Best Gadgets World

While some people are please with a simple and normal wheelchair, there are others that think in the future and bring us something really cool, like the TankChair.

The special kind of wheelchair is made to withstand traveling in “hard” terrains, like snow, sand, streams, and bumps. In case you are wondering, it was specifically made for a “designer’s disabled wife” that enjoys the outdoors.

This latest version has some upgrades when comparing to the original, such as a better chassis, a chair with a lot of padding, so you don’t feel the bumps, and more.

Product Page

Via Crave

Click for a larger image.

Back at CES this week, iriver had quite a bit of new products to show - some were closer to production than others, but all looked slick.  One of their new products that we got some hands-on time with was the P10 media player/viewer.  The device has a 4.0-inch TFT LCD touch-screen display at 800×480, and pretty much supports anything you can think of: video, music, voice recording, T-DMB, Office viewer, PDF viewer, picture viewer, and an e-Dictionary.  To hold all of this media madness, the P10 boasts 33GB of memory crammed into a 1.3” internal hard drive.  The P10 comes with Flash Lite 2.1 pre-loaded, has a customizable GUI, and is a touch-screen, of course.  Read on for the supported file-formats…

Format Support
Audio: MP3, WMA, OGG, AC3
Video: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, XviD, MPEG-4 SP/ASP, WMV 7/8/9, H.264, M-JPEG
Image: JPG, GIF, BMP

Check out the gallery: Hands On: iriver’s new P10 media player

It might not be classy to tackle butt-cleaning solutions, but hey, it’s a part of every day life. And hence, I bring to you, from the land of Japan, a complete butt-cleaning solution.

In CES 2008, Takagi has showcased the Takagi toilet seat. Based on what I’ve heard from Japanese friends, butt-cleaning toilet seats aren’t that uncommon in the country. For the rest of us, lower mortals, however, it’s a different matter. The toilet seat has the functionality to warm up (when your butt is feeling cold), wash you and then blow dry you. On a serious note, I think this would be especially helpful for patients with disabilities. The Takagi toilet seats will be available in the USA for USD$750.

via DVICE

Posted Jan 12th 2008 1:12PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
With CES in the books, banners flying up and rumors running rampant, only one thing could be on the horizon: Steve’s Macworld 2008 keynote. Unfortunately, it seems he’s a bit short on time, and needs you to access a totally awesome web-based game to help round up garb, VIPs and top-secret gear before taking the stage. Okay, so all of that is complete rubbish, but if you’ve got a moment to kill and can’t stop obsessing over next Tuesday, hit the read link and have a laugh.

[Thanks, Mikkel]

Click for a larger image.

Not only did we have the chance to stop by Blu-ray’s booth, but we also strolled through the HD DVD booth.  As you can see by the pictures in the photo gallery, the HD DVD booth was nice, but didn’t have that huge feeling that the Blu-ray camp had.  Maybe it’s because Blu-ray just stole another studio away from HD DVD, or maybe they just would rather spend their money on research and development than a booth at CES.  Either way, check out the pics below and let us know what you think…

Check out the gallery: CES 2008 Booth Tour: HD DVD

Posted Jan 12th 2008 11:02AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: CES, GPSAh, the wonderful world of personal GPS trackers. Upon gazing at the i-Tracker, visions of Cheaters arise in our minds, but we’ll try to keep the nostalgia at a minimum here. Transystem’s latest — which was proudly displayed at CES — reportedly houses both a GPS and GSM module which enables it to transmit tracking information to one’s PC or mobile in real-time. As expected, it can be controlled with a predetermined handset or internet-connected PC, and there’s even an SOS button that instantly beams out one’s current location. Mum’s the word on pricing / availability, but make sure you clear that history after scouring the net in search of one.

It’s 2007 and cell phones can already do the following: access your e-mail, act as a pager, instant message, text message, take pictures and videos, play video games, browse the Web, play back music, videos and radio, wake you up, be your addressbook, be a map, with built-in GPS figure out where you are and give you directions, and there’s even one that has a built-in breathalyzer.

Nokia is already testing using phones as payment systems and electronic wallets. How long before our phones also act as your biometric ID or more? How about those keyless entry systems that are now common in cars and also available integrated into home security systems? Why can’t those be integrated into phones too?

People are turning more and more to smartphones that act more like computers than just phones. All of this sounds great, and while I look forward to integrating more of my life into fewer devices and having it at my fingertips constantly, I worry about losing this all important mobile device. What can, nay do, we do to protect against loss? Here’s one rough idea: embed an RFID (or similar tech) chip into your skin that is uniquely tied to your mobile. When your mobile gets out of some predefined range of your body, either the embedded chip or your phone will sound an audible warning.

Now what if this doesn’t work and you are unavoidably separated from your mobile; let’s say you were walking over a bridge and dropped your phone through the grates and it plunged to a watery death or you are robbed? Well I’m not too worried about first situation, as I’ll just get a new mobile and restore my settings from my backup. The second scenario worries me. How do I zap my phone remotely so that all of my data is destroyed and safe from prying eyes? A local password can be a pain to use on a constant basis and potentially hacked. I want to be able to call my cell provider and have them immediately send a signal to wipe my mobile. Note to vendors and service providers - get on that, would ya?

Speaking of backups, one more important request to mobile makers. You make enough drool-inducing products to make people keep switching their mobiles constantly. However, people typically have to go through a significant amount of pain to get their data transferred over to their new gadgets. When are you all going to get together and set up a standard data format (exportable to XML will be fine) so that this process as well as backing up will be standardized and easy? PS> No matter how many good products you make, people being what they are, they’re going to switch vendors from time to time.

Are you willing to groove with the magic of music? Are you very finicky about your mobile phone? So, no wonder Sony Ericsson W890i Cell Phone is the best solution for you, if you fall under both the category. Why? Sony Ericsson W890i Walkman Phone is better than the best solution in the current market. You can transfer music and video pod cast via Sony Ericsson Media Manager software (included on CD in phone kit). Get your best song name, artist and album to your phone within seconds with the help of TrackID™.

More Music

• Moreover, you can get the option of creating play lists based on tempo and mood. In this music device, with the SensMe™ select songs from a two-axed mood map.
• To suffice your music need more, phone kit comes equipped with a CD containing music, photo and video clip management software. Those accessories help you to send and receive your music, videos, and photos to and from your phone.
• Furthermore, this kit lets you enjoy the full experience of music with the help of 2GB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™), which is sufficient for up to 1800 songs; USB cable, stereo portable hands free and PC software.

Features

It is equipped with other several regular features which are no doubt any customer’s first choice. It is available in the market with the built-in digital camera along with screen viewfinder, dedicated menus and direct interaction with in-phone imaging and messaging features. Here you can get the opportunity to see the video streaming of any person with whom you are connected during the video conference. Through its web facility, you can get yourself connected through the super fast 3G broadband internet connection wherever you roam around. You can get the benefit of making your own personal blog site with this trendy phone. Also, you can direct print straight from your phone through its PictBridge feature.

<!– ch_client = “mmliewcf”; ch_type = “mpu”; ch_width = 468; ch_height = 180; ch_color_title = “0065CE”; ch_non_contextual = 1; ch_default_category = “200001″; var ch_queries = new Array(”Sony Ericsson W890i Cell Phone”); var ch_selected=Math.floor((Math.random()*ch_queries.length)); if ( ch_selected

Posted Jan 12th 2008 9:24AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: CES, Meta
Hard to believe, but the 150,000 some-odd people that flooded into Vegas for CES have all gone home — including your Engadget editors. Sure, it wasn’t the most exciting CES in recent memory, but it wasn’t without merit, either. Why, just think of the eight thousand HDTVs announced, blockbuster format war news, or iriver’s unexpectedly show-stealing lineup. One thing’s certainly for sure: you demanded we give wall-to-wall coverage of CES, and we’d like to hope we did you right. See you at CES 2009 — and every day in between!

Gallery: Gear and loathing in Las Vegas - Engadget has left the building

Vital stats
Number of posts to Engadget Classic: 737 and counting…
Number of posts to all Engadgets (including crossposts): 1033
Videos shot: 70
Laptops damaged or destroyed: 2
iPhones destroyed: 1
Miles traversed by the Dante Express: 246
Number of people who got sick: 4
Average hours slept nightly: 6
Average number of laptops per person: 1.1
Average number of cellphones per person: 1.1
Number of Quake 3 tourneys: 3 (winner: Dante)
Individuals enjoying In N Out for the first time: 1
Pounds of swag thrown away: under 20
Number of phones purchased from International Gateway: 1,000 (order pending)

Team Engadget
Ryan Block, Evan Blass, Thomas “Oh, daddy” Ricker, Joshua “Businessman” Topolsky, Paul “Tapless” Miller, Nilay Patel, Chris “Ziggie Smalls” Ziegler, Darren Murph, Sean “Sarnie” Cooper, Ben Drawbaugh, Richard Lawler, Steve Kim, Erik Hanson, Barb Dybwad, Chris Grant, Trent Wolbe, Dante “Express” Cesa, Jose Andrade, Ittousai, Andy Yang, Atticus Wu, and, of course, Peter Rojas!

The hostess with the mostest
Veronica Belmont

Mahalo Daily film crew
Tyler Crowley, Michael Gallagher, John Porter, Conrad QH

Cash money
Thomas Hammer

Support
Team Keep-The-Servers-Up (Gavin, Alex, Celly, Christoph, Charlie), Team Design (Matt, Erik, Mike), and Team Keeps-Us-Employed (Jen, Marty)

Check out our leaving Las Vegas posts from 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Another hot product at CES 2008 is the new LCD monitor for professionals, made by LaCie and codenamed 324. The device is most suited for designers and other professionals, that tend to use a lot of graphic images.

In terms of features, the LaCie 324 comes with the useful S-PVA panel which provides more realistic colors, and its size is big enough to handle 2 A4 pages placed side by side.

On the monitor itself, there is: space for 3 USB ports, so you don’t have the trouble to plug devices on the computer; a touch sensitive control to change the settings easily; and compatibility with different sources (VGA, DVI, HDMI) that can be displayed at the same time.

The LaCie 324 is priced at $999, and has a release date marked to the end of January.

Via Fareastgizmos