Apparently we weren’t the only ones a little baffled by the pricing of VZW’s Omnia—after being available for only six days, the price has dropped down to $200 (with the same $70 rebate and two-year contract), bringing it even with the Blackberry Storm. We’re still only seeing the Omnia being a must-have for Windows Mobile devotees/prisoners on Verizon, but now at least said folks will be $50 heavier. [Verizon]
Continue reading Arduino-armed Acer Aspire One and wheels tools around, shoots video
Filed under: Robots
Arduino-armed Acer Aspire One and wheels tools around, shoots video originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Business opportunity and the chance for you to save money TODAY
How much do you pay for your heating and electricity bills? From day to day fuel prices rise and fall. Even when they fall our bills stay high. Imagine you could achieve up 30% energy saving on each of your utility bills! YES 30% on you heating and electricity bills.
It is now possible with the new booster for your heating system and electricity reduction device (ERD) or energy saving devices. If you was to sit down right now and work out how much you spend a year on you electricity and your diesel and gas for you central heating you would get a shock it could be thousands of dollars.
Do you dread the time when the bills come through the post box and hit the floor with a thud because they are so big. Let those days be a thing of the past with our unique and easy to use energy saving devices.
People right now are saving up to 30% on their bills, SO COULD YOU.
Save up to 20% on your Electricity bills
Electricity Saving Devices are responsible for thousands of people saving money on their utility bills. The ERD can save customers as much as 20% on their electric bill every month without sacrificing normal energy consumption and the comforts it provides.
How Does ERD Unit Work?
The ERD reduces the amount of power drawn from the utility by storing (in its capacitors) otherwise lost electricity (watts) caused by the inductive motors in your home. (Some examples of inductive motors are Air Conditioning units, refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers, pool pumps, vacuum cleaners, furnace blower motors, fans etc.) The technology applied by the ERD Unit supplies that stored electricity back to your inductive loads, thus causing you to decrease your demand from the utility. If you decrease your demand from the utility, your meter slows down, and you use less electricity. The thought is, you’ve already paid for that electricity, why pay for it and waste it when you can pay for it, store it, and reuse it again.
What is bad consumption of power?
The percentage of electricity that’s delivered to your house and used effectively, compared to what is wasted. For example, a 1.0 means that all the electricity that’s being delivered to your home is being used effectively for its purpose. However, most homes in Europe today have a .77 efficiency or less. This means that 77% of the electricity that is coming thru your meter at your home or business is being used effectively, the other 23% is being wasted by your inductive load. However, the ERD unit increases that this to .97 or .98, thus increasing the effective use of your electricity and lowering your usage.
Save up to 30% on your heating bills
How much do you pay for you heating, from day to day fuel price rise and fall. Even when they fall our bills stay high. But if you have a boiler fed radiator heating system you can save up to 30% on you bills.
As your radiator heats up, the ‘rear’ surface normally radiates heat onto your wall, heating this up, which in turn is lost through the wall structure due to conduction. Our system sucks the heat from the rear of your radiator and throws it into the room significantly reducing the losses, saving you even more energy.
The Booster can either sit behind the top edge of your radiator as shown below, or simply placed along the top. In either case it will work perfectly, and save you energy and can save up to 30% of your heating bill.
Because we use the waste heat from the radiator the room heats quicker and your boiler runs less. Because it runs less you will use less fuel (diesel and gas) and you will use less electricity (the boiler has pumps to pump the water around the house). So you will save money on heating bills, electricity bill and also you boiler will last longer because it is being used less
For more information on the products or for information on becoming a distributor, dealer or retailer go to www.energysavingcyprus.com or e-mail info@energysavingcyprus.com.
This post is a sponsored blog post
Japanese firm Hario just came up with this rather beautiful new speaker system, dubbed Harion. So far, so groovy. It’s made of heat-resistant glass (the first to be like it, according to Hario) and the woofer, two tweeters and two mid-range speakers proved so complex to create that it took a small army of companies—23 in total—to work out how to make them. And its hand-made. So far, even groovier. Here’s the un-groovy bit: all that beauty, presumably wonderful sound quality, and custom-made design means they cost $168,000. Why do you need heat-proof speakers anyway? Go get some glass Sony Sountinas: they’re about 17 times cheaper. [Crunchgear via Gearlog]
Both practical and not-so-practical applications for the Wiimote have been around since Nintendo’s console launched, but this latest hack is quite possibly the oddest thus far. Ken Moore, tinkerer extraordinaire, has inexplicably converted the controller into a new-fangled theremin. By coupling IR-infused gloves with a JV-1080 synth and the Wiimote’s built-in Bluetooth, he’s been able get his PC to recognize the left hand position as volume, and the right hand position as pitch. Once the IR camera in the Wiimote sends the positioning info back to the PC, MIDI sends it to the synthesizer to create sound. Now, you could just pick up a copy of Guitar Hero or Rock Band if you wanted to casually riff on some classics, but if you’ve got an intrinsic urge to perform a rendition of the original Star Trek theme, this might be your speed. Peep the setup in video action after the break.
[Via Joystiq]
Continue reading Wiimote repurposed into theremin, Vincent Price’s ghost perks up
Filed under: Gaming
Wiimote repurposed into theremin, Vincent Price’s ghost perks up originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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While the deals might not be as OMG awesome as Black Friday, there’s a lot to be said for its nerdier brother Cyber Monday, when online retailers unleash their best bargains of the season. Mainly, it’s not as utterly horrible: You can do everything from your cozy house, completely naked if you want, totally skipping most of the Friday freak show, and the only injuries are exploded servers and smashed keyboards. Still it doesn’t mean you wanna hunt through every single site for the best deals—so here they all are in one spot.
Computer Accessories
Amazon
Logitech MX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse (Black)
Price: $47
Savings: $53
Samsung Touch of Color T260HD 26-Inch LCD HDTV Monitor
Price: $450 (w/ mail-in rebate)
Savings: $150
Western Digital WD3000GLFS 10K 3.5-Inch 300GB SATA Velociraptor Hard Drive
Price: $200 (w/ $30 mail-in rebates)
Savings: $150
LaCie Hard Disk 1 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive, Design by Neil Poulton
Price: $120
Savings: $51
Newegg
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W Continuous @ 40°C EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Price: $90
Savings: $100
Antec TruePower Quattro TPQ-1000 1000W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Price: $130
Savings: $110
Buy.com
Fantom GreenDrive 1TB USB 2.0 and eSATA External Hard Drive
Price: $100 (w/ $30 mail-in rebate)
Savings: $40
Dell
Western Digital 1TB USB 2.0 MyBook External HDD
Price: $130
Savings: $70
HDTVs
Best Buy
Sony – BRAVIA KDL-46W4100 46″ 1080p 120Hz Flat-Panel LCD HDTV
Price: $1400
Savings: $600
Samsung – 52″ 1080p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV
Price: $1700
Savings: $600
Mitsubishi – 60″ 1080p DLP HDTV
Price: $1000
Savings: $500
Sony – BRAVIA KDL-46Z4100/B 46″ 1080p 120Hz Flat-Panel LCD HDTV
Price: $1700
Savings: $800
Circuit City
Sharp 52″ AQUOS LCD HDTV
Price: $1400
Savings: $1000
Vann’s (via HD Guru)
Samsung 52″ Series 5 1080p LCD HDTV
Price: $1675
Savings: $525
Samsung PN58A650 58″ Series 6 1080p plasma HDTV
Price: $2888
Savings: $910
Sony KDL40XBR6 40″ Bravia 1080 LCD HTV
Price: $1690
Savings: $610
Amazon
Samsung LN52A650 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV
Price: $1960
Savings: $740
Dell
Sharp LC-46SB54U 46″ 1080p LCD HDTV SOLD OUT
Price: $900
Savings: $700
Sony Bravia 52″ KDL52W4100 120Hz 1080p LCD HDTV
Price: $2000
Savings: $800
Sony Bravia 52″ KDL52V4100 1080p LCD HDTV
Price: $1600
Savings: $700
Walmart
Samsung Blu-ray High-Definition Bundle w/ 40” 1080p HDTV and Blu-ray Disc Player
Price: $1050
Savings: $200
Desktops and Laptops
Dell
Dell Inspiron Mini 9
Price: $300
Savings:$50
HP
Various Free Upgrades on Desktops
Various Free Upgrades on Laptops
Portable Players
Circuit City
Microsoft Zune 80GB MP3 Player – Red
Price: $200
Savings: $50
Microsoft Zune 8GB Digital Media Player – Green
Price: $125
Savings: $15
Sony 2GB S615 Walkman Video MP3 Player
Price: $60
Savings: $30
Archos 605 30GB Portable Media Player
Price: $200
Savings: $50
Newegg
iPod Classic 120GB (Silver)
Price: $209
Savings: $35
Walmart
iRiver E100- 1E1008BLK 8GB Portable Media Player, Black
Price: $88
Savings: $20
Home Entertainment
Best Buy
Yamaha – 5.1-Channel Home Theater Speaker System
Price: $300
Savings: $300
Sonos ZonePlayer 80 Wireless Digital Audio Player (Requires iPhone or iPod touch)
Price: $200
Savings: $100
Dell
Philips BDP7200 Blu-ray Player
Price: $180
Savings: $120
Flash Memory and Storage
Best Buy
SanDisk Ultra II 8GB Secure Digital High Capacity Memory Card
Price: $20
Savings: $30
Circuit City
SanDisk 4GB Ultra II SDHC Plus USB Memory Card
Price: $25
Savings: $35
Amazon
Kingston Flash DT100/16GB 16GB DataTraveler DT100 (Black)
Price: $25
Savings: $28
Kingston 8 GB microSDHC Class 4 Flash Memory Card SDC4/8GB
Price: $19
Savings: $20
Kingston 16 GB SDHC Class 4 Flash Memory Card SD4/16GB
Price: $30
Savings: $31
Mimoco
36 Percent Off All Mimobot Designer USB Drives
Networking and Connectivity
Amazon
Linksys WRT110 RangePlus Wireless Router
Price: $40
Savings: $40
D-Link WBR-1310 Wireless G Router
Price: $20
Savings: $47
Newegg
D-Link DGL-4300 Wireless Gaming Router
Price: $50
Savings: $70
LINKSYS WRT350N USB 2.0 Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link
Price: $85
Savings: $95
Gaming
Walmart
2 for $X0 Game Specials
Cellphones
AT&T Premier
All Phones Free (except BlackBerry Bold, 8820, Palm Treo 750 and iPhone)
Robots, Toys and Miscellaneous
Newegg
WHISTLER XTR-550 Laser-Radar Detector
Price: $70
Savings: $80
Overstock
Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum
Price: $330
Savings: $120
KB Toys
R2-D2 Wireless Webcam
Price: $300
Savings: $100
Wow Wee Robosapien
Price: $40
Savings: $20
ThinkGeek
Free Shipping on orders over $25
MAKE
10 Percent Off All Robot Kits w/ Coupon Code CYBERM
VMware Fusion 2.0
Price: $10 (Use coupon code CyberMondayDeal at check out + $30 mail-in rebate)
Savings
As always, if you know of more deals that we missed, please share the love.
If you’re a fan of eBooks but don’t want to shell out over £200 for a BeBook then why not use the good old Nintendo DS to satisfy your literary needs?
Nintendo has just confirmed rumours that it’ll be releasing an eBook reader for the console in the form of the 100 Classic Books Collection.
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Apple has been dragging its feet with the release of its new iPod Touch-compatible, remote control headphones with microphone. Neither the in-ear nor the regular earbuds have yet made it into the stores, which has given the third-party makers a head start. Griffin sent us a pair of its TuneBuds Mobile earbuds to try out. Here’s how they fared.
The TuneBuds are of the in-ear type, and will work with many new iPods. The iPhone gets to take advantage of all the features. The inline button will answer and hang up calls, pause, play and skip songs, both forward and back, and the microphone will also let you record sound. The 2G iPod Touch gets all of this except the part pertaining to telephone calls, and the 4G iPod Nano will work with the mic, but not the remote controls, as will the 120GB Classic.
So, how does the hardware shape up? There are three different sized rubber grommets which push onto the plastic inner section, so unless you are a ninety-year old man with big flapping lugs or a mewling babe, you should be able to get them to fit. One in, the buds stay put. This is their greatest advantage over normal earbuds, which require constant — and annoying — readjustment. The rubber doesn’t seal out external sound completely, but I like that — I listen to podcasts while riding a bike and I like to hear the traffic.
The headphone cords are particularly nice. They have a woven sleeve which feels tough and prevents tangles — you can throw these in your pocket and they won’t turn into a rats’ nest of knots. The switch, too seems solid yet still light. The switch and mic are both housed inside a small cylinder which sits inline with one of the two cords which go to your ear. This means that the mic is right by your mouth for phone calls.
The call quality is, I think, fine. I didn’t try them out with an iPhone, but the TuneBuds turn an iPod Touch into a VoIP phone. That’s right. Using VoIP software like Fring, you can make Skype calls direct from your iPod over WiFi. It works great, although the Fring call quality was a little shaky. Here’s how the conversation went:
Me: Can you hear me?
The Lady: Of course. You’re in the next room.
Me: Yes, but can you hear me on Skype?
The Lady: It works!
Recording voice notes also works great. I tried it with Griffin’s own iTalk, which is designed to, well, record your voice. Despite having a terrible cold, I sounded clear and free of background noise.
Next, music. The TuneBuds sound a lot better than the earbuds that ship with the iPod, but that’s not hard. In fact, when we first tried them out, the Lady and I both heard a dreadful hissing. This turned out to be on the MP3 track, and I hadn’t noticed it before with the Apple ‘buds. The Griffins won’t replace your high-end cans, though. While not tinny, there is a rather lot of shrill top-end to the music. Treble can sound harsh. A quick trip to the iPod’s EQ screen is in order. The "Treble Reducer" setting takes care of everything.
The Remote control works fine. One click for play/pause; two clicks to skip forward and three to skip back. It’s simple and easy.
But this brings us on to the fatal flaw with the review unit. If you jiggle the mini-jack in the socket, the iPod pauses. Or starts up. It’s completely repeatable, and renders the headphones unusable for anything other than listening at a desk, or while carefully cradling the rig in your hands. This could, however, be a fault with this particular unit.
How annoying is it? Aside from music cutting in and out at random, the worst part is that the iPod can switch itself on. This may kill the batteries, and it may also leave you a few minutes or a few hours ahead in podcasts or in audio books.
To be fair, I have only tested these properly with the 2G iPod Touch, so they may fare better with the iPhone or the new Nano. I have some suspicions as to the problem. Take a look at this closeup:
Do you see it? Of course you do, you smart, observant reader. The iPod’s jack socket is rimmed with metal, and the shape of it doesn’t really hold a jack plug steady. I suspect that the plug is bending in my pocket and metal is touching metal, causing a short. That’s speculation, but it seems to fit the facts.
So, should you buy them? Aside from the weird bug, they’re fine. They sound better than the $30 Apple buds, and they’re certainly better put together (my Apple ‘buds usually only last a few months). Until Apple actually releases its new mic-equipped earbuds, we can’t compare. We can take a look at the prices, though. The TuneBuds are $40. The Apple in-ear cans will be $80. They also come with a neat little case, which I will probably have lost by the time I finish writing this review:
To sum up. A good, cheap alternative to Apple’s own headphones. They also have the advantage of not being white. The TuneBuds are sadly crippled with the first-generation iPod Touch, though, due to the weird, and almost random, track skipping error. We’ll be looking into that. Until then, if you want remote control and a microphone for your iPod, you don’t have much choice.
Product page [Griffin]
See Also:
If this thing were coming from any source other than the legendary Eldar Murtazin of mobile-review, we’d go ahead and assume this was a knockoff nabbed off eBay for a few bucks — but amazingly, we think it’s the real deal. The dead-on-arrival burgundy slider with gold accents looks like it could’ve been part of a reinvigorated l’Amour series (or something along those lines), clearly putting styling at or near the top of its priorities — but it also steals the 6260 slide’s totally capable guts, which means it features a 5-megapixel camera, tri-band 3G, and a 480 x 320 display. If they had to choose between this and the 6260, the right model came out on top — but we gotta admit, it’s so far outside Nokia’s styling comfort zone that we find it tolerable in a really sick, twisted way.
[Via Daily Mobile]
Filed under: Cellphones
Canceled 5-megapixel Nokia slider almost looks like a fake originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Look, I’m for the right to bear arms as much as the next guy—I just don’t like ducks.
While we were born a few generations too late for Wild West gun-slinging and a few generations too early for deadly, preteen laser pistol duels, the Duck Huntin’ t-shirt celebrates our place in the here and now, when packing a light gun in your pants is seen as humorous as opposed to dangerous and t-shirts are seen as fashionable as opposed to a denial of one’s unavoidable trek into middle age.
Priced at $20, it’s definitely tempting, but you could always pull out your old Nintendo light gun for real and save a few bucks. [NerdyShirts via NerdApproved]
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