Gadgets Control

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 22nd 2008 at 9:43AM Man, talk about quick reflexes. Not even a fortnight after Radiopaq announced its WiFi radio-enabled Rp5, along comes Pure Digital to keep things competitive. The stylish-in-its-own-way EVOKE Flow not only taps into the intarwebz for streaming music, but it also includes FM / DAB tuners and support for DAB+. (Read the full post about ‘Pure gets with the internet radio game, debuts EVOKE Flow’…)

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There is nothing quite like having some cold ice cream during the sweltering summer heat, and with the Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker, you don’t have to go all out to purchase a tub since you can make your own ice cream yourself. With the unique Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker, you can make ice cream anywhere! Simply add ice and rock salt into the outer chamber and ice cream mix into the inner, then have a ball as you shake it, pass it or roll it! Who would have thought soft serve ice cream makers could be so much fun! The ice cream forms when you roll the ball around. The consistency of your home made ice cream will depend on the ingredients, the ice and salt mix, the outside temperature and shaking frequency. (Read the full post about ‘Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker’…)

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When is an all-in-one PC good enough to be used as living room entertainment center?

In the seventh episode of the Gadget Lab Videoblog, Daniel Dumas and Terrence Russell debate over this central question while reviewing the 22-inch HP TouchSmart IQ506 PC.

With touch screen capabilities, a 500 GB hard drive, and a TV tuner, this PC cries out to be touched, but it might not have enough components (like HDMI ports) to give your HDTV a good fight.

If the video above is not working, please click here to view it: Review of the HP TouchSmart IQ506 All-in-One PC.

You can also check out all of our previous videos at Wired’s own channel on YouTube.

(Read the full post about ‘Gadget Lab Videoblog: Review of the HP TouchSmart IQ506′…)

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In this week’s Gadget Lab podcast, Dylan Tweney, Jose Fermoso, and Brian Chen talk about the future of Palm, the company that virtually invented the smart phone market but whose recent mistakes might put it on the brink of acquisition, or worse. In addition, they go over the Gadget Lab’s iPhone 3G download/upload-speed survey, which is being compiled in a handy, interactive ZeeMap for everyone’s benefit, and they reveal the operating systems they use around the Wired office. Finally, they review the Lenovo U110 notebook computer, which on top of being extremely attractive and portable also includes a creepy face recognition security feature (it’s just like living with a Fembot.) Thanks for listening to the weekly podcast. (Read the full post about ‘Gadget Lab Podcast #42: Palm Treo Pro, The iPhone 3G Study, and Lenovo’s U110 Notebook’…)

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You’ve probably read one of the many articles about Microsoft’s new $300 million dollar ad campaign for Windows Vista. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is reportedly getting $10 million of that pot of money to be the spokesperson. It is probably reasonable to guess that Seinfeld was brought in to help counter the highly successful Apple ads featuring the hip “Mac” and hapless “PC”.

If this is going to be a Microsoft vs.

(Read the full post about ‘Jerry Seinfeld vs. Mac & PC guy: Draft Jack Black!’…)

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Sprint has just lowered their Phone-As-Modem pricing from $50 a month all the way down to $15 a month. Sounds like you are going to see some huge savings, right? Well not so fast, because as you would expect with anything that sounds a little good to be true, there are some conditions that will apply. To begin with you need to have a Power Vision phone with connection capabilities, which is going to limit your phone choices a bit, but that is not it. In addition to the phone, you also need to be subscribed to another Sprint data plan, such as the Pro Pack that is going for $30 a month. Now instead of the huge savings that you were thinking, you are saving just $5 a month. (Read the full post about ‘Sprint lowers Phone-As-Model pricing from $50 to $15, conditions apply’…)

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TomTom will be updating their 930 model with the new GO 940 LIVE which will come with a HD traffic module. The GO 940 LIVE will share all the features that made the GO 930 famous, including IQ routes, Lane Assist and Enhanced Positioning Technology to make your life on the road a whole lot easier. In addition, you will also get the “Live” package (for those residing in the UK at least) which includes a subscription to HD Traffic, Safety database (pretty handy when it comes to avoiding safety cameras), current fuel prices as well as Google Search. Hey, you never quite know when you might want to look for something while you’re stuck in traffic, right? TomTom GO 940 LIVE will retail for GBP399, and will require a monthly subscript (Read the full post about ‘TomTom GO 940 LIVE’…)

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Going green is the popular thing to do nowadays, and bus stops in Miami look like they’ll be getting the green treatment too. About 600 bus stops there will be fitted with solar-powered shelters, which will provide enough power to display the hosted ads at the bus stops. By doing so, the shelters will reduce CO2 emissions by about 2 tons each year. Tags: video game, consumer electronics, Ogg Vorbis, gps (Read the full post about ‘Bus Stops To Go Green In Miami’…)

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The popular online photo sharing service Photobucket has entered into a mutually beneficial new partnership with a start-up called Scrapblog.

Scrapblog is a new service that takes the concept of the scrapbook online. Rather than sticking your printed photos into a book, Scrapblog invites you to arrange your digital prints within a digital book. You can then add a range of background designs and supplement it with video footage, written notes and then share your book with others.

Those digital pictures have to be stored somewhere, however, and this new partnership is meant to allow for a simple storage solution beyond what Scrapblog offesr on its own.

(Read the full post about ‘Scrapblog and Photobucket create partnership’…)

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Casio G’zOne Boulder I’m not going to mince words. This phone is orange. Really orange. Like in the same obnoxious vein as the color options for a new Hummer. But if you can overlook this (as I eventually did), then you’ll probably enjoy Casio’s new G’zOne, dubbed the "Boulder." That’s right — this angular, candy colored handset is the offspring of the Gadgetlab’s crumpled Type-V, Type-S, and Type-SL review units. The Boulder isn’t another rugged rehash, though. In fact, Casio finally threw a curve by including some fairly useful multimedia features. Welcome additions like music playback, a more powerful (but still lacking) camera, and zippy EV-DO connectivity fatten up this phone’s already rock solid resume. (Read the full post about ‘Review: Rough Riding Casio Phone Is Like Getting a Hummer (No, Not That Kind)’…)

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