You may remember reading here, back in March, about the D3O protective plasticine goo being used in soldiers’ helmets, but now it’s got a more mundane use–as a gadget protector.

Parent company Tech21 recently launched a wide array of smartphone and laptop cases that offer between, get this, “140 and 221 percent more protection for a mobile device or laptop than existing cases can”.

See, D3O is a strange sort of chemically engineered, enhanced Silly Putty of sorts that, when you pull it apart slowly, stretches much like Silly Putty would.  But if you jolt it abruptly, it hardens and becomes rigid, offering a shock absorption capability for relatively low space.

D3O cases are now available, and cost between twenty eight and fifty bucks depending on where you shop and what sizes you get.

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All right, folks, brace yourselves–Best Buy just leaked its Black Friday deals, even though at this point they’re a little behind the curve;  Sears and Office Depot had theirs out weeks ago.  But given as it’s still about a week and a half out from Black Friday, there’s still plenty of time to call this a leak.

And what they’ve got is pretty interesting, too–check out this list!  There are a LOT of items for sale here, so I’m just going to cherry pick some of the better ones.  The read link will have a bigger list on hand.

• HP Desktop AMD X4 Quad Core, 8GB Memory, 1TB Hard Drive w/20” Monitor, HP Deskjet DJ350 Color Printer & Windows 7 Home Premium – $499.97
• Sony 15” Laptop w/Intel Dual Core Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD, Windows 7, Sony Headphones, Built-In Blu-ray, Blu-ray Movie – $479.97
• Sony DCR-SX40 Handycam Camcorder – $199.99
• Samsung 5.1 Channel 1000W Home Theater System With Blu-ray Disc Player – $399.99
• Sony PlayStation 3 Package w/120GB Console, Little Big Planet, and Ratchet And Clank – $299.99

Sounds like enough to get you out of your post-holiday turkey coma, doesn’t it?

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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.

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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.

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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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When ever I work remotely (aka Coffee Bean) I carry my laptop in a Booq sleeve.  While I can wax poetic about this sweet hard case, one thing it’s lacking is a design built for working directly from the case without removing it.

Enter the Viper rush.  Available in a M (15-inch) and L (17-inch) sizes, the Viper rush zips open 120 degree and features special bumpers to dissipate heat, a neoprene non-scratch pocket and what should prove to be a tear free seat belt style shoulder strap.  The only thing I don’t like about this case is the price tag: $129.95.

Booq Reveals Viper rush, Work-In Laptop Case for
Your Fast-Paced Life

Intelligent Interior Layout with Durable and Rugged Construction
Makes It Easy To Keep Your Life Organized

Sierra Madre, California – (October 28, 2009) – Booq, a leading brand of premium laptop carrying cases for creative professionals, unveils the Viper rush work-in laptop case. Viper rush is a hard-sided case designed to keep up with your fast-paced day at work, at home, and everything in between. Available at booqbags.com and retailers throughout the country, booq combines sophisticated design and functionality to deliver high-quality bags and cases for the next generation of ambitious professionals.

Viper rush is a mobile office, perfect for the on-the-go professional. The oversized YKK zippers open approximately 120 degrees and enable you to work while your laptop is in the case, so you can set up shop anywhere with ease. Special bumpers elevate your laptop and allow heat to escape, keeping your laptop cool. An intelligently designed layout includes a collapsible divider, non-scratch neoprene pockets, and well placed compartments that make it easy to keep your life organized. Viper rush comes equipped with Terralinq™, booq’s innovative service which helps reunite the owner with a lost & found bag.

Viper rush M/XL features include:

•    Ideal work-in bag, opens approximately 120 degrees with laptop elevated
•    Excellent everyday bag: lightweight, protective, room for basic accessories.
•    Convenient neoprene pockets for items large and small
•    Collapsible internal divider folds down and stows away to maximize internal volume
•    Tough seatbelt nylon shoulder strap
•    Equipped with Terralinq service, helps reunite you with your lost bag
•    Viper rush M ( 15″ MAC ) Viper rush XL ( 17″ MAC, 15″ PC)

Viper rush M/XL available for $129.95 at www.booqbags.com and various retailers throughout the U.S. www.stores.booq.com.

“Viper rush is an everyday bag designed to protect and carry all you need for your fast paced on-the-go lifestyle,” says booq founder and CEO Thorsten Trotzenberg. “The bumpers elevate your laptop to keep it cool, and the rugged hard-sided case can withstand anything you can put it through.”

To request additional information about booq, please contact PR Representative Brad Hobbs at (305) 576-1171 x19 or by e-mail at bradhobbs@maxborgesagency.com. To learn more about booq, go to www.booqbags.com.

About booq
Booq strives to create high-end laptop bags while providing excellent customer service to the next generation of ambitious creative professionals. It is no accident that this privately-held family company was started, and is still run, by a small team of highly motivated creative individuals who are committed to providing the highest level of product performance and service to some of the world’s most demanding customers for many years to come.

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Dell officially unveiled their newest rugged latptop today, the Latitude XT2 XFR.  They’re laying claim to the “smallest 12.1-inch rugged convertible tablet PC available”, with a multitouch display.

Under the hood you’ll find a Intel Core Duo ULV SU9600 processor, up to 5GB of DDR3 RAM, your choice of 64/128GB SSD or a 160GB hard drive, Intel GMA 4500MHD, WiFi, optional broadband support, Bluetooth, 3x USB ports, Firewire, your choice of expansion options which includes GPS or a 2MP camera, 3 different sized batteries and a variety of Windows 7 installs to choose from (as well as Vista Business).

The Dell Latitude XT2 XFR is available now and starts at $3,599.

Torture test video after the ‘leap’

Read

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I’ve long loathed the white Macbook.  I owned one and although it was mostly issue free – that is after I replaced everything but the hard drive and processor 11 months in – the white facade attracts dirt with a magnetic force.  So I’m kind of surprised to see that Apple has updated the laptop with a new set of specs and a completely new build process.

Using the same Unibody technique found in the Macbook Pros, the new white Macbook also has the same sealed, non-removable 7 hour battery.  They’ve also tossed in 13.3-inch LED backlit screen, a glass multitouch touchpad, 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of DDR3 RAM (upgradeable to 4GB), WiFi N, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM, 250GB hard drive (320GB available) and a DVD burner.

The all new White Macbook is available today and sells for $999.

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I have seen some THIN laptops in my day, but the Dell Adamo XPS is so thin that it would make supermodels take a look at it and say, damn, eat a SANDWICH or something.  Thin is great and all but there are limits, and the Dell Adamo XPS butts up against all of them.

It’s still a concept at this stage–after all, care to name a battery that’ll fit into a case just under ten millimeters thick? And even if you could find a battery to fit in that tiny a space, how much charge could it possibly hold?  And if you’re on the road, battery life is life.  Who’d buy this if its battery life can’t hold up?  And look at the back–see how it’s raised up a bit?  That’s where you’d normally plug in your cables.  This thing’s keyboard is thinner than an ethernet cable head.

I think this might be stretching a point just a little too…thin…for my tastes.  Considering that it may never launch, we may be concerend for nothing.  But you know we’ll keep our eyes open out here just to seee what we can spot.

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Having just bought a new laptop I was excited to be able to work outside of my basement but wanted to find a nice accessory to keep my computer elevated properly and comfortable at the same time.  I found one at Ikea that I like to call a laptop pillow.

This one pictured above is called the E-Pod Laptop Desk and it is designed to make any sitting situation more enjoyable when using a laptop.  The E-Pod comes in three color choices and looks as if it sort of folds up for easier travel.  It also has a carrying handle.  The one I got from Ikea was only $15 and it has a small pocket in the pillow for your cell phone or whatever.  This E-Pod from BrookStone looks to be of a bit better quality and costs $40.

I must say that I really love my laptop pillow and use it constantly.  If you need something like this definitely don’t hesitate.

[via TheGreenHead]

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Well, now I’m just plain old amazed.  We’ve all been here at one time or another and spilled something hot and flavorful–or maybe cold and flavorful–on our laptop keyboard.  And chances are, your laptop never behaved quite the same after that, even if you DID manage to keep it from complete laptop death.  Well, I just saw the new HP ProBook 6545b take incredible amounts of fluid damage and keep on ticking.

Everything about the HP ProBook is a fairly normal, plain vanilla sort of system (it’s an AMD system, even!) but what they’ve done is rejiggered the keyboard tray around so that liquid, rather than getting into the guts of the machine, merely spills out through the bottom without hitting any vital areas.

It’s not bulletproof, so don’t upend a can of Coke on this just to test it, but by all reports it handles small, occasional spills easily enough.  And since it costs just $798, about what a normal new laptop might cost, it’s definitely not out of line in terms of prices.

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Gateway has become a pretty small gang member in the laptop turf wars, but that doesn’t mean the company is devoid of leaks and what I dare say is anticipation.  There’s no official word as of yet, but according to a tipster this is their soon to be announced tablet PC, called the EC18T.  Specs wise were looking at an 11.6-inch LCD, Intel Core2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, Mobile Intel GS45 Express graphics chipset, and either Windows 7 Basic or Premium. 

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Sometimes you want nothing more out of life than to be able to step through your computer monitor and go live on that magnificent stretch of beach pictured on your desktop.  Google has sensed your plight, o cubicle dwellers, and offered up something to make it worse: a Google gadget called My Daily Hawaii.

My Daily Hawaii not only shows incredible beaches, but also offers up Hawaii trivia, history, travel tips and more.  If you actually answer the Hawaii trivia right, though, you win a “super cute puppy picture prize”, which actually makes some sense.

Admittedly, if you live in, say, a cold Northern climate, you may well consider My Daily Hawaii to be a huge dose of masochistic glee, but for those of us who just like to look at a sunny beach as a quick pick-me-up in the cold black depths of winter, then this is a great piece for us.

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Hewlett Packard’s just recently introduced a new software gadget designed to help you get a little more green with your daily computing and offers the Power To Change gadget, part of a whole lineup of said energy saving widgets from HP, Google and Microsoft, among others.

This gadget syncs up with various Windows power management features to shut down monitors and turn off unused computers completely throughout the day.  HP will let you download that gadget for free, as well a host of other companies offering a similar gadget.

This is actually a really good idea.  There’s more than a little potential for waste involved with computers, so helping users find a fast and easy way to save a little extra juice.  Once you save a little extra juice one day, saving it every day can really add up to stomething big, which just might be the way to help everybody go a little greener.

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Approaching a very DIY aesthetic, these new Lacie Sound2 Speakers are ready for compliments from your friends about how tight your set-up looks.  Designed by Neil Poulton, the speakers are specifically angled for computer use but can still be hooked up to a wide range of audio and video components.

Taking design cues from acoustic engineering company Cabasse’s loudspeaker technology, this system is capable of banging out 30 Watts at peak loudness.  Included is an integrated USB cord and will sell for around $142.  Where’s the dedicated sub I ask?  Now available at Lacie’s website.

[via UberGizmo]

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Toshiba is striking back at Dell today by announcing there very own set of lightweight and thin laptops, the T100 series.  Available in two sizes, the smallest of  them will weigh just 3.49lbs and measure less than an inch thick, which seems to have become so common these days it is the standard form for laptopping.

In any case, you can expect to get up to 9 hours of battery life thanks to Intel’s ultra-low voltage processors and Tosh’s 6-cell batteries.  Other features included are a webcam with face recognition, WiFi b/g/n, Windows 7, 2x USB 2.0 ports, a combo eSata/USB port, HDMI port, DDR3 RAM, 5-in-1 memory card reader and 250GB of storage.

Toshiba’s T100 series will start at $449.99 and will be available October 22nd.

Features available on the Toshiba Satellite T115 include:

• 11.6-inch diagonal widescreen HD TruBrite™ LED Backlit display
• Windows® 7 Home Premium operating system
• Intel® Pentium® processor SU4100 or Intel® Celeron® processor 7435
• DDR3 RAM6
• Starting at 250GB (5400 RPM) HDD7
• 802.11b/g/n wireless8 10/100 Ethernet
• Toshiba Hard Drive Impact Sensor
• Touch Pad with Multi-touch Control
• Lightweight at only 3.49 lbs.2
• Long-life 6-cell battery delivering up to 9 hours of battery life3
• One eSATA/USB combo port with USB Sleep-and-Charge4 and two USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI port
• Built-in Webcam with Toshiba Face Recognition, stereo speakers and microphone
• Toshiba PC Health Monitor
• 5-in-1 Memory Card Reader Slot

Features available on the Toshiba Satellite T135 include:

• 13.3-inch diagonal widescreen HD TruBrite™ LED Backlit displa
• Windows 7 Home Premium operating system
• Intel® Pentium® SU4100 processor or Intel® Pentium® SU2700 processor[v]
• DDR3 RAM[vi]
• Starting at 250GB (5400 RPM) HDD[vii]
• 802.11b/g/n wireless[viii] and 10/100 Ethernet
• Bluetooth V2.1 + EDR (available on select models)
• Toshiba Hard Drive Impact Sensor
• Touch Pad with Multi-touch Control
• Lightweight at only 3.88 lbs.2
• Long-life 6-cell battery delivering up to 9 hours of battery life3
• One eSATA/USB combo port with USB Sleep-and-Charge4 and two USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI port
• Built-in Webcam with Toshiba Face Recognition, stereo speakers and microphone
• Toshiba PC Health Monitor
• 5-in-1 Memory Card Reader Slot

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Yesterday Dell unveiled what they’re claiming is the world’s thinnest and lightest 16-inch laptop, measuring just over 1/2-inch thick and weighing just 4.5lbs.  But that isn’t all Dell’s newest Latitude Z600 laptop has to offer.  For an additional $199 Dell will toss in an inductive charging stand, which will surely lead to a set of commercials that have something to do with ‘look ma, no hands’.

But wait, there is a ton more.  They’ve also got another accessory, for the same price, that connects Dell’s latest laptop to an external monitor sans wires, as well as a set of customizable touch controls located on the laptops right bezel that can control brightness or volume, launch applications or even scroll through an Excel spreadsheet.  Using a second ARM processor, which is found in many cell phones, the Dell Z can do ‘instant on’ providing access to email, contacts and other low powered applications and sustain power for up two days, or just 4 hours when Windows is fully launched.

All this doesn’t come cheap, though, as the new Dell Latitude Z600 starts at $1,999 and doesn’t even include the aforementioned accessories.  It’s a bit frustrating to see these companies still claim wireless charging when in fact the pad that the product sits on uses a wire, but until Tesla’s vision has been fully realized we’ll have to settle on a variation there of.

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The price structure has been announced for the AT&T 3G MicroCell, a line of femtocells, devices designed to help AT&T customers get better reception inside buildings, as well as faster overall speeds.  Described as being “like having a cell phone tower in your home”, the 3G MicroCell is the first such publicly-tested device of its kind.

But the web community’s getting pretty torqued about the fact that you have to shell out monthly cash for this little beauty–about twenty bucks a month for unlimited use and ten if you subscribe to AT&T wireless and home phone.  Include the internet service in that last and you get the MicroCell free of charge.

It’s sort of a low blow, offering a device that’ll let you use the device you pay to use in all situations but then requiring people to pay for it.  For crying out loud, they’re already subscribers–why not just send everyone a free one to keep your base interested?

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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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Well, if you’ve been worried about using your various Net-capable gadgets because of the lack of net neutrality law, then worry no longer.  Seems that the FCC is about to adopt net neutrality as a set of general principles soon.

Net neutrality, in case you don’t know, is a standard that requires all internet service providers to treat all information equally in terms of download speed.  For instance, Comcast recently decided to force BitTorrent users to accept vastly slowed download speeds as they gave precedence to other users.  Technically, that’s not illegal, but the FCC did scold Comcast, and now with net neutrality, such actions as Comcast took will be illegal in the future.

So download away, folks–your ISP can’t stop you any more.

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