Gadgets Mobile

Its never a nice post when its related to someone passing away, but sometimes its nice to celebrate a little bit of what that person may have accomplished. In this instance the “father of the role-playing game” Gary Gygax who was the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons has passed away.

For some of the younger readers around here, D&D was originally founded 1974 and is the game that started the role-playing phenomenon, it was also one of the best selling games of all time. Its sad to see someone like this pass away, it is being reported that he had been suffering for several years from various health issues and passed away in the comfort of his own home.

A sad day indeed, I will admit D&D was a huge source of entertainment when I was younger, well that and another role-playing game called Star Frontiers. Yes, I was always a geek at heart.

Via [Boing Boing] Via [Wikipedia]

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I’ve heard that dogs generally run around on hard surfaces enough to never actually need a nail clipping, but people who say that have never seen my dog Mojo, who runs around plenty, whose nails have grown to curly Cheetos length, like those people in the Guinness Book of World Records who haven’t clipped their nails in 50 years. Mojo has become a hook-nailed record holder because way back in puppyhood, I accidentally clipped one of her nails a bit too close to the quick, which resulted in a dramatic spurting of blood and a grudge which lasts till this day. I’ve been reduced to sneaking up behind her and grabbing one of her claw-like paws and quickly snipping one hook off, after which she gets so angry, I have to wait a few days before attempting the next nail. By the time I’ve finished the last nail, the first ones have grown into hooks again.

I wish I could time-travel with a QuickFinder Clipper, which has sensor technology that lets you know when you are clipping your pet’s nail too close to the quick. As you lay the blade against the nail, the QuickFinder will either light up green which means you’re good to go; red, which is obvious; or yellow, meaning be very very careful before you clip. Many dogs and cats have nails which are black, or too thick and opaque to reveal any signs of the pink quick, which is filled with live blood. The quick is also filled with nerve endings, so nicking it can cause a lot of pain.

The QuickFinder Clipper is available for $35 from Doggy Booty.

A U.K. woman managed to accumulate a US$22,000 mobile phone bill for downloading just four episodes of the comedy series “Friends.”

The reason the bill was so large is due to the high international roaming fees a user can be subject to. Roaming fees are incurred when a mobile phone is taken out of its home territory and therefore needs to use another telecom network provider. That provider then charges your home provider a fee for using its network, and your provider adds that charge to your bill.

In this case, the woman had used her husband’s account, and after choosing to download the episodes, her husband went on a business trip to Germany. In the U.K., the download would have been free, but due to his travel, the roaming charges were in effect, and the bill became extortionately high.

The episode is being investigated by the the independent regulator Ofcom, and it does plan to take action against the charge.

Read more at Tech Digest.

Matthew’s Opinion

I think it is crazy that everyone talks about the global economy and how small the world has become, but if you travel just a few hundred miles outside your home country huge charges can be incurred for the simplest actions.

Even if we disregard the fact the woman was–for some unknown reason–using her husband’s phone to download “Friends” episodes, why such a high bill for what couldn’t be more than a few hundred megabytes of data? Even if extra charges are incurred for using a foreign provider, the costs must be minimal, and I’d be interested to see the profit margins on this.

Ofcom is starting to take action in the U.K., and there are alternatives such as signing on to a different, cheaper provider for mobile calls before you travel. In this global economy, though, you should be able to take your phone anywhere and not expect to pay additional fees.

No Microsoft soda at this year’s TechFest. Instead, we were confronted with lemon/lime ‘Heroes’ soda. No sweetener, zero calories…kinda bland. I’ll stick with my Microsoft coffee. Keynote begins in 10 minutes.  Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) will be joining the conversation.  

Posted Mar 4th 2008 10:32AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: GPS
That 8110 flagship isn’t the only new GPS device Navigon brought to CeBIT, and lucky for us the 2100 Max and 2120 Max are North America-bound. The “Max” aspect of these units refers to the new 4.3-inch widescreen touch displays — the regular old 2100 only had a 3.5-inch screen. You’ll still have to look further up Navigon’s product line for perks like traffic info and Bluetooth, but 4.3-inches of GPS for $299 is nothing to sneeze at. The 2120 adds Canadian maps and sells for $329 CAD. Both devices can also work with Navigon’s new FreshMaps subscription service, which updates your maps quarterly for the next three years for $79, and you can also pick up an add-on accessory for live traffic updates for $99. No word yet on when these will be shipping.

[Via GPS Review]

Dell has just released a new rugged laptop known as the Latitude XFR D630. This tough cookie will come with a tough chassis, conforming to the Department of Defense’s rigid MIL-STD 810F specifications. It is capable of functioning even in extreme temperatures, mositure, and altitudes among others, making the possibility of it outlast the owner very real. Solid state drives are supported, while folks who prefer to stick to a traditional hard drive can always rely on the shock-isolated mounting for extra protection. The keyboard is sealed, protecting it from rain and dust, while port covers are there to prevent the elements from creatic havoc. Other features include 500 nits of brightness and an optional integrated resistive touch screen technology. The price to pay for such toughness? $3,899 upwards, depending on the configuration.

Electrolux has a brand new 36″ induction hybrid cooktop to decorate your home - and this time it features a couple of induction zones as well as three electric elements. This means you’ll benefit from precise temperature control with a peak power of 3.2 kW that boils water in just 90 seconds, while the 6″ induction cooking zone has maximum power of 1.5 kW. Other features include Power Assist function, Sabbath Mode and Hot Surface indicator lights - no idea what Sabbath Mode is, does it mean it will just shut down throughout the entire Sabbath to ensure that no work gets done? This 36″ hybrid cooktop will retail for $2,000.

Source: Appliancist

Overview

Immerse yourself in music, movies and photos with the Philips Flash audio player 4GB. Its integrated USB Direct makes downloading music rapid and easy. Quickly search for your favorite songs by album or artist. Show off your style with soft glow. Sing along to your favorite music with the on-screen lyrics display.

Features

Philips Flash audio player 4GB features a 2.2″ color screen display for easy navigation and photo viewing. Users can also make voice recordings i.e. sing, dictate, record notes directly to WAV via the built-in microphone. The Philips Flash audio player is incorporated with MP3 and WMA (DRM) playback. It is a device with direct USB i.e. it can be plugged directly into the USB port of your PC without the need for any cable and enables fast downloads from your PC.

Enjoy more music with Digital FM radio with 20 stations preset. Philips Flash audio player is embossed with plug and play data storage. You can enjoy unlimited music playback up to 15-hours non stop. Its small and compact size makes you carry it wherever you want to. It is integrated with an equalizer for optimized sound to suit your music style.

Warranty

Philips Flash audio player 4GB is backed up with a warranty of one year.

Price

Philips Flash audio player 4GB is available at a price of 133.23 USD.

Source: Philips

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The Olympics is not here yet, but I guess Sony’s PSP has already picked up the bronze medal with its new color. Available as a new PSP Lite Value Pack, this bronze colored regular PSP Lite will feature a paltry 32MB Memory Pro Duo memory stick and an AV digital cable. Pricing has been set to €147 as at press time. You will probably pay a premium if you want to import it Stateside.

Dlink has an interesting router that features an integrated OLED display. The interesting design houses a Wifi-N router with QoS (Quality of Service) that can be useful to VOIP (Voice over IP) users. D-Link also claims that it performs faster than the competition. We have not tried it, so we cannot vouch for it, but on the paper, the DIR-855 looks like a worthy router.