Electronic Toy World

Everyone knows by now that Starbucks fans who have iPhones or the iTouch can order and download music directly from the iTunes store while they sip on the overpriced dark roast in Starbucks. What people may not know is that Seattle and Cupertino could be experimenting with the ability to order and buy your next round of double American half latte half caf with a shot from the iTunes store as well. Just don’t try and synch your ipod with it.

It’s just in a series of Photoshopped mockups at the moment, but word is that the software is also being developed which would allow iTuns fans to buy a Vente Frap (or other Starbucks frothy goodness) and pay using their their iTunes account. When ready, the customer would then provide the barista with a semacode digital “receipt” that can be scanned at pickup. The concept would even allow users to write up specific directions in the notes section via the multi touch screen interface or the popup keyboard. Running totals of coffee costs and iTunes account balances are also included in the mockups.

If this concept flies, what’s next? Heading over to Mickey D’s for a Quarter Pounder and a track of the latest Usher CD? Doubtful considering the war that’s being waged over Ronald McDonald and Starbuck at the moment. But how about going to the movies at the local multiplex and downloading the film or movie soundtrack directly to your iPod after the closing credits? I doubt Hollywood would think that differently.

Still, with Cupertino, it’s more a question of what piece of the pie Apple gets, not if they can actually do it.

Source and Photo Credit – The Giz

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Well you have to give it to the SeaLife ECOshot, regardless of how good or bad it takes underwater photographs, any camera that can take a direct drop from over six feet has to be a crowd pleaser in our clutzy world. It’s got a sleek design that’s encased in rubber handholds for easy gripping, even with dive gloves on.

Powered by a pair of AA batteries to keep the camera small and light, the EcoShot can reach a maximum depth of seventy five feet without an underwater housing. That makes it great for snorkeling and beginning to intermediate scuba divers who are looking to take pictures of the underwater sights rather than set dive records. And with a 6MP CMOS sensor, it hits the digital camera “sweet spot” which states that six megapixel chips are an ideal balance between megapixels and light sensivitiy. And considering that it can get pretty dark down below six feet, the ability to take in and record as much light as possible – even with a flash is a good thing.

The camera also has an interval meter which can set the camera to shoot pictures automatically anywhere from 5 seconds to five minutes. It comes with a small 14MB of internal memory, and sadly, it can only take 1GB SD cards. And at $230, you’d think a diver could at least slide a 2 Giger in there. But this baby’s strengths are in it’s robustness, not in it’s storage capacity.

Source – Slash Gear

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Mobile Choice UK reviews the Sony Ericcson T650i and writes, “As with the Sony Ericsson K810i, the T650i holds a killer 3.2-megapixel camera and it comes with an endless list of facilities to play around with. As well as auto-focus, the T650i features macro focus, allowing good-quality close-up shots and infinite focus, which takes sharper shots. Other effects include black and white, negative, sepia and solarise.”

Read more about the Sony Ericsson T650.

LP Dock. Whoa, an iPod dock that is actually a tad more useful than the average. Slot your ‘pod into the socket and you can instantly transfer your aging vinyl classics into digital. No need for a computer, amplifier or even cables. Cool stuff. The thing also comes with a line out and USB port, so you can move stuff from vinyl to your other digital recorders or why not just play the old Pink Floyd platters through your stereo and kick back in a nostalgia fest? You’re going to have to cough up a goodly $259.95 for the privilege though citizen, so be prepared.

 LP DOCK includes EZ Vinyl Converter 2 for PC (EZVC2) and EZ Audio Converter for Mac (EZAC); the best way to record and convert vinyl directly to iTunes. EZVC2 features Gracenote® MusicID technology, which analyzes your vinyl and automatically retrieves album, artist and song information for you! EZAC lets you easily enter track information. You can now digitally archive your collection in just a few mouse clicks.

MySpace to get new Celebrity site

MySpace has received a new addition in the form of a website dedicated to celebrities, and everything that relates to them, such as “behind-the-scenes” content.

The website can be viewed at - http://celebrity.myspace.com - and contains a small index of real celebrities that have a real MySpace profile, unlike the other thousand which are fake. At the moment, there are more than 300 celeb profiles in the directory, including people like: Beyonce, Chris Cornell, Paris Hilton (duh),Shakira, Tom Hanks, Usher, even Snoop Dogg, and many more.

Gizmodo prank at CES = Ban

In case you didn’t know, Gizmodo did a little big prank at CES 2008. Basically, they decided to turn off flat-screen displays that were on the show, by using a IR remote control. On top of causing trouble to the people on the booths that were presenting products, they also messed around with a press event, which can be considered more serious.

What they didn’t know, is that the conference’s organization, also known as Consumer Electronics Association, have decided to ban the person responsible for the problems. It can get even worse, because additional sanctions against Gizmodo and Gawker Media are under discussion.

NetworkSolutions – not a good registrar?

On the intenet world of domain names, some users are getting pissed off at Network Solutions because of “front-running” situations. Meaning that the company in question (NS) registers domains, right after people searching and checking if they are available. Obviously, this isn’t good for Network Solutions, that has a fee of $35, while many other registrars are on the $10 mark.

Sources: CNet

Guest post by Tiago of Gadgetizer

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Click for a larger image.

At CES this year, Blu-ray had a pretty slick setup.  Not only did they tout their recently announced partnership with Warner Bros., but they also had a speaker talking about their superiority while facing the HD DVD booth… which turned out to be very funny.  The Blu-ray booth had such things as a ship from Pirates of the Caribbean, Homer and Marge Simpson, and the 150-inch Panasonic TV.  We’ve got a full gallery of images for you to look at, so check them out below…

Check out the gallery: CES 2008 Booth Tour: Blu-ray

Posted Jan 12th 2008 2:52AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Gaming
In a piece primarily focused on Blu-ray over at Business Week, a bit of scrolling led to quite the interesting tidbit: Sony has apparently been able to slash the production cost of its PlayStation 3 in half. More specifically, it was noted that the firm has been able to “shrink the PS3’s chips and tweak its design,” which aided in getting the cost per machine “to around $400 now, from above $800 just before it went on sale in November 2006.” According to Nikko Citigroup’s Kota Ezawa, the biggest culprit for such an improvement is the “reduction in the parts count.” Still, we wouldn’t get our hopes up for yet another price cut just yet, but at least things are moving in the right direction.

[Via PS3Fanboy]

LaserShield has had their home security system out for a while, but recently added a new product, Sparrow, which interfaces with their Master Control box and sends alerts and other monitoring information to their data center via an Internet connection instead of over the traditional phone line.

This is good news for those people without or getting rid of a POTS landline. Sparrow will retail for $130.

In case you don’t know about LaserShield, they make an affordable (starter kit is under $200) home security system that includes a master control unit and at least one wireless motion detection unit. You can have up to 10 of these motion detection units interface with the master control unit. When the system is armed and the WDU senses motion, it sends an alert to the master control unit which immediately sends an alarm to the Monitoring Center which then either tries to contact you and if they can’t contacts emergency services like the police.

The starter kit also comes with small remote control units that you can use to arm/disarm and send a panic signal. If you’d rather have a different comm mechanism, LaserShield also offers the Cyclone which sends the alerts over the GSM network.

Of course, you’ll need to sign up for a monthly monitoring service, and those start out at $10/month.

You know you’ve been there. You’ve been traveling and all you want is a nice hot espresso. You head to a national chain coffee shop (rhymes with Car Ducks) to get your fix. But wait! They burn the crap out of it! Now your espresso fix is ruined. Or what if you’re miles and miles away from any civilized place with an espresso machine - what do you do then?

The Handpresso is an innovative gadget that allows you (with the purchase of their specialized coffee pods) to brew a nice cup of espresso with just hot water! The description from the website:

Handpresso Wild is at the core of the NOMADIC ESPRESSO. Simple, light, elegant and compact, it works without electricity. It has all the basic qualities to make a premium quality coffee anywhere.

Handpresso Wild prepares a tasty espresso of outstanding quality (according to the manufacturer) obtained by a high-pressure extraction, a patented Handpresso system. The coffee is listed as “a fine and smooth crema, subtle aromas, a structured body, a lengthy finish: a ‘vintage’ coffee!” How do you brew such tasty cup of espresso? Just pump the machine to 16 bar (of pressure, I’m assuming), add hot water from a kettle or a thermo insulated bottle and an Easy Serving Espresso (E.S.E.) pod. Then, serve the espresso in the cup of your choice by pushing the button.

This would be great to even make lattes at home too. Or, impress your coffee-loving friends the next time you go camping by waking them up to some fresh espresso. The Handpresso retails for 99,00€ (around $140 US) and the E.S.E. pods (made by a wide variety of manufactures) can be picked up at any large grocery store.

[Handpresso via Gizmodo]

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3G reviews the Samsung SGH-G800 and writes, “The Samsung G800 may not be unique in offering Xenon flash, but it does make a tremendous difference to photos shot in less than bright conditions. A Xenon flash provides a very bright light for a short period of time. As with any flash, you’ll have to be careful with glare and reflection from shiny surfaces and it can be a bit of a drain on the battery, but it’s great for a mobile camera.”

Read more about the Samsung SGH-G800.