Da Gadgetz

All about the latest technological gadgets


Something about Le Petit Prince, the mobile, plant-loving greenhouse robot makes us indescribably sad. Is it his one, massive adorable eye? Or merely the fact that he's named after one of the most depressing books ever written? Either way, we can't really argue with his usefulness -- the concept can carry about plants and care for them, all the while ravaging the terrain for further specimens. He's also designed to learn about the optimal growing conditions of the plants he collects, which really makes us want one to care for a certain, finicky houseplant we won't call out by name (but we're looking at you, Venus Flytrap). Check out the darling video after the break.







The chassis (which we expect is at least 12 pounds) is built around the 15.4 inch screen (though the first units that come to market will have 16-inch or 17-inch screens) and its twin, identically sized screen slides out from behind the first using a uniquely designed sliding mechanism.They will run Windows 7 and be powered by Intel Core 2 Duo processors (we would love to see some mobile Core i7 love here), 4GB of RAM and high-end Nvidia GF900M GT discrete graphics. The plan is for fast 7,200 RPM hard drives and six or nine-cell batteries. It will also have a DVD player so you can watch a flick on one screen and refresh Giz on the other. "It is absolutely the opposite of a netbook," he told us. Yea that is no kidding with a price tag that he is hoping to keep under $3,000.


Still haven't found a GPS tracker out there to suit your parenting needs? Then you might want to consider this new Amber Alert GPS 2G device, which, unlike some other similar products, is actually aimed specifically at parents, and promises to be straightforward enough for all parents to use. It's main feature, of course, is to simply act as a wearable GPS beacon for your kids, which parents can call or text at any time and instantly receive a text back with its location, or track at all times on the web. The device also takes things a bit further than most with a so-called "bread crumbing" feature that creates a trail of your child's route and alerts you when they reach their destination, and a safe zone feature that limits how far your child is able to travel. That peace of mind does exactly come cheap, however, with the device itself running $379.99, while the required monthly plans start at $9.99 and go up to $59.98.


Barely more than 24 hours after the Nokia stunner of the century -- the company's announcement of the Booklet 3G "mini laptop" -- we're starting to get some more details about the 10.1-incher. Netbook News is reporting an unnamed source that claims the netbook will run $799 -- certainly not a netbook price. The Booklet will boast a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530, and will reportedly boast a 120GB HDD, plus integrated 3G, a swappable SIM card, A-GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi. There is no official word on pricing or release date, but we're expecting to hear tell of all that at Nokia World (which is on September 2nd).

Specifications (base version)

Manufacturer Nokia
Model name Booklet 3G
CPU type Intel Atom Z530
CPU speed 1600 Mhz
OS Windows 7
Display Size 10"
Hard Disk 120 GB
Keyboard YES
Mouse Pointer YES
Weight 1250g
Size(w/h/d mm) 265/185/20 mm

Physical Interfaces
HDMI
SD card slot
USB2.0 (x3)
Line-out / Headphone (3.5mm)

Wireless Interfaces
802.11b/g
802.11n
BT (type unknown)
HSPA (7.2/2.0Mbps)

Additional Specs and Accessories (can vary)
WebCam

Optional Specs and Accessories (can vary)
Stereo speakers

Stylish alluminium casing, high battery life claim of 12hours, integration with OVI and OVI Maps.





An intermediate step between Livescribe and a touchscreen, the Duo by KCI Communications lets you use a stylus on your standard desktop or laptop display. It works (on devices up to 17-inches) by using a base station to track the XY coordinates of the pen as it makes its way around the screen. If that weren't enough, the pen also features functionality similar to Livescribe -- you can keep notes on traditional paper and transfer them to your PC later. Currently, this bad boy is only available for WIndows machines, but Mac drivers are in the works. Now, we haven't had the opportunity to play with one of these things, but maybe you'll want to take the plunge? If so, hit the read link -- shipping now for $119.95. But not before you check out the commercial after the break -- it's a classic.[Via CNET]






Designed by Danny Luo, this embossing Braille labelmaker may look like a flashlight, but in reality it's a innovative tool for the sight-impaired: speak into the wide end and the labelmaker will spit out labels with embossed Braille characters

The 25mm x 50mm labels produced by this printer are intended to simplify the identification of similarly shaped or sized objects. Understandably, the designer appears to focus on the potential applications in identifying prescription medication bottles in particular. Being fortunate enough to only require minor vision correction, I can't even imagine how someone could identify medications without sight: the containers are nearly identical and there are plenty of pills that would feel the same. While this concept could save lives by preventing accidental overdoses, the applications seem limitless:







Looking for a wireless keyboard that's compact but not too compact? Then you might want to consider Adesso's new WKB-4000UB model, which packs some seemingly full-size scissor-switch keys and a (non-multitouch) trackpad into an 11.75 x 8.25-inch package that weighs just over a pound. You'll also get the usual 2.4GHz wireless connectivity for a range up to 30 feet, an included USB receiver that can be attached to the back of the keyboard with a magnet, a low battery indicator, and various power saving features to help those AAA batteries last a bit longer. You'll have to decide for yourself if that's worth the $109.99 list price though.




We're not sure why we didn't hear more about this way back at RIM's WES conference way back in May, but it was apparently mentioned by VP Antoine Boucher at the time that they're working on a Bluetooth-enabled watch. Furthermore, it's said to be more advanced than the models Sony Ericsson has put forth so far, featuring streaming audio (3.5mm jack on the watch, perhaps?) and Twitter / Facebook updates in addition to the usual things like caller ID and text messages. Note that the image floating around today of this thing isn't real -- it's just a Sony Ericsson MBW-100 with a swapped logo -- so it remains to be seen what this magical wrist accessory will look like, assuming it's real and coming to retail. It seems Boucher also mentioned a high-end Bluetooth headset codenamed "Alpha 1" that'll allow you to stream music and get navigation directions through some sort of totally awesome silicone earpiece boasted to possibly be "the best solution on the market." It's pretty hard to pique a lot of interest these days with something as vanilla and ubiquitous as a headset, but at any rate, it's interesting to see the depth of RIM's apparent commitment to the accessory market right now.


Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman thinks that his beautiful Tron-like dream bicycle will never get stolen—even if it looks so cool that nobody would be able to resist. Fortunately, he says that they will be common in 20 years.

The new bike design has a built-in locking system that can only be activated and opened by the owner's fingerprint. The computer-equipped machine can also monitor the amount of calories burned. Made of carbon fiber, it will even have a battery that will assist you when going up a steep hill, as well as puncture-proof, self-inflating tires.

Unfortunately, for now it is just a concept, even while Boardman believes "it could be built now if there was a will. All the technologies are already there, it's just that nobody's put them all together before." The future is not coming soon enough. Heck, I would be glad if the weekend came already.


Draganfly's new unmanned aerial photography device is out, the DraganFlyer X4. It is a four-rotor UAV that measures only 30.5-inches across and since it ships with your choice of either a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX580, Watec WAT-902H2 Ultimate (for shooting in low light), FLIR Photon TAU (infrared), or the Highg Res 480 Board Camera (analog motion video with an 8GB DVR), we imagine that this thing ain't going to be cheap. That said, if you are a well-heeled creepy stalker, southern border vigilante, or even someone with legitimate military / industrial business, there are plenty of features to make it worth a second look, including: computerized stabilization, altitude hold (maintains its position in the air without user input), and an automatic landing feature that kicks in if the control link is lost. But most importantly for the airborne auteur, this guy sports a wireless video downlink that sends the viewfinder signal that can be displayed either on the device's handheld controller or a pair of video goggles, allowing real-time manipulation of zoom, tilt, and shutter settings. Get a closer look at the thing after the break.


The Copenhagen Consensus Centre—a respected European think tank which used to be skeptic on climate change—is now advising that we should spend $9 billion in building 1900 cloud-generating ships like the one above. Why? To cool down Earth:

When you spray saltwater into the air, you create nuclei that cloud condenses around, creating bigger and whiter clouds, thus bouncing more sunlight back into space.That's what David Young, a member of the panel that created the report, says. The fully automated vessels will cross the oceans absorbing water and spraying it into the skies. They say this will help the formation of big, whiter clouds, which will make the sun light bounce, lowering temperatures.

The idea seems neat, but the concept of anyone in planet Earth claiming to understand how climate works to this extend blows my mind. We are still trying to grasp how a complex system like the weather works, but someone wants to put an idea like this in motion, without knowing about the ultimate consequences? Like we say in my home country: Do you experiments with pop soda.[via Copenhagen Consensus]


We'd never considered a career in biochemistry until we saw this wild beast of a chemical microprocessor. Microfluidic chips, used to test chemical reactions and properties, have been known to be smaller, but they've never before been quite this powerful. The result of a joint study between California State University, UCLA and China's Wuhan University, the "integrated microfluidic device" is capable of performing 1,024 in situ chemical reactions at a time, making the researcher's life, oh, about 1,024 times easier. Most importantly though, costly enzymes previously used for a single test can now be split up into hundreds and tested simultaneously, which should pave the way for exponentially faster and easier medical research. It's not clear when these will be widely available, but we're sure PhDs around the world are trying to order one as we speak.[Via medGadget]


This is the Smart Measure Cup. It's a simple, great idea—a measuring cup that displays precise volume on a backlit LCD complete with unit conversion. So great, in fact, that it's been rebranded and picked up for manufacture.[Yanko Design]



C'mon folks, say it with us now: "finally!" While those utilizing Bluetooth-enabled input devices have enjoyed the ability to connect multiple wares to a single computer without any fuss, those relying on a USB keyboard and mouse have typically been forced to block a pair of their USB ports in order to have both operating simultaneously. Thanks to Logitech's marvelous new USB Unifying Receiver, said issue is no longer an issue. Designed to operate with the Wireless Keyboard K350 / K340 and Marathon Mouse M705 / M505 (all of which are being jointly announced here), this compact receiver is tiny enough to stay inserted in one's laptop even when it's stored, and while we can't fathom why you'd need a half dozen devices linked at once, the nub definitely supports it. Each of the four new products will ship with one of these special receivers, with the keyboards expected to arrive in the US and Europe this September for $59.99 (K350) / $49.99 (K340) and the mice landing later this month (Europe) / early 2010 (America) for $69.99 (M705) and $49.99 (M505).


Well, most of you have seen USB mouse, USB keyboard but now hose off the wall concepts of what appeared to be a next-generation USB-driven Mimo monitor seem to have found their way into the production line, as the outfit made suddenly famous for its secondary displays now has a new model on tap. The 710-S "Mobile Slider" edition is really just a tweaked version of the aforementioned 7-inch panel, but it has been completely redesigned into a "sleeker, foldable and more portable unit." We hadn't really given much thought to bringing one of these things along in a laptop case, but this critter just might change our opinion on the usefulness to road warriors. Hit the read link to get in line; you'll have the opportunity to part with $149.99 in exchange for one later this month.[via EverythingUSB]


Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have developed a small device that can be used to check the freshness of fruit, telling the interested parties whether it's ripe or not. Based on previous technologies which measure, for example car emissions, the device measures the volatile gases emitted by the fruit and analyzes its makeup to determine the state of freshness. The team already has a working prototype, and sees the device, which would cost somewhere in the thousands of dollars range, as having widespread application for businesses that supply food to grocery stores. So far the device has only successfully been used to test the freshness of fruit, but researchers see possible future applications in testing meat as well.