Tech Gadgets Reviews

Nice to see that the Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC has a much longer lifespan in the form of the Indamixx, a device that enables DJs, producers as well as remixers to bring their studios along no matter where they are. Apart from audio applications contained within, the Indamixx is able to offer a “robust multi-track recording environment that allows a user to record, edit, equalize, audition, and mix audio, songs, or sound files (WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AIFF) at sample rates up to 32 bit at 96Khz”. Other software include Skype, Pidgin, and a web browser. Would you be willing to fork out $1,199 for the Indamixx?

With miniaturization in electronics moving at a rapid pace, we have seen shirts that function as more than just a fashion statement or to cover up one’s modesty. The W-41 shirt is totally different from the rest, as it features a logo that helps connect the person who took your picture to your MySpace page, blog or other social networking sites that you are currently on. This begs the question - how does it work exactly? Well, each shirt comes with a special logo that is unique only to you, and you will key in your personal information upon purchase so that folks will be able to track you down in cyberspace. T-shirts will retail for $49 while sweatshirts are more expensive at $56.

FROM APPLETELL - Apple has slowly been killing off Firewire on the ipod—first removing the ability to transfer music, but keeping the charging capability.  Now it appears even that is on the way out.
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I have a weird compulsion to buy mini-flashlights- keychain LED lights, key covers, closet stick-on lights, booklights- I just can’t help it. It’s been an obsession so long that I suspect, that like in a plot line from an M. Night Shyamalan big-budget B-movie, it will prove to be significant when the aliens invade. Those little aliens will seem indestructible until I defeat them with the giant floodlight I create with my millions of tiny LEDs.

Last night I discovered that I can now turn every object I already own into a miniature flashlight. Sylvania has been making Dot-it stick on LED lights for years now, but they’re yo-yo sized and meant to be permanently mounted in a single location. Now, though, there’s the new Dot-it light bug, a tiny sticker light, which can be placed on all sorts of small portable items like cell phones or mp3 players. They’re extremely bright, come in waterproof casing, with an adhesive backing that sticks to anything. So far, I’ve put Dot-it light bugs on my iphone, a second cell phone, inside my purse, and on my bedside table.

Dot-it light bugs come in packs of two or five lights (in color combos with white, black, green, blue, and purple) and can be purchased from Sylvania.

Usually, MP3 players serve only a few purposes such as playing audio and probably video.  It is pretty rare to find good Bluetooth embedded in an MP3 player.  However, Philips has recently announced their new MP3 player that incorporates Bluetooth 2.1 technology for hands free calling. 

The GoGear LUXE is a mp3 player that pairs to your handset via Bluetooth.  If you play a lot of music on your phone, you know what a battery drain that can be—the LUXE would alleviate that problem.

Basically, you can opt to answer a phone call while the music automatically pauses.  There is a small LCD screen that will display the number calling, so you won’t have to answer the phone call blindly.  In addition to Bluetooth, it also comes with an FM tuner and Philips’ FullSound, which is a piece of technology that claims to make compressed audio play in CD quality.  It also comes with 10 hours of straight audio playback as well as 100 hours of standby time - overall a pretty nice battery life. 

As of now, it is only available as a 2GB model, and I’m guessing from the picture above that it is only available in red and white.  It will start selling in Singapore starting next month first for S$139, which is about $94.37 US.  Expect the GoGear Luxe to be available in more countries in the following months.

Read [Cnet] Via [PMP Today]

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Although I love the Wii, Guitar Hero, and the Lego Mindstorm, there is something to be said about the simplicity of play which require the most basic of materials. The Public Art Fund and artist Klara Hobza are hosting, The New Millennium Paper Airplane Contest. The event will be held in the Great Hall at the New York Hall of Science on November 1, 2008 and was inspired by the storied 1967 contest at the same location. Hobza’s work deals with communication, performance, and documentation. Based in New York, her work has been shown internationally.

The planes must be made from a sheet of 8.5″x11″ or A4 paper or smaller. Categories include: distance flown, duration aloft, beauty, spectacular failure, children (under 13) division, and a “surprise” category. Standout planes will be included in a book created by the artist and the Public Art Fund. Early registration closes on October 28, although you can register at the event.

In a pique of common sense, a German ministry spokeswoman has ridiculed EU plans to put full body scanners in European airports. At a press conference, she said this:

I can tell you in all clarity that we will not take part in this nonsense.

This doesn’t seem to be an objection to adding yet another pointless prop to the security theater that is today’s airport experience, but instead a privacy issue. According to Reuters, the scanners – which can see through clothes – are “a virtual strip search” which could infringe human rights.

With airport security now being nothing more than a race to cover any and every lunatic possibility in order to avoid bad publicity, human rights have long since been crushed. I’d actually welcome these Peeping Tom machines if they speed up the airport queues.

Others, though, might be less enthusiastic. For example, the poor girl going through security at Rome’s Ciampino Airport, who I saw a few years ago. The young Italian buck running the X-Ray machine spotted something in her bag and, grinning broadly, called over another handsome young officer to take a look. He too started to smile, as the poor traveler became redder and redder, staring at the floor.

After this embarrassing ordeal, she was waved through, bags unopened. At least she had something with which to comfort herself upon reaching her destination.

Germany says full-body airport scanner “nonsense” [Reuters]

It was a feature that Blackberry users have been longing to have on their handsets.  Finally the wait is over as video web streaming service Qik has just released the alpha version of its mobile video streaming client for Blackberry devices.

The new Qik mobile video streaming app will let you live stream your video from your mobile phone to Qik.com and major social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace as well your personal blogs.  Download the application from http://qik.com/dl/165.  After installing the app on your Blackberry device, you can start streaming live videos by simply pressing the Stream button that will appear when you fire up the application on your blackberry device.

Some things to consider before using the application on your Blackberry handsets:

• Sign up and create your account at Qik.com
• Make sure that your video capturing mode is set to the following directory; SDCard/Blackberry/Videos
• Make sure that you have a SD card in your Blackberry handset
• Preferably your handset should be running on Blackberry OS 4.5 for maximum performance of the application

The new mobile video streaming client was already proven to work on Blackberry Pearl 8120, Blackberry Pearl 8130 and the Blackberry Bold. Qik promised to make it available to Curve, Pearl Flip 8220 and other Blackberry models soon.

If you want to make sure that the new Qik video client works on your Blackberry handsets, check out the Qik.com blog’s comment section as there are actual users who posted their initial experiences when they installed the application.  Some were successful, while some experienced some bugs.

Via News.com

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FROM GAMERTELL - An IDG spokesperson confirms that the organisation’s “focus now turns to E3.”
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Right now, it’s almost pointless to go up against the ipod with any regular kind of mp3 player, which is why even Philips has decided to follow the novelty route.

The Luxe looks like a piece of Kryptonite, as imagined in the first Christopher Reeve movie, albeit the wrong color. And if a Superman-killing ability isn’t enough to make you pay $95 for a mere 2GB of memory, consider the internal extras.

First, it has Bluetooth and so can be paired with a phone, cutting the music when a call comes in and piping the caller ID to the Luxe’s one-line LCD display. There is also and FM radio for those of you who still haven’t tired of “all the hits from the seventies, eighties ands nineties”, interspersed with endlessly annoying ads.

The Luxe will be on sale in Singapore in November, spreading out across Asia thereafter. US and European releases are as yet unconfirmed, although Lex Luthor is said to be working out an import deal.

Philips LUXE player connects to your music and calls [Crave Asia]