Gadgety News

Hmmmmm………Uh-oh!…something else to taunt the battery of the lovely iPhone!

Apple has apparently patented a new display technology that will allow their iBlowers to have always-on displays with almost no battery cost whatsoever.

OOoooo, tell me more

Only part of the display would be activated using a secondary backlight located under the main one.

According to Apple, the objective is to give feedback to the user at all times, even when the main display is turned off:

The primary backlight system may block light from the secondary backlight system except for those one or more regions. Thus, the size and shape of the status indicator may be set by sizing and shaping the transparent or semitransparent regions of the primary backlight system. In addition to setting the size and shape of the icon, the color of the icon may also be set by adjusting the color of the light provided by the secondary backlight system.

For example, each indicator may have a particular color, blinking speed, or light intensity. These properties may be programmed into the electronic device by the user, or may be hard-coded or hard-wired into the system. Thus, when the secondary backlight is turned on, the properties of the light provided by the secondary backlight system may depend on the status of the device. Also, if the status of the electronic device changes while the secondary backlight is on, the properties of the light provided by the secondary backlight system may change to reflect the new status.

To avoid sucking the battery dry the backlight system will be low-power and looking at the diagrams they may not even be actual pixel-based icons but will be ‘cut-outs’ illuminated by individual LED lights shining through the main display.

Apple Insider

Yeah, yeah - I know that this phone was officially anounced last month but LG has just launched a standalone microsite for their Prada II.

You are probably already aware that it packs HSDPA, WiFi, 5-megapixel camera, 3-inch 400 x 240 pixel capacitive multi-touch display and quad-band GSM connectivity.

But did you know about the matching Prada Link Bluetooth watch?

The fashionable timepiece syncs with your Prada II and shows your incoming calls and texts as well as probably telling the time.

Still no news regarding release or price - I reckon you’ll be looking around £500.

 UnwiredView

If you have 3 digits, a fan of a certain sci-fi series or desperate to keep your paws warm; look no further!

Billioanire Boys Club is offering a pretty unique pair of gloves dubbed the ‘BBC Star Trek Gloves’.

Granted, stuffing five fingers into three holes may be difficult but will certainly be toasty.

As an added bonus, the ‘alien walks among us’ look has gotta win you some geek chic points!

The gloves feature a BBC printed logo and comes in a black and gray two-toned stylee.

HighSnobSociety

I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking “what the heck is that!?!”

Well, it’s the iCEphone of course.

The In Case of Emergency Phone is aiming to be the “Swiss Army knife of mobiles”  and dubbed as a micro-notebook by its manufacturer.

Well, it’s no surprise that things have gone this far as everyone is cramming more and more into their mobile blowers.

I saw the Asus R50a a few days ago and thought that was nifty - so what’s this got then?

For starters the iCEphone has software that can not only walk you through common medical emergencies like administering CPR, but it can one-touch dial your doctor, the nearest hospital and 911 at the same time.

The makers, Medical Phone, decided that the only way to get everything into a handset just larger than an N95 was to use a Jacobs Ladder-style hinge.

This funky hinge connects the 3 panels that feature a full QWERTY keyboard, a 3-inch 400 x 240 resolution touchscreen and a mouse / track pad.

Other goodies are dual SIM card slots, HSDPA support, quad-band GSM connectivity, GPS, a 3.1megapixel camera, WiFi and a 532MHz Freescale iMX31 CPU.

It’s almost out in Thailand and then should be hitting the UK sometime in Spring when it will cost around £700

If you want to see more………… feast your eyes on the vid below

Icephone site via UnwiredView

Ah, America in the 1920’s.  The Roaring Twenties in fact.

Jazz, Art Deco, Flapper Girls and the Derringer.

Not the pistol, the bike.

This isn’t just any bike though!

This designer bike is the work of Adrian Van Anz and is based on 1920s racers, complete with leather seat, white-walled wheels and vintage-style handlebars.

If cycling sounds a tad like hard work well check out that cross-bar.

Yup, that’s a motor.  A 49cc one that can hit a top speed of 35mph whilst still squeezing out an impressive 150mpg.

Cool and green!

It’s only available over in the USofA right now but offers plenty of designs around the $3,500 mark.

This bike needs to come to the UK!  (I am willing to test it )

Derringer via Retro To Go

Looking for a virtually indestructible acoustic guitar?

Blackbird’s Rider Nylon guitar is really made of carbon fiber; it’s the strings that are nylon - don’t ask me why it’s not named the Rider CF!

Blackbird says that the Rider is “nearly indestructible” so that should make it pretty much the perfect travel guitar.

The unusual material has meant altering the style from a more traditional shape.

As you can see: it’s far squarer, and the sound hole has moved up to the neck, and been renamed a “soundscoop” instead.  This, apparently, makes for a better sound response.

The other side-effect is that it’s light enough at 3-pounds to fit into an aircraft overhead locker.

There is also a steel-stringed version but these carbon fiber axes aint what you’d class as budget strummers:

Nylon string model is $1,900 and the smaller steel-stringed version is $1,600.

They’ll be grinnin’ while you’ll be pickin’ boy!

Blackbird via GadgetLab

You work hard all week (of course it still counts if you worked hard avoiding work - that can still wear you out) so you deserve to kick back in luxury.

How about some soothing sounds as well to help you unwind?

This is the handy-work of Italian design firm D.sign21.

The Ray Chaise (not to be mistaken with Ray Charles) offers the ergonomic and supporting shape of a classic chaise longue - renowned for being the ultimate chilling device.

It brings everything bang up-to-date with its fibreglass frame and plush leather upholstery and on closer inspection you’ll notice an iPod dock in the arm which is hooked up to a set of hidden speakers.

The minor point of how easy it is to get up from will remain exactly that: minor.  Why would you need to remove yourself from such a comfy position?

The Ray Chaise goes on sale next year for an as-yet undisclosed price.

D.sign21 via Born Rich

If cocktail shakers are a bit old hat and too passé to have in your high-tech loft appartment - or if you’re just intent on throwing the funnest party ever read on my friends, read on.

Enter the Chugulug Drinks Factory.

Ok, so it sounds a bit like something that Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear might come up with but it is actually a cunning device for making you rather tipsy.

It consists of a series of interchangeable tubes that then connect to a variety of specialised compartments, such as the Ice Chamber and Vortex Funnel, that go on to mix and chill your dink through a 10-or-so step process that looks utterly impossible to clean.

But then, with all the 80% proof that will be going through it I am sure any nasties will be killed - or at least have the worse hang-overs in history!

It’ll cost you $38 and a new liver and kidneys.

BoyStuff

When Asus mentioned that they were gonna produce an Ultra Mobile PC that was going to be priced somewhere around the €500 mark I thought to myself, “well it had better be good”

Well, they’ve  done it and the Asus R50A is actually shipping at €1,475!

It’s up to whether you think that a pocket PC that runs Windows Vista with a 1.33GHz Intel Atom processor, a gig of RAM, a 32GB SSD hard drive, a 5.6” screen at 1024 x 600, three USB ports, a microSD slot, a wireless keyboard, and an external DVD reader / writer is worth the cash.

You get hooked up to all the good stuff via 802.11 b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, and 3G.

All in all it reads like a netbook but in a hand held stylee.

If you wanna earn those Geek-Points and have the cash - well, why not eh?
Pocketables

I think you guys know that I’m a fan of Mimobot’s.

Well, last year Mimoco started the Vimobot Design Contest.

They released a bunch of oversized blank vinyl toys for artists and fans to doodle on and then the plenty-many designs were eventually whittled down to 20 and then finally down to six by Mimobot forum members.

This sextuplet of designer magic is available to buy today (click the pic for a decent spread).

The VDC Mimobot Series is available in 1GB to 8GB models starting at $24.95 and go right up to $80.

iRiver is a name that you’d generally associate with media players but they have been flashing their phone concept at various shows.

I’m guessing that all the feedback was positive as it is a dream no more! 

Wave hello to the iRiver Wave!

This Wave is a bit of a looker as well.  Check out that large touchscreen and that lovely, metallic case.  

It’s from iRiver so media-playing is pretty much a given, with video streaming on that large screen that flips from horizontal to vertical viewing……I’m sure something else does this….. 

Also squeezed in are an FM radio, handwriting recognition and a dictionary - Naturally!

Wi-Fi and card expansion is all very groovy but I would have expected digital TV as well - Am I being unreasonable?

The iRiver Wave is set for launch in Korea in March 2009.

If you fancy one it might be worth noting that iRiver products have a habit of getting into the UK

HallyuTech

Looking for a true all-in-one media thingy?

Say Allo to the Allio HDTV with built-in PC and Blu-ray player!

No more will you need to multi-task from laptop to tele and back again - this 42-inch 1080p TV has cojoined with a high spec PC that holds an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of memory, a massive 1TB of storage and Windows Vista Premium.

It’s no surprise really that it is also packing plenty of connectivity including wireless networking.

You can still multi-task (of course) with this big TV as the split screen/picture-in-picture options are a go-go!

To ensure that all boxes are ticked there’s that Blu-ray player - surly making this the first high-def all-in-one to hit the market.

Silicon Mountain is offering up six flavours of the TV, starting at $1,599.99 for the 32-inch model, jumping to $2,799 for the big boy.

No news of a UK launch as yet but don’t question about future upgrades or “what happens if this bit breaks?”………….

Silicon Mountain via Engadget

This is a glimpse into the mobile handset future through Sony Ericsson’s eyes - date: 2012.

Ignore todays cutbacks to R&D budgets and the global economy shuddering to a halt

Whilst LTE and fast CPUs are no real surprise and Japanese superphones are already not to far from that 1,024 x 768 XGA screen resolution.

What is most interesting is the embedded camera sensors: Between 12-20 megapixels and capable of recording Full HD video.

Stacking on the MPs is all very well as long the optics and image processing are there and up to the job of supporting this resolution.  I also think that we’ll be needing a hefty bit of built in memory as well!

Anyone else think that a lot of these projection will be seen before 2012?

Yo! Check it bruv.

Dis ere is my dawg; G-Dog yo!

Ahem………..

Sorry but for some reason this robo-mut makes me wanna spit gangsta style.

Perhaps it has something to do with this robo-mut being called G-Dog.

Japanese robot maker HPI will start selling this robotic dog, the above named later this month.

The mainly aluminium pooch-droid is powered by a 7.2V nickel metal hydride battery and features a total of nine servomotors. It measures 75×135×190mm and weighs 570g. Good doggy.

Users will be able to control the G-Dog wirelessly via a Playstation-like joypad. The robot is able to sit up and beg, crawl and roll over to its side.

You never know - this canny canine may even get the chance to mark its territory outside of Japan for a change.

CrunchGear

Yup, those know-it-alls at Wired are going to open their fourth annual store from November 21 until December 28 in New Yoik.

There will be more than 150 items including the latest electronics, toys and transportation, which can also be purchased online from November 20.

The Wired Store will also recognise four different charities, and is set to feature a brand new green section created by Adrian Grenier and Peter Glatzer of Reconcile Productions as well.

Is Christmas coming or something?

Wired

What you are looking at is a lovely iPod/iPhone dock that features wireless speakers.

The EOps 124R3 has Just been unveiled at Tokyo Designer’s Week and is quite possibly up for the award for being the best-looking speaker system for the iPod/iPhone ever!

This Michael Young designed idock comes with a woofer-equipped base station and is paired with up to eight remote stereo speakers and rocks a wireless dongle to let you stream music from a Mac or PC.

A full-function RF-remote control is packaged with it as well as having the gesture control of iPhone touchiness - you just wiggle your hand in front of the base station and control volume and equaliser functions.

Nice.

Would you buy one?

Whether you’re Jedi or Sith breakfast is still the most important meal of the day.

So, you need a decent toaster - but this one will do your toast a little on the dark-side as it will singe a silhouette of the Dark Lord of the Sith.

The Darth Vader Toaster should arrive by Imperial Transporter in January 2009 and the product can now be pre-ordered for $54.99 from the official Star Wars webshop.

Get one and while munching that bacon butty think to yourself  “I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire!”

Nerd Approved

It looks like 3’s new Facebook phone is due to be unveiled officially next Thursday.

Three’s made no secret that its new handset will allow access to the social networking site and that they buddied up with INQ Mobile to manufacture its own-brand blowers.

INQ’s chief executive Frank Meehan even let slip to Reuters that its newest handset (the INQ1), will have a sub £125 price tag as well as offering “tight integration [between the phone’s] contacts book [and] with popular social sites like Facebook.”

So - I’m assuming that the INQ1 is the same beast as the 3 Facebook phone….

This “tight integration” of Facebook’s services will probably mean that you’ll see your friends’ status updates along with their names - which is hardly the bleeding edge of wowness to be honest.

Word is that the new handset will also hook up with Three’s Skypephone service which is very credit-crunch friendly of them.

INQ promises a full web browser using the same Webkit engine as the iPhone and T-Mobile G1, the ability to use the phone as a USB dongle for laptops and other software niceties, like an eBay tracker and Windows Live Messenger.

Let’s just see eh?

The N7010 is pretty much a full featured laptop with its 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo Processor, 16-inch 16:9 LCD, Blu-ray ROM drive and HDMI-out.

It also packs up to 4GB RAM, 256 MB ATI HD 3470 video card, SD card reader, 1.3 MP Camera, eSATA port, Bluetooth, 802.11N wi-fi and hard drives come as big as 320 GB.

Nice but nothing outstanding - so why have it on this wonderful blog?

Well - look at the pic a bit closer my friends…………go on - click the pic to make it easier for yourself!

The cool part about the Lifebook N7010 is the 4-inch, 480×272 pixel touchscreen integrated into the keyboard area.

It works as an application launcher, but according to Fujitsu’s Paul Moore, you can use it as a second (really teeny-small) screen, with the ability to drag whatever you want down to the second screen like any other external monitor.

Aside from the app launcher, its intended to be used as a CD/DVD control panel, or as a photo viewer.

This groovy feature is considered to be an industry first for laptops but it probably is worth noting that it isn’t connected in any way to Windows Vista Sideshow.

The N7010 will begin shipping on November 10 and will start at $1500 on the Fujitsu website.

Fujitsu

I’ve seen double-adapters for headphones plenty of times but if you’re anything like me you’re gonna end up leaving them at home.

Some bright spark has had the brains to shove a splitter on a keyring - genius!

Now a pair of friends can happily share tunes safe in the knowledge there will be an acceptable earphone to ear ratio - although I’m not sure how it affects sound quality and/or volume.

Buy it here: Gadgets.co.uk for under 7 quid!