Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
What you see here is one of the worst USB hubs in the world. This time it’s a Christmas cake USB hub. The hub has 4 USB ports allowing you to connect 4 devices to separate ports. It also appears that the strawberries might be USB flash drives. It makes you wonder what’s next in the world if USB.
Via: TheRawFeed
Caffeine Boost Your WIFI – Watch the top videos of the week here
Grab your self a couple of cans such as Sprite, chop them in half and follow the instructions on the video above to create a wi-fi signal booster. The process looks easy enough although I have not tested this yet. It would be interesting to see how much more of your house you can cover with a device like this. Let me know if you make one of these and if you see an increase in range.
The Kindle from Amazon is a new eBook reader which has an e-paper display providing a sharp high res screen which reads like real paper. The device is wireless allowing it to connect up and get books in less then a minute. It does not need syncing die to the wireless features. More then 88000 books are available right now as well as news papers and other popular magazines. The Kindle can hold over 200 titles in it’s memory which is plenty to keep the avid reader going. The wireless features are not wifi though. Instead they have opted for an EVDO connection which means you do not have to be in a wifi hotspot to download books. As long as you have a cell phone signal then all should be good. If wireless is on all the time then you need to charge the book every other day. If you switch off the wireless features then the battery will power the device for over a week.
It looks like a nice eBook reader with some handy built in tools. I have yet to compare the screen to that of the page on a book, but from what reports say, it is supposed to be just as easy on the eyes. Will it convert you away from paper books?
Scratched CD’s, DVD’s and any other type of CD sized disc’s do not like it when they are scratched. The Evergreen DN-DRK72 is a disc repair kit which apparently repairs discs for you by removing the scratches and making the disc look as good as new. I do not know how many times it can repair a disc and I am yet to find out how it actually works. My guess is that it probably just fills in the scratches with liquid that hardens. Anyone got any ideas?
Via: TodayGadgets
40 years ago a patent was applied for which described a wooden shell with two metal wheels. The device quickly received the nickname of a mouse due to it having a tail (wire) coming out of it. The patent described an X-Y position indicator for a display system.
Due to the patent expiring 20 years later in 1987, Engelbart did not receive much in the way of royalties as a computer mouse wasn’t too popular before that. Also this was partly due to the new mice using a different mechanism which did not infringe on the patent.
For an interesting read of this mouse and how it came about check over at Wikipedia. The original patent with drawings can be found over here.
The DVIEW is a business card sized PC which uses a used mobile phone LCD panel. It is built by Hokuto Systems Co Ltd in Japan and is capable of working by it’s self and displaying data on the screen with out the use of other peripherals. The screens are 2.2 inches running at QVGA (320 x 240). The processor is an ARM7TDMI core CPU which can run at 81Mhz. On the memory side it has 40k SRAM and can play back audio at MP3, MIDI and ADPCM.
There are plenty of good uses for a device like this and adding a touch screen to the device could expand it even further. I look forwards to seeing where this one goes.
Via: Gizmowatch
The WIBRAIN B1 UMPC is an interesting prototype which has a full QWERTY keyboard split around the screen. The screen measures 4.8″ and has a resolution of 1024 x 600 as well as being touch screen. Connectivity is plentiful on this device as it sports Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi on 802.11b/g, quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA. Overall I am not too interested in the keyboard although having it each side does actually look quite comfortable to hold. It’s just a shame it doesn’t slide away like an HTC QWERTY keyboard.
Via: Funponsel
Here is another example of two devices merging in to one. The Casio USB Label Mouse Printer features a small label printer underneath. The labels can be printed using any TrueType font on to thermal roll paper. It costs $30 and $14 for a three pack of the roll of paper needed.
Product Page Via: BoingBoing
When thinking about what devices would work well together such as an MP3 player and phone, you probably wouldn’t think of putting a GPS receiver in a mouse. This is what Deluo have done and created what is possibly the worlds first GPS mouse (I have yet to confirm that). Adding a GPS to a mouse seems a little odd, but at the same time it could work well for people who regularly carry a laptop around and need to quickly check where in the world they are. The GPS receiver can track on 16 channels and the mouse has a retractable USB cord allowing you to keep the cables neat when traveling. Power to the GPS mouse is provided by USB so that no batteries are required.
The DeluoGPS Mouse costs $94.34 currently at Amazon. This version comes with Microsoft Streets.
Via: DeluoGPS
The USB Finger Optical 3D mouse is designed for the PC, notebooks or laptops. It is compatible with MS Windows 98/2000/me/XP/Mac OS 9 and above. It features a scroll wheel, left and right buttons and can be easily used on most surfaces. The only annoying thing will be having to type with it attached to your finger while it wobbles around. Still, for those who use the mouse more it could be handy for reducing RSI.
Product Page
If you live in Japan, then as of November 8th this year you will be able to pick up a new 1-Seg TV tuner for your Nintendo DS Lite. The 1-Seg tuner makes use of the upper screen to display TV and on the bottom touch screen you will find a remote control. This tuner will allow you to watch the telly in most places in Japan where 1-Seg TV is available. Costing just ‚¬41 it isn’t a bad price at all.
Via: lifeatmost and akihabaranews
MicroSDHC cards are tiny measuring just 15mm — 11mm — 0.7mm (about a fingernail size) and now the latest versions from SanDisk are now shipping. These tiny memory cards have squeezed on 8Gb of storage space and will cost around $150. However, you can get a 6GB version for about $72 which kind of makes the 6GB version far more tempting.
Just check if your device is compatible before buying as MicroSDHC cards are not accepted on all devices.
Via: nokia-e90
