Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

One of the growing markets within the tech world at the moment is the e-reader, a futuristic answer to the book.  Lots of manufacturers are getting in on the act following in the footsteps of the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Readers, it was only a matter of time till portable consoles caught up with this trend.  It would appear that Nintendo is ready to go the e-reader route with their first eBook software allowing you read books on your DS.

The DS would seem like a good solution: it is small, it has a touch screen, it can connect to the Internet and many people have them which translates to a large user base. 

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Its been a while since I’ve been to Times Square, I can’t even draw an image of it in my mind.  It just tends to blend in with the rest of New York City for me.  Almost commonplace in a way.  Now at least there’s something brand new to catch my attention.  JVC has announced that it will be bringing the first ever HDTV to the New York City landmark.

The screen will display at 720p and be powered by LEDs (1,266,400 of them to be exact).  There is no mention of a contrast ratio, but with a size of 19’ by 34’, I doubt many people will be looking for that sort of thing.  The screen will hang just one story above Times Square at Broadway and 43rd.  There will also be a new 71’ LED ticker below the screen, and the JVC globe beneath it will be refurbished for the HD screen’s activation on December 2nd.

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PC Magazine is reporting that Dell plans to change its laptop displays to mercury-free and energy saving LED backlighting.  Two thirds of their Latitude E-series will ship with the new displays by December 15th, and they plan to have 80% of their laptops include the new LED backlights. The transition is expected to be completed by 2010.

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With all the latest changes to weight restrictions on baggage by practically all of the airlines, more and more travelers find themselves trying to figure out if their stuffed suitcase is going to make that new 50-pound limit or be slapped with a whopping $125 (or more!) surcharge.

Well, you could try to stand on your scale and weigh yourself with and without bag and hope your scale is on. (Although this method is rather cumbersome trying to lean around the bag attempting to see the display, and can also be a problem once you are on the return flight and jammed in all those goodies from your trip to Kalamazoo). Or, you could purchase a $25 Balanzaa. Absolutely brainless to operate; the Balanzaa weighs your bag in seconds. It runs on 2 AAA batteries, and itself weighs in at a mere half-pound, so you can even throw it in your suitcase without much worry of tipping those scales too much. The model pictured here is their latest available.

All you have to do is slip the Balanzaa’s strap through the handle of your luggage, pick up your bag and wait for the beep. The LED will quickly show just how much your bag weighs in at…and if you have to remove a couple trinkets or that pair of extra Docs to hit the new airport weight limit. The Balanzaa can measure up to 100 pounds, so if you are carrying something over that, well, I suggest you bring your Visa for that surcharge.

Read [Balanzaa]

• Nintendo DS taps into e-reader market
• JVC is bringing HD to Times Square
• Falcon 1 the first private craft to make it to space

Believe it or not, LED technology is trying to get in our clothes.  Okay, all dirty images aside, I am seriously telling the truth.  LEDs are being integrated into clothing for a look like no other. 

This is part of designer Mary Huang’s very unique lighted fashion line, otherwise known as Rhyme and Reason. 

As you can see from the dress the model is wearing in the photo, she is positively glowing.  The designer didn’t go for the look of bulbs, but a soft glow of an LED beneath the fabric. 

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If you are in the hunt for a camcorder that is not so heavy on the pocket but still wallops some decent features, then the DXG-569v entry level camcorder which was recently released might be just what you are looking for. Retailing for only $170, this cheap camcorder offers 720p (1280x720) video quality aside from other powerful features that you’d think would not come in such an inexpensive camcorder.

These features include full speed video recording, direct video editing using various software and direct upload to YouTube without altering its native format. In addition to being a nifty camcorder, the DXG-569v also doubles up as a decent photo snapper able to capture still images at a 5-megapixel resolution. It can even record voice memos, which allows users to annotate their photos. The camcorder comes packed with 32MB of internal memory with support for expansion via an SDHC memory card slot that can accommodate up to 8GB of additional storage.

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A new method for creating very efficient LEDs has been devised by scientists over at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. The team of brilliant researchers, headed by Hilmi Volkan Demir, have been able to produce energy efficient LEDs that emit a warmer and more natural looking white light than any kind of LED (or any other man-made light source, for that matter) available today.

Using a special layer of nanocrystalline coating, the researchers were able to build an LED that produced whiter light than ever without sucking up more power. This is a huge step in the right direction for the LED light researchers, who have been spending the last decade looking for a way to make LEDs emit “natural light” without sacrificing the unit’s efficiency.

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