Gadgets Base

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 5th 2008 at 2:01PM
RIM’s blackberry Storm 9500 / 9530, which is more affectionately known ’round these parts as the Thunder, is definitely within striking distance. Still, just because you don’t have too much longer to wait doesn’t mean you aren’t anxious to get your hands on as many details as possible beforehand, right? The Boy Genius has managed to procure a few mundane stacks of PowerPoint slides that just so happen to contain some pretty scrumptious information on the touchscreen-based BlackBerry, and while there aren’t any mind-melting surprises in there (like, confirmation that it can indeed read and reply correctly to each e-mail automatically), it’s not the kind of data any real RIM fan would want to overlook. Go on and hit the read link, what exactly are you waiting for?

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Filed under: cellphones

All geeks know from a young age that robots are cool. Yes on occasion we worry about them taking over the world and causing an apocalypse. However, we never can resist a mushy robot story like Wall-E or iRobot. Well if you’re looking for a cute robot, these alarm clocks should work just fine. The robots come in a few different shapes and styles, the best of course being the Tank robot. As it turns out, Tank loves cupcakes and demolition derbies.

Tokibot has a love for platform shoes, and rivet loves dancing and basketball. Making them all very well rounded robots. They come in several nice colors, green, red, black, blue. However, some of the individual models of the robots have less colors. Like Tank only comes in black or red. You can pick them all up at TOKYObay. They start out at $36 and go up to $45, the top price being Tank’s. They also sell plain keychains in robot form. They aren’t nearly as exciting, but definitely a cheaper alternative.

Source: BBGadgets

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Just when you thought that Blizzard’s World of Warcraft could not get any more immersive, along comes more good news - TN Games’ 3RD Space Vest is now compatible with World of Warcraft, offering gamers a trio of dimensionally accurate tactile sensory stimuli that are coordinated directly with the game action. You can see it in action at the E For All Expo that is held in Los Angeles from this October 3rd till the 5th.

The driver offers players fantastic contact effects as well as a physical sensory experience linking a new meaning and signature to magic spells and powers, while enhancing the intensity and fun of game play. The 3RD Space Driver Version 2.0 includes the entire functionality for all supported FPS and RPG titles within the single free download. Any 3RD Space Vest works with all supported titles and for those gamers who have already downloaded previous versions of the 3RD Space Driver, these new functions are automatically added with the driver’s auto-update function.

Just in case World of Warcraft is not your thing, you can still duke it out with bruises to your body with over 20 other titles including Bioshock, Blacksite Area 51, Call Of Duty 4, Clive Barker’s Jericho, Crysis, Doom 3, Enemy Territory Quake Wars, Fable, F.E.A.R, Frontlines - Fuel of War, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Halflife 2 - Episode 1, Halflife 2 - Episode 2, Mass Effect, Medal Of Honor Airborne, Prey, Quake 4, TimeShift, Turok, Turning Point - Fall Of Liberty, Unreal Tournament 3; You Are Empty, and World of Warcraft.

Press Release

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Most of us know that 3D displays require a special set of glasses, and so far no fashion house has come up with frames that help you look cool instead of a bona fide dork for obvious reasons - style and geeks tend to be at loggerheads. Good thing the geeks are smart enough to come up with a 72 “3D display that not only gives you the whole 3D works, you can view it without having to wear any silly special glasses. This new display is a collaboration between Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and Victor Company of Japan Ltd,, and is currently on display at CEATEC Japan 2008. Features include full HD resolution at 1,920 x 1,080, and NICT hopes to commercialized this display by the year 2011.

source: Tech On!

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by Darren Murph, posted Oct 5th 2008 at 5:30AM
Imagine this — you, sitting in a dingy airport terminal waiting on your flight with a lifeless laptop and just 10 minutes to spare. You’ve got oodles of spreadsheet work to do before 8:00AM tomorrow, and unless you get it done on this flight, you’re fubared. Toshiba is looking to make said scenario seem like one that’s not so grim, as its prototype SCIB (Super Charge Ion Battery) purportedly has the potential to get 90% full in just 10 minutes. The battery was unveiled at CEATEC 2008 in Japan, though little was known about its eventual availability. Shame development cycles can’t be fast tracked in a similar manner, huh?

[Via UberReview]

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Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 5th 2008 at 2:11AMSlowly but surely, MSI is following in the laughable footsteps of ASUS. At first, the Wind was simply the Wind. Now, we’ve a smattering of variants to keep up with, and according to a recent interview with director of US sales Andy Tung, that trend isn’t about to stop. Starting next week, the Wind U100 will be available at an undisclosed “large national retailer,” with the 3-cell / WinXP version going for $399. Additionally, Tung gave us all a reason to hold off on making that very purchase by revealing that the business-minded Wind U120 (or Wind 2, as he called it) will be landing on US soil in late November or early December. Said machine will boast “a whole new look,” new HDD / SSD options and inbuilt 3.5G WWAN connectivity for under $600. Also of note, MSI’s internal research has found that Linux-infused netbooks get returned four times as often as units with Windows XP; we can’t say we’re shocked that people don’t feel like learning a new OS, but we’re deeply, deeply saddened that reading comprehension levels (particularly on specification labels) in this nation are so obviously low.

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Filed under: Laptops

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 4th 2008 at 8:02PM
Before we go any further, we’d like to inform this here Telson UMPC that if Pandora can finally get out of the starting blocks, so can you. Today, we’re looking at new evidence that Digital Cube (the handheld’s new parent) could be inching ever closer to bringing this shockingly thick gaming handheld to market. Out of seemingly nowhere, images have emerged of the portable posing beside a USB 3D camera dongle (saywha?); additionally, we’re told that it will pack a 1.2GHz VIA C7M CPU and feature a 4.3-inch display, 512MB of RAM, 30GB hard drive and Windows XP. Oh, and we’re also informed that it’ll be “released in October” in at least one section of the world, so we’ve got T-minus 27 days to see if that claim is legit.

[Via Pocketables]

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Filed under: Handhelds

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 4th 2008 at 8:02PM
Before we go any further, we’d like to inform this here Telson UMPC that if Pandora can finally get out of the starting blocks, so can you. Today, we’re looking at new evidence that Digital Cube (the handheld’s new parent) could be inching ever closer to bringing this shockingly thick gaming handheld to market. Out of seemingly nowhere, images have emerged of the portable posing beside a USB 3D camera dongle (saywha?); additionally, we’re told that it will pack a 1.2GHz VIA C7M CPU and feature a 4.3-inch display, 512MB of RAM, 30GB hard drive and Windows XP. Oh, and we’re also informed that it’ll be “released in October” in at least one section of the world, so we’ve got T-minus 27 days to see if that claim is legit.

[Via Pocketables]

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Filed under: Handhelds

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 4th 2008 at 11:10PM
HP’s got the Special Edition itch again, and it’s scratching it with both hands as evidenced by the newest dv4t and dv5t SE notebooks. Starting with the former, we’ve got a flashily designed 14.1-incher with a WXGA panel, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a handful of Core 2 Duo CPU choices, NVIDIA’s 512MB GeForce 9200M GS, up to 400GB of hard drive space, WiFi, optional WWAN and an integrated HDTV hybrid tuner. The equally fashionable Pavilion dv5t SE sports a 15.4-inch LCD, a GMA4500MHD integrated graphics set, optional Blu-ray writer and most everything already mentioned on its smaller sibling. You can snatch either of these up for $1,099.99 / $949 (or higher) right now, but we’d make sure you really dig the tattoos before making a decision you’ll regret forever.

[Via Notebooks]

Read - HP Pavilion dv4t Special Edition
Read - HP Pavilion dv5t Special Edition

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Filed under: Laptops

Speaking of cell phones, and aren’t we always, CNET has rounded up details on several that are in the works for autumn and the holiday trade. Or are supposed to be.