January 2007

X Box 360 Cooler

by Matthew Newill on January 27, 2007

X Box 360 Cooler
The XBox 360 cooler attaches to the back of the unit and provides 4 ports for USB, has a 3 in 1 HD multi tap and cooler as well as VGA, component and S-VHS connections. A number of other connections are thrown on the back there and overall looks like a decent cooling device. The Cooler King is east to install. All you need to do is plug it in to the back of the 360 and away it goes. How hard can that be?

The Cooler King is available from Play.com for 17.99 pounds delivered in the UK.

Samsung VLUU i70

by Matthew Newill on January 27, 2007

Samsungs 7_2-megapixel VLUU i70
The Samsing VLUU i70 is a 7.2 megapixel camera but not only does it take pictures, it also is equiped with HSDPA and is a camera phone although the main emphasis is on the camera side. The camera has 3x optical zoom and a huge 3 inch LCD screen is on the back to view those nice pictures it will take. Features such as advanced shake reduction (ASR) is in there, as well as face recognition. Not only does it take pictures, it also plays MP3 and MPEG4. With built in HSDPA it allows pictures to be sent anywhere right from the camera.
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Futiro Skype Phones

by Matthew Newill on January 26, 2007

Skype Phone
Since the launch of Skype, the service keeps growing and growing. The latest figure I heard was that 200000 people per day were signing up for the service. I am an occasional user of Skype and think it is an incredible service and great for getting free and cheap rate calls to desitinations worldwide. Futiro from Ireland is launching three new Skype phones on to the market. Each phone is USB and has a stylish design to be different from the regular looking phones you get. Unfortunatly no wifi phone is available yet, but no doubt this will be on Futiro's to do list and launched some time soon. Well, at least we can hope. :)

Each phone is to cost from $55.

Via: Fosfor

World Smallest Projector
Several tiny projectors have appeared recently. I was amazed at a trip to PC World when I saw a really small one on sale. The thing was tiny, or so I thought. Along comes the Explay Projector. It is the size of a mobile phone and can project an image from a source such as an iPod video at a low resolution of 320 x 240. This is not the max size though as Explay promise that higher resolutions are on the way. The projector uses a mixture of laser and LED to create the image and to save on battery life as well as heat. The image size isnt huge, but still a lot larger then your mobile phone or iPod screen. This is not bad for a projector that could be carried in your pocket. More information will be available later this year and we look forwards to this projector and seeing how it progresses through out 2007.

Via: Gizmodo

Nokia E65 Slider

by Matthew Newill on January 26, 2007

Nokia E65
This 3G phone is the next in Nokia's powerful lineup of phones. The display is capable of 16 million colours with a nice 352 x 416 resolution. Memory is at 70Mb for internal and of course, expandable via a microSD card slot. Connectivity is not lacking here either. GPRS, EDGE and UTMS can connect this device to a network as well as wifi, bluetooth 2.0 and IRDA (who uses that any more?). This phone seems to be a great option in the slider range of phones. Quad band GSM also means that this phone can be used anywhere.

Via: UberGizmo

Skype
A few weeks ago noticed over on the Skype blog that some pricing was changing. Our first thoughts were "great... calls will cost more". This is true to some extent but the pros seem to far outweigh the cons of this deal and I am impressed with the charges and how they are working and what new services will be introduced.

The pricing changes started a week or so ago on the 18th Jan 2007 where a connection fee is now charged at 0.039 Euros which bills after the 5th second on a call. This is true in all but a couple of cases. The fee does not apply on on Skype Unlimited plans in the US or Canada, or the Talk for Britain plan in the UK. Also, this connection fee does not apply to toll free calls and you can still make toll free calls with out credit and no charges will apply.

Now the bad stuff is over (if it really is that bad) lets get to the good news. Several regions (Czech Republic, Guam, Hungary, Israel, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Puerto Rico and both Alaska and Hawaii in the United States) have been added to the 0.017 Euros per minute global rate.

This is cool in it's self making it cheaper to call different parts of the world. Among this addition there is also a new service due to launch soon called Skype Pro. The cost of the service will be just 2 Euros per month and the benefits appear to be great. Domestic SkypeOut calling in a number of countries will be charged at just the connection fee with no per minute billing.

No doubt to some these changes could slightly increase the cost of your bill, but from what I can read it seems like the benefits are way better allowing more calls to be made at cheaper rates. Skype will be announcing Skype Pro in a few weeks and we will post back when more details arrive.

Via: Heartbeat

Willcom WX321J

by Matthew Newill on January 26, 2007

Willcom WX321J
Willcom have introduced the WX321J which incldes a fingerprint scanner for security reasons. Also packed in to this phone is a 2.4 inch screen, 1.3 megapixel camer and a microSD slot to increase the available memory and store music etc... It will be interesting to see the fingerprint scanner and if it secures the whole device, or certain functions.

Via: TechEBlog

Sony VAIO G1

by Matthew Newill on January 26, 2007

Sony VAIO G1
Sony have introduced the VAIO G1 in Japan recently. This laptop from the screen shots looks very impressive. It weighs just 2.1 pounds and has a 12.1 inch display. This laptop is truly for those who seek after a real portable solution. Unfortunatly the screen is not an XBRITE display, but putting that asside we still see some very impressive specs. The hard drive can hold 80Gb of data, the small 2.1 lbs VAIO also holds an integrated DVD burner. The processor is a Core Solo which is low powered to help save on battery life. Standard memory in the VAIO is 512 Mb but can be upgraded. For 2.1 lbs of VAIO the price tag is no doubt going to be high... well, it is at $2599.

Via: Engadget

Aston Bee-Box
Wifi streaming is going to be growing in your home soon. Long gone will be the cables that run from room to room to get a signal to your screens. The Aston Bee Box ses the VLC media playback software which can then stream on to 4 TV's with in range of the transmitter. The media streamer is set to cost $130 and be available in Europe from March and seems like another possible contender in the media streaming market.

Via: Engadget

Vavolo Wireless Mouse
Technology is shrinking again and it makes you wonder on this one if it is actually a good idea. The Vavolo PCPAL wireless mouse is small enough to fit in to a PCMCIA slot. This is great for travelers to cut down on the space needed to carry something around. It just makes you wonder how functional a mouse that size can be. If you are from Vavolo then feel free to drop a sample ;)

As well as being a small mouse that fits in to the PCMCIA slot, it also has a wireless adapter, is a laser pointer and TV remote control. Apparantly a keyboard is in there somewhere but we are not 100% sure where this is yet. It will be interesting to see though.

Overall this device actually seems quite good. It would be interesting to get hold of one of these to just see how small it actually is, and how functional it is too. For $39.99 you seem to be getting a good deal on this item!

Via: Vavolo and found at OhGizmo

Nokia N95

by Matthew Newill on January 25, 2007

Nokia N95
All About Symbian got their hands on a Nokia N95 and gave it a thourough review. For those of you who are not aware what the Nokia N95 features then read on. The N95 has built in GPS, it's a dual slider, has a 5 megapixel camera and a HUGE screen. The N95 is set to be a great phone with all its extra features and fairly slim profile. The GPS software is something to look out for. Having this built in to your phone turns it in to one seriously useful device.

Via: AAS

Nokia N99
The N series Nokia's get better and better each time they launch. But, ufortunatly the N99 is just concept at the moment. If it were to be real then it would feature a full qwerty keyboard as well as a touchscreen display. Also a hefty 8 megapixel camera was thrown in there and it has a 3.2 inch wide screen display. Ok, that is not all. GPS is included as well as wifi and lots of other stuff. Should this appear soon then we will let you know more details closer to it's arrival.

Via: TechEBlog