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Not just jeans friends, ModeLabs Group’s Levi’s handset is also all about the 3G experience, at least for Orange France users. This clunky slider features triple-band GSM, 2100MHz UMTS, 2 megapixel cam, Bluetooth, FM radio, and a microSD slot to extend the storage for your digital media. Orange is even offering to fill your memory card slot with a 1GB card and give you somewhere to put it with a Jean pocket-shaped case if you get there soon enough. We saw Levi’s first branded set some time ago and it’s encouraging to see them stepping up with faster data services — well at least UMTS. Who knows, we may one day see some on this side of the world.
[Source]

In the ‘really?’ department, the University of Chicago’s Law School has decided to block Internet access in classrooms, in what appears to be the first such school-mandated restriction.

While I understand restricting high-school students and to a much smaller degree college students, but law school students? Really? Aren’t they adults who should decide for themselves whether or not they pay attention in class? How about if they decided to just miss class altogether? Wouldn’t that amount to the same thing?

As long as they’re not making a lot of noise, I don’t see the problem, apart from annoying some uptight profs. I wish I had an Internet-connected laptop when I went to classes. I can see it being a valuable tool to help with learning the subject matter at hand. The fact of the matter is that you can only lead a horse to water; the rest is up to them. Just my $0.02.

via Slashdot

Posted in Networking & Internet

The Department of Defense is currently pouring plenty of dough into a portable handheld device which is smart enough to identify signs of brain damage in a person shortly after a roadside bomb or other injuries which cause trauma to the head within seconds. So far $4.6 million has been poured over four years for such a device, and the final product must be rugged enough to survive extreme battlefield conditions such as Iraq. It isn’t ready just yet, but we do know it features a small high-resolution camera and software that measures just how well a person tracks a red dot which moves in a small circle. Simple tests like that as well as remembering a few words show just how much damage was inflicted. I wonder if the device can check out brain damage our kids get from watching the garbage on TV these days…

Motorola’s internal roadmap reveals 9 different handsets which will see action this year, with some of them already available readily in retail stores (U9, W270 and E8). Below are more details on leaked handsets such as the ZN5, VE75, A180 and L800T.

A810

• 2.2″ 260k color QVGA TFT display
• 2 megapixel camera
• Linux OS
• Stereo Bluetooth
• TI OMAP850 200MHz processor
• microSD memory card slot

VE75

• 2.6″ 260k color WQVGA TFT display
• 2 megapixel camera
• Dual SIM card support
• Stereo Bluetooth
• Slider form factor

More are available after the jump.

Light Cast
There’s magic at the heart of Lightcast, a compact box capable of delivering a fully interactive music-synchronised light show that simply puts all others to shame.

See price

The ink had barely dried on the agreement to buy Skype before analysts were criticizing eBay’s $3.1 billion decision. Yes, that’s ‘billion’ with a ‘B’. Now, it looks like eBay is pondering selling it off.

Their reasoning is that if they can’t find a way to integrate it into their core business which is online marketplaces, then it’s of no use to them. I don’t completely agree, but I applaud eBay for having the fortitude to face up to and act on their bad decision quickly. AOL Time Warner comes to mind as an example of the opposite.

Posted in Networking & Internet

The DUET Electric-Acoustic System, also known as EAS, is a hybrid hearing device that is currently undergoing trial tests across the US. This product stands to benefit hearing-impaired patients who do not get any help from hearing aids, but cochlear implants are deemed unsuitable because they retain some natural hearing. The EAS caters for borderline cases, specially designed with a thin electrode so that less space is occupied in the inner ear. It will be implanted by special surgical techniques in order to preserve natural hearing, amplifying both low frequencies while electronically stimulating middle and high frequencies. Good to see audio technology advance to such an extent these days.

The Samsung SGH-J700 offers a 1.3 megapixel as well as the following features:

* Tri-band (900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
* GSM Phase 2+
* GPRS / EDGE Class 10
* Li-ion, 800 mAh battery
* 10 MB memory
* MicroSD
* Direct photo saving to microSD card
* Bluetooth v2.0
* USB v2.0
* 2.0″ 65K TFT, 128 x 160 pixels display
* Video Playback (H.263, MPEG4) and Recording
* MP3, AAC, AAC+, MIDI
* OMA DRM
* FM Radio
* Mobile Printing

WAP 2.0 / Openwave 6.2.3
Java MIDP 2.0
SMS/EMS/MMS/Video Messaging
Mobile Tracker, SOS
Java Games

In this week’s Gadget Lab Podcast, Dylan Tweney, Daniel Dumas, and Jose Fermoso talk about the increasingly strange Psystar ‘Hackingtosh’ story, involving unauthorized iMac desktop clones, copyright and DMCA violations, changing business addresses, and one sketchy guy named ‘Robert.’

In addition, they’ll sum up the week’s best reviews, including a do-over of Sharp’s latest 46-inch LCD and the highly rated super-zoom Olympus SP-570UZ Hybrid Camera, leading to a short discussion as to why the hybrid super-zoom category is now largely unnecessary. Finally, they talk about the upcoming ASUS Eee PC 900 and speculate about the rumored 24-megapixel Nikon!

Thank you for listening. Remember, you can subscribe to the podcast feed right here. And you can find the twenty-four previous podcasts after the jump.

The Podcast (above) requires Quicktime (you can download it at Apple’s page here).

The last few Gadget Lab podcasts are below:

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #24: Bold Predictions for the 3G iphone, the Week’s Top Reviews, and Crazy Paintball Tanks

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #23: The 2008 CTIA Conference, Product Naming Trends, and Beckham’s Tacky Gadget

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #22: Motorola’s Split, The Sony Crapware Saga, and More

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #21: The Wireless Spectrum Auction, HTC’s Googlephone, and Evil Keyboards

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #20: Exploding Batteries, Lost gadgets, and the Week’s Best Reviews

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #19: From the iPhone SDK Release to Microsoft’s TechFest

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #18: From Nokia’s Phone of the Future to the DIY-Friendly Chumby Gadget

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #17: The Bankruptcy of The Sharper Image and Insider Info on the Death of hd dvd

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #16: The End of the HD DVD Format, 1080p Projectors, and More

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #15:Technologies from Orwell’s 1984, Cool Gear From the Super Tuesday Primaries, and More

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #14: From Garmin’s Nuviphone to the Linux-based Haier Ibiza Rhapsody mp3 player

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #13: Macworld 2008 Review and macbook air First Impressions

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #12: CES 2008, with Pioneer’s Project Kuro, the Dystopian Life Wall, and More

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #11: The CES 2008 Preview with Touchscreen TVs, Wireless Phones, and More

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #10: Last-Minute Holiday Gifts for Geeks and Wired’s 2007 Vaporware Awards

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #9: All Around Smackdowns Between the ipod and Zune 2 Media Players and Kid-Friendly Laptops

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #8: From Dell’s New Retail Strategy to the Film vs. Digital Deathmatch Controversy

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #7: From the Blu-ray/HD-DVD Wars to the Exploding Battery Mystery

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #6: From The Microsoft Zune 2 Release to Warner Music’s Surprising iTunes About-Face

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #5: From Google’s Android Alliance to the iPhone’s iBricking Firmware

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #4: From Wal-Mart’s Early Black Friday To NBC’s Word War With Apple

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #3: From the CTIA Trade Show to the Leopard Launch

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #2: We’re Giving Away Good Times (Nokia N810 Tablet and iPhone Apps)

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #1: Listen and Be Amazed (Microsoft’s Zune and the Gateway One PC)

Now is this a cute digital camera or what - the Casio Exilim EX-Z80’s interface is rather comical when you think about it, providing some relief for folks who are just too serious in their life. Heck, it will literally display a heartbroken image should it fail to focus on your subject, but you can also choose other images such as stars, flowers and even babies to break whenever you snap a blurry one. Stars and flowers are fine, but babies?!? Hopefully this firmware will be able to find its way outside of Japan - keep your fingers crossed, folks!