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’

[via Moconews]

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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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A new rumor has burst onto the scene out of the Kodak company, and everyone’s frantically trying to figure out just what exactly it is.  A “highly placed source” has promised that Kodak’s got something really big planned for the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show this January in Las Vegas, but what exactly it is, no one’s sure.

In fact, the only piece of solid data involved is that it’ll be bowing right alongside the successor to the current Kodak Zi8 pocket camcorder.

Possibilities at this point could be most anything–a storage device, a new DVD burner that works with the Zi8’s successor, anything.  In fact, this could be little more than a giant pot of smoke and mirrors designed to give Kodak free publicity by having gadget bloggers like us endlessly try to play guessing games about what it’ll actually be until CES hits.

I guess either way, we’ll have to wait for CES to find out how this one finally boils out.

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Wow, Peek just delivered a serious bitch slap to Microsoft/Danger!  They’re now offering disgruntled Sidekick users a FREE Peek Pronto device, that is assuming of course you can prove such.  Peek just asks that you “email sidekick@getpeek.com with proof that you own a Sidekick (photo of you and your Sidekick, a T-mo bill, or any form of hard evidence you can dream up).”   Make sure you provide them with your physical mailing address so they can send you the device.  This offer ends this Friday, the 16th, and keep in mind that you’ll still need to drop $20/month on service and the Pronto doesn’t make phone calls.

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The Rationalizer is slated to be the newest tool in a stock trader’s arsenal, but when you hear about it, you might find it just a little familiar.  You fasten a small bracelet to your wrist, and the wrist measures stuff like skin temperature and galvanic skin responses and whatnot to show you how your emotions are acting in a certain situation.  It shows you by–get this!–sending a radio signal to a nearby bowl.  The bowl then glows a certain color, giving you a graphic representation of how you feel.

Yes, folks, it seems as though the MOOD RING has made a comeback.  This time, of course, it’s a bit different and way more high tech, but it’s still kind of cool.  The Rationalizer can show you, visually, when you’re starting to get a little hopped up emotionally.  From there, you can take a break.  I personally think this is a fantastic idea, and wouldn’t mind having my own emergency mood display in case.

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Well, folks…seems like you can now officially stick a fork in the Sidekick.  The first ever smartphone seems to be out of the game.

It all started earlier this week, when Microsoft announced they had lost all their Sidekick user data.  All of it.  Pictures, contacts, calendars…just plain old LOST.  Since Sidekicks access their data from central servers instead of storing it on board, that means every single Sidekick user (except for those who engaged in external backups)  just lost EVERYTHING.

Rumors say it was a failed upgrade involving a Hitachi SAN that took down the Sidekick network.

But Tmobile is sympathetic to the loss and in turn is offering a free month of data service–not REGULAR service, but data service.  More telling, however, is what Tmobile is NOT doing right now: selling any other Sidekicks.  Every one is showing “temporarily out of stock” on the Tmobile web site.

So you add all these points together, and it sure sounds like the fix is in for the Sidekick.

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So 3M, those great innovators, have come up with a way to get you to watch 3-D on your mobile device of choice, but without the glasses entirely.  Check THIS out:  they’ve developed this optical film (that you can apply to any gadget’s backlight system) that uses two alternating rows of LED to project left and right images one after the other to the viewers’ eyes.  This in turn allows for a stereoscopic 3-D image but without the need for glasses.

The film works on any device with a viewing size of nine inches or smaller, and to watch video in 3-D via this method requires the video be displayed at 120hZ.

I find myself a bit skeptical to the value of this, but admit from a conceptual level this is blisteringly cool–after all, turning any mobile gadget into a 3-D player with only a strip of plastic?  That’s MacGyver-grade gadgetry right there.

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If you’re anything like me, you’ve got an old cell phone or two laying around the house and you’re about dying to get rid of it.  But you’ve got no idea where or how to dump it.  We all know there are loads of hazardous material laws to grapple with, and those collection drives expect you to pay to dump your hardware.

Enter the EcoATM, a device the size of an actual ATM that’ll let you dump your hardware quick, easy, and sometimes, profitably.  Simply drop your old phone or other device into the EcoATM’s slot, and the machine will determine if it has any value.  The machine will then make you an offer for the device, which it will pay off from a separate slot, usually in the form of a gift card.

What if your device is worthless, you say?  Not a problem–there’s no such thing as a worthless device to the EcoATM.  Even if it has no residual value, you’ll still be able to leave the device with the EcoATM, but you’ll also get a “freebie item”, plus EcoATM will arrange for a tree to be planted in your honor somewhere, which still beats having to pay off the collection people all hollow.

EcoATM is actually doing pretty well so far–its first day in operation netted 23 phones and passed out a full hundred bucks in gift cards.  Word is it got a BlackBerry Curve in prime condition.  So chances are, this prototype will likely be coming to an electronics store near you.

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It was just this past February when Verizon officially put their Hub touchscreen VoIP device up for sale.  At the time it required a 2-year contract and $200 to get aboard, which is and was one of the many barriers to the device’s success.  ‘Was’ I say?  That’s right, the Verizon Hub has already been discontinued purportedly due to floundering sales, poor technical support and probably a whole slew of other reasons.  Engadget received word back from the company, which falls just short of admitting the Hub’s demise.  It’s a bit of a shame considering how cool it could have been, but when a product is flawed it is quickly represented by sales numbers or in this case lack there of.

Verizon Wireless, like many companies, continually changes and updates the products and services it offers to customers. Our sales teams in all channels will continue to focus on providing our customers the latest and most innovative wireless products and services. Verizon Wireless will continue to support existing Verizon Hub customers with post-sale service or support.

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Here’s a new and interesting piece of gadget news for you this morning, folks–I’ve just heard about the Epson Dreamio, a strange projector with one really impressive feature.  That strange feature?  A built in DVD player.

Most projectors don’t include DVD players for a handful of good reasons–it’s entirely too simple in most cases to hook up a DVD player to a projector is tops among them.  But also included are the fact that they usually end up looking like thirty miles of bad road and how they end up badly overpriced.  This would definitely seem to be the case with the thirteen hundred dollar Epson Dreamio, especially given that the projector itself is a 720p as opposed to a 1080p.   It does, by way of consolation, include a USB port and an HDMI slot for hooking in extra components, so it clearly wants to go the distance as far as your home theater setup goes.

So for movie buffs who want that projector experience but can’t offer a lot of space for components, the Epson Dreamio may be what you’re looking for.

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Europe has a pretty big problem with its gadget vendors these days–roughly half of them, according to a report from the European Union, are under investigation for something.

The worst part is just what that “something” entails, according to reports:  concealing delivery charges, misleading customers about products, and failing to honor the customer’s right to return products within a week as mandated throughout the European Union.

Three hundred and sixty nine websites throughout twenty eight countries are currently under investigation by EU officials, and punishments for wrongdoing vary wildly according to the charges filed.

I don’t know about you folks, but to me, this is horrible news.  When you can’t trust the web stores in any basic level you’re leaving a serious potential for economic devastation.  If no one trusted Amazon any more, or eBay, we’d lose a HUGE portion of revenue.  And with three hundred sixty-nine European websites under investigation, this doesn’t bode well for an economic recovery.

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Bet you didn’t know that Amazon, Sirius Satellite and Apple Computers can tell where you are anywhere in the world, did you?

Well, that kind of shocker revelation requires some background.  Most everybody’s felt the heartbreak at one time or another of a favorite gadget just “wandering away”.  Whether it fell or it was pushed, the end result is the same–your valuable gadget is GONE.  It might surprise you to know that most of these gadgets actually already come with the technology required to track them down remotely.

But the companies won’t actually use this technology to help you track down your wayward gear. In fact, just trying to get the companies to shut down your missing tech so that it can’t be used in the future requires a subpoena and a whole lot of dancing with lawyers.

Some say the companies themselves won’t bother because they’d sooner have someone out there use the product and occasionally buy new apps and services, while you have to go buy a new one, plus in some cases all the content you already paid for once.  The companies themselves, meanwhile, are being tight-lipped about the whole thing.

This doesn’t bode well for the gadget makers–unhappy customers are very seldom repeat customers.

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