Gadgetstronics

We all know that Logitech does have some pretty decent speakers for the home, and these offer a great deal of bang for your shrinking buck. What about Sony Ericsson? They’re more well known for their line of Cybershot and Walkman range of handsets, and to see them release the MBS-900 Wireless Home Audio System is refreshing, as it shows the company is willing to step out of its comfort zone to offer something new and different to the masses. First of all, the MBS-900 speaker works wirelessly thanks to Bluetooth connectivity, and comes in a really stunning and innovative design that is sure to set tongues wagging whenever somebody steps into your home and lay their eyes on it for the first time.

The high quality, dual speaker and sub-woofer system is touted to offer great audio, but seriously - it won’t replace a dedicated home theater system anytime soon, but will definitely beat your regular headphones or small time speakers into submission. Of course, the audio quality of the song also depends on what kind of encoding you use, so don’t go blaming the MBS-900 if the original file itself sounds like crap. You can adjust the music settings of the MBS-900 via your cell phone (of course Sony Ericsson will claim it is best used with their handsets, but generally, any MP3-playing, Bluetooth-enabled handset will do just fine). For those who prefer the sense of touch, there is the presence of touch controls on the speaker itself for seamless and smooth control. Whenever your phone rings when you’re streaming audio to it, the MBS-900 will cleverly shut itself up so that you can carry on speaking in peace. Once you’ve run out of MP3s to listen to, there is always the built-in FM radio for you to tune in to the latest antics of your local DJs.

There is no word on how much the MBS-900 will cost, but it will hit the markets in Q1 next year.

Press Release

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What is the normal process that you take when it comes to developing pictures? Normally, we will download all our photos from the digital camera to the computer, browse through the whole bunch and select what we like, sending them to the printers so that they will be able to give us real prints for posterity. You could call Tomy’s Xiao TIP-521 digital camera a Polaroid of the 21st century - this digital camera comes integrated with a printer, allowing you to print out captured shots instantly if you’re pleased with it. What makes this all the more remarkable is the printing is done without ink, as it relies on patented ZINK paper instead which features an advanced composite material with embedded yellow, magenta and cyan dye crystals. Heat is used to activate and colorize these crystals, hence the inkless format. This 5 megapixel shooter comes with a 2.48″ LCD display and an SD/SDHC memory card slot. It will retail for approximately $357 when released this November 28th.

Source: Far East Gizmos

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I’ve never really used my ipod to watch a ton of videos, especially not within my house. However, not everyone spends as much of their time at their computer as I tend to. If you have an area of the house you’d like to more comfortably watch videos on your Nano, this little TV would definitely help you out. It’d be great for hiding out in the garage or a small closet when your in-laws are in town. It looks like the classic TV/VCR combination, but it actually plays videos directly from your Nano.

It does this by magnifying the screen on your Nano by up to 2.8in. Then it plays the sound through the TV speakers. Which also means you could hear your music without having to keep your headphones on the whole time. The TV sadly only works for those with 3rd generation Nanos, so the newer Nanos are out of luck. However, for those with the 3rd gens you can pick this up for pretty cheap. It’s being sold for £14.99 or about $23.

Source: GeekAlerts

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by Nilay Patel, posted Nov 9th 2008 at 2:28PM
Apple’s poaching of Mark Papermaster from IBM to run the ipod division is getting more dramatic by the day — the court on Friday ordered him to stop working at Apple while it sorts IBM’s lawsuit against his hiring. For his part, Papermaster (seriously, what a great name) says he left IBM with good intentions and that he kept his old company fully aware of what was going on before he was hired — a statement supported by the fact that IBM let him keep working for two weeks after he accepted the Apple gig instead of escorting him out of the building. We’ll see how this plays out — although Steve personally handcrafts every iPod out of a kitten, he does lean on his exec staff to keep the Benz washed and waxed.

Read - Papermaster ordered to stop working
Read - Papermaster says leaving was legit

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 9th 2008 at 12:35PM
First it was just new colors; now, it’s just more Zune Originals designs to choose from. A half year after Microsoft tapped a gaggle of Canadian artists for a few more Originals designs, the suits up in Redmond have evidently deemed it suitable to give prospective Zune buyers another handful of choices. Or, you know, forty-six new choices. The new options include “exclusive artwork of Eastern and Western astrology from Catalina Estrada and Iosefatu Sua,” all of which can be selected now from the online design studio. Unfortunately, you’ll probably have to burn a vacation day just to sift through ‘em all, but at least you’ll be having fun. Maybe.

[Via Zunerama]

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 9th 2008 at 12:14AM
We’ve been impatiently awaiting the red carpet arrival of Freestyle Audio’s Soundwave for a few seasons now, and at long last, it appears the units are shipping out — or, at least one made its way over to cousin site Gadling for a review. The Soundwave is pretty much exactly what you’d expect: a ho hum mp3 player with a rather unsightly design, a disgraceful user interface and the ability to operate where the vast majority of rivals cannot. The reviewer noted that controlling the action was a pain, though the internal battery could keep the jams flowing for well over a day. Of course, the biggest boon is its ability to keep on truckin’ while submerged in the pool (or the tub, whatever), and the included waterproof headphones were said to be surprisingly tolerable. Now, if only brown bags were waterproof…

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Filed under: Portable Audio

by Chris Ziegler, posted Nov 8th 2008 at 8:42PMThe philosophy goes something like this: the great thing about Linux is that it’s secure, and the great thing about open-source software is that it’s thoroughly and constantly vetted for robustness. So to that end, Android should be pretty rock solid, right? Perhaps, but the overwhelming enormity of this particular bug definitely gives us pause. It turns out that G1 firmware revisions RC29 and earlier literally interpret everything you type as command-line operations, so if you happen across a legit command, it’s going to get executed — with superuser permissions, no less. No, seriously. Just go to the messaging app, the browser, or anywhere else a text box is convenient, type “reboot,” press the enter key, and watch magic happen. We’ve tested this on two G1s, both with RC29 firmware, and have gotten this to consistently work on one of the two, so your mileage may vary — but either way, this needed to get patched on the double. Fortunately, Google’s been quick about it, rolling a fix into the RC30 build that’s being rapidly pushed to users as we speak, but man… how did that get through?

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Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds

FROM APPLETELL - I recently got an ipod touch (8 GB), and it’s the most amazing gadget I’ve ever owned.  But there are a few areas where it could be improved, as well as a few that are just plain dumb. 
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FROM APPLETELL - A new study from SquareTrade, a company that offers additional warranties for devices, indicates that Apple’s iphone is twice as reliable as RIM’s blackberry line.
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We posted this photo a few hours ago on our Facebook fan page to show what an “Uber10″ looks like. On November 13th, ten products will receive an Uber10 Award because they would make great Christmas gifts. Another one will be awarded to an 11th gadget called “The People’s Choice”. Voting is underway right now to nominate the People’s Choice. Voice your opinion: which one would you like to unpack?