Hasta La Gadget!

Still haven’t found that case you’ve been looking for? At last, the promise land. Designer Tjeerd Veenhoven has crafted a partly nifty, partly hilarious new wind-powered iPhone charger / case, appropriately dubbed iFan. In theory, at least, this here case would wrap your iPhone up for protection and then catch wind gusts from wherever, in turn rejuvenating your phone as you talked and walked. There’s even a bicycle attachment mockup for those who’d rather place it on their handlebars and kick things up a notch. Unfortunately, there’s no word on whether the process can be reversed (i.e. if the blades can be turned into a battery-powered cooling machine when you’re at full capacity), nor a hard on-sale date. But hey, at least there’s no jailbreak requirement.

[Thanks, Man Yong Toh]

iFan concept uses gusts to power your iPhone, solve lingering reception issues originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Dec 2010 10:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The ultraslim, metallic, chiclet-styled obsession all began back in mid-2007, but a revised iMac in March of 2009 delivered something else: a chopped-down version of the Apple Keyboard. If you’ll recall, that one dropped the numeric keypad and gained two peripheral USB sockets, making it one of the more compact desktop keyboards on the market. Just shy of its second birthday, it seems as if the supply chain overlords in Cupertino have seen fit to discontinue it, though a number of e-tailers still seem to have stock for the moment. If you’re dead-set on snagging one (we know, stocking’s aren’t that long), Amazon can make your day for $46.99, but we’d probably pony up the extra $3 necessary to bring one home with a number pad on the right.

Apple’s numpad-less compact wired keyboard gets discontinued, few tears are shed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 19:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This isn’t the first time that Sony Ericsson’s dabbled in the field of spy-like Bluetooth wrist accessories, but as we all know, extortionate prices and limited functionality meant these old timers never really took off. But now, things may be different: SE’s freshly baked LiveView promises to offer a generous set of features — alongside your Android 2.x device — while going a little easier on your wallet. It sure sounds tasty, but before you grab your virtual shopping cart, be double sure to read our full review first… right after the break.

Continue reading Sony Ericsson LiveView review

Sony Ericsson LiveView review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And now, there’s a name. The iDevice streaming adapter that we spotted a couple of months ago finally has a proper affiliation, with the PCD Bigstream being quasi-revealed today as the run-up to CES continues. Fundamentally, it’s pretty simple — just plug a nub into the 30-pin Dock Connector of your iPod, iPhone or iPad, and then connect the tent-like transceiver to your television. Once connected, users will purportedly be able to beam “Netflix, Direct TV NFL Sunday Ticket To-Go, and iTunes content, among other apps,” directly to their set sans cabling. It’s difficult to tell if PCD has actually landed licensing agreements with these media portals (or if it’s just really, really good at circumventing DRM), but all should be revealed at the 2011 edition of CES next month. The system relies on a 5.8GHz wireless RF link to distribute signals, and as you can tell, it’s entirely more flexible than AirPlay — a protocol that can only stream video from Apple’s own iPod and YouTube applications. Curiously enough, the first version will only support 480p transmissions, though a 1080p model should hit shelves later in 2011. Here’s hoping we’ll get a good look at how exactly it performs in Vegas.

Continue reading PCD Bigstream iPod / iPhone dongle revealed, looking to one-up AirPlay next month

PCD Bigstream iPod / iPhone dongle revealed, looking to one-up AirPlay next month originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 11:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Even in their prime, USB hubs were never the sexiest part of a tech geek’s shopping trip — people would typically grab the most functional (or crazy) looking option and move on to picking out their next set of “future-proof” RAM sticks. We’re not convinced LaCie‘s really going to change all that with its Hub4, but it sure is trying hard by giving it a curvaceous exterior and those oh-so-desirable blue USB jacks. Yes, the USB 3.0 color coding is large and in charge here, highlighting a full quartet of ports for all that SuperSpeed gear you’ve been stashing. Of course, you’ll still need at least one 3.0 connector on your computer to make the most of this USB peripheral (otherwise you’ll have a very curvy and very standard USB 2.0 hub), but if that’s already accounted for, you’ll just need $59.99 and the source link to get yourself connected to the future.

LaCie’s Hub4 quadruples your USB 3.0 pleasure originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 07:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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