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CES 2011 and here are my favourite things

by stephanlange on January 7, 2011

As usual everybody seems to be waiting to announce their new products at CES and this year hasn’t been any different.

And again we are overwhelmed with information from everyone and blinded by all the new shiny products. I will have to get a 2nd job to be able to afford all the new gadgets I want now.

So below is a list of my favourites from the CES this year that I found on different blogs around the internets (maybe one day I will be able to go there in person)

So here I will be showing you tablets, 3D stuff, Microsoft hardware and some other cool stuff I came across

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Do you want to know when the next solar eclipse is?

by stephanlange on December 13, 2010

and do you have a few pieces of Lego lying around? then read on

I have always known that the Greek are smart people, but that they build an ancient mechanical computer at around 150 BC has to take the cake.

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the device was already discovered in 1901 in a ship wreck, but it wasn’t understood until decades later.

Now we know what it does and the Mechanism has now been recreated by an Apple software engineer by the name of Andrew Carol, who has lovingly pieced 1,500 Lego Technic blocks together, creating 110 gears and four gearboxes in total. Check out the video of it in action.

Simply great

@maniac13

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My Gadget wish list for 2010

by stephanlange on May 10, 2010

In my line of work (and because I love it) I come across a lot of cool gadgets and usually (at least if you ask my wife) I spend too much money on them.

So this year I will follow my moms advice and make myself a list.

Usually I start these lists with the least and work my way up to the best, but I want to start with the device I really really want this year.

1. Samsung Galaxy S

I have been using my 8310 blackberry for too long and for a while there I was carrying around 3 devices to do my phonecalls, emails and browsing and gaming, but the Samsung will be able to do all that.

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So why do I want it?

for a start I don’t like the iPhone (don’t get me wrong I think it is a good phone for “normal” users), but it just doesn’t do what i want from a phone.

apart from that here is my  shortlist on why I want it:

* 4 inch WVGA Super Amoled screen (finally a device i can use outside)
* big (as in big capacity) battery – 1500mAh
* 16GB internal memory + extendable with micro sd
* wireless n
* camera capable of 720p video @ 30fps
* support of MPeg4, H.263, H.264, WMV, RV, DivX, Xvid and MKV – no more converting movies
* Samsung Social Hub – no more opening up app after app after app – I just have it all in one inbox – sweet

 

2. Tablet

I had a chance to play with the iPad for a few weeks now and I have to say I am not impressed – especially since Apple announced the AU pricing for it today and again, Australia gets screwed – all you really get is a big iPod

so what do I want in a Tablet?

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Sony vs Microsoft or Atrac vs Surface

by stephanlange on May 4, 2010

Swiss company Atracsys sold its tech knowhow to Sony and the company is today informing the world that its atracTable is ready for mass production and commercialization this June.

The system is a dual camera-based system that tracks and analyzes body movements in three dimensions, in real-time. Initially designed for use with a computer in a sterile operating theater, the interface not only notices subtle changes in the position of your body, arm, hand, or finger position, but it’s also determine rough age, sex, or facial expression of the user.

of course nobody knows a price yet, but they promise a high-contrast, Full HD screen, which is already better than the surface table from MS.

It will be able to communicate with your mobile devices or respond to motion input, which is picked up by a pair of Sony camcorders.

Here is another video of it in action:

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More iPad alternatives

by stephanlange on April 29, 2010

the iPad is out and it seems that it is very popular as it sold over 300000 units in its opening weekend. I have been talking about alternatives to the iPad already here, but every day I come across more and more of them.

So here are a few more.

It seems that the windows versions are getting more attractive. Not only that they are running windows 7 (which just sold more than 100 million licenses a couple of days ago), but they also support multitouch, flash and everything else that windows supports out of the box.

GBook tablet

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1.2GHz Intel ULV SU2300 processor with integrated Intel graphics and 2GB of RAM – it looks like you can put a 2.5 inch HDD or SSD in it for storage. it will run win 7 and the multitouch panel supports up to 10 touchpoints – no word on price or release date yet, but definitely an option to keep your eye on

 

Jumper’s JK01-TT

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10 inch screen with multitouch, running win 7, 667MHz processor, GMA950 graphics, Realtek audio, 2GB RAM, 250GB SATA HDD, 2 megapixel camera, three USB ports, 4-in-1 card reader, HDMI out, WiFi b/g, and 3G and it ships with a wireless keyboard, mouse, and a stand – all that for US$ 672 from here

here it is in action

 

 

The other option that I always come across are the Android tablets and even though Google and HTC seem to work on one together, others have already released their low cost versions

Enso’s zenPad

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5 inch screen, 800 x 480, Android 1.6, 8GB of storage (on a replaceable microSD), 667MHz Samsung processor and WiFi all for US$ 155

And if you want to spend an additional US$ 60 it comes with GPS and an external 3G adapter.

Not the best specifications on the planet, but you can’t expect the world for US$ 210. available here

 

Vi10 from Onda

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there is not much known about this 5 inch tablet, but it is meant to be powered by a 600MHz Rockchip and has WiFi and 3G connectivity. no price or release date yet.

 

Toshiba tablets

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Toshiba just confirmed that it will release Windows and Android tablets in the beginning of next year. The Windows one will be the more expensive version, but it also comes with 2 screens (like a book? or the MS Courier?) the cheaper option will run Android, but of course it is still too early to speculate anything else. One thing that seems to be common knowledge is that they will have NVIDIA Tegra 2 internals which should make them nice and powerful.

 

WePad

I have talked about the WePad already in my earlier post here, but I wanted to share this video with you of the WePad in action

 

Looking at these options it will get harder and harder to make a decision on which pad is the right one for you and me and it will probably come down to what do you need it for? do you just want something you can play games on and watch the occasional (converted) movie? or do you want to do proper work with it, connect your other devices to it, maybe even make a phone call or stream your 1080p videos to your big TV?

In the end it is really up to you which one you choose and which one you can afford – all I am saying is that there are plenty of alternatives out there and you don’t have to go for the shiny one :-)

 

Let me know which one you go for or if you have found another one that I didn’t see in the comments.

@maniac13

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Should I buy an iPad?

by stephanlange on April 8, 2010

The hype about the iPad has been huge and Apple sold 300 000 devices on opening day and over 1 million applications have been downloaded already.

Even Amnesia jumped on the band wagon and we are having an internal competition and the first price is an iPad.

So let’s say I won’t be the lucky one winning the iPad, should I go out and buy one anyways?

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if you read this blog on a regular basis you will know that I  like to look at some things from the funny angle, but at least you know now that the iPad is blendable and it is powered by an iPhone. :-)

We all know that the iPad is not the first tablet on the market and there have been alternatives around for some time now.

take the Modbook for example

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you provide the unibody macbook to this company and for US$900 they will turn your 2500 dollar macbook into a tablet that runs full OSX with flash and multi-tasking support.

 

and then there is the Viliv X70 which has been around for over a year now

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it runs WindowsXP, has GPS, USB, SD card slot and 3G

 

but if those devices would be the only alternatives I wouldn’t think twice and go straight with the iPad

Fortunately new devices are basically introduced every day so there are more options.

 

so it looks like that all different Operating systems will have tablets coming out to I will show alternatives based on that.

Steve Balmer showed the HP Slate off and I was excited to see it and couldn’t wait to know more about it

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so finally there are more details available and on paper it has some advantages over the iPad:

1.6Ghz CPU, 1080p playback, card reader, USB port, 2 cameras, supports flash and multi-tasking

another windows alternative would be the Archos 9 PC tablet

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Next on the list is Linux and this time the tablet is coming out of Germany and is called WePad (how innovative)

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coming out of Germany it should be a nice piece of equipment and it has again a few things to offer that the iPad can’t match

larger screen, 2 USB ports, supports all ebook formats, flash support, access to the Android market place

 

Speaking of Android my next choice is probably my favourite – ICDs Gemini

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as i said it is running Android OS, has a 11 inch screen which can be resistive or capacitive, a 5 axis accelerometer, card reader, voice calls, SMS, MMS, Wireless N, FM radio, IR, USB port, 2 cameras, GPS, dual speakers and microphones, HD video. email support and flash support

unfortunately there is no release date or price yet, but this little gem looks pretty awesome – there is a great comparison on engadget here

another Android alternative that has been talked about is the Notion Ink Adam

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Then there is the browser based OS tablet that was born out of controvercy called JooJoo

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it has a bigger screen, 1 GB of Ram, USB port, flash support and camera, but everything else I read about it didn’t convince me at all – it seems to have early release issues, but hopefully they will be solved with software updates

 

There are plenty of rumours about Chrome tablets that are coming out – supposedly Google and HTC are working on a tablet based on Chromium

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all you can really find online are concepts by Google so there are no hardware specs or release dates or prizes

 

So if I have to sum it up, there are plenty of alternatives to the iPad. For me the ICD Gemini is my favourite at the moment and I would love to get my hands on one to really give it a test drive (ICD if you are reading this, please send one my way)

 

But of course this is just my opinion and everybody should make up their own mind. I would love to read your opinions so please leave them in the comments below.

@maniac13

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Really awesome T-Shirt War

by stephanlange on February 18, 2010

found this browsing around and it is great so I thought I share it with you

@maniac13

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My Top 10 gadgets at CES this year

by stephanlange on January 13, 2010

I wish I had the time (and money) to go to CES this year, but thankfully all my favourite tech sites were covering it very well.

So looking at all the new gadgets coming out I thought I share my favourites with you – they are in no particular order

1. The transparent laptop screen – Samsung 14 inch Transparent OLED

2. HP Slate tablet – Apple is meant to do it – MS and HP have done it

3. A.R Drone – a Quadcopter controlled by your iPhone (we mentioned it here already)

4. liquid Image HD snow goggles and underwater goggles – all you need for your own discovery movies

5. Peregrine Glove Game controller

6. LBO Light Touch – have an interactive surface on any surface (we mentioned it here already)

7. Finally some USB 3.0 products – superspeed here we come

8. PlasticLogic Que Pro eBook reader/tablet – very sexy

9. Project Natal – can’t wait to connect this to my Xbox360

10. Zyxio Sensawaft – move your cursor with your breath

something additional – these didn’t quite make it into my top 10, but are still pretty cool

The instant Camareas are back – non digital – Polaroid makes a comeback with the Polaroid Pic 1000

Lenovo bringing out a phone

Panasonic 152 inch 3D TV and wireless HDMI transfer

MSI Dual screen multitouch tablet

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The Hype about Avatar

by stephanlange on January 8, 2010

I have to say that when the first trailer of Avatar appeared I was fascinated by it and even though I haven’t seen the movie, everyone I talk to is telling me how awesome it is so I can’t wait to finally find the time and see it.

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What I find interesting is the whole 3D thing about it. There are hardly any movies out there that show it without 3D and a few people that have seen it in 3D have told me that they are going back to see it again without the glasses. Especially the fast moving scenes just blur out and you can hardly see anything. Did you experience the same?

Also the movie made over USD 1 Billion within 17 days of its release – that is amazing. I know the movie was estimated to cost USD 237 million with $150 million for promotion, but that still means that within 17 days they made their money back and tripled it.

I thought that we are all aware of the fact that this movie is fiction, but there seem to be people out there that are getting depressed by the fact that the dream of Pandora is being intangible. If you are one of them than check out this forum – you might find help – http://avatar-forums.com/showthread.php?t=43

But if you still don’t have enough and you want to at least make yourself look like a Navi, here is how you can do it digitally in Photoshop


Anyway – I will try and see the movie as soon as possible and add a few more dollars to the enormous amount they already made.

Let me know what you thought of it in the comments.

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What to do when Dyson takes over the world

by stephanlange on December 11, 2009

the vacuum cleaner world that is.

You make a really quiet vacuum cleaner and implement an iPod dock and speakers.

and then you sell it by making a report about how you clean your house faster, more thorough and you also loose weight doing it.

Check out the Elektrolux UltraSilencer

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here are some insights into the study

great study – but I am sure I read somewhere that people think their vacuum doesn’t clean properly when they don’t hear the all so familiar sound of sucking.

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