Gadgets Mobile

I have a girlfriend who will only hit the gym if she has an appointment with her trainer, or take a run if she has a partner. (And I have another girlfriend who’s a gym rat but we’re planning an intervention, so that’s a different story.)

Girlfriend #1 needs the new Adidas miCoach system which is like having a coach or trainer constantly pushing you to new levels (”Come on, just one MORE MILE!”).

Unlike the devices that collect data for your workout, miCoach claims to be the the first system that actually coaches by turning your data into a personal training plan based on your fitness level and goals (”LAZY BONES, speed it up!”).

Created as a partnership between Samsung and Adidas, miCoach uses your cell phone as a personal trainer, the first “fully–featured, fully-reactive and adaptive personal trainer mobile phone.” This means there are some unusual features such as a heart rate monitor, a pedometer which works by attaching a “foot pod” to your laces (or if you bought the matching runners, there’s a spot specifically for it) and measures the distance you’ve travelled and how fast you’re going.

Meanwhile, since you inputted all your data, the domineering phone is supposedly motivating you by pushing you to your own personal fitness plan. Perfect for people who need a personal trainer or coach. Me? I would have trashed my phone after the first mile.

Scheduled to be released next month, there’s no pricing information available yet.

Kensington Pilotmouse Optical Mini Wireless Mouse

The PilotMouse? Bluetooth? Mini easily connects to your Bluetooth? enabled notebook without wires or an added receiver - from up to 20 metres away for the complete wireless freedom.      Features Hassle-free connection easily works with any Bluetooth? enabled notebook computer Eliminates wires and an added receiver for the ultimate in portable freedom Ergonomic shape, integrated grips for unrivalled ease of use On-off switch helps you conserve battery power for you when you really need it Superior range lets you control presentations from up to 20 metres DiamondEye? optical technology tracks smoothly and accurately on virtually any surface Compact size is easy to carry and comfortable to use

Technorati Tags: gadgets

The point of terrorism is, of course, terror. Terror which is used to put the population in a constant state of fear. By this metric, London’s Metropolitan Police are helping the cause with a new poster campaign which urges paranoia about cameras, cellphones and houses. The ads instruct citizens to snitch on anyone they see with more than one cellphone, and photographers snapping near CCTV cameras or just making notes.

This appalling scaremongering not only breeds suspicion between innocent people but seeks to erode freedom. In the UK, a photograph can be taken of anything public. People, buildings and objects are all fair game if they are outside. Even private property is a legitimate subject if it can reasonably be seen from a public place. Terrorism is the new bogeyman, and it seems that it can be used to justify almost any whim of government or police.

On the plus side, the backlash has already begun, with parody posters up on Flickr ridiculing this ridiculous campaign.

Met Launches New Counter-Terrorism Campaign [Metropolitan Police]

Remixing the London police’s anti-photographer terrror posters [BoingBoing]

Posted Mar 6th 2008 7:19AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Gaming
Quick note to the graphics enthusiasts in the house, HardOCP took a long look at CrossFireX using dual Radeon HD 3870 X2s. As you might expect, some games benefit from the raw power, some games require driver tweaks and knob-fiddling to get going right, and some games were just about the same without (read: your mileage my vary — for now). Check out their full review for the details.

[Thanks, Risk]

Problem: You have a big music collection, and you want to share it with multiple computers around the home. Ripfactory’s RipServer is one way around this, but it leaves out the essentials in it’s rip’n’store network storage device.

The RipServer is a minimalist box containing a CD drive, a 500GB or 1TB hard drive and a small Linux brain. Slide in a CD and it is ripped to MP3 or lossless FLAC formats, whereupon it is available to everyone on the network. The box will also store movies and while it will play DVDs, it won’t rip them.

A semi-automatic CD ripper is fine when you first want to convert your collection of discs, but after the initial run, the CD player is somewhat redundant. It would have been better to include WiFi; as it is, you need to hook the RipServer to your network via ethernet. Ripfactory does gain points for including USB for adding extra storage, but at $600 and $700, it’s essentially a fancy and expensive NAS. If you want a true $700 home media box, it already exists. It’s called the mac mini.

Product page [Ripfactory via Crave]

Logitech surprised everyone at CeBIT and unveiled their very first wireless headset.

The Logitech ClearChat PC Wireless headset, if I might say so myself, looks good. It’s a 2.4 GHz wireless which allows you use it even if you’re 33 feet away from your computer. The earphones deliver uncompressed, high-quality audio sound, while the microphone uses noise-cancelling technology. All of this is made possible solely through its USB transmitter, with no other pairing or software requirements. The Logitech ClearChat PC Wireless headset will be sold for around 50 in US and Europe on May, 2008.

via

EBoy. the undisputed king of pixel art, has designed a range of “skins” for the ipod. Seen here is London on a 3G Nano. The covers, designed for Skinizi, are printed on a self adhesive plastic film from 3M, called ControlTac.

The film is slightly textured underneath to let out air bubbles and allow repositioning. What really matters, though, is the artwork. Eboy’s isometric ingenuity is something to stare at for hours. From €15 ($23).

Product page [Skinizi via New Launches]

Garmin today announced the next evolution of the nüvi 200 series, the entry-level favorites in Garmin’s popular nüvi line. The low-priced nüvi 2×5 models, a family of new products introduced at CeBIT, improve upon the features of their 200-series predecessors while providing the opportunity to add top-of-the-line features such as improved mapping and routing features, faster satellite acquisition, navigation by photos, FM traffic updates or dynamic content from MSN Direct.

As portable and powerful as ever, the nüvi 2×5 models are available in vibrant 4.3” or 3.5” screens with an all new shaded elevation mapping display. Using Garmin’s unique Web site — Garmin Connect Photos — users can choose from millions of geo-located photos provided by Google’s Panoramio photo sharing community and download them to the nüvi for a richer navigation experience using pictures as a guide.

The nüvi 2×5 series features a fast 333 Mhz Microprocessor which greatly enhances the map drawing and routing capability. In addition, satellite reception is even faster than before thanks to Garmin’s new HotFixTM feature which automatically calculates and stores critical satellite information and can use that information to quickly calculate a position without waiting for data collection from the satellites.

“The nüvi 2×5 products allow us to meet and exceed the basic needs of the budget-minded consumer while giving them further opportunity to expand,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “By making traffic and MSN Direct content accessible with our most basic nüvi models, the choice is truly in the buyer’s hands. Pick a price, and there’s your nüvi.”

The nüvi 255 and 255W will be available in versions that include comprehensive coverage of North America, Europe, Australia or New Zealand. The nüvi 255 and 255W models for North America, Australia or New Zealand announce street names in their voice prompts, advising you to “Turn right on Walnut Street” rather than just saying “Turn right in 500 feet.” The nüvi 205 and 205W will be available in versions that offer mapping choices such as the contiguous United States, Canada or regional sections of Europe.

In addition, each nüvi 2×5 comes standard with the popular “Where am I?” feature. At any time, with a single tap of the screen, drivers can display their exact latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations and gas stations.

When used with an optional receiver, each nüvi 2×5 can display important updated information from Traffic Message Channel or MSN Direct. The enhanced dynamic content from the second generation of the MSN Direct network includes updated information about traffic conditions, fuel prices, weather reports, movie listings, headline news items, stock listings, local events and custom locations sent directly from Windows Live Local. After the introductory trial period with MSN Direct, owners can re-subscribe for $49.95 a year, or a one-time charge of $129.95.

For more information on MSN Direct services and coverage areas, visit http://garmin.msndirect.com.

For information about pricing and availability, go to www.garmin.com and www.garmin.blogs.com

Hitachi might have been the first company to “announce” a 2.5” 500GB drive, but it looks like Samsung is the first one to actually ship the goods… The drive has three platters that rotate at 5400rpm, which is the medium speed for laptop drives (some go has high as 7200rpm). But you should know that the effective speed is a combination of capacity (MB/square inch) and rotational speed.

This is a nice milestone, and we cannot wait to see the first Terabyte laptop HDD!

Samsung and Adidas have come together to bring a fitness-centered handset, known as the miCoach (F110). This quad-band slider cell phone features a dedicated fitness button that furnishes you with details about your heart beat, distance covered and running time when hooked up to a heart monitor and a step counter. You don’t even need to hook it up to a PC to view all those information, as you can view running information on-the-fly by tapping the display. Your heartbeat rate will also let you know whether you’re running too fast or slow, depending on the fitness programme you picked out. There are over 220 training programmes available for the miCoach, and you will find something for everyone regardless of your fitness goals. Do you think this will break Nike and Apple’s dominance? The miCoach is tipped to be available from next month onwards.