Hasta La Gadget!

Do you remember your first Walkman? I do, although it was a personal stereo, not a real Walkman, and it came from Lloytron. Fast forward only, no rewind, but awesome all the same. I remember it as being tiny, but it was probably huge.

Over at Oobject, there is a gallery of 12 early Sony Walkmen (Walkmans?) A kid in our school had the one above, the TPS-12, way back in 1979 or shortly after. The orange button killed the music and activated a microphone, piping the sound into the headphones. This let you hold a conversation without taking of your ‘phones. That this was in Sony’s first Walkman shows some interesting considerations of the player’s social aspect, although it turned out to be a pointless gimmick.

I also had the yellow “waterproof” model when I got older. I dunked it in the sea and it worked fine. Go take a look at the gallery. You might spot an old friend, too.

12 Vintage Walkmans [Oobject via BBG]

Things are a little backwards on this one. We love the company, but we certainly don’t love the product, a small, portable camera tripod. It starts with the name — Digidudes. Then, the rather nasty plasticky look of these “dudes” further repels us, in the way that only a colorful, novelty keychain item can. It reminds us of the girl back in school who would constantly have to show how “whacky” and individual she was by hanging almost every keychain known to man off the back of her schoolbag.

Really, if you want a small, foldaway tripod, buy one of Joby’s little Gorillapods and at least have something more useful. Still, the people behind Digidudes, Quirky, are an interesting bunch. The company takes pre-sale orders and then, when enough demand is generated, the production line is fired up. This allows small runs with a guaranteed sell-out, and brought us the, ahem, quirky Split Stick double-sided USB drive. Further, 30% of the cash goes to the people who helped design it, or influenced the design. But Digidudes? C’mon, guys. And sticking a Leica M8 on top isn’t helping any either.

Product page [Quirky. Thanks, Nikki!]

Dell and leaks go together like peas in a pod, and just months after we saw the outfit’s Vostro 1220 sneak out ahead of schedule, it seems as if another in the biz-minded line has found its way onto the web. Reportedly, Dell hosted up a few images (which have since been yanked) of a so-called Vostro 10, which seems to resemble the newer Inspiron line in design and looks to boast an almost unheard-of-at-this-size integrated optical drive. Unless Dell’s just playing games (our wager is “no”), the unit should get official in the near future in black, red and blue. ‘Course, the specs, price and actual ship date is anyone’s guess, but feel free to pontificate in comments below.

Filed under: Laptops

Dell inadvertently throws Vostro 10 out there, quickly reels it back in originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 05:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember that geometrically-inspired Bao handset we peeked back in July? Turns out Sony Ericsson has another name for it: Jalou. Announced today in both boring and limited edition Dolce&Gabbana versions, the compact-esque clamshell is definitely designed to put “style” first and substance last. Reportedly shorter than “your favorite lipstick,” the cellie is actually marketed more as an accessory and less of a phone, boasting a diamond shape design, two-inch display, 3.2 megapixel geotagging camera, video recording, built-in mirror (seriously), an FM tuner, Bluetooth 2.0, multimedia player, step counter, antediluvian web browser and quad-band GSM / tri-band HSPA connectivity. The “normal” version is expected in Q4 in Deep Amethyst, Aquamarine Blue and Onyx Black, while the 24k gold-plated D&G edition will ship in Sparkling Rose along with a matching Bluetooth headset and fanciful packaging. No prices are mentioned for either, naturally.

Read – Standard Jalou
Read – Dolce&Gabbana Jalou
Read – Hands-on with standard Jalou

Filed under: Cellphones

Sony Ericsson eyes fashionistas with Dolce&Gabbana Jalou clamshell originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We wouldn’t go so far as to say that Razer is taking a note from the teasers over at Voodoo, but the gaming accessory outfit is definitely hoping to play on the emotions of anxious StarCraft fanatics. With the long (long!) awaited sequel finally nearing release, Razer has decided to link up with Blizzard in order to develop a new mouse, keyboard and headset designed specifically to cater to future StarCraft II gamers. For now, all we have to go on is the image above and whatever our imagination deems fit for believing, but we suspect all will be revealed when Blizzcon kicks off later this month. You can hardly wait, huh?

[Via HotHardware]

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Razer preys on unsuspecting StarCraft fanboys, teases new mouse, keyboard and headset originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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