Gadgets Control

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Sep 30th 2008 at 12:09AM An official-looking promo shot of the rumored LG KC780 has surfaced, along supposed confirmation and some details: this will be the slimmest 8 megapixel camera phone to date, offering quad-band GSM support and limited touchscreen functionality. There’s still no word on 3G support, no price and no date — but you’ll know more when we do. Promise. (Read the full post about ‘LG KC780 strives for world’s thinnest 8 megapixel camera phone’…)

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Sep 29th 2008 at 10:44PM While we knew these new Sharp Aquos HDTVs were coming, we had no idea how thin and bright they were in person. Today at CEATEC 2008 Sharp officially announced its LC-65XS1U-S (65-inch) and LC-52XS1U-S (52-inch) AQUOS LCD HDTVs right at CEATEC Japan’s opening bell. The displays’ 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 1080P panel are nice and all, but we now know they measure in at a super gaunt 2.28-cm (0.9-inch) depth and are outfitted with a 2.1-channel, three-way five-speaker system that Sharp jointly developed with Pioneer. Meanwhile, Sharp boasts some serious energy savings with the new displays, promising a 26% reduction in power consumption. (Read the full post about ‘Sharp LC-65XS1U-S and LC-52XS1U-S X-Series AQUOS LCD HDTVs eyes-on’…)

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Sure, some companies are coming up with new touch pad gestures and are even making them memorable by assigning them dirty little names (the Two-Finger Flick? C’mon! They did that one on purpose.) But can they beat a touch pad that tracks your fingers without even touching it? At a tech show in Japan this week, Alps Electric Co. Ltd displayed a technology that senses the electric capacity of hands or fingers that move 3cm above sensors embedded in both sides of a touch pad. This allows a user to control a laptop without touching it and might eventually lead to hands-free computing. This could be a welcome relief to anyone who’s ever had to try the dirty-as-a-coal-mine keyboards at Kinko’s. (Read the full post about ‘Look, Ma — No Hands! New Touch Pad Requires No Actual Touching’…)

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Wireless headsets are convenient but having to charge them regularly is not. Headset manufacturer Plantronics agrees. The company has filed for an interesting patent for a headset that will be powered through movement of the head. That includes "subtle nods, turns and shaking," as well as physical activity such as "walking, running, climbing stairs, riding in a vehicle, riding a horse, riding a bicycle, scooter, skateboard, skiing and climbing a mountain."  According to the patent, the headset would comprise a processor, an acoustic transducer, and a kinetic energy converter coupled to a power cell for powering the headset. (Read the full post about ‘Plantronics Tries to Patent Nod Powered Headset’…)

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FROM GAMERTELL - Nikkei, a Japanese newspaper, published a story stating that Nintendo is designing a DS with a built in camera, mp3 player and better Wi-Fi abilities.  It will supposedly be released in Japan before the end of 2008. MORE » Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed → Tags: wi-fi, gizmos, toys, electronic toys (Read the full post about ‘Rumor: Next DS to feature built in camera and mp3 player’…)

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Despite some earlier reports that Amazon would begin sales of the next XO laptop Give One Get One program on November 1, it looks like that date was off by a few weeks.  The latest information, along with confirmation from the OLPC foundation is that sales will begin on November 17.  That’s a bit longer to wait than we originally expected, but on the bright side that just gives us a little longer to put some money aside. (Read the full post about ‘OLPC Give One Get One sales confirmed to begin on November 17′…)

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It’s been only a couple of days since Toshiba announced industry’s first 1.8-inch hard disk drive with 250gig storage capacity; and today the firm took wrap off its latest solid state solution — a 256GB SSD. The latest SSD is designed for use in netbooks, offering a maximum read speed of 120MB/sec and max write speed of 70MB/sec. The disk is based on high speed SATA 3.0Gb/s interface and will be mass produced beginning fourth quarter of this year. (Read the full post about ‘Toshiba announces 256GB SSD’…)

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I am sure most of us are bored with the boring shades of the Asus Eee PC 900 netbook range. Asus has decided to add new color to its upcoming Eee PC 901A. The netbook is now available in Azure Blue, which is similar to the Acer Aspire One. That’s right! I think Acer and Asus are trying to rule the netbooks market. [Source] Tags: buyers guides, Hi-fi, digital, design (Read the full post about ‘Asus Eee PC 901A Now In Azure Blue’…)

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Photo: flattop341 / Flickr

Our ‘life without a cellphone experiment’ kicked up a lot of interest from readers (not least the estimable beer sipping, budgie loving John Brownlee of BoingBoing gadgets, who openly sneers at my almost-retro Sony Ericsson P900).

While my own experiment failed miserably (Brownlee: “Charlie Sorrel abandoned his quest to go a week without a cellphone within mere hours”) it’s worth looking at a few of the schemes you proposed, beginning with this quite excellent hack from regular Gadget Lab correspondent Andrea Biasi:

I’ve read some time ago about an Android application which used geographical data of the GPS to use different settings for different location.

(Read the full post about ‘Life Without a Cellphone: Readers’ Opinions’…)

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Now this takes GPS navigation to a different level. Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall, better known as Samantha Jones to her fans, will be offering navigation instructions in her breathy voice to TomTom navigation device owners.

That should be an interesting change from the robotic generic voice that blares out directions in most GPS devices.

The idea is to add "some spice to the ride, allowing drivers a fun and unforgettable journey," says TomTom, which is locked in a fierce battle with rival Garmin for market share.

On the road, Cattrall’s voice will give more than the standard instructions such as "Turn left" or "Drive 2.4 miles and then take a right." She will say lines such as "This is the city, darling.

(Read the full post about ‘Kim Cattrall To Offer Directions to TomTom Users’…)

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