inspiretech Blog

Kingston, a world leader in memory products has just begun to shipping its new Datatraveler 150 USB thumb drives. The new thumb drives have a staggering 64 GB capacity. That’s 63 GB more than my current thumb drive! Kingston is expected to provide 24/7 tech support as well as a 5 year warranty for the new thumb drive. Now you can carry the entire season of Heroes with you to the office so you have something to pass the time! While high capacity thumb drives like this have been around for a while, they have generally come from unreliable manufacturers with poor reputations. The Kingston Datatraveler represents one of the first reliable ones. If you need a portable hard drive you can fit onto your key chain, the Kingston Datatraveler 150 thumb drive one for you!

-Derek

Projectors are getting increasingly popular now with the rise of HD. Their screen size and portability compared to TV’s make them ideal for people on the move. Konica Minolta is now currently developing an ultra mini-projector that will be about the size of a thumb drive. We reported before on an existing mini-projector named the MPro110 pocket sized projector but if the reports are to be believed the new mini-projector by Konica Minolta will be at least 5 times smaller than that. The mini-projector will be able to project a 20 inch screen in XGA resolutions from a distance of about 2 ft. Don’t hold your breath just yet though as this mini-projector will not be available for consumers for at least another 2-3 years.

-Derek

[Source:gizmodo]

Virgin Atlantic America along with YouTube are having a huge party for Virgin Atlantics Wi-Fi in the sky service. The company is launching their Gogo Inflight Internet service on November 22 during a flight over San Francisco and to show off their new service they will be streaming a live video feed from the flight to those attending a live YouTube concert in San Francisco. The service will be available for travelers to use starting on November 24 and is expecting to have the service available on all their planes by the middle of 2009. Other airline companies such as American Airlines and Delta Airt will be launching in-flight Wi-Fi service as well next year. Prices for this service from Gogo are $9.95 for flight that are three hours or less and $12.95 for flights more than three hours.

-Ray

[Source: cnet]

Still have a cassette player in your hooptie but you still want to enjoy MP3s? ThinkGeek has this little blast from the past that should help you out, an MP3 player that is built into a cassette tape! In case you have yet to catch up to the rest of the world this handy little gadget lets you load MP3s onto a MicroSD card, insert them into the cassette tape and enjoy your tunes via your cassette tape player in your car, or Astro van. Now you can still make those mix tapes, or mix CD cards, that got you all that action back in the 80’s. It features a built-in lithium battery that is charged via a USB 2.0 cable and is compatible with SD and MMC cards up to 2GBs. Want to take your mix tape with you? The Cassette MP3 player features a 3.5mm headphone jack so you can listen to your Billy Idol and Madonna tunes on the go. A MicroSD card is not included but you can get them online from Inspiretech . Who needs an iPod and a new fangled auxiliary input when you got one of these bad boys?

-Ray

[Source: thinkgeek]

Lego is attempting to get into a new industry that would leave people astonished: the security safe industry. Now, one would probably be bewildered by a Lego Safe, as it should be easy to break into one. But apparently, this Lego safe has all the features of a great safe. It weights about 14 pounds and it contains a sensor that would sound off if the safe was moved. In order to unlock the lock, one must have five double digit codes and that translates into 305 billion different combinations. This Lego safe also boasts a digital display for the lock. It is unknown if this will be available to the public, but I for sure want to get my hands on one of these. Please leave us a comment about what you think.

- Geoff

[Source: SlipperyBrick]

A technology firm named The Green Revolution Inc. has created a exercise bike that is capable of taking some of the expended human energy and convert to electricity. This is one of those technologies that could have surfaced half a century ago but for some reason never caught on. Aside from the Vietcong using bicycles to power their underground tunnels, people have generally regarded human generated electricity as a last resort. The fitness bicycles produced by the company have been fitted at the the Ridgefield Fitness Club in Ridgefield, Connecticut. A statement released by the company states that a group of about 20 bikes used for a year has the potential to light 70 homes for about a month. If only they can connect the power grid to a city of hamsters on wheels….

-Derek

I often dream of the day when cellphones can pack a projector on the back so you can watch movies comfortably on the go, hell I’ll take it if you can put it on the back of an iPod. Until that day, the MPro110 is an impressive piece of technology that is the closest thing to a pocket sized theater system that you can get in 2008. At 6 feet, the screen is 40 inches with a 640×480 resolution and a slight amount of blur but reviewers recommend the 20 inch screen at 4 feet for legible text. I believe if they added a hard drive and movie/music playback, we have a potential iPod killer!

-Derek

[Source:Gizmodo]

If you have a huge vinyl record collection and you don’t want to have to buy CDs or download MP3s to get your collection onto your iPod or other MP3 player then don’t worry. The Ion USB turntable can quickly and easily convert your vinyl records into MP3 format so you can still enjoy your prized collection. Plug the the Ion turntable into your PC or Macs USB port and with the included software you can rip your vinyl music into MP3 or WAV format. Upload them onto your iPod and you’re good to go. The included Audacity software helps get rid of any clicks or pops associated with vinyl record. The Ion USB turntable makes a great stand alone vinyl record player for you kids who have never enjoyed vinyl music before. Check out thinkgeek.com for the Ion USB turntable and other cool gadgets and gizmos.

* Rip your vinyl directly to MP3 or WAV format
* Easily move your recordings to iPod or burn them to CD
* Ships with Audacity software for removing clicks, pops, and other undesirable characteristics of vinyl
* Audacity supports high-speed recording, then returns music to original playback speed
* Audacity software includes ability to export to WAV and MP3
* 33.33 and 45 RPM playback speeds
* Supports the recording of 78 RPM records through the included software
* RCA line outputs with built-in pre-amp allow direct connection to your existing audio system.
* Plug and Play USB compatibility with both Windows (XP, 2000, Vista) and Mac OS X
* Packaged with all necessary cables to interconnect with both a computer and stereo playback system

-Ray

[Source: thinkgeek]

The Mark III pod by PodWombats is the ultimate gaming immersion capsule. A little matrix-esque in design, this “simulator” will feature a sliding cover that will block out ambient noise, sunlight, and girls to ensure as little social contact as possible. If you are serious about gaming ($2,500 serious) at the expensive of reality, this is definitely the unit to have. The Mark III interior features a racing style seat and carpeting that serves a dual purpose of dampening the noises of your friends begging you to come out. We also recommend installing a lock so your family will need the Jaws of life if they want to spring you out for an intervention. I noticed the glaring lack of a feeding tube and human waste disposal system on the Mark III such oversight…

-Derek

Logitech released their new DiNovo wireless keyboard for Mac computers. The DiNovo wireless keyboard features a full-size layout as well as nineteen shortcut keys that can access Mac programs directly, a number pad and no cords at all. It uses 2.4GHz wireless and a 3-year battery life. The best part of the Logitech Wireless DiNovo keyboard for the Mac is that it goes for only $99!

-Ray

[Source: gizmodo]