There are literally thousands of items going on sale starting at various times this week, but we just wanted to point out some of the better ones in the gadgets and electronics arena.
Palm Pre $79.99 (with 2-yr contract).
Regularly $149.99.
You save $70.
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There are numerous portable battery backup solutions out there that come in various sizes, shapes and function. iTech makes one that falls into the ‘green’ category. How? By being rechargeable via solar energy. The SolarCharger 906 is a compact iPhone-sized (approx 4″ x 2.5″ x 0.6″) solar panel that holds 1,260mAh of power.
You can either charge up the 906 via a USB cable but of course, its star power (pardon the pun) is to be recharged via the sun’s rays. The 906 comes with a clear plastic cradle that is very securely connected and suction cups that you can use to attach it to your car’s windscreen. There’s also a car-kit.
The SolarCharger 906 has 4 blue LED lights on it that shows the degree to which it is charged up. Unfortunately, it takes over 20 hours to get fully charged up via sunlight, but iTech claims that it can keep a full charge for up to a year. So far, we’ve found that it does keep a charge for a week.
It also comes with 10 different power adapter tips including ones for LG, Nokia, Nintendo, Samsung, and Sony phones, Sony PSP and a few different USB tips (supports iPhone, iPods, Motorola and Blackberrys).
You can simultaneously charge a device while the 906 is charging via sunlight. Theoretically, you can keep the 906 running indefinitely if it gets enough sunshine.
We really liked iTech’s SolarCharger 906, but have to say that it is ideal for those folks that have their cars outside for a significant amount of time daily and use their portable devices enough to warrant an emergency backup. People that don’t fit this description may not get their money’s worth from the SolarCharger, although the 1 time you absolutely need your phone recharged, you may think just that!
Samsung has introduced the first point-and-shoot digital cameras with LCD screens on both the back and the front. The TL225 is a 12.2 Megapixel camera with a 1.5″ LCD screen. So now you can put the camera at arm’s length and see what the photo would actually be like!
There is more to the camera than just the front LCD screen. It has a 4.6x zoon, a 27mm wide angle, light optimization preset modes and much more. There is also another model, the TL220 that has a 3″ screen instead, at a lower price point.
Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $29.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
This no-batteries required gadget falls into the category of things that make you smile wryly and wonder why you didn’t imagine it. The Camera Cube Level is pretty simple – it’s a transparent cube with 3 bubble levelers inside. You slide the whole cube onto the top of your camera’s hot shoe and now you’re ready to take perfectly level shots, both portrait and landscape.
That’s it. If you’re a photography junkie and have a camera with a hot shoe, then go get one, it’s cheap.
Price: $4.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
Nikon has a new take on point-and-shoot digital cameras: it’s one with a built-in projector. Yes, that means you don’t need to upload your pictures to a large-screen monitor or plug into a TV. Just point your camera at the nearest wall and share with everyone.
The Nikon Coolpix S1000pj is the world’s first such digital camera. It is a 12.1 Megapixel camera with a 5x wide-angle Zoom-NIKKOR glass lens, a 5-way VR image stabilization system and a 2.7″ LCD screen.
And the projector? It can project 10″ to 6’6″ away, with VGA-equivalent resolution to produce images up from 5″ to 40″ large. Not too shabby. Battery life is about an hour, which is not too long to start boring everyone. Amazon has a nice video of this camera in action.
The S1000pj is a bit pricey, but that usually comes with being 1st to the table. But to be fair, it has a slew of features that are usually found in more advanced point-and-shoots.
Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $429.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
We always like to report on recycling efforts because we feel this is a topic that needs constant exposure and it’s something that consumers can participate in without a great deal of time or money expenditure.
Costco has now partnered with Gazelle to offer Costco members a way to recycle their old or unwanted electronics. In return you will receive a Costco Cash Card for the value of the item.
Visit http://costco.gazelle.com/ to get started.
Don’t know what to get Dad for Father’s Day? How about an Amazon.com gift card where he can get just about anything he (really) wants. This is great too when you need gadget gift ideas, but can’t think of them. Nerd gifts isn’t tough any more!
Get on it soon, as you only have a few days left.
We recently encountered a new service called PostersPrinting which will take your digital photo and turn it into a quality poster which you can then frame or perhaps use for presentations. We took this service out for a test run and were very pleased with the results. Read on for the review.
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Review: postersPrinting.com – Photo to Poster serviceRead More »
GPS is becoming more and more popular in high(ish)-end phones so that SatNav can be used on the move and for a good laugh on Google Earth. But a growing use of GPS is seriously cool (and useful!) – digital cameras with GPS capabilities which allow you to tag your photos onto a map, so you can see exactly where you took them. Let’s look at the current contenders.
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Spy cameras – nothing new here; hidden cameras have been around for years and have slowly made it from the upper echelons of the security services down to ordinary consumers like us. Here we’re going to feature some of the best hidden spy cameras that are available right now for an ordinary person.
Starting off our list is the calculator spycam, this very clever gadget allows you to do some calculations and can also record at a very nice 25FPS into 320×240 resolution on its 128MB internal memory – don’t worry though; it supports SD cards up to 2GB. The camera will record the video in AVI, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, VOB, DAT and ASF with a similar amount of options for photo and audio recording formats! What more could you realistically want in a spy camera? A cheaper price maybe – $349.99 Buy Now or look below for some cheaper ideas to invade your loved ones’ privacy have a laugh with.
Lots more spy camera gadgets after the jump. …
