Gadgets Blog

We all like to fantasize about our favorite video game characters coming to life and helping us fight evil. But what if they came to life, and just performed a basic function that is ingenious, but also not necessarily going to save the world? Take for instance, the Stap Man Stapler from PanicDesign.com: It’s a pretty seedy website, but the design they produce is incredible! Check out some of their top products:

Stap Man Stapler from PanikDesigns.com: 16 pounds (it’s a British company)

Mr. P Mobile Eater Mobile Stand from PanikDesigns.com: 12 pounds

Memory is the most valuable thing, in life and in your electronics. You never want to lose the records for your games, your homework papers, your financial figures, etc. So, what do you do? You need to back up your files on an external device to make sure, even if your computer crashes, your memory can still be retained. Think of all the valuable photos from years of vacations, papers and job applications, your resume, your address book, all of those things would be lost if your computer suddenly crashed (which they do, all the time. Believe me!) Smarter.com features some of the best external hard drives at the lowest prices. Take a look:

Verbatim 160GB External HardDrive: $61.16

Iomega UltraMax Hard Drive with 500GB Memory: $118.99

Shop thought a variety of discount external hard drives at Smarter.com.

Sony Ericsson, the fourth largest handset maker revealed its new X10 mobile phone this morning, its first attempt to run on Google Inc’s android operating system . It has now formally enlisted in the ever increasing group of vendors that have come out with smart phones running on Google’s OS this past year. Well at least you will have more options if you are a part of the anti-iPhone movement!

The X10 will have a 4-inch-wide touch screen, music player, high-speed web access, Google Maps, a touch-screen interface and will use Qualcomm Inc’s Snapdragon processor. It also comes with an 8.1 megapixel camera that supports geo-tagging, face/smile detection, image stabilization, auto-focus and flash. The facial recognition software will be able to recognize up to five faces in a single picture, automatically connecting that photo with a user’s “social phone book” comprising of calls and messages sent to and from that person. Sony’s strategy takes a fresh turn from entertainment and mega pixel rich units to full scale social media. A new “user experience platform” enables people to organize their contact information, social networks and personal media through an “open, human and intuitive user experience”. It has a “social phone book” that threads conversations by person, and a one click access to all your interactions with contacts whether the medium of interface was by text or email, or on Facebook.

Sony says the interface will be overlaid on the existing Google Android foundations and will be the first mobile phone to “truly humanize the way people interact with their phones”. Where have we heard that before? Sony has added two unique applications of its own that it calls Timescape and Mediascape. Timescape is a messaging application that lets users access all of their communications in one place including Twitter posts ,Facebook updates, phone calls and SMS messages. Mediascape is a media management application that lets users arrange their music, video and web content like YouTube and Sony Ericsson’s PlayNow apps store. Of course one can download all the additional apps and software you want to from the Android Market. It will go on sale in selected markets at the start of 2010.

For more specifics, visit sonyericsson.com.

“Schtickers”, the company that does designer and corporate labels, now designs laptop skins, iPod and iPhone skins, and many more skins for electronics. You can either design your own for a bit of a premium price, or buy their pre-designed skins for your laptop. Specify your size, and here you go-a laptop that says more about you than what’s on the hard drive.

Top laptop skins from Schtickers.com:

Urban Laptop Skin from Schtickers.com: $19.99

DJ Turntable Laptop Lime from Schtickers.com: $19.99

Shop more discount laptop skins at Smarter.com.

Welcome to the future of at home cooking, or should I say, at home qooqing! It may look hard to pronounce, but Qooq is pronounced just the same way as “cook”. Featured on Coolest-Gadgets.com, Qooq is a kitchen computer that comes pre-installed with recipes from 10 different chefs including videos of their preparation. It can also connect to the Internet through wireless or Ethernet cables and users can subscribe to monthly updates on recipes, or find their own online at various cooking sites. There is also a built-in meal planner, grocery shopping list, and internet radio station with speakers, and can be used as a digital photoframe as well. What’s not to love!

Mount this cool gadget in your kitchen for easy access to the world’s greatest recipes online.

The Qooq came out this September, but is only offered in France for around 350 Euro, or roughly $500. Programmed to only handle French audio and voice commands at the moment, it is a breakthrough object, though not ready for the mass market. Maybe you can be the genius to get a Qooq, open source it, and make it available to English-speaking cooks worldwide? Who smells a billionaire on the rise, because I sure do.

Not a gadget itself, but for the gadget-minded, Split Reason offers “gear for geeks and gamers” according to their website. What do gamers need, other than their technology, their Halo, and their Mac OSX operating system? Clothing and memorabilia that commemorates their love and attention to video game and technology culture. Take, for example, the Gamer Hoodie. This is a present not to be missed, think about it for your favorite gamer, or a self-present as we come upon the holiday season.

Top Gamer Hoodies on the Market:

Re-Invaded Zip Hoodie from SplitReason.com: $69.95

For those who really want to show their support for a large sign, recognizable bit character from the video game generation of yesteryear, here is the hoodie for you.

Gamer Medley Zip Hoodie from SplitReason.com: $69.95

Gadgets are the pattern of your life, so why not make them the pattern on your clothing? Beautiful design and object topography makes this a stellar, sleek look.

Firefox fans would be happy to know ( and there are so many Firefox enthusiasts out there) that Mozilla announced the availability of the first beta for version 3.6 of its open source Firefox web browser. If you are a dedicated Internet Explorer user, you will not find the updates too thrilling but Firefox users will get some new upgrades in this version.The release features will provide built-in support for Personas, “skins” for the browser surround of menus (Users can now change their browser’s appearance with a single click) , alerts that will warn users when their plug-ins are out of date or on delivery of new plug-ins and support for the Web Open Font Format (WOFF). Other promises are quicker loading and support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5. You can also expect better JavaScript performance and display Open, native video on full screen. A feature allowing you to drag and drop files from a PC to the browser can be included.

Mozilla warns that being pre-release software, you are likely to run into compatibility problems with some websites and add-ons. If you are an outstanding open source citizen , you can help Mozilla by bringing these bugs to their attention and help them get fixed here.

You can find the full scoop on Firefox 3.6 browser here and for free Download click here.

If you haven’t heard of them yet, get ready: personal photo printers are on the market and here to help you! Don’t worry about going to the local RiteAid or CVS to get your film developed anymore and have it come back all blotchy and discolored. Now you can buy an at-home printer, small and compact that sits right on your desktop, and edit the pictures as you go along. With just the click of a button, you can have professional quality photos printed on glossy paper (or matte, if you prefer) within 60 seconds! Here are some of the top personal photo printers on the market that combine compact, efficient design and detailed control to give you the best photos yet!

Brand New HP Photosmart 385 Q6387A#ABA Compact Photo Printer: $49.99

Epson PM290 PictureMate Zoom Compact Photo Printer: $198.99

Shop for affordable photo printers at Smarter.com.

It’s an accepted fact by now that iPhone killers come and go, but so far none have quite managed to dethrone the crowned prince. But Droid managed to set the press on fire yesterday as news and reviews poured in for this Motorola-Verizon-Google Smartphone. Many gadget lovers believe that this might just be the one tenacious contender to finish the job that others failed to accomplish!

Let’s start with the basics. Said to be the slimmest phone on the market with a full, slide-out QWERTY keypad , it is poised for release on Nov. 6th for $199 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate. It makes it at 4.6 by 2.4 by 0.5 inches, a negligible few hundredths of an inch thicker than the iPhone. If you are looking for a lightweight phone, you might be disappointed that it is on the heavier side at six ounces. But there are going to be some pay-offs for the physical keyboard and the big display which is lacking in the iPhone and sought after by many.

Droid’s 3.7-inch touch screen is about two-tenths of an inch bigger than the iPhone’s display and provides an advantage while web browsing. What’s got everyone’s curiosity piqued is the fact that it is the first phone to run on latest version 2.0 of Android, Google’s open source operating system. That comes with a few extra perks such as full-on push support for Microsoft Exchange and Google Gmail. If you are a Facebook addict, the phone will draw contact information from your Facebook pals into your address book via a widget. A click gets you right into their profiles and you never need to miss on any of their status updates when you are on the go. Other preloaded widgets include YouTube, a corporate calendar, and “Power Control” where you can turn on/off your wireless connections, adjust brightness etc. (The iphone does not support widgets.) A You Tube app lets you comment on clips, favorite them, or share videos via e-mail and Facebook.

Google Maps with new GPS-aided turn-by-turn navigation makes it’s debut with Android 2.0 and Droid. The navigation system provides free, voice-activated service with satellite view, traffic, ATMs, and restaurants, Google latitude, turn-by-turn directions etc. Thanks to Android’s voice-recognition technology, you can say where you want to be directed to if you find typing cumbersome.

The Droid’s 5-megapixel camera comes with a dual LED flash and auto-focus/image stabilization capabilities and the consensus is that the DVD-quality video recording is comparable to that of iPhone’s. You can then upload your shots directly to Facebook and Picasa with geotags. The iPhone is still king when it comes to cooler and more numerous apps for download, not to mention the popular access to movie rentals and iTunes store. (Droid does let you download songs via the Amazon MP3 store). But it is only a matter of time before Droid’s open android platform, more malleable to customization to get the development community going for a more creative apps palette.

Other features include Wi-Fi; USB mass storage; Bluetooth 2.0; a 3.5mm headphone jack; 440×854 pixels resolution, a vibrate mode, text ;multimedia messaging, a calculator, and an alarm clock .

Now the million dollar question is if Droid will manage to knock Apple off its pedestal. Judging by past record of wannabes, I wouldn’t hold my breadth on that one. But judging from all the excitement in the media, Droid promises a stiff fight ahead.

If your a college kid like me, you know that televisions are sometimes too bulky, too expensive, and too much of a target for sticky-fingered neighbors that having one in your dorm room or small apartment is not a wise decision. But you still want to play your video games and watch “The Big Game” on Sunday with all the buddies, so what do you do? Crowding around a computer screen is so freshman year. I suggest buying a projector: they’re small, easy to store, and you can make your screen as big as you want to!

Smarter.coml helps you find exactly what you’re looking for, at the cheapest price. Here are some of the top recommendations for projectors today:

Acer X1160PZ Digital Projector - EY.J8801.021 from Buy.com: $489.95

2400 Ansi Lumens 1024 X 768 from Amazon.com: $481.00

Shop for discount projectors at Smarter.com.