Gadgety News

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

Hello there.

Just lie back on the couch.

Comfy?

I’ll need you to be totally open with me.

Ok?

Now, can you honestly tell me, do you:

• Spend 6 hours online a day?
• Yearn to get back online when you’re off-line?
• Feel distress (mental or physical) when disconnected from the interweblogosphere?
• Have trouble concentrating or sleeping?

Did you answer “Yes”?

Good! That means you’re part of this modern world where people are loving the connectivity that the shiny gadgets bring

Sorry - I meant to say it’s bad!

Well, according to Beijing’s Military General Hospital, you have a treatable illness and you need therapy NOW!

Hang on though - looking at their diagnostic guidelines; they are pretty vague to say the least.

Phwew!!!!  No need for that lovely padded cell just yet………..well, as far as my online addiction presence is concerned anyhoooo

Lifehacker via Tech Radar

Pic Credit

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?

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?

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?

If you’re looking for something that’s like an iPod then you could do a lot worse than to check this little beauty out!

The Cowon O2 is coming to the UK and it is more than adequate to taunt the iPod and blow raspberries at the best of the rest.

Memory for all your media ranges from 16GB to a lovely 32GB of flash storage.

That’s not enough? Then whack in an SDHC card for up to 32GB more!

Video caresses those eyes of yours via the HD-friendly 4.3-inch TFT LCD screen and there’s compatibility for just about every audio and video format around - yes, even MP3’s!

If it wont play; well……you’ve probably made it up yourself!

Throw in video recording, photo viewing, a respectable battery life of 18 hours of music per charge and an open source operating system - the latter of which could bring forth some interesting downloads, stuff and things.

There’s no pricing details as yet, but as most of us know, Cowon players are generally very competitively priced

Cowon

Asus, the name behind the popularity of Netbooks and no frills computing pioneers are set to put a stop to the smaller models.

If you’re after an Asus netbook with a screen smaller than 10-inches you’d better get your skates on!

The president of Asus has confirmed the company is intending to get rid of its older and smaller Eee PC models in favour of larger and more recent models such as the 1002HA model and S101. And it has no plans to unleash anymore netbooks with a display size of 10-inches or under.

The phasing out of the smaller models begins with the introduction of a $200 model for our American cousins.

My mind is still boggled as they created this niche and broke through - perhaps they’re quitting whilst they are ahead. Perhaps they can’t see longevity in this market.

Ah, remember the positive and forward thinking of last year……….those long summer days….

What do you reckon?

Tech Digest

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 downloaded this yesterday while it is still free

iTalk is a new sound recording app for iPhone, iPhone 3G, and 2nd generation iPod touch.

This natty little app allows you to create one-touch, high-quality recordings which can be transferred over to your Mac or PC.

You’ll need to download the iTalk app from the iTunes App Store and whack it onto your iPhone/iPod touch for the recoding/playback bit while the buddy prog, iTalk Sync, runs on your computer to transfer recordings from iPod or iPhone for editing and sharing. 

iTalk Sync connects to your iPod touch or iPhone wirelessly via your local Wi-Fi network, with recordings saved as high-quality AIFF files, playable in iTunes and most other media players.

I’ve only had a quick play around with it and the quality sounds pretty good for a free app - handy for a quick recording of a riff before I forget it or a melody line that comes to me on the bus or tube - it happens!

Griffin’s iTalk is free for a limited time, and is now available at the iTunes App Store.

iTalk Sync is now available as a free download at www.italksync.com.

Grab it while it’s hot (and free!).

The Nokia N85 has been released in the UK and is a great alternative to the N96.

I loved my N95 and it was probably the best all-rounder of a phone that I’ve owned - the N85 looks to be more up-to-date in its looks with the sleek, black fascia. It’s also 5mm thinner than the N95 and weighs 128g.

Like the N95, the N85 is a dual slider handset.  Slide one way to reveal the keypad, slide the other way to reveal dedicated media keys.

The screen has also been updated with a state-of-the-art 2.5” OLED screen. This offers enhanced colour and contrast but also reduces power consumption.

It keeps the good ol’ Nokia 5mp camera with Carl Zeiss lens, autofocus and duel LED flash.  All this ensures high quality happy snapping.

Videos are recorded at 30fps and a secondary lens on the front of the handset for vid-calls.

Now, unlike the N96 and its 16GB internal memory, the N85 only has 74MB internal dynamic memory.

However, it does have a ‘hot swappable’ microSD card slot available for up to 8GB.

The new Nok gives you direct access to the Nokia Music Store and has the all important 3.5mm jack socket. so you can use your fave cans.

A neat feature is the FM Transmitter. This lets you send your mp3 tracks over FM radio waves to the nearest radio tuned into the correct frequency. Clever; and perfect for use in the car!  No need to buy a little add-on.

Gamers will be pleased to know that the N85 features Nokia’s N-Gage gaming service.

The handset comes with 15 pre-installed game demos. Chose your favourite from the demos and Nokia will send a code to activate one of the games for free!

You can hook up to 3G as well as 3.6Mbps HSDPA, EDGE, GPRS, WiFi connection and A2DP Bluetooth.

I reckon this is a great, cheaper option to the N96

If you are a thoughtful citizen such as I am you will have noticed the lack of rubbish receptacles in the lovely London.

This is mainly due to the scare of bombing terrorists leaving their deadly trash and destroying people and places.

Well, London will be the first city to test out new bomb-proof bins.

Not only will they take your fast-food cartons but they’ll also rock LCDs that stream travel info and news.

These were developed by British company Media Metrica and weigh one ton each.

Testing took place in the deserts of New Mexico for five years to ensure they are completely, totally indestructible, can absorb heat from explosives, prevent shrapnel spread, and extinguish “fireballs.”

Surly a Friday night around Barnsley would’ve tested them better and been cheaper

Via Engadget

Happy birthday to this gadget blog. Happy birthday to this tech blog. Happy birthday dear Jay’s Gadget News.  Happy birthday to yooooooooooooooooou!

Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog!

Well, what started off as a test to see if there was room for another gadget and tech blog site a year ago has slowly gained enough of you lovely readers for me to carry on writing about things that have caught my eye and that you (hopefully) find interesting.

My first posts (ie not ones dragged over from my temporary test site) were posted this very day 12 months ago - I know, how Goth to choose Samhain/Halloween to start a blog

I would like to take this moment and space to thank all of you for coming here and making this place feel loved - whether you were here from the very start or have only just found this place.

If there are anythings that you would rather see more/less of now is your chance. Either email me or just leave a comment here and I’ll do my best to please - the new look was prompted by a comment a lo, it was done.

So, thanks once more and here’s hopefully to another year of gadget grooviness and tech tremendousness

Much gadgety love

Jay

Softbank has just come up with this rather interesting mobile TV add-on for Japanese iPhone and iPod owners.

it’s a separate unit with tuner and aerial that retransmits the signal over Wi-fi to the phone.

The rechargeable device will give about three hours of TV eye-candy and connects to a special iPhone app that’ll be distributed free when the device hits the streets in mid December!

It’ll cost somewhere around the $100 mark but also doubles as an iPhone battery top-up when you link it via the dock connector.

Just gotta wait for it to be adapted and shipped over here.

AVWatch

Ok, so this is a bit like, “my dad’s bigger than your dad” but for you mobile computing junkies the question of who has the best WiFi access is a serious matter.

Well, London continues to be the world capital of WiFi with an amazing 12,276 access points - this is according to the latest from the annual Wireless Security Survey conducted by RSA.

London beats New York City by roughly 3,000 whilst Paris rules the year-over-year increase category with a stupendous 543 percent gain over last year!

NYC did manage to capture the top spot in the much coveted ‘corporate encryption’ category, with about 97 percent of corporate access points now employing some type of encryption, while about 20 percent of London’s business access points remain totally, completely, embarrassingly, nakedly unprotected.

The last figure is all the more startling when married with what Richard Thomas said at the RSA Conference Europe 2008 on Wednesday.

He stated that there had been 277 data breaches reported since last November. Thirty of which were classed as ”serious incidents”, in both the public and private sectors and are still under investigation.

Hmmm………….

But YAY LONDON! 

Slashdot

What you’re seeing is Sanyo’s newest digital phone frame, the ALBO.

it looks remarkably like a retro-futuristic telebox and wouldn’t look out of place with a JVC Videosphere - perhaps partner it with the RR226?

Personally I rate this as one of the coolest digital picture frames that I have ever seen - and there’s no shortage of frames is there?

As you can see from the photo, it is possible to turn the screen on a swivel for landscape/portrait formats.

It can also display RSS feeds via Wi-Fi and it can receive photos from a phone through an infrared port.

The ALBO comes with 256 megabytes of memory and is pencilled in for release on November 14, for a price of about $422 and probably only in Japan.

DVice

iPhone Firmware 2.2 - Cut and Paste, video and pics over MMS, typing emails and texts in landscape are all the things that aren’t going to appear!

What you will get, however, is Google Street View and walking directions - obviously more important than those I mentioned above.

There is something a little more interesting on the horizon though.  It sounds SDK is now supporting line-in audio devices - this could open up some potentially interesting apps.

If you are on of the few that’s been hankering over streetmap views check out iPhoneyap’s gallery.

Boy Genius Report

I am still lovin my 3Gesus iPhone.

But, it still aint quite the perfect machine - not yet.

Fullsix has launched a site dedicated to the more vociferous moaning-mini’s out there called “Please Fix the iPhone.”

The site gets owners to vote on the most pressing issues that’s ‘bugging’ them and their iPhones - hopefully Jobs and friends will get to work on them faster.

There’s even a version of the site specifically made for the Apple handest’s browser, so that you can complain about your iPhone via your iPhone.

Here’s the link: Please Fix the iPhone via Josh Spear via Gizmodo

Word on the interweblogsphere is that the Mac Mini will not be shipped to stores from today!

There is no word as to when or if the tiny mac box will ever ship again.

The Mac Mini was designed to be the cheapest Mac but, unfortunately, the Mini sold very poorly and word is that it’s either going to be refreshed or become redundant.

More word as I get it……