2007 June 04 | Trend Squad

Meade mySKY Point And Shoot Star Explorer

Meade mySKY (Images courtesy Meade & Gearlog)

Even if you don’t pursue star gazing as a serious hobby I guarantee everyone at one point has spent some time staring up at the night sky. And if you’re completely ignorant about what you’re looking at the mySKY from Meade will serve as a handheld astronomy professor.

It’s kind of unfortunate the device looks like a toy gun because it packs some pretty serious technology and functionality. Just aim it at any object in the night sky and it will automatically identify it from a database of over 30,000 celestial objects. And using a 480×234 color LCD screen it will also display additional info about the object like photos and videos that are stored on an SD card. To allow for the simple point and shoot interaction the mySKY uses a built-in 12 channel GPS receiver, a magnetic north sensor and electronic accelerometers to determine exactly where it’s being aimed. Alternately you can specify an object you already know the name of and the mySKY will display arrows on the LCD which will help guide you to its location in the sky.

If you are an amateur astronomer the mySKY can even be used to control your Meade telescope with a special interface cable. Once your telescope is properly aligned it will automatically move to whatever you’ve targeted with the mySKY allowing you to see the object up close. (Relatively speaking.)

The mySKY should be available at the end of the month for about $400. While it’s not cheap it’s still pretty reasonable given what the device is capable of.

[ Meade mySKY ] VIA [ Gearlog ]

Written by Trend Spotter on June 4, 2007 | No Comments

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Meraki Solar Powered WiFi

Meraki Solar WiFi We’ve covered solar powered WiFi in other forms, but so far, none as cheap and easy as this. The Meraki outdoor WiFi repeater is designed to work with their $50 indoor repeater that we covered in May, and is able to broadcast a signal “up to 700 feet away,” although half that might be a bit more realistic if you’ve had any experience with wireless routers. The repeater is, of course, designed to withstand the fury of the elements, and comes with a special “outdoor” Ethernet cable. By itself it’s only about $100, but for an unreleased (but supposedly low) price you can add a solar panel and battery pack; there’s some included software designed to manage the repeater’s power so that it’ll have enough reserves to work at night and when it’s cloudy. Part of the attraction of the whole package is also Meraki’s software, which lets you regulate the public aspects of your network, and if you choose, start charging your neighbors when they mooch off your bandwidth.

The kit should be shipping later this summer.

[ Meraki Solar Powered Outdoor WiFi ] VIA [ Engadget ]

Written by Trend Spotter on June 4, 2007 | No Comments

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Goldmund’s $300,000 Turntable is World’s Most Expensive Turntable

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You must be a die-hard music enthusiast and of course immensely wealthy to buy million dollar speakers or $300,000 turntable! The high-end audio is getting more and more expensive. We have recently told you about the Top-10 luxurious speakers and now its back to age-old turntables but not like you knew, for even the turntables are getting pricier with $19,000 ClearAudio Master Reference Turntable or the latest $19,000 TEAC?s VPI HR-X1 turntable, but the most expensive, we knew was this $150,000, quarter-ton turntable ?Transrotor Artus? from the German company Transrotor. But, GadgetLab has an update and this time it?s undeniably the most expensive one from Goldmund?s titled “The Reference II,” that carries a price tag of $300,000. A very limited series of 25 Reference II turntables, it features a degree of refinement and a number of new features never seen before.

The turntable features a 20kg platter machined to a hundreth of a millimeter, a motor vibration-shielded by 15kg of brass, and teflon-insulated signal-carring electronics. It is also packed with loads of features including cog-free motor with lowest electrical and mechanical noise, liquid-nitrogen-rectified belt, touch controls integrated in the tabletop specially designed new Goldmund T8 straight-line tone arm with total weight of 7 kg to name a few.

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Limited editions of 25 units are sold on subscription with a maximum production of 5 units per year.

Written by Trend Spotter on June 4, 2007 | No Comments

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SmartParts 15-inch Digital Photo Frame

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HDTVs, Outdoor TVs and now photo frames?everything is getting bigger and bigger! SmartParts has announced a new king-sized 15-inch digital photo frame that features a high definition 15-inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 768. The frame has an internal memory of 256 MB, so you can store up to 2,000 digital pictures. The frame is equipped with a built-in memory card reader so you don?t need a computer to be able to use the frame, it automatically displays the contents of the memory card. The photo frame also features MP3 player, built-in speakers, removable picture stand, AC adapter, USB cable and a remote control. For business users, Smartparts pre-loaded OptiPix Pro software is a first-of-its-kind with its ability to display PowerPoint presentations, PDF files, and graphics in nearly any format. And, the hi-tech features are coupled with aesthetics to make it a perfect gift for Father’s Day!

via FosforGadgets / BestStuff

Written by Trend Spotter on June 4, 2007 | No Comments

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MP3 Player That Gives Facials Too

I am going to have to ask Bella what she thinks of this because I am speechless. The Mpion is an MP3 player that gives users a facial while they listen to music. According to Digital World Tokyo, for the equivalent of $170 the mpion delivers a 1998-style 128MB of memory device that can hold about 32 tracks. The upside? A negative ion generator on the back of the player supposedly cleans your skin and pores better than your average soap and water, a notion that isn’t exactly scientifically proven. I’d say this one falls in the negative section of the chic meter, but it’s a humorous concept nonetheless.

Source

Written by Trend Spotter on June 4, 2007 | No Comments

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Go Green With The USB Frog Mouse

With all the positive feedback I received about the USB ladybug mouse post, I just knew I had to share another cute critter gadget. This two button, ergonomic USB Frog Mouse is not only adorable but very user-friendly. All you have to do is plug it into your USB port and you can start surfing immediately. It only costs $15 and yes, the matching frog pad is included!