I can’t say I’ve been caught up in the retro trend that Mad Men has inspired (probably attributed to never seeing a single episode) but I likes what I likes and this Sixty phone from Sagemcom strikes a nice balance between retro and modern. It will be available exclusively from Orange in France for ~$125 (€89.90), hence the color, and the retro stylings are countered with such modern features as a wireless handset, built-in answering machine, dot-matrix LCD display, 150 entry phonebook and 10 different ring styles.

[ Le Journal du Geek - Sagemcom Sixty ] VIA [ Newlaunches.com ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I’ve long enjoyed my Google Voice account, as I was one of the lucky people who got in on it while it was still GrandCentral. Unfortunately it has been rather difficult to obtain an account since Google took over, and there were worries that they may simply shut down the service one day. Well we shall worry no further, as the company has officially taken Google Voice out of beta.

That’s right, you can simply head over to the Google Voice page and sign up for an account (as long as you’re in the US, that is). If you already have a Google account, then you need only pick out a number. Then you can start enjoying features like free SMS, transcribed voicemails, and having a single number ring all of your phones. Seriously, go sign up now!

[ Google Voice ] VIA [ TechCrunch ]

By Chris Scott Barr

How many of you are guilty of dropping your phone into a pool of water? If you’re one of the lucky ones that have not, just wait. One of these days your precious device will end up in the toilet, sink or possibly an actual pool. Generally when this happens, you’ll try and dry it out and hope for the best (which doesn’t always work out so well). The best method I know of is to toss it into a bag full of rice, which should absorb a good deal of the water. Another option is to have a couple of these Wet Cellular Phone Emergency Kits on-hand.

The bag contains some sort of super-absorbent material that, much like the rice, will take the water out of your phone. When disaster strikes, you simply tear off the top, toss in the phone (or any other small electronic device) and zip it shut for a couple of days. Crossing your fingers and praying to your choice of deities never hurts either. At $10 a pop, I’d say it’s worth keeping a couple around. If it does work, you’ll save a lot of cash over buying a new phone.

[ Dry-All ] VIA [ CoolestGadgets ]

By Chris Scott Barr

It looks like AT&T has hopped on the eco-friendly bandwagon. They have announced a new mobile phone charger dubbed the Zero Charger, which is supposed to be the greenest of its kind. It’s common knowledge that many devices will still draw power, even after their battery has been fully charged. This USB charger is supposed to cut off the flow of energy as soon as your device is juiced up.

To take things a step further, AT&T is delivering the device in a recycled-cardboard container. They’re really hoping that environmentalists won’t have anything to complain about with this one. The only question left is whether it’s as friendly to your wallet as it is to the Earth. We should find out when it hits stores in May.

[ AT&T ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Chris Scott Barr

If Apple learned nothing else after releasing the first two versions of their iPhone software, it was that users wanted copy and paste functionality. It seems like everyone and their brother myself (and my brother) voiced their frustration at Apple’s apparent disregard for a feature that everyone clearly wanted. Thankfully, such a stink was raised that Apple, along with every other mobile OS provider, now knows better than to leave it out from future software.

Unfortunately, Microsoft didn’t get that memo. It has been confirmed that Windows Phone 7 Series will not allow users to copy and paste. It is their firm belief that most users don’t really need clipboard functionality. You’re right, I don’t need clipboard functionality; then again I don’t need a smartphone. I do, however, want a phone that has a touchscreen, can run variety of software, play music, and let me copy and paste.

VIA [ Engadget ]

By Chris Scott Barr

If you’ve never read The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I’d suggest picking it up. No, watching the movie definitely doesn’t count. One of the coolest ideas (of which there were many) in the book was the Babel Fish. It was a fish that was inserted into your ear, and magically translated any spoken language into one that you would understand. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Yahoo has a text translation service that shares the name.

So why am I babbling about the Babel Fish today? Because it would seem that Google is working on a bit of technology that will work in a similar way (but thankfully without inserting a fish in your ear). Their new speech-to-speech translator will take a person’s words and translate them on-the-fly while on their phone. The software would be installed on the speaker’s end, so that it can adapt over time to the person’s individual voice and speaking patterns, thus resulting in a better translation.

It would seem that this software is still in an early development stage, understandably so. As it is, their speech-to-text translations via Google Voice are laughable. My most recent message was from someone at “James Dot” telling me that my copy of “I Was Shocked” was in, and reminding me that I could bring some “James” to trade in towards the price. (The key words mis-translated were GameStop, Bioshock and Games, for those playing along at home.) Needless to say, I hadn’t the slightest clue who had called until I listened to the message.

VIA [ TimesOnline ]

I can’t imagine anything funnier than the look on someone’s face when their home is burning to the ground and they realize that the fire extinguisher they just grabbed is actually a novelty phone! Priceless! You get that on tape and you’ve just won yourself $10,000, no question. Not too mention the fact that this phone appears to set a new benchmark for unergonomics. Are you supposed to stick the nozzle to your ear or something? $22 from Gadget4all.com.

[ Fire Extinguisher Phone ] VIA [ Pocket-lint ]

I know, a lot of you have probably given up your landline phone in favor of just using a cellphone, but those of you who haven’t will be happy to hear that traditional phones are getting a bit more useful. Panasonic’s new KX-TG9382T two-line phone for example comes with Bluetooth which not only allows you to use it with a Bluetooth headset for handsfree operation, but also allows you to wirelessly transfer up to 600 contacts from a Bluetooth equipped cellphone to its own phonebook directory.

It also features a 40-minute digital answering machine so you don’t have to pay for voicemail, three-line conferencing capabilities and a Silent Mode allowing you to turn off the ringer at preset times of day, like when you’re trying to sleep at night. $169.95 for a single handset unit and $229.95 for a double.

[ Panasonic KX-TG9382T ] VIA [ Akihabara News ]

Congratulations to Sharp for combining two devices that most tech-savvy consumers have no use for. Their JD-7C1CL/CW cordless landline phone includes a generous 7-inch LCD touch screen (800×480 resolution) that can be used for general phone functions like checking voicemail, accessing your phone book etc. and when not in use it doubles as a digital photo frame. The 128MB of storage on board isn’t exactly generous, and while you can wirelessly send photos from a cellphone to the frame, it only supports IR so be prepared to wait a while if your phone ‘s camera is of the many megapixel variety.

VIA [ Akihabara News ]

Hmm, I can’t say I know too many people who still have a landline at home, and even those who do really only keep it around for emergencies. So even though this DECT telephone designed by Stefano Giovannoni has a lot going for it, including looks, a 65,000 color OLED display, custom ringtones composed by Gak Sato and a built-in address book, I can’t see too many people willing to shell out roughly $175 for one.

[ Alessi - Stefano Giovannoni - Cordless DECT Telephone ] VIA [ Acquire ]