Hasta La Gadget!

Victorinox — makers of the original Swiss Army knife — made its first trek to CES with this, its new Presentation Pro. Tucked away with insane precision are a removable 32GB USB drive with fingerprint authentication, laser pointer, and Bluetooth remote control for your Windows-only PC or laptop presentations. Yep, key ring and scissors too. It even features a blade to fight off your enemies and a file to scrape away any fingerprints after the deed is done. We went hands on with the device and were truly impressed with the build quality. Here’s the rub: it’ll cost you $330 when it ships in May. Did we say it had a laser?

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wireless

Victorinox Presentation Pro floated by the Swiss army originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pioneer already blew out its good stuff this morning, but it saved this gem for a little afternoon delight. The DV-420V 1080p upconverting DVD player not only makes your existing DVD collection look its best, but it’s the first deck to feature “an exclusive MP3 encoding capability for supreme music portability.” Oddly enough, those are pretty much the only details we’re given on the subject, but the front-panel USB port enables playback of DivX files and JPEG shots if you find that of interest. We’re thinking not, so you can feel free to save your $90 when it ships this summer.

Filed under: CES, Home Entertainment

Pioneer’s DV-420V upscaling DVD player somehow makes MP3s sound better originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you read our recent post about the “face check” and “outfit check” mobile phone services, you’ll know that face recognition technology is the latest thing to hit the mobile internet and take advantage of the now ubiquitous phone camera. Now comes the part where competing content companies figure out all of the different (and often gimmicky) ways to use it.

The latest hit site we’ve come across is “Hana de Celeb-do Shindan,” (celebrity rating diagnosis by one’s nose) a service from System Service Co. that ranks your celebrity potential by comparing your nose to an “ideal” compiled from famous examples (like Ebi-chan).

You also get to learn who’s nose yours resembles and your “celebrity” horoscope based on your nose “type.” Like other content sites we’ve covered recently, Hana de Celeb is free for users in exchange for sponsor advertisement placement.

In other celebrity news, in an online survey conducted by Tanaka Precious Metal Industries, Edo Harumi was named the hardest working celebrity of 2008 (a few in the top 10 were medalists at the Beijing Olympics, hence the metal industries connection). The 44 year old comedian had commercial gigs for Lipton flavor tea, Sapporo Beer, P&G’s Herbal Essence, and travel company HIS (to name a few) in 2008. Here she is in an eye drop commercial for Rohto Pharmaceuticals doing a take on her signature “Guuuu” act (a silly way of saying “good”).

You see, what you really need for instant celebrity in Japan is a good catch phrase. We can’t wait for the cell phone application that rates some of the one’s we’ve been dreaming up.

Ultimate Ears (by Logitech, we’ll have you know) has introduced two new MetroFi earbuds here in Las Vegas, and both of ’em promise 16 decibels of noise isolation and offer up a single-driver, in-ear design. The 220 ups the ante with a swank titanium-coated speaker for more detail in the highs, though both sets are pushing a red-colored right earphone (so you don’t get confused, or something) and three sizes of silicon ear cushions. We’re also told that both sets will eventually be available in vi models ($10 extra) that boast an integrated microphone, but those uninterested in that can snag the vanilla versions for $50 (170) / $80 (220) next month.

[Via iLounge]

Filed under: CES, Portable Audio

Ultimate Ears adds in MetroFi 170 / 220 headphones originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC’s Touch Diamond and QWERTY-packin’ Touch Pro have run into some stiff competition here in the US of A, but as Adam Smith would certify, all that competition is only for the best. Now that you’ve seen what these two can do, not to mention their rivals, we’re wondering how you would change whichever handset it is (of these two, obviously) that you own. Implement a Touch HD-style display? Load it up with Android? Round those edges a bit more? Add a bigger battery at the expense of style? Say it loud, say it proud, say it down in comments below.

Filed under: Cellphones

How would you change HTC’s Touch Diamond / Pro? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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