Hasta La Gadget!

TrendNet releases a new power-saving eight-port switch and plans to continue its green initiatives in networking. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10430900-269.html” class=”origPostedBlog”2010 CES/a/p

We managed to track down the guys from Canada’s Allerta and got to spend some time with a couple dummy models of the soon-to-be-released inPulse smartwatch for BlackBerry. Design-wise, it’s very attractive, with a brushed metal body and a leather band. As a bonus to early orderers, the first 1,000 sold will be custom-milled on a CNC router — ironically, it’ll actually be more cost-effective for them to do it that way while they build up production volume. In terms of functionality, it will launch with support for displaying text messages, caller ID, new e-mails, and BlackBerry Messenger messages (yes, it supports BBM!). It’ll give you information on who the message is from and a preview of the message’s contents. We couldn’t get a hard shipping date, but rest assured we’ll let you know as soon as we do — for now, our hands-on gallery will have to suffice.

inPulse smartwatch for BlackBerry wrist-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LAS VEGAS — Peeking out from under the 82-inch LCD TVs and the 55-inch 3-D display at LG’s booth is an attractively thin display that would be lost if it weren’t for its stunningly bright images.

Meet the 15-inch OLED (organic light emitting diode) TV. The ultra-slim TV — it has a thickness of 0.1 inches, or 3.2 millimeters — was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show this week.

OLEDs are an attractive alternative to traditional LCDs because they consume less power, display colors better, and can be thinner and lighter. Most major display makers are looking to offer OLED screens, but few have brought large OLEDs to market. In 2007, Sony first introduced an OLED display, the Sony XEL-1, which cost a whopping $2,500 for a mere 11-inch display. Other companies such as Samsung are showing prototypes.

LG is among the first to start selling an OLED TV. LG’s 15-inch TV is water resistant so it can housed in high humidity areas including the bathroom, says the company.

The TV can be wall mounted or set on the countertop but that beauty still comes at a price: The 15-inch OLED TV will cost about $2,000.

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

At CES 2010, MSI announces a series of concept products. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10430954-269.html” class=”origPostedBlog”2010 CES/a/p

Have a cheap cell phone, with an average cell-phone camera? Then your mobile device might be able to see through thin fabric with the help of a quarter-sized filter from Ideal Creations.

The $45 $25 device (available through Ideal Creation’s web site) was on display at CES 2010 in Las Vegas. You simply affix it over your cellphone camera lens and it cuts out most of the available light spectrum, except for UV light. This apparently enables low-end CCDs to “see through” clothing.

It’s hard to say if this is real or simply silly science. It did work in our little demo, even with the lens on our Kodak Zi8 pocket camcorder. But we’re wondering if it simply cut out the purple color that was on top of Kim Kardarshian’s image–much like those clear red filters you used to put over images removed the red printing that obscured “the secret code”.

In any case, it was an entertaining demo. Watch the video and see what you think. By the way, this video is CSFW=Completely Safe for Work.