I got into the MP3 player market a little late. I was in high school during the early years of the
digital music revolution, so I couldn't really afford the players of the time. My very first foray
into MP3 hardware was with a very, very poorly made RCA MP3-CD player. I upgraded from that to a
Creative Muvo2 with the microdrive ripped out and a 512MB CompactFlash card installed. I never used
it much, because the interface was clunky and annoying to use.
Recently, Katie at BLAST Outdoors sent Julie one of DropZone Corporation’s new HangTimer extreme sports watches for review. Of course this review required the services of The Gadgeteer’s extreme sports and aberrant behavior specialist – Seth (my son). Seth gravitates towards activities known to cause skin loss, bruises, and the occasional broken bone. In a nutshell – he is nuts.
I don't know about all of you, but the first thing I do after getting seated on a flight is to open the seat back pocket to find the latest issue of the Skymall catalog. I didn't change that habit on my last trip when I went out to San Francisco for MacWorld Expo. One of the more interesting items that I saw in the catalog was the tiny iwave cube portable microwave from icube designs. Coincidently, a few days after returning from the trip, I was contacted asking if I might like to review this mini appliance. Of course I said yes. Let's take a look...
I wish I had one of these last spring when raccoons were digging up my lawn. It's a motion activated lawn sprinkler, for the express purpose of scaring away garden pests such as raccoons, dogs, cats, and other animals. When triggered by its infrared day-or-night motion sensor, it sprays a forceful stream of water at the intruders.
I've seen so many watches lately that record and display all sorts of data that I'd forgotten what a watch is really for: to tell you the time. But how do you make sure your watch has the right time? With Casio's atomic time watch, you don't need to worry about it.
The watch receives radio signals from five atomic clocks across the world, thus ensuring that your watch will tell you the correct time for the next 30 million years. Other features include the usual multiple alarms (4), timer, stopwatch, and solar power!
So-called "e-dictionaries" don't often make the trip over here, but iriver broke that trend with its D5 clamshell device, which suggests that it just might also do the same with its new D1000 follow-up. Of course, like its predecessor, this device is quite a bit more than just a dictionary, with it packing a 4.3-inch 480 x 272 touch screen, 8GB or 16GB of storage, built-in WiFi, a DMB TV tuner, 720p video output, and a full range of media player features. Happen to live in Korea or planning a trip sometime soon? Then you can pick this one up right now for between 349,000 and 409,000 Korean won depending on the model and capacity, or roughly between $300 and $360.
Spring Design's Alex e-reader has certainly had one of the more interesting product launches in recent years and, with an actual release now seemingly imminent, it's finally turned up in the FCC's hands. There's not many surprises left at this point, but the agency has at least treated us to a peek inside the device, and offered us our first look at the device's user manual. Head on past the break for a few more exciting images, and hit up the link below for the complete rundown, FCC style.
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AFP - Xbox Live users are now free to express their race, religion, nationality and sexual orientation in profiles at the popular online videogame community.
Macworld.com - In February, Google acquired the iPhone mail search app reMailâand promptly removed it from the App Store. On Friday, reMail developer Gabor Csell announced that the reMail codebase is now open-source.
In this week's legitimately purchased app roundup: Google Buzz, appified! Games, sold Costco-style! App Store meme marriages, consummated! Child medical mysteries, solved! Ragdoll physics, taken to its logical conclusion! Travel, meticulously planned! Movies recommendations, mystically conjured! And more...
This Week's Best Apps
If you'd like to view the gallery as a single page, click here.
This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our Favorite iPhone Apps Directory. Have a great weekend, everybody!
Check out three new Windows laptops to suit every style. The ultraportable ThinkPad X201, the Asus N71, and the new Dell Latitude.
ASUS N71JV-X1 NoteBook
Asus outed their newest notebook to feature the smart and power saving Nvidia Optimus system. This new technology allows for easier transitions in GPU dedication between graphics intensive apps and benign tasks—essentially saving you battery life in the long run since the GPU will draw less power when not in use. This is a very good thing since this 17-incher packs a Nvidia GeForce GT 325M with 1GB of dedicated RAM. For around $900 you also get a Core i3 running at 2.26GHz, 500 GB of hard drive space, and 4GB of DDR3 RAM. Snag it here.
ThinkPad X201
This ultraportable features new Core i5 and i7 processors along with a host of other options making it worth lusting after. Lenovo finally added a trackpad and foisted on a 2-megapixel camera with improved low light performance for those moodier chatroulette sessions. Downsides? No integrated optical drive and no USB 3.0. Not the hugest dealbreakers in the world, but they may be for some. Starting at $1,099 you can quickly add up the myriad of options like a 500GB storage or up to 8GB of RAM to make a nice little beast. Configure it here.
Dell Latitude 13
The serious business laptop recently got shrunk down to a modest 13 inches and Dell is now selling them at an equally modest $559. That's the Linux version with all the bells and whistles cast aside for a streamlined experience. If you want a full featured version with a webcam, Windows 7, 4GB of memory, and a 320 GB hard drive get ready to spend closer to $1200. With that sexy body I'm sure it's going to be hard for some professionals to resist. Get it here.
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I don't know how solid these are, but they look so yummy. I want a bite.
Check out three new Windows laptops to suit every style. The ultraportable ThinkPad X201, the Asus N71, and the new Dell Latitude.
