The PHS300 Personal Hotspot from CradlePoint Technology allows you to share your broadband-enabled mobile phone or modem with multiple users by turning it into a secure wifi hotspot. The company claims that getting online is as easy as plugging your phone or USB modem into the compact router, and then connecting your PC to the wireless network. Of course since you’ll probably want to use the WEP/WPA security options so that everyone’s not mooching your wifi, the setup process might take a bit longer than they claim.

The personal hotspot includes a built-in lithium-ion battery that will keep it running for several hours and can be recharged via USB when connected to your computer. It can even be used to recharge a phone that’s connected to the USB port, though that will no doubt reduce its own battery life. It’s available from Amazon for $299.99 but you’ll want to make sure your broadband phone or modem are included on the supported hardware list before you pick one up.

[ PHS300 Personal Hotspot ] VIA [ GadgetKing ]

Hardware, WiFi

By Evan Ackerman

You might remember that I wrote about Logitech’s MX Air last July, under the headline “Logitech’s MX Air Mouse Is Real, Spectacular.” I think spectacular might be an understatement now that I was finally able to wrangle myself a review unit to try out for a little while. The idea behind the MX Air is that you can use it as a normal wireless laser mouse, or you can pick it up and a gyroscopic sensor will kick in, letting you use it just as effectively in mid air. It’s hands down one of the sexiest peripherals I’ve ever had the pleasure of fondling, and unlike a lot of things that look this good, it’s intelligent and functional. But is it worth the $150 asking price? I think I can probably convince you… Read my full review, after the jump.

As you might expect from a mouse of this caliber (read: cost), it comes in a tasteful presentation box:

Also in the box is the matching docking station, an ac adapter, the USB receiver (operates at 2.4 ghz with a range of easily 30 feet), Logitech’s SetPoint software, and even a microfiber cleaning cloth to keep your mouse nice and shiny.

The mouse itself is just beautiful. You may notice that it looks more like a remote control than a mouse… Realistically, it’s designed to be integrated into your multimedia system. For those of us who aren’t privileged enough to have a separate “media center” PC, I’m going to try and take a look at this mouse as a mouse as well as a media remote.

It’s piano black on top with a chrome belly, and the buttons on top are backlit amber (more on them later). When I first saw the amber, I couldn’t help thinking that it would have looked better in that bright ice blue color that you see everywhere, but after using it for a while I realized that since you use this mouse a lot while watching movies and such, the longer wavelength amber color doesn’t blind you in the dark yet it still gives the mouse a unique look.

Underneath the mouse you can see the charging contacts, the laser sensor, and the on/off switch. The sensor is a 800dpi 848nm (i.e. infrared) laser with a refresh rate of about 130 hz. I suppose you could ask for something better or faster for some games, but come on, can you honestly tell the difference?

Plugging in the USB dongle gets the mouse working just fine, although you’ll need to install Logitech’s SetPoint software to get the most out of the mouse. The software install asks you whether you want to Yahoo! toolbar (tacky, but at least they don’t do it automatically). The included tutorial is good, and unlike most tutorials, actually worth paying attention to, if for no other reason than it points out the correct way to hold the mouse in the air… You don’t hold it like a mouse, you hold it like a remote control. More on that later. The SetPoint software itself does much more than I was expecting. It allows you to configure what just about every single button does, and you can set the button mapping to change depending on whether the mouse is on the ground or in the air, and even based on what program it’s currently being used within. You can adjust not only scroll and pointer speeds, but also accelerations. Logitech also helpfully provides some tipes on the most ergonomic way to work at your desk. It’s quite comprehensive.

On a surface, the mouse is almost, but not quite, too small for my large-ish monkey hands. Four teflon sliders keep it moving smoothly, and although the integrated battery makes it just a little bit heavier in the back than a corded mouse, its smaller size somehow makes up for it. I noticed no functional difference between the MX Air and my trusty IntelliMouse, whether I was using it for PhotoShop, gaming, or web browsing. Clicking the buttons is effortless and they make a nice satisfying noise. You have easy access to the scrollpad, and the single-line up and down arrow buttons on each end of it, but using any of the media buttons further back on the body of the mouse really isn’t practical.

The scrollpad itself takes a little bit of getting used to. It’s designed to operate just like a scroll wheel, except without the wheel… You run your pointer finger across it in exactly the same way. When you do, the mouse clicks quietly at you to indicate the speed at which you are scrolling, which is a critical feature, as you have no tactile reference. Since there is no wheel, you can enable a scrollpad feature called “inertia,” which will keep applying any single scrolling motions you make at a gradually decreasing rate. So, if you want to get to the end of a long webpage, just flick your finger down the scrollpad, and the inertia feature will scroll you all the way down to the end. Overall, all of these scrollpad features are certainly useful, but without tactile feedback it takes more than a little bit of practice. I found that turning the scroll speed and acceleration down to just about the minimum made it much easier to use, and kept things more in line with what I was accustomed to.

The MX Air transitions from pretty good to wow when you pick it up off the surface. There is virtually zero lag between surface mode and air mode; I assume the mouse notices Z axis acceleration and switches over to it’s FreeSpace motion engine. I say “virtually” because there is enough lag to let you lift the mouse up slightly and reposition it on your mousepad without the cursor jumping around. The laser does stay active to some extent when the mouse is airborne, and you have to be a bit careful to hold it properly or the laser will mistake your finger for a surface and wig out a little bit. You can hold it like a mouse and move the cursor around and click some of the buttons, but it’s designed to be held like a remote control, with your front few fingers and thumb:

Holding it in this manner means you can’t easily reach the right and left clicks or the scroll wheel, but don’t worry about that, because you can now reach the row of media buttons with your thumb. These buttons are by default configured as Back, Select (left click), Play/Pause, and Volume, although you can change them all if you want to. The Select button has a brilliant little ridge on it to let you feel which one it is without looking, perfect for watching movies in the dark. While the mouse is active in the air, the buttons are lit. When you set it down, the buttons fade out after a little while (10 seconds maybe), which is a nice touch.

Somehow, the mouse is able to keep my natural spasticity from making the cursor jump about when I’m trying to hold the thing steady: it only moves when I want it to move. I suspect that there’s some kind of small motion filter in the software. Precision movements are still possible (easily possible), although you have to move the mouse further than you might think to actually get the cursor to move. It’s not very hard to end up in a position where the cursor needs to move somewhere that your wrist will not physically permit, but when that happens, you can use the Back button to freeze the cursor in place while you reposition your wrist. If you hold down the Back button for more than 2 seconds, the cursor will freeze until you press one of the other buttons, which is useful when you don’t want to have the cursor waving around whenever you shift position on the couch. It’s also interesting to note that the mouse will work backwards (if you point it at you, the back becomes the front) but not upside-down.

As you might expect from a mouse that you can wave around, the SetPoint software allows the use of mouse gestures. The most useful one is probably volume: simply hold the volume button and flick the mouse left or right… A large volume bar appears at the bottom of your screen to let you know where you are, and soft clicks provide audible feedback. You can also hold the Play button and make circular motions to skip tracks in iTunes, WinAmp, Windows Media player, and a few other commonly used applications including IE and Firefox. If you somehow lose the cursor completely, you can give the mouse a little shake and it will reposition the cursor at the center of the screen, which can be handy at times, although the type of shake required to activate this feature takes a good bit of practice to get down properly.

The battery in the mouse lasted me a couple days of normal use before the SetPoint software gave me a critical battery warning. After about 20 minutes of charging, it was ready to go for the rest of the day. A full charge takes only a few hours, and there’s a 3-step battery indicator that lights up in amber on the back of the mouse when you turn it on to let you know how much juice it’s got. All in all, the software is something that is useful on a day to day basis, which can’t be said for most of the utilities that come with peripherals.

The issues I thought the mouse might have back when I first saw it are more or less unchanged. The USB receiver is separate from the charging dock which is a little bit annoying, since they’re both integral to the functionality of the mouse. However, it makes perfect sense if you’re using it as a dedicated media mouse, where your computer is somewhere back behind the TV and you want the charging cradle next to the couch. My biggest gripe with this mouse is the lack of forward/back buttons along the sides, and a middle click button (which I use to open a page in a new tab in Firefox). I use the internet a lot (a lot)… I’m always skipping around web pages, and the utility of having dedicated navigation controls is something I miss. True, you can reprogram some of the media buttons to do it, but there are no buttons physically on the sides of the mouse, under your thumb and finger. There’s plenty of room in the body from what I can tell… Maybe in version two? Please? Overall, though, these are fairly minor gripes, and after using the mouse for a couple weeks, I’ve gotten over them.

Besides, it’s so good looking, and so good at what it does, that I’m more than willing to overlook these small inconveniences.

Pros:

Sexy sexy sexy Works well as a normal mouse Works brilliantly as a gyro mouse

Cons:

Let’s face it, it’s not cheap Takes a little bit of getting used to, especially the scrollpad Could use a few more buttons to keep up with traditional 5 button mice

Bottom Line: It’s a pretty good all-around mouse, and the fact that it works in the air puts it in the category of awesome, especially if you use your computer as a media center. If you can possibly justify the price (MSRP $150, street $130ish), you won’t regret it.

[ Logitech MX Air Mouse ]

Mouse, Peripherals, Reviews

By Luke Anderson

If you’re one of the many people that have jumped on the iPhone wagon, you’ve no doubt realized that typing on it isn’t quite as easy as other smartphones. The main cause for this is the lack of tactile feedback. Sure, I will admit that the keyboard isn’t that bad to use, but if you could actually feel where your fingers were, it would make things much easier. This is exactly the purpose that My Touch Keys plans to serve.

This piece of plastic clings to your screen, with holes where the letters of the keyboard would be. This way you can feel exactly where your fingers are. The blue tint looks like it might wash out your picture a bit, but for $7.99, it can’t be too bad.

[ MyTouchKeys ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

accessories, iPhone, iPod

By Luke Anderson

How many times have you been traveling across a few states, only to find that one of your gadgets is in serious need of a charge? This has happened to me on more than one occasion, and since I don’t always bring my handy power inverter, I’m usually out of luck. However, since many of my gadgets can recharge via USB, this gadget would have come in handy.

This 4-Port USB Car Charger is as simple as it looks. Just plug it into your cigarette adapter and you’ve got four USB ports for recharging just about anything. For $12 I think I’ll have to pick one up.

[ Gadget4All ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

USB

By Evan Ackerman

Back when we first introduced the Aptera, I mentioned that it looked like a space fighter. I guess someone was listening, since this picture shows an Aptera on what is supposedly the set of the new Star Trek movie, at Cal State Northridge’s Oviatt Library.

As long as people realize that it’s not a prop and you can in fact order one, this should certainly be great publicity of Aptera… ‘Course, production on the car is supposed to begin “in late 2008,” a ways ahead of the May 2009 release date for the movie. Who knows, maybe by then the Aptera will be everywhere and nobody will be impressed by the movie cameo. We can only hope.

[ Aptera ] VIA [ Ain’t It Cool ]

automotive, Eco friendly

If you hand someone a gift wrapped in newspaper and twine, they’re going to figure out you picked it up at the gas station 10 minutes before you got to their house. But if you hand someone the same gift that looks like it was wrapped by Martha Stewart, they’ll cherish that deodorizing air freshener until the day they die. But since very few of us have Martha’s skills (or dedicated army of gift wrappers) Hallmark has made things a bit easier by introducing adhesive gift wrap.

The underside of the wrapping paper is covered with a low-tack adhesive which is probably similar to what Post-It Notes use. So if you can leave a note telling your co-worker to stop stealing your lunch, you can wrap a gift like a professional. The sticky side also makes it a lot easier to wrap non-box shaped items like bowling balls, golf clubs or even puppies. And while I think it’s a clever idea, it’s still not as fast as my own wrapping system which involves a can of spray paint and a well ventilated room.

The adhesive gift wrap will be available exclusively from Hallmark for about $5 a roll.

[ Hallmark Adhesive Gift Wrap ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

Design, Innovation

This isn’t the first watch from Diesel to feature an OLED display, but since the original model only used the technology for a thin strip of blue numbers, it might as well be. While the display on the DZ7086 isn’t exactly large compared to LCD standards, it’s no longer monochrome thanks to the introduction of green to complement the blue. But even with a ‘cutting-edge’ OLED display the watch is still styled after the LED watches from the 1970’s, so it will probably appeal mainly to the retro crowd.

The watch face has 4 different animations that can be triggered at random whenever you push one of the buttons on the side and features a genuine black leather strap that’s attached to the display via a set of stainless steel lugs. Oh and it of course sports the Diesel logo, since most people won’t be buying it for the OLED technology.

It’s available directly from Diesel for $150.

[ Diesel OLED Time Frames ] VIA [ technabob ]

Watches

I’ve never tried ‘canned shapes’ before but if they’re half as tasty as this can shaped memory card reader is useful, I’ll start stocking my pantry. But Y3K preparation aside, Brando has once again managed to stick another piece of everyday technology into an unusual package. This time it’s an SD, SDHC, MMC, XD, CF and MicroSD friendly card reader crammed into what appears to be a short aluminum can. It connects to your PC via USB 2.0 and even includes 3 extra USB ports lining the base of the can. A clever design unless you work in an office where the cleaning crew will probably toss it in the recycling bin.

You can get it on Brando’s website for $20.

[ Canned Shape Card Reader & USB Hub ] VIA [ Tech Digest ]

Hardware, Unusual, USB

This Light-Up Singing Elvis sign sitting on your desk probably won’t revitalize your career like it did for Elvis at his 1968 Comeback Special. But it will literally be a shining example that you’re still a fan of the King, long after his passing. It’s only about 9 inches wide but when you plug it in it will glow with all the class and impeccable taste Elvis was known for. In terms of controls there’s a 3-way on/off/flashing switch for turning it on, and a button that will play Don’t Be Cruel sung by none other than Elvis himself.

You can get it from What on Earth for $54.95. Kind of expensive, but far cheaper than a trip to Graceland if you need your Elvis fix.

[ Light-Up Singing Elvis Sign ]

Audio, Unusual

I probably wouldn’t have given this battery charger from La Crosse a second look were it not for the LCD display that caught my eye. But on closer examination I’m ready to throw away the bundled charger that came with my Energizer rechargeables and replace it with this one. Did you know that the best way to recharge a NiMH battery is the slow and steady route? Sure it might take hours and hours, but it will considerably prolong the life of the battery. Fast chargers actually put more strain on the batteries making them wear out quicker, which kind of defeats the purpose of buying them in the first place.

So the Alpha Power charger from La Crosse automatically defaults to a 200mA charge mode which is the optimal setting for prolonging battery life. But if you’re in a hurry you can manually set it to 500, 700, 1000, 1500 or 1800mA to reduce charging times. And when the battery is fully charged the Alpha Power automatically switches to a trickle charge mode to ensure maximum battery capacity. It works with all NiCd and NiMH AA and AAA rechargeable batteries and you can even charge AA’s and AAA’s at the same time.

It includes a set of 4 AA and 4 AAA NiMH 1.2v batteries, a travel bag, an AC power adapter and adapters for converting the batteries into C or D cells. All that for just $39.99 from Amazon.com.

[ La Crosse Alpha Power Battery Charger ] VIA [ Coding Horror ]

Batteries