Monsoon Multimedia, makers of Hava the other place shifter, have announced they are bringing Hava Mobile Player to S60 devices. The announcement comes Tomorrow at the S60 Summit in Barcelona, where the free app which gives S60 mobiles the ability to watch and control their Hava boxes will be demonstrated. As of now, Hava players are only available for Windows and Windows Mobile, so it’s good to see that Hava is actually working on making their product accessible to other users. Now what about Mac users? [PR Newswire via MobileCrunch]
AT&T’s geezerphone, the Pantech Breeze, is designed with the elderly in mind. The Breeze has three big speed-dial buttons, simple menus, a loud speakerphone and large font. Now you can hear Gladys’s mahjong story and read Morty’s steamy text messages from anywhere in Del Boca Vista. A step up from the Jitterbug and the ClarityLife, other mobile phones for the olds, it has a camera to snap pictures of your grandkids, or the carpet while you’re figuring out how to make a call. The Breeze sells for US$70 up front with a two-year contract, or US$155 if you do pay-as-you-go, which is a good option if you don’t know where you’ll be three weeks from now. Bigger pics and press release after the jump. [AT&T]
Pitfall fans with 13-inch laptops, this is your day! Over at Etsy, one artist is selling handmade needlepoint Pitfall laptop cases. Diehard Apple fanboys will notice that the featured Pitfall screen is actually from the Apple IIC version of the game. But don’t worry PC-users, anyone who noticed that piece of trivia would be a fairly intolerable companion anyway. At US$150 it’s a doable purchase, but we’re not so sure about that choice of lining.
Looking like something Kubrick would’ve had lying around on the deck of his movie spacecraft, this speaker is designed to add some tunes to your poolside frolicking. Submersible down to 2.7 metres for up to 30 minutes, it’s also weatherproof so can tolerate exposure to the elements. It connects wirelessly to a powered transmitter-dock with an audio-in for an MP3 player, has a range of 45 metres and around a six hour battery life. One transmitter can even support up to 10 speakers. Each speaker also has four ultra-bright LED lights: adding a little moody illumination to your nighttime skinny-dip, perhaps? Available now for US$149.99 for base and a speaker, extra speakers are US$99.99. [NeimanMarcus via 7Gadgets]
This year, 341 million touchscreens will ship worldwide. But according to research firm iSuppli, we ain’t seen nothing yet. Because by 2012, they claim that these shipments will double (682 million units) with the people of 2013 loving touchscreens even more (833 million units for a market of US$6.4 billion). If you’re one of those people who hates touchscreen technology, it might be a good time to exit the planet. Sorry. [PCWorld]
The Kindle is back in stock and it’s now available for a reduced price, dropping from US$399 to US$359. Maybe that will help Amazon to achieve those crazy US$750 million in sales by 2010. [Amazon—Thanks Françoise]
European engineers are now testing a new security system for side-collision accidents, which uses radar and cameras to predict an accident 230 milliseconds before it happens. The computer then activates a bar that bridges both sides of the car to transfer part of the impact energy from one side to the other. The results are impressive, and it could mean the difference between life and death.
It’s possibly container-seal design month here at Giz, but we’ve found a winner in the Snap Capp. It’s a cheap and cheerful plastic gizmo that pops onto a standard drinks can, and turns it into a resealable bottle, with a lid, to stop your refreshments going flat. Simplicity itself, and it’s reusable too. Available now, in a variety of colours, packs of three for around US$10. [Coolest Gadgets via Oh Gizmo]
Panasonic’s upcoming RP-HJE900 headphones pack a little zirconia on the inside for sound quality, not on the outside for glitteriness. The “fake diamond” crystals are good for conducting sound, and are used to lower distortion. So the resulting headphones have a sensitivity of around 100dB/mW and an impressive frequency response from 6Hz all the way to 28kHz. The design is pretty simple earbud-shaped, but features removable/replaceable cables— a feature usually found on very high-end models. No info on pricing, but they’ll be available from June 15th. [Akihabaranews]
Giz reader and Batman-wannabe Suneth Attygalle has built these cool, albeit a bit goofy looking, ultrasonic batgoggles. As you can see in the video, they allow the wearer to detect the proximity of objects using just US$60 in components, including welding goggles, a microcontroller, and ultrasonic sensors.
