Gadget Space

$310,000 cellphone? Yep, that what I need!

GadgetMan — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:13:38 +0000

Ok, so I was wondering what is the MOST expensive cellphone you can buy, and, I found it. A Vertu Cobra. The phone has one pear-cut diamond, one round white diamond, two emerald eyes and 439 rubies. Vertu, a luxury cell phone manufacturer which is a subsidiary of Nokia, has limited production of the Signature Cobra to eight units. For now this is the MOST expensive cellphone in the world and it is not dripping in features, just the basics, and the jewels. If you want to check out the entire Vertu collection you may find something closer to your budget, perhaps the Vertu Ferrari 1947 Limited Edition for $25,000. If you don’t find anything at Vertu you could always try Wirefly where you can find several hundred phones for free, however, you wont impress Paris Hilton.

Mobile Solar Power

ElectronicOverload — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:02:27 +0000

With all the latest high-speed, music-playing, web-browsing, picture-taking, mobile-messaging, game-playing, life-organizing, do-everything, all-in-one devices hitting the market, there seems to be one common problem… Keeping them going strong all day long.

Having all the latest technical capabilities in the palm of your hand is truly awesome, but as we rely on them for more and more, the mobile device makers gotta get serious about powering these hungry little devices. What better source of power to recharge mobile devices could there be than the most ubiquitoius source of energy around? (I’ll give you a hint, it’s a round orb in the sky that rhymes with fun)

With some cool new promising devices like this solar powered MP4 player I hope that the phone manufacturers like Apple, Samsung & LG are paying attention & getting the hint. If they’re not yet, here are some ideas for them…

How about instead of a touch screen all-in-one wonder that opens up to reveal a keyboard, you have one that opens up to flash some sexy, life-prolonging, solar cells?

Better yet, who’s working on creating the next hot little number with a screen that doubles as a sun-ray gobbling solar panel? (isn’t that better than a touch screen that doubles as a mirror?)

And why stop at solar… What about a kinetic energy capture engine that powers your mobile based on it’s mobility? Would you feel silly holding your cell phone outside your window while you drive to power a built-in micro turbine to add a little juice?

We have plenty of people working on jamming ever more into these wonder-devices, speaking of which I got a few hundred bucks burning a hole in my pocket for the first phone to come with a built-in breathalyzer (look for a future post on that.) As silly, or off the wall as these ideas may sound, what we need now are people getting creative to solve this issue to help our devices keep on trucking.

Create your own hotspot with a mobile router

GadgetMan — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:21:45 +0000

As more and more people are now using mobile broadband cards or “aircards” to get their laptops on the Internet while on the go an adjunct invention that is very cool and for a select few probably very useful has come along - The Mobile Router. I have had the opportunity to try out the Kyocera KR2 Mobile Router and quite frankly, it is very cool. In fact I liked it so much I am keeping the sample unit I have and using it as a backup for my Verizon FIOS connection at home and for the occasional roadtrip with friends. Essentially all you do is place your broadband card into this router and give the router power (it even comes with a cigarette lighter adapter if you don’t have a standard power outlet available) and you have a wireless hotspot that you can leave open or password protect. Temporary office setup, camping, tailgating, or as a backup to your home wireless network these mobile routers create a instant hotspot that is easy to set up and take down and works very well.

Here are the Kyocera KR2 Mobile Router specs from Kyocera:

The KR2 Mobile Router allows you to create a Wi-Fi® hotspot virtually anywhere. It uses 1xEV-DO as its WAN backhaul and serves as an access point supporting multiple computers and devices with wireless broadband connectivity. All you need is a PCMCIA Express card, 1xEV-DO card, USB (phone or modem) or cable modem connection. The KR2 Mobile Router is especially useful for mobile work groups such as emergency mobile deployments, dispatch teams, consultants, road-warrior sales groups, satellite offices, command posts, in RV’s or public transportation, and more.

Features
• 802.11 b/g/n for longer range and faster connections
• Flexible broadband connectivity with a PCMCIA, Express card, or USB connection (phone or modem) enables you to set up a Wi-Fi hotspot virtually anywhere*
• Multiple users can share high-speed connections with rates up to 3.1 Mbps
• Fail-over capabilities for use as a conventional router with wireless EV-DO as a backup.
• Smooth migration to future EV-DO releases and upgradeable firmware
• Wi-Fi Protected Setup for improved security when pairing with another Wi-Fi device, preventing unauthorized devices from connecting

Technical Specifications

LAN Interface: WiFi® - 802.11b, g, & n with 3 antennas and 4 Ethernet ports
Indicator LEDs: Power, WAN (cable), WLAN (Wi-Fi), EVDO (Phone, PC Card, Express Card),WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Service)

Device Management:
Web-based Browser - Internet Explorer, Firefox, or other JavaScript-enabled browsers

Wireless Security:
64-bit or 128-bit WEP encryption, WPA-PSK authentication (Wi-Fi Protected Access - Pre-shared Key Mode)

LAN Security:
NAT with DHCP, PPTP VPN Pass-through, MAC Filtering, IP Filtering, Filter Scheduling

Size:
8.5 in x 5.3 in x 1.3 in (215 mm x 135 mm x 32 mm)

Weight:
0.9 lb (450 g)

Operating Temperature:
32° to 122°F (0° to 50°C)

If you have a need it really works well, and if you don’t have a need this is still a very cool device that a gadget geek just ought to have.

Google “Android” cell phone may be here soon

GadgetMan — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:07:52 +0000

Google Phone? There have been on and off rumors about a Google cellphone, or GPhone, for the last year or more. The rumored phone would be run on the Android platform, which is sponsored by The Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies which is working on developing “Android: the first complete, open, and free mobile platform”. Many of the rumors have claimed Google would actually sponsor the developement of the phone and have actual google branded hardware. That however does not seem to be the case, what is being reported today in the Industry Standard (theStandard.com) is that HTC will be releasing a phone on the Android Platform in the next few weeks. The phone will be most likely be the HTC Dream and it will be available on T-Mobile worldwide.

Use Google to look for more information to start flowing soon on this

A phone that might live the length of your 2 year contract!

GadgetMan — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:03:30 +0000

US wireless powerhouse Verizon Wireless has gotten behind 2 rugged phones from Casio the new Type-S and the Boulder. Here is a video of a Type-S spending some time under water and coming through to ring another day.

These are newer models of the Verizon Casio G’zOne Type-V Cell Phone which can be seen being through the ringer in this fun YouTube video and another Casio commercial.

According to Verizon Wireless site the G’zOne Boulder is built to military specifications to survive extreme shock, water and dust environments. Casio’s website claims it “can stay underwater at a depth of one meter with the ports closed”.

We see it can survive what looks like some office pranksters but wonder if it can survive a 2 year contract and a teenager?

How the cellphone started

GadgetMan — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:17:50 +0000

In summer 1984 Motorola introduced the DynaTAC 8000X which was the world’s first commercial handheld cellphone, If you had one you were beyond cool. Here is a picture of the device from Motorola’s archives. With 30 minutes of talk time, 10 hours to recharge, eight hours of standby time, LED display, memory to store 30 numbers, it was 13 x 1.75 x 3.5 inches. This phone put an entire mobile communications industry rolling. As we watch Motorola start to come out of a post RAZR slump and try to get both their momentum and profits back up we hope and expect to see some exciting new products coming from Moto. They innovated with the first cellphone, they changed the cellphone to a fashion item with the RAZR and now we are waiting to see what they come up with next!

2008 Beijing Olympics is a showcase of mobile and Internet technology

GadgetMan — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 11:34:17 +0000

Watching the 2008 Opening Ceremony last night, and doing my AM web reading today it struck me that new mobile and web-based technology is just as much on display with these 2008 Summer Games as are the athletes. Many of the athletes, from almost every nation involved, walked into the now famous Birds Nest carrying state of the art digital cameras, hot new mobile phones with both camera and video features, and the almost standard olympic gear - micro size digital camcorders. These devices recorded the spectacular event from the Olympians point of view, many of which will ultimately post to blogs, and You Tube. The folks at home are also now able to use technology that puts them closer than ever before. Mobile websites with streaming video, timely text alerts with medal updates, mobile TV is streaming live 24/7, and mobile recap videos are available all day as well, check out NBC.com for nice examples of all of this. Sadly, there is even a web cam setup showing the smog conditions 24/7 live from a spot in Beijing posted on Camvista.com. The 2008 Beijing Olympics is a wonderful showcase of mobile and Internet technology. People all over the world will not only be able to see these 2008 Beijing Olympics via the unprecedented global television coverage, there are numerous websites streaming live video, and updates to the global citizenry.

Showing off all this new mobile, web, and digital technology is not only great for the Olympics, it is great for Technology. Why? Just like each Christmas buying season seems to break in a new crop of online shoppers who make their first purchase online, like it, and never turn back, this huge push to show these 2008 Beijing games will break in a new crop of web cam viewers, steaming video watchers, text mesagers and mobile video veiwers. All over the world, the Olympics are in effect pushing technology, showing it off, and the adoption by millions will not stop in 16 days. The global adoption of these technologies will undoubtedly increase as a result of these games. As a tech-geek, I love it and you should too

-GadgetMan

GadgetSpace a space devoted to Gadgets?

GadgetMan — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:18:38 +0000

So with all the blog’s that are growing like mushrooms after a rainstorm all over the web, why in the world do we need another technology blog about gadgets? What is a gadget? A Gadget is: “a mechanical contrivance or device; any ingenious article” Synonyms for a Gadget are - contraption; whatsis, doohickey, thingamajig. What that means is if it is related to technology, and if it can be seen as a Gadget, and of course we think it is interesting, cool, or important then we will blog about it.

We will see if we are up to the task, if we are successful GadgetSpace will rise to the top of the heap of technology blogs and will be seen as respected and worthy of an occasional read, and if we fail then we don’t need GadgetSpace.com, but lets give it a shot and see what happens.