Best Gadgets World

This was clearly inevitable with the rise of digital technology in the late 20th century. Polaroid is closing its instant film producing factories in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands some time next year. If you own a Polaroid, you’d better enjoy it while it lasts as you won’t be able to buy any more instant films.

Polaroid now focuses on generic consumer electronics such as digital cameras, printers and scanners as it tries to survive “for the next 30 to 40 years,” Tom Beaudoin, Polaroid’s president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, said.

Read [BusinessWeek]

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Do you hate getting up in the morning? The Geeks have found several products to help including the Loudest Alarm Clock Ever and the Neverlate Executive Alarm Clock… apparently waking up is an epidemic as yet another alarm clock has been discovered by the Geeks called the Flying Alarm Clock. This definitely is not your typical alarm clock as when the alarm goes off a rotor is launched and hovers up to 9′ in the air. The alarm does not stop until the rotor is returned to the alarm clock base.

This is a great gift for any stubborn sleeper out there.

Gimmie!

Suggested Price: $39.95

Yep, you read that right. This automobile is missing one tyre, but it can run faster than a fancy Porsche…

…granted the car company actually finishes the design. Manufactured by ZAP with the help of the British company, Lotus, this three-wheeled car named “ZAP Alias” can accelerate from rest to 60mph in an astonishing 5.7 seconds. The sports car is powered by two electric wheel motors, located on each of the two wheels at the front (it’s the back that only has one wheel as you can see on the pic) which, together, produces 321.85 horse power and a top speed of 156mph. The same power seen on conventional cars is demonstrated by the Porsche 911 Carrera which costs 60,000. The ZAP Alias, on the other hand, costs only 15,000.

ZAP chief executive Steve Schneider said: “Everyone who has seen the Alias says they want to buy one.”

Do you? Then you’ll have to wait until next year for its launch, although speculations abound that it’s going to take even longer than that.

via

Its hard not to compare similar styled and priced UMPC’s to the Asus Eee PC. The Eee seems to have a good thing going, fair price along with a good setup and most important a loyal following, however the newest competitor may fall a little short. The Dreambook Light IL1 features a 7-inch display at 800 x 480 with a 1GHz Via C7-M processor and up to 1GB RAM, you can also choose between either a 2GB, 4GB or 8GB flash-based storage or a 1.8-inch 40GB hard drive. So far it sounds pretty nice, but there are a few things missing, the most important is the lack of built-in Wi-Fi, the price is also a bit high as the base model starts at $449 AUD or $446 US. Another seemingly nice option is the choice of OS, you can pick either Windows Vista or Ubuntu. While its nice to have an option I am not sure who would want to run Vista on a machine with those specs. Nice try, but Asus has this one.

Via [jkkmobile]

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The Gateway M-series Notebook is a very trendy slender laptop. It is embraced with the dazzling multimedia performance. The 15.4 inch Gateway color-infused M-series Notebooks are available in four alluring colors: Silky Silver, Pacific Blue Solid, Artic Bloom and Garnet red Solid. It is integrated with 802.11 a/b/g/draft-n connectivity powered on Intel Next-Gen Wireless Technology. Further, it has a 2.0 Bluetooth adapter and operates on operating system of Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium. It has a brushed-metal precision-touch multimedia control panel for provision of touch sensitive volume adjustment and smooth-cut keys.

The Gateway color-infused M-series laptops are provided with HDMI connectivity to add more pleasure to your entertainment world. Get great lucidity in sound and picture quality. For the security-purpose, it offers you biometric fingerprint reader with the password manager. Moreover, it comes with the Intel Core 2Duo Processor. The 15.4 inch high definition widescreen offers a terrific brightness and clearance at a resolution 1280×800. Additionally, you also get 1.3 mega pixel integrated camera which can be set up for video conferences or for capturing the pictures.

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Posted Feb 8th 2008 10:14PM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Wearables
So Point Blank Solutions, Inc. and G&sup2; Consulting apparently went right ahead despite the existing patent app and came up with an anti-Taser material called Thor Shield, which weighs two ounces per square foot and can be integrated into anything from a flak jacket to gloves (pictured) to a standard issue t-shirt. We totally can’t wait to wear our hilarious / ironic Thor Shielded Threadless shirts to the next G8 summit, yo.

[Via Danger Room]

LetsGoMobile reviews the Nokia N82 and writes, “The Nokia N82 has been equipped with a five Megapixel digital camera. The camera offers auto focus, an auto focus assist lamp for correct focussing and a xenon flash. When we take a look at the five Megapixel devices such as the LG Viewty and the Samsung G800, we notice that integrating (electronic) image stabilizer and face detection belong to the possibilities. Nokia did not integrate these innovations just yet. The Finnish phone giant is well-known for not wanting to be the first manufacturer to integrate these innovative features.

Read more about the Nokia N82.

Posted Feb 8th 2008 11:26PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Features, Laptops
Ah, the MacBook Air. Quite the expensive piece of kit, but if you’re one to pay a premium for design, chances are you may not mind. Apple’s latest ultraportable is certainly one of the most polarizing products to emerge from Cupertino in quite some time, as it makes no apologies for throwing utility to the wind in favor of absolute sexiness. After Stevie J’s keynote at Macworld 2008 concluded, many were left wondering why Apple didn’t (re)introduce the compact MacBook Pro, and while this little bugger did indeed demand a double take (for a couple of reasons), the initial excitement of such a minuscule machine was quickly deflated after taking one solid look at the specifications.

Make no mistake, the MBA has quite a bit going for it. Three pounds, ultrathin, oodles of attractiveness, a LED-backlit display and a trackpad worth drooling over. But for all the things this device is, it seems that folks are honing in on everything it isn’t. During our time with the unit, we found plenty of reasons to love and hate it, but folks looking for an impressive showing at the benchmark marathon won’t find it here. We already heard quite a bit of ranting when we polled you dear readers and asked if you were plunking down the $1,799+ that Cupertino was demanding, but now that the MacBook Air has shipped to early adopters and has landed in Apple stores everywhere, how would you owners go about changing this hot hot hunk of aluminum? Integrate a user-serviceable battery? How about the ability to upgrade your RAM? Would you toss in an option for built-in 3G? Beyond the typical hopes and dreams, we’re also curious as to how you actually will change your macbook air. Got an eye on a specific USB hub? Springing for a Bluetooth mouse to keep that sole USB port open for more critical tasks? We’re absolutely positive the choices are endless, so don’t be shy — here’s your chance to tell Apple how you really feel about its tiniest laptop ever.

Mobile Choice reviews the Samsung SGH-F700 and writes, “”A speedy HSDPA connection, full slide-out QWERTY keypad and a three-megapixel camera, complete with auto-focus, makes the F700 a beast of a phone. It also boasts Google Maps and YouTube, found under the Applications section of the Entertainment menu button.”

Read more about the Samsung Ultra Smart F700.

I’m not sure where I get the idea that bubbles are romantic, because in reality, they just cause a mess and then people slip and fall and that’s not romantic at all, but I still love the idea of dancing in a magically appearing shower of bubbles. It’s like a prom fantasy or something, one that unlike real-life, doesn’t involve puking and fighting, and an all-night after-party kegfest at the Holiday Inn.

Perhaps with some luck, the right partner, and the Love Bubble Blaster, you can create a little Valentine dream scene. Because having to blow incessantly through little bubble wands would probably ruin the whole ambience, the 3 AAA battery-powered bubble blaster provides a cloud of bubbles with just one press of the trigger. And it looks sort of like a heart!

The Love Bubble Blaster is $12, and available from Shop Intuition.