Category Archives: Gadgets

Update on iPhone voice-dialing

Posted by on August 31, 2008 2 comments

I recently posted about an iPhone App from Fonix for handling voice-dialing with the iPhone.  The app still isn’t out, but Fonix recently released a demo video of the application.

Check it out:

It looks great.  My only remaining issue is initiating a voice command.  It appears I will still need to be looking at my iPhone and tap the application in order to start the voice commands. I’d like to be able to tap the button on my bluetooth headset or a physical button on the iPhone.  Ideally, Apple would open up the iPhone home button to be assigned to third-party applications (currently it will only open your Contact Favorites or the iPod interface).

All in all, I’m excited for this app to finally hit the App Store.

Bionic Eye Anyone?

Posted by on August 22, 2008 2 comments
The electronic eye takes photos in a 3D space rather than flatted in 2D

The electronic eye takes photos in a 3D space rather than flatted in 2D

You know you’ve dreamed about it.  You want a bionic eye.  Everyone does.  Since you were a kid watching The Six Mission Dollar Man, you’ve dreamed of the day when bionics could become a reality.  Most of the bionic parts of Steve Austin already exist in some form (although not usually exceptionally powerful).  But the bionic left eye has been rather elusive.

Your dream may soon be coming true.  Researchers from the University of Illinois and Northwestern University are working on a camera that could some day replace a human eye.  With a similar form factor as the eye, it could easily fit within a human eye socket.

It’s the curve of the camera that makes it most like an eye.  Unlike most cameras that often blur or minimize the focus of parts of the image on the outer edges, this new curved technology allows an image to be in focus in all parts of the image.

Check out the additional photos on CNET.

Lee Majors has nothing on us now.

High Definition DVD – is it ready for you?

Posted by on January 12, 2008 No comments

Perhaps you’ve heard of Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Bly-ray and HD-DVD are competing technologies for the next generation in home video. The video and audio coming from these technologies is incredible. Can you tell the difference… nope. They are pretty much the same. And as home video tech goes, welcome to the latest format war.

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iPhone Review

Posted by on August 1, 2007 1 comment

iPhoneAs I mentioned before, I succumbed to the seduction that is the Apple iPhone. Two coworkers purchased it the day it was released and I promptly began drooling over the device. The beauty of the screen and the ease of the interface lured me to it. I couldn’t help myself and visited the AT&T store the following Saturday.

Of course, my wife wanted one as well, but that meant $500 x 2. Ouch! So we decided that I would get one and if she really liked it and felt she still wanted one, we could get her one later.

I came home and promptly connected it to iTunes to activate. The activation process was painless and within 10-15 minutes (mostly downloading the new version of iTunes) I was up and running with my new iPhone.

That was about 3 weeks ago and so I’ve had plenty of time to try it out. Here’s my evaluation:

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It's iPhone Enabled!

Posted by on July 17, 2007 1 comment

The almight iPhoneRamblingEngineer.com is now iPhone enabled!

What does that mean? Well, that means when I visit the site on my new iPhone (yes, I gave in to the Apple seduction), the site appears in a nice iPhone friendly style. No sidebar or bulky navigation. A simple and clean interface.

But that doesn’t mean that the rest of you without iPhones will be affected. In fact, you won’t see a difference. The iPhone style/layout will only show up through the iPhone. For those technically minded, it means that it looks for a specific “user-agent.”

I’ll post a review of the iPhone in the near future.

The ultimate hybrid gadget

Posted by on December 19, 2006 No comments

Samsung recently announced the future launch of a pretty amazing product, the Samsung SPH-P9000.  Sporting itself as a PDA, laptop, cell phone and media center all in one gadget, it looks like it’s getting pretty close to the ultimate hybrid.

This thing is about the size of a large PDA (think Apple Newton size — 5.26 x 3.7 x 1.14 inches) when it’s all folded in, but it unfolds to reveal a 5″ screen and a full size QWERTY keyboard.  It runs Windows XP and so includes all it’s multimedia capabilities.  It also comes with WiMAX and EV-DO for wireless broadband connectivity and a myriad of other technologies.

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The power of suggestion

Posted by on November 14, 2006 No comments

Recently, I’ve been frequenting TigerDirect.com for all my electronics/gadget needs. I used to be a huge fan of Buy.com, but TigerDirect seems to usually beat Buy.com’s price. There is occasion when I still purchase from Buy.com if the free shipping will compensate for the higher price.

One of the features that I really missed from Buy.com was the wishlist. The wishlist allows you to collect products that you eventually want to purchase (or hope someone else will purchase for you as a gift). So the other day, I submitted a comment to TigerDirect asking about a wishlist feature.

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The truth about the Buffalo LinkStation

Posted by on March 25, 2006 No comments

In trying to recover the data I killed when doing my brilliant work detailed in my last post, I remembered by LinkStation.

So about 1.5 – 2 years ago, I purchased a Buffalo LinkStation

Within a few months, the thing stopped working. It just wouldn’t respond when I booted it up. Lights would flash and then nothing. So I called Buffalo Tech Support and after several attempts at upgrading the firmware, eventually I got a tech that indicated that there was a hard-drive problem.

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Tips when reinstalling Windows

Posted by on March 25, 2006 No comments

1. DON’T LEAVE YOUR USB DRIVE PLUGGED IN WHEN REINSTALLING A SYSTEM WITH WHICH YOU ARE UNFAMILIAR

Yeah… that was yelling. Really at myself, not at you.

So my brother-in-law brings his laptop to my house to wipe it out, reformat and reinstall Windows XP. No biggy, right. So we plug in my USB Hard Drive to backup all his data. It was going to be easy, right. Back it up, then once done installing, pull all the data back over. Nice and simple.

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