Your's Web Tech Power Blog's: Dec 17, 2010

Friday, December 17, 2010

Latest Posts on Coolest Gadgets

Choose Your Own Adventure Books finally go to video format
The Innergie mCube Slim Universal Adapter
Hands on with the Kensington Pro Fit Washable Keyboard
Hitachi outs first one-disk, 7mm 500GB hard drive in the industry
Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 fills a niche in the smartphone market
Voice Clarifying Amplifier
Paper Watch has you as the designer
Gadget Thumbnails for 15-Dec-2010

Choose Your Own Adventure Books finally go to video format

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 05:00 PM PST

If you grew up in the early eighties, then you probably remember reading the Choose Your Own Adventure books where you select a page depending on where you wanted your main character to go.

I’ve always wondered why we didn’t see more of these in video format that were not some sort of PC game in the early nineties.

This is Turbulence, an interactive feature-length film designed for touchscreen devices such as smartphones or tablets. The film won a recent award at the Berkeley film festival, and it normally runs about 83 minutes if you just let it go on its own. However, as the film progresses, certain items or even people will start to glow. if you touch them, this will cause the film to branch out into a different direction. Then the film could be 1-2 hours long depending on what choices that you make.

As for what the film is about, it concerns three friends who cross paths in New York City after 20 years of being apart. That might not be as exciting as the Choose Your Own Adventure books that I read as a kid, but hey, I’m sure that director Nitzan Ben Shaul has made it pretty exciting.

I wouldn’t mind seeing more movies or television shows with this type of format, in any genre. They must be difficult to write, though.

Source

Coolest Gadgets UK – For all your UK centric tech and gadget news.
[ Choose Your Own Adventure Books finally go to video format copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

The Innergie mCube Slim Universal Adapter

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 04:31 PM PST

Since I purchased my laptop a few years ago, I have had the charging cable fail on me twice. Replacing it has been a costly endeavor of about $70 to $100.

I figure that the Innergie mCube Slim Super Compact Universal Adapter would be a good thing to have around in case my next adapter fails me, which seems to be a two-year event.

The Innergie mCube Slim has a wide range voltage input which is good for charging a wide range of laptops. It can handle 15-21 volts, with a wattage requirement of 65W. It has a bundle of tips for laptops which include Acer, Asus, Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, IBM, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba.

The unit itself connects to the wall via AC outlet, and it has a USB port for charging mobile phones, GPS devices, game consoles, e-book readers, as well as iPods and other MP3 players.

The mCube Slim is very energy efficient, but I will have to say that it gets really hot when it is plugged in. I had it adjusted for the right voltage, but I wouldn’t leave it plugged in overnight.

Speaking of voltage, you need to have the thing unplugged before you switch the voltage from 15-17 Volts to 18-21 Volts.

You should be able to get the Innergie mCube Slim from the company site for about $99.99.

Check out the Coolest Gadgets 2008 Gift Guides, Christmas shopping made easy.
[ The Innergie mCube Slim Universal Adapter copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Hands on with the Kensington Pro Fit Washable Keyboard

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 03:53 PM PST

Whenever I get a chance to try out a keyboard to review for a post, it is my tradition to write the article about it on the keyboard itself.

Most of these keyboards are all alike, and this one isn’t wireless like the Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750. It is USB and PS2 compatible, and it is good to go if you want to wash it. When I say washable, I mean that you can run the keyboard under a running faucet with soap, disinfectant, or bleach, and then air dry it. It’s all good, just keep the connector out of the water.

I would imagine that this would be the perfect keyboard to have around in a medical facility, where germs and other bloodborne pathogens are a job hazard. It even has built-in antimicrobial material for “continuous microbe resistance”.

I do have one complaint about the 104-key layout. The right Shift key is quite far away from where I normally rest my pinky finger. I suppose that I could adapt to that, but I don’t know how long it would take.

The device has a PS2 adapter, so you don’t have to worry about investing in one if that is your thing. You should be able get the Kensington Pro Fit USB/PS2 Washable Keyboard for $39.95 right here.

Coolest Gadgets UK – For all your UK centric tech and gadget news.
[ Hands on with the Kensington Pro Fit Washable Keyboard copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Hitachi outs first one-disk, 7mm 500GB hard drive in the industry

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 03:00 PM PST

Hitachi is first off the blocks with the one-disk, 7mm 500GB hard drive, adding yet another feather to their already illustrious cap. This is one piece of hardware that will definitely find a comfortable fit across many devices, as it hits the industry’s sweet spot where the 2.5-inch hard drive market is concerned. We’re talking about the spanking new thin and rugged Travelstar Z5K500 drive which enables innovative designs for ultra-portable consumer electronics devices, notebooks, netbooks and compact industrial systems. More on the Travelstar Z5K500 as we dive into the meaty part of the post after the jump.

Currently, the Travelstar Z5K500 is peerless within the industry, as it remains as the only 500GB one disk product and the only second generation 7mm product family. This is a clear push by Hitachi to move from 9.5mm 2.5-inch drives to 7mm 2.5-inch drives, and since it now comes with a 500GB capacity, it will complement the rest of its ‘family’ members of 320GB and 250GB capacities, hence satisfying over 77 percent of today's capacity needs in the portable PC market. Meant to be direct replacements for standard 2.5-inch, 9.5mm drives in everything from external drives to notebooks, netbooks and blade servers, Hitachi looks well poised to milk this particularly lucrative and popular market segment for a long time to come.

The Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 drive family is not only slim, it also delivers the best cost per gigabyte and gigabyte per cubic millimeter (GB/mm3) when compared to solid state drives (SSD), and 2.5-inch and 1.8-inch 9.5mm HDDs. That alone ought to help you part with your money easier, but there’s more. The drives sip just 1.8 watts (W) read/write power and 0.55W low power idle, and is extremely silent at at 1.9 idle / 2.1 seek bels. Apart from that, they are also Hitachi's second generation Advanced Format drive, where this tech will increase the physical sector size on HDDs from 512 bytes to 4,096 (4K) bytes, resulting in improved drive capacity and error correction capabilities.

No word on pricing yet, but they are ready to hit the market this month.

Press Release

Coolest Gadgets UK – For all your UK centric tech and gadget news.
[ Hitachi outs first one-disk, 7mm 500GB hard drive in the industry copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 fills a niche in the smartphone market

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 02:45 PM PST

Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X8 is one smartphone that is touted to fill the gap in the smartphone market, in particular, meeting the needs of consumers who are finding a slew of touchscreen smartphone handsets too large or too small for them. In other words, it fits your hand snugly, and work just fine for those digits of yours without getting in the way or creating an unsightly bulge in your pocket. Of course, another important factor to consider these days would be pricing, as these are economically trying times, so every penny saved is always more than welcome, and the Xperia X8 certainly does its part to make sure you do not spend more than you should even on an advanced smartphone.

Touting to bring the best of both worlds into one single device, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 will have features taken from both the Xperia X10 and mini. Already meant to be available globally from October this year, it is even tipped to attract all the more phone users to the smartphone market. One of its main strengths? The size which is highly appealling, as it is placed neatly in between the two aforementioned popular Sony Ericsson Xperia phones while sporting a 3 inch capacitive touchscreen display that translates to one-handed navigation and message composition on the virtual QWERTY keyboard in a jiffy. Just a note of caution though – typing with just one of your hands while driving is still a big no-no, no matter how proficient you think you are.

To put things in perspective, the Xperia X10 is 20mm longer and 9mm wider than the X8 and the X8 is 16mm longer and 4mm wider than the X10 mini and 9mm longer and 2mm than the mini pro. As for its 3 inch display, it sports 320 x 480 pixels (HVGA) resolution for you to enjoy excellent quality images and videos, while handling applications which require high resolution. Retailing for typically under 200 Euros, it is also the most affordable Sony Ericsson Android phone to date, boasting Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, Google Maps and GPS navigation among others. If you’re a Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 owner, how has your ownership of this handset changed your life – for better or for worse?

Press Release

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[ Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 fills a niche in the smartphone market copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Voice Clarifying Amplifier

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 02:33 PM PST

When we get older, different parts of our body start to break down and not function as before. For some of us, it is our vision that starts to deteriorate, and for others, their hearing. Well, good thing there are advancements made in the field of technology that will correct such situations to a certain extent without the need for surgery. The Voice Clarifying Amplifier is pretty much self-explanatory, as this digital earpiece will amplify and clarify voices while minimizing distracting background noise. Inside, there lies an advanced microchip that will amplify any human speech frequencies while dampening background noise in order for spoken words to be clearly audible. This works differently from lesser analog models that merely make all sounds louder, as it is a superior digital earpiece that specifically amplifies voice pitch so words are easier to discern. Nice to know it comes with a rechargeable battery inside as well, making it work for up to 10 hours after a dozen hours of charging. Sporting eight adjustable volume levels, each $299.95 purchase comes with a quartet of different sized silicone caps to accommodate all ear sizes.

Cool Gift Idea: Digital Picture Frames, check out our reviews.
[ Voice Clarifying Amplifier copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Paper Watch has you as the designer

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 02:26 PM PST

Love to tell the time? Well, you can now do so in style with the Paper Watch. This is one timepiece that has you as the designer, and it is dirt cheap to boot at £7.99. Apart from that, what makes it stand out from the rest of the crowd is this – it is truly unique and one of a kind, something even after forking out tens of thousands for a Swiss-made watch cannot net you. Cheap yet uncommon, this digital watch comes encased in tear resistant paper-style material with a matching strap, enabling you to customize it with just about any kind of doodles, designs or scrawlings that you fancy. Just make sure that you have an artistic streak to you and you’re good to go – as long as you visualize this to be a blank canvas on your wrist. Basically, it is touch and go, depending on how artistically inclined you are.