Gadgets Inspector | Hot Gadgets and Gizmos

Got a special talent or ability? Apparently everyone does. It looks like more ordinary people with ordinary abilities have been discovered. Here’s a clip from the open auditions for the American Sci-Fi series Heroes on NBC.

The clip features some guy pulling a chain out of his nose (burn out), a woman playing the flute with her nose (don’t laugh, that’s someones mom), a guy who can pop beans out of his eye (that’s sexy), an Indian woman who can talk with a perfect Indian dialect (amazing!), a psycho who can stab a potato with a straw (very scary), and more…

I’m pretty sure no one from these open auditions will be saving the world with their “special” talents.

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Guess what showed up in the mail today? You can see more Apple TV unpacking photos here.

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The iPod’s Alarm Clock is nestled among other features like Calendar and Notes under the iPod’s Extras menu. While you may already be familiar with many of the iPod Extras (especially Games), the Alarm Clock is largely an under appreciated feature.

Whether you prefer to be woken by the scream of a rock star or the French horn in a classical symphony, the iPod’s Alarm Clock can help you open your eyes every morning with style!

Tutorial: Waking Up to the iPod Alarm Clock

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We’ve all seen the EQ setting in iTunes, but not many of us know exactly how to use it to its full potential. In this article, Rich Tozzoli, Senior Editor of Surround Professional Magazine breaks each EQ slider down and helps you get the most out of your music.

Tutorial: Demystifing the EQ sliders in iTunes

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Crap. I was really looking forward to getting my Apple TV ($299) this month. I guess I’ll have to wait a little bit longer.

This morning I got the following email from the Apple Online Store regarding my Apple TV pre-order. Apparently “wrapping up” took ” a few weeks longer” than they expected… whatever that means.

To Our Valued Apple Customer:

Thank you for ordering the new Apple TV, an easy to use and fun way to wirelessly play all your favorite iTunes content from your Mac or PC on your widescreen TV.

Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected, and we now expect to begin shipments in mid-March, not in February as originally anticipated.

You may check the status of your order any time by visiting our online order status website at http://www.apple.com/orderstatus.

A shipment notification, with tracking information, will be emailed to you as soon as your order is shipped. There is no need to contact us unless you choose to change or cancel your order.

We appreciate your business and thank you for shopping at the Apple Store!

Sincerely,
The Apple Store Team

As you can see, the “letter” from Apple is some of the most uninformative collection of words ever assembled. Apple doesn’t even try to explain why shipments of the Apple TV are being delayed. Pete Mortensen from the Cult of Mac blog sarcastically summed up my disappointment pretty well: “Wow. That’s a stunningly insightful piece of news. Anyone upset that your new toy isn’t showing up Wednesday?”

When I do get my Apple TV (hopefully next month?), it should be an easy setup. Apple is promising true plug-and-play installation. Just connect Apple TV to your TV (even HDMI is built in) and start iTunes, which will automatically detect it. A few clicks on my remote and I should be in business.

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£60 fine and 3 points on your license, that’s what you will now get if the police catch you using your mobile while driving. We all know that driving while chatting on the phone can be dangerous but this new punishment can be used on anyone who even touches their phone.

The new penalties will be dished out from today, 27th February and already there seems to be a bit of confusion as to what warrants the penalty. Some drivers have received the fines for merely flipping over their phones to see if they had a message before discarding the handset, something that could only take a few seconds.

Some would argue that a few seconds is all that it takes to crash a car but drivers are allowed to look at the scenery, change the radio station or turn the air conditioning on.

Drivers who lose control of their car while using a hands-free kit will also be punished under the new legislation.

Reference for posting: http://www.askaprice.com

If you were watching last night’s American broadcast of the Oscars, then you might have noticed the first Apple iPhone ad. Apple reportedly paid $1.7 million to run the ad during the Oscars. The ad features 28 scenes from popular movies and TV shows with actors saying “hello” on a phone. The ad ends with an image of the iPhone and some text that says “Coming in June”. You can see the ad here on YouTube.com.

According to Gizmodo, this phone will be in service with AT&T instead of Cingular.

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When your computer’s flat screen monitor breaks what should you do? You could attempt to replace the bad screen yourself… or grab the nearest BB gun and shoot it. Repeatedly.

Someone posted this video on Break.com of a LCD monitor being shot with a Tokyo Marui Desert Eagle BB gun. This guy didn’t even bother to take the LCD monitor outside before shooting it. Either he has faith in his aiming, or he has little regard for his drywall.

Maybe the next time you buy a flat screen monitor you might want to look up its “Gunfire Resistance” rating.

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Can’t get enough of your favorite TV show or movie? Why not take it with you on your Sony PSP? The Internet is full of PSP encoded video files ready to be downloaded onto your Sony Memory Stick. But you have to know where and how to name the files in order for the PSP to read them properly.

Here’s a short tutorial that expalins how to add videos to your Sony PSP.

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After the death of two new Yorkers who walked out into the street whilst being distracted by their iPods a New York State Senator is proposing a bill to ban listening to your iPod or mobile phone.

New York State Senator Carl Kruger said he has had enough of people being killed crossing the road while distracted by electronic devices and it was time to fine people which could be as much as $100.

Bans of using electronic devices whilst driving by one thing but putting a ban on using them in public when not even driving is a whole different matter.

The proposal has been criticized heavily and its easy to see why. Some claim that the senator is just trying to get publicity for himself whilst others believe he is just being over protective.