http://www.gadgetphreak.com gadgetPhreak - Your Daily Gadget News and Resource Site - Updated Hourly! Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:45:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Filed under: CellphonesWe're aware that not everybody feels the need to jump on the AppleCare bandwagon, but if you worry that the one year warranty isn't going to cut it for you, for $69 bucks, you can have two -- unless you live in Alabama, Connecticut, Nevada, and Wyoming, of ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/25/applecare-for-iphone-now-available/ Filed under: Digital Cameras, Transportation It's been a tick since we've seen a new in-car accident recorder hit the market, but just in case none of the previous flavors caught your eye, Clarion's DRC-3 DriveEye can certainly do the trick. Per usual, this wee camera attaches to your windshield, and when ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/25/clarion-drc-3-driveeye-captures-vehicle-crashes/ Filed under: Misc. Gadgets The International Design Excellence Awards are in, and if you can sit through the 14 different awards given to the Eclipse 500 Very Light Jet, there are some real gems in there. We were into the LOMAK (light operated mouse and keyboard) for the physically impaired, MY_WAY ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/25/2007-idea-awards-announced/ Filed under: WirelessGranted, we've seen some sizable WiFi networks in our day, and while an entire country has claimed to have nationwide internet on the brain, the largest we've seen implemented here in the states span a city or so at most. Reportedly, a group of firms (including IBM and ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/massive-wifi-network-to-cover-37-cities-in-silicon-valley/ Filed under: Home Entertainment As far as unusual speakers go, Sony's new "Hana" concept is certainly less out there than some of the questionable contraptions we've seen, although that doesn't necessarily mean it's any more likely to actually be available one day. As you can see above, in addition to pumping ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/sony-shows-off-hana-speaker-lamp-concept/ Filed under: CellphonesUnhappy with your iPhone's battery life? Want to make sure you don't have to send it in for the dreaded $80 replacement surgery? Fear not, Apple's posted a completely obvious guide to getting the most out of your mobile. You know, amazing little tricks you never thought of, ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/apple-runs-down-iphone-battery-basics/ Filed under: CellphonesJust days after the IBM ThinkPad threw a shindig for its 15th, now we've reason to don our party hats once more for yet another notable birthday. The mobile phone industry is celebrating the 15th year of the Short Message Service Center (SMSC), which was the "principal application ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/text-messaging-celebrates-15-years-of-debilitating-thumbs/ Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless Zany musical creations are more the rule than the exception 'round these parts, but we've got to give credit where it's due, and the hipDisk most certainly takes motion-based music making to an entirely different platform. The self-proclaimed "most undignified musical instrument ever" goes about its ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/hipdisk-converts-gyrations-into-sound/ The LaCie d2 Blu-ray burner offers good performance speeds, but it's still prohibitively expensive. Home users should wait for Blu-ray burners to drop in price and improve in performance. http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/lacie-d2-external-blu-ray-burner-2x-bd-re/ The Hitachi Easy Hard Drive packs a lot of capacity and fast performance into an easy-to-use external drive. We recommend it. http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/hitachi-external-hard-drive-500gb/ The Hitachi Easy Hard Drive packs a lot of capacity and fast performance into an easy-to-use external drive. We recommend it. http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/hitachi-external-hard-drive-1tb/ If you can spend the extra money for a professional installation, the Audiovox XpressR offers one of the best-looking, fully loaded XM radio receivers on the market. http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/audiovox-xpressr-xm-radio/ The 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon was designed to be a great off-roader, with little compromise to make it practical for paved roads. Its navigation system should help out in the wilderness, but Bluetooth seems less useful in a car that you'll want to take beyond the range of cell ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/2007-jeep-wrangler-unlimited-rubicon/ The 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon was designed to be a great off-roader, with little compromise to make it practical for paved roads. Its navigation system should help out in the wilderness, but Bluetooth seems less useful in a car that you'll want to take beyond the range of cell ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/2007-jeep-wrangler-unlimited-sahara-4dr-suv-38l-6cyl-6m/ The 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon was designed to be a great off-roader, with little compromise to make it practical for paved roads. Its navigation system should help out in the wilderness, but Bluetooth seems less useful in a car that you'll want to take beyond the range of cell ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/2007-jeep-wrangler-unlimited-x-4dr-suv-4wd-38l-6cyl-6m/ The 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon was designed to be a great off-roader, with little compromise to make it practical for paved roads. Its navigation system should help out in the wilderness, but Bluetooth seems less useful in a car that you'll want to take beyond the range of cell ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/2007-jeep-wrangler-unlimited-sahara-4dr-suv-4wd-38l-6cyl-6m/ The 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon was designed to be a great off-roader, with little compromise to make it practical for paved roads. Its navigation system should help out in the wilderness, but Bluetooth seems less useful in a car that you'll want to take beyond the range of cell ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/2007-jeep-wrangler-unlimited-x-4dr-suv-38l-6cyl-6m/ Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless Hot on the heels of several other wireless USB hubs, D-Link is making sure it joins the party with time to spare as it unveils the DUB-9240 kit. The two-piece assemblage consists of the DUB-1210 wireless USB adapter and the DUB-2240 four-port wireless USB hub, and together ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/d-link-intros-dub-9240-wireless-usb-kit/ Filed under: Laptops If you're like us, you've bopped along happily once or twice to USB.org's funky little wireless promo video, hoping that someday the wire-free utopia it promises could become a reality. Well now Lenovo and Dell have put us one step closer to the prize with two new laptops. ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/wireless-usb-finds-its-way-to-dell-and-lenovo-laptops/ http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/fantastic-4-rise-of-the-silver-surfer-ds/ http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/steel-horizon-psp/ Filed under: HouseholdAfter sinking $3 million into a company, what better to do than utilize the synergies and compliments between the two and crank out new products to better our lives? AES is apparently digging said mantra and looking to profit on its strategic investment in Altair Nanotechnologies by announcing ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/altair-nanotechnologies-aes-collaborate-on-energy-storage-products/ On paper, the Mio DigiWalker P550 looks to be an attractive gadget for the mobile professional, combining the capabilities of a PDA and GPS into one device. However, its poor battery life and subpar navigation skills tell a different story. http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/mio-digiwalker-p550/ With a built-in navigation system and a decent range of media playback options, the Kenwood DNX7100 cannot be faulted for its breadth of features, but the system is let down by its counterintuitive media-selection interface. http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/kenwood-dnx7100/ Filed under: Gaming, HDTV, Home EntertainmentGet your software update on kids, Sony's latest firmware is available now for your Sony PS3 and PSP rigs. While the PSP pulls a minor 0.01 update offering a boost in both security and playable network titles under [Game], the real sauce comes by way ... http://www.gadgetphreak.com/2007/07/24/sony-ps3-190-and-psp-352-firmware-updates-ready-to-download/