Best Gadgets World

Coming just about the official announcement, which is expected to be on June 17, the Sony Ericsson Shiho has been outed. The Shiho, which is officially named the C905 is a slider style handset that is expected to sport an 8.1-megapixel camera. The camera, aside from the high megapixel will also offer auto focus, xenon flash, face recognition, image stabilization, BestPic, red-eye reduction and Smart Contrast. In addition the camera has support for both audio or video and even includes a video stabilizer feature.

Now aside from the camera, which sounds like it will make this handset worth the purchase by itself, but there are some other very worthwhile features as well. The C905 is also going to feature a 2.4-inch QVGA display, Wi-Fi, built-in GPS, accelerometer, TV-out, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.1, Exchange ActiveSync as well as support for UMTS and HSDPA.

The C905 us expected to be available in Q4 2008 and will be available in copper gold, ice silver or night black. It will also come with an included 2GB memory stick, which with those large megapixel images could prove to be useful. No word yet on any expected pricing.

Via [se-nse]

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In the hostile world of today it is good to know that anything you say, or type, is safe from the prying eyes of family member’s, government organizations or even just a nosy person of the street. However, unfortunately, that is not always the case. A recent News.com survey into privacy revealed some pretty interesting results, the most notable of which is that AOL AIM is the most secure with no logs and secure logging-in and secure conversations, and Facebook Chat is the worst as they refused to answer lots of questions and also have an insecure log-in and insecure conversations.

One of the questions asked was “Have you ever received a subpoena, court order or other law enforcement request asking you to perform a live interception or wiretap, meaning the contents of your users’ communications would be instantly forwarded to law enforcement?”

Of those that answered, none would say except for Skype, who said that they ‘could not comply’ to a federal request for a wiretap on the grounds that “because of Skype’s peer-to-peer architecture and encryption techniques, Skype would not be able to comply with such a request.”

This is interesting to say the least, and is both good and bad, as although you do not get spied upon in your conversations, neither can potential terrorists which in turn makes the job of the police a lot harder. So what do you want, privacy or security? The online conundrum is back!

Via [CNET]

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by Thomas Ricker, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 7:00AM

Looks like Honlai had more than one mini-projector on display at Computex. The MP101 is capable of throwing a 15- to 27-inch display form your iphone or ipod touch in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Unfortunately, we’re talking just 10-15 lumens and a 200:1 contrast. Still, it’ll do for a quick and dirty LCoS jones. See a working prototype after the break.

[Via AVING and DisplayBlog]

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Filed under: Displays

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 6:25AM
You’d think that after begging, and apparently receiving, a free iPhone last year, Stephen Colbert would have figured out how to hold the damn thing by now. Katie Cotton’s not going to toss you an iphone 3G freebie acting like this. Oh wait, fake television news isn’t real? The “t” is silent? Oh never mind.

[Thanks, Jason]

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Filed under: cellphones

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 3:50AM
Oh Taser, your house of cards is about to come crumbling down, blown apart by the winds of US litigation and the righteous fury of your mostly innocent victims. Last Friday, a federal jury in San Jose, California found the stun-gun-maker responsible for the death of Robert Heston Jr., a 40-year-old man, and has awarded his family more than $6 million in damages. Sure, Heston had an enlarged heart due to long-term methamphetamine abuse, but it was the Taser shocks that sent him to a better place. Despite a 12 percent drop in stock value after the ruling, the company continues to pump the devices into the marketplace, but at the very least this should make folks pause before they start juicing people full of electricity… those things aren’t toys you know.

[Via Wired]

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

We’ve never heard of these guys before. I dunno, maybe we’re not up with the times. Or maybe NZKT is still a no-name in the computing industry. Either way, we’ve discovered them through their new NZKT Khaos PC gaming chassis, which mixes high-performance with sleek and sophisticated style.

A lot of PC cases these days look too cartoony or too nerdy (for some people, certainly not us as you can plainly tell) to be practical for any office or home. The Khaos successfully integrates a moderately geeky, yet sophisticated design style, with enough backing chassis performance to sell to the heavy gamer.

The Khaos houses three channel cooling, including a three 120mm fan bracket placed directly before the video card and motherboards, which are places you’re going to want to cool down immediately. Dual power support is included to suffice the power hungry gamer.

This big boy also features a host of goodies, including 11 5.25″ bays for tons of expansion room, mounted rubber finished wheels so you don’t scuff up your floor, a flippable motherboard tray and a handle for easier transport, we guess to any LAN parties. You’ll be able to pick up your own NZXT Khaos for around $400 later this month.

Source via SlipperyBrick

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The itty-bitty creepy crawlers of the night have a way of scaring people so much. It might have something to do with their multiple squiggly legs, their sometimes fury bodies, and maybe even the fear that this particular attacking moth might be the only one worldwide with fangs. Whatever the reason, the fear of insects is one of the most common phobias.

Now imagine one of those insects made of metal and running full speed with all 6 legs aimed at trampling you. This is not your typical creepy crawler. This 6-legged spider-like robot has the potential to turn humans into an insectoid superhero. Iron Man, here we come.

This walking hybrid human-machine is powered by fluidic muscle actuators, which helps reduce the friction and fatigue while navigating the bot to your destination of destruction. The legs of the bot are controlled with the users legs. When the human user lifts their right leg, the bot lifts the appropriate legs needed for smooth movement.

This 6-Legged Walking Bot illustrates the possibility of the hybridization of humans and machines, sort of like some freaky Terminator setting for the future. Would you be able to deal with crazy gigantic insect robots walking along the streets? Eek. Spiders are gross. Spider robots on the other hand, are awesome.

Source via GizmoWatch

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by Thomas Ricker, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 4:00AM
It was more than a year ago when we first told you about the Seaglider (aka, Deepglider) autonomous robot used for academic research. As of today, it has the deep pocketed backing of iRobot. As soon as the ink dries, iRobot gains the sole rights to the University of Washington’s technology and its long-range, high-endurance vehicle — 70 of which are already making “oceanographic measurements” around the world. Presumably speaking to a crowd of generals with an affinity for Buck Turgidson, Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of iRobot said:

“We have a strong track record for transferring new technology from research initiatives into products that support military missions. Ten years ago we transformed the original PackBot into a combat-proven robot used today by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and licensing the Seaglider from the University of Washington will help our robots conquer new underwater frontiers.”

Really Helen, conquer? Enemies of The State, you’ve been warned.

[Via gizmag]

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Gene Kelly makes dancing in the rain look much more charming and stylish than it actually is. It’d be interesting to see the after effects of the famous “Singin’ In The Rain” scene, where Mr. Kelly is sitting soaking wet, moping and grumpy in his home. Of course they don’t show that part.

Surprisingly, there are still people who are trying to look cool while being caught in the middle of a downpour. I tend to envy anyone who has an umbrella in a storm, just because I always forget to bring my own. This really cool DIY LED Umbrella gives me yet another reason to sulk around those who have umbrellas (and they’re always so smug about their dryness!)

Adding strategically placed LED bulbs around your umbrella creates an excellent light effect when you move the rain guard in swiping motions. The light adds a whimsical touch to an otherwise entirely ordinary object. The edition of the lit bulbs is most definitly a welcome glow of light for those dark and stormy nights, walking the streets alone.

The umbrella looks pretty easy to make yourself, and the result is a really cool light effect illusion which is sure to make even the dry among us jealous beyond comprehension.

Source via NotCot

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by Paul Miller, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 2:03AM
Nice try HP, trying to pull a fast one on us with this here Quick Calc. Turns out there’s a calculator inside our computer, so we don’t need none of your fancy Quick Calc shenanigans to spell “boobless” and cheat on our long division homework anymore — we forked over good money for this beige tower PC, even went in for that “multimedia” package, and we’re going to put it to good use.

[Via Boing Boing gadgets]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets