Wooden iPad Stand boosts iPad volume!

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Wooden accessories like native keychains, ashtrays, lamp, tables, figurines are pretty popular in the Philippines. Carrol Wilhelm probably got this idea to design a Wooden iPad Stand. But his design is not just a wooden stand/dock, it boosts the volume to a considerable level. The design was well thought and research was conducted thoroughly before this was developed. No need to buy external speakers for your iPad! 


See for yourself.

The iPad Stand will cost you around $39.95 @ Etsy. 40 bucks for a piece of wood with 4 holes @_@


Source: Etsy

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Bring the house down with Logitech's new netbook clip-on speakers!

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With netbooks sold in a really low price, manufacturers didn't care to bundle netbooks with good quality speakers. And besides, netbooks aren't meant to be transformed into a portable movie home theater. But who say's it's not possible?

Introducing, Logitech's Z305 clip-on speakers!

As seen on the images, Logitech's Z305 allows you to clip it on your netbook or notebook for portability. Unlike the Z205, where the speaker is facing the user, the Z305 is a bus-powered speaker that emulates surround system. The sound output is more balanced, the user won't hear high frequencies dropping out when the user moves to a different position. SRP is at $99.99. 

Watch this video review on the 360-degree surround speakers, Z305, and wireless speakers, Z515: 




Source: Gizmodo

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Open bottled drinks with your iPhone!

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No bottle opener? Instead of using your teeth, why not open bottled beverage in style by using the new iBottleopener case for iPhone! 

The iBottleopener case protects your iPhone from scratches and dirt, and at the same time, serves as a functional bottle opener!  No need to bring bulky bottle opener key chains.

Demo video on how to use the iBottleopener:

The iBottleopener is available at the LightBulb Moments for only $19.95++.

Real men are beer drinkers, beer drinkers need bottle openers. Thus, Techno Bacon adds iBottleopener to its list of bad ass iPhone cases for real men!  

Source: iBottleopener

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Play Nintendo Wii games using Nike Air Maxes?

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What made Nintendo's Wii so popular is because of its unique "Wiimote" game controllers. Unlike traditional video game controllers that has a d-pad, and buttons as your game controls, Wiimotes uses motion sensor that allows users to interact and control items on screen via gesture recognition and by pointing through the use of accelerometer and optical sensor technology. 

And another innovation is its Wii Balance Board. The Wii Balance Board is a type of game controller accessory gives users a different gaming experience. The Wii Balance Board was introduced together with the famous Wii Fit game. The idea of creating this controller is to allow users to play the video console using their whole body including their legs. 

Nick Marsh has taken the Nintendo Wii gaming experience to a whole new level. By performing surgery on his Wii Balance Board, taking off its internals and integrating them to his Nike Air Maxes, playing Nintendo Wii will never be the same. 

Wii Balance Board's "internal organs"

Let's take a closer look on Nick Marsh's masterpiece.

By wearing the modded Nike Air Maxes, your shoes will serve as your balance board. According to Nick, since you're physically attached to your "balance board", you must lift your foot and stand on one leg or sit down when no pressure is required to emulate the Wii balance board, and this what makes it more interesting and harder to play Wii Fit.

Watch the video a demo on how to play using the Nike Air Max Wii Balance Board:

Sources: Trend Hunter

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China's iPed Tablet, the ultimate "iPad clone"

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China "clone" phones have been quite popular here in the Philippines. Besides cloning a phone model's design, China phone manufacturers have managed to add certain features that are not offered by the originals. As we all know, China "clone" phones are famous for their dual-sim functionality and capability to receive TV signals. And most importantly, they are incredibly cheap! But at the same time, they are famous for their "quality". With all these features packed into a device and sold in a low low price, we couldn't expect its quality to be as refined and sturdy as the originals. 

China phone manufacturers have cloned almost every single phone model in the market. Apple's iPhone, Nokia's N series, Samsung's flip phones, Sony Ericsson's Satio, Blackberry models, you name it! And now, China has done it again! The latest addition to their clone collection is the iPed, an Apple iPad clone. News of the iPed have surfaced since May 2010 and now it has reached our shores. 

Homescreen comparison: iOS vs Android OS

Back Comparison

Boxed out: Apple iPad and China's clone, iPed

The iPed tablet runs on Android 1.6, has a 7" screen, and looks exactly like Apple's iPad (including the box).  Some key features of the iPed: WiFi 802.11b/g, It has USB ports where you can plug your USB 3G Modems like Globe Tattoo, or Smart Bro to access the internet; 2gb flash memory with expandable storage using MicroSD up to 16gb or external hard disk drive through USB ports; Under the hood, it's running on an Intel chip, VIA processor 300Mhz with 128mb RAM. 

"Apple bottoms"

Looking on the hardware aspect, besides looking exactly the same as Apple's iPad, the iPad is even 2 times heavier than the iPed. Just like any China clones, using fingers to navigate through the touchscreen will be a bit harder, it will be easier using stylus. Battery life is a bit weak and will probably last around 2.5 hours according to specifications indicated in its box. 

As for its incredibly low low price, it is said to cost around Php 5,000 - Php 6,000 here in the Philippines compared to an entry level Apple iPad that costs around Php 32,000. 

Yugatech was able to get his hands on one of these for Php 6,800. But according to his site, he said you can probably get it for Php 5,000 from other stores in Greenhills.

Sources: TechDude, Yugatech

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Featuring: Custom made R2-D2 PC case modification

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In my previous post, we've seen R2-D2 in mobile phones, specifically the Motorola Droid 2. R2-D2 is back! A life-size Astromech droid from the famous Star Wars series, as your PC case! How cool is that! (At least for us nerds) 

The R2-D2 PC case was made for a “Science Fiction Case Mod Contest” by Frenki Janse. The custom made PC case was inspired by R2-D2 Pepsi coolers on gas stations. Frenki only spent USD $120 for the legendary PC case. Kudos to Frenki! You deserve a Pulitzer/Nobel or whatever prize/award for your design!

Presenting, the R2-D2 PC case by Frenki Janse

Ejected CD/DVD trays. Optical drives cleverly positioned!

Back panel with cut-out holes to expose I/O ports and other expansion slots. (i.e. PS/2 connector, LAN ports, VGA/DVI ports, USB ports, mic, headphones jack, etc) We can also see some vents and fans that serve as part of the case's cooling system. 

Frenki also installed a "door" within the back panel for easy internal access.

Side panel to show the details on the PC case. 

FYI,  the specifications for the PC inside R2-D2 are as follows: 

Processor: Pentium 4 3.2Ghz with Hyper Threading Technology

Memory: 2GB (4 x 512MB) DDR 400

Hard Drive: 120GB Hard drive

GPU: ATK Radeon 9800XT 256MB

Sound Card: Creative 7.1 surround sound

Cooling System: Asetek Vapochill Phase Change cooling @ -38C

Techno Bacon, and I'm sure all the nerds out there <3 and hopes to own Artoo PC case edition. Good news! You can read the step-by-step guide on how to build this baby, through this link.

Sources: PlanetOddity, Bit Tech

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Tapi: Easily drink or rinse your mouth straight from your tap, without using your hands!

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A lot of people uses their hands to rinse their mouth when brushing their teeth. It's kind of hard for tall people to bend over especially if it's the type used for washing hands. So I guess, the designer/inventor (probably stands 7 feet tall, and doesn't have enough money to buy a bathroom accessory set), thought of designing Tapi, a tap squeeze drinking fountain. Dreamfarm's Tapi is made of water-safe rubber that is safe and doesn't change the taste of the water. A simple, yet interesting invention, Tapi can fit to almost any tap and only costs USD $5.95. 

 

To use Tapi all you have to do is squeeze the lower portion to use the fountain feature, release to use the faucet faeture.

See more pictures on how Tapi is used.

Sources: Dreamfarm, INewIdea

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47-in touchscreen vending machines with embedded cameras!

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47-in touchscreen panel installed on vending machines!? With cameras?  What for!? All the user has to do is push a button representing the item he/she wishes to purchase and that's it! So again, what for?

Well, as we all know, Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the whole world. Japan is famous for their wild, crazy, and innovative ideas on basically anything (gadgets, game shows, animes, etc). So, Advanced country + Wild ideas = 47-in touchscreen panel on vending machines with embedded camera. 

The first touchscreen vending machine was installed two weeks ago at Tokyo's Shinagawa Station. This replaces the quintessential vending machines we have, that has a poster image/logo of the product and uses a physical button to select the item. Instead, users just have to "tap" on the screen to select. 

47-in Touchscreen Panel 

(it would've been more useful if this is used as my computer monitor)

After selecting the item, there's a confirmation screen, as shown below.

"Happy" customer! (Fake smile if you ask me :|)

Besides the breathtaking 47-in touchscreen panel, this futuristic vending machine has an embedded camera. As you take time to decide on what to get, the camera will scan and recognize your gender and age, which will allow the machine to recommend a beverage/item using stereotype rules based on what the machine scanned (you).  Neat! Just like how search engines use your browsing history to show tailored ads, the vending machine also stores your purchasing history to show tailored ads on your next visit. Well, at least this super vending machine is not all looks, but is also expected to bring more revenue. Ka-ching!

Problem is, what if people started "shaking" or "beating" the vending machine up because their item won't fall down just like what most of us do today?

Source: Engadget

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Sony Ericsson concept phone: A new breed of mobile phone form-factor

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Mobile phones have 5 basic form-factors: Bar or "candybar", Slate or "touch screen", Flip or "clamshell", Slider, and Swivel.  Using these basic form-factors, a lot of phone manufacturers have mixed and matched possibilities of combining two or more form-factors into one phone . We've seen successful phone models with mixed form-factors like Nokia's N90, N92, and N93 (Flip + Swivel), Sony Ericsson's P series (Flip down + Slate), and newer models that incorporate Slider QWERTY with Slate form-factors. The purpose of combining these form-factors is to innovate and improve the capabilities and user-friendliness of mobile phones. Nokia N90's Swivel feature is to enable users to watch videos horizontally (widescreen) and conveniently (you can tilt the screen and sit the phone on your desk). 

A new breed of form-factor is being conceptualize by Sony Ericsson. It breaks the laws of mobile phone design, although it doesn't combine form-factors, it's way better! It uses the Flip form-factor concept, but instead of flipping vertically or horizontally, it flips... eerrr.. verizontically! Not only that, it can be split into two, serving as a walkie-talkie! Design is by Master Du Jun.

Sony Ericsson F-H is a dual-screen phone just like the Toshiba Libretto W100 that was released last week. It's basically a flip phone (before transforming).

After flipping the phone vertically just like an ordinary clamshell phone, one screen is used as its display, and the other one is used as a virtual keypad. 

From its flip opened state, you can flip it sideways to combine the screens into one display panel for widescreen display.

And best of all, you can dismantle the two screens from its pivotal hinge and each screen unit serves as a walkie-talkie using bluetooth technology. 

Sony Ericsson F-H, transform!

It even comes in different colors. Not bad!

Take a closer look on the bread and butter of this concept, the pivotal hinge. 

If they could turn this wonderful phone concept into reality, who knows what other inventions will be built out of this technology. Also, judging by today's technology growth, I bet this isn't far from being a fantasy. 

Source: Yanko Design

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Introducing, Samsung's Android "iPod Touch Killer"

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When it comes to digital audio players, Apple has pummeled every single one in the market with their iPod series. The iPod has gained its reputation and position as the most popular portable music device. Here in the Philippines, media players, in general, are often called "iPod" already. Many have attempted to dethrone the King, and yet all have failed. Although some of them have put on a good fight like Creative's Zen series and Microsoft's Zune series. 

In 2007, next generation audio players (now called portable media players) were introduced by Apple. Portable media players are not only used for music playback but for games and video playback. Apple's iPod Touch is a PMP (Portable Media Player) that is running on the famous iPhone OS. Its practically an iPhone without camera and phone services but sold in a much lower price than the iPhone. Because of this, the reign have extended until present time. Apple was able to give birth to a lot of generations for the iPod series and still entice a lot of consumers. Basically, because the iPhone OS is one of the best mobile operating system in the market, and it's packed in a PMP that is sold in a low price. 

Unfortunately for Apple, Google has started to make his move. Yes, I'm pertaining to the Android Mobile Operating System. As mentioned in my other post, Android-based devices is today's fastest growing mobile platform, and Samsung has extended its reach by developing a PMP using Android as its OS. Introducing,  the Samsung Galaxy player. 

 

The device is said to inherit the Samsung Galaxy series' design. Aside from the fact that it will run on Google's Android OS, it will be packed with a 4-in AMOLED screen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 3 megapixel camera.

More pictures of the "iPod Touch Killer"

Will the Samsung Galaxy player be enough to overthrow the iPod Touch from its 3-year reign? Stay tune to find out!

Source: Tech Radar

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Toshiba Libretto: A Nintendo DS-like dual screen Tablet PC

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Toshiba's newest innovation, Libretto W100, is a cross breed between a traditional laptop and a tablet PC that has two multi-touch LCD screens. One screen is primarily for display and one serves as a virtual keyboard since the 7in, 1.5lbs machine doesn't have a physical keyboard. The dual screen design can also function as a touch screen tablet PC, pretty neat!  So I guess, Apple's iPad now has a worthy competitor. The Libretto W100 runs on Windows 7, so it pretty much could do what other laptops/netbooks could do. You can extend displays between two screens, so its so much easier when surfing the internet, or even reading e-books. 

In my opinion. the dual screen design somewhat resembles what Nintendo did to their Nintendo DS. And I commend Toshiba's idea on implementing this design on a Windows 7 device. The Libretto also offers 6 clever virtual keyboard modes to choose from, which proves that the Libretto is designed to cater to the user's accessability and full control of the device. Toshiba was able to combine mobility, user-friendliness, large screen display, speed without sacrificing basic computer functionalities since it's running on Windows 7.

Closer look on the Libretto W100:

The technical specifications are as follows:

- Intel Pentium U5400 (1.2 Ghz)

- 2GB DDR3 RAM

- 62GB Solid State Drive

- 802.11 b/g/n

- 802.16e-2005 WiMax

- 1 megapixel Web Camera

- Bluetooth 2.1

- MicroSD card slot

- USB 2.0 port

- Internal Mic

- Stereo Earphone jack

- Dual 7.0 inch multi-touch displays

- 6-mode virtual keyboard

- Weight: 1.55 lbs

- Battery Life: Approx. 2 hours

By compacting all these features into one ravishing device, we'll be expecting the price of the Libretto W100 way higher than the Apple iPad. It's more of a PC than a multimedia device. You can do a lot more with the Libretto than the iPad. So expect the price to be on par with market Tablet PCs.

WoW-Pow has made a video review of the Toshiba Libretto W100. 


Part 1:



Part2:

Source: WoW-Pow, Gizmodo

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Motorola Droid 2 R2-D2 Special Edition brings nerds and geeks to tears

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The ultimate success of Motorola's Droid has earned its spot as iPhone's number one contender.  And its about time Android-based mobile phones challenge Apple's iPhone to a cage match. Now, Motorola is about to give birth to the Droid's successor, Motorola Droid 2.  Motorola has kept the world waiting for the birth of the new and improved Droid 2. 

But wait, don't get too excited. There's more good news! 

To all Star Wars nerds and geeks out there, R2-D2 is coming to our galaxy! In the form of Motorola's Droid 2. Motorola's shipping a Droid 2 Special Edition in honor of Star Wars' dependable droid, R2-D2.

Comparison between the real R2-D2 and Motorola Droid 2 R2-D2 Special Edition

According the Verizon's teaser poster, looks like the pocket size R2-D2 will be available on September 30, 2010. 

Verizon has gone live with the Droid 2 R2-D2 Special Edition teaser web page. You can follow this link to the whereabouts of Artoo. 

Source: Android Central

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