Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Elecom has recently introduced a USB device that can read many of your numerous cards. When traveling or even at home, it is probably hard to keep track of all your cards and cables while keeping everything organized.

This new Elecom product, dubbed MR-C12 USB 2.0 card reader, can read all sorts of various cards that you have, all in one handy device. It looks like a small little box, and its cover flips open to reveal places in which you can insert your cards. It can support many card formats including SDHC, SD, MMC, xD, and Memory Stick MagicGate/Pro/Duo cards. If white, as pictured above, doesn’t suit you, then you can order the MR-C12 in black, red, or blue.

It is set to start shipping on October 20 and it will sell for $28.13.

Buy [Product Page] Via [CrunchGear]

For $349 you can stick two lumps of wood to your ears. To be fair it is high quality wood from the finest Japanese Hokkaido cherry tree. Fortunately the wood conceals some pretty good sounding headphones tucked away in them.

The ATH-ESW9 Sovereign Wood Headphones have “42mm neodymium magnet drivers encased in fiberglass, a gold plated mini plug and a sensitivity of 103dB” and will be available from October 19th.

Via [Gizmodo]

According to EngadgetMobile, Verizon is getting ready to launch four new phones: Samsung Juke, BlackBerry Pearl, LG Venus and LG Voyager, all at the same time. With these new phone additions, it is sure to make some people consider Verizon for their new phones. Let’s see what these new phones are all about.

Beginning with the far left phone, the Samsung Juke. This baby is set to feature 2GB of storage, A2DP Bluetooth and a 1.3 megapixel camera. No word on the Juke’s price. The next phone up is the Pearl, which received a lot of rumor beginning in August. The Pearl boasts a 2 megapixel camera, A2DP Bluetooth and a 3.5mm audio jack. As with the Juke, no word on pricing.

The next two phones are probably the more impressive phones. The Venus, also known as the LG VX8800, and it sports miniSD expansion, A2DP Bluetooth, a 2 megapixel camera (as with the Juke), some pretty cool touchscreen capabilities, and vibration feedback.

Finally, we have the big one, the LG Voyager, or the VX10000, this phone boasts a large touchscreen, along with a slider that reveals a QWERTY keyboard and yet another decently sized screen.  These two screens are QVGA screens, it features an impressive full HTML browser, microSD expansion, 2 megapixel camera, A2DP and built-in stereo speakers. This obviously looks to be one of the most expensive and best phones Verizon has to offer.

Expect these phones to be available sometime in the near future.

Via [EngadgetMobile]

Cars and modifications have existed side by side for years now, but Ford has taken the relationship to a new level thanks to Nokia and the N series kit that they have developed.

• The rear passenger seats both have access to N800 Internet browsers


• N800 is added to the center console.


• All the N800s have the ability to stream audio to the car’s stereo system


• Internet connectivity is also provided via an on board N95

Via [Gizmodo]

Impressively the iPhone Dev Team have already issued instructions on how to downgrade your iPhone from 1.1.1 to 1.0.2:

It won’t downgrade your baseband, meaning so far you can’t re-unlock an iPhone that’s been 1.1.1-ified, but it’s still 1.0.2 in all its third-party application glory.

As you would expect they are working away on a way to downgrade the firmware so that you can unlock the iPhone again, and at the rate they are going there is every chance they will have achieved that before you read this!

Via [Engadget]

As with many aspects of the web the concept of streaming and watching TV content around the world is a lot easier in theory that in reality:

• A lot of content is illegal


• Picture quality of streamed video can be a problem


• Some broadcasters allow users to pay to download content, but downloading can be slow.


• Streamed files typically do not remain saved on your hard drive.

“One of the challenges is that the internet really isn’t set up to deliver high resolution video, and so it needs assistance, help and support to enable it to do so,” said Phill Robinson of CacheLogic.

“There are basically two exabytes of traffic that flow over the internet. We have got to that level of traffic growth over the last 20 years. It’s going to rise and quadruple over the years to eight exabytes.

That is a huge amount of traffic. but it does depend on the content providers playing ball:

Traditional broadcasters and movie studios have been comparably slow in putting their content on the internet because of the problems associated with making money.

The answer? “To combine the two in a hybrid network,” Mr Robinson said. “So we have a new generation of P2P technology with a new generation of cache technology that work together to blend the bandwidth from the caches as well as the peers.”

Via [BBC]

Joost has gone to version 1, and while somehow staying in beta, has added some cool new updates.  While the release is still buggy enough to be <1.0, the beta tag should warn any naysayers.

The most evident change is the modified UI of the channel/show selection.  In the past, you would have menus that you would drill down into, much like the iPod UI.  Now, you have large icon that you can select, and also drag and drop to create “your channel.”

I honestly have loved the growth of Joost since I first started using it in its early beta stage.  The selection of channels has increased tenfold since the service’s inception.  Also, the service is now more usable with lower speed connections; it attempts to restart disconnected streams.

However, the number one thing I love about Joost is the full screen mode.  It detects the external monitor I am currently using with my MacBook, and starts the application on that monitor; a nice touch.

If you are a current beta tester of Joost, you can download this latest update of Joost right now.

Download [Joost] via [DownloadSquad]

Sony Ericsson has introduced the V640i, a music phone sold exclusively through Vodafone in selected markets. The V640i supports Memory Stick Micros up to 4GB and that allows you to store loads of songs. Besides that, it also supports HSDPA connectivity for better web browsing and RSS feeds to keep you updated with the latest news. It is also pre-loaded with Google Maps and eBay. Other features such as Bluetooth, 2 megapixel camera and flight mode are included. The V640i will come in two colors, Havana Gold and Quick Black and should be available by the end of this year, however there’s no price confirmed yet.

Read [PhoneMag]

For awhile now, rumors of thinner & cooler 65nm processor chips appearing in Xbox 360s have been swirling around.  Limited editions have come and gone, but the chips haven’t really materialized.

Well, my processor-chip geeks, the wait is over. In Special (from lot #734) Halo-edition 360s seem to be carrying this newer chip.

If you dropped the cash for Halo-themed 360, and are brave enough to crack open that shiny new console, you may just catch a glimpse of it.  Otherwise, you can look at the picture above.

For more pictures, and what to expect out of your 65nm chipped console, follow the links below.

Read [Xbox Forums] & [Xbox Forums] via [Engadget]

If you are looking for HD content then DirecTV may be a good option to consider. They have just added 21 new HD channels, with 70 more planned for October and a promise of up to 100 by the end of the year.

You can check the full lineup here, I am sure there will be more than enough to choose from.
Read [DirecTV] Via [UNEASYsilence]