Gadgets Base

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jul 20th 2008 at 7:22PM
Nanotubes are the stuff invisible dreams are made of, producing batteries, ramen, tiny chips, and in this case, invisible tightropes. Nicola Pugno of the Polytechnic of Turin in Italy has figured out a way to spread invisible nanotubes 5 micrometers apart that he says could support an entire human. The resulting “cable” would measure 1 centimeter in diameter and weigh just 10 milligrams per kilometer. So, what would we do with this ultra-strong, invisible cable? Support things that weigh about as much as humans do, naturally. Really, though, this means that super-strong, super-small cables are coming, and architecture could be changed forever. Other uses abound, for sure, but we’ll leave that speculation to the science guys.

[Via NewScientistTech]

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 20th 2008 at 1:29PM
Feeling a little left out after yesterday’s Mac-based Pwnage Tool festivities, Windows users? Fret not, because the ever-vigilant, ever-studious hacking community has managed to come up with a series of steps to get you back on your feet again with a fully pwned first-gen handset. The whole shebang isn’t necessarily for the most casual jailbreakers — let’s just say it isn’t quite as straightforward as the Mac procedure yet — but it’ll allegedly get you going if you’re starting with an iphone running 1.1.4 (there are additional steps if you jumped the gun on 2.0, you impatient son of a gun, you — think of it as penance). As always, exercise extreme caution, understand that this could cause your iPhone to spontaneously combust into a useless pile of metal, plastic, and ash, and let us know how it goes in comments.

[Thanks, Z-]

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Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds

FROM GAMERTELL - It’s the end of the week and E3 2008 has officially ended and now it’s time to sit back, relax and take in all the announcements made by the big three: Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft.  Here’s a breakdown of the good and the bad of each company’s press conference. Clearly,… MORE »

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TransferJet is Sony’s next shot at taking a leadership role in founding and rallying support behind a new technology standard. TransferJet is a wireless data transfer tech that claims up to 560Mbps speeds. Sony hopes to get this into consumer electronics gadgets next year (2009).

TransferJet is only meant to go short distances, much like Bluetooth, but with a much higher bandwidth so that people can do things like quickly transfer their pictures from their camera to their computer or to a TV or to someone else.

One of the selling points of TransferJet is its touch-to-pair idea, much like Microsoft does with its Surface table, to make it easier to pair up devices quickly for transfer.

Sony now has 14 large CE firms on board, including Canon, Kodak, Panasonic, Samsung and Toshiba, and has formed a consortium to progress their goals.

Posted in Miscellaneous

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jul 20th 2008 at 11:28AM
Now that all the SSD efficiency drama has mellowed out a bit, the guys over at Hot Hardware got their hands on an OCZ Core Series SATA II 64GB SSD and already pitted it against a WD VelociRaptor. The early numbers are impressive: The OCZ averaged read speeds of over 140MB/s and was writing at 87MB/s while the WD topped out at around 136MB/s read and 134MB/s write times. When it comes to applications and random-access times, though, the OCZ SSD scored some crazy fast times. In Windows Defender, gaming, photo import, and Vista startup tests, the SSD was getting things done at as much as 5 times the speed of the VelociRaptor. Sure, the tests are incomplete, but the future is undoubtedly bright for solid state storage once prices roll into realistic range.

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Filed under: Storage

From Sharp’s XL2E Series of three LCD HDTVs, we have the 42-inch Sharp LC-42XL2E 1080p model. The LC-42XL2E has a very impressive and sleek design with a slim black gloss frame surrounding the screen, finished off with a stylish silver line at the bottom of the frame, above an interesting but attractive backwards angled bottom edge

Specification wise, the Sharp LC42XL2E is very impressive with a full HD 1080p LCD screen, with 24p support and 100Hz high frame rate for reducing motion blur and judder. A high dynamic contrast ratio of 10,000:1 provides excellent colours. PC VGA input is available, along with 3x HDMI 1.3 inputs, 2x scart, component, s-video and the usual audio and others.

A number of advanced film modes, and dedicated gaming mode which reduces lag enable the Sharp LC-42XL2E to provide the best images viewing quality for every situation. Trustedreviews checked out the Sharp LC-42XL2E and say, the LC-42XL2E enjoys vibrant colour tones, as well as looking decently natural. Good sharpness remains even when there’s quite a lot of motion going on in the picture, this supreme motion clarity must be down at least in part to Sharp’s new 100Hz engine. The Sharp LC-42XL2E is worth checking out, as it’s one of the best HDTVs around.

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jul 20th 2008 at 11:28AM
Now that all the SSD efficiency drama has mellowed out a bit, the guys over at Hot Hardware got their hands on an OCZ Core Series SATA II 64GB SSD and already pitted it against a WD VelociRaptor. The early numbers are impressive: The OCZ averaged read speeds of over 140MB/s and was writing at 87MB/s while the WD topped out at around 136MB/s read and 134MB/s write times. When it comes to applications and random-access times, though, the OCZ SSD scored some crazy fast times. In Windows Defender, gaming, photo import, and Vista startup tests, the SSD was getting things done at as much as 5 times the speed of the VelociRaptor. Sure, the tests are incomplete, but the future is undoubtedly bright for solid state storage once prices roll into realistic range.

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Filed under: Storage

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 20th 2008 at 4:37AM
This one has been around the block a time or two, but considering you have absolutely nothing else to do on a Sunday, you might as well dust off that DIY kit and get to work. What you’re looking at above is a genuine (albeit modified) NES controller playing a bona fide classic on a laptop. Amazingly, all of the software required for such a marvelously good time is stuffed tight within the controller itself. Take a step back and digest that — your very own NES emulator (with ROMs), shoved inside a Nintendo Entertainment System controller. Does it get any more awesome than that? Hit the read link to start building your own and let us know. Video of the action after the jump.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 20th 2008 at 8:22AM
We can’t help but love when a plan comes together, and if you’ve been hesitant about replacing your kitchen hood while secretly longing to redirect those funds towards a new LCD, there’s a compromise staring you right in the face. Faber’s luxurious Imago+ multimedia hood boasts a stainless steel / glass finish, fits nicely above your range and includes a 19-inch LCD TV with a 1,440 x 900 resolution, 300 cd/m2 brightness and 850:1 contrast ratio. Unfortunately for you Americans, the internal tuner caters to DVB-T signals, though the decent lineup of ports will allow you to connect up other sources of content. Mum’s the word on a price, but again, those having to ask will probably be forced to pass.

[Via Appliancist]

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Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, Household

After experimenting with almost every Bluetooth headset, I’m back where I started with the Aliph Jawbone, but with a shiny new one, which is 50% smaller than the original, with improved noise elimination technology ( amusingly called “NoiseAssassin” technology).

“Military-grade” NoiseAssassin technology - Aliph develops technology for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, you see - means the Jawbone literally feels your speech with its patented Voice Activity Sensor (VAS) and distinguishes the sound of your voice from ambient real-life noise. (I couldn’t test it with Cluster bombs going off in the background, but found the closest comparison - a car filled with raucous teenage girls, all talking at the same time.)

Just like the old model, the Jawbone II is simple to use. Two streamlined buttons are operated by touching the outside shield, and they control all the functions of the headset, which is extremely lightweight at just 10 grams.

A nice touch is the customizable feature so it even fits my petite ears by providing three sizes of earbuds and four earloops that can be worn on either ear - two sizes of soft, stitched leather earloops and two sizes of slim earloops, ideal for use with eyeglasses.

Compatible with all Bluetooth-enabled phones, the new Jawbone supports more than four hours of talk time and eight days of standby time. Featuring a new fast-charge battery that charges up to 80% of capacity in just over half an hour, the new Jawbone can be charged with the included USB cable on a computer, or with the wall-charger.

Available in black, silver and the new “rose gold” (more like a dull yellow actually), it’s $129 at the Jawbone store, and is also available from Amazon.