Hottest Electronic Gadgets

Archive for July, 2009

If you’ve never pulled your weight during the wee hours of the morning (like, right now), you simply can’t understand what a godsend these things really are. The so-called Wink Glasses are little more than a USB peripheral that clips onto one’s spectacles when using the computer; if the wearer doesn’t blink every five seconds, the device begins to fog up your shades until you snap back into it. In theory, anyway, this acts to keep you awake and alert while computing for hours on end, but everything goes to waste if you simply detach it or remove your eyeglasses entirely. At any rate, it’ll ship in Japan (where else, right?) early next month for an undisclosed sum, and we’re already betting it’ll have great success in the gag gift market if nothing else.

[Thanks, Chris]

Filed under: Wearables

Wink Glasses fog up if you start dozing, keep you occupied during those graveyard shifts originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When Windows 7 is unleashed this fall with more gesture-recognition built directly into the operating system, more PC makers are planning on taking advantage.

While touch-screen desktops are gaining popularity, there haven’t been many consumer-friendly touch-screen notebooks yet. But that will change soon. Last week Sony said it plans …

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For this week’s Photoshop Contest, you created a bunch of ads for decidedly-unsexy gadgets that use our basest instincts to draw us in. And you know what? Some of these are better than real ads that are out there.

First Place – Levi Sell

Second Place – Cobra Commander

Third Place – Mark Majdanski

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We’re more used to seeing vacuum tubes on iPod speaker docks, but the Neuhaus T-2 brings some of that analog action to your computer by serving as a USB amplifier. Those among us who think MP3 compression is just a-okay will find this new device boils down to a handsome-looking external sound card, with perhaps a bit of extra oomph. For the audiophiles, already cringing in distress at the preceding sentence, we have specs: the T-2 pumps out 20W each to two channels, with a signal-to-noise ratio of 85dB and a frequency response between 10Hz and 30KHz. If you find any of that attractive, hold your racing heart in check, as the asking price is $795. We suppose it’s more affordable than the Magma, but then again so is a new car.

[Via Switched]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Neuhaus T-2 vacuum tube amplifier turns heretic, offers USB input originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Novero's TheFirstOne Bluetooth headset

(Credit: Novero)

Novero has just launched a new Bluetooth headset today, dubbed TheFirstOne. It has a rather stylish look with white and silver accents all around. It comes with a car charging cradle, a desk stand, a necklace, a wearable clip, and seven interchangeable …

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It’s not a negative. It’s not frozen. This rat’s skin is blue and its color may be the secret to avoid spinal cord injuries and paralysis, according to a new study by neurologists at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

That secret is Brilliant Blue G dye, a variant of Blue Number One, which is a common and harmless food coloring product. Scientists dropped weights on the rats’ backs to break their little spinal cords, injecting the Brilliant Blue G dye in their bodies. The dye turned their skins blue, but within weeks all motor functions returned to normal. The rat could walk, run, jump, have sex, and do whatever it wanted.

According to the study, the dye prevented inflammation of the spinal cord. Not only it is as simple as that, but one of the neurologists—Maiken Nedergaard—says that they can’t find “clinical effects on the rat.” This is one of the things that they should start trying in humans as soon as possible. Better to look like a smurf than neer walking again. [National Geographic]

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So you’ve seen the ThinkPad W700ds and thought you could do with one of those compact secondary displays, eh? If Century’s earlier Plus One model didn’t exactly float your boat, you may be excited to learn that the company is adding DVI connectivity to the 8-inch panel, while keeping the same 800 x 600 resolution, USB input and 250 nits of brightness. Being able to alternate between two video sources without fiddling with cables is definitely appealing, as is the reduced CPU overhead when selecting the DVI linkup. Sadly, the price still hasn’t climbed down to sane levels, and at $174 before shipping, you’re probably better off scooping up some previously loved 17-inch LCD for even less. Or just cramming all 23 of those IM windows into that fancy cascading toolbar, whichever works.

[Via Akihabara News]

Filed under: Displays

Century’s 8-inch Plus One LCD-8000UD adds DVI input, character originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Archos Clipper gives the iPod Shuffle a run for its money, only four years too late.

(Credit: MyMemory)

Mobile phones and Netbooks may be nibbling away at the market for portable media players, but there will always be a demand for dirt-cheap, bare-bones MP3 players. Our grandchildren could be …

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According to the Financial Times, Apple is racing to launch the fabled Apple tablet in September, along with new iPods. They claim Apple is working with record labels and book publishers on new iTunes features created for the new device:

The talks come as Apple is separately racing to offer a portable, full-featured, tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season, in what the entertainment industry hopes will be a new revolution. The device could be launched alongside the new content deals, including those aimed at stimulating sales of CD-length music, according to people briefed on the project.

Apple is working with EMI, SonyMusic, Warner Music and Universal Music Group, on a project the company has codenamed “Cocktail”, according to four people familiar with the situation.

The Financial Times’ sources point out that the device will have a 10-inch touchscreen and run iPhone OS. The tablet will be able to connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi like the iPod touch, and—according to publishers—it will also have a book marketplace. Yes, that’s Jeff Bezos’ worse nightmare.

Like always, remember our rule about rumors: Don’t trust them—although secretly I hope they are right. Or else:

[Financial Times via 9to5]

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Man, Intel can’t win for losin’. After it was forced to issue a firmware update to remedy an off-the-wall slowdown issue that affected a few of its original X25-M SSDs, the outfit is already having to push out a patch to solve a minor quirk with its newfangled 34nm X25-M G2 drives. According to Puget System‘s William George, his company — along with NewEgg and a number of other respected vendors — was forced to yank the new drive from its website shortly after it became available. Turns out, there is a defect in the initial shipment that could cause data corruption if “a password is set on the drive in the system BIOS, and then changed or disabled later.”

We’re told that a firmware fix should be out within a fortnight, and while most companies are allowing folks to hold off and wait for factory-patched drives, those who don’t foresee themselves placing such a password on their SSD can go ahead and enjoy the spoils of 34nm flash goodness while waiting for Intel’s engineers to do their thang. Oh, and if you’re thinking about buying in now, you should probably know that Intel has halted shipments until the fix is complete. Ready to deal with a shortage, are you?

[Image courtesy of HotHardware, thanks Joseph]

Filed under: Storage

BIOS password snag subdues Intel’s 34mn X25-M G2 launch party originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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