Hasta La Gadget!

Growing up in the 80’s, many kids used their Little Tikes easels to sketch their homes, or their families, or a football or two. Mine was littered with pictures of ceiling fans. But not just the ceiling fan mounted above my playroom — no, these fans were upside-down (like a model I saw in New Orleans), daisy-chained (seen at a local arcade), and connected to a gas-powered motor (as I once noticed at an Amish farm). My obsession with ceiling fans, and really any motor-powered gadget, ran deep. At one point, shortly after I took my first steps, I began refusing to eat in restaurants that didn’t have fans. And when a particular establishment was sophisticated enough to have installed that ever-so-necessary exposed air circulator, you better believe that it needed to be running, and at full speed.

My seemingly bizarre obsession with powered devices didn’t stop there. I also had an unlikely fascination with vacuum cleaners. Not with their ability to pick up dirt — I don’t believe I had any interest in what they were actually used for, much to the chagrin of my mother — but with the loud motor that sprung to life when I flipped the power switch, and the uncannily bright headlight that lit the way. Sure, vacuums today feature quiet motors and highly maneuverable ball designs, and even though life was simpler two decades ago, that mesmerizing loud hum, and bright, guiding light would be all it took to get a two-year-old me hooked. But electricity became more than a casual curiosity. My most prized possession was a wood-mounted set of outlets paired with matching switches — one was fixed, and one dimmed. My grandfather helped me build it after one of our weekend trips to the hardware store.

Continue reading Growing Up Geek: Zach Honig

Growing Up Geek: Zach Honig originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Death Star watermelon

(Credit:
Reddit)

CNET Audiophiliac Steve Guttenberg (not that one) is back on the show and telling us why iPod docks, Beats Audio, and Spotify are ruining the music industry. Steve also has a few ideas on how to make one last buck off said music industry, and advises us on the rules of listening to music in public.

He still also has a pair of V-Moda earplugs to give away to a few lucky 404 listeners, so be sure to add him on Twitter and mention both of us in a Tweet for a chance to win!

The 404 Digest for Episode 881

• Spotify and the search for meaning in music.
• Steve says: “They should stop making CDs.”
• Do people really care how their gadgets sound?
• Planet Money podcast: Manufacturing the song of the summer.

Episode 881

Listen now:

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Originally posted at The 404 Podcast

Check out these sexy new mockup images, which are based on leaked specs and in-production case designs.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Welcome to Engadget’s Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we’re here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we’re giving your ears some love with a plethora of headphones that will keep you rocking around campus — and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back — at the end of the month we’ll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides — and hit up the hub page right here!

Whether you’re dubstepping, duck walking or just plain sprinting to and from classes, you may want to add a soundtrack to your campus travels with some slick new headphones. Although, with so many choices and styles it can be a bit overwhelming to find a set that’s right for you. Luckily, we’re here to help! Don’t forget to enter our giveaway as well if you want a shot at winning your own set B&W’s brand spankin’ new C5 in-ears — not to mention more than $3,000 worth of gadgets that are sure to induce an extreme case of Gadget Acquisition Syndrome!

You’ll find some of our own recommendations just past the break, and another chance to enter our back to school giveaway. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and click on over to our giveaway page for all the details.

Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide 2011: headphones

Engadget’s back to school guide 2011: headphones originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on July 16, 2008 by CyberNet.

There’s been a lot of missed iPhone 3G news while we were gone, so we wanted to make sure we kept everybody up-to-date with this round-up post. We’ll include information from a few reviews, information about how much the iPhone 3G costs to make, what it looks like under the shiny black (or white) case, a couple of tips, and info about why it might be a pain in the butt to return a defective phone.

First Reviews

We are holding off on our review until we’ve had ample time to play around with the iPhone 3G and really get a feel for what it’s like. Look for our review in the next week or so. Until then, some sites have already posted reviews on certain aspects of the phone, and here’s what we were able to learn from them:

• Battery life varies, A LOT which means your experience will probably be different than mine. Gizmodo took a look at nine different 3G battery life test results and not one was the same. The bottom line from all of the tests seems to be that if you’re doing heavy browsing, your battery is going to drain pretty quickly. (READ)
• The Pandora add-on “rocks” according to TechCrunch. They say “streamed music plays flawlessly over Edge and 3G networks – during a 40 mile drive I didn’t once run into any kind of skipping or static. Even better, the app currently has no advertisements playing, though we can probably expect that to change.” (READ)
• Engadget has posted their reviews already and pointed out the good and the bad. One thing they aren’t impressed with is the battery life and the glossy black plastic back. The good is that calls are a lot clearer and 3G speeds are impressive. (READ)
• Popular Mechanics did a quick out-of-the-box review and included a video. They compared the iPhone 3G with the “old” iPhone and the Samsung Instinct. What they found was that the original iPhone had a better backlight, the Samsung Instinct was the winner of data speed (although it was far more difficult to navigate and read than the iPhone 3G), and the call quality winner was the iPhone 3G. (READ)

Where to find an iPhone 3G

The iPhone 3G isn’t going to be too easy to come across in the following states where the devices are completely sold out:

Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, MInnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennesse, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin

(READ)

How Much Does the iPhone 3G Cost to Make?

iSuppli estimated that the original iPhone cost Apple about $227 last year to make when it launched. Now they are saying that the iPhone 3G costs Apple about $173 in parts. It appears as though Apple found ways to make the new iPhone 3G more cost-effective which could ultimately help their market share grow. (READ)

Oh, and in case you were wondering what it looks like inside, take a look:

(READ)

iPhone 3G Tips!

Gizmodo points out how with the new iPhone 2.0 software, if there are YouTube videos embedded into a site, you now see a preview of them. Once you tap to view the video, it will take you to the YouTube player, and then once you are done with the video, you press done and you’ll be taken back to the page you were on in Safari. (READ)

Keyboard shortcut

Another tip comes from Lifehacker where they explain a domain keyboard shortcut. This trick will give you quick access to more than the “.com” keyboard shortcut. Now you have “.org,” “.edu,” and, “.net” shortcuts available. (READ)

Jump to search field in Contacts

This is a feature that comes with the new iPhone 2.0 software — you can easily jump to the search field in your contacts on the iPhone by tapping the status bar at the very top (like what you would do in Safari). (READ)

Need to Exchange that iPhone 3G?

Unfortunately, there will be some of you who get your iPhone 3G only to find that it is defective. One person has already experienced this and the process of exchanging it wasn’t very pleasant thanks to AT&T. Luckily Apple took care of them and went out of their way to resolve the issue. (READ)

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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