Gadgets Blog

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 22nd 2008 at 10:42AM

Sure, Garmin’s new nüvi 500 series can get you from point A to point G on paved and well-lit highways, but that’s not the (whole) point here. Instead, these rugged (and waterproof) navigators are geared up to take to the trails, waterways and sidewalks with one-touch transitions between driving, bicycling, boating and walking modes. The 500 includes road maps and topographic maps for the lower 48 US states, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, while the 550 touts comprehensive street map coverage of the US and Canada. Both devices boast a 3.5-inch touchscreen, a removable, rechargeable battery, Garmin’s “Where Am I?” feature and geocaching support to boot. As for USers, you’ll find the 500 and 550 on sale in Q3 for $499.99, while those across the pond will see the nüvi 550 land this September for £299.

[Via GPSTracklog, thanks Rich]

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Filed under: GPS

by Paul Miller, posted Jul 22nd 2008 at 6:04AM

We don’t suppose there’s any friendlier way to put this: Open Tech Inc. is setting itself up for an Apple lawsuit, without any of the nice “product people will want to buy” stuff to balance out the equation. See, Open Tech thinks you’re an idiot, and that you’ll buy one of their “open computers” that can run (gasp!) OS X, XP, Vista or Ubuntu — just like almost every other PC on the market today. We’re guessing they figure that as long as they aren’t loading OS X onto the computer themselves, they won’t have any trouble from Apple, but that’s where they go wrong. In addition to the EULA and copyright allegations, Apple’s complaint against Psystar has claims for inducing copyright infringement and infringing on Apple trademarks by advertising non-Apple machines as compatible with OS X which is exactly Open Tech’s ploy here. Mix that in with some crappy specs, an August-ish launch timeframe and no pricepoints to speak of, and you have one of the least desirable computers known to man. And hopefully a fun lawsuit for us to enjoy.

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Filed under: Desktops

Motorola’s Ischia has just been sent to the FCC office for their highly sought after stamp of approval. Is it just me, or do Motorola engineers love coming up with highly unpronounceable names for their products? First they dropped a vowel in the RAZR line, and now with the Motorola Ischia, my tongue’s all tied up in a knot. What I do know about the handset is the inclusion of Bluetooth and EDGE connectivity, and that’s that. GSM 850 support is missing though, so forget about making this a world clamshell phone.

PCs don’t go down well with booze, but that idea could offer a sign of things to come as computers of the future could run using a ‘direct methanol fuel cell’ (DMFC) method that involves methanol which is then converted into an electricity to power a computer. This is in essence, a new type of fuel cell that can be refilled whenever you run out of juice, and will definitely be a greener way to running things. Imagine the positive environmental impact if all computers were to run in this manner - those folks at Energy Star would be out of a job then, and tree huggers will have to look elsewhere for victims to pick on.

Jackets are just meant to keep the chills out during those cold days, but this one from Xara does more than that - it is capable of carrying your iPod in style while offering full controls on the left sleeve while your ipod remains snugly tucked away in a hidden pocket, protected by an internal zipper. An easy-to-use earphone cord management system within the jacket removes any problems involving tangled wires that might arise while you’re warming up with your favorite tunes playing via the iPod. You will be able to pick up the Xara iPlay iPod Warm-up jacket for $100 in both men’s and women’s fit. Too bad it ain’t compatible with the iPod touch and iphone.

Trust the folks at Sony to come up with a 200″ display that shows an underwater world of various sea creatures in real 3D format. This isn’t available at any retail store or convention center near you, but can only be experienced at Sony’s Tokyo headquarters. The 3D effects are made possible thanks to a couple of HDC-F950 used when shooting their models (fish and other sea creatures in this case) at the Okinawa aquarium.

We promise not to bang on about iphone applications (this is the Gadget Lab, after all), but this one merits a mention as it actually replaces a piece of hardware.

A-Level (the name of which is either a cynical and futile attempt to jump to the top of the App Store list or a very English joke) is a level, or spirit level. It uses the iPhone’s motion detectors to determine whether it is flat. If not, a numerical readout tells you how many degrees off you are and the application also shows the traditional bubble-in-liquid display. You can use it in landscape or portrait mode, as seen above, or laid flat on its back, as seen below.

I’m not sure how accurate it is: my apartment is over a hundred years old so nothing in it is straight. In fact, the product blurb makes me think it might not be so good: “This application is for recreational use only”. A promised update will allow calibration, which should help, and besides, it’s only a dollar.

But having a level in your pocket all the time is great, and means one less thing in the toolbox. I have been thinking that maybe the iPhone could replace more tools this way. The iHammer, anyone?

Product page [iTunes]

Car dealers parading Nissan cars in North America and Europe will soon find the presence of solar chargers from ICP Solar to be a boon, as these green solar chargers will be able to keep the 12-volt batteries inside charged as they remain parked on sales lots. This does away with the hassle of replacing dormant batteries (yes, such things happen even more so where new vehicles are concerned), although the cost might prove to be rather prohibitive as it costs up to $1,350 to keep the batteries of cars juiced up most of the time.

It seems for Mike Arrington and the 560+ commenters that there is a desire in the market for a web tablet.  Arrington is proposing they build it as a project and bring it to market themselves in a bold bid to build traffic and a product that many seem to seek.

In truth, what they look to build is an inexpensive ($200) ipod touch.  My touch lives in my living room.  I use it to surf the net, play games and be connected whenever I feel like it.  The instant on, quick WiFi and fun operation make it a staple I am not sure I’d be happy living without at this point.

Arrington and his band of rioters want a big screened version.  OK, I can see how that would be fun, but building such a beast at $200 is going to be very difficult.  Another plus/minus is open source.  I don’t want to rain on his parade, but I’ve not been satisfied with open source projects.

What I do think is Apple will be jumping into this market with a student/web tablet.  They’ve the software platform, distribution model and even a store to buy add-ons and content from.  It is all slick and done.  All they need to do is build the hardware.  I see this coming at $599 to $799 range and it doing very, very well.  Perhaps September will bring some interesting things from Apple, really one of the only companies I could see doing this right.

How about you?

Read [Techcrunch]

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Here is a project that will no doubt be the next evolution in micro RC aircraft as this one is not only incredibly small, but it will also be able to give a first person view during flight. It’s called the DelFly Micro and it is one amazing tiny piece of engineering.

Weighing in at only 3 grams and measuring 10 centimeters across, the DelFly Micro cruises about flapping small mylar foil wings. It also carries a tiny video camera with transmitter, so pilots can actually see first hand where the device is heading. Except for the electronics the rest of the miniature dragonfly is made of carbon and balsawood and the device carries enough power for a flight lasting about 3 minutes.

Needless to say I would love to own one of these myself, but alas the developers of the DelFly have not gone commercial yet with their invention. You can, however, take a look at the video and see the DelFly Micro in action, flapping about an office with a dragonfly’s view of what it sees.

Read more at DelFly via CruchGear.