Best Gadgets World

Posted Jan 19th 2008 4:49PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Laptops
We’re fairly certain this BoringTrash fellow’s statement that his IBM ThinkPad R50e “tried to kill” him is a bit unfair — it appears to us that the R50e was merely attempting to get him out of the way so that it could completely devour his bed. The best part of it all is that the three-year-old exploding laptop still works when plugged into an external monitor, but BoringTrash is keeping this one away from from mattresses for the time being.

Sony Ericsson has sold over 100 million handsets during 2007, which by itself is an impressive feat, however that also means an 18% increase over sales from the previous year.

Admittedly a good amount of the sales comes from the “lower priced” end of the spectrum. Sony Ericsson has already introduced a few new models in 2008 and most likely will have many more to come in the remainder of the year.

Read [Sony Ericsson]

Posted Jan 19th 2008 3:37PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio
Yeah, the whole igloo comparison loses some steam once you peek this thing from the side, but when glancing it head-on, we can’t help but be overcome with imagery of our childhood days spent in the plains of Greenland. Unfortunately, this thing’s ability to conjure up said memories is probably its standout feature — well, aside from the RF remote that enables users to browse iPod content right on its screen (shown after the break). Outside of that, you’ll find a totally average speaker setup consisting of twin one-inch tweeters and three-inch woofers along with a set of touch-sensitive controls atop the device itself. Reportedly, the iBoom JukeBox is slated to further saturate the iPod speaker system market this Spring for $199.99.

[Via MacMinute]

Posted Jan 19th 2008 11:13AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs
Our eyes may still be slightly out of focus from the complete lack of sleep obtained while at CES, but the two Inventec UMPCs purportedly going by 7-A / 5-D sure look a heck of a lot different than the model we peeked in Vegas. As you can glean from the image above, the UMPC 7-A sports a nifty slider design that supposedly places the QWERTY keyboard at a “more natural angle” for the user. As for the so-called UMPC 5-D (shown after the jump), it ditches the aforementioned design and takes a more modular approach to satisfy those who just adore buying a new dock for every handheld they own. Regrettably, we’ve no hard details surrounding the specs of these two machines, but we doubt we’ll have to twiddle our thumbs for too much longer before finding out.

[Via Pocketables]

I got the Insignia Sport 2GB Video MP3 Player unpacked few days ago. It looks pretty similar to the Insignia 4GB MP3 Player, but much more smaller than it. The size of Insignia Sport is small. As the name describe, it is designed to be used while you’re exercising.

I was impressed with its price/feature ration. Bestbuy’s Insignia is best known with the affordable and well-designed technology. With less than $80, you are just enough to get an iPod Shuffle 1GB. But you get Bluetooth-enabled MP3 player at the same price (previously $90, now $75).

You have no hassle while exercising if you play it with wireless Bluetooth headphones. With the scroll wheel button, you can control it easily with just one hand. Don’t worry if you’re left-handed like me. The button rotation can be switched to suit your need. Well, if you have a large palm, the buttons might probably too small for you

Don’t expect you’ll get top sound quality. But it never fails you too. The provided headphones drop down some performance. When I paired it with the Bluetooth headphones, the sound seems clearer and less distortion. An interesting part is that you can rate the audio tracks, just like what you do in Windows Media Player. Although the Insignia Sport only plays video at 15fps, but the quality is still acceptable. The video playback is quite smooth, no lacking. However, it does not work with Bluetooth headphones.

Another thing that surprise me is its battery life. It stated that the fully charged battery can play up to 25 hours. I did manage to play it during my journey to office for whole week with only one charge. Furthermore, this is a replaceable battery. You can easily find a replacement at Partsearch.

Overall, I rate it 6.5/10 for its mobility and price. It would be better if Insignia improves the video playback and provides a better earphones. For those who buy it, I suggest you all to get its Bluetooth headphones. It definitely useful when you’re working out!

[ Product Page ]

More images about Insignia Sport 2GB Video MP3 Player

Menu Interface

Music Playback

FM Radio

Image Browser

Video Playback

Insignia, MP3 Players, Bluetooth

It’s no secret that Vista hasn’t lived up to Microsoft expectations, or anyone’s expectations for that matter, and so Microsoft has tried to fix it and now there are multiple sources leaking information to TG Daily about new operating systems. This new OS has been named Windows 7, and a Beta version - so to speak, has been shipped to “key partners” under the name “Milestone 1” or M1. Eventually, the Windows 7 OS is expected to be released in the second half of 2009.

It was previously thought that Windows 7 would be released in 2010, but Microsoft reportedly moved up that date a few months, however, Microsoft declined to comment on this new date. The M1 OS was available to Microsoft’s partners in x86 and x64 in English.

Microsoft also plans to unveil the M2 in April/May of this year, and M3 in the third quarter. The Beta versions of these are still to be determined by Microsoft. So far, information on Windows 7 includes touchscreen capabilities, and MinWin part of the OS that only takes up 40MB of memory.

Via [TG Daily]

Line 6 has just dropped news on its Micro Spider which is part of the best selling Spider III family of modeling amplifiers, making this an essential friend of any self-respecting traveling guitarist. The Micro Spider features a quartet of Spider III amp models, an entirely new acoustic guitar model, half a dozen Smart Control FX (complete with reverb, chorus, and tap delay among others), and a precise chromatic tuner. All these are crammed into the Micro Spider that touts to bring intuitive functionality, total versatility and sensational tone to any budding guitarist who is looking for a chance to make it big time.

They also say that good things come in small packages, so I would highly recommend that you don’t judge the Micro Spider by its size. This tiny box packs in quite a punch, where six C batteries are capable of pumping out six watts of screaming electricity through a 6.5″ speaker. While that is what’s touted by the press release, it remains to be seen whether real life experience will be able to live up to its reputation. You can also use the Micro Spider to practice with a pair of headphones and easy direct recording thanks to the POD 2.0-style direct output. In addition, with a microphone input and dedicated trim knob, the Micro Spider would feel at home whether it is electric guitars, acoustic guitars or vocals.

According to Darrell Smith, Line 6 Product Line Manager, “Micro Spider is loud, fast and out-of-control. The combination of flexibility, convenience and sheer Spider III ferocity makes Micro Spider as powerful as it is portable.” For those who want to pick up the Micro Spider III, they will have to wait till spring this year for shipping to commence, and not to mention the $199.99 price tag attached to it.

Press Release

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Thanks to a digital cooking timer and other functions, this Philips Docking System is the perfect video and audio entertainment device for the kitchen. If you don’t believe me, keep on reading.

The system comes with a foldable LCD screen that measures 8.5-inches, which is good to watch DVDs or normal TV, while cooking, right? In case you’re more of a sound person, just use the built-in iPod dock, which is also capable of recharging the iPod. If you don’t have an iPod, the only other option is FM radio.

To make life easier, there is a remote control in the package so you can keep on cooking, and at the same time, change the radio station, TV channel, skip a track, etc. It costs $380 to get this compact and multi-functional docking system.

Product Page

Via ChipChick

The Flipstart pricing has been dropped, and almost to a point where it could be considered affordable. It was originally launched at a whopping $1999, initially it had a $500 price drop and when that price seemed to high to drive sales it was then cut in half, dropping all the way down to $699.

It seems strange that an initial price of $1999 seemed logical now that they have it all the way down to $699, regardless, it now seems almost like a fair price. For those unfamiliar the Vulcan Flipstart is a “ultraportable PC” that has a small but full QWERTY keyboard with a 5.6-inch wide SVGA display and opens similar to a regular laptop. The Flipstart features a Pentium M 1.1Ghz processor, 512MB RAM, 30GB hard drive, is Sprint Mobile Broadband Network ready and has a high-capacity battery. It will also ship with your choice of Windows XP Professional or Windows Vista Business.

Personally for $699 it seems there are still better options out available.

Product [dynamism.com] Via [Boy Genius Report]

PICO RFID Security Hard Disk Enclosure. Drop a 2.5 inch hard disk into this puppy and you immediately get the benefit of RFID key security for your data. The enclosure comes with a complete encryption system which locks and scrambles your disk in 3 seconds when you wave the magic key in the right place. Perfect for paranoids who need to go to the bathroom now and then. The disk will also wipe itself clean with a ‘disk partition format’  if anyone tries to plug it into another computer without the key. It’s probably not enough for determined forensics, but better than nothing. $56.00 (without hard disk).

 The new compact PICO E08 RFID Security 2.5″ HDD enclosure is designed to house any large capacity 2.5-inch Serial ATA hard drive. E08 transmits backup data to external hard disk via USB 2.0 cable speedily and steadily. At the first time you connect the hard disk to the computer, the unique RFID key can be used to setup and recognize hard disk for future recognition to open the hard disk. (Compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista, and Mac O.S. MS-DOS format.). With the sophisticated encryption function, the data in your mobile HDD will be protected securely to prevent unauthorized read/write even if your hard disk is lost or stolen.