Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Summer adventures require some serious gadgetry, enter the Garmin Colorado 400c.  Billed as a mariners best friend this GPS handheld meshes waterproofing, marine Blue Charts and innovative UI and controls.  I’ve got the Colorado in hand for some serious trialing.  My aim is to test it on the sea, land and if I can get it past the FAA, air.  The actual review may be delayed pending my arraignment.

Initial thoughts: wheel is very intuitive to use.  Seems capable for multi-use.  Reaction time is very good to changes in direction.  Satellite acquisition is quick.  Fun to use.

But on to the peep show.  (hit the jump for images)

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Asus has reportedly been working on a new handheld communicator. Now we have some leaked specs along with a pic. The M930W Communicator is rumored to feature Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, Wi-Fi, 256MB ROM, 128MB of RAM and a microSD slot with support for microSDHC cards. The communicator will be powered by a Marvell PXA270M 520 MHz CPU with tri-band GSM, GPRS, EDGE, and HSDPA support and running Windows Mobile 6.

While the specs seem to be pretty solid, the internal display left a little to be desired. With all that room on the sides it would seem to only make perfect sense to include a little larger display. No word yet on pricing or release date.

Via [IntoMobile] Pic [GPS & Co.]

If your collection of CDs, DVDs, comic books or even booze is getting unmanageable, you’ll appreciate this item. The new IntelliScanner Mini, introduced at Macworld 2007, is a wireless handheld barcode scanner you can use anywhere and then upload stored UPCs to your PC. Since barcode information in itself is not especially useful, IntelliScanner Crop. also offers various applications to translate the information and put it into sensible, organized English. (Sounds a lot like Radio Shack’s free but failed and wired :CueCat but much more useful than an annoying lead-in to an online retail catalog).

Even better, they also provide 10 pre-printed barcode Asset Tags so you can slap them on un-coded items to scan. ("C’mere kitty kitty kitty.") You can order more uniquely coded tags as needed ($24 per 100) and then input the appropriate information for that item. ("Kitty, brown, x1, $0.10")

The full bundle, available now for $299, includes the IntelliScanner Mini USB portable scanner, a neck lanyard and all six applications. They also sell other wired and wireless handheld home-use scanners, with prices starting at $179 up to $399, and a professional model at $899.

Here is a list of available software packages:

• Media Collector 2.0 (for books, DVDs, CDs, and games)


• Wine Collector 2.0 (automatically; track locations, tasting notes, and maturity)


• Kitchen Companion (track groceries, build shopping lists)


• Comic Collector (comic book organization with access to a database of 250,000 titles)


• Auction Automator - (online listing tools to help sell your media on the web)


• Home Assets 1.5 (for other home assets and create insurance reports)

If you’ve seen my house (and I hope you haven’t, creepy stalker), then you know I can use something like this to help organize my various collections. I just wish the IntelliScanner was a little less expensive so I could have that extra cash to spend on more collectibles.

Site [Intelliscanner] Product Page [Intelliscanner Mini] Read [MacMinute] Info [CueCat]

Boss’ newest digital recorder, the Micro BR, is just slightly larger than an iPod at 5 3/8 x 3 3/16 x 7/8 inches, can record 4 tracks and play back 32 virtual channels. The BR, selling for just $229, includes onboard multi-effects, built-in rhythm patterns a built-in tuner and microphone, USB port, SD card slot and will play MP3 files. It’s powered by two AA batteries and includes a stereo line/microphone input port, a 1/4 in. guitar input and a 1/8 in. stereo headphone output port. The included 128MB card will hold approximately 65 minutes of mono, 1-track audio, so you’ll want to get a bigger card right away.

Read [Roland/Boss] via [B&H]

The image above looks like a camera phone pic of a T-Mobile PowerPoint presentation.  The picture was leaked earlier today and reveals pretty much everything T-Mobile has in stock for us regarding the Sidekick III and the future of the Sidekick line.

As you can see, we should be seeing the first of what looks like many IIIs in the second quarter of 2006.  The model looks like it will be a music player priced at $299.  We then move into Q4 of 2006 where we’ll be seeing the Sidekick III with music and UMA.  UMA, or Unlicensed Mobile Access, is a technology that allows you to go back and forth between GSM and WiFi.  T-Mobile obviously is getting pretty close to brining their HotSpots into the cellphone mix.

Way out in the second quarter of 2007, it looks like we’ll be seeing the Sidekick NG, a music and video player with UMA support that somehow relates to the RAZR.  Nowadays, I’m sure RAZR is every company’s way of saying “make it really thin,” so expect to see something cutting edge (pun intended).

According to the chart, the Sidekicks will all be priced at $299, except for the Limited Edition models that will be released in Q4 of ‘06.

Read [Engadget]

Gizmodo received a tip from an anonymous individual earlier today.  The tip stated that the Sidekick III will launch in April of 2006.

Here is the quote directly from Gizmodo…

“I was at a conference at [some place] on [doing something for people]. During lunch, I sat next to [Some very important guy who knows this stuff] and we got to discussing the sidekick.

He indicated that the sidekick III would be released in April of 2006. I asked him a few times for hints or details (believe me, I tried) but no luck.”

NOTE: The picture above is via Engadget and is only rumored to be the Sidekick III.

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