Gadgets Base

While we’re waiting for Verizon’s official announcement about the upcoming LG VX9100 smart phone, there has been a few unofficial press photos ‘leaked’ of the said smart phone in all its glorious detail. The follow-up to the LG Voyager is shown here in closed position with a face that’s as simple as can be. It’s got a small-ish front LCD screen, a big numeric keypad, two directional buttons (for up and down), and a few other shortcuts including the send, end, and music player keys. Continue reading for more about the LG VX9100, also dubbed the LG enV2.

As you can see from the photos, the color maroon is added to complement the currently available black outer casing of the LG enV2. To me this looks more “business-like” and to say that this move was inspired by the mocha-colored Nokia E90 might seem like an understatement. Let’s not forget that this is also a clamshell phone with a QWERTY keyboard and inside you’ll find a bigger screen with more shortcut keys to press. A microSD card slot is also visible from these photos, as well as a USB port (on the right side when open) although whether it’s MicroUSB or MiniUSB has not been confirmed yet. It is also rumored to sport an upgraded camera now with up to 2.0-megapixels in image resolution and stereo speakers to add more juice to its multimedia capabilities.

The state of the LG enV2 models in these unofficial press photos indicate a finished product so there should be an official announcement from either Verizon or LG coming out very soon. Continue reading for more unofficial press photos of the Verizon LG enV2 smart phone.

Via [Electronista] Images [Engadget Mobile]

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Trying to compete in the arena of instant messaging, Facebook has announced that they’ll be launching their first instant messaging system. The Facebook team has been working hard, programming and testing the system. Rumors claim that the stable version will be launching next week for Facebook users to begin using and testing the new IM system. It is said that, unlike Windows Live Messenger and AOL or any other current IM system where you need to install software to enjoy all the IM service, Facebook users can web chat with friends on their Facebook pages as the Facebook IM is built into the user’s interface. Many also said that you will be able to log in into multiple IM platforms similar to web-based Meebo and other programs like Trillian and Adium.

This could be good news considering the vast numbers of Facebook users, this service could let Facebook step out of the crowd from other social web portals. If this project is a success, users will be able to chit chat with their friends or web mates by just using the web, without installing any external software. It is said that, other than chatting, there’s also a lot of features on the Facebook IM such as emoticons and more. So lets look forward for the success of this system.

Via [TechCrunch]

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Posted Mar 16th 2008 4:43PM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Gaming
Today’s Wii homebrew hotness comes by way of Team Twiizers, whose new hack takes last week’s CameCube-free loader and enables custom channel icons that load hacked apps just like that. Getting from point A to point B still isn’t a cakewalk yet, though; you still have to load the Zelda / Twilight hack and use it to reboot your Wii to get that app into the channel space. Video after the break, which quickly demonstrates getting a custom app-launching channel (which in this example happens to use the Mii channel icon).

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in, via Wii News]

Posted Mar 16th 2008 1:13PM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Household
The Japanese are hyping Vista SP1’s impending release, but a roll of toilet paper printed with highlighted features is kind of uncalled for. You kind of have to feel a little bad for Vista — it just keeps getting crapped on these days.

[Thanks, kaztm]

Yet another color option is made available for the Sony Ericsson W380 clamshell phone. Following the previous addition of Black Champagne to its available colors, this time the W380 is made to look more like a Walkman phone with black and orange styling. Sony Ericsson is calling this new color Tangerine Black, where the same black body from the Black Champagne model is retained but the golden Walkman logo gets changed to a bright orange hue. Expect this new model to be released soon.

Via [IntoMobile] Via [Just Another mobile phone Blog]

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Can you imagine splitting up your computer into several small devices and manipulating them individually to suit your own taste? A clever new prototype for such a device has been demonstrated by the researchers over at MIT Media Lab. Dubbed as “Siftables”, this new prototype aims to “enable people to interact with information and media in physical, natural ways that approach interactions with physical objects in our everyday lives.” They call Siftables an “interaction platform” that gives a user entirely new ways to control data with the application of technology from wireless sensor networks to tangible user interfaces.

The technology behind Siftables is actually quite simple. It’s basically a mini computer with a 20 MHz AVR processor, full-color OLED screen, short-range infrared sensor, Bluetooth radio, tactile/haptic actuation driver circuits, a 3-axis accelerometer, built-in flash memory, rechargeable Li-Polymer batteries and expansion ports for additional sensors. So as you can see, it uses existing technology to do its new thing as if nobody ever thought of it before. It’s a new shot at organizing how you do your day-to-day computing. And personally, I think it’s a great idea so far.

As to whether or not this new technology actually becomes useful in our everyday life remains to be seen. Because judging from the video, Siftables look as though they’re only a mere novelty which would be best for kids or the occasional icebreaker. It almost makes one hope this doesn’t experience the same fate as digital photo frames, which as you might know, have become quite pointless in itself. I’m sure the creators, David Merrill and Jeevan Kalanithi will think something up.

Via [MIT Media Lab]

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Frankly I don’t get the idea behind Logitech’s diNovo Mini. If you have a TV and you want to easily control it, you’d normally use a remote control right? If you have a laptop or a desktop and you want to work on it, you’d not sit too far from it right? Then what’s the use of a wireless keyboard that you can connect to your PC and TV?

Well yeah, the diNovo Mini looks sleek, good and your friends would definitely say “wow, what a good looking small gadget you have there!” Other than that, the Logitech does some pretty standard functions that may either impress you or make you ignore it. The diNovo gives you convenience and style of a palm-size mini-keyboard with backlighting technology that makes text entry effortless even if you are in a low-light environment. This mini wireless keyboard has an integrated dual-purpose click pad that can be used as a touchpad to point and click for easy navigation.

And with the Bluetooth feature of the diNovo Mini, you can enjoy long-range wireless control even if you are located 30 feet away from everybody. This is one feature that I really don’t dig. Yes, it works best if you are using the diNovo Mini to control your LCD TV. But why would you use this to control or work on your PC 30 feet away from it? Unless of course you have a very large wide screen PC monitor. The Logitech diNovo Mini also works with the Playstation3. Probably when doing some uploading and downloading of game saves but definitely not for playing those PS3 fighting games.

The Logitech diNovo mini retails for around $149. No too much of a price to pay if you want to take it for a spin.

Product [Logitech] Via [jkOnTheRun]

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Google has announced its Google Gears for Mobile that allows users to access their mobile Gears-enabled web apps even when there is no Internet connection. Initially, Google Gears was only for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices with Internet Explorer but more and more developers are already using the Gears into their online programs and services, thanks to the developer’s guide Google came up with for the developers.

Finance website Buxfer and web-based office-suite Zoho were the first to use the Google Gears. What is ironic is that Google’s own products don’t support the Gears yet but are currently in the works. Charles Wiles of Google Mobile explained that Gears is best used when you suddenly can’t connect. He wrote:

“Once installed, Gears sits happily on your phone helping you stay connected to your data—even when you lose your network connection.”

Even Android is waiting for Google Gears. But for now, people have to wait as Google works to roll out the Gears for other platforms.

Read [Inside Google] Via [Google Mobile Blog]

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Have you ever drank milk that’s not exactly fresh? I have one time, and you can bet that it was a long time before I’d even touch the stuff again. That was especially rough because I’m the kind of guy that can live off of cereal, which is no good without milk. Those expiration dates are helpful in telling you when the milk is bad, however, there are other factors that can contribute to making the milk go sour, which is why a cool little gadget was created that can tell you if the milk is good or bad.

The gadget has two parts, one that goes in the milk container, and another outside that can let you know the status of the milk. The bit inside the milk container is actually just a slim metal ribbon. The detector creates a magnetic field that causes the ribbon to vibrate. If it vibrates too slowly the milk is sour, too quickly and the milk has Staphylococcus aureus. Unfortunately these systems only work inside the store. When you take it home, just keep it in the fridge and check the expiration.

Source: CrunchGear

Nowadays different cell phone producing companies make a lot of efforts to prolong battery life of their products. But despite the fact that some of them achieved quite significant results in this domain, it’s still impossible not to charge your cell phone at all. Yet Ricardo Baiao is sure that an absolutely new approach to the problem helps to find the best solution. His idea is based on the usage of kinetic energy to charge the phone. Something of that kind is used in the kinetic watch.

Thus, the Atlas Kinetic Cell Phone concept focuses on “green” technologies without sacrificing design. It’s all made just of two materials: aluminum and glass. The central sapphire glass reveals the generating and charging unit. Power comes from kinetic energy similar to that found in watches that use oscillating weight to power mainspring. Due to the power source of this gadget it contains only basic features. So there is no digital camera, mp3 player, Dictaphone, games and so on. But in case the phone runs out of power because it was at rest for too long, the only thing you have to do is to give it a few upside down turns to get the kinetic rotors going again.

It seems that with this kinetic cell phone you will never have to worry about batteries. Yet before buying such a device think if you are ready to sacrifice all the functions that you have been accustomed to. A very original design of this gadget will probably contribute a lot to the final decision making.