Monday, August 25, 2008
Peripherals
The BatRest Holds the iPhone Just Like a…Phone Cradle
11:45PM Mark Wilson | The Dark Knight pretty much confirmed that if Batman used any phone, it wouldn’t be the iPhone, but we can’t help but take a…professional…interest in the BatRest all the same. A folding polypropylene stand, the BatRest (just 1.2mm thick) can fit in your wallet before getting deployed in your darkest hour. As the flight attendents surround you, cornering you hopelessly into a seat that binds your legs and contorts your back, BAM, KAPOWEE! You set up your iPhone on the BatRest and just watch a movie or something. [BullRest via Crave] More »
Toys
Giz’s Lego Minifig Contest: Win The Best Vintage Sets Ever
11:00PM Jesus Diaz | To mark the 30th Anniversary of the minifig, Gizmodo is celebrating a video contest with Lego. The objective: to create a movie in honour of the minifig. The short could be made using any technique you want as long as it’s creative and fun (check the full rules after the jump). The prizes? Huge ones. First, the most amazing vintage sets ever: the Galaxy Explorer and the Yellow Castle–needless to say, the value of these sets, which are new in their original boxes, goes off the charts. The third prize will be a special set designed by Lego owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, plus there will also be smaller vintage space and town sets, a whole bunch of the new vintage minifigure series, and some newer sets for the runner-ups. Yes, a whole brickload of incredible stuff. AU: This is a US contest, but thought you guys should know about it anyway. There’s nothing in the T&Cs that says you can’t enter and win, so go nuts!
Games
Stella Artois PSP Rekindles Our Interest in Two Unlike Fads
10:59PM Mark Wilson | The combination isn’t exactly the most obvious, but hey, I’m a gamer, and hey, I like paying US$5 a glass for a pretentious beer that tastes identical to Budweiser. The Stella Artois PSP was manufactured in a limited edition for the Fosters employees who’d be brewing the “import” in Australia for Australia–part of the official “please don’t spit in our delicate European beer” bonus. [Lowe Rivet via Kotaku] More »
Gadgets
The Technology Behind the Democratic National Convention
10:31PM Mark Wilson | Denver’s Pepsi Centre and Invesco Field are just fine for their concerts and professional sporting events. But when the Democrats come into town for their National Convention this week, the two buildings are getting technologically gutted. In fact, Qwest, Microsoft, Cisco, Google, AT&T, Level3, Comcast, EchoStar, Hewlett-Packard, and Symantec all teamed up to give the old venues a new digital backbone. Here’s the snazzy list of upgrades: More »
Phones
Swedish Scientists Test iPhone 3G’s Antenna: It’s Fine
10:22PM Kit Eaton | A couple of Swedish scientists at a company that sells test chamber facilities for wireless devices decided to put the iPhone 3G’s antenna to the test, in the light of the phone’s supposed connectivity issues. Their verdict: “the values are completely normal.” In other words, it compares very well with the antenna strength in both transmit and receive modes with a Nokia N73 and Sony Ericsson P1 that the guys tested out under the same conditions. They even checked out whether using the iPhone’s other wireless functions conflicted with the phone antenna (which can sometimes happen) and found it to be fine under these conditions too. Good news. If there is an issue with the 3G performance, it doesn’t seem to be coming from the antenna. [Goteborgs-Posten Thanks, Kalle!] More »
Peripherals
Aexea KeyXpress Data Key Flashdrive Could Hide on Your Key Ring
10:02PM Kit Eaton | Brando’s Aexea KeyXpress flash drives are designed to really make key-ring data portability true: they’re shaped like keys, and are about as thin as your average door or car key (about 3mm thin.) They’re in three colours, have 4GB of flash storage aboard, come with a similarly tiny lanyard and that’s about all you need to know. Oh: they cost US$27. [Brando] More »
Phones
Leaked Document Shows Verizon’s Psyops Anti-iPhone Propaganda
8:22PM Kit Eaton | Oh, deary deary me… Verizon’s tactics to combat the JesusPhone 3G now include briefing its employees about the iPhone’s failings, so they can answer customer questions about why it doesn’t carry the device. There are four big “myths” about the mobile phone apparently, ranging from “twice as fast” to “iPhone data plan covers all data,” there’s even a dig about the lack of audible turn-by-turn GPS navigation. Hasn’t Verizon worked out that that’s just an app, and is a facility that may yet be added in the future? More »
Peripherals
IOGear’s USB to VGA Kit Puts Wireless Gap Between PC and Monitor
7:45PM Kit Eaton | Combine this little gizmo with a wireless USB hub and you could almost have your PC in a separate room to you: it’s a wireless VGA cable. The USB to VGA kit consists of a transmitter dongle and a receiver with a VGA-socket. It’s probably aimed more at swanky PC-projector setups, since it can cope with video of up to 720p quality over a range of 10 metres, and sadly is only compatible with Windows XP and Vista machines. Due in September for around US$230. [TFTS] More »
Peripherals
LG’s N4B1 Network NAS Auto-Backs-Up Your Files to Blu-ray Disc
7:10PM Kit Eaton | Though it sounds more like a droid-designation than a useful product, the N4B1 from LG is a combined network HDD bay and Blu-ray disc recorder: Much better than pairing a BDR-recorder with a VHS drive. It’s got space for up to four HDDs inside (supporting up to 4TB total capacity) and three USB ports and an extra e-SATA connection so you can presumably bolt on even more storage. The BDR recorder can burn data to disc on request, or automatically back up your files for extra security against data loss. There’s no info on when it’s out or how much it’ll cost, as yet. [Akihabaranews] More »
Music
