Gadgets Inspector | Hot Gadgets and Gizmos

Crap. I was really looking forward to getting my Apple TV ($299) this month. I guess I’ll have to wait a little bit longer.

This morning I got the following email from the Apple Online Store regarding my Apple TV pre-order. Apparently “wrapping up” took ” a few weeks longer” than they expected… whatever that means.

To Our Valued Apple Customer:

Thank you for ordering the new Apple TV, an easy to use and fun way to wirelessly play all your favorite iTunes content from your Mac or PC on your widescreen TV.

Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected, and we now expect to begin shipments in mid-March, not in February as originally anticipated.

You may check the status of your order any time by visiting our online order status website at http://www.apple.com/orderstatus.

A shipment notification, with tracking information, will be emailed to you as soon as your order is shipped. There is no need to contact us unless you choose to change or cancel your order.

We appreciate your business and thank you for shopping at the Apple Store!

Sincerely,
The Apple Store Team

As you can see, the “letter” from Apple is some of the most uninformative collection of words ever assembled. Apple doesn’t even try to explain why shipments of the Apple TV are being delayed. Pete Mortensen from the Cult of Mac blog sarcastically summed up my disappointment pretty well: “Wow. That’s a stunningly insightful piece of news. Anyone upset that your new toy isn’t showing up Wednesday?”

When I do get my Apple TV (hopefully next month?), it should be an easy setup. Apple is promising true plug-and-play installation. Just connect Apple TV to your TV (even HDMI is built in) and start iTunes, which will automatically detect it. A few clicks on my remote and I should be in business.

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£60 fine and 3 points on your license, that’s what you will now get if the police catch you using your mobile while driving. We all know that driving while chatting on the phone can be dangerous but this new punishment can be used on anyone who even touches their phone.

The new penalties will be dished out from today, 27th February and already there seems to be a bit of confusion as to what warrants the penalty. Some drivers have received the fines for merely flipping over their phones to see if they had a message before discarding the handset, something that could only take a few seconds.

Some would argue that a few seconds is all that it takes to crash a car but drivers are allowed to look at the scenery, change the radio station or turn the air conditioning on.

Drivers who lose control of their car while using a hands-free kit will also be punished under the new legislation.

Reference for posting: http://www.askaprice.com

If you were watching last night’s American broadcast of the Oscars, then you might have noticed the first Apple iPhone ad. Apple reportedly paid $1.7 million to run the ad during the Oscars. The ad features 28 scenes from popular movies and TV shows with actors saying “hello” on a phone. The ad ends with an image of the iPhone and some text that says “Coming in June”. You can see the ad here on YouTube.com.

According to Gizmodo, this phone will be in service with AT&T instead of Cingular.

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As an early adopter of gadgets and technology I sometimes get labeled with the “g” word… Geek. But thank God there are people around like Dwight Shrute from The Office (US) to take the heat off.

I like my iPod and listening to music. He likes to sell paper and fight evil. I’m happy in a nice temperature controlled office. He has a desire to be frozen and possesses the strength of a grown man and a little baby. We both work in offices but Dwight apparently leads an Army of Champions. He also has his own theme song and music video..

Videos by VMIX Member: NBC

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The iDJ is a compact mixing console with 2 built-in iPod docks. Mixing directly from your iPods gives you the ability to utilize thousands tracks from your iTunes collection at your next party or event. If you need to pull audio from additional sources, you’ll be happy to know that the iDJ has two additional turntables or MP3/CD players inputs. I can see how this would come in handy at an event like a wedding where someone ends up handing the DJ a CD at the last minute.

The iDJ Mixer is both Firewire and USB2.0 compatible, so you can use 3rd Generation iPods (iPod mini, iPod photo) or newer generation models as well.

After reading through the specs, I noticed you can take things a step further and connect via S-Video. Greg from getusb.info thinks this feature “makes the iDJ a good video mixer for schools, churches or corporate applications where you have multiple people presenting and don’t want to fumble around with PC connections and projectors.”

The iDJ Mixer also features headphone pre-cuing, separate channel three-band EQ and an industry-standard Kensington security slot. The security slot enables you to lock down the iDJ to a table in case you need to walk away for a few minutes for a cigarette or quick bathroom break.

Technical Details

• Voltage: 110
• Length: 18.5 inches;Height: 5.75 inches;Width: 14.0 inches
• Weight: 7.0 pounds
• Inputs - 2 iPod, 2 Line (CD/MP3), 2 Phono (Turntable), & 1 Microphone
• Outputs - Master RCA, Record RCA, S-Video, Headphone (1/8 & 1/4)
• Compatible with 3rd & 4th generation iPods, iPod Minis, & iPod Photo
• Compatible with Firewire & USB 2.0 iPod connectors

The iDJ can be purchased either from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

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PC World is aiming to build the world’s greenest PC. The machine will be made from recycled and recyclable materials where possible and the high street retailer will ‘carbon offsets’ to negate the effects of the manufacturing process. This will be done by planting trees of which PC World will pay towards.

The Carbon Neutral PC will be manufactured in Europe and could be in shops by autumn.

The firm said efficient components with low energy consumption would be used in the new computer. The machine will run the new Windows Vista operating system.

Reference for posting: http://www.which.co.uk

When your computer’s flat screen monitor breaks what should you do? You could attempt to replace the bad screen yourself… or grab the nearest BB gun and shoot it. Repeatedly.

Someone posted this video on Break.com of a LCD monitor being shot with a Tokyo Marui Desert Eagle BB gun. This guy didn’t even bother to take the LCD monitor outside before shooting it. Either he has faith in his aiming, or he has little regard for his drywall.

Maybe the next time you buy a flat screen monitor you might want to look up its “Gunfire Resistance” rating.

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Can’t get enough of your favorite TV show or movie? Why not take it with you on your Sony PSP? The Internet is full of PSP encoded video files ready to be downloaded onto your Sony Memory Stick. But you have to know where and how to name the files in order for the PSP to read them properly.

Here’s a short tutorial that expalins how to add videos to your Sony PSP.

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So Vista is out and despite nearly everyone hopping on the “lets put vista down” bandwagon, the operating system is bound to be a success. How could it not be? The Microsoft name has the ability to attract people’s credit cards regardless of the product’s faults.

Vista is out and Microsoft have announced that their next OS is currently codenamed Vienna and it will be coming out in 2009. So in two years we could all be hit with the hype and marketing heat that has been surrounding Vista. That is if the OS does not suffer the problems that were associated with XP, namely the widespread worm outbreaks that prompted a shift from working on Vista to working on a service pack to fix problems that should have been fixed in the OS’s development.

As for what Vienna could do, well Ben Fathi, corporate vice president of development with Microsoft’s Windows Core Operating System Division, who announced Vienna’s development has not said much. What he has said is this:

“We’re going to look at a fundamental piece of enabling technology. Maybe its hypervisors, I don’t know what it is,” he said. “Maybe it’s a new user interface paradigm for consumers.”

So decidedly vague but it is early days. Give MS a break, they’re having enough trouble with Vista…

Reference for posting: http://www.pcworld.com

After the death of two new Yorkers who walked out into the street whilst being distracted by their iPods a New York State Senator is proposing a bill to ban listening to your iPod or mobile phone.

New York State Senator Carl Kruger said he has had enough of people being killed crossing the road while distracted by electronic devices and it was time to fine people which could be as much as $100.

Bans of using electronic devices whilst driving by one thing but putting a ban on using them in public when not even driving is a whole different matter.

The proposal has been criticized heavily and its easy to see why. Some claim that the senator is just trying to get publicity for himself whilst others believe he is just being over protective.