Lists

Gadget Monday – April 6, 2009

Here are this week’s seven cool gadgets.

Dell Studio One

Dell’s design has definitely improved in recent times, and the Dell Studio One is a great example of their new direction. It’s an all-in-one desktop with a 19″ widescreen display. It’s smaller than the 20″ iMac from Apple, but it looks wider because Dell put all the circuitry in the back instead of letting some of it reside under the screen, and because the aspect ratio for its display is 16:9, not 16:10. Hardware-wise, the specs are nice and on-par with the iMac, and the price certainly isn’t bad at $700 for the entry-level model. I do hope, for Dell’s sake, that the Studio One will run Windows 7, not Vista…

dell-studio-one-19

[via LikeCool]

Lenovo Pocket Yoga

This neat device from Lenovo is a cross between a Pocket PC, a netbook, and a laptop. There are no specs or pricing or availability listed for it anywhere, only some photos in Lenovo’s Flickr account. I like the stylish design and the size, but I have many questions about it, such as OS, specs, tactile feel of the keyboard, battery life, display quality, stylus usability, etc.

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lenovo-pocket-yoga-1

lenovo-pocket-yoga-3

[via LikeCool and Lenovo]

LaCie iamaKey USB flash drive

Key-shaped, functional and cool design for a USB flash drive. It’s also a good deal at only $18 for the 4GB version and $30 for the 8GB version.

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lacie-iamakey-2

lacie-iamakey-3

[via LikeCool and LaCie]

Zero Mouse by Oliver Rosito

An elegant, hollowed-out mouse concept design, made of aluminum and rubber. I like it, but I do have one question: where will they fit the batteries?

zero-mouse

[via The Design Blog]

JVC Everio X Camcorder

The Everio line of camcorders from JVC have sure come a long way since I last reviewed them. The new Everio X camcorder is both a digital camera and video camera, recording 9 megapixel stills and full HD (1080p) video with a 1/2.33 inch CMOS sensor. One set of features that sets it apart is the ability to shoot photos at high speed. It’ll record 5 megapixel photos at 60 fps (frames per second), and will even go as high as 600 fps, although the image size at that speed is only 640×72 pixels.

jvc-everio-x-camcorder

[via LikeCool and JVC]

Electric Man

A power strip shaped to look like a smiling stick figure man.  You can use it for those bulky adapters, since there’s plenty of space between each grounded outlet. Only $15 from UrbanOutfitters.

[via LikeCool]

Three doors in one by Slam Doors

Did you ever see “The Three Bears” classic cartoon or read the story as a child? Same concept here. You’ve got a little door for Baby Bear, a medium door for Mama Bear and a big door for Papa Bear. Nice!

three-doors-in-one

[via LikeCool]

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Lists

Gadget Monday – March 30, 2009

Here is this week’s list of cool gadgets. Did you see last week’s edition?

Samsung HZ15W Digital Camera

Available starting this month, the HZ15W digital camera has a 12 megapixel sensor and a 10x Schneider zoom lens that starts at an ultra-wide 24mm. The camera also has built-in optical and digital image stabilization, and it records HD video at 720p and H.264 compression. Users can utilize the zoom freely while shooting HD video, which is still a rare feature on digital cameras. The HDMI output allows it to be connected directly to an HDTV.

The HZ15W replaces the HZ10W, which was launched in January at CES and is pictured below.

Samsung HZ10W Digital Camera

2TB Hard Drive from Western Digital

WDC is the first company to have come out with a 2TB internal hard drive. It’s a 3.0GB/s SATA drive that will make a lot of Drobo owners very, very happy.

Western Digital 2TB SATA Hard Drive - 1

Sony Ericsson Idou mobile phone

A new touch screen mobile phone from Sony Ericsson with a 12 megapixel camera and a big 3.5 inch (16:9, 640×320 pixels) display. It has all the goodies you’d expect from a smartphone, and it’ll go on sale later this year.

Sony Ericsson Idou Phone

[via LikeCool]

Canon PowerShot D10 digital camera

This little camera is waterproof (up to 10m depth), shockproof (up to 1.2m fall) and freezeproof (to -10°C). It’ll go on sale in May for $330 MSRP, street price will be lower. It has a 12 megapixel sensor, 3x zoom and it shoots SD 480p video.

Canon PowerShot D10 - 1

Canon PowerShot D10 - 2

[via Canon and LikeCool]

Studio FRST’s 16943 HDTV

The 16943 is a conceptual design for an HDTV that definitely grabbed my attention. It breaks out of the mold of the squarish TV design and allows one to view 4:3 or 16:9 movies at their intended aspect ratios, without letterboxing or pillarboxing them. The designers also want to include a built-in DVD player on the side, which is a nice touch but not really needed, since most people will play their content from other sources, not DVDs, in the future.

Studio FRST 16943 HDTV - 1

Studio FRST 16943 HDTV - 2

Studio FRST 16943 HDTV - 3

[via FRST and The Design Blog]

Interdepartment Mail laptop sleeve by Kena Kai

Made of white Italian leather, this is one beautiful laptop sleeve. Available for $70 directly from Kena Kai.

interoffice-mail1

interoffice-mail2

[via TrustyPony]

Modular office desk and bed by Florian Jouy

This neat desk can be unfolded and used as a bed at the day’s end. Great for small spaces.

modular-desk-and-bed-1

modular-desk-and-bed-2

[via The Design Blog]

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Gadget Monday – March 23, 2009

Here are this week’s seven cool gadgets. Did you see last week’s edition?

Terrafugia Transition

I wrote about the Terrafugia vehicle back in March of 2006, three years ago. On March 5th of this year, a couple of weeks ago, their first working prototype, the Terrafugia Transition, made a successful runway-only flight. I’m really glad to see they managed to get their design built and working!

The Transition has foldable wings that extend and lock into place when it’s time to fly. It changes from a car into an airplane in less than 30 seconds. It has a top speed of 65 mph on the ground and 115 mph in the air. Its approximate fuel economy is 30 mpg, and it can fly about 450 miles on a full tank. Retail price is $194,000.

terrafugia_morning_hangar

klwmtaxi

first_flight_chase_plane

first_flight_chase_truck

terrafugia_formation

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Videos (1st, 2nd, 3rd)

[via Terrafugia and Jalopnik]

KOZO Lamps by Design2009

These lamps from Design2009 are hand-made from old-style galvanized steel pipes and feature a faucet-like switch. They can be used with incandescent or halogen light bulbs.

KOZO1

KOZO2

KOZO3

[via LikeCool]

The Jenga Pistol

It’s a coil-action pistol that can be used to knock out Jenga blocks. Watch the video and see, my description is lamer than what this gadget does.

[via Look At This]

SwitchEasy ThumbTacks

They look like thumbtacks, but they’re microphones for your iPod. So cool! At only $13, I’d grab a couple in a heartbeat, except they won’t work with my 1st generation iPod Touch; they only work with the iPod Nano 4G and iPod Touch 2G.

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switcheasy-thumbtack-2

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[via SwitchEasy and LikeCool]

Collapsible Crutch

This may be one gadget I’d rather not use unless it was absolutely necessary, but let me tell you, if it were necessary, I’d rather be stuck with these. I was on crutches almost 10 years ago because of a knee operation, and I found it annoyingly difficult to get them in and out of the car. These collapsible crutches expand and contract very easily, which makes that task a snap.

Collapsible Crutch - 1

Collapsible Crutch - 2

Collapsible Crutch - 3

[via The Design Blog]

D3O

This wonder gel is soft at first touch, but it turns into a solid upon hard impact. It’s already being used in sportswear, and now the British Army has signed a contract with Blue Divine Ltd, the maker of the gel, so it can be used in the helmets of British soldiers. Very cool!

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[via Mail Online and Look At This]

Iglooplay Mod Rocker

Someone tell me why this cool rocker is only made for kids? It’s so nice I’d get one myself. It’s made by ModernNursery of molded plywood, and can take up to 450 lbs of weight.

iglooplay-mod-rocker-1

[via The Design Blog]

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Gmail offers another pleasant surprise

The Gmail team has done it again, and they’ve given Gmail users a whole slew of cool new features.

New Gmail features

We’ve now got YouTube, Picasa and Flickr previews, built right into each email message. All we have to do is to put a link to a YouTube movie, or a Picasa or Flickr photo, and its thumbnail shows directly in the message. This feature can be enabled by service from the Labs settings in our Gmail accounts.

I love the “Undo send” feature and have already enabled it. My wife is already using the Offline version of email. It took a bit to sync all her messages, but it’s doing alright now.

Other Gmail features I love are as follows:

  • Superstars, which adds additional stars icons. I organize emails that I need to act on that way.
  • Signature tweaks, which places the signature above quoted text
  • Right-side labels
  • Navbar drag-and-drop, which allows me to re-organize the various items on the Gmail screen
  • Forgotten attachment detector
  • Vacation Time, which lets me specify beginning and ending dates for those times when I can’t get to my email
  • Create a Document, which allows me to create a Google Document right from my Gmail inbox (this is new)
  • Send & Archive, which allows me to reply and archive that message at the same time (this is new)
  • Title Tweaks, which changes the order of the text in the Gmail page title, allowing me to see right away how many unread messages there are (this is new)
  • Google Docs gadget, which displays my most recent Google Documents on my Gmail inbox screen

There’s more information about the new features on the Gmail Blog, here and here.

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Reviews

In-camera HDR now here

Back in November of 2006, I had a few ideas about taking foolproof photos. I predicted that it wouldn’t be long before we might see in-camera HDR. That feature is now here. Let me show you two cameras that have recently become availble. They both do in-camera HDR.

Ricoh CX1

Ricoh CX1 - 1

Here’s what Ricoh says about their in-camera HDR feature:

“It can be difficult to photograph scenes in which the level of brightness varies greatly. With dynamic range double shot mode, the CX1 shoots, consecutively at high speed, two still images with different exposures, and then it records an image that combines the properly exposed portions of each. Expanding the dynamic range up to a maximum equivalent to 12 EV makes it possible to record images that give an almost naked-eye impression.”

Ricoh CX1 - 2

[via Ricoh]

FujiFilm FinePix F200EXR

FujiFilm FinePix F200EXR - 2

Here’s what FujiFilm says about their in-camera HDR feature:

“Just as your eye sees the full range of shadows to highlights in high-contrast scenes, “D-range Priority” simultaneously captures two images to produce a single image with Wide Dynamic Range up to 800%, revealing subtleties in shadow and eliminating washout of the bright areas.”

FujiFilm FinePix F200EXR - 1

[via FujiFilm]

It looks like both companies use a two-exposure method, where one is underexposed to capture the very bright areas, and the other is overexposed to capture the dark areas. The two exposures are combined in-camera to create a single photo that contains the proper details from each exposure. You have to specifically turn on this feature — the camera won’t do it automatically — but the nice thing is that you only press the shutter button once.

I’m really glad to see this feature come to market. In some ways, it’s similar to a feature found on Canon DSLRs, called Auto Lighting Optimizer, except that feature adjusts the sensor signals within a single exposure to render a better photo instead of combining two photos. I imagine the dynamic range compensation obtained through that technique isn’t as pronounced as the in-camera HDR done by Ricoh and FujiFilm.

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