Hasta La Gadget!

Seven generations of iPod nano evolution have culminated in something pretty special. The latest iteration of Apple’s mini music player is its thinnest, has the biggest screen ever (for a Nano), and tosses in Bluetooth to boot. Is it great? Yes. Is it enough to make you care about MP3 players again? Not really. More »

Admit it. You or someone you know has done it. Personally I have done it twice. Once in a football stadium, once in the rain.  It is a careless move, usually brought on while rushing around. Yep, you know what I mean. You have subjected your phone to water! And if not a phone then perhaps an MP3 player, iPod or headphones. Being a veteran I can say some are recoverable. My phone in the rain was cured through a night in some uncooked rice. But some – like phone dropped in the toilet while at a game – have no hope simply because the supplies don’t exist when the mishap occurs.

We all need RescueTec hanging around. RescueTec consists of a multi-layer aluminum foil pouch on the outside. Internally a recovery sachet contains a compound that attracts the water to it – essentially like a magenet. It pulls both water and vapor out of your drowned device. Conveniently, RescueTec tells you how much humidity is still present in the bag so you can judge when to remove your phone or gadget – though the makers recommend a minimum of 48 hours in the bag.  So does it work? According to their website yes. They tested on many major gadgets with big success and stories to illustrate. This ingenious device claims to be up to 700% more effective than the dry rice trick, and over 300% more effective than Silica Gel. If that does not convince you then take a look at their money back guarantee. RescueTec runs £16.99 (about $27.50) plus shipping to anywhere in the world.  A pretty minor investment for a smartphone or other device that rules parts of our lives. RescueTec makes sense to have in our car, suitcase, home or wherever an emergency may occur. Why risk not being prepared to save your mobile buddy?

Ready for more Battlefield 3 DLC? Electronic Arts shared more details about the game’s upcoming expansion, Aftermath, with Joystiq today, along with a brand new trailer that gives us a brief look at what to expect. Most importantly, Aftermath adds a new game mode, and this one sounds quite a bit different from the game modes that have been introduced in the past.

The name of the new mode is Scavenger. Since Aftermath takes place in a post-earthquake Iran, Scavenger sticks with the overall theme, starting players with only a knife, a sidearm, and a single grenade. You’ll need to quickly find better weapons if you want to stand a chance at beating the other players in the game, a mechanic that should make for some incredibly tense match-ups.

Of course, there’s more to Aftermath than just Scavenger mode. The DLC adds a bunch of new stuff, including four new maps (the Epicenter and Markaz Monolith maps were named to Joystiq), three new vehicles, a total of ten new assignments, and the all new crossbow weapon. Crossbows seem to be popping up a lot in games lately, don’t they?

Battlefield 3: Aftermath will become available to PS3 Premium subscribers on November 27. On December 4, Aftermath heads to Xbox 360 and PC Premium players, launching for regular PS3 players a week after that on December 11. Finally, the rest of the Xbox 360 and PC players will get Aftermath on December 18, nearly a month after PS3 Premium subscribers get it. Are you picking up Aftermath when it releases next month?

Battlefield 3: Aftermath hits PS3 on November 27 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has faced a lot of grief lately from pretty much everyone with a badge. His house was raided, and he was thrown in jail for a bit. However, he’s back and isn’t even close to getting out of the business that got him in trouble in the first place. Along with his past colleagues, Dotcom is starting another file-sharing service called “Mega.”

Dotcom describes Mega as a unique service that will solve the liability problems faced by many cloud storage services, and it will enhance the privacy rights of users. Then again, many critics are saying that Mega will simply be just another version of Megaupload that will skirt the legal issues that faced the old service, and will eventually be shut down just like before.

Certain aspects will indeed stay the same. Mega will be the same one-click, subscriber-based cloud service that will allow customers to upload and share large files, but the difference now is that files will first be encrypted before they upload, and anyone who downloads the files will receive a unique key for decryption purposes.

This means that Mega would not be able to view any files that are uploaded to its servers, which the company says would not make them responsible for its users’ uploaded content. Dotcom says that the only way that this new service would be deemed illegal is if encryption itself was illegal, according to Dotcom’s legal experts. However, Dotcom says his new service isn’t “a giant middle finger to Hollywood and the DoJ,” and he and his colleague note that if users violate copyright, there are rules in place to take care of it.

[via Wired]

Megaupload founder creates new file-sharing service, calls it “Mega” is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Smartphones stimulate 3 of the 5 senses. Touch, sight and hearing are all impacted. But what about the other two? Taste – well ok, maybe that won’t ever happen. Who wants to lick their phone? Eeeeewww. But what about smell? We talk about, and some have attempted, the advertisers dream of  ‘smell-o-vision’ TV. And now a Japanese company will soon reportedly launch an iPhone gadget to stimulate your snout.

As reported by CNET, Chaku Perfume developed Chat Perf, an iPhone app and attachable accessory to convey smells. An atomizer and smell tank come in the device which attaches to the phone’s dock. Someone on the other end of the phone could then deliver a smell through your phone which is translated through the app. The attachment then releases the smell. The possibilities, particularly for advertisers, are limitless. Imagine your favorite restaurant sending the waft of a seasoned steak. Or maybe a laundromat infusing their coupons with the scent of freshly washed laundry. As CNET points out, Samsung already filed for a patent on a phone with smell producing device potentially delaying Chat Perf’s entry into the US. If that does not delay them the anticipated price over $60 may be somewhat prohibitive. But who knows. Maybe smell-o-smartphones are the wave of the future and our nose will get as bombarded as our eyes and ears.

 
[ Smell-o-phone on the Horizon copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]