Archive for October, 2009

Guy builds a First-Class Pan Am Cabin in his garage

Posted in News by Conner Flynn on October 27th, 2009

Guy builds a First-Class Pan Am Cabin in his garageAnthony Toth really likes Pan Am. He likes it so much that he built a vintage Pan Am first-class cabin in his garage. It looks awesome and the setup includes almost everything fliers in the late 1970s and 1980s would have found onboard.

You’ve got your red-and-blue reclining seats, original overhead luggage bins and even a curved, red-carpeted staircase. Anthony is a 42-year-old global sales director at United Airlines and he spent more than 20 of those years on his recreation of a Pan Am cabin, which includes a few economy-class seats.

Google Voice now with Voicemail support

Posted in Google by Conner Flynn on October 27th, 2009

Google Voice now with Voicemail supportThe fine folks at google never stop working. Good thing too, because you and I always benefit. Google Voice has expanded its reach once again. This time to include voicemail support for your carrier-issued number, along with other features like online, searchable voicemail, free automated voicemail transcription, custom voicemail greetings for different callers, email and SMS notifications and affordable international calls.

Every carrier in the nation must be pissed. The real interesting thing about these new options is that your messages follow you no matter what, even if you switch carriers to get some hot new device.

EKING S515 MID priced, shipping this month

Posted in MID by Conner Flynn on October 27th, 2009

EKING S515 MID priced, shipping this monthThe rebranded DigiCube Z8 MID phone aka the EKING S515 MID phone is ready to hit the market later this month in China. It runs on an Intel Atom 1.2GHz processor and packs a 16GB SSD, 1GB RAM and a 5″ WVGA touchscreen display. It will be available from Amazon China and will retail for $669. It ships starting tomorrow.

It’s said to be compatible with three of the country’s 3G networks, but only the China Telecom-flavored device is currently available at Amazon China.

Pure Siesta iDock iPod iPhone dock

Posted in iPhone Accessories by Conner Flynn on October 27th, 2009

Pure Siesta iDock iPod iPhone dockAnd the iPhone/iPod dock of the day is the Pure Siesta iDock, a stereo DAB/ DAB+/ FM clock radio complete with an iPod and iPhone dock. Need to take a Siesta? There’s a dock for that.

Enjoy your daytime nap with your favorite tunes with your iPhone or iPod docked. Some features of this dock include a large auto-dimming display, four quick-set alarms, sleep and snooze timers (Because who wants to wake up?) and 15 DAB/FM presets.

Magnetic Elecom Card Reader sticks to metal surfaces

Posted in Card Readers by Conner Flynn on October 27th, 2009

Magnetic Elecom Card Reader sticks to metal surfacesSure a card reader on your desk is easy enough to use, but the problem is that we have so many USB toys and other things on our desks that space is getting scarce. That’s why this new Elecom card reader is pretty handy.

It’s magnetic, so it will stick to metal surfaces, keeping it out of the way, but still readily available for your needs. Plus, it looks nice and retro which we love. It will only cost you $27.

Philips unveils iPod docking Wake-up Light

Posted in Philips by Shane McGlaun on October 27th, 2009

philipswakeuplightI have never had a problem getting out of bed in the morning, my wife on the other hand is worse than my kids. For people who don’t wake up well, Philips has unveiled a new alarm clock called the Wake-up Light.

The clock has a traditional alarm built in and the iPod docking model can wake you to music from your playlist, FM radio, or different nature sounds. The big feature of the device is the light that simulates a sunrise.

Kingston unveils cheap 40GB SSDNow V Series SSD upgrade kit

Posted in Kingston by Shane McGlaun on October 27th, 2009

kingston40gbssd-sgFor a long time upgrading your computer to an SSD was a very expensive proposition. Thankfully, the cost of SSDs has come down significantly in the last few months. Kingston just unveiled a new SSD boot drive upgrade package that sells for $84.99 after rebates.

Before those rebates the SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive kit sells for $115. The drive kit includes the 40GB SSD, drive cloning software, power, and data extension cables, and adapters to make the 2.5-inch drive fit a 3.5-inch bay.

NEC Android business tablet to drop in Japan this fall?

Posted in NEC by Conner Flynn on October 27th, 2009

NEC Android business tablet to drop in Japan this fall?We don’t have much info. Just a small image and a few specs at the moment, but it looks like NEC is working on a mobile business tablet PC that looks to be Android based. The touchscreen tablet has a 7- to 8-inch LCD display and NEC is apparently predicting that they’ll eventually ship over 1m of the UMPCs each year. So they seem pretty confident.

We don’t even have a name for the device yet, but it’s set to go on sale in Japan this fall. NEC is boasting that it’s a fast-booting device with heavy use of cloud-storage and cloud-computing “capable as a personal computer”.

GPU market grows over 21% in Q3 2009

Posted in Computers by Shane McGlaun on October 27th, 2009

jpr-logoOne of the things that the computer industry is measured by is how many GPUs ship. The more GPUs that ship, the more computers ship. All computers have a GPU of some sort inside them today. The latest figures from Jon Peddie Research for Q3 2009 have been released.

The GPU market grew an impressive 21.2% compared to Q2 2009. AMD was the biggest gainer for the quarter with growth of 30% followed by Intel who grew 21% for the quarter. NVIDIA grew only 3.3% during Q3.

X-Arcade finally supports Xbox 360

Posted in Controllers by Shane McGlaun on October 27th, 2009

xarcadexbox360If you are an Xbox 360 owner who has been wishing that those fantastic X-Arcade controllers that PC and PS3 gamers have been able to enjoy for a long time worked on your console you are in luck. X-Arcade has finally announced that its controllers will work with the Xbox 360.

A new adapter called the X-Arcade PS2 to Xbox 360 adapter is now available that will let you use the X-Arcade Solo, Dual, or Tankstick with the Xbox. Strangely, it appears the adapter is an adapter for an adapter since you must have the PS2 adapter to play on the Xbox 360.

Bridgestone announces flexible touchscreen color e-reader

Posted in ebooks by Conner Flynn on October 27th, 2009

Bridgestone announces flexible touchscreen color e-readerBack in April we heard that Bridgestone was getting into the e-paper biz and it looks like they are still making progress. The company’s all-color touchscreen e-book reader is based on what Bridgestone calls Quick-response Liquid Powder and is about 5.8mm thick.

It features a 13.1-inch touch-sensitive e-paper display with 4,096 colors that has a refresh rate of about 0.8 seconds. It also boasts mobile phone connectivity. The biggest news here is that the entire thing is designed to bend. Everything from the circuit board, touchscreen, and housing.

Black Nintendo Wii bundle on Amazon UK, £164.99

Posted in Wii by Conner Flynn on October 27th, 2009

Black Nintendo Wii bundle on Amazon UK, £164.99That black Nintendo Wii bundle that we in the US are not getting is hitting Europe on November 6th has shown up on Amazon UK.

The price is £179.99 but Amazon has it for £164.99, which is about $269. Adding to the mystery of this whole Black Wii saga, the identical bundle in white doesn’t have that £15 discount, but Amazon is sweetening the deal with your choice of two free titles, including FIFA10. There’s still the £142.99 white, non-bundled Wii of course. for a lot less.

New larger 4-Inch Nintendo DSi coming this year?

Posted in Nintendo DSi by Conner Flynn on October 26th, 2009

New larger 4-Inch Nintendo DSi coming this year?It’s only been a year since the original DSi launched, and here we are talking about a new one. According to Nikkei there’s a new DSi coming very soon with a 4-inch screen, that would have the same price as the current one.

The larger model DSi will only be seen in Japan later this year and it’s aimed at an older demographic who wants a slightly bigger screen. You know the folks with big buttons on their phones and hearing aids.

Motorcycle Grip Bottle Opener

Posted in Tools by Conner Flynn on October 26th, 2009

Motorcycle Grip Bottle OpenerStop opening bottles like a sissy with your prissy and boring bottle opener. Instead get all vroom vroom on those bottle caps with this Motorcycle bottle opener. This is the manliest way to open a cool beer.

Plus this motorcycle grip bottle opener not only opens your favorite beer, it also revs up every time. Now how can you beat that? Only $7.

42″ Flatscreen TV turned into a working iPhone costume

Posted in iPhone by Conner Flynn on October 26th, 2009

42″ Flatscreen TV turned into a working iPhone costumeThese guys win any and all costume contests hands down. That’s because Reko Rivera and John Savio created these awesome costumes using a real 42″ LCD TV. The TV’s are connected to their iPhones which are docked just above the TV.

It will show whatever the iPhone display shows. It’s absolutely brilliant. But it must be hard wearing those televisions, which weigh 85 pounds each. Then there’s the weight of the batteries to power them and the wires and iPhone.