Gadgets Control

by Richard Lawler, posted Jun 30th 2008 at 5:11PM Good luck convincing Grandma to pack a DVR-250 next to the same telly that’s been avoiding TV detectors for years, but how about a “match box-sized” addition that gives all the benefits of the digital switchover and without taking up a lot of space? TVonics MFR-300 improves on previous versions with support for Audio Description allowing people with sight problems to hear subtle on screen changes described, plus interactive TV features, EPG and parental controls. (Read the full post about ‘TVonics rolls out tiny MFR-300 Freeview tuner’…)

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If you’re one of those weird and sometimes gloomy people (like me) who get the urge to close the curtains on even the nicest of days, a new solar development will give us a new excuse to do it: It might help the environment and save us a few bucks.

Sheila Kennedy, a faculty member of MIT’s School of Design, has developed new solar textiles and used them to create the first sustainable, energy yielding curtains. The curtains were developed for a green-living exhibit at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, and the coolest thing about them is that they can produce up to 16,000 hours of watt-induced electricity.

(Read the full post about ‘MIT Lecturer Develops Solar Textiles, Redefines Curtain Function’…)

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If you’re one of those weird and sometimes gloomy people (like me) who get the urge to close the curtains on even the nicest of days, a new solar development will give us a new excuse to do it: It might help the environment and save us a few bucks. Sheila Kennedy, a faculty member of MIT’s School of Design, has developed new solar textiles and used them to create the first sustainable, energy yielding curtains. The curtains were developed for a green-living exhibit at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, and the coolest thing about them is that they can produce up to 16,000 hours of watt-induced electricity.           Just like regular solar cell panels, the curtains absorb sunlight in the daytime and hold it in as needed. (Read the full post about ‘MIT Lecturer Develops Solar Textiles, Redefines Curtain Function’…)

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Gaming will never be the same again if you plan to rock with the Pyramat PC Sound Chair. This model comes with a couple of 8 watt speakers, a 40 watt subwoofer and blue LEDs to add to the atmosphere and overall coolness. Good thing this is wireless, so you won’t accidentally trip or pull it apart when you kick the chair back from the computer table. It is powered by rechargeable batteries and comes with an earphone socket that allows you to groove to your own tunes in privacy. The Pyramat PC Sound Chair will retail for a relatively expensive £249.95. I’d rather get a spanking set of speakers instead with that amount of dough. (Read the full post about ‘Pyramat PC Sound Chair’…)

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blackberry owners will be more than pleased to know that their smartphones will be getting RIM-endorsed iTunes synchronization software, but this will be available only for a short while. Nobody really knows why the software was suddenly taken offline - perhaps it was born too prematurely, and not meant for public consumption just yet? Other people think this is just a teaser to create a higher level of awareness in order to make it a hit when it is finally available, while the more negative ones think that this has way too many bugs for its own good. Good thing there is such a thing as mirrors which will make this software available for folks with a good nose for such “hidden” software. (Read the full post about ‘BlackBerry iTunes Synchronization Software’…)

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ViewSonic has a brand new 26″ lcd monitor that will definitely fill the need for those who want more viewing real estate on their desks. Features of the VA2626WM LCD monitor include :-

• 1,920 x 1,200 resolution
• 6,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio
• HDMI connectivity
• DVI and VGA connectors
• 2.5-watt pair of stereo speakers

You will be able to bring home the ViewSonic VA2626WM for $529 when it ships next month.

Tags: DAB, ipod, cable, mobile devices

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It used to be a bit of a hassle to add displays to a computer. The first one was a given, and with the right video card the second one was easy as well, but after that you had to get creative. There were ways to add additional video outputs, mainly using expansion slots, but these tended to be expensive, or enough trouble that most people that planned on expanded their setup stopped at two displays. Accessories were often an easier option, like Matrox’s DualHead2Go and while easy to use these solutions tended to be expensive and limited. The extra display issue recently got a lot easier when it became possible to output a display signal through USB. (Read the full post about ‘Review: Asus VW223B DisplayLink Monitor’…)

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If news reports coming out of Malaysia are to be believed, a number of BitTorrent tracker sites have been closed down by order of the Malaysian government.

ISPs in the country were ordered to suspend the hosting accounts of specific sites by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs under the Copyright Act 1987. This has lead to several torrent sites going offline with little or no warning. ISPs have contacted the sites involved saying they had no choice as the order came directly from the government.

An administrator from a tracker site hosted in Malaysia contacted TorrentFreak.com and said:

Malaysia’s government suddenly forced all torrent websites to shut down today until further notice, a complete surprise to torrent admins and the offshore hosting companies in Malaysia.

(Read the full post about ‘BitTorrent sites suspended by Malaysian Government’…)

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A survey by the European Union has found that many Europeans are ditching their landline phones all together.

According to the survey, 24% of European households just use a mobile phone. If that wasn’t bad enough for traditional phone service operators, another 22% were using their computer to make calls over the Internet.

What’s kind of interesting about almost one in four households using just a mobile phone is that many subscribers have reported problems with their service. One in four mobile subscribers reported having occasional problems connecting to their mobile network.

(Read the full post about ‘EU survey shows 24% of Europeans ditch landlines and go mobile’…)

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Good news and bad news from Canada, in the form of Rogers’ iphone 3G tariffs. Actually, there is no good news, so we’ll get straight into it. The cheapest monthly rate from the telco we love to hate will be $60 per month ($CAN and $US are so close we’ll skip the conversions) and you’ll get 150 minutes. The crunch comes with the data plans, arguably the most important part of an iPhone tariff. At the basic rate, you’ll “enjoy” a whole 400MB per month. And Rogers makes it clear that a Megabyte means 1024 KB, so you’ll get closer to 390MB of the kind you’re used to. Worse still, the top-flight plan, for $115, gives you just 2GB, which is far from the unlimited we might have hoped for. (Read the full post about ‘Rogers Reveals IPhone Tariffs, Canada Groans’…)

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