Gadgets

Couch potatoes of the future may just be watching their own potato-shaped television. That's because a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer by the name of Hannspree is designing flat-panel TVs with more personality.

The company is replacing those everyday flat black television cases with bright colors, unique shapes and even materials that are closely related to the viewer's style. For example, the company's soccer-themed model called "Dribbling" is made of black and white leather just like a real soccer ball. Hannspree has licensing deals with Disney, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball.

Other television designs … Read more

Can you and I be friends...again?

That's what Teddy Ruxpin wants to know now that he's being reincarnated with digital cartridges to replace his dated analog cassettes.

Some may recall the 1980s animated storytelling toy and TV character with warm childhood memories. I, for one, was a bit creeped out by its moving eyes and mouth and Saccharine-sweet voice. There were also those who enjoyed rigging the toy so it would play AC/DC cassettes instead of telling Teddy Ruxpin adventures. (How long is it going to take some hacker to do that with the now-digital technology?)… Read more

The LED Binary Watch from Time Technology: Could there be a more perfect IT guy accessory?

When it comes to the math crowd, watches with simple hands are so 2004. This gadget displays the time using the numbers of the binary sequence (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and so on). The values of the lighted LEDs are added to determine the time; add the top LEDs to get the hour and the bottom ones for minutes.

This might sound like a lot of work to find out the time, but one blogger who favorably reviewed the product said telling time … Read more

Griffin Technology's new RocketFM has launched, but it's still unclear whether the USB FM transmitter will take off.

The wireless RocketFM, which sells for about $40 on Griffin's Web site, allows you to broadcast Mac or PC audio applications--such as iTunes or GarageBand--through your home, car, hotel or any FM stereo system. It's the sequel to Griffin's iTrip FM transmitter, made specifically for the iPod.

The RocketFM just shipped to consumers late last month, so most of the online feedback is preliminary oohing and ahhing about the "cool" design, as one reader … Read more

Fujitsu Siemens Computers is recalling potentially flammable batteries from 250,000 laptops, the company announced on Wednesday.

The rechargable lithium ion batteries, found in the company's Amilo notebooks, can overheat and catch fire, according to the company's Web site.

On its site, Fujitsu Siemens recommends that customers stop using the batteries immediately and operate their notebook on AC power only. The company said it will replace the batteries for free.

To date, the company has received four reports of batteries overheating out of a possible 250,000 units, according to the Fujitsu Siemens site. The company did not … Read more

TiVo's plan to offer movie downloads, likely in concert with Netflix, apparently is on track.

According to a posting Wednesday on PVRBlog, photos of a TiVo demonstration of movie downloading and uploading video were published on the Web.

"The Tivo community recently gathered in Las Vegas for a huge meetup that included previews of TiVo beta products," the blog said. "Someone that was there took a bunch of shots of a demo."

A note accompanying the photos said: "Looks like Netflix downloads, or some other kind of movie downloads, is almost ready."

Stay … Read more

"Look Dave, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over."--Hal 9000 in "2001: A Space Odyssey"

Having a meaningful chat with a computer may seem like science fiction, but engineers at consumer electronics manufacturer Philips have created a device that is one part robot, one part art piece and overall a very good conversationalist.

The smart companion, who goes by the name of Dimi, is apparently able to speak and understand voice commands as well as recognize … Read more

IBM is getting wild about its use of radio frequency identification, or RFID technology. So much so that Big Blue launched its first business printer that makes traditional bar codes as well as RFID tags.

The Infoprint 6700 R40 is a thermal printer that turns out stickers as fast as 10 inches per second and can print either 203 dots per inch or 300 dots per inch. The smallish black rectangular box runs on an IBM Power microprocessor and includes a reader that verifies each RFID tag before any information is encoded on the chip or printed on the label. … Read more

Has your iPod become a sort of appendage, worthy of outerwear and the latest fashion trends? Or are you one of those who believe the music player's sleek design makes a statement of its own and shouldn't be cloaked?

Rest assured, iPod case designers have you both in mind.

For the former, HotROMZ is selling a line of "Tactile" cases that transform your iPod into a warm, fuzzy and stylish friend. Your iPod becomes the low-maintenance version of the carry-around poodle. The cases go for $16.95 to $24.95, depending up the style and iPod … Read more