GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

Palm Pre will be the first device to feature the new webOS from Palm

Palm is yet to release its much-awaited Palm Pre phone but there are already reports of another device in the works running the same operating system that Pre is based on.

A new phone from Palm called the Palm Eos is likely to debut on the AT&T network, says Engadget. Palm Eos will run webOS, the new operating system first shown on the Palm Pre earlier this year.

Palm hasn’t commented about Eos but the phone is seen as the successor to Pre. The candy bar style Eos will be slim (about 10.6 mm thick) and will have a 2.63-inch display. It will also be a quadband GSM/HSDPA phone with 4GB storage and a 2 megapixel camera.

The Eos could be priced at $349, excluding a rebate. Check out Engadget’s photo of the Eos.

Without the slide-out keyboard of the Pre, the Eos looks similar to the BlackBerry Bold. The pre-rebate pricing on the Eos seems high for now but if Palm can work with the telecom carrier to bring that down for consumers, it may have a worthy successor to its inexpensive and successful Centro smartphone.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Apple’s recent hiring spree of chip designers reveals the company’s plans to manufacture computer processors in-house.

The Wall Street Journal cites profiles on professional networking site LinkedIn, which lists more than 100 Apple employees with past expertise in chips at companies such as Intel, Samsung and Qualcomm.

These recruitments, coupled with Apple’s 2008 acquisition of semiconductor company PA Semi, serve as strong evidence that the company is moving toward chip design for its hardware, including Macs, iPhones and iPods. Such a move would reduce Apple’s dependence on Intel, which manufacturers processors for current Mac computers, and Samsung, which provides an ARM-based microprocessor for the iPhone.

In November, Wired.com also speculated that Apple was moving toward in-house chip manufacturing when the company hired former IBM executive Mark Papermaster. Papermaster was a key player in developing the PowerPC chips used in previous-generation Macs.

With control over processor production, Apple will be able to design exclusive features for its gadgets and better guard its secrets from rivals. Wall Street Journal’s anonymous sources, who claim they are familiar with Apple’s plans, predict the internally designed chips will appear in products no sooner than 2010.
See Also:

• Apple’s Core Could Soon Include In-House Chips
• Apple Acquires Obscure Processor Company — Lightning Fast iPods …
• Apple Scrambling for iPhone Flash Chips
• Apple and Intel: Still Best Friends Forever

In Major Shift, Apple Builds Its Own Team to Design Chips [WSJ]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Relax, lean back in your comfortable chair and join me on a journey. Imagine, if you will, that you own a beautiful, brake-free fixed-gear bicycle. The exquisite paint-job,iridescentin the shimmering sun, is rivaled only by the clean lines of your ride. From front to back, there is nothing to distract the eye as it rolls across the smooth geometry, free of superflous lugs and holes, or even reflectors.

Imagine now that you need to take this bike out at night. You want to be seen, of course, but you also want to be seen. Permanently fixed lights are, naturally, out of the question, as ridiculous as wearing a hair-mussing helmet. Even removable lights need unsightly brackets. What to do? You need a hipster lamp, something that the Bike Snob calls the Hipster Cyst. It is the Frog, from Aussie company Knog.

The Frog is a bright, weather sealed LED lamp in a silicone casing. The built-in strap stretches around bars and frames and hooks back on itself. I found a set at my local bike-shop for 11 ($16) apiece, for once actually less than the 12 list price. At this price, theyre a little above the cheapest lamps, but nowhere near the top end.

The best feature of the Frog is its size. The tiny lamps are hardly bigger than the button-cell and LED within. The switch is concealed and you turn things on and off by pressing the top of the light. One press for on, another for flash and one more to switch off. Flash is probably the best of these, as it is both eye-catching to other road-goers and stretches battery life from 80 hours to a maximum of 160 hours. Thats around two and a half months if you ride two hours every single night.

The frogs attach to any part of the bike, although for the pictures I just put them on the top-tube where they hang like little one-eyed vampire-bats. You stretch the loop around and slide it into the hook. Its easy enough not to be annoying good news when you have to take the lights off to stop them being stolen. I havent been out in a good downpour yet (and without fenders, Ill be leaving the fixie at home and taking the Dutch bike anyway) but the case seals the lights well enough for all but the worst rainstorm. The only openings are for the LED itself and a gap underneath the case to remove the unit for battery replacement.

The main concern with any light is visibility. The Frogs are bright, although Knog has some multi-bulb alternatives too. I took these shots against the balcony in daylight, if that helps you to visualize the output. Ill put it this way. I first switched one on inside a fairly bright bar, pointing at my eyes, and got major retina-burn.

Problems: They pick up dust. You can see how much in the photos. Also, the LEDs stay white until switched on, so Id recommend buying front and back in different colors to avoid confusion, unlike me.

I like these little lights. Well see how much I still like them if those battery-life claims are exaggerated, though. Until then, I will not be looking to have my Hipster Cysts removed.

Product page [Knog]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Flip has announced two more low-cost, single-purpose camcorders. Both of these cameras are as simple as those which came before, although the Flip lineup itself is started to get crowded to the point of confusion.

First is the Flip UltraHD, previously seen turning up on a customers doorstep before being announced. The $200 UltraHD comes with a 2 LCD, the signature flip-out USB plug (which can be used to charge the double AA-sized battery-pack), 720p video and a real HDMI-out port. That battery pack can be removed and two regular AAs can be slid in there in case of emergencies. Finally, the memory has grown from 4GB to 8GB, enough for two full hours of shooting.

The new little brother is the Flip Ultra. This shares the big screen and the rechargeable/replaceable battery (youll need to spring for the actual battery though, as its not included). It has a smaller 4GB of memory and of course only runs SD video-out, but will still record two hours worth of footage at 640×480. The Ultra comes in at $150. It also comes in more colors: black, white, yellow and pink against boring black or white for the HD.

Available now.

Press release [Flip]

Product page [Flip]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Drawdio is a mashup of drawing plus audio. First, watch the quite jaw-dropping video.

Done? Good. The original Drawdio, from MIT hipster Jay Silver, was a ripped-apart electronic toy bought in Bangalore, India. The harmonium was then modded to play when a circuit was completed.

The latest Drawdio works in the same way a circuit is completed by touch. You can hook it up to a faucet and then touch the water, or even complete the circuit with the graphite in a pencil, literally drawing the music. This is where the name came from.

The best part? (theres always a best part)? You can make your own. Schematics are available for download and you can go the super lo-fi breadboard route or use the diagrams to print your own circuit. Pencils not included.

Product page [Drawdio via the Twitter]
Schematics, kits [Drawdio]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Say what you like about Adobes Creative Suite icons, theyre nothing if not distinctive. When these plain colored boxes with simple letters first showed on the CS4 beta, we thought that the icons were beta versions too. But these elemental logos were the real thing.

Now, you can have a periodic plushie, your favorite CS4 application rendered as a cushion. Better still, even the full suite is cheaper than the real thing, at just $80 instead of over a grand, and individual cushions are a reasonable $15 each thats about the same price as an Ikea cushion, only without the stressful visit to the store.

Product page [My Suite Stuff via the Giz]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

It looks like Lowepro might have finally solved my camera bag problem. But then, I say that about every new bag that I see.

The new TopLoader Pro range is a set of three bags tailored for a different camera and lens combo, from body plus short prime to body plus long zoom. As you can gather from the name, the bags load from the top, and from the pictures it looks like Lowepro has managed to make these openings easy to access. You get the full zip-around closure but there is also a clip for quick access.

I like to have a small bag for one camera and lens. Its protected but light and small. I also like to sling bags across my shoulder, although with the Toploader Pros you can also opt for a waist strap or an optional chest harness that makes you look like a baby wearing reins.

The regular, holster-style sling also comes with a third steadying strap to stop things swinging around, something which Zach, the Lowepro PR guy, used to get under my skin. Heres a line from his email:

The sternum strap provides added stability for carrying your gear while riding your bike.

Camera. Bag. Bike. How could I refuse? Those are all three of my (non-chemical) vices right there. Well be testing the Toploader out pretty soon, in time for the Summer. Until then, check it out on the Lowepro site or, better still, see the pic on the Lowepro Flickr stream. Available late spring from $55.

Product page [Lowepro]
Photos [Lowepro/Flickr]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

With a name like PeeWee, you might not expect to find this rebadged Intel Classmate PC very kid friendly (Im talking Paul Ruebens PeeWee, not the kids sport kind). And youd be wrong. Despite the price, which at $600 is around $100 more than the Intel, this tough little mother is perfect for the little uns.

First, specs. Its a netbook, which means a 1.6GHz Atom processor, which is coupled with a memory card reader, 60GB HD (which is, very weirdly, PATA not SATA beware if buying upgrades) and 1GB RAM.

The differences are a water-resistant keyboard and generally toughened exterior and a rotating, flip-around screen which turns this into a tablet. And right there is the reason this works for kids they can scrawl and draw just like they would with paper and, instead of having to put their crap up on the fridge you can simply start their lifelong lessons in computer use by claiming a hard drive crash or corrupted file.

The PeeWee also comes loaded with kid-friendly software. Unlike the usual meaning of kid-friendly, which really signifies low quality, feature-stripped junk an adult wouldnt touch, the PeeWee actually has proper software, from Microsoft Works (although OpenOffice would be better), ArtRage 2, FBReader for e-books and, amazingly, Evernote for note-taking.

The only thing missing is Etch-a-Sketch.

$600 might be steep, but if its tough enough to last, its probably going to end up cheaper than two or three regular netbooks. Available now.

Product page [PeeWee. Thnks, Matt!]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Two-finger touch or multi-touch? Users don’t have to choose. It can be touch anywhere says French start-up Sensitive Object, which offers a touchscreen technology that goes beyond the traditional display area.

The company’s ‘Anywhere MultiTouch’ platform is based on the recognition of sound waves propagated in an object when the user touches it.

A user’s touch on a glass surface produces a pattern of sound waves that creates an acoustic signature unique to the location of the touch, says Sensitive Object. The company, which was created in 2003, says it has found a way to associate this acoustic signature to the user’s every action. A glass panel equipped with two piezoelectric sensors, similar to what is used in some new flat speakers technology, is used to detect the sound waves and determine their acoustic signature.

The Anywhere MultiTouch platform can be used on various materials such as glass, aluminum and plastics says Sensitive Object.

The company hasn’t disclosed how much its new technology will cost. For now it says this will be available at a “very competitive price.” The platform is Windows 7 compliant and offers handwriting recognition.

Sensitive Object hopes to bring its technology to cellphones, netbooks, laptops, PCs and portable games terminals. For app developers, the technology can be handy to expand how users interact with their devices, it says. For instance in case of a cellphone, a game app can require touch on any part of the phone instead of just the screen.

“Sensitive Objects products are now used in various markets such as home automation, interactive point of sale or information desks and gaming,” says Bruno Thuillier, CTO of Sensitive Object in a statement. “Were now addressing the handheld and consumer markets.”

[via UberGizmo]

Photo: (Pranav Singh/Flickr)

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Stanford student Luke Ekkizogloy is writing an iPhone app that controls the lights in his house, but he has bigger dreams.

“I have what everyone has in mind, and that’s to make money,” Ekkizogloy told Wired.com.

Ekkizogloy, like many other students enrolled in Stanford’s iPhone programming class, is aiming to strike it rich by selling software through Apple’s prolific iPhone App Store, which surpassed one billion downloads last week.

Many software developers view the App Store as a digital Gold Rush, where companies big and small can potentially make millions with a single big hit. With 40,000 applications in the App Store to date, competition among iPhone developers is fierce. Still, even independent programmers like Ekkizogloy stand a chance, provided they have a good idea, cleanly written code and some luck. One of the most inspiring success stories involves Ethan Nicholas, an independent developer whose iPhone game iShoot earned him $600,000 in the month of January alone. What’s more, Nicholas taught himself how to code for the iPhone by reading websites.

But it’s probably easier to learn iPhone development if you have the resources of a world-class university at your disposal and an Apple employee for an instructor. Stanford is so serious about training the next army of iPhone developers that the tech-savvy university hired Evan Doll, a senior iPhone engineer for Apple, to teach CS193P a computer science course titled iPhone Application Programming.

Doll taught Stanford’s first iPhone class in fall 2008, and the current quarter is now running in its fifth week. In the class, students are building programs using the iPhone software development kit, which requires learning Objective-C the programming language for iPhone. They’re also learning the basic fundamentals and principles of coding for the iPhone, such as memory management, interface construction and animation design.

In addition to the 60 students enrolled in the course and 40 squatters sitting in, thousands are taking Stanford’s iPhone class remotely via iTunes. In the iTunes U educational channel, wannabe iPhone developers can download video podcasts of the lectures along with the course slideshows all free.

Stanford’s iPhone programming course is part of Apple’s iPhone University Program, which launched September 2008. Participating schools gain free access to the iPhone SDK and all the tools needed to develop apps for the handset, courtesy of Apple.

And as if offering an iPhone class weren’t enough, Stanford is expressing its enthusiasm in the device in its very own iPhone app “iStanford.” Free through the App Store, iStanford allows iPhone users to easily look up class schedules, the Stanford directory, the campus map and sports news.

When Wired.com visited the class last week, Doll was explaining the fundamentals of building an iPhone application interface. A common iPhone app interface, he said, is composed of a navigation bar at the top and a tab bar at the bottom.

“These are patterns for organizing your iPhone interface, but don’t reinvent the wheel,” Doll told the class. “At Apple our philosophy is if you do a lot of the same thing, make it useful.”

The Stanford brainiacs had plenty of useful ideas for apps. Mike Gao, a computer music technology student enrolled in the iPhone class, is best known for creating the Lumi, a digital console for mixing and remixing music on the fly. Gao said he plans to rewrite the Lumi interface for an iPhone app.

“The iPhone has millions and millions of people downloading apps through the App Store, so [Lumi on the iPhone will] definitely hit harder,” Gao said.

Other ideas? Student Patrick Costello (above) is thinking about coding an app to help workers log their hours a digital timesheet of sorts. Sports fan Sean Beausoleil is toying with the idea of creating an iPhone app for fantasy football players. Anand Madhavan hasn’t decided on an app yet, but he’s fermenting the idea of a simple tool that helps gardeners.

And Mike Fogel (above) is thinking about coding an app for users to take pictures of each other’s outfits to vote on how well they match crowdsourced feedback, similar to the idea of Hot or Not? Fogel is also learning iPhone software development to code a burrito application. Just what about burritos, exactly?

“Burritos that’s all I can say,” Fogel said. “I’m not liable to talk about it.”

Makes sense: How could he get rich if he gave away his idea?

Only halfway through the course, the students still have plenty to learn before turning their app ideas into a reality. Their assignment for the week was to design a basic app that updates social networking feeds for services such as Twitter and Facebook. Sounds simple and barebones, but learning a new programming language is more difficult than it appears.

Is 10 weeks enough to learn to code a quality iPhone app? We’ll find out in June, when the course concludes and the students will submit their final projects to the App Store.

Meanwhile, some examples of App Store apps that came from fall quarter’s iPhone students include Air Guitar, a virtual guitar app; Stress Bust, an app that plays a video of ocean waves accompanied by guided voices to help you relax; and Abodi, an app that searches Craigslist and enables users to bookmark their favorite listings.

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

The BeBook Mini will be smaller and cheaper than its earlier version.

Dutch company Endless Ideas is set to launch a new version of the BeBook e-book reader in Europe with a 5-inch display screen that will be priced at $200 or less.

The new BeBook reader is expected to be available in the next few weeks and will be similar to its predecessor in almost every way. The orginal BeBook reader retails for 298 ($395) and has a 6-inch display. It runs Linux operating system and unlike the Amazon Kindle has no wireless capability. BeBook like most of its rivals uses the E Ink display.

The BeBook is manufactured by Chinese company Tianjin Jinke Electronics, which largely sells its readers under the Hanlin brand. That means the BeBook Mini will also be available as the Hanlin v5 Reader.

It is not clear if the BeBook will ever be sold directly in the U.S. but the device still has to battle it out in a crowded market. While Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader lead the market in North America, companies such as Samsung, Fujitsu and Foxit are competing for readers internationally.

Photo: BeBook Blog

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Motorola handset codenamed Calgary will be available on Verizon

Beleaguered cellphone marker Motorola has been betting big on the new Google Android mobile operating system. Now it looks like the first Android-powered handset is ready to hit the market this year.

The Motorola phone codenamed ‘Calgary’ will feature a QWERTY slide-out keyboard and will focus on social networking tools such as Facebook, according to the Boy Genius Report website. And it will be available on the Verizon network.

Meanwhile, Motorola’s competitor Samsung has already announced its first Android-based device. The Samsung I7500 features a 3.2-inch AMOLED screen (active matrix organic light emitting diode screen known for its luminosity and lower power consumption), 7.2Mbps HSDPA and WiFi connectivity. The device will also have a 5-megapixel camera, full keyboard and 8 GB of internal memory. The I7500 will be available in some European countries starting June.

Motorola is yet to comment on speculation around Calgary and when it will be launched.

Photo: Motorola Calgary/Boy Genius Report

Posted under Gadget Reviews

You, like me, are the perfect shopper. When we go to the store to buy a gadget, were all about the businesslike efficiency. We have researched our options on the internet (most likely by reading the excellent Gadget Lab) and are going to the store because we want the item today (or in my case, because online retailing sucks in Spain). The only time well take is to perhaps compare the feel of a few different items in the flesh.

Like I said, were perfect. Its that other guy who wastes time, and means you have to wait on line for half an hour to make a two-minute transaction. I have been watching these people, and they fall into a few distinct categories:

Reassurance Guy Gonna Buy it but Needs His Hand Held

This chap is a good bet for the store on a quiet afternoon he will buy eventually, but its going to take a long time to get him there.

Hell be asking question after question, even though he has likely done his research and already knows the answers. He might even contradict the clerk, but eventually, after much foreplay, hell pull out his credit card.

Think of it like a first date: You have to go through hours worth of dinner-buying, listening with feigned interest, hand holding and such before you get to put the cash in the register, as it were.

Annoyance factor: 3/5

No Internet Guy Questions and Never Buys

This is the guy I get stuck in line behind all the time. He drifts from store to store, usually on a Saturday afternoon (hey, its not like he has a girlfriend to hang out with) and asks questions. Theyll range from lamely open Which camera should I buy to pointlessly precise, designed only to show that he knows something So, this has the 12 bit RAW, but this one has 14 bit RAW, compressed. Which is best?

The worst part is that everyone knows this guy wont buy anything, and the clerk still has to be polite and answer the never ending inquiries. This guy takes longer than anyone, and you never know when it will end. Its like an episode of Columbo Oh, one more question.

Annoyance factor: 5/5

Online Buyer Try-Out Guy

This one is a pain for the stores, but great for other customers. Online Buyer Try-Out Guy has already done his homework online and narrowed the selection down to three items. He is in the store merely to get a feel for the kit and decide which one to order from Amazon. Youll recognize him as the businesslike fellow who tells the clerk that he cant decide between the, say, a few cameras, and wants one last look before buying. At every stage hell tease the clerk that hes going to make a purchase, but the clerk knows the score.

Us other customers love this guy as he moves quietly off to the side to play with the kit, freeing up the clerk to quickly run our credit card.

Annoyance factor (for customer): 0/5

Annoyance factor (for store clerk): 5/5

Quick Question Guy Its Never Quick

This one is a real pain. You know the guy he skips to the front of the line just as you arrive at the counter and says to the clerk Hey, buddy, a quick question! How can he refuse? If you were hoping it would be a quick Do you sell [brand A] batteries? Great, Ill get back in line. then you are a gullible fool. Quick Question Guy always manages to make it long, either rattling off more questions or just acting as if he was at the front of the queue in the first place. I hate this guy.

Annoyance factor: 5/5

The Player

This one doesnt trouble us at all if we are perfectly focussed and there just to buy. The Player is the guy who spends hours in a store playing with the goods. He seems to be able to use the display-model Eee PC for hours at a time, despite it not actually being connected to the internet. This is far longer than an Eee PC owner can manage, even with internet. Lord knows how he gets the leisure time or the stamina (unlike No Internet Guy, who only shops on Saturdays, The Player is an all-week-long phenomenon).

The player has no special other characteristic, although he may still live with his mother and is often wearing a baseball cap. Normally, I wouldnt have noticed this guy as I, like you, am perfectly organized and execute my shopping trips like in/out SWAT operations. Because of my job, though, sometimes I have to actually be the player, getting a hands-on with new hardware for the benefit of our esteemed readers.

Of course, Im a professional, so he should get off that 17 unibody MacBook Pro right now and let me play. And by the way, I have a girlfriend and I dont live with my mother, mkay?

Annoyance factor: 1/5

Photo: ioerror/Flickr

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Theres a small but growing breed of handheld espresso machines, of which the Twist is the latest. They all have a similar concept using pressure to pump pre-heated water through the grounds. The pre-heated water is key, as the lack of a boiler is what makes these gadgets so small.

When you first look at the Twist, and read its name, you will probably make the same assumtion I did that you somehow twist it to wring the coffee out. Instead, it works much like the Handpresso weve seen before, only instead of using a hand-pump to build up the bars, there is a standard gas canister like youd use in a soda siphon.

If the photos are anything to go by, this works extremely well the crema on the espresso is thick (although a little dark, which might point to too fine a ground). Because the pressure comes from a known source, the psi remains constant over the shot (135 psi or 9 bar).

These handheld machines are certainly interesting. They make a better cup than the standard stovetop mocha, but are also a pain to use and make just one cup at a time. The biggest failing, though, is the external water source. By the time you have poured it into the cold device, enough degrees have been knocked from the liquid to render the coffee anything but hot. If it were somehow possible to have a chamber for cold water, so you could place the whole handle on the heat to both boil the water and heat the device, these things might finally be both good and convenient enough to use. $130, pre-order.

Product page [MyPressi via Uncrate]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Hi, My name is Theo Watson, and this is a little app I made this morning, says the author of Spinning Vinyl. Right after smoking out. he doesnt add, despite the rather stoned sound to his voice.

Spinning Vinyl, seen above, takes a music track and plays it back and forth against the needle, back and forth back and forth, depending on how fast you spin your iPhone. It uses the accelerometers to determine the rate of rotation.

And yes, it appears that Theo did write this in just one morning. Sadly unavailable in the iTunes Store, but were publishing this in the hope of stirring Theo from his soporific stupor for long enough to submit it to Apple.

Product page [Fffff.at via Make]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

PreThinking, the forward-looking Palm Pre dedicated blog, has been sent a fistful of new screenshots of the WebOS in full effect. The first thing that hits you is the design these interfaces are polished and pretty. Whether this means that the Pre will be an iPhone killer (which everybody in the world but me seems to believe) or even successful enough to keep the debt-collectors from Palms door, remains to be seen.

As a quick fix to get your anticipatory juices flowing, though, the gallery is a good one, if a little hard to navigate. Weve included a couple more pictures below.

Palm Pre Early SDK: New WebOS Screenshots [PreThinking. Thanks, John!]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Complicity mechanism; residual ladder; spatial corrections. These are some of the products and categories on the Worst Website in the World promoting the design company Ludens. Tucked somewhere deep inside the Flash monstrosity, youll find the Mexican Army Shelf, a modular wall unit as awesome as its name suggests.

Appearing as a simple block of wood when spied from afar, the shelf unit folds out like the offspring of the Swiss Army knife and the crappy pencil boxes we were forced to make in school (mine never closed properly, but the varnish, even when well dried, provided solvent-highs for months after).

We think of it as a utility belt for the wall, with special compartments for keys, coins, clothes and, well, anything else small enough to slide in. It looks far beyond my woodworking skills, though, and is as yet unavailable to buy. Ikea needs to make this, and fast.

Product page [Ludens, but dont even bother trying to find the product, via the Design Blog]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

The Lego shape is simple yet iconic. From afar, it is a single block of plastic with nodules on the top. The internal technicalities are more complex, of course, but these outer aspects can be copied with ease to make anything from awful iPod speakers to brick-shaped hard drives.

Or, of course, a candle. The sheer size of this thing can be seen by the tiny minifigs standing atop. Were sure that it wouldnt actually look like Lego for long, either after a few hours the nubbins would have burned down to the level of the main block, and upon further burning they will just become holes.

The price for this heavy, 7.5 x 3 x 3 bar of wax? A steep $48, and youll need to buy few if you want to stack em (you do).

Product page [A Plus via BBG]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

San Francisco based MOTO Development Group has helped design some interesting gadgets including the LiveScribe Smart Pen and Flip camera. Now the company’s labs are showing a demo of a large multi-touch screen that can potentially scale up to 50-inches.

The prototype display from MOTO Labs has the thickness of an LCD display. It does not use cameras or bulky projection technology, explain the Labs in this video.

“When this technology is available at the right price it will shift the paradigm for computer use away from individual interaction towards multiple users working on multi-touch surfaces together,” says Daniell Hebert, MOTO Development Group CEO in statement. “It will be all over the workplace.”

Though MOTO Labs claims its touchscreen tech is such that “no other system currently delivers” that may be a bit of a stretch. Israeli company N-Trig says it can make multi-touch displays in almost any size that users want. N-Trig has also launched a touchscreen digitizer kit to make it easy for software developers to create multi-touch based applications.

Video: MOTO Labs

Posted under Gadget Reviews

When something is too good to be true, it often is. That’s why we don’t believe for a second that the video above is a legitimate depiction of how Denmark police treat bicyclists without helmets. Free helmets and a free hug? What the hell is this, a utopian society?

Any of you out there know the original source of this video? Chime in by adding your comments below.

Meanwhile, check below the jump for a real example of how the NYPD treated a cyclist.

Via BoingBoing

Posted under Gadget Reviews

The second Android mobile operating system based phone from HTC, the HTC Magic, will be available in Europe through Vodafone. Earlier this month we posted a quick hands-on with the device from the CTIA wireless conference.

Now German site Netbook News has a video showing the unboxing of the phone and a walk through its user interface.

Unlike the G1, the HTC Magic has a virtual keyboard. That makes the device slimmer than the G1 but when it comes to the UI it is very similar to its predecessor. So far, there’s been no word on when the Magic will be available in the U.S. but if it does make its way here it is likely to be on the T-Mobile network.

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Touchscreens are already a big hit with cellphone users. But PC users largely remain chained to their keyboards and mouse. N-Trig, which provides touchscreens for HP and Dell machines, hopes to change that by putting the technology into the hands of independent software developers — the same people whose apps helped propel the iPhone to massive success.

N-Trig has introduced a touchscreen kit for software developers that can be connected to any development PC. The kit, which costs $900, allows developers to display and test programs designed for touchscreens without having to buy computers that already have one.

“The advantage of having a dev kit is that it allows you to use the CPU on a high end workstation for compile times but lets you test the multi-touch features in a box next to it,” says Frank DeSimone, senior director of research and development at SpaceClaim, a company that makes a 3D CAD-like product. “Or you have to compile on a consumer laptop with a touchscreen and that isn’t as fast.”

Apple’s iPhone has made touch a much-desired feature on cellphones. But in PCs, touchscreens have yet to take off. Multi-touch (which involves use of more than two fingers on a touchscreen) is expected to get a boost once Microsoft releases the Windows 7 operating system, its successor to Vista. Windows 7 supports gesture such as pinching and fingertip scrolling. Other Windows programs, such as Paint, will also include new brushes designed for multi-touch and features such as panning across a page in Internet Explorer. Earlier this year, Microsoft led a $24 million investment round in N-Trig.

But so far developers have had to buy touchscreen computers that feature the N-Trig display. Only three PCs — the HP TX2 and two Dell PCs — currently have it. The N-Trig dev kit allows developers to turn any of their computers into a touchscreen enabled machine.

“The N-Trig kit can connect to a very powerful desktop computer,” says Harry van der Veen, CEO of Natural Interface, a Swedish company that offers multi-touch software products for applications such as digital signage and education. “You can easily move it around and it is attractively priced. The fact that it is mobile adds a lot of value to the product.”

And as more developers take to creating multi-touch based apps, N-Trig is betting demand for its touchscreens will increase driving the company’s fortunes.

N-Trig's digitizer box aims to kick start multi-touch apps.

“We are a hardware company but the only way that multi-touch on PCs will become mainstream is if independant software developers create applications such as games and productivity tools,” says Lenny Engelhardt, vice-president of business development for N-Trig.

The N-Trig dev kit box, also known as the digitizer, looks like a tablet computer with few controls. The touchscreen on the digitizer supports both stylus and finger touch and connects to the computer using a standard USB cable. The digitizer box can be moved to any Windows-based computer, though it does not work with a Mac.

“This way the developer community can have a touchscreen without buying a touchscreen computer,” says Engelhardt.

$900 for a touchscreen box may seem expensive, but N-Trig says developer shops can use a single box across many machines. And if there is significant demand for the kits, the company can bring down the costs.

Though Windows 7 won’t be available to consumers till 2010, developers interested in multi-touch will have to start working on creating and testing applications now, says DeSimone. “To be successful to get it right you have to start now,” he says. “If you wait till Windows 7 is out it could be too late to design around the hurdles and have a quality product.”

Photos: N-Trig

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Microsoft could be working on creating a new smartphone of its own

Apple has its iPhone. And Microsoft may have ‘Pink,’ a new Windows Mobile-based cellphone that it is reportedly developing in partnership with Verizon.

A phone born out of the ‘Pink’ project could be available early next year, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The latest round of speculation around ‘Pink’ is reminiscent of similar buzz from last year. And it follows fast on the heels of rumors that Apple is also in talks with Verizon about potential iPhone-like devices. But so far Microsoft has denied that it is working on a device of its own.

In December, Brian Seitz, group manager of Zune spoke with Gizmodo in response to rumors of a Zune phone offering some basic details about ‘Pink.’ Seitzer indicated that the Microsoft Pink project is more “a platform of services that could allow Zune like services to run on platforms like Windows Mobile.”

That may still be Microsoft’s plan but the company could have decided to take the plunge towards creating its own device in a bid to restore Windows Mobile’s position in the market.

Over the last two years Microsoft has seen rival operating systems gain ground. Last year Google launched Android, an open source mobile OS that has so far been included in three phones–HTC G1, HTC Magic and Samsung I7500. Meanwhile, Palm, which has been a long time Windows Mobile user, has launched web OS. web OS will make its debut with the much-anticipated Palm Pre and if the device is a hit, it is likely Palm could move away from Windows Mobile.

Betting on its own device to showcase Windows Mobile’s capabilities could spur other partners to action. But it could also backfire. Microsoft’s move could put it in compeition against handset makers such as LG that use Windows Mobile OS extensively. In February, Microsoft said it has signed a deal with LG to integrate Windows Mobile into at least 50 LG smarpthones.

Microsoft’s track record in terms of consumer hardware devices also doesn’t inspire much confidence. After all, how many users would want a Zune-like phone?

Photo: (mtlin/Flickr)

Posted under Gadget Reviews

There is a small subset of people who both remember the 1960s andyet were there. Of them , some will remember the lava lamp, a hippy device whose psychedelic lure was strong enough to distract the stoned away from their junk food munchies for whole minutes at a time.

Mathmos is still the English maker of the lava lamp, but another product in the lineup is much more impressive. That is the Airswitch range of lights, closely related to its rather lower class, inbred cousin, the Clapper. The ambientastic lamps are controlled by elegant waves of the hand, much as the Queen of England gives to her subjects as she cruises through freshly painted streets in her Rolls Royce.

To control the Airswitch, you move your hand vertically to dim and brighten it, and to switch on or off a nonchalant horizontal chop will do the trick. Easy, even when high.

The lamps start at a reasonable 50 ($73) and climb to $175, but all work in the same way. Available now from a head shop near you.

Product page [Mathmos via Shiny Shiny]

Posted under Gadget Reviews

When Amazon launched the Kindle 2, many of us thought it looked a lot like the iPod, with its slick white body and shiny metal backplate. It also mimicked another iPod trait the slow sloughing of in-box accessories, in this case the case.

The Periscope (or the Periscope Lighted Folio for Kindle 2 to give it its rather stupid full title) fills this gap for a hefty $50, but for that you get a hefty leather-bound flap along with a flip-out reading light (the lack of a light is another common complaint from people who dont understand e-books), hence the name Periscope.

The lamp uses two LEDs powered by three AA batteries for up to 40 hours of life. It also includes a pocket for a notebook, a rather strangely shaped 5×8 inch notebook. At first glance, I thought it was actually a checkbook. A checkbook inside the case for an e-reader. You can imagine the perceptual disconnect that followed.

If this is for you, then youll know it. I tend to think that we should just get these e-readers out there in their naked, honest form until they look as cool to read in public as a dog-eared paperback. The Periscope will never do that: Its less Jack Kerouac and more Sir Leigh Teabagging from the Da Vinci Code.

Product page [Periscope. Thanks, Chris!]

Posted under Gadget Reviews