Tech & Gadget Stream

Amazon's Kindle 2 now has a new Folio booklight case to snuggle within, where the latter comes with a small memo pad (presumably to write down notes in the real world after digesting the thoughts of the virtual world), a pen to, er, pen down those thoughts, and most importantly, a retractable light that is the bedroom reader's best companion, especially when your other half nods off rather easily upon touching his/her head on the pillow. The asking price of $50 for the Folio Booklight Case is not cheap, but do bear in mind Amazon is currently charging $30 a pop for a standard book cover sans the capability to jot notes or read in total darkness.

Department store Selfridges decided to indulge a little when celebrating its centennial year in existence by commissioning 10 exclusive, limited edition BlackBerry smartphones from RIM that are individually numbered from one to ten, retailing at their flagship London store at a coo £1,000 a pop, data plan notwithstanding. These BlackBerry Bolds were redesigned with a leather back-plate in the iconic Selfridges Pantone 109 yellow color, along with different-looking number keys on the device's face. If you're one of the proud new owners, each handset will be accompanied by VIP support in order to rub you the right way.

Not so long ago, many people (but not us) were beating on Oakley's head with a stick for making MP3 glasses and now MP3 glasses are cool all the sudden? Tri-Specs has built mp3 sunglasses with a twist: they have retractable earbuds. When deployed, the earbuds connect with a wire that is supposed to go discreetly under the earlobe and behind the ear. But wait, there's more: there's voice-control, Bluetooth connectivity and multiple colors: white, black, gold, silver and blue. $199-$224.

If someone told you that the iPod touch could surf at amazing WiBRO speeds, chances are you'd laugh your head off at this cuckoo bird. Well, nobody's laughing now with Korean cellular provider KT having launched a new network gateway described as the Egg. The Egg hatches a new way of connecting to the Internet with your iPod touch by pulling a WiBRO (WiMAX variant) connection of its own while making it available to others via Wi-Fi to create an impromptu local hotspot that can hit download speeds of up to 37Mbps. KT hopes that this latent ability will see the Egg sell well at Apple resellers, with a handful of Nintendo DS gamers probably checking it out as well alongside others who spend plenty of time with their Wi-Fi-enabled devices. The Egg will retail for $164 in Korea, although those who sign up for a 50GB (!) monthly data plan can have it for free.

Have difficulty in keeping those eyes open to go to work every morning? How about this Shrieking Ball concept alarm clock that touts an almost 100% guarantee that you will wake up to face the day, regardless of how nice it is to stay in bed and under the covers, feeling super cozy while it is raining outside. This alarm clock will ring until you lift the globe off its base when it shrieks, followed by having to place it down precisely in its cradle in order to stop the electronic banshee from continuing. Don't think anyone would bother to snooze once this alarm clock kicks into action...

Say what you want about the T-Mobile G1, but it has quietly garnered over a million units worth of sales in the US along, which is pretty impressive considering the number of subscribers T-Mobile has in the US compared to the giants in the same playing field. This just bodes well for the upcoming G2/HTC Dream Android-powered handset as it shows there is a market ready and willing to snap up such smartphones without jumping over to the iPhone camp.

HiPhone seems to on a roll this time round with their latest offering, the HiPhone Nano N3+ looking every inch a beauty - surprising compliment for a China clone manufacturer! Well, it comes with a nanosque outer skin, a cloned ClickWheel and a 2.8" touchscreen internal display that can be accessed when flipped open. You will be able to rotate the internal display by up to 180 degrees, which presumably allows for more flexible photo taking opportunities with the 1.3 megapixel camera. As for the rest of the features, the Nano N3+ comes with dual SIM slots, shake control, Bluetooth connectivity, an integrated FM tuner and a microSD memory card slot. Would you fork out $189.99 for something like this?

Check out this four-wheeled wheelchair known as the H-ergo - it was specially designed by a bunch of companies from Italy, featuring a built-in hydrogen fuel cell that is able to provide up to 2 hours of movement before a recharge is required. It won't win any sprint races, that's for sure, hitting 20km/h at the very best, while the two 800-watt electrical motor wheels were not made to run all day. The saving grace would be it being more environmentally friendly compared to the standard plug-in scooter, and targets those who need to move around in wheelchairs.

At last, the LG Viewty Smart, also known as the LG GC900, is official. This will be the Viewty's successor, and to see just how much smarter the phone has become, well check out the following specifications and grab a bucket to contain all that drool :- * 3" TFT touchscreen display at 800 x 480 resolution * 8-megapixel autofocus Schneider-Kreuznach lens * S-Class Touch user interface * Quad band GSM connectivity (850/ 900/1800/1900 MHz) * HSDPA 2100 connectivity * A-GPS with geotagging capability * Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP connectivity * Audio playback * Supports, DivX, MPEG4 and XviD video formats * 1.5GB internal memory * microSDHC memory card slot Folks will be able to get their hands on the LG GC900 Viewty Smart this May, arriving at Europe first followed by other notable markets around the world. There is no word on pricing by LG, but we expect this puppy to make itself comfortable at the top of the food chain, so be prepared to fork out a handso

The folks at AU KDDI and Sharp will soon release a brand new cell phone in Japan that will come with a solar panel built into its lid, allowing you to juice up your handset wherever you go as long as there is sufficient sunlight. Of course, we're pretty sure this will also come with a power adapter for those moments when you're relegated to working in a cubicle that has no window, hence cutting off your handset from the precious rays of the sun. A 10 minute charge under direct sunlight is good for 1 minute of talktime or 2 hours of standby time. Being waterproof and scheduled for a June release, we think we've found our perfect summer phone. Hopefully it makes its way out of Japan though.

Even faucets are getting smart these days thanks to the efforts of iHouse and their SmartFaucet. This waterproof device boasts a facial screening application that is able to recognize the person in front of it, automatically turning on the water to the pre-programmed and preferred flow as well as temperature. In addition, the touchscreen display located on top of the faucet (a wee bit small if you ask us) can be used to check out your email inbox, view the current temperature outside among others. Perfect for huge households where there is a wide range of temperature preferences. Love the way it lights up as well in the dark - definitely adds a touch of class to your home.

The NexStar SATA Drive Dock is unique on its own as it comes with two drive slots to store as much information and data as possible from various sources - imagine throwing in a couple of spacious hard drives and you'll be toting around a fancy hot-swap external USB enclosure. The NexStar SATA Drive Dock plays nice with Windows, Mac and Linux platforms, and will be able to fit both 2.5" and 3.5" hard drives, depending on whether you prefer space over portability and a lightweight setup or otherwise. This $77.99 device is also perfect to recycle spare hard drives instead of leaving them to lie around without any cable connecting them to a computer to fulfil their purpose in life.

Folks who will be picking up the HP dv2 ultra-slim notebook will definitely be pleased with the external Blu-ray drive that comes along with it. After all, take one glance at the drive here and tell us you're sold - it blends in perfectly with the dv2 in its shiny form factor (although the downside would mean it is a fingerprint magnet of sorts). What are some of the other computer or notebook peripherals you've seen to date that ooze with quality in terms of design, complementing the main device perfectly?

AOpen has released its XC Encore OE700 Media PC which not only looks good, it comes with the necessary innards to make it run well enough to function as a Media PC right smack in the middle of your living room. You will be able to choose from a range of Intel Core 2 Duo processors, cramming in up to 4GB RAM in addition to a Smart Anti-Vibration System that reduces hard drive noise. Another effort to make sure the XC Encore OE700 Media PC runs as quietly as possible would be its new casing known as the SNSS (or Smart Noise Suppression System) that touts to keep all the other noises at bay. Other features include a home theater-friendly VFD display and a Media Center compatible remote control. Seems as though the XC Encore OE700 Media PC will only be available in Japan though. Bummer.

The name Emtrace Technologies is synonymous with the first Exchange ActiveSync push e-mail for the Android platform in the world, and they have just rolled out a free trial version of Moxier Mail Pre-release. This pre-release version will see similar features as found in the full version, where the latter will be available later this month. Some of the important features include direct push synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 & 2007, a secure environment with SSL support, HTML Email with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and a dummy-proof method of receiving, replying, composing and deleting emails on-the-go. Corporate users might want to give this a go if they want something efficient and easy.

Tokyo-based designer Mac Funamizu has done it yet again - coming up with a fluid concept design that makes us wish prevailing technology has what it takes to manufacture a thing of beauty such as the Glassy Glassy cell phone concept. The entire thing is transparent until you turn it on, where the screen and keypad will then light up for you to press accordingly. No idea whether it has the tensile strength of a standard cell phone, or will it crack all too easily during one's travels? One more thing - where the heck is the battery stowed away?

We all know that Sony's Vaio range of notebooks are pretty far ahead in terms of its design curve compared to the rest of the competition, and Sony Japan does not disappoint with its VAIO Type C notebooks being launched recently. The "C" there stands for Crocodile edition, which is obvious by the cover of this portable computing device. Limited in quantity, fashion forward future owners of the VAIO Type C notebook will be able to choose from red, pink and brown colors. Features include Intel’s Core 2 Duo processor, a maximum of 8GB RAM, up to 500GB hard drive, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and a NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS graphics card.

Most devices these days need to do more than just one thing, otherwise they'd be scowled upon as something worthless. The IF Battery concept certainly fills up this niche pretty nicely - it not only juices up your devices once plugged, it also comes with pins on the side which allows you to hook up to a nearby power outlet for recharging should the IF Battery start to run low of its reserves in the process. While this does away with the need for a recharging station, the drawback would be the ability to juice up only one battery at a time.

Sanyo is in the GPS game to the surprise of those who do not follow the scene, although their Gorilla line of GPS devices nearly went extinct a few years back. Since then, Sanyo has taken the relevant steps to bring the Gorilla GPS line back to life, with a trio of Gorilla SSD portable GPS navigation systems to make their debut in Japan later this year. The three Gorilla systems in question are the NV-SD730DT, NV-SB450DT and NV-SB530DT which will come in 7", 5.2” and 5.2" screen sizes, respectively, complete with LED backlight, 8GB SSD, VICS Traffic information (not included on the NV-SB530DT), a 1-Seg TV Tuner and Eco Mode which alerts you whenever your foot steps on the gas pedal too much.

Guess rumor has made the leap to fact with word from a BlackBerry spokesperson in Netherlands, Alain Segon de Banchet, who has confirmed the existence of this device. What you see here is not the real thing, but is a mockup of the BlackBerry QWERTY slider that was initially described in the RIM patent application over a year ago. The BlackBerry Storm 2 will be available in the market later this year or early the next, and will not feature carrier exclusivity in Netherlands. In addition, it will weed out the weaknesses of the original Storm in terms of typing - could we be looking at the possibility of a slide out QWERTY keyboard and a full touchscreen display?

Denon is back in the thick of things with theri fully automatic turntable known as the Denon DP-200USB, featuring a USB port as well as an integrated MP3 encoder. This enables vinyl lovers to transfer their favorite warm tunes over to MP3 audio tracks without having to purchase a computer, and all it takes is a simple push of a button and you're good to go - just make sure than an empty USB flash drive is plugged in, of course. All your tunes will be ripped in 192kbps quality thanks to its Trans Music Convertor, while Gracenote metadata services will be able to add info to the files. If you're interested in picking up the Denon DP-200USB, make sure there is at least £199.99 left in your bank account with silver or black colors to choose from.

How many years has it been since you last handled a film camera, juggling with rolls and rolls of 35mm film whenever you go on a vacation? Well, talk about turning the tables by merging both the old and the new - this digital camera comes in the form factor of a 35mm film, making it the perfect disguise if you want to capture secrety trysts between the maid and her lover whenever you're not at home. No idea whether people in the room will wonder just what's up with such an oversized roll of 35mm film, but chances are they've last seen one a decade ago or so, letting this thought slide by without further ado. You can pick up this 35mm Film digital camera for $20 a pop in South Korea.

One glance at the USB Privacy Keypad and you will realize that it looks pretty familiar, especially when you use ATMs often. It works on the same concept, covering up your numeric keypad so that nobody else will be able to see what numbers you're keying in. It connects to your desktop or notebook via USB 2.0, and comes with an SDHC memory card slot in addition to a couple of shortcut keys. You can pick up the USB Privacy Keypad for $18.99 a pop. We suppose accountants and those who deal with numbers on a daily basis might find this to be fun, while folks who rely on just numbers for their passwords could definitely make do with one of these.

Want a speaker that offers surround sound capability? Look no further than Kenwood's very own Squeezophone 360° speaker. It is built based along similar lines as the extremely pricey Sony Soutina glass speakers, oozing out your favorite tunes in all directions with the help of acoustic technology. Apart from this inherent ability, very little else is known about the device since it is still under the prototype category. We suppose it ain't gonna come cheap when made available to the masses though.

Mitsubishi has not given up hope on the HDTV market just yet, augmenting their LaserVue line with the Unisen range which is made up of the 151 Series (40", 46" and 52"), the 153 Series (40", 46" and 52") and the top-of-the-line (and aptly named, we might add) Diamond 259 Series that comes in 46" and 52" varieties. All of these will feature the following: Plush1080p 5G 18-bit digital video processing USB 2.0 media port A quartet of HDMI 1.3a inputs Integrated 5.1-channel 16-speaker audio bar UltraThin Frame design 120Hz Film Motion technology Wired IR input Expect this fancy new Unisen line of HDTVs to ship Stateside from next month onwards, with prices starting from $1,799 going upwards to touch $3,299. [ Press Release ]

OCZ offers yet another Solid State Drive (SSD) goodie - albeit this time it will target Mac owners in the form of the OCZ Vertex Series Mac Edition SSD. Featuring speeds of up to 240MB/s sequential read and 170MB/s sequential write with some help from its 64MB onboard cache, the Vertex Series Mac Edition is one mean device, helping to extend your MacBook's battery life when in use while bringing to the table a much higher level of durability in comparison to standard hard drives. Each purchase of the OCZ Vertex Series SSD drive will be accompanied by a 2-year warranty, and you will be able to choose from 30GB, 60GB, 120GB, and 250GB capacities.