Believe me, they are more appealing than any other phone that’s actually on the market shelves at a given point of time. I started writing the article, then quit and went on repeating this because there were actually no good concept phones to write about. Just then I came across some good stuff, which I felt was worthy enough to make the recipe for our next flavor.

Most of these concept phones definitely embark an aura of appeal at first sight, however, it would be interesting to consider revision of your perspective, logically. The article will drive you through some interesting ingredients that make up our next flavor of the top 5 concept phones that may hit reality, and that’s actually how I started stirring up the soup.

1. Samsung Crystal Concept Phone:

Well, the picture below is perhaps a polished design of the latest Samsung Concept Phone or, er, we are not sure  if we can call it the work of a Photoshop artist. Give it a glance and you’ll immediately feel like you are looking at an extremely fine piece of a tinted mirror with bright violet-lit buttons at its bottom that do nothing but add more beauty to this already stunning masterpiece.

Featured: Samsung Crystal Concept Phone

Technically, you may say, the screen looks perfectly like the Samsung Crystal LCD, which may be right, perhaps we cannot justify it until the technical specs are out. For now, we can just keep guessing about the specs and wish that Samsung blesses it with some 5MP plus camera, a good amount of internal memory, a microSD slot for more storage, Wi-Fi, a full web browser.

More importantly, support for mind blowing gaming graphics should also be included into the phone, to make complete use of that arrestingly beautiful LCD.

Let’s wait and watch if it actually hits the reality breaking the barriers where most of the concept phones usually succumb to death (and just remain a concept phone, afterall).

2.  Sony Ericsson Kuara Concept Phone

Well, this one is just another great looking Sony Ericsson Concept Phone. Let’s spin up the specs directly. You are looking at a black beauty with 8.1MP of camera, a3.5 inch OLED display, probably Symbian S60 5^th Edition OS and a great deal of regular stuff including Bluetooth, Web Browser, Wi-Fi and some pretty interesting stuff, we hope.

Featured: Sony Ericsson Kuara Concept Phone

Until it’s official, we would only say that a concept phone like this can definitely be a part of reality. Can’t it be?

3. Fujitsu F-04B Projector Phone

Now this gizmo is one of the few concept phones that actually hit reality and it did. Why do you think, we are including it in the post, then? Reason: It was only a concept phone, when I first thought of writing it and it is still pretty the same, despite the fact that it has hit reality. Credits to its subtly fictitious design.

Featured: Fujitsu F-04B Projector Phone

So, coming to the point, it was first showcased at CEATEC 2008. Since then, a lot of improvements to its design have come through the way. It’s a sheer beauty in white, at first take and then you suddenly cannot help yourself but be jaw-dropped at its smart package of specifications.

A touchscreen display with a mobile phone projector, Bluetooth, QWERTY keyboard, and a whopping 12.2 MP camera are some major highlights of the phone. Atop of this,  the phone can also be split it two completely functional units – one with the display unit and the keyboard connected via Bluetooth and the other 1Seg TV and the projector unit (optional).

So, that’s our take on the marvelous technological beauty from Fujitsu. What’s your opinion, huh?

4. Nokia Facet Concept Phone

We are into concept phones business and what a disgrace would it be in not including Nokia in the play. Nokia has always lead the front with its interesting concept phones designs and this time, they have name the latest one as Nokia Black Facet.

Featured: Nokia Black Facet Concept Phone

This Nokia Concept Phones sports a groovy ‘Knot design’ with some revolutionary looks and prismatic gem-like surface. Features include multimedia connectivity possibly paired with Symbian S60 5^th edition or the latest Maemo OS.

The primary necessity of a camera must be compensated with perhaps, a 5 MP camera and little bit of standard features that all Nokia smart phones inherit as a part of the family legacy.  We’ll have to wait for further technical specifications to spark up and hopefully find out if it’s actually going to hit reality.

5. Leaf Phone For Environment-Friendly People

Here it is, the noble one, among the commercially glittering crowd. This concept phone is actually a leaf with a cap like covering (sound funny, right). But, let me tell you, it’s made from eco-friendly plastics, runs on solar energy, gets you internet access anytime and even projects a laser keyboard onto any surface (yes, the Die Hard kid style).

Featured: Leaf Phone Concept

Anastasia Zharkova, the designer of the phone has also suggested that it can also serve the purpose of a mini PC and can easily fit itself on human muscles, say your arms for instance, for making that uber-cool style statement.

Wonder, if the design is approved for what it is and makes it through the hurdles to the leap for reality.

Now it’s your turn to taste the new flavor and hopefully, savor it (because  “The power is yours” , so go ahead and justify it, if you feel like).

Oh mark your calendar and stay tuned ’cause we’ll soon hit back with another flavor. ( Well, that’s just another option that I owe you.)

Image Courtesy : Concept-Phones.com

I was taken to Supreme Camera (http://www.supremecamera.com). The site looked nicely designed has all the features an authentic site would have.

Then I noticed most of the gadgets and other things available there are unbelievably priced cheaper than any other site on the internet. For example EOS 5D Mark II is offered at $1909 (body only). The suggested retail price on Canon.com is $2699 and Amazon is selling it for $2629.

Following images give you a good idea of the deals available on this website.

Sony HDR-XR520V $1399 and Canon XH-A1S 3CCD $3759 on Amazon.

At this point the offer and the site looked really fishy. I called the number on the site and told them I am interested in knowing more about the Canon EOS 5D Mark II deal mentioned on the website and I might as well write about it.

The moment I said, I might write about it on my site the call got dropped or he hung-up maybe. I tried calling them again but was put in queue for more than 8 minutes after which I hung-up. This was suspicious again because the first time I called I got through to a sales guy almost immediately.

In no sense of the word I am suggesting that the business does not exist or it’s a trap but it certainly looks suspicious to me. Googled them and found this (Do read the comments on that post).

Now this brings us to a very important question! Should Google be responsible for the authenticity of its advertisers?

Google is an active participant in identifying phishing sites and alerting Firefox and Chrome users against them. In my opinion these sites fall under the same category.

I strongly believe, by publishing ads on its network Google is endorsing a brand, company, product, etc.. in an indirect way so it’s Google’s responsibility to make sure we are not spending our money to lose it, especially when we go to a site through its advertiser network.

Another reason for Google to avoid such sites is because the company is indirectly making money through advertiser that are scamming us.

Following information is from the Adwords policy page which clearly talks about “False claims” which in this case stands true. The site in question is known to sell refurbished goods which is not mentioned anywhere on the site, in fact it lures you into believing that all the goods are brand new.

“Scams/Phishing for Personal Information

Don’t use phishing or other scamming tactics.

Advertising is not permitted for sites collecting sensitive personal information or money with fake forms, false claims, or unauthorized use of Google Trademarks. Examples of personal information include email addresses, user names, passwords, and/or payment information. In addition, advertising is not permitted for ‘run your car on water’ programs or content.“[link]

What do you think? Should companies like Google own more responsibility of who they let into their advertising network?

Update: Just before publishing the article I called them again to confirm my thoughts. This time I called thrice, 1) Was in the queue for some time, 2) Got hung-up on and 3) Got shouted at saying “We are OUT of stock” when I asked about 3-4 cameras.

I wrote this article to share my experience with supremecamera.com. I hope people who are planning to buy from this site find it helpful.

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Image credit: teamaguilar.com

Casio first introduced the shock-resistant G-SHOCK® timepiece to the world in 1983.  Since then, it has pioneered numerous devices and satisfied customers with all the marvelous products it could throw in.

The Casio Exilim EX-G1 is the first model of the new Casio EXILIM G series. It’s got a powerful 12.1 MP sensor covered by a resin cover and a resin near the shutter to  protect the lens. The outer body is made of stainless steel to withstand shocks and falls and makes use of polycarbonate cover for the purpose.

The Casio Exilim EX-G1 is totally impervious to water (for up to 10 feet) and dust and can withstand shocks from as high as 7feet or bear freezing temperatures effortlessly.

Red Beauty : Casio Exilim EX-G1

A 1.5 inch thick acrylic plate covers the LCD of the camera thus protecting it from any physical damage while the speaker and microphone filters prevent water from penetrating the camera.

The camera is populated by numerous shock absorbing components at different ends and makes a perfect outdoor digital camera for sports persons and adventurers alike, besides being a totally favorable choice to careless people like at least a few of us.

It takes perfect shots with 12.1 mega pixels auto focus camera with 3X optical zoom, records movies with a dedicated movie mode (848×480) with interval shooting capability that can automatically capture stills or record videos at particular time intervals.

Featured : Rear LCD – Casio Exilim EX-G1

The rechargeable battery should reportedly last for about 300shots on full reserve. This masterpiece beauty is supposed to hit the stores in December with a price tag of $299.99 in bright red and black colors.

It comes bundled with two detachable protectors, a rechargeable Li-on battery, an AC power cord, a USB cable, AV Cable, strap for holding and drivers CD.

All this substance for just 0.78 inches of thickness. No wonder why they call it the world’s slimmest ruggedized digital camera. I’m already falling in love with that red-hot shade of the masterpiece, no doubt, it should look unanimously perfect in black as well.

Now, that’s what we call the icon of digital photographic beauty and the technologically ruggedized beast.

Click here to read more on Casio EX-G1 from the Press Release.

Watch the following video to see Casio EX-G1 in action!

SMK-Link Electronics Corporation, in collaboration with Menlo Scientific, launched a new set of GoSpeak Pro Ultra-Portable Speakers. If you are already thinking about its form factor, let us tell you, that it is not got that irresistible appeal to be your desktop ornament, but it looks quite the worth even for its fold-out notebook-like shell casing.

The GoSpeak Portable Pro speakers set (a refurbished version of the original GoSpeak!), is actually an amplification system in a brief-case like casing with quite a few standard jacks for connecting mic and other supported AV systems on its inside.  Open it up and it becomes a portable sound system with caliber.

Well, if you are planning a board room meeting or a stand up seminar, crowded presentations or corporate gatherings, sales meetings speeches or sermons and trade show demonstrations, GoSpeak speakers should make an ideal pair of portable speakers for almost all your eternal needs.

Featured : GoSpeak Portable Pro Portable Amplification Sound

This fold-out portable amplification system employs NXT flat-panel speaker technology to deliver room-filling audio to about 200 people in smaller to mid-size venues.

To add to this, you can pair it with an Audio-Technica Wireless Microphone System and use the portable system as an amplifer to the connected microphone system, which is available for $100 on top of the $399.00 price tag for the standard set.

If you are interested in this product, click here to buy the standard set or click here to buy GoSpeak Pro with the wireless mic system.

It should be available through consumer electronics retail outlets in US by now.

Click here to read more about Go Speak Pro portable speakers.

I currently have 26 widgets installed on my Chumby dashboard, however, more ambitious chumby users can choose from 100’s of widgets. One of the advantages Chumby has is its active community which is eager to contribute in from of new Widgets.

One of the best examples of how the team is working towards keeping the community active is a new widget released today for Google Voice. Once installed, this plugin automatically fetches and plays voice mails saved in your Google voice profile. Widget idea was submitted by a user and the plugin was delivered by the developer team in a month’s time and it works like a charm.

I did not get a chance to use Chumby classic so I have no point of reference but for a $100 price tag Chumby One is a darn good gadget. Though I received Chumby One as a review unit, but even if I had to buy one I wouldn’t  mind spending money on a gadget like this.

Chumby Pictures:

Chumby is good for running applications like Pandora, Twitter, Stock Quotes, Facebook Feeds, etc.. which endlessly run in the background on the computer and eat up valuable memory.

Once you get a Chumby, visit Chumby.com to register and activate the device. This is where most of the management happens. Widgets can be installed, uninstalled or configured from your account on Chumby.com. Once changes are made to the dashboard on Chumby.com it starts reflecting on the gadget within no time.

Users can also send Widgets to eachother by adding a chumby username(chum) to their friends list. Chums also have the option of embedding their Chumby on a Webpage, Virtual Chumby.

Below is my virtual chumby

Following screenshots what Chumby Dashboard looks like..

How can it get better? I’ve noticed a few things which in my opinion will improve the user experience of Chumby.

Multi-Task: The platform should be capable of running multiple applications or widgets at the same time. I don’t want to see Pandora on my screen at all time when the songs are playing, I might want to run some other application while the songs are playing in the background.

Volume dial should be multi-purpose: The knob is currently used for volume only. I think it should be put to more use like for scrolling through the list of music channels or through the list of widgets installed on Chumby.

Widget Catalogue: It’s not easy to scroll through the installed widgets when you have quite a few of them installed. I think selecting the widget would be a full screen activity which shows more than 1 installed widget at a time.

Over all I think Chumby One is a wonderful gadget to have. It enables you do to a lot of things without being at your computer or laptop at all times.

Click here to buy Chumby Classic and here for Chumby One.

Watch the following video to see Chumby One Unboxing

Update Received from Chumby: 18th Nov

Multi-Tasking: Listening to music is while using another widget is possible, ain’t that something!!!

“In the “how it can get better” section, you mention multi-tasking. We agree wholeheartedly, and built the system to enable audio while viewing content. From Pandora (in your example), tap the Done button in the lower right corner of the screen, then Done to exit the Music section, then the thumbnail of the current app (above where it says Hide Control Panel) to continue widget/app playback. You’ll be listening to Pandora and viewing your content simultaneously.” – Michael Coleman from Chumby.

Volume Knob Multi-Purpose:  The knob is built to handle more than just the volume. We can expect to see its implementation soon.

“You also mentioned that it would be nice if the volume knob could be used for other purposes. And in fact it can. It’s presented as a “mouse wheel” to Flash and uses standard Flash handlers for that. I’d expect that once the developer community gets its hands on the new devices we’ll see implementations of this.” – Michael Coleman from Chumby.

The techniques used in the way these videos were shot show how featurerich the camera is.

And in case you are looking for one, click here to buy.

So without further ado.. here are the videos.

Usually the best is saved for the last, but I’d like to start with a bang. The first video is my favourit. There are no effects added to the video it’s simply shoot on a very high shutterspeed.

The phone runs on the customized version of Android for China, OPhone. Dells partnership with China Mobile which has over 500 million subscribers places it in a better position to sell better than Apple’s iPhone which partnered with China Unicorn with about 150 million subscriber base.

As confirmed by AP, Phone will have a 3.5’ HD screen and “great sound” for best media-on-phone experience. Dell’s Mini 3 does not come loaded with Wi-Fi technology due to the governments ban on the technology, however, the company expects to build smartphones with China’s homegrown Wi-Fi technology in the future.

Here is what the phone looks like..

“This signals an important milestone in the long term partnership between China Mobile and Dell,” said a China Mobile spokesperson. “We are excited for Dell to be among the first manufacturers to introduce new technology based on the OPhone platform. We look forward to working with Dell as it brings innovative new products and services to add value to our customers’ lives.” [link]

With partnerships in place with the careers around the world, Dell makes an aggressive entry into the mobile industry to emerge as one of the leading phone manufacturers.

“As a leading innovation company in Brazil, Claro is proud of being the first wireless carrier in the world offering the 3G version of Dell’s smart phone. This confirms the Brazilian market strength and Claro as a leading actor in introducing new technology products and services to the country”, said João Cox, president for Claro. [link]

As companies like DELL, Apple, IBM, Google, etc.. enter into the mobile space it not only underlines the importance of mobile technology in the future but it also is a good indication of how the existing computer technology will evolve into a gadget as small as a mobile phone.

The price and other tech specs are not yet released by the company. More information about the phone is expected to hit the market around the phones availability in stores.

For the eager ones, take a look at the following video which showcasing Lenovo’s O1 which runs on the same OPhone platform. This should give you an idea of what the phone interface and the functionalities will more or less look like.

Popular Science released the annual Best Of What’s New 2009. The awards honor the 100 best innovations for the year in several technology related categories.

Here is the list of the winning innovations in their respective categories.

1. Canon EOS 5D Mark II – Gadgets – [link]
2. 2010 Mercedes s400 BlueHybrid – Auto Tech [link]
3. 3M/Littmann Electronic Stethoscope – Health [link]
4. Microsoft Project Natal – Home Entertainment [link]
5. NASA Kepler Space Telescope – Aviation & Space [link]
6. Steward Advanced Materials – Green Tech [link]
7. Wolfram Research WolframAlpha – Computing [link] ( For some reason Brandon claims Windows 7 is the winner of this category)
8. X-Flex Blast Protection System – Security [link]
9. Sea-Doo GTX Limited iS 255 – Recreation [link]
10. Bosch Full Force Technology – Home Tech [link]

Following videos show few of the winners in action..

3M/Littmann Electronic Stethoscope

Microsoft Project Natal:

Canon 5D Mark II

2010 Mercedes s400 BlueHybrid

I am certainly glad that the guys @ Joby who introduced tripods like Gorillapod, Gorillamobile and Gorillatorch did not believe in it and fixed something that was not broken and made it better.

Joby first introduced GorillaPod in the early 2006 breaking into the traditional tripod market. It has since come a long way and now offers several versions which serve different purpose.

Gorillapod series is typically made to hold cameras. You can mount any camera weighing up to 5KG’s and maybe just a little more. GorillaPod sells between $21 and $99, depending upon the model.

Click to Enlarge

Click here to buy GorillaPod.

The ones I find most interesting are Gorillamobile for iPhone and the Gorillatorch. Gorillamobile is made for iPhone and other mobile devices. The gadget is designed to hold up to 325g and comes along with a case for iPhone and other attachments depending upon the order.

Click to Enlarge

Price ranges between $29 and $40 for GorillaMobile . Click here to buy!

GorillaTorch is one of my favorite it almost looks like a one eyed creature from another world. Like any other Joby product GorillaTorch comes with wrappable legs and magnetic feet, that’s the best part.

Just look at the pictures to see how the flexible design adapts to various situations.

Click to Enlarge

The LED lights provide ultra-bright light and longer life.  This one sells for $29.95 a pop, click here to buy.