GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

TV on the iPad: Fantastic idea or foolish folly? I lean towards the former, but then I don’t own a TV set and so much of my life is now contained in my iPad that the only paper books I buy are fancy hardbacks, like The Making of The Empire Strikes Back (you should get it). To bring live TV onto your tablet (or iPhone or iPod Touch) you will need Buffalo’s Little Tele i.

The dongle, with its own loop antenna, slots into the dock port and works with the 1Seg service. This is a digital broadcasting service available in Japan,Chile, Brazil, Peru and Argentina, and already works in those countries with many compatible phones.

The Little Tele i works in combo with an iApp, so you can enjoy a variety of non-skippable programming at a herky-jerky 15-frames-per-second, and has its own battery which will power it for up to 2.5-hours. It will cost 10,600, or $127 when it goes on sale in December.

Clearly this isn’t the solution for anyone in the U.S or Europe, which is a shame as the iPad (and presumably other upcoming tablets) is perfect for streaming a bit of background junk once in a while. Until Elgato comes up with a standalone EyeTV for the iPad, there’s another, free, way to get your fix. Filmon.com, visited from an iOS device, lets you watch local, live TV re-streamed to the browser, no app required. Neat.

Buffalo Little Tele i [Buffalo via OhGizmo]

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Oh man. If the LiveRider is anywhere near as good as it looks, then it’s going to sell roughly one zillion units. It’s a hardware/software combo that turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into a cycling computer, and it looks pretty hot.

First, the hardware. It comprises a frame-mounted sensor which cable-ties onto the chainstay and senses speed and cadence via magnets attached to the wheel and crank. This beams its info via 2.4 GHz RF to a dongle plugged in to the iPhone. The iPhone itself sits snug in a shock-absorbing handlebar-mount.

You then fire up the free companion app and get access to all the usual data: speed, cadence, calories burned and so on, but on the big screen and in easy-to-view color. If you have GPS in your iDevice, it will also use that to let you know where you are.

My favorite feature is called “Chase Rider”, and it is like nothing so much as the ghost-driver feature in Super Mario Kart. It will remember past rides and play them back so you can race against your own best times. Neat.

The whole setup weighs in at just 3-ounces, and costs a very reasonable $100. You will, of course, need to supply your own iPhone (everything fits except the first and last iPhones). Available now.

LiveRider [New Potato Tech]

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Wouldn’t it be great if you could listen to internet radio in your car? With Livio’s new Carmen, you can, provided you’re happy with a rather weird, convoluted, time-consuming and almost Rube Goldberg-esque experience.

The best way to give you an idea of the whole complicated mess is to describe the process. First, plug the Carmen into your computer, fire up the companion software and then choose the from the internet radio stations available (“more than 42,000 stations”). The Carmen will then record these for you, DVR-style, in real-time. To make that clear, you won’t be downloading an hour-long show in seconds like you would with a podcast: you’ll be waiting an hour for it.

Once the 2GB stick is loaded up, you take it to the car and plug it into the cigarette-lighter socket. Then you turn on the car’s radio. The Carmen works by sending the MP3s via FM (although you can opt for an aux cable). It even comes with a small remote control so you can search on the floor for that instead of squeezing the Carmen’s tiny buttons.

To recap: You spend hours recording radio shows only to re-broadcast them to your car stereo. And for this you spend $60. Alternatively you could just use the radio in your car, or hook up the cellphone or MP3 player you already have to your car stereo. That would cost you nothing.

For all my complaints, I admit I have a soft spot for the Carmen: the idea of recording songs and shows off the radio to listen to in the car takes me back to my childhood. Thank goodness somebody is applying today’s tech to 1970s problems.

Available for pre-order now.

Carmen Car Audio Player [Livio. Thanks, Joe!]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews