Tech Gadgets Reviews

Put together a couple of crystals, some LED lights of different colors, a bracelet, a watch, and a “crazy” designer. What do you get?

Result: The Real Crystal LED Watch, designed by Illya Yakovlev.

For now it is only a concept, but maybe we’ll get the chance to see a real version in the future. The LED lights display the time, and you can change two settings - luminosity and color.

via

Fetch A Bubble Machine
Research proves dogs love bubbles. Ergo, to distract a rabid dog - or your domestic pooch - use this. It fires off thousands of chicken-scented bubbles per minute keeping dogs entertained for hours.

See price

by Paul Miller, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 10:32AM

Canon’s building on its well-received XL H1 prosumer, interchangeable-lens video camera with the new XL H1S and XL H1A. The primary addition shared by the new cameras is the updated 20x HD Video Lens III, but there are also improvements to the image and color settings, audio input capabilities and an external lcd monitor output plug. The XL H1S bests the H1A with uncompressed HD-SD1 output, but will run you a full three grand more when it hits in June for $9,000, with the H1A landing mid-July for $6,000.

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

by Paul Miller, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 11:52AM

Hey, we hate lawsuits just as much as the next guy, but we’re finding it hard to fault Verizon for this one. Verizon and Time Warner Cable arrived in court on Wednesday to settle a tiff over some ads that Verizon claims offer up misleading info about Verizon’s FiOS service. Listed among the complaints include supposed false implications by TWC that FiOS requires a satellite dish, doesn’t include phone, broadband and video, and that Time Warner’s network is better. Time Warner Cable is naturally calling the lawsuit “without merit.” Verizon wants TWC to stop running the ads and issue a retraction, as well as compensate them for lost revenue. We’re not positive which ad Verizon is referring to, but if it’s anything like the ad after the break — which has some downright false implications about Time Warner Cable using fiber optics “for over a decade” — then Verizon very well might have something here. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

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Filed under: HDTV

Technology has led to a lot of electronics being able to be shrunk down to a portable size. It seems that even when it comes to lie detection there is no exception. MSNBC is reporting that U.S. troops will begin to receive a new tool to aid them in their work. It’s a portable lie detector.

The detector is expected to be deployed to U.S. Army soldiers in Afghanistan. It will then be deployed to those in Iraq, where the device has already been used. The device doesn’t promise perfection, but does give troops a better way to assess the character of an individual they are interviewing which could save lives.

The article points out that not everyone is in favor of this technology, let alone being confident that it is ready for deployment. The argument for the deployment of the technology is that it gives soldiers another tool to judge the individual the are interviewing. Currently, they are doing it on intuition and training alone.

Read more from the MSNBC article.

Computerworld has one of the best OS roundups that I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Are you debating about going to Mac? Do your friends tell you that Vista is the greatest thing or that you should just stick with XP? What about Linux?

Computerworld has put together a piece where each OS is defended by an expert for that OS. If it doesn’t sway you to give Vista a second look, or to go to the Apple Store again, or to dust off the desktop and install Linux, then you didn’t read the same piece I did.

I prefer the Mac OS right now, and I run XP via Parallels, but I’m about to boot up another Vista box and see what’s really changed in the new service pack. One of these days I’ll even fire up a Linux box again–it’s been a long time since I’ve played.

Check out the smackdown at computerworld.com.

I’ve been getting a lot of comments and emails asking about the prices of certain gadgets in the market so I’m pretty happy that I’ve discovered this cool little website where you can order and buy gadgets from!

They have wide selection of gadgets to choose from. From iPods, to laptops, to mobiles phones and consoles, though they don’t have ALL the brands (like I didn’t see any Sony Ericsson stuff).

They have a Cash-On-Delivery mode of payment which works for me since I really don’t believe in buying gadgets using credit cards.

So check it out yourself. You might end up buying some stuff. I noticed their prices are a bit cheaper than most!

[ Image source from GadgetGrocery.com ]

USB flash drives have led to the death of the floppy disk drive. Unfortunately, they’ve also introduced some risk when it comes to business data being placed on unsecured flash drives. In fact, it seems that many IT executives and managers don’t realize how much unsecured flash drives are being used. According to a SanDisk survey, 77% of corporate end users indicated that they have used a personal flash drive for work-related tasks. IT executives and managers surveyed only estimated the use to be around 35%.

Naturally, such wide use of personal flash drives to store work data increases the risk of such data falling into the wrong hands. Of course, it has been the result of a security or data breach which has led 67% of corporations surveyed to begin to implement or to have implemented new policies around the storage of company data. Fewer than that, 52% have actually implemented an endpoint security solution.

Such wide use of personal flash drives to store corporate data may be the result of the lack of education by end users coupled with a lack of a clear policy prohibiting the use of flash drives. SanDisk found that 44% of end users did not believe that their company has a policy on using flash drives to store corporate data. 16% were not aware of an existing policy while 40% said their company did have a policy in place.

Read more from the SanDisk press release.

Brian’s Opinion

I agree with SanDisk’s finding that corporate reaction to the use of flash drives, whether personally or company owned, is reactive. It seems not many companies want to put the time, resources, or money to implement the appropriate policy or solution to prevent a situation where corporate data is breached when it comes to flash drives. When security is breached all of a sudden there is time, resources, and money to be found.

That mentality is a little like driving around with out a seat belt and determining that it would be a good idea to get some installed after someone is hurt or killed. That’s flawed thinking, but to be fair most companies are alike when it comes to allocating resources when it comes to an immediate needs rather than taking a preventive measure before an event. The results of SanDisk’s survey should give IT managers and executives some pause. Even more so, it should give pause to business executives.

The mistake to be made in fixing the problem is assuming that it is an IT problem with an IT solution. IT can write the best policy in the world and implement a first-class security solution to prevent use of flash drives, but at the end of the day if the business doesn’t enforce or support the policy a company will not be successful in securing its data.

Data is not just an IT concern. It’s a business concern.

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 4:02AM

Got a hundred bucks to burn? Lucky you, ’cause that Benjamin will now take the stock 15.4-inch 1,440 x 900 display of Dell’s XPS M1530 and squeeze in a full 1,920 x 1,200 pixel resolution. Toss in the optional $500 Blu-ray Disc drive and you’ve got yourself a sweet portable HD rig pumping Intel’s Penryn at the core. Another $50 and you’ve added a presumably brighter, LED backlit display but you’re now back to the original 1,440 x 900 resolution. Oh decisions, decisions.

[Thanks, Jonaid]

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Filed under: Displays, Laptops

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 9:52AM

Kohjinsha’s UMPCs have remained largely unchanged over the years — an SSD here, Intel CPU boost here — but the firm’s latest has managed to accomplish something few UMPCs would even dream of. That’s right, this 7-incher includes a full-fledged dual-layer DVD writer, which tags along nicely with the 1,024 x 600 resolution LED-backlit panel, 1.3-megapixel camera, 60GB hard drive, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth and 800MHz A110 processor. It’s also filled with 1GB of DDR2 RAM, Ethernet, a duo of USB 2.0 ports, VGA output, audio in / out, 3-in-1 multicard reader and a pair of battery options promising 3.5 / 7.2 hours of life. The 2.4-pound machine looks to be available at the end of this month (albeit rebadged as a Vye Mini-V S37) for around $1,500.

[Via Ubergizmo]

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Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs