Best Gadgets World

With the Chinese Propagana Olympic Games now here and everyone basking in the spirit of athletic competition while China restricts Internet access even to mainstream media sources, it seemed the time was right to report on this cool gadget known as the “Freedom Stick.”

Engineered by folks who know a thing or two about government oppression of ideas, this German creation is a USB drive that costs about $20 US and comes pre-loaded with software which will get around and frustrate any monitoring software and firewalls by masking computer communications and bouncing it around the world and back through a wide network of anonymous computers, thus avoiding detection and preventing organizations like the PRC from tracing your signal.

Course, what could bring freedom to those behind the Chow Mein curtain could also bet used to mask communications of our enemies here in the States. So you can be Uncle Sam will say buying one here is a “no-no.”

Hat Tip - Core 77

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by Darren Murph, posted Aug 8th 2008 at 7:20PM
There’s no denying that HTC’s Advantage X7510 fills a narrowing niche — after all, how many of these things have you seen out and about in the subway / underground? Still, there’s just something very enticing about a 5-inch VGA display, built-in GPS, HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth and a full-blown QWERTY keyboard, is there not? For you folks who plunked down quite a few bills in order to bring this home, how has your experience been? For you folks in America who have just recently decided to bite the bullet and jump in, was it worth it? How would you tweak this do-it-all conglomerate (besides making it way more affordable)? Here’s your shot to get it out, don’t let it pass you by!

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Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds

by Paul Miller, posted Aug 8th 2008 at 5:56PM
Yeah, we get it, flexible electronics — sans application — are about as exciting as the circuitry under your keyboard. But it’s Friday, and this here story has real-live carbon nanotubes, so you know it’s a winner. Takao Someya of the University of Tokyo has built for himself a stretchy, flexible conducting material using carbon nanotubes mixed with a polymer. The nanotubes are mixed into a compound called “bucky gel” to prevent clumping, and after some rubber-like flourinated copolymer is mixed in and it’s all poured onto a glass plate, holes are punched in the material to better flexibility. Apparently it ends up looking a bit like a nylon stocking, but we won’t hold that it against it, since it can be stretched up to 38%, while also managing to be 100 times more conductive than any other elastic material. The possibilities for such technology is pretty much endless, but we’d say “nylon stocking that is also, conveniently, a computer” is the first product category worth felling.

[Via I4U]

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Paul Miller, posted Aug 8th 2008 at 4:32PM
D-Link’s been sipping power of late with its newish DWA-643 and DWA-556 desktop “Green Ethernet” switches, and now it’s shipping those power savings upstream to its DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit router and DIR-855 dual channel routers with freely downloadable firmware updates. We’d scoff, but that’s a power savings of 32 percent and 41 percent, respectively. It might only shave a few cents off those electric bills, but hey, you can always melt that copper down to make arrows for the coming apocalypse.

[Via TrustedReviews]

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Filed under: Wireless, Networking

Iomega has recently unveiled their newest product, the ScreenPlay TV Link. Using the same technology as its previously released ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive, this device enables users to connect and play multimedia content from a USB hard drive on their standard or high-definition TVs using video outputs, HDMI, component and composite or SCART adapters. The ScreenPlay TV Link can also upscale video content to 720p and 1080i HD formats.

In addition, the ScreenPlay TV Link supports various audio and video formats such as MP3, AC3, WAV, WMA, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 using the most popular codecs. For image preview, the device supports only JPEG.

The ScreenPlay TV Link is now available and retails for around $100. The package comes with composite and component connection cables and a full-function remote control.

Product [iomega] Via [electronista]

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Alright, no matter what anyone says, there is never too much Star Wars stuff, especially when it comes to R2D2 gadgets.  Well here is one more and for once it’s not some luxury item that you could never afford.  This one is a projector alarm clock, so hopefully you have a blank wall somewhere.  It’s be a bit difficult to read on a wallpapered wall or one cluttered with photographs and posters.  The site is fairly skimpy on the specs of this clock.  After all, it is just a clock, even if it is cooler than the rest purely because of R2.

It doesn’t do flips or list off what R2 inspired sound effects it spouts off.  It just says it features R2D2 sounds, which could mean anything.  Don’t they know we need more details, or at least an in action video?!  Sadly, this isn’t a US product, those of you in the UK get to have all the fun.  Apparently the grass is always greener on the other side of the pond.  The projector is being sold on Amazon’s UK site and even has free delivery.  To get one of these little guys it will cost you £19.99 or about $38.

Source: RetroToGo

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Want to play like a pro gamer? Then you have to have the right gear. We already told you about the realistic X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty sound card; this is what you need next.

The brand-new Creative Digital Wireless Gaming Headset HS-1200 ($99) is an X-Fi powered headset but uses a 2.4GHz radio frequency. With the advanced 2.4GHz technology, multiple wireless headsets can operate at the same time while supporting both audio and voice streaming simultaneously. The powerful 40mm Neodymium drivers deliver realistic in-game audio and life-like vocals so you don’t miss any gaming cues, and the noise-canceling microphone is capable of blocking out ambient background noise to capture your voice only.

Get up tp 8 hours with each charge; compatible for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications (so you can use with Skype.) For an interactive demo, click here.

Play nice.

Now $80 at Amazon.

by Paul Miller, posted Aug 8th 2008 at 10:05AM
Lego computers are about as old as the case mod scene itself, but while many have qualified as interesting, we’ve never seen a truly sexy Lego box before Luke Anderson’s all-black “Lego Computer,” which seems to distill all we’ve ever loved about high-end workstation boxen into lovable Lego form. Bonus points for full documentation of the project released under the Creative Commons license. Time-lapse vid is after the break.

[Via SlashGear]

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Filed under: Desktops

Canon is adding three new camcorders into its VIXIA high-definition line-up, the VIXIA HF11 with dual flash memory, and the HG20 and HG21 with hard drive storage. All three camcorders brag of 24Mbps bit rate recording which is the highest possible bit rate that can be achieved in the AVCHD format.

And since high-definition video recording would require lots of storage, Canon has put in 32GB of internal flash drive into the HF1 plus an SDHC card slot for even more, while the HG21 and HG20 got 120GB and 60GB hard disk drives respectively. Other features of these camcorders include an HD Video Lens, HD CMOS Image Sensor that allows full HD (1920 x 1080) image capture, DIGIC DV II Image Processor, Instant Auto Focus and SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization feature.

If you’re looking to get any one of these camcorders, you don’t have to wait long as Canon is set to release all three sometime in September. Bundled with Pixela ImageMixer 3SE for video editing, the VIXIA HF11, VIXIA HG21 and VIXIA HG20 will retail for $1199, $1299 and $949 respectively.

Read [Canon]

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by Paul Miller, posted Aug 8th 2008 at 11:26AM
Rumor has it that a large quantity of genetically-superior human beings are amassing in Beijing at the moment and attempting to squeeze into spandex-like outfits for your entertainment. Those interested in watching such tight-outfitted goings on are going to find themselves faced with even tighter internet restrictions when they get back to their hotel room or local internet cafe, thanks to that handy dandy Great Firewall of China. Lucky for them, the Chaos Computer Club has prepped a solution called the “Freedom Stick” which when plugged into a computer redirects its internet traffic over The Onion Router, a worldwide network of anonymous computers designed to hide your steps. Naturally, you can just download the software yourself, but the $30 USB dongle could come in handy if you’re not on your own PC, or just want to leave behind material evidence of your indiscretion. The Freedom Stick will only be available through the duration of the Olympics, so get one while you can.

[Via Wired]

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Filed under: Networking