Gadgets Control

by Thomas Ricker, posted Sep 12th 2008 at 8:21AM We received the image above from a supposed Woolworth’s employee who scanned an upcoming retail catalog for our sicko pleasures. We can’t verify the claim, but we understand that Woolies is in the midst of an escalating, retail price war in the UK gaming space. As such, what we’re likely looking at are promotional cuts from the normal, £160, £200, £260 prices for the Arcade, Premium, and Xbox 360 Elite consoles, respectively. (Read the full post about ‘Woolworth’s to cut Xbox 360 console prices in the UK?’…)

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Guess it didn’t take too long for the recently released ipod touch firmware 2.1 to get jailbroken, thanks to the folks at QuickPwn. The whole process is much more complicated compared to the GUI one-click method that was employed in the past, but then again you won’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. The development team is quick to point out that this isn’t an official release though, so proceed at your own risk. Tags: tests, speakers, ipod, tech (Read the full post about ‘iPod touch Firmware 2.1 Jailbroken’…)

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Some of you have those NTSC TV tuners, and some of you have realized that these NTSC TV tuners will be null and void when that big digital TV broadcasting changeover occurs come February of next year. Pinnacle has recently come out with a PCTV HD mini Stick that is prepared for the high-definition television revolution. This is the company’s second foray into the HD Stick, and this version is quite a bit smaller than its predecessor. Part of the reason for its reduction in size is a simple reduction in components. The PCTV HD mini stick can receive unencrypted digital cable TV, as well as SDTV and HDTV signals for a maximum resolution of 1080i. (Read the full post about ‘Pinnacle PCTV HD mini Stick’…)

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There is clearly a market for giant-sized LCD televisions, and Philips is one of the leading sellers in that market.  They have recently unveiled a new 42-inch LCD with the model 42PES0001, also known as the Essence.  So what is the essence of the Essence?  To start off, it has a 66,000:1 contrast ratio and 100Hz clear LCD technology.  It has a refresh rate of only two milliseconds, and it can process about 2,250 trillion colors.  Right now, the Essence is only 38mm thick.  That is pretty thin, but it isn’t quite the record for skinniest TV yet.  The Essence also has 3 HD ports and comes with DLNA PC link connectors.  Since this is a new product, nothing has been announce on availability or price, but if I had to venture a guess, I would say that it is going to be about a few thousand dollars.  Don’t quote me on that.  Via [Digitimes] Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! (Read the full post about ‘Philips Essence 42-inch LCD coming soon’…)

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Experts are quick on the draw to say that bionic lens that will help people restore their vision to near perfect in five years or less, regardless of whether they are short- or long-sighted. This bionic lens will be a step up from laser surgery that is extremely popular these days, although long-sighted problems could still develop in the future as the biological lens ages. These new bionic lens could help prevent that from happening, but they’re rather costly though. It will set you back by approximately £1,000 per eye - then again, a permanent solution ought to be worth every penny. (Read the full post about ‘Bionic Lens In The Works’…)

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Western Digital has a brand new hard drive for the masses - the 2.5″ Scorpio Blue that targets laptops. It measures a mere 9.5mm high and holds a whopping 500GB of data, which means it won’t run out of space anytime soon if you’re an average user. This $220 device is armed with 8MB cache and boasts a SATA 3Gbps transfer rate with 12-ms access. Western Digital reckons that the Scorpio Blue is one of the quietest 2.5″ models around, averaging 24dBA when idle and 26dBA when seeking. You can also opt for the slightly smaller 400GB model for $190. Tags: lcd, hdtv, AAC, digital (Read the full post about ‘Western Digital Scorpio Blue’…)

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T-Mobile decided that the world is boring in black and white, and hence has launched its blackberry 8120 in three more colors come October 15th. These new colors to grace the market are Frost, Black Emerald and Indigo - I sure wish for the good old days where colors did not have some fancy names attached to them and is easily understandable at a glance. Other than the change in colors, everything else about the BlackBerry 8120 remains the same. Tags: robots, gadgets, Gadget, consumer technology (Read the full post about ‘T-Mobile Offers BlackBerry 8120 In New Colors’…)

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Third time’s the charm I guess, and heaven knows Motorola needs as much divine intervention as possible to stem the bleeding tide from its cell phone business. Word has it Motorola is currently working on a new series of cell phones under the RAZR banner - the Motorola RAZR 3 Vxx. It seems as though the external display will use half a dozen customizable sensory elements that offer shortcuts to frequently used applications, running on Motorola’s own Ruby platform. The RAZR 3 is tipped for a Q1 release next year. Other speculation specifications include :- 3G/HSDPA network Symbian UIQ 3.3 operating system 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash GPS receiver Wi-Fi connectivity Hopefully the Big M gets this right. (Read the full post about ‘Motorola RAZR3 Rumors’…)

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Toasting bread is a pretty boring affair, but at least with the Scan Toaster concept you will be able to inject some sort of fun into your breakfast sessions. This toaster must be connected to a computer via USB, downloading various information like local weather conditions, news headlines and the current time. Within the toaster lies a network of toasting “modules” that are heated individually by a hot wire. Each module has a 30° degree of movement and will align themselves accordingly to what you want to see on your toast - be it images or text. Would be nice to propose to your girlfriend via breakfast, but hopefully she’ll be alert enough to read it before biting into that ham-and-cheese sandwich. (Read the full post about ‘Scan Toaster Is Wacky’…)

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Asus’ latest chassis, the TA-M1 was specially designed for thermal efficiency as well as ease of use, capable of holding a front-mounted fan with another in the rear and a couple more on both sides. The side-mounted fans have the added advantage of being attached to a movable plate, allowing them to slide around for easy adjustment where you want it to be. All front, top and side panels are constructed from an all-mesh design for maximum ventilation. Sounds like a suitable chassis for gamers who want nothing but the best where gaming experience is concerned. In addition, you also get a quartet of external 5.25″ optical drive bays and four 3.5″ floppy disk drive bays which are attached using a screwless design. (Read the full post about ‘Asus Vento TA-M1 Chassis’…)

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