Author: Andy Merrett
Hexbug: Robotic scurrying insect wants to be your friend
Forget useful accessories for your desk and instead invest in one or more of these funky little critters.
The Hexbug is a little creepy-crawly robot (6 x 5 x3.5cm in fact) with touch sensors on its feelers and a built-in microphone. Upon hearing a loud noise it will scurry away in the opposite direction, and any time it makes contact with something it will step back from it…
Brits get easier way to personalise T-shirts with CafePress UK launch
Anyone who’s been hanging around the Internet for a while will probably have come across CafePress, a US-based site that allows T-shirts and various other gift/novelty items to be personalised and shipped.
Nice idea, except for the appalling pound-to-dollar exchange rate at the moment, plus the added cost and delay of importing gear from the States.
Fear not! CafePress has launched its UK web site which should make it less of a hassle to get your designs to the UK and Europe…
SIM-free Nokia E75 hits UK today
It’s been a couple of months since Nokia unveiled its E75 handset at this year’s Mobile World Conference, but now it’s finally available to buy in UK stores.
Nokia’s profits may be taking a nosedive at present, but that doesn’t seem to be slowing the company down at all.
It will be available at Nokia flagship stores (that’s Regent Street and Heathrow T5) and at Nokia’s online shop for £379 SIM free…
Vodafone Europe gets HTC Magic G2
Here’s news that Vodafone has exclusively snagged the HTC Magic G2 in Europe.
Voda has currently only managed to announce some fairly boring low-spec handsets at MWC, so official details are sketchy. Boy Genius Report, who ran with the story, reckon the Android-based handset will be 3G with Wi-Fi and have GPS. Mind you, that’s fairly standard fare these days.
Can’t say I’m overwhelmed by the sight of the handset, but hopefully some more details will surface that will inspire me…
MWC 2009: In pictures: Sony Ericsson announces Idou "concept" mobile phone
While its new W995 Walkman handset is fairly tangible, Sony Ericsson appears to be working on at least one phone under the “concept name” Idou…
MWC 2009: Sony Ericsson announces new W995 Walkman phone
Just a few days after the fairly basic W395 Walkman phone comes the much feature-laden W995 Walkman phone from Sony Ericsson.
Forget the lacklustre 2-megapixel camera straight away, for this baby comes with an 8.1-megapixel camera (very important, that ‘point one’) with up to 16x digital zoom. Granted, digital zoom — especially on a mobile phone — isn’t much to get excited about (how much grain do you want on that picture of your best mate’s left nostril hair anyway?) and there’s no mention of optical zoom in the preliminary specs, but you do at least get auto focus, face detection, flash, image and video stabilisation, video recording (rate unknown) and video light.
OK, enough on the decent enough camera. This is a Walkman phone, after all, so what about the audio? Well, Sony is debuting its new Media Go application on the W995, letting you “effortlessly and automatically” transfer audio, pics and vids between phone and computer. Yep, something proprietary but then of course you can say the same about iTunes…
Eclipse shows off TD712zMK2 high-end speakers
Eclipse has shown off a second version of its TD712z speakers, conveniently titled TD712zMK2. There are a heap of specifications that will boggle the mind, but the highlights are that these steel, zinc, aluminium and composite constructed speakers feature a highly advanced single 12cm Time Domain drive unit, a redesigned damping system, more powerful motor system and ultra-efficient high-power magnet structure.
The aim is a pure, powerful sound — and at £5,000 a pair and with each speaker weighing in at 25kg you’d expect some serious audio goodness.
Geek party alert: It's 1234567890 UTC today!
For the general masses, it has to be one of the most obscure reasons to party ever, but for a true geek there’s a celebration to be had later today. Thanks to Stretchy for tipping us off about this one.
At exactly 11:31:30 GMT, the Unix time stamp will be 1234567890. Of course, those cheeky San Franciscans have decided to hold an official party from 2:31pm PST (an hour early to get the alcohol flowing), but there are other parties going on around the world. Curiously, at least according to 1234567890day.com, there are none in London at present…
Medion announces compact AKOYA Nettop PC
For anyone wanting a PC with decent specs that’s quiet and small, the Medion AKOYA Nettop PC is worth taking a look at. It won’t break the speed record but is perfectly adequate for general home and Internet usage.
It features the Intel Atom 230 CPU running at 1.6GHz coupled with the Intel 945GC Express chipset and Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950.
It has 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive – both quantities could leave you wanting more in the long run but hopefully this is upgradable…
Ultrasone offers up precision German-engineered HFI headphone range
German company Ultrasone has announced its new six-strong range of HFI headphones. Not only do they look pretty luxurious but they incorporate S-Logic which pushes sound around the ear by positioning the drivers off-centre. This gives the impression that you’re listening to speakers several metres away.
The headphones are produce around a quarter of the low-frequency magnetic field compared to some traditional ones, as well as MU Metal that shields and reduces magnetic radiation by up to 98%…
