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INSTEON I/O Linc Doorbell and Phone Ring Alert Kit

Here’s another cool add-on for your INSTEON home automation system – the I/O Linc Doorbell and Phone Ring Alert Kit. Use this kit to generate a visual alert when the phone or doorbell rings.

This is great for when you’re in a noisy environment – listening to music, working in the backyard/garage, partying. Also great if you’re hearing impaired or have trouble with certain frequencies.

This I/O Linc kit is easy to connect yourself and can be linked to a remote INSTEON-controlled device. Remember too that there is a host of I/O Linc kits available, including rain sensors, garage door control, freeze sensors and more.

Buy now!

More info from the manufacturer
Price: $89.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

PlayStation Phone rumor

Sony Ericsson Aino

Remember the Nokia N-Gage? No? You know, it was that phone made by Nokia and SEGA that people were supposed to be able to play games on like a games console? The point here is it never took off. A bit of de ja vu here – Sony Ericsson and Sony have teamed up in an effort to produce what looks like could be the PlayStation Phone.

So far we’ve seen the Aino – a touch screen gadget that allows media exchange with the PS3 and boasts an impressive 8.1MP camera. There’s another range of similar devices being announced along with this, which does seem to be pointing towards the possibility of a PlaySation Phone. Nice.

Palm Pre rolling out June 6

It turns out the rumors were pretty true, and the Palm Pre will be available Jun 6! It will only be $200 on Sprint. Of course, you’ll have to sign up for a 2-year contract, but that’s not surprising.

Here were some of our thoughts on the Palm Pre when it was announced at CES.

Although most folks seeing the Pre at CES were pretty impressed, a user on the EverythingPre forums wasn’t quite as complimentary. Of course, we’ll get a better idea once thousands of people get their hands on this phone.

Rumor: Best Buy trial of Palm Pre Jun 7

Just a rumor, but it’s possible that in a month, you may see a limited # of Palm Pre units at Best Buys across the country. And they really mean limited – only 4500 units. Quite possible that some locations may only have 1 unit. That doesn’t seem to make sense to me at all, but I suppose it’s better than nothing.

The other part of the rumor is pricing: New customers with a 2-year contract, $199.99. Existing customer upgrades, $299.99. Outright, $999.99. Here’s hoping my Sprint phone upgrade credit of $150 still applies!

via BGR.

Microsoft, Verizon to collaborate on an iPhone competitor

Oh Microsoft, for all of your improvements and even advancements over the years, you still manage to make me laugh and scratch my head in amazement. If you really wanted to compete with the iPhone, why didn’t you start a long time, oh say when you first knew they were coming out with the device?

You have a strange habit of coming late to the game and being annoyed that your competing product doesn’t vault immediately to the #1 position.  Your touchscreen ‘MSPhone’ could potentially outsell the iPhone (especially if Apple sticks to just AT&T for a cellular network), but it’s not about to happen any time soon. Good luck – we’ll be watching what happens.

3D Eyetracking UI

Remember those little holographic things you used to play with when you were a child that showed different pictures depending on the angle you looked at them?

Well the 3D Eyetracking UI from Tat does something similar – the UI can detect where you’re looking at the phone by tilting it, which allows the software to give depth to your phone’s display. This means that you can see ‘behind’ some of the menu items, and looking at it from different angles will reveal different things.

This could lead to richer user interfaces with more available ‘virtual’ screen real estate.

Pretty hard to explain and get your head around, so it’s best for you to see it in action:

XLink BT System – Replace your Landline with your Cell

XLink BT System

The XLink BT is a great innovation from XLink, designed to completely replace your telco landline with your cell. You can connect up to 3 cells to the XLink BT, and then, when a call comes to your cell, it is diverted to the BT system and forwarded to a house phone. This means that you don’t actually need a landline any more, allowing you to save on line rental – the company’s website states that this is $33 a year on average. This also works in reverse, by allowing you to make outgoing calls through the BT system via your cell.

Connected by Bluetooth, you are free to leave your cell wherever you want; you can have it plugged into a charger, or just the place where you get the best reception, and the BT system will be able to pick it up. Any cell phones with Bluetooth should work with this and any ordinary house phone can be connected to take the calls.

As well as the convenience aspect of the device allowing you to talk on more ergonomically designed handset, there’s also the safety aspect – talking on a cell phone generates a lot more harmful radioactivity than talking via a home phone!

Buy Now!

More info from the manufacturer

Price: $144.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

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