Gizmodo
In Brief
In Brief
Laptops / PCs
Gundam Haro Cube PC Sidekick
If you own a cube PC and like Gundam, you'll probably lose it for this new "case case." Obviously inspired by the show (well, obvious if you've seen it before), the "Haro" can fit entire cube PCs inside. But how could Haro be complete without annoying sidekick-like behavior? By way of remote controller, you can make Haro's limbs move, and he will say up to 12 different phrases such as "What the hell are you doing?" and "Hello?" and "Do you have a girlfriend yet, Stonecold?"More pictures at Akiba2Go.Read - Article [Akiba2Go]
In Brief
Vodafone to Release Cameraless Mitsubishi V301D
Vodafone K.K. has announced that they will release a "cameraless" version of the Mitsubishi V301D, released back in October of last year. According to Vodafone, the reason for this offering is so that those who work in factories and other places where secrecy is important can still use their cellular phones. Does this mean the phone is any cheaper? Hey, that's a good one.Read - Press Release (PDF) [Vodafone.jp via Keitai Watch]
In Brief
Hitachi and Seagate Developing Hard Drives for Phones
We been hearing rumblings about hard drives being put into cellular phones for a while now (we've certainly advocated it), but now a company called "Hoya Corp" revealed in a quarterly earnings statement that two major hard drive players - Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and Seagate - are planning on developing 1" hard drives for cellular phones. I sincerely hope that the hard drives are technically incapable of storing ringtones, because I can't imagine what life would be like if people could fit about 10,000 of the damn things in one device. I mean, really; 10,000 songs in your pocket? Who would want that?Read - Article [via NE Asia Online]
In Brief
Kaori Web: Internet Smell-O-Vision
Japanese firm K Opticom is paving the way for a relatively untouched sense in today's gadget world - smell. Trial units of the "Kaori Web" system will be placed at K Opticom's internet cafes in Japan until the end of September. But what is the "Kaori Web," you ask? See a picture of a flower, smell a flower. See a picture of waffles, smell waffles. The "Kaori Web" helps some realize their dream of having computers produce scents, to immerse them into a new environment finally covering all five senses. Or hackers will just use it to make some websites smell like a dog exploded. Read - Article (Japanese) [BCN ]
In Brief
Toshiba Whips Out Tiny Hard Drive, Smacks Apple
Toshiba has semi-announced that they will claim the throne of "world's smallest portable audio player containing a hard drive" in 2005, thanks to their 0.85 inch hard drive announced in January. The iPod mini, freshly released in Japan, currently holds the title. It's not the size that matters, Toshiba. Wait, yeah it is, sorry. The capacity of Toshiba's new player is expected to be 2GB or more.Read - Article (Japanese) [Asahi Shimbun via Slashdot.jp]
In Brief
The $3,000 Power Cord
You may have too much money if you would pay $3,000 for a single power cable, or alternatively, you may not be giving enough money to us. If you bought a 1.5m cable, you'd get each centimeter for a around $20. Teac Esoteric, a Japanese company, manufactures the cable — so costly that the provider of the 99.999999% pure copper wiring describes the manufacture of stress-free 8N class copper as (wait for it) "extremely difficult," forcing them to produce only 250 cables. Ever.But this is no simple power cable. Polyolefin resin. 24 karat gold and palladium plating. Insert costly material you haven't heard of here. I hope that for this much, this is the finest in power delivery, and by "power" I mean "handjob."Read - Product Information (Japanese) [Teac Esoteric via Watch.Impress]RelatedThe $6,700 Power Cord [Gizmodo]
The $744 Power Cord [Gizmodo]
In Brief
iPod Updater Hosing iPods?
Om Malik points out that he's lost two iPods in two days to the iPod updater. I just got my 3G 40GB back from the shop and updated with no problems today, but basically, keep a sharp eye — there may be a problem. More »
In Brief
Archos AV420 Reviewed
Laptop Magazine scoops themselves with their review of the Archos AV420, the $550 portable media player with a 20GB hard drive and the ability to function as a relatively full-featured PVR. They pretty much love it, noting that the 3.5-inch 262k-color screen is very "easy to watch." Their only complaint is the AV420s inability to multitask — if you're listening to music, you can't look at pictures, for instance. More »
In Brief
Firepod: In-Car FireWire and USB Power Adapter
ThinkGeek is now carrying the Firepod, an in-car cigarette adapter with both a USB and FireWire port for charging your iPod (or anything else that can be charged over FireWire or USB). Looks plenty handy for road warriors with just a couple of devices to charge at a time, and is a relatively good value at only $20. (Thanks, Justin!) More »
In Brief
Future Fantasy Gadget: Soundwave MP3 Player
Friday's Fantasy Future Gadget has a very simple premise: we'll give you one of the best ideas ever conceived for free. You have to buy us a jet plane when you make a million dollars with it, though. Today's gadget would sell, like, eight nine eleven millions or thousands millions in a week, guaranteed. More »
In Brief
