iPADock: The ultimate iPad/iPhone dock accommodates all your devices

 Japanese company PhotoFast Co.,Ltd. is set to release the iPADock at the end of September, and if these first pictures (released this week) are any indication, it's quite possibly the most bad-ass iPad/iPhone charging dock we've seen to date. This docking station can accommodate various combinations of devices – you can connect two iPads at once, four iPhones at once, or you can mix it up with one iPad and two iPhones. You can also use iPADock to charge up your iPods, as it's compatible with the Touch, Nano, and Classic models as well.

Nokia 500 - first 1GHz Symbian smartphone announced

Positioned as a "low-cost, full-function smartphone", the freshly announced Nokia 500 is the first Symbian Anna-based device to utilize a 1GHz-clocked CPU. The handset is lightweight at 93 grams (3.28 oz) and features a 3.2 inch, 360 x 640 resolution capacitive touchscreen along with a 5 megapixel flash-less camera at the back (no front-facing camera) and 2GB of internal memory expandable via a microSD card slot up to 32GB.

Connectivity comes courtesy of WiFi b/g (no 'n' support), GPS and A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, microUSB, HSDPA/HSUPA support and a 3.5mm audio jack. There's an FM Radio and three different-colored battery covers (included in the box). Nokia Maps is pre-installed with free driving and walk navigation, as is every GPS-enabled Nokia cell phone these days.

Victorinox Slim Flash bladeless Swiss Army tool is now available

 A quality Swiss Army multi-tool with a knife used to be in every boy's wishlist in the past, but with the modern day road warrior's kit now taking a decidedly digital bent Victorinox Swiss Army is now offering tools that don't feature any kind of blade at all. Some tools offer just a USB flash drive instead. Victorinox has recently announced the availability of Victorinox Slim and Slim Duo USB Flash devices in a variety of color and storage capacity options. Having no blades results in being totally flight-friendly.


First unveiled at CES 2011, the newest Victorinox bladeless arrivals are aimed at business travelers and are TSA-approved for carrying on flights. Bot the Victorinox Slim Flash and Slim Duo lines feature multiple layers of AES 256 data encryption technology and password data protection, as well as a durable aluminum alloy housing that is waterproof and shock-resistant.

'Roll it' turns compact housing on its head

Students from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany have created a flexible housing solution that makes the most of its minimal interior space in a very unusual way. Dubbed "Roll it", this cylinder-shaped home changes its purpose depending on its orientation - roll the the work space 180 degrees and it becomes a bed, the kitchen becomes a bathroom and you even get some exercise in the mouse wheel-like center section when you decide to "move house". 

 Student team Christian Zwick and Konstantin Jerabek came up with the "Roll it" idea when working on a project that explored the concept of "mobile and space-efficient construction."


The experimental design consists of an outer shell which comprises four supporting rings and a torsion inner shell membrane. Thin wooden slats are mounted to the external membrane, allowing the running surface to roll and stop.

Vertical Vinyl plays off-the-wall records

If you're over a certain age and still have a stack of vinyl LPs, you may have witnessed the fascination expressed by younger people when you play those records on your turntable - as far as they're concerned, you might just as well be cranking up a Model T Ford. Well, if you really want to freak them out, you could always tell them that ION's Vertical Vinyl Wall Mountable Turntable lets you play records vertically. How crazy is that?

The Vertical Vinyl is pretty basic, offering the usual two speeds (33 and 45 RPM), a volume control knob, and music playback via built-in speakers - there's no mention of a line-out on the device. Power is supplied by four included AA batteries, although it can run off mains power through an optional AC adapter.

Apart from its quirkiness appeal, the turntable could also come in handy in cramped quarters, where horizontal storage space is at a premium. Should you have the space, and would prefer not to risk dropping your LPs to the floor as you're putting them on or taking them off, it can also be used horizontally.

The Vertical Vinyl Wall Mountable Turntable is available at various retailers, ranging in price from around US$60 to $130.

Using our brains: Neuromarketing, no-hands gaming and the arrival of the EEG headset

 Until recently a purely lab based technology, brainwave (electroencephalograph or EEG)
headsets are trickling into the marketplace in a number of different guises.
But what exactly do these devices do, how do they differ from each other and - with potential applications
ranging from medicine to gaming and market research - who will use them and for what purpose?

 There are at least four areas of applications for brainwave detection devices:

• Medical/clinical applications
• Assistive technology for people with disability i.e. to control, for example, a wheelchair or a mouse
• Hands-free gaming
• Market research - evaluating new ads or packaging by reading consumer brainwaves

Let's start with one of the latest headsets to be unveiled - the Mynd. Announced late March 2011, it is described as "the World's First Wireless Full-Brain EEG Headset". That description sounds impressive but who is it for?

The Mynd headset is primarily for market research. You can't buy one at this stage because it is the product of Neurofocus,

LG makes things clear with the transparent GD900 mobile phone

April 2, 2009 The LG-GD900 mobile phone will feature not only a 3-inch full touchscreen,
but also a transparent touchpad that supports finger-writing recognition and vibrational
haptic feedback. The stylish looking phone features a slider form factor with the translucent
rear slider containing a touchpad that allows users to navigate through the phones features and
3D user interface. Further enhancing the phone’s style cred is the fact that the clear slider will
be made from glass instead of plastic.

Besides looking cool, the touchpad also boasts ‘Multi Touch’ capabilities for zooming in and out of
web pages and a ‘Gesture Shortcut’ feature that lets users configure their own shortcuts with a simple
finger gesture. For example users could write an “M” on the touchpad

Windows 7-based Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet P1 announced

Along with a pair of Android 3.1-based tablets, Lenovo has unveiled its plans to 

release the 10.1-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet P1, powered by the 1.5GHz Intel Atom 

CPU and running the Windows 7 OS. Despite the fact that this system is not as 

tablet-tailored as Android Honeycomb, and Windows 8 has already been revealed as a 

touch-optimized OS, Lenovo apparently believes there still is a market for a Win 7-based tablet. 

The device is due out in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The IdeaPad Tablet P1 features a 1280 x 800 capacitive touchscreen with multi-touch, 

which can also be operated via a stylus. There's up to 2GB of DDR2 memory, 

and either 32GB or 64GB of internal memory (SSD),

How much does it cost Apple to make the iPhone 4?

Ever wondered how much it costs Apple to actually build its devices? Well,
it might surprise some to hear that it seems to be around the same price at
which they are sold, though of course this doesn’t stop Apple from making a hefty profit.
A recent “teardown” of the 16GB iPhone 4 by research firm iSuppli suggested that each device
costs about US$187 to produce, with previous generations falling generally between $170 and $180.