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Gadgets 2008
We keep track of the neat-o-ist gadget debuts of the year. Bring on the tiny laptops! And more weird shoes, please.
The Best Buzz
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3G iPhone Release
Tech Buzz The new iPhone is here. The new specs: $199 for the 8 GB phone, $299 for the 16GB, 3G (much faster networking), GPS, thinner, black plastic back (also available in white), flush headphone jack, improved battery life. The new version will be available July 11th. Plus: Lots of new applications (games, blogging, news) will be available at the Apps store.
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Dell Mini Inspiron
Tech Buzz Dell has released photos of their first ever mini laptop, meant to be a low-cost alternative for developing countries. The third world is always getting all the cool gadgets! This one should also be available here in June, starting at $399 (according to speculation).
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BlackBerry Bold
Tech Buzz BlackBerry announces a shiny new device. Known more prosaically as the BlackBerry 9000, the new smartphone sports a new, bigger screen and faster connection and processing speeds. No firm sales date yet, but it should be available sometime this summer.
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3G iPhone
Tech Buzz Rumors of the next-generation iPhone started a-swirling online again yesterday. Current guesses: A slightly thicker, all-black case, 3G, GPS, and no more stupid recessed headphone jack! We'd buy it for that reason alone.
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Audiowrapz
Tech Buzz Who needs a clunky old iPhone when you can play music through your third-generation iPod Nano into one of these sleeves with built-in speakers? Reviews are mixed, but it's a safer bet than lugging around a boombox (if you just arrived from fifteen years ago, that is).
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GPS Paranoia
Tech Buzz A slew of new products connect GPS technology with your paranoid fantasies, making it easier than ever for someone to track or be tracked. We know: You're saying, "Being paranoid about GPS tracking systems is only for technophobes." But what if we told you we were watching you right now?
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Watch Cellphone
Tech Buzz The Van Der Led WM2 finally fulfills the Dick Tracy fantasies of the shrinking segment of the population who remembers who Dick Tracy is. He was the guy who had a cool watch/phone, okay? The Van Der Led model comes out next week, sports a color touchscreen and 1 GB of storage, and actually looks kinda cool.
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Nappak
Culture Buzz A portable sleeping cube geared towards workaholics who spend late nights at the office. You no longer have to feel all George-Kostanza-esque taking naps underneath your desk. It's also perfect for office slumber parties! Which we have all the time, btw.
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Retro Digital Cameras
Tech Buzz Digital cameras that look like old manual cameras. Everyone's obsessed with how slim and sleek their digital camera is, but sometimes you just want something clunky and old school.
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Solar Robot Mower
Tech Buzz A fully-automatic, basically silent mower that can pull extra energy from the sun. These just launched in the UK and go for about $4000 - which means they're worth every penny for the lazy among you. Robots are taking over our lives, get used to it.
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Tenori-On
Music Buzz A new sampler/synthesizer out of Japan that also puts on a light show. Perfect for coming up with song sketches on those long drives in the tour van between gigs and performing avant-garde dance folk live. It's sort of like the Monome, but easier for the beginner to grasp.
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Nokia Morph
Tech Buzz A stretchy, bendable cellphone concept. OMG it's the phone of the FUTURE - it bends and contorts and cleans itself. Also, it isn't likely to be available for at least another seven years. Hopefully Apple isn't working on bendy materials, too, or Nokia is screwed.
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SaladSac
Food Buzz An absorbent bag for your greens. We'd like to get two of these: One for home use, one to carry around with us in case there's a salad emergency.
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Nokia N96
Tech Buzz Nokia's latest addition to its high-end mobile line is getting a lot of attention. Just unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2008, the N96 sports GPS, an accelerometer, 16GB of storage, a 5MP camera, DVD-quality video, a 2.8-inch screen, Wi-Fi, and a handy kickstand for desktop viewing.
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CloudBook
Tech Buzz A new cheap, tiny, highly anticipated notebook computer. Despite many delays, the lil' CloudBook (9 inches long, 2 pounds, only $399 and running the Linuxed-based gOS system) is poised to give the Asus Eee PC a run for its money.
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Concorde 2.0
Science Buzz The hypersonic A2 jet could take passengers at speeds up to 3,900 miles per hour. That's Mach 5 for those keeping score at home. Other impressive features: It runs on liquid hydrogen, it looks cool, the guy in charge of the project is named Mr. Bond. Downside: It won't be ready for the next 15-25 years.
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iShoes
Tech Buzz Wacky motorized rollerskates that go up to 20mph are now on the market for a mere $600. They look oddly like they're held together with silly putty and string. But we'll bet it won't be long before we see roving gangs of nerdy white guys sporting these.
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Inflatable Mouse
Tech Buzz The Jelly Click is an extremely portable, travel-friendly computer mouse that you can blow up or deflate at whim. We want to think the Jelly Click forecasts a big trend that we feel will be big in '08: inflatable furniture! It's 1992 all over again.
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Nuvifone
Tech Buzz Garmin, a company that makes GPS devices, enters the smartphone ring with the Nuvi. The one thing this touch-screen celly holds over the iPhone is that it's not an iPhone.
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Monome
Tech Buzz Monome is a small Philadelphia-based hardware company that makes controllers for electronic music performance and new media art. These super cool MIDI controllers look like they could launch space rockets or something.
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