Gadzooki

Treats for sparky!

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(click here to watch this video) 

This is one of the cutest things I ever saw!  I bet my Japanese spitz would love this new toy.  This is one awesome excersise machine that will keep your pets in shape.  I think a lot of pet behavior issues is caused by uninformed pet owners.  Aside from the usual hugs and treats you give them, they need to be just what they’re made for. 

They need excersies and the freedom to run around chasing something. :)I’ve seen the discovery podcasts of Cesar Milano (www.cesarmilano.com), I know a few dog “behaviorists” too.   And these experts say that “yes, dogs, however little or big they are, they all need proper nutrition and the exercise.”  The more they are able to excersise freedom (chainless), the better their behavior is.

This gadeget is easy to setup, and easier to learn both for humans and dogs.  See the video… that dog knows how to load up the sling with his favorite toy, his behavior shows he even anticipates the throw.  Isn’t that neat?

But is it toddler safe though? 

Hmmm…I think a few developments would soon bring out a much better and safer version. But truth to tell, if it were available now, I’d probably get one.  If I was part of the product focus group I’d suggest a programmable schedule training regimen too.  I’d like to have that machine turn on automatically, call for the dog and throw the ball about 50-75 times in the morning and about 30-50 times in the afternoon.  

My super dream feature:  it should be able to email me a report of how many throws it has made, time it took for the retrieval and loading, it should shoot out a cookie treat after 10 throws, oh and a video-on-demand feature would not be too bad! And how about a team version?  4-5 arms of this thing, solar powered, good for 5 throws in different direction.  Park friendly throws.  Ah the possibilities!   

It’s the 80’s again! :)

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Okay now this is just sooo cool! 🙂  There are a number of tech blogs that have shown this… www.engadget.com , www.dvice.com … and still many personal blog raves complete the swirl. Well at least to those who know what lego is, and who doesn’t.  I’m a creature from the 80’s and it was lego’s decade I assure you.  I drooled over them those years and yes I bawled my eyes out when I didn’t get my lego fix.  Now that’s not to say I’d bawl yet again, too old for it this time.  But can I just say I just may drool instead?

Personally I own about 4 flash stick drives.  I’ve got a 4GB San Disk mini cruiser, a 2GB version, a PNY 2GB and a 1GB knock off.  Why I have them, don’t ask!  Some of them given, some of them from ebay.com and one of them, hmmm I really don’t know where that knock off came from!

Have I any use for them, well… I did once.  But not so much lately after I bought a snazzier 80GB Maxtor external 2.5” hard disk.  I once used them for quick need-to-have files, but I think I don’t have any files like that anymore.  Ergo my flash drives… a semi-permanent drawer item.

But why am I drooling over the lego 1GB flash drive.  The 80’s is “flashing” back and this piece of history is a must-have, even if it’ll just be part of ‘ye old drawer yet again.  I just have to have one.

They’re compatible with actual lego bricks, standard lego colors and it’s from the Japanese… it’s from the Japanese… what else!!!

A lazy Sunday

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This is not a review, neither is this a rave or a rant.  I may just call this my way of just passing time.  But don’t worry, i’ll somehow bring this back to the tech talk we like here at gadzooki.com .

Sunday afternoon, it was my time to just bum around in a cafe.  Brought my macbook with me to see the podcasts I’ve missed viewing this week.  After getting my fill from http://mahalodaily.ning.com and http://www.geekbrief.tv , I fired up Mail to check if there’s something in my inbox.

Well, got the usual junk stuff of course, but before I was able to hit the delete key the graphic above caught my eye.

I was sooo laughing.

Taking a step back though, and after braving my best not to spew coffee from laughing… isn’t the graphic almost largely true?

We are now seeing the fact that tech companies are “fashioning” their products to appeal to a mass feminine base.  Apple is being very evident with this by releasing theirs with hues of pink, red… pastel colors.

Look at http://www.popgadget.net .  It’s a website full of gadgets, lifestyle and tech stuff for women.  Kudos to that blog by the way. 🙂

I think the day has almost come when women would like to see more buttons on their tech craves than men.  Most men would probably like them too, but I’ve seen to many who at the end of the day would just use the on/off switch!  women on the other hand would most likely be very intent on using the functions of say a palm Treo.

They’re a growing breed!

Talk close! The RoadRunner

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Somehow I keep picturing Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise or Nicolas Cage. It may as well work if Pro-Idee, the “RoadRunner” manufacturer, will fashion it well to look good in a bow & tie set… I know what you’re thinking, yes, James Bond will look good on this too.

It may seem “too loud” at this early stage, but give it a few more months and you’d see several variations from this model.  The key I believe is to make technology as “invisible” (tech term “user-transparent”) as possible.  But this is a good start nonetheless.

I’m no hard-core techie so I couldn’t understand how “non-creepy” this may be.  I’ve seen too many movies before where one of the actors had a throat operation and is now using a microphone held kiss-close to his neck while speaking.  Every bit… robot voice.  But I think they’ve made a goal with this one, I hope it’s at least human voice that’s being heard by the called party.

OK, now for the tech jab (from www.proidee.co.uk):

Fit the RoadRunner around your neck, with the microphone next to your voice box. This way your voice is directly transmitted from the larynx, with noise suppression of up to 10 dB. Ideal too when driving a convertible or a motorcycle.

Supports all Bluetooth functions on your mobile phone – within a range of 10m (32ft). Take incoming calls at the touch of a button. If your mobile phone has voice dial activation, it will function very reliably. The error rate is below 1% compared to ordinary Bluetooth headsets. This means you can relax while phoning and concentrate more on your driving.

No wobbling, no slipping. Microphone head rotates 180°.
The RoadRunner fits snugly around your neck. Ideal too for jogging, skiing, cycling, etc. The communicator kit even fits perfectly under a motorcycle helmet. Also suitable for men with beards.

Up to 9 hours of talk time. The high-quality lithium-polymer cell is charged in just 2 hours. Simply use the supplied power adapter. Standby: approx. 1 week. Operates in an ambient temperature range from -10 °C to +50 °C. LED indicator shows battery status. Frequency band 2.4 – 2.4835 GHz. Weighs only approx. 28g (1oz). 2-year manufacturer’s guarantee.

Pro-Idee extends the guarantee to 3 years.

The Chumby

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This may well be my ultimate gadget crave for the month.  Chumby Industries have finally released a product that is soooo useful to tech and webaholics… like me.

The chumby is a compact device that displays useful and entertaining information from the web: news, photos, music, celebrity gossip, weather, box scores, blogs — using your wireless Internet connection. Always on, it shows — nonstop — what’s online that matters to you.

Chumby is like a clock radio (plus plus).  It’s the future’s version of it at least.  Thru WIFI it connects to the free Chumby Network on the internet to get the info available, and there are lots.  It’s manufacturer has made their code and hardware hackable with the intention of producing more widgets and attachments.

Useful features would be the ability to subscribe to podcasts and audio and video streams, news and weather… basically the info you’re sure to want at the start of a busy day.  My favorite is its ability to connect to internet radio and live streaming traffic cams or any available webcam online.  Oh, for the sport fans… yes, it is able to stream sports scores and game updates.

It is also capable to connect with RSS feeds, so that means monitoring your bids or sells on EBAY, Amazon and other RSS is possible!  Monitoring your friends flickr account pics?  no problemo with chumby!

There has been huge success over its sale debut.  Many have caught on the Chumby fever and soon enough, when there’s a enough demand in the user community, we’d see more improvements on this product.

www.geekbrief.tv has given it quite an exposure!  Check out episode 315.
 

Game Review: Sniper Elite

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For a month, this was what’s bringing me back to the desk before I actually do the long zzzzz.  Sniper Elite offers a lengthy single-player game full of nerve-wrecking episodes but still with the oh soooo cool rewarding moments.

Gameplay on my first five tries were difficult, but after I got the controls bagged it became easy to do things, the winning moves, the carnage! 🙂  It will take around 30-minutes to get used to the controls and starting at the rookie level is a must for a lengthier practice kill.  What I just didn’t like was how the mouse was so quick (sometimes too quick) for comfort.

Graphics was awesome, detailed but not too distracting, focused yet not too boring.

Some game blogs rate it at around 7/10, with good points on the following:

1. Lengthy and challenging single-player campaign with some interesting and challenging missions.
2. Realistic bullet physics make long-range shooting challenging and satisfying.
3. Great sound puts you right in the middle of battle.

And of course the bad points:

1. Some textures and characters are reused throughout the game
2. Hit detection is a bit off sometimes
3. Missions can take a long time to complete, so if you don’t have a lot of patience you’ll likely get bored.

Game plot from www.gamespot.com:  Sniper Elite takes place in 1945, at the close of the war. The game focuses on the conflict between Russia and Germany for control of Berlin. The Russian secret service, known as NKVD, is in town to steal the atomic-bomb technology from the German Army. You have to put a stop to that post haste, because nuclear weapon technology in the hands of Stalin’s forces would surely spell big trouble for just about the entire world. You are an American sniper, trained by the OSS to be the best of the best when it comes to covert operations. Disguised as a German soldier, you have to stop the NKVD at all costs. The single-player campaign is quite lengthy. There are 28 missions in a variety of different (but very similar) war-torn settings. The missions are pretty much what you’d expect from a sniper game. You’ll have to assassinate high-ranking officials, steal secret documents, rescue captured allies, and shoot hundreds of guys in the head. The campaign can easily take 12 hours or more to finish. If you complete all the optional objectives and take the time to set up all your shots rather than just blast away recklessly, this game will easily take up as much time as you’re willing to give it. Therein lies the conundrum with this game. If you play it carefully, a single level can take much more than an hour to complete. The stealth is well done here, and the game does a great job of building up the sense of tension that comes from sneaking around and picking off enemies. After a while, though, that tension fades into tedium, and you’ll eventually just be wishing you could move on already.

New Macbooks/Macbook Pros Today?

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Oh my, the koolaid gang has struck again.  Today, the Apple online store has put out the famous “we’ll be back soon” graphic which beckons something up Steve Job’s sleeve.  Popular mac “hint/rumor” sites macrumor.com, mactactic.com & geeksugar.com is getting very excited.

There is a rumor that Apple will announce new and improved Macbook pros today!

Gizmodo.com is bold to show a new model of Macbook Pro (MBP) that will generally let the Macbook Air (MBA) early adopters pull their hairs off!  It’s almost as thin as the MBA, it looks to have the same multi-touch trackpad, the side speakers… lots more!

Allegedly it will be on-stock by Friday Feb 29.  Wait-a-minute!  Is this something to do with it being a leap year or something?  At any rate, if it is, what a date!  And probably soooo Apple to choose a good date to “Make a leap”.

Hey is this a tagline I may soon find myself spoiling an Apple ad campaign.

“Make a leap”… oh my, remember, you heard it first from ME! 🙂

According to a AppleInsider, the new MBP will have processors racing to 2.8GHz with price starting at US$1,999.00.

In addition to MacBook Pros, Apple this week is also expected to begin shipping the first of its Time Capsule backup appliances (AppleInsider’s first look). Available in a 500GB model for $299 and 1TB model for $499, Steve Job has so exclaimed that the AirPort Extreme-like device will automatically conduct wireless backups of Macs running the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system.

Let me grab a few of Steve’s famous words…

“It get’s better, better & better”.

The case of too many D’s… it may kill X

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Whoever said that technology is too fast to control has hit it bulls-eye once again.  I was strolling in a mall, brought my trusty 80GB iPod with me and tuned in to TWIT’s Leo Laporte saying “HD-DVD is now DEAD”.  That’s too many D’s to control I know!  The death blow may well be Walmart saying they will now officially just sell Blu-Ray DVDs,  BUT won’t push for it, would still continue to sell HD-DVD formatted way back the aisle.

I was a bit relieved that I didn’t include an HD-DVD player in my Christmas list!  I could just imagine my frustration to find out that that player dead technology a month later.  Crossing my mind is Tom Hanks’ “Green Mile” liner… “dead man walking… dead man walking….”.  Now it’s “dead tech gone… dead tech gone!”.

OK so aside from Walmart, what led to HD-DVD demise??? 

  • “Warner Bros.’ move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want,” chairman and CEO of Warner Bros.
  • All of us at Sony are feeling a bit blue today, but that’s a good feeling,” CEO Sir Howard Stringer said at a news conference, chuckling. “Along with Warner Bros.’ decision to support Blu-ray I want to thank Bob Iger at Disney and Rupert Murdoch at Fox for being ‘true blue’ from the start.”
  • Disney, the parent company of ABC News, was one of the first to commit to the Blu-ray format.
  • Rick Clancy, Sony’s senior vice president of electronics, echoed those sentiments

Well to note here that the rivalry between the two platforms of high-definition DVDs — Blu-ray is supported by Sony, while HD-DVD is supported by both Toshiba and Microsoft — has been raging since the discs’ development. While other Hollywood studios have gradually chosen one format over the other, Warner Bros. had been the lone exception, publishing movies in both formats.

There is a rumor that Toshiba will stop manufacturing HD-DVD players… just a rumor folks!  Now will that leave Microsoft alone on a limb… goodbye XBox?
 

Drobo and New York City

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One more Drobo endorsement from Cali Lewis of Geek Brief TV and I swear I’d get a Drobo myself!  I think it has been more than 2 months that Drobo is hitting every major media op. Saw it on both CES and Macworld Geek Brief coverages, oh, and yes, I saw people drooling to get Drobo discounts!  Saw it on print spreads, drobo banners, medallions online. Ayayay!

What is Drobo anyway???

Drobo is the world FIRST storage robot. (now’s a good time to hear an orchestra shoot a loud “tadaaaah” in your head). 🙂

For $499, www.drobo.com says you’d:

1.  keep your data safe.  Automatically monitoring and repairing problems that could put your data at risk.

2.  automatically control all aspects of storage management

3.  have no configuration or management consoles.  Drobo does all the work, handling any complex storage management.

4.  have a better solution than external hard drives and beats RAID… hands down.

Now my personal “I haven’t seen it yet but I think when I do I’d” review is throwing the red danger sign at claims #1-#3.  I mean REALLY NOW!  If I believe this, does this mean what it says?  Or not.

A hard disk manufacturer gets sued for claiming their drive has the Gigabytes of storage printed on the sticker when in fact it doesn’t.  Will Drobo really perform?

I for one would LIKE Drobo to succeed.  I’ve been in the days when I lost important PSD & PDF files only to find out that my 320GB (heck it’s really 290GB) seagate sata baracuda drive throws in the towel.  I don’t know, maybe demoted planet pluto was perpendicular to the 3rd Jupiter moon while somebody was caught between the moon and New York City.  I know it’s crazy… but it’s true. 🙂

Back to Drobo.

Cali Lewis is really putting her show’s weight on it soooo because she’s pretty, again I know it’s a crazy great must-have… but maybe Drobo is true.

Find out more about Drobo at www.drobo.com … and google Cali Lewis or Geek Brief TV.  Funny girl, quick talker, but very very wise.  I think.

I’d really love to review one, so if anyone can send me a Drobo…  oh Cali… yoohooo!!!

Such a cool concept pencil!

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Ok, first thing that flashed in my mind “Why didn’t I invent this!”.  Such a cool concept from Japanese designer Yuta Watanabe.  He calls this as the “peg pencil”.  It’s his version of a mechanical pencil made of spring activated (and re-modified) clothe’s pin.  You can all see most of his recent work on his website http://www.yutawatanabe.com/.  Really creative work showcasing the Japanese creative mind.

Ayayay!  I wonder how Yuta thought of the peg pencil.  I am arround clothe pins all my life and yet it has never come across to me that this can morph into something really cool.  Step up for Yuta and loud high-fives.

Anyway, back to tech stuff.  Did you know that Apple has once again upgraded their clip iPods?  Their 1GB model now retails for $49 while their new clip iPod 2GB model retails for $69.  Not sure if it’s in apple stores yet, but yes, I will be in line for one of the 2GB babies the moment it hit shore.

Now the only thing that I am yet to discover is if I can juggle all these iPods I have on a single iTunes program/account.  I think I read from somewhere before that it’s a tricky setup.  I have the 512MB 1st Gen iPod Shuffle, an 80 GB 5th Gen video iPod, a 4GB nano… yeah yeah… many pods there, but we’re three in the family and you know how it is.  Sometimes one just ain’t enough in this dang multi-tasking world.

Fearless prediction:  by the end of the year the clip iPods will reach 8GB at $69 a pin.  Tech is getting cheaper as we speak, is it a good idea?  For the early adopters… hahaha (wink wink).