Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

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]

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and maybe you’d like to give your mom a digital picture frame.  But here’s something to think about, in the U.S. News & World Report issue for the week ending May 5, 2008, Marianne Lavelle writes,

“Look at just one of the new energy guzzlers: the digital photo frame.  This always-on gadget burns a barely noticeable $9 extra a year into the average household electric bill, says the nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute.  But the impact could be staggering.  EPRI estimates that if every household in America owned one, it would take five medium-sized power plants just to keep those family photo slide shows rolling in the nation’s living rooms.  ‘I call these electronics the sleeping giants in our homes,’ says Thomas Reddoch, EPRI’s director of energy utilization.”

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Kenko’s new digital photo frame might seem like your regular digital photo frame at first, but the KDF-07 holds a secret that could change the way you look at gadgets of its kind...forever. Or not, but still the Kenko KDF-07 offers a cool little trick hidden (quite literally) up its sleeve. Actually, it holds a control pad on a secret panel that can be found behind its silver frame, black matte, and wood grain finishes. It will instantly blow up your photos to 7-inches wide and play them in a slideshow - with your permission, of course. I’d like to say that its current price, $160, is a bit too much, but then I remember, $500 digital photo frames. At which point I’ll say, “Yikes! Kenko’s KDF-07 is actually a bargain!”

Via [Crave]

Plug your PC into a wall electrical outlet, and that’s all your need to surf the web at high speeds. Tell the cable and DSL service providers where they can stuff their plugs, while you ride the wave of yet another next-generation technology at cheaper prices.

Well...not yet.

It’s been a bad couple of weeks for the concept of broadband over power line (BPL), which the Federal Communications Commission has been touting since 2003 as possible pricing competition for cable and DSL providers. It’s only a pilot program in a handful of cities, but the FCC commissioned studies on the technology and wanted an accelerated rollout of the program. Now you can scratch one of those cities off the list, while the FCC studies themselves are being attacked by amateur radio operators.

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Its been a while since I last heard of any free offer for signing up for a checking account, and personally have never received any freebee, but RBC Royal Bank in Canada has begun offering an Eee PC. Sure its the lower priced 2G Surf edition, but its still a free notebook.

Simply open a Signature No Limit Banking or VIP Banking account you can have your very own Eee PC. A tempting offer indeed, of course living very far away from and not being from Canada, its not one I can take advantage of. So while we here in the US are not still waiting on the iPhone, at least Canadians can rejoice in getting a free Eee PC.

Read [RBC Royal Bank] Via [Engadget]

Normally, tables don’t do much, they just sit there and let you work on it or put stuff on it. However, this new table from SOLo, by Intelligent Forms is not just your average table, it is solar powered which means you can run or charge your gadgets while using them on the table. This really is a great idea and if the price can stay relatively inexpensive, it is sure to be very popular, especially since people are trying to become more energy efficient. Reportedly, if you leave it for a year in a “typical outdoor setting,” it has enough juice to charge your typical cellphone about 6,800 times, or a laptop 168 times. It also comes with a few sockets to charge whatever gadget you may have, including USB, 12V and your standard 3-pin plug. 

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In this day and age of high powered mobile phones and web based communication applications, we couldn’t help but wonder if there is still a need for a home phone. The Vtech people must have the same thought on their mind when they were conceptualizing the IS6110 cordless phone that’s why they decided to include an Instant Messaging function.

Well, it looks like Vtech might have caught onto something new. For one, their IS6110 cordless phone is the world’s first cordless phone with built-in IM features with support for MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger. And for that, it certainly deserves some accolades. But if you think that IM is all there is in the IS6110, think again as it is packed with some nifty features too.

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I have used my share of VoIP phones out there, so when Plantronics sent me the newish Calisto Pro Series, I didn’t have too high of expectations.  However I became impressed quickly with the great Bluetooth integration, among other features.  There are three ways you can talk on the phone (or Skype): speakerphone, on the handset, or on the included Bluetooth headset.  This amount of flexibility is a great thing to have when you’re in an office—or even at home—since you have the choice to go anywhere in your house.  So what if you want to sit in your living room, and the Bluetooth signal can’t make it that far?  Don’t worry, the headset is paired with the handset, so just bring the handset with you!

Have I mentioned that the Calisto can also be used as your landline phone?  Well, it sure can.  The device has seemless integration with both Skype (and your computer) and your landline connection.  So if you’re talking long distance to someone across the world, and hang up to make a local call, you don’t even have to switch anything… just hang up, dial the number, and press talk.

Design

Overall, the Calisto’s design is sleek, but not too fancy.  The phone’s handset is a bit bulky, but it’s smaller than most traditional cordless phones, so we won’t dock them there.  The Bluetooth headset is a big flimsy, and I had a hard time with it - but while you’re sitting at your desk, it’s really OK to have a flimsy headset on since you’re not making any sharp movements that will knock it off.

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While most of us up here are busy about Web 2.0, iPhone 2.0, et cetera, et cetera, the folks over there in the far east introduced a new device that, well, kind of ushers in Home Improvement 2.0. Actually, Seoul Commtech has just introduced the EZON SHS-5200, which also has the nickname Luce. It’s a lock for your door that’s like no other. It’s slim, made mostly of gas and shiny metal, and best of-all, it’s digital and has a touch-sensitive face. So this is the next generation of home security, eh?

The Luce is only 2.1cm thick, and is made of special aluminum that makes it stronger than most ordinary door locks. Its face is made of tempered glass to accommodate all the touching you’re going to do with it. And with it being as sexy as this, I’m sure you’ll be spending a good bit of your time just “locking and unlocking” the beautiful little thing. And no, the slew of features does not to stop there. The Luce also offers a built-in fire detector, that measures the indoor heat for signs of a fire. When the indoor heat rises above 55 ℃, the Luce will automagically unlock itself so that any persons left in the house will have an easier time escaping through the door. I’m sure Bill Gates, or maybe even Steve Jobs, would love to have this inside their own humble homes.

Via [Aving USA]

Pandigital has joined the touchscreen frenzy with its PanTouch digital photo frame lineup. Touting a smudge free touchscreen display, PanTouch has a special frame matting that will resist fingerprints in the viewable area and also allow for easy control and quick access to its operations. The new frames are available with a 7-inch, 8-inch or 10.4-inch display and feature Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for transferring photos from the digital frame to a PC.

The 7-inch and 8-inch models both have 15:9 widescreen ratio with a resolution of 428 x 234, 128MB of internal memory, 6-in-1 memory card reader, a standard USB port and a mini USB port. Plus, it doesn’t just display digital photos but it can play digital music and videos as well. The 10.4-inch on the other hand would likely appeal to the more serious photo enthusiasts as it offers a nicer 1024 x 768 resolution and 512MB of internal memory.

The PanTouch lineup is set for release in May and are expected to retail for $119 for the 7-inch, $169 for the 8-inch and $249 for the 10.4-inch model.

Via [Wired Blog]