Tech Gadgets Reviews

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 5th 2008 at 4:06PM

Don’t deny it — you totally blew the original Duct Tape Server off as some one-off project created after a hard night of truth or dare, but the DTS team is out to prove that this here is no fad. Just this week the DTS II (that’s Duct Tape Server II for those who prefer things broken down) was introduced shortly after DTS I came unglued. Reportedly, this unit will be on server row at MillionManLan and will pack a 2.2GHz Pentium 4, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive and a few fans to keep things breezy. Hit up the read link for a slew of build shots, and click on through for a quick video.

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Filed under: Desktops

In this week’s Wired Gadget Lab podcast, Dylan Tweney, Daniel Dumas, and Jose Fermoso talk about the new Olympic-themed Summer Test review site, which includes the best of the latest swimming and biking gear, among many other cool items.The new layout is sleek, easy to move around in, and full of content, but they’d still love some feedback on it, so let them know what you think.

In addition, they’ll take a first look at the 50-hour-recording JVC Everio HD40 camcorder, and review the ultra light, leather-bound, Asus U2E notebook.

Thanks for listening to the weekly podcast. If you’d like to subscribe to the feed, point your feed reader or podcast downloader to the Gadget Lab podcast RSS feed. The audio player widget above requires Quicktime (you can download it at Apple’s page here).

If you prefer, you can also download the MP3 file for this episode with this link: Gadget Lab Podcast #36 MP3. Check out the previous thirty-five Gadget Lab podcasts after the jump.

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #35: 3D Holograms, The Image Fulgurator, and New Phone Reviews

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #34: Samsung Instinct, Toshiba’s Portege R500, and the Nikon D60 DSLR

Gadget Lab Podcast #33: iPhone 3G, POV Racing Toy Cars, and the Polaroid Pogo Printer

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #32: Mini-notebook Smackdown, Olympic Speedsuits, and the Eye-Fi Catches a Thief

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #31: Dell’s Mini Laptop, Nokia N96, and Fake GPS Art

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #30: The OLPC 2.0, iphone 2.0, and Roku Netflix Player

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #29: The Lowdown on the iPhone 2.0, The Flip 2 Camera Gets Tested, and The Week’s Best Reviews

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #28: Maker Faire, Samsung Glyde and Olympus E-420

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #27: Psystar, T-Mobile 3-G, and AT&T TV

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #26: The Optimus Maximus Keyboard is Released, Asus Ships a Boosted Eee PC, and The Science of Walking Barefoot

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #25: The Latest on the Psystar Apple ‘Hackintosh’ Story, Hybrid Cameras, and Rumors of a 24-megapixel Nikon!

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #24: Bold Predictions for the 3G iPhone, the Week’s Top Reviews, and Crazy Paintball Tanks

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #23: The 2008 CTIA Conference, Product Naming Trends, and Beckham’s Tacky Gadget

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #22: Motorola’s Split, The Sony Crapware Saga, and More

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #21: The Wireless Spectrum Auction, HTC’s Googlephone, and Evil Keyboards

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #20: Exploding Batteries, Lost gadgets, and the Week’s Best Reviews

(For links to podcasts episodes #1-19, hit the link for #20, above.)

FROM GAMERTELL - A group of Drexel students has put together a PC game ith special headgear that uses the brain’s concentration levels to move the avatar.
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If you haven’t yet voted for our latest coolest gadget of the week, now would be a good time, as many regular readers took a day off yesterday so the odds are more in your favor to win the $50.

If you need to keep any door open here’s likely the most appropriate door stop, a giant key, simply ingenious (that may be going a bit far).

You can buy the key doorstop for ~$13 from Latest Buy.

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jul 5th 2008 at 10:20AM

When their moms told them that they needed hobbies, collecting Nintendo Game & Watch machines was probably not what they had in mind. We’re not about to judge Andy Cole or Michael Panayiotakis, two collectors who have all 60 Game & Watch handhelds ever produced. New in box. Untouched by human hands. So why did they do it? Because they could, we suppose. In an interview by DS Fanboy, the two Game & Watch collectors are deconstructed and investigated, revealing such nuggets as once spending $1,200 on a boxed Super Mario Bros. Special Edition, keeping their products out of the sun and air, and some advice on starting a collection of your own. Hit the read link to see the collectors in action.

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Filed under: Gaming

by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 5th 2008 at 8:05PM

The folks at EFiX don’t exactly have the best record of sticking to promised release dates, but the company’s CEO and lead engineer, Wilhelm von Vnukov, now tells us that the V2 edition of the OSX-installing device for desktop PCs will be available on Monday (July 7th), “I think,” with the V1 version set to follow three to four weeks later (still no word on the promised device for laptops). According to the website, the only difference between the two is the addition for support of “several motherboards” on the V2, as well as “experimental support for some prototype motherboards.” What’s more, the company has also now confirmed that the price for the initial batch will be €80 (or about $125), although availability seems to be confined to Taiwan and Bulgaria at the moment, with a number of other countries (including the United States) listed as being “in negotiation.” The company is also promiising that the price will be substantially lower once the device enters mass production, although it’s unsurprisingly not making any promises as to when that might happen.

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Well, I have some rather good news for all you IM addicts. Your fav instant messenger Google Talk is now available as a web-based version. Specially designed for users of the hyper popular Apple iphone and ipod Touch. the messenger can be accessed by opening http://www.google.com/talk in your iPhone or iPod Touch browser. If you want to stay online with Google Talk, you’ll also need to keep Safari web browser on your running as well after you’ve logged onto Google Talk. Switching to another window or application will disconnect your session, which is a bummer, but hey, it’s a start and we fully hope the app to perform much better in the near future.
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by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Jul 5th 2008 at 5:44PM

Engadget HD has gotten the latest on the highly anticipated update for Vista Media Center and it doesn’t look good. The first release candidate made it into testers hands recently and they weren’t happy to see that the most anticipated features — support for a DirecTV HD tuner and native H.264 support — got pushed to Windows 7. So head over to Engadget HD for more details (screen shots included).

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Filed under: HDTV, Media PCs

The retro styled 8-bit graphic watch could perhaps be a watch only for the true geek, well that is if they are not already wearing something with a calculator on their wrist.

The retro watch is dubbed the Icon Watch, and was originally designed back in 2005 by a Japanese design firm, however it just recently became available for purchase. The Icon Watch has a polyurethane band, ABS and stainless steel body and is available in black or white.

While exact time would be a difficult thing to offer from this watch it does have a certain appeal to it. I was actually considering a purchase, and then I saw that it was retailing for $75. Not to mention, thanks to always carrying a cellphone with the time on it, I have not worn a watch regularly for a few years now.

Product [MoMA] Via [Oh! Gizmo]

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Another newly leaked Sony Ericsson handset, this time it is the successor to the W580, which is dubbed the W595 and comes with a codename of Linda has just surfaced courtesy of Le Journal du Geek.

The W595 is a slider style Walkman handset and will feature an FM radio, the Walkman 3 player and will be running the A2 software platform. Similar to some other recent Sony Ericsson handsets the W595 will include Google Maps pre-installed and also have a 3-dimensional accelerometer.

While SE has been quite on the release date for the W595, it is rumored to be announced during July. Aside from the model pictured, it is also expected that it will be available in a red and white colored model.

Read [Le Journal du Geek] Via [se-nse]

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