Asono Freebit H1 Bluetooth Headset: Be Like Lt. Uhura
Now you can be like Lt. Uhura and stick that Bluetooth headset in your ear with this Asono Freebit-H1, giving you nine hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby. Its Norwegian makers at Asono have somehow shoehorned all those electronics into its tiny form factor, making it quite a bit smaller than the one Uhura wore. It'll be available for 84 Euros ($105) in Europe first.
We're liking the way this one looks, with its promise of unobtrusive comfort. Hopefully it'll be available stateside before too long. Closeup pics the headset and a Scandinavian babe wearing it, after the jump.
Product page [Asono]
LG Shine Cellphone Sports Shiny Metal Body, Silly Name
LG already has the "cellphones with stupid names" market corned with the Chocolate, but now it hopes that the Shine will do just as well, if not better. Part of the company's "Black Label" series of pseudo fancy cellphones, the Shine packs a 2-megapixel camera and 1GB of onboard storage space; presumably, you'll be able to add to the storage with the use of memory cards. As the picture so plainly shows, the body is of the shiny metal variety, giving a sort of brushed metal effect that Apple loves to tack onto its applications nowadays. The Shine is also able to set user-recorded video and set it as the wallpaper. Nifty.
If the Chocolate can make it stateside, I don't see why we won't see Shine sometime in the future. LG, just let it ship with a certain buttery beat as a ringtone (think "Shinin'" from Lumines), and this will be a hit.
LG to reveal 'Shine phone' the successor of its chocolate phone [Aving USA]
Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on Day Zero: Better Than Firefox?
IE7 finally ships in its finished form today, and the guys at Laptop Magazine say that it improves on Firefox in some key areas. Among its new features are tabbed browsing just like Firefox, an integrated RSS reader and plug-in support. Sound familiar?
Overall, the interface is far leaner and more polished than IE6 and even more convenient than the beloved Firefox 1.X releases... In the grand battle between Firefox and IE, we think that IE has a bit of an edge in this release, although the Firefox 2 betas we have seen will catch it up a bit. Many of the things we like about Firefox have been implemented in IE7 and have been polished to be more streamlined and useful.Microsoft says IE 7 is a lot more secure than its predecessor, so that might improve one of the most glaring problems with Internet Explorer 6. But better than Firefox? We're going to have to try this for ourselves. Either grab it for yourself when it's offered up for download soon, or it will be pushed upon you via Windows Update sometime in early November if you have Service Pack 2 installed.
Product Page [Microsoft, via Laptop Magazine]
Frozen Wii Caught Red-handed
The chances of this being a final production Wii are pretty slim, but this video shows that even the forthcoming console is susceptible to the ol' system freeze. Hopefully they'll get that fixed cause the alarm-like noise in the background is definitely annoying.
Yes even the Wii freezes [via Gadgetell]
How to Hack an ATM and Not Get Caught: $5 Turns to $20
We showed you one way to how hack an ATM a couple of weeks ago (we noticed that video is no longer available for some reason), but here's a guy who had an even better way. Somehow, he got his hands on a secret code that tricked an ATM into handing him free money. The override code made the machine think it was full of five dollar bills when it was actually full of twenties. The guy used an untraceable pre-paid debit card and for every $250 he withdrew, he was actually getting his hands on $1000.
A footnote to the story: this ATM was handing out four times the amount people requested for nine days before one honest woman fessed up, admitting she had received more money than she should have. What would you do? (Thanks, Jaan!)
Suicidal, Coca-Cola-Drinking Robot Makes Social Justice Statement, Nobody Cares
One of those America-hating, hippie organizations going by the name of SWAMP (Studies of Work Atmosphere and Mass Production) created a robot called Coke Is It that is programmed to kill itself. Good message to send to the kids out there, SWAMP. The robot is programmed to find puddles of Coca-Cola (you know, the big, faceless corporation that's sucking all the mako out of the planet) on the floor then suck it up using an electric pump. Then, the robots sprays itself with the Coke and the acidic nature of the Earth-killing soft drink eats away at the robot's "skin." After the skin is sufficiently worn away, Coke finds its way into the robot's circuitry, leading to its "death." Very subtle metaphor, fellas, as the video demonstrates.
Now excuse me while I drive my big SUV down the block in order to purchase ozone-depleting cans of aerosol spray and non-biodegradable styrofoam cups.
Coke Is It Video [SWAMP via we make money not art]
[YouTube video by mattkenyon]
Tumi's Solar-powered Backpack Charges Your Gadgets on the Go
We've shown some love for Tumi backpacks in the past, so it's no surprise we'd fall head over heels for their new limited edition backpack which charges your gadgets via its built-in solar panel. Designed by famed Brit sculptor Anish Kapoor, the bag has a removable solar panel, padded laptop sleeve, and a water-repellent exterior. It'll set you back $695 bucks, but the full proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders. Click on for some foxy backpack pics.
Tumi Limited Edition PowerPack [via Sybarites]
mySupermarket Lets You Directly Compare Prices, Save Money
A UK company has figured out a way to keep online supermarkets as competitive as possible with mySupermarket, a website that lets you pick out items and then compare the prices for that shopping cart full of food between the four major online supermarket chains in the UK. A running total shows you the price of the goods as you choose them, directly comparing the four supermarket prices. Once you've finished shopping, pick the lowest-priced store, and with a single click mySupermarket will send your order to that supermarket's website for online checkout.
What a great idea! Now, if we could just get even one online supermarket that doesn't take a one-way trip down the road to financial ruin here in the US, someday we could get started on something like this. Maybe online supermarkets are unsuccessful in the US because of the distances involved. Or maybe it's their super-slim profit margins.
Product Page [mySupermarket Limited] (Thanks, Justin!)
Motorola E9 Slim Candybar Invades Rumorville
Apple is sure going to be pissed when they find out Motorola is invading their turf in Cellphone Rumorville, U.S.A. These mockups of the E9 candybar phone have surfaced. Along with the mockup comes some mighty impressive specs. This phone will have a 2.4-inch display, 3.2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 1.2 and even Wi-Fi connectivity. No word on anything about this phone from Motorola, but we'll keep you posted as the rumblings come in.
Motorola E9 [newlaunches]
Touchscreen iPod in December, Zune Slam-Dunked?
An "extremely well-informed exec" tells Trusted Reviews that the 6G iPod will be released in December, and it will be capable of 480p resolution. The source confirmed that it will be a touchscreen model with virtual click wheel control, but made no mention of whether wireless connectivity would be part of the package. Added the source, "This is why Jobs isn't afraid of the Zune."
We've seen the iPod touchscreen patent documentation, and we've entertained countless rumors and even reliable tips about the upcoming device; what we need to see now is a real picture of it. One thing's for sure, if this widescreen iPod is released in the next two months, the Microsoft Zune with its old-fashioned 4x3 screen and crippled WiFi will be slam-dunked.
Touchscreen iPod Comes This December [Trusted Reviews]