pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/12/electroman.jpg” width=”286″ height=”415″ align=”left” hspace=”4″ vspace=”2″/Electroman: defender of gadgets, scourge of surges. This electric superhero saves the day along with his trusty sidekick a href=”http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hub_human/usb-hub-man-from-kikkerland-296466.php”USB Hub Man./a Together they form a duo to be reckoned with. [a href=”http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?randomizer=942052480action=detailitem=CB9922″WOE/a via a href=”http://www.bookofjoe.com/2008/12/electroman-surg.html”BOJ/a]/p br clear=”both” style=”clear: both;”/
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It’s three days until Christmas and you’re looking for last-minute gift ideas for tech-inclined friends and colleagues. You decide on a USB drive, but how do figure out what’s best to get — attraction to hammers, ability to open beer bottles, or some other, clearly inferior metric entirely? Kristofer Brozio at Test Freaks Blog took 21 drives of various sizes (5 each of 1, 2, 4 and 8GB and one 64GB Patriot Magnum) and models and tested their transfer speeds. Top marks went to the 4GB OCZ, Sandisk, Lexar, and Super Talent models, as well as the 1GB SanDIsk. Given the small sample size, we can’t really say if the speeds were the result of the capacities of the drive or the company who makes them, but it’s definitely some flash-based food for thought. Hit the read link for the full results.
Filed under: Storage
21 USB drives tested, 20 immediately misplaced originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/12/vulcan-mod.jpg” align=”left” hspace=”4″ vspace=”2″ width=”640″ height=”519″ style=”display:block;float:none;” /The a href=”http://gizmodo.com/5027867/nerf-vulcan-fully-automatic-dart-gun-now-available”Nerf Vulcan/a is definitely awesomemdash;but it is not as cool as it could be. a href=”http://www.manapotions.com/Chaingun.html”Manapotions/a have developed a hack that adds an LED round counter and a 500 round-per-minute firing capacity./p pobject width=”506″ height=”417″ class=”left gawkerVideo embeddedVideo”param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/dokbdPPqkFUhl=enfs=1″ param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true” embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/dokbdPPqkFUhl=enfs=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”506″ height=”417″ class=”left gawkerVideo”/objectimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/12/dokbdPPqkFU_01.jpg” style=”display: none;” class=”embeddedVideoThumbnail”In order to accomplish this feat, the guys from Manapotions increased the voltage to the firing motor using 2 x 9.6v battery packs. More juice equals a faster spinning motor. A faster spinning motor means that toy darts will come down on your enemies like rain. As an added bonus, they equipped the gun with a sweet LED round counter and a slick paint job. Seriously folks, this thing is like the A-bomb of office warfare. And the best part is that it is a cheap upgrade. Hit the link for complete instructions on how to do it yourself. [a href=”http://www.manapotions.com/Chaingun.html”Manapotions/a]/p br clear=”both” style=”clear: both;”/
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Verizon Wireless has offered prepaid plans for a long time, but last week the carrier announced that it was expanding its services. Maybe it’s the economy, or maybe Verizon is just getting in the holiday spirit.
Customers can choose from three plans, each with a different daily access fee …
Sony teases with mystery laptop
Posted in: Today's Chili
Is Sony referring to a Netbook here?
CES 2009 is fast approaching, and rumors of new laptops are everywhere. This week though, the focus is on Sony.
Though enterprising news outlets have dug up hints at new products from the likes of Dell and Lenovo weeks before the big gadget exhibition, Sony is outing itself as having a new portable PC that will “change the way you think about laptops.” A clock counting down the days and hours until January 9, when the new product is scheduled to appear, popped up on Sony’s New Zealand site, as pointed out over the weekend by Engadget.
Putting the teaser in context of the photo of the oddly-shaped Sony device that popped up on the FCC’s Web site two weeks ago, it certainly seems likely that this will be a notebook unlike what others are offering.
But the question is, will it be a Netbook? Sony has been conspicuously absent from the Netbook market among its Windows-wielding brethren. (Apple has held out too, but it’s not price-matching with other PC makers.)
Netbooks have taken off in the past 12 months, moving from a quirky offering from Asus to the form factor that’s giving the PC industry a whiff of hope. All the major manufacturers are on board, and it’s paying off now since the price tags are cheaper than standard notebooks. However, how it will hurt them in the long run (dragging down average prices of notebooks, cannibalizing lower-end laptop models) is still to be determined.
The argument for Sony keeping out of the low-end fray is certainly there. Sony–like Apple–fancies itself a maker of luxury devices and is loath to get into price wars with the likes of Dell and HP. (Of course, it didn’t want to wrestle with the lower-tier Vizio and Westinghouse in LCD TVs either, but the reality of the HDTV market forced Sony’s hand.)
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/12/dealz1222.jpg” width=”600″ height=”210″ style=”display:block;” /If you’ve waited this long to buy Christmas presents, you may be willing to give AA batteries to your loved ones as a gift. But we have some actually good things in here too./p pstrongComputing/strongbr • a href=”http://www.woot.com/”Pinnacle PCTV HD Mini Stick for Mac and PC for $69.99 plus $5 overnight shipping/a (normally $110 – valid today only).br • a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015WOAVC”Western Digital My Passport Essential 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive for $89.99/a (normally $130)./p pstrongFlash Memory/strongbr • a href=”http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=208453713″Kingston 16GB DataTraveler 100 USB Flash Drive for $24.99 plus free shipping/a (normally $35).br • a href=”http://www.ecost.com/Detail.aspx?source=k16440cm_mmc=Affiliates-_-Performics-_-k16440-_-Append%20edpedp=41506497″OCZ 16GB ATV USB Flash Drive for $9/a (normally $39 – valid today only. Use a href=”http://eimages.ecost.com/rapcoupons/14377eCOST.pdf”rebate form/a)./p pstrongPortable Devices (Audio Players, Camcorders, Etc.)/strongbr • a href=”http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=205562657″Sandisk Sansa e250 2GB MP3 Player (reconditioned) for $24.99 plus free shipping/a (normally $40).br • a href=”http://sellout.woot.com/Default.aspx?WootSaleId=7697ts=1229964108sig=483837de1f9e53ce”Sandisk e280 8GB MP3 Player (refurbished) for $42.99/a (normally $100 – valid today only).br • a href=”http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=223395om_keycode=4″Olympus FE-20 8MP Digital Camera/a (normally $130).br • a href=”http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8940015type=productid=1215217076309ref=39loc=01AID=10597222PID=404255URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bestbuy.com%2Fsite%2Folspage.jsp%3FskuId%3D8940015%26type%3Dproduct%26id%3D1215217076309%26ref%3D10%26loc%3D01″Insignia NS-DCC5HB09 5.0MP 720p Camcorder for $99/a (normally $150)./p pstrongSoftware/strongbr • a href=”clipboard”McAfee Internet Security 2009 for $7.99 plus free shipping/a (normally $28 – valid until 12/28. Use a href=”http://ak.buy.com/buy_assets/retail/pdfs/08Q4/1205-1228kb-la_20mcafee.pdf”rebate form/a).br • a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DMBX7S/ref=xs_gb_A2J9U9MWNHX94E?ie=UTF8m=ATVPDKIKX0DERpf_rd_p=441937901pf_rd_s=right-1pf_rd_t=701pf_rd_i=20pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DERpf_rd_r=1DF6W0SD4BKWR24SNBAV”Adobe Photoshop Elements Premiere Elements 7 for $69.99 plus free shipping/a (normally $149.99 – valid today only. Use rebate form included)./p pstrongMiscellaneous/strongbr • a href=”http://www.adorama.com/SOAA4.html?sid=122996678012109″Sony AA Alkaline Batteries (4 pack) for $1.95 plus free shipping/a (normally $7)./p pstrongSnookumsmodo/strongbr • a href=”http://www.szul.com/lsdot.aspx?guid=A0A0B2A6-32DA-42B3-AECA-9B97B0EF77DB”Natural Blue 0.5 Carat Diamond Bracelet $99/a (normally $190)./p pstrongHobomodo/strongbr strike• a href=”http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/StaplesProductDisplay?storeId=10001langId=-1catalogId=10051partNumber=758686″Quickbooks Pro 2009 for $0 plus free shipping/a (normally $160 – valid today only. Use a href=”https://www.stapleseasyrebates.com/promocenter/staples/select_form.html”rebate form/a)./strike Updated: sold out./p br clear=”both” style=”clear: both;”/
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Mmm, dual screens. Lenovo’s almost too-good-to-be-true W700ds got pretty darn official last night, and now we’re being treated to the unit’s first widely available video. The unit in the vid — which is hosted up just beyond the break — looks like it’s straight out of pre-production, and the slight wobble in the pull-out panel doesn’t instill the greatest amount of confidence in us. Still, we’re hoping Lenovo tightens a few screws before it hits the market for real, and given the history of the rock solid ThinkPad line, we fully anticipate that happening.
Continue reading Lenovo’s ThinkPad W700ds shows its second screen on video
Filed under: Laptops
Lenovo’s ThinkPad W700ds shows its second screen on video originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/12/fisherphone.jpg” width=”320″ height=”235″ /”My mom got a new phone,” my niece tells me out of the blue.br / “Neat, what kind of phone?” br /”A button phone,” she replies.br /”A button phone?”/p pbr /”Like grandpa has,” she explains. br /”Oh, an iPhone!” I realize, pulling my own iPhone out for her to confirm.br /”Yes, like that one. But in white.”br / br /It was an interesting revelation, especially when I later found out that my sister actually uses a pink RAZR. emNote to self: get sis a better phone next Christmas and never trust my niece again. /em/p br clear=”both” style=”clear: both;”/
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Garmin Confirms Android Handset
Posted in: Today's Chili
Garmin’s first cellphone, the nüvifone, has yet to see the light of the day. But the personal navigation devices maker is already working on its second handset–a Google Android mobile operating system-powered device.
The company confirmed the Android phone today but declined to offer additional details. Earlier this month, Garmin joined the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium that supports Android.
Meanwhile, Garmin’s GPS-centered nüvifone, which was first announced in January this year, has seen multiple delays. The device is not scheduled to release till "the first quarter of 2009."
Garmin, however, made it clear that despite speculation to the contrary the nüvifone and its Android-powered handset are two different devices. The nüvifone will run a modified version of Linux as its operating system, it said.
Check out this video of the nüvifone at the Mobile World Congress
Photo: nüvifone prototype/Garmin
Google Earth Leads Scientists to Undiscovered Forest, Brand New Species [Google Earth]
Posted in: Today's Chilipimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/12/mabu.jpg” width=”460″ height=”288″ /Google Earth a href=”http://gizmodo.com/5113131/new-york-city-is-breathtaking-following-google-earth-update”is fantastic/a, but this might be its most amazing feat yet: A scientist stumbled across an unknown green patch that turned out to be ana href=”http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3884623/Scientists-discover-new-forest-with-undiscovered-species-on-Google-Earth.html” unexplored forest home to brand new undiscovered species/a./p pJulian Bayliss was looking around Google Earth for a new conservation project when he came across patches of green in Mozambique that appeared to be previously unexplored. Sure enough, those green patches were “7,000 hectares of forest, rich in biodiversity” that had been left untouched by scientists thanks to minor blips like miserable terrain and constant civil war./p pAn expedition launched in the fall to Mount Mabu discovered three new species of butterflies, a new Gaboon viper than can kill a human in a single bite, along with all kinds of other wildlife, like 200 types of butterflies and tropical plants, all in a matter of weeks. /p pThe expedition leader, Jonathan Timberlake, says that this could just be the beginningmdash;Google Earth might help scientists find other undiscovered pockets of biodiversity in areas like Mozambique and Papua New Guinea that haven’t been fully explored. I’ve got my fingers crossed for hobbits and Big Foot. [a href=”http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3884623/Scientists-discover-new-forest-with-undiscovered-species-on-Google-Earth.html”Telegraph/a – emThanks Adam/em!]/p br clear=”both” style=”clear: both;”/
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