Best Gadgets World

Say what you like about Blu-ray emerging as the victor in next-gen high definition wars, but DVD is still here to stay - at least for a few more years to come. With the credit crunch affecting virtually everyone from top to bottom (even more so in the latter category), not everyone has the disposable income to splurge on a spanking new HDTV. This means DVDs could remain in the market for a few more years longer than expected before HD content takes over. Apple is going to seize the opportunity to release films on their iTunes Store on the same day where said films are released on the DVD format in brick-and-mortar stores after coming to an agreement with a number of major motion picture studios including 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment, and First Look Studios.

These new film releases on iTunes will retail for $14.99 (having two people watch it will mean saving money and hassle of going to the cinema, although you might have to wait a little bit longer), while older titles sell for $9.99. Sounds cheaper than DVDs of recently released films on Amazon that vary in price, ranging from $14.99 to $22.99 with the latter normally reflecting the inclusion of extra discs or supplementary material. This would definitely make the iTunes platform more popular than ever (it currently offers 6 million songs, 600 TV shows, and more than 1,500 films, 200 of which are available in a high-definition format) in my book, although I am sure that audio purists will make noise that downloads might not feature a good sound track since downloaded files are normally compressed (with good audio to go first) in order to make the file smaller.

What’s your take on this? Do you prefer to download your movies or stick to physical media? I’m all for the latter.

Source: Information Week

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Believe it or not, there are actually still folks out there who design websites and applications for devices other than the iphone. It may sound like crazy-talk to Apple die-hards, but it’s true.

The latest company to recognize that people do use other phones is Godiva, which has teamed up with Digby to create a mobile application that provides BlackBerry users with secure shopping and quick access to the chocolatier’s bestsellers. Featuring full-color images, Godiva Mobile integrates with the phone’s address book and BlackBerry Maps to simply on-the-go online purchases and identify the nearest retail store for in-person browsing.

To download Godiva Mobile, simply fire up your blackberry browser, visit www.godiva.com/mobile, and follow the on-screen instructions.

Via I4U News.

ZeeVee has announced the launch of its ZvBox today, bringing yet another consumer electronics product that is used for watching Internet TV, online video or computer content on that spanking new HDTV in your living room. This sounds like a timely device considering the explosion of Internet TV and movie downloads that have so far been confined to the (relatively) small display on your computer - unless you’re one of those folks who prefer working with your PC hooked up to your HDTV. Some other solutions to date haven’t exactly been working out too well in solving this problem as drawbacks include limited content, added subscription fees and the need for a box at each TV.

The ZvBox from ZeeVee prides itself in being the first device that allows consumers to watch anything they can get online or on their computers on all the HDTVs in their homes. This is made possible by hooking to monitor output of the computer while turning it into a new HDTV channel known as Zv, which will then be broadcast across the existing cable wiring in your home to all the HDTVs in there. This enables TV viewers to free themselves from the clutches of restrictive set-top boxes, rigid network schedules and living with a small monitor size while watching the latest movies and videos. Some of the other benefits include :-

• Lets you watch anything available online or on your computer, with no new subscription fees
• Broadcasts the same great HD resolution that is displayed by your computer
• Uses your existing cable wiring to reach all the HDTVs in your house with just one box
• Eliminates the need for a receiving device near your HDTV
• Experiences no wireless interference or performance problems
• Allows you to start watching Zv in one room and finish in another

The ZvBox is now available for $499 a pop.

Press Release

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Office pranks can be fun… remember the Annoy-a-tron?

Welcome to the next generation of office pranks… the Phantom Keystroker. The Phantom Keystroker may look like a harmless circuit board, but it’s actually a devious contraption of unlimited office-based torture. Simply discreetly attach the Phantom Keystroker to any extra USB port on your victim’s computer, no drivers needed. The Keystroker emulates a keyboard and mouse and periodically makes random mouse movements and types out odd garbage text and phrases. A simple jumper setting allows you to choose between either keyboard garbage typing, annoying mouse movements or both. An adjustment pot sets the duration between “events”. We recommend you don’t set it too frequently so as to extend the agony. Your hapless co-worker pal will think his computer has been possessed or infected by a destructive virus. As he writhes in anger and furiously dials tech support you can rest easy with a job well done.

Gimmie!

Suggested Price: $24.99

Posted in Computers, Gizmo of the Day

To give us all a break from the Eee PC frenzy, Asustek is giving us the skinny on their new gaming laptop which was first introduced during CEBIT 2008. This gaming rig called the Asus G70 sports “multi-dual engine” architecture, meaning its major components were built with duplex structure.

So first we have the G70’s dual graphics engine, make that two independent Nvidia 8700M GT graphics engines that work in parallel with each other through SLI technology. The G70 also has a 1GB GDDR3 dedicate physical memory and another 553/667MHz DDRII RAM. Next we have a dual hard disk with combined storage capacity of up to 640GB, that’s more than half a terabyte folks. Would the Asus G70 also have a dual CPU? Yes, and it’s a choice between two Intel Core 2 Duo or two Core 2 Extreme processors. Of course nothing could be sweeter than having a dual display to match those previously mentioned dual system features, right?  Equipped with a 17-inch WUXGA (1920×1200) full HD display, the Asus G70 boasts of an ultra-quick 8ms response time, supported by a secondary screen that displays critical system information, incoming email and message alerts and personalized messages. Yes dear readers, gone are the days of annoying alerts that pop-out of the lower right button of your computer’s screen.

Aside from all these dual system features, the Asus G70 also features a dual sound power with Dolby Home Theater and Altec Lansing speakers, dual cooling fans and dual mode touch pad.

Suffice to say that the Asus G70 is indeed a powerful gaming rig, even strengthened by other specifications that include; DVD Super-Multi Light Scribe drive with an option for a Blu-Ray drive, a 2.0-megapixel camera, optional Bluetooth V2.0+EDR and Wi-Fi 802.11/b/g/n.

Read [Asustek]

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LG have announced their LG Scarlet LCD HDTV range recently at the Pacific Design Center in LA. LG are claiming the “Scarlet” HDTV to be the world’s slimmest LCD HDTV. It seems as if the Scarlet has a few different names, it is also known as the LG60 and as the LG6000 in Europe. I guess they felt they needed to add a few extra zeros for the European market.

At only 45mm think (1.7-inches) the Scarlet certainly is thin, and features an attractive red-hued black color finish. The LG LG60 / LG6000 will be avaliable in four sizes from 32-inches to 52-inches. All but the 32-inch model have a Full HD 1080p resolution of 1920×1080 pixels, with TruMotion 120Hz / 100Hz technlogy for smooth images, with a fast 4ms response time for reducing motion blur. There are invisible speakers and a very high contrast ratio of 50,000:1 for great colors and deep blacks.

Connectivity is also great with four HDMI 1.3 inputs, along with all the usual inputs.

LG has interestingly enough chosen to promote the LG6000 & LG60 scarlet’s with a television series / film promotion, with Natassia Malthe.

Model information:
LG 32LG60 / 32LG6000 | 32-inch
LG 42LG60 / 42LG6000 | 42-inch
LG 47LG60 / 47LG6000 | 47-inch
LG 52LG60 / 52LG6000 | 52-inch

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Apr 30th 2008 at 10:47PM
Ready to have your brain blown out through the top of your head? Look above — you’re staring at the heretofore unseen blackberry clamshell, the Kickstart. The Boy Genius snagged a handful of photos of the device (which apparently he’s known about for “a while”), and has decided to share his good fortune with the rest of the world. The phone sports a Pearl-esque keyboard, typical trackball navigation, and apparently utilizes both an internal and external LCD screen. No word on specs, carriers, or a release date, but BGR is saying this puppy is due before the end of the year. You’ll know more when we know more!

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Filed under: cellphones

AVG announced that their Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0 is now available for download. This free edition combines an anti-virus and anti-spyware engine to protect users machines against spyware attacks aside from the usual viruses that threaten your computer on a daily basis. The software also provides real-time searching protection with AVG’s LinkScanner technology which was incorporated into the new AVG Security Toolbar.

An English version of the Anti-virus software will be released first, to be followed by other language versions over the next few months. The software can be freely downloaded and used only on single computers which are running on Windows 2000, XP or Vista.

Although this software may provide guaranteed security for your computers, there are some limitations since it is offered for free. For one, AVG will not offer the telephone or e-mail support that it normally gives to its commercial and business products. It also does not include the proactive safe-surfing and protection against hackers, keyloggers, spam, phising attacks and malicious file downloads coming from instant messaging and file attachments.

So, if the lack of those things bother you, you may opt to buy the AVG Internet Security suite, AVG Anti-Virus or AVG Anti-Virus plus Firewall products instead. Or you may want to try the free Anti-Virus Edition 8 first then just upgrade later on if you think the free edition could not protect your PCs appropriately. Of course being the control freak that I am, I would still suggest to get the commercial product. A few hundred bucks is worth the peace of mind that you would get knowing that your personal files and data are well protected from viruses and malware attacks.

Via [GeekZone]

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by Paul Miller, posted May 1st 2008 at 5:01AM
It’s the stuff of sci-fi and really crappy awesome horror films, but now it looks like regrowing damaged skin and limbs isn’t so far-fetched — in fact, it’s already happening. A certain 69 year old Lee Spievak lost half an inch of finger to an aggressive model plane blade, and doctors had little hope for the appendage. Lucky for Lee, his brother Alan works in the field of regenerative medicine, and sent him some powder (which lee calls “pixie dust”) to apply to the finger. Four weeks later Lee had grown back the entire finger, as good as new. The pixie dust is actually modified cells scraped from the lining of a pig’s bladder cleaned into a general-purpose tissue generator — the cells basically tell the body to grow instead of scar. Doctors have high hopes for the cells, for everything from amputees to burn victims to cancer patients. We’re just waiting until they can program these cells to grow that third arm we always wanted.

Update: These claims are being called “junk science” by some folks in the UK. We don’t know who to believe, but the claims above are certainly sensational, and the critics are right about calling this some Nobel Prize-winning research if is indeed legitimate, and therefore it’s certainly odd that this research has bypassed the mainstream of science. Dr. Stephen Badylak, who mailed his brother the cells, says “we’re not smart enough to figure out how to regrow a finger,” and credits this freaky success to nature doing its thing. Science fight!

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

3G reviews the Sharp 880SH and writes, “The 880SH is fitted with both an external and front-facing camera (allowing the option to make video calls). While the external two-megapixel camera is nothing more than average, the quality of the front-facing camera was wholly disappointing. We continuously found the image to be blurred even when the object we were photographing was stationary. The video camera also proved to be lacking. Presented with three recording modes; normal, fine and super-fine, the latter, while decent enough quality only allows a maximum of 30 seconds of recording time, while normal mode is little better at 60 seconds.”

Read more about the Sharp 880SH.