I have been getting more and more into the world of Graphics. In doing so I find that I have a lot of defects in doing art work with a mouse.  So I started doing some research on using a pen tablet to help where the mouse does not.  So I came upon the Original VisTablet. VisTablet is the New Standard in graphics tablets. With a 12.1" widescreen tracing surface, 29 customizable macro fields and an incredibly slim design, this highly affordable tablet is optimized for Windows Vista's advanced tablet capabilities and compatible with Apple's OSX and Windows Vista/XP/2000. With 1,024 levels of sensitivity in its pen, this tablet is ready to become part of your creative process.

Pen tablets have been around for some time. Not until recently have they become affordable to the general public. They were primarily used by professionals in the Graphic art and Photo industries. VisTablet allows you to explore the internet, draw, paint, write, highlight and do professional or home photo editing. VisTablet also opens up advanced pen features available in all the new Microsoft Office applications. Through electro- magnetic induction, information is exchanged between the pen and the tablet while your movements are translated to your computer screen. With no stand-alone power supply required, the VisTablet is a great choice for portable computers as well as desktop PC’s. VisTablet will open up the world of design to you in ways that were previously either to expensive or to limiting. VisTablet is the new standard in graphics tablets.

Meet the iSaw, the world's first USB powered chainsaw. Yes, you read that right. Lamenting that "current materials used on bodies of chainsaws are too heavy for office use" the vanguards of innovation over at www.usbchainsaw.com figured out how to get a USB 2.0 port to power sharp chains for all your office-based wood cutting needs.

This would be a great present for yourself. Let's just say it would keep your coworkers in order.

Accoring to the USB die-hards over at EverythingUSB.com the "chainsaw possibly opens a whole new category of USB weaponry tools." And warms the heart of geeky lumberjacks everywhere.


I.SAW IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER $59.95 + SHIPPING

Strengthening its line up of portable 1.8” hard drives for external storage markets, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced its 250 Gigabyte (GB) 1.8 inch hard disk drive, the Spinpoint N3U which incorporates a native USB controller on its printed circuit board. This optimized design results in a smaller foot print, less power consumption and optimized performance, which is ideal for portable external storage devices. The Spinpoint N3U stores up to 125 Gigabytes per platter for a total 250GB data storage capacity.

“The new high-capacity 1.8” 250GB drive enhances Samsung’s product offerings and is ideal for consumers who require a small form factor, high capacity data storage,“ said Choel-Hee Lee, vice president of marketing Storage System Division, Samsung Electronics. “It is easy to carry around and it is designed to withstand a free fall drop of up to 50 centimeters and be resistant to a maximum shock incident of up to 1500G.”

Samsung now ships industry leading areal density levels for all of its hard disk form factor products with up to 1.5 Terabyte for 3.5” drives, 500GB for 2.5” drives and 250GB for 1.8” drives. The Spinpoint N3U comes in 120-, 160-, 200- and 250-GB capacities, the disk rotation speed is 3600rpm, and it supports a USB 2.0 interface. The drives are equipped with an 8MB cache memory. Initial shipments to OEMs are scheduled from mid-July with a MSRP at $199.00.

Sony PlayStation 3 owners used to have the ability to watch Hulu content through their video game consoles, due to Playstation adding flash browser capabilities. This is not the case anymore due to users are now reporting that they are getting errors when trying to access Hulu content. The error message is as followed: "Unfortunately, this video is not available on your platform. We apologize for any inconvenience."

The problem occurred hopefully due to the 2.80 firmware update -- if not, however, it's possible PS3 users are being intentionally blocked if Hulu no longer wants its content available through the PS3. In the June 26th PS3 system update, there doesn't appear to be any terms of service changes related to Hulu TOS update.

Sony has apparently been silent about the entire issue, with no public statements made by the company. Hulu has not made any public statement either. So at this time we only have speculations of what might have happened.

In the meantime, their are a couple different ways to get around the issue of no Hulu. The first would be to add a media server that offers Hulu as a service. The one I currently just added was PlayOn . What is PlayOn you ask? PlayOn is software that you can purchase for $40 that allows you to watch movies in your Netflix Instant queue, Hulu videos, Youtube, some ESPN videos, CBS shows and newly added Amazon Video on Demand on your PS3. There are other video plugins that can be added as well.

Go here for more information and a 14 day free trial:

The second options is to trick Hulu. Some clever users have figured out how to workaround the issue. You're going to need a computer running Linux or Windows and some third-party software, however.

The hack involves using a proxy server to trick Hulu into thinking that your PS3 is a Windows machine running Firefox. You can find the instructions here, but honestly, it's probably not worth doing all of this for Hulu on your TV.

Resources: G4TV
CDFreaks.com
PlayOn

That's right people, the Zune HD is real, and it's coming this Fall. Here are some of the features that Microsoft has added to the new Zune HD.

Touch Screen
Get quick and instant access to your content with multi-touch navigation. With a 3.3-inch screen and vivid 16:9 OLED display (480x272 resolution), premium entertainment is at your fingertips.*

HD Radio
Tune into all your favorite stations with crystal-clear reception. With an integrated HD Radio receiver, you can access a variety of HD Radio stations at no additional cost. Plus, tag the songs you like for later purchase.

HD Video Out
Watch supported 720p HD movies, TV shows and videos in high definition on your HDTV through the Zune HD & AV Dock (sold separately). Or take them with you for premium entertainment on the go. Additional dock and HDTV are required.*

Wireless
Connect, update, and buy content wirelessly from Wi-Fi hot spots. Stream millions of songs over Wi-Fi directly to your Zune HD and turn it into a portable digital jukebox.

Web Browser
Surf the web anytime, anywhere you have a Wi-Fi connection. Enjoy your favorite websites with a full-featured web browser including tap-to-zoom technology, built-in accelerometer, and touchscreen QWERTY keyboard.

Handheld games have grown over the years to become more advanced and more complex. Let's take a look back on the gold old days of simpler handhelds of the past. Tomy was a company who made electromechanical games back in the day. I can remember playing the Turbo Turnin Dashboard when I was a kid. That is when things were so much easier and less complex. Here are a couple of Tomy toys.

Tomy Turnin' Turbo Dashboard (1983, Lights, 4 D Batteries)





Driving simulator, table-top design. Lights and mechanical parts.

Tomy Blip / Blip-o-Mat (1977, LED/Mechanical, 2 AA Batteries)



Blip... This is a mechanical Pong-type game. All of the game play is mechanical, powered by a wind-up timer mechanism. The batteries are only there to light up the single red LED light that represents the ball. (You can actually play the game with no batteries in a bright enough setting).

Tomy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pocket Games (1982, None, None, wind-up)

Wind up games, part of the Pocket Arcade series (also called Technoboy series in Japan). This was a sub-series of 4 games based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, one game for each of the turtles (they were sold seperately). Donatello's Sewer Seltzer Canon, Leonardo's Pizza Vault, Michaelangelo's Tunnel Trap and Raphael's Sewer Battle.

Tomy Digital Derby (1978, Lights/Mechanical, 2 C Batteries)

Another one of Tomy's electro-mechanical games. The battery does power the mechanism via a small motor. The lights in the game are normal, flash-light style light bulbs. (Foreign release called Black Racer, Demon Driver and Formula 1.) (Check out Drive Yourself Crazy...)

Gary Duke has written a simulator for this game that works on Palm OS PDAs, check it out here.

Tomy Attack In Space (1982, None, Wind-up)

Wind up game, part of the Pocket Arcade series (also called Technoboy series in Japan).

This weekend I got a chance to see a Nikon S60 camera while at a fashion show. I hadn't seen this camera before. The first eye catcher for me was the full on touch screen. I'm a sucker for technology with touch screens. They have a better ease of use in my view. So I did a little homework about it because I am interested in purchasing one. Here some info on the Nikon S60. Tell me what you guys think. Do you know of any other really cool touch screen cameras? Leave a comment.

10.0 Megapixels for stunning prints as large as 16 x 20 inches. Sharp resolution captures the finest details, crop creatively and produce incredible enlargements.

5x Optical Zoom-NIKKOR Glass Lens NIKKOR optics provide exceptional pictures. NIKKOR lenses are built on a proud heritage of producing precision camera optics that delivers superb color and razor-sharp results.

New, Amazing, Bright 3.5-inch High Resolution TOUCH PANEL LCD offers 160º Wide-Angle of Views enabling easy access to all the camera controls without the conventional buttons to push. The anti-reflection coating applied to the touch panel enhances viewing even in bright light.

Customizable Touch Panel Display enables easy operation with a choice of three different Home displays, and you can even write a personal message on your photos with the included stylus. Conventional buttons, with the exception of the on/off switch and the shutter release, are all accessed via the touch panel making it easier than ever to access all the camera controls.

New HD Pictmotion Slide Shows lets you create slide shows with your music for play back on the camera, your HD LCD or plasma television.

High Quality TV Movies with Sound is now just a press of a button away with your COOLPIX. Record TV-quality movies with sound; duration is limited only by the available space on your SD/SDHC card. Connect your camera to your TV and you have instant home-movies.

Available Colors: Crimson Red, Espresso Black, Arctic White, Burgundy, Champagne Pink and Platinum Bronze.

Much more options and features

This is one of the best representation of a blast from the past. You can't get more modern and retro in the same breath as this. This tape (see below) is an MP3 player that follows the 45/60/90 minutes norm, holding 10/15/20 select songs in digital format. Who doesn't love the Tape. Right?

There are a couple of things regarding this player that really stands out. Like for example, if you want to forward or rewind a song, you need to manually do it by rotating the spools with your finger or pencil. To play just slide the Play Button. Charging it depends how good are you at …you guessed it…rotating the spools! Rotating the second hole of the tape charges the kinetic battery. An LED light indicates the power status: Green-full charge; Amber- Medium Charge; Red- will die out any moment.







Go ahead and leave a comment.

Samsung’s first Android phone is finally coming and this time for real. The Samsung i7500 will be the first Samsung phone running Android 1.5. The 11.9-mm slim quad-band GSM, tri-band 7.2Mbps HSDPA (900/1700/2100MHz) candybar packs a 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 pixel AMOLED touchscreen, WiFi, GPS, 5 megapixel camera with Power LED, 1,500mAh battery, 8GB of storage (plus MicroSD expansion for up to 32GB more), and a standard 3.5mm headset jack.

There is not an official a release date for T-Mobile USA but because it will have 1700 3G band, this is a good candidate to be launched on T-MO.

The Samsung I7500 is a cutting-edge smartphone, featuring a 3.2″ AMOLED full touch screen and 7.2Mbps HSDPA and WiFi connectivity, giving users access to Google™ Mobile services and full web browsing at blazing speeds.

Features:

HSDPA 7.2Mbps / HSUPA 5.76Mbps (900 / 1700/ 2100MHz)
EDGE / GPRS (850/ 900/1800/1900)
OS
Android
Display
3.2″ HVGA(320×480) AMOLED
Camera
5 MP Camera (Auto Focus), Power LED
Video / Audio
Video: MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV
Audio: MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+, WMA, RA
Value Added
Features
Full Web Browser Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Android Market
Connectivity
Bluetooth® 2.0, USB 2.0, WiFi, MicroUSB, 3.5mm ear jack
Memory
Internal memory: 8GB
External memory: Micro SD (Up to 32GB)
Battery
1500 mAh
Size
115 x 56 x 11.9mm

* Google, Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Calendar, Google Talk are trademarks of Google Inc.

Reference: CellphoneSignal.com April 27, 2009 by T-Marco

I found an article on BPM Magazine's website about headphone tests. So I decided to showcase some of the headphones that they tested out.

Eskuche
Brand: Eskuche
Model: 33 1/3
Driver Size: 40 MM
Price: $58.00
Iphone Compatible: Yes
Website: http://www.eskucheme.com/

New to the category this year is Eskuche and they are already coming out of the gate very strong with their first model the 33 1/3. This is one of the coolest looking headphones we have seen on the market and the overall sound quality, comfort and price are yet to be matched. It also works with the iPhone which is a nice little plus, the mic can also be removed if you don’t want that kind of action. This one is a great buy in every way, one of our favorites.


WESC
Brand: WESC
Model: Alp Horn
Driver Size: 44 MM
Price: $134.00
Iphone Compatible: No
Website: www.wesc.com

This is WESC’s real solid play at the “weird Swedish guy” look and there is no doubt you will get some looks if you are rocking the Alp Horns. These headphones are incredibly comfortable, very stylish and have a nice flat even sound that will satisfy even the pickiest listeners. Along with the Eskuche 33 1/3 these are the coolest looking headphones that we tested, so if you want the whole package these are a great buy.


Skull Candy

Brand: Skull Candy
Model: TI
Driver Size: 40 MM
Price: $79.00
Iphone Compatible: No
Website: www.skullcandy.com

This is WESC’s work horse model and offers up the basics that your average music fan will appreciate. A very clean design, not too bulky and some very solid audio performance. The price is a little high for what these are but you definitely getting a clean looking pair of headphones, so if that’s worth it to you for the extra $20 or so then who are we to argue. No frills basics here, but good basics.


WESC

Brand: WESC
Model: Bag Pipe
Driver Size: 57 MM
Price: $190.00
Iphone Compatible: No
Website: www.wesc.com

WESC has come into the headphone game with guns blazing offering 7 models in some great colorways and collaborations such as DIM MAK, Ed Banger, Bloody Beatroots, etc. Their DJ headphone is par for the course and offers up what you would expect for a pro DJ unit. The bass is loud and it’s just as comfortable as all the other DJ headphones on the market with better colors and style. So if you are a DJ looking for a more stylish set up these are worth a look. If you are not a DJ, don’t be a poser and wear these, that’s just lame.

Reference: BPM Magaizine, Article: Headphone Test, Author: David Ireland

When it comes to cellphones and where they are heading in the future. I am like a little kid in the candy shop. I get so excited and I want to tell everyone how awesome they are and what they can do.
So I periodically check out one of my favorite manufactures of cellphones, HTC. HTC was founded in 1997, HTC Corporation designs, manufactures and markets innovative, feature rich smartphones and PDA's phone devices.

Since its establishment, HTC has developed strong R&D capabilities, pioneered many new designs and product innovations and launched state-of-the-art PDA Phones and smartphones for mobile operators and distributors in Europe, the US, and Asia. These machines are available as HTC devices and as products individually customized for operator and device partners.

HTC is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile device market. Now that you know all this information lets get right into the phone of choice today. The HTC Snap. The HTC Snap boasts an effortless elegance with its slim design you’ll be proud to display, no matter where your schedule has you running.

Specifications:

Processor	Qualcomm® MSM 7225™, 528 MHz
Operating System	Windows Mobile® 6.1 Standard
Memory	ROM: 256 MB RAM: 192 MB
Dimensions	116.5 X 61.5 X 12.0 mm ( 4.59 X 2.42 X 0.47 inches)
Weight	120 grams (4.23 ounces) with battery
Display	2.4-inch TFT-LCD with LED back light and QVGA resolution
Network	HSDPA/WCDMA: Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz Up to 7.2 Mbps down-link speed Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: Europe/Asia: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz (Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.)
Device Control	Trackball with Enter button
Keyboard	4-row QWERTY keyboard
GPS	Internal GPS antenna
Connectivity	Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
Camera	2.0 megapixel color camera with fixed focus
Audio supported formats	AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR, AWB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV, MIDI
Video supported formats	WMV, ASF, MP4, 3GP, 3G2, M4V, AVI
Battery	Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery Capacity: 1500 mAh Talk time: Up to 300 minutes for WCDMA Up to 510 minutes for GSM Standby time: Up to 480 hours for WCDMA Up to 380 hours for GSM (The above are subject to network and phone usage.)
Expansion Slot	microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
AC Adapter	Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz DC output: 5V and 1A

Take a Product Tour: Click Here