Well, sadly most of the details are still missing, however judging from this recently launched coming soon style teaser page on the AT&T website — we suspect that the Jawbone UP will be available sooner rather than later. Of course, given it is already into October, we are running out of time for a later this year release.

For those who may have completely missed the original UP announcement, here is how the bracelet is being described from the folks at Jawbone;

“UP by Jawbone is a new system that tracks your movement, sleep patterns, and nutrition so you can live a healthier life. This new end-to-end system consists of a small wristband that monitors your activity 24/7, a mobile app that analyzes the activity, and an open platform that motivates you with personal and social recommendations and challenges tailored to your goals.”

Anyway, the page over on AT&T offers a few additional details as to what the device can do. Some of the details noted by AT&T include showing support for the iPhone and that the Jawbone UP will allow you to do things like track your movements including steps, distance, pace, intensity calories burned and active vs. inactive time. In addition, the app will also allow you to enter and track your meals as well as your sleep habits.

And for those in need of some additional motivation, the app has what they call “get up and move” reminders as well as the ability to challenge your friends and family members.

You may be familiar with Project Gutenberg, a collection of free literature on the Internet containing some of mankind’s greatest literary works. In an obituary for Mr. Hart, Project Gutenberg had this to say:

The invention of eBooks was not simply a technological innovation or precursor to the modern information environment. A more correct understanding is that eBooks are an efficient and effective way of unlimited free distribution of literature. Access to eBooks can thus provide opportunity for increased literacy. Literacy, and the ideas contained in literature, creates opportunity.

Digitized text has definitely changed the world as we know it, making it possible to email or download whole books and libraries and driving need for new electronic devices such as e-Readers and the iPad. Hats off to an invention with that much influence.

MakeUseOf is currently taking a poll asking people if they still wear a watch. Interestingly enough, the current numbers are showing that 52.58% of voters still wear a watch and love it. The second most popular answer to the question “How long has it been since you wore a watch?” (coming in at 18.47%) is “1-11 years. I took a little while to give up on my watch.” These numbers are particularly interesting because the poll is being taken on a tech blog where many readers at least consider themselves to be tech-savvy. The assumption would be that a gadget such as a smartphone (or even a dumb-phone) would have replaced the watch.

Perhaps the watch is more tenacious than we thought. There are some futuristic watches coming out that are much more high-tech than before (some even running a smartphone OS) so perhaps instead of dying off they’re going through a transformation.

And while we should clarify that they are not suggesting you use your phone for anything other than a bedside alarm, we tend to think that if found close by — it will get used. That said, the first thing in my hand each morning (aside from a cup of coffee) is a smartphone. But before I digress any further, there is the WakeMate, which is a wristband that you wear while you sleep and it is touting the ability to “calculate the ideal wake time closest to your alarm setting” so you wake up feeling more refreshed.

Anyway, according to the details on the WakeMate website, you set your alarm to wake you at a latest possible time. For argument sake, say that wake time is 7AM. And from there, once you fall asleep, the WakeMate monitors your sleep cycle and judges the optimal time to wake you. But worry not because you will not be waking up hours in advance — its the perfect time in a cycle. But more specifically, it will be within a 20 minute period from your must-wake-by time.

In addition, there is also the web-based Wakelytics which will allow you to login online and check things such as your “nightly sleep score” as well as the number of nightly awakenings, the time it took you to fall asleep and more.

Bottom line, for $59.99 you can purchase a WakeMate and could potentially start waking up a little easier. And I only say could because I have yet to test this myself, though in some strange way — I really want one. Of course, I have also been sort of eyeing a Fitbit and really love tracking my runs and bike rides with Runkeeper. In other words, I may just like having data on myself.

You’ll have your choice of three new models in the eTrex lineup. Kicking things off is the eTrex 10, a simple model with a 2.2 inch screen, support for a variety of maps (including marine, roadway and topographic, thus ensuring that you’ll have a pretty good idea of where you are no matter where, exactly, you are), capability to download geocache information, a 25 hour battery life, and a monochrome display that’s supposed to be designed specifically that you can read it under the sun. You’ll be able to get this one in for $120.

Next up is the eTrex 20, which offers up a 65k color display on that same 2.2 inch screen as well as the geocaching, 25 hour battery life, and support for a variety of maps. That extra color will cost you an extra $80, as this one goes for $200.

Lastly we’ve got the eTrex 30 ($300), which will give you not only everything you’ve seen previously–65k color screen and plenty of maps–but also an electronic compass, a barometric altimeter so you know how far above sea level you are, and, for extra fun, even offers wireless date transfer so you don’t need to connect anything to get your updates.

They sound like solid devices, though I find myself wondering how they fare against a lot of smartphones that offer similar capability. Though in smartphones’ cases, I suppose a lot of that capability depends on 3G access and whatnot, and if you’re out in the middle of nowhere you’ll be wanting something much more satellite-driven like your basic GPS.

This is a great one to open up to our outdoors fans out there–so do you think that the new Garmin eTrex lineup is what you need, or do you already have a perfectly serviceable device that will do the job? The comments section stretches as wide as that same outdoors, so head on down and let’s talk GPS!

The e-Luminator Touch is specifically designed to work with other M-Edge gear, especially the cases that come with a universal pocket geared toward a light. Meanwhile, the Touch turns on and off with a small touch point that activates the light and also shuts it off. It uses LED bulbs to conserve power, and in fact does such a fine job of conserving power that it runs fully 20 hours on a single AAA battery, though it turns itself off every hour in a bid to conserve its already pretty substantial power use. It will in turn work with pretty much any ereader out there (especially since it’s little more than a carefully shaped flashlight), and comes in your choice of gray or white.

M-Edge looks to sell these for $19.99. Like I said, it might be odd to think of buying a book light for your ereader, especially given that your ereader already puts out its own light, and in some cases, sufficiently bright light to serve as a flashlight in its own right. But consider the extra battery life your ereader will develop should you dial down the brightness levels on its display–whether you’re using a Kindle, a Nook, an iPad or some other ereader system–and then wonder if getting extra reading time out of your current ereader of choice might not in fact be worth the extra $20 M-Edge wants you to lay down for their e-Luminator Touch. Though I confess it’s a bit low to design it to work with their own cases such that you have to buy a case to really get the optimal use out of this one.

In fact, AT&T has a whopping four new partnerships in mind, all going after those somewhat underserved segments of machine to machine.

First on the list is Axeda, a company who won some awards for their application development platform, and then ILS Technology, who handles systems geared toward maintenance and monitoring applications. This is followed by SensorLogic, who works in tracking and monitoring fleets of vehicles (like delivery vans, garbage trucks and the like), and lastly, Sierra Wireless, who handles collecting and managing data from devices connected to its stuff.

We’ve often said here, if you want to know what direction a company’s moving in, look who they’re looking to hire to do what. And in this case, it looks like the word of the day is “enterprise systems”. It’s not surprising that major corporation AT&T is looking to develop its presence among corporate buyers, especially since it hasn’t exactly been doing a great job in the consumer marketplace (Verizon iPhone, anyone?).

But lest you think this is totally a business to business sort of setup, fear not–AT&T has some early-announced plans for these new partnerships, and perhaps the biggest one involves tracking stuff to help you not lose it.

I think we’ve all been there, wondering where the remote is or where your glasses are or any of a dozen other things–but AT&T was one of the sponsors of the GSMA Embedded Mobile House, in which AT&T showed off a bunch of solutions to help you find those things that so easily go lost. Of course, privacy wonks are probably pointing out right now that, if you use this kind of thing to help you find stuff inside your own house, how long before random passersby use it to see how many remotes you have?

Either way, AT&T clearly has some big plans, and by all reports, they’re getting more than ready to launch them.

Initially the rumors were that Barnes & Noble was pulling their stock off the shelves for a two week period in order to get a real feel for how many Nook Colors were actually readily available. Because this seemed like such an odd move, especially right around a gift giving holiday there were people who didn’t believe it. It seemed unbelievable until people did a little bit of digging and noticed that quite a few sites had nothing but a “backordered” not for anyone trying to buy one.

The alternative reasons given for the disappearances is that the company is updating the security functions of the Nook Color software so that it is not so easily hacked.

The move has also prompted some industry insiders to start speculating as to whether Google is gearing up to start producing its own dedicated eReader. For now, their eBook library is available on devices owned by other companies such as the Apple iPad but an acquisition of a company like eBook Technologies could be a signal that Google is tired of allowing other companies to use its product.

eBook Technologies is well schooled in not only making digital copies of books that much better but they also specialize in hardware and with over 3 million copies in the Google eBook library, there is more than enough material to back a new eReader.

More precisely, we’re talking about Seasonal Affective Disorder, a disorder that turns the “winter blahs” into a much more serious issue, one that in many cases has been connected to the relative lack of daylight in the system at that time of year. But what the University of Oulu has done by way of its Valkee earbuds is attempt to short-circuit the process via directed light.

Instead of firing light into your eyes, it fires that light instead into your ears. What researchers at the University of Oulu reportedly discovered is that your eyes don’t need the light at all. What needs the light is your brain, and the way your brain gets light is not via the eyes, but rather, via the ears. So the Valkee earbuds, in turn, fire light directly at your brain via the ear canal.

Here’s the part that will really kill you–it works. The Valkee earbuds, when used just eight minutes a day (some users went as high as 12 minutes) produced complete relief from symptoms suffered by nine out of ten users.

If you want to give these a try yourself, you can actually buy the Valkee earbuds used in the University of Oulu studies for 185 euro (right around $240 US), and you can even get them in your choice of white or the above-pictured black.

So if you’re feeling a little down this winter, (and please bear in mind that I am neither a doctor nor do I play one on TV) you may want to look into a set of Valkee earbuds. Though likely many will want to save their money and look into other ways of getting light into their skulls.

This little bot is actually an automatic masseuse that is small enough that it will fit in the palm of your hand. The device actually moves around your body using the same kind of technology that something like the Roomba would use. There are sensors in the devices “legs” that tell it when it is running out of real estate and it will then reverse course. So how good is the massage? Of course being small and not being held down by anything, it can’t generate that much force but it can be a nice little pick me up on a long stressful day.

The Headman shows video in a small visor setup, which some have already mentioned as looking like they just got pulled out of the grid from the recent release of Tron: Legacy, and can handle both 3D and 720p video. This is actually a substantial step up from most head-mounted displays out there that might handle 720p all right, but couldn’t handle 3D if you gave them the polarized panels. Each visor requires adjustment before you can use it to find the specific focal point for your eyes, but once that’s done, you’ll be able to watch your movies right in front of you, and no one else will have a clue what you’re watching.

Word is they’re substantially hefty, maybe around a pound or two, and in many cases have to be held in place with both hands, but the up shot is that there was reportedly no flicker at all in the lenses, which makes a lot of sense given that the visor would be able to present two different images, one to each eye. This in turn would allow for the 3D effect to take place without any kind of polarization or adjustment to the lenses, but it has to have sufficient processing power where it can handle the presentation of two images at once, making these some pretty impressive hardware.

Of course, wearing the equivalent of one pound sunglasses on your face will probably be uncomfortable after any length of time not easily measured in seconds, so it’s not too much of a surprise that Sony stayed mum on things like release dates and prices. It’s a great idea, especially if you do a lot of air travel, but it might not be the kind of thing a lot of people will be after, especially compared against the current move in 3D television, which is geared toward getting weight off your face.

Both GPS devices offer some great little add-ons and features. The Roadmate 9055 has an MSRP of $299 and comes with a touch screen WVGA and Bluetooth connections. Users also get a lifetime supply of map updates whenever one is available. In addition the maps are packed with POIs and places from the AAA Tour book which even include star ratings.

The Explorist runs for a $100 cheaper and features a 2.2 inch display and features that are geared far more to the outdoorsy explorer. In addition to a ton of different features geared towards keeping someone from getting lost, the device can reportedly run for 18 hours on just two AA batteries.

The Sifteo game cubes are just another game that can boggle the mind (and fingers) for hours on end. Coming in a pack of three cubes, each cube has a 1.5 inch press-sensitive screen, has an accelerometer, and can connect with each other wirelessly. Add three more cubes to make a set of six, for added fun.

“Traditional game consoles have lost the tangible and interactive nature of classic tabletop games like Mahjong and dominoes, that bring people together. Players tell us that Sifteo cubes reduce ‘screen stare,’ banish tired
thumbs and give families and individuals a more natural way to have
fun.” – Sifteo co-founder Jeevan Kalanithi.

The different Sifteo games will require a user to rearrange the cubes, set them adjacent to each other, tilt them toward one another, and whatnot. Users can also play with other users through each one’s respective cubes, adding to the fun and interactivity. You don’t have to think of keypresses, button combinations and complicated strategies to play Sifteo. It’s fun–as simple as that.

Each cube communicates with each other and with the wireless USB hub. You will need to connect the hub to a computer, and be within range, though. This lets you choose the game to play, and we suppose that the hub acts as the controller for each cube.

Cubes can be played for four hours before the battery runs down, after which the cube case acts as the charging dock.

Sifteo packs of 3 cubes cost $99 at promo price.

The Garmin nuvi 2400 offers up a five inch screen with voice-activated navigation, lifetime updates on traffic conditions and maps, advanced route planning by way of Garmin’s proprietary nuRoute systems, voice-activated navigation, lifetime traffic and map updates, and advanced route planning and calculation with Garmin’s nuRoute technology.  Some models will even boast trafficTrends and MyTrends systems for improved mapping and route prediction capability.

Clearly, GPS systems like this will only be valuable to some people; specifically, those who take a lot of trips in unfamiliar ground. And I have to wonder what the surprisingly powerful Garmin nuvi 2400 would do if you told it to go to hell, especially with its voice command systems. But levity aside, this looks like it’ll be a great system to get you to where you need to go, even if you don’t know exactly where that is.

Word is, there will be several different price points for these depending on your use level and the like. If you start at the $250 model, you’ll have to pay for the traffic and map updates. $350 will net you the lifetime map updates and traffic updates. You’ll be able to get these within the next couple months–word is they’ll be out by the end of the first quarter, and that’s in March–so if you’re looking for a new way to get you from point A to point B in the shortest possible time without running smack into a traffic jam, the Garmin nuvi 2400 will be available for your consideration soon.

Considering we just got off a story yesterday in which LG showed off its massive new LED television, it’s a little bit odd to watch them go down to the level of “television you can carry around in your hand”, but hey…nothing like a little innovation to keep everybody interested.

Now, you’re probably wondering about what I said above: why would LG be getting into a market where one of the biggest players therein just got its lunch eaten despite the fact that it had support from a pretty well-received television show? As it turns out, LG’s looking to offer a little more than just mobile television: first, they’re looking to offer it with NRT (non real time) technology that will allow it to receive a signal while moving as fast as 200 kilometers (just a tick over 124 miles) per hour. Second–and this is the big one–they’re looking to offer it in 3D. Yes, you’ll be able to watch television, in 3D, on a small mobile screen.

Thing is, we don’t know much more than this yet. And that makes some sense as they’re planning to show this out at the 2o11 CES show in just a few days. But huge questions are outstanding here–pricing and launch dates are the big ones, but what kind of content will this get? Will we be talking about basic cable-level stuff here or is this just strictly over the air? Are the 3D glasses active or passive–or will we even need them? There are a whole lot of possibilities here that I’m just dying to get answered, and hopefully, when they make their big debut out at CES, we’ll get all our questions answered.

The Playstation Phone is, at last report, a combination of a cell phone and a PSPgo, while retaining the basic controls of a PSP, a development that no doubt has Marcus twitching and foaming at the mouth. Poor guy just went off on iPhone users for their lower-end gaming selection and now he’s got to deal with this? Course, the fact that Marcus hasn’t posted a new video in almost two months on his YouTube channel probably doesn’t help…but anyway! And considering that we’ve already heard one report pegging a release date in April, the word from Asahi Shimbun does nothing but help.

Sony, meanwhile, is saying that they don’t comment on speculation, which is a safe non-answer that likely means there are already plans in the works to do just that, but considering that Kaz Hirai went on record not so long ago describing what such a device would likely look like, well, that’s sort of a boost to the theory that one of these devices is well on the way.

And why not? Sony could use a way to compete with iPhone’s virtual supremacy in the do-it-all phone field, and if Sony can put out a cell phone that does games that make Angry Birds look sick, well, then why on earth not do it? Sony’s got the marketing muscle and the resources to make a serious play against even the heavily entrenched iPhone (Kevin Butler probably has to be one of the greatest mascots of the New Millennium), so I’m personally looking forward to spring for one more reason this year!

The Mynah handset (named for the bird that mimics human speech) connects to your cell phone of choice via Bluetooth (so your cell phone will have to have Bluetooth connectivity for this to work, but still), and then provides sufficient memory to record fully 340 hours (just a hair over two solid weeks) of cell phone calls. The downside to that, of course, is that you get that incredible call volume at the cost of quality–if you want better quality, you can bump that value upward but at the cost of total record time.

From there, you’ll be able to document things like date, time, phone number and duration of call, plus you’ll be able to choose when you record conversations or simply make a record of every word spoken in any direction over your cell phone. And when you’re done, you can permanently archive your conversations by transferring them over USB to your computer, and you’ll also be able to recharge the device that way too, as a fully-charged Mynah gives you eight hours of recording time.

Sadly, this won’t be a good last-minute Christmas gift item, as they won’t even start shipping out of the warehouses until December 28th (for what looks like arrival dates in February 2011), but you can always place a pre-order and wrap that up instead. They’ll cost $249, but if you’ve ever wanted to have an immediate record of everything you say–or someone else says to you–on a cell phone, then this is just the thing you’ve been waiting for. Paranoiacs and the forgetful are probably the first target market on this one, and since that covers a whole lot of people, I’d look for this to do pretty well.

The Biblio Leaf eReader offers a small solar cell in its base, essentially allowing you to recharge the device most anywhere where it can get access to sunlight. It’s also packing a six inch e-ink display, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, a stylus to help you get around and two gigs of onboard storage, as well as support for an SD card, which will let you pack in up to 3000 books, at last report.

These go on sale starting with, not at all surprisingly, the Japanese market, and based on current word, they’ll be part of a contract for 3G service at $20 a month. It’s a little unorthodox, I suppose, though I have heard of free phones with contract purchase, so why not a free ereader with contract purchase?

And another detail that seems to be missing from several sources so far is just how long the device takes to charge? Solar panels are great and everything, but I don’t know how many times I’ve discovered that the device takes twelve hours in full sun to recharge the batteries and put out fully two hours of use. Solar panels just haven’t come a long way yet, and it’s a shame, because we could be using them. I’m not a huge environmentalist, but the thought of people making their own power, at their houses, without a lot of extra pollution just sounds smart.

Anyway, every little bit helps, so if you’re thinking about a new ereader, consider the Biblio Leaf from Toshiba.

This holiday season, gadgets are among the best things you can give your kids of all ages. Whether they’re toddlers, preschoolers, tweeners or teens, there’s something for them, and we’ve organized our gift guide according to age group.

Babies and Toddlers

Leapfrog My Pal Scout / Violet – $16.99

Leapfrog’s My Pals Scout and Violet are excellent toys for infants to toddlers. These are soft and cuddly plush toys, but what’s great is that you can customize them. Plug in Scout or Violet into your Mac or PC, and you can input your child’s name, favorite food, favorite color and favorite tunes. Scout is great for boys, while Violet is ideal for girls. The My Pal Violet or Scout then sings and talks to your kid using their name and favorite items.

Preschoolers

VTech Kidzoom Digital Camera – $130

The early school ages are when children get to explore their skills. This is the time when they establish their artistic or analytical side. If your kid is into taking snapshots, you might worry that he always asks to borrow your digital camera. Worry not, get your kid his own camera for just $130 with the VTech Kidzoom. The camera easily connects to the computer via USB for transferring photos. Your child can even edit images on-camera with funny distortion effects and frames.

Tweens

Barnes & Noble Nook Color – $249

It seeems that tablets and ebook readers are a great buy for all age groups, kids included. Barnes & Noble recently upgraded the Nook to include full color and its own applications. You can buy and download titles of all kinds from B&N straight into the Nook. What’s great is that mom or dad can even root the Nook and turn it into a full-fledged Android tablet!

Apple iPad 16 GB WiFi – $499

While the iPad is starting to become a popular enterprise mobility tool, it’s also a great gadget for educational use. Kids can spend countless hours of fun playing Slice It! or Cut the Rope. They can learn physics and geometry while having fun. Or you can download animated storybooks for their reading enjoyment. Even schools are turning to ebooks instead of bulky, expensive hadrbound textbooks. You might be surprised that your kid might be using electronic versions of their books sooner than later.

Teens

Apple iPhone 4 16GB – $199 (with plan)

Teenagers are all about getting in touch. They’re also often out to parties or hanging out with their friends. Be a great parent and get them something they can use to get in touch with their pals. Of course, you can also use these gadgets to keep track of their goings-on. There’s nothing more assuring than getting to call or text your kids to check up on them. That is, if they answer your calls or texts. If you think a lower-end gadget would suit them, then you can go for an 8 GB iPhone 3GS, which sells for $99 with plan.

Whether you’re giving gifts to your kids, your nieces and nephews, or other kids close to you, there are a lot of gadgets to suit their taste and preferences. Just make sure the gadgets are age-appropriate, and that their folks (which might mean you) can sustain the maintenance. Cellular plans, for example, will entail a monthly fee. eBook downloads will cost a few dollars, too.

The basic concept is that, not surprisingly, humans give off a lot of heat. This was actually a plot device for the first two Predator movies, so it’s about as close to common knowledge as you can get. And they also–at least some of them–spend a lot of time in sunlight. As such, the Fujitsu patch looks to absorb that heat, and that sunlight, and convert it into electrical energy, which can then be used to power various devices.

The technology is still in development, and Fujitsu doesn’t even look to have commercial versions of these made available until 2015, so details are still a bit short on the ground as to just how much juice these will put out, or how power gets from the patches to the toasters and whatnot, but still, it’s an interesting idea. Put a couple dozen of them, say, on the hood of a car and you might well get enough juice between the sunlight making contact with that wide flat surface and the heat generated by the engine to give the car a few extra miles, or at least make a battery that you can drive home at night to run your television or some such.

Better yet, how about smartphones that constantly recharge with human contact or time in daylight? A portable media player you slip into your pocket and keep not only warm with your body heat but also fully charged? There are lots of great possibilities with a device like this, and hopefully, Fujitsu can find and bring a few of them into reality.

The ElectroHub charger, which will debut at the CES show, provides an actual set of ElectroHub batteries (available in common sizes like AA and AAA, which is why you see an Xbox 360 controller on that stand) that get charged instead of trying to run a charge through a back plate and into the existing battery. Even better, it’ll charge fully six devices at once.

Of course, there are plenty of devices out there that don’t run on AA batteries–and I’m not talking about the ones that run on AAA instead–but the ElectroHub actually has these devices covered too. For cell phones and the like that have their own specific battery, a protective case is available that works with the ElectroHub’s charger to pump voltage into the existing battery. That’s about how the Powermat does things, which is a lot nicer than trying to install your own backplate.

The ElectroHub is set to be released early next year (not long after its big CES debut) and is further slated to cost $39. That comes with a set of batteries, and further sets thereafter are set to cost $10, which is actually a pretty good price when you consider how comparatively inexpensive it is to continually recharge old batteries than to replace them with new ones. Speaking as someone who uses a lot of rechargeable batteries (I favor the Rayovac Renewal myself), I know what kind of savings that’s talking about, and it’s pretty nice.

The Motorola Droid Pro is roughly the same size and weight of its BlackBerry contemporaries. It features a slightly bigger screen that is a touch longer vertically. The 3.1-inch screen on the Droid Pro is, of course, a touchscreen, which takes it out of the class of your typical BlackBerry Pearl and Bold and puts it with the likes of the BlackBerry Torch and Palm Pixi Plus. Compared to those phones, the screensize is comparable.

The keyboard is obviously the big attraction here. It’s best described as a “BlackBerry-style” keyboard, as it’s comparable to the keyboard you’d find on such a phone. If you are a heavy business user and were discouraged by the keyboard on the Motorola Droid and Droid 2, then you should give the Droid Pro’s keyboard a try. Simply put, the Droid’s keyboard is for text messagers while the Droid Pro’s keyboard is more adapt to people used to business-minded phones. While the Droid Pro’s keyboard is lightyears better than the Droid 1 and 2, and is better than the older BlackBerry keyboards (like whats found on the Curve and Pearl lines) – it still doesn’t seem to match the newer BlackBerry keyboards found on the BB Tour and Bold brands of phones.

A rumor circulating the internet some months ago said that the Motorola Droid Pro would be available in a camera-free variant for those of you who work in high-security workplaces and aren’t allowed camera phones. We’ve reached out to our Verizon RP rep and asked for a confirmation on this, and a release date.

The Droid Pro is running Android 2.2. Android has been getting more and more business friendly the last few updates. The core operating system does now support syncing with unsecured Exchange servers as well as some Exchange ActiveSync security policies. But, from a software perspective, the Droid Pro is the first really business-compliant Android device. Motorola is swinging for the BlackBerry boys in Waterloo with this device – it features support for Exchange data encryption, as well as the ability to remotely wipe the device and the ability to change passwords remotely. Motorola calls it ‘corporate-level’ security.

As far as the ‘fun’ stuff, the Droid Pro isn’t as great at. E-mail is okay on the touchscreen, and so is web browsing (you’re web browsing with a real web browser, as opposed to the BlackBerry and their ‘mobile web’ browsers). But, don’t expect third-party apps to be so good on this device. Many third-party apps don’t scale down well to the smaller screen, and some games, like Angry Birds, may be difficult to play with the small screen.

Flash performance was about as well as you’d expect on an Android device. On some sites, Flash performed well on the device, while other sites caused the whole phone to slow down. Generally, it’s okay, but don’t expect to be playing any great Flash games on the small screen.

Here’s something strange we noticed – this phone is made be used in portrait mode. The screen will not rotate to a landscape mode, no matter what you do. If a third-party will only run that way, it will rotate, but otherwise, the phone is locked portrait. Makes some sense, though. Likewise, you’ll never see the virtual keyboard on the device. It shows up in the menu settings, but you’ll never be able to get the phone to bring up the virtual keyboard. And probably for the better, considering the great hardware keyboard and the screen’s small size.

The camera for the Motorola Droid Pro was adequate. Despite not being a consumer-orientated phone, the camera could hold its own when compared to other phone cameras.

The Motorola Droid Pro is available only through Verizon Wireless, and is under their Droid branding. The phone costs $479.99 without a contract and $179.99 on a two-year contract when purchased through Verizon. But, you can find Best Buy selling it for $50 or Amazon selling it for $20, again, both prices with a two-year contract. As a smartphone, it will require a data plan.

Final thoughts, we found the Motorola Droid Pro by Verizon to be a capable Android device. Despite a small screen size, web browsing and e-mail were still fine on the device, along with all the Google apps integration that we’ve come to know and love. How will business users like the Droid Pro? The biggest shock for them will be the switch to Android from whatever else they were using. A reformed BlackBerry user will quickly get used to the keyboard and the touchscreen, but we suspect they will find the biggest issue to be the new operating system and the sometimes quirky nature of Android. Although the Android software is nowhere near bad (and Motorola has made some nice corporate security upgrades to it on this phone), it will still remain the biggest hurdle for ‘CrackBerry’ addicts looking to make the jump to the Android operating system with this phone.

(Verizon Wireless provided us with a loaner Droid Pro to use during the review period.)

Launch plans outside of Japan are actually still on the table but undecided and it’s a good bet that Japan could be the test market for just how well the new tablets/eReaders will actually sell. The Galapagos tablets will be issued with 5.5 inch and 10.8 inch screens and will cost the equivalent of $474 and $652 respectively.

Despite running the Android OS the Galapagos tablets are geared towards being used as an eReader which makes them pretty pricey when comparing it to the Kindle which sports a 9.7 inch screen. Users of these tablet/eReaders will not be able to download apps or other software the way true tablets generally work.

And Sony’s got big plans for their sales, too–gunning for fully half of the local marketplace. They’re looking to lay hands on this massive chunk of market share by offering up the Reader Pocket Edition with its five inch screen for roughly 20,000 yen, or roughly $240 US. Meanwhile, a larger touchscreen version will also be available for 25,000 yen, roughly $298 US.

Both will be available in stores starting December 10th, which is about the latter half, give or take, of the Christmas (and other similar holidays, depending) shopping season.

Sony, for its own part, actually released a statement saying that they wanted their own piece of the growing e-publications industry (and indeed it is: ebook sales are poised to reach fully $1 billion dollars by the end of the year) and with growth figures like those expected, it’s no wonder Sony wants in. This is probably an announcement that Sony should have made last year back when ebooks were getting started, but you can’t blame them for not wanting to go all-in before they even saw the turn, if you’ll pardon me a Texas Hold-em analogy.

Some are theorizing that there are some ulterior motives involved–that the move is due to the growing popularity of the Kindle, Nook, and other ebook readers (not to mention the iPad’s massive success along with similar tablet PCs), and this isn’t out of line, but Sony’s motives seem reasonable at face value–they want a cut of ebooks, now that there are ebooks to get.

Either way, though, I look for more ereaders to join the market–ebooks will only increase from here, more likely than not, and it’ll be worthwhile to be ready for the change.

This by itself would be fairly decent news–after all, we’ve been talking doorbusters here for the last few weeks now at most every brick and mortar chain store in the world and a few websites to boot–but what really makes this a dose of something extra special is that the Nook, Barnes and Noble’s ereader that’s being regarded as Kindle’s big competitor, is having its big Black Friday sale…for $10 more. Yes, Amazon’s second-generation Kindle will undercut the Nook by fully $10 on one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

Now, a few brass tacks: the deal starts out at Amazon, so you’ll need to be online for this one, and you’ll need to be online promptly at 9 AM PST (that’s Pacific Standard Time for those of you out of the US or over on the other coast) to get your hands on this one. There will only be a limited number available, so pausing for lunch and then hoping to land this deal will likely not end well if you’d hoped for cheap Kindle.

While there’s a good chance of getting a discount on earlier model Kindles, this may well be the last big sale on the latest class of Kindles, so if you want to keep up with the releases and get the very latest you’ll have to strike quickly lest you miss the boat.

The Anti Sleep Pilot is a Danish-made device that keeps you awake while you drive. Not by monitoring the position of your head and neck and sounding an alarm when your head dips below a certain level, but rather by testing your reaction time while you drive. The Anti Sleep Pilot attaches to your car’s dashboard, and keeps constant track of its motion, looking for things like little swerves in rapid fashion that may indicate you’re nodding off. Also, it’ll having you touch the device at random intervals, and based on how long it takes you to respond to the device’s request for a patdown, determines your reaction time and thus gives you an idea of how sleepy you are. Plus, we all know long range driving can get monotonous–keeping it between the lines on a long stretch of highway isn’t exactly mentally challenging–thus the occasional tap tests from the Anti Sleep Pilot break up that monotony.

And then, it takes all the data it collects–the swerving and your touch test results–and compiles them to determine if you can keep driving (and shows you as much via a green light) or whether you should stop and catch a quick nap or something (via a red light).

These sell for fully $270 in Denmark (1499 kroner), though how much these will sell for elsewhere is as yet unknown. Still though, if you want a great way to know if you’re too tired to drive, the Anti Sleep Pilot should be just what you need.

First off, the big deal is that, should you buy $50 worth of stuff at participating stores on Black Friday (you’ll likely want to check ahead first), you’ll get a free membership with them, which represents a $25 savings immediately plus savings throughout the one-year term of the membership on future purchases (including an extra deal on Cyber Monday, more on that in a minute), so if you buy a lot of books through the year, this is something you’ll want to look into.

Meanwhile, further bargains will be had on items throughout stores, like 25 percent off a Nook accessory when you buy a matte screen film kit, half off books and so-called “deluxe cookbooks”, anywhere between 30 percent and half off a list of DVDs that measures into the hundreds, and 30 percent off lapdesks, which are great if you have a laptop that you like to use just as the name implies.

And like I said earlier, the deals carry on into the notorious Cyber Monday, so named for being the largest day of online shopping when workers go back to the office and use the fat pipes companies have to do a little shopping on the side, though these days that seems more dangerous than usual in terms of keeping your job in the first place. The deals there, however, include 25 percent off any one item for Barnes & Noble Members, while all non-members get free shipping as a matter of course. Meanwhile, DVD and Blu-ray titles will be available at up to a catastrophic discount of 80 percent off, and Home and Gift buyers will get a buy one get one half off deal.

Big deals at Barnes and Noble this year, folks, so if you’re looking to get some new home theater gear for the holidays, you’ll likely want to look here for a good way to fuel it up.

A new study by McGill University says that the overuse of GPS units will eventually lead to a loss of memory and problems with spatial recognition. The lead researcher, Veronique Bohbot says that human memory when dealing with finding your way from one spot to another relies on two distinct methods. The first has to do with spatial recognition and using landmarks to be able to tell where you are and how far you are from your destination. The other is using stimulus response in which your body is programmed when to make turns based on repetition. Bohbot says both of these techniques are overridden when relying on GPS turn by turn directions and can users can eventually lose to ability to adapt.

Most notable is the TiVo Premiere DVR which will now be completely free, as long as potential customers are willing to sign a two year deal where they will pay $20 per month. Should one want a shorter contract, they can play $100 for the Premiere an $20 monthly, thereafter for a one year contract. People can also get the Premiere XL for $300 with a one year contract, which is the same price someone can get the Premiere without a contract.

The Premiere holds around 45 hours of HDTV recording while the Premiere XL holds 150 hours of HD television recordings.

First off, I’m going to have to disappoint you a bit, as the DP1000 won’t actually be available in stores until March of next year. But here’s what you’ll be missing until then: the DP1000 offers three different mics for mono or stereo recording, fully two gigs of onboard memory, support for microSD and SDHC cards that’ll bump up the storage capacity as much as 32 gig (and that means a whole lot of audio). It’ll record in your choice of Linear PCM or MP3, offers a 300 Hz low-cut filter, ten seconds of pre-recording time,  and a USB jack.

Now here’s where things get a little tricky. While the Beseto Japan DP1000 offers storage space for only two AAA batteries, and those two will give you fully 48 hours of use by themselves, you can also hook on an external battery case, which runs on four AA batteries and bumps your run time all the way up through a week.

And here’s the further difficult news: while we know that the Beseto Japan DP1000 is set to come out March of next year, we don’t know exactly what the price is on this yet. Estimates have emerged that suggest it’s going to run fully 15,000 yen (roughly $180 US, though by the time March comes, who knows?), though these are just estimates at the end of the day.

That and who would need to record a week’s worth of audio?  Paranormal investigators, maybe?

The reader itself boasts a 9.7 inch screen, in a full color display, and some versions will even boast 3G connectivity. Not much else is being mentioned, save that the device itself is currently, according to reports, getting exhibited out at the FPD International show out in Japan.

Now, here’s where things get a little interesting.  It indeed is the first device to offer Triton, which makes it rare in and of itself. Other devices packing Triton seem to be keeping mum at this point; at least, I haven’t heard of any and can’t find others offhand. But what they’re asking for an e-reader is just downright preposterous.

Hanvon’s pre-order price on their new e-reader, deliveries of which will begin in February, is between $500 and $550 US (with more for the 3G version) –and that’s unusually expensive for a device like an e-reader. Though when you consider that, in China, this would be roughly the equivalent of 3500 yuan. In America, this is an eyebrow-raiser.  In China it should be a disaster.

Back in 2008, you see, the average per capita earnings of a rural dweller in China was 4671 yuan annually. That means, to buy a Hanvon e-reader, the average country-dweller would have to save his pay for most of a year to buy one e-reader. It gets better if you work in the city–2009′s figures showed the average annual wage of workers in the private sector was 18,199 yuan, which still represents about three months’ pay to buy an e-reader.

The pricing may be a little wonky here, but still–first is first, and that’s a point worth paying attention to.

A new report released by Forrester says that Americans have spent $966 million on e-books so far this year with that number only set to increase in the final week of the year as more e-readers are given as gifts. However, Forrester did find that using some kind of e-reader is still a minority practice, with only 7 percent of 4,000 people surveyed saying that they actually read e-books. Of that small section, the average e-book reader uses an electronic device to read 41 percent of the time.

When talking about the most popular devices to read e-books on, laptops are still leading the market with 35 percent claiming that is their primary e-reader. The Amazon Kindle came in second with 32 percent using it the most and the Apple iPhone finished third.

Though it’s got the name iHome, and the product name even starts with that familiar lower-case i, it’s not just your Apple gear that’ll be able to get charged up on the iHome iB969. You’ll get a pair of quick-charge USB ports, as well as a pair of standard charging ports, so you’ll be able to charge as many as four different devices at once on this.

Plus, you’ll also get a 36 inch connector so you can sync with iTunes, a USB to AC adapter for things like your Sony Reader, and even an included USB to miniUSB adapter for your Blackberry, Kindle, or even your Nook should you have one.

That’s actually an incredible variety of charging possibilities there, and even better, you can cross markets and disciplines with relative ease. Now, if you have an iPhone and a Sony Walkman MP3 player, you can charge them both in the same place. And you can tack on a couple extra things besides! It’s definitely a welcome treat to see a device that can be used as a centralized charging station, if for no other reason than to help keep track of these expensive and easy to lose devices.

And just to top it all off, the iHome iB969 is available, right now, over on the iHome website for $60. Not a terrible price to keep all your hardware charging and in the same place to boot.

Yes, I know, some of your are saying “Isn’t that just a USB port?”. And indeed, I said much the same thing–but that really is about what they’re talking about: the wireless equivalent (which is what’s really the big deal about this) of a USB port.

See, the folks out at Aska Electron have figured out a way to send data over the same kind of wireless frequency that also sends power over wireless connection, like with the Powermat. And the transfer rate is pretty sweet, too–word is that they’ve gotten it up to a healthy 120 megs per second. The “how did they do that?” portion of things is still a bit sketchy (which makes some sense given that this is still a prototype and all) but from what we can gather so far they’re using the same coils for both power and data transmission.

But here’s what’s downright unnerving about the whole thing–while we’re just now hearing about the prototype, Aska Electron expects to put this system into commercial products by the end of the year. They’re basically going from prototype to finished system in the space of a few weeks, unless of course they’ve been sitting on the prototype for some time now and just wanted to look like miracle workers for getting finished product to market in disturbingly rapid fashion.

Still though, if this all comes to pass, you might well be seeing completely portless (not to mention thoroughly waterproof) media players and digital cameras and suchlike hit shelves very, very soon.

In addition to the Twitter feed, Adium also supports traditional IM clients like AIM, Mobile Me, Yahoo Messenger, MSN and Google Talk. Version 1.4 includes full IRC support and improved group chat support. There is a new addition in that you can also bookmark important chats, finding it easier the next time you logon and can use the bookmark as a transcript.

Those hoping for audio or FaceTime chats are going to be mistaken as this service is text based only. Adium 1.4 requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later in order to operate correctly.

This is not the first we’ve heard about Oakley’s 3D ambitions–we knew as far back as September that they were looking to offer 3D-capable sunglasses–but this might be the first time they’ve actually got a set ready for release. And they’ve got a special edge, too, as they look to appeal to those folks with smaller heads.

Basically, what Oakley did was take their Gascan frames, which they’ve had on hand for a long time running now, and put their new 3D lens technology in them. And after they did that, they then took advantage of the upcoming Tron remake’s–Tron: Legacy–release to throw in some blue Tron-style graphics, giving you a pair of Tron glasses that you can, specifically, wear to Tron and see in 3D. The Gascan frames, meanwhile, are sort of a wraparound style, so for those of you with smaller heads you may well want to know that they’ll likely fit better than you’d expect.

These are, not surprisingly, limited edition, with an included soft carrying bag that you can use to polish the glasses too. If you want a set of these, you can get them for $150 a pair, and they’re available right now. If the thought of a set of movie-themed sunglasses that also serve as 3D glasses appeals to you, and you’d like to wear a pair out to catch Tron: Legacy in theaters, then you’d better get to ordering a set.

The company has produced three different Peek models, the Pronto, the Classic and the new Peek 9 which just launched in September.  When Peek 9 was launched the company announced that the server carriers that were being used went offline permanently.  Since the older models of the Peek could only use those carriers they became useless.

Not wanting to lose their loyal customers, Peek announced this week that they would give free copies of the Peek 9 to any customer who wanted to trade in their older models.  Considering that the newer model is both sleeker and works faster this is quite a deal for those who have stuck with the company.

The new Cable Collar, produced by Quirky aims to solve that problem.  With the Cable Collar you merely place it over an existing wall outlet.  The collar is equipped with two places for plugs much like the wall outlet but also has a kind of shelf that you can rap the power cables around. This allows for less long cords trailing from the wall socket to one of the many devices you might have running in your home theater setup.  Being as new as it is, the Quirky Cable Collar is in the pre-order stage with a projected initial run of 3,000 units selling for a very reasonable $6.99 a piece.

Word from Sanyo provides details on the eneloop XX–with 2500 mAH of juice and a promise of more stable voltage and longer life spans, this alone would be welcome news, and adding on the fact that some projections put the eneloop’s power level at 25 percent higher than currently available batteries, well, that’s just icing on the cake.

Of course, for that kind of power, you’re going to pay through the nose. Sanyo pretty much promises high prices as the press release is said to use the word “professional” no less than six times.They’ll hit markets in Europe this December, and whether or not they’ll make the trip to the States in time for us to put really long-lived rechargeable batteries in our kids’ Christmas toys is as yet unclear. Still though, when you consider their substitution value in regular batteries, the price may not be so bad.