Win a Google Wave invite!

November 1st, 2009 by e-tech

For those of you who have been keeping up with the latest in Google technology, Wave is the Word. Designed to provide an ultimate communications tool for personal or business use, Google Wave is a whole new era in technology.

If you know what Google Wave is you will undoubtedly be wanting one of these precious invites, and now is your chance to get them!

Geekywood is giving you the chance to win one of three Google Wave invites, to win all you have to do is comment saying why you should win! The three best answers will be given a Google Wave invite!

If you do not know about Google Wave check out http://wave.google.com today!

Posted in Technology | 10 Comments »

Nuclear Batteries Set to Hit the Market

October 10th, 2009 by e-tech

nuclear batteryThe future may have started to arrive, nuclear batteries may soon be set to hit the market as researchers have perfected their personal battery design.  Nuclear batteries already can be found in items such as pacemakers and underwater systems.  It’s not yet sure how long it will take for these devices to hit the market, but with over one million times the battery life of a standard battery, they could bring forth a new era in technology.Imagine laptops which only need a new battery once in a year, Cars running purely on electric and all in a light, small and very portable device.In the future they expect the nuclear battery to power all kinds of industrial devices, and have not pushed for consumer devices as of yet, the future it seems is inevitable though.Despite the miniature size and lightness of this nuclear battery, they are expecting to make it smaller, around a hairs thickness in size if they are as serious as they sound!

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Has Blu-Ray Lost the Battle?

August 6th, 2009 by e-tech

Blu-Ray KillerWe all thought the format war was over, after one company toppled the rest followed suite and HD-DVD was no more.  Despite this it seems that not everything was as it seemed, in China the techincal bods have been hard at work undermining the Blu-Ray format.While many people saw HD streaming video straight to TV as the next technology, a new format, CBHD, has outsold Blu-Ray 3 to 1 in china.CBHD is a new format heavily based on HD-DVD, which has always been the better, higher density, cheaper format. CBHD has improved on this, and undercut the Blu-Ray prices.Currently Warner are the only studio officially backing CBHD, although with the Chinese Government and it’s 2 billion population supporting the new format, things could soon change.  Chances are that this new format might soon take over the Blu-Ray format completely.  Currently the CBHD format, outsells Blu-Ray three to one in China, and with the new government backing this is only set to increase.While Blu-Ray may be under threat from the new CBHD format, it has gained a strong foothold in the western world. This could protect it from being taken over by the CBHD format. This is still under dispute however, as most of the blu-ray sales are PS3 based.Only time will tell if the new cheaper CBHD format dominates the Blu-ray market, or if HD internet streaming will beat them all!

Posted in Blu-ray, HD DVD | No Comments »

Quick Camera - Panasonic Lumix FP8

July 27th, 2009 by e-tech

Panasonic Lumix FP8Panasonic have just released their new handheld digital camera, and it looks like it may just be a winner.

WIth the Panasonic FP8 the research bods decided to take an innovative new approach. Instead of simply increasing current specifications they did something rather radical.

After much stagnation in the digital camera industry, panasonic went to it’s customers and asked what they wanted.

Quite surprisingly the customers said they did not care that it’s current digital cameras could take pictures with 12 megapixel resolution, neither did they give the proverbial about being able to put a picture frame around someones face. Infact the only real complaint was that it can sometimes take up to 10 seconds for a camera to start up, and two seconds for it to take a photo.

The people up at Panasonic HQ thought long and hard about this, after all they have spent 10 years working out how to fit more mega pixels in to a smaller space. But in the end they admitted, maybe it was time to listen to the consumer.

And the results do not dissapoint, the Panasonic Lumix FP8 starts in under a second, it has a new high speed auto focus system, which before was the domain only of Sony. Even with this high speed picture taking you get anti-blur technology and auto flash/whitebalance settings to give you the perfect picture!

This dinky little camera even comes with HD video capabilities, a sweet topping to this already delecious treat!

My only worry is that Panasonic may have come a little bit too late with their realization. Sony alraedy has sone pretty quick consumer digital cameras with the DSC series, and many casual photographers swear by it. However the New Panasonic Lumix FP8 is a very strong contender, which will do Panasonic proud!

Posted in Digital Camera | No Comments »

Sony PSP Go Review

July 19th, 2009 by e-tech

Sony PSP GoFor those of us in the handheld world, rumours of the new Sony PSP Go have  been circulating for some months.  There have been many whispered stats, and plenty of fake ‘leaked’ pictures.  Sony have however finally put an end to this speculation and have given us our first hands on test of the PSP Go.

The Sony PSP Go has a brand new look, and while it may have plenty of upgrades there are a few downsides too, first and foremost the loss of the UMD slot means that your old games will not work on this, though it has made the device smaller, and increased it’s battery life.

The next main downside in my view is the smaller screen, the original PSP was just about bearable for watching the odd movie.  Now the screen has been downsized 4.3 to 3.8 inches widescreen you may just find it simply too small.

Infact a lot of the improvements to the Sony PSP Go make it feel more like an attempt to rival the iPod touch, but without the touch.  This comparisson has also sparked questions on why Sony have not integrated cell phone features in to this device, something which truely could put it up against the iPhone and similair portable multi function devices.

Despite this however the Sony PSP Go has plenty of features to keep it going.  Since UMD is no longer supported the PSP Go works soley on direct downloads.  To help support this it comes with a huge 16GB internal flash memory stick, with a slot for another flash card, if required!

The controls for the Sony PSP Go follow the usual playstation layout, it does take a little getting used to, since the controls are pushed together in to the small pop out layer.  This can feel a little bit more cramped, but since the control panel has it’s own section it there are less accidental button presses, which many people found a problem on the original PSP Go.

On top of the original PSP WiFi integration the PSP Go also includes bluetooth compatability.  This allows bluetooth headset integrateion, connection to a cellphone for 3G connectivity, and the possibility of connecting a PS3 on the horizon. Although with the new smaller screen I am not sure just how well that would work out.

The PSP Go allows for much easier integration with TV show, movie and music downloading. Unlike Apple, Sony did not create their own store for this.  Instead they partnered with eMusic, to allow users DRM-free digital media downloading over a WiFi connection. This will supply the top digital media at competitive prices to the PSP Go customers with none of the numerous restrictions placed on iPod users.

We expect to hear more details from Sony in the near future regarding the PSP Go, the world is waiting with baited breath for the technical specs behind teh latest version of the PSP!

Posted in Portable, Technology | 1 Comment »

New Medical iPhone Application

July 13th, 2009 by e-tech

Medical iPhone AppThe new medical iPhone application may seem like one of these miscellaneous apps which you never bother to download, but in my eyes this is the most import iPhone app out there today.

Let me reminisce for a few seconds.

Several years ago I was walking through York on a night when me and a friend came accross this young blonde girl having an asthma attack on a bridge.  Needless to say we called an ambulance, but in the meantime what were we supposed to do? Keep her warm or cool, give her water? We did not know.

This is where the new medical iPhone application comes in, it’s a hefty file, so i suggest you wait till you have a decent 3G or WiFi connection. But Download this!  It contains all the medical information you will need to cope with a basic medical crisis, something that could one day help you save somebody’s life!

In my eyes that makes this medical iPhone application the worlds greatest iPhone App!

Posted in iPhone | No Comments »

Multi Charger Saves you Space!

July 9th, 2009 by e-tech

Charge MatI am a true gadget lover, I test hundreds and play with thousands, so when I saw the new Charging Mat for sale I bowed down.

The charging mat uses one wall socket and can charge up to four devices at a time.  it supports most current devices, and if it doesn’t it supplies additonal cables for $4.95 each!

At $40 the charging mat may seem a little bit expensive, but when you consider it can charge nearly any device, save you space and securely hold your hardware, well it suddenly doesn’t seem quite so much!

The silicon mat rolls up, and you can get a cigareet lighter adapter to charge your gadgets on the go!

Posted in Gadgets | No Comments »

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