Tech Gadgets Reviews

We’ve featured a fair few interesting, tasteless and bizarre aquariums here on Coolest gadgets but this is probably the nerdiest yet (thanks Critiker), the R2-D2 Aquarium.

Modeled after the most well-known astromech droid in the galaxy, this R2-D2 holds a 1 3/4-gallon aquarium tank in his central compartment, ideal for a small freshwater family of goldfish, gouramis, or tetras. The domed head rotates with any vocal command you issue and he utters his familiar “bleeps” from the Star Wars movies. His radar eye houses the eyepiece to a built-in periscope that provides an intimate view of the aquatic activity below, allowing you to watch your charges swim towards the food you’ve dropped in from the dome’s removable feeding door.

You can buy the R2-D2 Aquarium from Hammacher for $129.95 found via our friends over at Critiker.

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V-Moda has recently rolled out its newest pair of luxury headphones from its Vibe line, known as the Vibe II with Microphone. This fashion-forward headphone will definitely go down well with any iphone or ipod models, as it features a noise-isolating dual-use headphone/headset which brings new meaning to the headphone category by merging together all the best elements of design, function, high definition acoustics and ergonomics. The V-Moda Vibe II with Microphone headphones will be launched exclusively at the Apple Store in time for the frenzied holiday shopping season, although you can also place your orders online via Apple.com and shop.v-moda.com as well.

Vibe II with Microphone aims to bring the best in sight, sound and touch, although I’m sure that most of us would be more concerned about its audio performance above all. The overall build is solid to say the lesat, featuring a tactual sensation which is comparable to the finest jewelry and watches - that’s what V-Moda claims anyway, and perhaps there is a wee bit of exaggeration thrown in there for good measure. Made from stainless steel alloy, these headphones are meticulously handcrafted using an environmentally friendly metal manufacturing process, turning the final product into a true piece of progressive machine art. In the center you will find a contrasting jewel accent that is complemented by a luxurious fabric cable which blends seamlessly with a sleek in-line hands-free microphone, call/music controls and removable sport earhooks.

The Vibe II with Microphone will come in Nero (black) and Chrome Rouge colors, although the future will see even more colors being release. It will retail for $128 - just in case that number seems familiar to some, that is a nod to the beats per minute (BPM) found in most dance tracks. Rock on!

Press Release

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Christmas might be around the corner, but Future Shop of Canada has decided to bring it forward - at least to those who are in the market for a Zune 8GB. The Canadian big-box retailer has just slashed the price to a mere $100, cutting out $50 from the original price tag. This deal will end this November 20th and is applied across all colors, making it an extremely attractive choice. Still undecided between the ipod and the Zune? Well, the latter might be dirt cheap now, but you might have some problem trying to share your music with fellow Zune owners (yes, all three of you out there).

PC Pro has been testing Intel’s new dual-core Atom 330 processor, and while it’s faster than the netbook-favorite Atom N270, it isn’t by much.

The chip tested was a desktop version, sitting atop a big, netbook-unfriendly motherboard. The clock speed of the 330 is the same 1.6 GHz of its predecessor, but with the doubling of cores we’d expect a big jump in performance. The result? The average speed boost across a range of gruelling tests showed the new chip to be just 16% faster than the old one.

And remember, this is the desktop version. Not until there is a netbook-ready iteration will anybody be able to test the 330’s effect on battery life. If things stay the same, then great — a little boost is better than nothing, right? But if it uses any more power than the current Atom, forget it. Netbooks need every ounce of juice they can get.

Dual-core Atom 330 benchmarked [PC Pro]

Now here’s a unique looking alarm clock - not only does it come with a wooden exterior, it also ditches the traditional square format by relying on a triangular form factor instead. You get a 7-segment LED display located right behind the extremely thin wood veneer, so turning it on will show the time, while when you cut off all power from it, it looks like a nicely sandpapered piece of triangle wood, and many will mistake it to be a paperweight of some sort. The Triangle LED Clock can work worldwide and will come in either a dark or light wood veneer finish, retailing for $39. Looks like a decent Christmas gift candidate to us.

The Nokia 6650 is now available from AT&T, and this clamshell handset will feature the following if you’re interested :-

• Symbian S60 3rd edition operating system
• Built-in GPS receiver
• 3G connectivity
• 2 megapixel camera
• microSD memory card slot

The battery is huge at 1,500mAh, which means you could probably go for a fair number of days before it requires a trip to the nearest power outlet. The Nokia 6650 from AT&T will retail for $69.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a 2-year agreement.

The HTC Max 4G might sound extremely desirable with the following specifications, although unfortunately for the rest of the world, it will be a Russia-only model.

• 3.8″ WVGA touchscreen display
• 5 megapixel camera
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• 8GB internal memory
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
• Built-in accelerometer
• Integrated FM radio
• GPS receiver

Looks pretty much similar to the HTC Touch HD to us. The HTC Max 4G will allow calls between Yota customers to be routed as VoIP via its WiMax network when used on Scartel’s own Yota network.

Looking for a good arcade stick to go along with your gaming set up at home? Well, have you ever considered the Exarstick? This controller is as close as it can get to the arcades, thanks to its arcade-standard square gate. The Exarstick comes with Minus and Plus buttons which are mapped to a couple of oval-shaped buttons on the top row, matching both Select and Start buttons on the SNES controller. Some of the gripes reported include its relatively lightweight construction that doesn’t work too well where stability is concerned especially when things get too franctic on screen. As for the buttons, the limited tactile feedback might detract from the experience, although getting used to it would mean a faster response time (since there is less distance to push down).

The iBoogie is one of those devices that you may not need, but you will probably want. Simply put, the iBoogie is designed to attach to your mp3 player, and an LED stick figure gets its groove on to the music. By the way, it also works as a speaker, which would probably be the first reason that you would buy it.

Unless you are easily impressed by dancing stick figures like I am. The stick figure is “sound responsive”, so I’m guessing it is in tune with music. I’ve heard that it has over fifty signature dance moves. It can actually work without an MP3 Player, but it can only play one song: Canned Heat.

The iBoogie is powered by 3AA batteries, and it comes with some audio cable. It is compatible with most MP3 Players including the ipod. All you need to do is plug it into the headphone jack.

You should be able to get the iBoogie at the HSN site for a surprisingly low price of $19.95. For a lower price, you can purchase a blank notebook and draw stick figures on it. Then turn on your music and have a flip-book stick figure do the dancing. That might be tough to synchronize, though.

Source

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Maybe we can finally believe the hype. Jim Jannard is formally announcing his customizable digital video and still camera RED system today that aims to take on DSLRs and further push the boundaries of video quality.

But the hypemaster couldn’t help himself with only one announcement. Oh no. He had to go out and give us a prototype of a RED 3D camera (see pic below), giving the 3D movement another boost of juice (albeit a vaporware-ish one) that suggests that technology will be legitimate and mainstream within a few years.

After taking a quick look at the specs of RED’s DSMC, we can say that the system is, above all, ridiculously ambitious. You have to build up the camera from the ‘brain’ of the system (named ‘Scarlet’ and the super high-end ‘EPIC’), built with camera sensors that range from 2/3 of an inch to a huge 6×17-cm. That sensor’s bigger than my apartment.

But probably the most interesting idea about this system is its easily customizable design. If a bigger sensor is released in the future (or if the prices come down), you don’t need to trash your video camera — you just upgrade it with a new sensor. That’s not a bad way to sell a system that could set as many records for its price as for its number of pixels in a sensor.

The Scarlet will come with several lens mount options and will be able to shoot 3K @120fps (with still pictures at 4.9 megapixels) all the way up to 6K @30fps (at 9.4 megapixels). They’ll be priced as low as $2,500 but most likely will go over ten big ones for the better rigs.

The EPIC sensors will shoot from 5K @100fps (with still pictures at 13.8 megapixels) to 9K @50fps (at 65 megapixels), and the price range will range from $28,000 to over $45,000 when they are released in the Spring next year.

Jannard is also promising an unfathomable 261-megapixel sensor for the rig within two years. We’ll believe that one until we see it, or until Guillermo Del Toro comes out of his cave and says he’ll use that camera to shoot The Hobbit.

RED isn’t the only company to integrate HD video and digital pictures into one rig. One of the true innovations of the year so far came up when the Canon 5D Mark II built-in the ability to shoot 1080p HD video. Other companies are obviously looking into integrating video into their DSLRs to not fall behind and to take advantage of the improved optics.

So far, the early word on all RED cameras has been that they are slightly unstable and quite a bit unfinished. But the video quality is really the key, and most early examples have been special and (almost) worthy of that hype.

See also:

• New Chips Poised to Revolutionize Photography, Film
• Analog Meets Its Match in Red Digital Cinema’s Ultrahigh-Res Camera
• The RED DSLR: A Wish List
• Immersive Media’s Geodesic-shaped Camera Rides the Wave, Captures 360-degree Action Video