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2010 Holiday Gift Guide: iHome iB969 Charging Station

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, USB, Apple, Family, Techies, Under $50,
Yesterday we hit you with our iHome iB969 Charging Station review, and we like the product so much that we though it was appropriate to add it to our 2010 Holiday Gift Guide. In a nutshell, this thing can charge four devices at once. We've had it charging an iPod touch, iPhone 4, and Amazon Kindle while also charging and syncing an iPad all at once. It fits nicely on a desk or nightstand and makes a nice gift for a techie or a family with multiple USB and iOS devices. It makes things easy, and that makes it worthy of being a great, inexpensive holiday gift.
You can pick up the iHome iB969 Charging Station now for $59.99, or as low as $41.21 from Amazon.
Gallery: 2010 Holiday Gift Guide: iHome iB969 Charging Station
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iHome iB969 Charging Station review

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, USB, Smartphones, Handhelds, Product Reviews,
The iHome iB969G Charging Station professes to be your one-stop shop for charging your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, BlackBerry, and even ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, and Nook.
It can charge up to four devices at once, while syncing one of the four with iTunes. The expandable rest area comfortably holds a BlackBerry (charging it over USB) or ebook reader, and the integrated cable management keep things looking tidy. The iPad gets its own stand on the device, which will hold it horizontally or vertically, whatever your preference.
Click to continue reading iHome iB969 Charging Station review
Gallery: iHome iB969 Charging Station review
Karvt iPhone wooden skins on sale at JackThreads

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Design, Hot Deals,
Our pals over at JackThreads are selling a bunch of Karvt iPhone 4 wooden skins today at 40% off. The skins typically sell for $25, but JackThreads has them today for $13.99. Even better, you'll get a $5 credit put into your account when you sign up for JackThreads using our invite. Apply it to the skin, and the cost drops to $8.99. Not bad!
Gallery: Karvt iPhone wooden skins on sale at JackThreads
2010 Holiday Gift Guide: Logitech Wireless gaming Mouse G700

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Features, PC / Laptop, Peripherals, Video Games, Techies, Teens, Under $100,
Every PC gamer needs a good mouse, and the Logitech Wireless Gaming Mouse G700 more than fits the bill. You get thirteen programmable controls and buttons, easily allowing you to map complicated in-game commands and macros directly beneath your fingertips to be executed with a click. It's got a matte black finish with a few green LEDs and a tiny wireless USB receiver, and is super responsive with 1,000 reports per second from the high-precision laster tracking. It's even got enough onboard memory to store commands for up to five different game profiles. The Gaming Mouse G700 usually sells for $100, but Amazon is currently selling it for $84.82, a 14% discount.
Be sure to check out the other entries in the Gear Live 2010 Holiday Gift Guide!
Read More | Logitech Wireless Gaming Mouse G700
Gallery: 2010 Holiday Gift Guide: Logitech Wireless gaming Mouse G700
Microsoft Kinect hacked to work with Linux

Posted by Patrick Lambert Categories: Accessories, Mods / Hacks, Video Games,
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Just a few hours ago a video surfaced on Twitter that showed the Microsoft Kinect sensor working on a PC running a Linux open source driver, just 3 hours after the European launch. The driver manages to read the input from both the video and the depth camera on the Kinect, making the information available to PC software. This was done using an open source driver now available online. Of course, this has no immediate use for you and me, but it's the first step that can lead to many cool things. Ever since Kinect was announced, people have commented that it could be used for a myriad of scenarios, such as a cheap motion capture device for animators, or a security system, which could recognize familiar faces and block intruders. Now that it's been demonstrated that the system can indeed be hacked into and linked to a normal PC, expect more code to be written to take advantage of these features in the coming months.
Read More | Open Source Kinect driver
Gallery: Microsoft Kinect hacked to work with Linux
2010 Holiday Gift Guide: Powermat Rechargeable Travel Mat

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, USB, Smartphones, Misc. Tech, Women, Men, Techies, Under $100,
We're big fans of what Powermat has to offer here at Gear Live HQ, and that's why we think it's appropriate to feature them in our 2010 Holiday Gift Guide. What you've got here is a little panel with a built-in battery pack that lets you wirelessly charge your mobile devices. It folds up and is small enough to throw in a bag, and won't take up much space at all on a desk. On a full charge, you can charge an iPhone five times. The Powermat Travel Mat comes with adapters that allow you to charge any USB device, Nintendo DS, a few proprietary phone connectors, and iOS devices. The cool part here is that you just set your device on the mat, and it starts charging.
They typically sell for $130, but Amazon's got 'em for $69 right now.
Read More | Powermat Travel Mat
Gallery: 2010 Holiday Gift Guide: Powermat Rechargeable Travel Mat
2010 Holiday Gift Guide: My Book AV DVR Expander

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Home Entertainment, Storage, Men, Techies, Under $250,
Okay, let's keep it real for a moment with this next entry in our 2010 Holiday Gift Guide. We know more and more people are using DVRs these days, whether it's something like a TiVo, or one of the ones leased from a cable company. The one thing that we hear time and time again is that the hard drives inside these things are simply too small to hold any substantial amount of programming, especially when dealing with HD programming. That's where the My Book AV DVR Expander comes in. You simply connect this bad boy to your DVR (it supports a ton of them from TiVo, DirecTV, Dish, Scientific Atlanta, Motorola, and the list goes on) and give it a few minutes to get calibrated, and you've instantly added 150 hours of high definition storage to your setup. If you know any TV buffs, we'd recommend something like this for the holidays.
The Western Digital My Book AV DVR Expander usually sells for $127.60, but Amazon's got it for $119 right now, a savings of 7%.
Gallery: 2010 Holiday Gift Guide: My Book AV DVR Expander
Kinect for Xbox 360 review

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Cameras, Features, Microsoft, Product Reviews, Video Games,
Kinect has been a product that Microsoft has been betting on and hyping for about a year and a half now, ever since revealing Project Natal at E3 2009. The motion sensing gaming peripheral is finally available, and despite some initial concerns, our minds are blown. Kinect definitely feels futuristic once you start playing around with it, but is it worth the $150 price? Read on for our thoughts and Kinect review.
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Gallery: Kinect for Xbox 360 review
Holiday Gift Guide 2010: Kinect for Xbox 360

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Microsoft, Video Games, Family, Kids, Teens, Under $250,
Microsoft's been hyping up Kinect for over a year now, and the motion sensing Xbox peripheral has finally arrived. Our verdict? We love it, and it feels like the future. If you know anyone with an Xbox 360 console who doesn't have Kinect, then we'd recommend putting this one on your gift list. The Kinect sensor costs $149.99, and includes Kinect Adventures, a disc full of mini-games that let you try out a bunch of Kinect's features. You can also do video chat with other Kinect users and Windows Live users as well, and you get voice control over your Xbox 360. Seriously, this is the video game accessory to have this holiday season--especially during your holiday parties with friends and family around.
Aside from the sensor itself, here are a few Kinect games that we think are worth picking up as well:
Dance Central
Kinectimals
Your Shape Fitness Evolved
Of course, in order to take advantage of Kinect, you'll need an Xbox 360 console. If you don't already have one, Microsoft is selling consoles bundled with Kinect.
Read More | Kinect
Gallery: Holiday Gift Guide 2010: Kinect for Xbox 360
Table Connect multi-touch iPhone desk is awesome

Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Accessories, Apple, Videos,
Ever wanted to play beer pong on an iPhone? No, we mean literally, on an iPhone? Apparently, the folks down at TableConnect did, and imagined their vision to life by using a dedicated app on a jailbroken iPhone and a 58-inch multi-touch table. The end result is a table that replicates the iPhone display. The table works surprisingly fast and allows for all the typical hand gestures to work, such as swiping and pinching. Hit that play button above for a look at it.
Read More | Table Connect