Computer Advice

Filed under: Portable Audio

It’s not like we had anything personal against the 80s style boomboxes that lasted a good half hour or so on eight D-cell batteries, but tagging one along to a day at the beach wound up getting pretty costly in a hurry. Joining the hordes of other eco-friendly and multi-faceted camping / outdoor gear is the Wireless Outdoor Solar Speaker, which is quite likely to be overlooked as a simple thermos at first glance. Atop the canister sits a solar panel that soaks up energy and uses it to pump out tunes through its (understandably weak) five-watt speaker. Additionally, a complimentary wireless (albeit battery-powered) transceiver allows any music source with a 3.5-millimeter output to be beam music to the solar speaker from “up to 150 feet away.” Reportedly, the sun-lovin’ device will run UK-based chaps £99.95 ($199), but that’s assuming you can actually catch it in stock.

[Via PopGadget]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Peripherals

While actually picking locks is no large task these days, cracking into one’s highly encrypted information in OS X could prove problematic if the culprit had something to hide. SubRosaSoft’s USB key purportedly allows “law enforcement professionals to perform live forensics on Mac OS X systems,” and once the software on the included drive is ran, it automatically extracts data from the Apple Keychain and system settings to “provide the examiner fast access to the suspect’s critical information with as little interaction or trace as possible.” The program then compiles the details into a database and stores it back on the drive’s internal memory, which can supposedly be read back on Windows, Linux, or OS X machines at base. Before the devious ones in the crowd get too excited, though, we should probably warn you that interested consumers will be forced to “provide proof that they are a licensed law enforcement professional,” and even then, it will run you anywhere between $399.95 to $499.95 depending on your exact profession. But hey, we’re sure you know a private investigator or police officer who can hook you up, right?

[Via DragonSteelMods]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays

Since the medium-sized digiframe market is getting so crowded these days, it’s leaving manufacturers with little choice but to spruce up their offerings or get left in the crowd. Thankfully for us all, Aluratek has decided to bolster its stance by throwing down a 10.5-inch digital photo frame that not only sports a sleek, classy design, but also ups the ante in the specs department. The 1,024 x 768 resolution seen here has definitely made an appearance on another (albeit larger) frame before, but it touts 256MB of built-in memory, USB 2.0, compatibility with CF, MS, SD, MMC, and xD flash cards, and support for JPEG, Motion JPEG, AVI, and MP3 file formats. Additionally, a bundled wireless remote allows you to control the still / video slideshows from afar, and the audio output enables users to crank things on the home stereo whilst utilizing the integrated display. Best of all, the pricetag isn’t one to balk at, as the $199 Aluratek is asking for here isn’t too greedy at all when compared to the (mostly lacking) competition.

[Via PopGadget]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Robots

Yeah, Wiimotes aren’t the only motion-sensing game controllers that can be hacked for fruitless new uses. Take the new SIXAXIS Linux integration project, which, so far as we can tell, is an incredibly effective means for maneuvering small, custom robots in need of a good 3D controller for manipulating, um, a small flat plane. We have a feeling this won’t be the last we’ve heard of this little project. Video after the break.

[Via QJ]

Continue reading SIXAXIS, Linux, robot… we’re in.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Conference calling on PSTN is so pre-tech-burst, and Buffalo’s making quite sure you’re well aware of a VoIP alternative to dialing into those oft held (and frequently toned out) corporate calls. The BSKP-CU202/SV speakerphone boasts a unique, if not awkward design, boasts about its Skype support, and packs six total watts of power to belt out those brutal demands coming from the other end. Reportedly, no drivers are required for this gizmo to work, and it draws all the current it needs to operate from your PC’s USB port. Users should also enjoy the echo cancellation technology that’s built right in, and just in case you need to swap over to a private conversation, an integrated headphone jack is handily included on the rear. Look for this to hit corporate cubes in Japan soon for a modest ¥9,800 ($82), and feel free to click on through for a few more snaps.

[Via EverythingUSB]

Continue reading Buffalo’s BSKP-CU202/SV Skype phone does conference calling

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming

We can’t confirm the statement, but if you’re inclined to believe GoNintendo’s report, apparently at a financial press conference Nintendo head Satoru Iwata invited Sony’s departing Ken “PlayStation” Kutaragi to join up with the Wii-maker. The irony is, of course, rich. Besides being bloody rivals for over a decade, Ken Kutaragi was also the dude who hooked Nintendo into its fabled (failed) late-80s partnership with Sony to add CD-ROM capabilities to the SNES; the eventual demise of that business relationship resulted in the original PlayStation, and Nintendo’s biggest single competitor since. So will Kutaragi join up with the 117-year-old upstart from Kyoto? Something tells us probably not, but man, would that first day of work ever be aaawkwaaard.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Update: Our Japanese bureau had a crack at this one, and they found the story is pretty wrong, to say the least. According to a Bloomberg report, Iwata-san was asked whether Nintendo would make a bid for Kutaragi; the answer, which we found to be a little more realistic, had Mr. Iwata saying, “I don’t think that will happen.” Sorry Ken, doesn’t look like anyone wants you right now. Have you thought about Microsoft?

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Laptops, Storage

Kind of an obvious hack, but if you can live life without your Apple laptop’s internal optical drive on the day to day, Macenstein demonstrates using an MCE OptiBay add-on kit to pull the optical drive out of your machine and swap it out for another hard drive. The hundies invested open such possibilities as software RAID 0/1, a dedicated Windows drive, or simply extra internal storage — but almost all of the above will take another hit on your battery, so be forewarned before you dare to crack open that fortress-like aluminum case.

[Via Macenstien and Digg]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Here’s a new angle on curbing the thievery that’s spiked England’s petty crime rates up in recent years: don’t try to solve society’s ills with progressive social programs to make sure youth get and stay on the right track; or ensure greater levels of police protection; just make sure companies like Apple and Sony build anti-theft countermeasures into their gadgets. At least that’s the plan backed British Home Secretary John Reid, who is calling for a summit to develop innovative new methods to keep thugs from swiping shiny new toys from the hard-working hands of legit buyers. We’re sure Apple and Sony can both come up with some interesting new shutdown / lockoff / phone-home features (that might also compromise end-user privacy), but nothin’ says lovin’ like bureaucrats solving society’s ills by trying their hands at consumer electronics design.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones

Frankly we’re a bit surprised it’s taken as long as it has for the T-Mobile Dash Windows Mobile 6 upgrade to get leaked. Nothing much to see here if you’re at all familiar with WM6 “Standard” (what we common folk are still calling Smartphone), but if you’re not willing to brick-risk it, apparently the official update will hit the streets this Friday, the 4th.

[Via Gadgets On The Go and Jamerican]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Sharp’s HD DVR lineup has been steadily (albeit quietly) growing for a few years now, and while the company did loose five new offerings in the AQUOS DVR arena earlier this year, the multi-faceted DV-ACV52 has the stage all to itself now. Besides packing a built-in digital TV tuner, 250GB hard drive, and HDMI outputs, this convergence device allows playback and dubbing on a variety of formats including VHS, DVD, or DV / HDV via the i.Link FireWire connector. Other niceties include composite / S-Video outs, optical audio output, and the ability to record one OTA broadcast to the HDD while another goes straight to VHS / DVD. Sadly, we don’t envision this Japanese-bound unit ever gracing US shores, but it will be making smiles across the sea next month for around $925.

[Via MediaMentalism]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!