Gadgetstronics

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 22nd 2008 at 1:19PM
The Battersea Power Station in London has been defunct since 1983, and urban developers have been scratching their heads to come up with a way to preserve the largest brick structure in all of Europe. Some wily Irish developers have come up with a way to turn the empty building into what they’re calling a “solar driven natural ventillation system” attached to shopping malls, 3,000 homes, and a boutique hotel. The 1,000-foot glass tower would use a funnel structure to force heat out of the complex using convection all the while providing a striking addition to the London skyline. All in all, developers say this would make the complex carbon neutral. If the plan goes through, the structure could be completed as soon as 2019.

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 22nd 2008 at 3:16PM
It’s been a hot minute since we’ve seen anything fresh from FineDigital, but the firm has just introduced the slim and seductive FineDrive X700 over in South Korea. Humorously, the company is asserting that this particular unit is the first of its kind to offer voice recognition, but even a light amount of research would help it understand such a statement is far from being true. Nevertheless, the unit does look to offer a spacious screen and a bundled remote, but details beyond that are unfortunately absent.

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Filed under: GPS

So everyone has seen the video recording capabilities of the Sidekick LX, but what about video playback? We converted a video into .3gp and tossed it on the Sidekick to see how it looked. Surprisingly it turned out pretty good! It’s not unreasonable to think that people could be watching TV shows and music videos on their Sidekick. We won’t say movies are a possibility because we haven’t done any testing to see just how much of an impact this has on battery life. Anyways, enough talk, here’s the video:

Sidekick LX Video Playback from HiptopVideos on Vimeo.

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 22nd 2008 at 4:20PM
There are all sorts of ways to deal with rising gas prices and public transportation needs, and Montreal is getting in the game with what they’re calling the Public Bike System. Utilizing a central inventory and check-out website, solar-powered docking stations, and high-tech RFID-tagged aluminum bikes, the system is a gadget-maxed project that could be amazing or turn into a complete theft disaster. Each station holds six bikes and six docks, and users can find the nearest available bike on a website and then return the bike to any other dock. Payments can be made via credit, debit, or “member” card. Quick question, though — what if a popular destination has no available docks for a drop-off?

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Filed under: Transportation

The weekend is almost over, I know, I’m sorry to remind you.  However, you’ll need to do whatever possible to relax today to make it through the week to come.  You know the silly little chair pad that you can slap on your desk chair or put on your car seat for long drives?  It’s nifty because you get a nice cheap massage and none of the troubles of having to go to a masseuse.  First of all with a masseuse you have to pay for them, which is just ludicrous.  Then you have the awkward factor of what type of person do you want to be alone in a room with, while they rub on you.  Granted it feels great, but some people do have an issue with that.

Well this chair comes masseuse free, and definitely beats out that cheap little chair pad.  The chair, from Bronze 69, has six different techniques to massage your feet.  Just park it in any room, probably away from the kids so you can actually relax a bit.  The giant chair also features Kalfasun high pressure lamps that relax the muscles in your face and hands.  It includes a CD player and audio system to let you relax to the tunes that help you chill out.  The down side is that the price of the chair is far from relaxing, it is being sold for about $7,807.

Source: bornrich

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 22nd 2008 at 11:26AM
It’s about time someone we understand got his hands on Gigabyte’s M704 UMPC. In this case, Chippysteve over at UMPC Portal put together a relatively long video that has him gushing over the new machine, navigating XP, tapping the screen, and putting the little computer through its various tasks. He seems to love the thing unconditionally, but did admit that the chiclet keyboard could use some work. Interface responsiveness looks decent and he proved the unit’s performance by running some 1080P video without much of a glitch, so his adoration is at least partially deserved. Don’t forget to note his excitement over the free docking station. That all said, we’re just glad to see this thing in action in the Western hemisphere. Peep the vid after the break.

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Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 22nd 2008 at 10:04AM
Let’s face it, the streets are rough these days. And just because someone admits to having your back, that doesn’t mean they won’t turn and run in the heat of battle. Granted, the very spark that sets off said conflict could be this questionably designed coat, but we digress. Paul Coudamy’s Hard-Wear jacket includes a totally inconspicuous camera on the rear which reportedly beams happenings onto a wrist-worn LCD. Not exactly James Bond type material here, but we suppose it’ll do for the double-o in training. Take all those orange blocks away and your chances of being looked at would decline remarkably, wouldn’t you think?

[Via Talk2MyShirt]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras, Wearables

Looking to pick up a new Jeep Wrangler? Don’t want one of those lame stock Jeep Wranglers? Better hurry over to eBay and check out this auction. Not only will you get a tricked out Jeep Wrangler, but you’ll also get one of the new Tony Hawk Limited Edition Sidekick LXs with your new ride. On top of that you’ll get 4 VIP tickets to the HuckJam tour and a chance to hang out with Tony Hawk himself. All the proceeds from this auction are also going to a good cause, the Tony Hawk Foundation. No, that doesn’t buy Tony new skateboards, it’s a foundation that helps build skateparks in low income neighborhoods and promote skating. The bids are up to $46,200, so you better break out that high limit credit card if you want to bid!

Here’s the description straight from the auction:

Here’s your chance to bid on this one-of-a-kind 2007 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited, “Hawkized” by DUB® magazine! The Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon 4×4 has been tricked-out with 24” TIS™ 09 Toyo off-road tires, custom Skyjacker 9″ body lift, Borla performance exhaust, tinted windows, DUB satin black emblems, and Birdhouse Skateboards mounted on custom skateboard racks! In the interior, you will find 7” Alpine monitors in the headrests, embroidered Tony Hawk logo on the seats, an Alpine DVD HEADUNIT SYSTEM and a Custom Fiberglass Subwoofer Box, plus much more!

The winner will also receive the new T-Mobile Sidekick LX Tony Hawk Edition, designed by Tony Hawk! A long-time user since the first Sidekick debuted, Tony puts his personal design on the iconic device by giving it a true skateboard look. This limited edition Sidekick will be the first Sidekick to ship with video record, play and share. It also includes other enhancements such as a more personalized Web browsing experience, stereo Bluetooth support, easier downloads and more options for theme and background personalization. The device features a slate-grey shell, accented with blue and white designs, and Tony’s well-known hawk graphic. A customized Tony Hawk theme will be included on the device featuring an exclusive video of Tony performing tricks, a Tony-inspired background, and skate-themed swivel screen open and close sounds. For more information, please visit www.sidekick.com.

In addition to the Jeep and Sidekick LX Tony Hawk Edition, the winning bidder will receive 4 VIP Tickets to Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom HuckJam tour and meet Tony before the show! Winning bidder will get to choose which show they would like to attend. Hotel and transportation not included. Click to see HuckJam tour schedule , visit www.boomboomhuckjam.com

Also, the winning bidder will be featured with the Tony Hawk DUB Edition Jeep in an upcoming DUB magazine issue.

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 22nd 2008 at 8:49AM
This certainly won’t be the first time ASUS has shipped an in-demand item elsewhere in the world while USers ponder the thought of importing, but apparently the outfit’s potent G70 is now on sale in the UK. For those who missed it, this monstrosity features a 17-inch WUXGA / WXGA+ panel, an optional Core 2 Extreme processor, twin GeForce 8700M GT graphics cards, 1GB of RAM, an optional Blu-ray writer, gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth / WiFi and oodles of LED accents. Word on the street has it going for around £1,999 ($3,948) well equipped, but those blokes across the pond aren’t too worried about a US release date.

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Filed under: Laptops

Sidekick LX New Browser Features