Best Gadgets World

Posted Mar 20th 2008 3:08PM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: Wireless
After yesterday’s wrap-up of the gargantuan Auction 73 to offload the newly-freed 700MHz spectrum, it looks like the two champions to emerge are Verizon and AT&T. Big Red has emerged with virtually all of the highly coveted C Block save for Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the Gulf of Mexico, a logical move considering its recent foray into the wide world of open access. AT&T, meanwhile, has scored much of the B Block, giving it 12MHz of spectrum in many of over 700 “cellular market areas” nationwide. In total, Verizon laid out a whopping $4,741,807,000 to pick up the Block C airwaves, leaving early competitor Google in the dust — and affirming rumors that Mountain View wasn’t in it to win it, it just wanted to make sure the reserve price was met and open access rules were assured.

Other winners include Qualcomm, which won bits and pieces of the B and E Blocks — more MediaFLO spectrum, perhaps? — and Frontier Wireless, scoring the overwhelming majority of the low-bandwidth E Block. Frontier is in cahoots with Echostar, though it’s not clear how (or if) the new spectrum would augment its satellite TV service.

Left out in the cold was the D Block, a wireless range which the FCC had required to be used in partnership with public safety groups; it failed to meet its minimum reserve price of $1.33 billion, which means that a new Auction 76 will be automatically spawned for bidders to have another go at it.

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BlockBig winnerTotal spent (approximate, across all blocks) A
B
AT&T $6,636,658,000 C
Verizon Wireless $9,363,160,000 D
Qualcomm $472,042,000 (did not meet reserve) E
Frontier Wireless $711,871,000

Yes, you are reading this headline correctly. Someone actually invented a washing machine that works in conjunction with a toilet.

Yeah, I know it sounds pretty gross, but listen to what the WashUP actually does. The washing machine is stationed above the toilet in order to recycle the washer water into the toilet.

The concept is based on a simple premise: why use fresh water to go to the bathroom in? The WashUP puts in soapy water from the washing machine that would have otherwise have gone down the drain and puts it to good use. Now you can go in part-clean, part dirty water and send it, well, down the drain.

The washer is also built high so you don’t need to crouch down to put your clothes in. Now that’s something that is an improvement. The only thing that doesn’t seem to be well thought out on this WashUP is where do you dry your clothes? I mean, if the washer is now in the bathroom above the toilet, where is the dryer going to go, in the shower?

I would think that would be an obvious flow in the logic, but I guess the concept designer didn’t see it that way. I also wonder if planet Earth is at the point where we need to recycle our water that much.

Source

There’s a good chance that if you have a laptop, there’s an empty PC Card slot just waiting to be used. Sure, you could always add some extra USB ports or a 3G card, but if you don’t need anything that fancy, why not do something simple with it like turn it into a secret stash?

This tiny Stash Card will let you keep a few very small items stored away in your laptop. Perhaps a spare key, or a few bucks. I wouldn’t stick anything of value in it, as it can be swiped just as easily as your laptop. For $8 you can’t really go wrong.

Source: CrunchGear

Posted Mar 20th 2008 11:35AM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Handhelds
Sure, Philippe Starck may not care for the Kindle, but an open letter posted on Amazon’s front page suggests he’s in the minority. We already knew that the company was having a difficult time filling orders, but we had no idea the wait for buyers would warrant what amounts to a public apology from Jeff Bezos. Apparently, the online superstore is drawing heat for six-week delays on delivery for some customers, and is scrambling to get itself into an “order today, ship today” scheme. The original release of the device sold out in just 5 1/2 hours says the letter, which might explain why no one is hacking it — no one has it.

[Thanks, Michael]

Posted Mar 20th 2008 8:37AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Laptops
Upon initial inspection, we had a hunch the ECS G10IL would emerge as one of the most desirable of the low-cost lappies. Now that ECS has filled us all in on a few more pertinent details, we’re feeling all the more sure of that assertion. According to new specifications loosed on the outfit’s own website, we can look forward to a Diamondville, er, Atom CPU, Windows XP or Linux under the hood, a single RAM slot (up to 2GB), an HDD or SSD, 1.3-megapixel webcam, 4-in-1 multicard reader, a 8.2- / 10.2-inch glossy display and a 4- / 6-cell battery for good measure. Oh, and if you were wondering if Bluetooth and WiFi would tag along with the built-in HSDPA / HSUPA, the answer’s yes (at least on the big fellow). So, does the G10IL have your attention now, or what?

[Via DailyTech]

How many gadgets do you know actually cram in as many as 5 features in a single device? Well here’s the 5-in-1 Gagdet Pen to prove it so, featuring a pen, a mini torch, a laser pointer for your presentations, a stylus for those touch screen devices and even a bank note checker to see if anyone returns you fake $1 bills. After all, you can’t be that much of a high flyer considering the 5-in-1 Gagdet Pen retails for a mere $11, so looking out for counterfeit Benjamins is pretty much a far-fetched idea.

Product Page

When I started out in business (dinosaurs still roamed the earth), women had no choice in laptop bags; you had to use a “man” bag, a boring black utilitarian-looking thing. Thank goodness that’s all changed.

Today we have choices of laptop bags that look like stylish, expensive handbags: fun, flirty ones that weigh nothing yet cradle your laptop, rock n’ roll choices, retro bags, functional yet pretty roller bags. Your bag says as much about you as your FaceBook page these days.

In our ongoing effort to narrow down choices for our discerning readers, we present a round-up of road-tested laptop bags. (For those of you taking notes, our scientific study utilized a 15-inch MacBook, with all the peripherals, and unless otherwise noted, all tested fit a 15.4 inch laptop.) And we will be giving away one of almost all these bags, so make sure you’re signed up to our newsletter!

MADDIE POWERS by Mobile Edge for Her

No one is going to mistake you for a staid executive with this sassy laptop bag called the “Maddie Powers,” which holds up to holds up to a 15.4″ laptop. You probably already know Mobile Edge for their superior bags, but recently they decided to start designing for women. As the company spokesman says, “We knew we were missing something. We then decided to break down our collections into two categories, one ‘For Her’ and one ‘For Him.’ It is that simple. Our women’s Collection was designed by women for women.” As you can see, the Maddie Powers collection (priced at $90) showcases the covers of authentic pulp magazines & digest novels from the 1940s and 1950s.

What’s to love about this bag:

It seems camera phones are about to get a whole lot better, at least if Samsung has any say in the matter. What you see here is the company’s latest technological miracle: an 8 megapixel CMOS sensor designed exclusively for camera phones. As you can see, it’s pretty small - just 28mm x 15.3mm x 8.5mm - but most impressive is the functionality it provides. Not only does it come with 8 megapixels, it also offers ISO settings up to 1600, which means pics taken in low light conditions will look much better.

There also anti-shake technology built-in, face recognition, a 1cm macro, and Samsung’s very own “Smile shutter” system, which detects smiles, and automatically takes a photo when everyone is smiling! Not entirely sure why you’d want a photo album filled with grinning idiots, but at least it beats a set of gurning ghouls, which my Facebook photos seem to consist of!

The new Samsung CMOS will begin production in the third quarter of this year, so expect to see 8 megapixel camera phones based on this chip early in 2009.

[Source: TrustedReviews]

Sixty-seven million Facebookers can now control what their contacts see. The social network which rose fast to popularity in 2007 introduced new privacy controls Wednesday. The new settings will allow members to control what their family and friends can access, which means that managing friends’ list is now possible.

Officially launched more than a year ago, Facebook first started as a social network site for Harvard University way back in 2004 and soon found it way to universities and offices and now the world. According to a Facebook statement, only 25 percent of the users are currently using the network’s default access settings. With the new privacy controls, Facebook users can create as much as 100 different ‘contacts lists’ to organize their friends when such filter enables only the chose friends can view one’s messages or a part of one’s profile.

Facebook has received privacy complaints especially after the controversial Beacon can be turned off by the users but it is only now that the Silicon Valley company has finally focused on the users’ request. Facebook’s VP of Product Management, Matt Cohler noted that what they are facing is normal in SV. It’s a “classic Silicon Valley dilemma” of making something for most people and at the same time, working on the privacy issues.

In the very near future, Facebook is also set to launch Facebook Chat, a web-based chat feature that will work similar to online chat service Meebo. According to Facebook the chat “will be introduced in a matter of weeks.”

Read [Reuters]

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DirecTV has announced that they’re going to release their latest feature – some sort of video-on-demand which they had been testing out through the years. DirecTV stated that, although they have had been some trouble setting up a video-on-demand system on their satellite-TV, this time, it’ll be different. This feature will be release as a beta version for subscribers to try it out around this June or July.

The system works like this: DirecTV uses the technology of digital video recording and broadband internet connections as the satellite have its limit, as satellite TVs broadcast using a one way transmission to users. DirecTV plan to let user’s record movies that they had transmitted through their satellites. The movies are recorded inside a video recorder, so that users can watch those movies anytime they want. Other than downloading from the satellite, DirecTV also provides a set-top box. With this, users can purchase TV programs and stream them via broadband connections from the web.

These new features offered by DirecTV might be a powerful weapon to increase their opportunity to invite more customers to purchase their satellite TV.

Read [Wall Street Journal]

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