Tech Gadgets Reviews

Every so often I like to post up the odd LCD computer monitor that catches my attention for also being great for used with HD content. Asus have announced four new LCDs perfect for using both as an every day computer monitor for office tasks, and also perfect for playing back HD movies such as blu-ray, and also gaming. The 26-inch widescreen Asus VK266H and VW266H have a high 1920×1200 pixel resolution, while the 24-inch widescreen Asus VK246H and VW246H have a 1920×1080 pixel resolution, exactly matching the native resolution of Full HD blu-ray movies.

It’s not just the resolution that make these monitors perfect for HD, it’s also the fact that they feature an HDMI 1.3 inputs, which delivers high quality audio and video signals to the monitor, from any HD source, such as a PC or console or blu-ray player. All four also have built in speakers, while the larger two, the VK266H and VW266H even have component input, and digital SPDIF audio output.

All four also have DVI-D and D-Sub inputs, along with the HDMI inputs. Great image quality is also there with a very high 20,000:1 contrast ratio, 2 ms response time, and also ASUS’s Splendid Video Intelligence Technology, which analyzes the video input picture and adjusts the screen to get the very best image quality.

If you’re wondering why there are two model numbers for each size, it’s because the VK models (VK266H, VK246H)and also feature a 1.3M webcam. Asus Press

• Asus VW266H | 26-inch, 1920×1200, HDMI + Component, SPDIF Out, 2.0 M Pixel (Rotatable).
• Asus VW246H | 24-inch, 1920×1080, HDMI.
• Asus VK266H | 26-inch, 1920×1200, HDMI + Component, SPDIF Out.
• Asus VK246H | 24-inch, 1920×1080, HDMI. 1.3M Pixel Webcam.

Money magazine’s annual cull of 100 best places to live in the US is now out, and if you have ever heard of Fishers, Indiana, #10, shown above, you’re far better informed than I. Still, houses appear to be pretty reasonable there, with a median price of about $200K.

Find all 100 of the Chosen here.

If you’ve ever had to discreetly read your book at night, then likely you’re no stranger to the variety of reading lights available.  The type that clip to your book are helpful, but you still have to shift them a great deal to keep the area you’re reading illuminated.  Well although this little light wouldn’t clip to your book, it’d make a convenient light.  With it being solar powered you’d never have to worry about searching for batteries at two in the morning.

However, you won’t be able to keep it tucked inside a bedside table.  It’d have to be out in the open where it can charge fully.  It also could be attached to your keychain for another purpose besides sneaking in a midnight read.  The flashlight comes in blue, green or red.  It has two LED lights which should be enough for smaller tasks.  The flashlight will cost you $5.99 from Gizfever.  If you’re interested in a slightly more powerful version, Gizfever also has a slightly larger solar powered flashlight keychain with three LEDs instead of two.

Source: GadgetVenue

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Electric Motorsport’s Electric GPR-S motorbike is receiving some notoriety because of its cool styling and efficient electric batteries, but according to its owner, it shines because of its customizable nature.

"We designed a universal battery tray into it so that the efficient battery design that works great for this bike could be swapped out in the future," said the owner of Electric Motorsports, Todd Kollin, in a phone interview with Wired.com.

Customizable rigs indicate that a user could buy the bike with an efficient battery and engine build today, and when the next cycle of improved batteries is released, he’ll be able to swap in the new one without investing in a new bike. 

That’s a strong message that’s likely to appeal to riders already looking at electric motorcycles as a fuel-efficient alternative.

The GPR-S e-motorbike has a powder-coated steel frame with a braced aluminum swing arm, and pushes out a top speed of 60-70 MPH. So it’s mainly for city commuting but you could take it into the next town on one charge. It has a range between 35 miles and 60 miles depending on the power consumed and, often, on the size of the rider. So if you’re a particularly feathery-sized fellow, expect the bike to take you to its performance/length limits. If you’re on the opposite side of the size spectrum, you should probably stay off the freeway.

The bike takes about four hours to charge with an on-board charger or about 1.5 hours with an optional speed charger with integrated BMS, which is slightly better than other e-bikes. This focus on the bike’s design and efficiency is a reflection of the private, small, and parts-focused company and is a feature that should be taken into account when considering all e-bikes, said Kollin.

Like a slow-cooking stew, the GPR-S was fully funded over the last seven years by the company’s electric vehicle parts business, at a cost close to $250,000. And when we say it’s small company, we mean really small: The Oakland-based company has only 8 employees.

Kollin emphasizes that he is more interested in getting the efficiency of the bikes at an optimal level, and that despite their expensive starting price, maintains they have "the best pricing on batteries for these types of bikes because we’re a parts company." Most e-bikes at this level, like the Vectrix, come in between $10,000 and $12,000.

The small-co. set-up means the yearly output is limited, but unlike other heavily funded competitors (again, like Vectrix), they can maintain quality control over their bikes and make them more efficient and possible longer lasting the others.

Over the years, the company’s EV parts have been used in other electric motorcycles, cars, and trucks, and even worked on the Brammo bike that we covered early last year.

But Kollin thinks his new bike will allow his company to move from relying on their parts business to focus on the bikes. He expects to sell 100 bikes by the end of the year, but could accommodate, through help from an Asian supplier, up to 500 a month.

But even for a company that knows its parts and supposedly gets the best out of its rigs, it’s going to be a challenge to make its mark in this growing business. According to a recent report, Vectrix has sold 1,184 bikes to dealers in this calendar year (for close to $6.7 million), while Electric Motorsports has only pre-sold about 25 bikes.

Source:

Electric Motorsport

See also:

• With Motorcycles, Eco-Friendly and Badass Can Mix
• NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’ Features Electric Bikes
• Electric Bikes Are Blowing Up and Gadget Lab Readies an e-Bike Test List

Ever regret that you did not take up French classes back in school, only to be interested in this article in a French magazine that features snapshots of a bootylicious European chick? Well, with the Quicktionary TS, you can. This device comes with an integrated 400 dpi scanner located at the pen’s tip, allowing you to scan in a word or even a full line of text for instant word-by-word translation and phrases. Each $190 purchase will come with English-Spanish-English and English-French-English instant translation capability in addition to the American Heritage dictionary for English definitions. The touch screen display lets you navigate through dictionary functions, and you can also opt to listen to how the words are spoken in order to enhance your learning experience.

by Thomas Ricker, posted Oct 24th 2008 at 1:58AM

Oh Nintendo, did you really have to go and crush the dreams of so many homebrew faithful? Seems a Wii System Update released last night blocks new installations (existing installs are unaffected) of anything fakesigned like the Homebrew Channel. Perhaps the increased corporate vigilance comes in direct response to the very real threat posed by the Wii Backup Loader to run pirated Wii games. Regardless, this isn’t the first time that homebrew developers have had to work around Nintendo’s meddling. We’ll let you know what they come up with — until then, however, you might want to hold off on the IOS51 update if you’re thinking of going homebrew anytime soon.

[Thanks, Matthew P.]

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Filed under: Gaming

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 24th 2008 at 1:24AM

While we imagine that the vast majority of you would be perfectly content with an all-electric MINI Cooper (or a Porsche, if nothing else), some debutantes and Chuck Bass wannabes just won’t have anything but the best. For those out there who can actually consider putting a Rolls-Royce in the garage, you’ll be thrilled to know that CEO Tom Purves is spending some serious time thinking about a battery-powered Phantom. Reportedly, the bigwig stated that “many of its customers do small mileages exclusively in the city,” and for these customers, “an electric Rolls-Royce would be ideal.” He wouldn’t hand over any prospective time lines or anything, but we did get the impression that he reckoned the engineering wouldn’t be too terribly taxing. And the best part? He suggested that most buyers would opt for an electric Rolls for “urban use” while sporting a gasoline-powered version for longer journeys. Yeah, that’s something we can totally relate to.

[Via Autoblog]

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Filed under: Transportation

by Samuel Axon, posted Oct 23rd 2008 at 5:32PM

As far as we’re concerned, sticky tape is mostly just for out-there modding projects, but scientists have confirmed another use for it: X-rays. After hearing word of research in that direction by Soviet scientists in the 1950s, researchers at UCLA peeled scotch tape at 1.18 inches per second in a vacuum chamber and found that X-ray pulses were emitted by the process. A human thumb has already been successfully X-rayed by this technique, and if future investigation proceeds swimmingly, paramedics and aid workers operating off the grid might be able to do X-rays without bulky and dangerous nuclear technologies. We’ll admit it — we never saw scotch tape X-rays coming, but then, neither did you, right?

[Via Switched]

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 22nd 2008 at 11:23PM

Nothing here that you haven’t seen before in one form or another, but the more the merrier, we say. Super Talent has introduced its very own super small SSDs ranging from 2GB to 8GB in size, but they’re all based on Intel’s Z-P140 solid-state drive. The new units all boast a maximum read speed of 40MB/sec and a maximum write speed of 30MB/sec, and the whole crew employs a parallel ATA interface with a ZIF connector. The 0.85-inch drives are being offered up in 2GB (FHD2GN85) and 4GB (FHD4GN85) sizes, while the 1.0-inch devices come in 2GB (FHD2GN10), 4GB (FHD4GN10) and 8GB (FHD8GN10) flavors. Per usual, we’re left to wonder on pricing and availability, but we suspect these will be aimed more at netbook manufacturers than everyday folks, anyway.

[Via I4U News]

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Filed under: Storage

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 22nd 2008 at 11:23PM

Nothing here that you haven’t seen before in one form or another, but the more the merrier, we say. Super Talent has introduced its very own super small SSDs ranging from 2GB to 8GB in size, but they’re all based on Intel’s Z-P140 solid-state drive. The new units all boast a maximum read speed of 40MB/sec and a maximum write speed of 30MB/sec, and the whole crew employs a parallel ATA interface with a ZIF connector. The 0.85-inch drives are being offered up in 2GB (FHD2GN85) and 4GB (FHD4GN85) sizes, while the 1.0-inch devices come in 2GB (FHD2GN10), 4GB (FHD4GN10) and 8GB (FHD8GN10) flavors. Per usual, we’re left to wonder on pricing and availability, but we suspect these will be aimed more at netbook manufacturers than everyday folks, anyway.

[Via I4U News]

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Filed under: Storage