Gadgets Base

Now that you’ve joined every single social network you can find, you realize that updating all of them is a real pain.  Ping.fm lets you go ahead and update all of your social networks at one time.  You tell Ping your update, and let them do the rest.

Now, Ping is working with SpinVox so you can make a phone call to update all of your social networks.  This combination of Ping + SpinVox is a pretty cool idea.  Instead of having to go to Twitter, Facebook, Pownce, MySpace and whatever other site, you can just make a phone call. 

SpinVox uses its “Voice Message Conversion System” to turn spoken words into text.  You can use the service to turn all of your voice mail into text.  Ping.fm is now open to the public after spending some time as a private beta. 

Read: [ PRNewswire.com]
Links: [Ping.fm and SpinVox]

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Google just picked up another partner in its Literacy Project, Scientific Learning.

Scientific Learning will contribute free videos, lessons and software to the project.  Most interestingly they are bringing “brain fitness exercises” to Google’s Literacy Project via their “BrainApps” program.  BrainApps should help reading skills and mental processes.

Two BrainApps available now are “Lunar Tunes” and “Hoop Nut” meant to test your auditory skills.  I tested them out and they seem as if they would be quite engaging to young students.

The Literacy Project is Google’s tool for educators.  Google’s original partners in The Literacy Project are UNESCO’s Institute for Lifelong Learning and LitCam.  UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.  LitCam is the Frankfurt Book Fair Literacy Campaign. 

Seems like this project is in line with Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto.  The Literacy Project is also a great resource since it puts together the Google Book search, Google Scholar search, books and literacy blogs, Google groups, with Google’s Literacy search.  It is a very interesting blend of many Google services in one location. 

Read: [Google and Scientific Learning pair up]
Test yourself: [BrainApps]

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Power over Ethernet (“PoE”) is nothing new.  Usually, PoE is used to power switches and other networking devices.  A company called Baumer Ltd. is using PoE to power cameras over Cat6 cable.  The “TXG camera” can shoot at VGA and higher resolutions and up to 90 frames per second. 

Where would you use something like this?  It probably could be used in surveillance or in some kind of robot.  These TXG cameras are tiny and weigh less than a quarter pound.  You can get a sense of scale by looking at the Ethernet jack on the back of the device.

The camera comes with the Baumer-GAPI, which is a generic programming interface so you can use this camera in whatever project you would like.  The cameras have been used in industrial environments.  Unfortunately, there is no word on whether these cameras can be bought by an average hacker.

Read: [BusinessWire.com]

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In a few weeks, Best Buy will formally introduce two of their own GPSs with their Insignia brand on them.  One of the GPSs will be the 4.3-inch NS-CNV20 and the other will be the 3.5-inch NS-CNV10.

These devices both feature integrated cellular connectivity.  This is the kind of feature that will make these GPSs stand out.  There is only one other GPS manufacturer that currently has cellular connectivity built-in to their devices and that is the Dash.  With this connectivity, both of these GPSs will be able to perform local Google searches, access Google Maps, real time traffic updates, and you can even find maps on your home computer and then forward them to your Insignia personal navigation device. 

Another nice thing is that Best Buy will not charge you any service fees for the first year.  However, no word on how much the service fees will cost when the year is over.  Since there are hardly any GPSs available with cellular connectivity, Best Buy’s two devices will probably sell well as they are considered high end GPSs.  Both of these products will be available October 19th; the NS-CNV20 will sell for $499 and the NS-CNV10 will sell for $399.

Via [Twice]

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Ever since the T-Mobile G1 was officially announced, it was available for pre-sale.  At first, we thought T-Mobile had ended the pre-sale due to the popularity of the G1.  However, it turned out they were only teasing us as they continued on with the pre-sale.  We know that they are continuing with their pre-sale as T-Mobile just announced something else that may have you thinking twice about buying it early, or waiting until it is officially released.

By reading the fine print, if you ordered your G1 before October 3, then the earliest you will receive the G1 is on its scheduled release date, October 22.  Now, let’s say you decide to pre-order one between now and the 21st, the earliest you will receive the G1 is on November 10.  Who knows when you will actually receive the G1?  With such popular demand it probably won’t even be the 10th.  On their pre-order site it specifically says:

Order yours before October 21, 2008, and it will be delivered as early as November 10, 2008.* After all, as a loyal customer, you deserve to get what you want—when you want it.

I find it kind of funny how they say at the end “After all, as a loyal customer, you deserve to get what you want—when you want it,” you would think a loyal customer would want it immediately after its officially released, not November 10 or later.  Let us know if you still plan to pre-order a G1 even though you won’t get it as early as you would like.

Read [T-Mobile]

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LG has slowly but surely been gaining the trust by people worldwide for its brand of cell phones, and they have certainly come a long way from their humble beginnings. Here we have a brand new handset that is set to blow your mind away - the LG Renoir, also known by its more formal moniker, the LG KC910. This slim handset is packed with a bunch of features, including a full touch screen display as well as an 8 megapixel camera. Granted, cell phone cameras still lack the sensors to make them the equal of standalone digital cameras, but that doesn’t mean they cannot capture sweet looking images under the ideal conditions (bright light and stationary subjects). More on the LG Renoir right after the jump.

The 8 megapixel camera would be the focal (pardon the pun) point of this handset, since very rarely does any commercial cell phone feature a digital camera with such high megapixel count. It will feature Schneider-Kreuznach certified optics, a Xenon flash, auto and manual focus, sensitivity up to ISO 1600 and geo-tagging that helps you remember just exactly where you’ve taken that image no matter where you go. In addition, the Touch Shot feature allows the photographer to focus on any object siply by touching it on the screen, with the shutter firing automatically once the finger is removed. Touch Shot on the Renoir is the first for any cell phone, and greatly helps reduce camera shake in the process.

Other features of the LG Renoir include 3G HSDPA support and Wi-Fi connectivity to keep you connected to the Internet at all times, regardless of where you are (although your international roaming costs might fly through the roof, but that’s another story for another day). In addition, the A-GPS capability makes it a snap for you to access an online map, allowing you to get around even in unfamiliar areas. Interestingly enough, all these features are crammed into a handset that measures just 13.95mm slim. You will be able to pick up the LG Renoir in Europe next month, followed by Asia, Latin America and CIS releases in November. Would be interesting to see how the user interface is like, and whether it can hold a candle to Apple’s UI?

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Google and Yahoo have announced that they will delay their controversial advertising partnership for about a month.  Both companies say the delay is designed to give them more time to deal with the Department of Justice and its concerns about a possible antitrust issue.

“The companies have agreed to a brief delay in implementing this agreement to continue our ongoing discussions with the (U.S.) Department of Justice,” Yahoo said in a statement. “We have had discussions with regulators and look forward to responding to their questions about this agreement.”

The deal allows Google to sell some of Yahoo’s advertising space.  Advertisers greeted the announcement of the deal with deep concerns and fear of higher ad rates.  Google claims that since it sells its ads via auction they have no control over prices.

August saw a 63% rise in Google’s web search market share, while Yahoo, once the premiere search engine, dropped to 19.6%.  Legal experts suspect the deal may be in trouble, especially after the DOJ brought in a top litigator to work on it.  Many believe the deal was created to fight Microsoft’s attempts to acquire Yahoo.  If the deal is approved, it will increase Yahoo’s annual revenues by $800 million.

Read[Reuters]

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Are you curious to find out what songs your friend has on his iPod? Why not make the discovery process a fun time with the iNo Quiz Game?

Specifically designed for iPod owners, this brilliant party game/speaker dock transforms your not-so-humble player into a fast and furious interactive music quiz. Just pop your ipod in the sphere, set it to shuffle, grab one of the wireless remotes and let battle commence. It’s like a hi-tech version of Name that Tune minus Tom O’ Connor’s terrible jokes. The first player selects an iNo playing card and tells opponents what element of the song they must identify: title, artist, album, etc. The first person to buzz in pauses the song. Correct answers equal points and a nice little ego boost; incorrect answers equal points deducted.

You can choose from black or white colors, and either model is going for £59.95. The former is currently sold out at this point in time.

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted Oct 5th 2008 at 11:19PM
The Toshiba E105 has been sneaking around the fringes for a few days now, but apparently it’s not just announced — it’s available for purchase. That’s right, the oddly familiar looking 14.1-incher can be had at Best Buy for the totally reasonable price of $1,199.99, packing a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo, a 1280 x 800 TruBrite LCD display, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, and an Intel 4500MHD integrated GPU. The Satellite also sports 802.11a/b/g/n, an HDMI out, Vista Home Premium, and that all-important fingerprint reader (just remember, this increases the odds of someone cutting off your finger). The laptop is available right now online, no word if it’s on store shelves yet.

[Via LogicBUY]

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Filed under: Laptops

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 5th 2008 at 9:07PM
There’s nothing lightweight about Mitsubishi’s latest beamer, as the burly FL6900U checks in with a man-sized 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, 4,000 ANSI lumens, an RS-232 control port, automated zoom / focus and digital keystone correction, and a built-in motion-sensitive anti-theft alarm. It also packs a man-sized price, but hopefully that corporate card can handle another $9,995 when this thing lands later in the month.

[Via AboutProjectors]

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment