GadgetMETER - Meet The Coolest Trends » Digital Cameras/Photos

How To Convert iPod Touch to iPhone

Quang Ly — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:17:49 +0000

How To Convert iPod Touch to iPhone

Exciting news for Apple fans as the Apple Peel 520 is rumoured to be coming to the US. The handy peripheral will allow consumers who have shelled out hundreds of pounds on an iPod to convert their favourite musical device into a fully functioning phone. It will also save space in your handbag or pocket.

Designed like a protective case, the Apple Peel 520 comes complete with a dock connector, battery and SIM card and will provide users with five hours of talk time and 120 hours of standby use.

For even the most technologically challenged individuals, the Apple Peel 520 is easy to use. After installing the required software, two apps appear on the iPod Touch home screen: Yosian and YsSMS, which provide voice and text support. When the communication module is switched on, a signal bar and a battery icon will appear in the middle of the iPod Touch’s status bar. To make a call, users simply tap the Yosian app icon which loads the numpad screen.

The device is currently available in China for 520 Yuan but North American distributor, GoSolar USA said that the first demonstrations of the Apple Peel 520 are expected to arrive in America sometime next week.

“We’re obviously very confident that consumer demand is high for the Apple Peel 520, and we’re looking forward to getting our hands on the first batch,” said GSLO President and CEO Tyson Rohde.

“As soon as they arrive, we’ll begin distributing demonstration models to retail buyers across the country. The amount of interest in this product that we’ve received from distributors has been staggering.”

GoSolar are looking to sell the peripheral in Radio Shack, Best Buy, Walmart and Fry’s Electronics but no details regarding its retail price in the USA have been released as of yet.

The Apple Peel 520 allows you to convert your iPod Touch to an iPhone by installing an add on SIM chip. The Apple Peel 520 is planning to come the US. It will convert your favorite portable music device into a fully function iPhone without paying for 3G. You will still have use of WiFi

The Apple Peel 520 is designed like a protective case and comes complete with a dock connector, battery and SIM card. It will provide five hours of talk time and 120 hours of standby use.

The Apple Peel 520 is easy to use after installing the required software. There are two apps that appear on the iPod Touch home screen: Yosian and YsSMS, which provide voice and text support. When the communication module is switched on, a signal bar and a battery icon will appear in the middle of the iPod Touch’s status bar. To make a call, users simply tap the Yosian app icon which loads the numpad screen

GoSolar are looking to sell the peripheral in Radio Shack, Best Buy, Walmart and Fry’s Electronics but no details regarding its retail price in the USA have been released as of yet.

Top 5 Useful and Free iPhone Apps

Quang Ly — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:57:37 +0000

Top 5 Useful and Free iPhone Apps

There are thousands of apps available to use on your iPhone, iPod and now your iPad as well and, surprisingly, many of the best are free to download.

The following list shows 5 of the very best free apps that also happen to be extremely useful as well. There are loads of apps out there that can help make your life that bit easier so it’s well worth going through them to find the ones that will apply to you and your life.

Here are a few of the best useful apps out there that are well-worth a look.

Thetrainline – For those of you who commute to work by train, Thetrainline is a free transport app that outshines all of the others – and it’s free. The app can help you to plan your journey, obtain offline results and timetables and also has a location-aware ‘next train home’ option. All of these features are available on Thetrianline’s clear and streamlined interface. There are of course other train apps available but many will cost you upwards of £5 and when you can get this one for free and it does the job – why look elsewhere?

Skype – This is a great money-saving app and allows you and your friends to chat to each other for free via your Skype app. The interface is simple and usable, enabling anyone with a Skype account to make free calls to other Skype users and also offers you the ability to make cheap calls to anywhere in the world. Pay as you Go users will find this app particularly useful but so will iPod touch owners as this app also allows them to make calls to other Skype users.

Dropbox – There are many apps out there that transfer content between your computer and your device but this one is free and actually a lot easier to use than many of the paid ones out there. Any files you want to sync up – just drop them in to a folder on your computer and Dropbox will enable you to access them.

Around Me – Around Me is a great app for when you’re out and about. It works out where you are and then shows you all the local banks, bars, petrol stations and restaurants etc that are in your vicinity. The app is really useful when you happen to be in unfamiliar surroundings and the ‘augmented reality’ landscape mode is great for getting to know the area, just be aware that this new technology isn’t completely there yet so expect that you may come across a few little errors.

Moneysupermarket.com Voucher App – No matter what you’re looking for, moneysupermarket.com will no doubt have a voucher for it that will help make savings on your purchases. There are thousands of free discount codes and vouchers on this iPhone app that can help all UK shoppers save money on whatever they want to buy.

Apple iTunes Cloud Lala Very Cloudy

Quang Ly — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:07:33 +0000

Apple iTunes Cloud Lala Very Cloudy

Many people expected that Apple would offer your iTunes music and movies over the cloud after it acquired Lala.com last December. That is of course after Apple obtained the appropriate music licenses to do so. Lala, the music serviced, shut down after being acquired by Apple this past May.

The Lala team leadership that went to Apple after the acquisition seems to leaving. Bill Nguyen, Lala’s founder, is known to be press friendly and against Apple’s culture of secrecy. Another founding member has left the company leaving Apple’s media cloud plans in a haze.

Google, on the other hand, hired Elizabeth Moody, an attorney with deep experience negotiating digital-music deals. Record executives expect Moody will help cut the first cloud music licensing agreement. Google has told label managers that it wants to launch a music service this year.

Apple is not worried though since it is still the #1 online and offline music store and jukebox.

However, in this fast pacing media game, tables can turn very quickly.

Philadelphia Apple Store Grand Opening on Walnut Street Friday, July 30

Quang Ly — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:05:48 +0000

After years of rumors, Apple will finally open an Apple Store in Philadelphia on Walnut Street! I walk by here almost every day. It’s amazing how Apple can keep its store openings and product releases so secret.

Apple will hold the grand opening celebration for Apple Store Walnut Street in Philadelphia on Friday, July 30, 2010 at 5pm ED

Address: Apple Store Walnut Street
1607 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103

The Apple Store Walnut Street is the best place to learn about all the latest products from Apple, including the new iPhone 4 featuring FaceTime, which makes the dream of video calling a reality, and Apple’s stunning new Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone. Customers can experience Apple’s entire product line hands-on including the magical new iPad that lets users browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more. Visitors to the store can also try the updated MacBook and MacBook Pro with the NVIDIA processor for up to 80 percent faster graphics, and the incredibly popular iPod touch with access to more than 225,000 apps offered on the revolutionary App Store.

Every Apple Retail Store offers a range of free services designed to help customers get the most out of their Apple products, including face-to-face support and advice at the Genius Bar, hands-on workshops and special programs for kids. Customers who buy a Mac®at the Apple Retail Store or Apple’s Online Store can also join the popular One to One program. For just $99, owners of a new Mac get Personal Setup to customize their computer and transfer files from their old Mac or PC, plus a year of Personal Training sessions and Personal Project support on a wide range of topics, from getting started on a Mac to advancing their digital photography or moviemaking skills.

UPDATE BY JAY: Here are some more pictures I took when the family and I stopped by after dinner on Friday night. As you can see, quite the mad press!

And the requisite panoramic view!

Apple Unveils iPhone 4

Quang Ly — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:40:14 +0000

Apple finally unveils iPhone 4 to the masses. Steve Jobs introduced the new iPhone on Monday, complete with an all-new, thinner design, camera flash, front-facing camera called FaceTime for video calling, a second noise-canceling microphone, multitasking, HD video recording, iMovie App for iPhone, iOS software, and a gyroscope for six-axis motion sensing.

iPhone 4

Steve Jobs says the new iPhone is beyond any consumer product that’s ever been seen, only 9.3mm thick and 24 percent thinner than the iPhone 3GS, making it the “thinnest smartphone on the planet.”

Availability
The new iPhone 4 arrives on June 24, while preorders begin on June 15. It is available in the same prices and capacities as last year’s model: $199 for 16GB, and $299 for 32GB. The iPhone 3GS will be available for $99.

Internals
The new hardware also has a larger battery that offers longer uptime, including 7 hours of talk time 3G, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music, and 300 hours of standby.

Dual cameras
The iPhone 4 also includes a whole-new camera system that includes LED flash with a 5 megapixel lens that records HD video. The new rear camera will record 720p video at 30 frames per second. Users can also use built-in video editing to trim their HD clips right on the phone.

The handset’s forward facing camera can be used for video chat with the application FaceTime, allowing users to see someone using another iPhone 4 as they talk to them. Videos can also be edited using the new iMovie application, which will cost $4.99 on the App Store.

Cool Screenshot – Happy New Year and Resolution!

Quang Ly — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:41:40 +0000

Captured at 1/1 11:11

Happy New Year to everyone from the folks at GadgetMETER. GadgetMETER is now officially 1 year old and I am proud of what we’ve accomplished in that time.

One of my New Years resolution consists of simplifying my online and offline lifestyle.

Get rid of junk in my house I haven’t used in years
Eat less or no meat.
Reduced the number of RSS subscriptions.
Deactivated my Facebook account. (I’ll talk more about this later).
Discovered http://mnmlist.com and http://minimalmac.com. These are two great websites if you feel you are too distracted with todays bombardment of information.
Run a 10k
Enrolled at UPenn for Graduate School.
De clutter my MacBook desktop and menu bar

Now, if you are wondering how this screenshot is appropriate for this post. Well, I just happen to look at my iPhone at exactly 1/1 11:11pm so I quickly captured it. The background is a picture of Monica Belluci on my jail broken iPhone. Pretty cool huh? It must be a sign because I see it as a way to reset our tech lifestyle and look back at what’s really important: family, friend (true friends, not the persons you don’t know on your Facebook), health, and the environment. Today, we have way too many distractions in our life that really clouds our judgetment on what’s really important. Let’s take time to get rid of online and offline baggage and welcome the New Year!

So I propose this New Years Challenge for you.

Go take a walk.
Meet with a friend for coffee.
Enough with Twitter already. It’s really just for celebrities!
Delete contacts on Facebook you don’t ever engage with. Heck, deactivate your Facebook account like I did!
Delete LinkedIn. Who really uses this anyway?
Stop texting while having lunch or dinner with someone. Enjoy the moment.
Volunteer at a community center or shelter.
Donate to a charity: time, money, clothes, food. It can be anything.
Read a long form book.
Go camping or hiking.
Call up a friend. No texting!

12 Things X-mas List, Part 1

Sarah — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:00:21 +0000

I was going to wait until after Turkey Day to start posting my “12 Things That Would Be Really Cool To Have For Christmas” list, but then I decided that the earlier I start, the more likely I am to actually get one of these things.
So here is number one (these are going to appear in no particular order of preference, btw):

The Eye-Fi SD wireless card.

The Eye-Fi card is the 1st wireless memory card for your digital camera. It is just like a normal SD card except that it is wireless enabled and can be synced with your home wireless network (actually it can be synced with up to 32 different wireless networks) so you can transfer your photos and videos to your computer without the mess of cables. And we all know how much I hate cables (fyi, A LOT).

There are four classes of cards.
Home ($49.99) – This is the stripped down version. It’s 2GB and only transfers JPEGs and only to your computer, not to photo sharing sites.
Share Video ($79.99) – This adds the ability to upload video as well as uploading directly to photo sharing sites like Flickr, Facebook and more.
Explore Video($99.99) - This adds Hotspot access and Geotagging to the package
Pro ($149.99) – Includes RAW support and “Ad Hoc” transfers (the photos get transfered to your laptop instantly while you shoot)… This is essentially wireless tethering without the need for a Hotspot or wireless access point. Awesome!!!

There’s a few other card options as well, so there really is a card to suit everyone’s need and budget. And of course, any Eye-Fi user get a free iPhone app that uploads all your iPhone images and videos automatically to your selected sharing sites.

And the best part, it works with your existing digital camera. Currently these cards are compatible with over 1,000 different models.

So of course the next question is: Does it work with the Mac?
Yeah. It totally works with the Mac. OS X 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6 in fact.

Here’s a rundown of system requirements:
An SDHC compatible camera. Not sure if yours is one of them? Find out here.
A broadband Internet connection
A Wi-Fi router compatible with 802.11b/g
A computer with Windows XP/Vista/7 or Mac OSX 10.4, 10.5, or 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
An internet browser, specifically Internet Explorer 7 (Windows only), Firefox 2 and 3 (Windows and OS X) and Safari 3 (OS X 10.4 – 10.6)

What it comes with:
A 2GB or 4GB (depending on model) SD Eye-Fi Share Video memory card with built-in Wi-Fi
Eye-Fi Manager software
Free USB card reader for easy setup
Quick Start Guide

specs:
Range: 90+ ft outdoors & 45+ ft indoors
Advanced power management that optimizes use of your camera power
Wi-Fi security: Static WEP 64/128, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK

I know I sound like an advertisement for Eye-FI (I swear, I am not actually on their payroll). But it really is that cool of a product. And one day I’ll be able to dump out the entire drawer of cables I have dedicated just for that purpose. That truly will be a wonderful day.

Via Eye-Fi website

iPhone App: Twitscoop Real Time Twitter Trends

Quang Ly — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:54:33 +0000

Twitscoop iPhone App

Have you ever wondered what people are talking about in the cyberspace cloud in real time? Well, now you can with the iPhone App Twitscoop.

Twitscoop allows visualization of real time trends and discussions on Twitter straight from your iPhone. The tag cloud grows and shrinks in real-time depending on the popularity of the topic. The app has a trend algorithm that pulls buzz words, breaking news, and content such as pictures, links, and videos.

Strangely, the key feature lacking in Twitscoop is the lack of ability to tweet from within the app. It is such an obvious feature that they should include it in future updates.

Twitscoop is available for $0.99 on the iTunes App Store.

Camera with front-facing LCD

Sarah — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:00:54 +0000

Ever since cameras have been small enough to hold with just one hand people have been taking hand held self portraits. I pride myself on being a master of it. I know just what angles work and about 95% of all self portraits I’ve done the last few years have turned out framed just right. But I think I’m in the minority on this one. So I’m surprised it took this long for a company to implement such a great idea.
Samsung will be releasing a point and shoot that includes a small front-facing LCD, so you can line up your self portraits just right EVERY single time. Alas, I spent all that time perfecting my technique for nothing. Oh well!

And it’s not just for self portraits. It can also display the timer as well as little animations to get your kiddos to look at you when you are trying to take that all important shot of their beautiful smiling face!
Not to mention all the other excellent features of this camera: touch screen capabilities, 720p HD video and facial recognition to name just a few.
The lower end T220 runs $200, and the higher end T225 (which includes a slightly larger screen and an HDMI out) will be $350.

Via Popular Science Gadgets

Digidudes – Keychain Tripods

ethan — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:47:07 +0000

Novelty gadget accessories will continue to thrive as products for as long as companies continue to manufacture gadgets. One of the newest such novelties is actually finding itself to be quite useful.

Meet the Digidudes. Each Digidude is a tripod. The legs pull out of the body area to create the base, and the head of the character screws right off providing a convenient base for most compact digital cameras, Flip cameras, and other related gadgetry. (I wouldn’t trust the little thing to hold your DSLR with your super-zooming-large lens though…just a word to the wise out there).

These little tripods could end up coming in handy in travel situations where carrying a full-sized tripod is inconvenient or even impossible. Digidudes are not available for sale on the mass market yet, but quirky.com is having a special pre-sale of them for the low price of just $19.99.

Spy Camera Finder

Quang Ly — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:02:39 +0000

Remember how high-tech hidden cameras were in action movies? These rogue tools are now accessible to almost everyone. Miniature cellphones come with video recording capabilities like the iPhone 3GS. The iPhone 3G can also record video after it has been jailbroken with the Cycorder or Video Recorder app from the Cydia store. These devices are small enough to be hidden almost everywhere. ESPN Reporter Erin Andrews was recently a victim of a spy camera.

KJB Security SF-103 Spy Finder Personal [Misc.]

The Spy Camera Finder will help you find hidden spy cameras in your hotel, locker room, or next vacation. Just look through the view finder and scan your room to detect the location of hidden cameras (even if they are off). It works by using “optical” augmentation” to locate video cameras.

For $87, it is reasonable and affordable way to protect your privacy. It is also small and lightweight enough to be portable.

Via Gadget Grid

Review – AutoStitch Panorama Generator

Jay — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:00:39 +0000

I recently returned from a family vacation in Puerto Rico. Aside from having a great time and seeing some great sights, I was able to play around with an iPhone app I’d installed some time ago. I say “play around” but really the app became a core part of my vacation photography. AutoStitch is one of the most impressive photography apps I’ve seen on any platform, iPhone or otherwise.

You may remember my review of an app called Pano. AutoStitch one-ups Pano by removing the need to manually align subsequent photos to create the panorama. Before I go into detail, let me show you a couple of the pics it created. (All panoramas have been reduced to 60% of their original size to help them fit better on most screens. Click on the images to see them in their full glory.)

The image quality is not bad at all, considering I took these using the iPhone 3G’s junky camera. This app actually made me want to upgrade to the higher resolution/quality of the iPhone3GS, because I think the same pictures would have turned out even better.

If you recall, Pano used its own interface to the iPhone’s camera to do its thing. You took a series of pictures that overlapped guidelines that Pano provided. While I originally really liked Pano, I found it really difficult to use in real life because it’s tough to get the overlap Pano needs to make its panorama. I also found that Pano was slow to snap and save successive images, making picture taking a pain. AutoStitch solves both those problems.

When you launch AutoStitch, you are greeted with a very simple screen.

You have your list of photo folders plus the iPhone default Camera Roll. I wound up using mostly my Camera Roll as my source (I’ll explain why later). When you select a folder, you get a thumbnail view of all the pictures in the folder.

You just tap on two or more pictures to begin the process. Each picture you tap on gets added to the “Photos to Stitch” area.

You can remove pictures from the stitching area by just tapping it. Once you’ve selected your set of pictures, you tap the Stitch button to start the process. To show you the output, here’s the three pictures I’m stitching together:

You can get a sense of how those three pictures might overlap to create a single image, no? Well so can AutoStitch, because here’s the output of its manipulation of the above three images.

(Click on the image to see it in full size). Pretty impressive, no?

AutoStitch doesn’t use the iPhone’s camera directly. Instead, you snap pictures using the Camera app and then just select them in AutoStitch to generate the panorama. This makes picturetaking blazingly fast. The iPhone’s camera app is pretty quick to take and save pictures, so you can snap off a series of images to stitch together in no time. (This is why I say you’ll probably use the Camera Roll most of the time – you just snap pictures into the Roll and then select them for stitching. I recommend you do this quickly after taking the sequence – it becomes difficult to remember which images went with what panorama if you let too much time pass.)

Another benefit of AutoStitch is that you’re not limited to just six images like Pano. Instead, you can use as few as two or as many as 20 to create the final frame. AutoStitch recommends that you let each picture overlap by at least 30% to ensure the best results, but I didn’t really pay much attention to that after my first few stitches. I just kind of did a fast pan-and-snap and trusted in the app to do its thing.

Once AutoStitch creates the panorama, you can crop the image to remove top/bottom fragments that result from AutoStitch doing the overlapping necessary to generate the image. The crop area suggested by AutoStitch can be overridden by you but I found that I didn’t really need to do that – the app did a great job of finding the maximum size photo that could be extracted from the stitched images.

As my final showoff of the app, take a look at this gallery of thumbnails:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

And here’s the final output:

I’m totally impressed by AutoStitch and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to create panoramic images from iPhone snapshots.

Olympus E-P1 digital camera

Sarah — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:30:06 +0000

It’s not a point and shoot, it’s not an SLR. It seems to pack the best of both worlds in a sleek, and small, retro casing. I first saw a leaked image of this camera on Wired’s GadgetLab last week. It intrigued me so I did a little research on it and found that it was announced officially by Olympus just the other day.

There are many reasons I love this camera already, without even having tried it out.
First and foremost, it reminds me of my first 35mm camera, an early 80s model Pentax given to me by my dad. My photos back then weren’t very good, but I loved that camera.
And now it seems all the joy and convenience of DSLR can be packed into a small retro styled body. Sweet!
All the familiar scene modes are there in a handy thumb dial. No built in view finder, BUT you can get one as an accessory that goes in the flash mount.
It also shoots RAW as well as JPEG, which should get the attention of more than just hobby photographers.
And, this is probably my favorite part, the lenses are interchangeable! No digital camera this small has that capability (that I know of anyway). As it says on the E-P1 site, “the photographic optics of an SLR and the size and simplicity of a point and shoot.” Nice!

It also shoots 720p HD video (though limited to only 7 minutes), and has a whole laundry list of excellent features.
See the product site for more details (hope you have some time, cuz there’s a lot).

A peak at a few of the specs:
Interchangeable Lens Type Live View Digital Camera
Memory: SD memory card (SDHC compatible)
Screen size: 17.3mm (H) x 13.0mm (V)
Micro Four thirds mount (adapters for lenses available)
High speed Live MOS Sensor
12.3 MegaPixels
19 automatic scene modes
Face detection
adjustable aspect ratios
SSWF (dust reduction)
Still images: RAW, JPEG, RAW+JPEG
Movies: AVI Motion Jpeg (30fps)
HD 1280×720 (720p)
-Max recording time 7 minutes
SD 640×480
-Max recording time 14 minutes
Audio: Wave files, stereo PCM/16Bit, 44.1kHz
Built in Image stabilizer
6 Art Filters
Multi exposure capability
Full Manual control available

Via Gizmodo

Time to video pimp your auto…

Sarah — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:30:04 +0000

Sometimes I fantasize about making movies. I even made one once. A short one. It was pretty good too (there were zombies in it and a hot girl killing them). But it would have been way better if I had a camera mounted on a car to get some crazy fast shots. If only I had known about the Fat Gecko Camera Mount from Delkin.

The Fat Gecko is a dual suction cup mount that allows you to mount your camera (up to 8lbs) on motorcycles, cars, trucks, airplanes (!?!?) or any other smooth surface. They even have a pic of one on a snowboard. The design of the mount also allows for 360° tilt, turn and rotation (for that all important driver through the windshield shot).
This mount runs $89.99. Totally reasonable in my opinion, especially if it is as good as they say.
They have one specifically for bikes too:

However, it seems a little pricy at $64.99 especially since you could probably build one very similar for a few bucks if you have any motivation at all.

via Wired GadgetLab

Flipping for the Flip

Sarah — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:30:59 +0000

I was roaming downtown Austin during the annual Pecan Street Fair a few weeks ago to go see a DJ friend of mine and the band he was performing with. Said DJ gave my boyfriend a tiny gadget and asked him to film the set so he could post it up on his website. It was the size of a cell phone and captured video in HD. I was instantly in love. It was the Flip MinoHD.

I currently use the Panasonic HDC-HS9. It’s got a 60 GB built in hard drive, a 3CCD sensor and the video is full 1920×1080 resolution. But even at it’s soda can size it’s cumbersome to carry around all the time. I only take it out when I know I’m going to use it. I wouldn’t just carry it around with me on the off chance that I might see something film worthy. Especially not on my bike (one crash and that’s a thousand bucks I won’t be getting back). The Flip MinoHD, however, is so tiny I could keep it on me at all times. It’s got 4GB of memory for about an hour’s worth of footage and it takes totally acceptable video, in HD, that is perfect for web broadcasts. And it’s already in H.264 format!
It seems a bit like a waste to use my Panasonic for stuff I’m just putting up online anyway. That should be reserved for something a little more serious.
The Flip MinoHD is $229.99 and comes in two colors, silver and black. They have a non HD version and a few other models as well to suit your needs and budget. And both versions of the Mino are “designable”.
Check it out: The Flip

Travel Honey GPS detector finds your parked car

Jay — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:00:57 +0000

While I am elephantine in many ways, memory is not one of them. I am constantly wracking my brain when it comes to remembering where I’ve placed my keys or my wallet or my girlfriend. And finding my ride in a megamall parking lot is a royal pain. Until now.

Travel Honey GPS detector

This handy dandy little gadget is a multifunction GPS tagger and location finder. Can’t remember where you parked your car? Well just remember to hold down its little locator button before you leave your car. A two-second press will lock the current GPS coordinates into its little brain. Then when you’ve loaded yourself down with consumerism goodies, use the direction finder to navigate yourself back to the set coordinates (and your car).

But that’s not all. It is connectable (and rechargable) via a micr0-USB port. When connected, the dongle acts as a GPS unit for your PC, meaning you can use software like Streets and Trips to navigate yourself to your next megamall destination. It is constantly recording your GPS coordinates so you can plot all that data using Google Maps or Google Earth. It even provides software to allow you to attach pictures to GPS points.

Travel Honey GPS detector

All that for only $54. A bargain.

First Store 4 U GPS Receiver + Location Finder + Data Logger + Photo Tagger

Via Chinavasion via Geekalerts via DVICE.

Liquid Image Undwater Digital Camera Mask 5.0MP

Quang Ly — Sat, 16 May 2009 23:25:48 +0000

Scubadiving and snorkeling are wonderful recreational sports. You get to see another world full of plants and animals you don’t normally find on land. Before, it was only for the rich that could afford to take pictures underwanter. Now you can take pictures underwater for less than $100.

Liquid Underwater Digital Camera Mask 5.0MB

But wait, this is not an ordinary underwater camera. The camera is built within the mask leaving your hands free to swim, touch, and grab life forms underwater.

Soon, you can take pictures with Aquaman and show your friends who didn’t believe you before.

Liquid Image Undwater Digital Camera Mask 5.0MP

EyeClops Bio Cam For Kids

Quang Ly — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:02:29 +0000

I got Lasik about 4 years ago and it was one of the best decisions. I can see so clearly without contact lens or eye glasses. However, I did not get the 400x Zoom package procedure done to see into objects at the micro level. Well, at least now I can get the EyeClops Bio Cam to let me do that. Actually, it’s probably more suited to entertain and educate kids.

EyeClops Bioni Cam

The EyeClops BioniCam Video Microscope from JAKKS Pacific let’s kids (Ages 8 and up)have fun by exploring their microscopic world by easily taking pictures and videos.

Bioni Cam

It runs on five AA batteries (not included) that are inserted into the blet clip battery pack. You also use the included USB memory ontop of the BioniCam to store videos and pictures.

The camera has an ergonomically shaped handle for long hours of fun. You can focus ona number of everyday objects like clothing, fur, hair, soil. EyeClops then shows you the images in real time and full color on your LCD screen. You can also use the menus on the screen to manage your video and photos.

The zoom dial works in either 100x, 200x or 400x magnification modes. You focus on an image by twisting the I.R.I.S. lens attachment until everything is in perspective. It does take some practice mostly due to shakes of your hand, but afterwards, you’ll be focusing soon.

EyeClops BioniCam

Wearable Technology Gives You Real 6th Sense

Quang Ly — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:03:00 +0000

Do you remember the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report when he used hand gestures to navigate his computing needs? Well, this technology is now a reality! Not the Cogs, but visual gestures that lets you interact with information physically in the real world.

The technology is actually made up of a cellphone with Internet connection, camera, a projector, and specially designed wearable finger devices. The camera scans objects in the real world such as items at a grocery, it can then look up the item based on your buying behavior and the project displays either a buy or not buy on the product. This is absolutely amazing.

This Minority Report technology is the brain child of Prana Mistry from MIT. He created a lot of buzz at TED. The application and uses of unified technology are endless. Parrie Maes who gives the introduction also states that the price is only about $300 since the technology already exists today.

iPhone 4G With Front Camera Multi-Way Video

Quang Ly — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:11:04 +0000

The iPhone 4G is rumored to have a built in front camera embedded inside the touch screen so the other person on the line can see you as if you were talking face to face. Here is a mock up design of the iPhone 4G with the MacBook Air inspired asthetics.

iPhone 4G With Front Camera Multi-Way Video

The technical challenge for Apple and AT&T (the cellular carrier and possibly Verizon), however, is how they plan to support the 2 way video bandwidth on a 3G network.

AT&T recently announced that they are planning to double the speed of their 3G network so this multi-way video and audio conferencing on your iPhone may very well be true.

Thanks Rodolphe Desmare for the art.

SmartVue S8 Surveillance System lets you watch from anywhere.

Jay — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:00:52 +0000

There’s been a rash of burglaries in my area. Nothing huge, and a lot of opportunistic stuff, but enough to get me concerned. So I started looking into video surveillance systems that were relatively easy to install and fairly foolproof. I ran across the SmartVue S8 in my travels and decided that I need to keep this one on my short list.

The system is wireless and modular. Each wireless recorder supports up to 20 different cameras, all connected wirelessly to the DVR. This is professional level stuff, with cameras that can be mounted to ceilings or walls. There are versions for outdoor use as well as versions that protect against vandalism. Its configuration management is web-based, and there’s even an app that will allow you to watch your cameras from your iPhone. The management software allows you to view/manage up to 1 million feeds. 1 million! That’s a lot of dressing rooms, my friends. It will switch automatically to a low light version for night use. And it will automatically take a 2 megapixel snapshot when it detects motion. No more grainy footage of the guy making off with your new flatscreen. Now this is security. Of course all these features do result in a premium price when compared to most personal video surveillance systems. But isn’t your safety worth it?

New Apple iPhone 4G with OLED

Quang Ly — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:33:14 +0000

The new iPhone 3.0 update will finally solve some of the common feature requests that are standard with any smart phone such as ability to send MMS and copy and paste functions.

New Apple iPhone 4G with OLED

Furthermore, it looks like the next generation if the iPhone 4G is rumoured to have something else skin deep. It will supposedly have an OLED screen by Korean electronics manufacturer LG. The advantage of OLED is that it does not require a backlight for displaing images or video on the screen thus vastly improving battery life. It should also be thinner and have better picture quality.

So what do you think? Think this is going to happen? Comment below.

Optical Zoom Lens for iPhone

Quang Ly — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:29:48 +0000

Optical Zoom Telescope iPhone 3G

If you cannot wait for the next iPhone coming Summer 2009 with the 3MP Optical Zoom Lens, you might want to pick up this Telescop for iPhone 3G instead.

It features 6x Optical Zoom lens attached to your iPhone and also supports wide angle for a cinematic look. It is also overall brighter and has better color than the default iPhone lens.

The price isn’t too bad either. Currently it is $25 at Hand Held Items.

Product Features:

Zoom in and out with 6x optical lens
Special made case to fit the telescope
Wide angle, larger luminous flux, good color reduction
Better quality of picture
Includes iPhone telescope case, lanyard and the telescope

Via Gadget Grid

Lowepro SlingShot 100 Camera Backpack

Quang Ly — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 12:38:54 +0000

[svgallery name="lowepro"]
One of the things that interrupts my inspiration at the moment is having to take off my backback and take out my camera to take a shot. During this time, I may miss the shot. With the Lowepro SlingShot 100 Camera Backpack, I don’t have to worry about that. It is designed in a way so that you do not have to take off the bag. You basically swing or rotate it around and have quick access to your camera and accessories. It is also weather proof so will have more peace of mind.

The SlingShot 100 holds an SLR camera with mid-range zoom lens attached. It also allows room for 1-2 extra lenses, cables and accessories, and has a full access lid to make loading it a snap.

Lowepro SlingShot 100 All-Weather Digital Camera Backpack (Black)

How To Develop Film From Coffee and Oranges

Quang Ly — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:26:21 +0000

How To Develop Film From Coffee and Oranges

If you’re an oldskool photographer and this economy has gotten you down with the cost (or lack) of film, then you should check out this How To by Photojojo.

It details the process of developing film using your everyday house hold items: coffee and oranges!

Check it out! The website creates really easy step by step process on how to do develop your own film!

Via Photojojo

Star Wars TIE Fighter WebCam

Quang Ly — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:01:06 +0000

Star Wars TIE Fighter WebCam

If you are a Star Wars fanboy, I’m sure you have a few Darth Vader masks and action figure collectibles on your shelf. Now, you can add the StarWars TIE Fighter webcam to impress all the ladies checking out your bedroom.

It features a VGA camera inside the cockpit while you admire the intricate design and fanboy fantasies.

Via Coolest Gadgets

Pana-ramic images via your iPhone or iPod Touch

Jay — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:02:40 +0000

Check out the picture below. I recommend clicking on it to see its full size cause the compressed version doesn’t quite do it justice.

This is a picture I took this weekend via my iPhone 3G and an app called Pano. This is one of the most amazing apps I’ve ever seen for a handheld device and gives you an idea of just how powerful software and hardware have become.

Pano (link to iTunes store) is by a company called Debacle Software. The app allows you to take six portrait pictures or four landscape pictures, which it then stitches together into a single panoramic image. It’s amazing watching it work. After the first picture is captured, a “ghost” area is provided for each subsequent picture so that you can roughly align an item from the previous frame as a reference for the current frame. The alignment doesn’t have to be perfect – I took the above shot in dim light (around 5pm) and had trouble making out the ghost guide (thus the reason behind my girlfriend’s truncated head). Even so, that picture looks pretty impressive. Consider that only a few years ago, that kind of processing power required a fairly hefty desktop computer and some serious software.

The only downside to the app is that you HAVE to take all the pictures. You can’t just have it stitch together 2 or 3 photos – it’s either 6 or 4, depending on whether you’re in portrait or landscape mode. I hope they address that issue in future versions, but otherwise, this is a pretty amazing app. I can’t wait until there’s a sunny day in Love Park. When I get that image, I’ll be sure to post it.

Update: I had an email exchange with the developers of Pano today. Apparently, if you choose to cancel any time after you start taking pictures, Pano will give you an option to merge the pictures you’ve taken so far. So the 4/6 picture requirement is not really a requirement after all and you can use as few as 2 or as many as 6 images to create your panorama. Awesome.

The new Sony Style/Comcast Labs store

Jay — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:07:04 +0000

I know it’s rare that Philadelphia gets to be in the spotlight of the tech world but when you have the largest cable company in the country in your home town, sometimes things work out. When I heard that Sony and Comcast were opening a new showcase store in the Comcast Center, I figured I had to check it out. So here’s the scoop! All the pictures in the post are linked to full size images in the below gallery. Check out the full size pics – most of the pictures are landscape, and they look funny when viewed in their compressed state in the post.

The Comcast Tower itself is an imposing site. It’s the first LEED-certified office tower in Philadelphia and is currently the tallest building in the city.

Inside are two really cool things.

The first is a giant sculpture called Humanity in Motion by world-renowned artist and sculptor Jonathan Borofsk. It features a series of life-sized statues of people moving across the vast space that is the interior entryway of the Comcast Center. The sheer size of the interior is hard to capture on film – I was craning my camera almost to vertical to capture these images.

The second is the Comcast Experience, which is the largest four-millimeter LED screen in the world.

Spanning 83.3 feet wide by 25.4 feet high, the 2,100 square foot video wall brings spectacular original programming to visitors 18 hours a day. The images have to be seen to be believed. The pictures don’t really capture how high resolution the screen really is.

Comcast projected the Obama inauguration on this thing – apparently it was like being there (except warm). If you’re ever in the city, definately check it out. OK enough filler – lets get to the meat!

Here’s the main signage for the Sony Style/Comcast Labs store. Pretty impressive right?

Unfortunately, that sign is located in the middle of the store (which is basically a hallway with a cul-de-sac where Sony set up some stuff. The Sony Style/Comcast Labs experience is, to put it mildly, underwhelming. There’s a Sony Style store in nearby King of Prussia (home of the second largest mall in the country) which is much more interesting. This “showcase” feels really small in comparison.

I’m pretty sure I missed a part of the store that’s off to the right of the picture above. There’s no real “layout” to the store, so I’m going to excuse myself for that oversight – I think a lot of people will end up missing it.

The picture above is where you first gaze upon the store – you come down the stairs into the entrance to the Food Court and off on your right is Sony Style. There’s not really any big signage to indicate that this is there. Instead of something really fancy to draw the eye, you walk down into a display of…

cameras. Yea, I know – thrilling, right? There are some other gizmos and geegaws, plus an area to try out the various VAIOs. Check out the VAIO-P – that thing is totally cool. And tiny!

My son is a tad over 4 ft tall. His hands look normal sized against that keyboard. And the screen resolution is actually not bad at all.

Finally, there’s a section dedicated to the PS3. Nothing special to write home about here either.

All in all, we were through the place in about 10 minutes, and that was with taking pictures. I can’t see how it can host more than a small handful of customers – the lunch crowd at the Food Court would probably overwhelm the staff. I’d post more pictures but about this time was when the nice employee came over to tell me that photos aren’t really encouraged. Oops.

And I checked out the DOCSIS 3.0 connected laptops. Yes, they’re fast but not so fast that I was in awe. It’s about equivalent to being on a hardwire network connection. I’m wondering if they hadn’t really turned that on yet because the place just opened on Tuesday. I’m hoping it will evolve over time and become more of an “experience” but I’m not holding my breath.

GE releases water resistant camera

Jay — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:32:30 +0000

When I’m lounging around my pool with my supermodel posse, I sometimes want to capture the moment. Unfortunately, my cameras don’t like the water too much, so my adventures are often left visually undocumented. But now, GE has released this new gadget to help me.

The GE G3WP is a fairly basic point-and-shoot with 4x optical zoom, 12 megapixels, and a 2.7″ LCD. The nifty part about it though is that it’s waterproof to 10 feet, which is perfect for the spring break pool party I’m planning. Hmm…they all seem to be busy…

via

Generate Water from Air Using Solar Energy

Quang Ly — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:12:59 +0000

Ersa Water From Air Using Solar Energy

I must say this is one of the most amazing scientific break-throughs. Ersa generates water from the air using Solar Energy (30W solar module). This has so much implications especially for third world countries where clean water is hard to find. Scale it even bigger and we may never have famine again! Ersa also generates enough power to charge your cellphone and GPS devices. How perfect is that? We’ll keep you updated as soon as we hear more.

Dell Wasabi Inkless Photo Printer

Quang Ly — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:51:03 +0000

Dell Wasabi

If you don’t like to be reminded of getting new ink cartidges, you’re in luck. There are more and more ink free printers coming out.

Meet the Dell Wasabi. The Wasabi is a pocket sized printer than can print 2 x 3 prints with adhesive backing. The technology of inkless printer works similar to CD/DVD scribes where the ink is actually on the paper itself. The special paper has dye crystals in them that reacts to the amount of heat applied to display a particular color.

The Wasabi features Bluetooth capability for wireless printing as well as the universal USB. A full charge on the device will be good enough to get 15 prints from it. Dell has added that the Wasabi is also fast enough to print a shot in a minute or less.

Currently, no price has been given. However, we do know the 24 sheet pack of special photo paper doesn’t come cheap. at around$ $16 USD. We do believe that overtime, like most technology, the price will come down as competition heats up and the device becomes more universal. Hey, remember how expensive consumer laser printers were?

Via GadgetSpy

The Simpsons Mr. Burns Webcam

Quang Ly — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:27:41 +0000

The Simpsons Mr. Burns Webcam

If you happen to be one of the few people on earth that wants to work for Mr. Burns from The Simpsons, this webcam gets you one step closer to the real thing.

The Mr. Burns webcam supports 640×480 resolution and can record video at the typical 30 fps. It has a built-in microphone and compatible with most Windows. You can use it with most of the popular instant message programs such as AIM, MSN, Yahoo, or Skype. The webcam also has a clip that can connect to your LCD monitor or laptop.

Now you thought your micro-manager was bad!

Mr. Burns USB Webcam & Microphone

Toshiba Snapdragon (TG01) hits 1 Ghz with a bite!

Quang Ly — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:17:36 +0000

Toshiba Snapdragon 1Ghz Smartphone

The 1Ghz smartphone is coming really soon from Toshiba using Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon ARM processor.

The Toshiba TG01 Windows Mobile 6.1 phone was designed to on the iPhone 3G – a very ambitious task

The new mobiile phone is only 9.9mm thick. It uses a 4.1-inch WVGA 800 x 480 384k pixel resistive touch screen and comes with support for 3G HSPA, Wi-Fi, GPS and assisted-GPS.

The TG01 is expected to be available in Europe this summer. The price is not known or disclosed at the present time.

The Qualcomm silicon supports high-definition (720p) video decode, 3D graphics (up to 22M triangles/sec), XGA display support, a 12-megapixel camera, and mobile broadcast TV making it a true contender to the iPhone 3G.

The chip’s claim to fame is that it’s an ARM design that runs at 1GHz. Typical ARM architecture chips used in mobile phones peak at about 500MHz. This creates new possibilities and applications such as multitasking and multiple services running at the same time. Imagine using this powerful phone as your computer. You could theoretically place your phone on a docking station with attached computer monitors, keyboard, mouse and have the phone as your portable computer. You can then take your data and applications to go.

Qualcomm also expects to release a Snapdragon at 1.5 Ghz according to Manjit Gill, director of product development, Connected and Consumer Products Group in a recent interview with NanoTech: The Circuits Blog.

The future Qualcomm QSD8672 will be a dual-core Snapdragon that features two CPU computing cores capable of 1.5GHz performance, and will include HSPA+, up to 28Mbps download speeds, 1080p high-definition video, Wi-Fi, mobile TV, and GPS. The graphics core is based on Advanced Micro Devices’ ATI unit’s technology.

Maybe they should call it a double headed Snapdragon. Beyond the hardware advantages over the iPhone. Toshiba and/or Windows must have a truely vertical strategy much like Apple providing end to end delivery of music, videos, and applications in a central hub with an intuitive interface. The Snapdragon can then be considered an iPhone Killer

The Sony Webbie HD Video Camera

Quang Ly — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:36:26 +0000

Meet the new Sony Webbie HD video camera. It lets you record high-definition MP4 video as well as take 5 Mega-Pixel still photos. They included software to help capture your moments onto the web such as YouTube. The Webbie HD camera also features 5x Optical and 20x Digital zoom that lets you focus in on the action, as well as dual capture capability that lets you simultaneously film video and take still pictures without the need to switch modes. It has a 2.5″ LCD screen that turns on automatically as soon as you open it.

Highlights:

5-megapixel still photos
HD MP4 1440 x 1080 video resolution
2.5-inch swivel screen; only weighs 7 ounces
5x optical, 20x digital zoom
Memory Stick PRO Duo media recording

Sony Webbie HD Camera

Via GadgetGrid

Flash For iPhone Coming

Quang Ly — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:57:29 +0000

Flash for iPhone

Flash suport is coming to iPhone. The Apple iPhone is a near perfectly converged device. One of the few things it is missing is a Copy & Paste feature and Adobe Flash support. Well, the latter is coming soon.

According to Apple CEO Steve Jobs said Flash for desktops and notebooks “performs too slow to be useful” on the iPhone because of its resource needs. The mobile version, known as Flash Lite, is used on millions of handsets, including Nokia s S60 platform, but Jobs said it “isn’t capable enough to be used with the Web.” Apple has been calling on Adobe to create a third version more suitable for its mobile platform.

Adobe has wanted to bring Flash to the iPhone because of its sales success and the browsing patterns of its users. But the company said the iPhone’s software development kit and licenses were not robust enough to deliver the technology.

“It’s a hard technical challenge, and that’s part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating,” Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen told Bloomberg Television. “The ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver.”

Apple recently got into some hot water with the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority because of the iPhone’s inability to support the nearly ubiquitous Web technology. The company had been running advertisements that claimed the handset can access “all parts of the Internet,” but the agency said the ads were “misleading” because of the lack of Flash and Java support.

Gimme Eye-Fi The New Wireless Memory Card

Quang Ly — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:38:08 +0000

eye-fi wireless SD Card

This is quite revolutionary. It is a memory card with built in wireless capabilities so you can save photos, music, videos, and files without need for a cardreader or USB.

They all come with everything needed to make it simple to set up and connect to your home Wi-Fi network.

Just insert the card into your digital camera and take some pictures. The pictures are uploaded automatically as soon as you return to your wireless network. Only need to turn the camera on! Easy!

eye-fi wireless SD Card

LG DP889 8-Inch Portable DVD Player and Digital Photo Frame

Quang Ly — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:23:16 +0000

LG DP889 8-Inch Portable DVD Player and Digital Photo Frame

Meet the LG-8 inch Portable DVD Player. It also functions as a Digital Photo Frame borrowing the look of Apple’s iPhone. Small and convenient enough for road trips and travels. However, once you get to your destination, you can just use it as a digital photo frame. The Digital Photo Frame with enough internal memory for up to a 250 photo slideshow along with a 3-in-1 memory card slot and USB port for easy connectivity and memory expansion. It can last up to 3.5 hours of battery life and a supplied automotive and home power adapter, movies and photo slideshows can go anywhere. We wish it could last a bit longer but it can be used to watch enough long length DVD movies without recharging or seperate power supply.

Features

Portable DVD player with digital photo frame
Built-in memory for up to 250 photos for slideshows
Audio/Video inout & out put for flexible viewing on the go
High fidelity audio output from stereo speakers or twin earphone jacks
Includes remote control

LG DP889 8-Inch Portable DVD Player and Digital Photo Frame