Widgx » Peripherals

Sony Ericsson Bluetooth Watch MBW-100

K Saleh — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 08:51:35 +0000

The MBW-100 is the must-have mobile phone accessory for people who enjoy using the latest technology to stay connected to the world around them.

It has sleek lines, classic looks, a distinguished presence and represents a first as a mainstream Bluetooth™ fashion accessory from a mobile phone supplier. Crafted from high quality stainless steel with a silver facia, the analogue watch will go on sale globally during Q4 of 2006 with a guideline retail price of approximately EUR 300.

Handle your calls with stylish discretion

Designed in partnership with watch industry leader Fossil, the MBW-100 allows a whole new way of looking at your mobile phone and you start by leaving your phone in your pocket. A stylish OLED display beneath the watch face displays who is calling when a call is incoming. A simple key press on the watch can reject the call, meaning you can remain in control of your calls in the utmost discretion.

Save time by keeping in greater control

Most of us cannot do without the indispensable tools for our busy lives – our wallet, our keys, our mobile phone and the watch on our wrist. By adding control of your calls and music to your watch, as well as notification of text messages and a clever out-of-range notification when you are separated from your phone, the MBW-100 helps you become more efficient in your daily communication. It also makes listening to music simpler by allowing you to play, pause and skip to the next track in your phone’s music player. So, leaving your phone in your pocket and letting your watch become more than just a time keeper, means control is always to hand.

Press release.

Hawking HNC290G WiFI Camera

T Evans — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 23:38:56 +0000

Geared toward the paranoid or voyeuristic home and small business owner, the HNC290G WiFi camera lets you view wirelessly exactly what’s going on on your property anytime, anywhere. Well, there’s a wire for the AC adapter, but other than that, totally wireless.

The HNC290G supports 802.11b/g as well as 10/100 Ethernet, in case you want a more stable connection to the camera. Other features like UPnP, which allows auto-discovery from PCs, and URL configuration, which lets you access the configuration page from any computer on the network.

It’s also got built-in motion detection and streams video at 30FPS. A good entry-level WiFi camera at $129.99. Buy one, hide it, and have proof your wife’s cheating on you with your brother.

Bluetooth Mighty Mouse already available

T Evans — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 23:02:33 +0000

Well after what seems like years of waiting – the wireless mighty mouse is now here. That’s right, if you’re looking to cut the cord and add some sweet laser-guided precision to your first-gen Mighty Mouse, you can pick up one of these models immediately – as long as you don’t mind forking out £50! Yes that is fifty of your hard earnt pounds – we kid you not. Although this mouse will operate with either two or just one AA batteries — you know, for those times when you’re looking to shave every conceivable gram off of your travel weight. As much as we love Apple products, the Mighty Mouse has just never been all that comfortable to use; Bluetooth and laser-tracking are certainly nice additions, but until they make these things more ergonomic, we’re holding on to our Logitech gear.

Sony Launches DVDirect Recorders for PC-Free DVD Burning

T Evans — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 13:56:55 +0000

While Blu-ray and HD-DVD seem to be getting all the attention, Sony is still serving its customers interested in recording video directly to DVDs. It’s added two additions to its DVDirect DVD recorder family, the VRD-MC3 which can store both video and digital photos, and the VRD-VC30 which works with video only. The neat trick here is that both can record video directly from Sony Handycam camcorders without the need for a computer. There are some surprisingly nice-looking units—check out the MC3 in the picture above with its 2.5-inch color LCD screen.

Sony really makes it easy, too, where the foolproof process lets you connect the camcorder and push a “DVD Burn” button, and then these recorders automatically burn a DVD for you. The hardest part is cracking open that impenetrable shrinkwrap on the DVD package and inserting the disc. Too bad this only works with Sony camcorders. The price is right, too, where the MC3 will be £140, and the VC30 will be £110. Both will be available in October.

Sony unveils BWU-100A Blu-ray burner

T Evans — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 13:42:08 +0000

This thing has been around for quite a while in prototype form, but Sony has finally gotten around to joining the pack and unveiling a PC drive for their own format. The BWU-100A Blu-ray burner doesn’t have a whole lot of surprises — other than that purple faceplate which will most likely totally clash with your PC case — but the $750 pricetag is a nice move. It also manages all three lasers types, allowing it to read and write single layer 4.7GB DVD+R/+RW/RAM discs, 8.5GB DVD+R Double/Dual Layer Discs, and CDs.

With 2x burning speeds for BD-R or BD-RE media, you can fill a 25GB Blu-ray disc in 50 minutes, and we’re guessing 50GB discs should fill at a similar rate. Sony also touts the ability to move 1080i HDV camcorder footage natively to the BD-AV format for home playback, with a whole four hours fitting on one 50GB disc. The drive should be out in August, and is available for pre-order now.

Sigma’s USB/audio hub

T Evans — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 13:39:14 +0000

Japanese gadget maker Sigma have come up with a slightly different take on the lowly USB hub, adding audio capabilities to the mix. In addition to three USB 2.0 ports, the device includes jacks for headphones, speakers, and a microphone, along with a button that’ll let you switch between them on the fly. What’s more, if Google’s translation tools are to be trusted, it appears that the device effectively acts as a sound card as well, which may be good for some people, but probably not those who’ve invested in a high-end card for their PC. On the upside, the device doesn’t require any drivers, although it’ll only work with Windows.

Logitech’s “high definition” QuickCam Ultra Vision

T Evans — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 13:28:50 +0000

While the iSight built into your new Macbook (or any laptop-integrated webcam for that matter) might meet your day-to-day needs, Logitech is hoping that their new QuickCam Ultra Vision can significantly raise the production value on your next YouTube masterpiece. For $129, you get a mostly glass lens — there are still a few plastic elements in there, just less than usual — that’ll open all the way up to f/1.6, making acceptable results possible even in darkness that would turn normal cams into digital noise-filled nightmares. The press release also boasts “high definition” capability from its wide format, interpolation-free 1.3-megapixel sensor, read on for The press release skimps on the hard resolution numbers, with the product page only making mention of its capability to do “live video up to 640 x 480″ at 30fps. (That doesn’t sound very HD to us.) Other amenities include a 4-megapixel (there’s the interpolation) still camera, USB 2.0 connectivity, RightSound microphone, a heap of cheesy effects and the RightLight 2 metering system, which promises “twice the image clarity of conventional webcams.” If you still feel your cinematic needs aren’t being met, you can check out the rest of the updated QuickCam line, including the Orbit MP, Fusion, Pro 5000 and the Communicate STX, all which received minor spec bumps. These all should be available by the end of August, so you still have a little time to clean your room before exposing it to the world — or at least your Skype contacts.

iDea Wireless iPod/PSP Dock

K Saleh — Sat, 27 May 2006 15:54:13 +0000

This is a unique dock that looks like a poor man’s Sonos sans the DRM problems. This dock connects to almost any audio device, including the iPod and PSP, and transmits the audio to any other matching receiver or wireless headset around the house.

Each dock has S-Video, composite, and S-Video out and a clever little stand with some sort of pumpkin on it. It can output video from the iPod Video and Photo. The dock comes with a remote and one Hi-Fi Receiver and costs roughly £80.

Mitsubishi i (eye) car

K Saleh — Wed, 17 May 2006 14:42:22 +0000

It’s odd to see this, especially since Mitsubishi’s popularity in Japan is quite low at the moment (think of exploding engines for no apparant reason). However this is indeed a family car that I’d be proud of owning.
Get in, stick the nano in and off you go, driving and humming. A thousand songs in a thousand miles. (Yes Mistubishi you may quote us on that). The price? $15,000. Is it worth it? Well you obviously aren’t going to buy a car because it has an iPod Nano dock, but I’d say it’s a welcome feature!

16GB Flash Device That’s Just 3mm Thick

T Evans — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 21:45:47 +0000

The new U510 from PQI in Taiwan is a 3mm thick unit thatp cks a whopping 16GB of storage! Now here is a device which takes its credit card form factor seriously, measuring up at 3.3 x 2.12 x 0.1-inches, and the USB 2.0 device features a thin retractable USB jack. No word on pricing or availability, but we’re guessing it’s not going to be cheap.