New Home Gadgets

Ever had a jacket that was either too warm or not warm enough, depending on the location? Well, look no further, as Merrell’s Gatherer Jacket looks to solve that problem. Said jacket allows the wearer to adjust the effectiveness of the jacket by using adaptive insulation pockets through the body and sleeve, which can be filled with newspaper, leaves, packing peanuts, or even stuffing from an old pillow.

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Looking for a USB speaker that’s different from the rest? How about a sci-fi themed USB speaker complete with its own blue light? This latest USB speaker ditches the conventional speaker design and looks to mesmerize users with its unusual design. For its retail price of $22, it isn’t too bad, as it doesn’t look too geeky, but different enough to be unique without scaring people away. It comes bundled with the USB speaker fare, such as a USB power cable and an audio cable.

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Transcend has recently introduced a new digital photo frame into its line up, the T.photo720. This sleek-looking digital photo frame promises to display digital photos in high-resolution (800×480) format with its 7-inch widescreen TFT panel. It comes with a 2GB internal memory and supports both JPG and BMP image formats which can be displayed either one at a time, in a slideshow view or a thumbnail view. If the 2GB storage is not enough, the digital photo frame also comes with MobileCard slot for direct input of microSD and M2 cards.

For its special feature, this digital photo frame is equipped with Automatic Orientation Sensor (AOS) that detects when a photo is horizontally or vertically rotated and automatically adjusts image placement on screen for optimal viewing.

(Read the full post about ‘Trascend intro’s the T.photo720; a multi-function digital photo frame’…)

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by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 3rd 2008 at 6:14PM
It looks like Motorola and Verizon are getting ready to take a third crack at the Q9 form factor, following up the Q9m and Q9c — and this time around, there’s a little something extra in store. On top of the EV-DO Rev. A radio, the so-called “Napoleon” (codename, of course) features GSM, because — surprise, surprise — businesspeople who use Windows Mobile devices tend to do just a bit of traveling. It looks like Moto has taken this opportunity to give the Q9 meme a little nip-tuck job, too, with a rounded body and a tastefully-applied ring of chrome around the top edge. (Read the full post about ‘Motorola’s worldly Q9: “Napoleon” breaks cover for Verizon’…)

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by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 3rd 2008 at 12:31PM Fired up to capitalize on some of the hype Sprint has managed to drum up for the Instinct down in the States, Samsung’s taking its iphone fighter north of the border for a promised intro later this summer. Bell Mobility is the lucky partner (seriously, Telus, you probably should’ve hustled Samsung a little harder for this one), launching at price points ranging from $149.95 up to $449.95 for a three-year contract all the way down to zero commitment. Features and software look like they’re all carrying over from their stateside cousin, although the UI’s looking just a little bit less Sprint-ified (read: no yellow tinge). (Read the full post about ‘Samsung bringing the Instinct to Canada next’…)

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jul 3rd 2008 at 10:58AM If you were shaken to your very core at the recent report that SSDs may not be as power-friendly as you’d been led to believe, drive-maker STEC wants to talk you down from the ledge. According to the company’s Patrick Wilkison, the Tom’s Hardware article which benchmarked (and gave failing grades) to power-consumption of the non-mechanical drives was flawed because, “They are using legacy drives, none of which will be used by any major PC OEM.” According to Patrick (whose job, you might note, is to sell SSDs), new versions of the drives will / do have intelligent power management which circumvents the issues that report shed light on. (Read the full post about ‘SSD-maker responds to nasty report, says it’ll do better next time’…)

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Brightonnet has released the BI-SPMINI Series of portable speakers for the ipod range - it won’t bring down the house with a miserable output power of just 1.5 watts, but it sure as heck is capable of offering enough punch to keep you entertained at your desk. No idea on pricing, but it shouldn’t burn too big a hole in your pocket. Choose from black or white colors.

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by Nilay Patel, posted Jul 3rd 2008 at 6:56AM
We weren’t exactly hot on MSI’s Titan 700 mini-PC when it first hit back in May, and now that TrustedReviews has had a chance to look one over, it looks like our initial impression wasn’t that far off the mark. Although the diminutive case was stylish in an industrial way, the fit and finish left something to be desired, and the DVD door is apparently rather convoluted. The machine itself, powered by a ULV 2GHz VIA C7M, is “annoyingly audible” when running, and you’re not getting a ton of horsepower in return — a 720p AVI file barely played, and a .mov at the same res brought Windows Media Player to its knees. (Read the full post about ‘MSI Titan 700 mini-PC gets reviewed’…)

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The BlackBerry Pearl has just received support for Google Maps with voice search, and the “afflicted” models are the BlackBerry 8110, 8120 and 8130 (US Only). The search function can be downloaded here when accessed by your blackberry, and after installation you can speak your search simply by pressing the left-side key. Once you’re done mentioning the location of your choice, Google Maps for mobile devices will automatically get to its task and throwing out the most relevant locations. Interesting and definitely a novelty - I wonder just how wide its usage will be like.

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Who knew that somebody would be devious enough to construct a robotic arm that is smart enough to use the keyboard and mouse to autonomously Digg stories around the clock? Well, that has happened in Japan, resulting in the long arm of the law in Nagasaki to catch the culprit. Check out the video of the robotic arm in action here.

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