November 16th, 2009 1:32 PM | by Christen da Costa
When ‘COD: World At War‘ hit the scene last year everyone and their little brother was ultra psyched for the Zombie board. After all, who doesn’t like slaying zombies, let alone Nazi Zombies. Now their first board, ‘Nacht der Untoten’ (German for ‘night of the dead’) has been transposed to the iPhone where you can engage in up to 4 player coop game play over WiFi (2 if Bluetooth).
At $9.99 it’s a bit steep, especially when you consider it’s just one board and the same board found on the console version. They’ve also got plans to roll out additional Nazi levels which will no doubt cost you.
Qualcomm just yesterday introduced a whole new brand of Lenovo gadget that’ll blow your mind open. Check this out.
It’s called the smartbook, and it combines all the best features of a smart phone and a netbook. Slimmer than most smart phones and able to fit in the palm of a hand, it offers not only a QWERTY keyboard but also a “full-size screen”. It’s powered by a Qualcomm chipset platform that has, for some reason, been dubbed Snapdragon and will run a series of different applications including Flash, Adobe and AT&T’s mobile broadband.
It’s interesting to note, however, that this may not be the end of the smartbook line but only the beginning. Word is that everybody from Asus to Toshiba is planning to launch their own smartbook. But do people, especially in a bad economy like this, really want or even need another portable computer when they already have laptops, netbooks and smartphones to choose from? Is there anyone who’s saying “I love my netbook but I wish it were smaller!” or “I love my smartphone but I wish it had more features!” who isn’t just buying the next step in either direction?
Name and price are still being kept quiet on this new model as the product will officially launch this January at the Consumer Electronics Show.
November 12th, 2009 4:01 PM | by Christen da Costa
By now everyone and their mother knows that Motorola dropped the ball a few years ago and has been struggling to gain back market share in the US. The RAZR was a massive success but after that it was all downhill – they sort of eclipsed themselves. But alas, the handset maker is back and this time they’ve got a brand new bag: the Motorola DROID! It’s one of Moto’s first Android handsets and based on my quick unboxing video above, I likely. The handset is heavy, but in a good way and nice and solid feeling unlike Apple’s iPhone. Enjoy.
November 12th, 2009 3:20 PM | by Christen da Costa
You’d have to have some seriously huge nards to wanna wear the Black Ops Throat Mic in public, but that’s exactly what they intend for you to do since it’s iPhone compatible. Then again, nothing is worse then the geektastic Bluetooth headsets that people wear as every day jewelry.
Like iterations we’ve seen before, this headset picks up your throats vibration/audio and transfers it to the handset via a wired connection, while a small in ear headphone sends the audio to your dome. Should work great in a convertible, though I’m not sure how palatable the $119 price tag is for most.
November 12th, 2009 2:47 PM | by Christen da Costa
See you later LG Versa, hello Fujitsu Separate Keitai F-04B. Much like the Versa, this phone rocks a modular system that allows its user to remove the keyboard and add on other parts.
But, Fujitsu has taken the modular concept many steps further by adding a 3.4-inch touchscreen and the ability to use the keyboard (via Bluetooth) when not attached to that handset. And about those modular parts. There seems to be only one other right now, and get this, it’s a Pico Projector that has a 2 hour battery life and 854 x 480 resolution. And it don’t stop there, the phone has a 12 megapixel camera, which probably makes it the most robust handset we’ve ever seen.
Japan’s DoCoMo officially announced the Fujitsu Separate Keitai F-04B, so it does exist, just not in the US or EU.
So the gadget recycling program, which usually offers credit on new gadgets purchased in the process, is continuing on. Maybe you’ve been interested but haven’t been able to find a location near you handling it.
That’s okay, because now it’s got a new ally in Sears. They’ll take gadgets in twenty different categories,and pretty much the only caveat is that it has to actually work. You can send them nonworking equipment, which they’ll recycle for you at no cost, but you won’t get any credit for it.
The process is actually pretty simple–here’s the word from Sears’ own press release:
1. Visit www.sears.gazelle.com.
2. Get an offer on electronics by answering a few quick questions.
3. Ship items. Shipping is free and many customers will also qualify for a free shipping box.
4. The customer receives a Sears gift card in the mail for the total value of their items. As a special holiday promotion, through Dec. 31, 2009, participants will receive an additional 5 percent of the value of their trade-in, added to their Sears gift card.
So if you’ve got some old hardware sitting around that you want to trade in, or if you’re looking for a quick way to get a little extra holiday shopping cash, then head on over to Sears and get the credit you need, while emptying your house of clutter.
First responders, pay attention, because you might be able to save some MORE lives with what I’m about to hit you with next. Some engineer managed to take ten dollars worth of electronic parts–available off the shelf pretty much anywhere–and modify his mobile phone into a cell phone that does double duty as a microscope.
This is no ordinary engineer; he’s an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, and he’s actually started up his own company to market the cell phone microscopes.
Not that this is just great for the medical and scientific communities–now any putz can check a blood sample for signs of tuberculosis, malaria, or anemia!
It’s conceivable that, from here, the phone would then be able to remotely send the images back to actual medical professionals for diagnosis before the patient was even put on an ambulance.
No idea when they’ll be available, but they really should do a whole lot of good when they’re done.
November 10th, 2009 3:46 PM | by Christen da Costa
Controlling a car via the iPhone is pretty old news at this point, but the boys (and girls) at Waterloo Labs have modded an old ass, broke ass Oldsmobile using every day parts to control the vehicle using the handset. If the Teenwolf Styles move (aka surfing the car) isn’t enough for you, check the modded power wheels.
November 10th, 2009 3:12 PM | by Christen da Costa
A tad behind schedule, but never the less the Nokia N900 has begun to ship to customers throughout the world. We’ve already got a brief hands on with the phone and I’m just hoping that they fixed some of the lag problems we saw at CTIA San Diego (videos after the ‘leap’).
In what appears to be a product I’ve never seen the likes of, the Sparkz Projector Dock is a fresh and pricey new addition to aftermarket iPhone accessories. The built-in pico projector accepts a variety of A/V and VGA inputs and is capable of displaying 640 x 480 resolutions at up to 60 inches. Snaps.
There’s also some little stereo speakers attached but I can’t imagine them doing much banging. The dock also charges your iPhone and it comes with a tri-pod. At a $495 price tag, early adopters will want to make sure this is a quality product. Maybe the video below will help.
