Gadgets Control

It may look like an iPhone, but it’s actually a home phone/information center that’s meant to sit on your coffee table, phone table or kitchen counter. IP telephony company OpenPeak’s iPhone clone for homes is production ready, says Amy Mikolasy, OpenPeak’s director of partner marketing, and could be in the market by the first quarter of 2009. Florida-based OpenPeak has been working on the slick IP media phone, called OpenFrame, for about a year and a half now. “We have done the end-to-end product design, from hardware to software and the device management system,” says Mikolasy. The phone has been designed as an interactive information and communication center for the family.  “It is meant to replace the home phone, which has been left behind by technology,” she says. (Read the full post about ‘iPhone of Home Phones Coming Next Year’…)

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It was a launch that at times seemed like it was never going to happen, and now that it has officially been confirmed by Rogers, potential customers have just about 24 hours left to wait before they are able to purchase a blackberry Bold of their own. Sadly Rogers has not released any pricing details, I guess they are intent on making everyone wait to the very last minute for everything. However, according to RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie it will be priced between $300 and $400 and will be aimed at business users, which seems to fit in nicely with the rumored price of $399. Of course, I can imagine most potential customers are hoping it will come in a little less expensive, possibly something a little closer to the pricing of the 16GB iphone. (Read the full post about ‘Rogers makes the BlackBerry Bold official, available August 21′…)

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 Lenovo IdeaPad U110 Years after chucking the IBM moniker, Lenovo has worked hard to produce a line of PCs that don’t scream "boring business machine." While the ThinkPad series is essentially a roll call of austere black boxes, the IdeaPad set injects a little color and style for folks that aren’t looking for that office-drone look. The U110 ultralight we received looks striking with a scarlet paisley-etched aluminum lid paired with a shiny jet-black keyboard area.(You can opt for an all-black model if you want stay true to your Hot Topic Goth roots.) 

 As soon as you open it up and power it on, you come face to face with one of the U110’s most interesting yet unsettling features: VeriFace recognition. (Read the full post about ‘Review: Little Lenovo Notebook Acts a Bit Like Big Brother’…)

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Palm, once again has announced the Treo Pro, of course it seems this time it was made official, as they have released a press release, promo video and also added the newly designed Treo to their website. This release is actually pretty exciting for a Treo, not only does the Pro have a nice clean design and decent features it will also be sold unlocked for $549 here in the US. Palm has yet to announce a specific date of release, however they have stated it will hit the market in September. Aside from the US, the Treo Pro will also be available through Vodafone and O2 in Europe and through Telstra in Australia. As for the specs, it will be running Windows Mobile 6.1 and powered by a 400MHz Qualcomm processor with 256MB (100MB user available) and 128MB RAM. (Read the full post about ‘Palm officially unveils the unlocked Treo Pro’…)

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Archos recently came out with 3 new devices, all of which are Internet Media Tablets. These new gadgets are set to combine music/video playback, TV, and the Internet, all in one sweet device. These new Archos tablets are called the Archos 5, Archos 7, and Archos 5g. Let’s begin with the Archos 5. This device ranges in models with storage capacities of 60GB to a massive 250GB. It comes with a 5-inch screen to display the Internet and videos as clear as possible. Next, we have the Archos 7 and the 7 stands for it’s screen size, a beautiful 7-inch display. The cool feature in this one as opposed to the Archos 5, is that it can play live TV, a nice feature to have in any handheld device. (Read the full post about ‘Archos rolls out new Internet Media Tablets’…)

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Photos of the Archos 7 and 5 side by side have appeared on the web and help you realize the real difference is size between the two. If you missed it, they are internet tablets and portable media players (well, this is what Archos is known for) and were just announced yesterday morning. They both connect wirelessly via 3.5G or WIFI and have a touch-interface. Via generationmp3 (in French)Related Archos 5 and Archos 7 announcements Archos 5 and Archos 7 user interface screenshots Tags: pvp, robots, mobile devices, digital (Read the full post about ‘Archos7 and Archos 5 side-by-side photos’…)

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As you probably already know, Intel’s Developer Forum is running this week from the 19th to the 21st at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. While IDF is always a big deal for processor geeks, this time it’s particularly important thanks to a number of developments at Intel that are finally starting to arrive.

• Intel’s SSDs
  Everyone has been talking about Intel’s SSDs lately, thanks not only to the expectations of high performance but also affordable prices (on some models). Laptop Mag got some hand-on time with the SSDs and gave us the lowdown. Two drives, the 1.8-inch X18-M and 2.5-inch X25-M, are slated to arrive within the next month, both of which use MLC technology but still promise serious performance.

(Read the full post about ‘Early News from IDF- MIDs, Intel SSDs, and more’…)

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After the phenomenal success of Michael Phelps at the Olympics this summer, I predict swimming pools across the land will be booked solid for many months to come. If you’re a keen swimmer (or plan to become one) but miss your music when you’re in the pool, you might be tempted by Speedo’s new mp3 player. Designed especially for in-pool listening, the Aquabeat comes in an array of neon colors and has large, easy-to-see controls. I’m not entirely sure how the headphone situation works - maybe those wires are retractable? - but Speedo says it’s safe to use. Via Shiny Shiny. (Read the full post about ‘Swim to the beat with Speedo’s new MP3 player’…)

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This isn’t strictly about gadgets, but we know you Gadget Lab readers love you some spacemen. Especially real life spacemen.

Over at BoingBoing TV, Xeni Jardin has interviewed the legendary astronaut and second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin, with, as they say, hilarious results. Buzz comes on like some single-minded politician, taking Xeni’s questions and ignoring every single one in favor of rants about beaming power from the moon, running rockets on water and something about the future of the children.

The best part, though, is the editing.

(Read the full post about ‘Xeni Jardin Interviews Buzz Aldrin. Buzz Fails to Notice’…)

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Google has launched a new campaign to “Free The Airwaves”. The campaign centers around the company’s desire for the FCC to open up the unused airwaves between broadcast television channels.

(Read the full post about ‘Google wants to free the airwaves’…)

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