Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Remember that innovative Wi-Fi-enabled SD card aptly named the Eye-Fi? Well Eye-Fi, which is what the company is also called, must have been overwhelmed by the success of their product that they decided to add not just one new model, but three to the Eye-Fi SD card series. So, we now have the Eye-Fi Share, Eye-Fi Home and the Eye-Fi Explore.

Actually, there’s not too many differences with these three models. It is still the same Wi-Fi enabled SD card that was launched not so long ago. For instance, both the Eye-Fi Share and Eye-Fi Home are almost identical to the current Eye-Fi models in terms of features. However, Eye-Fi home is geared for users who want to sync their SD card to their PCs only. While the Eye-Fi share lets users to automatically sync their SD card to both their PCs and websites, such as Flickr.

On the other hand, the Eye-Fi Explore is more of a tie-up with Wayport, a major hotspot provider in the US. So, the Eye-Fi Share lets users to automatically upload their photos while connected anywhere there is a Wayport hotspot without the need to authenticate for each location. In addition, the Eye-Fi Share also allows geotagging and supports Skyhook’s Wi-Fi triangulation for GPS purposes.

The Eye-Fi Explore, Eye-Fi Share and the Eye-Fi Home are now available for $129, $99, and $79 respectively.

Via [Ubergizmo] Via [Gizmodo]

While most people would realize that any USB flash drive and any SD, SDHC or MMC card will work perfectly with the Eee PC, some people will always feel a branded product is better. Perhaps in a marketing plan to take advantage of an already hot name, A-DATA has announced a white Eee PC branded SDHC memory card and USB flash drive.

The memory card, which is listed as “The 2nd HDD for your Eee PC,” seems to be nothing more than an regular 8GB SDHC card with the Eee PC logo on it. As for the USB drive, that also offers 8GB of storage and is the standard A-DATA S701 USB flash drive. Both storage options are listed as being a “special Eee PC edition” and are newly colored white, which will match at least some of the Eee’s. The USB flash drive also comes with a leather carrying strap.

Pricing information was not available for the “special Eee PC edition” SDHC card or USB flash drive, but just a guess—I am sure you will be able to find cheaper, and still reliable memory elsewhere.

Via [Eee Site]

At CES, the company SkullCandy unveiled a pretty cool new pair of headphones that have a unique feature. It comes with a SD slot so all you have to do is load in a SD card filled with music and you can listen to it without the need of an MP3 player.

It can even work with any type of SD cards, so if you own let’s say an 8GB or even a 16GB one, it will work and then you have access to loads of music. It will also come in 3 different colors, orange/brown, yellow/white, and black. Furthermore, it comes with a rechargeable battery, and all the controls on the side of the headphones. This pair of headphones look to be pretty cool and I’m not sure why SkullCandy kept it so low profile during CES.

Expect it to start shipping in March/April for an unspecified price.

Via [Ubergizmo]

According to iLounge, Sakar International Inc. will be releasing a product called the iAlbum, which will allow iPod users to transfer data from SD and Memory Stick cards directly without a computer. Not to be confused with other products also called iAlbum such as this and this which are software based, this iAlbum will be an actual physical accessory which connects to the dock connector port on fifth generation and fourth generation color iPods.

Expected to be released late January 2007, the iAlbum will come in black and white colours at a price of $90. This should be a welcome change for iPod users who previously had to connect their iPods to a PC before being able to retrieve their data from SD or Memory Stick cards. This accessory will allow easy data transfer between one’s iPod and other devices while on the go and should be well accepted by iPod users. I just wish Sakar had done some extra preparation and researched other similarly named products on the market beforehand to avoid ambiguous situations, which might confuse some potential buyers.

Read [iLounge] - Read [CrunchGear] - Company [Sakar International]

In the current market, we frequently see flash memory MP3 players with small built-in memory space with no expansion slot. With the ease of buying and downloading songs and video from internet, the limited memory space in most of the current players poses a problem to consumers who want unlimited songs/ videos in their players.

Shiro will be highlighting a new player at CES that not only has an expandable slot (SD/MMC), it also has a built-in speaker that allows you to enjoy your favorite song/ video by yourself or share it with your friends.

Besides serving as a player for songs, this player also has video and photo playback functions. This enables users to watch their favorite movies or view photos anytime, anywhere. The 1.8” 65K color TFT LCD display screen, FM tuner and recording, and one-touch voice recording will win you over. This device also supports multiple languages and has 7 equalizer modes for you to tweak the music to suit your mood.

Read [Shiro]

SD (Secure Digital) cards are such a popular storage medium for gadgets these days. From digital cameras to cell phones to MP3 players, the need to store music, data, pictures and files on such small gadgets are causing these tiny flash-based storage spaces to become valuable commodities.

For the average user, one SD card per gadget usually suffices (ie, 1 GB for digi-cam, 1GB for cell phone, etc.), meaning the card hardly every leaves its place and a person can tell how much space was left by looking at a utility provided within the gadget itself. But for certain people who have tons of data (professional photographers and music junkies come immediately to mind) and need lots of these cards, it might get a bit confusing trying to figure out which card is full, which is half full, and which is usable.

In comes A-Data’s Info SD Card, which conveniently shows a small display on the physical hardware itself. It will display the name of the card, as well as how much space it has left on it. According to A-Data, the card uses bi-stable technology, meaning that it can somehow show the information without drawing extra power. The card will be able to display 2 digits for the name of the card, as well as 4 digits for remaining storage capacity, quite useful for people who have a whole bunch of these lying around and need to find one quickly.

This card has won the “International CES Best of Innovations 2007 Design and Engineering Award,” and will be displayed at the show.

Read [A-Data] Via [Crunch Gear]

What happens when you need to save your game on the Nintendo Wii?  You use an SD memory card, of course.  SanDisk has released a new card that will work perfect, and look perfect too.  The white Secure Digital card comes in 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB flavors and will run you between $34.99 and $89.99.  The answer to your question is no; the new “SanDisk For Wii” card is NOT the only card that will work with the Wii.  In fact, any SD card will work just fine.  But wouldn’t you rather use a card that will look sexy with your shiney new white Wii?  Yeah, me neither.

Read [CrunchGear]

If you’re tired of missing your favorite TV shows or never have the time to watch TV recordings or movies at home because you’re always on the go, then the SanDisk V-Mate is for you! It can record video from a TV, cable, satellite or over-the-air, set-top-box, DVD player, personal video recorder, like TiVo, or a VCR. The V-Mate memory card can then be inserted into a mobile phone, video music player, hand-held game console, or notebook computer and the video replayed. Memory cards supported include SD, MMC, MMCplus MMCmobile, SDHC, MiniSDHC, MicroSDHC, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick PRO Duo.

• Watch whatever you want whenever and wherever you want!


• View favorite TV shows or movies during your daily commute


• Catch those late night TV shows you always miss or the latest episode of your favorite reality show during your lunch break


• Digitize your home videos


• Share favorite video content with family and friends

A remote control and TV-based graphical user interface let users control settings, record and access content. At initial set-up users select their playback device (such as a mobile phone or handheld game) to ensure the recordings are playback-compatible. It has a maximum recording resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. Recording time is approximately 3.6 hours in a mobile phone (at bit rate of 544kbps) and 1.8 hours on a notebook computer (at bit rate of 1.056kbps).

There is a mini-USB connection and cable to connect to a personal computer and it is expected in October for $129.99.

Product Page [SanDisk] Via [Techworld]

At last the multimedia world has found a way to make the most boring sport just a little more exciting. No, they haven’t added exploding golf balls to the PGA or put live alligators in the water. But with Nokia’s new N93 gold edition, a day shooting 18 holes or putting on the green will keep you from putting yourself out of your own misery or shooting yourself. Since Nokia is the official sponsor of both the 2006 and 2007 European PGA tour those in attendance can check out this new mobile masterpiece. This is multimedia art at its finest.  With 3X optical zoom and shooting at 30 frames per second it is like having DVD like quality in your hand , a 3.2 mega-pixel camera, and phone plus Internet communication. Take home your video and with the included Adobe Premiere elements software you can burn your own DVD’s. However, if you’re in the mood to “rough” it, the N93 is equipped with capabilities allowing you to plug into the TV or computer.
Great so the phone is hot but how will it help my golf swing?

I’m glad you asked! The N93 golf edition is equipped with Nokias very own golf-tailored viewfinder to capture your perfect swing. If your at the links with your boss but don’t want to tell him he or she stinks, or you’re desperately trying to save your own behind email the video or send a multimedia message to your friend Tiger. After quickly analyzing that swing you’ll be sure to say hello promotion and bye bye birdie...well whatever comes first.

Available online from today in 15 countries across Europe as well as distributors such as golf clubs and regular Nseries retail channels. The Nokia N93 Golf Edition includes a Nokia N93 multimedia computer, the Pro Session Golf by Nokia application, a 1GB miniSD memory card, a golf instruction DVD as well as a Get Started guide.

Via [Mobiledia]

Looking for a case to store all those different memory card formats--yeah, yeah we with there was just one format as well--but look for further than Digital Foci. The smart stackable slots let you hold as many as 8 memory cards of all different types: CF I/II, MD, SM, MMC, SD, miniSD, MS, MS Duo, and xD card. The case is designed for road warriors with it’s aluminum casing and molded hard rubber lining, providing maximum protection for your memory cards. It weights 3.5 oz and can be bought for $19.95.

Product Page [Digital Foci]
Via [VoIP and Gadgets Blog]