Gadgets Control

by Ross Rubin, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 2:30PMEach week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment. The oldest of the “three screens” — television – is generally far from the wisest. Sure, an endless array of set-top boxes and AV components packed with processors have appeared in the last few decades to use its screen as a surrogate, and now a high-definition, display for video games, PC content, Web pages, multimedia, videoconferencing and other entertainment. But while much television programming — especially news and sports programs – has become cluttered with contextual trivia and tickers, the core TV viewing experience has remained stubbornly passive. (Read the full post about ‘Switched On: Net-enabled movies pit a blue ray versus a true way’…)

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From e-mail outages to inadvertent credit-card charges, problems with online service MobileMe have been adding up to widespread criticism of Apple, not to mention embarrassment. New York Times tech columnist Dave Pogue published his rant on Thursday, calling the service a "MobileMess." Meanwhile, Apple’s estimated "one percent" of MobileMe users have not been able to access their e-mail for six days — and they’re getting more peeved each day. And to top it off, Wall Street Journal tech columnist and Apple fan Walt Mossberg says that even when MobileMe’s working, the service still isn’t any good. "Life was a lot better before MobileMe," one user posted in Apple’s support forums. (Read the full post about ‘Apple Slammed for MobileMe Disaster’…)

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The BookEndz Docking Station targets PowerBook, MacBook and MacBook Pro owners by offering all the similar ports save for power and ExpressCard, of course. All you need to do is plug your precious notebook into the dock and you’re good to go. Below is the pricing for the respective models to suit your fancy. 17-inch MacBook Pro - $319.95 15-inch MacBook Pro - $299.95 13-inch MacBook - $159 17-inch PowerBook G4 - $299.95 15-inch PowerBook G4 - $274.95 They certainly aren’t cheap, but seem to do their job pretty well. (Read the full post about ‘BookEndz Docking Station’…)

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Here’s one USB device that could be practical: a portable-USB back massager that can be used whilst at home, or even in the car (with the bundled in-car adapter). It can be used to relax your tired back, lumbar, leg and also neck muscles - at least that’s what the manufacturer claims, we have not tested it. It features four massage modes, which include kneading, tapping, shiatsu and rolling. Massage strengths and rhythms include high, medium and low. Said massager also features a remote control, which can be used to control the massager. The cost owning this personal masseur is £39.99 (about $79). (Read the full post about ‘USB Back Massager Can Be Used In Car’…)

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Korean PC manufacturer Ripple has released a new mini desktop PC, dubbed the Mini Chocolate PC. Ripple’s new mini computing machine is powered by a 1.6GHz Atom processor and is loaded with 2GB of RAM, four USB ports, two SATA sockets and an IDE socket. You can also plug-in additional optical drive in its extra slot. Measuring only 15 x 210 x 80mm and looking a lot like the mac mini, Ripple’s Mini Chocolate PC is now available in Korea market for 209,000 Korean won (around $200 US). It may a good alternative to the Eee Box if you’re not an Asus fan, but over all nothing special considering the optical drive is an extra add-on and it is limited to just a wired Ethernet connection. (Read the full post about ‘Ripple unveils the Atom-powered Mini Chocolate PC’…)

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Thanko doesn’t want to be left out of the portable media player game with the DTLMP42G that carries the following features :- 2.8″ widescreen LCD display 2GB internal memory SD/SDHC memory card slot Built-in speaker Supports AVI, FLV, RM and RMVB video files Supports MP3 and WMA audio files Supports JPEG images Interested parties will be able to pick it up for €50 at the end of this month, but something tells me the reception will be less than sterling. (Read the full post about ‘Thanko DTLMP42G Portable Media Player’…)

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It’s simple, and cool, literally. In theory, this would be a great way to cool yourself but in practice you might look like too nerdy. It doesn’t need any battery, since it’s solar-powered and what better place to get sunlight than a cap visor? It might kill attacking mosquitoes too… Brando is currently selling it for $10. Tags: sat-nav, ipod, mobiles, home theater (Read the full post about ‘Personal Solar Fan For Caps’…)

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Leaving a power cable plugged into an outlet without even turning it on will still sip some power from the grid, and when you think about it on the larger scale, that will definitely affect your power bill at the end of each month, although the effect is not quite pronounced and more subtle instead. Designer Paula Oh decided that enough’s enough, coming up with a plan to prevent that from ever happening again - by unplugging them. That’s a no-brainer, but what Paula did differently was offer the Hang On Outlet that holds your loose plugs so that you won’t get unsightly cords and wires lying all over the place in a haphazard manner. (Read the full post about ‘Hang On Outlet’…)

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So we’ve all been there. That rush of panic when we’ve lost (or at least momentarily think we’ve lost) our cell phone.  When our phone contains lots of confidential data like bank info and emails, the panic level tends to rise even more quickly. Now we don’t have to just worry about Joe Finder using up our minutes, but now Joe Finder could access our bank accounts and read all those spicy emails we sent to Suzy at the office, uh-oh. This not even counting in the fact that the money spent on the phone is now down the drain. Enter your possible savior, the cell phone Superhero! (Read the full post about ‘It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s … a cell phone Superhero?’…)

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If you are tired of all the wires sitting behind your TV then you’ll be glad of the following news.

A special interest group has been formed; of well-known electronics manufacturers who are working on a new wireless standard called Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI). Once completed it will allow for wireless communication between your TV and the devices connected to it, such as your Blu-ray player, games console or cable box.

The group includes Sharp, Samsung, Sony, Motorola and Hitachi among others, and will use the WHDI chip created by Israeli company Amimon.

Noam Geri, co founder of Amimon said:

If you have a TV in the home, that TV will be able to access any source in the home, whether it’s a set-top box in the living room, or the playstation in the bedroom, or a DVD player in another bedroom.

(Read the full post about ‘Electronics giants sign-up for Wireless Home Digital Interface’…)

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