Gadgets Base

Panasonic has recently launched its first ever phone to work with Skype, officially called the Panasonic KX-WP800, this Skype phone features it own access point so even if the PC is turned off you can still make and receive voice calls. The KX-WP800 Skype phone offers 4.5 hours of talk time and 55 hours of standby time, and since Panasonic has worked with FON, you can make calls using a FON hotspot wherever you may find one available.

While Skype fanatics in Japan are rejoicing with the release, there is no word yet on when or if the Skype phone will be available in the US or Europe. Panasonic’s Skype phone will retail for ¥29,800 (around $293 US).

Read [akihabara news]

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Posted Mar 10th 2008 5:42PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Storage
LaCie’s been known to launch a few products under the cover of darkness before, and sure enough, it’s decided to do just that with a trifecta of new externals. Starting from the top, we’ve got the 1TB Desktop Hard Disk, which sports a USB 2.0 port (only) and an exceedingly simplistic black design. Next up is the more compact 250GB - 500GB Desktop Hard Disk, which sports the same name (and sole USB socket) but a much less bulky chassis. Lastly, the Mobile Disk comes in 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, 250GB and 320GB sizes, fits in most cargo pockets and gets all the juice it needs from your machine’s USB port. Word on the street has both the Desktop and Mobile drives starting at around €80 ($123), and if you look hard enough, you can actually grab these right now.

Read - LaCie 1TB Desktop Hard Disk [Via Gizmos]
Read - LaCie 250GB - 500GB Desktop Hard Disk
Read - LaCie Mobile Hard Disk [Via Gizmos]

In the hopes of catching up with its rival social networking site in terms of localizing strategy, Facebook has launched a French language version of its site. The launch followed the successful launch of its German and Spanish language versions a couple of months ago. The French language version of Facebook was made possible by its French speaking members who helped out in translating the site.

Translating Facebook into French was only logical since France is the sixth most active country on Facebook, with the U.S. in the number 1 spot in terms of user base activities. French speaking Facebook users will now have the option to change the language version of the Facebook site they visit. This can be done in their account settings.  But for those members who directly sign onto Facebook, the French language version of the site will be automatically displayed.

Facebook is planning to empower its members in translating the site into other non-English language. Using a strategy popularized by Wikipedia, Facebook is hoping that members whose native language is other than English will contribute in translating the site into their own languages. Any Facebook members can help translate the site into non-English language by adding the translation application into their Facebook profile. All translations to be submitted by members will be approved through voting system by Facebook users themselves.

Read [Reuters]

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Posted Mar 10th 2008 4:56PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Laptops
Sweet heavens, Dell hasn’t forgotten that there’s a 15-incher in between the Penryn-stocked M1330 and M1730! As we suspected it would, Dell really, truly went ahead and added options for a Core 2 Duo T8300, T9300 and T9500 to its XPS M1530 in short order after a mysterious message popped up hinting at as much on Friday. The 2.4GHz, 2.5GHz and 2.6GHz chips come at an upgrade cost of $75, $200 and $475 (respectively) and can actually be ordered right now. No, celebrating wildly in your cubicle wouldn’t be overreacting.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Posted Mar 10th 2008 8:10PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Peripherals
Those crazies over at Art Lebedev are starting work on a new Optimus mini 3.0 device, which will likely include Bluetooth for wireless operation and possibly Tactus-esque touchscreen capability. The plan is to have one display divided into three or possibly more zones, but right now it sounds like they’re still planning on having the device be AC-powered (boo, hiss). Apparently the current Optimus mini is getting a lot of use a a PowerPoint controller. Who knew? Pictures will be forthcoming, says the official blog.

Posted Mar 10th 2008 7:20PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Desktops
It’s hard to know the real story here — we’d hate to think of a bunch of Mr. and Mrs. Nice Persons taking home a gPC just to find it can’t run that copy of Office or Half-Life 2 they were hoping to install — but for whatever reason Wal-Mart is dropping its Linux “experiment” from store shelves and going back to selling the systems solely online. Apparently Wal-Mart did manage to sell out its entire stock of gPCs in the 600 stores that got them before pulling the plug, but the $199 computer just “wasn’t what our customers were looking for,” said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien. Everex spokesman Paul Kim says that online gPC sales were “significantly more effective,” so apparently there aren’t any hard feelings here.

I used to think that the fax machine would be one of those primitive gadgets that died off  once broadband internet became widely available. In the last few years I’ve come to understand that we’re probably stuck with this already-ancient technology for at least another decade. Sure, there are other methods of sending documents electronically, but fax machines are cheap and simple, which will make them very difficult to replace completely. However, if you’re stuck dealing with faxes, why not be as high-tech as possible?

This Paperless USB Digital Fax Machine is a great way to cut down on paper if you receive a lot of fax transmissions. I’m sure that environmentalists everywhere will rejoice at this gadget which will no doubt save plenty of trees. Rather than printing out all of the pages, it simply stores your faxes on the PC, and then you can choose which ones you actually need hard copies of. Unfortunately if you want to send documents that aren’t stored on your computer, you’ll have to find a regular fax machine, or at least scan them to your PC. Saving trees is costly, as this fax machine will set you back a whopping $135.99.

Source: RedFerret