Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Albeit the Hacha PC20 has it’s own unique features, we can not help but notice the resemblance it carries to Apple’s iPhone. Even after foreign look-alikes of the popular iPhone have dwindled, the China based company is at it yet again.

A 3” screen and a ultra thin look (only 7.7 mm), we can not possibly complain, but do certainly hope of knowing more about the gadget’s internal devices. The wait will probably won’t be too long for the details to arrive, as Hacha plans to release it soon (Most likely China only). While we wait, enjoy the pictures!

Via [Mp3Players]

Sorry, Toshiba only! July 25 saw the announcement by Toshiba of the first ever ultra wide-band (UWB) wireless technology available to consumers. This new high speed innovation allows a wireless connection between Toshiba laptops and the docking station which can support an external monitor. UWB allows a lot faster connection time compared to the primeval Bluetooth and and even WiFi.

However, as speed increases, distance does not. With a disappointing range of only 3 feet and illegal radio frequencies in other countries, they make this device very inconvenient for a traveler like me.

Furthermore, the price is also a negative of the docking station. It will cost you a good $500 bucks, far higher than the $180 for the other Toshiba stations. Also, you may also purchase the laptops (Business oriented R400 line) starting at $3,079. Yeah…starting! The price doubles as you reach the Tablet PCs that allow you to write on the screen via a stylus.

Read [Yahoo News]

Many desktops and laptops lose the prestigious honor of having an Energy Star label, as on July 20 the government set new guidelines. This is to encourage people to use more efficient means of power supplies, and personal computers in order to aid the world in Global Warming and environment protection. Also, for the countless other reasons why saving energy is helpful towards the nation.

However, these new set of rigorous guidelines only qualifies 125 existing computers according to the federal government. Regardless, the guidelines do not put any limitations on the sale of the non energy label computers; they may be restricted in government offices or areas in need of lowering energy use.

Charts indicate that these new set of regulations are to promote few companies more than other ones. The main ones who meet the 80% efficient power supply and 2W sleep mode are Acer, Gateway, Lenovo, and Toshiba. In particular, Lenovo benefits the most with it’s 77 different configurations of it’s system meeting the requirements. On the other hand, other companies face punishment via the new rules—especially Apple.

Apple lacks a single system that meets the requirement. Dell and HP follow with only a few models on the list of the qualifying computers. 

Apple’s Steve Jobs was quoted saying, “Upon investigating Apple’s current practices and progress towards these goals, I was surprised to learn that in many cases Apple is ahead of, or will soon be ahead of, most of its competitors in these areas.”

This goes to show how “ahead” Apple is or will be green in the coming days.

Via [Macnn]

Sony, a (once) renowned company for it’s innovative technologies in gaming, entertainment, and laptops, has taken a step further. At an exhibition held in Tokyo on July 23, Sony introduced a new era in the style of laptops by showcasing elaborately designed laptops in fabric.

Yes, fabric! Sony will soon offer laptops in various designs of fabric and leather to match your suit as some are even have a handle like a briefcase. Looks like some bloggers were wrong about turmoil in the company after it planned to take out the 60gb PlayStation 3 for the 80gb one. This step shows how the company is advancing in bringing about innovations, and style to technologies. However, that style may not be for everyone since this laptop will probably lower the weight of your wallet by quite a bit.

Read [GadgetsBlog]

Cingular/AT&T may soon lose it’s bragging rights of the fewest dropped calls thanks to Femtocell. BBC has reported that this device will cease the quest of home mobile users stepping out in search of perfect signal.

A company named Ip.Access has designed this device to plug into an existing Internet connection and directs the call via the Internet instead of the phone network. The company has recently launched a 3G Femtocell, targeted for home mobile users to bring home high-speed mobile broadband.

Read [Mobile-ent]

This priceless feature will be available in every seat of Qantas’ new Airbus A380s starting from August 2008. If the wait is too long, then you can catch an existing 747-400s that will contain retrofitted parts in a new cabin type, “premium economy”. That is due to arrive later in February 2008.

However, the lucky ones who do manage to catch one of the upcoming to Airbuses will be delighted to know that even economy class will feature laptop power! Perhaps of even greater awe, Qantas will offer web and email access via seat-back in-flight entertainment systems if you aren’t carrying a laptop with you.

With the addition of the new more flexible kangaroo logo, Qantas has decided to place USB and Ethernet ports on the premium economy classes. The USB port will be designed to browse the in-flight entertainment system; however, Qantas is still discussing on whether to add Divx video capability (my personal choice) or the ability to connect with iPod. The Ethernet will be an another option for laptop users who prefer it over WiFi or even a better idea if/when in-flight Internet becomes congested due to popularity.

The company behind all these innovations is ONAIR; however, we have little information about it, but this report from September last year gives of a bit of information from CEO George Cooper. Little is also told about the pricing, but we can certainly expect the price to take off as Internet capability is added. The price may keep few travellers out of Qantas; however, if you can afford to spend a little, you definitely should fly first-class on the new Airbus. It will offer every passenger (on first-class) a 17” LCD monitor. The economy-class will get a large monitor on the back of the seat, but it will still contain Internet capability.

New Innovative Features of Airbus’s Entertainment System:

• Audio and video on demand with over 100 on demand movies, 350 television selections, 500 audio CDs, 30 PC style games, as well as a selection of audio books and radio channels
• Lonely Planet destination and arrival guides
• Online duty free shopping
• Moving maps, text news and weather
• Wireless connectivity throughout the aircraft
• In-seat access to email and the Internet, telephone and SMS
• An external camera giving a pilot’s eye view of take-off, landing and cruising

All those features plus more will be available starting August 2008.

Read [APCMag]

It has come! The most recent model in the line of F series by Fujifilm is worth it’s price, $299. Announced back in January this year, F40fb includes all the features similar to it’s predecessors; however, it adds it’s own unique touch. With the face detection and high ISO sensitivity, it also adds a 8.3 mega-pixel camera and is capable of both SD and xD cards, unprecedented in the F series.

The beauty of this camera is in the inside, as it’s simple design didn’t make a style statement to me. A curve in the front, silver color, and the back design similar of other F series model looked quite uninteresting; however, the features of the camera certainly appealed me. The camera has 4 modes, auto (good for beginners to get used to with the camera), movie (not many improvements from previous models but still good), drive (probably the most disappointing feature since it is so slow), and playback, which has it own set of features. However, the feature that most interested me was the ability to send images but with IrSimple devices only. Sorry Bluetooth fans. Additionally, the 2.5 in LCD screen adds another touch to Fuji’s new release.

The F40fd does prove to be worthy of all the hype since it does have higher resolution than it’s older siblings and has gotten the attention through performance tests of it’s face sensor. With low noise, the camera took sharply focused pictures and the face detection auto focus system plus the ISO range worked in harmony to create great pictures. However, these great pictures do have a retail price of $299, and if you have the money go for it!

Read [DigitalCameraInfo]

Apple’s shares fell down 6% from $143.70 to $134.89. A drop of $8.81. This is nowhere near what analysts anticipated, as their expectations were a sale of 500,000 to 700,000 iPhones. With all the excitement near the launch no one could have argued that. However, AT&T reported a sale of only 146,000 iPhones. The company has a special deal to provide service to iPhones with Apple, which came out on the 29th. The excitement was only curtained by the release of the final Harry Potter book last week. Nevertheless, only Apple’s reporting of sales next Wednesday will reveal if this poses a serious problem to the company.

Some think, like Richard G. Lindner, AT&T’s chief financial officer, that the demand is still strong and the launch was great and will grow, but pesky little problems in activation, and the wait may have stopped some buyers. However, according to him, the iPhone has great potential and will turn into profits for both the companies.

However, AT&T did end up with a lot of new customers and is probably going to rise in shares soon, as 40% of the iPhone buyers were new to AT&T. This also might have been the negative for iPhone, since many people are not willing to get another plan or cancel their existing one.

Read [NYTimes]

Go now and preorder the new TiVo HD DVR! TiVo has now launched the new high def DVR, Series 3 Lite, and at a nice affordable price of $299. A huge drop from the previous DVR’s, Series 3 Standard, price of $799!  This Digital Cable Ready box works perfectly with any cable service provider certainly has appeal. However, the big question is will the appeal be higher than the $12.95-$16.95 monthly fee.

Nevertheless, to get something you have to give something, and in this case for the 500 bucks saved you lose the features. I won’t go into exact detail, but you may look at the technical specs here compared of both the Series 3 Lite & Standard. The S3L falls a foot back than the regular Series 3, namely because of the lack of the OLED display, the fancier remote, and THX certification. There’s also a 90GB drop in HD size which and that is about 10 hours trimmed of, but at least you still have 180 to go!

Below is a list of features TiVo has to offer:

• Movie & TV Downloads - In partnership with Amazon.com, TiVo brings you Amazon Unbox™ on TiVo®, allowing you to download thousands of movies and TV shows straight to your TiVo DVR. Amazon Unbox on TiVo allows you to rent or buy movies from Amazon Unbox using your remote, download them to your TiVo box over your home network, and enjoy them right on your television set whenever you want. The movies you want are always in stock and new releases are available for purchase the same day they arrive on DVD.  Best of all, order with your TiVo remote from the comfort of your living room and your rentals and purchases end up in your Now Playing list, right where you’d expect them to be.  It’s like having an entire video store connected to your TV.
• Universal Swivel™ Search - Exclusive to the TiVo service, universal Swivel search lets you quickly find everything you want in the world of broadcast and broadband television with a single, powerful search.  It’s the first truly TV centric onscreen search tool that allows subscribers to explore and discover broadcast, cable, and broadband content in an easy-to-use experience.  TiVo subscribers can search using the way they intuitively think about television; that is, by starting with a program they currently enjoy and using elements of that program to find more of what they like.  Universal Swivel search allows viewers to seamlessly link from descriptions of one program to all others that have common elements, including program name, actors, or suggestions based on other viewers’ feedback.
• TiVoCast - TiVoCast delivers original video programming directly to your TiVo box over your broadband Internet connection from a variety of media brands and producers, including the New York Times, CNET, iVillage, The Onion, and many others. The content appears in your Now Playing List, alongside regular broadcast programming as well as your Amazon Unbox rentals and purchases and even Home Movies. It’s all seamlessly integrated into the entire TiVo experience.
• Home Movie Sharing - Instead of burning your home movies to DVD and mailing them to friends and family, now you can share them through a private TiVo channel of your own. Simply upload your video footage or photographs to One True Media (www.OneTrueMedia.com), get a channel code, and send the code out to your audience. Your home videos will show up right in the Now Playing list on their TiVo boxes, so they can enjoy them on their own TV. No need to huddle around a computer screen anymore, home movie sharing delivers those precious moments directly to the TV.
• Online Services -With your TiVo box connected to your broadband home network, you can access a variety of online services right on your TV, including Yahoo! Traffic and Weather, Fandango movie tickets, live radio, podcasts, games and more.
• TiVo KidZone - Only TiVo-branded DVRs give you total control over what your kids see on TV. With TiVo KidZone, you get to choose which shows your children can watch and record. It also helps you discover great new shows for them through recommendations from leading national children’s organizations. TiVo KidZone provides a customized Now Playing List for your children that displays only the shows you pre-approve, keeping their shows separate from your own shows. TiVo KidZone relies on your own personal settings and password to ensure your kids only see what you want them to see, keeping TV as safe as possible.

Want to learn more?

Read [TiVo]

According to an article in New York times today, the stylish celebrated iPhone may be vulnerable to hackers as they may be able to trespass and take control of the iPhone because of a flaw in the gadget.

Researchers working for Independent Security Evaluators, who conduct experiments by hacking into things and checking their security, said that they (Hackers) could take control of iPhones through a WiFi connection or by tricking users into going to a Web site that contains malicious code.  Hackers can then access your personal information that your iPhone contains. Rest Assured, as Apple has said that they take this very seriously and will look into the report submitted.

This may as well be the Achilles Heel for the iPhone, which came out last month on the 29th, and has since raised Apple’s stocks higher and higher.

Read [NYTimes]