Best Gadgets World

Posted Jan 25th 2008 3:02AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Household
Admirers of Macs and Z-Wave have longed for the day in which they could finally use their two dearest loves simultaneously, and thanks to Wayne-Dalton, that day is upon us. The WDUSB-10MAC is hailed as the world’s first Z-Wave-enabled home control system “designed specifically for the Mac OS X operating system.” Mac users simply plug in the USB dongle, install the bundled Houseport software and go wild creating and managing their home network. When all is said and done, OS X users will be able to “control light switches, appliances, electronics, thermostats and other Z-Wave-enabled devices from their computers or through the internet” — a feat previously only achievable by booting into Windows. Not too shabby for $87, eh?

[Via CEPro]

Posted Jan 25th 2008 3:05AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Desktops
The whole consumer motivation for (PRODUCT) RED is that a donation is made to those in need at no (obvious) additional expense to you. It’s The Man who makes the donation, you’re just pulling the trigger with the purchase of something presumably wanted anyway. But the (PRODUCT) RED XPS One confuses this whole system, at best. The RED XPS One costs an extra $300 over the regular XPS One’s base configuration. For that, you do get a bump — but it’s software only. More specifically, your $300 premium upgrades you to Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 (found online for ~$100 or less) and Vista Ultimate (~$300 or less), instead of stock Microsoft Works 8.5 (~$15) and Vista Home Premium (~$200 or less).

Based on those retail prices, you’re locked into almost $200 in add-ons that Dell and Microsoft will happily mark-up to $300 — $80 of which is donated to the Global Fund. Never you mind that the full-featured Vista Ultimate (even with RED-themed desktops, screensaver, and widgets) adds very little value to the vast majority of home users when compared to Vista Home Premium. Or that Microsoft says that “Vista Home Premium is the preferred edition for home desktops.” So why bother with Ultimate on the XPS One in the first place, except to up the perception of greater value? It’s not like this all-in-one desktop will ever step foot inside of an enterprise cubicle. Our advice: save your $300 and just give some cash directly, it might work out better for your taxes anyway.

[Thanks, Justin M.]

Posted Jan 25th 2008 5:44AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Wireless
According to Reuters, the 700MHz “C” Block has received an opening bid of $1.24 billion. Unfortunately, a minimum bid of $4.6 billion is required to trigger the open-access rule. The rule which requires the victor to open that long-propagating and basement-penetrating spectrum to any and all mobile devices and software applications. It’s so important that Google, Verizon, and others have been battling over it even before the FCC auction began. No worries, the auction has several weeks to go. If no one else steps up, Google is on-deck with that minimum bid.

Sometimes I wonder if there’s just too much Space Invaders craft out there. But can there ever be too much of a good thing? You be the judge, but I happen to think these Invaders accessories are just perfect for that girl gamer in your life.

Created by Melbourne, Australia crafter contributor Pardalote, these hand-beaded earrings and necklaces feature the likeness of your favorite pixelated aliens from yesteryear.

Whether you’re a fan of the original Taito arcade classic or the Atari 2600 version, they’ve got you covered.

Prices for the pieces range from $15 for a simple pair of earrings up to $45 for a multi-part necklace. You can find all these pieces in the artist’s Etsy shop.

read more about:

bead, craft, earring, etsy, jewelry, space invaders

Once upon a time, when animation was in its infancy, cartoons were much more dangerous to watch. Each frame was painted on a section of cave wall. In order to see the animation, you’d have to run down the cave at a constant speed blinking your eyes repeatedly. Many lives were lost as folks tripped, ran into cave walls, or were eaten by giant, cave-dwelling lobsters (it’s true - look it up). Eventually, the zoetrope was created, which saved a lot of lives. And in 1877, a man by the name of Charles-Émile Reynaud invented the praxinoscope. It was an improvement on the zoetrope (it kept the viewing area still and only moved the images), and a great improvement on being eaten by lobsters.

We’re pleased to offer you this desktop praxinoscope kit to celebrate this piece of somewhat forgotten, cartoon history. It’s easy to assemble, so you’ll be watching animations within a minute or two. You get 12 double-sided discs - half have animations printed on them, half are ready for you to draw your own (that is, blank). Switch on the little amber LED for an added old time, “at the flickers” feel and give the praxinoscope a spin. The images will be reflected on the spinning mirrors and thanks to our friend “persistence of vision” you will see an animated image. The Praxinoscope Kit is a great thing to do on boring days trapped in the office. Pop a little popcorn, dim the lights, and party like it’s 1877!

Gimmie!

Suggested Price: $12.99

Posted Jan 25th 2008 6:42AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Digital Cameras
The pre-PMA 2008 madness ushers in this trio of new Samsung shooters. The 8.1 megapixel i80 (pictured left) brings a standard 3x optical zoom and biggie 3-inch LCD with face recognition and integrated MP3 player. The i100 (pictured center) increases the load with a 10.2 megapixel sensor, optical image stabilization (instead of digital alone), ISO 3200 sensitivity, and a built-in “World Tour Guide” function for instant access to travel information in 30 countries. The entry-level S1060 ratchets the zoom up to 5x while dropping the LCD back to 2.7-inches. No prices announced but all the cams are expected to launch this spring.

[Via TechDigest]

Read — Samsung i80
Read — Samsung i100
Read — Samsung S1060

For the latest info on the coolest gadgets, emerging technology and wired madness, subscribe to our full news feed or have it delivered to your inbox. Always free. Always unique. Thanks for visiting!

The week is not even over and already 2 different Macintosh fan documentaries are starting to to surface on the internet. I came across the first one on Monday called Macheads the movie and today I discovered, Welcome to Macintosh - The Movie, both thanks to The Raw Feed. All the people featured in the documentaries easily would make the Apple fanboy list. Both videos are located below for your viewing pleasure.

Welcome to Macintosh - The Movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6mblc1_Yzg

Macheads the movie

Can’t see the video? Click here.

If you’re a Halo fan, at some point you’ve probably wished you could have an actual energy sword to take out your frustrations with. While no such real-world weapon currently exists, here’s the next best thing.

Currently up for auction over on eBay, this life-size replica Halo sword isn’t made from an unknown energy source, but it still looks intimidating. Measuring in at 36″ x 14″, it’s no kids’ toy. In fact, it’s a real sword, complete with mirror-finished stainless steel blade edges.

The sword comes with a collector’s card, a walnut wall plaque and a Certificate of Originality from creator Lionheartsrealm to prove that this is the “real” deal.

Now all I need is a functional bubble shield and I’ll be all set.

[via Hawty McBloggy]

read more about:

bungie, ebay, halo, metal, microsoft, sword, xbox, xbox 360

Posted Jan 24th 2008 11:39PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Gaming
Well, what do you know. After years of watching Microsoft chase billions of dollars into the bottomless pit that has been its Xbox Entertainment and Devices Division, the company is finally, as predicted, returning with some loot — $524 million in income over the past six months, compared to $423 million in losses over the same period last year. Microsoft says the achievement was primarily due to 360 successes, even though Zune and PC sales are factored in there somewhere. Sounds like decreasing production costs, decreased marketing and a little thing called Halo 3 all worked together to help rake in the cash, and Microsoft has high hopes for the rest of fiscal ‘08, since they “expect revenue to increase due to increased sales of Xbox 360 consoles and related games, accessories, and services.” Apparently Nintendo isn’t the only manufacturer this generation that’s figured out how to make some money… how’s it looking on your end, Sony?

[Via Joystiq]

Apple has introduced the world’s slimmest laptop, MacBook Air small enough to fit inside an office mailing envelope. With the invent of this slimmest lappy, it is expected that there will be a raise in the standard of mobile computing.

Even though being the most slender, MacBook Air embeds itself with a full-size notebook in 0.16 to 0.76 inch of soft and smooth but robust anodized aluminum. And as it so sleek it can be with you anywhere and everywhere!

The new notebook features an LED-backlit glossy 13.3-inch display. With its powerful resolution of 1280 by 800 it gives the most astounding and stunning images with their max luminance.

Now moving on to keyboard which is mounted with brittle but firm keys. The advanced feature of Macbook Air in comparison to that of MacBook is its backlight illumination technique which makes one comfortable in dim lights. This is done by a built in light sensor made for getting acquainted automatically and throwing appropriate light for proper visibility. There is multi-touch trackpad, which offers betterment for fingers.

FEATURES

· LED Display helps in providing a stylish look along with powerful efficiency.

· Microchip: - 1.8GHz or 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

· Multitouch with the help of which one can swipe, rotate to zoom or pinch on image or text.

· Thin plus Expansive: - this thinnest book comprise of 80GB hard drive and thence providing plenty of storage space.

· Sleek Battery: - along with the thinnest notebook it’s battery is also the slimmest one.

· Camera: - built-in iSight camera making chatting with video convenient.

Price: $1799

Source: Apple

<!– 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(”Apple MacBook Air”); var ch_selected=Math.floor((Math.random()*ch_queries.length)); if ( ch_selected