Wi-Fire takes you to hotspots you never knew existed

Connect it to your laptop's USB port and you can not only discover multiple hotspots as far as 1000ft away, but you can also connect wirelessly to the internet even at low signal strengths. That's the advantage which Wi-Fire, a compact, range-extending USB device from hField Technologies, Inc. promises to deliver.

Wi-Fire works by using "a powerful directional antenna, highly sensitive receiver and proprietary software", to find and enhance normal WiFi signals. So that you can peacefully surf at low signal strengths without repeatedly losing the connection, and download large files, stream audio/video at higher strengths. The device apparently uses very little power from your laptop, and is compatible with Windows XP/Vista, Mac and Linux.

At $59, it is an investment that can yield recurrent returns. The best part? Priceless mobility as it lets the virtual world roam along with you.

Via The Gadgeteer.

Juicy Couture Goes Geeky

As if the obnoxious sweatpants with their name across the ass weren't enough, the folks at Juicy Couture have unleashed their latest travesty upon the unsuspecting masses -- the Juicy Couture "Back To School" Flexi Keyboard. Hoping to appeal to the geek girl diva crowd, the rubber and silicone number comes in bubblegum pink, because as you know, women are just suckers for anything pretty and pink (eye roll). The lettering on the keyboard is done in Juicy's usual Old English lettering.

Cheap marketing ploy aside, this USB keyboard does have some good points. The rubber and silicone body lets users roll it up like a yoga mat, making it totally portable. It's also Mac and PC friendly.

The fancy pants keyboard is retailing at Nordstrom for a whopping $45, a little pricey for a keyboard, but such is the price of couture I guess.

Via CoolestGadgets

Samsung Gets Highlights

Yesterday, the Samsung Highlight hit shelves. A slim and curvy number, the Highlight SGH-t749 is a smartphone with a full touchscreen and style for days. With it's rubberized casing, the Highlight is easy on the hands. With vibrant colors like the bright red and orange "Fire" and the cool turquoise "Ice," the phone is seriously easy on the eyes.

In lieu of a QWERTY keypad, the Highlight has a QWERTY touchscreen that can be accessed much like the iPhone. It also has a number of customizable widgets, allowing quick and easy access to some of the user's favorite apps. The screen is has a respectable 240 x 400 pixel resolution which comes in handy when you're cruising the web on the full size web browser.

Kidizoom camera provides for safe toddler entertainment

I often have to make the choice (read million times a day) between letting my toddler satisfy his curiosity on how my gizmos can contribute to his growing need to know everything, and extending their shelf life by that one more day by keeping them out of his reach. Taking the latter option almost always means that I get to savor my toys only when he is at school, or is blissfully asleep. Both of which happen to be the shortest events of the day.

Being the hassled, deprived mother that I sound like, it is always relieving to see the growth of the kiddies' gadget market. The latest in the little world of digital cameras is the Kidizoom series for pre-schoolers from VTech. Take your pick from two models - the Kidizoom Plus which sports a 2x digital zoom, a movie mode (with sound), 256 MB of memory, an optical viewfinder plus a preview screen that works with a D-pad and an SD memory slot, or the 0.3-megapixel Kidizoom which has all of the former, except for the viewfinder.

Both cameras include a photo editor (Mac/Windows), a crude auto flash, U.S.B. and AV cables to connect to your computer or TV, and run on four AA batteries. The Kidizoom Plus is priced at $60, and the basic Kidizoom $20 cheaper at $40. Wait for them to hit the stores next month.

Via NYTimes.

Researchers get ticklish to discover origins of laughter

"Hi honey, how was your day?"

"Oh, pretty good - I tickled some chimps for a bit and then started in on the babies..."

Not a typical day in the office for most of us perhaps, but when British researcher Marina Davila Ross of the University of Portsmouth, England began a study to trace the origin of human laughter, she knew she was going to have to get hands on.

She and her colleagues tickled three human babies as well as 21 orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos. They recorded the laughter sounds that resulted from each bout of tickling, and were able to identify some sounds which indicate humans and apes may have a shared laughter heritage. (I'm guessing they also identified that tickling babies and primates is a fun way to spend a day).

To think, at school I was under the misapprehension that science was boring.

Image: Thomas Lersch via Wikipedia.

FujiFilm Takes Some Fine Pix

For the photo fanatic that wants a camera as eye-catching as their pics, Fujifilm presents the FinePix Z35 digital camera. This little beauty is following the "C's" -- "cute, curvy, and compact." The FinePix, the latest release in the popular Z series of cameras is slim. How slim? The 23.9 mm thick device is thin enough to slide comfortably into your jean pocket and is the perfect party cam -- able to fit into the smallest of purses to catch those impromptu moments that life can throw at you.

The Z35 has 10 megapixel with a 3x optical zoom which is optimal for taking crisp, clear shots. it also has a 2.5-inch LCD screen perfect for checking out your shots before and after you snap the photo. In order to ensure that perfect shot, the z35 also has Face Detection and the six scene SR AUTO feature. The automatic scene recognition can detect portrait, night protrait, and landscape just to name a few. Shutterbugs can also trim and crop pics as they please and create slideshows

Toshiba Try to Make Digital Photo Frames Cool

Since their arrival on the tech scene, consumer electronic companies have been trying to sell the public on digital picture frames -- trying to convince how cool they really are. And despite numerous attempts and feature additions including being able to send photos wirelessly or the ability to create slideshows, we still haven't jumped on the digital photo frame album. Toshiba is hoping to finally make a decidedly lame product somewhat cool.

Drape fashion around your ears with Zumreed Dreams headphones

Imagine what a pair of good-looking headphones can do to your personality. The truth ? Not much. Though it wouldn't be an utterly foolish idea to be aesthetically competent now, would it ? The Zumreed Dreams ZHP-005 headphones can perhaps help you along, given that they are striped chic and are available in 5 bright colors to match with your audio player.

These retro-looking colorfully striped headphones are sure to make a few heads turn to ogle your own, and you can pretend to be so immersed in music that the attention hasn't affected you. For the more serious, the headphones specs indicate decent performance too - they have a frequency response of 20 Hz - 20kHz, a 40mm driver unit and 1.2m length of cord, and come padded with soft earpads for a comfortable fit around the ears. Enough said.

Get yours from AudioCubes at $65.99.

Via The Red Ferret.

Powramid is a power strip with a difference

Have you ever seen a multi-outlet power strip that isn't boringly rectangular? Or have you even considered that it needn't always be so? Well, someone else did. And in the process, they probably revolutionized the profile of the plain power strip altogether - by designing a pyramid-shaped surge protector called the Powramid.

This 6-outlet power strip is conveniently shaped like a pyramid, and has a green LED light that acts as a surge indicator. The advantage of the new shape is multifold - the larger AC adapters can fit into the outlets with ease, the power strip itself occupies lesser space, and your device wires can be shorter than those required for a rectangular power strip. Only advantages, this one. The outlets are priced between $24 and $29.

Via The Gadgeteer.

What's your favorite (imaginary) gadget?

After 15 happy months, my time at Popgadget has come to a close (I know, I'm sad too. But I won't cry. *sniffsniff*)

In that time, I've loved writing about the weird and the wonderful in the world of tech. I've seen some inventions that made perfect sense (every home should have a disco coffee table) and others that boggled my mind (USB breast warmers - enough said).

So this article in The Guardian about household gadgets that haven't been invented but should be got me thinking. I hate taking showers (and don't get me started on baths) but obviously I have to, or I wouldn't have any friends. And no-one would serve me in shops and restaurants and stuff.

Why has no-one invented the dry shower yet? Haven't we been taunted for years with the notion that we would one day be vibrated dry (which sounds like fun and possibly a new weight loss idea)? Get onto it engineers, please. I may not be blogging about gadgets anymore, but I'm still keeping an eye out for great inventions of the future.

What would you like to see?

The Palm Pre looks like a splendid new Smartphone

Amid all the iPhone madness, equal time for the Palm Pre, please.

The Palm Pre Smartphone--released last weekend and running a brand-new fast and versatile operating system, WebOS--has been received most enthusiastically in nearly all quarters. BBC News has thoughtfully rounded up several reviews so you can see for yourself.

Reviewers particularly liked the Pre's real keyboard, which that other phone still lacks. The cool QUERTY keyboard slides out gracefully so as not to interfere with the Pre's attractive and ergonomically sound curve design. Another feature unique to the Pre is its ability to multitask--you don't have to close one app to open another.

But. A big disadvantage of the Palm Pre is those apps. The you-know-what phone has a giant online store with thousands of them. The Pre's online app store has only a few for now, %^(. But let's be optimistic, %^). Surely developers will rush in to fill the gap, and software updates are expected to add spiffy features in the next few months.

However--and for me this is a huge however--there are thousands and thousands and thousands of apps that run happily on previous Palms. When the Pre was announced earlier this year, long-time Palm-lovers like me were devastated to be told that existing Palm apps would not run on the new WebOS.

Happily, Palm saw the wisdom of making a place for those of us who kept the Palm faith through the lean years. It's appropriately called Classic and makes it possible for most existing Palm OS apps run on the Pre, only faster. Even PIM databases like Contacts, Tasks, and Calendar. $29.99 and available through the Pre Apps Catalog too.

I can't share my Pre experiences with you because I haven't had any. I use the nifty Palm Centro and my current contract won't run out until next fall. Plenty of time for Palm to shake the bugs out of the Pre and issue some software updates--and for the App Catalog to fatten up.

Wi-Fi detector cap-and-shirt make you a moving status indicator

Don't be surprised if kids point at you and scream, "Look Mommy, that cap is lighting up!". Or if people around disperse rather quickly as your T-shirt lights up without warning. The good part? Well, to know that you are near a strong 802.11b/g Wi-Fi network that you can crawl into and shut out the external world. And I think that's a handsome compensation for the trouble you would have taken to dress yourself up with either this Wi-fi Detector Cap($14.99), or the Wi-Fi Detector Shirt($19.99) from ThinkGeek.

Both the cap and the shirt serve the geek-noble purpose of detecting a nearby Wi-Fi network, and also visually indicate the signal strength. And displaying this information for everyone to see spares you from having to check the availability of a hotspot yourself. Afterall, the proverbial geek is also a well-known sloth.

Via TechEBlog.

MIX STIX can help you drum your way through the kitchen

They are cooking "gadgets" that double up as drumsticks, but not of the eating kind. MIX STIX is an innovative set of wooden spoons that can not only help you rustle up your meal in style, but also aid your musical inclinations by becoming a pair of drumsticks as you flip them around.

Designed by Ignacio Pilotto & Jason Amendolara, MIX STIX are a pair of beechwood spoons, one solid and the other slotted like a musical note, and made specifically for dual use as spoons-cum-drumsticks. Sounds pretty logical, doesn't it?

Now I wonder if there is any amongst us who hasn't used kitchen cutlery for purposes other than cooking - breaking into impromptu musical compositions, for instance. Or letting your spouse know explicitly that you are frustrated with the day's proceedings, for another. Thank your stars that nobody has let their imaginations stretch as far as the latter idea just yet.

Watch out for the spoon sisters to hit Urban Outfitters stores this fall.

Via OhGizmo.

Bandai's New Notebook: Too Cute for Words

Japan is known for its of out of this world tech and it's obsession with anything cute and animated (Hello Kitty anyone?). And toymaker Bandai, creators of Girlz Connect and the wildly popular Tomagotchi digital pet, sees no reason why cute and tech should ever be separate.

Their latest creation takes the adorable cartoon character RilakKuma, a lovable bear that loves nothing more than sleeping and eating mochi with a netbook creating what could possibly be the cutest piece of tech ever. The netbook is pretty standard fare with 1GB memory, an Atom N270 processor, and 160GB hard drive. Now the 8.9-inch 1024x600 resolution screen leaves something to be desired however.

Soundblock iPod speakers look like LEGO blocks

Elecom has brought out a series of docks for the iPod Nano called Soundblocks that are perhaps the most good-looking ones in the mini-dock category. They measure only 2 x 16mm, and are available in atleast a dozen appetizing colors - just so that you can match your iPod with the appropriate one. Seriously, what more could you want? Well, I for one, would like to know if they sound as good as they look.

The speakers are priced at around $42.

Via TechFresh.

iHouse Builds the Better Faucet

Remember that old MGM cartoon "The House of Tomorrow," where we were given a glimpse into the future of the modern household? While it was silly and over-the-top, it got one thing right, today's house is totally different from the appliances of 1949 or even 1990. And thanks to companies like iHouse, the House of Tomorrow is closer to becoming the House of Today.

Birdsong radio woos its fans (for the last time)

Here's a sweet story, or even a "tweet" story... No, I'm not rambling on about Twitter yet again - I'm talking about real birds this time.

After British digital radio station OneWorld was taken off the air, the BBC had nothing to replace it with. So they replaced music with... recorded birdsong.

Almost half a million listeners tuned in over the 18 months "Birdsong radio" was running, many of whom, like author Sir Terry Pratchett, found it "relaxing". Some fans were city-dwellers who never get to hear birds singing in real life.

But at the start of June, the idyll was over: The BBC's new station, Amazing Radio, which will feature unsigned artists, was launched, and Birdsong radio was no more. Huh. I guess it was more of a sad story, really. Shame there isn't room on the radio for upcoming musicians and nature's own, isn't it?

Image: Wikimedia.

Dumbbell Alarm Clock Makes Exercise Like Clockwork

With American waistlines on a steady increase, it's important that we use every spare second to fight the battle of the bulge. Fred & Friends, maker of fun and practical products has just what the doctor ordered with it's latest creation, the SHAPE UP. This handy little gadget pulls double duty as an alarm clock and a free weight.

Simply set the alarm for your usual wake up time and catch a good night's sleep. When it's time to wake up, the alarm sounds, but unlike regular alarm clocks, you can't shut it off with an uncoordinated, early morning button push. To turn off the alarm you have to do 30 reps with it.
That's right, you actually have to exercise in order to turn off the racket.

SHAPE UP is as environmentally-friendly as it is health-conscious. The clock comes packaged in a clear recycable box. Perfect for a health buff or someone that needs a little gentle prodding to get to the gym, the SHAPE UP makes a great gift.

Panda USB hub

Think Panda, think cute. Moreover, the one that we are going to intro is a hassle free pet that lives on a diet of data, not bamboo. Oh well, it is the 4-port Panda USB hub that deserves all the praise because it looks good, is plug-n-play, and is pretty hard to ignore. Plugging your USB drive in adorably lights up its eyes with a cool blue color that, you know, can sorta warm up your heart. At $12 it would have been an easy decision to make, if not for the hugely limiting USB 1.1 interface. Either it is that some people just don't realize what it means to make products of a minimum standard, or they don't expect to sell very much. Your guess.

Via Fosfor.

14 year old girl discovers supernova

We're more used to seeing news stories about teenage girls running up astronomical cell phone bills than having an interest in astronomy, but 14 year old Caroline Moore is clearly exceptional. Caroline, who is from New York, was scouting the night sky with her amateur telescope when she spotted celestial object SN 2008ha (catchy name, huh?)

The supernova is an exploded star located 70 million light-years away from Earth (approx) and no-one had ever identified it before. It appears to be unusually bright.

As Alex Filippenko, the leader of the supernova group at the University of California in Berkeley told Softpedia.com:

“Coincidentally, the youngest person to ever discover a supernova found one of the most peculiar and interesting supernovae ever."

Kudos, Caroline - keep up the great work!

Image: NASA.

Fulton Innovation Wants to Turn Your Sofa into a Wireless Charger

With our lives becoming increasingly digital, we need an ever growing amount of gadgets to keep up. And where there are more gadgets, there are more wires and clutter. To combat the problem, many companies are going the wireless route using routers to keep our gadgets connected to the net, but technology to wirelessly charge our toys has been slow in coming. But if infrastructure manufacturer Leggett & Platt and Fulton Innovation have their way, soon gadget geeks will have a stylish and comfortable way to keep all their digital necessities charged and ready.

Sony Ericsson Wants to Light up Your Wardrobe

As our gadgets have become more prevalent in our lives, it's also become a necessity for our tech to not only improve our lives but look good while they do it. Cell phone companies have answered the call for high-quality tech and aesthetics with phones specifically designed to function as high tech fashion accessories decked out with everything from precious metals to jewelry.

Download file

BenQ Brings You More "Joy"

Make room for yet another netbook. BenQ, a Taiwanese consumer electronics specializing in LCD monitors, digital projectors, and of course netbooks. The latest release, the Joybook Lite U102 is compact, sleek and shiny just like we like it. The latest iteration of the Joybook is being marketed for the person that's constantly on the go that wants an ultra-portable perks of a netbook without sacrificing the performance power of a laptop.

This obsidian beauty comes with a high polish finish and weighs in at 2.3lbs and is 1" thick making it unbelievably light. The netbook even has a miniature AC adapter. But with all that streamlining, the Joybook still has room for a 10.1" 16:9 WSVGA LED-backlit screen. BenQ also made sure they didn't skimp on the image quality. Videos and images can be viewed in high quality HD, thanks to the 1024x600 widescreen. Unlike other netbooks with small cramped keyboards the Joybook's keyboard is a comfortable fit, 90% of the size of a full QWERTY keyboard. There's also an expanded touchpad for easier scrolling.

Now you can Runpee without missing much of a movie

There's no movie-related trauma worse than watching a film you've been waiting months for (and splashed out your hard-earned bucks on going to see) and not being able to enjoy it because that 64oz soda you chugged during the previews has left you desperate to pee.

When that happens, you have a couple of options: uncomfortably ride out your discomfort and dash to the bathroom as soon as the opening credits roll... or dash to the bathroom mid-movie and hope you don't miss anything essential to the plot.

Now there's a third option: check Runpee.com before you get to the theater. This site lists the best time to go to the bathroom in a number of movies, including summer blockbusters Angels and Demons and Terminator: Salvation. It may not be the most glamourous of websites, but your urinary tract will thank you later. (Or something).

Follow Runpee on Twitter for the latest news and keep your eyes peeled for the iPhone app, which is coming soon.

Coway AP-1008 Air Purifiers: Clean Air with Great Style

With summer in full swing, the pollen count is sure to be high as is dander from shedding pets.Keep your air fresh and breathable with the stylish Coway AP-1008 Air Purifiers. Slim and sleek, the Conway is a showpiece and useful gadget combined.

What's the miracle cure for cellulite?

There is none. But you knew that.

The New York Times's Catherine Saint Louis explains why. If you are beach-bound, there's really only one small ray of hope. Your cellulite may be temporarily less noticeable if the skin around it is plumped up. Cellulite creams and machines often work this way. They irritate your skin so that it swells, which disguises lumpiness a little bit for a little while.

Very irritating.

Tengu makes a comeback with the new AllStars avatar

They are cute, have an astute sense of melody and can be your faithful dancing partners for the weekends, given that you - the geek - haven't been particularly successful in building many meaningful relationships since you got outta college. They are - Tengu - and these hugely popular USB devices which were earlier quite plain-jane, now make a comeback in their funky, All Stars avatar.

These three brand new characters - Rotten, Stardust, and Woodstock - are all decked up versions of the modest Tengu underneath, done-up with abundant stickers to produce the rock-star effect. Which means, lovers of the original Tengu can retain the original threadbare looks by just removing the stickers. All yours, if not sold out yet, for a well-spent $40.

Via Chip Chick.

Xbox360 project Natal

This is absolutely amazing technology from Microsoft called xbox360 Natal. It is an interactive technology with you and the system, no controllers, no wires just you a camera and the tv screen. Big deal right? there has been interactive tv/video games for a while. Well thats not the only feature, xbox has almost created true artificial intelligence and interaction with a character called Milo, he can recognize you, your face, your emotion and even interact with you via the camera on the xbox (just by holding a picture or a drawing to the camera in a split second he can see it and identify whats on that paper). This is absolutely ground breaking and revolutionary technology that I have never seen before and it will change the gaming and AI industry forever. Check out the youtube video: Lionhead Peter Molyneux Milo Demo - Xbox 360 Natal

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Xbox360 project Natal

New website encourages parents to Panic About Babies

It seems like expectant parents are always being faced with incredibly scary information (like the fact that if you're pregnant, that baby is going to come out of you, and it is going to hurt, or that you are going to be sole caretakers of another human being, that kind of stuff). "Don't panic!" Parenting books exude, while you're hyperventilating into the paper bag they came in.

Well, a new site launched this week by popular "mommybloggers" Alice Bradley (aka Finslippy) and Eden Marriott Kennedy (of Fussy fame) takes a total different tack.

Another USB hub that's much more

Here's yet another USB hub with a difference - this one has an integrated luminous calculator for number crunching, a mouse pad and a 3-port hub, all rolled (out) into one entity.

The USP of this device is that it lights up with a "blue, moody light" that illuminates the calculator making it look pretty fetching (in complete darkness, ofcourse). And it is super-slim too, measuring just around 4mm in thickness. The calculator can be switched off and used as a mouse pad, or as a USB 1.1 (only ?) hub. The device itself runs either on external power supply or a single battery (power adapter / battery included).

Well, if you haven't bought yourself even one of the zillion USB-hub-cum-this-'n-that devices yet, head on to GizFever and check this one out. Costs $17.99.

Via Engadget.

Belkin Makes Hands Happy with Three Cool Mice

When you spend 8-10 hours a day in front of a computer, it's important that you're as comfortable as possible. The right chair, correct posture, glare guard it all works in tandem to get you through the day with as little detriment to your productivity as possible. Belkin, stylish yet functional peripheral maker has just upped the comfort ante with its latest releases, the Wireless Comfort Mouse, the Retractable Mouse, and the Bluetooth Comfort Mouse.

Samsung, Omnia Pro B7610 instead of Louvre B7610

Samsung announced officially slide type phone ‘Omnia Pro B7610’ instead of ‘Louvre B7610’.
Omnia Pro B7610 has 3.5’’ WVGA AMOLED display, 800MHz and 5-mega pixel camera. It is told that it will be released in August with Windows Mobile 6.1 not officially but it is certain that it will support Mobile 6.5 upgrade.

Watch more details of Omnia Pro B7610.

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Samsung, Omnia Pro B7610 instead of Louvre B7610

Every girl's dream: the weightless wedding

It wasn't exactly a wedding in space, which I told you last year will happen in 2011. But it was a weightless wedding, probably the first to be held in the 30-second periods of zero gravity possible when the G-Force One aircraft flies loop-de-loops. Cost: $7500 per person, not counting the photographer.

Thanks to Jennifer Ouellette at Twisted Physics, who provides technical details on the nuptials. For a more traditional account that covers how bride Erin Finnegan and groom Noah Fulmor were dressed, plus a photo gallery, see Australia's Daily Telegraph.