Oh! Gizmo

By Luke Anderson

SD cards are becoming more and more useful every day. I loved them back in the day because I could swap out cards between my camera and PDA (yes, I carried a PDA). Later my phone used a miniSD card, which with an adapter also worked with my (newer) camera. Not too long ago we saw the release of the Eye-Fi, which was an SD card that gave your digital camera a wireless connection which you could use to transfer images. Now we have the miniSD Bluetooth GPS unit.

I never really thought that an SD card could pack in a Bluetooth and GPS chip, but Spectec has gone a step further and crammed it all into a miniSD card. This little adapter can plug into your handheld device, which will then use a certain set of drivers to communicate with the GPS. If your device doesn’t happen to have those drivers, you’re still in luck. The card will use its Bluetooth connection to talk to your device and transmit the GPS signal. No word yet on pricing or availability.

[ Spectec ] VIA [ Gearlog ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Nokia appears to be the latest company jumping into the digital pen market with their new SU-27W model. It actually bears a striking resemblance to the FLY Fusion Pen, but Nokia’s offering sets itself apart with the addition of bluetooth. Not only does this mean you can wirelessly connect the pen to a bluetooth-equipped PC, but it also means hand-written notes or drawings can be uploaded to a bluetooth-equipped cellphone.

The pen has a paltry 1.3MB of storage on-board, but that equates to around 100 pages of A5 sized paper. When fully charged you can write for about 3 hours, but the battery should survive nearly 20 hours with the pen in standby mode. If you don’t have any bluetooth-friendly devices the pen can still connect to a PC and transfer notes via a USB cable, and like the FLY Fusion it does require special dot-pattern paper in order to work.

Nokia is apparently planning to launch the pen on December 20 for about $240 from their online store. If you’re not a fan of typing out text messages or emails on a numeric keypad, this sounds like a good use for the digital pen technology.

[ Nokia SU-27W (Google Translated) ] VIA [ Mobile Whack ]

By Luke Anderson

While I’m proud to call myself a geek, I don’t exactly go out of my way to make myself look like one. I don’t own a pocket protector, and I don’t have any gadgets that I actually wear. That’s what cargo pants are for. However, if you’re one that likes to show off your tech, this BT3030 Bluetooth Stereo Headset from Jabra is the perfect way to do it.

As you can see, it looks very much like the dog tags that military personnel seem so fond of wearing. The controls are backlit on the face of the dog tag. You’ve got a port to plug in the actual headset, which can be used for tacking phone calls, in addition to playing your favorite tunes. It has a standby time of 200 hours, and recharges via USB. If it fits your style, then you can pick one up for $72.

[ Jabra ] VIA [ Newlaunches ]

By Luke Anderson

Putting your phone on vibrate is a great way to make sure you’re notified of calls when you don’t really want your “Baby Got Back” ringtone going off. The only problem is that when you keep your phone in a cargo pocket, you don’t always feel it go off. So how do you make sure that you get your important calls without turning up your ringer? Get a Vibrating Bluetooth Bracelet.

There’s not a lot to this gadget; it connects to your phone via Bluetooth V 1.1, 1.2 and 2.0. When a call comes in, the bracelet vibrates, plain and simple. It has a standby time of up to 100 hours, and takes around 3 hours to charge. You can pick one of these up for right at $48.

[ NetPC ] VIA [ GeekAlerts ]

By Evan Ackerman

This is the Nextlink Invisio G5 bluetooth headset (earbud?), which is probably showing up on your monitor as substantially larger than its actual dimensions of 1.3 x 0.63 inches. Needless to say, it’s currently the world’s smallest Bluetooth headset. It weighs a scant 6 grams, but still manages to offer a decent 4 hour active / 20 hour standby battery life. It has three exterior buttons (good luck with those), and something called “soft spring” for in-ear comfort. It also comes with a slick little (well, big compared to the actual headset) protective charging case that can be used to recharge the headset remotely up to 5 times. Available now in Europe for £79.99 (about $160), their website has a US spec sheet up, so we should be seeing it over here in the not-too-distant future.

[ Invisio G5 ] VIA [ Tech Digest ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While silver and white have made tremendous inroads in the gadget world, I still prefer black when it comes to my electronics. So needless to say I’m quite fond of this BlackBox portable speaker from GEAR4. And while you might consider the hidden LED graphic EQ to be the icing on the cake, I’m actually more impressed that it uses an A2DP bluetooth connection to stream music from your phone or iPod (which requires an extra bluetooth sender dongle of course.)

The BlackBox from GEAR4 is a super-stylish Bluetooth stereo speaker system that combines exceptional audio performance and cutting-edge design. It features a hidden LED display that comes to life with your tunes and touch screen controls, so that nothing detracts from its elegance and minimalist style. With its distinctive deep gloss finish the BlackBox will fit perfectly into any room of the house. Mobile phone compatibility is assured via its firmware upgrade feature – simply link the speaker up to your computer to download the right profile for your mobile.

It’s currently available directly from the GEAR4 website for about $210 and includes a remote control and custom carrying case.

[ GEAR4 BlackBox ] VIA [ Freshpilot ]

By Ryan Nill

It’s a well known fact that the only differences between a Harley and a Hummer is where you buy the costume at. Luckily for us, you have the option to add a Bluetooth headset to your helmet! Who has the time to switch between a tiny headset and your totally rockin’ helmet anyway?

Made by the kind, if not exactly prudent, people at Parrot, the SK 4000 Bluetooth Headset is meant to be used with your helmet; despite what the pictures tell us, it does not include the helmet. This Bluetooth headset features voice recognition, an FM RDS stereo, text to speech, A2DP support, 10 hours of battery life (600 on standby), and a handlebar-mounted RF remote control. Should be “available before the end of the year for €199 (or around $282)”.

I give it two weeks until the captain of the high school football team has one installed.

[ Parrot ] VIA [ Engadget ]

By Evan Ackerman

A few days ago at 3GSM in Barcelona, Iqua (in partnership with Suntrica) showed off their solar-powered bluetooth headsets. Modeled on their existing Vogue headset (pictured above), I assume it’ll have some solar panels on the outside, which can be used to charge the internal battery. The only hard numbers available say it’ll weigh 14 grams (no details about talk time, charge time, or battery life), and if it’s got the same specs as the Vogue, it’ll be a pretty typical headset otherwise. From the press release:

Imagine sailing with friends – most of them have mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players and laptops on the boat. When there is an opportunity to charge the batteries, everyone rushes to get their device plugged. With the new elegant Iqua headset, you can just relax, sunbathe and let its battery charge. With the BHS-603 SUN, you not only look stylish, but save energy at the same time.

Yeah, my friends and I go sailing (?) with our laptops (??) all the time. What concerns me most, though, is the serious dilemma that this will pose for techno-hippies everywhere: you can have either long hair, or solar power. Not both.

[ Suntrica Press Release (DOC) ] VIA [ Anina ]

By Shane McGlaun

We previously wrote a bit about the Razer Pro|Click Mobile mouse. Razer announced today that the mouse would be available for purchase starting in October for $49.99. The mouse will come in red, pink, white, and black.

Razer calls the Pro|Click Mobile mouse the most accurate portable mouse and with 1200 dpi resolution, they are right. The mouse connects to your notebook via Bluetooth 2.0 with adaptive frequency hopping and uses an ambidextrous design.

Power comes from a pair of AA batteries and a travel pouch is included. There is no mention anywhere of the mouse including a USB Bluetooth adapter. If your computer has Bluetooth built-in, you wouldn’t need an adapter though. The white mouse is suitably Mac and will work with OS X 10.3.9 or later as well as Windows.

VIA [ Razer ]

by Shane McGlaun

Samsung Wireless launched a new mobile phone today that is exclusive to T-Mobile called the Samsung Blast. The Blast is intended to be an easy to use messaging phone with a slider design.

Samsung says this is their first U.S. slider phone to use a QWERTY style keypad. This is also the first phone from T-Mobile to offer users access to personal email including Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, and AOL email. T-Mobile says that there is no required data plan with the Blast. The sending and receiving of emails will be charged like text messages.

Other features of the Blast include enhanced T-Mobile myFaves capability, stereo Bluetooth technology, external microSD slot, 1.3MP camera with 4x zoom, multiple messaging options, Quad-band GSM 800, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz, and a 176×220 TFT color display. Talk time is rated for up to 5 hours and standby time is rated for 8 days.

[ Press Release (subscription required) ] VIA [ Samsung Wireless ]