Hasta La Gadget!

The Extender can boost indoor call quality.

(Credit: Samsung)

Samsung announced Monday that it’s bringing its femtocell base station to Verizon Wireless. The Verizon Wireless Extender is similar to the Sprint Airave, which Samsung introduced last year. It acts as a miniature cell phone tower by boosting indoor cell …

(Credit: Geeky Gadgets)

Hutchinson found that five pencils worked better for the 3G iPhone.

(Credit: Geeky Gadgets)

You could use a gadget like the iFlyz to secure your iPhone while watching a video. Or you could just grab some pencils and rubber bands and be more DIY about the whole …

Better keep an eye out, Mr. Heckendorn — we know that the modding community is pretty cut throat — just like the Ice Pirates in that movie, uh, Ice Pirates — and now it looks like there’s another young hotshot on the scene. Fifteen year old modista Xteaphn (that’s pronounced Steven, folks) has a little sideline going on custom-made portable hardware, with several mods to his name — including this pint-sized, battery-powered Wii. The thing is tiny — it’s dwarfed by a 13-inch notebook — and a full charge will give it about an hour of play. Stunning video after the break.

Continue reading Portable Wii mod renders this Wii portable, modded

Filed under: Gaming

Portable Wii mod renders this Wii portable, modded originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the perks of being a cyclist here in Northern California is that we have pretty great weather all year. Sure, there’s a rainy season, but it’s rarely that cold, and you get bursts of weather like we had the past couple of weeks, where it’s in the 70s and sunny for 10 days.

All that makes testing a jacket like the Castelli Insolito Radiation harder than it would be somewhere with a real winter. After all, this is billed as a jacket that can do it all — going from a vest for days in the mid-60s to a thermal wonder that will keep you warm down into the 30s.

How does it handle such a range of temperatures? The outer shell is Gore Windstopper, a really wonderful fabric that’s windproof and highly water resistant. The sleeves zip off to convert the shell into a vest for warmer days.

But the real tech is on the inside, where Castelli has developed what they call the Radiation insert. It looks like a jacket made of space blanket material, shiny and almost paper-like. It’s perforated with thousands of little holes to allow moisture to escape.

The idea here is that by relying on capturing radiant heat loss rather
than using traditional insulation, the jacket can be very warm indeed
without the bulk that might be necessary with the usual construction.
And for the most part, it does just that.

This is a very warm jacket, with the insert installed and
totally bundled up (there’s actually a removable hood for even colder
days, but I never had occasion to use it here). After a particularly
cold and muddy cyclocross race, I was cold right down to my bones,
shivering and teeth-chattering cold. After about 10 minutes swaddled in
the Insolito jacket, I had warmed up nicely, and was able to complete
sentences again.

Performance in the rain was also good. In conditions ranging from a
heavy San Francisco mist to a good, old-fashioned downpour, the jacket
kept all the water out, even though Windstopper is technically just
water resistant. The cut was a huge help here — a very
cycling-specific tailoring with long sleeves and a long tail in back to
keep the body covered while hunched over the bars.

There are a couple of quibbles with the jacket. While the Radiation
insert is very effective in keeping you warm, it’s simply not as
breathable as you might want. All those holes help a great deal, but
you can still end up feeling pretty clammy right next to the insert.

Also, the hole pattern give it a little bit of a cheese grater feel,
especially as you’re pulling the jacket on and off. We found that it’s
significantly more comfortable to have a base layer next to your skin,
rather than the Radiation insert, both for moisture transfer and for
the feel of the fabric.

That said, this is a really versatile piece of gear, one that can
take you through most conditions in comfort. It’s expensive as hell —
$500 — but given the fact you get basically three highly-technical
pieces for that price, it’s not insane. For those of you in places with
real winter, this might be just the jacket you need.

Images courtesy Castelli

Tech geeks don’t always get the love they deserve. I mean, when was the last time People picked a programmer for the cover of its annual Sexiest Man Alive issue?

Thanks to Daily Candy, things are about to change. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the site has launched a Get With the Programmer contest. The objective? To find the “hottest tech dude in all the land.”

Ahem:

We’re accepting nominations for the Don Juan of the Database. Do you know a worthy Gigabyte Gigolo? To nominate your resident RAMcake, just fill out our quick, easy form telling us why he should win. On February 4, we’ll announce the finalists on our website and invite you readers to vote.

The prize? Eternal glory and an HP Mini 1000 XP edition series netbook with an upgraded 60 GB hard drive for both the winner and the person who nominates him. Programmers, IT guys, and, er, RAMcakes, get ready for your close-up.