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webOS 1.4 now available for the Palm Pre, Pixi on Sprint

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:34 PM PST

Good news, Palm fans! If you’ve taken a break from jamming on the “Update” button, it’s time to go tap it one last time: the rollout of webOS 1.4 has just begun. The catch: it seems that it’s only for Sprint handsets right now, with the Verizon Pre Plus and Pixi Plus still reporting that 1.3 is the latest release.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

Video: Taris lives on in Star Wars The Old Republic

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 07:18 PM PST


Good news, Taris isn’t gone. It might have been obliterated in The Knights of the Old Republic, but not to the point of no return. The upcoming MMORPG Star Wars The Old Republic will feature a Taris coming back to life 300 years after its destruction and will allow players to impact its future. Clever indeed.

Acer launching ultra-thin Calpella notebooks soon

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 06:30 PM PST

Acer announced today that they are working on a new generation of ultra-thin notebook systems sometime during 2Q2010. The new notebooks will be using the often delayed Intel Calpella chipset, which was released in October 2009.

The new systems will be available in 13-inch, 14-inch, and 15-inch models, and are expected to be less then one-inch thick at their thickest point. Acer has had problems selling the previous generation, that uses Intel’s CULV processors. The Calpella notebooks however, are expected to be significantly more popular and sell better then the current generation. Expected to see some deals on the current machines in the coming months, as Acer chairman JT Wang recently said that the new Calpella based systems will be their major product line in the future.

Review: Razer Vespula double-sided mousepad (and giveaway)

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 02:30 PM PST


Short version: A very slick, but rather small mousepad well-suited to those of you who like hard, slidey surfaces to mouse on. If that sounds good, maybe you should try winning it! Woo!

Features:

  • Two mousing surfaces in one!
  • One side is low traction, the other is… lower traction
  • Grippy corners keep mousepad in place
  • Removable gel wrist rest
  • MSRP: $34.99

Pros:

  • Very slippery if you’re into that
  • Compact, if you like that
  • Gel wrist rest is useful, again, if you like that

Cons:

  • The cons are pretty much the same as the pros

Full review:

This mousepad has a lot of “matters of taste” about it. I hesitate to pass judgment in any way on it, but rather I’ll just let you know how it performs. So this is probably the most complicated mouse pad out there. Generally when you think “mouse pad,” you think “a pad you put your mouse on.” Well, this pad has two sides with different textures and a removable wrist rest. That’s really only a couple extra features to think about, but it’s more than just a pad.

To get a sense of the frictionless nature of the pad and its flippability, check out this little video:

I know, vastly entertaining, wasn’t it, watching my hands move around like that? Hey. How else am I supposed to do it? Let’s move on.

Essentially you’re looking at a personal choice. My mousepad of choice is actually another Razer one, the Goliathus, which is a thick cloth pad. No wrist rest — though I suppose I could “install” the one that comes with the Vespula. So, this mousepad is pretty much the opposite of what I like. That doesn’t stop me from recognizing that it does its job well. The intention was low friction and a removable wrist rest, and I’d be lying if I said the Vespula didn’t have that. Having now returned to my trusty Goliathus, I can really tell the difference in how much force I have to exert on the mouse.

So, sorry to disappoint you guys with an exceedingly short review, but what can I say? It’s a slick little mouse pad, and if it sounds like it’s up your alley, it probably is. Just be aware that it is a bit small. And $35 is a lot of money for a mouse pad.

Product page: Razer Vespula

Giveaway! I don’t need this thing sitting around in a drawer here, and someone would probably love to have it, so I’m just going to give my review unit away to someone. In the comments, tell us briefly what mouse you use and why, and I’ll pick a winner semi-randomly at the end of the weekend.

Pricey massage chair folds into a cube

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 02:00 PM PST

The Venn diagram that drills down to the target buyer of this $800 chair must be a weird mix of people with lots of money, a tiny apartment, and sore legs. In cube form, the product "serves as an ideal footrest or stores unobtrusively in a closet."

If I had an $800 chair in my house, I wouldn't keep it in the closet. I'd try to steer every conversation towards the chair. "Yeah, we were thinking of buying a gigantic TV but decided on the Foldaway Massage Chair instead. I won't tell you how much we paid for it, but let's just say we were thinking of buying a gigantic TV. For $800. We bought the chair instead."

According to the product description:

This chair provides an invigorating leg and foot massage and folds to the size of a small ottoman. The air cells along the sides of the footwells inflate and deflate to deliver a kneading and compression massage that relieves sore, tight muscles in the calves and ankles. Finger-like nodes provide a deep-penetrating acupressure massage on the toes, arches, and soles of the feet. Air cells in the seat expand and contract to soothe pressure points in the lower back and buttocks and provide gentle stretching of the hips and waist.

I'd be interested to see how comfortable this thing would be to sit in for long periods of time.

The Foldaway Massage Chair [Hammacher Schlemmer]

Drummer Hero for the Wii is powered by Arduino

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 01:30 PM PST

So many cool things you can do with Arduino. The possibilities are endless now that we have the technology! Jazari has constructed this very elaborate solenoid/Arduino rig to play a myriad of instruments, all with two Wiimotes. Sure beats playing percussion in band back in high school.

[BoingBoing]

Intel expected to announce Atom N470 on Monday

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 01:00 PM PST

Oh boy, Monday can’t come soon enough. That's when Intel's expected to announce its N470 Atom CPU, according to CNET.

The N470 will be based on Intel's new two-chip Pinetrail architecture and will have a clock speed of 1.83GHz. The currently-available N450 is clocked at 1.66GHz, so that speed bump ought to help some.

The N470 will be the second in Intel's N400 series, joining the N450 which has 512K of cache, a 5.5 watt maximum TDP (thermal design power), Hyper Threading, and a price of $64 per thousand units. It's unclear whether the N470 will offer much different aside from the speed boost.

Verizon to launch 4G in up to 60 markets by mid-2012

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 12:45 PM PST

Everything moves at a lightning pace in the mobile world – everything, that is, except network rollouts. Where as handsets can go from announced to old news in the blink of an eye, network upgrades.. can’t.

Take Verizon’s upgrade to 4G technology, for example: they announced the move to LTE in February 2009, and began testing in one small market nearly half a year later. They’ll be firing it up for commercial use for the first time later this year, with plans to launch in 30 markets before the year is out.

Fortunately, things seem to be speeding up. Verizon has just disclosed plans to double their LTE footprint, just a bit over 1 year after launch.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

Nexus One for Verizon takes one big step closer to reality, clears the FCC

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 12:40 PM PST

Google has made it absolutely no secret that the Nexus One is heading to Verizon. They announced it the very same day they announced the T-Mobile version that’s already floating around, and have had it listed as “Coming Soon” ever since.

Alas, neither Google or Verizon is willing to spill the beans on when it’s coming. “Spring 2010!” they say, as if that satiates our desire for mundane details. But wait! There’s good news: the VZW Nexus One just took a huge step toward hitting retail.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

The F-35 Lightning II could land in your front yard

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 12:32 PM PST


The video above shows off the fancy-pants landing system in the new F-35 Lightning II. Notice the massive hatch just behind the cockpit that helps slow the aircraft down for shorter runways. Of course if that doesn’t work, there’s always the vertical-landing mode on some models where it really could land in your front yard assuming you don’t mind your grass getting burned to hell from the hot gases and whatnot.

Schneier: CCTV is useless

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 12:00 PM PST


Remember that big, 15-member hit squad that assassinated Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh? They were on camera for most of the time they were on the job, walking in and out of hotels, getting picked up on cameras at the airport. No one still knows who they are and they couldn’t have stopped them. It was dead tape until something happened.

As my hero Bruce Schneier says: CCTV cameras don’t work. He writes:

Cameras afford a false sense of security, encouraging laziness when we need police to be vigilant.

Casinos need cameras because they have money at stake. Shops need cameras because they have shoplifters to concern themselves with. But in general CCTVs aren’t a deterrent nor are they a valuable tool. For every criminal caught by a CCTV camera there are hundreds of thousands that go undetected. They’re a waste of money.

via BB

Review: Jabra GO 6430 Bluetooth headset

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 11:20 AM PST

The Jabra GO 6430 headset has the best audio clarity I’ve ever heard from a Bluetooth headset. It’s unmatched. It’s too bad that my ear and the headset don’t get along.

Features

  • Bluetooth connectivity
  • Works comes with quick-connect PC dongle
  • Works with Skype and Office Communicator
  • 6 hours of talk time
  • Charging dock
  • MSRP of $190

Pros

  • Amazing clarity
  • Charges via microUSB
  • Simple sync to a PC with included dongle

Cons

  • Very uncomfortable to wear
  • Very large

Review

The Jabra GO 6430 is absolutely the best sounding headset on the face of this earth. Never before have I heard such detail and clarity from a wireless headset. You would swear that you were talking to God via a fiber optic link.

With that being said, I can’t wear this headset for more than a few minutes. It hurts my ear canal, which is weird because I’ve never had any issues with ear buds or headsets before. But this one bothers me to the point that I stopped using it. That’s a shame because I really enjoyed the sound quality.

The headset ships with a dongle that makes it very easy to link to a computer. Simply plug in the USB dongle, hit the button and you’re connected. There’s no fussing around with Bluetooth settings and whatnot. Even Skype instantly picked up the device and allowed me to use it. I love that.

The headset does have a small limitation in that it does not support streaming media. This is rather strange as even most budget headsets these days will allow users to listen to local media. But for some reason this $190 model does not. Maybe it’s because Jabra felt that the business types that this headset is meant for wouldn’t want to listen to their Tom Jones albums on the go.

The bottom line is that I can still totally recommend this headset because of the sound quality despite the fact that it physically hurt me. Everyone’s ears are different so it might fit others just fine. Just make sure it’s purchased from a retailer with a fair return policy in case it gives you an earache, too.

Product Page

Note to Jabra: Your website for so-called businesses is way over-complicated. It shouldn’t take me five minutes to find this model on the site or a worthless mini-site.

RoboCar G: Japanese venture to sell electric robot car (videos)

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:40 AM PST

We covered various products from Tokyo-based robotics venture ZMP in the past, including a mini robo car, but we never had the chance to blog about an actual robot car (from any company actually). Granted, it’s just a one-seater and not really “robotic”, but the so-called RoboCar G [JP], which is an electric vehicle, doesn’t look too bad and might be the beginning of a new trend.

The car will initially be offered to research institutions, which can go for extras like a laser range finder, a camera, a GPS module, a sonar sensor and other stuff. It’s powered by a lithium-ion battery (57.6V/10Ah) and is sized at 2480×1280×1370mm. ZMP says their vehicle boasts a maximum speed of 60km/h and can travel 30km when equipped with one battery or 60km with two batteries on board.

The company also claims buyers will have to pay just 0.05$ per km in running costs as opposed to the 0.14$ required for gasoline-powered vehicles. It says it applied years of experience in the robotics field in the design of the car.

The RoboCar G will be built to order, with the final price depending on the number of extras required. ZMP says the first cars are expected to be delivered around November this year.

Here are two RoboCar G promo videos (sorry for the bad quality):

Via Tech-On

I wouldn’t know what to do with the Monochron

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:37 AM PST


From the product description,

We wanted to make a clock that was ultra-hackable, from adding a seperate battery-backed RTC to desiging the enclosure so you could program the clock once its assembled.

Translation? This clock is for true nerds. Video after the jump.

Monochron

The Back-Up: Access your shotgun while in the lying position

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:00 AM PST

$39.95. That’s all you have to spend to protect your home from the comfort of your bed. Buy two! One for each side of the bed! Buy three for the bottom of your bed when you and the missus are doing the “strangle dangle thing.” Buy one for the couch! Buy one for the pool-side lounger! We’re living in crazy times, people. This is the only way you’ll survive.

If a shotgun is in the corner of a room or under the bed, one must turn their back on a perpetrator to access it
The BackUp allows for 2 second accessibility when in need
The Back-Up provides this from a lying position in bed. Just reach 8 inches along the side of the mattress, feel your gun as it is racked parallel to the floor. Simply raise the gun from the rack for use.

I for one am clinging to to my guns, religion, and pillow.

Thanko’s mouse has a built-in speaker

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 09:21 AM PST

Tokyo-based crap gadget maker Thanko continues to amaze. The company today announced [JP] a mouse with an integrated speaker, believe it or not (Thanko already gave us the “mid-air” mouse, the USB cooler mouse, a heated mouse, and a liquid mouse).

This new model is supposed to replace conventional speakers that take away so much valuable space on your desk, but I doubt this will happen. Thanko also throws in a mic so you can use the mouse/speaker for your Skype calls, too.

The 1000dpi/USB mouse is already listed on Thanko’s Japanese website and costs $20 (including the mic). Ask import/export specialist Geek Stuff 4 U if you live outside Japan and are interested in this thing for some reason.

The Shuttle barebone XS35 HD is as thick as my granola bar is wide

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:11 AM PST

Don’t be fooled by the size of this Shuttle computer. It has everything that you would fine in a larger rig but is barely larger than a convential 3.5-inch hard drive at 33mm wide. But you probably knew that. After all, it is 2010 and small form factor computers are nothing new.

You should probably know the specs, too.

  • Intel Atom D510 Dual Core CPU
  • NVIDIA GT218 ION2 GPU
  • HDMI
  • 5 USB ports
  • Mult-format card reader
  • 2.5-inch hard drive
  • Optional slimline optical drive
  • Fanless
  • VESA mount for rear-TV/monitor mounting

There’s no word on pricing just yet, but it should be shown off next month at CeBIT and available in the second quarter of 2010. [Shuttle via SlashGear]

The Boxee Beta hits Apple TV

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:07 AM PST


The news is a bit aged but Boxee Beta is now on the Apple TV which means folks who updated to the latest ATV firmware can now get their media fix on. How do you get it? Hop over here, make a nice little patchstick, and rock out.

Boxee has full instructions right here and here’s our quick how-to.

Curious about Boxee Beta? Jason took a look at it and said:

The new version is really a complete overhaul of the app — it's received a new, sexier UI that makes it easier to browse through the service's content (and anything you might have saved locally too). Niceties include the ability to filter a show by season and episode and easier sharing using Boxee's social features. There's a lot that's changed in the background too, including a switch from OpenGL to DirectX and support for hardware-accelerated video decoding for Windows users.

Sony’s NV-U35 is more than just a portable navigation system

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:03 AM PST

Sony Japan today announced [JP] the “nav-u NV-U35″, a portable navigation system that also can be used as a music and video player. The device comes equipped with 8GB of internal flash memory and a 3.5-inch LCD screen with QVGA (320×240) resolution. It supports video in MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 (Baseline Profile), MPEG-4 (Simple Profile) and WMV (VC-1 Main/Simple Profile) formats.

Music can be played in MP3, AAC, WMA, ATRAC, HE-AAC and linear PCM formats, while the NVU35 displays pictures as JPEGs. Buyers also get a 1W mono speaker, a USB port and a Memory Stick Duo slot.

The device is also water-resistant (IPX 5), comes equipped with quite powerful navigation software (that’s only useful within Japan though), features Sony Blu-ray recorder connectivity and has a battery life of about 4 hours (after a full charge).

Sized at 112×17.8×79mm, the NV-U35 weighs just 176g. It will go on sale in Japan on March 13 for $410. Sony hasn’t said anything yet about international sales but does offer those navigation systems outside Japan, too (this one, for example), which means a release in the US is possible.

DTS Surround Sound to be found in “virtually all” upcoming Samsung TVs

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 07:30 AM PST

Chances are that the next Samsung TV you’ll buy, if you buy a Samsung TV that is, will have DTS Surround Sound. The TV maker just signed an agreement with DTS that will place the magical sound decoders in “”virtually all Samsung digital televisions worldwide.” This is good.

Of course the audio won’t sound all that spectacular if owners settle for the quarter-sized speakers built-into most Samsung TVs. The decoders will be best utilized if a proper surround sound system is connected through the TV’s digital audio out. Sure, many people likely connect their audio system up through a cable box, but there are also a good amount that use the built-in digital tuner and this addition is for them.
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