Apple Time Capsule:

Apple Time Capsule:

Apple's updated its Wi-Fi router and backup drive combo, Time Capsule, with a guest mode and simultaneous dual-band wireless. I was pretty surprised at how wireless performance has increased, too.

Before I start explaining little things like speed, it's important to understand that the main reason why Time Capsule is cool is that it's the most easy to use device lazy Mactards like myself can back up their machine to. To do so, you just run a OS X Leopard program called Time Machine, which finds your Time Capsule—or any locally connected hard drive—and uses it as a backup HDD. Every day, more or less, by wireless or wired network, Time Machine (the software) and Time Capsule (the Wi-Fi router with a HDD in it) will continue to log changes you've made to your data. The physical drive inside comes in 1TB or 500GB capacities, and is a server drive rated for continous 24/7 use for quite awhile. [UPDATE: Jason just reminded me that last year, some people found the drives in the old Time Capsule to be rated for as a network server drive, but also, for consumer machines. So it's not as robust as some drives you'd find in, say, a data center.] Last fall, the Time Capsule saved my butt when my laptop's drive died overnight. Miraculously, after dropping in a new HDD, the OS X install discs asked me if I wanted to restore from a previous Time Capsule/Machine backup, and ended up losing only 2 hours of data. Two hours!

There's more on the Time Machine and Capsule relationship in our intial walkthrough review.

So, if you want Mac backup in one simple unit, there is no better solution than a Time Capsule. And this one is slightly improved over the last. But unlike a year ago when the first generation drive came out, there are other options that are slightly cheaper. More on these later, after the TC performance tests.

First, let's look at the improvements Apple has made in this hardware and to the previous generation's via firmware.



• Dual Band: Two radios instead of one so you can run in 802.11n on both the 5GHz frequency (very fast, although not as interference or wall/door resistant as 2.4GHz) and on 2.4GHz, while older devices with 802.11b or g simply run on the 2.4 band. The last generation of Time Capsule had both band options, but you had to choose one, and that meant almost always choosing 2.4GHz for max compatibility. Having dual channels—which show up as separate Wi-Fi access points but are on the same network—gives you another lane to drive in while the one is saturated with media streaming, a backup or giant file transfers. Somehow, the new antennas are 6DB stronger than the previous antennas, according to the AP Grapher program.

This resulted in an outdoor walking test of about 100 feet of usable range vs 70 for the old unit, about 30% in a sparse area with few other Wi-Fi signals around. (I tested using the 5.4GHz N mode on both Time Capsules, and 2.4GHz mode on the second band on the new Time Capsule. In the above chart, you can see the DB ratings, with closer to zero being stronger. In the chart, the SSID "APL-N" is the old Time Cap, and "Network" is the old WRT54AG Linksys router.)
The computers connected to the Time Capsule's N network at between 300 and 270mbits per second. I sent some a file—a 150MB 1080p quicktime trailer to JJ Abram's new Star Trek movie—over the network to a computer on the same type of wi-fi connection and found the new Time Capsule to be slightly faster than the old one and even faster than a top-line Linksys router.

*Shorter times are better.

*One caveat on the newer Linksys WRT610N results—Jason Chen helped me test the new Linksys which he has at his house: The wi-fi congestion in his area is undoubtedly greater in his urban living space, compared to the cabin in the woods where I tested. I'd expect the score to be closer if not on par with the Time Capsule in the woods.

• Remote Disk: If you've got Apple's useful $100 per year Mobile Me service, you can access the data on your Time Capsule's drive from anywhere you've got an internet connection, without knowing your IP address.

Mobile Me's service keeps track of the Time Capsule's address and passes it onto your machines that are registered with the service. It shows up as a drive on your Finder's side bar. Handy! But testing showed that the drive did not always show up on remote machines, and there's no clear way to force the remote drive to mount.

• Guest Mode: Guest mode is extremely simple, creating a different network SSID and security key (optional) on the 2.4GHz band, while keeping the other two access points for your personal use. It separates the network from all your private network's disks, computers, and shared resources by using a different subnet. Guest mode does not include things we'd like to see, like a way to throttle guest bandwidth. It's not an important or useful feature, unless you're making a habit of letting people you don't trust use your internet. Unlike the Mobile Me remote disk function, guest mode is not a feature available to the old Time Machine by software update.

As before, the Time Capsule also has a USB port which can be used to plug in a second disk or printer, which can be shared on the network. I did not test the USB port with a printer, but our previous tests showed this function to be buggy at times. Using Time Capsule with a secondary storage device is not a bad idea, because Time Machine backups cannot be size limited; they'll use whatever disk space you have available to store the incremental changes in case you want to restore a file's version from a specific date in history. Time Machine backup software can also bog down the network when doing a backup, saturating the airwaves. Other machines in the house can now use the second SSID in such a case, but we also recommend Time Machine Editor, a third-party program that allows you to schedule backups whenever you want them. I use it to schedule backups at 1am when I'm usually not working. (These are annoying shortcomings of Time Machine software, and so not something we can blame the Time Capsule hardware entirely for. Not entirely.)

As before, Time Capsule has one ethernet port for your internet connection, and three gigabit ethernet jacks. That's one too few, in my book.

The unit runs very quietly, and sometimes you can hear the disks spinning up or seeking data, but its quiet enough for the notoriously anti-cooling-fan Steve Jobs. The unit's top runs, according to my heat sensor gun, between 100 and 120 degrees. It's warm, so I wouldn't rest anything on it, which would exasperate the heat build up.

Time Capsule is $500 for a 1TB and $300 for 500GB of storage. That's not a ton of storage for high-end machines these days, and multiple machines will almost certainly require the 1TB setup if you want to keep a moderately detailed history of your computers' data changes. As you'd expect from Apple, that's more than the cost of a 1TB external drive and a nice Wi-Fi router. Unlike when Time Capsule's first-generation box was released, you have options now.

If you have an AirPort Extreme, you can plug in a USB disk to the port on it for Time Capsule backups. If you want a NAS that can do Time Machine backups but also act as an iTunes music server, this HP media box will do the trick (although won't act as a Wi-Fi router). Since the new Time Capsule gets a bit more speed and distance out of it radios, and gets the useless guest mode, a refurbished Time Capsule could be a smart budget buy if those things aren't on your "must have" list. If you're a PC user, there's no Windows equivalent of Time Machine back up software included, nor is there a way to use Time Capsule as a remote disk from across the internet, so this product is not for you.

Regardless of my caveats, I just prefer the Time Capsule to these options as it fits a lot of back up functionality and network performance in one box.

The Chanel Choco phone concept:

The Chanel Choco phone concept:

The Chanel Choco phone is only a concept that only if accepted by a mobile phone maker will speak about its practicability.

The designer Fred De Garilhe has designed the futuristic slider phone to resemble a chocolate bar.

The keyboard is made of pieces of glass. As the phone slides out four functional keys take up their position besides the phone’s display screen. As the phone slides back, it falls into the chocolate block shape.

Nokia Morph:

Nokia Morph:

Nokia Research Center and researchers at the University of Cambridge have teamed up to create a joint nanotechnology concept called The Morph. Nokia has again seen the future of handsets and this time they design it to fit the contours of your palm. Morph, a joint nanotechnology concept, developed by Nokia Research Center (NRC) and the University of Cambridge (UK) just launched today.

Morph, as it is appropriately named, is comprised of flexible materials that can be reshaped on the fly to create a variety of drastically different forms. It should be clear that the design is entirely conceptual at this point, illustrating how future handsets may be capable of transforming to accommodate different usages.

I'm Afraid an Apple Tablet Would Be Stupid:

I'm Afraid an Apple Tablet Would Be Stupid:

This week, Apple gave us minor hardware upgrades, while a little company made a linux tablet. This might leave you wishing for an Apple tablet, but that could be a stupid thing to ask for.I mean, really, ask yourselves this: How would you use such a thing differently than a laptop? Tablets have typically been great in note taking environments as giant, battery-constrained, heavy digital notepads in the field for pro writers and medical types or soldiers or construction workers.

But for consumers, the most obvious path is the appliance route, making it a simple web browsing machine, with some basic mail and media playback. Things netbooks and laptops can handle and have been handling. I admit, a netbook type tablet is the right form factor for enjoying media casually, away from a desk or livingroom. It fits between — actually — a TV and a Notebook, and is more portable than either. That makes it ideal for reading certain media like electronic magazines (when they're available) and TV shows, movies, and other video clips in portable places. What does this mean?

It means that a tablet is the perfect machine...for reading websites and movies on the toilet. And yeah, um, my laptop can do that already.Let's talk about the UI a bit more. If the machine has a pop up keyboard, like an iPhone, you can also assume it may have a pen, like all recent tablet prototypes and models have. Either, or both.But both of those ideas kind of suck for people raised on true keyboards.

I was raised on a QWERTY and I've almost failed penmanship and aced typing class. And the trend is that more people focus on typing than cursive. And as far as using the pop up keyboard occasionally, I can use these fine. Very quickly in fact. But the majority of the world hates these too and typing all day on one of these could be maddening, even at a greater size, no matter how fluent you might get. Do you place it on the table every time you type so you can use it like a full sized keyboard? Or do you hold it in two hands, like and iPhone, and try to peck away, even though reaching across the layout of the QWERTY would be much harder on a bigger device with a bigger key set? None of the typing logistics really matter if this is mostly a media consumption device. But the net appliance theory doesn't really work for me.

The cost of such a nice screen and the surrounding hardware is going to be at, oh, I'd guess $500, if not $700 more with Apple tax. That's too much money for a machine that can't run all the OS X apps out there on the desktop version, too much for what's basically a giant ipod touch. It's also more than a regular old hackintosh'd Dell netbook.

So it has to be a laptop variant, with all the power of an full OS X laptop to make a difference to me. There are two ways this can be done. The old way is to take OS X and slap on those UI components we talked about, the pen and soft keyboard, as well as some OCR software for translating your chicken scratch into text. That's what Microsoft did, and well, how many Tablet PC users do you know? Not many, I bet!

The new way to make a tablet? Well, I have no idea what the new tablet UI is. And neither does anyone in computing. It's going to come down to how the UI works and I can't even imagine what it would be like.
If Apple is going to make a tablet, they're not going to slap on some UI extensions, they're going to figure out a way to really use the form factor and make it a remarkable useful and significantly different device that justifies the loss of the efficient hard keyboard and cost of the touchscreen while being competitive in price somehow with the subsidized mini-tablets that fit in your pocket, the iPhones. But somehow, I doubt there's a paradigm shift here waiting to be unlocked, because again, the tablet isn't just an old idea, its an ancient idea.

The aspirational design for the tablet is pretty straight forward, and has been around, depending on your definition, since the 1960s or WW2 or the late 1800s, depending on which patents you look at. Or longer if you consider the stone tablet. The idea has been there, and has been flawed when translated to our digital world and weird and not much beyond basically what I called it earlier: an oversized, battery constrained, expensive digital version of a paper notebook. But, with internet video. Not so great!

Sleek Bracelet Cellphone:

Sleek Bracelet Cellphone:

Headsets. In theory, they were destined to make us look like people from the future. In practice, they make us look like dorks. Except maybe this one, which is integrated in this bracelet cellphone.

The design of the On Time Head Set System—a touch-enabled, bracelet cellphone that vibrates and lets you pick up the phone by placing its integrated headset on your ear—is simple and pretty, although I'm not sure about how realistic or practical it could be with current technology. Maybe in the future, when batteries get better.

Asus Eee Keyboard PC $400-$600

Asus Eee Keyboard PC $400-$600.

Asus's amazing-looking Eee Keyboard, which is a home theater PC stuffed inside a keyboard, complete with wireless HDMI and a secondary touchscreen, is dropping in May or June. And for only $400-$600!

Asus CEO Jerry Shen says they're working on two models, one wired and one wireless. The wired version will run about $400 while the wireless should run somewhere south of $600.

There's still no hard info on specs, such as processor or hard drive, but hell, a wireless keyboard/computer combo with a built-in touchscreen? I almost don't care what the specs are, I just want one.

The keyboard is packing a 5-inch built-in display, a 1.6 GHz Atom processor, 1 GB of RAM, 16/32 GB SSD, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. As far as ports, it's got wireless HDMI, 2 USB 2.0, VGA, HDMI, and audio in/out.

Demron Clothing:

Demron Clothing:

Sure, radiation's not high on our personal list of threats, but that doesn't mean it's not on someone's, right? Well, to that end, Radiation Shield Technologies has developed a full line of radiation-defeating garments (the thyroid collar being our favorite). In fact, the company has just been awarded a patent for the nanotechnology which they say is the "world's first protective material designed for all types of chemical, biological, radiological and even nuclear incidents." The material, called Demron, is a nanopolymeric compound (which they call "liquid metal") fused between layers of fabric and concocted into gear which is lead-, toxin-, and PVC-free, and is capable of blocking gamma rays, X-rays and other nuclear emissions. The garments are currently used by NASA and various governments across this planet of ours, but they also seem to be commercially available for prices ranging from about $700 up to $6,500 for the nuclear blanket. Citizens of Megaton: rejoice!

Cyborg beetles commandeered:

Cyborg beetles commandeered:

Cyborg beetles commandeered for test flight, laser beams not (yet) included.

Remember that DARPA initiative from a few years back to create cyborg insects? With funding from the agency, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have managed to control a rhinoceros beetle via radio signals, demonstrated in a flight test shown on video at this week's IEEE MEMS 2009 conference. A module placed on the arthropod uses six electrodes affixed to the brain and muscles to commandeer its free will. The device weighs 1.3g -- much less than the 3g payload these guys can handle, and with enough wiggle room to attach sensors for surveillance. Ultimately, scientists say they want to use the beetle's own sensors -- namely, its eyes -- to capture intel and its own body energy to power the apparatus. Keep an eye on this one, we expect it to play a major role in the impending robots vs. humans war.

Projectiondesign debuts F32 1080p projector:

Projectiondesign debuts F32 1080p projector:

We're not quite sure what the folks at Projectiondesign consider to be a "harsh environment," but it seems a pretty safe bet that their new F32 projector should at least be able to hold up in even the dustiest conference rooms, and deliver a full 1080p image to boot. If that's a bit more than you need, the company has also just rolled out similar SXGA+ or WUXGA models, which boast 4100 or 3800 ANSI lumens, a 7,500:1 contrast ratio, and the usual full complement of ports, including dual HDMI inputs. Just don't plan on lugging any of 'em around too far, as they each weigh in at close to 30 pounds. Pricing, as you may have guessed, appears to be on a need to know basis, though all three are apparently shipping now.

Hitachi H001 with 3D display:

Hitachi H001 with 3D display:

So KDDI's latest lineup of new phones features the usual array of 8.1 megapixel cameras, wide VGA displays, one-seg TV tuners, and teleporters, but one particular handset stood out: Hitachi's Wooo H001. The dual-hinge flip's claim to fame -- well, besides the bizarre color scheme -- has to be the stereoscopic IPS display that presumably uses the same parallax barrier method shown off by the carrier late last year. The phone will happily serve up 3D-ified versions of various UI elements and mobile TV content, and when you start to get woozy (or Wooozy, as it were), just flip a switch and you're back to the reassuring flatness you're used to. It'll launch in three colors in April, and naturally, you'll have to be in Japan to get it.

URC's PSX-2 iPod dock:

URC's PSX-2 i Pod dock:

These days, it's pretty tough to find an iPod dock that differentiates itself from the crowd. Then again, Universal Remote Control isn't your average iPod accessory maker. Designed specifically for the custom install crowd (but aimed at anyone who appreciates tight home integration) is the PSX-2 Personal Server. Put simply, this doodad enables users to control their iPod like never before by providing users a method of "exploiting all of the iPod's features, including some obscure and rarely-used ones," with any ole IR remote. The device provides "hundreds of discrete IR codes that cover virtually every iPod function, and even functions that aren't available on the iPod itself, such as commands for each of the iPod's EQ settings and the ability to perform alpha searches." Sure, it'll set you back $399, but that's a small price to pay for giving your universal remote one more reason to hang around.

Cigarette lighter camera:

Cigarette lighter camera:

Sure, Lady Liberty and a bald eagle are great symbols of American freedom, but they're also perfect covers for keeping tabs on your friends. Ajoka's cigarette lighter video camera discreetly records 640 x 480 or QVGA in AVI format at 30 frames per second and supports microSD up to 8GB. It's got a lithium ion battery for 6 hours of filming and is charged via USB. Best of all, it's still a working lighter -- perfect for cheering up your favorite band's love ballads and simultaneously bootlegging the performance. Your local spy shop can order these wholesale for $150 apiece.

Apple vs. Palm: (the in-depth analysis)

Apple vs. Palm: (the in-depth analysis)

Apple and Palm kicked a lot of dirt at each other last week -- acting Apple CEO Tim Cook flatly told analysts that "We will not stand for people ripping off our IP" when asked specifically about competition like the Palm Pre, and Palm responded with a similarly-explicit "We have the tools necessary to defend ourselves." At issue, of course, is that the Pre employs a multitouch screen and gestures almost exactly like those made famous on the i Phone -- and if you'll recall, Steve Jobs introduced multitouch on the i Phone with a slide reading "Patented!" To top it all off, the past few days have seen a number of media outlets proclaim that Apple's been awarded a "multitouch patent" without so much as a shred of analysis, instead hyping up a supposed future conflict. That's just not how we play it, so we enlisted Mathew Gavronski, a patent attorney in the Chicago office of Michael Best & Friedrich, to help us clear up some of the confusion and misinformation that's out there -- read on for more.

PC Diagnostic Dice:

PC Diagnostic Dice:

IT support personnel have a difficult job. Constant phone calls and emails from people barely smart enough to operate their computers can grate on you after a while. Before too long, every support phone call sound the same. With the new PC Diagnostic Dice system, give your users the reassurance they need while maintaining your sanity. just a quik toss of a dice, and all the information you need is right there. Three dice describe the problem, the culprit and the solution. Now, your coversation is simplified:

"Hello, IT....[rolls dice]

HmmMM, sounds like you've got some spyware. It's no big deal, it'd a Windows problem, but we can install some anti-spyware and take care of it.Okay? Great...You're Welcome....I Love You Too..."

Samsung Soul:

Samsung Soul:

You lucky Europeans, Samsung has decided to launch their ‘flagship product’, the ‘Soul’ mobile phone on your very shores before letting it loose over the rest of the globe. Starting later this month, this little sucker will hit the shelves of cellphone retailers all over the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. Here’s the low-down on the Samsung ‘Soul’

* Quad-band HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
* 5 MP camera with auto-focus and 4x digital zoom
* 2.2 inch QVGA display
* Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity
* Plays mp3 and wma files
* 105.9 x 49.5 x 12.9 mm

The unit is available in three colours, Sterling Steel, Soul Gray and Platinum Silver and will retail for around 400 euros (US$630).

Samsung D980 TouchWiz:

Samsung D980 TouchWiz:

So you have only one mobile? That’s so 2007…! You need at least two mobiles. One for business and one for pleasure for instance. Samsung doesn’t think so and has been working on dual sim phones like the Samsung P240 and D880. But these two phones weren;t very sexy. But wait! Now there’s the Koreans have come up with the D980 TouchWiz. It’s a F480 TouchWiz with two sims but without 3G. Some things had to go to make room for the second sim. The specs: 2.6 inch QVGA touchscreen with so-called TouchWiz interface, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus, MicroSD slot, FM Radio. The Samsung D980 weighs 117 grams and its dimensions are 97.5 x 55 x 16 mm. Availability and pricing are unknown at this moment.

Samsung Pixon M8800:

Samsung Pixon M8800:

As of now the Samung Pixon M8800 is available. Let’s refresh everyones memory. Piece de resistance is the 8 megapixel camera with autofocus. But let’s not forget the other features: 3.2 inch touch screen (240 x 400 pixels), quad-band HSDPA phone measuring 107.9 x 54.6 x 14.9mm and weighing 110 grams, GPS, FM radio, MicroSD slot, 200 MB internal memory, Bluetooth, virtual QWERTY keyboard and handwriting recognition.

Samsung P520 Armani:

Samsung P520 Armani:

Last week I was quite enthusiastic about the Samsung Armani after watching a short video review. After reading the extensive test of Mobile Review I have to change my opinion. You probably know I don’t like touchscreens on mobile phones because they don’t work well enough (yet). Watching the guys of Mobile Review struggling with the touchscreen of the Samsung Armani strengthens my opinion.

Samsung L310 Allure lady phone:

Samsung L310 Allure lady phone:

This week Samsung officially presented its latest lady phone: the Samsung L310 Allure. The most important part of a lady phone are its looks.

The other specs aren’t special nor important but we’ll tell you anyway. Samsung L310 Allure is a triband phone with GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth, microSD slot, 2 megapixel camera and an MP3 player.

Samsung F400:

Samsung F400:

The Russian website Mobile-Review.com has made another nice and extensive review. This time they have tested the Samsung F400 which you can read here. We’ll give you the specs: The Samsung F400 is a dual slider just like the i450 and is aimed at music and video lovers. Sliding the phone down will reveal the keypad, sliding it up will uncover the nice Bang & Olufsen speakers. The F400 has a nice music player with music library and FM radio with RDS. The F400 supports multiple audio and video formats. It has a 3 megapixel camera and with 16,9 mm is quite thick.

Samsung Omnia SGH-i900:

Samsung Omnia SGH-i900:

The Samsung OMNIA is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and comes packed with MS Office (PowerPoint, Excel, and Word). Even though the OMNIA is 100% touch screen, Samsung included an optical mouse for ease of navigation - the optical mouse is similar to what you’d find on laptops. Samsung OMNIA is possibly the best ever smartphone that Samsung has ever built. OMNIA is definitely a better name than SGH-i900, which means ?everything’ in Latin and ?wish’ in Arabic. The OMNIA is essentially everything that you can possibly wish for on a Windows Mobile 6.1 smart phone. It brings together high performance business content, high-end design mixed with a full bag of dynamic multimedia rich experience.? Samsung representative mispsoke earlier, and just now clarified that OMNIA DOES NOT HAVE CAPACITIVE technology.? I repeat, it DOES NOT HAVE CAPACITIVE technology.? Unfortunately, it’s the same old resistive touchscreen on every other smartphone on the market today.

The OMNIA also has a 5-megapixel CMOS camera with auto-focus (AF), face and smile detection and auto-panorama shot. OMNIA comes in 8 or 16GB memory configuration and additional storage can be added via extendable slot. Of course, a smart phone called OMNIA can’t go without having a GPS, including navigation and geo-tagging capabilities, so you’d never get lost wherever you are.

According to CNET Asia, “an orientation sensor is built into the OMNIA i900. When rotated, it does this fancy transition whereby the display shrinks and expands back to fill the screen in a different orientation. The 240 x 400 display does seem a little weird, but is not unheard of–we’ve seen it in the ASUS M930’s internal display. It makes sense, too, if you are to use it as a media player because the aspect ratio is much closer to the 16:9 aspect ratio commonly seen in movie files. To that end, the i900 also comes with a media application that supports DivX and Xvid out of the box.”

As I mentioned earlier, the OMNIA is primarily touch-based so it makes perfect sense for Samsung to include its patented TouchWiz user interface. The OMNIA is Samsung’s first ever Windows Mobile smart phone to feature TouchWiz. TouchWiz lets you personalize the home window with unique widgets. The high-resolution touch-sensitive screen uses intuitive tap, sweep, drag and drop operations as well as an on-screen QWERTY keyboard. It also facilitates easy and convenient calling and texting with a dedicated dome key for controlling communications.

The Samsung OMNIA is ultra-slim measuring 12.5mm and has a platinum look finish. Samsung added details such as elegant hairline patterns on the back of the phone to bring the “perfection in style.”

Geesung Choi, President of Samsung Telecommunication Business, said: “I am very excited to introduce Samsung , a mobile device that truly delivers the best possible features for today’s busy, connected consumer. Samsung demonstrates our vision for the Samsung mobile business, which is to provide premium phones for users who desire functionality, style, usability and entertainment in one innovative device. The mobile range will help users to be at the forefront of work and play and at the same time, to stay connected anytime, anywhere.”

The Samsung OMNIA will be unveiled at CommunicAsia, Singapore from June 17 to 20 and commercially launched in the Southeast Asian market starting from the same week. The phone will be available in the European market from July.

Motorola Prizm Gives Diet Advice:

Motorola Prizm Gives Diet Advice:

Motorola's new touchscreen Motoprizm in Korea that appears to be a takeoff on the Krave—albeit with a few tweaks. Oddly enough, word is that the device also gives daily diet and lifestyle suggestions.

Features:

•DMB support
•E-wallet function
•3.5mm headphone jack
•USB 2.0 connectivity
•Bluetooth 2.0
•Memory card slot
•2.8" 260k color TFT touchscreen at 240 x 400 resolution
•3 megapixel camera

Nokia E63:

Nokia E63:

Amazon is now listing Nokia's BlackBerry-ish QWERTY E63 phone as available for pre-order. The unlocked 3G phone can be reserved for $500, though there's no word on release date.

The E63, based on the E71, already dropped in Europe, so we expected it'd be making its way to North American shores at some point. In addition to the Wi-Fi, 3.5mm audio jack, and cloud storage we already knew it had, the E63 is also packing a 2 MP camera, Bluetooth, 3G, an FM radio (probably a receiver, not a transmitter, though that's not all that common either), and a memory card slot. Amazon doesn't provide a release date, but this is a good sign that the E63 is soon to see an American release.

iPhone Clone:

iPhone Clone:

Behold, the new ePhone. An iPhone clone so perfect, so uncannily identical, so curvaceously exact, that it's only one letter and a logo away from being the real McCoy. Until you turn it on.

Then you realize this is nothing more than yet another clone, even while it looks like a perfect, logo-less clone of the iPhone. The EPHONE M8 Dual Quad Band TV bar Phone Black is probably $160 too expensive:

E PHONE M8
Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
Languages: English,French,Portuguese ,Spanish,Deutsch ,Indonesia,Turkish , Russian ,Arabic,Persian
Display Size: 3.2 inch, 240×320 pixels
Screen: QVGA screen, 260K colors
Ringtones Type: Polyphonic (64 channels);Support mp3 ringtone: Music: Support MP3 background play,support equalizer;Built-in 3D stereo speaker
Video: 3GP / MP4, support to play in full screen, forward and pause
Camera: 1.3 Megapixel camera,support to shoot with sound
FM Radio: FM stereo,play outside without earphone
TV Function: TV supported (does this mean that I can put it on top of my TV or what?)
Internal Memory: Packed with 1GB TF card, support extend card
Data transfer: USB cable / Bluetooth
Connectivity: GPRS / WAP
Phonebook: Can store 500 phonebooks
Messaging: SMS, MMS

The Stone Grill Concept:

The Stone Grill Concept:

While there's nothing inherently flawed with grills as they are now, if you've ever seared meat on a hot stone, you've discovered there's more to meat than charcoal and propane.

The Pebbles Grill concept is sort of like a George Foreman reinterpreted with a net of blazing-hot rocks. Electric elements heat a series of "pebbles" to deliciously dangerous levels—as indicated by warning lights—before you fold the mesh-like grill over your food. We're betting that the resulting dish would come out polka dotted with scorch marks. But I for one have never turned down a piece of food that resembled a 1990s fashion staple.

Concept Electric Bike:

Concept Electric Bike:

This concept folding electric bike won a Merit prize in a bike design competition, but its practical use is probably limited. Why? Because you charge it at home by pedaling.

We suppose there's a case to be made for getting exercise at home, when you can wear lousy clothes and sweat all over them, then using the electric power to get you to work in your nice clothes. But what's the point of riding a bike to work then? Why not just pedal normally and convert your pedaling energy into forward movement instead of losing part of that energy when you're charging the battery, then losing part of it again when that gets converted to powering your bike?

In any case, it's an electric bike that you power by pedaling. Surprised?