iDunzo.com

More BlackBerry 9000 Details Leaked

December 20th, 2007 by iDunzo

The Boy Genius Report has the scoop on the much-anticipated BlackBerry 9000 smartphone, yet again. Let’s take a look at what this touch-screen smartphone promises.

Last month BGR leaked details about the 9000-series, but now it seems they’ve got more solid information:

The BlackBerry 9000 device (not series) has been confirmed with screen size of 480 x 320, although the physical dimensions are unknown at this time. Think of this device as the elder sibling to the BlackBerry 8320. Like it’s small screen counterpart, it will operate with a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio (850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, and 1900MHz) and will feature 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi capabilities. This will be a full QWERTY device, as well.

The BlackBerry 9000 will feature the same general OS platform, although it will launch with version 4.3.2. Coincidentally, OS 4.3.2 will potentially be in the future roadmaps for all 8000 series devices, sans the 8700 family (although that may change).

It looks like the 9000 will, however, feature a QWERTY keyboard, even though it will also be touch-screen device. Unfortunately, the 9000 will not include HSDPA, which is a big disappointment:

To recap, Research In Motion will soon launch the BlackBerry 9000 handheld, which will feature a larger screen, a new OS update, most likely a new full QWERTY keyboard layout (which may or may not be a touch screen keyboard), but without HSDPA or UMTS capabilities.

The BlackBerry 9000 doesn’t look as impressive now as it did a few weeks ago, but this looks like a more realistic device.

I have to ask, just how revolutionary will this phone be without HSDPA? How long must we wait for a truly revolutionary touch-screen 3G smartphone? What do you think?

Posted in Technology + Toys & Gadgets + Wireless | Comments Off on More BlackBerry 9000 Details Leaked

Bone Conducting Headphones: Cum On Feel The Noize

December 19th, 2007 by iDunzo

The Zelco Outi bone conducting headphones comprises a pair of vibrators and a four-level amplifier which together send the sound waves into the bone and cartilage behind the ear.

Input is via a standard 3.5mm jack, and the set comes bundled with a USB charger and AC adapter: fully charged you’ll get up to eight hours listening time.

I have a hard time believing this kind of sound delivery will give anything like the fidelity of normal headphones, but it won’t batter your eardrums quite so much.

Apparently when Popular Mechanics tested the kit, the reviewer noted that the bass feel is much more speaker-like: “both intense and felt through your entire body”.

Now if you want to really rattle your bones, turn your volume up to 11 (insert Spinal Tap reference) and Cum On Feel The Noize:

Don’t you just love the smell of metal in the morning? \m/

Posted in Music + Technology + Toys & Gadgets | Comments Off on Bone Conducting Headphones: Cum On Feel The Noize

$19,000 Speakers Are Taller Than You

December 18th, 2007 by iDunzo

The Nucleus Reference 5LS speakers from Anthony Gallo Acoustics will cost you around $122 USD per inch. The catch?

The speakers are six and a half feet tall.

The pair weighs in at $19,000 USD, and each cabinet has 12 subwoofers at the back and a combination of eight mid range and seven tweeters at the front.

I almost fell asleep reading the specifications.

Like all high end audio gadgets, there is plenty of nonsense to get any audiophile excited: “spherical enclosure technology”,”carbon fiber” and my personal favorite: “rear-firing 4 inch drivers”.

I almost want to try these out, if only for the perverse pleasure of hooking such monsters up to a tiny Apple iPod Shuffle.

Posted in Apple + Music + Technology + Toys & Gadgets | Comments Off on $19,000 Speakers Are Taller Than You

Eight top-of-mind innovators to watch in 2008

December 17th, 2007 by iDunzo

They’re all passionate about an idea, an approach, or a technology, and they’re focused on driving it to the next level.

Watch for each of them to be a force for change in their own corner of the tech world.

Meet 8 people who will help shape the business technology world in the coming year:

Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt
With very different approaches, this duo’s dragging the stagnant phone business into the Internet age. Jobs’ Apple iPhone embraces a closed network, and Schmidt’s Google Android platform envisions a wide-open one. Both are forcing change for the better.

Mark Zuckerberg
It’s not Facebook that matters, it’s Facebook thinking. IT will feel growing pressure to provide social networking functions–to customers, along the supply chain, and inside their workplaces.

Mark Hurd
He’s got Hewlett-Packard back atop the PC market. How big a splash can he make in business software? The year ahead will tell.

Ray Ozzie
For a Microsoft exec, Ozzie sure is quiet. That’s fine, but it’s time for his vision of software-plus-services to make some noise. That means delivering some surprising products businesses can put to use.

Sam Palmisano
IBM can’t afford to stand pat in software. After making the company’s biggest acquisition ever this year, count on IBM’s CEO to keep dealing in 2008.

Diane Greene
Microsoft storms the virtualization market next year, along with a growing horde of Xen-based rivals like Sun and Oracle. The VMware CEO is a leader, and this is her toughest test yet.

Charles Phillips
2008 needs to be about new products, as Oracle promises to deliver the first of its Fusion applications, which draw together software from past acquisitions. But don’t expect Oracle’s president, a former Wall Street analyst, to lay off the deal-making.

Posted in Technology + Toys & Gadgets + Web + Wireless | Comments Off on Eight top-of-mind innovators to watch in 2008

Disappearing Car Door

December 14th, 2007 by iDunzo

I’m still trying to figure out if this is real or a fake but either way it’s a really cool concept.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Disappearing Car Door:

Taken from the official Disappearing Car Door website:

The original inventors and designers of the exciting Disappearing Car Door technology are now in a position to equip your favorite automobile with our cool, sexy, safe and convenient automatic door or design an original vehicle body incorporating this unique technology.

Our vehicle architecture offers an attractive rethink for car design and adds greatly to overall vehicle safety including our structural integration of the door with the unibody and our cruciform door frame technology.

What do you think? Is this car door technology real or fake?

After looking over the video and checking out the website, I’m still on the fence. If it’s not real, someone really needs to create it as I believe it would be well received.

Posted in Geekery + Technology + Toys & Gadgets + Videos | 3 Comments »

Wireless USB Displays to Debut in 2008

December 12th, 2007 by iDunzo

DisplayLink and Alereon have announced a wireless USB display adapter.

The dongle will packetize the video signal and transmit it through the ether, whereupon it will be reassembled into a picture which “looks to a user exactly like a wired display”.

The adapter supports 32-bit color and “real-time video playback” at resolutions up to 1680 x1050.

At first, the inevitable skepticism set in. Why bother with a cable free display when you have to plug it into a power source anyway? The press release shut me up.

Planned applications include “USB-connected monitors, video-capable USB laptop docking stations, Skype video phones, picture frames”.

The adapter will be on show at next year’s CES, and should be available soon, at $150-$250 for the transmitter/receiver set.

Posted in Technology + Toys & Gadgets + Wireless | Comments Off on Wireless USB Displays to Debut in 2008