Gadgets

If you happen to be inventing an amazing new mouse that also plays MP3s, spell-checks your text and hunts down monsters in "Everquest," you might want to know about Digital Innovations' D.O.C. (Design, Originality and Creativity) Awards. The awards, kicking off this year, offer inventors of consumer electronics accessories and peripherals the chance to take their products to the worldwide market.

The $25,000 worth of prizes include cash, the opportunity to nab an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Digital Innovations and an all-expenses paid trip to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Winners will … Read more

You may not be able to use it to dial up Captain Kirk, but the Star Trek Communicator Phone still takes you closer to the Enterprise than the average handset.

Designed to resemble the Starfleet communicators used on the popular '60s TV series, the special-edition phone from Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products will come equipped with a custom "Star Trek" faceplate and other themed features unique to the "Star Trek" franchise. The phone will, for example, offer Trekkies the ability to play a multiplayer, online "Star Trek" game, stream real-time Trek video and surf … Read more

Imagine a video instant messaging session where the guy on the other side sees your face starting to melt or your hair catch fire.

That's what the minds over at Creative Technology have brewed up with their latest WebCam Live! Effects, which ships this week at an estimated street price of $79.

The camera has a tracking feature that keeps the user's face in view and even tracks multiple users. The device also ships with a 4-way flexible base and a lapel microphone.

But the included software is what makes the camera palatable. Two CDs contain Creative WebCam … Read more

Going to the 2005 East Asian Games in October? You can now bring along your Palm Treo 650 smartphone.

That's because Palm announced this week that it has tested and certified its multi-function handheld with CTM, one of the largest telecom service providers in the host city of Macau. CTM runs a GSM/GPRS network there.

Ticket sales for the 2005 East Asian Games went on sale today. Some 15,817 seats are available in the Opening Ceremony, and 6,808 seats in the Closing Ceremony.

Athletes participate in several events like swimming, basketball, bowling, boxing, football, gymnastics, handball, … Read more

Dinosaurs may be extinct, but robotics maker WowWee is bringing them out of the Cretaceous Period and into the computer era.

The Roboraptor is a fierce but cuddly interactive toy robot dinosaur that simulates a real raptor's body movements. His head and swishing tail are guided by touch and sonic sensors that detect sound and direction; infrared vision sensors help the 32-inch bipedal beast avoid obstacles.

Roboraptor's behavior changes according to his moods, which swing between hunter, cautious, playful--and every now and then, introspective. Go near the little guy's face when he's hunting and he'll … Read more

Logitech announced a new webcam and software designed to tap into the increase of webcam usage using instant messaging and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP).

The PC gadget maker's new QuickCam Fusion is designed for that casual conversation between friends or as a Web conference business tool, the company said. Priced at $99.99 in the U.S and available this month in both the U.S. and Europe, the webcam features a wider lens with 78 degrees of visibility and requires Windows 2000 or XP to operate.

Worldwide sales of PC cameras have grown from 2.9 million … Read more

For a long time, scuttlebutt has had it that TiVo was about to get into the digital downloading of content via the Internet.

Well, according to the Associated Press, the time may finally have come. The AP reported on Friday that the digital video recorder maker has struck a deal with the Independent Film Channel for a trial program that would give users access to several of the network's shows for downloading.

TiVo spokesman Elliot Sloane told the AP that beta testers would begin getting the IFC shows next week.

Further feeding the frenzy, leading tech gadgets blog Engadget … Read more

For some time, digital video recorder maker TiVo has been struggling to meet financial expectations despite having one of the most passionate user bases in business. Good news for the company has been hard to come by, but one piece had been that satellite TV behemoth DirecTV provided its customers with TiVo's DVRs and service.

But now word comes that DirecTV is abandoning TiVo by year's end. And that can only mean more tough times for the DVR maker. Indeed, its shares plummeted 9 percent after the news hit Thursday.

To be sure, TiVo has had a devil … Read more

PC gadget maker Logitech took the wraps off a box of new goodies for PC game enthusiasts, including a programmable keyboard with an LCD display and two mice with laser tracking technology.

All three products are designed to tap into a video games industry (hardware, software and accessories) that The NPD Group estimates just reached $4.1 billion for the first half of this year--June to July. That's an increase of 21 percent over the $3.4 billion the analyst firm found in the first half of 2004.

Logitech's new G15 keyboard ($79.99) features a built-in LCD … Read more