Now here is quite the unforunate story — Apparantly, a woman by the name of Jammie Thomas was found guilty back in 2007 for sharing 24 songs over Kazaa and was then ordered to pay $222,000.

Well, the woman was put on trial yet again this year at a Minnesota court and was again found guilty but this time ordered to pay an astounding $1,920,000 in damages. Thats a full $80,000 per song!

To stand unbiased on the situation, Mrs. Thomas was issued a cease-and-desist letter by the RIAA, which she refused to do. So remember boys and girls, crime never pays, even if it involves the non-violent act of downloading a couple songs.

Read (Gizmodo)

SSDs are fast, yeah, and they aren’t too big either however, InnoDisk evidentally saw room for improvement and went ahead and unveiled the above 128GB nanoSSD at Computex 2009.

To show off the new hardware’s resistance to vibration, InnoDisk set up a booth where they had it attached to a motherboard that was being vigorously vibrated (video above). Given this things size, who is to say we won’t be seeing these appear in high end cellphones at some point in the future?

Maybe a future iPhone? Apple, are you listening?

Beside the fact that the above laptop is about as unmobile as a mobile device can get, gamers will be happy to hear that Alienware has let their extremely powerful M17X loose.

This is the real deal featuring not one but two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M video cards with 1GB of RAM. However, for the more discreet laptop sessions users will be able to switch to the onboard NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GPU. Furthermore, the M17X supports a quad-core Core 2 Extreme and up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM.

And I’ve only just gotten started, you can also opt for up to 1TB of harddrive space of 512GB of SSD space.  Also included is a 9 cell battery, FireWire, USB, eSATA and ExpressCardports, support for 802.11n WiFi, an 8-in-1 card reader, dual-layer Blu-ray and a 1920 x 1200 LCD screen. Of course, there are also DisplayPort and HDMI outs so you can connect this mammoth to any display you can throw at it.

Starting at $1,799 Alienware’s M17X weighs in at 11.68 pounds. Hey, I told you it wasn’t the most mobile laptop on the block, didn’t I?

Read (Engadget)

Star Trek USB Communicator Phone

The Star Trek USB Communicator Internet Phone  that was re-released just in time to ride the wave of the Star Trek movie this summer. This VoIP handset has USB plug-and-play, making it compatible with most popular software including MSN, Skype, AIM, Ichat and others.

It also comes with a built-in microphone and earphone, as well as an incorporated speaker with 21 funky sound effects. You might not hitch a ride to outerspace with this, but perhaps you can pretend you’re talking to someone else on another planet. Retails for around $43.00.

Electric Pocket has announced a new version of PhoneFace which is a speed dial application that send out emails, phone calls, text messages with a simple click on a contact’s photo, for use with Smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system. The application shows the a photo of the users friends to offer a fun way to locate the right contact to call.

PhoneFace even finds the most recent pictures of contacts from their Facebook and Twitter page.  This integration gives users an available source of fun and fantabulous photographs for their contacts. PhoneFace is available now from the Android Market, or Electric Pocket’s PhoneFace web site at: phoneface.com for the introductory price of just $0.99.

As of July 2006, it was estimated that there are over 2.4 billion cell phone users worldwide. That’s a big number, right? Well, take this into consideration; In the month of March, there were 15.6 million new cellphone users in India. That’s just one month alone.

Now this isn’t a completely random expansion as Indian service providers have begun expanding their networks to a larger portion of country.

Honestly though, 15.6 million new cellphone users in 1 month? That’s just nuts!

Read (Reuters)

While other players are looking to take a few more millimeters off their handsets, Samsung has done a complete 360 and produced the world’s largest cell phone, which can be seen (and used for free) at Fidelity Plaza, Chicago.  Modeled around the r450 Messager that saw a release last August, this is an attempt by Samsung in collaboration with Cricket to nab the largest “working” cell phone record in the Guiness Book of Records, which measures a ginormous 15 feet wide by 13 feet tall.  Drop by and make a call for free on this giant if you are in the vicinity, as you may never get an opportunity to do it again.

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And we thought Windows 3.1 on an Nseries device had us stumped!  Well, now we know the N95 can take on much more than that.  There are no details on how something like this was accomplished and by whom, but ring us up if you guys ever manage to cram in Windows XP on an N95, alright?

(more…)

No prizes for guessing what designer Juyoung Kim was up to when he dreamed up this fantastic concept.  The Cyon Whiskey aims to be a chameleon of sorts and changes to different shades of whiskey based on the distance of the caller from you.  So, if person calling you is overseas, the phone will take on a darker hue as compared to a call originating from your locality, which is designated a milder shade.  Don’t even go into details like how the phone can detect distances, but just know that changing colors wouldn’t be its only high point as the Cyon Whiskey is loaded with a full touchscreen display and an 8-megapixel camera.

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Why anyone would ever need this product is beyond me but if Adtec produced it, there must be a market for it, right?

Adtec has recently released a Bluetooth wrist-speakerphone that comes in both white and grey, yippee. It connects to your cellphone via Bluetooth and beams everything you would normally hear from your handset, onto your hand.

This gadget is set to release on Friday, in Japan, for 5,980 yen, or about $64.

The IDAPT Charging station is another one of those multi-purpose chargers that has been launched in the market. But what makes this device appealing is the fact that it can charge three gadgets simultaneously.

Now the product picture shown in pink may lead people to think that this charger was made only for women. Well the good news is that they come in a variety of colors. For people wary of pricing, there is a cheaper IDAPT charger that can accommodate two gadgets only.

It can charge three devices at the same time and comes with a variety of interchangeable tips, from BlackBerry, Nokia, and iPod to PSP and TomTom… basically a LOT of compatible chargers, with the option to buy more.

The price for the IDAPT charging station is £34.95.

(Source) Shiny Shiny

Facebook is expanding to all modes of being accessed and it looks like most mobile phone companies are trying to race one another to be the first one. But it looks like there is one who beat them to it and that company is Sony Ericsson with its NAN model. Sony Ericsson Nan is now being branded the “Facebook Phone”.

Sony Ericsson Nan is a mid-end web-oriented device, that packs a 3 inch TFT multitouch screen (320 x 480 pixels), a 5.1 megapixels autofocus camera with photo flash and a secondary VGA camera. Android OS is also on the specs list, together with WiFi 802.11 b/g support, aGPS Google Chrome and Picasa for Android.

(Source) Esato

Staying healthy by jogging or hitting the gym is a great way keep fit. However, it can also be pretty boring!

One thing you will notice these days is that people are turning to portable media players such as the iPod for company. Nike just joined the market with this kit that also monitors your progress on the road or in the gym.

Highlights:

• Sport Kit works with both the original iPod Nano and new iPod Nano video
• Nike+ sensor slips unobtrusively into pocket under sockliner
• Sensor is waterproof and virtually unbreakable
• The iPod nano tracks your progress, providing feedback on distance, time, pace and calories burned directly through headphones

(Source) Nike Store

This concept is not that ingenious. With winter and cold days ahead, people are wearing thick clothing and this can go as far as their hands. However, it remains, that for some gadgets like the iPhone, fingertips to control or navigate your way through them needs the actual touch of the human fingers. Hence, cut off the top pieces of a glove and you get the Etre Touchy Gloves being sold for £14.99.

These are acrylic gloves with the tips of the thumb and forefinger exposed. That way you can still use one of Apple’s fashionable gadgets - such as the Ithingey or Ipod - while the rest of your hand stays lovely and toasty.

(Source) The Inquirer

You don’t have to be always in front of your computer to control it. At least that is what the concept of the Pocket Wireless Touchpad seems to be implying. With no wires to prove to be a burden to organized buffs, this Pocket Wireless Touchpad is a handy solution to remotely control any computer.

It is equipped with batteries that can last up to 4 hours. If you run out of batteries, you can always charge if via USB interface. The Pocket Wireless Touchpad is a great gadget for people who do presentations. At least you will no longer be crowding the screen when you are discussing something which is usually an issue for people who want to make an impression.

Price: $59.99

(Source) Coolest Gadgets

Take your viewing options to another level with this great looking accessory, the iFlyz. While we are all fine with having the usual display that our iPhone or iPod has, plugging in this great goose-neck accessory that can be adjusted according to the comfortable position you want is something dandy.

The iFlyz is 5.5 inches long and 2.5 inches wide, and weighs 2 ounces. A perfect companion especially if you are fond of flying, just clip it into something stable and you can watch a movie, surf through music, or read online without having to hold a gadget in their hands or create a makeshift balancing apparatus out of a pillow or another passenger’s head.

A great addition and is available for only $29.99

(Source) CNet News

To help parents in properly monitoring the whereabouts of their kids, a new device called the Num8 (pronounced as “new mate”) has been unveiled by Lok8u. This new device takes the place of the standard mobile phones which have been discouraged for use by kids due to health reasons.

Equipped with the proper GPS tracking, this device comes with great features for the parent who want to keep track of their kids.

If the strap is removed from the child’s wrist parents get sent a text message and/or e-mail straight away informing them this has happened. The service also has a safety zone feature. So if your child is attending a party at a friend’s house, is in school, or playing in your local neighborhood, you can setup boundaries around those areas. If the watch passes outside of those boundaries a text message and/or e-mail is sent to you. You can also vary the boundaries based on time or day of the week allowing for regular movements.

The Num8 GPS is priced at $218 in the market along with a monthly $7 subscription fee.

(Source) The Guardian

At first they were rumors but if this new device from Ninentdo, the new Nintendo DSi, does come out this April then expect a lot of people looking into this handy device. A successor to the Nintendo DS Lite, this latest offering is 12 percent thinner and comes with two VGA digital cameras.

It also comes with better speakers, a power button instead of the switch found on the DS Lite, five brightness settings, a new SD card slot for data storage and multimedia content, the ability to update firmware when needed, and 256 MB of internal flash memory.

One downside to it though is that the battery can only last 16 hours compared to the DS Lite’s standard 19 hours. The reason behind this is the additional brightness settings feature that the DSi comes with.

(Source) IGN

Samsung has introduced its own version of Portable Media Player gadgets and headlining their roster is the Samsung P3, which was selected for CES Innovations 2009 Design and Engineering Award honoree. The P3 is tagged as the best multi-tasking gadget that can certainly enhance the personal entertainment experience.

Together with its evolutionary EmoTureTM interface with true haptic feedback and forward-thinking design, the Samsung P3 PMP looks very impressive. Coming with a 3-inch WQVGA TFT-LCD touch screen, the P3 allows widescreen enjoyment of videos and photos via 16:9 aspect ratio without the need for letterboxing.

The P3 will be available in the first half of 2009 in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32 GB storage capacities.

(Source) Samsung

The SATY MP3 Player with Breath Analyzer maybe a weird looking concept gadget but for people who want to pair personal audio entertainment along with some bonuses, this is a device worth checking out. The exterior design leaves a lot for potential improvement though.

This multi-featured device is a great gadget to consider. It is a handy device that you can take anywhere and among their other features include that of:

1. Flashlight
2. Radio
3. Mosquito Repeller

The only thing missing is perhaps the kitchen sink. But then again that would be something that can be integrated in the future when and if someone does consider it.

(Source) Gearlog