Best New Technology

One of the best and most expensive GPS’ in the industry, plus the most expensive GPS’ Magellan has to offer, the Maestro 5340, will be ready for pre-order for $1200. If you want the basic version, meaning internet will not be included, then it will only cost $1000. You’re probably thinking, who in their right mind would buy such a GPS, but really if you have the money, then it’s worth it.

Basically, it comes with a 5-inch touch screen, text-to-speech capabilities, live traffic updates, Bluetooth connectivity, better voice command options for menus and addresses, 3D landmarks and 1,400 other buildings which are also 3D. Furthermore, it acts like a PMP because it comes with a mp3 player, video playback, new and better screen and case, and OneTouch interface. Now, the most notable feature of this GPS is its GPRS technology, basically it will deliver advanced Google local search and internet access.

Like previously mentioned, it sells for $1200 if you include all above features and only $1000 if you take out the GPRS option. No word on how much exactly the GPRS services will cost, but it is set to ship in late April, so expect more details then.

Via [NaviGadget]

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Posted Mar 1st 2008 2:23PM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds

We’ve caught wind from a number of employees — or ex-employees, as the case may be — that i-mate’s US division in Redmond, Washington has all but disintegrated after a Friday bloodbath that saw the entire engineering, QA, and tech writing departments laid off, among others. Several honchos who weren’t cut left anyway, perhaps unwilling to work in a ghost town or as a show of solidarity to their fallen brethren; notably, the Chief Software Officer and VP of Sales and Marketing are both gone, leaving a sales director to be promoted to the lofty title of GM of what seems to be all US operations. Apparently, the Dubai-based firm is in the hurt locker after its inability to get the Ultimate line (also known as “the basket with all of i-mate’s eggs in it”) fully deployed to retail channels in the time frame it had hoped, and meeting massive resistance from US carriers to carry the devices, it’s been left with no option but to leave behind just enough employees to set up and maintain a web-based portal for purchasing unlocked devices in the States. To those who’ve been handed your walking papers, we wish you the best of luck.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

While Netflix has already announced they will be stopping the rentals of HD DVD titles, they have also announced some good news, but also hinted at some possible bad news as well.

With hd dvd now leaving, Netflix is confident enough to announce they will soon be offering four times as many titles on Blu-ray. This will bring the total of available Blu-ray titles from 400 to around 1,500.

Then in the little hint of posible bad news,

“It seems apparent that content will cost us more,” McCarthy said. “Whether we raise prices will be entirely a function of churn, subscriber acquisition costs and gross margins.”

Hopefully any increase in price will be done in a fair way, possibly splitting into more plans with a distinction between standard DVD and Blu-ray DVD’s. Personally I would rather not see an increase in price and would be more than happy to have a standard DVD only plan. While the price increase has not been made official yet, it does seem inevitable, Blockbuster has already raised their monthly fees due to the higher costs associated with Blu-ray.

Via [SlashGear]

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Posted Mar 1st 2008 8:10AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Wireless, Storage

You kind of miss the point if you open your Time Capsule after just a day or two, but at least we now know that future generations can, in fact, expect an active drive cooling system (by way of a blower fan).

Posted Mar 1st 2008 9:49AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Transportation

Tesla VP of Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Service, Darryl Siry, set the record straight on the whole airbag wavier thing: in case it wasn’t already clear, the Roadster does indeed have driver and passenger airbags. The waiver was regarding the fact that currently “front passenger airbag does not vary its deployment based on the weight of the passenger,” and thus needed the waiver not unlike other boutique automakers (he cites the Ferrari F430 as an example). Of course, this misunderstandings and misinformation might have been mitigated if Telsa just addressed the issue at the time (instead of waiting a month after the fact); we can only hope their non-metaphoric airbags don’t take as long to deploy.

Griffin HomeConnect iPod Cable

Griffin?s HomeConnect cable is the easiest, most hassle-free way to get both audio and video from your iPod to your TV, home stereo, or home theater system. Just plug HomeConnect?s 3.5mm jack into the headphone port of your ipod. Plug HomeConnect?s composite video and audio jacks into the appropriate ports on your home enter- tainment equipment. In no time, you?ll be enjoying great sound, movies, music videos, TV shows, even your own iPod slideshows on the biggest screen in your home. Features:Video connections work on those iPod models that support photo and video display Generous 3 meter cable (almost 10 feet) Video display works with the ?TV Out? settings on your iPod One simple cable to manage ? eliminates cable clutter

Technorati Tags: iPod & mp3 player

Trusted Reviews has a review of the Nokia N82 and writes, “The main camera is one of the best I’ve seen on a mobile. The Carl Zeiss lens does a good job, the macro mode is handy, auto focus seemed to work well, and the xenon flash is powerful and really helps indoors. I like the lens cover both because of the protection it offers and because all you need to do is slide it away to start the camera software running.”

Read more about the Nokia N82.

Posted Mar 1st 2008 2:36AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Home Entertainment

Apparently TiVo sent around an email notifying its loyal overpaying customers that it’s shutting down the TiVo Rewards program on May 28th of this year. This won’t matter to the vast majority of TIVo customers, no no, this decision only screws the company’s staunchest word-of-mouth advocates. You know the kind, the alpha geeks obsessed enough with the company’s products to others spend their time zealously recommending it to friends and family in the hopes of spreading the premium DVR experience (and earning some points while they’re at it). Shutting down the program is one thing, but expecting the most loyal segment of TiVo’s cutomer-base to turn in their points before the next series of hardware comes out is beyond lame and decidedly un-TiVo.

USB Doorbell

You can have this for ?49.99

Posted Feb 29th 2008 7:37PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Features, Laptops

While everyone and their second cousin third removed had something to say about Apple’s ultra-sexy, ultra-hamstrung macbook air, we’ve a sneaking suspicion that folks previously eager about this week’s MacBook Pro updates will be equally vocal. For whatever reason, Cupertino faithful had February 26th pegged on their calender, and while the addition of a Penryn or two was nearly a given, the dreamers in the crowd had much higher hopes for that fateful Tuesday.

Nevertheless, the time came and went, and the re-opening of the online Apple store brought a whole heap of disappointment to many. Sure, folks still (somehow) enamored with the aging MBP design were thrilled to have access to a more potent, less scalding iteration of their favorite machine, but honestly, we’re still using the GeForce 8600M GT? Really, Apple? Needless to say, this refresh likely did little to satisfy your desire for a revamped MacBook Pro, but we’re interested in finding out exactly what it is you really wanted. An option for an SSD? What about a built-in Blu-ray drive? Would integrated HDMI make things more appealing? Or is a top-down case redesign the only thing stopping you from abusing your credit card in the name of Steve Jobs? Go on, we know you folks are chock full of good ideas, so let’s hear ‘em, shall we?