Archive for January, 2011

Victorinox introduces a slim range of flash drives

Posted in USB Flash Drives by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

If these flash drives look like knives, that is no mistake. Knife maker Victorinox has unveiled it new range of Slim Flash Drives in penknife cases. And no, these won’t get you in trouble at the airport. The Victorinox Slim and Slim Duo include all the standard pocket knife functions including blade, nail file and scissors, so you will always be ready for any task.

The Victorinox Slim flash drive can store up to 64Gb of data and can be secured using a personal password, with 128GB for the Victorinox Slim Duo. The Victorinox Secure SSD is actually the world’s smallest 256GB solid-state drive and includes security software that provides automatic back-up functions with Zero-Footprint capability to ensure anonymity while web surfing. The bookmarks and favorites manager will synchronize your documents and folders between more than one computer as well.

Lenovo L2363d 3D Gaming Monitor With nVidia 3D Vision

Posted in Lenovo by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

Lenovo has introduced the new Lenovo L2363d 23-inch 3D monitor with a 1920 x 1080 screen resolution and dual webcams, allowing you to take 3D photos or do stereoscopic 3D web conferencing. The Lenovo L2363d 3D monitor uses nVidia 3D Vision technology.

In other Lenovo news, the company has also introduced the IdeaCentre K330 desktop PC, a high performance 3D gaming PC tower with the nVidia GeForce GTX460 GPU. It also features a second generation Core i7 processor, an eSATA port, a 15-in-1 card reader, eight USB 2.0 ports and two optional USB 3.0 ports.

Audiovox AVDBR1 Automotive Blu-ray Player

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

Audiovox’s new Automotive Blu-ray DVD player, the AVDBR1, lets you enjoy HD movies in your car. The player can be installed under the seat or in a storage compartment and connects to any monitor via HDMI, composite or component output.

The AVDBR1′s small size allows you to mount it either horizontally or vertically in any number of ways. It gets power from a 2-pin, 12-volt connector to the vehicle’s accessory power source and comes with a full function wireless IR remote control.

Zikmu Parrot Dragon Red speakers by Stark

Posted in Speakers by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

Parrot, leaders in all kinds of wireless peripherals, has launched the Zikmu Parrot by Starck: Dragon Red speakers. The design is tall as the name is long and like the name implies, they are in bold red.

Some features include an iPod or iPhone docking station and you can listen to web radio using a dedicated iPhone/iPod touch application. They also offer Wi-Fi and Bluetooth audio streaming as well as browsing and control.

Mimobot Batman Flash Drives

Posted in USB Flash Drives by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

I’m a huge Batman fan, so I couldn’t believe it when I saw these. Mimobot Flash drives are finally embracing The Dark Knight himself, as well as some friends and enemies. The Batman line has versions of the old style Batman, new batman, Catwoman, Robin and the Joker.

Hopefully we will see more heroes soon, like the Green Lantern, Superman, and the Flash. These look awesome and should sell well for the company.

PlayStation iPhone App available in Europe

Posted in PS3 by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

Keep tabs on your PSN with this cool iPhone App, which is now available in Europe. The App is available for download in the App Store. It allows users to access all of their PSN updates and view all the news on Sony’s releases, and more.

The App is compatible for iOS4 and above. The initial rollout is for the UK, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy. It’s free in the app store. Hopefully an android version will follow soon.

TRON Segway mod

Posted in DIY by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

If you’re a Tron fan, let’s face it, you are looking to put cool lights on all kinds of stuff so you can pretend you are in the grid. A TRON-themed Segway was just a matter of time. It looks pretty good.

This one was a pretty simple mod, since it just took some 3M reflective safety tape, a strand of blue LED Christmas lights, a pair of scissors and some electrical tape. I can’t imagine anyone from the movie riding it, but hey, whatever.

Olympus PENpal transfers images wirelessly

Posted in Olympus by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

Want to send images from your Olympus camera to your computer without cables? Well, now you can. The Olympus PENpal Bluetooth dongle will slide onto the accessory shoe on top of the Olympus PEN E-PL2 camera and give you full control of it from the camera itself. Pretty neat.

The PENpal can resize your images before sending, to 1280 x 960, 1920 x 1440 or 640 x 480. It is compatible with Android and Windows smartphones, but not the iPad. Just $80 and of course it’s just for Olympus cameras.

Sony getting into the urinal game business as well

Posted in Sony by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

Since Sega is turning public urinals into gaming machines, Sony figures it might as well make a splash in the market as well. The company’s Toylet will calculate the velocity and volume of the urine and “translate” that data into in-game solutions, like Graffiti Eraser.

Some other great gaming moments in the early history of pee games are The North Wind and Her which will require your pee to lift a woman’s dress. This technology is currently being used in metro stations, and may soon enter other public places. Wash your hands.

Verizon iPhone announced

Posted in iPhone by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

As expected, the Verizon iPhone has arrived. Now millions of people can head over to Verizon from AT&T, for the CDMA (non-LTE) version of the iPhone 4 starting next month. The phone is said to have been in testing for over a year, and it will be available on February 10th for $200 (16GB).

Qualified Verizon Wireless customers will be given the opportunity to pre-order the iPhone 4 online on February 3rd. If you want a 32GB model, the price is $300. Verizon iPhone owners will also enjoy personal hotspot capability (up to 5 users connected simultaneously).

Dell Streak 7 also gets torn apart

Posted in Dell by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

Gadget abuse or scientific investigation to satisfy our curiousity? You decide. Either way, gadget teardowns are on the rise. The latest victim of this macabre phenomenon is the Dell Streak 7, poor guy. This 4G tablet with its dual-core processor can be seen in all of it’s torn up glory in the video below.

But you can help. For less than 2 cents a day, you can adopt a gadget and keep it safe from harm. They are defenseless against prying screwdrivers and other tools. Please help them.

HTC Surround gets torn apart

Posted in HTC by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

You know the drill, a new smartphone gets released and it then suffers an embarrassing teardown to satisfy our curiosity. So now some folks have taken apart the Windows Phone 7-powered HTC Surround, which features a Dolby surround stereo slide-out speaker and a kickstand.

If you are the type that likes the operating room, you can check out all of the details over at iFixit. And it should go without saying, but you should only teardown your device if you really know what you are doing.

Notion Ink Adam tablet delayed due to lack of FCC stamps

Posted in Tablet PC by Conner Flynn on January 11th, 2011

You know how it is, you get ready to mail out a bunch of bills, and you realize that you don’t have enough stamps. It sucks. That’s kinda what’s going on with Notion Ink’s Adam tablet, although with different kinds of stamps. The company has been sending out notices informing people that the devices have been delayed slightly since the company has yet to receive the final FCC and CE numbers that are to be printed on the device.

The company says that the Holiday season pushed the administrative work back a bit, but it promises that it will be sorted within the week. Hopefully they sort it out soon, before your eye wonders to another tablet.

Best Buy’s Buy Back Program gets official

Posted in Best Buy by Conner Flynn on January 10th, 2011

Wouldn’t you like to “future proof” your gadgets? Sure, we all would. And now we can, thanks to Best Buy’s Buy Back program. It will allow users to trade in their laptops, netbooks, tablets or smartphones for a percentage of the device’s original value. The company calls it “future proofing”. We call it, getting something for your old gadget, instead of just tossing it and getting nothing.

The Buy Back Program will start later this month and will cost $69.99 for laptops, netbooks and tablets. It’s $59.99 for mobile phones. When your device is covered, Best Buy will purchase the product back anytime within two years and you may receive up to 50 percent of the product’s original purchase price, paid back to you in the form of a Best Buy gift card, valid for six months.

Kindle for iOS gets background downloads, file support

Posted in Amazon by Conner Flynn on January 10th, 2011

Good news for iOS users. Amazon has announced a major update to the Kindle app for the iPad and iPhone. It’s free in the App Store. The 2.5 update will now finish, though not start, a book download in the background. It also now supports raw files and can load supported text from Mail or Safari in addition to using iTunes’ File Sharing for sideloading books from a computer.

The update has access to Project Gutenberg’s collection of “millions” of public domain books as well, so you can read free books all day if you like. Some other changes are better image zooming and a new book indicator plus several bug fixes.