Jul 15, 2007

Bush Countdown Key-Chain

We here at Gadgetdays have reviewed clocks in the past (see:Widgetstation)but none like we are about to today. Introducing the Backwards Bush Countdown Key Chain. Like any event we look forward to, weddings, weekends, vacations, or the end of our president's second term, counting backwards helps us maintain our sanity while reminding us that an end is in sight, all of which allow time to tick away faster.
Although owning a president bush countdown key chain won't change the fact that Dubbya is our president, it reassures us that with each passing second, we are one sixtieth of a minute closer to the next election. It lets us view these next four years in a positive light. At the same time, it makes light of the fact that George W. Bush is as backward in many ways as a shuttle launch countdown. Most importantly, it stands as a defining symbol of unity for the more than 57 million of us who did not vote for him and for a price tag of $9.95(purchase here) how can u pass this piece of history.

Jul 14, 2007

Gibbs Aquada Boatcar


If the Gibbs Aquada BoatCar(check it out)isn’t quite manly enough for you, Gibbs Technology’s newest vehicle should do the trick. It’s the Humdinga—presumably a Hummer and a dingy combined—which is the size of an SUV and has lights enough to match the toughest Transformer. The thing goes from 0-60 in 9.2 seconds on land (which isn’t that shabby), and goes up to 40 MPH (knots?) in water. It’s just a prototype for now, could make a splash into the consumer marketplace very soon. There are talks of it being up for sale as early as Summer 08 so o keep an eye out for this beast very soon.


Jul 10, 2007

Samsung Youtube Phone SGH-L760

This week Samsung has introduced a Youtube enabled mobile phone for the European market. LG Electronics just announced last week a partnership with Google to build Youtube enabled mobile phones. The Samsung SGH-L760 is a 3G phone that lets you upload video recorded with the phones' camera directly to Youtube, uBlog and Buzznet. If the video taken with the SGH-L760 has decent quality the direct upload to Youtube is a great feature and ideal for citizen reporting. The SGH-L760 slider features a 2MP video camera, TFT screen with 176 x 200 pixel resolution, FM radio, Bluetooth, MP3 player, web browser, RSS reader and microSD card. Measurements of the L760 are 100x47x15mm. Samsung will release the SGH-L760 Youtube phone still this month in Germany and other European countries. Carrier O2 will offer the SGH-L760 in Germany. The iPhone supports watching Youtube videos, but has no video camera to actually create and upload videos to Youtube. This phone is rumored to sell for the equivalent of around 300 us dollars no word yet if they plan on releasing this in the us anytime soon.

Jul 9, 2007

Rsstroom Feeder

A crazy new product out of Taiwan seems to be aimed at the feed dependent of us out there. The 'rsstroom reader' is a bathroom gadget that connects to the Internet wirelessly collects your favorite articles and prints the information onto your toilet paper......that's right, your TOILET PAPER! That's not all it gets better, this product comes with a "biometrics" toilet seat that can figure out who you are based on your weight and print the news you want - not your roommates tabloid garbage. Some say this product is Internet folklore some say its as real as Santa clause but one this is for sure your next number two wont be as boring as your last if you own this gadget.



Jul 3, 2007

Kensington Flylight 3.0


Think of the Kensington FlyLight 2.0 ($19.99, there are three models) as a book light for your notebook computer. It plugs into a USB port and provides instant illumination via eight bright, energy efficient LEDs. The long, flexible gooseneck design makes it easy to direct the light to your keyboard or anywhere else you need it.Whether you're giving a presentation in a darkened room, using your computer on a red-eye flight, answering e-mail from your patio after dark or attempting not to disturb a sleeping significant other while surfing the Internet in bed, the FlyLight is a great, unobtrusive keyboard illumination solution. One other use for it: if you're not sure a USB port is working, the FlyLight also makes it easy to find out by just plugging it and seeing if the light comes on.Kensington claims the FlyLight draws less than 90 seconds of battery power per hour of use; I have not noticed any noticeable battery drain from it. It's also light and durable for travel. A newer version, the FlyLight 3.0 ($24.99, shown right) lets you screw off the LED light and attach it to a special flashlight (included) that will attach to a key ring. The flashlight can be recharged via a computer USB port, but only offers an hour of continuous use light. This seems to me to be an easy way to lose the LED portion of the FlyLight, If you're like me and tend to misplace things, you would probably be better off just buying the FlyLight 2.0, plus a small LED flashlight.
(The above was submitted by Lisa Halliday, who helps me with various writing projects).
I have owned one of these for a number of years and always carried it around, never needing it, until recently when I removed it from my briefcase. You can already see where this story is going: We were out in the camper van, the laptop was connected to DC power and the interior lighting was hard to get pointed at the keyboard unless you turned all the lighting on. I didn't want to do that (to save battery power) so I looked for the FlyLight and it was, of course, not in my bag. It is now, but I am thinking about putting a second one in the van so I don't have to worry about my briefcase.

Jun 26, 2007

Apple Iphone

The Apple Iphone

The Apple iPhone is not just a phone - it is a phone, music player, video player, internet device, and camera all in one. Like its Apple iPod Nano and iPod video cousins, the iPhone is slim and sleek at just 11.6mm thick, 2.4-inches wide, and 4.5-inches tall.

Steve Jobs has such confidence in the new iPhone that he has said he wants to sell over 10 million of them by 2008. I think he's setting his sights a little low, and project that Apple will sell over 10 million iPhones in less than 6 months. With the following that Apple has, and the fact that this device has been rumored about and anticipated for almost four years now, it shouldn't be too far out of the realm of possiblity.

Using the phone function of the Apple iPhone, you can call by simply pointing your finger at a name or number in your address book, a favorites list, or a call log. All your contacts from a PC, Mac, or Internet device are also automatically synched, you can select and listen to voicemail messages in whatever order you want — just like email. Calls can easily be merged together with just the touch of a button to create a conference call. Conference calling has never been easier!
The iPhone also features a rich HTML email client as well as the Safari browser, which automatically syncs bookmarks from a PC or Mac. The Safari browser has built-in Google and Yahoo! search. You can also multi-task by reading a web page while simultaneously downloading your email in the background via WiFi or EDGE. Safari also includes built-in Google and Yahoo! search. You can even display Google Maps as they were meant to be seen, and zoom in to view specific points.
This phone is great for multi-tasking, so you can read a web page while downloading your email in the background over Wi-Fi or EDGE. Its e-mail client fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services, and then displays photos and graphics along with the text on an amazing 3.5-inch widescreen display, which has one of the most revolutionary user interfaces since the mouse. The interface is unlike anything you've ever experienced on a phone, with a large multi-touch display and innovate new software that allows you to control everything with the touch of a finger.
The iPhone features a full QWERTY keyboard that allows you to send and receive SMS messages, email, etc. It is predicitive, and therefore prevents and corrects mistakes.
The iPhone incorporates an accelerometer, which detects when a user switches from holding the phone in landscape to portrait mode, and automatically updates the image on screen to fit the mode. The sensors also detect when you put the iPhone near your phone, and automatically shuts off the display screen until you move it away to save on battery power. An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the screen's brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, which enhances user experience and also saves on battery power.
As of now, Apple has announced a Bluetooth headset that will work with the iPhone, as well as new headphones that incorporate a small white box in the middle of the cord. This box has a built-in microphone and a switch to answer and hang up phone calls.
This phone is avaible now exclusively on Cingular for $499 on a two-year contract for the 4GB version and $599 for the 8GB version. Get your iPhone from here -> Apple.com

Jun 23, 2007

Not a clock not a radio a widgetstation.

Widgetstation
The Widgetstation is something you would love to have on your desk, whether you're a technophobe or not. This neat little gadget just picked up the CES Design & Engineering Showcase Honors 2007 award to show that it means business. What exactly does the Widgetstation do, you ask? For starters, it is a clock with a couple of displays that show content from the Internet, capable of displaying times in several time zones, weather and stock information, RSS feeds, internet radio streaming, and even a photo slideshow. The WidgetStation will be up for sale late (2007) at a price around $250. I hope they make the deadline because I would find this product very useful, although the price would have to go down before it became practical for people who aren't information crazy like myself.