MusicDock is a online service that turns your Windows Media 9 or higher-compatable mobile device, like the Treo 700w, into a satellite radio receiver. Once logged into your satellite radio account (both XM and Sirius let you stream their signal online for free), the MusicDock acts as a middle man, playing back the sweet sounds of XM’s Frank the Frowner and Sirius’ Martha Stewart, reminding you just how inept you are at cooking and, um, living.
MusicDock is free (for now at least). Palm OS devices aren’t invited. – Nicholas Deleon
We show you so many digital cameras and camcorders here on the Giz, you must be getting bleary-eyed just trying to sort through all the choices. Coming to your aid is Going Digital, a book by technology columnist and radio host Alex Goldfayn that helps you noobs navigate through that thicket of info and specs, getting to the meat of what you need to know to buy digital cameras and put together decent digital photos and home movies.
Besides giving you great buying advice, Goldfayn delivers boatloads of tips showing you how to bring those photos out of the musky dusty corners of your hard disk (or shoebox) and out into the open for all to see.
So if you’re one of the few who hasn’t jumped into the digital photography fray yet, or if you’re just starting out and are looking for some cogent advice on how to accelerate your techno-proficiency, it’s a good read. Check out my full review after the jump. – Charlie White
Blue Ant’s new hands-free speakerphone, the SuperTooth II, is currently being shipped worldwide. All you need to do to obtain a safe, hands-free environment while driving is to attach it onto the car’s sun visor via the magnetic clip. The Bluetooth-enabled SuperTooth II is powered by a lithium-ion battery that offers up to 20 hours of talk time and an amazing 800 hours of standby time. This device offers full duplex capability that enables you to talk and hear someone talking simultaneously. Since the SuperTooth II can be ferried from one car to another easily, it makes it all the more easier to prevent theft. Pick one up today for $86.
Coby’s new TF-DVD8500 portable DVD player comes with a generous 8.5″ TFT display that remains at home either behind a headrest or in the air during a long haul flight. The TF-DVD8500 is compatible with a wide range of media and formats, including DVDs, CDs (including CD-R and CD-RW), MP3, and JPEG. The integrated stereo speakers will definitely be underutilized as most people prefer the privacy of a pair of headphones. Features include A/V out, A/V in, composite video and optical audio output.
Our brother in nerd-dom Adam over at Lifehacker took the Bluetake i-Phono PLUS out for a test listen. The result? These are nothing you’d ever want to wear if you’ve still got use of your eyeballs.
While the functionality is decent, letting you listen to music, make phone calls and control playback, the low max-volume and the horrible design makes you think this was actually made by blind people. Which is a shame, since we hate for great features to be wasted on something nobody wants to wear.
Take it from Colin Farrell: “woof woof”. He’s not talking about Miami Vice. – Jason Chen
An company bundling a speaker dock with its MP3 player is the equivalent of throwing away free money. But then again, Buslink’s MC512 flash-based player won’t separate itself from the pack with its features—FM radio and MP3/WMA playback—so why not throw in an extra dock?
The MC512 also has a voice recorder and 512MB of internal storage, plus it’s Mac and Windows compatible. Better yet, it’s only $99 on buy.com. Not a bad price for a player and a dock. – Jason Chen
Are you on the lookout for a security camera that requires minimal supervision? The solar-powered motion sensing camera fits the bill as it will not rack up your power bills, harnessing the power of the sun instead to perform its duty. You can program this camera to record a video or alert you whenever it detects any movement within its field of vision. The solar panel on top is able to store enough energy to keep it going throughout the night without exhausting its power reserves. The Solar Color PIR Camera & Receiver has a transmission range of up to 250 feet and boasts a 90° horizontal field-of-view and a 45° vertical field-of-view.
Panasonic has released a new Toughbook in the form of the CF-29. Targeting the public safety departments, this Toughbook comes built-in with Cingular’s 3G BroadbandConnect service that enables high speed Internet surfing wherever there is coverage. Ideal for both military and commercial field environments, the CF-29 keeps you connected always, providing high-speed EDGE network coverage whenever you venture out of UMTS/HSDPA-based BroadbandConnect coverage areas. The CF-29 will be available in the U.S. at first, followed by a U.K. release within the next few months.
Pioneer is showing that there’s still some life left in plasma displays with the PureVision PDP-5070. It’s a 50-inch, 1080p plasma display that, in addition to looking quite handsome, should deliver some pretty decent visuals. Pioneer redesigned the panel to improve some of the inner circuitry, chief among them improved red and blue phosphors, supposedly making the display brighter. Brighter, people! There’s a few other features that might catch your discerning eyes, like the integrated ATSC/NTSC tuner and a handy USB plug for connecting digital cameras in order to view slideshows. Who doesn’t love slideshows?
Basically, another year, another model: some more features here and there, improved picture quality, etc. Single file, children.
The PDP-5070 is available now for around $4,500. – Nicholas Deleon
Kodak’s still around and they’ll be launching two additions to the EasyShare line of digital cameras in the coming months, the C875 and the V705. The V705 is an update to the V570 that made its splash at CES back in January while the C875 has no previous lineage. Just like V570, the V705 has that wacky two lens setup, this time with a 7.1-megapixel image sensor. The dual lens setup also helps the camera take “ultra wide” shots. Now Granny won’t get cut out of the picture anymore.
The EasyShare C875 has an 8-megapixel image sensor and 5x optical sensor and was touted by Kodak execs as being very easy to use. It has a neat feature that recognizes facial features and then attempts to track the subject’s face. This seemed to work well enough when it was demonstrated and is sure to be a hit among the drunken youth of America who are often too hammered to properly take photos. There’s also a smart scene mode that automatically chooses the best settings depending on the shooting location.
Both cameras share a few features between them, including Kodak Perfect Touch, which, surprisingly, is supposed to lead to better looking pictures. Jump for a picture of the dual lens V750.
The Kodak EasyShare V705 should be available this September while the C875 should be at the end of this month. The V705 will carry a price tag of $349.95 and the C875 will hover around $299.95 . – Nicholas Deleon
