Wednesday, November 26, 2008
concept phone : T3
Headphones click into place in the back of the phone, along with a flexible mini phone, which you can strap around your wrist, or keep in your pocket, if you want the 01 Phone to be in your laptop bag or close by, but not on your person. It works just as an ordinary phone, able to make and receive calls, and when done with it, you can lock it into the back of the 01 Phone.
The 01 Phone is being designed thanks to a partnership between T3 and The Alloy, who have worked tirelessly to create this new design, and are going through the stages of whipping something very special (and real) in their workshops, just for T3.
32GB of storage
Available on the iPod Touch, why can’t we have it on a phone? Store thousands of tunes and videos on your mobile, not to mention everything else…
5.0-megapixel camera
Screw 8.0-megapixel phones, we’d rather 5.0-megapixel - two of ‘em, actually. One on the front for video calling and another on the rear for pics. Nokia has managed to do it, so why can’t everyone else?
3G internet
Access the internet anywhere with speed.
32GB of storage and a huge screen makes the 01 Phone a video-watching and music-playing mothership. Not to mention the gaming abilities too.
NamFleG Concept Phone: Beauty and Luxury All In One Handset
Following in the unimpressive wake of the Vertu Void concept phone, which some referred to
as a “ celebration of empty space,” a Russian designer has developed a staggeringly beautiful handset that is a real treat for the eyes to behold.
Russia’s Marat Kudryavtsev is a young designer who has created a masterpiece of lustrous
sleek design with his new handset, the NamFleG Concept Phone. Black and gold highlights render a delicate sense of elegance enhanced by solar motifs around the navigation button.
With a touch of just enough embellishment, this beautiful concept phone has a camera on its back. The design might have been a bit better without the thick edges surrounding its screen, but be that as it may, the phone is still a vision of sparkling beauty and grace.
Forget about other features. In this case, beauty is everything.
Pricing and availability of the NamFleG Concept Phone are not known at this moment.
Roll-up Mouse Pad With Speaker + Hub
Monday, November 24, 2008
11 Sites to Make Money Selling Old Gadgets
As technology becomes a larger part of our lives, we find ourselves casting aside our old gadgets in favor of new ones. As a result, cell phones, PDAs, and GPS units end up in a junk drawer. But they don’t have to end up there. Here are 11 sites where you can trade your old - and sometimes dead - gadgets in for actual money, gift cards, and even charitable donations to your favorite causes.
With the holidays coming up, could there be a better time than now to make some money while also helping out the environment?
What’s residing in your dead gadget drawer? Are you going to be trading anything in?
BestBuyTradeIn.com - Electronics superstore Best Buy will allow you to trade in a wide range of products in exchange for gift cards you can spend with their company.
BuyMyTronics.com - BuyMyTronics will buy your gadgets from you whether they work or not. Of course, you get paid more the better their condition, but they will even take the broken ones. Can pay by PayPal or check.
Costco Trade-In and Recycle Program - In addition to taking gadgets like iPods, Costco will also accept desktops, laptops, fax machines, printers and more. Payment is in the form of Costco gift cards and can take up to four weeks to process.
EZTradein.com - EZTradein powers some of the biggest trade-in programs out there, or you can just simply go directly to the source. Payment can be made via check, PayPal or a Best Buy gift card.
Gazelle.com - Besides the smaller gadgets, Gazelle will take external hard drives, GPS devices, satellite radios, Blu-ray movies and more. If your item isn’t listed, you can contact them for a personalized quote. Payment can be made via Amazon gift card, checks, PayPal or you can even opt to have the funds donated to one of the charities they work with.
MyBoneYard.com - MyBoneYard takes desktops, laptops, flat panel monitors, MP3 players and cell phones with more items to be added soon. Payment is by Visa prepaid cards.
NextWorth.com - NextWorth takes iPods and iPhones, and pays you by check, Amazon gift card or in-store credit when you trade the device in at one of their retail partners.
RadioShack.cexchange.com - RadioShack, one of the oldest electronics dealers around, will let you trade in your old gadgets, games, consoles and more, and offers gift cards you can spend at their stores.
Sam’s Club - The wholesale club arm of the Walmart corporation will trade your electronics for gift cards for their company.
Toshiba - Toshiba will take in numerous items such as laptops, camcorders, PDAs and so on, paying you by check and sometimes throwing in an extra item like a $25 gift card to Starbucks.
VenJuvo.com - VenJuvo will take all of the usual major items like game systems, HDTVs, laptops and so on, and then you can choose to be paid by check, PayPal or donate the funds to a charity.
Lively, and Three Other Google Flops
Google was once invincible and unable to make a mistake. Well, although its share price is not what it used to be, one can argue they’re still invincible in most areas they’ve dabbled in, but the mistakes and flops are now piling up.
Google Lively, a virtual world in which users can create their own environment and avatar and communicate with each other, is about to be shut down. True, this was one of Google’s 20% projects, meaning that it was created by one of Google’s engineers in their “spare” time, but still, time and money were invested in it and it flopped badly, with hardly anyone ever using it. Competing with Second Life is obviously not something that can be done casually.
The most clear example of a Google failure, however, is Google Answers. A high profile project and a direct competitor to Yahoo Answers - which, by the way, is still operational - Google Answers was shut down back in 2006. Its model of experts answering questions (instead of just having an open model with everyone answering, like on Yahoo Answers) didn’t hold up too well, and although the service is still a valuable resource, it wasn’t meant to be.
Jaiku has not officially flopped yet. But, the fact remains that after acquiring the service back in 2007 Google has done absolutely nothing with it, while Twitter - Jaiku’s direct competitor - has grown immensely. Hell, even other competitors in the space, such as Pownce, have experienced better growth than Jaiku, which can be seen from the Compete traffic comparison below.
No innovation, no new features; in fact, after the service was acquired by Google, its official blog has had only two updates: one to say that the service is back up, and another to warn about maintenance downtime. Perhaps Google has something huge in stock for Jaiku, but from what can be seen on the surface, it’s going nowhere.
Directly related to the Jaiku-Twitter story is Dodgeball, another short messaging service that Google had acquired in 2005. Unlike other Google flops, this one wasn’t entirely wrapped in nice, apologetic words. Dennis Crowley, the founder of Dodgeball, was frustrated with his experience working with Google, and he claimed that Google simply didn’t think Dodgeball was worth investing any resources in. It’s no secret that every startup’s wet dream is getting acquired by Google, and the Dodgeball incident has so far been the only stain on Google’s near perfect resume.
Is there a lesson that can be learned from these mistakes? Perhaps it’s still too early to tell, but if you add Orkut - Google’s social network which is arguably doing well, but also hasn’t done anything revolutionary lately - to the mix, it becomes fairly obvious that Google is not good at building communities. One more reason to bet on Facebook one day being bigger than Google, if you’re the betting type.
5 Great Unofficial Gmail Themes
Indeed, the Google design corps won’t hit the spot for every Tom, Dick, and Henrietta. So there’s really only one alternative route to venture down to get Gmail a new dress: some good ol’ CSS chop-shoppage via the ever-popular Greasemonkey and Stylish Firefox add-ons. Here are our current top picks:
Be sure to post your faves if you’ve got ‘em, and tell us how they compare to Google’s own.
Gmail Redesigned
The king of all Stylish Gmail themes, Gmail Redesigned is without a doubt the most professionally done of all the themes listed here. It sports a fancy custom loading screen, and many details you won’t catch right away, but they’ll get under your skin after a while, making you wish the official Gmail theme had them.
Super Clean
Super Clean is very liberal with its use of white and sweeping blues. Which, if we’re honest, give it a sort of Microsoft Live-like atmosphere. Admittedly, it looks quite good, wouldn’t you agree?
Dark Gmail 2 Nasa
What’s not white and fits in with the Nasa Night Launch Firefox theme? Yep, Dark Gmail 2 Nasa. This one’s pretty rich on the graphics, so if you’re seeking something more clean-looking (like Gmail’s own “Terminal” option), this isn’t the thing for you.
Dark Gray
Apart from a white search field and some glimmers of light gray around the periphery, Dark Gray holds true to its name.
Dark Shiny Blue
There’s lots of shininess to the Dark Shiny Blue theme. Dark gray and blue tones get equal treatment. The drop-down transparent menu is a nice treat to see. All things considered, gamers may take a particular liking.
