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Archive for the ‘Gadget’ Category

The use of satnav systems has become very widespread in modern life. Innumerable gadgets for different purposes are available in the markets. It is important to consider the purpose for which the gadget is sought while shopping for it. Every product is earmarked for specific purpose or purposes and it is necessary for the consumers to exercise caution in the matter of selection. Satnav devices for cars, for fishing, for adventure, for aviation and for wildlife are a few examples to mention in this respect. It is now a device with multifarious capabilities with diverse features too.

One of the innovative features is Bluetooth calling through satnav. The wireless protocol used for data transfer between fixed and mobile devices is now available for satnav devices. It is used in mobile phones to exchange data between two devices either similar or otherwise, in close proximity wherein there is only low bandwidth available. In the case of satnav device the Bluetooth phone can be connected to it and function as a hand free unit. Another feature is the FM transmitters and headphones for users to enjoy music. The drivers are provided with instructions or information through the same headphones. The car integrated as well as handheld satnav devices have now special features like lane assist option and digital post code search facility. Such devices are also pre-loaded with maps in respect of a locality or a country. Sophisticated satnav gadgets are loaded with maps indicating several points of interests all over the world. The user will be able to receive valuable information about them through Bluetooth supported satnav devices. In addition to voice data provided, text messages can be seen on the screens.

MP3, CD and DVD players are other features that are incorporated in the modern satnav gadgets. Apart from highly utilitarian contents, satnav are now provided with entertainment options also as indicated earlier. Some of them are equipped with 10GB hard disc space to store several hours of music. Color touch screens are convenient for users. SD cards slots are also provided in the systems. MPEG-4 is yet another technology that is now featured in satnav systems enabling the users to view movies. LCD touch screens in widescreen formats are convenient for watching movies.

In short the modern satnav devices are designed to offer not only the specific role or roles specified for them but also to provide entertainment in the course of their engagements. The consumers who lead hectic work schedules will have comfortable interludes, thanks to the developing technologies. Many reputed brands of satnav gadgets are now available in the markets. Some of the sophisticated products include Magellan Road Mate 1700 with a 7 inch screen and one touch menu to have access to destinations. It is but intended for truckers who can conveniently accommodate such a large screen on their dashboards. But many of the consumers who seek personal navigation devices opt for smaller screens of 3.5 inch for the sake of convenience. Garmin Nuvi 1690, TOM TOM GO 740 are devices suitable for them. As in the case of all consumer durables internet is the best source to locate suitable products. Innumerable products with diverse features and price tags are available today.

When it comes to new gadgets, the Pilots can easily be picked as top most gadget lovers. Whether the gadgets are in their cockpit or on their wrist, they just love to try and experiment with them. To attract the aviation experts and create a niche in that market, Citizen Watches had introduced their citizen Skyhawk series. Citizen skyhawk watches are not only cool and trendy in looks, but also a great tool while on the move either in flight or on the road. These citizen skyhawk watches also give you something to show off to your friends and colleagues.

The Citizen skyhawk watches are a step forward in the Citizen Eco-Drive movement. The Citizen Eco-Drive watches are the solar watches, generating power from the source of the light. So even when you are on the move or sitting at office or in the luxury of home, the titanium lithium battery in your watch gets charged via a special solar cell underneath your dial keeping the hands ticking.

The Citizen skyhawk watches are tough, strong, functional, and beautiful. These watches are atomic time keeping watches that means if you are in the reach of radio frequencies, you don’t need to worry about adjusting the time. The time in these watches is synchronized on a scheduled basis with the time towers in America, Europe and Japan via radio frequencies.

The latest models in the Citizen skyhawk series are the third generation models in the Citizen eco-drive line up. These models provide major advancements as compared to the earlier models. The latest models are also said to be water resistant up to 600-700 feet, which is pretty good. Besides this, Citizen skyhawk watches are equipped with functionalities such as two alarms, LCD Backlight, perpetual calendar, 24 hours chronograph, 99 minute count down timer, and pre programmed world time for 43 major cities around the world.

The watch also has a Slide rule bezel, which is an attempt to replicate and include the functionality of the very admired E6B flight computer. This bezel in the Citizen skyhawk line up, lets you to do quick simple flight calculations for distance traveled so far, what is the fuel consumption, what is the ground speed, etc. Fantastic tool or rather a simple wrist flight computer, isn’t it?

The watch is easy to set and doesn’t have so many complicated instruction sets. It also comes with a very useful manual, which provides very detailed instructions as how to set and use the watch. The manual is also accompanied with an awesome CD containing useful presentations and interactive guides.

While the Citizen skyhawk name suggests that these watches are only for Pilots or flight crewmembers with features specially designed for the sky, The watch also is a useful tool for day-to- day use and for the ones who needs to do frequent travel between different time zones. You will be pleasantly satisfied with the quality and functionality of these watches.

The Citizen skyhawk range of watches are available from $300 to $600 at majority of the retail stores.

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What is a digital mileage log? It’s a great new gadget which is going to make logging your mileage easier than ever. It’s also a nearly fail safe way to prevent being audited by the IRS for mileage write offs. With gas prices soaring to new levels in recent months, gas mileage write offs are becoming more widely used. In this article you’ll learn how a gadget like this can be handy for your business.

In the past a mileage log was simply a piece of paper that could be printed out or handwritten. You would painstakingly have to hand input all the mileage you’ve used for the day. This made it tough for anyone who was required to travel often, including daily. It is also easy to incorrectly enter data that could trigger an IRS audit over actually miles you’ve driven. As the price of gas goes up so does the IRS’s interest in gas write offs. This may leave one asking how do you protect yourself.

Well there is a good way to protect yourself, and it comes in the form of a handy device no larger than a GPS or cell phone. It’s called a mileage logger and while there aren’t many model types on the market rest assured they’ll save you a lot of headaches. This device is used to log mileage to a database automatically and is actually quite accurate. When you jump into your vehicle to go to your next business meeting, you’d just plug this small device into your cigarette lighter, just like a GPS. It then begins logging your mileage but not just by how many miles you drive, but by your exact location!

Consequently, how does this device work? As mentioned before you plug the device into your cigarette lighter. Next a satellite in space picks up your exact earth location. The strategic location is then beamed from your vehicle to a cellular tower, where it’s then sent to a private online database where your information can be picked up when you’re ready to retrieve it. When you go to retrieve your mileage log you simply log into your database panel and print it out. You’ll be able to print out your data by exact date, including month, day, year. So essential you could leave your data alone and just print it out once at the year’s end and before tax time. For some people this device could literally feel like a life saver as it would finally eliminate the tedious task of manually logging their mileage. This type of device graciously helps cut down on audits because it fully logs you’re routes, allows you to add comments to your logs and more.

Only you could know if a device like this would be useful. If you take one business trip a year, then this type of product may not be helpful at all. It may be helpful if you take at least one business trip a month as you’d never have to physically write anything down again. The usefulness alone may make a digital mileage log worth the price.

While everyone else is drooling over the latest Apple delight-the iPad-you, you trendy son-of-a-gun, are already a proud owner. Well, you hear it’s wonderful but you’re still scared to take it out of the box. So you just spent at least $500 to not even use the iPad because you’re afraid of scratches, dents and possibly breaking it in half. You thought buying the iPad was expensive. Just wait until you have to fix it, especially if the incident is your own fault.

The answer for all iPad owners, be they simply smart, cautious consumers or a full-blown klutzes leaving paths of destruction, is an iPad case. We’ve compared the 3 best places to get an iPad case to match your needs.

The first place most consumers will think to shop is the Apple Store, online or retail. iPad cases start at $39.95 and go up to $59.95. The styles range from sock and book cover like to resembling trapper keepers and pencil cases. There’s a design to fit many personalities. One iPad case even has a four leaf clover to show off Irish pride and maybe add extra luck keeping it safe. There’s also some sassy colors from purple to neon green.

While some of the iPad cases look fairly classy, most of them scream (in the voice of Veruca Salt) “my rich mommy and daddy just bought me an iPad and now I’m showing it off at Cheerleader practice.” See for yourself at Apple Online.

Perhaps you’re on a spending spree and want something unlike what anyone else will have to make your new leading gadget really stand out. Check out Etsy’s array of handmade iPad Cases. Ranging in price from $65-108, they offer a few simple but mostly quirky designs. It will feel like Christmas each time you take out your iPad from one of these cases. While no one else will look like you when you’re carrying your iPad in Etsy, you do need to take it out to use it, which isn’t always practical.

Last, but our best pick, is Zagg’s full body invisibleSHIELD at $39.99. The previous two iPad case options offer some style but no actual protection. Zagg gets right down to business without the sometimes gaudy bells and whistles. For extra reassurance, the Zagg iPad case site has a video showing an iPad protected by invisibleSHIELD’s full body coverage as keys scratch it, nails are dropped on it and it’s attacked by heavy duty tools. After all this, it looks like it is scratched up. But once the invisibleSHIELD is pulled off, the iPad remains in perfect condition.

Now, one would probably have to buy a new iPad case. However, this would be the same with any of the before mentioned cases. Except with those you’d need a new iPad as well. This is why we’ve chosen Zagg’s invisibleSHIELD’s full body coverage as the best iPad case currently on the market. It doesn’t distract from the already well designed iPad and it offers superior protection.

So go ahead. Open the box and take out your iPad. Get acquainted with it-its smooth and sleek design, its ability to meet all your needs and wildest fantasies. But, as they say, use protection and wrap your gadget in an iPad Case. (The safest brand being Zagg.)

The world’s largest technology trade show — The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) – held in Las Vegas in January spanned over 1.8 million square feet of space or the equal of 35 football fields. There were over 2,700 trade show exhibitors and more than 140,000 trade show visitors from 130 countries. In fact, the CES is America’s largest annual trade show of any kind.

“The 2007 International CES succeeded beyond our expectations,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the trade group behind the CES. “It had buzz and optimism and attracted the world leaders of the content, technology and services, communications and automobile industries,” Shapiro continues.

The technology trade show showcased the convergence of broadband, content and consumer electronics. The trade show exhibitors took advantage of custom and custom modular tradeshow exhibits– some using sophisticated rental trade show displays– to springboard more than 20,000 dramatic product launches and major partnership announcements, spanning across industries and linking up consumers with more features, services and control of the content incorporated into electronic devices.

Crowds came to see the latest trends in hi tech gear. Gadgets ruled the day. It all comes down to this–what tech gadgets are hot and what do stores need to stock in order to catch the latest hi- tech wave. American businesses want to know how people will spend their time and money in the 21st century. The Consumer Electronics Association, offers the following facts:

The average U.S. household is projected to spend nearly $2,000 on consumer electronic devices in 2007. Compare this to $1,251 per household in 2005 vs. $84 per household in 1975. The industry is expected to ship a record $155 billion in products in 2007.

The average U.S. household has 26 consumer electronic products: TVs, video games, digital cameras, cell phones, iPods, etc. This compares to 17.4 such products per household in 2000. In 1975, the average was 1.3 products, most likely a TV and a radio.

Today every household has almost three TVs. Flat TV monitors and LCD TV sales are expected to reach $26 billion this year.
There is a shift away from radio and audio system sales due to spending on other gadgets such as TV displays and MP3 players.

At the CES trade show, the trade show exhibitors boasted tech gadgets that were fast, small, and mobile. The trade show exhibits on the show floor showcased the latest in gadgetry. Trade show visitors were mesmerized when they saw the latest widgets at the trade show booths.

A good rule of thumb is that a successful trade show is one that offers trade show booths that give visitors what they come for–no matter whether the trade show is at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago, the Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, the Moscone Center in San Francisco, the Hannover Exhibition Center in Germany or the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.

So, remember, the next time you exhibit at a trade show–whether you are in the hi-tech industry or another field; if you are able to showcase new gadgets, products or services that answer the needs of your visitors, you will win the day.

The Insatiable Need for the Latest Gadget

Many of you reading this are like me; you have to get your hands on the latest and greatest gadgets. Awed by the technology, features, and most current human achievements designed to dazzle your imagination. Many of these new devices are designed to either entertain, make our lives easier or both. People anxiously wait in lines outside stores, overnight sometimes, to get the latest gadgets spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on their shiny new device. An entire industry has subsequently been born for accessories to protect these devices. Cases, pouches, skins, screen protectors, guards, shields, and armors developed to keep your expensive new toys from baring scars from the abuses of daily life.

Scratches are one of my biggest fears when I get a new gadget. My latest toy, the HTC Google Nexus One, is my shiny new companion and daily I am discovering the amazing things this phone can do. The very first thing I did after ordering it was order a full body and screen protector from XO Skins. With clean hands and a little concentration, this clear protector went on fairly easily and is nearly invisible. I have had many gadgets the past few years and have suffered with the bulky and flimsy cases that detract from the beauty of my newest toy. This is no longer the case and XO Skins now has a fan for life. To my horror only 2 days after installing the clear skin I dropped my phone and it skidded across my driveway. I rushed to pick up my phone fearing the worst and brushed the grit off of it. There were no marks, nothing! I couldn’t even tell I had dropped it!

So here I am typing up the story of the Nexus One that could, the XO Skins shielding and guarding it from damage, and the clumsy geek who can’t hang on to his expensive toys. If you are like me, your phone is like a digital leash, an endless supply of information at your fingertips, connecting you at the speed of light to friends and information a world away. If you told someone you could harness a connection to the whole of human knowledge in the palm of your hand a hundred years ago, you would have been burned at the stake. We truly live in a remarkable age with seemingly endless potential. Maybe that explains our relentless pursuit to have the greatest gadget connecting us at a millisecond faster than our old device.

Obtaining the Nexus One was not as difficult as some of my past gadgets. I didn’t have to camp in front of a store, braving the elements, I ordered it from the comfort of my home and got it the next day at my front door. Now how’s that for awesome? Thank you, Google. While I do miss the collective buzz of anticipation waiting in front of a store, it was nice as an early adopter, to not have to. Who knows, maybe one day Google will have a physical store and those wanting to camp on cement will get their chance. Either way, with or without the sacrifice and struggle of obtaining my Google phone, I still have the desire to take care of it, and my XO Skins has done just that.

In checking out their site at http://xoskins.com you will see a YouTube video on the left where they batter an iPhone half protected with their screen protector and the other half bare naked. As you can imagine the naked side is destroyed and unusable. They then peel away the left side that was covered by the XO Skin revealing a new looking iPhone screen, completely scratch free. On the right side next to the video you will see a flash banner with testimonials from industry experts illustrating the strength and clarity of these skins. Check it out for yourself, they are not limited to just cell phone skins and screen protectors. They cover cell phones, smart phones, laptops, iPads, GPS devices, MP3 and media players, and gaming devices like the PSP and Nintendo DSI. I have chosen to keep my phone scratch free, will you?