Gadgets Base

As a cell-phone user who was eager for a smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard, I was eager to finally try out the BlackBerry 8830.

The BlackBerry 8830 World Edition is definitely designed for business people on the go. In fact, it claims to be “the first CDMA smartphone capable of roaming globally on GSM/GPRS networks”. This means you can pretty much travel the world without having to change your phone, your phone number, or your e-mail.

I had to admit that using a BlackBerry takes a little getting used to. The 8830 has this tiny track-ball mouse for interface that is reminiscent of Atari’s Centipede video game. However, once I used the Setup Wizard, the BlackBerry opened up to me.

In a matter of minutes, I had figured out how to view my email online, and could surf the web. As a newbie to smartphones, I have quickly discovered that there are some limitations to surfing the web online with a tiny screen.

Just to reiterate a point, the BlackBerry 8830 is for businesspeople. There is no camera, but there is a microSD. That SD is tough to access, as a user must remove the entire battery cover to get to it. However, everything else works like clockwork once you get used to it.

As for the price of the blackberry 8830, it is available for $399.99 with a two-year contract from Verizon. In fact, you can even get it here for a $100 discount.

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I’m not really a Bluetooth earpiece kind of man, but I do know people who wear them 24/7. It’s really hard to talk to these Bluetooth earpiece wearing people sometimes, because too often they are talking to someone else, even when they are looking me in the eye. Isn’t that just annoying?

However, maybe it would be better if the Bluetooth wireless headset users had some sort of visual cue, like a collar. Better yet, what if their collar was the wireless headset? Sure, it might not look good, but it has certain advantages.

For example, the microphone is connected next to your voice box, which means that most of the ambient noise can be filtered out. This is perfect for those who drive convertibles or ride motorcycles. No more “I’m sorry, could you speak louder, I can’t hear you” conversations.

Another advantage is that the Bluetooth Neckset, also known as the Roadrunner, has less ear slippings than the miniatures. It fits around your neck snugly to allow for 180 degree turns, which is good for all users who are part owl. The battery life is good for about 9 hours worth of talk time.

You should be able to purchase this at the Pro Idee site for about £39.50. Use it, and hopefully you won’t end up looking like this guy in the picture.

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The trend in computing technology has moved away from raw power in the last couple of years to focus more on power consumption. Companies like Intel are working harder to find a balance that allows them to get you the most bang for your watt. The latest group of chips to be announced from the CPU leader is the Atom.

With a name like Atom, you’d expect to see something rather small, and that’s exactly what you’re going to get. This is the smallest processor ever offered by Intel. The chip will become part of the new Centrino Atom platform which like the previous iterations of Centrino will bring us laptops that feature integrated-graphics, WiFi chips and low-power consumption CPUs which are thin and light with exceptional battery life.

Look for these to hit later this year inside of devices that will no doubt look to compete against the Eee PC. There is also talk of using these low-power chips to create cheap desktop solutions.

Source: CrunchGear

As a frequent user of Picnik, an able online photo editing website, I was thrilled to hear they added more features to their free account.  The reason?  They decided to get paid via ads.  Good for them and for you.

The free service now has ads showing below the main screen in a pretty non-obtrusive way.  I didn’t mind them at all as I clipped the U23D image for a post this morning.  The premium paid service allows ad-free use plus access to some advanced tools, such as curves and levels.

Now, free service users have access to all the effects, shapes, fonts, and touch-up tools many of which before were for paying premium members only.  Often, I found I had to settle for a free service level font or effect, but no more!  If you’ve not tried Picnik before, I highly recommend taking it for a test drive.  There are even sample images on there to let you do just that.

News quote from their site below.

Site [Picnik]

Picnik Evolves (February 27)
Big news! We’ve launched a new ad-supported version of Picnik! Now free users have access to ALL the Effects, Fonts, Shapes, Frames and Touch-Up Tools, and advertisers will enable your addiction to Picnik’s award-winning photo-editing awesomeness. This way, we can provide more of Picnik to more people, so help us out: spread the word about Picnik! The more people use Picnik, the better we can make it.

Meanwhile, our beloved Premium users will get Picnik 100% ad-free, plus new special Advanced Editing tools, unlimited connections to all their favorite photo sharing sites, priority support, infinite photo memory and Photo History, exclusive content and previews of new features, and, best of all, the warm fuzzies for supporting Team Picnik.

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Posted Mar 3rd 2008 2:36PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: cellphonesIt’s barely been a month since Acer dropped a big chunk of cash to buy up 75% of Packard Bell, but it looks like the company still had plenty of money left to throw around, as it’s now parted with a hefty $290 million to buy up 100% of Glofiish smartphone-maker E-Ten. According to Acer itself, the boards of both E-Ten and Acer approved the deal unanimously, and they expect the acquisition to close sometime during the third quarter of this year. Any other details, however, are expectedly light, including any word on how future devices would be branded, with Acer chairmen J.T. Wang only saying that the “acquisition of E-TEN increases Acer’s global footprint by giving us a strong and highly credible presence in the mobility segment.” No word on any future moves by Acer just yet but, given its recent spending spree, we wouldn’t be surprised if it tried to expand that “global footprint” even further.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Fujitsu has a spanking new video decoder IC known as the MB86H60, and this time it will boast a maximum resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 complete with compatibility with both the MPEG-2 and H.264/AVC coding formats. The MB86H60 has been slated for use in both TV sets as well as set-top-boxes (STBs), capable of supporting HDTV broadcasting in Europe, in addition to finding it being integrated in portable receivers. The IC used will be compliant with the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard used in Europe and other regions, being fully capable of of MPEG-2 Main Profile/High Level complaint decoding as well as H.264/AVC High Profile/Level 4.0.

Let us get into the nitty gritty - the IC can support up to 1920 x 1080 interlace mode at 50 or 60fps and 1280 x 720 progressive mode at 50 or 60fps. Other supported modes also include 1440 x 1080i/50fps, 1440 x 1080i/60fps, 720 x 576i/50fps and 720 x 480i/60fps. The main processor used by the IC will be the ARM1176JZF-S, chugging along at 324MHz. Features include audio decoding function supporting the MPEG-1, 2 and 4 standards, 5.1-channel audio capability and a video encoder supporting PAL, NTSC and SECAM. Not only that, you get DRAM interface compliance with the DDR2 standard. This Fujitsu offering can also be hooked up to a couple of 16-bit DDR2-SDRAM 667 external memory chips should the need arise.

Connectivity options about with a quartet of video transfer ports, enabling the IC to be connected to video recorders and a conditional access card to view restricted digital broadcasts. Not only that, each purchase will be accompanied by USB 2.0, 10/100 Base-T and ATA interfaces. The Fujitsu MB86H60 will sip a mere 1.2W of power, making it power efficient. It was developed via the 90nm process technology and is packaged in a 484-pin PBGA. Samples will begin shipping from the end of May this year onwards, retailing for $48 a pop after tax. Looks like the Europeans are going to be a lucky lot this time.

Source: Tech-On!

Posted Mar 3rd 2008 9:07AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Digital Cameras
If you’re looking for a major upgrade to the D40x, you’ll have to look elsewhere, but Nikon has packed a few new features into its entry-level DSLR line with the D60 that should make it a slightly more attractive proposition to DSLR first-timers. The major features Nikon was touting were a new image processor and vibration, and both of those seemed to make very little difference in the camera’s performance, according to the folks at PhotographyBLOG. Other small features were nice additions, but most of them are too obscure to make much of a difference to most consumers. The reviewers did find the new 18-55mm VR lens option to be highly desirable, since it’s nearly the same price as the standard option, and in the end gave the D60 a “highly recommended” rating.

knfbReading Technologies Inc have designed a product to help those who are blind, vision impaired or have reading difficulties. The product named kReader is a piece of software which is installed on to a Nokia N82 mobile phone. Once installed, kReader allows you to take a photo of printed writing such as a receipt, food menu or price tag, and the software recognises the printed text, converts it with character recognition software and reads it out aloud. Also the software is capable of showing the printed text on the screen and each word is highlighted as it is read.

Features

• Reads most printed documents, from letters and memos to pages in a book
• Reads address labels and package information and instructions
• Easily recognizes U.S. currency
• Displays each sentence visually and highlights each word as it is read
• Stores thousands of pages using easily obtainable flash memory
• Transfers text files to and from computers or Braille note takers
• Adjusts reading speed to suit user’s preference.

Requirements

• Operating system - Symbian S60, 3rd Ed, FP1
• Supported phone models - Nokia N82
• Supported languages - US English or UK English
• On phone free flash storage - 50 Mb required
• Flash card storage - up to 500 images per GB
• Memory - 40 Mb free RAM required
• Camera - 5 megapixel, autofocus with xenon flash required

When buying the kReader software you are entitled to 1 year of updates. I do like the look of this product and believe it could be a great way to combine a mobile phone with reading software.

Source - knfbReader

Guest Post by Matthew of Gadget Venue

Star of the MWC show in my eyes this year was undoubtedly the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 super-smartphone. Pitched squarely at the Nokia E90 and the Apple iphone, and combining features of both, this gorgeous looking phone has everything -all the features you could possibly need (HSPDA, HSUPA, GPS, 3G, 3 inch touchscreen and a 3.2 megapixel camera), a superb new user interface running on top of Windows Mobile 6, and looks to die for.

At the time of the show, we had to make do with press release pics from Sony Ericsson, but as time has gone on, a few more pics have emerged of this glorious new smartphone.

More pics of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 after the jump.

[Source: Akihabara News]

It looks like TiVo will be ending their current TiVo rewards program as of May 28, 2008 with the last day to earn any new reward points being one month earlier on April 30. As of May 28 the program will officially end and any remaining reward points that are unused will expire, make sure you take advantage of any that you may have before they go away.

As of a new program in the works, it seems foolish that TiVo would take this away and not have it replaced with something similar, or hopefully better for their loyal customers. Per the TiVo FAQ’s page they have stated that “The current program is ending on May 28th, 2008 but stay tuned for more news and announcements; sign up for The TiVo Newsletter.”

While it does not specifically mention any new program, it could lead one to believe this will be replaced.

Read [TiVo Rewards] Via [Zatz not Funny] Via [Gizmodo]

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