Tech Gadgets Reviews

In this week’s Wired Gadget Lab Audio Podcast, Daniel Dumas, Brian Chen, and I talk about one of the best products we’ve seen in awhile, the Lenovo S10 netbook, which has the biggest screen of any tiny netbook and is also the best benchmark performer netbook of them all (for now).

In addition, we will go over today’s Apple event and wonder whether the company will ever release an affordable, super-small notebook, despite what the rumors say.  And we will also talk about the upcoming phone that will finally match the iphone’s touch user interface, the blackberry Storm.

Finally, we’ll go over a few gadgets that we’d like to have in case we ever lost in the jungle, like satellite phones and personal beacons.

Thanks for listening to the podcast. Please remember, if the embedded player above doesn’t work, you can download the Gadget Lab podcast MP3 file.

Use iTunes? Subscribe to the Gadget Lab Audio Podcast in iTunes.

Also be sure to check out the Gadget Lab Video Podcast — on iTunes and on the Gadget Lab blog.

More MacBook details are dragging themselves from the fertile pond of Apple rumors, this time flapping their wet, scaly tentacles onto the desks of MacNN.

MacNN’s source confirms the dropping of FireWire in the consumer MacBooks, which makes sense. The only thing most MacBook buyers need FireWire for is to hook up an external drive, and those all come in USB flavor anyway. It will be a shame to use the rather useful FireWire Target Mode, though, and the rather less useful (and infinitely more finicky) FireWire networking.

The dual GPUs in the MacBook Pro will apparently be a mixture of a dedicated graphics processor and an integrated chip sat on the motherboard. The Pro notebook will also be getting faster RAM (DDR3/1,066GHz), a top processor speed of 2.8GHz and, best of all, a longer-life battery, perhaps a nine-cell design instead of the current six-cell (hey, if MSI’s Wind is getting one, why not the Mac?)

MacNN also claims that the the Pro will see a new video-out socket which looks something like an HDMI-out port. We’d hazard a guess that Apple has somehow shoehorned both a Mini DVI and an HDMI capable output into one socket, which means that we’ll have another couple of proprietary $30 adapters to buy.

Stay tuned. We’ll know for sure come 10AM (5PM GMT), or five hours from now.

Specs, photos of MacBook Pro up to 2.8GHz [MacNN]

Illustration: Jesus Diaz/Gizmodo

Of all the crafts I’ve ever tried and spectacularly failed at, carving Halloween pumpkins has to be in the top ten disasters. Add that to the fact that I love technology, and you can imagine how thrilled I was to see this decorating idea highlighted on the Crafty Crafty blog (which I read to discover more things I should never, ever try).

I’m showing it to you a couple of weeks early in case you’re inspired and need the time to source a Mac Classic (I have no idea what happened to mine, but I loved it so much.)

The instructions are here.

LG’s new Scarlet line of LCD TVs has gotten yet another member in the form of the LG80. This is the natural evolution from the LG60 and LG70, so you can expect the next iteration to be the LG90. I digress - the LG80 will feature :-

• Full HD resolution
• 30,000:1 contrast ratio
• Three AV modes (movies, video games, sports)
• USB 2.0 connectivity
• Two HDMI 1.3 ports
• Integrated 3.1 audio system with 50 watts of output

Strangely enough, LG did not disclose the screen size, but we do know that the LG Scarlet LG80 will be out in US and Europe later this year.

by Thomas Ricker, posted Oct 14th 2008 at 4:20AM

Somehow, we don’t think that this was what Swarovski had in mind when they began whoring their luxury name onto consumer electronics a few years ago. The Scitec SEB-100 canal-type earbuds with fancy, “hand-pasted” crystals will cost ¥10,000 (about 100 US beans) when they hit Japan later this month. The perfect gift for the glam-rock pansy struggling with middle age on your Malibu, beachside block.

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Filed under: Portable Audio

The PSP will be receiving a v5.00 update, while the PS3 will feature a v2.50 update. Nothing major or groundbreaking in either updates, but they do represent small steps forward. The PSP v5.00 will include the PlayStation Network icon on the XMB, allowing you to access the PlayStation Store from your PSP directly without having to hook up via the PS3. As for the PS3 v2.50 update, you will find integrated support for the PS3 Official Bluetooth Headset, activation of High-Quality (HQ) mode for clear and wide-band online voice chat, and an on-screen indicator that depicts current battery life, volume level and use of HQ mode. playstation Trophies has also been improved in terms of its interface, making it easier to share and update your trophies with your buddies. Other minor improvements include fried status, scene search for video, redeem codes option for the PlayStation Store, background downloading support, in-game screenshots and power save settings.

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 13th 2008 at 10:05PM

Alright kids, it’s time for honesty. Here’s a tidbit your 3rd-grade teacher isn’t about to admit, but he / she and everyone else in the world crams for tests. Sorry, we know you totally believed that each and every noble student dutifully set aside hours per day to prepare for that big final, but in reality, every kid in your classroom just got on the study train a few hours ago. To that end, LeapFrog has concocted a perfectly named study aid dubbed the Crammer ($59.99; available now), which enables kids to “quickly navigate more than 16,000 mathematics, social studies and science quiz questions based on leading school textbooks.” Additionally, students can create customized digital flash cards for on-the-go cramming, and the built-in Spanish translator even gives you an edge in the foreign language department. Seriously, where was this at when we were using abacuses and carving English reports into stone tablets?

[Via PopGadget]

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Filed under: Handhelds

by Nilay Patel, posted Oct 13th 2008 at 6:12PM

Microsoft is expected to be handing out pre-betas of Windows 7 to devs at WinHEC and PDC soon, and it looks like it’s settled on an official name for its next-gen OS — ahem, Windows 7. Yep, the code name is the real name, which is a first for Windows. According to Mike Nash on the Vista blog, the company went with Windows 7 because it “just makes sense” as the seventh release of Windows, and MS doesn’t want to come up with a new “aspirational” name like Vista — it “doesn’t do justice” to the goal of staying “firmly rooted” in the ideas of Vista. Which probably explains why it looks so much the same. Sure, call it whatever you like, just get it out the door on time, okay?

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

What makes the Shiro SQ-S mp3 player so special? Well, it might not be an ipod killer in any way, but comes with a built-in solar cell that allows you to keep it juiced no matter where you are (as long as there is sunlight). It takes approximately 4 hours for a full charge, which should be more than enough time especially when you sit right beside a window at the office. Features of the Shiro SQ-S MP3 player include :-

• 1.8″ 65k color LCD display
• Supports MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC, APE and OGG music formats
• Built-in FM tuner and voice recorder
• 16GB internal memory
• 35 hours/7 hours playback time for audio/video

Choose from silver, red or blue colors. No word on pricing or availability, but this is a step in the right direction for PMPs IMHO.

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 13th 2008 at 8:42AM

While outfits like Lightning and Tesla are attempting to make eco-friendly cars sexy, MDI is taking things in a completely different direction. The recently-made-official Airpod looks practically nothing like anything seen on American roadways today, which is probably why it’s apt to hit the streets of France and New Zealand first. The oddly shaped automobile will reportedly reach a top speed of 70kmh (44mph) and cruise 100-kilometers (62 miles) on just $2. The secret? A minuscule compressed air-powered engine on each of the rear wheels, both of which get instructed by the car’s joystick (Atari fans, rejoice!). We’re told that reloading the engine with hot air takes less than two minutes, and if all goes well, the first of the urban vehicles will hit the cobblestones in the spring of 2009. Is that the sound of Tata’s NANO feeling threatened, or what?

[Via EcoGeek]

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Filed under: Transportation