Best New Technology

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Apr 25th 2008 at 11:57PM

Maybe we’re confused, but we were under the impression that the oft-delayed, mist-like device known as the Phantom Lapboard had been released to the public. Apparently, we were mistaken. Regardless, Maximum PC has gotten a thorough, in-depth look at the $130 pivoting keyboard / mouse / mousepad combo. We won’t bore you with the details of their encounter with this beast — which they claim is due in June now — though we can tell you that they complain of a “wimpy” left mouse click, which frankly is a deal-breaker for 4/16ths of the Engadget editorial staff. The other 12/16ths don’t like it because they had a bad experience with a matte black keyboard once.

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Filed under: Peripherals

by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 25th 2008 at 3:01PM

Oregon Scientific managed to pique our interest with its proximity-sensing Weather In Motion clock, and it now looks like it’s got the solution for anyone that wishes they could take it with ‘em wherever they go, with the company set to release its new Meteo weather forecasting watch. While the need for a proximity sensor is obviously eliminated this time around, the watch apparently boasts the same weather information in icon-form as its desk-based companion, along with your usual time-telling, stop watch and alarm features. Look for this one to set you back £40 (or about $80) when it’s released next month.

[Via BIOS]

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Filed under: Wearables

I find it pretty hard to believe that a company might actually want to piggyback on the success of other brands and even franchises. Case in point - the Matrix-NEO LCD monitor from Dao Korea. This glossy full HD lcd monitor will feature a ho-hum dynamic contrast ratio of 7,000 to 1, and will be released on May 1st. I wonder what the legal eagles from Warner Bros. have to say about this - will this Matrix-NEO LCD monitor actually stop time and “bullets” from your boss, just like how Neo managed to do so in the movies? I guess not, but at least you can choose from 17″, 19″, 20″, 22″ and 24″ varieties.

A few years ago, MP3 players were really popular and portable media players weren’t even really fully in the market yet. Over the past few years, many changes have taken place and video has now become a must have feature for many people. Bluetooth integration in MP3 players and portable media players would be nice, but that technology hasn’t caught on either. Ever since the ipod Touch came out, many portable media players began getting Wi-Fi as well, although it has not caught on with all devices, yet. Also coming with the iPod Touch was touchscreens. It seems that the average consumer wants good battery life, video playback, touchscreen, but above all, Wi-Fi.

In a recent study conducted by iSuppli, it seems that over the next 4 years, portable media players are set to grow steadily, but touchscreen and Bluetooth won’t be as prevalent in these devices as Wi-Fi will. If you take a look at the graph above, you can see that Wi-Fi is estimated to have strong growth, while the Bluetooth and touchscreen are not expected to grow nearly as fast or as much. As of now, only 4% of all portable media players and MP3 players have Bluetooth. I own a portable media player that has integrated Bluetooth, but the device itself doesn’t last nearly as long as it would on normal headphones, so I don’t use the Bluetooth much. iSuppli also predicts only a 4.3-percent growth in 2012, meaning a 197.1 million increase from 2007, and to 243.3 million devices in 2012. They also say that only expensive, high-end units will feature touchscreen. The interesting thing is that many portable media players that have Wi-Fi also have touchscreens. Personally, I agree with these results that I favor having Wi-Fi over Bluetooth or touchscreen. Do you agree?

Via [PMP Today]

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Everyones favorite love-to-hate retail chain is now celebrating their grand re-opening with 15 current locations and a new one to top it off. While 13 of those are located in Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico will also share in the joy of everything that CompUSA has been lacking to offer in the past.

If you remember back when the CompUSA demise first came about, they were being snapped up by Systemax, who is better know as the owner of Tiger Direct. Sadly the Tiger Direct retail locations have not been know for a stellar in-store experience, which is reminiscent of the CompUSA’s of the past. Hopefully the re-grand opening, which is promising “lower prices’” a “new wider selection” and “amazing new deals” will prove to be better than they were in their past life.

Via [Engadget]

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In most places across the world, at any given time of day, you can walk up to any random person and be sure that he/she owns a Nokia. Then when you ask that person why he/she owns a Nokia, you’ll be given an anecdote about its user-friendly interface, nice styling, satisfactory performance, etc. And it shouldn’t surprise you, because those are the reasons why Nokia skyrocketed in the mobile phone making game.

Another thing that’s not surprising is Nokia’s apparent low profile in the North American handset market, mainly because it just would not succumb to the carriers’s requests to modify their phones in order to match some “specific criteria.” This will soon change, however, as Nokia finally decides to change it’s tactics in order to recover their stronghold on the US market.

“We are literally repositioning our entire approach to the US,” says Mark Louison, the company’s North America chief. And they had better do it soon. Unless they want to keep seeing underdog Motorola beating them at their own game.

Read [Business Week]

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We first learned about Crucial prepping SSD’s in both a 32GB and 64GB size back in early January, but at the time we were yet to learn about any pricing or a time frame for an actual release. Well it turns out the drives are now shipping and although they would make a nice upgrade for alot of notebooks on the market, their price is going to be a barrier for many folks.

The 32GB model is retailing for $800, while the 64GB is a whopping $1,500. Its a shame because the drives are the notebook-sized 2.5-inch, which means, assuming you were comfortable enough to open up your notebook, would make a perfect replacement or upgrade drive.

While the whole SSD craze is relatively new, its fair to say that with time, just like any other new technology the price will quickly fall to a more reasonable level. One thing is for sure though, given the price of the drives from Crucial, the $1,000 macbook air upgrade option seems cheap, or at least fairly priced.

Via [Wired]

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The mother of all 3G iPhone rumors has been smashed, ladies and gentlemen, by none other than an Apple fanboy who happened to pass by a mobile phone accessories store in Hong Kong.

While the rest of us here have been speculating (some even giggling) about the possibilities of a glossy black 3G iPhone coming in June, those in Hong Kong may already be aware that the photo of the alleged 3G iphone on the Internet right now is absolutely and positively not a photo of the real thing. Because what the thing in the photo really was, according to the source of the image above, is none other than a glossy black custom iPhone back case, which you can purchase for yourself right now if you were in Hong Kong.

Oh well, the rumors were fun while it lasted. This means that an image of the 3G iPhone has not been leaked after all, although nothing would stop Apple from churning out something that closely resembles this thing anyway. I say good job to the makers of this plastic case, though.

Read [Winandmac] Via [Gizmodo]

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All right class, listen up! iSuppli has made a projection that will see WiFi connectivity snake its way onto other devices in the near future, with this feature being ranked more desirable by respondents when compared to a touch screen display or Bluetooth connectivity. I guess we can’t run away from the fact that surfing the Internet is something we take for granted these days, and would like to see this being included in even the next generic mp3 player purchased. Good thing Ubergizmo is well geared to meet the demand of mobile surfing, as we have a data light Ubergizmo.mobi site.

Switzerland’s schools have announced they will stop using Windows and instead switch to the Linux operating system Ubuntu. Up until now the school system’s 9000 computers were set up to dual boot to Windows and Ubuntu. The country’s Department of Public Instruction has become serious fans of Open Source software. Their reasons are the money it saves them and the relief it gives students who may not be able to afford Microsoft’s expensive software packages such as MS Office. The director of the Media Service Schools, Manuel Grandjean, said the move would also “avoid providing captive customers for large companies.”

The Swiss are not the first to make the switch. Schools in Russia have also begun to make the switch, and many government agencies here in the US also use Linux. The operating systems rising popularity has even caught the attention of PC makers, who are beginning to offer systems with Linux pre-installed.  It is an especially popular choice for makers of ultra-portable yet affordable systems like the Eee PC.

Read [Foobar]

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