The Gadgets Page

The iPhone works seamlessly with the Mercedes Benz stock iPod adapter, as well as with the integrated Bluetooth MHI (Multi-Handset Interface) transceiver. In fact, the iPhone actually works better than the Motorola devices that the system was originally designed for, because if you have both the Bluetooth interface and the integrated iPod connector, you can charge your iPhone while it’s in your car without a cigarette lighter adapter. With the Motorola phones, the Bluetooth MHI adapter replaces the wired MHI cradle and prevents you from charging your phone when you have it installed.

Best of all, both the Bluetooth transceiver and the iPod integration can be retrofitted in any Mercedes Benz made after 2004 by the dealer, so if you’ve got a Mercedes and an iPhone, you’re only about $1000 away from combining the two.

The following features have been verified to work with the 2005 model year and later iPod adapter and Bluetooth interface:

• All iPod features, including in-dash song display and steering wheel button control
• Handsfree (headset profile) works through the built-in mike and speakers
• Answer/Hangup steering wheel and COMMAND buttons
• Address book upload for name selection in the navigation or stereo display
• In-dash address book name display and dial

All the features work simultaneously and the iPod will stop playing to make or answer calls. When you connect the iPhone to the iPod adapter, the iPhone will display a dialog asking if you want to enable airplane mode (i.e., shut off wifi, EDGE radio, and bluetooth) to prevent interference. It’s safe to answer “no” or just ignore it if you forget. If you answer yes, the cell phone features will be disabled.

This bracelet looking bangle could be the watch of my dreams.

Unfortunately, Seiko has nothing on their website about it. I only have a simple press release from Seiko to find out anything:

• Press Release|BASELWORLD 2007 SEIKO WATCH CORPORATION

According to the press release:

If the wearer is at work, it can be set to its ‘efficiency’ mode; the display is informative and easy to read. If, however, the watch is set to its ‘mystery’ mode, the panel expresses the time in a more imaginative, evocative style. Just pick the style to reflect your mood!

That’s all well and good as long as I can pick a style that shows the time, date AND day all at once. If not, then it’s just a bracelet. Additionally, if there is no illumination to see the time at night, then it’s just a pretty piece of jewelry. Sadly, it looks like Seiko is ignoring my need to see its watch in the dark:

The display is readable under very low light conditions, so no backlighting is required.

Very low light conditions and total darkness are two very different things. I want a watch that can get me out of the World Trade Center when the lights go out like the IndiGlo watch did.

Sorry, Seiko. You’re really close, but it looks like you’ll create a watch that’s just a piece of jewelry. I need more.

Via: Popgadget Personal Technology for Women: Seiko Electronic Ink Watch

Thank you, Apple, for finally replacing the Newton. You did it with such style!

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I have to say that Apple puts on a good show. The countdown until the moment they opened the store with the seconds counting down on the huge iPhones in the display windows was a beautiful touch to the experience. Listening to the Apple employees whooping and hollering from behind the covered glass made me feel so excited just to see everything there.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t waited in line all night, so I just watched the first 50 walk in. Since I didn’t plan on buying an iPhone, there really wasn’t a point for me to wait in line for twelve hours just to step into the door. Once I saw that they had a table of iPhones available for customers to play with, I knew that I would come back that evening.

After a nice dinner and a movie with friends, we returned to the Apple Store. It was still filled with excitement, but anyone was allowed in. I asked the salesgirl at the counter if they had any left and she said she did. She was ready to ring me up one and suddenly I wanted one. Luckily Mike and Jason were able to talk me down and once I escaped the reality distortion field, I realized that it was for the best.

Playing with the iPhone was fun. I think I’ll go back to the store tomorrow and play with it some more. When I saw that the videos on this website loaded and played on the iPhone like a dream, I nearly cried. My videos always seem to be subpar on a computer, but playing on the iPhone, they looked prettier than I ever imagined.

Please, someone make the iPhone work as a USB modem so that I can justify buying one for myself. It’s really the only thing that’s holding me back now.

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Even though there was no one waiting at the Apple Store last night, there is a huge crowd there now. With over 130 people in line, it looks like they might run out of iPhones for the eager masses (depending on which rumors you believe). Did Steve Jobs send enough iPhones to Salt Lake City, Utah? I guess we’ll find out in a couple of hours.

This is Johnny. He says he has been in line since 3pm yesterday. He must have wandered off when we took our photo of the Apple Store last night because he was nowhere to be seen, but based on his sunburn alone, he has his Geek Cred intact.

It’s incredibly hot here in Salt Lake City. Many of the line sitters are equipped with umbrellas, hats and even canopy tents to protect themselves from the sun. Even then, it looks like the drug stores are going to sell out of Solarcaine in honor of the iPhone World Premiere. Apple employees have brought shaved ice to the line sitters to keep them as cool as possible in the nearly 100 degree weather.

The windows of the Apple Store are covered with black curtains while the transformation takes place. The atmosphere outside of the store is jovial and light. The children playing in the fountain make the area sound more crazy than it actually is.

Most of the people walking past the store are saying, “What are all these people waiting for?” There’s a big line here waiting for the iPhone, but as Mike said, “I’ve seen lines bigger than this for Toby Keith tickets.”

I gave up long ago trying to make my Treo do all the things that Palm told me it could do. Like that playing videos with Kinoma Player thing? Yeah, good luck finding a video encoded correctly to play on Kinoma. What about playing music on it with RealPlayer? Yeah, I guess you can do that, but good luck playing just the songs from one album or by one artist. You can make your Treo make noise, but the user interface is so difficult it makes the software useless.

There is one thing that the Treo does better than the iPhone. You can connect it to your laptop and get online with it. I’ve used both of these software products and they both work extremely well.

• PDANet – Connect your Treo to a PC computer to get online
• USB Modem – Connect your Treo to a Mac computer to get online

The thing is, getting my laptop online is pretty important. When we were covering CES, we stayed at a hotel with no Internet access at all. We used our Treos to get online that entire week. When we stayed in Anaheim, the hotel was supposed to have free high speed wireless access, but it never once worked. We wouldn’t have been able to work at all if it hadn’t been for the Treos. Even worse, when we were at SXSW, there was wireless, but it was so bogged down by all the conference attendees that it was nearly useless. It was actually faster for me to get online with the Treo than to use the wireless at SXSW.

Because the iPhone currently can’t be used as a USB modem, it is useless for me. Sure, the video and audio features are cool. Sure, the user interface makes me drool with envy. But all that can’t hold a candle to letting me work when I’m out in the boonies. Staying connected means more than just accessing the Internet from my phone. I need a phone that can get my laptop online as well.

I put the iPhone clownfish wallpaper on my Treo, but it doesn’t make my phone play videos or music any better than it did before. Fortunately, what it does do, it does well.

We took a trip to the Apple Store in SLC, Utah today and there were no iPhone sitters camping out. Unlike the New York stores, that already have people waiting for their iPhones, the Apple Store in Utah is free from campers.

That doesn’t mean the store was empty. As always, it was full of people learning how to use their new Macs or others trying to decide if it’s worth the jump. There are three boys junior-high age that are ALWAYS in the store, playing with PhotoBooth or choosing hip hop songs to play on the iPods. They almost feel like part of the store because they are always there when I visit.

After much thought, I spent my iPhone money on a MacBook. I’m sticking with my Treo for now. Sadly, it’s better than the iPhone because I can get my laptop online with it. Because Mike and I travel to so many places with sketchy Internet connectivity, I can’t sacrifice my handy USB modem. In fact, I’m almost tempted to just upgrade to the Treo 750p because it can get me online using EVDO, which is much faster than Sprint’s normal network and screaming fast compared to AT&T’s EDGE network.

No one can tell me whether the iPhone works with my Nike+, so I suspect that it doesn’t and it isn’t even a concern for Apple. I love my Nike+ so much that I would have to keep the Nano, so if I have to have a phone and a Nano, I might as well stick with the Treo.

Everyone is so excited about the iPhone. Hell, I’m excited about the iPhone, but in the end, it just doesn’t do the two most important things I need it to do. I’m going to have to pass on the first generation and hope that the second generation has what I need.

Konami and their DDR series has kind of tapered off in popularity, but it looks like the people at the University of Udine are still working on ways to make exercise and video games work together.

• HCI Lab – University of Udine – Projects

You can see how the game works here:

It looks like a simplistic version of breakout, which typically isn’t a very exciting game. What I would like to see is DDR with a heart rate monitor. The dance steps increase or decrease depending on customizable heart rates. Why hasn’t Konami done this?

Via: Video game follows your movements, adapts to your heart rate – Engadget

Here is a review of the Oral-B Triumph 9400 from someone who thinks about toothbrushes even more than I do.

• Review: Oral-B Triumph 9400 Power Toothbrush and Research :: Gizmos for Geeks

It has been time for us to upgrade our electric toothbrush. Currently, we have a Sonicare, but the poor thing is so old that it barely runs. Fortunately, there is someone who cares MUCH more about electric toothbrushes than I do to do all the research!

I had been keeping my SD cards in a case that took up three times the space it should have. Now, I have the cutest and tiniest little SD Card Cozy you ever saw.

The drawstring keeps them secure so they won’t escape and hide in the small crevices of my purse.

Next time you need something, try creating it yourself. You’ll probably make something infinitely better than anything you could buy at a store because it will be something made just for you.