Basically, Buhel’s G33 Speakergoggles allow you to connect, via Bluetooth, between your goggles and your smartphone to serve as a sort of intercom system between you and other members of your party. Using what’s called nasal bone conduction microphones, you can actually speak normally, and the goggles pick up the vibrations in your face when you do so, then transmit the results, which in turn are converted to speech that other people can hear. You’ll have a 1600 foot range, which is a bit south of a third of a mile, giving you a pretty nice radius to operate in indeed.

And even better, since it uses your smartphone as a processor, you won’t just have the intercom capability going for you, as you’ll be able to get music in there too, ensuring your ski soundtrack will always be playing. Well, not always, as the battery life will support fully nine hours of music, or ten hours of talk time and fully 200 hours of standby time.

The down side here is that, since we’re talking about Bluetooth, there will be issues in using it in tree cover or while inside buildings. Plus, everyone involved has to have their own Buhel G33 units to keep in touch–you won’t be able to, say, call for help if you’re stranded on a ski lift like in that Adam Green movie, Frozen. Worse still, we don’t yet have word on pricing or availability for these, so there’s no way to know if they’re a good buy.

So I’ll leave this one up to you guys–anyone planning to lay hands on a set of Buhel G33s when they hit shelves? Or do you think that there are better ways to stay in touch while skiing or the like? No matter what you think, head on down to the comments section and tell us if you’re looking to get in on Buhel’s new communication devices!

Both the boostpac eclipse and boostpac quick shot offer up universal recharging capability for not only your standard array of iOS hardware–the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad–but also, at last report, work with some Android devices as well, allowing you to pass the charge amongst friends, even if they’re device agnostic or favor one brand over the other. And both of them will offer up LED battery indicator lights, so you can always tell just how much charge is remaining, Smart Technology to prevent the devices from over-charging and unnecessarily draingin the battery, as well as the capability to recharge the packs themselves from any standard USB 2.0 port with an included cable.

As for differences between the two, the boostpac quick shot is a simpler, smaller version that offers up 1200 mAH of charge, while the boostpac eclipse is a somewhat more advanced model that not only offers up slightly more juice in the form of a 1500 mAH battery, but also offers a handy docking station for when the device isn’t in use.

A quick check of Qmadix’s web site suggests that you can get the quick shot for $49.99 when it comes out–it’s listed as “out of stock” right now which makes sense as it’s still yet to be shown–and the eclipse will ask a surprisingly reasonable (especially against the quick shot!) price of $59.99.

No word on release dates for these just yet, but still, they look pretty nice if you’re looking for another way to charge your portable gear in a very small package. There are a lot of competitors in this space, though, so they may not fare too well.

But what do you guys think? Figure there’s room for one more in the portable charger market? Or will these go over like a lead balloon? No matter what you think, head on down to the comments section and fill us in!

The Epson Moverio BT-100 is a head mounted display that allows you to basically wear a wraparound band of computer display over your eyes. The key difference here is that, unlike pretty much all the head mounted displays we’ve seen so far, the Moverio BT-100 is transparent, meaning that you’ll not only be able to see what’s in front of you, but also what’s in front of the display, too. They’ve also indulged in a relatively bizarre tradeoff here, sacrificing image quality (the resolution on this is 960 x 540) for size (that display will look like a 320 inch screen about 60 feet away).

The mobile viewer, which looks wildly unpleasant but is geared to fit over prescription glasses without incident, comes with a control unit that not only runs Android 2.2, but also offers up wi-fi connectivity. You’ll also get six hours of battery life, a set of detachable headphones, and a gig of onboard storage which can be augmented to 32 gigs with an SDHC card.

This is set to start landing–where else?–in Japan November 25th, and is expected to sell for 50,000 yen, which is running around $643 right now. And if you started thinking “augmented reality” when you saw this, you’re not alone. This looks tailor-made for augmented reality, with wi-fi connectivity and a halfway decent version of Android (not the best, of course, but still serviceable given the situation) powering a system that could, in turn, supply map data and various other items to your display, that is now sufficiently transparent for you to see the buildings and landmarks in question about which the map data and the like relates. It’s a clever idea but really only a start.

So what do you guys think here? Figure this is the start of augmented reality in earnest? Or do you think this is just another flash in the pan that will be gone in a few weeks anyway? No matter what your thoughts, we welcome them down in the comments section below!

A startup called Boombotix is currently seeking funding for its iPod Nano watch project called The Proof. It’s a watch strap for the iPod Nano made of durable polyurethane coated with silicone so it’s completely waterproof. Three versions are currently in the works — one offers protection without access to audio, another lets you connect a jack to it for use with headphones and speakers, and the last one adds Bluetooth to the watch to connect with Bluetooth devices.

Check out the Kickstarter page by hitting the Source link!

The Muruta Wireless Power Transmission System, shown above, actually can handle a variety of tasks due to an increased amount of power output. Not only will it reportedly charge several smaller devices at once, it will also tackle an entire laptop. What’s different about the Murata system is that, unlike Qi standard devices, the Murata system uses capacitive coupling instead of conductive or inductive charging. Basically, capacitive coupling systems use square transmitters and receivers, instead of coils, as well as not requiring a physical connection between the two.

Now, the Murata system isn’t exactly ready for prime time–at last report, it could only get about 70 percent efficiency, which means about one watt in three just sort of boils off in transmission–but it’s still a pretty exciting idea, especially when you consider that the Murata system is capable of putting up about 16 watts of output at 2.1 amps tops.

Basically, with something like the Murata system, we might well be able to have handheld devices without batteries, as they continually draw their power from normal house current, but without connections being necessary. Your landline phone might be completely cordless, and iPhone sized, but never needing plugged in again. Conversely, you may still get batteries, but they would be continually charging in the event of power outage so you still had power for your devices even when the power company itself was trying to fix the lines.

Admittedly, this is all still very forward-looking stuff (they’ve got to get the efficiency numbers up first before anyone would think about buying these) but when they’re all ready to go, I’d expect they’d do brisk business.

Who out there would pay a little extra for the ability to charge devices without wires? Think the Murata system might be the one we look to? Either way, head on down to the comments section and tell us what you think!

Amazon, compared to other tablet manufacturers, has what it takes to convince a customer to buy the tablet, lots and lots of tablet-friendly content. Just like Apple, Amazon controls its own music, movie, eBook and application stores, which means plenty of content for the tablet buyer from the moment the device is taken out of the box.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is interested in bringing even more content to its customers by launching a Netflix-like digital book library soon. The company is apparently in talks with publishers detailing such a new service, although it’s not known when it would be launched.

If successful in its negotiations, Amazon would offer Kindle customers the opportunity of accessing free eBooks all through the year after paying a yearly subscription fee. It is not yet known how such a deal would work, but according to the WSJ, customers could be limited to a number of free books per month and the books themselves would be older titles. Amazon Prime customers, who pay $79 a year for unlimited two-day shipping and access to a digital library of movies and TV shows would also get access to this new program.

However publishers are not thrilled about such a deal “because they believe it could lower the value of books and because it could strain their relationships with other retailers that sell their books” so it may take some convincing to get them on board.

But let’s hear it from you, Kindle customers, would you want access to free eBooks from the Kindle store even if we’d be talking about older titles? Or would you rather keep buying new digital books instead?

The DVDO Mobile serves a lot of separate functions at once. Not only does it offer you a portable charger for your various mobile devices, always a necessity for travelers, but it also lets you stream media from your phone to a television with an onboard HDMI output. Plus, if you’re working with a television that has HDMI CEC, or a projector with same, you can use the television’s remote to control the phone, or tablet, as long as either has MHL.

And also, it will serve as a charger capable of handling a variety of mobile devices, offering up both a USB-A connector and a microUSB connector to give you the best shot at being able to recharge your particular device of choice. Plus, the HDMI cord even allows for data transfer, so you’ll be able to not only charge your devices and send out mobile video, you’ll also be able to sync them too.

Releasing and price on the DVDO Mobile is yet to be announced, but still, this sounds like a device that’s going to do a lot of great things for mobile device users, as long as they can keep the price in line. Do that and they’ll have a pretty good value on their hands, I’d say.

But what about you guys? Do you think you’d be able to find use in the DVDO Mobile? Or is it not worth the space that would be required for it in your mobile gear bag? Whatever you think about the DVDO Mobile, we definitely want to hear about it, so head on down to the comments section and tell us what you think!

I say sanctioned because workarounds exist, and we’re sure some homebrew apps (and games) are out there. The 9 new apps for the Zune HD are: Finger Paint, Calendar, Trash Throw, Slider Puzzle, ColorSpill, Splatter Bug, Vine Climb, Decoder Ring, and Tug-O-War. Aside from the new apps, the Email, Echoes, and Penalty! Flick Soccer apps also get updates.

No sense in trying to compare Zune HD’s number of apps to other platforms, as Microsoft announced long ago that it’s shifting its focus from the Zune hardware to other things, particularly Windows Phone 7.

The iRiver Story HD hold the distinction of being the first dedicated ebook reader that supports Google Books. As such, you might expect a few functionalities that will come with accessing books and content from Google — in particular, a web browser. Accessing the iRiver Story HD’s web browser is not as straightforward as tapping on an application icon. But it’s not too difficult either.

• Go to the Help menu and select “Books” at the top of the page.
• You will be redirected to books.google.com.
• Select the link at the top that says “Web.”

This brings you to Google’s home page. You can use the search box to enter keywords or to key in a URL. Of course, after this you won’t have the option of having a direct URL box, so you would either have to browse through sites through hyperlinks. Or, you can simply go back to the Google home page.

The iRiver Story HD lets you connect via WiFi, which means you can browse the Internet anywhere with a wireless connection. Of course, you can’t expect this ebook reader to be the best at web browsing, given the slow refresh rate that e-ink displays are known for. But for the occasional web surfing, email and social networking, this would do for a $140 device.

Pardon the funny name, but green-minded techies out there would probably like the concept of charging their gadgets with water. APS-J says its batteries can be recharged with a few drops of water or any liquid. It’s even eco-friendlier if you can use recycled liquid, say your own urine.

NoPoPo stands for No Pollution Power, and these batteries will give you anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes of power with a few drops of liquid, which then results in the chemical reactions within the battery cells that provide power. Each cell can be recharged thrice before they get completely depleted. These cells are best used for applications that require low current draw, such as flashlights, radios, clocks, and the like. What’s best is that NoPoPo batteries have a shelf-life of 20 years, which means you can simply pack these in your bag and activate the batteries anytime with liquid.

APS-J NoPoPo batteries will start retailing in Japan and the US this August, and will initially come only in AA form factor.

Though it looks like nothing so much as a battery charger, it’s actually quite the opposite. The EP-15V lets you take those eight C batteries I mentioned earlier, plug them all in, and create a 12 volt power source that’s sufficient to recharge your laptop of choice. In fact, it’s actually sufficient to give your 11.6 inch variety of MacBook Air an extra two hours of life.

The charger hit shelves today…in Japan, not surprisingly, so if you’re interested in one of these you’d better have a good importer ready to work for you, and weighs 2.3 pounds by itself  (more when you add in the batteries) and will even come with an optional airline adapter (which goes by the not at all surprising name of the MagSafe Airline Adapter).

The pricing, meanwhile, is just this side of outlandish: you’ll be able to get the EP-15V itself for about $250 (19,800 yen) and the MagSafe Airline Adapter, meanwhile, will sell for an extra $75 (5800 yen)

It’s really not a terrible idea, and a great way to give yourself a jolt if you’re in, say, an extended power outage or you’re on the road away from power adapters. Though dropping $250 on a recharge device may seem a little odd, considering that you can get some small solar power systems for not much more than that (Harbor Freight is your friend, folks–45 watts for $169.99, though you will need an inverter with that).

So what do you guys think? A clever device to get you a little extra charge where you need it in rapid fashion? Or is the EP-15V a dead battery from the word go? The comments section is waiting for you to juice it up, so head on down, plug in, and hit us with your best shot!

Set for release next year, March 6th 2012 specifically, and priced at $18, Walter Isaacson’s iSteve: The Book of Jobs promises to be de rigueur reading for anyone whose an extrovert or introvert Apple/Jobs fan not only on account of it being a wholly official biography of the Jobs-meister but also on account of the fact that Isaacson has previously been chairman of CNN as well as the managing editor of no less than Time magazine (which leads one to a whole set of expectations in itself). Moreover if anyone has read his previous biographies (he’s written four to date, the latter being Einstein: His Life and Universe and Kissinger: A Biography, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life) you’ll know that Isaacson’s work is known for being particularly insightful as well as a damned good read.

iSteve: The Book of Jobs, which, according to Amazon’s listing is ‘drawn from three years of exclusive and unprecedented interviews Isaacson has conducted with Jobs as well as extensive interviews with Jobs’ family members, key colleagues from Apple and its competitors’ and thus promises to offer the reader a (one assume no holes barred) insight into both the professional and personal life of one of this age’s major icons, and a glimpse into the life of someone who is known for being particularly secretive.

Of course, as those who have their fingers on the pulse will know, Walter Isaacson’s iSteve: The Book of Jobs was announced February of last year but it’s only now (I say only, there’s still quite a wait to be had) that an official date of release complete with the facility to pre-order direct from Amazon has been forthcoming (and we should stress that the link provided is not an affiliate link).

I expect the entire writing team at TFTS to be getting Chris (our resident Apple aficionado) a copy, or three.

*We should stress that the post image is made by us for illustrative purposes only and is not the cover of iSteve: The Book of Jobs.

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 X-Prize Foundation, in association with Qualcomm, is bringing us the Tricorder X-Prize (and that’s actually the name of the competition). The goal of said competition–aside from the winning of said prize–is to yield a medical device, easily carried, that can “diagnose patients better than or equal to a panel of board certified physicians”. Basically, it’s to be the equivalent of having an entire room full of doctors in a device roughly comparable in size to your iPhone.

The best such device will win at least a share of a substantial $10 million pot, which may well end up split several ways among winners. The contest is currently in the planning stages right now, set for a 2012 start date, so if you’ve got a plan for such a device, better get the Legos and get on to construction.

Of course, actually creating such a device would likely do horrendous things to the world as we know it–general practitioners would be shown the door en masse and all health insurance would be catastrophic care and medication only–but at the same time it would likely save a whole lot of people a whole lot of cash. No more would people need an appointment to determine of a suspicious lump, for example, was malignant or benign, and no more waiting days for results, either.

Considering how many devices are already out there designed to make medical diagnoses and treatment easier and more accessible, rolling them all into one convenient package may not be out of line. And while this will prove to be only an early-model tricorder, it will still be head and shoulders above most anything else out there today.

So what do you think of the medical tricorder idea? You want one? Or will this be a horrible mistake that destroys the health-care industry as we know it? Hit the comments section and tell us what you think!

Dutch news outlet AD reported that TomTom has been selling traffic data to the Netherlands Police Agency, and, as mentioned, the police were using it to determine where traffic cameras and speed traps should be established. TomTom users have to opt into sharing their data with the company, who says they use the traffic data to help customers with “Live” devices get around traffic.

TomTom says that they routinely share information with local governments, in order to help them understand traffic congestion, and where to build new roads, etc. But, they admitted in a press statement that they are aware that local police also purchased the data with the intention of placing speed traps. In the release, TomTom promises:

We are aware a lot of our customers do not like the idea and we will look at if we should allow this type of usage.

They go on to note that they believe this practice helps create a better, safer driving experience for everybody:

We are working with road authorities around the world to use anonymous traffic information to help make roads flow more efficiently and safer.

TomTom was clear to point out in their statements that the location data was anonymous, so the police purchased data telling them where people were speeding, but not who was speeding. The public reaction to TomTom doing this, from what I can tell, is mostly negative. Everybody hates speeding tickets, and agrees that speed limits are too low. TomTom is on the wrong side of this argument.

Admit it, will you buy a TomTom device after knowing that they sell traffic data to police? Scroll down to the comments section and tell us about it.

Visa isn’t the first investor in the mobile payment system that we’ve been talking about here for some time now–they’re joined by venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital. Visa reportedly got a seat on Square’s advisory board in exchange for its investment, but the amount of cash involved in said investment is as yet unknown.

Just as a recap, the Square payment service basically gives you a dongle that you can plug into your Android or iPhone / iPad that lets you take payments remotely over a 3G or wi-fi connection. Then, when you actually use the Square reader (the name of the dongle in question), Square takes a bite of each transaction you run through the dongle. If you swipe someone’s card, you shell out 2.75 percent. Keying the transaction into the included software, meanwhile, takes 3.5 percent of the transaction plus an additional 15 cents.

The dongle and software are free if you sign up out at Square’s website, or you can pay Apple $9.95 for the sublime privilege of shopping for one at an Apple store, though Square has previously offered $10 credits for anyone who signs up with Apple.

For Visa to be throwing in on this represents a pretty significant vote in Square’s favor–clearly Visa likes the idea, enough to dump money on it–but it does give Visa a little bit of edge as it will encourage people to use their credit cards more by offering them more places in which to do so. And that represents more money in Visa’s pocket, as well as in Square’s, and in whoever’s using these to process their payments. Sounds like a win-win all the way around to me.

An appropriately martial name, the KnightHawk 3G serves as what amounts to a mobile 3G platform, allowing for high-speed internet access to go where ever the unit itself actually goes. How high speed, you wonder? Well, how does a 14.4 meg download speed sound? Don’t like that? How about a 5.76 meg upload speed? It will also provide support for as many as 60 voice calls and 14 HSPDA connections at the same time, meaning the entire platoon (a platoon is typically 40 soldiers) can call home at the same time.

The downside? The KnightHawk 3G is sufficiently ruggedized to provide battle-ready support for all those connections, which means it’s somewhat weighty. In fact, one of these units weighs a whopping 44 pounds, which means you’re probably not going to have the radio guy carrying one of them on his back. But mounting them in most any vehicle on the field would do the job nicely.

One of these on a block would likely provide terrific high-speed internet access for several homes simultaneously, and failing that, it wouldn’t be hard to see these becoming a standard in rural homes in the way a furnace or water pump is today. We all know that there’s a pretty hefty swath of the country that doesn’t yet have high-speed internet except that provided by satellite, and in many cases this is the slowest of all available high-speed options. Will the KnightHawk 3G, or something like it, do for the internet what the Rural Utilities Service did for electricity in the forties? Only time will tell.

Here’s the rundown: basically, $90.3 million dollars in ebooks were sold just in February, which actually represents about three times the amount sold in February of last year. And this isn’t a fluke, either, as reports peg January sales as being strong in their own right, with Amazon weighing in and saying that ebooks outsold their print counterparts by a factor of two to one. Even better, ebooks represented the biggest selling formats in both adult and children’s fare.

But the real kicker is that printed books saw drops, and pretty hefty ones, to boot. Adult works saw a 34 percent fall (more specifically, adult hardcover books took it particularly hard at 43%, and even the mainstay mass-market paperback titles lost a whopping 41.5%), whilst the kiddie side of things lost 16 percent. Education and religious titles also took a punch, only a single digit one, though, but a punch nonetheless.

The conclusions here are clear: more people are reading ebooks and using ebook readers accordingly, and I should definitely polish up my novel and get it on Amazon tout de suite. Seriously though, I think we’re looking at the start of a serious sea change in the way people get information and entertainment, as far as reading goes. Newspapers are taking it on the chin, print books are clearly collapsing, and more and more, people are looking to get their reading done online. It’s not that no one reads any more, but rather that no one reads on paper any more. An important distinction, especially when you can easily carry dozens of books with you where ever you go on a device about the size of a cell phone…or a paperback book….

And for a backpack with two solar panels on the back, it’s putting out some fairly decent wattage, claiming that, with proper orientation and getting the full shot of the sun directly into its panels, you’ll be able to recharge your iPhone in about two or three hours. The panels only put out 3.45 watts, so you can see where it will take a while, but still, having a truly portable charger on your back isn’t a terrible idea. It’s hard not to like a gadget that will not only carry your gear around but also top off its batteries in so doing–multipurpose gadgets are just fantastic.

However, there’s a downside here. Between the solar panels, the exciting orange or black styling, and the Ralph Lauren name, you’ll be paying fully $800 for one of these, meaning that you’re probably not any too likely to go strapping one of these on your back any time soon. Especially when you consider a simple Google Shopping search shows you can get a 30 watt folding solar panel for $160, meaning you’ll spend a fifth of the cash for something like eight times the total power output, though without a cool Ralph Lauren backpack. However, if you are sufficiently inclined to pick one up, you’ll be able to in short order as they’re available now.

The Sanyo Eneloop Mobile Booster–you can also find it under the bizarre alphanumeric combination of KBC-L2–will supply juice to your various hardware items thanks to a pair of USB ports (and yes, it can handle two at the same time) or one larger device like a tablet. It comes with a 5000 mAH lithium-ion battery contained right inside the device, and if you plug it into the wall, you’ll get a full charge on this in right about seven hours. Meanwhile, plugging it into a USB port will about double that time to roughly 14 hours.

Basically, it’s a mobile battery with some handy plug interfaces for mobile devices. Of course you’re not going to want to try and juice up your laptop on the strength of this thing, but you’ll still be able to keep a buzz under your cell phone, an ereader, or an MP3 player or the like on the strength of that.

You’ll be able to get a Sanyo Eneloop Mobile Booster right now, actually, and you’ll shell out $79.99 to get your hands on one, which is really not a bad price especially if you find yourself using a lot of mobile devices and, sometimes, find yourself out of power with them. Also might be something to consider having in your car, though you already have a battery in there, as an emergency device for when you need to make a call and your phone’s out of juice.

The TomTom VIA 1405 and TomTom VIA 1435 are largely the same system, offering up built-in mounts for your dashboard, touchscreen controls, the option to get lifetime maps and traffic updates (which is pretty useful, really, considering how often things change on your map face–think about all the stores and restaurants you know of that have closed or opened in the last six months, and now think about how hopelessly wrong your GPS would likely be if you tried to navigate to any of those by name instead of by street address), spoken street names and advanced lane guidance (I suppose that’s so you don’t accidentally find yourself in a turn lane, which has happened to me more than once.).

Both also have a couple of subclasses, the 1505 and the 1535, respectively, whose only real difference seems to be in screen size–the 15 series has a five inch screen while the 14 series has a 5.3 inch screen. Meanwhile, in either, the difference between an 05 and a 35 is color–05 is black, and 35 is aluminum. Also, the 35s in either set offer Bluetooth connectivity and Voice Control systems, allowing you to tell the GPS where you want to go instead of punching it in on a touchscreen.

You’ll be able to pick these up right now starting at $169, which is really a pretty good price given what all you get here. TomTom GPS systems have proven very handy for me personally in the past, so I can definitely suggest that you go get hands on one if you’re out to improve your drive times–not to mention your driving experience.

Sprint’s payment system, facilitated by near-field communications technology, will allow Sprint phone users to simply wave their phone at things to buy them. In a manner of speaking, anyway–the basic concept allows a connection between the users’ phone and some kind of payment medium like credit card or bank account or even, in some cases, cell phone bill.

Sprint’s payment system will use the credit card approach as opposed to the cell phone bill, and Sprint will in turn profit on this arrangement not by taking a cut of every transaction but rather by offering up coupons and deals for businesses that have access to the payment system. For instance, Foot Locker might offer a special shoe-related deal, for which it would throw payment to Sprint for passing the word on.

But this is set to be a pretty hotly-contested market environment, make no mistake there. Samsung, Visa, Amazon, AT&T, Bank of America, even Google and plenty more besides are all looking to replace your wallet with a cell phone app, and that’s going to make entry somewhat of a challenge for Sprint.

I’m not saying that Sprint’s not going to make it, of course; Sprint has a pretty wide user base, and if this just becomes a case of “everybody’s got it, it’s just different depending on where you go”, it shouldn’t mean Sprint will lose out. In fact, this is probably something of a survival reaction to keep current Sprint users from going to AT&T or Verizon when their contracts run out.

So are you looking forward to having a way to pay for anything with your cell phone? Fill us in in the comments section!

The NC-13 earbuds may not look like much–they look like earbuds; there’s just not much going on there–but what they’ll add to your music listening will be a pretty nice surprise. These earbuds are geared to be a budget-priced replacement (it’s really only budget in the comparative sense) to the$300 NC300D models. While the NC300Ds are impressive, canceling fully 99 percent of ambient noise so you can listen to your own noise largely unimpeded, the NC-13s will offer a similar noise cancellation–of 87.4 percent. You may wonder just what an 11.6 percent difference in noise sounds like–I recommend going to your television set, putting the volume up to 30 and then dropping back to 27 to get an approximation, and you’ll likely find there’s not much difference there. However, you’ll notice one big difference right away in the damage this does to your wallet. While the NC300D will set you back, as I mentioned, $300, the NC-13 line will set you back $70. So an 11.6 percent reduction in noise cancellation gets you about a 76.6 percent drop in price? Sign me up!

And if you’d rather not go sticking things in your ears, don’t worry, because Sony’s also got a more traditional set of over the ear headphones for you. And the best part is, not only are the RF865 headphones wireless, but they are wireless at phenomenal ranges. Sony, for its part, pegs these as being able to fire your audio up to 100 meters (328 feet for the non-metrics) from the dock, and offer up 25 hours of playtime assuming you charge them for 3.5 hours first, which isn’t that hard. You have to sleep sometime, after all.

No word on price with the RF865s just yet, but the NC-13s are available now out at Sony’s store.

Roughly the same size as a car door remote switch, the Cobra PhoneTag connects to an app that will be available by the time this device hits shelves. It works with both Android phones and Blackberry phones (iPhone users need not apply, I guess) and activates an alarm on the tag when the tag is separated too far from the phone itself. So if you go to a coffee shop and accidentally leave your phone behind, suddenly, your PhoneTag will start sounding an alarm, and you’ll know to go back and check.

Conversely, if you’re the type who leaves their phone in a different place every night after you get home, the PhoneTag will also work in reverse, letting you activate the tag itself to let the phone chirp an alarm so you can find it by following the sound back.

It’s a pretty useful idea, though you’ll have a bit of a wait to get your hands on the Cobra PhoneTag. They’re $59.99 each and will be hitting stores in July, so try not to lose your phone before then, so you have a better chance of finding it when you do lose it later.

Find Mii is a role playing game, hidden with every Nintendo 3DS,that’s stored in the 3DS’ Street Pass Mii Plaza. Apparently, it’s been out for the regular Wii for some time, but this does seem to be the first time that it’s made the crossover to a portable gaming device like the Nintendo 3DS. It’s set to be a social experience this time around, and that’s likely going to get the casual gaming folks a little more involved.

It’s a pretty big paradigm shift for a gamer to go from primarily casual games to more serious gaming–it requires a whole different mindset–so it’s good to see Nintendo making some accommodations to getting the casual gamers up to speed in an environment that’s reasonably similar to what they’re used to, but at the same time expanding that experience up a bit to help get the new gamer acclimated to more elaborate games.

After all, someone who spent most of their time playing Bejeweled and Angry Birds probably wouldn’t have an easy–nor really a good–time spending a whole lot of effort on, say, Dragon Age 2. So getting them something of an intermediary step between the two would be nothing but helpful. Plus, of course, it adds value to the 3DS itself, and gets some fence-sitters into the “clearly going to buy it” camp, and that’s a good move for Nintendo.

The Mobile Solar Unit GSR-110B is, pretty much, what it says on the box. It’s an all in one unit comprised of a foldable solar panel that extends outward (as you can see in the pic above) to collect sunlight, which it in turn converts to energy and pipes in to a 12 volt socket (also in the pic above, down in the lower left of the shot).

Admittedly, you won’t be running your whole house on this thing–it puts out a whopping 40 watts, which is the equivalent of about three of those twisty light bulbs–but for emergency power out in the middle of nowhere, this may be a good idea. Especially since the whole thing weighs just three kilograms (a little under seven pounds) fully rolled up.

The Mobile Solar Unit GSR-110B does handily demonstrate the big problem with solar power as any kind of viable technology: it simply does not put out the juice. It will laugh at you if you try to run a refrigerator on it. Forget about basics like a water pump or a furnace blower or a sump pump in your basement–40 watts won’t even begin to cut it. And this is optimal conditions stuff, too–you get a particularly cloudy day and you might not even coax one light bulb out of it.

But if you’re in the mind to lay hands on one of these, they’re already out in Japan, and you’ll be shelling out–brace yourselves–$725 each.

Android is great, particularly with how Honeycomb’s user interface is optimized for tablets. However, if you want to explore, you can install alternatives. Android is built on Linux, after all.

Thomas Sohmers has a guide for running Ubuntu on the Motorola Xoom. The instructions involve having a rooted device, installing busybox, and then adding Ubuntu. Note that you will need to have the Android SDK for initially rooting your Xoom and subsequent installation of Ubuntu.

The system doesn’t actually involve overwriting Honeycomb. Rather, it involves using a remote desktop connection to connect to Ubuntu within your Xoom and bringing up the X-sWindow system. It’s like running a virtual machine on the Xoom.

Of course, rooting your Xoom and installing an alternate OS will likely void your warranty. And as with any customization at this level, you might end up bricking your $800 Xoom.

Computers and mobile devices are an integral part of any business today, and if you’re up to using Macs, iPhones, iPads, and other Apple devices in your business, Apple can help you get started. Whether you’re moving from PC to Mac or starting the business outright with Apple products, Apple says they can get you started within 24 hours.

The Joint Venture service starts at $499 for up to five systems, and will involve setting up your computers/devices, training your staff, and technical support. This also includes migrating your data from existing platforms (such as Windows), and setting up a collaborative site where you can coordinate with staff and Apple Geniuses or Business Specialists.

Tech support is done via Genius bar either on-site or via telephone.

We’ve already seen various businesses starting to adopt platforms like the iPad in their day to day operations. This is either with their mobile staff, retail and restaurants, or even at point-of-sale settings.

If you run a small business and you think you can afford the extra cost, then Joint Venture might be the easiest way to shift to Macs and Apple gadgets.

Of course, this is almost certainly related to the incoming release of the quad-core menace to our free time known as the NGP, and Sony’s likely trying to get the last of the particularly late ponies in the barn before the NGP comes out and a fresh new stream of income gets kicked off proper. But this is also not the first time that Sony’s announced some cuts on the PSP Go. Remember just last November we saw a similar cut to $150, and this was followed up by a hefty Black Friday deal in which not only did you get the PSP Go at $150, but you also got a package of three games along for the ride at no additional charge.

Those who find themselves still skeptical of picking up the download-only device are probably not without reason–they’ve slashed the prices on this thing more times than Jason Voorhees has slashed promiscuous teenagers, and in a whole lot less time, too–after all, so many cuts don’t exactly bode well for a device’s reputation. And considering that I just went on eBay and discovered used ones could be had at half price, paying full price for a new one seems a bit off.

That and it never hurts to bear in mind the constant threat of the upcoming NGP, as I said before, which likely is driving a hefty chunk of this move. I question the effectiveness of such a move, though–if they didn’t get people in the door with the last two sets of cuts, then what makes them think that the third time will, as the old saw goes, be the charm?

Still though, if you want in on this, now’s your chance.

The concept of Skinput uses different means of communicating signals through a person’s skin. Microsoft researchers are looking into two main methods through which you can control a device–say, a mobile phone or computer–through various skin-based inputs.

One team is researching a system that can sense vibrations or acoustics through the muscles. Another team is researching the use of electrical signals muscles create when they contract.

Skinput can be used in various practical applications. Imagine dialing on your smartphone just by touching your palms. Or, you can navigate through tracks on your iPod by swiping or tapping on your arm. This can also be used in console gaming. The possibilities are diverse.

Microsoft is a long way from using the technology in practical, consumer applications, though. Skinput will probably be out to market in five years or so, but the technology looks promising.

It was a few different factors that reportedly contributed to the relative demise of the Jungle handheld. Obvious issues like the fact that Panasonic would have to compete against major established players in the console gaming market like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo–not to mention other serious handheld issues like Apple and even Google to a lesser extent–clearly played a hand in the decision. Word also said that the Jungle would have conflicted with current president Fumio Ohtsubo’s strategy of going after bigger share in health care and green tech.

All this, of course, comes hot on the heels of Panasonic establishing a whole new subsidiary–Panasonic Cloud Entertainment–to handle gaming, though just what happens to that one now is as yet unclear.

Panasonic, meanwhile, put out a statement reading in part: “Panasonic decided to suspend further development due to changes in the market and in our own strategic direction.” And that sounds like a reasonable explanation to me.

While it was unusual to see Panasonic call for regular folks to handle playtesting duties (and if you actually got one of these I suggest you hang on to it because it might well be a chunk of computer history someday), it sure seemed like a consensus that this was a terrible, terrible idea, and it seems further that Panasonic actually agreed. Oh, don’t get me wrong–it’s probably pretty hard to look at that massive pot of gaming revenue and not get a little “me too!” urge going, but Ohtsubo seems to have quite the right idea–you can’t play in every pond, so you might as well pick a couple you’re good at and run with it. It’s not like Panasonic doesn’t already have a fine niche in consumer hardware (Panasonic home theater gear is particularly nice), so a little expansion into health care and green tech should be a nice correlation to what’s already there.

Bad news for those of you looking forward to trying a Jungle, but good news is, most of you probably weren’t looking forward to it anyway.

A user going by the name of juicedigital managed to take his (I’m guessing his, here, it could be a woman doing this) Nook Color and convert it to a stereo system. Basically, the Nook Color in question has been rooted so that it can run Android apps. And when you look further at the conversion process, you discover that, now, this Nook Color is briefly shown running Google Maps. We’ve heard before about Nook Colors running Android apps–this is hardly anything new–but people who’ve seen juicedigital’s mod in action are noticing something. If you were to take, say, a cell phone that has a GPS function, and pair it to the Nook Color via Bluetooth, you could get that in-dash stereo Nook Color to also serve as an in-dash GPS. And what’s even more interesting, you might think the Nook Color doesn’t have Bluetooth…but it does. It’s got a dormant Bluetooth module, the method for activating same has already been discovered by other modders.

Naturally, Barnes and Noble isn’t suggesting you do this, but they’re not suggesting you don’t, either, staying relatively mum on the concept of rooting the Nook Color. And I can see where they likely wouldn’t care, probably thinking it all for the best that people find more uses for the Nook Color so that, in turn, they will buy more of them. And discovering that people can turn their Nook Color into a car stereo? Well, that might get some people who were formerly on the fence between Kindle and Nook squarely into Team Nook.

Though if you’re not interested in turning your Nook into a stereo, well, don’t worry–there will be something for you too coming up: an official firmware upgrade that gives you access to an app store. Though just when that will hit is as yet quite unclear, so keep it here for the latest.

Both of TomTom’s new models will be packing some terrific features, like touch screen controls as well as voice recognition (remember that trip I took this weekend? I spent a lot of time shouting at my TomTom, “I don’t want to take the freeway!” Now, it’ll listen to me.) and what’s being called a “new, intuitive user interface” (not that the old interface was lacking in intuition, really), as well as old favorites like Bluetooth connectivity for cell phone users, four gigs of flash storage (keeps your MP3s and whatnot on hand) and a three hour battery life, though this scarcely matters since you can just plug it into your cigarette lighter while you drive.

About the only difference between the two is that the 2435 will have a 4.3 inch screen and the 2535 will have a five inch. You’ll also have your choice of sub-versions; the GO 2435T, for example, will have lifetime traffic updates included, M denotes unlimited map updates and MT, well, that gives you both.

We’re all a little unclear on just what those user interface changes are comprised of, and of course, we don’t yet have price or release date information either. Still though, there’s more than enough in this announcement to get us all thinking seriously about the possibility of new GPS  systems, and if you do a lot of driving, maybe you’ll want one yourself.

Basically, what this does is give you a Slingbox to go, complete with display, as you can connect your iPad or iPhone to a full-sized television and pipe your video out via the now-supported video out function. Also included in the new version of SlingPlayer Mobile were a few extra, though somewhat unclear, “bug fixes”, which regular SlingPlayer Mobile users might catch right off. And don’t worry about quality loss–early reports suggest that this will be high quality video.

I’m pretty much in favor of anything that advances the home theater concept, and being able to take your home theater with you wherever you happen to go–not to mention being able to use this, reciprocally, as part of your home theater (kind of as a set-top box, even, with the critical difference that you can take this set-top box off the set and carry it where you need to be)–is an idea that I can’t help but be happy about. And this does a great job of advancing the idea; after all, you’re starting out with your content at home, streaming it in to watch, and then carrying the output with you whether you’re going to an appointment or you just need something on hand for those various traffic waits.

Some problems are being reported, however (the iPad section seems to have a hefty jolt of irate comments), so while this may be a great boost to the home theater concept, we may only be getting started.

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.

7. Sharp Galapagos

The Sharp Galapagos made the list, but only just–not a whole lot was heard out of this little guy, and thus, it found itself hard pressed to keep up with the slew of other major names that comprise the rest of the list. It’s only just hit the FCC, and already many are calling it “limited”. It uses Sharp’s XMDF files instead of ePub or the like, it displays in a strange 16:9 aspect ratio, and it doesn’t have a lot of content support outside of Sharp proper. It’s got its work cut out for it if it wants to do big things in 2011, but there’s still plenty of reason to keep an eye on this one.

Check all our coverage concerning the Sharp Galapagos here.

6. Kobo eReader

Kobo’s eReader gets a lot of support from Borders, including some extra discounts for Kobo users. It was one of three ereaders to have official corporate support, but since it had the support of the lowest end chain bookstores, it just couldn’t compete with the ereaders that had better support. However, it still makes the list: it allowed customers to give specific books instead of just a gift card for a certain amount of books, which was a move that not even Amazon had thought of…until about a day later. Still, though, it wasn’t enough to put Kobo ahead of much…but it was enough to get it on the list.

Check all our coverage concerning the Kobo eReader here.

5. Archos 70b

Perhaps the biggest reason the Archos 70b made the list is its sheer lack of major expense–it was available for preorder in France for under a hundred Euros, which is an amazing price for an ereader. An Android device that was the first such ereader to emerge from Archos, it packed in plenty of features (wi-fi connectivity, four gigs of internal storage with SD card support) in a package that cost little, but brought a whole lot in terms of value. It doesn’t have the support of much of the upper-tier models, but the sheer value helped this device considerably.

Check all our coverage concerning the Archos 70b here.

4. Amazon Kindle

While the Kindle from Amazon had plenty of support from one of the biggest chain bookstores out there, it had some control issues, content issues, and of course, even trouble from its leather Kindle covers. It’s a dark sign when your special leather covers cause your ereader to completely reboot between four and five times a day, and that’s just some of the trouble that the Kindle had. But since it had the kind of support it did, and offers the overall package it does, it’s still hard to ignore this one, which is why it shows up in the middle of our rankings.

Check all our coverage concerning the Amazon Kindle here.

3. Barnes and Noble Nook

The other major bookstore chain, Barnes and Noble, backed the Nook, and Barnes and Noble’s ereader enjoyed pride of place for quite some time. It had fewer technical issues than the Kindle did, and moreover, substantially different content issues. There were even special advantages to taking your Nook to a Barnes and Noble store, including access to that particular store’s free wireless internet. Some even preferred the control scheme of the Nook over the Kindle, and when you combine all these factors together, there’s really only one thing that could beat the Nook.

Check all our coverage concerning the Nook here.

2. Barnes and Noble NookColor

…and that’s the Nook, in color. The NookColor takes the Barnes and Noble Nook and steps it up a notch, going from a grayscale display to a full color version (the first of its kind in the ereader realm), plus also giving you a couple extra surprises, like being able to read your Kindle books on the NookColor, much to Barnes and Noble’s dismay. There’s really only one thing that can beat the NookColor outright, and that’s going to be something versatile, something that matches NookColor’s color display, and that something is the next item on the list.

Check all our coverage concerning the NookColor here.

1. Apple iPad

Sure, it’s a bit of a stretch to call the iPad an ereader, but it definitely serves all the purposes of an ereader plus a lot–a whole lot!–more besides. And this is why the Apple iPad makes the top of our ereader list for 2010. It covers the basics of an ereader, and then proceeds to tear the doors off and run, hell bent for leather, down the street. The sheer variety of options, alongside the quality of the iPad’s display, makes this one the best ereader of 2010…and then some. It’s definitely got its hooks into the United States market, but the question remains, can it keep those hooks there this year?

Check all our coverage concerning the Apple iPad here.

And that’s the TFTS Editor’s Edition list of the best ereaders of 2010. What kind of ereaders will we see in 2011? That’s one we’ll have to wait for 2012 to answer, so stick around until then!

So, there you have it, our round up of the best eReaders of 2010 as voted by the TFTS staff and I dare say that it’ll be the subject of some debate amongst our readership. So, let us have it. Disagree with this list? Have we dared miss out a particular eReader that you expected to see here? Have we over-hyped any of the eReaders in the above list?

We welcome your opinions, guys, so take a scroll to the comments box and let’s hear from you (please, however, do try to back up your arguments to assist with the general debate that’s sure to follow).

Both the JVC KW-NT50HDT and the JVC KW-NT30HD will offer a 6.1 inch screen to make navigating as painless as possible,but also include support for the iheartradio application recently released for the iPhone. And what this will do is all you, via USB connection, to patch your iPhone into either of the two navigation units and give you access to song and artist information, or just control the radio directly from the iPhone.

And that’s only where things get started–shelling out for the KW-NT50HDT will net you free lifetime updates via Total Traffic HD+ Network as well as a dual HD tuner system, which will allow you to not only listen to HD radio but also let you patch into the traffic network at the same time.

The KW-NT30HD, meanwhile, doesn’t offer that, but you’ll get map coverage of most of North America (all 50 US states, Puerto Rico, and, apparently, all of Canada besides, but no love for Mexico here), as well as WAAS-enabled GPS, fully six million points of interest, quick start up (this goes from off to navigating in only slightly more time than it takes most cars to hit 60 miles per hour–15 seconds to be more specific), support for a variety of languages, lane guides, a speed limit display (great for those stretches of road that don’t happen to have speed limit signs) and even search options for the points of interest.

You’ll be able to lay your hands on one of these come March, but at a pretty hefty price tag–the entry level KW-NT30HD runs $1000 even and stepping up to the KW-NT50HDT tacks on another $200 bringing it to $1200. But still, if you do a lot of traveling, chances are this is something you’ll want to see.

Shure’s showing off a line of three new products. First out of the gate is the SE215, a pair of earbuds that are their lower-end models, as they only have one driver per ear. But they geared that driver down toward the lower end, so you’ll be getting plenty of low, vibrating bass. Even better, they come with a detachable Kevlar-backed cable, which should decrease tangling and make the cables a whole lot more robust. The downside however comes when you find that you’ll have to buy a separate adapter for your mic and remote control if you’re using them with a cell phone. Finally, you’ll have your choice of colors–black, or no color at all, otherwise known as “clear”.

Their SRH550DJ model is reportedly geared toward the nightclub DJ, and are not only tougher overall but also pack 50mm drivers also geared toward the low end. Even better, you can fold them up for easy storage and transport.

Lastly, we’ve got the SRH940 set, which are geared toward studio producers, and run the full range of bass lows and treble highs. The key point to this one is that they’re not only foldable like the SRH550DJ, but these also include some extra padding for comfort when you’re wearing them any length of time.

You’ll be able to pick up the SE215 earbuds for $99, while the SRH550DJ headphones will sell likewise at $99, and the SRH940 will jack that way up to $299. All of these should hit shelves sometime this spring, based on current reports.

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.