Archive for March, 2010

The Canon Lens Thermos

Posted in Cameras by Conner Flynn on March 4th, 2010

Hey photography nerds, check this out. How would you like to drink from your Canon lens? Now a select few can. The press that covered the Olympics not only got to go to Vancouver for 16 days, but they also got this lens-shaped thermos.

Pretty cool swag if you ask us. Those Olympic photographers get all the cool stuff. Funny thing is out of all those photographers only one guy thought to take a picture and put it online.

Asus RT-N56U router is looking thin

Posted in ASUS by Conner Flynn on March 4th, 2010

Well look at this sexy and apparently uber-thin router from Asus. It looks like a prop from a Sci-Fi flick. Sadly we don’t have many details on the RT-N56U, but we can tell you that it was announced at CeBIT this week.

Other than that we know that it has dual band support with the 5GHz band being used, it’s compatible with printers and scanners, and is very fast with 300,000 concurrent sessions available. Feel free to stare. That’s what we’ve been doing.

LG’s first Windows Phone 7 Handset to be called Panther?

Posted in Mobile Phones by Conner Flynn on March 4th, 2010

LG’s first Windows Phone 7 handset, which was recently shown off at the Engadget Show, will apparently be called the LG Panther. Silly name, we know, but at least it isn’t the Pink Panther.

The rumored name comes from the UK site Best Mobile Contracts and while we don’t yet know if there is any basis in fact for this, we do know that LG likes weird names. And lets face it, many of you don’t care what it’s called, you just want one.

Recycling Robot sorts plastic

Posted in Robots by Conner Flynn on March 3rd, 2010

Most plastics in stores, in our homes and in our recycling bins are recyclable, but not very much of that actually gets recycled. Only about 6%. And that’s understandable. It’s hard for humans to sort through all those types of plastics. Plus we’re lazy and we tend to daydream a lot. That’s where a robot comes in handy.

This robot was designed by Mitsubishi and Osaka University and uses lasers to sort through all kinds of plastics very quickly. It has five different lasers that measure the reflectivity of each kind of plastic, allowing it to sort them all out.

Virgin America dumps Flash due to lack of iPhone support

Posted in News by Conner Flynn on March 3rd, 2010

Apple’s feud with Adobe has been making headlines and this latest news should make Apple happy. Virgin America has ditched Flash on its website because of lack of iPhone support. The new website was launched on Monday and will be replacing Flash with HTML so that customers can easily check in using their iPhones.

Of course the site will also be moved to HTML5, once the standards have been ratified. We aren’t sure if the loss of Flash will help Virgin America with increased web traffic or not, but we are assuming that they know their customers and if they do, this may be a great move for them.

Sony Ericsson Naite now available from Sony Style

Posted in Sony Ericsson by Conner Flynn on March 3rd, 2010

The eco friendly Sony Ericsson Naite is a nice looking candybar phone. It’s now available on the Sony Style website ( “out of stock” at the moment though). The unlocked and unsubsidized phone will cost you $159.

That’s not too bad when you consider that the case made of 50 percent post-consumer recycled plastic and has an ultra-eco charger. Might be a good backup phone. And besides, you are doing your part for the environment. If you don’t, who will?

Cloak Bag: Take pictures from the safety of a bag

Posted in Cameras by Conner Flynn on March 3rd, 2010

You’ve probably missed out on some good shots because it takes you too long to pull your DSLR camera out of the camera bag. By the time you do, the moment has passed. The Cloak Bag might just help you get your shot. It’s the “world’s first and only shoot-through camera bag”.

When it’s time to take a picture, just unzip the bottom of the bag, and roll it up. This lets you quickly take pictures with the camera, while still protecting the camera body. There are also slits on the side of the bag, so you can grip the camera and use the shutter button easily and the top of the bag flips open for viewfinder and control access.

Asus Xonar Xense Soundcard with Sennheiser PC350 Headset

Posted in ASUS by Conner Flynn on March 3rd, 2010

Asus has announced the Xonar Xense soundcard at the CeBIT tradeshow in Germany. It offers DVI output, SPDIF output, 6.3mm audio jacks for headphones and microphones and comes bundled with the Sennheiser PC350 headphones.

It will push out 7Vrms of power, thanks to an inbuilt headphone amplifier. Some other specs include 118dB of sound clarity and support for several standards like EAX, DirectSound, Dolby and others. There’s also its GX 2.5 audio engine, which allows users to customize the sound profile of their cans to a particular game genre.

Super Talent SuperCrypt thumbdrives with USB 3.0, 256-bit encryption

Posted in USB Flash Drives by Conner Flynn on March 3rd, 2010

Super Talent has announced the SuperCrypt line of secure portable storage, which are available in capacities up to 256GB and offer up to 240 MB/s transfer rates, with either 128-bit ECB (SuperCrypt) or 256-bit XTS (SuperCrypt Pro) encryption.

No USB 3.0 port? Not to worry. It’s fully backward compatible with USB 2.0, so you’ll be able to use it on just about any computer you need to. Nothing on price or release date yet, but we’ll let you know soon when we find out.

First Google Buzz iPhone app

Posted in Google by Conner Flynn on March 3rd, 2010

Buzzie, the first iPhone app aimed at users of Google’s new social networking tool Google Buzz is now in the iTunes App store. The app allows non-Buzz users to tune into Buzz conversations in their local area without logging into the service.

Once logged in, you can start conversations, or join in with your followers. You can also mark your Buzz as private or public and decide whether you want to publish your location, which is selected using the iPhone’s GPS.

Cool Leaf button-less flat input devices

Posted in News by Conner Flynn on March 3rd, 2010

Cool Leaf is an input system that is both flat and mirrored. It comes from a Japanese company called Minebea who have demonstrated it with a keyboard, calculator, and remote control that are all completely free of keys.

Sure they look amazingly futuristic, but they also make a lot of sense. The devices would be easier to clean with no keys that will gather dust and crumbs. Minebea has done a great job. The devices have backlights, force sensors, and a film from a company called Toray Industries that is the world’s first “electrostatic capacity type touch panel and a load sensor.”

Novero TheTalkyOne and other gear debut

Posted in Mobile Accessories by Shane McGlaun on March 3rd, 2010

Novero makes Bluetooth headsets for mobile phones that are attractive to look at and work well. The company has announced three new products this week with the typical odd names Novero prefers. The new gear includes TheTalkyOne, TheTravelOne, and TheCarOne.

TheTalkyOne is the most interesting of the items and is a Bluetooth speakerphone designed for use in the car and the home. It can speak text messages out to the user and can pair with two phones at once. The device has 180 hours of standby time and 15 hours of talk time per charge.

AMD 890GX packin’ Asus M4A89GTD PRO mainboard launches

Posted in ASUS by Shane McGlaun on March 3rd, 2010

Asus makes lots of notebooks and netbooks, and we have talked about some of the newest today. However, even before Asus introduced the netbook category with its Eee netbooks the company was huge in the computer hardware market with mainboards and other gear.

Asus has unveiled its latest mainboard based on the new AMD 890GX chipset called the M4A89GTD PRO. The new board has numerous overclocking features for AMD Phenom processors and video cards that get more performance out of your hardware at the press of a button.

Asus Eee Prime 1018P netbook sports USB 3.0

Posted in ASUS by Shane McGlaun on March 3rd, 2010

I just mentioned that Asus was showing off the new N series notebooks this week. Asus is still best known for its line of Eee netbooks and the computer maker is showing off some cool new models.

The most interesting is the Eee PC Prime 1018P netbook. The little machine has a 10.1-inch screen that is LED backlit. The keyboard is almost full-size and has large isolated keys. The machine is also said to be the thinnest Eee yet.

Asus N series notebooks break cover

Posted in ASUS by Shane McGlaun on March 3rd, 2010

CeBIT is going strong in Germany this week and along with the show are coming a hoard of new notebooks and other computer systems and gear. Asus has been showing off some nice stuff this week and among the new gear are the N61J, N71J, and B82J notebooks.

The machines all share common hardware like Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processors and Altec Lansing speakers. Asus uses SonicMaster audio tech to improve sound further and offers ATI HD5730 or NVIDIA GT 325M graphics options.