Hasta La Gadget!

Nokia announced on Wednesday three new Comes with Music phones for a variety of budgets. The company also said it is adding access to its Nokia Music Store in more countries worldwide, though not to the U.S.

Nokia 5730 XpressMusic

(Credit: Nokia)

First, the phones. Nokia unveiled the 5730 XpressMusic, the 5330 XpressMusic, and the 5030. …

Originally posted at News – Wireless

The brain geniuses at Fraunhofer are back on the scene with a security device that takes the window alarm to the next level. The Vigilant window sees the ol’ glass panel coated with a nanoparticle material which converts light into fluorescent radiation. When the system is switched on, a UV lamp is aimed at the window, which is outfitted with sensors along its edges. As long as the lamp is unobstructed, everything is goldie. However, if a cat burglar should come by in his trademark all-black out fit and obstruct the beam, the alarm is activated — sending your elite security team into action. If you don’t have an elite security team, perhaps you can send your T-34 to snare him in its net. Either way, it’s clear they messed with the wrong folks this time. A prototype already exists, no word yet on when this will become available.

[Via Oh Gizmo!]

Filed under: Household

Fraunhofer’s new security device turns your window into a motion detector originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Mar 2009 09:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The popular iPod shuffle has been updated today with new text-to-speech voiceover technology in a reduced size. It’s really cool except for one thing: It moves all controls to the headphones. Updated.

I like the idea of having controls on my headset’s cable. I use that feature every time with my iPhone. However, I’ve used every single iPod, iPod mini, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle ever made—advantages of being a journalist and getting evaluation units—and every one of the Apple headphones that came with them have been a failure. Invariably, I had to replace them with other earbuds.

I’m not talking about the sound quality, which has improved since the awful first generation—now it’s still not good or amazing, but acceptable. I’m talking about them literally failing on me, one after the other.

I don’t mistreat my gadgets and the iPod/iPhone’s headphones have been no exception. Invariably, however, they all have finished in the dumpster after a few months. Whether it was failing neodymium-schmdynium drivers making popping noises or breaking cables, every one of them have proved to be too flimsy, too fragile for continuous daily use.

More concerns
I’m sure that there will be plenty of third-party headsets options for the new tiny iPod, so it won’t be a problem to replace them. However, it still will suck to have the headphones rendering your shuffle useless until you get new ones.

On top of that, most probably the new replacement headphones will be more expensive than any regular ones, since they have to include extra electronics and they will be perceived as “special” by the market. And then, their variety will also be limited. Sure, you don’t need huge DJ-quality headphones for the shuffle, but what about if you want an specific kind of in-ear earbuds?

Still, we don’t know how the new headphones are. Hopefully, Apple put extra care in making their earbuds more durable than previous models. Maybe not to last for as long as the shuffle itself, but for more than the three to six months lifetime I’ve experienced. [New iPod shuffle]

Update: We have talked with Apple and they said that they will sell an adapter for third-party headphones—which solves the issue about picking any headphones, even if it is for an added cost.

When we were kids, many of us wanted to play the drums but were discouraged by parents more concerned with angry neighbors and damaged hearing than musically fulfilled children. We certainly got our payback when we forsook all those years of expensive private school to become bloggers, but can’t help but wonder how different things would have been if we’d had Jaime Oliver’s Silent Drum Controller at our disposal. It’s a transparent shell covered with an elastic head that the player can stretch with their fingers. A camera positioned to the side detects the shape of the deformation and translates that into sound, chillingly demonstrated below. Yes, it is multi-touch, and was clever enough to win the recent Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at Georgia Tech. The competition was partly sponsored by Harmonix, so could we see a Silent Drum in Rock Band 3? For the sake of future generations, we certainly hope so.

[Via Crave]

Continue reading Jaime Oliver’s Silent Drum rocks the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Jaime Oliver’s Silent Drum rocks the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Mar 2009 08:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Like a little intrigue with your morning Joe? Check out the video below of this sleek little unidentified netbook on display at CeBIT last week at the Linpus booth, found by the same excitable bloke who brought us a glimpse of the company’s Linux Lite OS. The hardware sounds to fit the standard Atom-based mold as the rest, adding 3G wireless for true portability, and is said to be built by Quanta, the company rumored to be on tap to build Apple’s supposed netbook. Does that mean it could look something like this? We doubt it — but wouldn’t be surprised if it, too had a glossy screen.

Continue reading Linpus demos uber klein mystery netbook

Filed under: Laptops

Linpus demos uber klein mystery netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments