Gadgets Mobile

I haven’t used a phone book (white or yellow pages) in years. And, yet, what appears to be several cubic feet of phone books appeared on my doorstep last week. And, this is a completely different set from the one the local phone company issues. These things are more than a mere annoyance. Their delivery probably wastes thousands of gallons of fuel. And throwing out the previous year’s sets (remember I get two every year) probably worsens the landfill problem.

I just learned that I’m not the only geek annoyed by this problem while reading a blog item in Unclutterer. Naturally, some annoyed geeks have already set up a site called YellowPagesGoesGreen.org to help solve this problem.

You can read many comments to the blog on Unclutterer at: The phone book problem

by Nilay Patel, posted Aug 21st 2008 at 5:46PM
The iphone 3G hits 20 more countries tomorrow, and while we doubt the hype will match the craziness of launch day, that’s not stopping Orange from trying to re-create the madness in Poland — it’s hiring “dozens” of actors to line up at 20 stores around the country to “drum up interest.” Yeah, that’s just sad — especially since there aren’t any real customers in line at Polish T-Mobile stores, which is also carrying the phone. Good luck selling phones to your own actors, fools — when will these companies ever learn?

PS.- That’s a pic from launch day in Chicago — any Polish readers have a shot of the actors for us? Send ‘em in!

Update: Yep, there they are, from appleblog.pl — and check a video after the break from Gazeta.

[Thanks to GreenToad and Yorick_Rise]

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Filed under: cellphones

If you’re a gadget junkie like me you know that every year or two you are more than likely going to upgrade to next latest and greatest model. Of course the question is–what to do with the old gadget? A new company called TechForward is offering one possible solution which will put money in your pocket toward the purchase of a new gadget.

TechForward is offering a Guaranteed Buyback Plan. The buyback plan which is offered by some retail merchants and online merchant Amazon.com allows a consumer to lock in trade-in values for gadgets including Mac laptops and desktops, DVD players, GPS devices, LCD monitors, MP3 players, PC desktops or laptops or televisions. After paying a service fee you are then guaranteed a trade-in value for the device depending upon when the device is postmarked when it is shipped. TechForward will even pay for the shipping and send you the box and packing materials.

The nice thing about TechForward is that it is also a “green” way to take care of old electronics since the company attempts to resell the device or recycle it. Yes, I admit you may be able to get some more money if you sell your old gadget on eBay, but if you want to avoid the hassle of eBay this is a great solution. Best of all, it guarantees money in your pocket to put towards a new device.

Read more from the TechForward website.

Here’s an earphone design that you don’t see every day. Looking very much like a question mark, the design also serves a very practical purpose. Aside from fitting nicely in your ear, the hook design will allow the earphones to hook on to each other behind your neck when not in use. To top things off, it also looks great. Hopefully this one makes it beyond the concept phase.

You really can’t fault Shuttle for polluting the environment needlessly with their latest effort - the X27. This new PC will consume just 23 watts of juice in idle mode and 36 watts when in use, making it fall under laptop territory instead of a standard desktop. The X27 computer will fit in comfortably under the nettop category as it is powered by Intel’s Atom processor. It will amble along at a mere 23 decibels, so you won’t have any trouble going to bed with the X27 running in your bedroom at night. There is no word on pricing, but it will arrive on North American shores this September along with a future release in the UK.

If you think blogging is too public, and want something more private, the Secret Diary USB device allows users to keep a diary on it, and secures it with a 4-digit PIN, with the data inside secured by a 256-bit AES crypto, which is also smart enough to self-destruct the data contained if someone tries to break through the protection. Users can even get a subscription that backs up the diary entries in case the device is lost or stolen. The Secret Diary also bundles software for diaries such as My Stars, Dream Catcher, Thinking Deep and Mood Art. Pricing and availability of this item are unfortunately still unknown.

Want a Limited Edition Sidekick LX? If you’re Soulja Boy it’s as easy as this:
Step 1: Get a Sidekick LX
Step 2: Show off your big LCD TVs so everyone thinks you’re cool enough to get Limited Edition stuff
Step 3: Get your Sidekick repainted by Colorware or snag a new Lens Frame.
Step 4: Jump on sklxthemes.com and grab the Sidekick LX XBOX 360 Theme
Step 5: Go into the Catalog and download Resident Evil for $6.99
Step 6: Make a video about how you’re the only one who has this and post it to the internets!

Nice try Soulja Boy, we’re on to you. A Soulja Boy Limited Edition Sidekick LX would have been better. Maybe you should stop trying to punk people and start working on your music so you don’t stay a 1-hit wonder. Hopefully you realize how much easier (and more convincing) this would have been with a Sidekick 2008 and a custom made XBOX 360 shell.

If you follow the above steps, please let us know which “Limited Edition” you’re faking and where the video is. If you want to see Soulja Boy’s video, check it out here or below:

Via GamerTagRadio - Bury it on Digg

More a visual joke than a real working hack, Faraiq’s Apple Walkpod is just an ipod cracked open with a cassette tape stuffed inside, but as a comment on the history of portable music, it is priceless.

It encompasses everything: Size, both physical and metaphorical (inches vs. gigabytes); business (Sony vs. Apple) and society (buying music vs. copying it). Even the choice of tape is part of the gag: “Forever Changes”, Love’s 1967 album , which was re-released this year.

Apple Walkpod [Faraiq via BBG]

I guess with all the available options for netbooks, you have to stand out in some way. Acer has decided to make their attempt by lowering the price of the Aspire One just in time for the back-to-school shopping rush.

The price drops are pretty nice and are offering quite a bit of savings. The Windows XP based model has been lowered from $399 down to $349 and the Linpus Lite based model has been lowered from $379 down to just $329. Of course, considering the Aspire One has already gotten quite a few good reviews, this just makes it a little more appealing.

Via [SlashGear]

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Don’t you just hate it when you fall in love with a gadget that’s not available in this country? I’m a big fan of tokidoki, as faithful readers already know, and love my beautiful handbag, jewelry, belt buckle, and other accessories designed by Simone Legno.

But this limited edition tokidoki, PC - exclusive for the Japanese market and which can only be purchased on Fujitsu’s website - is killing me.

Somewhat consoling is the fact that it was created for the “This One’s For The Children of Sichuan” charity auction to benefit children affected by the disastrous earthquake that struck the Sichuan Province of China in May of this year. (An impressive group of artists and vinyl toy companies have come together for the charity auction which will take place online with live auctioneers from Friday, August 21st to Sunday, August 31st.)

We don’t know much about the FMV Loox eco friendly computer, except that it’s beautiful to look at, but if we get specs we’ll pass them on.