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photoshop contest

Use Photoshop to Create Some Really Awkward Gadget Cross-Promotions

Sometimes, two companies decide that it would be advantageous to them both to release a product together. Sometimes it works well, like when Nike and Apple teamed up. Sometimes, it's a bit more awkward. For this week's Photoshop Contest, I want to see some really awkward cross-promotions. You know, like a Jimmy Dean Sausage Nintendo DS Lite. More »

12:10 PM on Thu Aug 28 2008
By Adam Frucci
4,845 views, 39 comments

Latest by danger the pirate: Summer's Eve feminine wash and Taco Bell. Don't forget to keep your taco clean! *sigh* yes, I'm that bored. more »

IFA 2008

Miss IFA Shows Us Her Jewels, and Her Philips and Swarovski Crystals Too

Ah Miss IFA, Miss IFA... Miss IFA with your—fake—red hair, Miss IFA with your—real—long legs, Miss IFA with your really big Philips and Swarovski Active Crystals... how much do we love thee? Let me count the ways. More »

11:50 AM on Thu Aug 28 2008
By Jesus Diaz
17,804 views, 28 comments

Latest by phijef: OCD much? more »

ifa 2008

Philips Cinema One Squeezes Home Theater System into Tiny Round Box

As mentioned in the liveblog, Philips has stumped up a new home theater system that's as small, and almost as round as, a soccer ball—for those of us bored of boring, standard rectangular entertainment gadgets. Though it's tiny, it fits in an iPod dock, a five-channel amp, six speakers and a subwoofer built into the base. It must be pretty cramped inside, since it's just 10.75-inches across, and only 6.75 high. The DVD player can cope with DivX, MPEG-4 and WMV, and upscales to 1080p over HDMI and the CD player can read MP3 discs, and it's got USB-in. If that's whetted your appetite, you'll have to wait as there's no info yet on timing or price. But the press release is below. More »

9:59 AM on Thu Aug 28 2008
By Kit Eaton
1,870 views, 4 comments

Latest by n/a: @Shub-Niggurath: Wow, bro! Thank you for offending Jesus and Mexicans. The concept of a true Home Theater In a Puck more »

thunder storm

BlackBerry Storm Has Multiple Personalities: is BlackBerry Thunder

So after much to-ing and fro-ing, it looks like BlackBerry Storms are BlackBerry Thunders ("...and violets are blue, I'm schizophrenic, and so am I" as a schoolyard song used to go.) The same device will bear two names: Storm for Verizon, Thunder for others like Rogers and Vodafone. It seems like there'll be an 8GB microSD card along with the phone, which has a 3.5mm headset jack, and pre-installed SIM card, though the box suggests there's no Wi-Fi. [Engadgetmobile via BoyGeniusReport]

9:00 AM on Thu Aug 28 2008
By Kit Eaton
6,640 views, 27 comments

Latest by purple-pillows: no wi-fi RIM what are you doing to me... i return my iphone to hold out for the storm/thunder/other weather more »

upscaling

Toshiba's Regza ZF HDTVs Do Their Own Cell-Processor Upscaling

Toshiba's new Regza ZF HDTVs don't upscale your DVDs to HD resolution with any old chipset or engine: they do it with a Cell-processor based system. Bonkers! It's the first TV to upscale with a Cell, and according to its European executive vice president, Toshiba's future "does not involve Blu-ray disc" but will use this sort of tech to deliver high-res imagery. The upscaling system uses the Cell for some advanced image-processing techniques, creating interpolated pixels to give the final image "near-HD" quality. The sets will also have Active Vision M100 100Hz HD picture processing, 178-degree viewing angle, 30,000:1 contrast ratio and 10-bit processing. The ZF TVs will be in 40- and 46-inch sizes, the 40-inch out now with pricing of around $2,390, the 46-pricing and availability is not announced yet. [Toshiba.co.uk and Toshiba.de-via Google translate.]

7:46 AM on Thu Aug 28 2008
By Kit Eaton
966 views, 7 comments

Latest by mcjake: @frigg: "Post Format War Stress Disorder" HA! Well played! more »

digital cameras

Sony's Cybershot T500 Digital Camera Shoots HD Video Too

As we saw in the Sony IFA 2008 Liveblog, these new Sony Cybershot digital 10.1 megapixel cameras also shoot HD video (720p, though that's not mentioned in the press release.) The T500 has a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens with 5x optical zoom, 3.5-inch touchscreen, eight-person face tracking, and something called "Double Anti-blur" technology which combines high sensitivity (for fast shutter times) with optical image-shake reduction. It can also connect directly to your HDTV and do slideshows, music and video shows without needing a PC. It's due October, price info still to be announced. Press release below. More »

6:50 AM on Thu Aug 28 2008
By Kit Eaton
2,076 views, 7 comments

Latest by dOk: Kodak beat everybody a year ago with 720p HD video and several of their cameras. And its 30 fps which more »

blood testing

World's Smallest Blood Glucose Meter Gets FDA Approved: True2Go

Testing your blood glucose levels if you're a diabetes sufferer may not mean hauling around largeish devices now that the True2Go from Home Diagnostics has won FDA approval. It's the world's smallest, "about the size of a quarter"... it's just about the same size as an iPod shuffle. It's small enough to twist "on to a vial of test strips so diabetics can better manage their diabetes with the convenience of on-the-go testing," which is darn convenient, and it uses 0.5 microliters of blood and has a test memory display. No word on pricing or release timings yet. [Medgadget]

5:48 AM on Thu Aug 28 2008
By Kit Eaton
1,035 views, 9 comments

Latest by jamesdenver: sorry meant to write "Its quite new, and not quite perfect, but its the best technology for awareness and control." Also more »

home control

Philips Makes Pronto Home Control Mega-Remote More Mega: TSU9800

It's been a long while since we mentioned Philips range of Pronto home-control remote systems, but Philips hasn't forgotten them: it's been making the mega-remotes even more mega with the upcoming TSU9800. With a bigger touchscreen (6.4-inches, folks), and an dock that also does ambient lighting, it can also be mounted on the wall of your swanky Wi-Fi-enabled remote-controlled house to let you switch on "audio/video servers" for which it gives "feedback information such as album/DVD art and song information." Philips has also updated the software used to program the remote through a PC, and now ProntoEdit Professional 2.0 lets you drag and drop design your configurations and user interfaces for the 9800. Swish indeed: which is why it's due to cost $2,400 when it's out in September. Press release below. More »

4:52 AM on Thu Aug 28 2008
By Kit Eaton
1,334 views, 3 comments

Latest by mrbofus: It looks nice and all, and I'm sure it does what it does well, but when you can get the more »

sony

Sony Shows Bravia TVs with 1,000,000:1 Contrast, Due in October

As well as crazy thinness, Sony's other upcoming TV releases include crazy contrast: one million to one. The XR1 series of Bravia's will be 1920 x 1080 pixel full-HD models, featuring tri-color RGB LED backlighting for an improved color gamut, and dynamic switching backlighting tech to generate that enormous contrast ratio (it's about 3,000:1 in static mode.) There's a 10-bit Bravia 2 Engine processing the images inside, with separate algorithms for SD and HD picture sources, 120Hz Motionflow tech to improve smoothness, the usual range of connectors plus an extra USB port for connecting digital cameras. The XR1 will be in 46- and 55-inch sizes, for around $5,500 and $6,800, due October 10 in Japan at first. [AVWatch]

4:24 AM on Thu Aug 28 2008
By Kit Eaton
2,458 views, 6 comments

Latest by markarian: You know, LCD panels just keep getting a little better, a little better, a little better as time goes by. more »

r/c

3-Channel Black Stealth R/C Chopper For $30

The guys at Think Geek are bringing R/C junkies one of the cheapest 3-channel mini choppers on the market with the new "Black Stealth." Unlike dinky 2-channel versions, the Black Stealth can handle forward flight with ease—or so they claim. In fact, Think Geek goes so far as to say that it is the easiest to fly small copter they have ever used. I would be kind of skeptical with a price tag of only $30, but the video below does a good job of showing off its capabilities. More »

7:30 PM on Wed Aug 27 2008
By Sean Fallon
15,552 views, 34 comments

Latest by doofusgumby: somebody come back with a review of it. I've seen videos like this before, bought one, and it was more »

question of the day

Question of the Day: How Many USB Ports Are You Using?

If you are anything like me, you have waaaay too many gadgets plugged into your USB ports. I have a hub of course, but it is still hard to keep up with the insane amount of stuff you can plug in these days. That having been said, I am curious to know how bad things have really gotten. So, how many USB ports are currently in use on your computer? More »

5:10 PM on Wed Aug 27 2008
By Sean Fallon
11,522 views, 115 comments

Latest by n/a: Only 6 for me: Mouse Keyboard USB key (not always in, but a slot saved for it) External backup drive more »

cellphones

Samsung A837 Details Hit: Tough to Military Specs, Star Trek-Alike Grill

Over at BoyGeniusReports they've got hold of images and specs of Samsung's upcoming A837 cellphone, due on AT&T, and it's a gruff one indeed. It's a quad-band, HSDPA-enabled phone, with push-to-talk, aGPS, MP3 player, Bluetooth and a 1.3-megapixel cam. Its military-spec design and toughness make it stand out from similar phones, but not as much as that pierced gold-color grill on the face. Does it seem a little original Star Trek communicator to you? Due around September 15 for between $99 and $150. [BGR]

10:20 AM on Wed Aug 27 2008
By Kit Eaton
3,744 views, 17 comments

Latest by n/a: I love a good gadget as much as the next guy, but I'm stickin to my old school nokia canybar more »

textures

Scientists Work Out Way to Capture 3D Texture Info in a Flash

Some scientists at University of Manchester in the UK and Dolby Canada in Vancouver have worked out a way to capture 3D info of complex-textured objects really simply with a camera flash. You should care about this because it's likely to make the textures applied to characters and objects in computer games way more realistic: normally texture capturing needs expensive devices like laser scanners. More »

10:00 AM on Wed Aug 27 2008
By Kit Eaton
6,419 views, 32 comments

Latest by DUOPHONIX.com: @catbutt: Their technique would suffer from the same problem. The image i would take would be the initial flash one, so there more »

War Gadgets

First Fully-Unmanned Machine Combat in History Heralds Robotic Apocalypse

For the first time in history, an unmanned machine has engaged and destroyed another unmanned machine in real combat. It sounds like science fiction, but it happened a week ago in Iraq, when a MQ-9 Reaper killed a remote controlled vehicle carrying a bomb. More »

9:15 AM on Wed Aug 27 2008
By Jesus Diaz
17,455 views, 60 comments

Latest by A3rd.Zero: @Kaveh: Sure that would work. Until you went to the county that you just "won" and said "hey I'm more »

docks

DLO's Homedock Pro Adds 1080i HD Output to Your iPod

It was way back in February when we first alerted you to DLO's upcoming Homedock, but now there's more info available. The Homedock HD Pro is an upscaler dock that can add 1080i or 720p output to your iPod through an HDMI cable to your TV, and it's going to be demoed at the upcoming CEDIA Expo show. It's got "industry standard connectivity" over RS-232 and I.P., with digital optical audio and an IR receiver so you can bolt it into your media setup and control it with universal IR remotes. Better still the dock has an "enhanced on-TV interface" which "features album art in an icon-based format," which makes it sound like a mini AppleTV. There's no pricing info as yet. [CEPro]

8:45 AM on Wed Aug 27 2008
By Kit Eaton
1,476 views, 5 comments

Latest by n/a: Any watchable amount of *real* HD content is gonna chew through your ipod's disk space real fast-like more »

memory

Sandisk Exreme III SDHC Cards Blaze Along at 30MBps, 50% Faster than Before

Sandisk previously popped new Extreme III versions of its Memory Stick lineup, and now it's extended the tech to SDHC. The new family of cards can cope with 30MBps read/write data rates, a 50% speed boost over previous versions and a "new speed record" according to Sandisk. They're designed for digital cameras that have a high-speed burst mode, like the Nikon D90, and can safely capture "39 images in continuous shooting mode at 4.5 frames per second with a file size of 6.0 MB JPEG L Fine per image." You'll have to wait 'til October, and expect to spend $64.99 for the 4GB card, $109.99 for 8GB and a sizable $179.99 for 16GB. Press release below. More »

8:00 AM on Wed Aug 27 2008
By Kit Eaton
1,761 views, 9 comments

Latest by n/a: @Thud: the max capacity of the microSDHC card is now 8GB @ $30.... how about making that 32GB?.. the size of more »

projectors

Epson Adds Moviemate 55 to Projector Lineup, 3LCD Tech, Built-in DVD

Epson's just added to its Moviemate lineup of digital projectors with the 55 model. It uses a three-chip 3LCD system for high image quality, a new E-TORL lamp that can blaze up to 1,200 lumens, and has a built-in stereo speakers and DVD player. That's where its interesting though, since that player is just standard progressive-scan 480p, and nowhere does Epson make reference to the projector's resolution. It may indeed be able to throw a "16:9 widescreen 60-inch image from only six feet away" but this might not interest you if you're after HD imagery. Still it weighs just eight pounds and costs $699, so that might let Epson off. Due in October. Press release below. More »

6:59 AM on Wed Aug 27 2008
By Kit Eaton
1,048 views, 2 comments

Latest by TurboFool: The unit is only 480p, but that's all it's designed to be. It's mainly for families to play movies on, more »

iphone ipower

iPower Backup Battery for iPhone Has Built-in Speaker too

Brando's new extra-juice supply for the iPhone (both gens) sets itself apart from all the others by having a built-in speaker, making it its own speaker-dock. Though it's a clunkily large beast, this is because it's got a 2400mAh battery inside, which can give your iPhone three hours of life and speaker action—probably handy if you're into movie-watching on the device. It's got an extending grip arm to secure the phone inside, a power on-off switch and the 3G version has external volume control buttons. Available now for $44. [Brando]

6:38 AM on Wed Aug 27 2008
By Kit Eaton
3,950 views, 14 comments

Latest by brundlefly76: When is Gizmodo going to cough up a few bucks for an iPhone supplementary battery shoot-out? more »

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