Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

This is a bit spooky.  A Kansas company has developed a way to mix the ashes of a person or dog with ink and then print a memorial image.  You pick the photo, you send the ashes and 4-6 weeks later...whammo: a creepy image made from the remains.

The company prints on different mediums such as glossy stock to canvas and can print various sizes right down to wallet size.  Greyscale to full 4-color is available.  Prices start at just $34.

I am all for recycling toner, but this seems, well just plain odd. God, I wish this was a spoof post.

Read [inkafterlife]

Asus has officially launched their Eee PC, now available for sale in the US. The Eee PC 4G is available at online retailer NewEgg for $399. The Eee PC is small and very lightweight, coming in at under 2-pounds. It has a 7-inch display, 512MB RAM, 4GB of flash storage and runs a customized Linux operating system. It can run in either “Easy” or full desktop mode, has built in WLAN connectivity and webcam and offers up to 3.5 hours of battery life. The Eee PC 4G would make a great travel laptop for someone on the go or even an easy to use setup for that non-computer literate family member.

Product [Newegg.com] Via [Gizmodo]

Logitech and Skype have teamed up to offer “high-quality” video conferencing, which is VGA resolution (640x480) at up to 30 fps. In order to take advantage of the improved video quality you will need a new Logitech High Quality webcam, a dual-core Intel based PC and Skype version 3.6.

The supported webcams include the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000, the QuickCam Orbit/Sphere AF or the QuickCam Pro for notebooks and they all include a Carl Zeiss auto-focus lens. They range in price from $99 to $129.

Read [SlashGear]

Everex has released their $200 “green” PC, the TC2502 gPC is currently available at Wal-Mart online and will soon be available in select Wal-Mart locations.

“It’s $200, with no gimmicks or subsidies,” Everex spokesman David Liu said.

The PC2502 gPC is an affordable Linux based PC running a custom distribution of Ubuntu. The PC features a 1.5 Ghz VIA C7 CPU, 512MB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive and a DVD burner. The computer is running the “gOS” operating system with the Enlightenment desktop manager instead of Gnome or KDE; which will offer better performance. The PC also includes OpenOffice as well as desktop links to various Google Apps.

“It’s almost like a Google PC,” Liu says, pointing to the desktop’s rack of pre-configured links to all of Google’s online applications. It is, he says, the mass-market Linux PC we’ve all been waiting for.

Seems to be a nicely priced system, it also includes a tech support application called “Faqly” and free phone support.

Read [Wired Gadget Lab]

Touchscreen?  Check.  Pretty icon UI? Check.  Four touchscreen buttons at the bottom to aid navigation? Check.  That is where the similarities (and really the comparison) should stop.

Here is what you need to know:

• No WiFi


• GPS on board


• LCD screen inside


• full QWERTY keyboard, voice commands


• MicroSD slot with 8GB compatibility


• EVDO, V-Cast live TV


• HTML web browsing

Spec Sheet [Phone News] via [CrunchGear]

Eye-Fi, the world’s first WiFi memory card, designed to wirelessly and effortlessly transfer images is finally available.  We reported on this back in June.

The deal works like this: take their $100 2GB SD card and put it in your camera, when the camera enters your home network, it’ll start transferring recent images to your machine or photo-sharing web site of choice.  There does not seem to be a limiter on camera manufacturers as long as yours has a SD slot.  Sweet.

The process does require a one-time set up where you connect the card to your PC, picking and choosing where you want the images to flow.  The Eye-Fi tranfers the files in their native size and format and does allow of resizing in route to your web site of choice or folder.

No question, this product is genius.  Is the $100 too big a hurdle?  I say no, as my camera sits in the next room with images yet to be uploaded.  My time and effort are worth more than $100.

Also, I’ve got to wonder what is next, a WiFi microSD card?  Bring WiFi to my crippled phone?  Mp3 players?

Read [OhGizmo] Product Page [Eye-Fi]

Google is currently in talks with Verizon to add Google applications on their phones. The talks are dealing with technology and potential business models such as offering advertising-sponsored services.

“There are good useful talks going on and they could result in a deal,” one of the sources said.

The Google phones are expected to feature integration with Google applications to include Google Maps, YouTube and Gmail. They plan to make the software “open” right down to the operating system and allow for independent software developers to build and develop tools that they need for the phone. It seems that the rumored Gphone is turning more and more into a Google operating system every day.

Read [I4U News]

We have heard about the Give-1 Get-1 program for the OLPC and now Uruguay has become the first nation to place an official order. They have purchased the first 100,000 units and plan to set those up for school age children from 6 to 12 to use. Uruguay is also considering a possible purchase of 300,000 more that will allow them to provide a computer to every child in the country by 2009.

While off to a nice start the OLPC is still far from succeeding, the program needs 3 million units on order to make this cheap production possible.

“I have to some degree underestimated the difference between shaking the hand of a head of state and having a cheque written,” Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the organisation, recently told the New York Times.

Libya and Peru were also reported to have closed a deal with the OLPC program but currently those deals still have not been confirmed.

Read [BBC News] Via [SlashGear]

Sprint is getting ready to launch a new data plan for the Blackberry. The BlackBerry Power Vision Plan will be available beginning November 4th and will cost just $30. The new plan includes unlimited web browsing, email, IM, Sprint on Demand access, Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation and more. Overall a great plan for current Sprint Blackberry users, one welcome addition would have been having the ability to tether your Blackberry to your laptop, but sadly that is an extra $15 a month.

Read [Boy Genius Report]

A little over 2 months ago, Nokia announced that they would jump into the GPS arena, currently they are mainly known for their phones. When they first announced it they didn’t release much info until now. So far, the Nokia 500 has cleared the FCC and is on its way to stores near you.

Basically, it will be a GPS player plus offer audio, photo, and video playback. It can also connect to your phone via Bluetooth for hands free calling. It sports a 4.3-inch touchscreen and 2 hours battery life, other specs are as follows:

• Samsung CPU S3C2440A @400 MHz


• Turn-by-turn instructions including street names


• Dynamic navigation via TMC


• Music Player (MP3, WMA, AAC, eAAC+)


• Video Player (MPEG4, 3GP, WMV)


• Photo Viewer (JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG)


• SiRF StarIII LP GPS Receiver


• 3.5 mm jack for Headphones


• Memory card reader, supporting SDHC (SD cards up to 16 GB)


• Mini-USB Connector

Via [NaviGadget]