Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

So, Junior just got his license and you’re worried about how fast he’s going to be ripping around the neighborhood, huh?  Well, Ford just may have the solution you’re looking for.  They’re coming out with the new MyKey and it is aimed to help parents both monitor and limit certain areas of their children’s driving habits.

With MyKey, drivers won’t be able to go over 80 miles an hour, and a warning chime will go off at 45, 55 and 65 miles per hour.  Kids won’t be able to turn on the radio until they are nice and safe and secure by fastening their seat belt.  Even once they can turn the radio on, there isn’t much danger of them blasting it, since the volume is limited to 44 percent of the maximum allowed. 

MORE »

You know those late night e-mails you send out pleading for your girlfriend to take you back?  Then, you wake up the next morning and remember all the reasons you broke up with her in the first place and think oh my God what did I do?!? and wish there was a big old RETRACT button on your e-mail?  Well, until they come up with that e-mail retract button, they have something else.  Something that will at least sort of slow you down and make you think before you send that pleading missive of unrequited love.  Something that makes you solve math problems.

Yep.  You read that right.  Solve math problems.  See, GMail Engineer Jon Perlow over at Google Labs figured that if you are actually going to sit there and be able to think through solving some math problems, then just maybe you are in fact thinking clearly, and actually do want to send that email and the desire isn’t just an alcohol induced psychosis.  Find out more after the break.

MORE »

Just imagine watching Monday Night Football with the players looking like they are running right at you.  Talk about experiencing the excitement of the game without actually being there.  Or fighting the bad guys in your favorite video game (and you thought the Wii made the fighting seem realistic).

Scientists have finally broken the barrier that had prevented this type of technology by creating the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory.  Dr Nasser Peyghambarian, chair of photonics and lasers at the University’s of Arizona’s Optical Sciences department, said, “This is a prerequisite for any type of moving holographic technology.” Although there is still work to be done, scientists are still very optimistic they are getting much closer to this becoming a reality in the next five to ten years.

Find out much more about holographic TV after the break!

MORE »

Power over Ethernet (“PoE”) is nothing new.  Usually, PoE is used to power switches and other networking devices.  A company called Baumer Ltd. is using PoE to power cameras over Cat6 cable.  The “TXG camera” can shoot at VGA and higher resolutions and up to 90 frames per second. 

Where would you use something like this?  It probably could be used in surveillance or in some kind of robot.  These TXG cameras are tiny and weigh less than a quarter pound.  You can get a sense of scale by looking at the Ethernet jack on the back of the device.

MORE »

Now that you’ve joined every single social network you can find, you realize that updating all of them is a real pain.  Ping.fm lets you go ahead and update all of your social networks at one time.  You tell Ping your update, and let them do the rest.

Now, Ping is working with SpinVox so you can make a phone call to update all of your social networks.  This combination of Ping + SpinVox is a pretty cool idea.  Instead of having to go to Twitter, Facebook, Pownce, MySpace and whatever other site, you can just make a phone call. 

MORE »

In a few weeks, Best Buy will formally introduce two of their own GPSs with their Insignia brand on them.  One of the GPSs will be the 4.3-inch NS-CNV20 and the other will be the 3.5-inch NS-CNV10.

These devices both feature integrated cellular connectivity.  This is the kind of feature that will make these GPSs stand out.  There is only one other GPS manufacturer that currently has cellular connectivity built-in to their devices and that is the Dash.  With this connectivity, both of these GPSs will be able to perform local Google searches, access Google Maps, real time traffic updates, and you can even find maps on your home computer and then forward them to your Insignia personal navigation device. 

Find out more about Best Buy’s new GPSs after the break.

MORE »

When it comes to cameras, there is a great big variety to choose from, from camera phones to point and shoot to those fancy SLRs.  It seems like every company is trying to sell you on the fact that you need their model.  So, how do you know which one is right for you?

It’s about you

What it boils down to is what you are actually going to be doing with your camera.  Are you just going to be taking a few pictures to email to your friends of you guys hanging out in the dorm partying?  Do you want one that you can use to take shots of little Johnny playing soccer?  Are you into wildlife photography?  Do you want one where it does all the work for you, or do you want to have full control over the settings?

There’s plenty more after the break.  Gadgetell’s resident photography expert, Jodie Andrefski, lays it all out for you.  Plus, get some tips on how to make any of your photos better.

MORE »

Say you occasionally like to go boating.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you could grab your standard GPS from your car and use it on your boat?  Recently, Garmin announced 2 new GPSs, which you could use on both land and sea.

The 2 new GPSs are called the GPSMAP 640 and the GPSMAP 620, the main difference between the two is that the latter isn’t going to be sold in the American market.  Both of these GPSs, like the rest of the GPSMAP 600 series, feature waterproof 5.2-inch WVGA touch screens with 800 x 480 resolution.  More specifically, the GPSMAP 640 comes with preloaded maps of North America and U.S. coastal BlueChart g2 charts.  The cool part about the BlueChart technology is that whenever the 640 or 620 are in their special marine mount, they will both immediately start up in marine mode and display necessary information including depth contours, port plans, wrecks, restricted areas, etc. 

MORE »

Sony’s latest model in their Reader family, the PRS-700 gives consumers the opportunity to choose how they would like to experience reading electronically.  It is much closer to an actual “book” experience, but with all the cool e-reader add-ons.

The PRS-700 features an interactive touch display, that allows readers to actually flip pages simply with the slide of a finger.  You can also look for terms in a book or a document, take notes on the virtual keyboard, or even use the stylus pen to highlight text you find especially important or interesting.  This PRS-700 has plenty more features, check them out after the break.

MORE »

Have you heard of Tikitag?  I first saw it at ShowStoppers in NYC and it officially launched on the 1st of October.  No, it has nothing to do with tikis.

It’s a RFID system.  You get RFID stickers, you put them on stuff, and then you place the tag near or on a reader connected to your computer.  Your computer will do some pre-programmed action like open a website, play music or whatever.

It’s almost a good idea. The problem is they are marketing it directly to consumers.  They want you to tag a picture, send the picture to your grandma and then your grandma will swipe the picture to the reader and the computer will open a Flickr slideshow or something else.

Will this thing succeed?  Keep reading.

MORE »