Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Consider this a little present from us to you (it’s not much but still something). This is a great site what offers tons of wallpapers in seven sizes: 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, 1440 x 900, 1600 x 1024, 1680 x 1050, and 1920 x 1200. Hope you find something fun!  Post a link to your fav in the comments.

Veer.com

DirecTV has a partnership in the wings that will help get your recordings off of your DVR and onto your computers, iPods, and PMPs. More info will come at CES next week including devices and who they’ve partnered with. DirectTV is already faceing competiton from TiVoToGo and PocketDISH.

Read [Engadget]

TiVo is releasing their own USB adaptor to increase speed and performance of streaming TiVo-to-Go video and allow Multi-Room Viewing.

Specs include:

• Easily connect your TiVo Series2 DVR to your 802.11g or 802.11b wireless home network


• Enjoy TiVoToGoâ„¢ and Multi-Room Viewing transfers, Music and Photos, Online Scheduling, and more


• Eliminates the need for a phone line, if used with a broadband connection


• Optimized wireless performance with your TiVo® Series2â„¢ DVR


• Real brushed metal base; flip-up antenna with TiVo badge


• For use with a TiVo Series2 DVR only. Not for use with a TiVo® Series1â„¢ DVR (with no USB ports) or DIRECTV DVR with TiVo®. Not intended to be plugged into a PC or Mac.

We’ll get you more info as it comes.

Read [Tivo]

Weighing in at 74g with a body size of 85 x 70 x 15.5 mm, we have a 32 in 1 Card Reader Combo that’s supposed to be the Fastest Card Reader in the world. The unit has 3 built in USB 2.0 ports (backwards compatible), 5 LED indicators to indicate POWER ON, CARD READER access, USB port 1 connected, USB port 2 connected, USB port 3 connected.
Plug & Play and Hot Swapping support and supports data copying between cards without storage inter-mediate. Read more to learn all 32 media cards that it accepts.

Specification :
All in 1 design. 4 memory card slots supporting 32 digital memory cards listed below:

• Slot 1: CF type I, CF type II, CF-ultra II, Micro Drive, CF-pro, CF pro II, CF Extreme, CF Extreme III, CF-PSP II


• Slot 2: MS, MS (Magic Gate), MS-Pro (Magic Gate), HS-MS-Pro (Magic Gate) *MS-Duo, *MS-Duo (Magic Gate), *MS-Pro-Duo (Magic Gate), *HS-MS-Pro-Duo(Magic Gate)


• Slot 3: SD, SD-ultra, SDC, SD-Pro, SD-ultra II, MMC, HS-MMC, MMC Pro, MMC Plus, RS-MMC *Mini SD, *T-Flash


• Slot 4: SM, xD, xD(M) (* means CARD ADAPTER is needed)


• Support Windows Me/2000/ XP & Mac OS X without USB device driver


• Support Windows 98Se with USB device driver


• Power supply: DC + 5 volts supplied by USB port

Read [The Gadget Blog]

The Boomtube (also known as the Stowaway Boomtube H201 portable speaker system) is a very creative speaker design produced by Think Outside.  The speaker system is a three piece system, operated by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.  When stored, it is shaped like an aluminum tube.  Each end twists-off, and turn into portable speakers.  It is designed to operate with many portable music sources, including personal MP3 players, Cellular MP3 phones, or even laptop computers.

Specific features include:

• Two-inch aluminum speakers for great sound and a subwoofer-like bass tube with more than 40 watts of total system power.


• Anodized aluminum housing resists stains and scratches.


• Features rechargable Lithion-Ion batteries for up to 5 hours extended play.


• Cellular MP3 Player phone ready; includes a 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter

View [ThinkOutside]

As you all know, next week is the long awaited Consumer Electronics Show.  We’re a little short-staffed for the event so we’re looking for some help in covering it.  If you will be attending the show and would like to write for Gadgetell, please don’t hesitate to contact me by email at doug (at) gadgetell.com, or head over to the ”Write Page” and fill out the form indicating that you want to cover CES.  We’ll even hook you up with a press pass so you can attend everything!

I am unable to attend the event this year, but Adam Berger will be on site covering it all.  From Sony’s PS3 announcement to Samsung’s new cell phones, we’ll be all over it, and that you can be sure of.  To be honest, I probably won’t be getting too much sleep next week, so any help you can offer (even if you cannot attend the show) will be much appreciated… and may come with a reward.

Thanks to all of you that come back daily or are just stopping by.  You’re they reason why we do this, and why we want to keep on doing this for years to come.

Imagine everything in your home controlled by computer.  You would be able to can open the window shades, control the temperature of the house, set your water temperature, turn on lights in each room, and a lot more.  We have heard a lot about it, but not many homes have the control systems installed.  The primary reason… it has been expensive.  Smarthome, through it’s INSTEON product line, is on track to revolutionize the homes that we live in.  All of the systems in our homes controlled wirelessly are now on the verge of coming to all of our homes, at an affordable price.  Smarthome will be making a number of announcements at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show, including new affordable products, acording to vice president of sales, Rajeev Kapur.  And we’ve listed some applications of it after the break.

As industry analysts and trend watchers have long been saying, when the barriers of cost and complexity are removed, consumers will eagerly embrace technologies that allow previously inert products such as faucets, thermostats and window blinds to become part of a remotely managed network, and INSTEON makes this possible.

According to Smarthome, some of the applications include the following:

• Remote control lighting


• Security alarm interfaces and sensors


• Home sensors (e.g. water, humidity, temperature)


• Access control (e.g. door locks)


• Heating and cooling (HVAC) control and management


• Audio-video control


• Appliance management


• Energy savings

Let’s hope that these control systems come to our home affordably and in the near future.

Read [SmartHome]
Read [Insteon]

According to industry leaders, over 20 million MP3 players will be sold this year, with half being sold during the holiday season.  Have you ever wondered how many of these players go unused or underused because the owner just doesn’t understand the instructions.  To some tech-novices, it might be like buying a do-it-yourself futon at a retailer and having to put together hundreds of pieces with poor instructions.

Circuit City announced on Friday a program called “MP3 Made Simple”, which is aimed to help novices get the most out of their MP3 players.  According to their press release, “specially-trained associates will be on hand at Circuit City stores from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Dec. 26 - 31, 2005, to offer tips on downloading music, ripping CDs, managing music play lists and more. Demonstrations will help explain how to use all MP3 players, including iPods. Circuit City associates will be glad to help demystify digital music for all visitors, regardless of where their MP3 player was purchased.”

Help on using your new MP3 player can be found below.

Read [MP3 Made Simple]

Paul Stamatiou lists on his site 10 applications that every new Mac owner should download. These inlcude: AdiumX for IM, Cyberduck for FTP, Firefox, iBackup, Nvu for web page authoring, Quicksilver for launching apps, StuffIt Expander for archives, TextWrangler 2, and VLC and Windows Media Player for video.

No reviews on this end since we are PC people. Hope its a good list.

Over at Howard Forums, a knowledgeable Verizon employee has announced that the Palm Treo 700W will launch on January 5, 2006 in all channels.  This of course means that you’ll be able to find it online and in stores all on the same day.  It will run you $499 with a 2 year contract and $549 with a 1 year contract.  Below is Verizon’s “official” description of the 700W.  You can find the complete specs on the smart phone after the break.

Ring in the New Year with the Palm Treo 700w!! This compact all-in-one smart phone features Broadband speed and Windows Mobile 5.0!! The all-digital Palm Treo 700w also comes with Wireless sync, Active Sync 4.0, Built-in Blue tooth technology, Windows Media Player 10 and a 1.3 mega pixel digital camera. Combine these powerful features with its integrated organizer functionality and you get a smart phone that delivers on everything you need when you need it.

• 240x240 color TFT touch screen display
• back-lit QWERTY keyboard
• Bluetooth
• built-in 1.3-megapixel camera with video capture
• EV-DO high-speed data
• Windows Media Player 10
• SD/MMC memory expansion slot
• IR/USB port
• built-in speakerphone

Read [Howard Forums]
Read [PhoneArena]