Best Gadgets World

Novatel Wireless has announced the Ovation MC990D and MC992D HSPA, two high-speed USB data modems that can deliver high-speed global Internet connectivity anywhere in the world. Both of these USB modems run on HSPA, WCDMA, EDGE and GPRS networks

The MC990D was specifically optimized for HSPA networks in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa on the 900 and 2100 MHz bands, while the MC992D is optimized for HSPA networks in North America on the 850 and 1900 MHz bands.

Both the MC990D and MC992D boast of speeds hitting up to 7.2 Mbps down and 5.76 Mbps up. Novatell has also installed Mobilink Lite Connection Manager Software and a 3G driver package installation for Mac users on both models. In addition, the MC990D and MC992D are also equipped with GPS capability

In the form factor department, the MC990D and MC992D should fit comfortable in any pocket thanks to its slim design, they measure in at 2.75 x 0.98 x 0.53-inches.

Read [Business Wire]

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Some of you might have houseplants, and of those some, I’m sure there is a great percentage of you that forget to water them. This next product has been designed for you.

The Grobal self-watering planters are pots designed to water your plants automatically. That’s right, automatically. There is a reservoir within the plant that holds the water, and then the “grow chamber” draws water out of this storage area when it is needed.

I’m not certain how the pot knows when to draw out the water, but I have to say that the system itself is quite efficient. After all, over-watering your plant is not only a waste of water, but can be bad for the plant itself. This way, not a precious drop of H20 is wasted in this Grobal self-watering planter.

Of course, this device does have a little problem. I’m not certain how the user refills the reservoir, and it sounds quite possible for a user to forget to fill the reservoir. Then there is nothing for the grow chamber to tap into but air. So now you are still forgetting to water your plants.

At least you can water your plants on a weekly, not daily basis. Maybe you won’t forget to do it then. Anyway, you can get the Grobal self-watering planters for about $20 in many colors.

Source

In addition to unveiling their N810 WiMAX Edition, Nokia has also demo’d their latest operating system, OS2008 during CTIA. The new WiMAX Edition tablet will ship with the latest OS pre-installed and it will also be offered as a free upgrade to current N810 and N800 owners. OS2008 is expected to be available during Q2 2008.

The new operating system will feature improvements to include a new “Seamless Software Update” which is said to remove the need to manually update software which includes both the operating system and also third party programs. Other improvements include a full-featured Mozilla based web browser, an enhanced e-mail client and added support for Chinese character rendering in the browser and RSS feeds among others. Overall, it should be a nice upgrade for current N800 and N810 owners.

Read [Nokia]

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We have forks and spoons, and now here’s a brand new eating utensil known as the Knork. It makes the many millions around the world who love cutting food (especially cakes) with the side of their fork happy, and the Knork was specially shaped in order to cater to that habit. Plastic Knorks are sharp enough to cut through raw carrots, and from the picture above it apparently makes a pretty good opponent against a juicy slab of steak. One thing though - whenever I cut my steak, I’ll normally need a fork to hold the meat in place while the knife gets to work…something to ponder upon here. Watch the video of the Knork in action here.

Posted Apr 2nd 2008 1:01PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
Intel’s Nehalem chips were just officially announced a couple weeks ago, but the company’s already showing off early samples at the Intel Developer Forum in China this week. Performance numbers are being closely guarded, but quad-core samples are clocked at 3.2GHz, and it’s expected that Nehalem chips will offer up to a 30 percent performance increase at the same clock speeds over Core 2 processors. Of course, the name still sounds like a particularly violent sneeze, but you know Intel’s running some hard-core focus groups right now to fix that problem.

Vehicular accidents due to sleepy drivers are a leading cause of death in the United States (or the world, for that matter). And it surprises me to know that not many people give thought or try to find ways to prevent such things from happening, even though the next person to doze off behind the wind shield could be them. But Mariana Figueiro and her colleagues at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York suggest that drivers take 30-minute blue light “baths” at truck stops and gas stations to keep them from falling asleep while driving. That would work, only you first have to find a way to build the blue LEDs in the cars to have the most efficient set up possible.

This suggestion is based on the knowledge that light has an indirect effect on our body’s internal clock. And research has found that short wavelengths have the strongest effect on people. That’s why Figueiro’s team is eager to find out how the body would be affected by blue LED light, in terms of alertness of people lacking sleep. When this concept materializes, I hope they remember this suggestion: build the blue LED lights on the tail lights of cars so that it beams directly to the driver right behind you, and would therefore keep him from falling asleep, just in case he felt sleepy.

Via [New Scientist]

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Facebook continues to prove that it’s a social network like no other by using a new user-powered translation engine for their site. They’re going to use this to add 22 more languages to Facebook so that it will be accessible to more people across the world. Currently, Facebook is only available in four main languages: English, French, German and Spanish. This move will no doubt add to the site’s overall visibility and accessibility.

As mentioned previously, the translation engine will be a user-powered, so if you’re interested in contributing to Facebook’s expansion, you may do so by going through the simple application process here. You need to be a member before you can actually see that linked page, so if you’re not, don’t forget to sign-up.

Via [TechCrunch]

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Google has announced the availability of Google Docs even when a user is offline. Using Google Gears, Google Docs will create a document cloud of the user’s online Google Docs accounts. This doc cloud can then be accessed by the user on the desktop and subsequently the user can edit the document and save it on the desktop again. The fun then starts the next time the user connects to the Internet, Google Docs (via Google Gears) will then sync up the documents edited offline with the documents online.

Google Docs offline will be rolled out gradually to users. You’d know when it is already enabled if you see a green downward arrow at the upper right hand of the Google Docs screen. Clicking on the green arrow would prompt Google Docs to ask you to install Google Gears. Once Google Gears is enabled, you can start working offline with your Google docs by simply typing http://docs.google.com on your web browser (make sure you are offline).

Google Docs offline is definitely a welcome addition to the already useful features of Google Docs. Hopefully, it gets implemented as well to spreadsheets and presentation. In the meantime, let us all enjoy working with our documents seamlessly online and offline. Hats off to Google Docs for this new feature.

Here’s a video of how Google Docs offline works from the Google Docs team:

Read [Official Google Docs Blog]

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Publishing 10 million articles across 250 languages is not an easy task, but Wikipedia has managed to do exactly that. OK, maybe collectively millions of volunteer workers from around the world did the job for them, but still, this is an event that cannot go uncelebrated. And to think, a lot of other web sites are struggling with just hitting their 1-millionth article mark.

Wikipedia is happy that it has reached it’s 10-millionth article with a Nicholas Hilliard write-up, made by user Pataki Márta on the Hungarian Wikipedia web site. And while it’s nice to see Wikipedia steadily increase in popularity and volume of content, one can’t help but feel bad for them knowing that they are barely able to sustain their growing business from within. If you haven’t noticed, Wikipedia serves entirely advertising-free pages, which could’ve possibly raked them millions in ad revenue every single month. But remaining true to its noble causes, Wikipedia strays away from the prevalent digital media route, and instead asks users for donations and volunteer service (which, obviously would not be enough for a multi-million page view per day kind of Web site like Wikipedia).

Still, I hope Wikipedia reconsiders its position with regards to the possibility of online advertising being served on its pages, or at least comes up with a viable alternative. I have a feeling that if Wikipedia doesn’t adapt to best suit its needs, it will fail. Because when a company runs out of money and goes broke, no amount of inquisitive page views or number of eye balls can help it get back. Not 1 million, not 10 million. To survive in business, you need cash. And you won’t have any, Wikipedia, unless you let advertisers in on your site. You can quote me.

Read [Wikimedia Foundation] Via [Cyber Net News]

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Posted Apr 2nd 2008 8:10AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Storage
Reader John V. just reminded us that Samsung’s 500GB SpinPoint M6 is now overdue. Sure, companies miss deadlines all the time — but this time, it’s different. For one thing, Samsung is notorious for issuing world’s first, biggest, pinkest, (you name it) press releases. And when it’s as important as a 2.5-inch, 500GB disk spinning at 5400rpm that fits in an industry standard 9.5-mm laptop enclosure, well, someone’s gotta be held accountable for our disappointment… 320GB just doesn’t cut it anymore. We’re not pinching pennies for nothing Sammy. Update please?

[Thanks, John V.]