Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

There’s no denying that HTC’s Advantage X7510 fills a narrowing niche — after all, how many of these things have you seen out and about in the subway / underground? Still, there’s just something very enticing about a 5-inch VGA display, built-in GPS, HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth and a full-blown QWERTY keyboard, is there not? For you folks who plunked down quite a few bills in order to bring this home, how has your experience been? For you folks in America who have just recently decided to bite the bullet and jump in, was it worth it? How would you tweak this do-it-all conglomerate (besides making it way more affordable)? Here’s your shot to get it out, don’t let it pass you by!

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

It looks like Hop-On isn’t resting on its laurels after letting is $10 “anti-iPhone” loose last month, with the budget-minded company now also set to release no less than six new handsets in its 1800 series, all of which will come in under $125. At the top end of that lot is the HOP1801 smartphone, which the company says will be the lowest cost smartphone on the market, although it unfortunately doesn’t seem to be ready to provide any more details than that just yet. That’ll be joined by the HOP1803 “Ultra Low Price” GSM tri-band phone, the HOP1805 model for emerging markets, and the HOP1810 GSM dual-band cameraphone, all of which are equally light on specifics at the moment. Boasting a few more details are the HOP1808 cameraphone, which will boast support for dual SIM cards and optional Bluetooth, and the HOP1809 3G cameraphone, which will apparently come with Bluetooth as standard and boast Java support. No indication of a release date for any of ‘em just yet though, nor is there any word as to exactly how each will fall in that $10 to $125 bracket.

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Storage

Here it is copyright bandits, the single biggest reason (besides silicone) to make a Hollywood studio notice you: the MZK-NAS02SG1T network attached storage device from Planex. The main selling point behind the the ¥54,799 (about $524) 1TB Gigabit Ethernet block is the claim to “universal access” for all your devices. That little trick comes courtesy of its DigiJuke browser for searching and tagging the BitTorrent and YouTube content you want downloaded in the appropriate PSP and iPod (MPEG-4), Wii (FLV), or TV (MPEG-2) format for in-home or on-the-go viewing. The NAS also streams audio and video to your iTunes laptops or desktops, DLNA TV, Xbox 360, or other compliant device in the home. A front-facing USB 2.0 jack offers one-touch dubbing of USB sticks while a second around back offers ready storage expansion. It ships with a pair of 3.5-inch 500GB drive which you can swap out for higher capacity spinners at a later date. That is if the studios don’t shut you down first.

[Via Impress]

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Peripherals

At first glance, this I-T Click Click mini-mouse from Suvil looked to be the solution to all the world’s ills. Not so much. In fact, this thing is awkward enough to hold and cheaply enough built that it’d probably be hard pressed to solve world hunger. The premise is simple enough: you rotate the mouse slightly for ergonomics, left click with the “fingernail” button and use the button at your thumb for right click. It all falls apart with use, however, with the scroll wheel gumming things up, and the fact that the “right click” is in use by your leftmost digit not helping anything. Left-handed users don’t stand a chance. The I-T Click Click is currently available in Germany and Spain for about €12, and Suvil is looking for a global distributer.

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It’s been a while since we had an update from the exciting frontier of microbial fuel cell technology, but researchers at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute report a recent breakthrough in understanding exactly why bacteria seem to enjoy donating their electrons for the potential betterment of gadgetkind. The ASU team developed an equation that describes the relationship between the rate of bacterial metabolism and the electrical potential of the fuel cell, enabling a much more accurate model of how an MFC actually works. The researchers are working with this information to optimize fuel cell performance and power output, which to date has been disappointingly inefficient. Before long, we could totally be taking it for granted that our robotic underlings are powered by beer and poo.

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Original post by Barb Dybwad