Today's digital photo frames can do everything--except come down in price. Witness the just-released eStarling 802.11n Touchscreen Connected Frame. As the name says, it offers 802.11n connectivity, so you can load picture faster than ever. Each frame comes with a unique Gmail address, so you can transfer them over e-mail. It's convenient for the home, or for leaving with an older relative so you can add pictures remotely.
This frame has a few other pluses, including a touchscreen. That makes maneuvering through menus much easier than with a remote. Once you've got it connected to your home network, you can display photos from Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, and other sites. It can even access a Twitter stream.
You're not limited to photos with this frame: It can also display video. Imagine shooting a video of your kids on your smartphone, then uploading it to a frame so grandma can see it minutes later. When you consider that the frame also has a 10.2-inch screen, the $249.99 list price actually starts to sound reasonable.
While we have nothing against the Foxit eSlick e-reader (and I really like the company's PDF reader software) the eSlick has flown somewhat underneath our radar.
In part, that's because Foxit seems to be employing an unusual strategy of shipping the eSlick in rounds of products; for example, the eighth round of eSlicks should be shipping now, while the company is accepting orders for the ninth round, which will ship near the end of November.
On Wednesday, however, Foxit announced the second version of the eSlick's firmware, with support for the ePub and eReader formats as well as the previously supported PDF and text formats. Images are now viewable in GIF,
EMP, JPEG, and PNG formats, and the firmware update even installed a touch keyboard, so that users can unlock password-protected files.
It sounds like the current round of preorders will ship with the new firmware; otherwise, existing customers can download the version 2.0 firmware at the company's Web site.
Maybe you've spoken to your alarm clock before. Maybe you've mumbled obscenities just after the alarm goes off. How cool would it be if your clock understood you?
No, the Moshi Voice Control Travel Alarm Clock doesn't respond to curse words, but it does know nine commands. Touch the Voice Command button and you can set the time, alarm, and snooze just by speaking. You can even ask the temperature or get assistance.
The clock comes in four fun colors and sells for $24.99. If you need convincing, a video on the site shows you how it works. It's compact and made for travel, but you might like this clock's convenience so much that you use it all the time. Just no bad words, please: Moshi is listening.
Best Buy is teaming up with Sonic Solutions to provide customers on-demand access to streaming movies and TV shows.
Best Buy will embed Sonic's Roxio CinemaNow technology on a number of devices, like web-connected TVs, portable media players, PCs, Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, and mobile phones. This will include a variety of manufacturers, Best Buy said, but the store did not reveal any specific companies at this time.
The multi-year agreement allows Best Buy to license Sonic's technology to make its on-demand digital content delivery a standard feature on connected devices. As part of the deal, Best Buy purchased an undisclosed number of Sonic common stock.
When the service is in place, Best Buy customers can buy or rent from the CinemaNow catalogue, which includes access to new movies, TV shows, independent films, and older catalogue films. Some of those movies will likely be available on the same day as their DVD release, Best Buy said.
Both companies said they also plan to work with movie studios on "new service and content offerings" but did not elaborate.
If only there were a way to tweet from a mobile phone. Until Twitter and the mobile carriers concoct such a function, however, it looks like we're all stuck with the TwitterPeek, the latest device from Peek Inc. The new gadget features a color screen, which lets users send and receive tweets--and that's pretty much it.
The TwitterPeek is a slow little handheld that lacks some of the vital Twitter features one can get on their smartphone--like, say, reading full tweets. Says Sascha in his 1.5 star review (yes, out of five):
The main list of tweets only shows the first three and a half words of each message; to read more, you have to dig down by hitting the 'return' key. Then you can step through tweets, slowly, one by one, with the 'n' (for next) and 'p' (for previous) keys, or jump back up to the unreadable full list of truncated messages. The whole process is slow and annoying.
He does call the thing "frickin' adorable," however. And it's pretty cheap at $99 including 6 months of service, so you know, buy two so you have an extra standing by after you smash the first one.
A California-based company filed suit Monday against Barnes and Noble, accusing the retailer of stealing its ideas and using them for the Nook e-reader.
Barnes and Noble copied features found in Spring Design's Alex e-reader and used them in its Nook e-reader, according to Spring Design. The company is accusing Barnes and Noble of misappropriating trade secrets and violating a non-disclosure agreement.
"We showed the Alex e-book design to Barnes and Noble in good faith with the intention of working together to provide a superior dual screen e-book to the market," Eric Kmiec, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Spring Design, said in a statement.
Barnes and Noble unveiled its e-book reader, the Nook, on October 21. The device, which will retail for $259, is expected to debut at the end of November. It has a color, touch-sensitive display for navigation, allows for wireless downloads via AT&T's 3G network or Wi-Fi, and runs a variation of the Android platform.
Spring Design claims that it first started filing patents for its Alex e-book reader in 2006. The device is a dual-screen, Android-based reader. It includes Internet browsing and a touch screen. According to a press release on the Spring Design Web site, it was announced on October 19.
It's Friday, and it's just about Halloween, which means you're probably sitting in your cubicle eating candy for lunch and looking at photos of dogs dressed up as Darth Vader. Just me? Well, Gearlog has a few
spooky sites for you to check out.
1. If you didn't get around to carving your own jack-o-lanterns this Halloween, then you can do so online. Check out this virtual pumpkin carver from vidugiris.com.
2. It's too late to mail a Halloween card, but it's not too late to send an e-card! Take a look at these Halloween e-cards from MyPunchBowl.com before it's too late.
3. Although this has nothing to do with tech, it's still extremely disgusting, and a great cake for this spooky holiday. Check out Instructables' Brain Cake.
4. Thanks to Popular Mechanics, you can spy on those hooligans coming to toilet-paper your house, or steal your Halloween decorations with this DIY pumpkin surveillance camera.
5. Spruce up your computer with a flashy Halloween desktop. (Via LifeHacker)
6. It might be a little too late for this year, but you can always get an early start for next Halloween: Check out the Pumpkin Pal Stake (pictured above) which lights up your jack-o-lantern by sticking the stake directly in the pumpkin.
Take a look at the Viper Rush, a laptop bag released today. If the name alone doesn't get your adrenalin pumping, consider that this is a "work-in" case. It's for busy professionals who don't have time to remove their notebooks from their bags, thank you very much; just open the top and start computing. It looks just right for the Type A personality.
The Viper Rush is a hard-sided case designed to be a complete mobile office. The generous compartments and pockets can hold everything you need to run your business on-the-go. Special bumpers elevate the bag to let heat escape while you're working. It comes in two sizes--M and XL--but one large price tag: $129.95. Check it out at booqbags.com.
Netflix on the Wii? Netflix and Nintendo are staying mum.
Rumors surfaced on Wednesday that the DVD rental service is preparing to offer its streaming movie service via Nintendo's Wii. It makes sense--Netflix already has streaming deals with the Microsoft Xbox and, more recently, the Sony PlayStation--but at this point, there is no official news to report.
"Certainly the Wii represents a great opportunity given the size of its installed base, but we're not commenting on rumors or speculation," a Netflix spokesman said in an e-mail. "The Xbox partnership has been terrific for Netflix members and we're equally excited to announce the partnership with PS3."
A Nintendo spokesman said the company does not respond to rumors or speculation.
As the rumor mill expected, Nintendo will launch a larger version of its DS handheld console, which it will call the Nintendo DS LL. The DS LL will cost 20,000 yen when it goes on sale in Japan on Nov. 21.
Nintendo has not indicated when or if the DS LL will be brought to the United States, but history suggests that it will.
The DS LL uses a pair of 4.2-inch screens, as opposed to the 3.25-inch screens used by the new Nintendo DSi. While it will weigh 100 grams more, Nintendo still reportedly rates its battery life as about three hours, the same as the DSi. It too lacks a console slot, however.
Although the Wii was once (and perhaps still is) the darling of the video-game community, soe might feel that the Nintendo DS platform is getting a bit long in the tooth. On Thursday, Nintendo saw its global profits fall by 54 percent, and one analyst cited by Reuters called Nintendo's efforts "old hat".
Nintendo's problems don't appear too closely tied to its hardware, however. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told reporters that a lack of must-have titles hurt the Wii during the quarter. As most gamers know, Nintendo does a nice job of developing innovative titles in house; however, the company has historically struggled with attracting high-profile, third-party exclusives to its game platforms.
Jedi trainees can stop wandering the neighborhood looking for a kindly old man or frog-like hermit to train them in the ways of the force. Uncle Milton's new Star Wars The Force Trainer can help them hone their mind-object control skills. I'm no longer a kid, but I grew up with Star Wars and still secretly (well not so secretly now) wish I had Jedi mind skills.
The $99 product arrived in our offices last week, and I took it for a test drive earlier today. It takes AA batteries and three AAAs, but otherwise set-up is a no-brainer (get it?). The double AAs go in the base, which uses a fan to push a decorated ping-pong ball up a transparent tube. It communicates wirelessly with the adjustable headset, which features three sensors that ostensibly read your brainwaves and transmit the information back to the base. With the right kind of concentration (sit still, don't hold your breath, and think about making the ball rise), you can make the fan blow harder (or softer) and send the ball up and down the tube. Training takes you from Padawan level to Jedi Master--Yoda is your audio coach throughout.
Virtually all promotion pictures and video show a boy with his hand stretched toward the device. This isn't necessary, but a fair amount of concentration is. I didn't break a sweat during the test drive, but I believe I may have, with Yoda's help (he coaches you throughout), finally become a Jedi. The proof is in the video.
This November marks the fifth year of Wired magazine's annual pop-up store. The Wired Store offers many of the neat gadgets seen in the magazine, and, for the first time, it will feature a design collaboration with Moby (yes, that world-famous musician guy).
Located at 415 West 13th St. in New York City, the store will have more than 150 items on display, including TVs, laptops, cell phones, clothing, kids toys, and more. The Wired Store will also host regular events, like Geek Dad Saturdays, and Game Day Sundays, as well as wine tastings and chef demos in the WIRED Cafe.
There will also be a green
section curated by Adrian Grenier and Peter Glatzer of SHFT.COM, and a gaming section curated by non other than Tony Hawk.
The Wired Store will be open to the public from November 21, 2009 through
December 27, 2009. Visit the store's Web site for more information.
It's been a big couple of weeks for e-readers. First Plastic Logic unveiled some stealthy shots and a few specs for its own upcoming e-book reader, the Que proReader, which is set to be officially unveiled at CES next year. And then last week Barnes & Noble formally tossed its hat in the ring, with its own branded reader, the Nook.
Today the two companies came together to announce that Barnes & Noble will also be selling the Que at its retail locations and online at BN.com. Barnes & Noble is also powering the Que's online store.
The $99 Roku Player, a tiny box that streams content from Netflix's on-demand content as well as Amazon Video On Demand, just got two new siblings. Available immediately via Roku's website and Amazon (and for a limited time, with free shipping), the Roku SD ($79.99) and the Roku HD-XR ($129.99) expand the line in opposite directions. At only $20 cheaper then the original Roku Player, its hard to see the immediate impact or value that the Roku SD will have over its predecessor. The Roku HD-XR, however, offers 802.11n Wi-Fi compatibility, which should translate into better streaming at higher resolutions with less interruption. This, of course, is contingent upon your set-up providing 802.11n Wi-Fi signal to begin with. Streaming HD content has not been gracefully achieved by any media extender as of yet; the best solution is still the iTunes method, which downloads to a hard drive and plays seamlessly once the minimum buffer is met. That, technically, is not streaming, but actual streaming of HD content usually falls apart fairly quickly, so we are eager to check out Roku's purported solution. Look for reviews at PCMag.com in the coming weeks.
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If only there were a way to tweet from a mobile phone. Until Twitter and the mobile carriers concoct such a function, however, it looks like we're all stuck with the TwitterPeek, the latest device from Peek Inc. The new gadget features a color screen, which lets users send and receive tweets--and that's pretty much it.
It's Friday, and it's just about Halloween, which means you're probably sitting in your cubicle eating candy for lunch and looking at photos of 
Take a look at the 
This November marks the fifth year of Wired magazine's annual pop-up store. The Wired Store offers many of the neat gadgets seen in the magazine, and, for the first time, it will feature a design collaboration with Moby (yes, that world-famous musician guy). 
The $99 Roku Player, a tiny box that streams content from Netflix's on-demand content as well as Amazon Video On Demand, just got two new siblings. Available immediately via Roku's website and Amazon (and for a limited time, with free shipping), the Roku SD ($79.99) and the Roku HD-XR ($129.99) expand the line in opposite directions. At only $20 cheaper then the original Roku Player, its hard to see the immediate impact or value that the Roku SD will have over its predecessor. The Roku HD-XR, however, offers 802.11n Wi-Fi compatibility, which should translate into better streaming at higher resolutions with less interruption. This, of course, is contingent upon your set-up providing 802.11n Wi-Fi signal to begin with. Streaming HD content has not been gracefully achieved by any media extender as of yet; the best solution is still the iTunes method, which downloads to a hard drive and plays seamlessly once the minimum buffer is met. That, technically, is not streaming, but actual streaming of HD content usually falls apart fairly quickly, so we are eager to check out Roku's purported solution. Look for reviews at PCMag.com in the coming weeks.
