Mobile Devices

by Donald Melanson, posted May 8th 2008 at 4:19PM NEC’s ShieldPRO ruggedized tablet PCs have never exactly put much emphasis on looks, but the company seems to at least be trying to spice things up a bit with its latest FC-N22A model, which ditches the usual nothing-but-business appearance for something designed to turn a few more heads. That brightly-colored exterior will still give you the same IP55-compliant dust and water resistance, however, along with enough ruggedness to protect it from three-foot drops onto a concrete floor. Otherwise, you can expect the usual 12.1-inch display, low-power Core 2 Duo U7500 1.0GHz processor, a promised 12 hours of battery life, optional built-in GPS, and good ‘ol Windows XP for an OS. No word on a price just yet, but you can look for this one to hit Japan by the end of June.

[Via I4U News]

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Filed under: Tablet PCs

XRoad is getting ready to offer up a third version of their V7 series GPS, which comes after its phenomenal success in Korea. Boasting an array of features, the XRoad V7 is packed with media player playback capabilities, an FM radio, picture-in-picture capability, a DMB tuner, and a 7-inch display screen with an 800×480 resolution.

Sadly, only Korea will be lucky to receive the XRoad V7 so people here in the US, you may forget about owning one. After all, XRoad hasn’t been shared any of the previous V7 models. Other specs include: 4GB flash memory, 128MB memory, 4200mAh Li-Ion battery and it is powered by an AU 1250 600Mhz Alchemy processor.

Via [NaviGadget]

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id software have confirmed that their latest game, Rage, is not the only title they have in development. Another internally-developed game is also in production, which will see the company return to the world of Doom once more. That’s right, id are developing Doom 4.

Little detail has been released about the game, but with id also now utilizing their latest id Tech 5 engine there are a few things we can assume. The new engine is cross platform, so we will likely see the game on PC, Xbox 360 and playstation 3. It also goes without saying that the game is going to look fantastic if it lives up to id’s rich history of cutting edge games.

Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software commented:

DOOM is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth.

Any experienced games development staff reading this may also want to head over to the id website as they currently have a number of new positions available.

Read more at Gamasutra.com

Did you know the average person spends about 47 seconds brushing their teeth, less than half the 2 minutes dentists recommend? Or that you can brush too hard, which can contribute to early gum recession? Scary stuff.

Now, this may not seem like a perfect gift for Mother’s Day but if you consider that the “mouth is the gateway to health” and that moms don’t spend money on themselves, it makes sense.

The new Oral-B features Smart Technology which enables the brushhead, handle and visual display to work together to give you visual cues that help you brush better. The brushhead and handle, which are embedded with microchips, communicate with the wireless display to signal when you are brushing too hard, when to move to the next quadrant of the mouth, when you have brushed for two minutes, and when it is time to replace the brushhead.

At first, I was discouraged by all the pieces (it comes with a unit to attach to a wall) and the instructions, but it’s actually an easy one-step process, and since the display unit is wireless, you can put that anywhere.

Oral-B Triumph with SmartGuide is available for $149 at Amazon.

Just throw in some Godiva chocolate and you’re golden.

by Darren Murph, posted May 8th 2008 at 10:55AM
Not to be confused with the absolutely worthless (sorry, the truth hurts) Big Red Button of Doom, the Emergency Party Button has a very specific purpose. Designed to take a vanilla home from mundane to spectacular in just seconds, this connected trigger basically flips a boring crib into a bumpin’ club whenever you see fit. Just to give you an idea of what goes down when you mash the button, you’ll see hallway lights turn off, blinds close, a fog machine come alive, speakers crank up and loads of laser lights turn active. All told, the project cost the builder just north of $600, which seems like a real bargain given what you get. Jump on past the break to have a look on video.

[Via Hack N Mod]

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets, Household

Security researcher Aviv Raff is celebrating the fact his country, Israel, has been independent for 60 years. In order to celebrate, Aviv has decided to start a treasure hunt on his site for a zero-day vulnerability he has found. The vulnerability occurs in Internet Explorer 7 and 8 and Aviv has hidden the proof of concept code somewhere in his blog.

Why would he do this you may ask? Aviv has already informed Microsoft of the vulnerability that allows malicious code to be run on a machine, but their response to these findings has never been fast sighting one he reported taking 6 months to fix. By releasing it to the public he hopes Microsoft will be forced into action and will turnaround a fix asap.

Aviv has said he will release new clues on his site about the proof of concept and if no one finds it by next Wednesday he will post the details himself.

Read more at InfoWorld.com

Matthew’s Opinion

Trying to force Microsoft’s hand like this is unlikely to be constructive and we are probably going to be left with a publicly available proof of concept that will be taken advantage of.

We don’t currently know exactly how serious the vulnerability is other than a hacker needing to put HTML code on a site that users have to want to use a specific IE feature. The responsible action to take is removal of the proof of concept and submission to a number of other companies who also report vulnerabilites in an attempt to bombard Microsoft with examples of the problem. This would likely get the bug noticed more quickly, but without the problem of making it publicly available.

QStarz announced its spanking new Bluetooth GPS receiver known as the BT-Q818. QStarz is even bold enough to claim that this is the most powerful of its kind in the world, and judging by the specifications given so far, they might not be too far off from the truth. You get a 51-channel MTK chipset and low-power consumption hardware that allows it to run up to 32 hours before a recharge is required. You will be able to choose an update rate ranging from 1Hz to 5Hz, depending on just how far you would like its battery to go. No word on pricing, but the BT-Q818 ought to be out sometime in the near future.

Source: Navigadget

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This release has been in the works for a long time, and it looks like Verizon has finally made it official, with the Glyde hitting the available column later in the week. The Samsung Glyde is the Verizon Wireless branded version of the F700 and will feature a 2.78-inch display, a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 2-megapixel webcam with flash and autofocus, Bluetooth, GPS and a microSD card slot for additional storage. The Glyde is expected to retail for $249.99, which will come after a $50 rebate and along with a two-year agreement.

Via [EngadgetMobile]

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A message to Popgadget Drop email subscribers: The giveaway drawing for the pink Panasonic Lumix camera closes on May 15, 2008, not May 1, 2008. Thanks, J, for pointing out this error.

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If you think Cybershots are currently lacking in style, consider this concept Cybershot camera design by Young Hwan Kim. It features the standard slimness and sexiness found in most of Sony’s little snapping wonders, plus an extra feature - a wide, swiveling camera lens protector at the front.

And it’s unlike any other camera lens protector you’ve ever seen, because when closed it covers the whole face of the camera, and only swivels downward to activate the thing.

The cover itself should be made out of leather, in line with the idea of making the design similar to that of a folding leather wallet. The only letdown to this great concept is that when you put the camera down and try to snap some shots with the built-in timer, you’ll be having a hard time because of the uneven bottom part. But I’m sure that problem would be something Sony will find an easy fix for, if they ever try on a design like this, that is.

Read [Yanko Design] Via [SlashGear]

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