Gadgetstronics

by Donald Melanson, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 2:36PM
It looks like Motorola isn’t about to let Apple have the goofy, non-existent product spotlight to itself, with a recent patent application of its revealing some plans of its own for a head-mounted display. As you can see above, however, this one is no ordinary HMD, with it also able to be folded up into an apparently over-sized cellphone for times when you want to look slightly less conspicuous. Of course, the chances of such a product actually making it off the drawing board are pretty slim (thankfully), and no doubt even less likely given the recent cuts to Motorola’s research division.

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Filed under: cellphones, Wearables

BenQ has achieved yet another industry first with its new E2200HDA LCD monitor. This is the first known desktop lcd monitor that features 16:9 aspect ratio that is perfect for widescreen High Definition content minus the black bars that appear on majority of 16:10 non-native displays. In addition, you get 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, automatic color adjustment, integrated stereo speakers, and an average response time of 5ms. There is no word on pricing, but this new BenQ E2200HDA will ship this summer to Asia Pacific, China, Europe, and Latin America.

Say you want to spruce up the air in your boring cubilcle, but your boss won’t let you burn one of those fragrance candles - some nonsense about burning down the building or such. You could grab a standard air freshner and stick it on your desk, but that could imply the wrong message about your personal hygiene. You want something fragrant, but discreet.

Well, here is a USB drive that not only serves as a storage medium to hold your data but it also acts as a fragrance diffuser. Called the Scent Drive, users need only put a few drops of their favorite cologne, perfume or scented oil in the fragrance holder, plug the stick drive into an available USB port, and the device will start to fill the area with the desired scent for a few hours.

Computing never smelled better and you can pick up one of these Scent Drives at a cost of US$28 for the 1 GB version or US$35 for the 2 GB version.

Read more at Scent Drive, found via OhGizmo!

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 10:46AM
Leave it to QSTARZ to innovate so dramatically upon the tried-and-true Bluetooth GPS receiver design. Okay, so maybe it just created two new 66-channel ones that are exceptionally small. Up first is the new BT-Q1300, a “miniature” device that’s dubbed the world’s smallest travel recorder. Continuing on with superlatives, we see “the best” of the best in the BT-Q890, which measures in at 60- x 40- x 7-millimeters and is somehow also the “world’s smallest GPS receiver.” We’re on to your fuzzy math, QSTARZ, and we don’t like it one bit.

[Via NaviGadget]

Read - BT-Q1300
Read - BT-Q890

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Filed under: GPS

Oh, Sonic the Hedgehog. Many readers of this site remember the fuzzy blue guy as the face of Sega for many, many years. His fast-paced side-scrollers were what our parents used to keep us quiet over and over again. He hit a rough patch recently with the Sonic Adventure series and the subsequent mediocre games for the current-gen systems.

A few months ago, a video was leaked that was reportedly from a new Sonic game, and what we saw was extremely exciting. Since then, the game has been confirmed and Sega has given us a few details. New features include:

• Tight Navigation and Speed Control: A variety of special maneuvers help you move quickly through tricky situations. “Quick Step” allows you to dodge obstacles by instantly moving left or right without losing speed; “Speed Drift” will maintain top speeds through turns, while “Sonic Boost” will accelerate you to super speeds!
• Powerful New Game Engine and Cinematic Graphics: Sonic Unleashed delivers a revolutionary gameplay experience, combining picturesque graphics with seamless transitions between 3D and classic 2D perspectives.
• Enhanced and Expanded Environments: Many unique and fascinating continents let you explore a variety of environments - sprint across cobbled streets, race through lush jungles and much more.
• Flexible Path Navigation: Choose from multiple pathways in Sonic’s massive new playground. Each unique route offers different encounters with varying rewards and obstacles.

A new video has also just been released,check it out:

Read more at Sega, found via Joystiq

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 12:21PM
What’s that, Acer? Your vicious Predator not feel so dominant now? ASUS just dropped a bombshell with the official release of the ARES CG6150 that first surfaced at CeBIT, and for gamers who accept nothing less than cutting edge, this is your rig. From the top, we’ve got an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 (overclockable to 4.0GHz) processor, NVIDIA’s nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a 3-way SLI setup with GeForce GTX280s, up to 4TB of HDD space, a Blu-ray optical drive, twin gigabit Ethernet jacks, two power supplies and a custom liquid cooling arrangement. ASUS is being tight-lipped (as usual) with pricing / release information, but let’s just assume you’ll need a serious stack of Benjamins to even sniff this beast.

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Filed under: Desktops

Chances are the iPod (and now possibly iphone) would be pretty popular devices to bring along with you while you engage in a form of vigorous exercise (swimming doesn’t count unless you’re rocking to a waterproof case and earphones), but that can result in the earbuds falling out. A minor irritant, but still irritating nonetheless. The BudFits from Innovelis solves this problem as described.

Constructed of soft, flexible rubber, BudFits snap onto Apple earbuds and then wrap over the top of the ear. In doing so, they ensure ipod and iPhone earbuds will not fall out and also maximize user comfort by eliminating the need to wedge earbuds into the ear canal to keep the earbuds in place. BudFits quickly snap onto earbuds to provide extra support and comfort, yet they can be easily removed for times when extra support and comfort is not necessary.

BudFits are compatible with all iPod and iPhone earbuds made by Apple, and prices hover between the affordable $8.99 to $9.99 range.

Press Release

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YouTube is set to aid independent filmmakers with the introduction of a new virtual screening room. Through the room films will be highlighted and promoted every week in a move that will surely aid stuggling filmakers in their quest to make it big.

The YouTube Screening Room launched earlier this week and aims to focus on 4 new films every 7 days. The page will give access to just the 4 chosen films and an archive of previous highlights. Next to each film is a description, a link to the filmmaker and a chance to rate what you’ve seen.

Sara Pollack, YouTube’s film and animation manager commented:

Hopefully as they see thousands of people watching their films, it’s going to be a very eye-opening experience

YouTube are trying to offer filmmakers more than just a week of being highlighted. They will also allow a “Buy Now” button to appear on the page to purchase digital copies of that and other work they have done, and the majority of the advert revenue generated goes to the filmmaker. That is in addition to the exposure these clips will receive, which could potentially be millions of people.

The video site isn’t just relying on people submitting videos to the service either. They will actively be looking further afield for videos to use in the Screening Room, and film festivals are a clear target for their attentions.

Read more at Associated Press

Matthew’s Opinion
This is sure to get indy filmmakers some much needed exposure and it’s well worth watching the first 4 highlighted videos. The quality of these pieces is impressive and show just how much talent is out there waiting to be discovered.

The barriers YouTube can breakdown are huge, with amateur filmmakers unable to get any airtime via normal TV, or if they do it is a limited audience and not re-shown. On the ‘Net that isn’t a problem as the videos can be viewed whenever you like and as many times as you like. Communication with the filmmaker is also a simple affair.

I am confident I’m going to be impressed every week in the Screening Room and I’m sure it will push filmmakers to get creative and use this opportunity to help forward their careers.

Back in the 90’s when cassette tapes were all the rage (and people said things like “all the rage”) it was common for people to keep a blank tape in their boombox so as to catch their favorite song playing on the radio. That seemed fairly harmless, and it’s doubtful that the MPAA ever considered taking action on anyone for doing that. However, using this radio to record music might land you in some hot water.

This radio has a very cool function, which will record the most-played tracks from an FM station to an SD card in MP3 format. I’m not entirely sure how it determines which songs have been played the most, but it will apparently clean up the track and chop out any commercials or DJ talk. Before with the cassette tapes, it was poor sound quality and didn’t even have the slightest professional flare. With this you have to put out practically no effort and get yourself some free music. This Intempo Rebel will set you back around $140, but I don’t expect this to last long on store shelves.

Source: RedFerret

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Every once in a while, you need more help than just a step-by-step instruction booklet. No, you need to have something that literally shows you how to do something with video footage.

This why people need something like the miBook. There really isn’t anything new about the design of this product, it is a simple PDA with a seven inch touchscreen.

What is unique about the miBook is the way it is being marketed. A recent Circuit City ad showed the MiBook as a kit that includes Two Food Network Cooking Titles. I believe the MiBook is designed to be some type of digital instruction booklet with helpful video footage.

I got to admit that a device such as this is a long time coming. The other day, I was trying to do something on my computer and I couldn’t figure it out to save my life. If someone were to put the instructions on a MiBook, that would have helped me immensely.

The miBook costs about $130, but does not come with any on-board memory. It is compatible with many models of memory cards, and supports both MPEG and MP3 audio formats. The miBook can even be used as a digital picture frame if you don’t want to put instructions on it.

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