Filed under: Cingular

At $10 / month for unlimited use of AT&T's Push To Talk service, we can buy into the value proposition; we really can. The real-time status indicators for your contacts, that Nextel-esque cool of talking at your phone rather than into it -- it's all good. So yeah, AT&T is now throwing down a new pay-per-use option that'd see a charge of $0.15 / minute for PTT use grace your bill. It comes as no surprise whatsoever that it'll be rounding those precious minutes up to the next nearest one, so -- please correct us if we're reading this incorrectly -- every press of that button is going to cost you a bare minimum of 15 cents. Basically, you start to lose out after the 66th minute (if our trusty calculator is in good working order), burying this option well into the "emergency use only" category for most folks. Like text messages, or even plain ol' voice minutes for that matter, an itchy PTT button finger could get ya in trouble mighty quick here.

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Sony Ericsson, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS

Oh yes it is. That's the Sony Ericsson W880 "Ai" Walkman up there comin' atcha straight out of Sweden. We still don't know if the tri-band GSM / UMTS and QVGA specs are the real deal or not. But that's definitely a 2 megapixel camera on the back. Now, according to Swedish site NYA!mobil (via a bit of janky machine translation), the Walkman W880 will apparently join the living on Tuesday, 6 February -- in Sweden anyway, home country of the Ericsson half of that SE equation. At this point, that date seems fair enough. Besides, they've managed to get their hands on the device so they must know a little something, eh? More pics after the break.

[Thanks, David]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Portable Audio

If you're browsing the wares at your local iPod-peddlin' location, but don't want to look like a fool when you get home and discover you just bought a silver shuffle with the old school headphones -- or perhaps the inverse is true -- then you might be pleased to hear that it's easy to spot the difference: the brand new silver shuffle has silver accents on the cardboard backing, while the old version was dressed up with green. Happy hunting!

[Via Cult of Mac]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Desktops, Misc. Gadgets

Intel might be oh-so-smug about its fancy new insulators and 45nm process, but doesn't have nothing on these upcoming atomic transistor dealios -- other than that whole "shipping" thing, of course. Scientists working at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts and compadres at the University of Colorado Boulder have proposed implementing a "Bose-Einstein condensate" to pull this off -- a super-cold gas cloud of atoms all in the same quantum state -- which is manipulated with three adjacent chambers that are created by trapping atoms with magnets or laz0rs. By swapping atoms between the two side chambers, and controlling that action with the center chamber, a behavior is created similar to that of an electronic field-effect transistor. Which is apparently a good thing. So yeah, the tech definitely flies over our heads, but if this works it sounds like it's a pretty big breakthrough in building atomic "circuits" some day by connecting basic atom elements and should hopefully keep Moore's law alive and well a few decades down the road.

[Thanks, Jeremy]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Wireless

Artimi, a fabless semiconductor company, has been working on wireless USB for cameras for the past while, and finally got to show off some of its prototypes at this year’s CES. The deets were slim, however, and they’ve finally come clean with some more specs for our prying eyes. Of course, WUSB is no mystery. 480MB/s up to 10-feet, 110MB/s up to 30-ish-feet, along with the prestige of being the new “it” wireless standard for peripherals. Artimi is taking all that good bandwidth loving to the camera, and is teaming up with “several brand name camera vendors” to do it, the names of which it will announce in Q2. It’ll cost manufacturers about $25 to add WUSB at the outset, but within 3 years that figure should be down to $10, and Artimi figures all but the cheapest cameras will have it by then. We might see a WUSB cam get launched in ‘07, but most likely we’ll have to wait for ‘08 to roll around before this becomes a reality. Artimi also expects WUSB dongles to be fairly common by then, but the first-to-market products will most likely include a dongle just in case. As to battery life, these kids aren’t too concerned, ’cause WUSB can toss 1GB of pics in about 30 seconds, so the chip doesn’t need to be on for too long.

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming

According to Senior VP Takao Yuhara at Sony, that pre-launch price cut in Japan might not be the only one the console will be seeing in its early life. "We may look at the price as part of our strategy to expand the market when the timing is right," said Yuhara. Sony wants to break even in its game division by March 2008, and "Such factors, including price cuts to some extent, are factored in," according to Yuhara. Sony is also still holding fast to its target shipment of 6 million PS3s by March 31st 2007, and with the Wii and 360 breathing down its neck, it might very well have to drop prices to compete. Of course, the semi-promise of some sort of price cuts, possibly Japan-only, before March 2008 is isn't really much to go by, but we'll take whatever threads of hope we can get.

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Handhelds

While it usually only takes a quick glance to detect a KIRF candidate in the gadget space, detecting fake drugs (the prescription type) can be understandably harder — not to mention quite a bit more “high risk.” Fake drugs are flooding the market, accounting for half of all drug sales within some parts of south-east Asia and Africa, and contaminated fakes have killed hundreds of people, with many others buying “medicine” with no actual active ingredients. Now there’s a new laser-based handheld sensor on the scene that can see through the look-alike packaging and weed out fakers via molecular analysis. The new detector, developed by Pavel Matousek and Charlotte Eliasson of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK and due for action by the end of the year, uses “Raman spectroscopy” to detect materials by measuring the range of radiation emitted by molecules when shone upon. Up until now, packaging gets in the way of such tests, but Matousek Eliasson have figured out a tricky way to overcome that, and tests of their method have proved effective. Current handheld detectors — which cost between $20k and $40k — can easily be modified to work with the method.

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Laptops, Storage

World’s thinnest titles aren’t just for cellphones and DAPs, don’t you know, Solid State Drives need to shave those millimeters just as much as the next guy, and SimpleTech seems up to the task with its new 64 gigger. The 2.5-inch drive, a member of SimpleTech’s Zeus SSD lineup, measures a mere 9.5mm thick (0.37-inches), compared to some competing solutions more than twice as thick, making it a solid option for squeezing into those ever-slimmer laptops. SimpleTech is currently targeting the device at high performance applications such as military, intelligence and aviation, and has apparently buffeted the drive against shock, humidity, vibration and altitude — most of the stability naturally thanks to the flash technology, of course. No word price, but with those kind of customers, we’re guessing this one won’t be cheap.

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Transportation

Flying cars have been doing this whole vaporware thing long before Duke Nukem Forever was even a twinkle in 3D Realms’ eye. That’s why it’s practically absurd to assume anything at all will come from this new X-Hawk flying car, whose inventor, Rafi Yoeli, the founder of Urban Aeronautics, claims could ready for the market by 2010. The project has been in the works for years already, but Rafi recently managed to get a rudimentary prototype to fly a few feet off the ground, and has sparked some interest from Textron’s Bell Helicopters for potential partnership. Two main things set the X-Hawk apart from the pack. First, the ducted fan design allows the car to achieve the speed and maneuverability of a helicopter — 155 mph, 12,000-foot altitude, two hours of flight time, vertical take off and landing — but removes the dangers of exposed rotors, allowing the “car” to sidle up to buildings for rescue missions, or coexist in close quarters with other vehicles. The enclosed-rotor design isn’t perfectly unique, but the X-Hawk further differentiates itself by its target market: Rafi is going after those established military and rescue dollars, instead of the theoretical consumers willing to drop $1.5 million on a flying car that they’ll still need to obtain complicated licenses for and etc. Making high-rise rescues possible, along with urban airlifts and such makes this sound like a natural fit, and perhaps we’ll get a little bit of trickle-down flying car action before 2035 when Duke Nukem finally ships.

[Via Autoblog]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

You know we love cellphone straps around here, so how could we resist what could be the ultimate cellphone strap ever? This one's called the Tokyo Micro garden, and contains a "nutrient-rich gel" and a plant which actually grows over time. Cool, yes, but even cooler when you smash it against a would-be-mugger's face and give him an eyeful of gel and plant matter. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Dirtymicrobe via Notcot via Spluch]

Seems like the folks at GameDrift got an “anonymous Nintendo rep” to confirm that new colored Wiis are heading our way, particularly in red and black. This seems to jive with earlier rumblings of new colored Wiimotes, which gets our hopes up very high. Unfortunately, the anonymous rep forgot to reveal availability, so we’ll just have to continue waiting.Though personally—I’ve reached the point where I’d be happy just finding a Wii, regardless of its color. – Louis Ramirez

Confirmed: Nintendo Announces New Wii Colors [GameDrift]

Great news for inconsiderate people as AT&T/Cingular's rolling out push-to-talk on their network on a pay-per-use basis. That means if you're not sure you want to commit to a $9.99 (or $19.99 for families) unlimited use plan to annoy people month after month, you now have a pay-as-you-go option as well.

AT&T will charge you 15 cents a minute for doing PTT, which you can then convert to a real phone call to save on PTT minutes. Other features like availability status (like IM status), call-me alerts, contact alerts, and quick group calling are also available. – Jason Chen

Press Release [Cingular via Mobile Tech Review]

Filed under: Gaming

With Wii modchips busting onto the scene all over, well, at least two of them now, it's about time we got an idea of how well these things actually work. MaxConsole just took the CycloWiz for a spin -- the second modchip to be announced, but supposedly the first one to be hitting the market -- and they seem to dig what they see. For starters, the installation is a snap, with "quick-solder" holes to make it a bit harder for you to screw things up, and an LED indicator to let you know if you do. As for compatibility, everything works as advertised, with Wii and GameCube backups working just like original discs, and GameCube hombrew working just fine as well. The big drawback is a lack of import support, which was done to make sure the Wii can't detect the modchip. This is solved on the GameCube side of things by GCOS, an open source hombrew OS for the GameCube that allows you to toggle your region, but sadly there's no hope yet for Wii games, since Wii homebrew is not supported. The upshot is that Nintendo has little chance of a software update that can disable this mod, but it also sort of defeats one of the main purposes of a modchip in the first place. There are also graphics problems with some PAL games right now, but future GCOS updates should resolve those. Otherwise, there's plenty to love, including full support of "audio-streaming" GameCube games, and multi-disc titles. The chips should hit resellers on Friday.

[Via Digg]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

If a standard halogen floor lamp is too boring for you, take a look at this Lighting Stick. It's a stand-up model that blasts light onto a wall with numerous LEDs.

You can set the lights to one solid color—Murderous Red for example—or have them cycle between colors like a rave in slow motion. Except in this case you won't wake up the next day with a roofie hangover and torn underwear. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Ecocentric via Shiny Shiny]

Filed under: Culture, Software

Have you been caught in a bind recently and you just couldn't come up with a quick lie? Sprint customers may rest easy as there is a new mobile application to do just that. It's called MobileFaker and there gives you the option to create pick-up lines, the ability to simulate an incoming call (think bad blind date), a rejection number, and even a fake breathalizer test. If anyone downloads what seems to be amusing application, drop us a line and let us know what you think of it.

[Via The Raw Feed]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

This concept couch uses sensors to detect when two bodies become the beast with two backs, triggering an electroluminescent floral arrangement that is both romantic and geeky beyond belief. Shotgun toting dads could wire this thing to trigger an alarm instead of a bouquet. –Brian Lam

Danielle Sobik love sofa [via UberGizmo]

Well, if you ask Dell’s global gaming chief, Abizar Vakharia, it sure sounds like they are. When drilled on the question of a future gaming handheld Vakharia admitted it was on their radar screen. He didn’t give up any other details, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they have an Axim-like gaming handheld in the works or maybe even a UMPC with enough brawn to take on a few games. If done right, that could become our new favorite UMPC.

Dell to Launch Gaming Handheld in Future? [PC Plus]

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

To say we’ve seen our fair share of iPod accessories would be a mild understatement, but we’re pretty sure this one takes some sort of cake. This little Stethoscope Recording Package from Thinklabs bundles a ds32a Digital Stethoscope, 2GB iPod nano and an XtremeMac MicroMemo, for the ultimate in digital stethoscope recording. Sure, Thinklabs’ Digital Stethoscope can hook up to anything with a line-in jack, and we know that there are more than a few audio players that carry that line-in functionality without needing an add-on and wouldn’t look so terribly hokey (though we’re pretty sure none of them can match the MicroMemo’s 16-bit fidelity), but we’re still pretty well enamored with the juxtaposition. The $495 pricetag isn’t as exciting, but that’s a small price to pay for 1000 Heartbeats in Your Pocket.

[Via Make]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Just when you think HTC’s dominated the market, OKWAP’s S868 Pocket PC phones comes out and shows that HTC’s not the only Taiwanese brand that can make good Windows Mobile smartphones. The S868 runs WM5 Pocket PC Edition (the non-gimped, touchscreen one) and has an Intel PXA270 416MHz Processor, 128MB ROM, 64MB RAM, a 2.4-inch screen, a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0 and an SD slot.

But that’s not the most interesting feature. The most interesting feature is the iPod-like virtual clickwheel which allows you to “scroll” like you would an iPod. Simply swirl your thumb in a circle over the number keys and you get a similar effect. The phone’s on sale now in Taiwan for 15,000 Taiwan dollars ($455).

– Jason Chen

OKWAP S868 Pocket PC Phone [IT Tech News via Mobile Mag]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation

Oh, you viral marketers and tricksy Adult Swim promo squads, what've you done now? No longer content with offending parents and making the male aged 18-30 demo chortle with glee at their New Jersey debauchery, it would appear Aqua Teen crossed over into real life to wreak havoc promoting the upcoming ATHF movie. Geeky Lite-Brite-like visages of the Mooninites caused shut downs in several transit arteries in Boston, including Interstate 93, the Longfellow Bridge, and Storrow Drive, leaving thousands asking WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR FRICKIN' CAR?! Strangely, Turner stated that these viral ads have been in place in 10 major cities for between two and three weeks, which leaves one to wonder why no one noticed the strange, pixelated cartoon characters flipping the bird until just this afternoon, and just in Boston.

[Thanks, Dan]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Do you want to make sure you get Apple’s updated earbuds with your new iPod shuffle? That’ll be easy if you’re getting one of the newly-technicolored models. But if you’re getting a silver one, here’s how to tell the difference in the packaging so you won’t be stuck with those old-skool phones.

Take a look at the boxes above. If that swanky box has a green Apple logo and text, it’s the old version. The new box has gray lettering, and you’ll be taking home the latest earphones. – Charlie White

How to Tell New Silver iPod Shuffles From Old [Cult of Mac]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sprint scored a rare rib on CDMA rival Verizon when it went straight past the Verizon-exclusive Treo 700w to launch the 700wx, but as the old saying goes, all good exclusivity agreements come to an end. New rebate verbage spotted by a customer on Verizon's website makes mention of a $100 rebate on the 700wx -- $150 for the soon-to-be-outmoded 700w -- and even better, the rebate expires February 19, suggesting that there's a sliver of hope we'll see a launch in the next few weeks. To be fair, the re-upped model is nearly identical to its predecessor save for an extra 32MB of RAM, correcting a major complaint from current owners but otherwise adding little to no excitement value. No word on pricing, but hey, at least we know we'll be getting $100 off whatever it might go for.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Thanks to the fact that current Xbox 360 memory cards only hold 64MB and the Xbox Live Arcade game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night weighs in at 97MB, Microsoft had to do something. That something? Releasing a bigger memory card.

Gamestop has it up for pre-order (ships 3/1) for $49.99. That’s $10 more than the 64MB version, sure, but if you’re going to be spending fifty bones why not spend another fifty and get the 20GB hard drive instead? Oh wait, because you went for the Core version instead of the Premium and you have lousy judgement. That’s why. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Gamestop via Kotaku]

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

With growth on the decline and competition heating up, it looks like Kevin Rollins has had enough of the cutthroat PC game, and has resigned his posts as Dell CEO and board member. Now Michael Dell has returned to the helm of his baby, after handing over the top spot to Rollins in 2004. Shares of Dell are up now that the founder is back in his place, but HP is all up in his grill right now, and the company warned on Tuesday that it would be missing analyst earning expectations for its fiscal fourth-quarter, so it's clear Mike is going to have an uphill battle in the attempt to return Dell to its former undisputed status atop the PC industry. Mr. Dell, who will retain his position as chairman of the board, said in a press release, "Dell has tremendous opportunities ahead of it, I am enthusiastic about Dell 2.0, which includes our plan to provide the best customer experience, build a strong global services business and ensure our products deliver the best long-term customer value." Dell 2.0, huh? We're down, let's see what you've got.

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Congratulation to Daniel Woolston. We received a lot of "tattoo entries" in our Vista Swag Bag Giveaway and it was obvious they were all fake, except