Bluetooth for your Wrist - Abacus MobileWear

Widget UK Ltd, a leading supplier of mobile technology and accessories, today announced the availability of the first mainstream Bluetooth fashion accessory, the Caller ID wristwatch.

The watch sports Bluetooth wireless technology, and will simplify how people interact with their mobile phones. Combining fashion forward technology with added functionality and efficiency, the Bluetooth watch enables users to stay connected without compromising style. The watch designs were adapted from top selling Fossil models.

The analog/digital watch links effortlessly via Bluetooth to certain mobile phones allowing users to view incoming caller ID information on the watch face. Users are notified when their phone rings and when a text message is received. When users are unable to answer their phone, a single button press can mute or reject an incoming call. When a voicemail or text message is received, users are alerted by an icon of an envelope that appears on the watch accompanied by a slight vibration.

Partnering with Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, a global leader in the mobile handset industry, Fossil’s new wireless product boasts a fashion-forward design that is as attractive as it is capable. “Combining Fossil’s fashion and watch expertise with Sony Ericsson’s Bluetooth technology expertise helped us to create a smart, dynamic and fashionable watch that keeps you connected in all situations and eliminates the need to fumble through your pocket or handbag each time someone calls,” adds Geiser.

Additional features include a two-hand analog for easy timekeeping, vibrating alert of incoming call or SMS/MMS, Caller ID or number displayed, out of range warning (after 10 meters the watch vibrates when phone goes out of range), view phone’s time/date, simple two-button auto pairing operation, bright OLED display, reject/mute incoming calls (one button push mutes the phone’s ringer, two button pushes rejects the call), water resistant to 3 ATM, and compatibility with most Sony Ericsson Bluetooth phones. The watch also features a lithium rechargeable battery that lasts approximately 5-7 days based on conditions of use. The battery can be recharged through a USB or universal AC adapter.

The ABACUS branded product (MobileWear™ by ABACUS) comes in two styles: one with a stainless steel case and bracelet (style AU6001) and the other with a stainless steel case and black PU strap (style AU6002).

In stock now at Widget for £119.99 to £149.99.

This looks like an interesting (and rather nice looking) device, expect to see a full review on Geekanoids soon.

What has stayed on my desk & desktop

Over the past few years I have reviewed many many products. I thought it would be nice to mention the ones that I ended up purchasing myself. The software, hardware and accessories that were just too good to let go of. So here goes with my favourites that I use every day.

Yojimbo
This is a great piece of software, it lives in my dock and is running all the time in the background. If I come across something interesting on the web, I pop it into Yojimbo for later viewing. When I get a new piece of software and need to make a note of the serial number, again Yojimbo does the job for me. The notes feature is good too, before Yojimbo, if I took a phone call and had to write something down I often found that I sent an email to myself. Nowadays I just write the note down in Yojimbo, giving it a meaningful heading. When I move over to my desktop Mac, all my Yojimbo items come with me, thanks to the syncing over .mac support.

Griffin Technology
Although a recent addition to my kit, the Elevator, which I reviewed a couple of days ago, will be staying. I used an iCurve before, and this new stand is just superb. It helps me a great deal by raising my MacBook up to eye level, so it is much more comfortable to use.

Signature Suit
I love my Apple gear, so when it comes to protecting something from knocks and scratches, I am all for it. The Signature Suit from Case-Mate has stayed on my MacBook ever since I reviewed it. It is made of read leather and lined in soft material. The great thing about the Signature Suit, apart from the quality feel, is that it does not add much bulk to my laptop. So this one comes highly recommended.

Other items I use everyday include my MacBook, a Samsung 215TW monitor, 5th Gen iPod, and on the software front Quark Xpress 7, PhotoShop CS3, Adium, Skype, GarageSale, Firefox, NetNewsWire, Cyberduck, Toast Titanium 8, Downsize and Overflow (review of these last three soon).

Upcoming Reviews - Toast 8, Suitcase Fusion +

A little update for you all of the reviews planned for the next couple of weeks here at Geekanoids. Check back regularly or subscribe to our RSS feed to keep up-to-date with Geekanoids News and Latest Reviews.

Here is the rundown:

• Herman Miller Mirra Chair
• Roxio Toast 8
• Griffin Elevator
  
• Extensis Suitcase Fusion
• Stunt software's OverFlow and DownSize
• Pinnacle SoundBridge
• Crumpler Cheesy Disco Big Logo Bag
• Palm Treo 680 Smartphone
• Lindy HDMI Switch
• Panasonic DMR-EX85 DVD/HD Recorder
• Ixos Cables - too many to mention
• Griffin iTalk Pro
  
• Adobe PhotoShop CS2 Classroom in a Book
• All this plus much much more
  

iSkin launch ProTouch protection for MacBook

iSkin have launched their ProTouch keyboard protectors for the Apple MacBook. Available to order online now, these custom fit covers keeps all those nasty bits out of your keyboard.
Colours available are frosted blue and pink, frosted clear, opaque black and 'Ghost' a glow in the dark affair. For $24.99 they seem like a good value for money buy. Check out the full details here and also check back on the Geekanoids website soon for a full review.

LG prepares launch of iPhone competitor

LG Electronics is readying the launch of the LG-KE850 mobile phone. Due to launch in February, little is known about the phone, apart from images showing a large touch screen on the front of the device making it look very similar to the iPhone. I am not expecting it to offer the massive features demonstrated by Steve Jobs at the MacWorld 2007 Keynote, but if it has a nice interface and offers good music playback, I think it will sell very well.
LG did very well with the launch of their Chocolate and the new KE850 is expected to offer some great features and a wicked design too. The LG handset will be slightly smaller than the iPhone, 99mm by 54mm, with both being around 11mm thick. There are more images over at Mobil Portal.

Apple iPhone will cost $230 to make

The cost of manufacturing each 4GB Apple iPhone will cost $230 according to research by iSuppli and reported on over at the EETimes website. This could equate to over 50% gross margin for Apple Inc and Cingular Wireless. Great news for Apple and Cingular, but not being sure myself how such deals are cut, I would not draw any real conclusion from this. Do Apple get the majority of this profit, or is it shared equally with Cingular? Your guess is as good as mine.

The report goes on to say "iSuppli estimates that 14 music-enabled mobile phones with features that compete closely with the Apple iPhone already are shipping from manufacturers including Nokia, Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG.
Shipments of music-enabled mobile phones will rise to 618.1 million units in 2007, up 39.9 percent from 441.7 million units in 2006, iSuppli predicts. By 2010, shipments of such phones will increase to 1 billion units."

You can read the full report here.

Mac users can download Vista

Well, sorry for the slightly misleading heading, this is not just for Mac users, but will be of interest if you plan to run Microsoft Vista under Bootcamp, Parallels or some other way. According to Electronista, the recently launched Microsoft Windows Marketplace will have various versions of Vista available to purchase and download from the 30th January. Worth noting in case you want to get hold of the OS quickly and with the minimum of fuss... if that is at all possible with Windows.

Mac OSX Leopard to have new DVD Player 5.0

AppleInsider reports (complete with screenshots) of the new DVD Player software deemed to be included with Apple's release of their soon-to-be launched OS X Leopard software. Looks like it will be an all black affair with minimal highlights. With chapters appearing in a scrolling section across the top of the screen, a bit like full screen mode in iPhoto.

Skype founders announce Joost

Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis have announced that their new TV come video stream service, that used to be known as The Venice Project, is now officially called Joost. This new online TV service is currently in beta testing, but certainly looks interesting, and if anyone can pull this off, the Skype guys can.

"Joost™ is a new way of watching TV on the internet, which uses new and established technologies to provide the best of both the internet and TV worlds. We're in the process of making it as TV-like as we can, with programmes, channels and adverts. You can also see some things that we think will enhance the TV experience: searching for programmes and channels, for example, as well as social features like chat. There are many more new features to come!"

Well, I will be waiting for the Intel Mac version of the player to be released before testing myself, but rest assured that I will bring you news of any future developments.

Seagate launch superfast tiny hard drives

Seagate, makers of very reliable hard drives, recently upped the ante with the introduction of new 15,000RPM 2.5-inch hard drives. I got all excited when I first heard about this, but have learned that they are not standard SATA hard drives (my MacBook was temporarily smiling), but use a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) connection. Maybe we will see adapters and/or updates to the next generation of laptops to incorporate support into new designs.

From Seagate's press release, "Seagate Technology (NYSE:STX) today introduced the world's fastest hard drive - the Savvio 15K drive, the new 15K-rpm addition to the Savvio family of 2.5-inch Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) enterprise drive solutions. The Savvio 15K drive provides the highest hard drive performance density and reliability while ensuring ultra-low power consumption, reducing thermal loads in data centers. With its combination of benefits that were created for modern storage systems, the Savvio 15K drive is well-suited for a broad range of mainstream enterprise applications in both large enterprise data centers and small, medium businesses, that lowers overall system Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)."

Read the full release here.

iStat Pro 3.3 Released - Intel Temperatures

iSlayer have released version 3.3 of its superb iStat Pro widget. This new release now supports the display of temperatures for the Intel based Macs. Prior to this release, an extra third party extension was required. I have used iSlayers products for a long time now, so this superb monitoring widget comes highly recommended. Of note, the tiny version of this widget, iStat Nano, was also recently upgraded to version 1.8, this also gives full Intel Mac support.

Apple Discussions - AppleTV & iPhone

Apple Inc. recently introduced two new areas to their discussion forums. One for the AppleTV, which is due to start shipping in February, the second for the iPhone, due around July in the USA and end of 2007 for the UK.
This is a nice move by Apple, as it gives prospective users the chance to discuss the products, but also allows Apple to see just what people are looking for in the final products. This may well allows last minute tweaks and inclusions, so is good for everyone.