Watch this amazing video featuring 500 years of female portraits in Western Art.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Do you have too many gadgets floating around your backpack or purse?  Probably not, if you’re like me you love gadgets and having "too many" seems impossible.  But this is a great gadget to have if you want to minimize a few of your choices and still have the capabilities you need and want.

A dual slider that has everything you need to keep in touch with others including a cellphone, QWERTY keyboard that slides out for texting and a separate numeric keypad that slides out the other side to keep things compact and sleek.  Called a "dual slide design" this concept is been seen as a possible future for gadgets and it’s here!

Ocean’s detail page says the following, "your email, text messages, picture messages and Instant Messages are
conveniently located all in one spot, and are just a touch away.
Ocean’s integrated messaging dashboard includes out-of-the-box built-in
access to AOL® email and AOL® Instant Messenger™ (AIM®), Yahoo!® email
and Yahoo!® Messenger, Windows Live™ Messenger, Windows Live™ Mail,
Hotmail, Gmail™, EarthLink® email and Helio Mail. Ocean will also
support push mail from Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN Hotmail, as well as Mail
for Microsoft Exchange, combining business with pleasure as Ocean
wirelessly synchronizes Microsoft Office Outlook email, calendar and
contacts from a corporate Exchange Server."

And that’s not even scratching the surface of this gadget, it has an MP3 player, camera with 2MP, built-in flash and zoom, video camera, supports many formats for viewing and sharing, 3G speeds, 200MB internal memory that’s expandable via microSDTM
               
                with USB Mass Storage Mode, it’s light and has a nice sized screen at 2.4 inches…and I could go on and on about it but instead, I’ll send you to the main page so you can enjoy the eye-candy they have to offer. 

Visit Helio Ocean’s main page for more specific details and great photos of this new device.

Popularity: 4% [?]

They say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but I suppose that only rings true when the diamond is put to good use and not decked out on something as trivial as a mouse. This optical mouse certainly doesn’t come with an elegant beauty that complements the $25,000 worth of diamonds embedded across its surface, featuring an awful looking scroll ball right smack in the middle. The shape also does not set the pulse racing, with the only consolation being a body made from white gold that is studded by 59 brilliant cut diamonds which come up to a grand total of two carats. The diamonds have been arranged to look like that of a flower, although you do have a choice of getting a custom made design. That’s the least to be expected anyway, considering the amount of money you drop on a single mouse.

Too bad you can’t wear this mouse around your neck, and woe to you should it ever get stolen from your laptop bag.

Source: Luxury Launches

Popularity: 4% [?]

We have seen our fair share of alarm clocks in the past, and while some of them aren’t really special in any way, there are others that boasted some interesting design concepts. The Wobble LCD Clock certainly isn’t ordinary as it comes with a weighted bottom, making it sway in all directions without toppling over - pretty much the same manner as how a child’s inflatable punching bag works. Other than the fresh direction in design, the Wobble LCD Clock comes with the usual bells and whistles, ranging from month and date functions to a stylish, transparent LCD display that appeals more to the younger generation.

The Wobble LCD Clock measures 2.75" x 2" x 1.75" and ships in gray, red, and white colors for $5.95 each. Of course, you won’t need to go all the way to punch it since it is already so small – all you need to do is give the Wobble LCD Clock a nice flick with your fingers and watch it go.

Product Page via New Launches

Popularity: 4% [?]

Now this design by Yong Jieyu certainly takes the cake when it comes to merging both the old and the new into one seamless device. Dubbed the CD Phonograph, just by looking at it will evoke fond memories of the a vinyl record player that my grandparents used to listen to as dusk falls. With time, vinyl records have become all but extinct, with cassettes and CDs taking over the responsibility of being the music format of choice. Fast forward a few decades forward, and we are presented with a generation that grew up on MP3s and various other digital formats. The CD Phonograph puts a halt to the speeding train of technology, using a disassembled CD player along with rearranged components to suit the layout of a phonograph.

Speakers are located just below the trumpet loudspeaker for amplification purposes. The wooden box is made more spacious than the electrical PCB board in order to obtain a reasonable level of bass resonance for your listening pleasure. The laser pointer is shifted to the top, letting all and sundry view the spinning CD.

Product Page

Popularity: 4% [?]

Designer Francesco Costacurta has proposed the idea of the Hybrid Alarm Clock, featuring an amalgamation between a minute counter which is used as a guide in the kitchen and a normal alarm. Since the Hybrid Alarm Clock comes from two different ‘parents’, it naturally features the characteristics of both. You can use it like a normal alarm by simply selecting the hour that you want to arouse yourself from a peaceful slumber or selecting a pre-determined number of sleeping hours which consist of three, five, and eight hours. Stopping the alarm is a no-brainer - all you need to do is give the large red button on top a hit and you will be able to resume your slumber undisturbed, er, I mean wake up and get going.

A pulsing light can also be used to substitute the alarm sound in order not to disturb the rest of your roommates. I don’t know about you, but you’d better have a backup plan if you insist on using just a flashing light to get you out of bed since you might actually sleep through the entire ‘alarm’ in reality.

Product Page

Popularity: 4% [?]

Nokia tends to release cellphones that are extremely different in design whenever a new model is launched, breaking the monotony which can be refreshing yet disconcerting. The 3109 Classic is the latest handset from the Finnish cellphone manufacturer, aiming to bring a strict balance between entry level features and some higher end functions. What you get with the 3109 include Bluetooth connectivity, a microSD memory card slot to enhance your portable MP3 player experience, an e-mail client, and a speakerphone. What you won’t get is a digital camera - a strange decision in this day and age, relegating this to a cellphone for companies who are afraid of their employees stealing data visually using the integrated camera.

Battery life for the Nokia 3109 Classic stands at 4 hours of talk time and a whopping 16 days on standby, although expect real time usage to be far lower than the quoted figures. Chances are this handset will remain an Europe-only cellphone, retailing for approximately $189 before taxes when launched.

Source: Electronista

Popularity: 4% [?]

While convergence devices are all the rage these days, the adage "Jack of all trades, master of none" still rings true as you won’t be able to pick up the perfect gizmo even with giant leaps made by technology to date. Take the Nokia N95 for example - the GPS functionality clearly isn’t up to par with other dedicated personal GPS navigation systems, while the 5 megapixel camera might be impressive in theory, it still can’t hold a candle to the real deal. Hence, the miniTV BTV-400 from BlueDot of Japan is a refreshing change from the bunch of multi-functional gadgets these days as it features only one function - to bring you crystal clear reception of your favorite TV show wherever there is a signal.

The miniTV BTV-400 measures less than 5" in length, slimmer than 0.5" thick, and boasts a 4" display. While that isn’t small enough to make your eyes squint and water after five minutes of viewing, it certainly isn’t large enough to give you jaw dropping visuals on-the-go. The BTV-400 weighs slightly more than 4 ounces and retails for $247. Too bad everything is in Japanese at the moment. Would you get a localized version if you had the dough to spare?

Source: Crave

Popularity: 4% [?]

Creative will be expanding the Zen family of portable media players by introducing the Zen Wav. Looking pretty much like the Zen Neeon, the Wav comes with a joystick and a couple of buttons at the front. Features include a 1.5" 65k color display, world clock and alarm functionality, photo, audio, and video playback, an integrated FM radio, direct line-in recording, voice recording, and external speakers. I think you’d probably prefer to stick to a pair of headphones instead since puny speakers on the Wav will hardly make you the envy of those around.

The Creative Zen Wav will see action in its homeland, Singapore, at first, without any word on whether this MP3/MP4 player will ever make its way to North America. Set to debut this May 25th and retailing for an affordable price of $120, here’s crossing our fingers that the Creative Zen Wav will be able to arrive Stateside order to give Apple’s iPod nano some much needed competition, where the winner will definitely be the consumer. You know what they say about resting on your laurels…

Source: Anything But iPod

Popularity: 4% [?]

Right now, there are only a couple of methods employed by cellphones to alert you of an incoming call - one where an annoyingly loud ring tone of Crazy Frog or some gangsta rapper flood the airwaves, while the other is a silent, buzzing sound of the handset’s battery vibrating. While the former is almost guaranteed to grab your attention (as well as those within a 10 meter radius), the vibration might not be strong enough especially when you’ve tucked your cellphone away in some obscure section of your handbag or deep inside your pocket. The MBW-100 from BQ Wireless offers a solution in the form of a vibration wristband

The MBW-100 comes with a power button and a T-marked button which enables you to transfer the vibration from the wristband to your cellphone and vice versa, ensuring you will never miss a call ever again. Interested parties will be able to pick up the MBW-100 when it is released in stores this July for $39.95. Alternatively, you could always purchase a Bluetooth headset, but whatever rocks your boat I guess.

Source: Akihabara News

Popularity: 4% [?]