Gadgets Base

Posted Mar 27th 2008 2:02AM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Laptops
It’s safe to assume that if you’re using one of OLPC’s XO laptops, you’re not exactly a speed demon. Still, you probably wouldn’t mind squeezing a little more power out of that innocuous Geode CPU — and now there’s a way to do it. The cats and kittens over at OLPC News have discovered a way to (relatively) safely overclock your system using a shortcut at the open firmware prompt. At least one reader reports a 21.8 percent boost in system speed, and claims that bumping the 433MHz processor to 588MHz, and the 166MHz RAM to 233MHz has resulted in a much smoother ride with Ubuntu. Of course, if you decide to try this, keep in mind that just like overclocking the big boys, you could explode your system, restart the Cold War, or attract tons of vampires.

In my experience, those who’re too drunk would always say they’re not. Don’t trust them with steering wheel too hastily though…

Parading surreptitiously as a pen, this alcohol breath tester can tell whether you’re above legal limits and hence, can’t drive. Simply breathe onto the end, and when the light signals red, just admit that you’re drunk and let someone else take you home. Aside from its alcohol testing capability, this gadget could also measure UV ray intensity. I have no idea what’s that for, but I guess some people will find this gadget useful.

via

You know how manufacturers give us these great all-in-one devices because they know we don’t want to carry around a lot of gadgets? If you take that concept, and turn it the other way around, you’d get this. Because as you may know, having a lot of portable devices means having a lot of mobile chargers as well, right? But do-it-all gadgets are not the be-all and end-all of that problem. No, there has to be some other way. And by God, there is. With this 4 port USB car charger, you can carry around all your precious “dedicated” gadgets, and rest easy thinking you can charge any and all of them, even simultaneously. It also comes with a cellphone charger adaptor for those low-tech phones that don’t charge off USB ports (just like yours and mine). It has an LED indicator for battery status, and only weighs a meager 45g. You can get one for $12.00 a piece.

Product [Gadget4All] Via [Ubergizmo]

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If you’re into glossy media players with a touchscreen, check out the Onda VX767. It looks like a beauty, at least in theory…

The outside aspect is very similar to an ipod touch, but I bet the price is much lower. On the other hand, it is made for the Asian market, so you’ll have to import it and expect language support.

The best part of this Onda player is the compatibility with a high number of different file formats, like RM, AVI, ASF, MP4, 3GP, FLAC, and much more. The battery provides 40 hours of non-stop music, or 10 hours of non-stop video, which I consider good enough for a PMP.

The technical specifications include a 400MHz processor, and a 4.3-inch screen with 480×272 resolution to watch all the videos.

There is a TV out port and you can stuff up to a 32GB microSD card inside the little bugger.

via

Posted Mar 26th 2008 11:41PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: GPS
We’ve been drooling over the GPRS-enabled, OpenMoko-powered Dash Express for what seems like forever now, but it’s finally shipping — and what’s even better, the price has dropped $200 to $399. Pre-order customers can expect a note from Dash alerting them to a refund of the difference sometime soon, while the rest of us can take ol’ Benjamin and his three best friends over to Amazon, which is the exclusive retailer for the next 30 days. Unfortunately, the monthly services fees are still kind of high: although you can still use the device as a regular GPS unit after the initial three-month grace period, if you buy the premium service you’ll be out $13 a month, or $10 if you sign a two-year deal — but hey, that’s the price you pay to be on the front lines of the revolution, right?

The iPod may soon found its match in the Onda VX767 PMP. Resembling the ipod Touch externally in more ways than one, the Onda VX767 is loaded with goodies and features that consumers may want to consider before buying their next portable media player.

The VX767 is useful device that is packed with features that could match or surpass than those of the Touch. The VX767 features a 4.3-inch 16:9 widescreen display with a 480 × 272 resolution.
It is powered by a 400MHz processor and can play MP3, WMA, WAV, APE, FLAC for audio files, along with RM, RMVB, ASF, FLV, MOV, WMV, AVI, MP4, 3GP, MPG for video files and has support for JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG images. There is an FM radio, TV out port, built in microphone and a microSD card slot with support for up to 32GB cards. The VX767 also has built-in support for Flash.

Unfortunately there was no information about pricing or a release date, however I would not expect this to land in the States anytime soon.

Via [SlashGear]

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Posted Mar 26th 2008 5:23PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio
We’ve seen a number of ipod speakers with pass-through dock connectors, but we’ve never really understood the point — why would we listen to music on our iPod when we’re already sitting at the computer, which has better speakers? iHome’s latest rig, the iH69, tries to bring it all together, though, with an iPod dock integrated directly into a set of upright computer speakers. We’re not sold on the idea until we actually hear ‘em — or we get a sub in the deal — but those of you looking to save on some cable clutter should look for these bad boys to drop sometime in June.

LG have launched their new LG-KF510, a designer phone that packs in some pretty top rate features. The features themselves aren’t novel - all phones come with MP3 players, digital cameras, and the life these days - but what the LG-KF510 does is to provide high performing versions of such features in an attractive handset.

For example, the digital camera isn’t just a 3 megapixel camera; it’s a 3 megapixel camera with power flash and 1 second response time, meaning you can actually take decent photos in the gloom, as well as taking photos the second you see something interesting happening.

The impressive thing about this is that these features are being presented in a designer phone, which traditionally focuses more on looks and less on the quality of the features it offers. Indeed, most designer phones simply include the features in order to fill out the spec sheet, with no thought on the quality of those features given to the design at all.

The reason for this is the odd way we consumers behave. We want a phone to look good, so we buy a designer phone. But if one of our friend says “oh, but it’s only got a 1 megapixel camera”, we suddenly don’t like it, even if we know we’ll never actually use the phone’s camera feature. So we look for a phone that looks good and has all the features we a phone needs, irrespective of the quality of those features, as we secretly know we’ll never use them!

We’re odd beings, we humans!

So traditionally the designer phone rested on the laurels of its good looks, and didn’t really bother too much with its features. As such, it’s refreshing to see LG break the mould somewhat with the LG-KF510.

The design of the LG-KF510

The first thing to focus on with the LG-KF510 is obviously the design of the thing. It’s a slider, with a metal exterior that’s painted either Stardust Dark Gray or Sunset Red, with each paintjob featuring a color gradation. The front keys are simple LEDs that are touch sensitive and animated, which works well with the paintjob, giving an overall look of modern simplicity.

The actual keys of the keypad are revealed when the phone is slid back, and here the designer phone doesn’t look so designer - in fact, it just looks so so! Rather than the checkerboard or diamond pattern of previous designer phones (such as LG’s Chocolate or Shine range), the keypad seem to have come from an old 2001 brick! No matter, they work well, and it’s the main front of the phone that most people see anyway.

The features of the LG-KF510

As for the features, well, they seem to work remarkably well. The camera, for example, acts like a camera, taking photos when you want it to, not asking for you to wait while it catches its breath, builds up a head of steam, and then takes the picture. How many times have you taken photos of your friends with a poor camera phone, and had to get them all to sit still for a minute or so while your camera phone gets itself ready to actually take the pic?

If your mates are anything like mine, you’ll end up with a a photo album full of blurred gurning goons, all because they were too impatient (or drunk!) to sit still long enough for the camera to take a decent shot. It’s nice to see a designer phone that doesn’t have this problem.

There’s also an mp3 player with playlist feature, but this really isn’t that innovative, despite LG’s claims.

All, in all then, the LG-KF510 seems like a fine new addition to LG’s range of designer phones, and sees the company extending its lead in this area at the expense of Motorola.

As Dr. Skott Ahn, CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, puts it, “2008 is the year for a new paradigm in mobile phone design and LG is setting the benchmark…We have established ourselves as a leader in this field and the LG-KF510 is a unique addition in our mobile portfolio. With its sleek aesthetic and superior technology, it will appeal to many discerning consumers that value both style and substance.”

Which just about says it all, really!

The LG-KF510 release date is April 2008, or about two weeks by my reckoning!

Ah, Honeywell, thank you for the gift of hovering spy drones so we can always have someone to watch over us.

Yes, that image you see isn’t a prop from a 1984 movie (which would still be timely, by the way), but a spy drone that can fly a 100 waypoint flight plan at 57 MPH, at a 10,500 foot altitude.

Apparently, these Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) are already in place over Iraq and Afghanistan, which are hopefully watching out for enemies. They are waiting for FAA permission to be used here in American soil.

According to Reuters, the Miami-Dade police department hopes to deploy these MAV guys “soon”. I was kind of hoping that we would see these flying eyes later rather than sooner, honestly.

Yeah, I’m not looking forward to the day when the skies will be peppered with these. Many gadget blogs are comparing these MAVs with the Probe Droid from The Empire Strikes Back, and you have to admit the resemblance is uncanny. Hopefully, I’ll never have to see these things travel at low altitudes like Darth Maul’s hovering search-droids in The Phantom Menace.

Well, time will tell if Big Brother will be watching us. However, I have seen the near-future, and it is full of increased speeding tickets.

Source

Posted Mar 26th 2008 4:01PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Handhelds Harris Corp. may have nothing but good things to say about the HTC-made PDAs it’s planning to supply for use in the 2010 census, but it looks like the handhelds are already starting to cause plenty of headaches for census officials, who are reportedly even considering a return to pencil and paper if things can’t be resolved. As the AP reports, the problems start with the contract for the devices, which originally clocked in at $596 million, has since grown to $647 million, and could eventually balloon to as much as $2 billion. As if that wasn’t enough, the handheld has also apparently proven to be “too complex” for some of the temporary census workers that took part in a test last year, and the device was reportedly “not initially programmed to transmit the large amounts of data necessary.” As a result, census officials are now said to be considering a number of different options to scale back the use of the devices, only one of which apparently actually has the headcounters entering data into ‘em as they go door-to-door.