Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

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!]

Comfortable headsets are great when you can find them. If they are cordless it’s even better. Now add the ability to listen to your iPod wirelessly for up to 10 hours straight. If that is not enough – what if you and three other people could share the wireless connection? Have I peaked your interest yet?

Kleer (good name when talking about headsets) and DigiFi have joined their resources to give us a cordless headset with CD quality sound known as Opera. A bit rich at $98 but an interesting concept I must say.

Opera is not your ordinary headset. It wraps from behind your head and up over your ears. Earbuds make this headset unobtrusive and as far as looks are concerned – streamlined comes to mind.

Read [Kleer] Via [Gear Live]

Directionally challenged people know who they are. That is why electronic GPS devices are such hot items. They help you to navigate just about anywhere from around your town or across the country.

As you can imagine, it may be hard to get those results from a simple pen and paper. Have you ever started writing down directions and then realized that the paper was too small. The lines of instruction get smaller and smaller and then start circling around the edges. You drive along trying to read the scribbles and give up when you cannot tell which line came first. Hopefully you wrote down the phone number. It is hard for me to imagine that some people prefer low-tech devices. For those few there are low-tech navigation options – the most popular being ordinary paper map or pen and paper. Not too stylish but functional.

However, for those that prefer low-tech with some style thrown in there is an answer.  The Paper GPS notepad fulfills the need for organized and readable directions for as little as $6.50. Each of the 60 sheets allow for 10 turn-by-turn directions with pre-printed arrows and even a box for the distance between each turn. Simply circle the correct directional arrow, write down the street names or landmarks and the distance between each. At the bottom of each sheet there is ample space for jotting down other pertinent information such as a phone number. In case you keep a notebook of directions there is also a spot to notate whether you got lost or not. 

This is just another one of those “Wish I’d though of this” items.

Via [OhGizmo! ]

Samsung Slash slider – say that ten times fast. Anyway, Virgin Mobile has posted some limited information about this new Samsung slider-style phone on their website making it a pretty sure bet of an impending release. However, all of the details have not been revealed but we are told that is weighs in at a mere 3-ounces and measures 3.8 x 1.8 x 0.7-inches. We can see from the photo and guess from the name that this is a slider. Are they just teasing us by keeping the other details under wraps. Currently unknown is the price or release date, and well, most of the spec’s. What they do list is just the basics, the Slash will include Bluetooth, a speakerphone, voice dialing, a “full color screen” as well as being both text messaging and mobile web compatible.

Product [Virgin Mobile] Via [Engadget]

Cyber crime often makes the news, but this time a “Cyber Village” was credited as the crime fighters. The cast of characters (other than the thief) were all members of the beyond.ca car enthusiast’s forum. You see, the car was stolen the old fashioned way but was recovered within 48 hours by cyber tracking. Even without a GPS tracker on board the crime was solved by people that shared a love both for cars and for the internet. Fortunately there were cyber friends available to answer Mr. Ironsides desperate plea.

The rare Nissan Skyline GT-R was stolen by a young man that surely believed that he would not get caught. Apparently he enjoyed the test drive so much that instead of returning the car to Mr. Ironside’s specialty dealership he took it home. Little did he know about the cyber hunt that was about to be unleashed. 

MORE »

Brando Ultra-Smart Cable – USB charger/microSD card reader is such a huge name for such a tiny device. Unlike its name this device is very compact and is available in an array of colors which makes this a stylish way to keep data, music and photos at your fingertips. 

Orange, gray, blue, green and black make up the collection. Each one reminds me of a baby rattle – but the Smart Cable (as I will call it) appears to be a toy for big boys and girls. You can charge your cell phone or other USB device, read your microSD card and even exchange data between devices (when microSD card is onboard).

The Brando Ultra-Smart Cable is designed to hang on a key chain or as a cell phone strap. It could actually hang on any device with a wrist strap hole. Loosing pieces should not be a problem. There are only two. It is difficult to see everything in a photo but the cable – hence the name, has one end with the mini USB plug and the other with an ordinary size USB plug. From what I can tell the microSD slot is directly below that. There is a small plastic center piece that apparently snaps the two cable ends together while it’s just hanging around.

I like interesting little gadgets like this. Would I use it - absolutely.  Would I strap it to my cell phone - not. The $14.00 price is reasonable in my opinion.

Product [Brando] Via [SlashGear]

A freeware program recently featured on LifeHacker known as nLite offers great news. Just like we diet to shed pounds our computers can shed the extra weight of features and components that may not be needed. Spending extra RAM, hard drive space and battery power on unnecessary features is – well – unnecessary. Microsoft Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003 can be stripped down. You heard me right. Windows stripped down to what may be called a sportier model. Vista has not been left out but will require vLite instead.

Is there a PC user alive today that would not welcome a peppier version of Microsoft Windows? Or a Mac or Linux user that would not appreciate a virtual Windows experience with a leaner list of features without the bloat of unwanted ones? Powerful computers with mega GB hard drives are now the norm but that has not always been the case. On the other hand some new computers such as the Asus Eee PC and the Van Der Led Jisus are now selling with a mere 4GB SSD (Solid State Drive). Then there are those PCs and laptops relegated to storage because they don’t have what it takes to satisfy any longer – kept just in case. Just in case of what I am not exactly sure unless it is a second chance at a useful life. In all of these cases hope and help is alive and well with nLite. 

MORE »

Photoshop Express recently attracted my attention and I signed up. This was a very easy and short process. Include me in that group of digital photo snapping and sharing fanatics. Sharing photos has become the easy part - choosing where to share them is - well, not so easy. Researching the numerous photo sharing sites available on the internet is very time consuming.

Competition is rampant among these photo hosting sites. Kodak Gallery, Snapfish, Flickr, Photobucket, Shutterfly and Picasa are just a few popular drops in the bucket. I wish that there was a giant list of options that could be checked off that would lead to the perfect site for me. My requirements may not be the same as yours but here goes.

I’d rather not pay a subscription fee. Most photo sharing sites offer free albums but extra features will initiate a fee. Editing abilities and uploads to my blogs as well as other sites are huge time savers. For example, photos in Facebook, Photobucket and Picasa can be edited through Photoshop Express. Viewing options for my visitors are also important to me. Whether viewing as a private visitor or as a public viewer, slideshows and videos are fun. 

MORE »

Thor, the deer has been “geo-hacked” and undergone an interesting experiment, all in the name of science. Valery Hronusov, a developer of numerous geo-hacks, actually thought up the blog posting deer scenario. Using his tips and ideas, ‘Siberian’, a Google Earth Community member, figured out how to track a deer by attaching a cell phone (to send emails) and a GPS device (to track the movements) of Thor (the deer) throughout a suburban area in Pennsylvania. During Thor’s travels the GPS device sent back tracking coordinates every five minutes. The ingenious automated system used all free services, some tech gadgets, and a spreadsheet to publicize nearly every move Thor makes.

I assume that the tech laden collar is worth saving and I hope that Thor is too. Aside from being a neat project, all of this makes me wonder why anyone would want to track a deer like this, except for the obvious, “because I could” mentality that you find among many geeks. Of course the more official reason why is because “they are studying deers living in suburban areas in Pennsylvania.”

Read [Wired] Via [Google Earth Blog]

I have often passed a parcel of property that I’d love to buy knowing that sometime or another it would be a great investment. Immediate timing is not always right for an acquisition but down the road it could be perfect. This is just the position that Dish Network has found itself in. Was it by chance or was it a calculated bet? 

Recently, blocks of wireless airwaves came up for auction since the analog TV will soon go all digital. In a surprising turn of events Dish Network partnered with Frontier Wireless won a block of one-way communication licenses. 

MORE »