GadgetReview

The ADE 651 is a device with an impressive marketing angle.  Over in Iraq, it’s being used to sniff out everything from bombs to guns to drugs and beyond, and detect them all from a distance of up to half a mile.  It’s a handheld device, easy to carry, the Iraqi military swears by it…there’s just one problem.

It doesn’t actually work.

ATSC, the company that makes the ADE 651, claims that they work via “electrostatic magnetic ion attraction”, which if I remember my collegiate physics courses correctly means “a bunch of sciencey terms strung together almost at random”.  Independent testing of many similar devices by the Department of Defense shows none of them work much better than pure chance.  And here’s the part that’ll kill you–they sold the Iraqi military fifteen hundred of these things at prices ranging from $16,500 to $60,000 dollars EACH.

And there you go.  The Iraqis bought at least $24 million worth of bomb detectors that don’t detect.

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Sears, determined not to be shown up by OfficeMax, has just announced its own Black Friday deals, and they’re actually pretty awesome.  Even better, they’re actually pushing Black Friday ahead to HALLOWEEN.  That’s right, the deals start THIS SATURDAY, as opposed to Black Friday.

What’s on tap?  Well, how about a Magellan RoadMate 1200 GPS system for $99.99, or maybe a Sony  1000-Watt 5-Disc home theater system with a 1080p upscaling HDMI DVD player for $249.99?

But that’s not where the deals end over at Sears, only where they begin.  There’s also a whole slew of deals on televisions and digital cameras and everything in between.  Sears is clearly desperate for a sale, and is doing everything short of giving it away to get their deal.  I don’t think I’m exaggerating that “desperate”, either: when you start offering Black Friday deals in October, and especially given the financial condition of Sears, it’s not too much of a surprise that they’re pulling out all the stops.

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If you’ve got any kind of interest in e-readers, then you know they can be a bit pricey.  But the jetBook-Lite from ECTACO is looking to change all that by selling for $149.95.

The jetBook-Lite is officially, as of this writing, the cheapest e-reader device on the market.

Now, when you get a low-cost device like this, naturally you give up a few things.  Tops on the list is 3G wireless connectivity and color secondary screens.

However, what you DO get is support for pretty much any ebook format on the face of the earth, including eReader DRM from Barnes and Noble.  Plus, you also get support for multiple languages and a built-in dictionary, a rotating screen that can handle portrait or landscape mode, and last but not least, and incredible twenty three hours of run time on the strength of four AA batteries.

It’s a pretty good value for a cheap e-reader.

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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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When you think of General Electric, the first thing to spring to mind might be light bulbs, or possibly NBC.  But I doubt you think of portable ultrasound gadgets, and that’s a shame.  Because as it turns out, they’ve just invented one.

It’s called the GE VScan Portable Ultrasound, and soon, you too can be jumping from pregnant belly to pregnant belly, offering a sneak peek at Junior.  Hopefully you also know a good lawyer to boost you out of the looney bin if you actually try that.

But actually, this may be a pretty fair idea.  Think about the concept of an EMT with the ability to notice fluid around the heart in the ambulance ride to the hospital.  Cardiologists could have at their fingertips near-instant access to ultrasound gear instead of scheduling it at a larger facility.  And they could do this for far, FAR less money than the average ultrasound gear.

No word as yet on when this will be released, but it’s a pretty awesome idea when you come down to it.

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Okay, now, in all honesty, I am a die-hard Xbox 360 guy.  Had one for years now and I’m still not seeing a whole lot of point toward hooking up with a PS3, but man, if I were never tempted before, I certainly would be right now.

SonyStyle is offering an incredible package deal–an 80 gig PS3 console, two Dualshock controllers and shipping included all for $250.

That’s less than HALF what they were charging for this sucker back at launch.  I still remember when Adam Sessler over at X-Play was calling this thing “a $600 Blu-ray player” because it had no games.  The ironic part is that it STILL has no games.  This is something of a generalization, but let’s be realistic here.  It’s been on the market literally days shy of  three years now, and it still doesn’t have more than a handful of unique titles that aren’t ports from somewhere else.

I’ve got a definite feeling that Sony’s trying to draw some interest.

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We all know that Nintendo has been looking to chop the price of the Wii down to about two hundred bucks soon, but what you may not know is that Dell Home is planning to undercut THAT.

If you’ve been trying your best to stay neutral in the great console wars, you may not want to straddle that fence any more–Dell Home’s price for a new Wii?  A hundred and seventy five bucks.

Oh, and even better–shipping is free.  When you get there to take a look, click on the link that says “ON SALE NOW, Click to see YOUR price” otherwise you’ll be paying full price.

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Over on Amazon, you can buy most anything cheap and easy, from TVs to home stereos to books to groceries.  But have you ever thought about buying your home theater accessories from them?

You will now – no more buying badly overpriced Monster cables for you, no sir or ma’am as the case may be.  Now, with Amazon Basics, you can pick up everything from HDMI cables to USB/Firewire cables to blank CDs and DVDs.

You can get free shipping on orders over $25 AND they promise that your gear will be shipped in “Frustration free packaging”, which I assume means “packaging you can open without the benefit of knives, heavy construction equipment and/or explosives”.

You can get cheap cables and such on Amazon already; you can get, for example, a six foot HDMI cable for one cent plus $3 shipping.  But the Amazon Basics gear comes with the Amazon brand name, plus you’ll get a warranty, something the third parties won’t do.  That and you can get a pack of blank DVDs for just over $18, which is pretty good as long as you get something else to qualify for free shipping.

So, not a bad move on Amazon’s part, I’d say–hopefully it works for them.

[via WalletPop]

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You’ve heard about the cardboard gadget cover, and the cover you make yourself from old comic books, now try the newest thing in temporary gadget faceplating, the Wrappz system.

Wrappz are small self-adhesive packages that cover your gadgets and help protect against dust.  They come in a variety of designs, including Spongebob Squarepants, model Keeley, and Premier League sports teams.  Now you can cover your laptop with the damned United, and that’s not just a clever movie pun.

Plus, if you’re big into European soccer, you can advertise your love of the beautiful game with these covers.  Wrappz come in sizes sufficient to fit iPods, almost every major console except, for some reason, the Xbox 360, laptops, and the option to create a custom size Wrappz case in case your laptop model isn’t available.

Further, if you hurry, you can get fifty percent off your order by following the directions at the “via” link.

[via Daily Mirror]

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If there’s one thing I love–positively LOVE!–about gadgets, it’s their great potential to make my life better, easier, and more entertaining.  And now that I’ve found a possible way to shatter a cable bill by the judicious use of Netflix, DSL and a Roku video device, I’m more inclined to express my love of gadgetry.

Here’s the rundown: a DSL subscription can run about twenty three bucks a month, depending on where you live and what plans are available.  A subscription to Netflix that includes unlimited downloads starts at a measly nine bucks.  The Roku?  Another ninety nine.

So for a hundred bucks to open and thirty two bucks a month, I can essentially get access to a wide-open commercial free library of movies and television shows.  Why would I get cable when this is a possibility?

And now, thanks to this coalition of gadgets, you can overthrow the cable company.  Sounds like a plan to me.

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