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I could almost use Peter Kafka’s lede at AllThingsD on this item, as I don’t watch The Simpsons on a regular basis, either. (Actually, I use Hulu to catch up with episodes I’ve missed, as I suspect more and more people are doing.)

In any event, the iconic animated show finally took on the modern cult of Mac in its Sunday episode, although the writers obviously feared Apple’s legal team. In the show, “Apple” is renamed “Mapple,” led by the iconic “Steve Mobs”. iPhones are named “MyPhones,” and — well, just watch the clip that Kafka helpfully provided.

Original post by Mark Hachman

Note to Apple: people in the UK don’t take too kindly to false advertising. Yet another one of the company’s iPhone ads has come under fire for making inflated claims. Focused on the phone’s 3G speed boosts, the commercial features the handset flying through the Web at a breakneck pace.

The Advertising Standards Authority fielded 17 complaints about the ads–not exactly a deluge of concern (though perhaps some users attempted to e-mail them from a first generation handset), but enough to get the commercial banned in the country.

The Guardian points to the above video, created by Robert Reed, with a real world iPhone next to the one in the commercial. False advertising? We’ll let you know as soon as YouTube finishes loading on our phone…

Original post by Brian Heater

California-based EMG Technology sued Apple on Monday, claiming the iPhone infringes on a patent the company holds for navigating the Web on cell phones.

EMG founder Elliot A. Gottfurcht last month was awarded a patent for an “apparatus and method of manipulating a region on a wireless device screen for viewing, zooming, and scrolling Internet content.” On Nov. 21, he assigned the rights of that patent to EMG.

Apple actively and knowingly infringed on the EMG patent when producing its popular iPhone, according to the EMG filing. EMG wants damages and any profit Apple has earned from the sale of iPhones.

It remains to be seen if EMG will go after the manufacturers of similar, Web-enabled cell phones. EMG lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Original post by Chloe Albanesius

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It’s far from the first Minority Report-like interface to make the rounds, but that doesn′t seem to have prevented the massive setup pictured above from drawing a crowd at CeBIT, which one attendee thankfully captured on video. As you can see for yourself after the break, the rig lets you do all the usual moving, flipping and resizing, without the need for pesky gloves or silly headgear. Needless to say, there’s no indication as to where this particular bit of technology is headed next, but it seems safe to assume that it’ll become a fixture of trade shows for years to come.

Continue reading Minority Report-like interface gets demoed at CeBIT

 

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

We already knew the GX600 would be showing itself at CeBIT this year, but apparently, quite a few siblings made the trek to Germany as well — including the aforementioned unit’s 14.1-inch sister, the GX400. Moving on, we′ve got the 15.4-inch GX620 and 17-inch GX720, and while the former looks to arrive in a wood, leather or carbon fiber finish, the latter supposedly arrives with a black lacquer coat and a built-in subwoofer (among other goodies). The GT-730 gaming lappie was also mentioned, but unfortunately, all we know is that it gets its graphics prowess from some form of ATI Mobility Radeon. The AMD-powered EX610 (15.4-inches) also turned heads with its integrated Blu-ray player and HDMI output, while the 17-inch EX700 sported the same along with a GeForce 8400M GPU. Hit up the links below for a couple more snapshots, won’tcha?

Read - MSI laptops at CeBIT
Read - More MSI laptops at CeBIT

 

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Networking

CeBIT and Powerline seem to have a thing for one another, and sure enough, this year we’re seeing yet another firm storm onto the scene in an attempt to advance the flagging technology. London-based En-Twyn set up shop in Germany to showcase its En-Compass, which doesn’t require any special wall cutouts and differs from most other Powerline systems by packing its electronics on the backside. In other words, you won’t have any unsightly adapters protruding from the front. Beyond that, everything else works as expected — Ethernet signals travel over your existing home wiring setup — but unfortunately, the product is still stuck in prototype stage at the moment.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Very few names are capable of eliciting the same manner of geeky nostalgia as Erector. The mere mention of the company’s name brings a deluge of memories of flanges and bolts and motors. For many Americans it’s on a par with the kind of nostalgia invoked by Legos. It’s fitting then that the company pushes forth into the 21st century with Spykee, the Wifi and Bluetooth-enabled iPod-and-PC-compatible “spy robot.”

According to Erector, Spykee is, “the first Wifi robot that moves, sees, hears, speaks, takes pictures, [and] creates video.” The robot can be controlled from your PC via Wi-Fi. If Spykee detects movement while you′re out of the house, he′ll sound an alarm (perhaps not the most useful function when you′re miles away) or send a picture via e-mail. As evidenced in the picture, the robot is also an iPod-compatible MP3 player. Users can also make phone calls with the robot using VOIP.

And of course, this being an Erector product, the Spykee come with more than 200 parts and can be built into three different robots. The Spykee is due out later in the year.

Also worth mentioning is the above R2D2 Webcam. The device, which retails for $300 (like the Spykee) is a slightly more affordable alternative to the company′s R2D2 project, should these be the droids you’re looking for.

Original post by Brian Heater

You can be green and enjoy your tunes too. While I was searching for eco-friendly entertainment, I came across something called the Eco-Media Player from Trevor Baylis Brands PLC. This player lets you enjoy music, movie clips and more all without the need of external power or batteries. It includes a built-in hand crank that allows you to charge it by winding it up. According to the Eco-Media Player’s Web site, one minute of winding gives you up to 40 minutes of playtime. And apparently, this is not only a media player–it also charges your phone. You simply connect the phone to the eco media player with the provided connector, and wind to charge.

The Eco-Media Player can be yours for $350 directly from the website. It also comes with a USB cable so you have the choice of connecting it to your computer to charge it when you need a break from winding it up. But you might want to work out those arm muscles, folks, so you can “wind” to the music. (Take a look at the Baylis Web site for more green gadgets!)

Post by Iman Edwards

Original post by Carol Mangis

The PURE CPU Cooler utilizes a pre-plumbed, factory sealed, closed loop radiator and pump module designed to effectively and efficiently dissipate heat from the CPU. Up until now CoolIT’s CPU coolers have harnessed the power of both liquid cooling and thermoelectrics. While PURETM doesn’t utilize peltiers, this close looped system has been engineered […]

Original post by colbert low

Much like CoolIT’s award-winning Freezone, the Elite harnesses the power of both liquid cooling and thermoelectrics to drive CPU temperatures down to unprecedented levels. The Freezone Elite builds off of the Freezone by offering a 120mm fan, increased heat dissipation of up to 250W, and a sleek new black faceplate. The […]

Original post by colbert low

 
If you are thinking of doing something different this upcoming Valentine, why not get the woman you love a miiSTOR glittering platinum and diamond USB drive ? Its only $29,000, which would be peanuts for rich people like Bill Gates. I am sure your woman would like to wear this bling bling to the next […]

Original post by colbert low

Yeah, I know. This is old news…
Phew, I just love technology. Sooner or later there will be 1GB SSDs around. That is really gonna boost the startup times of gadgets and even my slow “Windows VISTA” laptop.
Transcend has announced its 32GB 2.5-inch SATA Solid State Disk (SSD). This drive has a tough metal outer case, […]

Original post by colbert low

Kingston Technology is proud to announce the new Kingston 19-in-1 Media Reader - a versatile, hi-speed flash memory card reader. It looks similar to my cheap Made In China Multifunction Card Reader but it has added MicroSD, MMCmicro slots which lets it work with 19 Different Formats.
With four built-in slots to handle the various card […]

Original post by colbert low

The G-DRIVE mini Triple 500GB is the world’s first portable hard drive. Wow, now that’s a lot of storage. It debuted at Macworld last week, together with the G-RAID mini (1TB). The cool think about this drive is that the G-DRIVE mini Triple 500 is bus-powered and doesn’t require an AC adaptor. Its got FireWire […]

Original post by colbert low

Going on a trip ? Are you practicing long distance Love. The Boynq Alibi Speaker and Webcam fashionable multifunctional computer speaker and web cam connects you to the new era of visual internet communication. The Alibi’s speaker system features the next generation of Audio Lens Technology surround sound. Speak to your friends and family […]

Original post by colbert low