The Gorgeous And Sweet Toshiba Gigabeat P5

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Design, Portable Audio / Video,

We have come to accept that fact that over in the Land of the Rising Sun, gadgets are available in more colors than they know what to do with. The Toshiba Gigabeat P5 is already available in a bunch of colors, but Japan is getting two more to add to their P5 lineup. One is a luxurious gold (officially called “Gorgeous”), and the other is cotton candy pink (officially called “Sweet”). The pleasure of owning one of these special edition colors comes at a price. With no feature upgrades from the “normal” Gigabeat P5, the color change alone costs an extra 520 Yen. That would be equal to about $120 USD. Here in the US, that would be akin to paying an extra $120 for a black iPod because the white wasn’t good enough for you. Wow.

Read More | AV Watch via DAPreview

The Amazing, All-Purpose, Styrofoam Drone

Posted by Frank Bisono Categories: Design, Misc. Tech,

This aint your momma’s RC Airplane, folks.  This here is our US Army’s latest in high-tech surveillance, which is helping our troops lay the smackdown on those evil-doers.  This Raven unmanned aerial vehicle is guided by GPS and is so wicked cool, that when you twitch from drinking too much Jolt cola on those late night missions and crash your bird, it pops apart on impact and makes fixing it a whole lot easier than grabbin some balsa wood, Elmer’s and an Xacto knife.  Heck, these RC pilots dont even have to fetch the bird, they just call a local ground-pounder unit to fish that puppy out and bring it home.

“I get paid by the Army to fly remote-controlled planes,” says Sgt. Nathan Wyatt from 3-29 Field Artillery. From his post at LSA Anaconda, he operates the three foot-long Raven unmanned aerial vehicle. Almost every day, he hand-launches one of his three Kevlar and Styrofoam birds into the skies over north-central Iraq. Wyatt controls the Raven with a handheld console while, ideally, an assistant monitors flight parameters on a separate console. Each operator has a screen showing what the Raven sees. With a range of up to 15 miles and both day and night sensors, that amounts to quite a lot. The imagery is beamed straight to a display in the tactical operations center.

All things being what they are, this bird isn’t without it’s faults, but flying it sure is a cool way to earn a paycheck from Uncle Sam.  Why the hell didn’t my recruiter tell me about this job? Rock on my RC Drone flying troops…Gear Live and America thank you and all of our troops for putting it on the line every day. 


Read More |  SoldierTech

The Ultimate Racing Simulator

Posted by Frank Bisono Categories: Transportation, Video Games,

Getting ready for NASCAR weekend? We have a racing related post that will knock your socks off.  Although this has been out there for a while, I figured you race fans would really appreciate this. After all - this does qualify as not only gear, but the ultimate in gear, gadgetry and gaming.  Check out what happens when too many engineers have nothing better to do, who also happen to love racing…

Read More | Racing Sim Video

TextPayMe: Send Money With Your Cell Phone

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Hot Deals, Internet, Video Games,

Wow, is this service long overdue or what? TextPayMe is a PayPal-like service that allows you to send and receive money by simply using SMS over your mobile device. Even better, they are currently giving anyone who signs up a free $5.00 deposit into their TextPayMe account. Here are a few of the suggestions they offer for using the service:

• Split restaurant bills on the spot
• Settle your roommate’s rent and utility bill from wherever
• Pitch in real money for a split gift rather than an IOU

We will definitely be giving this one a spin. Having the ability to do this from wherever you are using your mobile phone works a lot better than having to sign in to Paypal from where we stand. If you sign up soon, you can qualify to be in the running to win a free Xbox 360. An Xbox 360, plus an additional five bucks for free? What’s not to like?

Read More | TextPayMe

Gear Live Pocast 017: Xbox Live Arcade, Kodak V570, HTC Smartphones

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Features, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Podcasts, Video Games,

Today we feature the weekly audio version of our Bleeding Edge video show. We discuss:

• Blu-Ray Disc Pricing
• 1GB iPod nano
• HTC Wizard (Cingular 8125)
• HTC Apache (Verizon XV6700)
• Preview of five unreleased Xbox Live Arcade games
• More…

Here’s how to get the show:
|Subscribe| - iTunes
|Subscribe| - RSS
|Download| - Enhanced AAC [Mirror]
|Download| - MP3 [Mirror]

Voices: Andru Edwards, Sparky
Length: 10:23, 5 MB

IMPORTANT: We are surveying the listeners of our podcast to see what it is that people like, and more importantly, what they don’t like. It is anonymous, and just takes a couple of minutes. If you have the time, we would appreciate it!

Don’t forget to vote for us on Podcast Alley! Also, be sure to check out the Gear Live Odeo Channel, and subscribe there are well.

Oblivion Achievements Being Earned, Release Near

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Adventure, Release Dates, Xbox 360,

Looks like Oblivion isn’t that far off, as someone is already earning achievements for playing the game. Likely someone with an early gold copy, Xbox Live member Vark currently has earned 3 of the 50 achievements available in Oblivion. Even more exciting, Xbox.com now shows March 20, 2006 as the official release date for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Here’s to hoping that sticks.

Read More | Oblivion

Thomas Pink Commuter Tie For iPod nano

Posted by John Goulden Categories: Accessories, Wearables, Portable Audio / Video,

Apple’s smallest iPods, the nano and shuffle, have spawned a wide range of clothing accessories.  Some are more eclectic than others (the iPod t-shirt for example), but they all have their place.  The latest is the Commuter Tie which doubles as an iPod nano holster.  Available in 3 colors - red, navy and their signature pink, the tie doesn’t stop with simply storing your iPod, but also includes cable management features.  The 100% silk tie is available for approximately $89 USD.

Read More | Thomas Pink via Pocket-lint

Logitech NuLOOQ Adobe Navigator Device

Posted by Frank Bisono Categories: Accessories, USB, Design, Peripherals,

Holy gizmos Batman, Logitech has gone loopy.  Check out this new designers tool:

Logitech (SWX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) and Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE) today announced the results of a collaboration to provide creative professionals and design enthusiasts new levels of control when using Adobe® Creative Suite 2 (CS2) and standalone CS2 applications: the NuLOOQ™ Professional Series. The new Logitech product line comprises the NuLOOQ navigator™, an innovative device used in conjunction with a mouse and a keyboard to manipulate images and documents, and the NuLOOQ tooldial™, customizable on-demand interface software that provides quick access to design tools. Both are designed for use with the Mac® versions of Adobe Creative Suite 2, Adobe Illustrator® CS2, Adobe InDesign® CS2, and Adobe Photoshop® CS2.

So here’s the breakdown.  Think of this as the Adobe super-gizmo.  I’m not really sure what the heck Logitech is thinking here, but they have some good intentions.  Most of us that are designers already use a mouse/trackball, keyboard and a tablet.  So to add yet another tool to the arsenal seems like a bit of overkill, but I can see what they are trying to accomplish.  Similar to how there are devices for video editors, this would be akin to a Countour Shuttle Pro (used by video peeps), but for designers.  This is essentially a 2-part device.  You have the actual hardware piece which can be used on it’s own, but it also works with software that is specifically designed for use with the Adobe CS2 Suite of apps.  NuLOOQ tooldial software is completely customizable and configuration is pretty straight-forward.  My only concern is that it will be a bit overwhelming for most people.  If you have been used to doing things by using the toolbars and menus and keyboard shortcut’s, this device may actually slow you down, which defeats it’s purpose.  Hard to really say without testing one out in a production environment for a while. 

The NuLOOQ Professional Series (which is the harware and software package) has a suggested retail price in the U.S. of $149.99 and will be sold beginning in March.  The NuLOOQ tooldial can be purchased separately online for a suggested retail price of $49.99. A 30-day free trial is also available for download at the NuLOOQ Web site.

Read More | Logitech

MacBook Pro Reviewed And Benchmarked

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop, Product Reviews,

The guys over at MacWorld have received a few MacBook Pros (they started shipping about a week ago) and are reporting back with some of their observations. Looks like the newest Apple notebook is almost on par with the Dual Core iMac in terms of speed in some instances. They compare different processing scenarios of the MacBook Pro against the new iMac Core Duo and the older PowerBook G4.  Oh, and they like the MagSafe power connection. Head on over for more details.

Read More | MacWorld

Is This The Real Widescreen iPod Video?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Portable Audio / Video, Rumors,

No idea where this image came from, but we thought it looked interesting enough to warrant a post. Might this be the widescreen iPod video we have all been waiting for? Quite possibly. If it is, please tell us the click wheel is on the back, rather than integrated into the screen. Then again, there is nothing else in the image that we can use to determine the size of this device. Could it be an Intel-powered Apple tablet? For all of you Photoshop masters out there, let us know - does the image on the screen appear to be a bit off center? Perhaps this is all a rouse.

(Thanks zxvipxz!)

Read More | Mac Shrine