Gadgets, Hand Phones, Computers and Electronics.
22 Jul
Sure, Garmin’s new nüvi 500 series can get you from point A to point G on paved and well-lit highways, but that’s not the (whole) point here. Instead, these rugged (and waterproof) navigators are geared up to take to the trails, waterways and sidewalks with one-touch transitions between driving, bicycling, boating and walking modes. The 500 includes road maps and topographic maps for the lower 48 US states, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, while the 550 touts comprehensive street map coverage of the US and Canada. Both devices boast a 3.5-inch touchscreen, a removable, rechargeable battery, Garmin’s “Where Am I?” feature and geocaching support to boot. As for USers, you’ll find the 500 and 550 on sale in Q3 for $499.99, while those across the pond will see the nüvi 550 land this September for £299.
Tags: Garmin, nuvi 500, nuvi 55022 Jul
You can’t put velvet in these earcups and call ‘em nice headphones! As Mr. Chappelle would likely attest, there are no better headphones in which to drop the beat into than Dr. Dre’s “highly anticipated” Beats. The master of chronic himself has slapped his all-but-forgotten name onto a set of cans (which we spotted originally at CES), and is now ready to introduce ‘em to the world. Starting on July 25th, the crunk-inducing headphones will be available exclusively at Apple and Best Buy (both online and in-store), though the buying experience would likely be way more gangsta if checking out at BeatsByDre.com. Still, for $349.95, we’d recommend looking at more respected names in sound, but if your street cred is sitting at rock bottom, you may have no other choice. Thug life, fool.
Tags: Dr. Dre's, HeadPhones22 Jul
Taking the wraps off of three cameras at once just isn’t good enough for Panasonic, so how’s about a fourth? The pocket-friendly LUMIX DMC-FX150 arrives in a trio of stylish hues (black, gold and silver) and features an admittedly absurd 14.7-megapixel sensor, 28-millimeter wide-angle LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT lens, a 3.6x optical zoom and a host of manual controls to boot. This shooter can also capture shots in RAW format, and the usual suspects — you know, red-eye correction, optical image stabilizer, face detection, intelligent ISO, etc. — are all there. If this one fits the bill, expect to receive one of your own for $399.95 when picking it up next month.
Tags: DMC-FX150, Panasonic, pocket shooter22 Jul
No sooner did we have a chance to wrap our mitts around JVC’s Everio GZ-HD40 and Samsung’s SC-HMX20C than Canon comes out with a pair of its own. Kicking things off is the iVIS HF11 (which turned up in name back in April) — an HD camcorder with 32GB of built-in memory, an SD / SDHC card slot, Full HD recording capabilities (using the polarizing AVCHD format) and a 12x optical zoom. The iVIS HG21 (pictured after the break) relates most closely to the aforementioned HD40, as it packs a capacious 120GB internal HDD, 2.7-inch flip-out LCD and most of the same specifications as its sibling. Expect ‘em both to land next month (at least in Japan) for ¥140,000 ($1,317) apiece.
Tags: camcorders, Canon, HD, HF11, HG2122 Jul
Happy 3rd birthday mister Walkman phone. To celebrate, Sony Ericsson is getting official with its W902 “Patti” (pictured), W595 slider, and W302 candybar Walkman handsets. We knew the celebration was coming with the exception of Patti making a last minute substitution for Alicia. SE’s quad-band GSM/EDGE W902 is the all-singing, all-media workhorse with UMTS/HSDPA 2100 data, 5 megapixel camera, 8GB of M2 memory, and 2.2-inch, 240 x 320 pixel display. It comes bundled with a pair of premium HPM-77 headphones and the promise of a clear audio, bass-thumpin’ experience similar to that offered by SE’s W980. The W595 shares the same radios but packs in stereo speakers, 2GB of M2 memory, a 3.2 megapixel camera, motion sensing Shake control, and a stereo Share jack to split the music with a friend. The quad-band GSM/EDGE W302 neglects 3G entirely in favor of a low price tag and dreams of mass adoption. As such, it offers a number of middling specs like a 2 megapixel camera, 512MB of M2 memory, FM radio, and stereo Bluetooth. All three Walkmans will hit select markets in Q4.
Tags: Sony Ericsson, Walkman phones22 Jul
Can’t wait to understand what Netflix integration on the Xbox 360 will be like? Stop daydreaming and click on past the jump then, as Major Nelson takes you through the entire process on video. We could continue on explaining how easy it looks to navigate to one’s Queue, press play and pop some popcorn, but we’d rather let the aforementioned expert handle that.
Tags: Netflix, XBox, Xbox 36020 Jul
Yeah, as in, it actually wants a “psychologically inspired object recognition system.” What’s that, you ask? It’s giving robots and mechanical creatures the ability to see objects the way humans do and make reasonable judgments based on those sights. Essentially, the military would love to see bots have something similar to spatial memory, which would enable ‘em to “mentally rotate objects in order to match the object to different representations.” When looking at the main objective of this here endeavor, however, we can’t help but have mixed feelings. We’re kosher with increasing “robotic control,” but creating “exponential expansion of robotic capabilities and intelligence” might not be the smartest thing to do in the long run.
Tags: Army, robots20 Jul
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.
Tags: Brando's, LED, Message Board, USB20 Jul
Sure, these in-car crash loggers are a dime a dozen these days, but Brickhouse Security is pushing its Car Camera Voyager Pro as better than those ho hum alternatives thanks to the inclusion of GPS. As with most of its highly functional rivals, this one also packs a G-sensor that detects when a vehicle has been slammed into, bumped or otherwise rocked in an unorthodox manner; after that, it captures the 10 seconds immediately prior to and the 30 seconds immediately following the incident. Of course, you’ll also be able to pinpoint your exact location thanks to the corresponding GPS information, which could certainly help you out when hunting down CCTV footage of the nut-job who rammed your whip and wheeled off to Wendy’s as if nothing happened. Hand over $449.95 now and expect it to arrive later next week.
Tags: Car Camera, GPS, Voyager Pro20 Jul
If you thought Velocity Mobile just rolled over and died after showing off a few handsets at CTIA earlier this year, you’d be exactly wrong. The outfit’s Windows Mobile-powered 103 has just surfaced in the FCC’s lair, giving us a smidgen of hope that a US release is but moments / weeks / months away. Unfortunately, this filing doesn’t spill the beans on any other specifications, but the 67 page User Manual does dive into great detail on changing the battery, inserting microSD cards and navigating around within the operating system. C’mon Inventec, give us the good stuff.
Tags: Velocity Mobile