Best Gadgets World

It took a while, but now DSL is starting to compete with cable modem service on speed, as Qwest announces that they’ll be offering 12 and 20 Mbps DSL service in 23 markets. When you call up, just ask for Qwest Titanium, or Qwest Quantum, as the services will be dubbed.

Sorry, but will I know you’re drooling over this, you’ll have to wait closer to the end of the year if not early 2009, and you’ll need to be prepared to shell out $65/mo for the 12Mbps and $100/mo for 20. Hmm… perhaps cable may still win this speed war.

Posted in Networking & Internet

As much as this seems like too much government to me, there’s a part of me that wishes I lived in France where the French government is requiring builders to install fiber-optic cabling in new apartment complexes. The goal is that by 2010, all buildings with more than 25 apartments should be wired for broadband.

Posted in Networking & Internet

Finally, the US gets it! Geeks are moving from the high end performance (and heavy) laptops to the ultra-portables in droves. While this market has been hot in other countries throughout Europe as well as the Asian markets including Japan, it took the Asus Eee PC to ignite the passion for ultra-portables here.

While the Asus Eee PC is definitely a rocking ultra-portable, the resolution of the monitor and the small solid state hard drive were an inhibitor for me and others. HP has answered with a tiny laptop called the HP Mini-Note Laptop which comes with a high-res 8.9″ 1280 x 768 display, a 120GB hard drive and a 92% of full-sized keyboard in cased in an all-aluminum case.

This particular setup includes the SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 version of the Mini-Note. If you’re into Windows you have to go to Vista though because HP hasn’t released XP drivers.

The dimensions of this ultra-portable is 1.05″ thick x 10.04″ x 6.5″ and weighs in at only 2.6 pounds.

Gimmie!

Suggested Price: $549.99

Posted in Computers, Gizmo of the Day, Portable

Remember the scene in INDEPENDENCE DAY when Jeff Goldblum places a satellite like dish on the roof of his dad’s car and triangulates the signal of his wife’s cellphone to determine where she was in the White House? His dad asks him how he can do that and he replies “all cable repair men know how to do this, pop.” Well, the Hi-Gain USB Wireless-300N Dish Adapter from Hawking Technologies won’t triangulate a signal in the White House, but it will boost weak WiFi signals in areas where a signal isn’t very strong to begin with.

With a supports range of nearly 4,000 feet, this 802.11n capable antenna can extend a wireless network up to six times its range and claims a data throughput 12 times the average for transfer speeds in excess of 300Mbps. IN addition, the 300-N is purely plug and play by USB and is portable. Simply plug the 300N into your laptop, install the included software, and direct the HWDN1 towards a wireless source. The result will be blazing speeds when the only open chair at Starbucks is wrapped around rebar yielding a paltry 1 bar signal.

Just don’t tell those invading aliens we can do that. Otherwise they’ll use our wi-fi signal to cripple our defenses.

Hat Tip: Forever Geek

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Remember back in February, when we told you that AT&T and Starbucks struck a deal for free Wi-Fi in Starbucks stores, effectively leaving T-Mobile out to dry? Today, we have learned, that the telecom and coffee giant are determined to put that deal into effect.

Starting May 1, qualifying AT&T customers will be able to get free Wi-Fi in 7,000 Starbucks shops around the United States. What does “qualifying” mean, you ask? It means the free Wi-Fi is available for anybody who is paying for any one of AT&T’s three broadband internet packages, any of the small business packages AT&T offers, or any U-verse package.

That sounds excellent, as long as you use AT&T internet, but others will still have to wait a while longer. The remaining customers will be able to get access sometime during the year, as AT&T and Starbucks still plan to continue the rollout for other customers on a market-to-market basis. Once your local store has been converted, you will be given a mix or free and paid options to connect.

Read [Yahoo! Finance]

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Just when you thought you had enough Star Wars paraphernalia, R2-D2 got together with R2-D1 to make sweet music as a speaker set.

You get a two-droid set, R2-D2 and his red doppleganger R2-D1. Each features a flip-up head to reveal a speaker. Plug the stereo headphone style plug into your PC, ipod or spare Wookie for some droid-based sound. We won’t kid you, these speakers are not powered so their volume is limited by whatever audio input you give them. But don’t you want to help out a droid who’s down on his luck?

Gimmie!

Suggested Price: $39.99

Posted in Miscellaneous

Back in 06 we reported on the ESG Gryphon Personal Flying Wing, and it had military applications written all over it, or, a cool opening scene to the next James Bond Flick. The latest version, rechristened the Gryphon Attack Glider by SPELLCO (the new company name), has slimmed down the weight by 30 pounds and also offers the ability to carry up to 100 pounds of onboard gear and even carry weapons hard points for mini missiles and bombs. Yowsa. And with a maximum glide speed of 135 MPH, that makes this not only an attack glider, but a serious special ops platform for attacking well behind enemy lines.

Pilots wear a specially designed helmet that offers a heads-up display and provides on-board oxygen for those high altitude HALO JUMPS. And with its ability to coast as far as 125 miles inland, jumpers can launch from any air platform outside enemy airspace and glide to their target with a tiny radar cross section. Landing is accomplished by separating the wing from the parachute pack with the pull of a standard rip cord. As the pilot slows his descent, the attached wing dangles from a safety cord to land nearby. Which is good if you don’t want to attract attention by sending it out of control to land where you don’t want it. And while there is a commercial version of the Gryphon for parachute sport enthusiasts, if the company manages to create a fly by wire steering option (it currently steers by hand controllers) and mini jet turbines to increase its range, the Gryphon may go “black” for good.

But where’s the fun in that?

Hat Tip: Geekologie

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The Amazon Kindle, while having been released way back in November 2007 somehow feels like a brand new release. I guess when an item sells out within days and remains out-of-stock for about five months it is bound to seem like a new release when it comes back in stock again.

While the Kindle has already been reviewed many times around the Interwebs, I wanted to share my thoughts and feeling towards the Amazon Kindle. Mainly because I feel its overpriced and expensive at $399, but at the same time its (at least in my opinion) well worth the money.

The Kindle would be great for someone who travels often, because it would provide them an easy way to carry multiple books or purchase a new book should they finish, or decide they do not like the one they had thanks to the always connected book store, I do not fit into that category, but can still find the value, let me explain.

Aside the fact that I really enjoy reading, I wanted a Kindle so I would have easy access to purchase new books. I am looking at the Kindle and Amazon as compared to the ipod and the iTunes Store. With iTunes, I can instantly purchase some new music, and while this has caused me to spend more money than I wanted to from time to time, it comes down to convenience. See for me, I live a decent distance from a bookstore and rarely want to make the drive just to buy a book, so I rely on ordering most books, but coming back to the iPod and iTunes Store comparison, I want instant gratification. If I hear about a book or find one online that I want to read, I don’t always want to wait a few days for it to arrive, nor do I always have time to drive to the store, the Kindle solves that problem for me, which for me helps ease the pain of spending $399.

I have had the Kindle for just a few days now, and while it feels a little strange not holding a “real” book, I cannot say that I miss it the feel. The Kindle is lightweight and very easy on they eyes, so far I have read for about 3 hours in two-sittings. It felt a little awkward at first and took some time to get used to the next and previous page buttons, but after an hour of so it had felt like I had been using it for a long time. Time will tell if I end up liking or disliking the Kindle in the long-term but as of now it’s a winner.

Product [Amazon Kindle]

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by Darren Murph, posted Apr 25th 2008 at 6:31AM
Ever peered up in a dimly lit parking lot only to spot a smattering of cameras peering at your every move? Now you too can have such a sophisticated monitoring system right around your own home thanks to QNAP’s NVR-1012. The network surveillance kit is designed to provide “professional grade” live video recording abilities in homes and offices where hoodlums and malefactors tend to linger. The entire system is Linux-based and comes with a single NVR-101 server and a pair of IP cameras; reportedly, the solution is a breeze to install and every recording function can be carried out via an Internet Explorer window. Best of all, you’ll even find 2-way audio capabilities, so you can have a quick chat with any caught-red-handed crooks or mischievous youngsters right before the fuzz / man of the house swarms in for capture. Talk about a thrilling way to spend a Thursday evening.

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Paul Miller, posted Apr 24th 2008 at 11:40PM
We’re surprised this hasn’t been though up before, which means it probably isn’t as simple as it sounds. MIRA’s got a new plug-in hybrid in the works that skips the whole plug aspect. Instead of plugging the whole car into an outlet, you can pull out any of the three battery packs in the trunk and hook ‘em into the wall. That means the car doesn’t have to have direct access to a plug to be able to juice up, you just take the batteries to where the power’s at and commence charging. They’re calling the system H4V, and are powering the unit on lithium ion phosphate batteries. MIRA expects the retrofit to an existing car to cost about £2000 (around $3950 US).

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Filed under: Transportation