Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Christmas is for the kids, right?  Better get them crossed off the shopping list first.  I checked out a few of the wish lists floating around and thought I would share them with you.  Wouldn’t you know, they are filled with electronics.  We have plenty of shopping days til the holidays.  That is, unless your kids want Elmo Live, which is already selling out.

What are your kids asking Santa for? Keep reading to see.

MORE »

Recently, sports gadget manufacturer Freestyle, has released a new waterproof MP3 player called the Soundwave.  Nope, this has nothing to do with Transformers, unfortunately.  Although bringing your MP3 player while diving or snorkeling is already possible before with the use of third-party waterproof casings, Soundwave Freestyle eliminates the need for those with the Soundwave’s waterproof features that allows it to be submerged down to 10 feet of water.

In case the MP3 player accidentally slips from your pocket, it will float onto the water surface so you don’t have to worry about losing it.  The Soundwave MP3 package also comes with an armstrap which can hold the device securely when you are using it on a rugged environment.

MORE »

Compact, rugged, and with a price tag that won’t break the bank, the newest model of outdoor ready compact cameras by Olympus has a clever little feature that they invite users to tap into. Yeah, ok…so I’m sure by now you’ve figured out it has something to do with tapping, right? Well, correct you are.

Usually, one does NOT want to bump, bang, or ever tap their camera any more than necessary. In the case of the Stylus 1050 SW however, Olympus invites their users to “tap into worry-free fun”.  It means just what is sounds like. The camera uses an innovative tap interface where it registers taps on not only the screen area like some other touch screen cameras do; but also anywhere on the camera body. It uses an accelerometer so that it can read taps on different surfaces to control different functions just by tapping the appropriate area. Certain taps on the right side of the camera do one thing…taps on the left another. You can even calibrate the tap sensitivity to your liking. According to Olympus, it offers benefits in adverse conditions as well.

MORE »

Trust Olympus to come up with yet another digital camera geared for photo enthusiasts with highly active lifestyles. The new Olympus Stylus 1050SW is a rugged 10.1-megapixel digital camera that is shockproof, waterproof and freeze proof. It can withstand five-foot drops to the ground, still works even at the most freezing weather condition and won’t get drown out on you even if you submerged it into water up to 3 meters deep.

Related to its rugged features, the 1050SW also features Tap Control which according to Olympus makes the top, back or sides of the camera sensitive to touch which in turn makes up for easy control of the camera’s menu settings. This is made possible by the 1050SW’s 3D accelerometer that detects the direction of the force on the camera’s body.

MORE »

Like we always told you, our Japanese friends are indeed luckier than most of us and NTT Docomo has just reaffirmed that with the announcement of not just one but 19 new mobile handsets set to debut sometime next month in Japan. These 19 new mobile phones are being brought upon to the Japanese by NTT Docomo and all its eight regional subsidiaries. And they all belong in either the 906i or the 706i series.

Since there are so many of them and not that much of the details were announced, it’s enough that we know that all the eight handsets in the 906i series will come packed with all around features that will include 3G/GSM international roaming, GPS, HSDPA, 1Seg mobile TV, mobile credit card and iD mobile credit payments, VGA LCD screen and voice-to-text translation for three languages - Chinese, English and Japanese. NTT Docomo is also touting these mobile phones as multimedia handsets capable of giving out almost 100 channels of downloadable broadcasts as well as searchable videos and clips. The 906i series phones will also be capable of playing Windows Media Video and Flash 8 content as well as upload movies and images up to 2MB maximum capacity.

MORE »

Finally here’s something that actually does what it advertises. Ubanana’s uCan - a waterproof MP3 player that you can actually wear in up to 10 feet deep water. But the best thing about this uber-cool looking gadget is the fact that all the essential parts that you normally get from a normal MP3 player are actually integrated within the gadget itself. Yes folks, that means no dangling wires that connect the earphones to the body of the MP3 player, its all integrated into the player itself.

The uCan has 1GB of memory which can store around 250 MP3 or 500 WMA files and gives out up to 15 hours of battery life. But we wouldn’t advise you to go diving into the open sea and stay under water for 15 hours just to enjoy using the uCan MP3 player, your supply of oxygen might not last that long. You can snag the uCan for $150 once it hits the stores sometime in July 2008.

Product [Ubanana] Via [Switched]

• The new pirate busting idea: second hand music
• Colbert beats West, doesn’t claim top spot
• Reality TV meets Symphonies and Youtube

Photo enthusiasts who also love underwater creatures will have more reasons to dive into the sea if they bring the new Sealife DC800 underwater camera. Touting an ergonomic design, large shutter button and well-spaced buttons, the DC800 offers users with an easy to use and easy to handle camera. When you’re underwater, having this kind of camera would certainly enhance your diving experience, as you won’t have to worry about damaging it.

The DC800 boasts a wide-angle optical lens with 4x optical zoom, auto focus of up to 2-inches and it even has a video mode, so users are not limited to documenting their experiences in still images but on digital video as well. Sealife has also included five unique underwater modes into the DC800. The sea mode allows for taking sharp colorful pictures regardless of the color of the water the user is diving into, two external flash modes, external flash auto mode and the external flash manual mode for the more advanced users.

MORE »

Sanyo has upgraded their Xacti CA-65 waterproof camcorder with the new Xacti DMX-CA8. The DMX-CA8 retains much of the same features as its predecessor except for the addition of an 8-megapixel CMOS sensor and a “Face Chaser” function.

The DMX-CA8 is JIS IPX5 and IPX8 certified, which means that it can withstand one hour of being submerged into water up to 1.5 meters (just under 5-foot) deep. The DMX-CA8 can record video at 60fps with MPEG-4 AVCH/H.264 compression. Like its predecessor, the DMX-CA8 also sports a 5x optical zoom lens. To make the camcorder special, Sanyo threw in a “Face Chaser” function which can track six faces when filming a video or twelve faces when the camcorder is used for still images.

MORE »

Minox is set to introduce the DC 6033 digital camera, which could be the ideal camera for the outdoors. This 6-megapixel camera is rubberized making it very tough and impact resistant; it can withstand sand, dust, dirt, salt. It also can be submerged in up to 33-feet of water, where its built-in flash may come in handy to take well-light pictures. It features 16MB of internal memory, a 2-inch TFT screen for previewing pictures and adjusting settings and 4x digital zoom. It also takes SD cards of up to 2GB in size. Its powered simply by 2 AA batteries and should set you back around $300. No word yet on availability.

Read [Aving] Via [Gizmodo]

• Olympus wants you to get your tap on with their new Stylus 1050 SW
• Freestyle outs its new Soundwave waterproof MP3 player
• Get hopping and start shopping

The Pentax Optio W20 follows in the path of the W10.  Both digital cameras are waterproof to a depth of five feet for up to 30 minutes.  The W10 offered a 6 megapixel resolution, while the W20 ups that to 7 megapixels.  Pentax also added to the W20, a new “Blur Reduction High ISO mode that selects ISO up to 1600”.  Other features for the W20 are the same as the W10, which include a 2.5 inch-115,000 pixel LCD monitor, QuickTime motion JPEG (640 x 480) at 30fps with anti-shake technology, and .6 second start-up and 0.05 second shutter lag.  This shutter lag will make multiple picture taking virtually uninterrupted.

According to Pentax’s announcement earlier this week, the Optio W20 will ship in September 2006 and sell for under $300.  Our only advice is not to take it into the deep end of the pool…we don’t want you to drown.

Via [Livingroom.org]

Read [Pentax]

• Pentax offers up the K2000 entry level DSLR
• Freestyle outs its new Soundwave waterproof MP3 player
• Get hopping and start shopping