Feed2Flash

The Fuelank Uno does exactly what it says it does: charge one device at a time. And with the Callpod's adapter tips, it can charge one of a lot of things at a time.

The Price:

$40

The Verdict:

Affordable and useful.

The Uno is portable—a lot more portable than the original Fueltank, which charged two things simultaneously. The bonus of not having two is that you can actually pocket this one, if you're the kind of person who really needs to make sure your devices are powered.

Other than the fact that it's smaller, lighter and more discreet than the Fueltank, there isn't a whole lot of difference. We shoved a bunch of our gadgets into it and the Uno charged all of them fine. You even get 2 tips (an iPod one and a mini USB one) for free. The only downside is that it's give-or-take about half the capacity of the regular Fueltank, which isn't that much larger. It's just larger enough that you wouldn't want to pants it.

For $40, the Fultank Uno is a pretty cheap safety net for the times when you forget to charge your phone. [Callpod]

Compact enough to carry with you all the time

Uses Callpod's many tips, so you should be able to find one for your phone or device

Doesn't hold as much charge as its bigger brother, the Fueltank

Gadgets: iPod + iPhone

We're a little skeptical of speakers that look this good, since it seems like they're trying to compensate for something—LaCie's Sound2 laptop speakers are USB-powered, after all—but the audio comes from Cabasse, a pretty established French audio company.

Designed by LaCie stalwart Neil Poulton, they remind me of floating giant iPod earbuds. I really hope they sound better than I suspect they do for $100. [LaCie via Mirror]

Gadgets: iPod + iPhone

Palm says that they sold about 810,000 Palm Pre units. However, that figure may be bogus, according to analyst David Eller. He says that this includes all units sold to resellers, not only activated Pres. This may spell t-r-o-u-b-l-e:

We have been perplexed by a disconnect between PALM's device units sold and our estimates of store level sell through. According to PALM's reported sell through, inventory increased by 13k units and since the ‘vast majority' of both the device units shipped and the device units sold were units of the Pre, there couldn't be an inventory problem. The gap between the two is only 13k.

However, since the company recognizes revenue on sell in to the channel and the company defines device units sold as units that have been shipped from Sprint (their primary customer) to either customers or second tier distributors, PALM could offer investors a high number of units shipped but still have a glut of inventory in the channel. We believe that channel inventory is currently about 11 weeks, which we believe will pressure reorder rates and make it more difficult to sell high ASP products going forward.

Eleven weeks of inventory in the channel is an staggering number. If true, that may explain the fast price cuts by resellers: First a $50 discount to $150 with a rebate, then slashed to $100 in Amazon, and then the all-mighty Walmart cutting it to a ridiculous $80.

It will also explain Sprint CEO Dan Hesse's less than enthusiastic comments about the Palm Pre, when he admitted in a Charlie Rose interview that the Pre couldn't play in the same league as the iPhone, "the Michael Jordan" of smartphones.

Eller notes that the investors are not aware of this: "We polled several of the investors who attended the Boston road show lunch and each was under the impression that sell through translated into customer activations. How can this be?"

Palm, however, claims that their number are clear. Talking to Digital Daily's John Paczkowski, they had this to say:

The sell-through data we post reflects carriers' sales to their customers. For example, Sprint customers include consumers who buy in a Sprint store, and Sprint retail partners such as Best Buy and RadioShack. We rely on our wireless carriers to provide us with sell-through data, and we note this fact in our 10Q.

So, is the Palm Pre tanking or not? Is it meeting the company's expectations at all? Could this be connected to the rumors about Verizon ditching the Pre? Only time will tell. [Digital Daily]

Gadgets: iPod + iPhone

Eurozone banks dramatically scale back demands for emergency liquidity in the European Central Bank’s latest offer of unlimited one-year loans

Market Economy

European Union finance ministers will be asked to back an aggressive timetable which could see leaders agreeing to a radical overhaul of the bloc’s patchy system of financial supervision by December.

Market Economy

Pretoria wanted MTN to remain a South African-incorporated company with a dual listing, but India objected

Market Economy

The BAHA BP100 hearing aid from Cochlear is the latest in hearing aid technology, where it will offer significant improvements in speech understanding in noisy situations (around 25%) alongside improved bone conduction hearing performance compared to its predecessors. In addition, it will play nice with an ever growing host of lifestyle accessories including iPods and Bluetooth adapters. Dubbed to be the first direct bone conduction device in the world, the BAHA BP100 will rely on an advanced automatic signal processing system which will adjust itself accordingly to changing sound environments without having to manually tweak it. Yo can choose from a wide range of colors, where it will also feature an audio connector for FM systems, iPods and Bluetooth adapters.

Permalink: Cochlear BAHA BP100 hearing aid from Ubergizmo | Hot: iPhone 3GS Review

Gadgets: iPod + iPhone

To be sure, a certain number of dropped calls are to be expected when you're dealing with the wonders of cellular communication, but some phones do seem to fare worse then others when paired with certain carriers in particularly congested regions. Apparently fed up with such problems in New York, Gizmodo reader Manoj decided to stop by an Apple Store to see if something might be wrong with his iPhone -- this, after apparently being assured by AT&T that everything was all right on its end. After a few tests, the Apple Genius determined that Manoj's phone was dropping 22 percent of its calls, which turns out to actually be "excellent" compared to most iPhone users in the New York area, where a dropped call rate of 30 percent is said to be average. The Genius further went on to confirm that the phone was indeed "fully functional," and that the problem is "consistent with the service provided by AT&T." So, nothing to worry about, folks -- everything is "normal."

[Thanks, Canis]

Filed under: Cellphones

Apple Genius says 30 percent iPhone call drop rate is average in New York originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gadgets: iPod + iPhone

Love that brain-pounding sensation when you jack that volume past the sensible limit? If so, you best hop on the next flight to somewhere not within Europe, as the almighty European Commission is fixing to peg the default volume limit on portable media players at 80 decibels. If you're stricken with an awful case of déjà vu, you're not alone. You may recall that a similar French law forced Apple to limit the volume level on its iPod family to 100dB, and at that time, it decided to make the limit apply to all units shipped within Europe. Now, the EU is seeking to bring that ceiling down to 80dB on all portable music players in an effort to protect the precious hearing abilities of its citizens, though we should note that said level would only apply to the default setting, not overall maximums. In other words, you can override the recommended listening level if you please, but don't bet on that socialized healthcare taking care of you if The Man finds out. Kidding. Maybe.

[Via Telegraph]

Filed under: Portable Audio

EU seeks to make 'cranking it to 11' on DAPs nearly impossible originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gadgets: iPod + iPhone

Looking out for the Odroid? It is now available for pre-order for approximately $320 after conversion, where it is tipped to arrive at your doorstep from November 5th onwards. Expect the Odroid developer edition to run on a similar 833MHz Samsung S5PC100 processor that is found in the iPhone 3GS, coupled with 512MB RAM and a 3.5" capacitive touchscreen. You won't find built-in 3G connectivity with this though, although there is the presence of a USB port which you can presumably hook up a 3G dongle at a later time. To jump aboard the Internet bandwagon, you can always take advantage of the Wi-Fi b/g connection alongside a mini HDMI port. The Odroid will be powered by the Android OS 1.5 operating system directly from a 2GB microSD memory card, while an 8GB SD memory card is used for user data.

Permalink: Odroid pre-order ready from Ubergizmo | Hot: iPhone 3GS Review

Gadgets: iPod + iPhone