Cool toys and Gadgets

Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Who would have predicted this: 16 months after its introduction the iPhone is #1 in sales in the US displacing the RAZR, beating Windows Mobile in smartphone sales and still going strong.  Now, we learn there is no bubble of interest in the iPhone applications that can run on the phone, demand continues to grow.

“It’s unbelievable,“ says Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster. “It’s a differentiator. We think in ‘09, it’s going to be a $1 billion market place and Apple will probably take about 30 percent of that. There’s virtually no operating expense for them. They just approve the apps. It increases our confidence that” Apple can make these numbers.

For those slow at math like me, that is $300 million Apple will make off the app store by doing nothing than keeping the electricity on for the servers to hum.  If I were Steve Jobs, Apple’s #1 man, I’d sit next to the servers and laugh demonically.  Maybe he does that, I won’t judge.

But what intrigues me is the community Apple is building around the phone.  Lately, big businesses are creating iPhone apps to reach customers.  Obama had his iPhone app (I’ll refrain from suggesting it is what won him the election).  If everyone and everything is on the iPhone, why get any other phone?

And this could lead to my very favorite thing: car integration.  Yes, the BMW has iPod integration, but I want to dock my iPod on the dash, charge/play/talk/navigate etc. all on the iPod all at the same time.  All these users and infrastructure could give folks the inclination to help integrate the iPhone into our car.  I am tired of the wires, hokey docks, too few cigarette lighters, blah blah blah.

This stone is rolling and continues to pick up steam.  It is only going to go faster if Wal-Mart really does have a $99 iPhone up its sleeves.

Read [CNBC]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Section: Peripherals, Storage

With the advances in technology meaning things are smaller and more valuable people are always looking for new ways to stop things from getting lost, and stop them from getting nicked.  Memory sticks certainly fall into this category: it is now far too easy to lose your new tiny memory stick, and if you are that sort of slimy person, it is also very easy to take them off your desk and copy all your valuable documents.  Bring in the CurrentKey: the height of USB stick disguise and poor puns.

The main idea behind these USB sticks is “acts” like coins, sitting nice and safe in the coin section of your wallet out of harms way and unlikely to get lost (as you always know where it is).  But if you were to twist it the snazzy rotation system brings out a USB stick capable of holding up to 8GB of work, music or whatever else you keep on your memory stick.

Originally a European company LaCie are now one of the world market leaders for computer peripherals who specialize in practical solutions for both the general public and professionals.  This is obviously aimed more at the public market (no where near geeky enough for a computer technician) along with many of their brightly colored not-easily-lost USB “solutions”.

This really is a neat product: designed to look like Euro coins (as the image suggests) they will fit in very well in any purse with the bronze (4GB) and silver (8GB) versions. T he only problem?  If you are in a rush you may end up giving someone one of these instead of a coin, which will be a fairly expensive mistake (admittedly not one your are likely to make in America) but the nice little USB logo and number indicating capacity is a bit of a give-away.

It is also not the sort of thing that a passing opportunist is going to take; I know that USB thefts are not very common, but I have heard of them and if you store valuable data (such as credit card details) there is definitely a motive for people to steal them.  However I doubt that anyone will steal a small foreign coin that is on your desk, so perhaps this is an advantage.

The only problem is the price, in a day where you can get 4Gb for around $8 the $20 and $30 price tags seem a little high, but I suppose that is the price for style and practicality, something that this little number has in buckets.  The pun (CurrentKey - Currency) isn’t that bad either so overall this is a solid piece of consumer orientated design, something we all want to see.

Source [UberGizmo]

Full Story » | Written by Christian Milsom for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Man, would I have loved to be in the crowd at the Symbian Partner Conference when AT&T’s Director of Next Generation Services, Roger Smith, stated the telecom’s lofty goal of having the company’s smartphone offerings on the same operating system.  You know what is coming: he said Symbian is “a very credible and likely candidate” to become that one operating system.

Symbian who?

Symbian, which garners 45% or so of the worldwide smartphone OS market, owes much of its success to Nokia.  The platform is stable, works well, and is loved in Europe.  As of late, Symbian was purchased by Nokia and is committed to going open source. 

iPhone effect

Other news this morning from Bloomberg states Apple’s iPhone is recession-proofing AT&T thanks the steady line of new customers for the device.  The company is expected to be the only carrier to post accelerating growth this quarter as companies hunker down for the economic storm.  While AT&T has announced layoffs, subscribers are not detered from obtaining these luxury phones.

“People still want those iconic devices and are willing to pay up for them,” said Will Power, analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co..  “Look at wireless and consumer behavior generally, this also applies to the lower- income demographics.”

Additionally, iPhone buyers are among the industry’s most wanted customers, those that pay 1.6 times what the average customer pays for phone and data services.  In a time where carriers are running out of new customers, they are looking to steal or hold onto these higher-paying customers.

Sucking up?

Perhaps Mr. Smith was sucking up the Symbian crowd?  Certainly a unified OS would make AT&T’s life easier.  One OS to support would be a welcome task to AT&T’s customer support team who currently deal with Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Apple, and then the home brew jobs from Pantech, Samsung and lots more.  Is it possible AT&T could narrow that list down to just one?

Perhaps, but at what cost?  When you remove consumer choice, demand will typically lessen.  Unless other carriers adopt similar rules (and who wants to be the first?), AT&T’s dream of one OS is just pie in the sky thinking.

Source: [Bloomberg]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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FROM GAMERTELL - Along with novelty gift cards, the other inexpensive plastic tchockies, I like to scout for kids meal toys.  As a followup to last year’s Wendy’s Wii toys, Burger King is offering this year’s Wii-related tiny toys intended for tots (but not those under the age of three, of course).… MORE »

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Yet another day and yet another fake creation from the land of cloned phones, but we must agree that many of these Chinese phones prove to be better than the real ones. It’s the Barbie P520 clamshell phone this time that shares the looks of Mattel’s Barbie B2 mp3 player. Anyway, this one is not a sponsored product of Mattel. The most interesting part is that the pink heart shaped box even bears the tag line that reads “Barbie Music Phone.” The Barbie P520 phone doesn’t look phony by any means when it comes to technical specifications. The phone measures 60 × 63 × 21mm and weighs 110 grams.

(more...)

Photograph by Kim Dow

Scott Wade of San Marcos, Texas, thought he could do better than write "Wash Me" on the backside of a dusty car. He started drawing caricatures. His father was a cartoonist of sorts and had taught him to draw funny faces. It was Wade's idea to make a dirty car window his canvas.

"For the last 20 years living on a dirt road," he says, "there's always dirt on my car."

With the sun baking it, the dirt takes about two weeks to form a stable work surface. Wade began, like anyone else, by using his finger, and then tried popsicle sticks. To introduce shading, he decided to use brushes. Over time he developed a range of techniques, which included using plants and rubber paint-shaper tools.

Wade particularly likes the dirt of central Texas, where crushed limestone mixed with clay serves as a road base.

"It makes the perfect dirt," he says. "It's very light-colored and the contrast is great against the dark shadow inside the car."

As he got more requests to create his Dirty Car he realized that he had to figure out how to dust up a car himself. Now, he can prepare a car in minutes using a light coating of oil and pyro-lite, a less toxic alternative to fuller's earth.

At the Austin Maker Faire in 2007 (& 2008), Wade dusted up his Toyota and created Monsters from the Movies, featuring the Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman. The next day he painted a tribute to Willie Nelson that included Waylon Jennings. "After a good rain," he says, "it appears to wash off, but in a couple days it comes back in a ghostly form."

Recently, he was asked to draw Biff Henderson for the David Letterman show. In addition to portraits, he enjoys dusting up the old masters. "I have this grandiose idea of parking cars all the way up the ramp of the Guggenheim Museum and painting in dirt reproductions of the pieces that are on the wall next to it."

>> Dirty Car Art: dirtycarart.com

From the column Made on Earth - MAKE 14, page 23 - Dale Dougherty.

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Made On Earth | Digg this!

Are you one of those iPhone users who sleep with lights on during night? Well, I have no probs with that, but wouldn’t it be better if the power outlet used for night light could serve two purposes. I mean if there is some device that offers the night light as well as recharge your iPhone. Enter the Scosche reviveLITE, a night light that doubles as a charger for your iPhone. The reviveLITE plugs into the power outlet on your wall and its dock holds the iPhone or iPod. It emits frosted LED nightlight, so that you are never scared of the darkness and on the other hand, your iPhone gets the needed juice. The reviveLITE is not my cup-of-tea as I love to sleep with all the lights off, but if you are addicted to sleeping with night light, the reviveLITE is a bargain at around $40.

Via: OhGizmo

Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Video, HDTV, Computers, Desktops, Laptops, Gadgets / Other, Gaming, Console

Now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind us, it’s time we enjoy those gadgets that we bought, whether it be a brand new HDTV, gaming system, MP3 player, or computer.  Of course for us techie people, we like to see how this year compares with previous years in terms of money spent.  With the economy in a slump, experts predicted this shopping season to be down, but Cyber Monday managed to persuade many consumers to open their wallets, punch in their credit card number, and eagerly await their arrival of their new gadget(s).

Statistically speaking, last year on Cyber Monday had bought in $733 million in revenue, and this year bought in a 15% increase - an astonishing $846 million spent, stated ComScore in a report.  This came as a relief to many retail stores because sales had dropped by 2% or $12 billion from November 1 to Cyber Monday of this year as compared to last year. 

Gian Fulgoni, Chairman of ComScore, had this to say about why Cyber Monday prospered:

“With Cyber Monday promotions beginning in earnest over the Thanksgiving weekend, consumers have finally begun to open their wallets, setting off a streak of four consecutive days of extremely strong growth.  This is an extremely encouraging development for retailers, and we can but hope that their aggressive discounting has still left room for profits.“

A bit of bad news - when retails formally announce their profits, it is expected to overall be down from last year, even though Black Friday and Cyber Monday both did exceptionally well In addition, it could be the overall worst holiday season in terms of profit in decades.  I noticed, and you might have as well, there are many more commercials and advertisements with deals in effort to promote the holiday season.  Also, holiday music that usually starts after Thanksgiving, I was hearing it on the radio a week before Thanksgiving, probably in efforts to make people spend more.

Cyber Monday has become especially big in the last few years because Americans are finding they can get as good as and in some cases better deals than on Black Friday.  All they have to do is click a buttons buttons, type in a few numbers, and let the website and its employees do the rest. 

Now, the big question that remains is how well will retailers do in the coming weeks.  Of course, it was nice to see this big shopping spree from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, but I don’t think customers are ready to splurge yet with the state of this economy. 

Read [Los Angeles Times]

Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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The Huawei U121 is a brand new entry-level handset from Huawei Technologies. It features some high-quality materials like stainless steel casing. Despite being entry level, the phone comes with a 1.3MP camera that supports video calls, an integrated FM radio, microSD memory card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Audio and video playback, miniUSB port and 3G connectivity. The Huawei U121 is currently only available only in Russia.

[justamp]

We’re live in Milan today, covering Sony’s latest announcement. In fact, Sony showed off a brand new marketing campaign today that’s intended to demonstrate their latest technology behind their BRAVIA televisions. The tech is called Motionflow 240Hz and in order to show off what the latest in motion picture technology is capable of, Sony resorted to the oldest method of creating motion pictures: the zoetrope.

A zoetrope is a device that uses static images but when spun at high speeds, create the illusion of movement. The Sony BRAVIA-drome feeds off of this 19th century technology to make for a device that is 10 meters across and spins at over 40 kph.

The subject of BRAVIA-drome is soccer, and this acts as the perfect way to show off how Motionflow works. In actually gets rid of jerkiness and shows the ball traveling in the air smoothly. This reproduces the feeling of being there live at the game. The new ‘drome is the subject of a commercial that will be used worldwide. Filmed in Venaria, which is near Turin, Italy, it shows a soccer star within the images in the BRAVIA-drome.

The commercial itself shows the faces of those in the audience standing in awe of this massive device. And it’s no wonder people were impressed. The BRAVIA-drome is capable of reaching speeds of over 50kph, requires two 40-foot trucks to transport it and weighs in at ten tons. It’s believed to be the largest zoetrope ever built!

The Motionflow 240Hz technology helps smooth out the jumpiness experienced on a normal television set. This works by significantly boosting the number of images, thus the frame rate. A “transitional picture” is placed between images in fast-moving parts of video, providing for smooth picture that is more pleasing to the eye.

This transitional picture is actually created by this Motionflow tech. It works by examining the images that precede and follow a particular image–especially during fast moving parts of a sports event or during an action sequence in a movie. All of the quick cuts and fast movements can cause a problem with how the sequence is subsequently viewed. By examining the prior and following image, Motionflow then adds an image in between that can make that car chase–or the movement of a soccer ball, in the case of the new ad campaign–look natural without any noticeable gaps in movement.

It’s really rather impressive and the whole BRAVIA-drome effort shows Sony is serious about promoting their newest technology. Check out our video from the press event below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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