Gadgets Mobile

Even though I cringed with each pull on a $5 slot machine, I still like the idea of Cantor Gaming’s new eDeck handheld gambling device. Available for high rollers (i.e., those who wrap chewed gum in $50 bills to play trash-can basketball with), the mobile gaming unit taps into the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas and allows gamblers to play slots, blackjack, and other games from the High Limit Slot Salon.

Why would this appeal to someone like me, who now sticks to quarter slots? Sentimental reasons, really. First, my husband and I got married at the Venetian. Second, my parents go to Vegas three to four times a year (no joke) because my mom loves to gamble. Third, my best friend lives in Vegas. And fourth, it’s a pocketable device.

None of this has anything to do with the eDeck directly, I know, but something that combines technology with the Venetian and Vegas is just something I need to share.

Via CrunchGear.

How do you feel about looking like a sweat band-wearer straight out of the 80s? You’re okay with that? How about if we add in an awkward wire extending out of the forehead area? Don’t worry about looking cool. You’ll be asleep for most of the time. These are the Sleep Headphones, straight from the pages of Etsy.

The Sleep Headphones are made to fit comfortably around your head and ears while you sleep. Wearing a big set of muff headphones just doesn’t do the trick when your trying to pass out. But then again, listening to your significant other’s persistent snoring isn’t doing much for your sleeping habits either. The Sleep Headphones look like they could be worn all night without a hitch.

Totally custom honed for your sleeping pleasure, the Sleeping Headphones come shipped with a soothing audio CD and a pleasantly girly lavender-colored sachet. Used in correlation with some aroma therapy and maybe a nice glass of wine, nothing will be able to wake you up from your deep slumber.

It’s not exactly a budget product at $60 a pop, but if you compare the price to other premium headphones on the market, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. We’re not quite sure how good the sound quality is, but it should serve you well for your needs.

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I hate Bluetooth headsets. Being a geek, I liked the idea of them and tried to be an early adopter, but they all sucked. From the static introduced by poor Bluetooth connections to minor incompatibilities between phones and headsets to the problem of keeping them charged and the fact that they either hurt my ear or fell off, I never found one I could use. And that’s after purchasing the best that Logitech, Plantronics, and Motorola had to offer.

I looked at the Apple Bluetooth headset, but the reviews on it all stated that the range and connection quality was poor. I also have rather small ears, so headsets designed to be held in place by the ear canal have never worked for me.

I’ve got friends who use the original Jawbone headset, but it was clearly too large and too heavy to be comfortable, no matter how good the sound quality could be. But when Jawbone released their new and much smaller headset, Jawbone II with NoiseAssassin, I decided to give it a try.

In one word, it’s amazing. It’s the most comfortable headset I’ve ever worn, with multiple ear buds and ear clips to guarantee a good fit. It pairs easily and seems to be 100% compatible with my iPhone. The charger is easy to use and charges from USB, ensuring that a charger is always nearby and that I won’t be screwed for another $40 just to charge it in my car. Nobody I’ve spoken with complains about the noise quality, and I’ve had the kids run through the room screaming without bothering people I’m on the phone with. I can use it in my convertible at freeway speed without bothering people. It seems to be a better microphone than the built-in microphone on the iphone.

The speaker sound quality is a bit tinny at higher volumes, which I require because I have significant hearing loss in the ear that I use it in) but quite acceptable. My friend with an original Jawbone says that it’s not nearly as good as the original, but the original is considerably larger and heavier. The battery life is exceptional—in excess of five hours in my testing. It’s more than enough time to be considered “all day”—I’ve not had it run out of juice on me during the day yet. Battery life is considerably better than my Plantronics or Motorola headset, both of which would die at about two hours of talk time.

It’s expensive at $140, but that’s actually far less expensive than the sum of all the headsets I’ve bought in the past that are just unusable. I bought mine at Best buy, but it’s available at Amazon.com here:

• Jawbone Bluetooth Headset with NoiseAssassin at Amazon.com

In the end, headsets can be a lifesaver when I’m driving and need to take a call, but they are useless if they don’t work with my phone, the sound is bad, or if the battery is dead. Fortunately, the Jawbone II excels on all of those levels and is a perfect addition to my workday armor.

Announced back in May for the UK, the Fujifilm FinePix Z200fd digital camera has finally arrived in the US. You can head on to our previous post to check out the specifications found on this 10 megapixel shooter - surely it is no DSLR, but it does pack a decent punch to get most photography work done without much hassle.

The US release of WiiWare a few months ago has yielded some interesting titles, but also a number of flops. The games are meant to be small, simple, and casual which means that if they are not spot on or they have just a few annoying features a good idea can turn into a disaster pretty quickly. With Virtual Console games you know what you are getting–the games have been released before–but with WiiWare (which does not have demos) you have to sink some money ($10 or 1000 Wii Points in this case) in order to find out if the game is any good or not.

In the case of Pirates: The Key of Dreams consumers should be prepared to be disappointed. History has taught us that it is hard to mess up anything dealing with pirates, but this title is repetitive and simplistic enough that even this golden rule is broken. The story is your run-of-the-mill Pirates of the Caribbean-type story, complete with magical coins, governors that tell everyone what to do, and a whole lot of flying cannonballs.

The story line barely matters though–what the game comes down to is sailing your ship around and blowing up anything in your way. As expected, larger ships have more guns and are tougher to beat, but smaller ones are faster and more maneuverable. This can be fun for a few minutes, but the fighting is much too simplistic so even on harder levels it gets old fast. The ship uses what videogamers generally refer to as tank controls, which is to say that you can move forward, rotate your ship, and even move backwards (something that is hard to do under sail power) slowly. Your cannons will automatically fire on either or both sides depending if enemies are present or not. It goes without saying that any semblance of reality was left out of the game with the basic fighting, but once you get rockets that fire from the bow, buzz saws, and floating mines you might as well be piloting a spaceship instead of a pirate ship.

The game has a few small surprises now and then, like a floating crew member that you can pick up or maybe a few tri-corner hats, as well as the small assortment of special weapons, but they are not enough to stop the game from being repetitive. Overall the story mode seems more like one extended level than it does a series of separate levels and the game never gives you much more than what you got on the first stage or two.

There is also a local multiplayer mode (no online play) which will let you and a few friends fight it out. This has the potential to be fun for a few minutes, but the simple, unrealistic mechanics mean things get boring pretty quickly. With the right group it could be a good party game, but considering the Wii’s strength in this area there are better options.

Overall, Pirates is a disappointing title for the WiiWare. Those who were coming to it expecting a better version of TradeWinds 2 (the excellent title from AstraWare) will be severely disappointed as Pirates has no where near the depth or replayability of this series, even though it was on Windows Mobile. The use of the nunchuk to control the ship helps, but you can’t get around those tank controls and the Wii’s pointing ability is underutilized. Consumers will be better off spending their 1000 Wii Points elsewhere, either waiting or picking up a VC title or two.

Some of you probably have a lot of trouble getting up in the morning. Perhaps what you need is a little more motivation than a loud sound, but maybe just a little motivational smell. Something like the fresh smell of cooked bacon might be just the ticket.

This is where the Wake n’Bacon comes into play. This is an alarm designed to wake up the user with the smell of freshly cooked bacon.

All that is required is that the user put in a frozen strip into the alarm, and it will start cooking up 10 minutes before the alarm sounds. Once the smell wafts out, you can act like that dog on the Beggin’ Strips ad: “I smell bacon. Where’s the bacon? It’s bacon!!!” If that doesn’t get you out of bed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I don’t know what will.

I will have to question why this product appears to be made of wood, but I think it is appropriate that it is shaped like a pig.

This product is not for everyone, especially those who don’t want their cholesterol level raised. If Homer Simpson had one of these, then he would be singing his way to the nuclear plant every morning.

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DISH Network will be first to bring you* 1080p resolution HD content through broadcast means.  Say goodbye to the 720 garbage you’ve been forced to watch and bask in the 1080p you should have had all along.  Available tomorrow is “I am Legend” video on demand will be in full 1080p.

The asterisk after “you” above means you may not actually be “you”.  According to Electronista:

The upgrade in resolution isn’t available for all subscribers but will be a no-charge addition for anyone who owns an HD DVR capable of playing MPEG-4 video. A software upgrade will be pushed out at the same time as the 1080p service that enables playing the video format, though no mention is made of supporting the HD resolution for recording regular TV shows.

No word on how smooth the image will be or if it’s compression means we’ll be seeing chopped action.  Either way, it is a step in the right direction.

Read [Electronista]

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When does the NFL football season start? Let’s see, Thursday, September 4th says NFL.com. That’s actually not too far away. It cannot come soon enough and when it gets here this year, it’s going to be broadcast not only on television but also on a computer near you.

That’s right, the league that used to fear the internet video market is making a stark reversal of their policy and will begin streaming complete game broadcasts over the web in a partnership with NBC. This isn’t going to be some cheap feed without analysis or pizazz, it’s going to be the whole enchilada. What is on television will be on your computer, including John Madden’s extraordinary genius and Al Michaels’ stoic cynicism. Not only that, but the devoted site at NBC.com will also feature highlight clips, views from multiple cameras, live statistics, and blog content.

This is all part of the NFL and NBC’s new “Sunday Night Football” program, which took over the big game schedule of ABC’s “Monday Night Football” two years ago. This means that you won’t be able to use the service to watch out-of-market games or catch them after they’ve aired, it’s just a simple way to watch the games on Sunday nights if you can’t get to a television. The extras might be the ringer, though. With advertisements being figured out now, there’s plenty of money to be made and if the NFL gets this right, everybody will be happy.

Read the press release, via Crunchgear

KNGT has just announced the launch of their MK1 in Korea. The MK1 is an in-car multimedia PC which is powered by Windows Mobile. This just goes to show that regular CD / DVD players don’t cut the mustard anymore. The MK1 will blow them away with its 6.95-inch touchscreen, 800 x 480 (WVGA) display and on-screen keyboard. The MK1 also supports wireless internet via wireless service providers such as SK, KT and Nespot. Since the MK1 is going to set up shop in your car, it also supports navigation by utilizing an internet map.

I recently had the opportunity to use skin samples from RedBeard and GelaSkins for the Nintendo DS in addition to GelaSkins for the PSP.

Prior to receiving the skins I must say that I pretty much thought all skins were the same. Nothing could honestly be further from the truth. Though RedBeard and GelaSkins are only two brands in a much larger gaming skin market; the differences I found between the two were unique enough to say that the brand you choose is truly a matter of taste, no matter how you want to protect your Nintendo DS or PSP.

RedBeard Nintendo DS Skins

One thing that Nintendo DS owners will appreciate with the RedBeard skins is that they are re-enforced with a thick layer of epoxy. The advantage of this is that the skin makes the Nintendo DS much easier to hold, and if you enjoy playing it a long time you’ll appreciate the little bit of extra cushion the skin offers. In addition to comfort the other thing I would note with the RedBeard skin is that the designs are bold and bright. Some of them literally reflect light and when you add that feature to the bold designs offered by the company it will be really hard for anyone to miss your Nintendo DS. The other feature offered by the thick layer is that it allows your DS to take a little bit of extra abuse, though I wouldn’t recommend trying to see how much.

GelaSkins for the Nintendo DS

If you’re an art lover then the GelaSkins brand is the skin for you. Each skin is designed by an artist who is named on the package. There are so many unique designs in this range that there is very little chance you will see someone who has the same skin as you. Unlike the RedBeard Nintendo DS skin, the GelaSkins brand doesn’t offer any extra padding. You would think this would be a knock against them, but I really find the difference to be a matter of taste. I have had a thicker skin on my Nintendo DS and since I didn’t find myself playing on the handheld for a long period of time I actually preferred a skin with little or no padding.

I also have a PSP Slim and was lucky enough to sample the GelaSkins brand on that as well. I have to admit I absolutely loved it. I liked the unique design that the skin gave my PSP, but the one thing which really put GelaSkins over the top was the fact that you could download background wallpaper, which basically gave the PSP the look of a continuous skin cutting through the screen. The wallpaper download was even free and let me tell you it was worth the time to download considering the clean look it gave my machine. Now my PSP really looks like a piece of art. I have a feeling that has been GelaSkins’ plan all along.

Summary
I’ll be the first to say that I’ve learned the error of my ways and I see skins for the Nintendo DS and PSP for more then just a simple upgrade to the look of someone’s gaming device. First, a skin offers protection for your unit and considering that buying a Nintendo DS or PSP is not cheap you want to protect your investment. Second, skins give you the ability to put your own personal mark on your gaming device through look and feel.

Considering all the designs available from RedBeard and GelaSkins alone most people will have no problem finding a skin that matches their personality. Though I stated I prefer a skin with no additional padding I am sure there will be people out there who do. Again, it’s just a simple matter of taste. Choosing between the RedBeard or GelaSkins brand is not really a matter of choosing the better brand, it’s a matter of finding the one that’s right for you.

Whether you choose RedBeard or GelaSkins I have a hard time believing you will be disappointed.

Read more at the GelaSkins or RedBeard websites.