Gadgets Base

by Joshua Topolsky, posted May 5th 2008 at 5:37PM
It looks like Verizon isn’t taking those 700MHz spectrum open access rules very seriously, and a certain competing bidder isn’t real happy. In a petition filed with the FCC by Google, the company alleges that Verizon is willfully ignoring the “plain meaning of the [open access] rule” by suggesting it will allow one type of access for users who use Verizon-approved devices, and another for those using third-party units. According to the document, “Verizon’s position would completely reverse the meaning of the rule such that the open access condition would apply to none of Verizon’s customers, and thereby render the condition a nullity.” The search giant is calling for the FCC to block Verizon’s $4.7 billion bid on the spectrum unless the company agrees to comply with the previously-decided open access rules. Since this isn’t the first inkling we’ve had that Verizon wasn’t down with open access, we’re not surprised, but it looks like Google has a little more fight left in them — and that could make all the difference. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via IP Democracy; Thanks, Bram]

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Filed under: Wireless

Just recently, NTT unveiled its external scent atomizer which gives off smells depending on one’s commands sent through the mobile phone. Germany now follows suit…

Germany-based company ConVisual, announced the patented chip which can send scents via MMS or text messaging. Let me rephrase that: subscribers could send any of the 100 available smells from their mobile phones’ to other peoples’ as long as both are designed for this new technology. So, this means that if you’re on a vacation in a tropical island somewhere and you want your mates to feel envious, you can send them the scent of the sea breeze. Or if you’re celebrating an anniversary, you can send an MMS of a bouquet which elicits the smell of roses. Since special phones are needed to uses the chip, ConVisual is currently seeking partnerships with mobile phone companies. Who knows, our German friends might be having their smell-phones soon.

via

I remember way back in the day when Dick Tracy was my hero. Honestly as I look back, I can’t really remember much about him except that he wore yellow and had the coolest watch. The ability to talk to someone else through a small device on your wrist just seemed so awesome. Well now you can get a cell phone on your wrist, though it’s not nearly as cool as you might think.

I don’t think that the design is necessarily all that bad for this watch, but rather that the idea of having a phone on your wrist just isn’t ever going to work that well. It all comes down to the fact that any good phone will have decent sized keys and a nice little screen. While they manage to get all the necessities in, this U200i phone looks like it would be a bit bulky to carry on your wrist. Still, if you want to feel like Dick Tracy, you can grab one for $234.99.

Source: Technabob

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For the majority of you who paid nothing for Radiohead’s most recent album, In Rainbows, you may be sad to learn that the UK based band has no future plans to offer any similar promotion in the future.

Lead singer, Thom Yorke, called the revolutionary experiment a “one-off” thing.

“It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do,” Yorke told the Hollywood Reporter.” I don’t think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time.”

While Radiohead is calling this just a “moment in time” it seems some other artists, most recently Nine Inch Nails, have adopted and fully understand the free music theory. Hopefully, artists will continue to be as gratuitous as Radiohead has been in the past, as they move into the future.

Read [Reuters]

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No need to pack up and travel for miles just to get your surfing kicks in as long as you have the Skimboard Surfer. This nifty home-based device will bring all the fun of the beach to your backyard, as long as you own a decent-sized pool to go.

With a 26 foot (7.9m) water filled slide and a 30″ pro-quality plywood skim board, this kit will keep kids (and grown-ups who are young at heart) amused for hours. Skim-boarding, if you’re new to this great sport, is a hydroplaning technique whereby the boarder runs at speed towards a thin layer of water, he/she then drops the board onto the water and mounts it with one foot (usually left foot first), the other following in one smooth movement. The boarder will then skim along the surface of the water for as long as he/she can stay upright, and will manoeuvre the board in order to alter direction and perform tricks. The board itself is shaped like a mini surf board but is considerably thinner, as buoyancy is less critical.

The Skimboard Surfer will cost you £39.99, but that’s a small price to pay considering the amount of summer fun you’ll experience.

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Stay connected to your cell, VoIP, or landland hands free with Plantronics Calisto Pro handset/headset. A nice device that lets you move around freely without losing your signal. If you’re in the market for a new Bluetooth headset and you happen to also make a lot of VoIP or landline calls, this is a remarkably good deal.

Calisto Pro includes a USB port that lets you connect to your PC (sorry sad Macs, the world is still an unfair place) to sync your Outlook contacts in a matter of minutes (the handset has the capacity to hold up to 200 Outlook contacts with three phone numbers each).

Excellent feature set includes:

* Works up to 300 ft away from the base
* 8 hours of talk time, or 240 hours of standby time, per charge
* Handset features a speakerphone
* Noise-canceling microphone and extended mouthpiece
* Single-stop charging base uses a Wi Fi friendly DECTT 6.0 technology for excellent call clarity, a USB port for easy Outlook contact transfers and VoIP PC connectivity, compatible with Skype and Yahoo Voice.
* Base measures 8.1″ x 6.1″ x 3″
* Handset is 4.3″ x 2.2″ x 1.3″ and weighs 4.5 oz.
* Headset is 5.4″ x 2.2″ x 1.1″ and weighs .65 oz.

Price: $248 at Amazon.

I’m hopeful, but with a healthy amount of cynicism. Intellectually, I like to keep things sweet and sour.

So, while I loved and devoured and praised Clay Shirky’s newest book, “Here Comes Everybody,” it was important to couch that experience with a dose of anxiety over the current and future states of the Internet with Johnathan Zittrain’s “The Future of the Internet – And How to Stop It.”

Web 2.0 is (to me) more of a social phenomenon than a technical feat. Living in New York there are social mixers around the Web 2.0 hype nearly nightly, and I guess because I’ve always been a happy malcontent, I’m more critical of what we’re all really accomplishing tossing back cheap chardonnay and exchanging business cards.

Zittrain reveals that the Internet and our production of technologies and devices around it are on a path to a “lockdown,” a day where we will stop innovating. I know a roomful of “Web 2.0’rs” who would scoff at the notion.

Do you get unwanted strangers on your lawn or garden whenever you’re not around at home? The Bell & Howell Animal Repeller will definitely help you out better than those no-good neighbors of yours, helping rid animals within a 30 foot radius.

Mount this electronic motion-activated sensor on your house, shed, or tree. When it detects movement it emits a high-pitched sound, inaudible to humans, that animals can’t stand. Senses motion up to 30 ft. away, within a 70 degree arc.

This nifty garden gadget is powered by a single 9V battery and is made up of weatherproof plastic. If only Bell & Howell came up with a version for kids as well, as that allows parents to get some much needed quality time alone together. The Bell & Howell Animal Repeller will retail for $29.99.

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It really wouldn’t be stylish to be caught cranking this USB power charger to rev up your cell phone battery, but in all probability, that would be the last thing on your mind if the battery went lifeless during an important call.

This cute little power charger connects to cell phones, cameras or any device with a USB cord. All you have to do is crank the handle on the charger fto add those few minutes of extra battery time on the connected device. Precious and completely eco-friendly. The charger kit contains adapters to fit most cell phones (Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, and LG) and weighs a negligible 6 ounces. And at $39, it fits the wallet quite decently too. Available from National Geographic Online.

Via DVICE.com.

If there’s one thing we’re passionate about here at Popgadget, it’s the need to make great technology easy to use and available to everyone. So I’m excited that Apple has been busy considering how to adapt its cult cell phone (you know the one…) to the needs of the hearing-impaired.

According to Gizmodo, AT&T has just announced something called the Text Accessibility Plan (TAP) for iphone users. TAP will give iPhone customers with disabilities the choice of unlimited text messaging, Web browsing and easy access to e-mail for $40 a month.

TAP is available to new and existing iPhone users with qualifying disabilities, all of whom will have to complete an application for eligibility to access the service.

AT&T’s website has application instructions, if you’d like to know more.