New Home Gadgets

Verizon is testing a program in Tampa that assigns a “Personal Account Manager” to each new FIOS TV-phone-Internet customer. According to reports, you not only get the name of your PAM, but a refrigerator magnet with the manager’s mobile number and e-mail address. The PAM is required to work six days a week, from 8am to 8pm, and will carry a blackberry to keep in touch.

While you may receive the personal treatment, each PAM will have 800 customers to call his/her own.

(Read the full post about ‘Verizon to bundle a person with FIOS?’…)

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Sony Japan has introduced two new Blu-ray recorders, the Sony BDZ-A70 and BDZ-T90. You got to give it to Sony for coming out with something new for every consumer product that they release. In the case of these two Blu-ray recorders, Sony has made their hard-drives compatible with Sony’s own portable devices, the Walkman and PSP. Both the Sony BDZ-A70 and BDZ-T90 boast of 2 terrestrial digital tuners and 2 digital BS 110 analog TV tuners. Both recorders can easily connect to a PSP, Walkman and some NTT Docomo FOMA mobile phones for transferring recorded videos. The Sony BDZ-A70 has a 320GB HDD while the Sony BDZ-T90 has 500GB HDD. (Read the full post about ‘Sony unveils BDZ-A70, BDZ-T70 Blu-ray recorders’…)

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Sharp has introduced two new laptops into the Japanese market, the PC-FW70X and PC-FW50X. While the two laptops’ external design and color choices (black and white) may remind you of the MacBook, make no mistake because neither of them will match up to the computing powers of the MacBook. Both laptops have a 15.4-inch LCD with 1280 x 800 resolution and are either powered by AMD Turion 64 or Mobile Sempron 3600 with AMD M690V Chipset. Both are covered by UV coated case that also serve as protection from UV rays. Other features of these two laptops include; 2GB of RAM, 120GB hard drive, DVD multi drive, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and infrared support. And for the clincher? (Read the full post about ‘Sharp intro’s two new stylish looking laptops; the PC-FW70X, PC-FW50X’…)

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Siemens is busy preparing the impending WiMAX onslaught and it has demonstrated its Gigaset SE68 WiMAX Express Card. In theory it could download as fast as 20Mbps via a USB connection. Now all we need is… WiMAX deployment. Normally, it should happen this year, and Sprint is betting big on it, with the support of Asus and Intel who have both promised to provide “affordable” WiMAX hardware. (Read the full post about ‘Siemens Demonstrates the Gigaset SE68 WiMAX Express Card’…)

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SRS Labs and Logitech have come together, and the result of their union is the Logitech Z Cinema Advanced Surround Sound System which features SRS Labs’ TruSurround HD technology. This new speaker system targets consumers who plan to utilize their computers as the main source of entertainment at home. The inclusion of SRS TruSurrround HD surround technology claims to immerse consumers without going through the hassle and trouble of installing extra rear channel speakers. Sounds like the perfect solution for small apartments, doesn’t it? Let’s read on more about the Z Cinema speaker system after the jump. (Read the full post about ‘Logitech and SRS Labs team up’…)

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About frickin time!  Looks like the Moto Sidekick slide will get another color:red in May or June of this year, according to a report from a tipster to Boy Genius Report.  The Slide is offered by T-Mobile for $199 while the Sidekick LX sits at $299. Looks like these two Sidekicks will have to hold you crazy texting kids over until Microsoft is able to get their mobile XBox deal going with their recent Danger purchase (the software behind the Sidekicks). Read [Boy Genius] Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! (Read the full post about ‘Kids seeing red?  Blazing red Sidekick Slides headed in’…)

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Yesterday, I was invited to a book party at the Metreon in San Francisco. Jon Swartz and Byron Acohido of USA Today launched their new book: “Zero Day Threat: The Shocking Truth of How Banks and Credit Bureaus Help Cyber Crooks Steal Your Money and Identity.” This party happened during RSA, THE IT Security conference in the country… the one I do not attend because I do not want to come back home completely paranoid about identity theft or having all my data hacked… I did not read the book yet, but it seems very interesting, if you want to know more, check out the book here. More photos of the event after the jump (shot with my BlackJack in the dark, kind of dramatic/artsy style, in sync with the topic). (Read the full post about ‘Zero Day Threat – Book Launch in San Francisco’…)

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The Toolmaker’s Hammer from Starrett seems like a disastrous idea, akin to bashing in a nail with a camera. The steel hammer incorporates a magnifying glass in the head, apparently allowing the craftsman to easily sight the site for accurately punching a centerline. The lens it at least suspended in a rubber collar, and as glass in compression is a pretty tough substance, you should be safe. If I needed a magnifying glass to see what I was hammering, though, I’d be more worried about the health of my thumb. $50. Product page [Starrett via Toolmonger] (Read the full post about ‘Toolmaker’s Hammer With Built-In Lens’…)

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Buffalo has just announced the latest addition to their LinkStation NAS line-up, the LinkStation Mini which offers 1TB of storage in a device that fits in the palm of your hand. The LinkStation Mini, for a small device is packed with features and offers web access so users can access their data from any web browser and the Navigator Software which includes a remote power feature to power up the hard drive remotely. In addition the LinkStation Mini includes an extra USB port to add extra storage, Ethernet port, support for active directory as well as RAID 0 and RAID 1, and includes two 5,400 RPM 2.5-inch hard drives. The 1TB LinkStation Mini will retail for $699 and is expected to be available beginning in May. (Read the full post about ‘Buffalo announces 1TB LinkStation Mini NAS’…)

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The Awang A9000 is the almost-perfect clone of the HTC TyTn, at least, on the surface. Just by looking at the pictures, we can tell that that construction and finish look cheap compared to the original one. It doesn’t mean that it does not have qualities: unlike the original one, it supports Dual Sim and has a TV Tuner – not bad huh? It costs $320 (US?) at trademe. (Read the full post about ‘Awang A9000, a HTC TyTn Clone’…)

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