Best Gadgets World

I don’t know if you ever notice our “categories” for Coolest gadgets, but many of them are pretty descriptive. One of them is “Cool Clocks”, and when I saw the Bulbdial clock, I knew I just had to write about it under that category.

As you can see, the Bulbidal is an electric clock that thinks it is a sundial. Instead of using the natural energy of the sun, it uses miniature streetlights that spin around the post. There is an hour hand, a minute hand, and a fast moving second hand. All these combine to give you a time that is a lot more accurate than your everyday sundial.

This design was created by a DIY creator/blogger David on Ironic Sans. He says that it can be used horizontally, like on a table, or vertically on a wall. The biggest irony is that the Bulbdial clock won’t work in the sun, because the sunlight will outshine the electric lights.

I don’t know about you, but I can think of some other uses for this device, other than a clock. For example, a player for old school LPs. I mean, look at it, it has a post right in the center. Make it spin and give it an arm with a needle, and you’ll be playing all your pre-80’s hits.

I can also think of another unconventional use: a cat toy. Any cat owner who dares to place this on a table will find that their tabby will be mesmerized and will undoubtedly be pawing the little lights like a catnip mouse.

No word if this one is becoming a reality, but I personally think it is quite aesthetically pleasing.

Source

Considering that every mobile device needs to be charged, it would be nice to have something that you can use just in case you get into a pinch. After all, I can’t begin to count the times where my cell phone is about to die, and there isn’t an outlet handy that I can use for the next hour.

Enter the iGo, a mobile device charger that is mobile. The kit comes with two Duracell AA batteries that allow a user to plug into a mobile device in order to recharge and/or power it.

That is, it can charge any mobile device provided you have the proper tip for it. I have seen the tip, and it looks like a mini-USB, but I can’t confirm that. However, the iGo has a lot of tips sold separately, such as the A61 for the iPod.

The iGo also has other accessories, including the wall charger, a $20 dollar device that works like the iGo, but you just plug it into the wall and then to your mobile device. There is also the power splitter, which allows for charging two devices at the same time, such as your cellular phone or ipod, two very often used devices.

Although the iGo is about $16, you might spend more on accessories. You might want to figure that in your budget if you want to purchase it.

Source

If after reading CG you still find yourself craving for even more gadget news check out gadgets.alltop.com, an aggregation of all the top gadget blogs.

Along with gadgets Alltop has sections for other popular blogging niches (Gaming, Politics, Photography etc.). Though why you’d want to stray away from gadgets and tech I don’t know.

This post maybe somewhat on the biased side, as Alltop is a project by Guy Kawasaki and I’m currently sat in a room listening to him.

Trapster is a new mobile phone application that may subliminally encourage drivers to speed. Why subliminal? Well Trapster comes under the guise of being a speed trap sharing system, which means they, or actually the other users are helping you in not getting caught while driving fast. Using Wi-Fi or GPS, Trapster lets drivers report the location of speed traps, red light cameras and other locations that may be of interest to other drivers. Once you get into the Trapster system, you’ll automatically get an audio alert when you’re approaching a location with existing ticket threat. Then it’s up to you how you can avoid that threat. Likewise, Trapster users can also customize the alerts that they receive, say just the existence of red light cameras on specific locations or just the speed traps currently present on certain locations.

Although Trapster works best on GPS enabled phones such as Nokia’s Symbian based handsets, Windows Mobile and Blackberries. Users who don’t have any of those models can still take advantage of the Trapster service using Jott’s voice to text service. Finally, the Trapster site did not mention pricing for the service. But I suspect that charges will be incurred by users depending on their network providers.

So, if you are ready to become traffic enforcement’s public enemy no. 1, why not take Trapster for a spin and see how it goes. While I am not sure how much I agree with this system, I am also not sure this could be considered as anything other than a “Web 2.0 style” radar detector.

Via [Switched] Read [Trapster]

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A few images have recently turned up, courtesy of the se-nse blog showing off what they are claiming to be the highly anticipated Sony Ericsson P5, which is also know as Paris. The images are said to be screenshots taken from the official press video, but we will have to “wait two weeks” to get a glimpse of the video in action.

The P5, Paris will be running UIQ 3.3 and feature a full keyboard that will slide-out below the display. Other features include a large touchscreen display, 3G support, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth, USB and built-in GPS. The handset also has two cameras; a 5-megapixel camera on the back with a second front camera for video calling. Other items worth mentioning is the P5 will come with Opera Mobile 9.5, Google Maps and possibly WayFinder 7.0 pre-installed.

The phone, although hard to see in the pictures is said to be about 16-18mm thick and “is quite wide” which should be good news in relation to the usability of the slide-out keyboard. The P5 is expected to be announced before the end of May, but no mention of when it will actually be available for purchase or just how much it will retail for. Keep reading for one more pic…

Via [se-nse] Via [se-nse]

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The Census Bureau will not be going as high-tech in 2010 as originally planned, instead holding firm to the good old fashion pen and paper method. The lack of the GPS for census worked was due in part to “numerous glitches” that included the need for more workers as well as “recent increases in gas prices, postage, and printing.” That means that Congress is having to find an additional $3 billion to cover the cost, which could now rise as high as $14.5 billion.

The 2010 census, which will begin in March 2010 when the Census Bureau sends out a mailing to all US households, the 580,000 census workers will then be going door to door in an attempt of speaking with those that failed to return the form.

While the handheld devices will not be in the hands of all workers as hoped, it will not be entirely low-tech, the GPS-enabled Harris computers will instead be used prior to the actual census to compile what they are calling “the most accurate and comprehensive address list in the census’ history.” Here’s hoping to a better more tech-friendly 2020 census.

Read [CNET]

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Several companies are hard at work trying to solve this problem: high winds exist out at sea where building wind turbines is most difficult.  The apparent solution?  Floating wind farms.

By building these units on shore then towing them out into position, the hope is less resistance from wealthy land owners concerned about their views and more energy derived from nature.  These floating wind farms are anchored into position by chains to steel anchors on the ocean floor.

Another benefit to harnessing the wind far from land is engineers can go back to the more efficient but more noisy 2 blade propeller.  The 2 blade lost out to the 3 blade years ago and is now poised to make a comeback.  I know you’ve all been closet 2 blade fans.  Ha, fans.  OK, sorry.

Blue H, one such builder of these floating platforms, plans to conduct a test off the heated Cape Cod waters where public support has been fickle.  The test will take place 23 miles off the coast.

Read [Technology Reviews]

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Posted Apr 3rd 2008 6:30PM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: cellphones, WirelessThe FCC has just lifted its gag order on the gory details of the 700MHz Auction 73, and AT&T wasted absolutely no time setting up a press conference to discuss how it was planning to utilize its win in the so-called B Block. Bottom line: AT&T’s moving to LTE for its 4G infrastructure — no surprise there, since it’s the natural evolution for GSM carriers — and the purchase is designed to support that build-out. As they’ve said before, they’re tooting their horn over the fact that the B Block action combined with the Aloha spectrum purchase gives the carrier 100 percent coverage in the 700MHz arena in the top 200 US markets, while also noting that the frequency range is stellar at breaking through walls for hot in-building coverage.

As for Verizon’s C Block win — the block touted for its open access clause — AT&T’s convinced that the B Block made more sense for the very reason that it lacked those regulatory restrictions. The lack of FCC oversight is cause for some concern, yes, but AT&T continues to stress that it was “open” long before the whole C Block hullaballoo came along by virtue of the fact that any GSM device with the right bands can hop on its network.

In terms of timing, the company’s not really in any hurry; it wants to continue to milk HSPA for everything it’s worth, promising a 7.2Mbps downlink rollout through 2009, and realistically, we’ll be well into the next decade before we see wide-scale use of 700MHz LTE around these parts. A little scary for the impatient among us, we’ve gotta say.

If a plain ordinary iphone is just too pedestrian for you, there’s always the option to get one in a 24 carat gold casing from UK company Goldstriker. The 24ct full gold 16GB iPhone goes for a mere 899GBP (about $1780 USD), but if you’re one of those cost-conscious rich people, you can go for the partly gold version (which looks the same to my uncultured eyes) for just 599GBP (about $1190 USD).

Or how about this one in 24ct and leather (to be released in a limited edition of just 250 units next month)? Makes my iPhone, customized only with Sanrio stickers, look cheap, which I suppose is the point.

Via textually.org.

Posted Apr 3rd 2008 5:40PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Misc. gadgetsWe’re never going to give up the dream of wireless charging, but it looks like the high costs of developing the technology plus the battle to build it into portable devices has claimed early wireless pioneer Splashpower. We’ve been following the company since 2004, but we never really saw any commercial-ready products emerge from its labs, while companies like WildCharge and eCoupled have managed to at least produce demo-quality gear. Here’s hoping an interested investor picks up what’s left of the R&D and runs with it.

[Thanks, John]