Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Although the press release issued to announce the settlement between Vonage and AT&T earlier this month is still the shortest we’ve seen in all of 2007, we’re pretty certain the one doled out to trumpet the truce between Vonage and Nortel is holding down the two-spot. In just five wee sentences, we learn that the two have agreed in principle to end the litigation pending between ‘em, and though no cash will be changing hands, the agreement does involve a limited cross license to three patents per firm. Way to put the past behind before entering into the new year, we say.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We haven’t yet heard of any problems with the RFID tags increasingly being used to monitor inmates in prisons, but it looks like the electronic tags used to keep watch on early release offenders are decidedly less reliable, at least according to a recent investigation into the matter in Scotland. As The Scotsman reports, out of a total of 987 tagging orders issued, there were 285 incidents where the tags failed, with dead batteries the biggest culprit. That rather obvious problem accounted for 185 of the cases, with damage to the unit by the offender, problems with the black box in the offender’s home, and a weak signal rounding out the technical difficulties. That, as you might have guessed, has lead some to question the Scottish government’s practice of relying on electronic tags to monitor early release offenders, but the government seems to be sticking to its guns, with a spokesman saying that “a breach does not necessarily equate to reoffending,” although, as the Scotsman reports, it did recently scrap a plan to tag suspects who were allowed out on bail.

[Photo courtesy of The Daily Mail]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Okay, so we’ve done some digging into the RIAA’s lawsuit against Jeffery Howell, in which the industry is claiming that ripped MP3s are “unauthorized copies,” and it turns out that Jeffery isn’t actually being sued for ripping CDs, like the Washington Post and several other sources have reported, but for plain old illegal downloading. As we’re all unfortunately aware, that’s pretty standard stuff; the big change from previous downloading cases is the RIAA’s newfound aggressiveness in calling MP3s ripped from legally owned CDs “unauthorized copies” — something it’s been doing quietly for a while, but now it looks like the gloves are off. While there’s a pretty good argument for the legality of ripping under the market factor of fair use, it’s never actually been ruled as such by a judge — so paradoxically, the RIAA might be shooting itself in the foot here, because a judge wouldn’t ever rule on it unless they argue that it’s illegal. Looks like someone may end up being too clever for their own good, eh?

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Sure, we’ve seen monolithic solar farms before, but the 14-megawatt Nellis solar energy system is a beast that stands alone — for now, at least. As of today, this farm is hailed as America’s “largest solar photovoltaic system,” but if all goes to plan, Cleantech America will grab those honors when it completes a massive 80-megawatt project in neighboring California. Nevertheless, this system — which is housed at the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada — will reportedly generate “30 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually and supply approximately 25-percent of the total power used at the base, where 12,000 people live and work.” Of course, some 140 acres of land have been covered with 72,000 solar panels in order to make it happen, but it’s not like anything else is going out there (CES and rabid gambling notwithstanding).

[Via MetaEfficient, image courtesy of CleanTech]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets

Not to sound alarming or anything, but apparently, we’ve only got a decade or so before our planet runs clean out of indium. Thankfully for us, a team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany are purportedly onto a replacement. For those in the dark, indium is a critical resource in “creating solar cells, LCD and other devices which must have transparent electrodes to carry out their function,” but the aforementioned crew has seemingly been able to take graphene (”single layer 2D sheets extracted from the common material graphite”) and build an acceptable alternative. The creation is 80-percent transparent to visible light and 100-percent transparent to infrared light, which could actually lead to solar cells capable of soaking up even more energy from more of the EM spectrum. ‘Course, there’s no telling how close this discovery is to being commercially viable, but we suppose we could always resurrect RPTVs and rely solely on wind farms for renewable energy if necessary, right?

[Via DailyTech, image courtesy of About]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We’ve definitely seen some outlandish attempts at improving or outright replacing the humble credit card, but South Koreans will soon be able pay for purchases using the most easy-to-lose system we’ve seen yet — by inserting a special USB flash drive into a slot. The system, which is being rolled out by Shinhan Card and VIsa, also lets users pay for online purchases by sticking the drive into their computers’ USB ports, and Shinhan is also rolling out new terminals that will enable contactless payments using the device as well. Of course, the drive itself is locked down tighter than a drum, but we still aren’t convinced a bulky flash drive is a better option than phone-based or biometric payment systems.

[Via The Raw Feed]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: iPod Family, Odds and ends

A Washington, DC area father gave his daughter a gift of an iPod classic this Christmas, surely thinking she would be thrilled. Sadly, when his daughter opened the iPod she didn’t find everyone’s favorite MP3 player waiting for her. Instead she found a note which read, ‘Reclaim your mind from the media shackles. Read a book and resurrect yourself. To claim your capitalistic garbage go to your nearest Apple Store,’ and a few books about leading a more enlightened life.

The father returned the iPod to WalMart, where he purchased it, for a full refund. WalMart explains that this had happened to another person,and that Apple is responsible for it (though it seems much more likely to me that someone bought a few iPods, replaced the devices with these letters, and returned them).

First rocks, now letters, what is next to show up in an iPod box?

[via Fake Steve]

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Filed under: iPod Family, iTS, Video, Internet Tools, iTunes, Apple

It is a safe bet that many people received iPods this holiday season (I know a bunch of TUAW readers did), and a few of those people might be new to the whole iPod/iTunes combo. Apple has recently posted a number of video tutorials that cover iPod and iTunes basics. Now, if you’re somewhat familiar with iTunes/iPods you won’t learn much from these tutorials, but your Aunt Dora who is rocking her first iPod ever will find these videos very helpful (and you’ll look like the good niece or nephew because you helped her with her new techno-bauble. Everybody wins!).

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Although Netscape was once a mighty pioneer in the world of internet browsers, it didn’t take long for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer to overtake it and squash its dreams of market dominance. Granted, we highly (and we stress “highly”) doubt any viewers reading this now are relying on Netscape Navigator as their primary browser, but seeing it finally bow out is a bit surreal. According to a post on the Netscape Blog, support (and subsequent updates) for it will no longer be provided by AOL (disclosure: AOL is our parent company’s parent) after February 1, 2008. Sure, old versions will still be available for those who just hate to move on, but the team is suggesting that any remaining Netscape users (a show of hands, anyone?) make the leap to Firefox, and they even point you in the direction of a Netscape theme should you find yourself uncomfortable with change. Rest in peace, dear Netscape — it’s about time that last heap of dirt was finally flung.

[Via BlogRunner]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Amazingly enough, virtual doormen aren’t exactly new, but it seems that they’re becoming entirely more ubiquitous (and accepted) in today’s society. Increasingly, more and more apartment dwellers are coming home to voices in the wall rather than a physical life form, but virtual doormen can still let tenants into their room, allow deliveries to be made and keep disgruntled in-laws out. As you’d expect, these firms rely primarily on an internet connection, a webcam and a couple of microphones, and while typical services can range from “$10,000 to $70,000 for installation and $6,000 to $30,000 in annual maintenance,” that still beats the $250,000 or so it would purportedly take for a small building to be staffed with full-time, on-site doormen. The next evolutionary step? Androids answering the buzz, and subsequent hacks to gain entry into any room you please.

[Via ChipChick]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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