, only two and a half pixelated hearts will light up. Should the both of you get within hugging distance, the hearts on both shirts will slowly light up until they’re all fully powered - sorta like a digital representation of what you are feeling at the moment. I’d be a bit careful washing this shirt though, and will probably wear it sparingly if I ever got one. (Read the full post about ‘LED Love Finder Shirt’…)

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