Gadgets Base

Posted Jan 27th 2008 4:27AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Laptops
Sure, you might’ve napped through the marketing speak and blearily paged through the tech documentation, but apparently you haven’t heard all there is to know about the new Isaiah architecture from Via. The folks at [H] Enthusiast got to see the chip in action, and were most impressed by the 1.8GHz bugger’s ability to run Crysis. Apparently the folks at Via are fairly certain their chip can best the upcoming UMPC-friendly Silverthorn chips from Intel, and it seems like Crysis is about as good a benchmark as any. We’re sure to hear more about this little rivalry in the coming months, but we like the way things are headed.

[Via Wired]

Posted Jan 27th 2008 1:19AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Misc. GadgetsThere have certainly been gizmos to surface throughout the years that react in some form or fashion to rain, but Jean-Jacques Chaillout and colleagues at the Atomic Energy Commission in France are fantasizing about using those diminutive droplets of water to actually power useful creations. After using computer models to find out just how much energy could be created by rainfall landing on piezoelectric materials, they determined that between 1 nanojoule and 25 microjoules of energy could be generated per drop. Granted, that won’t keep a WoW gamer crankin’ through the eve, but it could be used in everyday sensors that just need a smidgen of power in order to beam back results or data to ground control (or Major Tom). So yeah, these may not work so well in Death Valley, but we hear Amazonia could really benefit.

[Via NewScientist, image courtesy of ABC]

I just love the clean, minimal design of this white-on-white LED clock from Japan. The simple dot-matrix display is powered by bright white LEDs layered beneath a clear and white acrylic shell.

The clock offers alarm capability, and can be automatically set via a radio signal (although it’s possible this feature only works in Japan). Measuring in at about 4-inches wide and 2-inches deep, It’s just the right size for a desktop or bedside table.

Alas, this is yet another one of those wonderful items which appears to only be available in Japan. If you’re willing to do a little translation, you might be able to coax the guys at Visions Coax into shipping you one. Retail price for the clock is ¥7875 (appx. $73 USD).

[BTW, these look a heck of a lot like these dot-matrix LED clocks I featured a while back. Only those ones came blue or green dot patterns - but I now prefer the white one.]

read more about:

acrylic, alarm, clock, dot matrix, japan, led, round, white

Back in the early 1980s, long before the Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 dominated the “next-gen” video game market, a little known console lived on the cutting-edge of gaming technology. The RDI Halcyon was a LaserDisc-based gaming system which was designed to bring the first full-motion video gaming experience to your living room. Now one of these rare gaming systems has found its way onto eBay.

RDI was the manufacturer behind such LaserDisc arcade classics as Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace, and the Halcyon was their attempt to bring the same type of gaming experience to your living room. In addition to its FMV game play, the Halcyon had speech synthesis and early voice recognition capabilities. It also was one of the first systems which let you save your gaming progress.

The one that’s up for sale on eBay comes with everything but the original microphone that came with the system, and even includes the only discs ever released for the console: Thayer’s Quest and NFL Raiders vs. Chargers. This is an extremely rare find, so I’d expect the price to shoot through the roof. Here’s the kind of exciting gaming action you’ll be missing out on if you don’t win the auction:

click to view this video clip

[Video from the arcade version of Thayer’s Quest, but you get the point].

With only two games ever released and originally priced at a whopping $2500 (in 1985 dollars), it’s no wonder the system never really caught on.

[eBay via GameSniped]

read more about:

1980s, arcade, classic, console, laserdisc, rdi, speech, video, voice

In a follow up to a watch we covered over a year ago, LED-Watch.com have the latest in 70’s retro red LED powered timepieces for all.

The TX6 RED utilises the latest CMOS module complete with an original 70’s style LED display and is a great combination of authentic retro 1970’s style timepiece, and modern electronics.

The first LED digital watches were introduced in 1971 under the Pulsar brand, by 1973 they had taken the world by storm. After appearing in the James Bond Movie ‘Live and Let Die’ many more manufacturers have produced LED watches until they became as recognisable as the lava lamp, millions of LED watches were sold and then with the introduction of Seiko’s LCD watch in 1979, LED almost became extinct overnight, rarely to ever return since the 1970’s.

LED-Watch.com are cashing in on the retro boat with multiple watch designs - with this Gun Metal TX6 being a limited edition. The dark grey shiny finish looks understated and great on the arm - there’s no bling to attract attention, and the display is clear and simple. As with previous watches i continue to be annoyed about the need to press a button in order to find out the time. I understand this is to conserve battery power, and that’s why LCD is better for digital displays. I guess the button pressing is just in keeping with the 70’s feeling!

The electronics cover all the bare essentials for a watch, time - in 12 and 24 hour format, a separate seconds counter, and the date. Strangely there is no way to check the year via the button 1 cycle, yet the year is set when setting the date!

Available now from LED-Watch.com for 49.99 delivered.

While there has not been confirmation for this video, it seems to be the real deal. That would make it the first video to surface showing the next generation of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, which at this time is going by the codename of 7.

The video is showing version 6.1 build 6519, check it out below and judge for yourself.

Via [Engadget]

Alltel has added a few new handsets that should meet the needs or desire for most. First up we have the BlackBerry Pearl 8130, which was previously available in amethyst now in a hotter red. Can we say good timing for Vaentine’s Day? Aside from the color change the specs remain the same. Next up is the LG Scoop, perfect for those who love text messaging it offers the slide-out QWERTY keyboard along with a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth and Alltel’s Axcess Voice2TXT. The Scoop will be available in your choice of orange, blue or black. Finally we have the least exciting of the bunch, the Samsung Muse. The Muse is a flip-style phone that features a 2-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, Axcess Mobile Guide with GPS capabilities, and an MP3 player with a dedicated music key.

The red 8130 is currently available for pre-order, the LG Scoop and Samsung Muse are still not available for orders, but we would expect that to change shortly.

Product [Alltel]

Fresh off the news that Palm is closing of all but one of their retail locations, we are now starting to see some details for the Treo 800 trickle in. If you remember Microsoft had shown off what appeared to be the Treo 800 during Bill Gates keynote at CES 2008, and now it seems like that ghost of an image is a little more believable.

While currently the Treo 800w is still just a rumor, it appears that it would be getting ready to hit the market sooner than later. Without any official details from Palm the Treo 800w appears to have a style similar to the Centro and is said to also be as thin.

The Treo 800w is expected to feature a 2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi (802.11g), the ability to switch the Wi-Fi off and on, EvDO Rev. A, 256MB of memory, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR, an FM radio, have microSD support and the classic Treo style on/off ringer switch. It is expected to be running Windows Mobile 6.0 and also have a miniUSB plug on the bottom that will be used for both syncing and charging.

Via [Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]

Cowon has recently made some great PMP’s, however, the pricing was always a little bit on the high side so it was good of Cowon to drop some of their prices. They cut down prices on the Q5W, A3, and the iAudio 7.

Beginning with the Q5W, they cut off $40 from the original price and it even comes with a free GPS cradle with a purchase, which is normally $199. The 16GB iAudio 7 went down to $209, which is about $90 lower than the original price. Finally, they took off about $20 from the 30GB A3. You can check out all these new prices at their JetMall website. This seems to be a great move by Cowon and is sure to boost their sales of their PMP’s especially the Q5W.

Read [JetMall] Via [Crave]

Posted Jan 26th 2008 9:03PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Cellphones
Sure, we’ve seen cellphone encryption contraptions before, but KoolSpan’s aiming to make things extra easy for green CIA agents. Set to be released next month, the microSD TrustChip slips right into a-many of smartphones and enables callers to hit up other undercover gurus and chat with 256-bit AES encryption, providing that the receiver of the call has a TrustChip jammed in his / her phone as well. Furthermore, the device itself touts enough features to make Maxwell Smart all sorts of envious: on-chip crypto processing, key management and a tamper-resistant environment for starters. Word on the street pegs this bad boy at $300, but we all know the cost of getting a call sniffed could be much more costly than that.

[Via GetFlashMemory]