Gadgets Control

Plants are more versatile than we give them credit for, you can make clothes with them, build with them, use them as ornaments and if your really radical you can eat them. However up until know you would have even thought of making phones with them, and its all thanks to Samsung who have unveiled their new “initiative to be more nature friendly” which means they will making some of their new handsets (the W510 is the first) out of corn. Admittedly it is not just corn as that would be incredibly impractical, rather it is a corn based plastic that makes the casing. This technology is not new, it has been used in things like plastic bags on-and-off since the mid 1990s, but it is not till now that it has been used in such a high profile and relatively high cost product. (Read the full post about ‘Where’s the butter?  New Samsung Corn phone’…)

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Here’s a preview of the Sidekick LX Video Recording quality, as you can see it’s postage stamp sized (176×144 px) and the quality isn’t even close to fantastic. We’ve opted not to embed a youtube video as it looks even worse when they Compress and stretch it out, but we’ve posted a Quicktime player of the raw video right off the LX.

(Read the full post about ‘Sidekick LX Video Quality Preview’…)

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Verizon announced that they will roll out a 50Mbps down/20Mbps up service in all 16 of the states in which FIOS is available. It will run you $140/mo. Wow, 50Mbps is very tempting, and it seems that we’ve come a long way from the days when we needed much more bandwidth to fulfill the requirements of all the new Net-based services. I wonder if 50Mbps is a tad bit overkill.

Now if they would only offer it in my neighborhood (in CA), I could find out personally!

Posted in Miscellaneous

Tags: Ogg Vorbis, gadgets, plasma, design

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Sending nasty text messages about your boss - or sending an email to another company asking about openings - always rated high on the employee risk scale if you were using a work-based account. Never mind the existence of personal email accounts; some workers felt they had a reasonable expectation of privacy even if they were sitting in a cubicle. The Justice Department and lower courts said no, but the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has actually ruled in favor of those workers. The court said employers who outsource email and electronic communications to an outside company do not have the right to read those emails just because they’re paying for you to use those services; they have to get your permission first. (Read the full post about ‘9th Court of Appeals says your work emails/text messages are private’…)

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Earlier this week we reported the introduction of two new projectors by InFocus which feature DisplayLink technology. That technology allows a user to connect a computer to a projector with nothing more then a USB connection. Now the tech has been incorporated into new LCD monitors by ASUS.

The 22in monitor (VW223B) will be available in the U.S., Europe and Asia and is capable of widescreen resolutions up to 1680×1050. Besides being able to connect to a computer via a USB connection, up to six additional monitors can be connected as long as there are available USB ports on the PC.

(Read the full post about ‘New ASUS monitors feature DisplayLink USB connectivity’…)

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Tim Brown from VIA’s marketing group will take you through the insides of their OpenBook in the video above, while dishing out an explanation on one of the OpenBook’s most important features - the dual PCI-Express Mini slots. What’s the significance behind that, you ask? Well, having double slots makes it easy for OEMs to offer various versions of the device without putting in too much effort. This allows one to customize their OpenBook with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, GPS navigation, 3G support and potentially WiMAX cards in the future.

(Read the full post about ‘VIA OpenBook Innards Shown’…)

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Don’t you just love the Internet? After all, that’s where all the juicy rumors are, and this time round we have the Nikon D700 to keep you transfixed over what Nikon has in store for the future. Apparently, the D700 is set tp be a full frame dSLR, boasting 12.1 megapixels of goodness and retailing for a cool $3,000.

(Read the full post about ‘Nikon D700 Rumor’…)

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 19th 2008 at 12:08PM This four-port USB hub cube from Brando almost makes sense. You see, the top two ports have on / off switches which, if you use USB to charge things, may be a useful feature. But then we gotta wonder what kind of USB device doesn’t either shut down automatically or stop charging once it has gotten all the juice it needs. That all said, if you’re looking for a 4-port hub with on / off switches, this could be yours for $12.Read PermalinkEmail this31 CommentsFiled under: Misc. gadgetsTags: Hi-fi, toys, CD, home cinema (Read the full post about ‘Brando’s four-port USB hub comes with on / off switches’…)

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This odd little light is created to look like an industrial pipe. To many it might just be a lighted pipe, but being a big Ninja Turtles geek, it has me wishing that I had the dough to snag one myself. The industrial pipe, to me, gives the look of toxic goo flowing down a sewer pipe. Although it might not blend well in many homes, it’d look great in any geeky office. Especially if it were decked out in Mario Bros decals. Sewer pipes have all kinds of geek appeal and would look great in a child’s room as well. You could even throw these in with the Luna Blocks (lego furniture) for an especially odd décor. The pipes even have nice detailing to make them look a bit more realistic. (Read the full post about ‘Lightpipe looks like it is glowing with radioactive goo’…)

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by Paul Miller, posted Jun 19th 2008 at 9:32AM
There’s no stopping this guy, and now he’s built himself an Atari 7800 portable just to make sure the kiddie hackers know who’s the Heckendornest. Ben Heck built the 7800 portable with a 7-inch widescreen to accomodate that larger motherboard on the 7800 (compared to the 2600). Apparently large, complex motherboards just don’t phase him anymore. The unit boasts rechargeable batteries, a combination driving / paddle controller, and an A/V output jack. (Read the full post about ‘Ben Heck does it again with Atari 7800 portable’…)

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