Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Don’t’ you just love it when you’re working on your notebook, and suddenly need to pack up and move somewhere else quickly? USB cables, gadgets, mice, flash disks and more suddenly become squished together as you try and carry them or dump them into your carry case. Not to mention sometimes this ends up in precious gadgets getting dropped and broken in the process.

If that happens often to you, then Belkin’s MouseTrap might be a product suitable for you. Shaped like a mouse pad when opened, and can be zipped into a pouch like shape when closed, this will allow you to quickly put all your small items on it and zip the MouseTrap close to then allow easy transport someplace else, saving you the hassles mentioned above.

The Belkin MouseTrap comes in 4 different colours, is hand washable and sells at a retail price of $12.99, which is a nice investment for those used to running around all over the place and who want an easy hassle free way of moving their accessories around.

ProductPage [Belkin]

If you have a notebook, chances are that you’ll still be using a 2.5” hard drive. Seldom would you find a notebook with a 2.5” SSD drive, and even rarer would it have a 1.8” SSD drive. Some of the newer ultra-light notebooks and UMPCs would use 1.8” drives, but they wouldn’t be the norm as yet.

With Samsung’s announcement that they have begun mass producing their 1.8” form 64GB SSD drives, it might signal that that might soon change.  Growing use of SSDs in notebooks sure looks like a certainty in the future, but with smaller SSDs becoming available in the market, other mobile consumer gadgets will also be able to make use of these. As gadgets get smaller and smaller, with a demand for increased capacity, it only seems logical that smaller form factor drives become a necessity; and with regular hard drives limited by the mechanical moving parts in them, these small form factor SSDs become very handy for such purposes.

As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of SSDs, Samsung’s market reach and position has a great influence on how successful these drives will be. Right now, one of the main barriers of SSDs succeeding is their price; they are still considerably more expensive than traditional hard drives.  Mass production of SSDs and more and more companies adopting them to instill in gadgets will hopefully drive prices down enough so it can easily compete with regular hard drives.

Via [Samsung]

Here’s another notebook for you gaming fans out there, the ASUS C90. Set to hit the market sometime soon, with some pre-orders available on Ebay (use caution please!), it’s considered to be the first truly, easily upgradeable gaming notebook available.

By simply opening a panel with 4 screws, you’ll have direct access to most of the regularly upgraded components such as CPU, GPU, RAM, HD and optical drive. ASUS will be offering this notebook as a bare bone model, allowing users to pick and choose what components they want in it.

Here are the major specifications and capabilities for this machine:

• CPU support up to Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800, 2.93 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 4MB L2 cache


• Up to 3 GB Dual channel DDR2 800 MHz RAM


• GPU support up to NVidia GeForce Go8600M GT 256MB/512MB onboard RAM, Mobile PCI Express Module (MXM)


• WSXGA+ (1650x1050) resolution in a 15.4” Color Shine display


• E-SATA connector


• HDMI


• Choice of HD-DVD/Blu-ray optical drive or standard DVD


• 2.0 MP camera with face tracking function


• Finger print recognition


• WiFi (802.11 a/b/g/n)


• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR


• TV-Tuner


• Glossy finish

ASUS claims that by using their TurboGear software, users would be able to gain a 20% performance increase by overclocking. Their GPU slot will accept graphic cards which sport the MXM form, which is the standard for modular cards that will allow platform compatibility with future GPUs.

Looking at some images at the various sites, ASUS seems to have thought this out quite well, with plenty of vents (including that humongous one at the rear end) to alleviate the massive amounts of heat this is sure to generate and amazingly localized placement of all the major components for easy access. It does weight quite a bit (3.1 kg with a 6 cell battery) and I’m not sure how battery life will go with such a machine, but if there’s such a thing as a “future-proof” notebook, this sure fits the bill damn close and should be a very popular machine within the next few months.

Via [PcLaunches] ProductPage [ASUS]

IdeaLabz.com has become the latest company to allow both Google and Yahoo search engine results to be displayed side by side on one web page with its offering of SearchBoth.com. Not the first one, similar to YaGoohoogle (which seems to be defunct ) from awhile back, and extremely similar to GahooYoogle, this seems to be a nicely built one, with capability to perform images, news, videos and more searches instead of just the default web search.

Results are displayed side by side, with Yahoo on the left and Google on the right; whenever the mouse hovers on either side, it is made larger (about 75% screen width), with the other taking up the rest of the space. There is an option to “Fix Windows” so that the mouse hover doesn’t do anything (i.e. both searches taking half the screen), as well as choices of which to enlarge if you just want results from one search.

Right now there’s only the option to search Yahoo and Google, but IdeaLabz CEO Booby Kalili confirmed that there’ll soon be MSN LiveSearch and Ask.Com added to the available choices.  SearchBoth.com is also ad and popup free. At the moment it is available in US, UK, Canada and Australian versions.

[SideNote:]I was doing a couple of searches of the randomly chosen term “Google” to see what kind of differences it would bring up, and the results for “Google” on Yahoo Video search are quite interesting to say the least – not work safe! (It’s probably just a case of Yahoo Video bringing up the top videos from Google).

Via [TheRegister]

Already allowing users to preview Microsoft Word and Excel documents in their web browsers, Google’s Gmail has released its latest offering, the Slideshow Preview, allowing users to examine their PowerPoint attachments in a separate window. With three of the major Office applications able to be previewed by Google, it seems that Google is really setting their sights on those users who don’t need full Office functionality, and just use it for reading/opening files.

When someone receives an email with a PowerPoint attachment, there will be an option to “View as slideshow”, which opens up a new window and previews the presentation. It’s a Flash based application, and the user would be allow to go back and forth within the presentation by clicking on arrows at the top or by right clicking on the application itself.

What benefit would this have for Google?  Nothing at the moment it seems, except for attracting more people to use Google based applications in their daily activities, which in turn of course increases their user base for AdSense, AdWords and their other revenue generating programs. So by nothing we actually mean millions of dollars.

Via [OuterCourt]

Nokia has just made it easier for Mac OS users to transfer/synchronize their data with their mobile phones. The release of Nokia Media Transfer 1.0 Beta allows Mac users to easily transfer photos, videos, music, applications, games, files and podcasts between their Mac and phone.

Similar in functionality to the Nokia PC Suite for Windows based OS’, Media Transfer can work with iTunes and iPhoto for music and photo data synchronization, but for installation of applications and games, you would only be able to transfer the .sis files and then have to manually install it from your phone.

Nokia Media Transfer Beta 1.0 requires you to have Mac OS X 10.4.9 or higher, iTunes 7 or higher, iPhoto 6 or higher as well as either a USB or Bluetooth capable device for connectivity. It seems that only Nokia’s N series of devices are supported right now, meaning that if you own any of the regular Nokia’s or other series, you won’t be able to use Nokia Media Transfer 1.0 Beta. Not sure if Nokia will add support for those, or if this is designed specifically for their N series only.

Via [AllAboutSymbian] - Download [NokiaEurope]

When I hear that some high-end brand, be it fashion like Prada, Gucci and D&G or automotive like Ferrari and Lamborghini, is releasing a technology gadget carrying its name, I subconsciously expect those products to take on the main features of their namesakes. So in cases like Prada and D&G, I expect fancy and trendy looking phones, while for Ferrari and Lamborghini, well made and speedy; and of course, in all cases, made of superior materials and quite pricey too.

The latest of these is Porsche; the German luxury carmaker has unveiled its EUR 1,200 P’9521 cell phone in France recently. Designed by the Porsche Design Group and manufactured by France based Sagem, it’s a 3.2 MegaPixel camera phone, with 3 stereo speakers and MP3 capability, QVGA 320x240 OLED swivel screen, aluminum and scratch resistant mineral glass materials, as well as a fingerprint sensor for security.

And as always, if these gadgets somehow don’t have the features that I somewhat expect from them (like not using the fastest available CPU or GPU in cases of ACER Ferrari and ASUS Lamborghini), I get just slightly disappointed. The P’9521 does disappoint me in that it doesn’t support HSDPA/EVDO, only EDGE data transfer.

With all the newest phones coming up with these features, how hard would it have been for Porsche to include this to allow high speed broadband access, especially considering the quality and price of this model? As it stands, for EUR 1,200, you’ll get a well built, great phone without the ability to surf the net with high speed, as you would expect from a Porsche model.

Read [BusinessWeek] Via [MobileWhack]

If you were to believe Motorola’s claims, soon enough you ‘d be able to save yourself the hassle of trying to find a quiet place or clasping one ear shut while making a call in the midst of high background noise. The “Crystal Talk” feature is one of Motorola’s new marketing words to promote their noise reduction and volume adjustment technology.

Already included in some of Motorola’s current lineup of phones such as the Krzr and Rizr, the buzzword wasn’t officially revealed until its Mobile Experience conference which also saw the release of the slimmer and thinner Razr2. The technology, which has been patented, uses a series of algorithms in the digital signal processor to filter out the caller’s voice from background noise and then amplifies it, while also able to determine background noise on the other side and increase/decrease volume accordingly.

In a demo during the conference, racer Danica Patrick made a call in the midst of a virtual racetrack setting with excellent results. Whether or not “Crystal Talk” is truly effective in the real world will surely be known soon enough once the Razr2 phones start hitting the market and become widely available.

Via [Forbes]

We all know about today’s gadgets having Wi-Fi capability, allowing easy access to and from gadgets whenever a Wi-Fi connection is available. But what if Wi-Fi is not supported by your gadget? Here’s an idea that could help alleviate that problem. A startup company, Eye-Fi, is planning to create and release a Wi-Fi capable Secure Digital card sometime in the fall.

CEO Yuval Koren indicated that this card will come in a 2GB size, conforming to standard SD card sizes, with a Wi-Fi chip embedded inside. By having the Wi-Fi chip on the SD card, and shutting down network functionality when not transferring data, it will prevent resource hogging from the gadget itself.

This Wi-Fi card will come with the option for users to send data to PC and/or websites (they are still in negotiation with a couple of websites regarding direct uploads) either directly after each picture is taken or at the end of a photo session.

Pricing is set at about $100 and details seem to indicate that this is designed for digital cameras only at the moment, although I don’t see why it couldn’t be used in other similar gadgets with SD card slots.

Via [News.com]

Here’s some possible leaked information regarding Sony’s upcoming CR line of VAIO notebooks according to Notebook Italia and a Dutch website linked by them.

It will be a 14.1” WXGA (1280x800) notebook featuring choice of black/white/blue/pink color, Intel’s Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8GHz 800 FSB (Santa Rosa chipset), x3100 GMA 256 MB graphics or ATI Mobility Radeon HD2300, 120/160 GB SATA hard drive, dual layer DVD burner, WiFi (802.11 a/b/g), Bluetooth 2.0, webcam, and the usual array of I/O slots such as USB, Firewire, SD, MemoryStick, ExpressCard and GigaBit Ethernet.

It also seems that this notebook will be using the tray-less keyboard ala the MacBook and Vaio TZ to prevent damages from spills, and will be thinner than previous models.

Prices will supposedly start from 1,350 Euros for the basic configuration, and increase depending on choices a user makes for the extra specs. More information to follow once an official announcement is made by Sony.

Via [Engadget] Read [NotebookItalia - translated]