GadgetReview

Oh Japan…have I told you lately that I love you?

You’ve given me some of the coolest, strangest, and most downright preposterous topics to write about of all time.  And today, you’ve given me a topic that’s ALL THREE.  You’ve given me a topic that proves conclusively that you’re going insane and yet you’re also brilliant.

You’ve given me the Tele Scouter, a headset-mounted translation device.

Yes, it’s actually called the Scouter.  For those of you now about to quote Dragon Ball Z, indeed, his power level is over nine thousand.

Anyway, the Tele Scouter uses an imaging device to project images directly onto your retina, and the images in question are fields of text, generated by voice recognition and translation programs that literally show you what someone else is saying, in your language, before your very eyes.

And it’s not just translation, either–there’s talk these can be used in sales pitches to get instant access to customers’ shopping records via face recognition technology.  Now, I don’t know what the long term ramifications are of getting all that light shined directly onto your retina, but the thought of an instant translator IS pretty cool.  The price is pretty salty, as you might expect–about eighty three thousand dollars for a set of thirty, plus the cost of any custom software to go with it.

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In an interesting move, now retailer Orange is getting into the cash for old gadgets game with its Recycle and Reward program. While they don’t have the awesome automated kiosks of other vendors, Orange will give you a quote and a check within a week when you take whatever it is you’d like to get rid of–old mobile phones, laptops, and music players (bigger stuff that the automated kiosks can’t handle) and offers up cash for them.

It IS somewhat limited–no bringing in your old furnace, water heater or what have you; it’s pretty much exclusively a consumer electronics setup–but hey, free cash for stuff you weren’t using anyway?  That’s no small treat.

Also, Orange is also launching its Copy and Keep program, where they’ll charge you a whopping twelve bucks or so to transfer all your media, addresses and contacts from your old mobile phone to your new one.  Pretty useful if you’ve forgotten how or just plain old can’t be bothered.

So if you’re needing a new phone, and want to get rid of the old one, then it’s a great time to think Orange.

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So a strange development took place on Sunday–a Dutch hacker is currently holding what amounts to several jailbreaked Apple iPhones.

Just in case you’re wondering about the terminology here, a jailbroken phone is basically a hacked iPhone that allows you to install software from other sources besides Apple’s App Store.  The need for jailbreaking has fallen off somewhat in recent days, but there are still plenty of phones out there already that have been jailbroken.

But when you jailbreak an Apple iPhone, you force the resetting of a password that controls remote access to the general password coded in at the factory level.  Now, if you’re smart, you’ll quickly change that password to something you know well.  But a lot of people either got lazy or busy or just plain forgot, because they left their iPhones in the ORIGINAL PASSWORD SETTING.

And that’s where the Dutch hacker swung in.  He changed the passwords, effectively locking people out of their own phones until they pay him a ransom of five euros via PayPal.  Meanwhile, Apple considers jailbroken phones to have voided their warranties, so it’s pretty much either pay off the hacker or lose your phone until he’s arrested and forced to confess.

So if you’ve got a jailbroken Apple, you may want to switch that password around before the Dutch hacker gets you…if he hasn’t already.

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I totally saw this one coming.  AT&T has sued Verizon over their some what hilarious ‘there’s a map for that’ commercial – it parodies Apple’s ‘there’s an app for that’ ads.  Video below.

The commercial displays two US maps comparing Verizon’s robust 3G coverage versus AT&Ts spotty 3G coverage.  AT&T says it’s misleading because the map Verizon used doesn’t show AT&Ts 2G coverage and could lead consumers into thinking that they don’t provide service in the majority of the US.  Additionally, the maps aren’t a comparable representation since Verizon’s map depicts all of Verizon’s service area while AT&T’s just shows the areas in which they’ve implemented 3G – kind of the same thing, but you know what I’m saying.

At the end of the day the suit will probably result in Verizon pulling the commercials or updating them to include a more comprehensive map of AT&Ts coverage area.

Personally, I think Verizon showed their hand with these commercials but in my recent experience they’re not far off from the general consensus.  Many a people I’ve spoken to say they ‘hate their iPhone’ when they mean to say they hate AT&T for their spotty coverage.  But, hey, that’s what happens when you align your cellular service so closely with a handset.  Will AT&T be the iPhone’s downfall?

Commercial after the ‘leap’ …Continue reading: AT&T Sues Verizon Over Theres A Map For That Commercial (video)

For all intense and purposes the PSPGo has been considered a down right failure in the video game hardware business.  This is further evidenced by a somewhat dismal launch in the console’s country of origin this past Sunday, which saw a total of 28,275 units sold on day one.  Compare that to the DSi which moved 170,000 units or the PSP-3000 that sold 140,000 units (the latter has a more comparable price point for all your nay sayers).

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Does the Apple tablet PC actually exist?  The current answer is, no one’s really sure except possibly for New York Times executive editor Bill Killer.

His recent referral to an “impending Apple slate” has captured the imaginations of the gadget world, and gadget blogs all over began trumpeting what Apple buffs had figured was coming for some time now, the official announcement of the Apple Tablet PC.

Needless to say, that announcement has not hit, and Bill Keller is keeping mum about the whole business in general.  This isn’t the first time Apple gadget news has left someone with egg on their face–the Financial Times was convinced that the Apple tablet would hit in September.  And with Bill Keller stonewalling (when asked if he had more information, all he would say was “I’m not sayin’.”), who knows what anybody knows or doesn’t know any more?

But that’s half the fun of rumors, isn’t it?

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If you’ve looked at your job and thought, you know, it’s great here and all, but what we need are more random Jedi duels, then do I have the gadget for you!

Five words: Star Wars Lightsaber Laser Pointers.

I know, I just said a whole volume of geektastic joy in one handy little five-word burst, but it is exactly what I said it is, a red laser pointer (what, no color options?  Can’t I have something other than Sith Red?  Why no love for any of the half-dozen or so Jedi colors?) that projects a small beam of red light.  Call attention to points in your PowerPoint presentation.  Freak out your cat.  Grab a magnifying glass and try in vain to fry ants.  Stage duels on your lunch break.

There are so many uses for this, but the clearest use of all is to clearly denote that YOU, sir (or ma’am as the case may be) are a serious Star Wars fan, true believer.  And if you’ve got $14.99, you too can slice up your choice of foes.

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Belkin is recalling a whole mess of their TuneBase car docks for risk that they might cause fire.  Something to do with a faulty washer within the cigarette lighter adapter that could cause it to short out and produce unsettling results; the type your insurance company will be none too pleased with.

You only need to worry if you purchased your device on or after April 1st 2009 and if it is one of the following models: F8Z441, F8Z441ea, F8Z442, F8Z442ea, F8Z176, F8Z176eaBLK (check with Belkin since different regions have different model numbers, these are for the US).

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Strap in and brace yourselves all over, kids, because I got a HOT list of deals here for the upcoming Black Friday sales!  Seems that Office Max dropped the dime a bit early on what they’ll be offering up for cheap the day after Thanksgiving (early?? It’s not even HALLOWEEN and they’re talking Black Friday!), but their incredibly gauche behavior brings you a whole lot of deals.  Check THIS out!

How about an Acer netbook for $150?  I know, you’re probably blinking rapidly and reading that again, but it’s true.  And it’s not where the deals end…but where they BEGIN, my friends. How about a Compaq Presario AMD Athlon II dual-core CPU for $240?  Maybe you like the DVDs…well, you can get a Memorex portable DVD player with seven-inch screen for $30.  Start hunting for couch change now and by Thanksgiving you should have enough for even a Magellan RoadMate 1440 GPS.  Just $70!

It’s enough to make even the most hesitant shopper think twice about clutching the wallet in a death grip.

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Holy crap!  Hulu might start charging all you free loaders in 2010.  That isn’t to say there won’t be any free content, just that some of their more premium shows will cost you a penny or 1000.  Personally, I don’t watch my content on Hulu, but after bearing witness to a Boxee install on a Mac Mini I’m not too far off from taking the plunge.  Then again, I’m in no position to kill my cable subscription for fear of losing touch with reality (I never leave my place and require CNN and other skewed news sources to be on at all times).

So, Hulu users, what’s your plan?  Would you drop some greenbacks to watch content online on what was once a free service?  If you ask me it never really panned out for Napster, although they did get bought, but at what profit, if any, I don’t know.

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