Mobile Devices

As you may have heard, we had an earthquake here in Southern California on Tuesday, July 29th. Measuring a “mild” 5.4 on the Richter scale, it was enough for our house to shake for minutes, the water in the pool to wash over the sides, and to scare us out of our PJs. Seismologists have drilled into us Californians that there is a 99% chance that the big one will hit in the next 30 years, so the common thought that comes to mind is: “Is this it?”

URGENT NOTE: The Red Cross has just established a “Safe and Well” website for today’s earthquake so make sure to register, or if you can’t find a loved one, input that info under “Search” function. For the best information on what do do after an earthquake, check out this page on the Red Cross site.

Experts recommend that you be prepared to be self-sufficient for at least three days in case of a natural disaster. You need to store your household disaster kit in an easily accessible, yet safe location (i.e., where it’s least likely to have the house come down on it). We have our state-of-the-art EQ kit in a plastic garbage can with wheels so we can move it around - in our case, probably into the middle of the street.

Nokia, sitting pretty in pole position as the #1 cell phone maker in the world, will move to reduce the prices of most of its handsets by up to 10%. Phones that are affected the most will fall under the music and media category - at least that’s what market data and industry sources imply. Will this price cut pressure Nokia’s smaller rivals into a desperate corner? I’m not too sure, as I’ve met my fair share of Sony Ericsson loyalists in this lifetime who swear on the Walkman and Cybershot range of phones no matter what Nokia throws their way. Will this piece of news cause you to get up and look for a Nokia handset instead?

I know that winter’s a long way off, but that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare for it a few months in advance? The Travelmate fireplace is one such device that takes on a briefcase form factor, handle and all, to allow you to tote this thing just about wherever you go. It features glass sides that are held in place by magnets, so you’ll need to remove these glass sides before lighting the fire, replacing them shortly thereafter to prevent burning down the building you’re at accidentally. While there is no word on what kind of fuel the Travelmate fireplace uses, speculation has it that alcohol gel is the main player here. The Travelmate fireplace is definitely for the well-heeled as it retail for a jaw dropping $3,300.

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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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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Cantor Gaming has introduced its latest gambling device, the eDeck. The eDeck allows users to play a variety of popular casino games, and since its wireless, they can go online and gamble for real. Cantor is also looking to add their proprietary games to the eDeck such as Bonus Roulette, XtraOdds Baccarat and Statjack. Gambling anywhere? That sure sounds dangerous.

Vague as usual, Apple on Wednesday night released its iTunes 7.7.1 update, which "includes fixes to improve stability and performance." The company also released the second beta version of its upcoming iPhone-software update to developers.

Apple’s vagueness prompted TidBITS to sift through Apple support forums to gather an idea of just what the iTunes update fixed. Users reported the following issues seem to have been fixed:

- A bug related to the CD being unable to eject with iTunes running
- Corrupted characters in iTunes track names,
- Long waits for iTunes to recognize connected iPods
- Slow iPhone backups
- Problems syncing iPhone with Outlook for Windows users

Meanwhile, Apple also released its second version of the iphone 2.1 beta for developers. Naturally, little details are known about the upcoming iPhone-software update aside from bug fixes. Some have speculated the update would introduce turn-by-turn GPS and copying and pasting capabilities, but some are beginning to have doubts: The indications of those features were already evident in the code of the current firmware version, according to MacRumors. Now, MacRumors has turned its attention to references to a new ipod touch model instead.

Five iTunes 7.7.1 Bug Fixes Detailed [TidBITS]

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.

Sony Ericsson’s r306a clamshell cell phone has just hit the FCC, and some leaked information includes essentials such as tri-band 850/1800/1900 radios, Bluetooth connectivity, a built-in FM/AM radio (most other handsets just have FM radio), external radio presets and channel changing controls. Oh yeah, it also has a camera of unknown megapixel count albeit with the ability to record video - I’m going with 2 megapixels on this one. Other than that, information is scant and I still have no idea which network the Sony Ericsosn r306a is going to appear on.

Samsung SGH-U900 Soul "Magical Touch"

Before we got our mits on this much hyped, 5-megapixel Korean import, we were slightly skeptical. Sure, we got to play with it a little at CTIA (when it was solely called the Soul) and were instantly cast under a spell of gadget lust. But really, anytime a manufacturer dubs a product “Magic” we’re secretly hoping it has the ability to turn PCs into Macs and make Edge networks disappear.

The Samsung U900 aka Soul aka Magical Touch doesn’t really have any supernatural abilities. What it does have is a tiny touch OLED nav-pad that is one of the coolest, most efficient touch interfaces we’ve seen on a handset. The small display (situated below the main 2.2-inch QVGA screen) features icons that morph based on whatever application they’re in. Switch to camera and controls for snapping pictures appear. Toggle to the music player and buttons for fast forward, rewind, pause, and play pop up. But unlike David Blaine or (shudder) Criss Angel, this genteel stainless steel slider boasts more than just a handful of cheap tricks.

The big selling point is the phone’s pocketability. The picture quality and dynamic range could be better (LED flash, we’re talking about you) but at 0.5 inches thick and 7 ounces heavy, this slider more svelte than just every 5MP cam we’ve tested. Ultimately, our biggest complaint is that you cannot use the camera without sliding open the phone first. This design protects the lens from dust bunnies and pocket grime, yes, but shooting with a fully-open device was a tad awkward at times. And you know, sometimes that just ruins the magic.  —Steven Leckart

WIRED External microSD slot makes it a cinch to swap cards on the fly. Bluetooth (+A2DP). Competent image editing suite. Video Editor allows you to layer additional audio tracks. Decent facial detection. Haptic feedback can be tweaked to three different levels of intesity or switched off entirely.

TIRED Bundled proprietary ear buds sound duller than Ben Stein. No Xenon flash. No GPS. No Wi-Fi. Lower-res vid clips. Proprietary headphone jack positioned on the side = hard to pocket. Noticeable screen glare when outdoors.

$400, samsung.com

(Photo by Issac Brekken for Wired.com)