Its Electronica

Bladerunner 3

You can have this for ?59.95

Posted Feb 21st 2008 5:16PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Misc. gadgets

Echoing the reactions of many to Microsoft’s decision to open things up this morning, the European Commission issued a statement this morning saying that while it welcomes any moves towards “genuine interoperability,” it’s not going to believe it until it sees it — it’s counted four similar announcements by Redmond in the past, with nothing to show for it. Of course, Microsoft is currently being investigated for antitrust violations in Europe, so there’s a whispered belief that the new steps are a ploy to derail that process, but that’s pretty doubtful — and the EU’s not having it anyway, saying that “Today’s announcement by Microsoft does not address the tying allegations.” For its part, Microsoft actually agrees, saying that it’s opening things up on its own — the move reflects both “the reality of our unique legal situation” as well as “new opportunities and risks in the connected world.” That’s certainly an interesting approach — but we’ll see how the EU reacts if and when Microsoft follows through on these promises.

Tom Robertson (Microsoft Corp. General Manager of Interoperability and Standards) describes a set of broad-reaching changes to the company’s technology and business practices to increase the openness of its products and drive greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for developers, partners, customers, and competitors.

Specifically, Microsoft is implementing four new interoperability principles and corresponding actions across its high-volume business products:
(1) ensuring open connections;
(2) promoting data portability;
(3) enhancing support for industry standards;
(4) fostering more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open source communities.

Researchers in the U.K. have been researching gadget addiction and are warning that users of such digital gadgetry like Blackberries, cellphones, and other digital devices are providing their users with a techno-fix which can detrimental to their everyday life.

According to the Beeb, a professor in Northhampton University in the U.K. conducted a study of 360 subjects and found that up that up to a third became “tech-addicted.” Some would get up several times a night to check emails and text messages.

“You would be surprised how many people had their PDA or Blackberry next to their bed heads,” said Professor Nada Kakabadse. “Those who are addicted will get up in the middle of the night and pick up messages on their PDAs two or three times a night.”

Although in early stages the addiction can add to a worker’s productivity, the study also suggested that those who have to get their gadget fix may find it effects their job performance as they feel they must be connected at all times and over a long period of time, that linking can cause stress and anxiety, the inability to complete other tasks as they must constantly check messages, and even cause those addicted to become more withdrawn from everyday relationships as they pursue contact online. And often, detecting the addiction can come too late and that employers should provide proper warnings and training for a more healthy use of technology.

(filed by blackberry … okay, not really)

In the era of wireless technologies, it is obvious that everything that was wired before has its wireless twin. There are wireless PC accessories, wireless Bluetooth headsets etc. Wireless headphones become more and more popular. However, there is one huge flaw of wireless technology - it needs batteries to run, and it drains them pretty fast. So the Bluetooth headphones can power off even if your player is full of energy. Unpleasant surprise to leave without music in a trip or walk, isn’t it? Nevertheless, who needs Bluetooth when mp3 player can be right inside the headphones, integrated with them?

New SkullCandy headphones offer wireless audio without wireless technologies - audio player is integrated right inside them, so no Bluetooth-enabled device is required. Everything you need for music listening is in built in. Just put those on your head and you are ready to go. Unlike most of MP3 enabled headphones, the memory on this is limited only by capacity of SD card. Yes, it has a SD slot, so you can expand the amount of music stored as you like. No word about SDHC support, but in any case up to 4 gig of music - very impressive!

The device lacks a screen, but when headphones are on your head, who will read it anyway! On the right side of them control buttons are placed, they can be easily reached. The Li-Ion battery inside them are easily and rapidly rechargeable, don’t know about battery life, but without Bluetooth it must be fair enough to hold for 9-10 hours at least.

These headphones are perfect purchase if you hate wires and like to listen to music on shuffle. They have three color schemes: orange / brown, yellow / white, and black, to fit almost every style. The price on this gadget is unknown for the moment, but it will be announced soon.

Related:

• Touchscreen MP4 Player - distract yourself
• Lobster - 5 in 1 multimedia gadget
• New “Apple” speakers
• A cell phone with double touch screen
• Music Jacket

Do you ever get tired of hearing the sound of yourself typing? Honestly, it’s never really bothered me, but I’m sure that if you work near other people, they might get annoyed with it after some time. Next time you go shopping for a new keyboard, you might look for one that’s a bit quieter than the rest. Take this one from Thanko which is not only silent, but works on two PCs.

While it’s pretty obvious what it means for a keyboard to be silent, I don’t often hear of one that boasts the ability to work on two computers at the same time. I guess that it’s really not the same time, but a flip of a switch just above your arrow keys will allow you to operate on a second computer.

While this does seem like a fairly useful product, even at $51, I can’t help but wonder what you’ll do about a second mouse. I figure if you’re going to have a multiple computer setup there are really two ways to go about it. Either use a KVM switch, or a software solution like Synergy.

Source: Crave

Posted Feb 21st 2008 11:57AM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Desktops, Media PCs, Storage

Uh-oh — it looks like the nasty Windows Home Server bug that corrupts data affects quite a few more apps than Microsoft initially let on. The company’s just updated the WHS support note to include reports of data corruption when using iTunes, the Zune software, WinAmp, WMP 11, Photoshop, and a host of other applications — and the problem’s expanded in scope as well, now affecting files saved to the server in addition to files edited on the server. That basically makes WHS useless as of right now — if you can’t trust your data on it, there’s no point — so let’s hope there’s a fix on the way.

[Via wegotserved]

Posted Feb 21st 2008 11:49AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Gaming

It’s been a long time coming, but it looks like the GPU industry finally figured out the fact that most consumers don’t want to blow a couple grand on an SLI setup, they just want to play Crysis debt-free. The new GeForce 9600 GT from NVIDIA is an answer to those prayers, offering solid performance ratings nearly in line with last-gen’s 8800 GT, at a completely lovable $199-and-under pricepoint. For now the top of the performance charts is still the 8800 Ultra — as NVIDIA will readily admit — but the 9600 GT is just the first of NVIDIA’s GeForce 9 series, and while it’s sure to be followed by bigger, badder and more expensive versions, it’s refreshing to see the 9600 hitting the market first.

Read - GeForce 9600 GT
Read - PC Per GeForce 9600 GT review
Read - HotHardware GeForce 9600 GT review

I really don’t know what it is with Japanese companies that makes them want to make the strangest combo gadgets in the world. I almost picture them having a wall with various gadgets listed on it. All they do is pick either keyboard or mouse, then throw a dart and see what crazy device they should combine. It looks like this time they picked mouse and vacuum cleaner.

I don’t know about you, but I keep my mousing area fairly clean. While my desk may be cluttered most of the time, I try to make sure it is a crumb-free zone, for obvious reasons. However, if you’re one that loves nothing more than to hover over your desk and eat potato chips all day, you might find a mouse with a built-in vacuum cleaner to be quite handy.

The USB Vacuum Mouse is unattractive at best, and probably isn’t very powerful. It’s probably best as a gag gift for someone who always has a messy desk. It’ll be a cheap gift, as it is a little under $19.

Source: EverythingUSB

Forget the traditional jewelry weapon of choice, the sovereign ring. Next to the Killer Diamond Engagement Ring, it looks like a Nerf gun. This concept, from Tobias Wong, takes the diamond and reverses it in its setting, leaving the pointy and extremely sharp side facing out.

Apparently the ring will “cut skin down to the bone” and is the perfect gift for a loved one.

It’s romantic because it means, “Will you marry me” but it also means, “I can’t always be there to protect you so if some jerk won’t stop bothering you, puncture him with this.”

A beautiful sentiment. Also useful for vandalism (scratch tagging and car “keying”).

Product page [Yanko via BoingBoing]