iDog

November 4, 2010 Written by Gadget Gurus 0 Comment

Review your iDog

hasbro

It’s popular amongst my family and friends that I am an entire and total geek, as well as a Mac lover to boot. When occasions like birthdays and Christmases come around, invariably someone tries to surprise me with the good tech gadget they could find, preferably Mac-related. That is no easy feat since I waste almost every spare moment of my life online reading about the latest gadgets and searching for things to review.

This year a devotee surprised me with an iDog, by Hasbro. Surprised not in the sense that I had never seen this thing (it have been out for several months now) but surprised inside the sense of Oh, you bought me a iDog?

Writing a review of the iDog is a little tricky. On one hand, it does what it is alleged to do. On another, there is no reason for it to do what it’s alleged to do. So I will write this review with two readers in mind: the first, someone who has seen the iDog before and is contemplating purchasing it, and the next, someone who’s seen the iDog before and can’t understand why anyone would want to purchase it.

If you think that you desire the iDog

If you think that you want the iDog, then you probably do. The main selling point with the iDog seems to be that it’s cute and lights up, and to that end the iDog succeeds. It is cute. My kids love him. And the lights do indeed light up. Bright little circles of joy flash towards the music in shades of blue, green, orange red, yellow, and purple. iDog will occasionally wag his head from side to side and his ears will occasionally move up and down as well. This, combined with the sunshine show, is what gives iDog his personality.

The iDog is also somewhat of a virtual pet, kind of like the Tamagotchis of old. You feed iDog with music by plugging him into any audio source (although the iPod is clearly the intended source) or you can also place iDog near a speaker, and he can listen and react to music that way. iDog also likes to become played with, and you may keep him from becoming bored and lonely by petting his head and nose. If you push his nose button twice you may check on his mood, and see how you do as a parent. iDog will display a light pattern which tells you his mood. Ignore iDog for too long and he begins to whine and make other plaintive doggy-like sounds.

But aside from serving like a pet, iDog is supposedly first and foremost meant to dazzle us with a sound and lightweight extravaganza. Here is where iDog falls a bit short. Firstly, the underpowered mono speaker in iDog’s back doesn’t exactly rock the house. There is no volume control, so you have to control that with your iPod. Along at the iPod’s highest volume the sound is a bit distorted, but certainly loud enough to listen to in normal sized room. At any setting the sound is quite tinny, but I found he sounded best at about 70%. The issue with this is that when iDog begins to waggle his head, the motor mechanisms are quite loud, and can easily be heard over the music.

To become fair, iDog is not intended for the serious audiophiles. He is a passable portable speaker, and definitely meant more just as one attention getter. I brought iDog towards the office today, and scarcely anyone was able to steer by without commenting how cool he was or how cute he was. His light show, while not breathtaking, certainly livens up a dull working environment, and iDog is usually well suited to cubicle life as you may mute him and connect your headphones to the splitter cable he ships with. iDog will still rock out silently (well, apart from his churning gears) and provide you with a light show whilst you listen via your headset.

All in all, I think the average one who has seen iDog in action or on TV and thought it had been worthy of buying will get what they expect from their purchase. However, there are a few other things to be aware of with iDog, and for that I will now focus on why many people won’t desire to buy the iDog any time soon.

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Plasma Balls

October 24, 2010 Written by Gadget Gurus 0 Comment

How Plasma Balls Works?

plasma ball

In most colleges, students are being taught that there are three states of matter. Solid, liquid and gas. There’s, however, a fourth matter, and the matter is called Plasma. Plasma is essentially an ionized gas, a gas into which sufficient energy is provided to free electrons from atoms or molecules and to permit both ions and electrons to coexist.

The Plasma Balls

This is where you can see beautiful plasma streams inside of a glass ball. How does it work exactly? A Plasma Balls is simply a close sphere filled up with a mixture of inert non reactive gases that emit bright streams of plasma when exited with an electrical current.

When we touch the ball, the plasma seems to concentrate on our finger. It is since the frequency with the discharged plasma changes so a percentage of it collates into an individual beam of bright plasma and concentrates on the area where we’re touching.

Do not be concerned, the plasma or electrical current won’t go with the glass so it’s quite safe for kids to touch it though it wouldn’t be advised to let an extremely young kid handle the Plasma Balls by himself.

Now that you understand how it works, you can exhibit your knowledge to your friends or co-workers when they see your Plasma Balls once you have purchased it.

Do not forget to also share along that the Plasma is actually a fourth matter if they are only conscious of three. If they do not believe you, kindly ask them what the sun is made up of. The sun is actually the biggest chunk of plasma we all can see. The sun is, like your Plasma Balls, an excellent big ball of plasma.

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Coolest Gadgets

October 5, 2010 Written by Gadget Gurus 1 Comment

Coolest Gadgets of 2010

cool gadgets

There are several coolest gadgets out there. There’s cool promotional items and funky innovations. But gadgets are the epitome of cool. So cool that numerous would sell their own initiative mothers to get what they’ve been waiting for. Almost everyday a brand new gadget comes along, and the one you’ve is then type of old already, even when you purchased it a couple of weeks ago. However, truly cool gadgets, those that you’d really die for (like, say, the iPhone) are rarer. 2010 might be a great year for technology. Once the crisis is -we hope- somewhat over, tech companies will strive to get new customers, and can compete like never before with cutting edge design and technology. So get ready: here’s the top 5 list of coolest gadgets for 2010:

1. XBox: Ever heard of Project Natal? When you spend over half an hour on the Web a day, you probably have. Otherwise, please first take a look at this YouTube video. Impressed? Well, after Nintendo’s Wii, Microsoft had to do something about its own console. And since the Wii was a really big hit, this one has to be bigger. Project Natal will definitely score some big points for that Redmond company.

2. Ford’s MyKey: If you give your car to your kids frequently, you may find that it sometimes gets hard to sleep well after they’re out, as you’re worried about what could happen to them. That’s why next year Ford’s releasing MyKey, which uses a chip in the car’s ignition key in order that the driver cannot exceed 80 mph. It may also be programmed to limit the car’s audio levels also to sound loud alerts if the driver’s not wearing a seatbelt.

3. Dual Touch Screen Laptop: We’ve already witnessed top-notch laptops with touch screens. But what about dual touch screens? Apparently, the Italian firm V12 Designs will launch its new edition of Canova, a dual LCD laptop. This time, both might be touch screens.

4. 4G Phones. The actual download speed of most 3G phones isn’t more than 384 Kbps, and sometimes a lot less. That’s because it might have a 3 Mbps announced download speed, but the genuine one is a lot less. The 4G phones promise data transfers of 100 Mbps, and could reach as much as 1 gigabit per second when static. That may mean downloading a full length DVD movie in a few minute.

5.  Hydrogen Rulz! Hydrogen powered phones might be the next big thing. French researchers will probably announce by next year that a hydrogen fuel might be used as backup power source for mobile communications, letting users have some independence from electricity supplies to charge up their phones.

Technology tends to surprise us, so probably next year we’ll see a gadget we haven’t ever heard about. But these certainly make any tech-savvy person a lot intrigued and anxious about what next year will bring. Don’t you are feeling the same?

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Weather Gadget

September 28, 2010 Written by Gadget Gurus 0 Comment

Weather Gadgets – Enjoyable And Helpful

weather widget

Being a society, we’re consumed using the weather. Our personal, business, and economic well being can often depend upon wind and weather conditions. Travel, shopping, and social decisions are sometimes dependent on the weather, and it is a well known fact that most conversations begin and end with comments about wind and weather.

What’s much more interesting about weather gadgets is not only their impact on our daily lives, but that forecasting weather gadgets became one of today’s hottest hobbies, no pun intended! Wind and weather gadgets and related instruments are now a large part of attractive home decor. Items for example portable weather stations, wind gauges, specialty thermometers, and wind and weather home forecasters serve practical and decorative purposes to the well designed home.

Let’s take a look at some of today’s latest weather gadgets, with a description of what they do. Each of they are applicable for home use and add a fun, practical element to your own home decor.

Weather Stations: These desktop weather centers are designed for those who have the ailment most interested in optimal conditions of their living area or garden. Weather stations typically display temperature and humidity levels for multiple locations, and 12-24 hour advanced forecasts. Usually, a desktop weather station shows forecasts, at a look, for rainy, sunny, snowy, cloudy, and partly cloudy.

Wireless Rain Gauges: Designed for the gardener or hobbyist, wireless rain gauges normally contain a 100′ tracking range and display rainfall history tracking data. Most wireless rain gauges also track current temperature and temperature trends with a glance. Generally, these handy units can be placed on a desktop or wall mounted.

Wind Resistant and Lighted Umbrellas: Even umbrellas have gone high tech. If you’ve ever had your umbrella turned inside out attributable to high winds, you should know that wind resistant umbrellas are designed and avoid that unpleasant problem. Further, lighted umbrellas are an original rain protection device where the shaft is made of clear acrylic which lights up in dark conditions and doesn’t require bulb replacement.

Hygrometers: Hygrometers are designed to measure and display every environmental factor imaginable. Recently, hygrometers have trended toward hand held models, suitable for outdoors enthusiasts. These units display current conditions in digital format, and trends both past and upcoming.

“Family Friendly” Weather Forecasters: The latest fun weather gadgets are designed for youngsters. Animated weather forecasters show all of the relevant wind and weather factors, including temperature, humidity, precipitation, and upcoming trends. The unique and fun aspect of an animated weather forecaster is really a in-built “weather boy” who wears an outfit appropriate for the day’s weather. Geared toward children, animated weather forecasters help guide children to decorate appropriately for upcoming weather.

Learning and understanding weather is no longer the cut and dried forecast in the area paper or the news channel. These fun and practical weather gadgets are part of a growing hobby appropriate for all ages.

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