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Philips SPR550BN: The squid of power awaits you

Water and electricity: that's a winning combination if ever we heard one.

Clearly Philips thinks it's a theme that has some legs--five of them to be precise--because it's created a mains extension socket it calls the "power squid."

Anyone with an encyclopedia would be able to tell you that a squid has 10 appendages--that's 8 arms and 2 tentacles, fact fans. The Philips SPR550BN also differs from aquatic reality in its color, which is black, rather than the more realistic white or slightly translucent skin tone of most squid.

Still, most real squid don'… Read more

Relief for users with new iPods and older cars

So, you just bought a new car that came with a built-in iPod cable. Great, right? Well, maybe not. Unfortunately, the cable is only compatible with the previous generation of iPod products and not your brand new iPhone 3G, Nano 4G, or Touch 2G.

A bummer? Yes. However, Scosche is on this like an Apple fanboy is on Steve Jobs' every word. Or close to that, at least.

On Thursday, Scosche announced the Passport, which is now on sale at Apple stores, although I was unable to find it at Apple's online store at press time.

The Passport utilizes … Read more

Apple recalling iPhone 3G power adapters

Apple is recalling the USB power adapters sold with the iPhone 3G in North America and Japan amid concerns they are prone to breaking.

The company announced the Apple Ultracompact USB Power Adapter Exchange Program Friday, which applies to iPhone 3G owners who bought the device in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Japan, and selected countries in South America. Apple included a USB power block, shown at right, inside the box for the iPhone 3G in these countries, and the company has received reports that the prongs on that power block can break off and remain inside your wall socket, … Read more

Simplicity and its discontents: Jason Fried vs. Fraser Kelton

NEW YORK--After listening to Jason Fried (37 Signals) give his compelling Web 2.0 Expo talk Wednesday about building companies in the modern world--which could be summed up as "simplify, and don't work too hard doing so"--I walked across the hall to hear Fraser Kelton (Adaptive Blue) discuss the negative ramifications of this strategy.

Kelton posed the question this way in his pre-conference writeup: "What happens when early adopters have become spoiled by single-feature technologies that take no more than a moment to grasp? The challenge faced by the next wave of innovative start-ups for … Read more

U.S. catches up with Western Europe in 3G adoption

ComScore, a global company that measures the world's digital usage, reported on Thursday that the U.S. is no longer trailing behind Western Europe in the adoption of 3G mobile devices.

3G is the third generation of mobile standards, used primarily in cell phones, that allows for fast cellular data speed and simultaneous data and voice connections.

After a slower start, 28.4 percent of American mobile subscribers now have 3G devices versus 28.3 percent in the largest countries in Europe. The report is based on the changes in 3G device penetration between June 2007 and June 2008. … Read more

Radar Networks readies new release of Twine

In March, Radar Networks launched Twine, an application that organizes information and connects people, places, companies, products, Web pages, videos, and photos. Along with Metaweb's Freebase, Powerset (sold to Microsoft), Hakia, Reuters' Calias, AdaptiveBlue and a few other start-ups, Radar Networks is trying to crack the code on building a piece of the semantic Web.

In a Times Online article, Web creator Tim Berners-Lee gave an example of how the semantic Web would work:

"Imagine if two completely separate things--your bank statements and your calendar--spoke the same language and could share information with one another. You could drag … Read more

Power your Air with the sun

A new solar panel kit for the MacBook Air will both charge and power the laptop at the same time.

QuickerTek, a Wichita, Kansas-based company that sells accessories for Apple devices, calls its new portable solar power gadget the Apple Juicz MacBook Air Solar Charger.

The Juicz comes in three size and power options and has a one-year warranty, QuickerTek said Tuesday. As usual with solar energy, all that "free" power is going to cost you.

The smallest 19-watt Apple Juicz, which takes 14 hours to recharge the laptop, will sell for $500; the 8-hour, 29-watt model is $… Read more

HP MediaSmart Connect due in July for $349

Hewlett-Packard's line of MediaSmart TVs includes the built-in ability to stream digital media from your home network and the Internet straight to their screens. But for the vast majority of us who don't own an HP TV, the company will soon have a second option: the MediaSmart Connect. The little black box connects to your home network (via its built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet) and streams a wide variety of digital audio, photo, and video files--including content from compatible Internet services (including Live365, Vongo, CinemaNow, and MovieLink).

The MediaSmart Connect should be able to pull digital … Read more