Computer Gadgets New

Windows Vista has been out for over a year now, and yet many people are still hesitant to upgrade, and frankly, I don’t blame them. I have one machine that runs Vista, and that’s only because it came installed on my laptop. For many reasons I’m just not ready to upgrade the other half-dozen machines in my house, one of which is that I don’t want to shell out all of the extra dough when XP is doing just fine. Apparently there are plenty of others thinking the same way, and thankfully Microsoft has been listening. They have announced that later this month they will be cutting prices on their latest versions of Windows.

The price cuts will range from $30 to $80 depending on which version you decide to purchase. A full copy of Ultimate has been dropped to $319, while the upgrade is now only $219. A Home Premium upgrade has been dropped to only $129.

Microsoft has stated that they are hoping to attract more casual users to Vista, whereas they are still primarily seeing tech enthusiasts and early-adopters picking up the new OS. I’m still not sure that I’ll be picking it up, even with the new lower price. XP is doing just fine, and if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

Source: DigitalTrends

Posted Mar 2nd 2008 3:03PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Misc. gadgets

You can’t blame these guys for trying to milk the Eee PC, and Asus is doing just that with its new smorgasboard of Eee PC accessories. Most interesting is the Ai Guru U1 VoIP phone. It plugs in with USB, and in addition to letting you make calls to all your broke-ass friends, you can also use it to browse and listen to music stored on the Eee PC. Next up is the Eee AP, which acts as a 802.11g wireless access point and little else — think AirPort Express minus the sexy. The USB “3.5G HSDPA Card” is just as straightforward, with GSM900 / 1800 / 1900 and WCDMA2100 / 1900 / 850, and download speeds up to 3.6Mbps. The slim DVD-RW drive and the totally generic headsets aren’t spicing things up either, which you can probably tell is par for the course here. There’s no word on price or availability for any of these yet, but we’re guessing none of them will break the bank — they sure don’t look it.

Gallery: Asus shows off new lineup of Eee PC add-ons

Microsoft announces price drop for Vista C7000A Cardiograph Mobile Handset Springflex UB exercise machine Capella Bluetooth stereo headset Card Shuffler for your home TandemZ-1 Micro Chopper Top Gun MicroFighter Latest Tech News - 29 February iView Concept Curved Screen Feels Futuristic Parrot DF7220 Wireless Digital Photo Frame VAIO Graphic Splash Notebooks Have Lots Of Options 3-in-1 ExtUSB Headphone Adapter Track your typing skills with this USB Speedometer Bike Cuffs to prevent theft USB Hub with Clock and Mood Light Philips brings toasters to the 21st century Thumbnail gallery plugin by SoftSift

Nowadays the fact that an USB flash drive has very high data transfer rate is not enough to make customers buy it. In case producers want their products to be sold, something really special that can attract attention should be designed. Moreover the demand for an USB will be increased if it performs not just a single function.

Gresso company, which generally produces exclusive cell phones and mp3 players, took into consideration both of these points. So, its new gadget represents a well-designed USB flash drive and serves not just as data storage but as an adornment as well. There are three different types of this concept: in the form of an apple, of a cross and a classic rectangular form. Devices, which are made of wood, are decorated with 14-carat gold and Swarovski crystals. However, if you want to store a lot of information on this gadget you will hardly be able to do so, because its maximum memory size is just 1GB. Despite small capacity of this concept its price will varies from 100 to 1000 US dollars. Probably it will depend on the amount of gold and diamonds that decorate one or another device.

Thus, Gresso company again succeeded in designing something unusual and original. Given gadget most likely will be very popular among young people, because it can help them to add something really new to their style. Yet price and memory size of this USB leave much to be desired.

Posted Mar 2nd 2008 4:19AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Tablet PCs

Bummer to everyone who just got their Modbook, what, two months ago? As with the inevitable tide of technology, Axiotron just upgraded the line, bumping the specs to 2.1 or 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo configs with 120 or 160GB drives. The price on the base model stays the same ($2,290), but the new 2.4GHz config will run you $2,480.

The latest media statistics show that “four in five of all U.S. adults—or an estimated 178 million people—go online”, and the local TV news station has also stated that there is a new wave among teenagers, where driving-aged teens are delaying their license application and driving lessons just because they want to remain connected to their friends through the virtual world as well as blog online. Further data from the IDC shows that “the average internet user spends 32.7 hours per week on the internet”. Average that out and you get 4.67 hours a day, so you can imagine just how many hours a blogger spends in front of that radiation emitting screen. All the time spent sitting in front of the computer does not bode well for the human body, mainly because of the lack of exercise and poor posture that seems to be a problem for most people, which will result in carpal tunnel syndrome eventually. Enter the Springflex UB device.

The Springflex UB offers way more freedom to perform various exercise routines in order to avoid picking up a variety of repetitive strain injuries (RSI), as it helps you move around much more often that you normally do in addition to lowering the dangers of sedentary computer use, lowered metabolism and weight gain. This is because with the Springflex attached to your desk, you will be able to perform your workout right there and then without packing your bags and heading off to the local gym.

There are over 120 exercises that can be performed with the Springflex UB in order for you to further tone and firm your upper body. Too bad there is no add on for the lower body, but hey - women love nothing but a nice, large pair of biceps as well as drooling over those pecs. Guess reading Coolest gadgets won’t be such a fattening experience any more, is it? I just wonder what your colleagues have to say about this - unless it is an office-wide policy to install the Springflex UB in each and every single desk, chances are the majority won’t want such a distraction, especially if you tend to carry around a strong BO where a whiff of it is enough to send the nearest skunk packing, tail between its legs.

Source: American Inventor Spot

Posted Mar 2nd 2008 2:54AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Transportation

If a wave of déjà vu just hit you like a ton of bricks, fret not, as this most certainly isn’t the first (or second) time we’ve heard of researchers looking to the seas to create more intelligent / nimble submersibles. Apparently, a few more folks have gotten involved, as gurus from Drexel, MIT, Harvard and George Washington are now collaborating to develop a “fish-like fin to make autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) more agile.” Apparently, the current iteration has improved on prior versions by eliminating drag during part of the “cut and sweep” motion. The general idea is to combine several of the fins in order to “allow robotic submarines to hover and turn on a dime as natural swimmers can,” but it’ll still be quite some time before devices such as this one can overcome ocean currents and ill-willed sea creatures.

Sometimes we feel the necessity to leave a message to the members of our family in order to remind about something, give some instructions or just say endearing words. In such situations everybody finds different solution: some use just a sheet of paper and put it on the place where it can be easily seen, others buy special tables, which are generally attached to refrigerators or walls, and etc.

Yet, a new method, which helps to make your message more original, has been recently found. The given gadget is designed to write messages on toasts. Quite an unusual message, isn’t it? Moreover, the process of writing itself becomes more pleasant and interesting. The only thing you have to do is to take a special pen and to write on the toaster whatever you want. After that your message will be printed on the toast. That’s it.

Thus, this gadget can be considered as a very useful one, because you prepare food and write messages at the same time. Besides that, children will love it for sure. It will be a sort of amusement for them. However, it should be mentioned that the size of the message is very limited, preventing you from writing “poems”. Though, it can be used for fun.

Posted Mar 1st 2008 5:40PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Desktops

If you’ll recall, we already witnessed a pre-production Wolfdale CPU outpace its competition back in August of last year, but the real deal has finally arrived. Over at Hot Hardware, the folks were able to crack open a retail Core 2 Duo E8500 processor, which comes in at 3.16GHz and features 6MB of L2 cache, a 1,333MHz FSB speed and is built on 45-nanometer technology. When put to the test, reviewers found this luscious piece of silicon to be quite the performer, noting that it was probably a better choice for gamers than a low-end quad-core chip. Still, with an expected price of just under three bills, it wasn’t exactly seen as the greatest of values, but if you’ve got the coin and happen to fit the market, the “Recommended” badge tells you everything you need to know.

Bluetooth headsets are never really cool looking, well they may look cool, but users generally look a little dorky wearing them. Amongst the best looking, not to mention the best sounding has been the Jawbone from Aliph, and they have now gotten a little better looking. A set of three new models courtesy of FuseProject, the Jawbone will now be available in a white “Trash Talk,” a black “Dirty Talk.” and a gold “Sweet Talk.” All three models will be available in just a “very limited quantity,” so if you feel you must get one of these, you better act quickly. Of course limited edition Jawbone or not, you will still look like a dork when wearing these around in public.

Keep reading for a closer picture of each of the headsets…

Via [Gizmodo] Via [Josh Spear]

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