GadgetReview

The folks over at BGR got their hands on the new Motorola Droid and, boy, does it looks killer, as in almost iPhone killer. Looks like Motorola is back on track with a full QWERTY slider phone that’s amazingly only slightly thicker than an iPhone 3GS. Ultra-slick design, solid construction, huge screen, fast processor, and Android 2.0 to boot? What’s not to…

To continue reading “Motorola Droid Gets Groped” head to PhoneDig

There’s been some rumor stirring around about the newest gadget from Dyson, and the announcement has recently been made.  Dyson’s next project is a familiar one: the bladeless desk fan.

Sure, it sounds ludicrous–how do you have a desk fan without blades?  Well, if you’re Dyson, you replace the blades with a loop on a sturdy cylinder.  Then you turn it on and watch as, amazingly, 405 liters of cool air per second comes pouring out of the device.  Plus it has an energy-efficient motor at the base, giving it a lower center of gravity and allowing it to not tip over.  The loop of plastic is the same kind of thermoplastic that goes into making car bumpers.

Some believe the Dyson bladeless fan can actually be used as a replacement for air conditioning.  I’ll believe it when I see it, myself–after all, this can’t do that much damage against humidity.  But still, it’s a pretty awesome gadget when you come right down to it.

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If you’ve been wanting a digital picture frame that’d really do the job, then you’re probably going to be interested in the HP Dreamscreen, a huge smart display that comes in both ten and thirteen inch diagonals, and will also play picture slideshows, videos, five day weather forecasts, updates from your Facebook friends, and music from Pandora.

You can even directly link the DreamScreen to your computer for easy movement of items.

These bad boys cost two hundred fifty bucks for the ten inch screen and three hundred bucks for the thirteen inch.  They’ll be in stores this October, and if you’ve got media you want exhibited, this could be just the way to go.

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It’s really, REALLY, hard to find a camera any more without an LCD display, so I was definitely shocked to find the OneShot camera, a camera so tiny that it’s about the same size, length and width, as your thumb.

There is no LCD display here.  No slots for flash memory, either.  But it apparently somehow manages to not only come with face detection, but also never need batteries.  This camera actually recharges like some of those flashlights you see–all you have to do is shake it.

The OneShot seems to not only run on a dynamo but also offers no expansions in memory.  This may be one of the weirdest cameras I’ve ever SEEN.

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Considering that NASA’s been whining about not having enough budget for the last couple years, it really makes them look bad to discover what a couple kids from MIT did the other day.

While NASA’s assembling teams have needed millions of dollars to launch one satellite, two guys from MIT put together a satellite of their own and launched it into low Earth orbit.  Here’s how they did it:

First, they took a styrofoam beer cooler and filled it with chemical hand warmers (to keep the thing from freezing in space), a cheap camera, and a prepaid phone with GPS so they could find the thing when it was all over.  They then inflated a weather balloon with helium and launched their “satellite”.  It got so far up that it managed to take a picture of the curvature of the earth.

Talk about your fantastic homemade gadgets–kudos to two schmoes from MIT for making NASA look like a bunch of whiny embezzlers.

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A few choice words come to mind when I think about the Nintendo DS.  Those words are, in no particular order: Imaginative, innovative, and children.  The DS has made a name for itself with its unique brand of gaming that cannot be found on other systems thanks to its touch screen and penchant for new ideas.

Having never really considered myself an actual adult, it’s easy for me to relate to DS games to find the good and bad in them from an open minded “manchild” like perspective.

The movie tie-in G.I.Joe: The Rise Of Cobra game is definitely geared towards a much younger crowd, but contains enough simple carnage to satisfy anyone looking to blow things up.

Storyline/Plot:

In direct correlation with this past summer’s blockbuster movie of the same name (I haven’t seen it),  Cobra is bent on evil and world conquest and it’s up to the “Joe’s” to foil their dubious intentions.  Simple as that the, story has to be the absolute worst part of the game.  Boring as all hell dialog plagues the flow of the game and really detracts from the destruction.  Due to the turtle like pacing of the dialog, you can’t help but grind your teeth as you try and hurry up the scrolling text as fast as you can so you can get on with the game.  I can’t imagine even anyone younger finding the story presentation one bit compelling.  Anyway enough about that.  On to the better stuff.

Graphics:

I know I just said “on to the better stuff” but the graphics, unfortunately, are not that.  Pixeled-out to the point of chunky, the top down view, while mildly effective in the gameplay department, is not at all flattering.  Some of the effects are cool, but the graphics are just plain ugly.  Let me try and find something nice to say about the graphics.  They compliment the storyline?  Nope.  Okay, the gameplay is not totally marred by the graphical limitations.  That’s positive right?

Sound:

Average at best.  Gunfire and explosions are the stars of the show with little to no supporting cast.  Background music is your stock action adventure fare with some mixed in dialog bleeps to let you know you should be looking at the bottom screen.  The guns and explosions are not all that varied between characters but it the midst of battle it is often hard to gripe on that anyway.

Gameplay:

Playing G.I.Joe is a mixed bag.  The controls are accurate and it’s easy to figure out what you’re doing, but you often get hung up on objects that surround the battlefield.  From enemy cover to barbed wire fences and rock formations, getting stuck on these things is a regular occurrence.  Not that it hampers gameplay entirely, but you might end up losing some lives because of it.

The leveling up of characters adds a nice bit of depth and the weapons are fun to use.  As you level up you unlock different colored uniforms and upgraded weapons.  I ended up using my stronger characters more often because the game got harder as it progressed and therefore making the weaker characters obsolete. Vehicles and fixed weapons are also a great feature that brings some immersion to the game and some of the vehicles are throwbacks from from the early days of G.I.Joe toys.

What could have added to the immersion level would have been the use of the touch screen.  It goes largely under utilized and is only used to display the map and dialog boxes.  Bomb setting and defusing, inventory management, weapon load outs, and dialog options are all easy ideas that would have made the game differ from say a GameBoy Advance game.  It also makes no use of the DSi camera which could have also added some innovative ideas.

Multiplayer:

Offering a local only multiplayer scenario, I didn’t get the chance to play.  Simply guessing I would think that this could be a fun way to play this game because you could negate the story entirely and skip straight to the core gameplay.  It would have been nice if there was WiFi connectivity so you don’t have to actually know anyone else with the same game.

Replay Value:

The game itself is very point-A to point-B with each level requiring the same basic linear objectives, but you could play through it a couple times by leveling up different characters to mix it up a bit.  If you can find someone to play multiplayer with I’m positive it would add some quality replay value to this game as well.

Final Endings:

Despite all the shortcomings I mentioned above, G.I.Joe: The Rise Of Cobra is actually a fun game.  A mildly lengthy single player campaign coupled with some visceral action makes for some appealing gaming.  The game would have received higher marks if it weren’t for the constant dialog interruptions and weak graphics.

In the end, The Rise Of Cobra is a game for those of you who like top-down shooters in the vein of the retro Ikari Warriors with some modern twists thrown in.  Give it a shot if you are looking for some simple, destructive fun.

Pros:

• Intuitive control scheme makes it easy to play
• Mild depth
• Decent replay value if you care about playing with different characters

Cons:

• Dated and uninspired graphics
• Dialog and story poorly implemented
• No use of touch screen or DSi camera

Buy it here for $28!

WiFi router developer, FON, has announced the release of Fonera 2.0, a revolutionary WiFi router that allows you to upload or download even if your computer is turned off. The Fonera 2.0 does this by removing the responsibility for the upload and download process from your computer and handles the entire process itself.

The Fonera 2.0 also offers a USB hub where you can connect external drives. Using this feature you can upload to Flickr, Picasa, Facebook or YouTube while your computer is turned powered down. The feature also enables users to back up files that can be remotely accessed and download movies and TV shows via the built-in BitTorrent client.

Other features include WiFi N, the ability to convert a 3G USB dongle to Wifi and a private and public hotspot that can be monetized at the user’s discretion.

The Fonera 2.0 is available now and should cost about $70.

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Once again were looking for another writer to join the GadgetReview team.  The position is paid, although minimally, but paid nonetheless.  If you’re interested drop a line with some info, the top 3 tech blogs you read on a daily basis and any other info.  You’ll be expected to post 4 news items a day and you’ll be using Wordpress to post.

Email: info [at] gadgetreview.com

As soon as I received the news that the 3.0 App Store was going to have parental ratings I started pressuring my smart friend to learn the development code.  This will be a goldmine for certain I was thinking.  Most recently however, the very first nude content app “Hottest Girls” has been removed from the US App Store.  Rated ages 17+ for “frequent/intense sexual content or nudity” and “frequent/intense mature/suggestive theme,” I love how it’s under the “lifestyle” category.  How true that is!  This undoubtedly marks something really big.  Can you imagine the power of what these types of apps will behold?

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