Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Sure, Konica Minolta’s “bizhub of the future” might posses a snazzy floral overlay and a built-in LCD panel, but aside from the fact that it’s not even real (yet), it definitely can’t even make VoIP calls and convert business cards to digital contacts. Well a company called DUZON C&T has unveiled a nifty (albeit unusual) piece of office machinery designed to scan business cards at a rate of “45 per minute,” and convert all pertinent contact information (in a bevy of languages) to Outlook contacts on the fly. Moreover, the NEO BizFree acts as a VoIP liaison by hooking up calls with just the click of your mouse over any requested listee. Of course the USB-powered device can also direct calls over standard telephone lines, but where’s the fun in that? If you’re overwhelmed with that looming stack of business cards (or just want another office toy to fiddle with), the NEO BizFree is available now for a budget-friendly 280,000 KRW ($299).

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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: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Wearables, Wireless

Filed under: Handsets, Others

Alright, dear readers, you know the drill: proceed with caution. We have no confirmation here, but sometimes a tip is too juicy not to share, no matter how suspect it might be. A reader is reporting to us that a coworker’s tech-unsavvy friend, who is regularly hired by Apple to do marketing photo shoots, was recently brought on to take some shots of “the sleekest, sexiest damn phone he’s ever seen.” The launch date? “Some time in August.” Yeah, not a typo — August. Now, to be perfectly clear, we don’t know what the iPhone (if it exists) will be actually called, we’ve never seen a real pic of the elusive beast, and this doesn’t really jive with the time frame suggested by Peter Oppenheimer’s recent comments — but we want to believe, and we don’t have to wait very long for this one to get debunked or confirmed.

[Thanks, Frazer]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Peripherals

We guess it was inevitable — long the bane of landlines, the novelty phone has finally found its way to VoIP, with the Verballs line of animated Skype phones set to invade desktops and annoy co-workers this fall. Available in five different characters, the Verballs flash and wave their hands when a call comes in and, most disturbingly, sync their lips to the callers voice — which could well cause you to never look at your friends the same way again. In addition to acting as a handsfree speakerphone, the Verballs also include headphone and mic ports for more discreet conversation, and can be used in conjunction with MP3s and text to speech software, if you’re so inclined. Plan on dropping £30 (about $55 US) when these critters launch in September.

[Via Red Ferret Journal]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Wearables, Wireless

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Others

Apple’s been dogged with rumors of an iPod / phone hybrid (the real deal, not a rehash of a Moto E398 with iTunes support) for nearly as long as the iPod’s been kickin’ around. Apparently looking to beat the dead horse yet again, an analyst mentioned Sony’s success with their Walkman line of music-oriented phones during Apple’s Q3 earnings call, prompting CFO Peter Oppenheimer to respond with a fairly solid non-denial: “As regards cell phones, we don’t think that the phones that are available today make the best music players. We think the iPod is. But over time, that is likely to change. And we’re not sitting around doing nothing.” Knowing Apple, of course, this is about the biggest admission we’ll get until the iPhone actually drops, so relish in the moment, keep your eyes peeled in a year or so, and if you’re really hard up, you could fashion your own, like the pictured Nokia 6682 makeover.

[Via MacDailyNews]

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Filed under: Messaging, Misc

Reaching out to all those who maintain both a land line telephone and a mobile number, EMBARQ has launched the EMBARQ Together Phone PaQ which introduces at least one rather handy feature:  “One Voicemail” allows users to have just a single voicemail inbox for both their home and mobile phones. If only having to check one mailbox doesn’t sway you, voicemail alerts are sent to both phones where you can retrieve them at home or on the go. The biggest “feature” here, however, is the usual double-play integration between home and mobile phones; billing for both are handily included on one bill, calls to and from the two phones are always free, and there’s only one customer service number to remember for both services — a dream come true for many who can’t seem to completely reside at home or in the office, or who just want less maintenance from their voice providers.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Filed under: Household, Wireless

Well, with the recent hurricane seasons we’ve been having, it might not be exactly paranoid to throw together some survival gear and emergency communication equipment, but we can’t help but thinking this new “Personal Hurricane Kit” from Assemble Communications is a bit of a cash-in on the hysteria. Luckily, it is a full featured cash-in. Released last month, the $5,000 device comes in a watertight suitcase which holds the battery-powered Inmarsat satellite antenna and handset. But along with making your calls, the kit allows you to connect your computer for broadband satellite Internet, making this the obvious choice for mobile professionals stuck in a bit of bad weather. The price for the 6-pound kit includes 400 minutes of talk time and 150 megabytes of Internet access, so we recommend staying away from streaming those “Lost” episodes — as ironic as it may seem at the time.

[Via SOSD]

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You wouldn’t believe it, but somehow FiWin (which is owned by FIC) got Skype and SIP to sit down at the table together and play some Mahjong. It’s not really technically all that difficult, but until now we hadn’t really seen a Skype / SIP dual-mode VoIP capable handset, so we welcome you, oh pathfinding FX28S and SS28S WiFi phones; otherwise they’re just another couple of 802.11b phone devices with a 3.5 hour call life, a USB 1.1 connector, and a weak 1.2-inch 65k color 128 x 95 CSTN display in the the FX28S, and a 1.4-inch monochrome 96 x 65 display in the SS28S.

[Thanks, Sam]

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Filed under: Cellphones

For anyone who puts much stock those reports of cellphone radiation causing cancer, we recommend you set down your Moto and back slowly away. Turns out Motorola managed to score the top eight spots in a list by CNET of phones with the highest radiation levels -- as tested by the FCC. The phones are rated by SAR level, which measures the quantity of radio frequency asbsorbed by the body. Of course, a lot of these phones are nearly a decade old, but the two-month-old C290 makes an appearance, and the list is headed by the SLVR L6 at a whopping SAR level of 1.58W/kg (1.6W/kg is the max allowed). This could have something to do with the light weight of a phone like the SLVR -- though Palm's much heftier 650 managed a 9 spot -- but we're cooking up a few conspiracy theories right now if that turns out not to be the case. In all fairness, the top ten lowest-radiation phone list had a couple Motorola appearances, with the Audiovox PPC66001 leading the group at a SAR level of 0.12. Now where did we put that aluminum foil hat...

[Via Healthbetold]

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation

We’re not usually the crazy protester types who’d brave the cold and firehoses for something silly like woman’s suffrage, (Just kidding! We love you ladies!) but we’re all ready to get out tempera paint and signage for what seems like a pretty steep rights issue in Lawrence, Kansas. Seems they’re trying to best all those current cellphone laws on the books — most of which require a handsfree device to use your phone in the car — and want to ban phones while driving altogether. “If you pass a ban that just prohibits the hand-held devices, you’re sending a message that the hands-free devices are safe, and that is false,” said Paul Atchley of Kansas University, an proponent of the bill. Seems a little bit of shaky reasoning to us, but we’re no professor. T-Mobile has spoken out against the ban, stating: “We think there are distractions just as great. I suppose if you also want to ban McDonald’s coffee and kids in the back seat, then we wouldn’t oppose it.” We say amen to that, and just dare the Mayor of Lawrence to take our phone away from our cold dead fingers — after we roll our SUV during a particularly heated conversation, of course.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio

Last time we checked in on Motorola's V3m -- a slight music-centric update to the EV-DO V3c -- we weren't quite sure if this was going to Verizon or Sprint, but it looks like Verizon won out in the end, and are now offering the handset for $150 with a 2-year contract. The phone features a microSD slot for music and video storage, and a 1.3 megapixel camera, but there doesn't seem to be a lot else new going on here. Music-wise, the phone is designed to work with Verizon's V Cast music and video services, but we're not sure of codec support beyond those downloads, though MP3 seems a given and PlaysForSure is likely.

[Thanks, Ryan]

Filed under: Culture

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Filed under: Handsets, HTC, O2, Windows Mobile, GSM, HSDPA, UMTS

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Sony Ericsson, Vodafone, GSM

Sony Ericsson keeps cranking out the high-style musicphones, and the V630i looks to be the latest edition to the line -- for UK Vodafone customers, that is. The phone, which eschews the Walkman branding used in other recent music-centric models, includes 10MB of internal memory, Memory Stick Micro support, a 176x220 display, 2 megapixel camera, trimode GSM support, and A2DP for Bluetooth stereo output. In sum, it reminds us a lot of another recent Sony Ericsson, the W810i, which has a similar feature set, but lacks A2DP (and that alone, of course, makes this one a new fave).

[Thanks, Goku]

Filed under: Cellphones

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Filed under: Handsets, Sprint-Nextel

Sprint Nextel is set to officially spin-off its landline unit tonight -- at one minute before midnight, specifically. The new company, dubbed Embarq, will then begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning, and will also join the S&P 500. As we reported earlier, Embarq plans to offer dual-mode handsets that can transfer seamlessly between WiFi and cellular networks, pitting it against T-Mobile and Lucent in that area. Embarq also offers high-speed Internet service in addition to local and long distance phone service and will rank as the 5th largest local communications company in the United States, the company says.

[Via CNET Broadband Blog]

Filed under: Cellphones

Always one for a decent “world’s ____” tag line for their product releases, Samsung is naming their new SGH-X820 Ultra Slim Phone the “world’s thinnest” at a mere 6.9mm (0.27-inches) thick, the same thickness as the iPod nano. Not content to be merely skinny, the candybar phone also features a 2 megapixel camera, MP3 playback, Bluetooth connectivity and TV out. There is a minor hump near the top of the phone off the back that might sully your results when using this thing to pick door locks, but otherwise it’s hard to imagine how it can get much thinner than this and still have a claim to 3D space. The phone should be out in Europe and Russia this week, with China to follow in June, no word on price.

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Filed under: Cellphones

hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/05/P1010393.JPG" />

Our partner in
crime gadgetry, Engadget Mobile, just got href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/16/helios-kickflip/">Helio’s Kickflip in the mail and managed to pull
themselves away from playing with the hot swivel action for long enough to put up some impressions, pics, and a video.
Get it while it’s fresh.

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Filed under: Handsets, Pantech, Verizon Wireless, CDMA

Forgoing the traditional methods of actually announcing their products, Pantech is content to let the FCC do their PR for them, with the latest example being the PN-320 clamshell. It's not going for the world record or anything, but the 0.9-inch thick PN-320 is still fairly slim for a flip phone, and it's not too hard on the eyes neither. Otherwise, the CDMA phone is pretty lame, with a mere VGA camera and 262k color LCD, ala its PN-315 sibling. There's no branding visible, but the phone looks to be headed for Verizon like the PN-315, thanks to some Verizon-specific wording in the manual. We just hope Verizon users can contain themselves for joy, and the FCC is getting reimbursed somehow.

[Via phoneArena]

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, GSM

Not a big surprise on specs or anything, but Samsung is getting that trim n' fit D520 slider of theirs out the door in Korea today. The tri-band GSM phone is pretty light on features, with a mere 176 x 220 display, 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and 80MB of non-expandable memory, but it manages to do it all while weighing 3.3 ounces and measuring 0.6-inches thick. Not too much of a phone to miss out on, but it wouldn't hurt if they at least offered to ship it over here.

[Via Aving]

Filed under: Household

align="right" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/04/redphone.jpg" alt="" />If you’re worried about intruders
sneaking into your house while you’re off at work, Korea Telecom has the answer. Or at least they think they do. The
company is launching a service called Ann Eye, which is based around a heat sensor built into a landline phone. The
127,000 won ($134) phone can detect visitors based on body heat, and then sends a text
message to the home’s owner. At that point, KT suggests, the owner can call home to see whether the phone was triggered
by a burglar (who, presumably, won’t answer the phone) or just the kids coming home from school (who may not answer
either, depending on whether they want you to know they snuck out early and have five friends over). We assume this
could also be activated by an over-active household pet (who probably won’t answer the phone either). It’s an
interesting idea, but it seems like it could only really be effective if href="http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/17/webcam-busts-burglar/">tied to a camera, so that homeowners could catch
thieves without actually having to call them up first.

[Via href="http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2006/04/012179.htm">textually.org]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wireless

hspace="4" border="0" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/04/netgear_skype.jpg" alt="" />

You wouldn’t
guess it from that conceptual looking pic, but Netgear is all
prepped to start shipping their standalone WiFi Skype phone on June
30th. Amazon.com is accepting pre-orders now, with the phone going for a fairly steep $250, but at least it’s marked
down $50 from the $300 list price. If you missed it the first time around, Netgear’s href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/04/netgear-wifi-phone-for-skype-no-pc-required/">SPH101 Skype Phone can make
Skype calls wherever you can finagle a WiFi connection, with no PC required. The phone can also manage your contact
list, and forward calls to your mobile, landline, or other Skype account. Keep reading for a couple of more realistic
pics.

[Thanks everyone who sent this in]

src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/04/netgear_skype_front.jpg" alt="" />
border="1" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/04/netgear_skype_screens.jpg" alt="" />

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