208 replies to this topic

[Steve Sensible]

Re-booting the Things That Go Bleep thread. I have no more gadgety news, I just wanted to use this thread title.

[Todd Gross]

To answer the topic question: Yes


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[Tonycal]

Not gadget news. But does anyone else get 'phantom' vibrations from your cell/mobile phone??? I do all the time!!! But I hate having a ringtone...I don't know why.

[Ulf Imwiehe]

All the freaking time!

[Tonycal]

All the freaking time!

It's so annoying isn't it? I always look down at my phone and there is nothing...haha

[brucegray666]

There's an actual name for that isn't there? I get it from time to time. Wouldn't be so bad but I don't really feel my phone vibrate in my pocket when it does go off...

[Todd Gross]

There's an actual name for that isn't there? I get it from time to time. Wouldn't be so bad but I don't really feel my phone vibrate in my pocket when it does go off...

You may need to ask your wife for your genitals back.

[Christian U]

Huh. Interesting. I thought that was just me.

[brucegray666]

Nah, we're all just kidding Christian.

It only happens to you.

Weirdo!



My Firefox spellchecker has stopped working. Most distressing, especially since I tried spelling "illegally" in another thread.

[garjones]

Talk about polar opposites. In an update posted to the Library of Congress, we're told that the Republic of Belarus will begin fining citizens that host domestic sites on "foreign" domains. Crazy? Definitely, but no less true. Starting later this week, any Belarusian not registered as an entrepreneur may use "only domestic internet domains for providing online services, conducting sales, or exchanging email messages." According to the interpretation, it "appears that business requests from Belarus cannot be served over the internet if the service provider is using online services located outside of the country," and police (as well as the secret police) are authorized to "initiate, investigate, and prosecute such violations." Wilder still, owners of internet cafes could have their entire business shut down if users are found to be accessing external sites on those networks, and for those curious, the law "may" extend to browsing within one's private home.

In a land a bit closer to the equator, it seems as if officials have their heads in a far more sensible place. Kuala Lumpur -- already home to one of the world's most lust-worthy airports and some of the most accessible / affordable mobile data plans -- will soon mandate that all new restaurants provide WiFi to their customers. And by "WiFi," we mean "access to the entire internet." According to the New Strait Times, the rule will be enforced as early as April, applying to eatery owners operating on premises larger than 120 square meters. We're told that existing owners will be forced to comply when renewing their license, and while the waves won't have to be given away for free, they'll be encouraged to charge no more than a "reasonable fee." Furthermore, the government is considering dipping into its own pockets in order to extend gratis WiFi to public facilities in the city, likely as a follow-up plan to the expiring WirelessKL contract.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/02/belarus-bars-foreign-websites-kuala-lumpur-wifi-eateries/

This is why I didn't buy a tablet with 3G. Free Wi-Fi is quite easy to find out here. There's a pilot in a poorer area of Penang to set up Wi-Fi in residential areas so everyone can have internet access at home (of course it won't be fast when shared by many so people who can will sign up to an ISP). They have some crappy ideas here but this is one of the good ones.

[al-x]

Hello:

I hear the CES show is coming soon, with all the
new gadgets in the works. I'll keep an eye out for
links and stuff.


Al...

[craggy]

Not gadget news. But does anyone else get 'phantom' vibrations from your cell/mobile phone??? I do all the time!!! But I hate having a ringtone...I don't know why.

I used to think that, but I'm pretty sure it's just cholestorol being forced through veins in my leg.

[Todd Gross]

iPad Survives Fall From Edge of Space in Jaw-Dropping Video

[Steve Sensible]

So has anything remotely interesting come out of CES yet...?

[David Chapman]

So has anything remotely interesting come out of CES yet...?

An electric car with 300-mile range and hot-swappable batteries, if that's your thing.

[craggy]

An electric car with 300-mile range and hot-swappable batteries, if that's your thing.

does it turn into a robot?

[Steve Sensible]

An electric car with 300-mile range and hot-swappable batteries, if that's your thing.

Not really.

does it turn into a robot?

Unless it does that.

[al-x]

Hello:

I heard of some little toys and trinkets so far from CES...
I think the real stuff will come out tomorrow.


Al...

[Stephen G]

I just get the LG Nitro. I didn't need a new phone, personally - but work upgraded everyone, and has been pushing me to make my work phone my primary phone. And since they pay for it and give me unlimited everything...I finally complied. I really liked me G2X (an LG phone), so I went with the AT&T version of, and am pretty happy. It's a solid piece of tech.

[al-x]

Hello:

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Cheaper tablets, thinner laptops and an array of sleeker TVs stood out at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

More than 140,000 people gathered there this week, for an event that's growing despite the absence of Apple and more recently, the decision by Microsoft to make this the last year it participates.
A bevy of celebrities, including 50 Cent, Will.i.am, and Kelly Clarkson, stopped by to add glitz to the proceedings —but they were hardly the stars of the show. Here are some of the more significant gadgets that shined at CES:

Cheaper tablets — The industry's enthusiasm for tablets was considerably tempered this year compared to last, when more than a hundred manufacturers thought they could capitalize on the iPad's success with their own models based on Google Inc.' Android software. Sales were disappointing, in large part because Apple prices the iPad relatively low compared to the cost of making it. Then, late last year, Amazon.com Inc. demonstrated that you can take on Apple by selling a smaller, barebones tablet for $199. Analysts believe Amazon sold millions of Kindle Fires in little more than a month.
Now, Asian manufacturers are hoping to jump on Amazon's bandwagon. One of those companies, Taiwan's AsusTek Computer Inc., showed off a tablet with a Fire-sized screen and said it would sell it for $249. It's considerably more powerful than the Fire, sporting a premium "quadcore" processor. Still, one of the things that made the Fire a success — Amazon's library of e-books, music and movies — will be missing.

Nokia Lumia 900 — In recent years, the world's largest phone maker, Finland's Nokia Corp., has practically been a no-show in the U.S. market. That's hurt the company badly. Now, it hopes to come back with smartphones that run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Phone software. The Lumia 900 is its first such phone for the AT&T network, and the first Nokia phone to use AT&T's faster wireless "LTE" network. In a sign of how much is riding on these phones, both the Microsoft and Nokia CEOs showed up for Monday's announcement. The companies didn't announce price or availability. T-Mobile USA, a smaller carrier, started selling a more modest Lumia this week.

Lenovo K800 — While Nokia's been shut out of the U.S. phone market, Intel Corp., the world's largest chipmaker, has been shut out of phones entirely. Its PC chips use too much power to go into a smartphone: they'd drain the battery in no time. That's a big problem for the company, since PC sales are flat in the developed world, while smartphone sales are exploding. Now, Intel says a new line of chips is ready for smartphone use, and Lenovo Corp. of China is the first to take them up on it, with a smartphone to be sold in China in the second quarter. Outwardly, it's indistinguishable from any other touchscreen phone, and it runs Android.

Motorola Mobility, the phone maker that's being bought by Google, also committed to making phones and other devices with Intel chips. Without offering many details, the company said the new devices will be on the market in the second half of the year.

OLED TVs — Both LG and Samsung showed off 55-inch TVs with screens made from organic light-emitting diodes rather than the standard liquid crystals or plasma cells, and said they'll on sale this year. They didn't say what they would cost, but analysts expect the price to be upwards of $5,000.

The sets are long-awaited. OLED TVs have been on the horizon for some time, but they're difficult to manufacture in large sizes. They provide a high-contrast picture with highly saturated colors. They can also be very thin: LG's set is just 4 millimeters thick, or one-sixth of an inch.

Ultrabooks — Intel created the "ultrabook" as a marketing term for thin, light and powerful laptop computers. They're essentially the Windows versions of Apple's MacBook Air. PC makers have embraced the term enthusiastically. As a result, there were scores of ultrabook models on display at the show.

Two that stood out were the Lenovo Yoga, which has a touch-sensitive screen that bends backward to fold over completely, turning the device into a large tablet. It will launch with the new Windows 8 operating system later this year. The HP Envy 14 is a more conventional luxury model, and goes on sale Feb. 8, but has two details that set it apart: a sensor for Near-Field Communications Chips (which means you can transfer information from a similarly equipped phone by tapping it to the PC) and an audio chip that can communicate with some headphones to provide much better audio quality than Bluetooth. The Envy 14 will cost $1,400.

Bob O'Donnell, an analyst with research firm IDC, believes ultrabooks are "not a fad." ''We absolutely see ultrabooks as being the future of notebooks," he said. However, O'Donnell thinks ultrabooks will really take off once they are priced at about $800, closer to the price of regular laptops.

Canon G1 X — The Japanese camera maker revealed a compact camera that pushes into professional camera territory. Its G line of relatively large compact cameras has been popular among enthusiasts, and the G1 X extends the range by including an image sensor that's more than six times larger than other models in the range. Sensor size is the most important factor for a camera's image quality, far more than the number of megapixels — 14, for the G1 X. It's the first camera to use a sensor of this type, which is only 20 percent smaller than the "APS-C" sensors used in single-lens reflex cameras, or SLRs (though some luxury compacts from other manufacturers use APS-C sensors).

I'll have to look into these ultrabooks.... Shame Apple didn't show up and Microsoft is leaving.


Al...