Best Gadgets News

Isn’t it amazing how something as simple as a new color can get a two-year-old device back into tech headlines? The latest “news” about the 2006-introduced Nintendo DS Lite is that it will soon be available in more colors in Europe. While Americans must remain content with the two-toned cobalt/black model released a few months ago, Europeans (and Europe tourists) can choose from ice blue, lime green, and a shade of red that could only be called very cherry. Via DS Fanboy. (Read the full post about ‘Nintendo adds more colors to European DS Lite palette’…)

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The Snap Capp is something very special, and yet is so simple. Simply put, the Snap Capp is “a plastic re-closable top designed to snap onto virtually all 12 and 16 ounce aluminum beverage cans”.

I would have to say that this product is a long time coming. After all, the pop-top can, portable and convenient as it is, has a lot of limitations. As soon as the top is open, you cannot close it, and so begins the exposure of your beverage to the elements.

You may have discovered this effect whenever you put a can of a carbonated drink in the fridge. The drink will stay cool, will completely lose all of its fizz.

(Read the full post about ‘Snap Capp’…)

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Forget about air fresheners (whether manual or time-release models) once you realize what an enormous advantage the ScentWave System has over its rivals. The ScentWave System is about the size of a small toaster, comes in white or black and emits a fragrance of your choice (remember there are 48 to choose from). Your personal taste and style will be complimented and completed with this inconspicuous system. The ScentWave system was designed to harness this simple concept. Just insert a fragrance cartridge into the system and a small, built-in fan begins to evaporate the oil. As the aroma is naturally released, the fan helps to maximize the fragrance delivery. (Read the full post about ‘ScentWave System spices things up nasally’…)

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by Thomas Ricker, posted May 26th 2008 at 6:47AM
While we wait, and wait… and wait for manufactures to perfect long-lasting fuel cells, Apple and others are pursuing at least one other approach: solar augmentation. In a patent application dated April 24, 2008 and titled “Solar cells on portable devices” attributed to a number of Apple employees, Apple reveals possible plans to integrate solar cells into devices such as iPods and MacBooks. The application describes a scenario where, “Solar cells are typically stacked with other layers made of transparent or semi-transparent materials… (Read the full post about ‘Apple files patent for “solar cells on portable devices”’…)

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by Thomas Ricker, posted May 26th 2008 at 3:52AM
Remember when Samsung was pumping out cameraphones with increasingly ridiculous megapixel counts? At the moment, phones top-out at about 5 megapixels. Until this, the 8 megapixel C280 with 3x optical zoom and claimed 1600 ISO support (right) from the previously unheard of K-Touch. Ironically, it might very well be using a CMOS sensor from Samsung. (Read the full post about ‘K-Touch’s 8 megapixel C280 cameraphone flaunts Canon image processing’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted May 26th 2008 at 5:03AM
Not to get all scientific on you or anything, but a team of Imperial physicists have just figured out a way to use plastics in laser diodes. For the uninitiated, scientists have been unable to make plastic semiconductor laser diodes because they had not yet found / developed “any plastics that could sustain a large enough current whilst also supporting the efficient light emission needed to produce a laser beam.” Now, however, that obstacle has reportedly been overcome by making minor tweaks to a given plastic’s chemical structure, and the resulting material will transport charges some 200 times better than before without impeding its ability to emit light. (Read the full post about ‘Physicists develop plastic semiconductors for laser diode use’…)

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It’s a well-known fact that many laptops heat up considerably when in use for any long period. This of course has spawned hundreds of devices meant to cool off your notebook using any combination of heatsinks and pads. This Log Pillow takes a different approach to the situation. Rather than trying to directly cool off the parts of the laptop that would be resting on your legs, this Log Pillow raises it up away from your legs to keep them cool. The “logs” are soft and cushy which not only keep you comfortable, but allow for better air circulation to the underside of the notebook. The front one even acts as a nice wrist rest for additional comfort. (Read the full post about ‘Cool your lap with a Log Pillow’…)

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by Ryan Block, posted May 26th 2008 at 12:09AMSo news is making its way around the internets that at the Wedbush Morgan Securities Management Access Conference, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell proclaimed the end of PC gaming piracy as we know it, thanks to a “stealth encryption chip.” The magic chip he’s referring to that “will, in fact, absolutely stop piracy of gameplay”? The TPM chip — what’s been on motherboards for years, that apparently Bushnell just found out about. While the tinfoil hats in the house will likely attribute TPM (Trusted Platform Module) and other onboard crypto-chips to the eventual downfall of privacy and personal computing, to date we’ve yet to see piracy stunted or civil liberties breached because of the little bugger. (Read the full post about ‘Atari founder cries wolf about piracy-ending chip’…)

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by Ryan Block, posted May 26th 2008 at 3:25AMOkay, they’re only embedded ARM chips, but le Inq is reporting that NVIDIA’s prepping not just the the Tegra APX 2500 we heard about before, but also a second line of high performance embedded CPUs. Supposedly the forthcoming CSX 600 / 650 will run in the 700-800MHz range, and be capable of 1080p / 24fps video playback. We’ll give these guys until, say, 2010 before they’re jockeying for AMD’s spot at number two in desktop processors.

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(Read the full post about ‘NVIDIA might get even deeper into the embedded CPU game’…)

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Symantec are making a bold claim for the forthcoming release of Norton Internet Security 2009. The claim is that the security software will have “zero-impact” on PC performance with Janice Chaffin, group president for Symantec’s consumer business stating:

People have told us ’security software is too big, it irritates me, I turn it off when I’m gaming’ … Fundamentally, consumers don’t want to be bothered at all. We’ve set as our goal zero-impact security.

In order to achieve this transparent protection Symantec has changed the way in which the 2009 product decides to scan a system.

(Read the full post about ‘Symantec: Norton Internet Security 2009 is “zero-impact security”’…)

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