Best Gadgets World

Making presentations in the corporate world is definitely one of the staple tasks in any office, and this is where the USB Wireless Presenter comes in handy. Not only does it allow you to scroll through your presentations as you like, it also comes with a laser button that helps keep the focus of the audience on one particular segment of the slide at the moment. Being wireless also brings along the benefits of moving away from the computer/notebook to have a closer interaction with the rest of the audience. The USB Wireless Presenter retails for $22 each.

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 4:49PM
Granted, it’s becoming increasingly simple to just Twitter your day away with the smorgasbord of connectivity options out there today, but if you’re just too productive to bother with that, the Tame concept is likely to become your next best friend. The cube shown above can be equipped with customized statuses that will inform anyone trying to contact you (via Facebook, text, cellphone, IM, fax, telegraph, can-and-string, etc.) exactly why you aren’t responding. For convenience, each panel is assigned a color depending on the severity of your away-ness (i.e. red for “I’m on a 14-hour flight to Fiji with no blackberry service.”), which can easily be glanced by the owner if dashing off in a hurry. Of course, this thing would be entirely more appealing if it included a robotic secretary that actually screened your calls and passed along those that were important, but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Nilay Patel, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 9:09PMLooks like Intel’s plans to enter the graphics space in a big way with its Nehalem and Larrabee lines strike NVIDIA CEO Jen Hsun-Huang as being rather foolish — in a conference call with analysts today, Huang said Intel’s integrated graphics offerings were “a joke,” and that even a tenfold increase in performance would put them behind NVIDIA’s current products. Huang didn’t stop there, saying that NVIDIA was “going to open a can of whoop-ass,” and that while Intel’s graphics chips were fine for running Office, they would never cut it for gamers and other demanding users. Huang kept going, responding to questions about all those driver-related Vista crashes by saying that NVIDIA had to support new games weekly while Intel’s chips aren’t ever put to the test. Actually, that’s toning it down a bit — what Huang actually said was “You already have the right machine to run Excel. You bought it four years ago… How much faster can you render the blue screen of death?” Yeah, them’s fightin’ words — you going to sit there and take it, Intel?

[Thanks, Mike A.]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

The Eee PC is a great little notebook, but with something this small and inexpensive, it’s bound to have its drawbacks. One in particular that had not been addressed until now was the fact that there were no TV tuner cards compatible with it. Thankfully Asus has been hard at work on a solution.

Asus has updated the Linux drivers for the My Cinema U3100 Mini DVB-T and DMB-TH products, which, as you would no doubt imagine, are USB tuners.

Preliminary tests have shown that playback worked fine on all but H.264 software decoding. So don’t expect HDTV playback on your Eee PC just yet. Also, the recording function isn’t operational either. That’s not really a big deal, since there’s really not much room to store video anyway.

Source: EverythingUSB

by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 3:13PMAs expected, the FCC today approved plans to roll out a nationwide SMS-based alert system, which is now all but certain to be adopted by all four national carries, and no doubt most regional carriers as well. As CNN reports, under the new plan, the FCC will appoint a federal agency tasked with creating the messages, which will in turn be passed on to participating carriers (which will have ten months to comply with the system once the agency is named). Those messages will be limited to one of three categories of emergencies, including disasters like a terrorist attack, ongoing threats like hurricanes or earthquakes, or child abductions or amber alerts. Also as we had heard before, individuals will be able to opt out of the system if they so desire, and carriers will be required to provide distinct vibration and audio alert options for people with disabilities.

[Thanks, Ron]

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Filed under: cellphones

No, that’s not a swimming pool accessory, though I’d probably use it as a floater anyway.

This enormous inflated device is actually an iPod dock called the iBig Box. But it’s not just any ipod dock–it’s the world’s largest iPod dock, as you can see on the picture (no, it’s no Photoshopped). It’s equipped with a couple of speakers, fabric controls, and of course, the dock itself. It’s not just iPod you can stick in the dock, other audio devices could be used as well. iBig Box costs 30, which isn’t so bad, considering it can double as your bed.

via

Remember how Dick Tracy used his watch as a communicator? Considering the last incarnation of Dick Tracy came out in 1990, I’m not surprised if you don’t. Let’s try this one: Remember when Michael Knight used his watch to talk to KITT? I’m sure anyone eighteen years of age or younger has no idea what I’m talking about.

Well, here’s a wrist communicator that anyone from any generation can understand: the Van Der Led WM2 Watchphone. I have only three words to say about this: “Yeah, baby, yeah!”

After all, science fiction writers have envisioned communication devices on our watches for years. Isn’t it about time that someone made it into reality by putting a cellular phone on a watch?

This Van Der Led WM2 watchphone is a quad band GSM, and it has some very interesting features including a 1.3 inch 260K TFT touchscreen, an FM tuner, 1 GB worth of storage, stereo Bluetooth, and USB data transmission. It has a stand-by time of 240 hours, and a talk time of up to 300 hours. I was surprised to hear that it even has a 1.3 Megapixel camera.

The Van Der Led WM2 watchphone costs about $475, but will not be available until next week on the Van Der Led site.

Source

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 3:46PM
This one’s been available for a tick, but ivyskin’s brilliant new iphone case is just too marvelous to ignore. The Xylo Touch-Thru (T2) claims to be the first case to put a hard shell atop the iPhone’s touch panel which can remain in place as you check your email, respond to a SMS or dial up the local pizza joint. By utilizing Surface Xylo Wave technology, ultrasonic waves are able to permeate through to the display without interference, allowing users to simultaneously keep their precious panel protected ’round the clock while not inhibiting their ability to touch and feel. Not a bad investment for $34.99, eh?

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Filed under: Peripherals

by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 1:44PMFisker Karma’s recently announced hybrid sports car that generates motor noise through some external speakers might have received a good bit of derision when it first made itself known, but it now looks like it may actually be a bit ahead of the game, at least if a bill expected to be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives ever actually becomes law. As AutoWeek reports, the bill was apparently prompted by concerns that hybrid and electric vehicles are a little too quiet, and pose a risk to pedestrians, especially the blind. To address that supposed danger, the bill reportedly demands that the U.S. Secretary of Transportation initiate a study to determine if a minimum sound level is in fact needed and, if so, require that automakers comply with it (possibly as early as 2010).

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Filed under: Transportation

No idea what the main idea for the Car Glitter Lamp is exactly, but it sure as heck would look tacky if you’re driving something that’s worth more than a house. After all, glitter flakes swimming with glowing colors seem to appeal more to younger kids (especially girls), so the $22 you fork out for this is rather questionable. It hooks up to your vehicle’s cigarette lighter outlet, measuring 130mm x 15mm x 15mm.