Oh! Gizmo

By Shane McGlaun

Despite the swine flu, there are still lots of people who have to travel internationally for business or even for fun. I can understand, I wouldn’t let some pork disease keep me from working or going on that vacation to Italy.

An even bigger problem for travelers than swine flu is the fact that most of our mobile phones won’t work in other countries. National Geographic has teamed up with a company called Cellular Abroad to offer a new travel phone called the Duet. The phone can be pared with a pre-paid international SIM card from National Geographic or another international SIM the user already has.

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By Chris Scott Barr

Having a hands-free kit in your car can make a huge difference when talking on the phone and driving. Not only does it free up both hands for steering (and shifting), but I’ve noticed that I pay more attention to the road when using one. Unfortunately such a device doesn’t do you much good if it dies. That’s why the SolCHAT was created.
This particular hands-free kit gets it juice from the sun’s rays. Since you situate it on the windshield of your car, you’re very likely to get a pretty good charge throughout the day. Of course if your car sits in a garage or covered parking space, it might not do as well. Otherwise, you should be good. The SolCHAT features an audio Caller ID function as well as DSP echo cancellation. You can pick one of these up for right around $100.

[ SkyMall ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

This post is syndicated with permission from Gadgetoholic.com

Motorola has been unable to duplicate the success it had several years ago with its RAZR handset. Motorola is looking to regain some of its glory and its latest attempt to separate the mobile phone user from their cash is three new ROKR handsets.

The coolest one of the trio is the ROKR EM30. This phone uses Motorola’s ModeShift technology to illuminate the keyboard. When the phone is in music mode the keypad with controls for music are red. When the phone is in talk mode, the handset keys are blue. The EM30 also features a FM receiver built-in with RDS 4 technology for identifying the song and artists being played. The EM30 is also compatible with Windows Media Player 11 and has a 3.5mm headphone jack built-in.

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This post is syndicated with permission from Gadgetoholic.com

Stephen King is an undisputed literary master in many circles and one of the bestselling authors in the world and let’s face it the dude is a bit weird to boot. I remember my first exposure to his work when I was a kid with the original film “The Shining” with Jack Nicholson. That movie scared the hell lout of me, as it would with most 7 year old kids. Over the years I have found that most movies based on King’s work aren’t nearly as good as the early stuff. King also tries all sorts of formats for his work from theatrical movies, to serial novels, to magazines and even TV shows.

King is now looking to conquer one of the last mediums for his work around, the small screen of your PC or cell phone. King has teamed up with Scribner, Simon & Schuster Digital, Marvel entertainment, and CBS Mobile for a comic book style adaptation of a original and previously unpublished short story called “N.”. The story will be in the form of serialized video clips each 2 minutes long. The first segment of the series will debut July 28 and new segments will be offered 5 days per week until August 29.

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By Andrew Liszewski

USB devices that can be used to access SIM card data on a computer are nothing new. But this particular one from BrickHouseSecurity.com is apparently the first SIM reader that can be used to access deleted text messages still on the card. Just like deleted files on a PC hard drive, as long as the deleted data on the SIM card hasn’t been written over by a new file, it can still be retrieved.

Obviously such a device raises a whole mess of privacy and legal concerns, but the company is targeting it at parents who want to check up on their kids or bosses wanting to check up on employees, which are apparently both legal uses for it. And while using the device to check up on a suspected cheating spouse is kind of a legal gray area, using it to see what secrets a complete stranger has on their SIM card is of course completely illegal.

The SIM card spy can also be used to backup or edit phonebook data on a PC, which is a considerably easier task with a full keyboard. But at $149 from BrickHouseSecurity.com there are far cheaper USB SIM readers on the market if that’s all you want to do.

[ Cell Phone SIM Card Spy ] VIA [ Geekologie ]

By Luke Anderson

I’m not what you’d call a paranoid guy. Sure, there are things I worry about, but I generally don’t buy into most conspiracy theories. That’s why I’ve never really worried about the government activating my cell phone and listening into my conversations. However, I do know a few people that are convinced that someone is “out to get them.” This gadget is for those sorts of people.

The Black Hole Phone Bag is a simple pouch that completely blocks all incoming and outgoing transmissions from your mobile phone. I’m pretty much content with just turning off my phone. If I’m meeting my friends in the mob to arrange the purchase of bootleg DVDs on the black market, I’ll even go as far as to take out the battery. If you’re in need of an extra layer of protection, you can pick up one of these for just $12.

[Brando] VIA [CrunchGear]

By Shane McGlaun

Motorola announced yesterday that their new RAZR2 mobile phone is now available here in the United States. Motorola says the new RAZR2 is sleeker outside and more powerful inside. Three versions of the phone are available so users of all three major technologies will be able to use the RAZR2.

The MOTORAZR2 family will have a V9 version that runs on 3G HSDPA, a V9m version that runs on 3G EVDO CDMA, and a V8 running on plain vanilla GSM. Updates to the RAZR2 include a larger screen for full HTML web browsing and an external screen that allows viewing media, music and messaging without opening the phone.

Motorola also says that users will be able to get touch feedback on the external screen through a haptic key technology; and no I’m not sure what that means either. The phone will be equipped with up to 2GB of onboard memory and will support wireless music via headphones like Motorola’s ROKR S9.

VIA [ Motorola ]