Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Sure, there’s plenty of hackery going on with interactive whiteboards these days, but that doesn’t mean plain old marker-based boards have been left out of the fun completely, as evidenced by this latest contraption devised by Sprite_tm. As you can see in the video after the break, he’s managed to rig up a slightly precarious system that’ll write out any message you send it over the web, and with surprising legibility no less. To do that, Sprite salvaged some parts from an old scanner and printer, along with an ever useful microcontroller, an x/y stepper system, and some rather clever touches like an electromagnet to keep the marker on the board. He even bravely opened up the board to the public, although that unsurprisingly doesn’t appear to have lasted very long. If you want to give one a shot yourself, however, you can find most of the details you’ll need and the necessary source code by hitting up the read link below.

[Via Slash Gear]

Continue reading Remote-controlled whiteboard hack is as practical as it is pretty

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, Verizon Wireless, EDGE, CDMA

We’ve learned from a trusted source that one of the jewels in Verizon’s summer 2008 crown, the Samsung Glyde, will finally freaking launch on May 9. Despite a wealth of both in-the-wild and press quality photography of the phone over the past few weeks, it’s been less and less clear when exactly Verizon was planning on actually offering it, so we’re glad to finally have a date — particularly considering that it’s less than two weeks away. That’ll give the Glyde a few comfortable weeks atop the heap ahead of the Dare’s arrival, so enjoy it while you can, Samsung.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

It looks like Fujitsu has itself a new tablet in the cooker. This here LifeBook Tablet PC was spotted recently in Germany, and is running one of those super-small P-series processors from Intel, the Core 2 Duo P8400. The laptop sports a 13.3-inch passive digitizer display and an all-new look from Fujitsu — which we’re a little meh about, to tell you the truth. No word if this is a replacement for Fujitsu’s storied T2010 tablets, or something completely different, but we don’t expect to be in the dark long… this is the information age, friend.

[Thanks, Big_star]

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Sorry Mario, but your Wii Wheel just got lapped, backed over and left in the dust. Heck, even the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel looks toyish propped up next to this. Then again, neither of the previously mentioned accessories will put a $349.99 hole in your bank account, but did you really expect anything else from an officially licensed Porsche product? According to Fanatec, it took the firm seven years to acquire the license, and it required that the wheel be “the best out there.” We can’t judge the quality from here, but we can tell you it supports wireless USB technology and boasts a trio of force feedback motors, a 6+1 speed H-pattern gear shifter, cordless pedals, an automotive grade leather covering, a key-shaped 1GB flash drive for storing settings and compatibility with Sony’s PlayStation 3 and PCs of (almost) all ages. Look at it this way: it’s still probably cheaper than two tanks of premium.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

Our best friends at T-Mobile are getting set to roll out 3G in New York soon — real soon, as was previously expected. New York will launch on May 1, to be exact, according to TmoNews.com. That’s, like, tomorrow. The leaked document promises T-Mobile customers the “great call quality they’ve come to expect…and more network availability”. The rest of the network will be rolled out in 2008 to 20 markets, including Los Angeles, Detroit, San Diego, Austin, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Miami, and several more. As TmoNews.com points out, New Jersey and Long Island are mysteriously off the list. View all the launch cities after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading T-Mobile rolling out 3G tomorrow in New York, sorry New Jersey

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Original post by Joshua Fruhlinger

Filed under: Handsets, Software, HTC, Windows Mobile

As we hurl headlong toward HTC’s May 6 date with destiny, the Diamond is looking more and more like the headlining act for the unveiling — but what’s it gonna look like when they turn it on? Screen shots of a purported Diamond have turned up on Chinese site PDAFans, and if they turn out to be legit, the answer is “pretty much like any other Windows Mobile 6.1 device.” One of the Diamond’s alleged claims to fame is a revamped TouchFLO interface, though we’re not really seeing a heck of a lot of that here; just a whole lotta plain-vanilla WinMo that has us thinking that this is either fake or an early prototype with an particularly barren build loaded. Doesn’t really matter how hot the hardware ends up being — unless HTC manages to impress with the software visuals, we suspect there are going to be a lot of disappointed people when this one starts shipping.

[Via PDAPhoneHome, thanks Joseph G.]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Handsets, Palm, O2, Windows Mobile, GSM, UMTS

British carrier O2 has added the previously Vodaphone-exclusive Treo 500 to its roster of business class smartphones. O2 is offering Palm’s latest Windows Mobile handset for free with certain data and voice plans, which is probably the only way the company could get anyone to take these underwhelming hunks of plastic off their hands.

[Via the::unwired]

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Original post by Terrence O’Brien

Filed under: Software

While you can argue that Windows Mobile is feature-for-feature and spec-for-spec superior to OS X on the iPhone, Apple’s mobile UI is certainly more fun to use. So if you’re running WinMo with a hankerin’ for rubber band-like scrolling, jiggly icons, screen flicking, SummerBoard themes, and even simulated multi-touch pinching of photos then you’re in luck. Flick Software Research is set to release its iSwish interface and iZoom pinch software in beta come “early May.” Hey Flick, here’s a hint: Dell Axim != sexy demo hardware… or maybe that’s the point. See the action after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Video: iSwish puts the iPhone UI on any Windows Mobile phone

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Original post by Thomas Ricker