Third party Eee PC accessories hint at Eeecosystem

You must doing something right to capture the attention of third party accessory makers. Meet Brando's $18 Car and $23 Travel Chargers for the Eee PC. Of course, ASUS already sells an official travel charger so really, only the Car Charger is likely to garner any interest. Still, it does makes us wonder if a "Made for Eee" logo and licensing tithes are just around the corner?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/04/third-party-eee-pc-accessories-hint-at-eeecosystem/

LG to launch its unique touch screen phone 'LG-KF510'

LG Electronics announced that it will debut its new slim, stylish slider phone ‘LG-KF510’ at the upcoming GSMA Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona, Spain on February 11, 2008.

At just 10.9mm-thick, the LG-KF510 is the extremely slim slider phone. It combines a slim style with strength created by its metal frame and tempered glass. At the center of its design are metal gradation paint schemes available in Stardust Dark Gray or Sunset Red.



This attractive looking phone is equally attractive to use. Its tactile and visually interactive user interface includes captivating animation developed based on the LG’s advanced touch technology. It also supports a multi-function camera with 3.0 mega pixel and MP3 player.

The LG-KF510 will be available worldwide, with an initial launch in March 2008 starting from major global markets.



Source: http://aving.net/usa/news/default.asp?mode=read&c_num=71993&C_Code=01&SP_Num=134

The Xbox 360 Elite laptop: Ben Heck strikes again

We think it's possible that the time has come to admit that Ben Heck (aka Benjamin Heckendorn) has officially taken it to the limit, put the pedal to the metal, and a large number of other cliches that suggest something has been pushed just about as far as you can take it. That's right folks -- it's the Xbox 360 Elite laptop. We're not even going to try and pretend to understand how an individual could go about creating this kind of extreme mod to the Microsoft console -- needless to say that if there was one man who could do it, Ben is that guy. Luckily for us lay-people, he's included a graphic breakdown of just about every step on the road to a portable Xbox 360, replete will all the case cracking, innards opening, wire splaying photos you could possibly want or need. Sorry NEStari and Atari 800 laptop -- there's a new boss in town.





Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/04/the-xbox-360-elite-laptop-ben-heck-strikes-again/

Best Ancient Gadgets According to Gadget Lab

This week's retromodo installation kicks old-skool ass, and it is not because we have found a follow up the Death Ray Machine, or found the father of the first cupholder, oh no. It is mainly because we have left the hard work up to the guys at Wired, and they really have out done themselves. They were not settling for just one seriously retro gadget—they found them all.

We won't list the lot here, but the best of the bunch include the:

• Antikythera Computer 
c. 1st Century B.C. Discovered in 1900, amongst relics of an ancient shipwreck, the mechanism contained in the device was uncovered in 2006. Though it is unclear how it worked exactly, the navigational tool was thought to be used onboard ships as an early pre-compass type tool.

• The Baghdad Battery 
c. 250 AD. Where would we be without portable power? Not in ancient Baghdad for sure. The galvanic cells were discovered in the 1930s, but their use remains a mystery. The terracotta urns had small copper and iron fixtures, and they were filled with an acidic agent that propagated a chemical reaction. The reaction caused a small amount of electricity to flow. It was theorized that they may have been used to electroplate dull metals.

• The Turk 1770. The Turk may well have been the first gadget prank in history, which means it should be contender for first joke post in ancientmodo's archive. Essentially, the device concealed a chess player within it. When an unsuspecting player tried it out, the pieces would appear to move autonomously, but were in fact being moved by a series of cogs controlled by the hidden chess master. Those ancient pranksters sure were crazy.

To get the full low-down on other great age-old gadgets, including the first true compass, planetarium, watch and GPS (kinda), as well as a few others, hit up Wired's excellent feature. It is awesome.


Source: http://gizmodo.com/352042/best-ancient-gadgets-according-to-gadget-lab

Gradient Helsinki 1.5 Loudspeakers Could Sound Great, Come With Lots of Buzzwords

According to the manufacturers, these handcrafted Gradient Helsinki 1.5 250-watt loudspeakers are "born from our twisted way of thinking differently." They sure look twisty, specially when they shoot at us all kind of buzzwords like Dipole Bass, Cardioid Midrange, Wave-guided tweeters and all sorts of technological buzzing fizzbang. That said, I would probably buy them if I had a) a house with those views, b) a gazillion dollars, c) actual ears instead of a pair made of cork or d) all of the above.



Source: http://gizmodo.com/352160/gradient-helsinki-15-loudspeakers-could-sound-great-come-with-lots-of-buzzwords