Gadgets Base

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 19th 2008 at 8:08AM
Okay, so you understand the concept of a scrolling LED belt buckle, correct? Good. Brando has taken the novelty found in the aforementioned waist adornment and shoved it into yet another zany USB-powered gizmo. The USB LED Message Board can store up to eight phrases and supports five scrolling modes, sound effects and animated messages. Just make sure your boss’ dirty little secret doesn’t mysteriously end up on the new office ticker.

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Filed under: Peripherals

by Ryan Block, posted Jul 19th 2008 at 4:14AMLaunching 6 and 12GB SDHC cards seems a little boring at this point, especially when your company has already gone way, way larger. Which is why Panasonic’s got the 6 and 12GB RP-SDM06G and RP-SDM12G class 4 (10MBps) SDHC cards which are apparently “designed for HD recording.” Love when they do that.

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Filed under: Storage

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 19th 2008 at 2:36AMScreen grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.
Even for gadget freaks, it was tough to take one’s attention away from the outstanding action that filled The Dark Knight from beginning to end, but when Morgan Freeman had to hand over his Nokia XpressMedia 5800 (or Tube, as it were) at a stop in Hong Kong, we had to take a moment and gush. Nokia’s still-not-official handset had a few critical scenes where it was highlighted, though we’d wager it was only viewable for 4 to 5 seconds in total. Beyond that, Nokia’s peculiarly designed 6630 (circa 2004) was Gordon’s handset of choice, which we risked an RIAA thug kneecapping in order to also snag and host up below. It’s not really important that you go see it for a live shot of the Tube (though the incentive is nice), just make sure you go. Soon.

[Thanks to everyone who kept us on the lookout!]

Gallery: Nokia’s XpressMedia 5800 “Tube” plays big role in The Dark Knight

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Filed under: cellphones

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 19th 2008 at 2:36AMScreen grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.
Even for gadget freaks, it was tough to take one’s attention away from the outstanding action that filled The Dark Knight from beginning to end, but when Morgan Freeman had to hand over his Nokia XpressMedia 5800 (or Tube, as it were) at a stop in Hong Kong, we had to take a moment and gush. Nokia’s still-not-official handset had a few critical scenes where it was highlighted, though we’d wager it was only viewable for 4 to 5 seconds in total. Beyond that, Nokia’s peculiarly designed 6630 (circa 2004) was Gordon’s handset of choice, which we risked an RIAA thug kneecapping in order to also snag and host up below. It’s not really important that you go see it for a live shot of the Tube (though the incentive is nice), just make sure you go. Soon.

[Thanks to everyone who kept us on the lookout!]

Gallery: Nokia’s XpressMedia 5800 “Tube” plays big role in The Dark Knight

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Filed under: cellphones

Acer has recently begun shipping their Gemstone 8920G, and for lack of a better guess, I can only assume the “G” after 8920 stands for gigantic.

The Gemstone 8920G is sporting an 18.2-inch display, and weighs in at about nine pounds. Otherwise it does offer a solid set of specs which include the previously mentioned 18.2-inch display that offers a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1920 x 1080 screen resolution.

The 8920G is powered by a 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 processor, has 4GB of RAM and also features two internal hard drives which total out at 640GB of storage, a 512MB nVidia 9650M GS card for graphics, Wireless-N Wi-Fi, an HDMI out as well as a DVD writer with Blu-ray reading capability.

While technically a laptop, the 8920G would certainly fall into the desktop replacement category, but it should make a nice portable semi-portable HD movie player. Of course all these high-end specs will not come cheap, expect to pay nearly $3,000 for one of your own.

Via [Trusted Reviews]

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I don’t really like the idea of the Swinger Video Sports as it reminds me of nothing but a cheap Wii rip-off. After all, you get a motion sensing controller along with gaming titles that involves the sport of bowling, golf, tennis, baseball and boxing.

All five sport games - bowling, boxing, baseball, golf, and tennis - are now available with the new Swinger Video Sports. This is an activity for everyone - not too much exertion for young or old, but a nice get-off-the-sofa-and-move-about benefit for all. It’s easy to set up and easy to play. Using a handheld wireless remote, you simply point it at the TV and gently swing it, and the on-screen action is controlled by your movement. Enjoy one or two-player simultaneous action. Comes with a sleek base unit, two controllers, two secondary controllers (nunchakus), and five fun games. The Swinger is more than a game, it’s a social opportunity. Granddad can play with grandson, father with daughter, aunt with nephew - once you see how it’s done, you won’t be able to resist getting in on the fun.

Well, save that $69.95 for a Nintendo Wii IMHO for a genuine gaming experience. After all, how many times can you go through the sports titles before you get bored?

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Birds are meant to fly free and not kept in a cage, at least that’s my personal opinion. Still, if you’re one who owns a pet bird, I’m sure you have your reasons. What happens if you want to take a vacation or go out of town for a couple of days and want to bring Tweety with you? Well, there is the PetPocket transportable birdcage that comes with a removable bottom tray and a couple of toy hanging loops from the top. Capable of holding up to medium-sized birds, you’ll then be able to travel in peace knowing that your feathered friend is near you always. The PetPocket will retail for $30. I suppose if you add a wire mesh around, you’ll be able to transport hamsters as well…

Source: Cool Hunting

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Seems that air guitar devices are getting more and more popular these days, perhaps due to the deluge of music-based games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band? With the Air Guitar Rockstar, you’ll be able to live a semblance of your rocker fantasies.

This ingenious electronic headstock lets wannabe plank spankers crank out thunderous chords without all that fiddly fingering business. Simply press the chord buttons and strum the air. Infra red sensors detect your hand motions causing the selected chords to blast out of the built-in speaker. There are even several preloaded rock classics to play along to. And if they don’t get you dropping to your knees mid solo, you can plug in an mp3 player and jam along to any song you fancy. It’s rock with no strings attached.

You will be able to pick up the Air Guitar Rockstar for £14.95, so why not get rocking straight away?

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Overdrive PC has recently announced a brand new product line that aims to bring the best in your PC gaming experience, bringing new meaning to the phrase “ultra performance computing.” According to Marty Wood, Executive Director and GM of Overdrive PC, “With our new line-up of products, we’ve put an emphasis on even the most minute detail. From laser-etched details to our stringent component selection process to our trademarked HyperClocking, the new Overdrive PC is unlike anything else on the market today.” There will be something for everybody in this new launch, so you need not break your bank account if you want to get your hardcore gaming on without much further ado.

The Overdrive PC SmallBlock series is a compact system perfect for small spaces or LAN gaming, starting at $1499. For a more immersive gaming experience, Overdrive offers the BigBlock, packed to the gills with bleeding edge components (starting at $1,999). For those in need of a professional workstation, the Torque series provides extreme power for content creation and media editing, starting at $1,830. And for the mobile user, the Rev.GT and Rev.Pro notebooks provide a mixture of power and style previously believed impossible in a mobile platform including up to 1.5 terabytes of storage capacity. Every system Overdrive PC creates comes with precision craftsmanship, 100% US based support, automotive painting options, luxury OPC apparel, and advanced Hyperclocking engineering.

Now that you know what’s in store, it is time to start calculating on how you can balance your monthly budget to accommodate a new computer purchase. It would be a wee bit harder trying to justify the purchase with the missus, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. Certainly it will be much more affordable compared to those crazy high end Sony VAIOs? Also, tell her that playing Bejeweled online would be much easier and faster with a new rig. That ought to do the trick.

Press Release

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by Ryan Block, posted Jul 19th 2008 at 1:53AM
Say, is this a Microsoft SideWinder-branded keyboard? Looks like it might just be. It looks like it’ll go by the name of SideWinder X6, and feature a detachable numeric keypad, programmable keys, and “cruise control” (don’t quote us, this is from a translation) which emulates a steady keypress. It’ll run $80 in September — that is, if this doesn’t just turn out to be pure rumor.

[Thanks, Husar]

Update: Reader RainMotorsports points out that the side profile looks, well, unconvincing. Certainly right, especially when you ask yourself where those giant knobs went. Hey, we never said this was a sure thing!

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals