Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

I was struggling to come up with the right words to describe this latest gadget from Better Energy Systems. Simply put, the Hybrid1000 is just awesome, especially for those who are always on the move with lots of portable gadgets such as PDAs, mobile phones, iPods, MP3 players, digital cameras just to name a few. You will never run out of power again no matter where you go with this cleverly invented universal hybrid charger that lets you plug into the sun to charge your devices.

The Hybrid1000 can be powered by the sun, through its built-in solar panel or plugged into the USB port of any computer to recharge the internal battery.

Checkout the Hybrid100 features:
• Easy-to-use, portable power works anywhere, anytime
• Runs on free and green energy
• Charge mobile devices without the need for a power outlet
• 5-Watt output charges virtually any hand-held device
• 6 Volt 100mA solar panel generates energy from the sun
• Internal Lithium Ion battery stores power for up to 1 year
• Battery level indicator accurately informs user of supply
• Integrated carabiner-clip handle provides carrying versatility
• USB cord allows for charge from personal computer
• Dimensions: 198mm x 68mm x 18mm
• Super rugged, weatherproof and lightweight design

At USD79.95 per unit, this has to be one of the best valued gadgets money can buy.

[Product Page]

Congratulation to Philips for achieving the one millionth unit of its popular Digital PhotoFrame. The great milestone will be celebrated by having a special presentation exclusive to Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) 2007. ArtDisplay, the French company that creates dynamic, digital artwork especially for flat screens, is providing Philips with four astonishing images to be shown exclusively on the 9 -inch Digital PhotoFrame showcased at IFA.

“The millionth Digital PhotoFrame is a great milestone for Philips, and what better way to celebrate this accomplishment than through digital art,” said Rudy Provoost, Chief Executive Officer, Philips Electronics. “We are excited to announce that these stylish images will be shown exclusively on our PhotoFrames at IFA. Our alliance with ArtDisplay gives us the opportunity to bring high profile digital art into the consumer electronics realm.”

Some highlights of the Digital PhotoFrame:

• Great image display using high resolution LCD panel
• Internal memory that is capable of storing up to 1,000 digital images
• Ability to save pictures straight from a memory card or connecting the device to a PC via a USB connector.
• Convenient software for easily managing your photos and albums
• Supports a multitude of memory card formats including compact flash (CF), secure digital (SD), secure digital SDHC, multimedia card (MMC), memory stick (MS, MS Pro), Memory Stick Duo (via adaptor), Memory Stick Pro Duo (via adaptor) and micros secure digital (via adaptor)

[Product Page]

Sakar International had just released more excitements for your kids for this coming holiday with its kid-friendly Crayola range of consumer electronics.

For starters, this Crayola EZ Grip digital camera would mean loads of fun for your children. Cleverly designed for small kids hands, this camera comes equipped with proprietary ‘ColorGenie’ software that includes a ‘write a story’ template, printable frames, the ability to create finger puppets out of images, and puzzles and games.  Available at Amazon for $49.99, this is surely a value-for-money holiday fun for your beloved children.

If you are buying a new computer for them this coming holiday, you may want to keep some of the accessories that come with the computer in the original box as Sakar’s range of computer accessories might just be the gadgets you prefer for your children’s learning and fun.

Crayola Type n Learn keyboard comes color-coded to make it easier for children to distinguish among letters, numbers and symbols.

Add to that is the Crayola Click Mouse which has cute Crayola characters afloat in a safe, non-toxic liquid give off a water globe effect. As a matter of fact the cute mouse is fun to click even for adults. With Crayola Frame Mouse Pad, your kids can slide any photo or drawing up to 4 x 6 into the sleeve and change as often as they desire.

The computer accessories are available at Circuit City with price tags of $29.99, $14.99 and $8.99 each for the keyboard, mouse and mouse pad respectively.

You may not have the same taste as mine when it comes to design, but I really think the latest 1TB external harddisk drive from TrekStor is really good looking and gorgeous. Compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems, the DataStation duo w.u is a new 3.5-inch external USB hard drive. The harddrive actually has two 500GB drives but the device is recognized by your computer as a single 1TB drive.

The bootable drive that comes pre-formatted is really fast with its hi-speed USB 2.0 interface. Not only that, it also comes with Nero BackItUp2 backup software that operates via a single push-button, which is really easy and convenient for novice and experience users alike. The software compresses the backup directly “on-the-fly” to reduce data volume giving you more value for your money. Of course data can also be password protected to guard against unauthorized access.

So who really needs this huge of a hard drive, you might be wondering?  Dumb question I guess but I will answer myself anyhow.

Corporate customers obviously can benefit a lot with having a single hard drive to store huge data on a single drive. But if you are like me, 1TB drive means you can just dump everything from my digital camera into the huge storage space. You can always come back to the images to delete whatever you want to get rid of for whatever reasons. And those MP3 songs you were planning to throw away to make way for newer songs can also stay longer than it would have been without the DataStation duo w.u, if you don’t mind to part with $429.99 from your savings.

The external storage drive is available online and in store at J&R Music and Computer World (www.jr.com), Amazon.com, and TheStorStore.com.

Read [TrekStor] [Product Page]

I am talking about a brand spanking new user-driven events management site…. appropriately named ImThere. I mean I am really there… at ImThere right now because the event.. the launching of ImThere… is really happening right now.

ImThere is a brand new web project by Ramped Media which is founded by two grade school friends David Gorman and Benjamin Roodman. The Ramped Team had been working around the clock to let me say ImThere whenever I am there at any event which can be created by me or you or anyone who sign up for an ImThere account.

ImThere is completely user-driven service dedicated to your events, your interests, and your life. With ImThere, we expand the definition of event to include interest-related events, such as the release of a product like the iPhone, hot new movies, album releases, or even Talk Like A Pirate Day. Unlike typical event sites that are solely a listing and a map, events on ImThere become thriving communities.

ImThere allows users to:

• Form active communities based around any event or interest
• Meet and interact with friends and likeminded users
• Share your social experiences from anywhere using your mobile phone
• Add events, venues, and artists to share and promote to other users
• Browse events, venues, artists, and users customized to match their interests

By the way, if you are visiting ImThere, I suggest you fire it up in your Firefox browser instead of IE because the latter does not seem to render the site as good as Firefox does. Hopefully that will be improved in the future unless the Ramped Team did it on purpose so that Bill Gates will hesitate to say ImThere at the launch… if you know what I mean.

Read [ImThere] [Ramped Media]

Founded in 1977 by Allen Boothroyd and Robert Stuart, Meridian developed the world’s first audiophile CD player and the world’s first consumer digital surround controller. While others choose to follow, Meridan continues to lead and innovate when it comes to digital home theater.

Celebrating it’s 30 years of success, Meridian had just announced the availability of it’s latest innovation, state of the art home entertainment gadget, the G95 DVD Surround Receiver. And coming from an award-winning company that is widely recognized as a world leader in digital and analog audio reproduction, the G95 DVD Surround Receiver delivers just what is expected from such a device.

The G95 is a full 5.1 DVD-Audio/Video Surround Receiver with both stereo and surround modes, a robust slot-loading DVD drive and five gutsy built-in digital power amplifiers to drive your choice of passive loudspeakers, plus an active subwoofer output. It plays audio CDs, MP3 CDs, Video CDs, DVD-Video, and DVD-Audio discs including the DVD side of DualDisc hybrids. It can decode Dolby Digital, DTS, MPEG, MP3, and MLP data streams to PCM for stereo and multichannel playback. Stereo and multichannel digital audio outputs are also available via HDMI at up to 192kHz.

The high quality hand-built receiver unit does not come cheap though. At a recommended retail price of $8,495, only those who truly appreciate finest quality would be willing to part with the hard earned cash, all for the listening pleasure that comes from the G95 DVD Surround Receiver.

Read [Meridian G95 Product Page] [G95 Data Sheet]

What do you do if you can’t overcome your competitor in business world? Seek help from the court and Google did just that.

Less than a week after antitrust regulators agreed to force Microsoft to address Google’s complaint about Vista’s built-in desktop search, the search giant is asking the federal court for more.

Years ago, Microsoft had settled several federal and state antitrust cases against the company with an oversight that is supposed to expire on November 12, 2007. Gogle now is asking the court to extend the oversight which will be to Google’s advantage, if accepted by the court.

What is at stake is definitely worth a lot of money to both Microsoft and Google and it all revolves around the choice Microsoft is giving to the users of its Vista operating system to install alternative search engine. Google is fighting for a fair chance to let the users decide to use Google search engine instead of Microsoft’s own search results.

Google alleged that Microsoft has a history of aggressively minimizing the impact of court-ordered relief and that the changes it made to accommodate alternative desktop search tools are vague and need clarification. In other words, the search king is not convinced that Microsoft is doing all it can to give consumers greater access to alternative desktop search providers.

Read [Top Tech News]

If you had purchased Gateway’s notebooks model 400VTX or 450ROG that come with the battery part numbers 6500760 and 6500761, you are at risk and should immediately stop using the notebook.

“Under certain conditions,” Gateway says, “these battery packs can overheat and create a potential fire hazard.” The battery packs in question were included in the Gateway 400VTX and 450ROG series, which were sold through a variety of channels between May and August, 2003.

Read more about the Gateway battery recall exercise and find out how you can exchange your notebooks batteries free of charge before it explodes right in your face and cause injury.

If this notice is too late and you already had scars and burns on your body, you may want to check out Schmidt and Clark’s Gateway battery recall lawsuit to file your claim for compensation.

As a matter of fact, you should bookmark Schmidt and Clark’s homepage as it might be handy for you in the future….just in case you need some help in a potential lawsuit…. the attorneys there know nothing but lawsuit… if you know what I mean.

Read [TopTechNews]

Unfortunately not for me and my children…. because I don’t play video or computer games at all. But my son and daughters play computer games like crazy.

However, somewhere in Moorestown, New Jersey, a different story unfolded for John Idler and his children, Elizabeth, 13, and Josh, 14.

At John Idler’s home in Moorestown, New Jersey, a dining room has been converted into a gaming center with three computers linked to the Internet, so he and his sons can play online PC games while sitting side-by-side.

It’s also right next to the TV room, so the whole family can still talk, even if his non-gaming wife and daughter would rather watch television.

He said the fun of video games is certainly part of the lure, but it’s really just an excuse to spend time together.

And John is certainly not alone.

A national survey released last year by the Entertainment Software Association, a video game industry group, found that 35 percent of parents play video games, of which 80 percent play with their children. Mothers, too, were part of the study

Come to think of how good these family relationships can be… maybe I should consider learning to play video or computer games after all? Would you?

Read [CNN.com Technology]

Microsoft is making further inroad into China and this time it has acquired a one percent stake in China’s Sichuan Changhong Electric. The deal also let Microsoft form a cooperative alliance with the TV and electrical appliance maker to develop, make and market TVs, computers and other digital home-entertainment products.

The project will face challenges that have dogged several such collaborations in the past, but the market is now more mature and the deal gives Microsoft a foot in the door with a potentially key player, said Sigurd Leung, head of IT research at Beijing-based Analysys International.

“Changhong is a state-backed company, so for Microsoft to get 1 percent is still quite significant,” he said.

China offers a potentially huge consumer market and Bill Gate is definitely on the right track to capitalize on the opportunity to make expand further in one of the most powerful economy in the world. The richers are definitely getting richer.

Read [CNET News]