New Home Gadgets

by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 15th 2008 at 4:08PM It’s not the first time a robot has been given fresh life with a new career, but it’s always nice to see bots saved from the scrap heap, which is just what the Army’s 95th Chemical Company has done with some PackBot-based bots that were once busy disposing of bombs in Iraq. Apparently, the bot was starting to show its shortcomings, so the Company decided to outfit it with some chemical-sniffing gear that lets it detect ammonia, chlorine, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and all other sorts of bad things. (Read the full post about ‘Bomb disposal robots get new life sniffing out chemicals’…)

Share This

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Remember Friendster? Many of us created Friendster accounts way back when, but then along came MySpace, and then Facebook, and well, we just plain forgot about little old Friendster. Poor Friendster, the forgotten, dowdy older sister. But, wait, what’s this? According to a story in VentureBeat, Friendster is actually a contender in the competition for global domination of the social networking market. No! Really? In what alternative universe? Well, in the universe where there’s a little country called “China” with a population of over 1.3 billion people. Friendster’s user base has nearly doubled in the past year due to growth in Asia, with versions available in Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish and Malay. (Read the full post about ‘Top social network site in Asia? . . . Friendster’…)

Share This

If you have been on the fence, waiting to buy a new Blu-ray player because of the higher costs associated with Blu-ray titles, then Warners Brothers Video wants to give you a price break with their movies later this year.

It seems the video studio is planning a new pricing strategy that will take place this coming September, offering discounts on select Blu-ray titles.

The new price tags on these movies, some as low as $11 dollars after rebate, will include old and newer releases such as, The Shining, Enter the Dragon, Swordfish, The Fugitive, 300, I am Legend, and Ocean’s 13, just to name a few titles.

Unfortunately, Warner Bros hasn’t released an entire catalog of what Blu-ray videos will get the special pricing or exactly when in September it takes effect.

(Read the full post about ‘Warner Brothers Blu-ray movies getting a price cut in September’…)

Share This

Here’s another announcement of new PC’s loaded with Intel’s Centrino 2 processor, this time its from Fujitsu with their new LifeBook tablet pc’s, the LifeBook T5010 and LifeBook T1010. Both models have 13.3-inch widescreen displays and are said to be the lightest convertibles in the market sporting the that size display. The LifeBook T5010 weighs only 4.5 pounds while the LifeBook T1010 weighs 5.3-pounds. Both of these Tablet PCs have a bi-directional display hinge that would let you turn the screen in both directions for added flexibility. In addition, these notebooks feature the next-generation Intel wireless draft-N or Atheros N which are touted as three times faster than the usual 802.11n-based wireless connectivity. (Read the full post about ‘Fujitsu powers up two LifeBook tablet PCs with Intel Centrino 2′…)

Share This

The Apple iphone 3G offers a 2 megapixel camera as well as the following features:

* Photo geotagging
* 3.5-inch widescreen Multi-Touch display
* 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 ppi
* Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
* Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
* Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 1, 2, and 3), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
* Stereo earphones with built-in microphone
* UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
* GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
* Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
* Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

Share This

Dell has just announced that it will start offering a free software update for Latitude XT owners that will bring them multi-touch capabilities on their XT machines. By upgrading their XT’s firmware users will be able to maximize the full real estate of their XT’s screen. Once the XT’s firmware is upgraded, users can start using their XT’s screen to scroll through web browsers and productivity application as well as zoom in and out various contents just by placing two fingers on the screen and moving them together horizontally or vertically. Users can also program a double-tap gesture on the screen to to launch an application or to turn the machine off. (Read the full post about ‘Dell to offer multi-touch screen upgrade ton Latitude XT tablet PCs’…)

Share This

Sony has announced several new models of its famous VAIO notebook series. One of these is the VAIO BZ series notebooks geared for the business and IT professional. This lightweight notebook PC features a 15.4-inch LCD widescreen display with an option to have an anti-glare screen using Sony’s XBRITE-ECO LCD technology. The VAIO BZ series notebooks are also said to be made of a durable magnesium alloy casing and include a G-Sensor Shock Protection technology that would protect the machine from bumps, knocks and accidents usually encountered by users who bring their notebook PCs while traveling. (Read the full post about ‘Sony unveils the 15.4-inch VAIO BZ notebook series’…)

Share This

FROM APPLETELL - Apple had themselves quite a nice weekend, even if many of its customers didn’t. The company reported today that over one million iphone 3Gs were sold by Sunday. MORE » Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed → (Read the full post about ‘Apple sells over 1 million iPhone 3Gs, 10 million apps downloaded’…)

Share This

“The Art of Seduction… Begins with Knowing Your Own Essence.” This piece of verbal meaninglessness, which could be straight from the script of Zoolander, is waiting for you at the Flash promotion site for the 8800 Sapphire Arte, Nokia’s new blingphone. The press release continues in a similarly air-headed vein. For example, while eschewing the traditional shards of Swarovski glass, the phone’s main navigational knob is made from sapphire “which intrigues with its strong heritage and coveted appeal.” It’s easy to mock. So we’ll continue. The leather covering, sourced from East India, comes in “luxurious brown and coffee tones [which] remind us of understated elegance. (Read the full post about ‘Nokia Wraps Phone in Cowskin and Rock, Charges $1800′…)

Share This

My sister owns a wallet made of real ostrich leather and every time she takes it out of her bag, I feel a shudder go thru my body.

I mean really, I find anything made with ostrich leather GROSS. You can actually see the skin follicles where the feather used to be. It’s just gross! Haha.

Anyway, this laptop sleeve is made of Italian leather with ostrich embossed printing. So it’s not real ostrich leather, but it looks real nonetheless.

Fits 13″ laptops. Hot or not? It’s eew for me!

(Read the full post about ‘Hot Or Not: Blue Ostrich Embossed Leather Laptop Sleeve!’…)

Share This