Tech Gadgets Reviews

You want a real office but all The Man will give you is some half-height cubicle walls? Why not create your own privacy with one of the groovy blow-up structures from U.K. specialist Inflate. Options range from full-fledged huts to an "office in a bag" horseshoe just big enough to insulate your desk in sweet, productivity-boosting privacy.

Pricing is a mystery, and one can only assume a deliberate one, given the Flash- and PDF-encumbered design of the Inflate site.

Inflate- 02.26.08 [NOTCOT]

Posted Feb 29th 2008 2:29PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Gaming

There’s certainly been no shortage of sad stories involving Xboxes, but when it comes to attempts to get the console repaired, this latest tale from a gamer known only as Nathaniel might have to take the cake. As you can see above, his console (one of the first to hit the market) boasted a good deal of personalization, including signatures from folks at Bungie and the Xbox 360 team, and a spiffy illustration by Rooster Teeth Comics artist Luke McKay. As with many other Xbox users, however, Nathaniel’s console eventually packed it in, and he was forced to send it to Microsoft for repairs. Needless to say, that’s when things took a turn for the worse. Despite calling ahead of time and getting assurances that his prized console would be sent back intact, and including a letter reiterating how much the console meant to him, Microsoft apparently took it upon themselves to clean it as best they could before returning it, leaving only a few faint smudges of permanent marker to ensure that it was, in fact, the same Xbox. There’s no word as to what Nathaniel plans to do next (other than weep), but given that Microsoft gave the royal treatment to someone that did nothing more than get a Zune tattoo, you’d think they could at least give the guy a few free points or something.

Posted Feb 29th 2008 12:53PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Laptops

Uh, we figured this whole Penryn update thing was all taken care of by now, but for whatever reason, Dell has found it quite pleasing to roll out said chips to its machines on a one (or two) at a time basis. Just a day after the new processors landed in the Precision M2300 and M4300 — and merely two days since they crawled within the M6300 — the Round Rock powerhouse has seen fit to hook up the all-business Latitude D630 and D830. Effective immediately, interested consumers can snatch up one (or both, we ’spose) of the aforementioned machines with a 2.5GHz T9300 or 2.6GHz T9500, both of which include 6MB of L2 cache. Meanwhile, prospective M1530 buyers are becoming increasingly incensed at Dell’s apparent negligence of their favorite machine.

[Thanks, Juha]
Read - Latitude D630
Read - Latitude D830

The much hyped merger of Satellite radio providers XM and Sirius has stalled, and the deadline is looming. The original deal was struck on February 19, 2007 and the termination date is Saturday. Sirius is desperate for the merger but regulators have still not approved the plan. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin said he expects the boards of both companies to meet to extend that deadline. The DOJ seems to be stuck on the question of whether the merger would result in a monopoly. The answer to most is no, given that most satellite radio usage happens in cars, where DVD players, iPods, and free radio are also options. Since February 20, 2007, Sirius shares have fallen 22% to $3.05, while XM shares have sunk 15% to $13.13.

Read [Reuters]

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If you’re the type of computer geek who wants ultimate control over customizing your laptop, or if you’re a graphic design junkie who can’t stand the boring options of colors out there for your portable machine.

Sony have introduces the new VAIO Graphic Splash Notebooks that they’re calling their “Expression Collection”. From the website:

What is VAIO Graphic Splash?
VAIO Graphic Splash is a unique line of limited edition notebooks that break convention and let you express yourself in a whole new way. Using a process called dye-sublimation, stunning colors and eye-catching patterns are infused into a notebook’s exterior with brilliant results. And the possibilities are endless.

The Expression Collection
Express yourself. Take customization to new heights with this dazzling new addition to VAIO’s Graphic Splash family. Introducing The Expression Collection, a truly original offering with an exciting palette of vibrant colors and interesting patterns. Select the combination that fits you best, and take your pick among four keyboard fonts that add a subtle touch of elegance to a commonly-overlooked aspect of the computer.

Created by you.
Experience personalization, inside and out. When you choose a customizable VAIO Graphic Splash notebook, you decide what goes in the computer as well as what goes on it. Select the hard drive, processor and memory that’s right for you, and enclose it all in a bold and sophisticated shell. With three colors, three patterns and four keyboard fonts to choose from, The Expression Collection is always poised to make a statement.

I wish there were a few other options for custom font on the keyboard - Bradly Hand, really? Why not just add Comic Sans and make me want to punch clowns? Was there nothing else you could use?

Regardless of the poor font choices, you can pick one up starting at around $1,300.

[Sony via Techie Diva]

In a novel use of RFID technology, researchers are using the tracking chips to get new insights into the behavior of bees.

The experiment is being done at Queen Mary, University of London, where hundreds of bees have been fitted with the chips. A number of the chip reading devices have been set up around their hives and in artificial flowers in a bid to get the most accurate information ever recorded about their behavior.

Co-investigator on the project, Dr. Nigel Raine, said:

Previously we would use number plates to identify bees but it is error prone and would need someone sitting near each flower to visually identify each bee, limiting us to a very simple experiment … RFID allows us to carry out experiments on a much larger scale, using RFID to monitor multiple individuals at the same time. The technology is really helping us to do a lot more.

Information the researchers hope to glean from the experiment is how the bees pick routes to flowers and how they use foraging pheromones. The experiment also extends to the Arctic where some tracking is also being carried out.

Read more at Silicon.com.

Matthew’s Opinion

RFID was viewed quite negatively when it first started to appear due to the tracking issues it introduced. People were afraid the tags would be used to track your every move, offering better marketing feedback, but also removing privacy. Those fears are not gone, but have faded into the background of late, and this experiment does show a very positive aspect of the tech.

The article goes on to say that if the experiment can figure out how bees pick efficient routes between flowers and home, then it may come in useful for the tech industry. More specifically, it could form a new way to choose efficient routes for data to travel over a network.

Looks like Apple has started to ship its Time Capsule - the newest external hard drive from Cupertino which is just about the only solution available for those who want to perform wireless Time Machine backups from your notebook. The Time Capsule debuted at Macworld, being an 802.11n Wifi base station that was equipped with a choice of 500GB or 1TB hard drive, enabling you to back up files to the drive or share files across a network without having to hook up to a cable. The 500GB and 1TB model will retail for $299 and $499, respectively. Sounds pretty interesting? There’s more after the jump.

While the Time Capsule is a pretty okay product on its own, it is in reality a workaround for a feature in Mac OS X Leopard which actually disappeared into thin air right before Apple was getting ready to ship its new operating system. Just before Leopard made a splash in retail stores, Apple actually touted the fact that wireless backup features was part of the Time Machine, and the intuitive backup and recovery program was included with Mac OS X 10.5. Unfortunately, such claims were removed from the ad copy a few days before the Leopard made an appearance, and the sudden yanking of words was never explained on an official basis from what I can see. This means there is absolutely no way to take advantage of the Time Machine feature on a MacBook or MacBook Pro with an external hard drive without hooking it up to the notebook via a physical connection, which pretty much defeats the purpose of providing wireless backup capability while on-the-go (being at home with a Leopard server or a Xsan storage-area network is another different story altogether).

Guess the external hard drive requires some form of additional intelligence to process the Time Machine handoffs over a wireless connection, which meant Apple needed to design the Time Capsule by throwing in updated firmware or software. Hopefully Apple can include such a capability into future software updates for Leopard instead of forcing ordinary folks like you and I to purchase the Time Capsule if we want to do a wireless backup.

Source: News.com

Posted Feb 29th 2008 7:12AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: cellphones, Wireless

Assuming Sprint can make it — and that’s starting to seem like kind of a big if these days — CEO Dan Hesse made some comments about the coming 4G revolution, including one auspicious hint about dual-mode CDMA / WiMAX devices this later year for XOHM. It’s almost an exciting enough concept for us to forget that even if these devices were forthcoming in 2008, they’d still only be for one of the soft launch markets, and would probably start as a data cards — not phones. But hey, we’re happy to be proven wrong, Sprint.

The Japanese are very particular about their loos, and thus it is no surprise to stumble upon the Lady Bird autonomous robot which is placed along Western Japan’s highway rest stops since November last year to help maintain overall restroom cleanliness. Heck, it is even programmed to engaged in a little human-robot interaction as well.

In addition to cleaning, Lady Bird can engage in simple conversation with restroom users, thanks to microphones in its “antennae,” speech recognition capabilities and a voice synthesizer. The robot has access to the latest information about traffic conditions on nearby roads, which it can relay to anyone comfortable enough to ask.

USB Shaver

An excellent gift for the man who never leaves the office! This sylish retro looking USB shaver is ideal to keep in your drawer in case you have an unexpected meeting or just to tidy up before going out after work. Also fantastic for the travelling business man with a laptop no need for another adaptor or trying to get those weird plugs that they have in bathrooms to work!Plugs neatly into any computer or laptop USB port, for shaves on the go. Lightweight and compact, easy to use, and convenient! Includes:USB shaver with LidUSB plug on spring-loaded wind up mechanismShaver cleaner Brush