Sadly, no, we still haven’t seen a gadget that lets your smartphone drive. Maybe next year, but this year it’s the BHF-2000 letting your smartphone talk while you drive. It’s the latest TalkNDrive, a lineup that specializes in advanced hands-free kits, and the BHF-2000 is the furthest ahead of the bunch. Like the others it uses Bluetooth to connect to your phone and then voice-to-text to read e-mails or SMS messages to you and accepts simple voice commands, but this one also accepts simple hand gestures, so you can silence playback by making the classic “talk to the hand” gesture, and it has a solar panel so that it can try to stay charged while clipped to your visor. Naturally it will let you take calls, just like the lesser-expensive 700 and 800 also on display — but they’ll just ignore your hand waving. Finally there’s the KlaT 7, a little wireless remote control that can clip on your dash, if you still need buttons. Gallery: TalkNDrive DriveNTalk BHF-2000 lets you drive while your smartphone talks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Bhutan, that tiny, idyllic country nestled between China and India, has a thing for male genitals. However, an influx of tourists and their prudish ways threatens the ancient art of penis worship, the Global Post reports. Global Post: Since tourism is a major source of income for Bhutan, Prime Minister Jigme Thinley announced earlier this year that Bhutan aims to triple the number of tourists by 2012. That’s potentially bad news for penis worship. That’s because some here worry the influx of tourists to this isolated Buddhist oasis is already weakening the essence of Bhutan — namely its relationship with the omnipresent phallus. The decline of the phallus is especially evident in “urban Bhutan,” a term locals insist is not an oxymoron. Read more Photo: Flickr / GrahamKing (CC-BY-NC-SA) Photo: Flickr / Deana Zabaldo (CC-BY-NC-SA) Related Entries January 3, 2011 Sexed-Up Videos Stir Up Trouble for U.S. Navy December 3, 2010 The Pope’s Progress
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Echoing his Election Night accusation that Michele Bachman was “hypnotized” Chris Matthews, on Tuesday's Hardball, called the Minnesota Republican congresswoman a “zombie” as he insultingly asked GOP strategist Todd Harris to identify who Bachmann is getting her “orders from?” Matthews made the comment during a discussion about raising the debt ceiling and the Hardball host, who is fond of making cinematic comparisons, even referenced Hollywood horror screen legend Boris Karloff in his over-the-top slam of Bachmann, as seen in this exchange from the January 4 edition of Hardball: (video after the jump) read more
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Romantic love lights up the same brain regions of lovers, whether they’re heterosexual or homosexual or male or female, a new study indicates.
Continue reading …Keepin’ it real fake: ‘iPad phone’ is the answer to a question no one asked (video)
January 4, 2011 No Comment
The D-Pad and E-Pad are two pint-sized cellphones that are reminiscent of the iPad, except they are telephones, they are much smaller, and they are totally different. Featuring a 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen, 2.5mm headphone jack, 0.3 megapixel front-facing camera and 2 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, you don’t even have to get to the dual SIMs, telescoping antenna, or the CMMB mobile TV tuner before you realize this is all Shenzhen , and very little Cupertino. Available now in either pink or white for 550 Chinese yuan (about $70). Get a closer look — and some video to boot — after the break. Continue reading Keepin’ it real fake: ‘iPad phone’ is the answer to a question no one asked (video) Keepin’ it real fake: ‘iPad phone’ is the answer to a question no one asked (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Griffin gets an iPhone all up in your car’s OBD-II port with the CarTrip Bluetooth adapter
January 4, 2011 No Comment
If you’re not a car person there’s a good chance you don’t know much about the OBD-II lurking mysteriously beneath your dash. It’s there — if your car was built since the first Bush administration, anyway. Usually its needs go unfulfilled until your check-engine light pops on and some mechanic with greasy paws clumsily stuffs a code checker in there, but more and more tools are coming out to change that. The Autobot Mavia is one, and now Griffin is doing similar with the CarTrip. It’s an OBD-II adapter that connects wirelessly to an iOS device or writes directly to SD card, storing information on information related to car mileage, even giving you a real-time efficiency readout on your display with the CleanDrive app. And, yes, it’ll even pull warning codes and the like if things aren’t quite running how they should. All that for $89.99, a fair bit less than the Mavia will potentially be and available sooner — sometime before the first quarter is through. Griffin gets an iPhone all up in your car’s OBD-II port with the CarTrip Bluetooth adapter originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …ioSafe Rugged Portable hard drive wrapped in Full Metal Jacket, probably tougher than you
January 4, 2011 No Comment
With a name like ioSafe , you know it’s hardcore. The company has made a name for itself by concocting products that can outlast minor disasters , and per usual, it’s using CES as a springboard for something else that you probably can’t destroy. This year, the Rugged Portable is on display, arriving in a pair of enclosure options and offering a bundled data recovery service to boot. The unit is quite literally wrapped in metal — the aluminum option can withstand up to 2,500 pounds of force, while the titanium shell doubles that up and shrugs its shoulders at up to 5,000 pounds. It’s also immune to submersion — your data remains safe in up to ten feet of salt water for as long as 72 hours, and it’ll still come out unscathed when dipped in oil and other toxins. Naturally, the HDD or SSD within (your call there) is covered by suspension springs, and the USB 3.0 interface ensures that you won’t be waiting around in the jungle for things to transfer. Those who snap one up will get one year of data recovery service included, a one-year ‘No Hassle’ warranty and up to $5000 for “third party forensic recovery services” if needed. Time Machine owners will be happy to know that this drive is fully compatible with the service, and you’ll be able to select HDDs from 250GB to 1TB or SSDs from 256GB to 512GB. As for prices? $149.99 for the stock 250GB HDD aluminum version, $3,899.99 for the 512GB SSD titanium build with an extended warranty, and everywhere in between. It’s up for pre-order today and should ship later this month in the US, with global availability details to follow in due time. Continue reading ioSafe Rugged Portable hard drive wrapped in Full Metal Jacket, probably tougher than you ioSafe Rugged Portable hard drive wrapped in Full Metal Jacket, probably tougher than you originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Hours after Qassam rocket explodes in south, Air Force attacks smuggling tunnel, Hamas training base in Gaza Strip. No injuries reported
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More than 20% of patients who receive implanted devices that help shock the heart out of dangerous rhythms (“arrhythmias”) get them when clinical guidelines suggest they are unlikely to benefit from the expensive and sometimes painful intervention, a study shows.
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US auto sales sputtered back to life in 2010 and car companies expect them to keep climbing this year as the economy recovers and buyers grow more confident.(Jan. 4)
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