Best Gadgets World

I’ve never really thought that anyone was “out to get me.” Sure, back in the day I thought I was going to get into some hot water over all of those Napster downloads I did (I was on dial-up at the time, so couldn’t have downloaded that many), but never to the point where I thought that someone was tracing my calls, or that I should be recording calls I received. However, were I needing something to do just that, I’d probably consider the Teleport 2.0.

This neat little gadget hooks into your phone line and stores all of the information about your incoming and outgoing calls such as caller ID and numbers dialed. Of course every time you pick up the phone, it starts recording and sends the data to your computer via USB.

The Teleport 2.0 comes from none other than Art Lebedev. If you’re not familiar with the name, this fancy Optimus Maximus keyboard might ring a bell. Once I heard who made it, I immediately wondered how outrageous the price was, and when (if ever) it was going to be released. Both questions were answered easily enough, it’s $71.12 and available now.

Source The Raw Feed

Toshiba has successfully worked on a cell sensor which is capable of detecting hazardous substances, and the Japanese technology giant is currently exhibiting it at Nano Tech 2008 - an international comprehensive exhibition on nano technology. How does this sensor work exactly? Well, for starters, it comes incorporated with genes of enzyme and firefly luciferase which is capable of binding hazardous substances like dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and brominated flame retardants. This marks the first time Toshiba’s sensor has been unleashed upon the public, although there is no concrete date from Toshiba on deciding its commercialization schedule.

It functions by first detecting those hazardous substances by binding its receptors with dioxin, PCB and others. Subsequently, the resultant substances will further bind with the enzyme gene (TH gene). This comes about upon an adjacent luciferase which results in the cell emitting light. Toshiba researchers claim that “halogen is estimated to be associated with the reaction because dioxin, PCB and brominated flame retardants all include this element. But the mechanism of binding has not been elucidated completely, and the research is now underway”. Looks like there is still quite some distance to go before the technology is perfected, but this is an excellent start.

At the Nano Tech conference, Toshiba did conduct some tests which involved administering dioxin to the cell sensor, where the sensor started to emit light after a long wait - 4 hours, to be exact. The emission was apparent after half a dozen hours, so you can’t really get instant detection just yet. Then again, waiting for just six hours is considered a leap since current methods that are based on bioassay (the method of assessing biological actions by means of a biological response) take something like 24 hours before something is detected.

Source: Tech-On!

If you tend to spend a whole lot of time soaking yourself in a tub until your fingers and toes turn all wrinkly like prunes, then the Underwater Light Show is the perfect gadget to own.

There are five lighting effects in all, from a fast random color changing light show that’s all very Night Fever, through a flashing single color, slow seductive phasing through all four colors, constant single color and finally a sequence of all the effects back to back. It looks a little bit like the rose off a watering can, but is of course considerably more fun, and deeply funky.

At £7.95 a pop, it is definitely affordable although I’d suggest you stock up on rechargeable batteries as the trio of AAA batteries won’t last for too many baths in succession IMHO.

Carrying your USB flash drive around can be quite the hassle especially if you don’t want to clutter your pocket with too many things. Enter the Capsule USB Key.

This two-inch long thumbdrive is encased in brushed aluminum with an attached chain and hook. Keep it on your keychain, hang it around your neck, or dangle it from your nose, if that’s your thing. By the way, if you do hang it from a body part, make sure you email us a picture!

2GB of portable storage for $27.99? Your call, dude, although I would think a necklace style USB flash drive would suit a lady more than a dude.

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Electronic sports as we know them really got a boost back in the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Nintendo World Championships were based on a monstrosity of a movie called The Wizard, which hopefully you either don’t remember or are too young to remember. The movie just seemed like one long commercial for the Power Glove which came out in the same year. Still, it was a golden time for Nintendo, way back before Sony had ever considered throwing their hat in the gaming console ring and PCs were still fetching as much as a good used car. It was the beginning of the gaming renaissance and the gold cartridges that were given to the winners quickly became hot property. One is selling on eBay for the starting price of $15,000:

For the competition, 116 special game cartridges were manufactured. 90 of these copies exist in a grey cartridge and were given out to semi-finalists of the 1990 NWC. 26 of these cartridges are gold - like the Legend of Zelda cartridge - and were given out to winners and runners-up in a contest held by Nintendo Power magazine.

To play the cartridge, one must have a controller inputed both controller ports and press start on the second player’s controller. For the competition, there was a special switch that would start all cartridges simultaneously.

Both versions of the cartridge feature DIP switches on the front, which can alter the time limit. Answers.com

Seller udisi is selling this special piece of gaming history over at the bay.  He seems a trustworthy chap with a satisfaction rating of 100% and having been a member since 1998, that is no small feat.  It will be interesting to see if one of the most coveted items of eight bit gaming memorabilia will actually change hands.

Born Rich, eBay

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I am a sucker for some good movie memorabilia.  Personally, I found Spiderman 3 a little bit long in the tooth, but it has its fans.  A few props from the franchise have been doing the rounds and the Green Goblin stuff has been among the most popular.  It is a hard rubber sword, 31-inches long and said to be in perfect condition.  The detailing looks pretty cool and I the seller buysellcollections has a solid 99.7% satisfaction rating.  That all makes for a big auction. The starting price is a little higher than we would like, at $900, which means it will probably be getting up there when the auction closes.

Source: eBay

The latest rumor is with Sprint who will start offering the Cradlepoint PHS300 as of March 1, 2008. The PHS300 is a personal and portable hot spot that allows you to create a Wi-Fi hot spot and share the access from your 3G modem or 3G phone.

The PHS300 is currently available as a stand-alone device from Cradlepoint and retails for $179. Hopefully Sprint will see this as a great addition to have with 3G modems and start to bundle it in.

Via [Gizmodo]

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Anticipation is getting high when it comes to the latest ThinkPad, the Lenovo X300. Since the release of the MacBook Air, laptops are seemingly now judged not only based on features and the overall weight, but also how thin they are.

While the X300 may not be as thin as the macbook air, it does have some goodies that will make up for any small difference in size. The two laptops weigh in pretty close with the X300 coming in at 3.12 pounds and the Air at 3.0 pounds. Both laptops also come with a 13-inch widescreen display and have full sized keyboards, but that is where the similarities go away. The X300 also includes a full set of features to include three USB ports, Ethernet jack, built-in DVD drive, a removable battery and even has the option for a built-in cellphone modem or GPS. It can also be ordered with Windows XP or Vista pre-installed. The X300 is expected to retail between $2,500 and $2,800.

One major drawback with the X300 is the only storage option available is the 64GB SSD which as we all know simply increases the overall price. I am a fan of SSD and hope to see it become available on more laptops, but think with the current pricing we should have an option to “downgrade” to a regular drive.

Read [All Things D]

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Now you can get your own “very limited first edition” HIllary-in-the-Box for just $30. This comes from Pop Art Creations, which will make you a custom jack-in-the-box in your image. It was cute on the Ellen Degeneres show, but for the rest of us, it seems a bit creepy to me, whether you’d be getting it for yourself or to send to a loved one. Either way, . . . why?

And why just Hillary Clinton? What about the other candidates? Are they not jack-in-the-box worthy? What’s the message here?

See our editors’ picks of toys and gadgets at the Popgadget Shop.

Posted Feb 14th 2008 6:15AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: WirelessReady for untethered 3Mbps to 5Mbps downloads and 1Mbps to 1.5Mbps upload speeds while on the go? Us too, especially our Chicago-based brethren waiting for Sprint to properly soft-launch their Xohm service onto the nation. Backed by 50 or so WiMax exhibits with product on display at Mobile World Congress, Sprint’s VP for technology development, Ali Tabassi, assured us that April would indeed see the fledgling Xohm service soft launch into Chicago, Baltimore, and the DC areas. However, he conceded that the billions required to reach the goal of 100 million subscribers by year end have not been approved. Sprint would however at least cooperate with Clearwire — a former Xohm partner — on roaming agreements so that the two don’t duplicate coverage. Come on Sprint, we know it’s been tough for you lately as you bleed subscribers (and profits). But if you build it, we will come back.