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Mvix unveil portable HD drive

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Fancy porting around your HD movies and displaying them on your mates’ televisions? Then Mvix’s MV-2500U HD could be just the job for you.

The mini drive, which you can buy with or without the 2.5 inch HDD can store and play back filed encoded in MPEG1/2/4, DVD (VOB, IFO), DivX, XviD, BivX or VCD (DAT) as well as support for AC3, MP2, MP3, WMA, OGG and M3U music files.

HD bonus

The drive will also showcase your jpgs at 720p or 1030i – so you can subject your family to terrible slideshows of your holiday in Fuerta Ventura.

Of course, it is the HD playback that will sell this device to the majority, with suggestions that the component out will let you see your movies in glorious high definition (on appropriate TVs of course).

The device costs $150 without a drive – and we have yet to receive any details on UK pricing.

Britain's 20 most useless gadgets

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We all have bottom drawers stacked full of useless gadgets from our past and a new survey today has compiled a list of Britain's 20 most useless gadgets.

Electric nail files were found to be the most pointless household gadget of all time in the poll of 4,500 Brits, closely followed by Laser guided scissors, which claim to help you cut a perfect straight line. But don’t, because the laser merely shakes in line with your hand shaking.

Electric or battery operated candles are the third most pointless item on the list.

Here is the full list of top twenty post pointless gadgets, according to Brits:

1. Electric nail files
2. Laser guided scissors
3. Electric candles
4. Soda stream
5. Foot spas
6. Fondue set
7. Hair crimpers
8. Egg boiler
9. Electric fluff remover
10. Electric carving knife
11. Trouser press
12. Face steamers
13. Teasmaid
14. Mini disk player
15. Facial tanners
16. Egg slicer
17. Electric tin openers
18. Yoghurt makers
19. Towel warmer
20. Back scratcher

The survey was commissioned by reevoo.com, “the website which gives customers the opportunity to read reviews of thousands of products, written by real shoppers,” but hasn't answered our question as to whether it is 'teasmaid' or 'teasmade'.

Answers on a postcard please...

Read&Go: Orange tests out mobile newspapers

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Orange has kicked off a trial using eBook readers to deliver newspaper and magazine content via its 3G network, following Amazon’s much-touted US launch of it’s Kindle e-reader.

150 French testers have been given devices which have Wi-Fi, 3G connectivity and access to a range of French newspapers including Le Monde, Le Parisien, Les Echos, L’Equipe and Télérama.

Kindle competition

The Read&Go device, pictured here, uses a polarised microbead screen and has a USB port for a Wi-Fi dongle. Orange claims that it will store up to 200 newspapers and a library of 30 books.

We should find out more about further plans for Orange Read&Go following the French trial in the coming weeks. For now French speakers can read more on Read&Go on the Orange Innovation website.

Nike+ coming to Apple's iPhone and iPod touch

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TechRadar is a big fan of Nike+ technology, simply because it does something we never thought possible – it makes jogging fun!

However, Nike+ is nowhere near as in-depth as Samsung and Adidas’ micoach system, so we welcome today’s news that the system is set to extend beyond compatibility with Apple’s iPod nano and is soon to work with your iPhone or your iPod touch.

Nike has also claimed that it plans to develop the proprietary RF link between the shoe module and iPod nano adapter to make use of Wi-Fi and, at some point down the line, 3G. Which means you will be able to keep your training schedule updated and check in on it wherever and whenever you like.

Apple lifestyle

You may remember that TechRadar informed you last month of a patent for Apple’s lifestyle companion device.

Nike has also launched the new Nike+ Coach feature on its website – your very own online personal trainer! We’ll be trialling this system in the coming weeks.

Source: Stuff.tv

Dell wants back into handhelds

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Despite having trouble competing with its rivals in the PC market, Dell is reportedly ready to give the handheld market another chance after unceremoniously dropping out of it last year.

The company is rumoured to have placed several orders with Asian manufacturers to produce mobile phones, PDAs and GPS devices. The sources suggest that the decisions by Acre and HP to invest huge sums of cash into the handheld business have given Dell no choice but to try again.

Return to handhelds makes sense

Dell has yet to confirm the reports, but a decision to return to the handheld business would make sense. Almost twelve months after discontinuing its Axim PDA business, Dell hired Motorola's Ron Garriques to head up its consumer electronics division. But it has struggled to compete in an industry where manufacturing and selling PCs simply isn't enough anymore.

Dell has declined comment and given no indication that it has designs on the handheld business. However, considering Acer and HP have already made inroads, it seems likely that Dell will soon follow suit.

Students texting it in

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Shy students are being given the chance to send answers to questions via Bluetooth from their PDAs, as the classroom embraces the latest technologies.

The times of students hiding behind textbooks and offering silent prayers that they wouldn’t be picked to answer the question could be at an end, with Grenwich schools trialling a high tech alternative.

With PDA use being encouraged in the schools, pupils are now given short spells in lessons where they can text over the answers, rather than face potential ridicule.

Appropriate use

Secondary ICT consultant Jane Gordon explained that the technology was only used at appropriate times. It apparently will not prevent students from picking up vital social skills whilst hiding behind screens and handsets.

“What we have been trialling is the use of PDAs and Bluetooth to send messages between students and teachers,” Gordon told TechRadar.

“An example is an English teacher putting a question on the board and students Bluetoothing over the answer rather than putting their hand up and answering in front of everyone. It’s less intimidating for the more quiet students.

“Like any ICT it should only be used in an appropriate way. It might only be a 10 minute session in a lesson when we try this kind of thing.”

Mobile help

Gordon hopes that a more pro-active response to technology will stop the draconian measures that some schools have resorted to, like banning mobile phones from the premises.

“I think it’s just a matter of teaching them what’s appropriate,” she adds.

Livespeakr iPhone add-on makes a noise

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A young designer from California has developed a clever little add-on to help boost the music playing power of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Called the LiveSpeakr, the clip-on speaker system attaches to the back of its host to add a little extra oomph to music and movies on the go. The speakers can be rotated to a vertical or horizontal position, while a rear stand enables the screen to be viewed at either perspective.

Enjoy summertime sounds in the park

When not in use the speaker system neatly slides and folds into itself, allowing the whole system to be carried in a pocket. The unit can be powered by either two AA batteries or an AC adaptor.

There’s no word on how powerful the little speakers are, but they're claimed to be RF shielded.

D&G Solutions, the company behind LiveSpeakr, is hoping to launch the product to market by the summer - price yet to be confirmed.

Samsung announces MBP-100 Micro Projector

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Samsung has been demonstrating a neat little pocket projector device that could easily be combined with a smartphone to help facilitate business presentations on-the-go without the need for a laptop and PowerPoint.

The device is called the MBP-100 and is capable of casting a 20-inch display from an attached mobile phone. According to Wired the MBP-100 is able to project a 10 ansi lumen beam that’s just about bright enough to work efficiently in daylight.

As many smartphones are now capable of executing dedicated presentation software such as Microsoft’s PowerPoint Mobile, the MBP-100 could well find a market with salesmen who sometimes need access to a projector, but don’t want to lug a full-size one around on their travels.

And, of course, some gadget-fiends will probably find the idea of projecting movies and videos stored on their phones irresistible too.

There are no details on how much the MBP-100 will cost, or even whether it will receive a UK launch. TechRadar did call Samsung’s UK PR agency, but we’re sad to report that they’d never even heard of it.

Polaroid instants killed off

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It’s the end of an era. Polaroid is to stop production of instant film in 2009.

The planned closure of factories in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands meaning the loss of 450 jobs next year.

Polaroid will focus on portable mobile phone printers and Polaroid-branded digital cameras, TVs and DVD players.

"We're trying to reinvent Polaroid so it lives on for the next 30 to 40 years," Tom Beaudoin, Polaroid's president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, told the Washington Post.

The few remaining retro-camera buffs out there that still use Polaroid film might want to stock up over the next few months, before the remaining stocks begin to dwindle.

Of the new technologies Polaroid has planned plans, perhaps the most interesting to amateur photographers (and party-going snappers) is an 8-ounce photo printer that prints business card-sized pictures and needs no ink, instead using thermal printing technology from Zink Imaging Inc.

Rachael D’Cruze, Features Editor on our sister publication Digital Camera magazine, told Techradar today: "It's hardly suprising that Polaroid are getting out of the 'instant' film photography business - there just isn't a market for it anymore. With today's digital cameras consumers really can see their images instantly on the LCD and decide which ones are keepers - there's no longer any need for wasted prints of people with their eyes closed - digital photographers can take multiple frames and then select the best of the lot.”

D’Cruze added: “Printing your own pictures at home is easier than ever now too and great results are easy to get, although it's often more cost effective to print digital images online and many consumers also print their images out in shops. It's also important to remember that more and more people are sharing their photos online now and many no longer get hard copies printed meaning they pay for their camera and that's it. "

UK company markets high-tech snooping vest

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UK surveillance company WCCTV is set to introduce ‘the ultimate body-work surveillance solution’ in the shape of a new bizarre wearable CCTV jacket.

The 3G Covert Backpack (pictured here) is the ideal tech-wear for professional snoops and keen James Bond or Jason Bourne wannabes alike.

Erosion of civil liberties?

While civil liberties campaigners will no doubt be shocked at the further intrusion of covert CCTV into our daily lives, WCCTV claims that the 3G Covert Backpack is ideal for ‘agents who need evidential quality recording of suspects on the move’.

The backpack houses a video camera and microphone and uses 3G mobile phone technology to send images and sounds to a local Compact Flash writer so that an external supervisor ‘can evaluate the situation in real-time and despatch assistance or advise the agent on possible courses of action.’

Ideal for police (and celebrity stalkers)

The pack also contains a GPS receiver so that ‘agents’ can be tracked, as well as a panic button and a microphone that can be activated during emergency. Or perhaps when the C-list celebrity you are stalking twigs that you have been taking covert video footage of them for the last three hours and punches you squarely in the face.

Techradar spoke with Gregory T’Kint, Marketing Manager at WCCTV earlier today to find out a little more about how we might get hold of one of these high-tech snooping vests.

“We generally sell them to a lot of public services, local authorities, police community service officers fighting anti-social behaviour, rescue services and so on – that is our main target sector,” T’Kint told us.

But what if we wanted to buy one ourselves? Are you going to sell them to the average amateur detective on the street?

“That’s not really the idea. It’s fairly expensive and we want to concentrate on selling to the professional sector,” T’Kint added.

Source: WCCTV