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Merry Christmas from GadgetyNews!

Jay Garrett — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:29:54 +0000

I shall soon be heading up to the Midlands to spend Christmas in Birmingham.

As I will (hopefully) not be sober enough to be able to type and spell correctly – yeah, all those mistakes in this blog tend to happen when I’m sober – I’m taking this opportunity to sling out a little festive note.

It’s been quite a year and there’s been many a wonderful gadgety thing and the faves that spring to mind are the arrival of the wristphone, the Left4Dead duo and the twin-screened lappy – the best, as is always the way in tech, is what’s going to arrive next!

The Google Nexus One, the new iPhone and perhaps the iTablet (if not a Jobs Joke) should all appear early 2010 but what else will the new year bring?

I will be back in a few days with more updates and news as per usual.

Have a fantastic Christmas/Holiday season and I’ll see you all in a few days – hopefully sober enough to type :p

Merry Christmas!!

Jay G

Apple to Flash New Tablet in a Few Weeks – March Realease or Cruel Joke by Jobs?

Jay Garrett — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:42:59 +0000

Ah, I spoil you don’t I?

First you get an iPhone rumour and now an Apple Tablet one

Silicon Ally Insider reports that whispers from a “plugged-in source in the mobile industry” has it that the Cupertino Crew will demo their spanky new tablet in January (that’s a matter of weeks!).

In preparation of this event Apple has asked selected iPhone devs to prepare high-res apps for the occasion.

Now, this could indeed point to a January flash of the new product which in turn will silence the rumour-mill that’s been churning out grains of unicorn sightings for the last few years, or….

The event will be an invite only, super-secret-squirrel, heavily guarded closed demo. This demo would be more to put any doubts to rest that the app developers may have regarding interoperability between the iPhone and the new tablet/pad/slate device.

SIA’s source says:

[Apple has] told select developers that as long as they build their apps to support full screen resolution — rather than a fixed 320×480 — their apps should run just fine

Word is that this device wont go on sale til later – March has been mentioned a few times already.

Funnily enough the same source also claims that the entire Apple tablet concept is a slick but cruel prank by Steve Jobs!

Now, THAT would be funny and if true could make Jobsy a top prankster par excellence!

Facebook Updates – Even Boring When You’re on the Run

Jay Garrett — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:23:40 +0000

This just shows how ingrained updating your social networking pages has become.

The last thing on my mind would be to send tweets or update my Facebook status – but not so Craig Lynch.

Lynch is actually an escaped prisoner and he’s been updating his friends about life on the run via his Facebook page – much to the annoyance of the old Bill.

Craig Lynch, 28, was serving the final portion of a seven-year jail term for aggravated burglary when he escaped during day release.

Police are now trying to catch Lynch using clues left in his Facebook updates as well as appealing to his 248 friends for information regarding his whereabouts.

A photograph on the page shows Lynch looking at the camera and holding up a finger in an apparent defiant gesture.

While on-the-run Lynch posted details of him nearly crashing his car in the icy weather, and of the meals he had.

Hmmm……… you’d think that an escaped con would be able to have more exciting updates than “just ate some toast” or whatever wouldn’t you?

Tiny i-Sobot Unleashes Weapons on Tanks, Dinosaurs and Random Toys

Jay Garrett — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:27:52 +0000

The i-Sobot was once crowned as the world’s smallest bipedal humanoid robot and since then I reckon the power and the fame has gone to the little droids head.

Now he’s contacted a mini-arms dealer and bought himself a small arsenal of weaponry which he unleashes upon his fellow toys.

I reckon that there’s more than a little ’small droid complex’ going on here

Check out the vid and marvel at the robot’s aim!

New iPhone Packing 5mp Camera in June?

Jay Garrett — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:53:53 +0000

As soon as I posted the news that Apple has booked the venue for the next WWDC I wondered about fresh iPhone rumours.

As if by magic Digitimes has some news passed to them via some source or another.

Apparently OmniVision Technologies, those that currently manufacturer the iPhone 3GS‘ 3.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor, has been awarded with a new Appley contract to provide new sensors for the next-generation 2010 iPhone.

Word is that this new sensor is a CMOS 5 megapixel number.

OmniVision Technologies say the orders will increase too, from 20-21 million estimated this year, to 40 to 45 million CMOS for 2010.

Everyone will agree that the iPhone camera could do with some tweaking – I hope that things like a flash and autofocus will also be on the list

So iPhone or iPad?

Whatcha think?

Roddler – The Hot Rod Pram That Makes You Wanna Make a Baby

Jay Garrett — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:50:38 +0000

Yet another one of my friends is about to become a dad.

Now, I’d like to think that if I became a parent I’d be more about what’s best for the kid rather than getting a trendy pushchair, or all-terrain buggy…….

But then I saw this on Kid Kustom USA’s site – it almost made me want to procreate!

Meet the Roddler.

Designed with obvious hot rod-styling cues with “high-end materials” this is a must have for any new father surely?

It has chrome wheels, fin-shaped fenders and white wall tyres, colour-coded brakes, and chrome grips for pity’s sake!

There’s also an ultrasuede seat insert for comfort and carbon vinyl leatherette for the seat and top for added durability. See – it is practical

It costs $2000 but for an extra $500 you can get a model that transforms into a trike when your child is old enough to propel themselves

So – it will just carry on being useful.

Totally Cool NIT ZMP Robot Can Be Yours – Dear Santa……

Jay Garrett — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:26:43 +0000

Japan and their robots – it’s a love affair. Just as long as they don’t take over!

This clever little humanoid comes thanks to a collaboration between various Japanese companies and institutions – the Nippon Institute of Technology, Harada Vehicle Design, ZMP and ZNUG Design.

If you’re thinking that ZMP is a familiar name – well, this droid is technically based on their open-source loving Nuvo robot.

The little fella is called the e-Nuvo WALK.

Power comes from a lithium ion battery which helps work the camera, a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a distance sensor, an infrared sensor and a pyroelectric sensor in his body – best/oddly still he as a video projector in his body too!

He’s quite nimble as well having 21 joints (three in his head, six in each leg and three in each arm) and can naturally hear and talk. He stands 1.26m tall and weighs 15kg.

The bot runs on Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio and can be remote-controlled by Wi-Fi.

The idea behind this neat droid is for children to can learn about robotics through a real, finished product.

What is even cooler is that anyone can buy one – as long as they have $77,000.

Check out the CrunchGear vid of the bot in action

Those Festive Lights Could Slow Down Your Broadband…….

Jay Garrett — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:40:35 +0000

I know that this sounds like something that Transport for London would come up with but that’s exactly what Internet Service Provider, Talk Talk is saying.

One of Talk Talk’s senior directors, Sylvain Thevenot, warned that Christmas tree lights and all that twinkling festiveness can interfere with wireless signals, reducing broadband speeds by up to 25 per cent.

He added: “Last year we received many calls from customers over the festive period complaining about slower than normal broadband speeds and a significant percentage of these complaints were due to interference from Christmas lights.”

So, in order to avoid problems with your interwebs ST say’s try keep your Christmas lights as far away as possible from your router, and to only buy lighting from reputable brands with the CE mark. He also warns that flashing lights in particular are the worst culprits – at no point did he shout ‘Bah! Humbug’

If you find that your service increases when you turn off your strobes let me know

LG Have Worlds Thinnest 42 inch Television – Makes Fun of Tubby Sony XEL-1

Jay Garrett — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:08:53 +0000

LG have another boast – and it came in this announcement – albeit in Korean.

It apparently is all about this: the “world’s thinnest” tv!

This LCD looks like an OLED, and at just 2.6mm thick, is thinner than the tiny Sony XEL-1.

And whilst Sony’s telly is thin you’ll be able to see the picture on the LG’s screen from the comfort of your sofa because this prototype is packing 42 inches – as well as it being LED-backlit with a 120Hz processor. It also worth noting that this neat package also weighs a mere 4 kgs.

LG will have a special section at their CES 2010 booth that will feature Extreme Slim LCD products.

Looks like thin is still in.

uTorrent Now Streams as You Download

Jay Garrett — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:48:35 +0000

uTorrent is quite a natty BitTorrent client (apparently) and is very popular amongst those who share films and music – legally obviously

It works like most other BT clients but now you can stream video before it’s finished downloading – how good is that!!!??

This new function can be found on the most recent uTorrent beta. This will allow you, the viewer, to start watching almost instantly, with the download being weighted to the front so that you get the bits you need in 5 minutes before the bits you need in 45 minutes.

“Our hope is to transform getting media using uTorrent from a ‘load-wait-watch-tomorrow’ to more of a ‘point-click-watch’ experience”. It’ll certainly help the client compete with dodgy TV streaming sites.

You can pick which movie player on your computer that you’d like to use in the preferences – it defaults to the DivX web player.

Just click the “play” button next to the download, and when enough has been grabbed it’ll go green, ready to start.

Go get it here