Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

We have begun to prep for the Steve Ballmer press conference. This is going to be interesting since Bill Gates has given the CES opening keynote for over 10 years - check out last year’s live blog here. We have seen Steve going absolutely crazy in the past: screaming, yelling, and sweating beyond control. More recently he has seemed to mature with calmer keynotes and more thought out responses. Who knows which Steve will come out tonight in Vegas, but what we do know is that we’ll be seeing a preview of Windows 7, new Halo games, MS connectivity, and more.

Bookmark this page and we’ll get started a bit before 9pm eastern/6pm pacific.
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As usual during live blogs, hit the F5 key on your computer or just hit the refresh button and follow along in real-time.

The biggest show for all Consumer Electronics is kicking off this week.  What things have already been announced?  3D televisions, Palm’s Nova, Canon’s new line up of camcorders and more. 

There’s going to be tons of news and Gadgetell will be on top of it!  We even has a special page set up for Gadgetell’s Live Coverage of CES 2009.

We’ll have coverage of the Steve Ballmer keynote, HP’s plans, the newest from Sony and so much more.  We’ve already got a ton of CES preview posts for you to read.  Take a look.

If you haven’t yet registered as a fan of the site now is the time. As soon as we wrap up from CES and Macworld we will be letting loose a whole bunch of fresh giveaways for 2009. These may or may not include:

• 30+ Plantronics bluetooth headsets
• Singbox Solo and SlingLink
• Pioneer portable satellite radio and car kit
• Philips touchscreen home theater remote
• a Blu-ray player along with a few Blu-ray movie packs
• and much more

Once again, we will announce each contest separately, each with its own entry requirements—but we are sure that you will have to be a member to be able to win…so sign up now!

Image Credit

We are very excited to launch the next version of Gadgetell!  We have rolled this new design out to Gadgetell and Appletell, and will follow-up with Gamertell in two weeks.  Here is a rundown of what we were trying to achieve with the new site and some of the changes that went along with it.

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The new year is upon us and it is time to decide what our resolutions will be.  Music is something that everyone likes, but some of us do not take full advantage of all the great music services out there.  Let’s take a look at 5 popular services that can help you find new music.

1.  Last.fm

I’m sure many of you know about Last.fm already.  One thing that I find annoying is when you know a song by an artist but don’t know any other good ones and you’re left listening to only that one song. 

Keep reading for the complete list. 

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Want a ruby red Palm Centro for absolutely $0?  Normally, this Centro goes for $79.99 with a two year contract.  Here, at Gadgetell, we’re in a giving mood.  We’d like to give a thanks to our friends at Palm providing us with this great phone to give to you.  Here’s what Palm has to say about the Palm Centro:

Life starts after five o’clock. That’s why there’s the Palm Centro smartphone. Palm Centro gives you voice, text, IM, email and web, all in a phone that’s a lot smaller than you think. Touch the screen to make a call. Use the keyboard to send a text. Even keep up with friends using Facebook for Palm.  Carry names and numbers, shoot photos and video. Centro. Let’s go.

What do you have to do to win?  It’s all very simple.  Just post a comment to this article.  Please provide a real e-mail address because that is how we will contact you.  Comment period closes on December 31st, 2008 at 11:59PM Eastern. 

Read: [Full contest rules]
Read: [Palm Centro specs]

Update 12/27/09 - Note that this is a CDMA Palm Centro for Sprint

To keep up with the demand for content we are looking for additional writers who are interested in keeping our readers plugged into the tech world.  If you have a passion for technology, consider joining the team.  We are looking for writers who eat, sleep, breathe consumer electronics/technology and have a refined writing style with added pizazz/personality.  If this sounds like you continue reading…

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You may be incredibly tech savvy (and you must be since you read Gadgetell), but shopping for others can be trouble.  You may understand that a Myth Box is a better value than grabbing a TiVo (with its monthly fees), but before you grab another gift, keep these tips in mind.

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Everybody on the Dabbledoo team wants to congratulate Brian Darnell, the winner of the HP Magic Giveaway.  He will be sharing his good fortune with the Stone City Christian Academy.  We hope you and the school can put this fantastic gift package to good use.  Also, a big thank you to the all the vendors behind the HP Magic Giveaway. 

Quick Review

What is it?

• The Flip Mino HD is a tiny, pocketable, HD camcorder by PureDigital.

What’s Cool:

• Very easy to use.
• Form factor makes it easy to carry around.
• HD video quality is okay.

What’s Not:

• Shiny surface is a fingerprint magnet.
• Low light performance is not as good as the Kodak Zi6.
• Limited to built-in memory / No port for SD or microSD card.

The Crux:

• The Flip Mino HD is fine for what it is, a pocket HD camcorder.  The Kodak Zi6 may be a better value, but the Mino HD is smaller and a slicker looking device with decent quality footage.

Keep reading for an in-depth review after the break.

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