Posted Feb 16th 2008 3:22PM by Chris ZieglerFiled under: cellphones, Handhelds There’s a reason phones don’t remotely resemble PC cases, and we think this mockup does a fabulous job demonstrating why that is. Okay, look, we’re totally cool with Dell and Alienware producing an Alienware-branded handset — especially if it runs Android, a platform Dell has been rumored to be very, very interested in — we just really don’t want this (or anything like this) to be it. The morphing keypad and user interface look awesome, but we have a very simple rule when we purchase a new phone: under no circumstances should the slider have physically painful ridges digging into your hands during use. (Read the full post about ‘Concept Alienware Android phone makes our brain, hands hurt’…)

There’s a great line in Apollo 13 where the character of Gene Kranz yells out “I don’t care about what anything was DESIGNED to do, I care about what it CAN do!” So when some enterprising geek comes along and creates and application that turns an iPhone or iTouch into a piano, how can we not scream “encore!?” Taking advantage of the iphone and iPod Touch’s multi touch interface, the iAno virtual piano application turns a “jailbroken” iPhone into a four octave keyboard with realistic piano sampling sounds. The keys on the keyboard even animate on touch and up to give keys can be pressed at any one time. (Read the full post about ‘New App puts your iPhone in touch with it’s inner virtuoso’…)

Posted Feb 16th 2008 10:39AM by Nilay PatelFiled under: LaptopsThe folks over at Laptop already hooked us up with some unboxing pics of Everex’s Cloudbook, and now they’ve posted up some quickie first impressions of the would-be Eee killer — and it looks like Everex could use that extra delay time to polish things up. The Cloudbook’s gOS build was found to be reasonably speedy and the minuscule trackpad designed for thumb usage actually grew on the reviewers, but what really killed the machine was a host of video glitches Everex says are the result of the wrong OS version being installed on the machine. (Read the full post about ‘First impressions of the Cloudbook: rough around the edges’…)

It’s hard not to see the handwriting on the wall. Literally. But let’s recap. First, it was select studios announcing the dropping of HD DVD and focusing on the better selling Blue Ray Line. Then, it was Best Buy announcing it would only sell Blue Ray. Then, Amazon announced a 50% off clearance on 150 HD DVD movies. Microsoft drops the price of their XBox hd dvd add-on player to $129. But the real killer was when WalMart announced it would drop HD DVD effective in June. So what to do when the war is over? Toshiba finally raises the white flag. The news came from a report by NHK in Japan, which stated that Toshiba plans to withdraw from next generation high-definition DVD production and close plants in Japan. (Read the full post about ‘With Toshiba dropping HD DVD, it’s all over but the shouting’…)

We love Internet. Our parents love Internet. Our children love the Internet. But some Internet content is not safe for our kids and it is so difficult to control the web surfing. Of course there are a lot of proxies which can block the access to certain website. But it is impossible to block all inappropriate content by a proxy. For this we need powerful software like Integard by Race River Corporation.

Integard works like an Internet content filter to help parents protect children from inappropriate content on the internet. Integard can blocks web pages with content not suitable for children, monitors chat to protect against predators and cyber bullying and supports multiple user profiles.

(Read the full post about ‘Protect children from inappropriate content on the internet’…)

CD and DVD burners are so common nowadays, that it is hard to find a PC without CD-RW\DVD-RW drive. Sometimes, when your friend brings another cool DVD, it is a pity that you cannot just copy it without going to nearest PC. It slows the process, and laziness prevails in most times. Imagine that there is a gadget that will simplify this process. That will be capable of copying CD and DVD without need of PC connection, portable and rapid! Fortunately, such gadget really exists. EZ Dupe Ultra Slim Single-Target Portable DVD Duplicator is a portable disc-copying machine. Just slide into source DVD and blank one and in minutes you will get one complete copy of source disc. (Read the full post about ‘Copy CD\DVD on the go without PC’…)

Microsoft has partnered up with the Russian cellphone company Mobile TeleSystems OJSC to offer a subscription based PC. The subscription based PC’s will become available to all of the 85 million customers in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan and Belarus beginning in June through Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential program. While the details on the PC’s are still light, they are reported to be running Windows Vista and will also include a built-in mobile broadband access. The two companies are also currently working on new mobile communication services that can be used on the PC’s, but have not made any mention as to what they will be. (Read the full post about ‘Microsoft announce availability of subscription based PC’s in Russia’…)

Posted Feb 16th 2008 8:29AM by Richard LawlerFiled under: HDTV, Home EntertainmentJapan’s NHK has followed up The Hollywood Reporter’s earlier indications Toshiba was ready to dump its money-losing hd dvd business, with news that the company is prepared to cease manufacturing software and hardware, at a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. This caps the worst week ever for red, when HD DVD was dumped by Netflix and Wal-mart, pushed to the background by Best Buy and put on — an apparently incredibly short — deathwatch right here. Toshiba is mum on the subject right now, but we hear there’s plenty of cheap players and movies in a dumpster around back of the HQ. (Read the full post about ‘Toshiba pulling the plug on HD DVD already? - Yup it’s over.’…)

Wireless Outdoor Speakers You can have this for ?119.00 Tags: consumer technology, mobile phone, gizmos, buyers guides (Read the full post about ‘Wireless Outdoor Speakers’…)

Posted Feb 16th 2008 2:41AM by Donald MelansonFiled under: Misc. gadgets, Robots As if there weren’t enough toys out there already to make us grown-ups incredibly envious of kids today, Playskool’s now taken the wraps off its new Kota the Triceratops “toy,” which looks to be the closest thing to a Pleo that you (or, rather, your kids) can actually ride. While we’re guessing Kota’s few notches below Pleo on the robo-evolutionary ladder, the 40-inch tall toy at least has movement sensors on nine areas of its body, and is able to react to you by moving its head, tail, mouth, and horns, not to mention play “adventure-themed songs” at the push of a button. (Read the full post about ‘Kota the Triceratops makes our childhood toys look like wooden blocks’…)