Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Some of you keen readers pieced all this together already, but that commercial you’ve been seeing about an “all new television series” dubbed Scarlet isn’t a new show at all; rather, it’s a risky move by LG to push its Scarlet LCD HDTVs. The sets themselves have been out and about already, and while the specifications aren’t anything to sneeze at, the displays aren’t nearly as seductive as the 30 second spot. The idea was crafted and put into motion by LG global brand marketing VP Kwan-Sup Lee and a team of advertising / marketing agencies, and while it refused to disclose exactly how much it has spent on the endeavor, it did affirm that it was “millions more than a typical product launch in the US.” Sure, we can appreciate the envelope pushing, but now that we’re all psyched about the show, it’s a bit of a letdown to know we’ll never actually be able to tune in. Check out the ad in its entirety after the jump.

Continue reading LG pushes Scarlet LCD HDTVs with completely unrelated commercial

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By Luke Anderson

I’ve always thought that clocks were such simple devices. Sure, their innards are somewhat complex, but they are quite simple to use. Just a quick glance usually tells you everything you need to know. Of course some people don’t like that they are simple to read, in fact, such people will go to great lengths to make you stare at a clock much longer than you should have to.

Take this Idea of a Clock II, which will make you read a full sentence in order to get the time. I think I’ll stick with my plain clock with roman numerals. Then again some people have a hard time reading those too.

[ Hans Tan Studio ] VIA [ Technabob ]

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By Luke Anderson

There are dumb ideas out there, then there are really dumb ideas. This product would fall in the latter category. This is the My Pee Bottle, guess what it’s for.

February 2007, our then two-year old daughter, Sofia, contracted Rotavirus. Though she recovered within a couple of weeks, I was panicked. I became extremely fearful of all toilets and wanted to make sure Sofia had limited exposure to public restrooms. I was particularly mindful of continued good hygiene and simultaneously desired a simpler, cleaner, and more-efficient way for Sofia to use the potty when we were out.

Okay, I get the reason that this was created, but I still don’t see a practical use for it. Seriously, who wants to carry around a bottle that’s been peed in? Also, if this is meant for young children, do you really think it’s good to teach them to pee in a bottle just after you’ve potty trained them? I’d think that would have some negative effects on the kid.

[ MyPeeBottle ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

Even though the Indiana Jones films were Lucasfilm productions, I don’t remember the original 3 featuring as extensive a marketing or product tie-in push as the Star Wars films did. But it seems they’re going to make up for that with the 4th Indiana Jones film that’s set to hit theaters in less than a month. In the same way that Star Wars fans can buy toy replicas of nearly every single lightsaber seen in those movies, Indiana Jones fans can now get themselves a toy version of Indy’s most famous accessory. (No, not his hat.)

This three foot soft whip features a plastic handle that not only plays authentic whip-cracking sound effects as you swing it around, but also the well-known Indiana Jones theme music. (aka The Raiders March) There’s a switch on the handle for turning the sounds on and off, and it even features a carrying strap for attaching it to your belt so it’s always close at hand. I’m sure there’ll also be actual whip replicas available for sale at some point, but this version is probably a lot safer if you’ve never used a whip before.

You can get it from Entertainment Earth sometime in May for $26.99.

[ Indiana Jones Electronic FX Whip ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

When traveling on business, most people tend to rely on Kinko’s or Staples when they need something printed. The downside of course is that you have to deal with Kinko’s and Staples employees, who barely know how to push the copy button. So for those who are tired of trying to teach the person behind the counter how to open a PDF comes the PIXMA iP100 portable printer from Canon. The iP100 is actually an upgraded version of the iP90v, with improved resolution and speed. The iP100 can print up to 20 black and white documents a minute at a resolution of 600×600, or about 14 color documents a minute with a resolution of 9600×2400. It uses just two ink cartridges to keep the printer’s size compact, with the black ink tank being increased by 50% capacity in this model.

While the printer can be plugged in to a power outlet like your standard desktop model, it also features an optional lithium ion battery pack which will allow you to print 290 pages on a three hour charge. As for connectivity, the iP100 can connect to your laptop via USB, directly to a camera using the PictBridge protocol or even a cellphone or PDA using infra-red or an optional Bluetooth module. ($49.99) The PIXMA iP100 should be available this month for $249.99, while the lithium ion battery pack is an extra $99.99.

[ Canon PIXMA iP100 Mobile Inkjet Printer ] VIA [ SlashGear ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

With a set of Magnetique shelves at home, you can decide how the shelf looks and functions instead of being forced into organizational conformity by some Swedish IKEA designer. The shelves use a metal sheet that can be mounted horizontally or vertically on your wall, and a collection of magnetically backed boxes that can be attached in any position. Even if everyone on your block has a set of Magnetique shelves at home, you can still be unique since there’s almost an infinite number of ways you can arrange the boxes. While I’m still a bit cautious when it comes to mixing magnets and electronics, the shelves seem useful for holding books or non-magnetic based media. (Up to 6lbs.) So keep those VHS tapes, cassettes, reel-to-reels and floppy disks well away from it.

The Magnetique shelves come in a variety of sets that differ in the shapes and number of included boxes. They range in price from about $1,230 up to about $2,150.

[ Magnetique ] VIA [ Design Milk ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

If you’ve ever been worried about losing your luggage while traveling, the Trace Me luggage tracking system might appeal to you. However, if you’ve ever actually lost your luggage, or had an airline lose it for you, this will probably seem like a pretty good idea. The tags don’t use GPS or any kind of electronic tracking system, but instead feature a unique barcode and serial number that gets registered no the Immobilise database with your contact info. So in the event your luggage does go missing, a handling agent can either scan the barcode or enter the serial number which should provide them with your contact info. Once you’ve been identified, a text message is sent to your mobile phone letting you know that your bag has been located and what you should do next.

The tags appear to be pretty durable, and since your contact information is stored in an online database, you don’t need to have private information like your name, phone number and home address written somewhere on the bag itself. The tags run about $24 each, which is a one-time fee. So once they’re bought and registered on the website, they’re good for as long as the tags (or the company) last. While they might not stop your luggage from actually going missing, they’ll hopefully increase your odds of getting them back if they do. (At the moment the Immobilise website appears to be for UK residents only, but they do claim the service will soon be available to US residents as well.)

[ Trace Me Luggage Tracker ] VIA [ Shiny Shiny ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

There was a lot of excitement when Asus announced the EEE. It promised all of the functionality of a real PC (running Linux or Windows) with a form factor that was smaller than any other laptop on the market. While there were trade-offs when it came to screen real estate and memory, the relatively cheap price made it an instant hit when it was finally available. However, since the Asus EEE was the first to usher in a new wave of ultra-compact laptops, there were next to no accessories available for it when it hit the market. Thankfully though, with a flood of other ultra-compact laptops on the way, we’re starting to see more and more third-party accessories become available.

A few weeks ago WaterField Designs announced a version of their SleeveCase for the upcoming HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, but since I’ve already chosen the Asus camp I decided to take a look at a version of the case designed for the EEE instead. You can find my complete review of the WaterField Designs EEE SleeveCase after the jump.

Long time reader(s) of the site might remember that I’ve already written a review of the WaterField Designs SleeveCase for a full-size Dell laptop. Since the cases are almost identical (except for the size) I’m probably not going to go into as much detail this time around. I mainly wanted to see if the case was a good solution for carrying the EEE around all day, particularly compared to the neoprene sleeve Asus bundles with it. So if you’re considering one of these cases for your own non-EEE laptop, I would also recommend reading my previous review.

WaterField Designs SleeveCase

Like every other WaterField Designs product I’ve bought or had the opportunity to review over the years, the SleeveCase is well-made and designed and has the feeling of being more like an investment than just a case. Besides carrying my laptop, I’ve found many other uses for the SleeveCases like hauling my Wacom tablet or other equipment that I’m worried might get damaged in transport. They’ve all traveled with me at one time or another and have yet to show any signs of wear or tear. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, while WaterField Designs products aren’t the cheapest on the market, do yourself a favor and spend a few extra bucks, it’s definitely worth it.

Because the SleeveCases are custom made for a staggering variety of laptops from almost every manufacturer, there are only a few ways they can be customized when ordering. Unfortunately color and fabric choice is not one of them. All of the SleeveCases come in this black and gray color scheme which has a professional look that I like. But those of you looking to stand out when it comes to patterns or unique colors might not find them so appealing.

As for logos, the only one appearing on the SleeveCase is the standard WaterField Designs ‘WF’ insignia which is found on a lot of their other cases and bags. Because the EEE case is considerably smaller than a case for a full sized laptop, the logo does tend to stand out a little more. So just be aware of that if logos are an issue for you.

On the back or underside of the EEE SleeveCase is a pocket that’s really only useful for storing thin items like pamphlets or maybe even a paperback. Because of the size of the case you’re not able to fit any letter-sized documents in the pocket unless they’ve been folded. It’s unfortunately also too small to store the EEE’s power adapter. There is the option to add a ‘Piggyback’ accessories pouch which should accommodate the adapter, but that’s going to add to both the size of the SleeveCase and the overall price.

You can also opt to add a set of D-rings to the top corners of the SleeveCase allowing you to attach a strap and carry it as a standalone laptop bag. But again, given the small size of the case carrying it as a laptop bag looks dangerously close to carrying a purse, which is a look that might not appeal to our male demographic. Since I intend to carry this case inside a larger pack, I opted not to add the D-ring or shoulder strap accessories.

The bottom of the SleeveCase features a nylon loop which is used to help you remove the EEE from the case. It definitely has a snug fit once the laptop is inside so this loop is almost a necessity when it comes time to remove it.

The inside of the case features the same lining as the larger version, which is a black felt material covering a layer of soft padding. And this brings me to my only real complaint about the EEE SleeveCase, that the padding inside is maybe just a bit too thick. I know it seems like an odd thing to complain about, so let’s first take a look at the case the EEE actually came with.

I have to give credit to Asus for actually including a case with the EEE in the first place. Since it was the first ultra-compact notebook to hit the market, there were no third-party cases designed to fit it when it went on sale. Sure, you could just stick it in a standard laptop case, but even the smallest ones available at the time would’ve been too large and would’ve defeated the purpose of owning a compact notebook in the first place. The Asus case is made of a soft and stretchy neoprene type material, and I’ll admit it does a pretty good job at protecting the EEE from dings and scratches. But as you can see in this photo, it’s actually pretty thin and doesn’t really provide that much protection.

Here you can see the EEE inserted into the WaterField Designs SleeveCase and it’s pretty obvious that this case is going to provide a lot more protection than the Asus one. But again, I can’t help but feel that maybe the SleeveCase is just a bit too thick for the EEE. It’s important to remember that the biggest factor people will have in choosing the EEE is its size, and the laptop plus the SleeveCase ends up being about twice as thick as the laptop itself. As a result it’s going to take up more room in your bag, and take away from the EEE’s form factor. So I think if WaterField Designs just used slightly thinner materials on the SleeveCases designed for the EEE, HP Mini-Note and other ultra-compact notebooks, they would once again have the perfect solution.

Conclusions:

Overall, if you’re looking for a case for the EEE that’s a step up from the one Asus bundles, the WaterField Designs SleeveCase is still a great choice. When it comes to build quality there’s really nothing else on the market that can compare, and the limited but useful options means you’re not paying for accessories you’ll probably never use. I wish the padding and some of the materials used on this particular SleeveCase were just a bit thinner, which would have resulted in a bit less bulk while the EEE is inside, but it will still be my primary travel case for the laptop whenever I’m on the road.

Pros:
+ High-quality construction throughout. Every seam and stitch is perfect.
+ Base version reasonably priced.
+ Provides considerable more protection than the EEE’s bundled neoprene sleeve.

Cons:
- With all of the options it can get a little expensive. While the price is justifiable for a $1,000+ laptop, it’s a different story for the relatively cheap EEE.
- Actually adds a bit of bulk to the extremely compact EEE.
- Back pocket doesn’t have enough room to store the power adapter or letter-sized documents.
- Only available in a black and gray color scheme.

Links:

WaterField Designs SleeveCase - $38-42 depending on the size you require. ($38 for the Asus EEE.)
- optional Front Flap - $15
- optional Simple Strap and added D-rings - $12
- optional Suspension Strap and added D-rings - $18
- optional ‘Piggyback’ accessories pouch - $22

If you have any questions about the WaterField Designs SleeveCase you’d like answered, please feel free to leave them in the comments, and I’ll try to respond to them as best I can.

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By Evan Ackerman

I’m not much of a cell phone person. I’d like to be, but I’m not… The phone I have now (some sort of Samsung slider thing) exists for the sole purpose of making phone calls. Novel, I know. And until I got a chance to spend some time with a phone that does a little more, I didn’t really have any idea what I was missing. Read my full review of the Kyocera Wild Card cellphone, on Virgin Mobile’s 3G network, after the jump.

The Wild Card is a reasonably nice looking phone. You won’t be showing it off to all your friends, but you won’t be hiding it from them either. It’s slightly chunky at just over 4oz and measuring about 4 inches by 2 inches by 0.8 inch.

It’s glossy black on the front, with silver nav buttons, silver trim around the middle, and a silver camera + flash panel on the back. The back of the phone (i.e. the battery cover) is made of a black non-slippy material that feels like it doesn’t work at all, but in fact works quite well to keep the phone from falling off slippery, tilty surfaces. The battery cover, by the way, is held on by some sort of screw that I found annoyingly difficult to remove. Not that it really matters, but I think the screw is made of plastic, and if you have a compulsion to unscrew stuff like I do, you can easily scratch it up. You’ll find the charging jack on the bottom of the phone, the headset jack at the bottom of the left side, and volume and dedicated camera buttons on the top of the right hand side of the phone. The volume gets nice and loud, which is a quibble I have with my current phone.

Open the Wild Card up (it’s got a nice big sturdy hinge), and you’ll find a QWERTY-style horizontal keyboard accompanied by a second display. The keyboard is split in two, (TGV on one side, YHB on the other) to make room for a big silver nav group and a relatively large spacebar. The fact that the keyboard is split in half isn’t as much of a problem as you might think, although I did find myself repeatedly missing the “B” key. Otherwise, it was easy (much easier than T9 on a numberpad, anyway) to use for composing brief messages.

Each letter key on the keyboard also has an alternate symbol or number, easily accessible by a symbol key in the upper lefthand corner. The numbers are laid out left to right like on a keyboard as opposed to in columns on a numberpad, which I didn’t like as much. The top row of buttons on the keyboard includes a customizable menu button (I love having the option to customize stuff), a dedicated picture button, volume, call/end, two tiny select buttons, and a back button that’s a really handy thing when it comes to navigating though menus. The buttons themselves are small but not impossibly so, and stick up enough to be smoothly tactile.

Although there are two displays, they’re really nothing to write home about. The one on the face of the phone measures 1.5 inches with a resolution of 128 x 128, making it functional at best. The display on the inside is unfortunately not much bigger at 160 x 128, and there’s a huuuuuge amount of blank space around it which gives the whole phone a slightly cheaper look. The phone doesn’t care which display you use, and if you open or close the phone, whatever you were doing on one screen shows up on the other. For some reason, the displays both remain active whether or not the phone is opened. So, if the phone is open, the front display remains lit but turns solid white. If you close the phone, the display inside also remains lit and turns white. Unless I’m missing something, this seems to be a needless waste of battery life.

The camera is not great. Max resolution is 1024 x 1280, and it’s pretty noisy, especially in mediocre. There is a flash of sorts, but it’s more like just an unenthusiastic little light… On the upside, though, you can use it as a flashlight (it’s designed for that, in fact). The camera will operate when the phone is either open or closed, but if the phone’s open, your fingers tend to get in the way of the lens. Here’s a sample pic:

In use, the phone gets noticeably warm against your ear after about 15 minutes. Call quality was not especially impressive… I found it to be very obviously cellphoney. Nobody I tried it with had difficulty understanding me, they just weren’t able to appreciate the sultry sound of my voice. The phone didn’t seem to pull in as many bars as other phones nearby, but it was capable of making calls anyway.

Functional web browsing is awesome on this phone. When I say functional, I mean if you want to check your email or the news or something, you’ll have absolutely no problems. Gmail worked fine, as you’d expect, but even my personal and business webmail (hosted through Network Solutions, for whatever that’s worth) were easy to access. Of course, I can’t speak for every webmail service, but my experience was much faster and easier than I was honestly expecting. Pictures are nonexistent as far as I could tell, but the phone does load some mobile browsing style simple graphics for enabled websites.

You do have to pay a substantial amount for internet… There are two prepaid data plans offered by Virgin Mobile. One is a 30 day, 5mb plan for $5, and the other is a one day, 0.5mb plan for $1. But, if you just want email, the phone includes a mobile email application that lets you send emails for text message rates from a few select ISPs, the most common of which are Yahoo and AOL/AIM.

The big draw of this phone is obviously text messaging, and that’s what it’s really good at. There are large, dedicated messaging keys and the keyboard makes it easy to say what you want to say quickly and accurately. It’s almost (almost) as easy as opening the phone, pushing a button, and typing your message. The only thing I don’t like is that you have to use one of the leeeetle menu keys in order to select a recipient; it would have been easier if you could use the giant OK key to jump to your address book. But basically, if you’ve been using a phone without a QWERTY keyboard to do a lot of texting, you’ll love the Wild Card.

Virgin Mobile offers the Wild Card at a mere $100 on a selection of prepaid plans. There are a bunch of them, and although it’s kinda confusing, you’ll probably be able to find something that fits your style and budget. The most basic plan will cost you 20 cents a minute. For $6.99 a month, you can get that knocked down to 10 cents a minute. If you buy minutes in big chunks you can save a substantial amount; 400 minutes for $30 (7.5 cents per minute) or 1000 minutes for $50 (5 cents per minute). These plans compare quite favorably with most other prepaid carriers, and unused minutes will also rollover roll forward for the next month. It’s really easy to buy more minutes; literally a single button on the phone will take you directly to Virgin Mobile’s online Top Up service.

Now, after using this thing for a while, I have to say, I really can’t handle a prepaid cellphone. This is not at all about Virgin Mobile; their prepaid service is quite competitive. It’s more like, I feel like I have to be conscious of the balance on my phone all the time. On the surface I am a perfect customer for prepaid plans, since I tend to use my minutes in chunks rather than consistently from month to month. But deep down, I like having the security of a bunch of minutes sitting out there, just waiting to be used. It would probably be more cost effective for me to buy prepaid minutes, but then I do have to worry about how many I’m using. If you feel like I do, take a look at Virgin Mobile’s other competitive plans.

Pros:

Mostly solid, halfway attractive design
Excellent for texting (QWERTY keyboard, yay!), not a bad phone otherwise
Only $100, no long term commitments
Virgin Mobile offers competitive pricing plans

Cons:

Slightly plastic-y, halfway unattractive design
Disappointingly small screens
Camera is sucky, but that’s a norm for most cellphones

Overall:

I like this phone more than I thought I would, and I’d definitely recommend it if you think it fits your lifestyle. It’s decent looking, great for texting, comes with competitive plans, and is a good price at only $100.

[ Virgin Mobile ]

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Filed under: Storage, Networking

Four months is just too long to go without an all new ReadyNAS, so we suppose that’s why Netgear is kicking out an all new 6-bay unit (6TB RNDP6610; 3TB RNDP6310; 1.5TB RNDP6350) for those obsessed with storage. The box can handle up to 6TB of HDD space and features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM (up to 4GB supported), 128MB of embedded flash for the OS, a pair of gigabit Ethernet ports, three USB 2.0 sockets and support for RAID 0/1/5/6 and Auto-Expandable X-RAID2. As expected, Windows / Mac / Linux clients can all tap in, and the unit streams all sorts of media on the side. Of course, acquiring the industry’s first 6-bay small-form-factor NAS drive won’t come cheap, with the ReadyNAS Pro starting at around two large.

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