Tech Gadgets Reviews

Although its death looms, the long awaited, highly anticipated Windows XP SP3 is now available for download. We first reported the April 29 availability a couple of weeks ago, so here is your follow-up complete with a direct download link to XP SP3.

The service pack houses over 1,000 hotfixes and patches and includes new features such as Network Access Protection and Black Hole Router Detection (which sounds awesome and scary). Regardless, Microsoft is still touting a June 30 cut-off date for XP support. So for those of you resisting Vista in favor of XP, consider this your final bit of solace from Redmond.

Tessera has come up with a brand new camera phone lens technology known as OptiML Zoom, offering up to 3x optical zoom without the need for actual moving parts. This is made possible by combining a new lens design as well as algorithms that replace a standard optical zoom lens’s mechanical functions. Since there are no moving parts to contend with, Tessera’s lens can be manufactured to be smaller and will definitely be more affordable compared to current optical zoom modules. The image above is for illustrative purposes only, and is not the real deal.

by Nilay Patel, posted Apr 28th 2008 at 12:45PM

Steve Ballmer kicked up a little dirt last week when he said that Microsoft could “wake up smarter” and keep selling XP after the June 30 cutoff date if customer feedback demanded it, but as you’d expect, the company is busily trying to “clarify” that statement by saying that while it always listens to customers, XP is definitely going to die on the 30th. Well, apart from the ultraportable exception that’ll last until 2012 or so. And the backlog of licenses still in reseller’s hands. Oh, and a little company called Dell, which, as rumored, is going to take advantage of a Vista licensing loophole that allows it to sell a copy of Vista but preload XP instead. Yep, that’s the plan — Dell’s going to report a Vista sale to Microsoft, but deliver an XP box with Vista upgrade DVD to customers. (That sound you just heard was a million accountants sighing in appreciation.) The program will be available for Latitude, OptiPlex, Precision, Vostro, and XPS systems (some with a minor fee), and Dell says it’ll keep going as long as Microsoft supports the “downgrade” license option, which could be forever. Looks like June 30 just got a lot less scary for XP fans, no?

Read - Microsoft clarification of Ballmer’s comments
Read - Dell to keep selling XP

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Pilette is the smallest Bluetooth headset in the world.

Due to a high-performance microphone Pillete provides optimal talk quality combined with a very reduced and intuitive design.

HANNSpree surprises everyone again with a new LCD TV known as Starlight Blue, and this model looks as though it was plucked out from the imagination of a wacky person who has had too much weed. Inspired by a starry night sky, a little bit of light on this 15″ LCD TV will let its diamond polycarbonate materials sparkle, and is described by HANNSpree “like stars on a clear, starry night”. I would say that this is an acquired taste, so unless you are willing to suffer the criticisms of some visitors to your home, get something else which is more…conventional.

• 1,024 x 768 XGA resolution
• 500cd/m2 brightness
• 500:1 contrast ratio
• 150 degrees viewing angle
• 2 x 2 Watt speakers

I’ve written in many of the past newsletters about mobile phones and staying connected. This past weekend I switched to a BlackJack II running Windows Mobile 6.1 and finally put my iPhone down, which has been my primary phone since June of last year, when it became available.

An unexpected thing happened when I made the switch: I found myself not wanting to constantly check the ‘Net. Don’t get me wrong, the BlackJack II running Windows Mobile 6.1 is a fantastic alternative to the iPhone (I’ll have a full review of 6.1 coming soon), but the fact that it doesn’t browse the web as effortlessly actually turned out to be a good thing for me.

First, I had developed a habit of bringing the iPhone to bed and surfing the web into the wee hours. This was mindless surfing and while the BlackJack II affords that same ability, it’s not as big a screen or as fluid an experience, and therefore not as immersive as the iPhone. So, instead of bringing it to bed I actually started reading a book I hadn’t picked up in a while.

Second, I couldn’t find my phone today. This is the first time in a long time that I didn’t actually know where my phone was. Since I wasn’t surfing the ‘Net as often from my mobile device, the phone wasn’t the first thing I grabbed in the morning.

Third, by not having my phone with me at all times I was forced to use the computers in my house more for e-mail and surfing. Since they’re better designed for these tasks, I found myself being much more productive instead of trying to type paragraphs of text into a mobile device.

Fourth, since I was more productive, I found myself mentally disconnecting from work, too, and not constantly reaching to check my e-mail. This particular one is interesting since Windows Mobile 6.1, with its push e-mail via Exchange, is actually a better e-mail experience than the iPhone’s.

So, what have I learned? For starters, I still haven’t found the perfect substitute for taking my web-working mobile. Most important, though, sometimes it’s nice to not be connected. Apparently I’m not the only one coming to this realization, as this article recommends “unplugging” yourself from technology for a while. I think I’ll give it a shot, especially since my wife forwarded the aforementioned article to me after reading it on Geek.com.

Are you too connected? Comment below.

One more thing: with the new iphone coming, Nokia’s Tube, Android, and whatever HTC is cooking up, my days of being disconnected may be over before they even begin.

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 28th 2008 at 8:01AM

Solar-powered dresses are so two years ago. These days, dames in the know are all about that piezoelectric material, evidenced by the incredibly flashy Piezing. Dreamed up and designed by Amanda Parkes, this piece of garb is all set to steal the show at the 2ndSkin expo in San Francisco, and according to CNET, it features electricity-generating fabrics around the joints of the elbows and hips. When the wearer walks, bends or gets downright nasty on the dance floor, the mechanical stress conjures up energy which is stored as voltage in a built-in battery where it can presumably be used later for charging your favorite handheld gizmo. Sure gets our electrons flowing.

[Via textually, image courtesy of James Patten]
Read - 2ndSkin expo
Read - CNET article on Piezing

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Filed under: Wearables

I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t grow up admiring him, but Batman doesn’t impress me for some reason. The Batmobile, the Batcave, the Bat Signal, the bat-shaped gadgets . . . it’s all a bit much. I mean, we get it already. Bruce Wayne really has a thing for bats. You know, it’s one thing to take a theme and run with it, but it’s quite another to beat everyone over the head with it whenever possible.

Bearing that in mind, you can be sure that when the 1GB Batman mp3 player from PopBox Collectibles is released this summer, I’ll have found something bearing a different likeness to buy for $80.

Via CrunchGear.
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Shop for toys and gadgets in the Popgadget Shop.

Dell XPS M1530 and M1330 laptops are now available in pink!

Dell XPS laptop line has now softened its image and sharpened its fashion sense with the addition of the bright and stylish color pink.

Since their unveiling last year, the XPS M1330 and M1530 have been very popular, receiving accolades from customers, industry influencers, and reviewers for their innovation in design and style. In fact, the XPS M1330 received 37 industry awards last year.

Identified by Pantone as one of the Top 10 Fashion Colors for Spring 2008, pink is one of the new shades for the season. It was all over the 2008 Fashion Week runway shows and is expected to be a shade that women and celebrities will be draping themselves in all year.

The XPS M1330 and M1530 feature sleek award-winning designs with many multimedia features including:
Dell MediaDirect  technology, which provides one button instant access to media files, even if the system is powered off or in hibernate; high-definition displays; Windows Media Center; optional travel remote control (IR) that slips into the ExpressCard slot, and optional Creative noise-isolation earphones for a great movie watching experience.