Iklangadget.com - Information about Gadget

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household

Only recently we told you about a table that monitors who is dominating a conversation and deemed it potentially disruptive. This time, however, we're looking at the "Kage roi" which looks to add to the coming together of wits and intelligences. Using voice recognition, Kage roi grabs keyboards and performs internet searches, displaying the results for each to see. To add it it all, the table even uses colored LEDs to set the mood. For instance, if you work with a group of morning people, set it to sunrise. If you're trying to get them to scramble before the end of the day, give them a sunset and let the desperate brainstorming begin. Developed by IT firm Kayac with some brains on Keio University, Kage roi won't be in a board room near you any time soon.

[Via Coolest Gadgets]

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"Dare to be different," the saying goes, but the LG Dare is really Verizon Wireless's attempt to fit in, to offer a phone that's more like the AT&T LG Vu and Sprint Samsung Instinct, not to mention Apple's similarly priced iPhone 3G. The truth is, the Dare may not be as glamorous or well-priced as the Instinct, but it has a better browser, a motion sensor and some cool software tricks that make it a fine phone for people who choose to remain in Verizon's walled garden. And it puts Verizon's previous iClone attempts, the LG Voyager and the Samsung Glyde, to lowdown dirty shame.

As I think we've firmly established, we call these iPhone clones because they are made superficially with the look and feel of the iPhone in mind. They are not direct competitors to the iPhone, as they don't run on a smart, open platform like iPhones—or Blackberry and Windows Mobile phones—do. The Dare, like the Instinct, is closed and proprietary, geared to customers who like much of what the carrier has to offer, and would just like a better way to make use of it. And after spending some time with the Dare, I can safely say that, much like the Instinct, it really does let you do that. Easier Access

For starters, Verizon has done away with its dependence on unchangeable, annoyingly deep menus. With the Dare, you can drag any app or function directly to the desktop for one-click access. You can add key people to the Favorites launcher, where you simply drag their face to the phone or message icons to call or launch a new SMS.Even those cryptic notification icons always seen at tops of phones are clickable on the Dare.E-mail and Web

Let me get this off my chest first: The Dare browser is WAY better than the Instinct's, both in rendering speed and page layout. You can navigate Gizmodo with very little trouble, especially if you're going read-only. My only complaint was that there was no way I could find to speed-scroll through so many blog posts without giving my thumb a callous.Verizon's E-mail app is basically the same as it's been for about six or eight months. I do not recommend it for business use, as it's not very full featured, but I was able to get the Dare to notify me whenever any mail from three different accounts came through, and the iPhone-like QWERTY keyboard with pop-up letters really helped when typing. The only trouble I had sending e-mail was due to a funky POP3 account with ambiguous recommended settings. (One negative: You can't edit POP settings once you've configured them, so I had to keep deleting and adding the same account over and over again.)

Premium Unlimited-Use Plans

The good news is, unlimited use of e-mail and web are included in Verizon's new premium price plans, along with unlimited text messaging, unlimited use of basic V Cast clips and ACTUALLY USEFUL stuff like the ESPN MVP sports and WeatherBug web apps. Though it seems at first glance that pricing is a tad higher that Sprint's, the difference is negligible:

$80/month - 450 primetime talk minutes

$100/month - 900 primetime talk minutes

$120/month - 1350 primetime talk minutes

$140/month - Unlimited talk minutes

And yes, there are family premium plans that give you these perks for multiple (compatible) phones. The phone itself is $200 after a mail-in rebate.

Lighter Features

In our introductory walkthrough video, we showed you some awesome traits. After a revisit during our review, here's how those features held up:

• Slow-mo video cam - It's a bit grainy, but with decent light, it could make some interesting videos at 120 frames per second. The 3.2 megapixel camera is decent, but nothing to write home about.

• Full photo editing - Speaking of camera, the editing feature is not as "full" as we first thought. There's no red-eye reduction or shadow/highlight or color adjustment. Most of the options are actually novelty, and even for being silly they are not very useable.

• Music player - Good: Plays MP3s and even iTunes Plus DRM-free AACs that you drag to the "My Music" folder of the MicroSD card (up to 8GB); Bad: Still has issues with tags, and appears to count image metadata as additional song files, so browsing by Artist or Album is fine, but browsing "All Songs" is messy. In addition to that the video player reads standard MP4 (but not H.264), and pauses songs when you switch to video playback, only to pick up where it left off once you're done.Hardware

Like the Sprint Instinct, there's a 3.5mm jack for universal headphone fit, but unlike the Instinct, the Dare has a motion sensor inside that tells whether you're holding the phone horizontally or vertically. Videos, photos and the music browser all automatically adjust, as do keyboards and web pages. It's a nice touch, though I'll be honest, you don't really miss it on the Instinct.

The Dare's touchscreen leaves something to be desired. It's not as snappy as the Instinct's, and even after calibrating the screen, I found myself resorting to fingernail tapping to gain some precision.

The body of the Dare is a tad chunkier, but shorter too, with a slightly stubbier screen.

Dare vs. Instinct

The Instinct is, inside and out, a more elegant device. I preferred Instinct's e-mail app, and its included news, sports and weather web apps were great. Verizon is promising some unlimited-use apps like ESPN MVP and WeatherBug to compete with that, and while they're pretty nice programs, they were not ready to be used on the Dare at the time of this review.

The thing I can't stand about the Dare is VZ Navigator. I have tried to appreciate this, and since unlimited use of it comes with the premium plan, it can be considered a feature of the phone. Still, it's the worst GPS UI I've ever played around with, and Verizon would do much better to kill off their own licensed app and go with Telenav, which Sprint and AT&T both use.

Still, after playing with both, I have to say that the Instinct's aesthetic assets don't fully make up for the Dare's key advantages, one of which happens to be Verizon's network. In the northeast at least, there's no substitute.

Conclusion

Like the web apps, there are a few more wait-and-sees: Visual voicemail isn't in effect yet, and may or may not come via over-the-air update. Rhapsody is just launching today, and for $15/month extra you will be able to sideload the Dare with Rhapsody-to-Go tracks, though a Windows PC is required for that.

I am very content to say that this is Verizon's best attempt at a customizable, user-friendly touchscreen phone, and that, if you are into buttonless touch interfaces, you could do a lot worse across all the carriers. I think the $200 iPhone trumps the $200 Dare if you don't care which carrier you're on, but for those of you who are sticking with Verizon, you might, um, venture to pick up a Dare. [LG Dare at Verizon Wireless]

Gary at HD Guru probably puts TVs through the most insane, obsessive test gauntlet of anyone. He just stacked one of Panasonic's latest, the TH-50PZ850U, against a Pioneer Kuro, once and future King of Plasmas. Basically, while Kuro is blacker (courtesy of its screen's darker tint) and brighter, Panny's color reproduction is much deeper, you get better dark detail, more accurate gamma, it uses 30 percent less power, AND it's cheaper ($3500 to $4600). Everything else is about even. For more grisly details, head over there: [HD Guru]

The prospect of a PSP phone looks even more likely now that we've seen Sony's patent for a touchscreen handheld. The patent describes a device with "digital tactile pixels" that respond to touch and give feedback via vibration. This patent was submitted by Sony Computer Entertainment, the group behind PlayStation, and not Ericsson, like the last alleged PSP phone patent. The mystery device is covered to play games and music and browse the web, but also make phone calls, so what else could it be? [patent via Tech Digest]

ZDNet's come up with a software-based app to overclock processors on the Intel 5000 and 5400 chipsets, which (as of right now) is the Mac Pro and Xserve. Apparently ZDNet Clock is so good, the cheapest 2.8GHz Mac Pro outperforms the 3.2MHz Mac Pro, saving you $1600. You'll have to fiddle with the slider to get it customized for you, so don't think you can just drag it to the right and not have a crashfest on your hands. Hit up ZDNet to see the details. If you can get this to work right (and have enough cooling), it could be fantastic for heavy computational tasks. [ZDNet via Wired]

Filed under: Networking

Although Linux-based Tomato and DD-WRT firmwares work with a plethora of routers, Netgear is getting savvy with its marketing by actually aiming its WGR614L at tweakers who just melt upon hearing either term. The so-called open source Wireless-G router features a 240MHz MIPS32 CPU, 4MB of flash memory, 16MB of RAM, an external 2 dBi antenna and a second internal diversity antenna to enhance range. Additionally, the unit will "soon" support OpenWRT, and there's also four 10/100 Ethernet ports in case you're looking for a bit of wired action as well. Potentially best of all, the WGR614L is available as we speak for a very manageable $69.

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What better way to bring your childhood into the present with these Nintendo Famicom business card holders. Your $8.80 will get you one random cartridge or controller, which may or may not be a that really horrible knockoff one made by that one lousy company in the mid '80s. We're looking at you, Ice Climber. If you're lucky, you'll get Zelda, Ballon Fight, or Mario instead. [GameAsylum via Nerd Approved]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Good luck convincing Grandma to pack a DVR-250 next to the same telly that's been avoiding TV detectors for years, but how about a "match box-sized" addition that gives all the benefits of the digital switchover and without taking up a lot of space? TVonics MFR-300 improves on previous versions with support for Audio Description allowing people with sight problems to hear subtle on screen changes described, plus interactive TV features, EPG and parental controls. The 70mm x 27mm x 54mm box is available for £59.99 and can actually mount behind the TV, so all that's left is teaching your family how to use it -- good luck with that.

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It seems too good to be true, but according to Kilmatec, their Base 1 AirWater Machine can extract up to 20 liters (around 5 gallons) of water from the air in a 24 hour period. It also makes that water suitable for drinking by running it through a carbon filter and ultraviolet light chamber to eliminate any pollutants or bacteria. It can even dispense the water hot or cold. So, in essence, the Base 1 is like a water cooler that never needs refills.

If you are concerned about how much power something like this would consume, Kilmatec has answered that problem as well with a solar power option that can keep the water coming even in the harshest conditions. Again, a product like this rases a few red flags—I mean, five gallons in 24 hours seems high—even in a rainforest. Plus, there is no pricing information available, which only adds to my skepticism. [Kilmatec via TRFJ via DVICE]

TiVoremote, the iPhone / iPod touch Telnet TiVo Remote app, was finally updated a few weeks ago with an ooey gooey GUI, and some really useful new features. Now at version 0.23, the app can now detect TiVos on your home network, allowing for easy selection of the TiVo you want to control. What's even better is the app now has the ability to download the Now Playing list data from the TiVo, allowing the iPhone to show what's been recorded and display each recordings data info. The app can also use the NPL data to start playing the recordings automatically. So if you've got a Jailbroken iPhone / iPod touch, and a Series 3 TiVo, I would suggest giving the app a try, it's surprising useful. [TiVoRemote]