Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

If you think your laptop bag has enough room in it for a gadget that will give you more USB ports than you’ll ever need, then you’ll be glad to set your sights upon Elecom’s newest little number. It’s a small USB hub that offers not three, not five, but a total of seven free USB ports for you to connect your other gadgets simultaneously. It measures only 23x144x23mm, and weighs 66g. Other than an external hard drive, iPod and digicam, I don’t know what else you’d want to plug in it. But if you want to get a feel of its 480Mbps transfer rate, then by all means, feel free.

Via [Akihabara News]

Does the keypad lock on your phone annoy you? Well, you just might think different after you hear this. A soldier in Afghanistan accidentally called his parents while he was in the middle of a heated battle. The result was a terrifying voicemail that included the son yelling about needing more ammo and his gun having problems-and cutting off just as another soldier yelled “INCOMING!” His parents were understandably shaken but managed to get a hold of their embarrassed son, who assured them he was okay. Thank goodness there was a happy ending, but am I the only one wondering which provider offers battlefield coverage? Talk about great cell coverage! We also have to mention the thanks that should go out to the soldier, hopefully his next call will be a little less stressful for those at home. Keep reading to listen to the chilling call…

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Not enough time in the day to get everything done? Now it may be possible to squeeze in a fitness walk while working on that new proposal. Well, not exactly, but you can keep moving while working. TrekDesk can help you loose weight, relieve your stress and give you more time with love ones. Seriously, now you can walk, sit or bounce on your treadmill while working on your laptop, reading a manuscript or clearing out your in box.

TrekDesk fits on most treadmills and adjusts to fit the user. In case you need to slow your pace just lift the clear panel for access to your treadmill controls. If you are sweating the assembly - don’t. No tools are required. That goes for the TrekDesk Chair as well. The TrekDesk team thought of just about everything. You know that if something is not handy you won’t use it so the chair swings out of the way when not in use and the desk can say in place when not in use.

I am all for saving time and I think the TrekDesk is a great idea – but I want to send out one warning. Unless you truly multitask well don’t try this. An unplanned distraction could trip you up.

Product [TrekDesk] Via [Oh Gizmo!]

The new Pioneer AVIC-T10 comes loaded with many nice features, unfortunately, it is set to release only in Japan for the time being. The AVIC-T10 comes with a 5.8-inch VGA touch screen, 4GB of internal memory, Bluetooth capability for hands free calling, and has HSDPA support. To use that, you have to connect your device through your phone. Additionally, it comes with a TV 1Seg tuner, has decent format support including WMA, MP3, and AAC. It also comes with many useful services including Smart Loop Traffic Congestion Information, Parking Availability Information, Gasoline Price Information, and PinPoint Weather reports. My guess is that the first service, the Smart Loop Traffic Congestion Information provides traffic updates, the Parking Space service lets you know where there are available parking spots (that’s pretty cool), the Gasoline service lets you know where the cheapest gas in the area is, and the PinPoint service updates you on the weather. The last service is called the Rendez-Vous service, which basically chooses a convenient meeting place if you want to meet with your friend. It finds out that convenient place by searching through emails sent and received by the same person. All in all, it comes with some pretty nice and unique services. No word on exact pricing at this time, but hopefully it remains relatively inexpensive.

Via [Akihabara News]

Laptop sleeves are becoming more and more popular these days. Not only do they allow a laptop to be carried safely in a bag that doesn’t scream “I have an expensive computer in here!”, they also help users avoid carrying backbreaking amounts of junk. The new Cargo Laptop Sleeve from Built NY is perfect for those who just want to carry the bare minimum. It’s made out of tough, protective neoprene and aside from holding a laptop it offers three pockets that can hold a portable hard drive, a mouse, an iPod, or whatever you can find that will fit. It’s also got special zig zag stitching that gives it extra water resistance. It comes in three sizes: Large (fits laptops up to 17-inch), Medium (fits laptops up to 15.4-inch) and Small (fits laptops up to 13-inch). Prices range from $40-$50.

Product [Built NY] Via [Crave]

So what does an auto loan lender do when borrowers forget to pay? Give them a really annoying box that beeps when payment is already due and prevents the car from starting. Sub-prime borrowers can no longer give an excuse that they forgot to pay because this box won’t fail to remind. 

Called the “On Time” this gadget is installed in the car and blinks when payment is near the due date and beeps on the date itself. When payment still isn’t made, the car won’t start, leaving you without a car to use until you have settled your bills. If payment has been made, the auto-loan lender will give the borrower a code to reset the box and stop being annoyed by all the beeping and the blinking. 

Lenders say that they missed payments have been down by 30%. I wonder if mortgage lenders should do the same for houses. Install a similar device, only no beeping and blinking...just a recorded voice that nags every morning and night. Now that would be really cool and yeah, so annoying. But at least, people will be motivated to pay.

Read [The Consumerist]

QStarz’s BT-Q810, which was launched last month, is being touted as the world’s most powerful Bluetooth GPS receiver. Well, that is due to the fact the BT-Q810 sports a 51 channel MTK chipset and offers up to 32 hours of use courtesy of its low power consumption hardware. This GPS receiver also has an adjustable update rate which range between 1 and 5Hz. This update rate makes the GPS well suited for road racers, autocrossers, and circle track racers.

In addition, the BT-Q810 also features a G-Mouse + Bluetooth in one, a wired and wireless GPS receiver, auto on-off function for smart power control, LED function that indicates Bluetooth connection, navigation status and battery/charger status. The BT-Q810 was officially launched in Taiwan but pricing and release date is currently unavailable.

Product [QStarz] Via [NaviGadget]

Customers in Florida will now have access to information about traffic incidents, traffic updates and detours as Verizon Wireless has made its VZ Navigator Version 4 service available. The VZ Navigator is a location-based service (LBS) application utilizing GPS technology and real-time information feeds from government traffic monitoring groups.

With VZ Navigator, customers will have access to traffic integration information which updates them of traffic routes based on the analysis of both historical and real-time traffic information. This allows customers to know which traffic routes are affected by traffic lights, heavy traffic situation and activities in school zones. VZ Navigator also gives out information on location of gas stations closest to customers location and even includes gas pricing. So customers can plan in advance whether to stop by the nearest one or skip it and stop by the next station. Of course, like some GPS navigation services, VZ Navigator also provides turn-by-turn directions on how to get to the nearest identified gas station.

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A Japan-based designer known as Marimo-san is thinking way out of the box with his latest cellphone concept design, featuring a mechanism that allows for a detachable screen. The screen in this cellphone concept design can be removed so the user can enjoy video calls on the go. And aside from that, the slot for the screen should also accept other add-ons such as a widescreen display and a dual screen video viewer, to name a few, turning the cellphone into a number of new devices at any given time.

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Because Sony wants us to believe that digital photo frames aren’t all that bad, they are now offering the VGF-CP1, a Wi-Fi enabled little number that, other than showing off your digital snaps in 16 million colors, gives you access to your preferred RSS feeds and plays your favorite music too. It can even connect directly to online albums like Google’s Picasa, allowing you to download and save your online photos to the 512MB of internal memory. All these features will come at a price though, and if you’re in Japan (as it’s only available there at the moment), that price is 30,000 Yen or about $300 USD. You didn’t really expect it to be cheap, did you? Well, at least it’s not as expensive as some other digital photo frames that we have seen recently.

Via [NewLaunches]