The ThinQ and HeMS systems that LG will be showing at the big show bring out a variety of extra features for the home automation enthusiasts out there, like inventory management and power supply management. They actually announced these back at last year’s CES event, but now, they’ll be actually showing off some completed hardware with some new tricks too. They’ll be showing off how the devices can connect to your televisions, smartphones and computers to perform their various tricks. The HeMS (Home Energy Management System) allows you to not only monitor your home’s power usage, but actually–assuming you have a smart grid in your area, which most places don’t yet–schedule your devices to run on off-peak hours and thus save you a bit of cash when the electric bill arrives. The ThinQ system, meanwhile, allows for the wi-fi and ZigBee connections necessary to do all these nifty things, including checking on just how much food is left in the fridge without having to actually open a door to look.

But the clear winner has to be the Blast Chiller system, as evidenced by the fact that it actually took a Best of Innovations award. This is built into the door compartments of LG’s French door-style fridges and will chill a 12 ounce can from room temperature to rather cold in just five minutes, which is great for those of us who enjoy buying canned beverages in quantity but hate waiting for the fridge to make them cool, or don’t trust our memory to pull a can out of the freezer before it solidifies.

Seems like a pretty impressive set of options, even if some of them presuppose technology that doesn’t exist yet. Still though, I wouldn’t mind a Blast Chiller in every refrigerator. But what about you guys? Seem like some good ideas out of LG? Or does this look more like a waste of time and effort in development to you? No matter what you think, hit the comments section below and fill us in!

Neal Patwari of the University of Utah has discovered that any movement someone makes affects the strength of a WiFi signal. He also realized that this could be accomplished through walls and other barriers. This means that a snoop could possibly set up a WiFi network from outside your house, track the signal strength inside your house, and use that to track movement.

Does knowing this make you want to build super-secure walls in your house made to block WiFi? Don’t worry, these folks will find another way for sure.

Roughly 5% of Americans claim to suffer from the condition and because of the proliferation of technology in today’s society; they literally become prisoners from the outside world. Some have found a safe haven in what is called the Radio Quiet Zone which is 33,000 square km nestled in the Alleghany Mountains of West Virginia. The purpose of the “dead zone” has less to do with sickness and more to do with interference with radio telescopes in the area. These people are just taking advantage of an area where wireless technology is outlawed and they are finding life more livable.

These folks who have escaped to the small town of Green Bank, WV can now go outside, run errands, and enjoy a regular life. Is this illness just part of people’s imagination or is it the real deal?

We’ve covered the AR.Drone before ever since it visited CES and it’s been a popular “toy.” People have been coming up with code to make it do all sorts of cool things, such as tracking a red ball (interesting) and getting it running from regular computers, etc. People had worked on getting it working with Android devices and some may have succeeded to a point, unofficially. Now there is an official app in the Android Market from the makers of the copter.

This should open up the user base and hopefully get even more interest going around. The little green robot can now fly!

And you must have thought to yourself “so that’s who’s been buying this MiFi thing that’s been kicking around for nigh on two years now”. And like with all slightly sci-fi seeming technology (at the time, mind you, now that it’s been around the block a few times it’s been demoted to just “sort of cool”), you’ll probably be asking yourself if you need one next. Well, here’s our take on one Three have kindly offered us for review.

Per our policy, if there’s nothing interesting to be said about the packaging, we don’t say anything, a policy which has served us well. Suffices to say it does a respectable job of making you feel like you’re unwrapping any featurephone you’d care to mention. And the small nub of technology that emerges from within doesn’t feel that far removed from an upscale featurephone, despite its surprising weight. And like an upscale featurephone, it has a plastic front and a metallic back that mesh together perfectly to give it an unbreakable feel.

The LCD screen may be monochrome, but you’ll not want for anything here, as all the essentials, like battery life, signal strength, connection status and most importantly, data usage are covered with gusto. It can get slightly confusing at times, since most of the time the MiFi will get stuck telling you it’s connected although it most assuredly is not, but a quick reset will straighten that out sharpish and the problem doesn’t occur often enough to annoy.

You shouldn’t take that to mean that the user experience is anything other than straightforward. We were up and running with this thing within three minutes of cracking the box open and that’s not counting the thirty seconds we just spent testing its heft and processing the realization that it may very well be the best skipping stone candidate we’ve ever mock-thrown. Whatever problems there are with the MiFi, they aren’t in the design or build quality. Its worst quality is the minuscule battery, which we can’t really find an excuse for given its weight and the fact that it’s not made to be held constantly. We understand that it’s made for travel, but when its main job is to ensure you’re never in a situation where the sweet nectar of the Web isn’t flowing, the measly four and a half hours of battery we managed to scrape off this thing just might leave you stranded when you need it most.

Performance-wise, if you’ve ever tethered your phone to your laptop in an attempt to wring some Internets out of it since 2007, you pretty much know what to expect. If you’re thinking of braving the wilds of YouTube, or any Flash video or data-intensive site for that matter, come armed with snacks and diversions. You’ll be doing about as much pausing as your video will be doing buffering. And that’s just for one user. Slice that into five portions and you’re reminded of the story about the man who tears his already wafer-thin coat in two in order to share it with someone else and it all ends in generalized hypothermia. We’re pretty sure the takeaway of the story was the exact opposite, but the guy who wrote it obviously never shared a MiFi connection.

We were going to say that on the one hand, if your needs are restricted to email, the occasional bit of IM and you can count the items on your list of bookmarks while only having to take one glove off, the savings over a traditional phone line, the convenience might be worth it, but scratch that. It’s not, unless you go in for an 18 month contract. Fortunately for Three, unlike the US, 4G isn’t coming to the UK for a while, so at least there’s no threat of obsolescence. From 4G in any case. And there is one demographic who absolutely loves this thing – the professional blogging crowd.  The rest of you will probably just want it for DS, PSP or gaming laptop online play on camping trips.

If you want this as your main Internet connection or as a replacement for a wired connection the answer would have more o’s in it than a donut factory. Only in the eventuality that absolutely no recourse is left to you and your isolated mountain cabin is completely outside DSL range should you even consider going the route of making this your home hook-up. Call it a failing of our imaginations, but if you’re anywhere near a solid router during most of your day, there aren’t really that many scenarios where this justifies the cost and the battery life severely limits the convenience factor, unless you’re a hardcore road warrior of some description.

The Verizon FIOS Mobile Remote app allows apps users to sign into their FIOS TV accounts, which activates the remote control function. The user can then do anything on their smartphone that they can from a real remote control including changing the television channels, changing parental control settings, and even using it as a DVR remote control with a record button.

Mobile Remote also has a mute button the user can press to mute the television if a call comes in and a My Photos option allows users to share photos from the smartphone to the television. Anyone having a FIOS account and a compatible device should be using this app.

Simply controlling a television from a smartphone is nice enough, but to jump between live and recorded television too, the price for admission seems too good to be true.

While users of the app must have a U-Verse account with AT&T, the lowest dollar amount they can spend on that subscription is $82, which pays for the U300 package. Those Android users that do can do the same things from their smartphones that they can do from home on their televisions.

The iPhone app has allowed U-Verse subscribers to control their U-Verse IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) subscriptions right from their smartphones. Now, Android users have the same privilege and can download shows to their devices, control the guide, schedule recordings and more.

The download-to-device television shows offered are obtained using Wi-Fi, however, U-Verse Mobile downloads can be saved for viewing later, just as they can with ta DVR, which is perfect when an “iffy” Wi-Fi connection is an issue and prevents good video streaming.

Yeah. Web-capable toys. Toys that function via wireless connection to the Internet. No one’s sure, of course, just what that means right out of the gate, but suggestions have been made from anything from a doll that can surf the web outright to a doll that connects to the web for programming updates, including, for example, fresh bedtime stories to read to the children who own such a toy.

Disney wants to get the standards at least ready for proposal in time for the Engage Conference and Expo in a matter of days. The plan in question is being headed up by Disney’s “Toymorrow” team, Armen Mkrtchyan commanding, and will be drafted with an eye toward “cost savings” and “increased playability”.

What all this means is as yet unknown, but may well yield new and interesting things down the line.

And that’s exactly what Exmovere is out to do with their Exmobaby line of sensor-laced pajamas. Basically, the pajamas (also available in onesies) are lined with wearable, washable sensors hooked to a transceiver, which is then secured in a pouch on the clothing. The transceiver then wirelessly transmits information about the baby’s heart rate, emotional state and even behavior back to a PC or cell phone.

I admit I can see this having some useful applications, especially with people who accidentally leave their kids in the car on hot days (especially since you’re required to pretty much travel with them in an iron box far out of your line of sight). Now when Junior’s been accidentally left behind, his onesie will tweet you saying “Hey, it’s getting really hot out here”, someone’ll have a head-slap moment and fetch the kid before he suffocates. Any life saved is a good one.

No word on pricing yet, though they’ll be available in limited editions starting early next year.

That sounds a bit techno-gibberish, so I’ll help boil it down a bit. Basically, before, the Location Porter sent back to one central transmitter, and worked essentially on a one-on-one basis. For every Porter, you needed a central transmitter. Not bad, if you only had the one, but could get prohibitive rapidly in multi-user environments.

So the upgraded versions, like the RVT-MR200 line of Location Porters, can allow for as many as twelve Porters to work with just one central transmitter. Thus, you could pretty much outfit an entire newsroom (a small local one, maybe) with one transmitter and a dozen Porters.

The problem, as is so often the case, is one of price. A single RVT-MR200, for example, can cost around $20,000.

The Netbox handles Sony’s Bravia Internet services, which in turn gives you access to things like YouTube and Netflix, in one simple package.

It also handles video formats like DivX and MKV, as well as offering both Wi-Fi (802.11n) and Ethernet, so you don’t need to go wireless if you’re not there already. You’ll even get a USB port for your external hard drives.

And all of this comes your way for just $130 bucks, and that’s not half bad for a great all-in-one setup for your Internet media needs.

See, back around last September, RAmos brought out its first mobile internet device, the W7, which turned out to be out of date by the time it hit shelves last March. So now, RAmos took it back to the drawing board, made some updates, and now we’re looking at the result, the W9.

The W9 looks to be powered by the Rockchip RK2818, and still boasts a seven inch screen, and the newest information says this will, much like the W7, be packing Android for an operating system. And based on the earlier W7, we should look for at least 128 megs of RAM, eight gigs of storage space, Wi-Fi (of course) and Flash Lite, though hopefully RAmos will learn from the earlier troubles the W7 faced and beef up those specs a bit.

And while the W7 had a price tag of $146 at the time, hopefully its newer version won’t be too far from the mark.

Okay, so clearly I’m being all cryptic in a bid to get you to read on. But what I spoilered in the first paragraph is that Infinitec has dropped a video explaining one of the previously lesser-known aspect of the IUM–specifically, dual WiFi.

Dual WiFi essentially allows the drive to do its fantastic infinite files thing (accomplished via the simple expedient of sending off a copy of every file it downloads and then promptly erasing the same file), but it also allows the user to maintain a connection to the Internet all the while. Basically, the IUM cuts off the host computer’s Internet connection in order to establish a connection with the computer that’s carrying it around, thus, the dual WiFi capability lets the computer stay on the Internet while also communicating with the IUM.

You can get these for $129, and if you preorder, you’ll get free shipping besides.

Naturally, it’s neither easy nor cheap to do this. Basically, they tried this out with submarines to start with, and they began by drilling holes in the hull to add a variety of sensors and other tech. The holes cost between 20,000 and 750,000 pounds sterling to drill, add the gear, and then, once the drilling is complete, test the welds. And considering they put in three hundred of these holes, you can see what I mean when I say they’re not cheap.

Once there, they convert a wireless internet signal into sound waves, which gets a whole lot better transmission rate than a regular wireless internet signal, which can be routed through the hull. In fact, to test it, they transmitted a signal from a DVD player encased in a block of steel. What DVD, you wonder?

Why, Das Boot, of course.

The resulting image was DVD-clear, so the British Navy got very interested. The project is in the works, and maybe someday, the whole “wireless-internet-for-all” thing will be a possibility.

So Qualcomm, along with a group of companies like CARDIONET, is working on the Piix, which is being described as a “next-generation ambulatory cardiac monitoring service”. That’s no empty boast, either: the Piix Smart Bandaid offers automatic arrhythmia detection , wireless ECG, and real time analysis, among a whole bunch of other features all contained in a space roughly the size of your typical adhesive bandage.

As medical products go, frankly, this thing is unbelievable. Imagine that for a second–you’ve just had major heart surgery and you need to be monitored. Now, with the Piix, you can actually leave the hospital, go home, and take it easy for a few days whilst the Piix remotely keeps track of your heart condition.

The savings implied with this are astonishing–hospital stays may well start falling off since cardiac patients will likely be able to move home after the basic recovery process. Now, I’m no doctor, but even I can see some possibilities emerge with this design.

First hinted at here in November, this is now a reality, and actually a really smart idea. Though I’m personally not fond of the Flip camcorder due to their comparatively low quality matched against other, slightly larger camcorders running at about the same price, plenty of people love the portability and capability of the Flip. And those people are likely the same people who are going to be using the Flip to get short, impromptu videos posted to Facebook or YouTube, so why not make it as one-button easy as possible to get the videos from the camcorder to the web?

Current word says that this will hit shelves just in time for Christmas–which, once again, makes a whole lot of sense–though there’s no word yet on pricing.

See, the HP Photosmart e-All-in-One D110a brings a whole lot of interesting features into play. It’s the first volley in an upcoming line of web-connected printers that come with their own specific email address. Thus, they can not only print matter, they can also email it out–even with attachments. They can even email to smartphones or tablet PCs, and will even come with the vaunted Scheduled Delivery service that allows you to arrange for printing at specific times of day.

They start at $99 and work their way up to $299 coming soon, and will include other features at various levels, such as printing direct from the web or USB drives, and eventually, even an integrated fax.

Viacom, along with a host of other companies, joined together to file a whopping one billion dollar lawsuit against Google, asserting that the company did precious little to keep copyrighted content off YouTube’s servers.

Google, meanwhile, countered with the argument that they have preventative measures in place, and those videos that made it past the preventatives were taken down as soon as they were alerted by the copyright holders, and thus qualified for “safe harbor” status as a service provider.

United States District Court Judge Louis L. Stanton agreed with Google.

Viacom, for its part, referred to the judgment as “fundamentally flawed”, which is the kind of thing you never want to say to a judge’s face for my money, and of course promised to appeal, meaning both sides will be paying lawyers for some time to come.? But for now, enjoy your YouTube…it may not be around forever.

The router is the XWR100 and is wireless-n capable, in fact it comes as a dual-band wireless router. And as a nice sounding feature, the dual-band is said to be able help speed up or better prioritize traffic. According to the description in the press release;

“By operating at both 2.4 and 5 GHz at the same time, it can also make use of the less crowded 5 GHz band for the most time-sensitive traffic, such as HD video streams, music and games, further enhancing the user’s experience through maximum range and speed and minimized interruptions and re-buffering.”

Furthermore, for those wondering, that is done by making use of Vizio’s Quality Of Sound (QOS) technology. And in addition to the 802.11n support, the Vizio XWR100 also comes sporting a USB 2.0 port which will allow the user to hook up an external hard drive offering shared access to videos, images and more. Plus, it has four standard Ethernet ports available.

The XWR100 also comes with a setup app that describes the ability to setup a secure wireless network (with support for WPS, WEP or WPA) as easy as pushing one button.

And keeping in the living-room-must-look-appealing frame of mind, the router offers a “sleek and elegant design.” It can be wall mounted.

As for pricing and availability, right now Vizio has yet to provide a specific release date instead opting for a more general time frame of Q3 2010. Otherwise, the router will come with a $99.99 price tag. One thing that was not mentioned in the release, nor on the website are the overall dimensions. The device looks fairly small and sleek, but given this seems to be aimed at a home theater setup the length, width and height seem like it may be of concern for some.

It all started when France discovered that Google was collecting private data through WiFi which they later claimed was an “accident“. The blame was traced to a lone engineer but the fact that Google did not do anything to stop the collection of confidential data immediately remains a mystery.

To date, Google has stayed firm on its claim that it was not purposely spying on people and is practically cleaning its hands on the matter. Is the said “lone engineer” a fall guy? Perhaps. But why did Google fail to take action immediately when they knew they were unceremoniously spying on people and getting their private data like passwords in the process? Puzzling!

To cut a long story short, Google will not get off the hook easily on this one. It may have been an accident but if you think about it, the lack of security and measures which invade the privacy of practically anyone becomes a major concern. Heads will roll for sure and the first stop is at Connecticut.

This will only be possible of course if you are connected to a SlingBox SOLO, PRO, or PRO-HD with some kind of cellular signal or access through a WiFi network. With the app, you can now watch live or recorded TV shows and also schedule recording as you please.

With the impending release, users can make use of the app’s touch screen control features, as well as to expect a faster startup and control response time. The SlingPlayer Mobile should be available at the Android Marketplace anytime within the day and would cost about $29.99.

You can see the Sling Media SlingPlayer Mobile for Android demo here.

Scalar Corp. wants to sell 50,000 of these this year, and they’re planning to sell them at $400. The AirMicro A1 boasts a five megapixel image sensor with 50x zoom that will not only show you things at pretty decent magnification, but it will also record video of what you’re magnifying. There’s already an app for that in the App Store.

It’s not exactly a scientifically advanced microscope. But still, for simple things (it’s already been suggested that this is an incredible way for cosmetics sellers and the like to show what people’s pores look like), this should be more than enough. Look for this to be huge in high school biology courses, and if mall kiosks don’t have them soon, I’ll be stunned.

The Dropcam Echo is a disturbingly simple camera that looks almost like your average everyday webcam. But here’s where things get interesting–it transmits audio. And moreover, once you’ve signed up for an account with Dropcam.com, you’ll be able to remotely view–and listen to–any room you’ve got the Dropcam in via your PC or Apple device (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch are all listed, and more are “coming soon”, so probably Blackberry and Android are next).

There are three levels of subscription with Dropcam.com: the Basic level is free and offers no alert or recording options, just monitoring. The Plus plan offers a week of recording for $8.95 a month along with an alert option that sends text messages when the camera detects motion, and the $24.95 a month Pro plan gives you the alert option plus a full 30 days of recording.

The Dropcam Echo retails for $279.

The specifics came direct from Starbucks itself on its Twitter page, when they said:

We’re very excited to announce that coming July 1st: Free. 1 click. No registration WIFI at all US locations! :-)

That smiley face was an included part of the tweet.

Previously, Starbucks WiFi access was an arduous task, requiring registration, payment and accepting time limits to connect. Now, they’re opening up the floor, but not without a plan of their own. They’ve got in waiting something called the Starbucks Web Store, a service by which customers using that now-opened WiFi can purchase content from, among others, WSJ.com, iTunes (something they’ve been doing for some time now anyway according to the artifact picture above) and Yahoo.

It’s an interesting idea, and chances are Starbucks will be getting something from the content providers involved for the access, but will it prove enough to get more customers in the door? Starbucks has been having that problem for some time now, facing off against cheaper local coffee shops and other restaurants that offer free unlimited WiFi. Time will tell, folks, so keep your eyes front.

You’re looking at a picture of the new Insignia above–dubbed the Infocast Internet Media Display–and it seems to do a lot of the same stuff that a Sony Dash can do, and looks a lot like it besides. It’s got an eight inch screen, and it’s designed to, basically, be a pocket portal to the web via WiFi. It also comes with a built-in microphone, two gigs of onboard storage, and a touchpanel control scheme.

And as if that weren’t interesting enough, Insignia’s Infocast will undercut Sony’s Dash by thirty bucks, retailing for one hundred seventy bucks. Word is, according to insiders, it’ll be ready for purchase next week. It’s definitely an out of nowhere surprise, but will it be an effective competitor against the Dash?

The company has recently launched a slew of high gain antennas for mobile broadband USB sticks and routers, designed to enhance broadband signals using its all-in-one technology. Especially for the people who find themselves in areas where broadband access is inconsistent, these new antenna solutions or boosters should be the solution that you would need.

The Panorama Antennas WM11-ABOX & WM11-DBOX range comes complete with three mounting options that include a desk mount, mast mount and wall mount. This kit can also be provided with an adaptor lead to plug straight into the USB device to 3G router.

Don’t get cheated out of what you are paying for your broadband service. Make use of these booster and invest on something that will give you better connection in the way that is due to you.

See, the biggest failing of the Eye-Fi X2 is that, in order for it to do its magical uploading job, it had to be near a WiFi connection in order to upload. And unless you wanted to be left on a grand tour of Starbucks, that meant you were stuck with the camera’s onboard memory until it could get somewhere and upload.

With the announcement of four and eight gig memory cards, you now have a whole lot of extra room to take pictures without being in wireless range of your home station.

The four gig Connect X2 is fifty dollars, the Explore X2 is a hundred and the Pro X2 is a hundred fifty.

CradlePoint’s two devices both provide mobile data connectivity and are “cost-effect answers for the Internet downtime cased by wireless outage issues that have plagued businesses.” Sprint hope this will attract small business owners who need flexible Internet connectivity solutions for remote and temporary offices without forking out too much money.

Fared Adib, Vice President of Product Development at Sprint commented on the two CradlePoint devices:

When wireline access goes down and companies lose their connectivity, business doesn’t get done—that means no email, no research, no orders processed and no credit card approvals. With these two solutions from CradlePoint, Sprint customers can use our 3G and 4G networks to ensure business continuity and access to the Internet and other corporate resources when it matters most. As the first national wireless carrier to test, launch and market 4G technology, Sprint can play a vital role for our business customers using these two devices.

According to the press release, CradlePoint MBR1200 will feature:

• 3G and 4G compatibility with five mobile broadband connection ports
• (three USB, one ExpressCard and one Connection Card)
• Five 10/100/1000 (one WAN and four LAN) Ethernet ports
• Failover/failback for easy redundant Internet connections with or without wired Internet service
• Wi-Fi Security: 64/128-bit WEP (11b/g), WPA, WPA2, and WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK supported
• Enterprise-level security, including VPN endpoint
• Supports up to 64 Wi-Fi clients on both 3G and 4G networks (network speeds per user are reduced as more Wi-Fi clients are connected)
• Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) with internal antennas (300+ yard range) and external antenna ports for optional antennas (to provide additional distance and performance)

The CBA750 model will include:

• WiPipe technology
• Provides IP Pass-Through capabilities for devices that require wireless broadband access.
• Access to Spring’s 3G and 4G networks
• Ability to connect to Point of Sales (POS)
• Works out of the box, no additional change in hardware configuration

Sprint is selling the MBR1200 for $349.99 and the CBA750 for $299.99. To get online, you would also need to have a Sprint Mobile Broadband USB modem, PC ExpressCard modem or Connection Card with active subscription. All of these can be purchased online.

WiGig won’t replace Wi-Fi devices as a whole but rather will complement it instead. The idea is to combine a 60GHz adapter with the current Wi-Fi bands 2.4GHz and 5GHz into a single router. The 60GHz adapter is what allows you to transfer at super-high speeds, but only over a short-distance. That’s where the 2.4/5GHz comes in to improve range and handle backward compatibility.

With the tri-band 60GHz technology, we could see fast transfer speeds of up to 7Gbps. 802.11n fastest speed is only 600Mbps, but usually performs around the 100-300Mbps transfer range.

WiGig was finalized last December 2009. Wireless Gigabit Alliance just announced this week that is has partnered with Wi-Fi Alliance to promote new Wi-Fi products to operate in the 60GHz frequency. Ali Sadri, WiGig Alliance’s president and chairman state that:

Now that our specification is complete and published, it’s time to set our sighs on driving a great user experience through interoperability and certification. We are happy to work with the Wi-Fi Alliance to extend multi-gigabit capabilities to the Wi-Fi technology portfolio.

This new Wi-Fi technology is definitely promising as Dell and Cisco Systems have recently joined the organization’s board of directors. Sadri also suggested to the Los angeles Times that Apple might also be “an innovator in driving new technology uptake.” However, he wouldn’t further comment on Apple’s involvement. And as usual, Apple wouldn’t comment on this topic either.

WiGig and Wi-Fi Alliance are currently trying to convince networking hardware manufacturer like Linksys and D-Link to include their tri-band WiFi device. Edgar Figueroa, CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance commented that:

60GHz device connectivity will be an exciting enhancement to the capabilities of today’s Wi-Fi technologies. From its inception, the WiGig specification was designed to work on a wide variety of devices, making it a compelling input.

Figueroa added that this technology could be making its way to a BlackBerry or iPad in a couple of years.

You’ll be able to do things like walk up to a kiosk with your portable device—a hand-held, an iPad or a device like that, and download a high-definition movie in seconds. It’s those kinds of applications this will enable.

Piper Jaffray, analyst at Gene Munster, calculates that 300,000 iPad 3G units have been sold over the three-day launch weekend. His estimation follows checks with 50 Apple stores and also includes figures from the 52 days of pre-orders.

Jaffray also estimates that more than 1 million iPads (Wi-Fi-only and 3G models) have been sold so far. He referred to his initial prediction of iPad sales as “conservative”. He only estimated 1.3 million iPads would be sold by the end of June.

The team at Gene Munster had called 50 Apple Stores on Sunday to check the availability of iPad 3Gs. Looks like 49 of the stores are completely sold out on the 3G model, as well as most Wi-Fi-only models. It’s believed that it was a combination of the supplies being too low and the demand being higher than predicted.

Jaffray states that consumers are “definitely interested in the iPad as a new category.”

Did you manage to get your hands on the iPad 3G? Let us know your buying experience if you lined up or eagerly waited for your device to arrive in the mail.

JooJoo was created by Fusion Garage, a company based in Singapore and is headed by CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan. The whimsical name is derived from a French-African word roughly meaning “magical product.” However, sales figures of the product in the US have been something less than magical.

If the Apple iPad sold more than 500,000 units within the first week of its release, take a guess how many units JooJoo has sold in the past month. A few thousand? Maybe a few hundred? Well, try just 64 units.

Chandra Rathakrishnan acknowledges the embarrassment of this figure in his recent honest and open blog post. He admits that he takes full responsibility of this “bad joojoo” situation but remains optimistic by adding that, “The rumors of our death are greatly exaggerated and we see good joojoo coming back to us in the very near future.”

Had JooJoo been ready on time, it might have faced less fierce competition from the Apple iPad. Manufacturing delays caused the product to hit the shelves just days before the iPad was released to the public. It definitely didn’t get the media attention it deserved or the interest of tech-enthusiasts.

The Atom-based tablet isn’t a bad product. It features a USB port, inbuilt camera, supports multi-tasking and even Adobe’s Flash. Running on Linux also provides more flexibility to software developers.

The only downside would be the limited 4GB SSD storage and the low five-hour battery life (compared to the iPad that can reportedly run for just over 12 hours.)

Joojoo is retailing in the UK for £334 ($507) , including postage. With the iPad’s delayed launch in the UK, maybe this is the head start Fusion Garage needs in Europe for a much better sales figure.

This E-Series routers will ship with a new software program called Cisco Connect which is aimed at offering parental controls and easy setup. Of course, the Cisco Connect software also has a few other little tricks, such as the ability to easily set up a second “guest” network. Otherwise, the rest of the features allow what some have come to expect in terms of a home router and include the ability to personalize your network name, create a safe and secure password as well as add other devices onto the network. In terms of individual features;

E1000

• Uses 2.4 GHz Band for wireless access
• Has four Fast Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) ports to directly connect wired devices

E2000

• Selectable 2.4 or 5 GHz bands to help avoid interference
• Has four Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 Mbps) ports for faster file sharing with other Gigabit-enabled devices, including computers, hard drives, and servers

E3000

• Simultaneous Dual-Band (2.4 and 5 GHz) for high performance wireless entertainment
• Has four Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 Mbps) ports for faster file sharing with other USB port and provides connectivity to storage devices for file sharing at home or over the Internet
• Built-in UPnP AV media server enables streaming of entertainment content to an Xbox 360, PS3 or other compatible device

E2100L

• Utilizes the Linux operating system for flexibility to customize the network
• Has four Fast Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) ports to directly connect wired devices
• Built-in UPnP AV Media Server streams entertainment content to an Xbox 360, PS3 or other compatible device
• 2 external, detachable antennas
• USB port provides connectivity to storage devices for file sharing at home or over the Internet

The new series of routers can be purchased directly from Cisco for $79.99, $119.99, $179.99 or $119.99 for the E1000, E2000, E3000 or the E2100L respectively. In addition the AE1000 Wireless-N adapter is selling for $69.99.

CLEAR’s new line of modems will not only operate on the WiMax internet service, but also provide built-in VOIP capability.  Both the Gemtek Series G Home Modem and the Motorola Series H Modem provide internal ATA connectivity for VOIP phones, which is a new blend of technologies that has not been available in WiMax modems.  This allows WiMax users to avoid needing a second hardware device for VOIP phones, they can easily plug directly into the base of these modems.

Both the Gemtek Series G Modem and the Motorola Series H Modem (CPEi 725) are available now for as low as $79.99 with a $10 discount.  Naturally, you won’t get much use out of them if you’re not in CLEAR’s WiMax range, but if you’re in Las Vegas the Gemtek modem is available for lease, as is the Motorola modem in Portland, Oregon.

Amtrak has announced that it will bring free WiFi to travelers on its Acela line of trains, connecting New York City, Boston and Washington D.C.  The struggling train operator hopes to entice travelers that currently opt for shorter flights between these north east cities.

Amtrak’s plans for WiFi access don’t end with this free WiFi offer on its Acela line, as they hope to extend wireless access to most if not all of their lines.  The difference, however, is that Amtrak plans to eventually offer WiFi as a premium to their travel customers.  The Acela line WiFi offer will be ran in hopes of increasing ridership, a test to generate market response.

Should Amtrak be successful with this offer, it could be expanded to other popular routes in the years ahead.  When Amtrak’s WiFi access switches to a premium service, expect prices to be in line with WiFi offers from air travel carriers.  AirTran, for example, offers in-flight WiFi for $10 for flights under 3 hours and $13 for flights that exceed 3 hours.  While many domestic Amtrak trips exceed this range into 10+ hour travel times, it might be possible for an hourly service charge.  Either way, anyone who has traveled with Amtrak would likely welcome the service, especially during longer trips.

Sprint has tapped an unlikely partner to help build out its next generation WiMax network.  Rumors suggest that Sprint and Walmart are working on a deal that would put a Sprint-sourced WiMax tower on the roof of every Walmart retail store in the United States.

At first glance, such a deal with Walmart would be a boon for Sprint.  With Walmart’s over-saturated coverage of the United States, this one deal alone would give Sprint jurisdiction to build WiMax towers that would instantly cover the majority of their service network.  Sprint would be able to take advantage of Walmart’s private property and thus circumvent zoning laws and the city-by-city permits needed to build new towers throughout the U.S.  Just one deal, and much of the red tape and paperwork would be handled– and Sprint would take advantage of clusters of Walmart stores that overlap in 30-50 mile ranges that would provide full coverage.

What is not clear, however, is how Walmart would benefit.  Will Walmart simply name a price, or will they reach further and look to co-brand the WiMax network under their own banner as well?  Could this tower deal lead to an even creepier result– the entrance of Walmart into the mobile communications market as a provider?  More to come– for now, these rumors have yet to be confirmed.

RCA has released an amazing piece of technology that was lost in the flurry of e-reader and 3DTV news at this year’s CES show in Las Vegas.  The RCA Airnergy WiFi HotSpot Power Harvester turns ambient wifi signals into electrical energy that is stored on the unit’s internal battery.  In short, Airnergy gives you free energy to charge your gadgets.

In the developed world, you can’t walk through an urban center without weaving through a web of wireless signals.  WiFi is everywhere, either secured or unsecured, and those signals carry power whether you’re connected or not.  RCA has developed a new technology that can actually harvest this free energy and either store it or transfer it to your gadgets.  The RCA Airnergy WiFi HotSpot Power Harvester collects power from wireless signals based on proximity to the wireless base and the number of signals in its path.  According to OhGizmo, RCA was able to “charge a BlackBerry from 30% to full in about 90 minutes, using nothing but ambient WiFi signals as a power source.”

CES 2010 didn’t bring tech revolutions with Pine Trail netbooks, flexible e-readers, tablets or 3D displays, but by this little device that could bring free energy to the wireless world.

In a departure from the brand’s bread and butter, Bluetooth device manufacturer Parrot has logically released a product that flies.  The Parrot AR.Drone is a WiFi-enabled quadricopter– a four-propeller, camera-equipped drone aircraft that can be controlled by an iPhone or iPod Touch.

The Parrot AR.Drone helicopter features WiFi remote control, two on-board video cameras and an array of stabilizing sensors and gyroscopes.  Add the ability to control the Parrot AR.Drone with your iPhone, and this becomes arguably the coolest app yet.  Shift and turn your iPhone, and the accelerometer translates these to steering controls on the AR.Drone.  The pilot can view the flight of the AR.Drone on the iPhone’s screen, either from the flight cam or the unit’s auto-pilot camera.

The Parrot AR.Drone is designed as an r/c toy, much in contrast to the CyberQuad UAV we covered back in December.  Yet this quadricopter does employ similar military-grade technology of helicopter UAVs, including wind compensation, gyroscopic balance technologies and more.  The AR.Drone is also designed to work in tandem with other AD.Drones, giving two users the ability to battle-it-out using games developed by Parrot and third party developers.

Pricing info is not yet available, nor is a concrete ship date.  Want to terrify your friends with the threat of an alien invasion?  Yeah, there’s now an app for that.

Imation has announced a brand new external hard drive which also happens to be the first wireless USB external hard drive in the world so far. We’re surrounded by more and more wireless devices so a wireless hard drive was probably bound to arrive. And it’s Imation the first company that came up with such a device, the Pro WX Wireless USB hard drive.

The drive promises to offer fast data transfer rates, enough capacity for your needs and it’s ready to free up some precious space on your desk.

The Pro WX Wireless USB drive is basically a 3.5-inch 1.5TB drive that can connect wirelessly to your computer thanks to an USB dongle. The drive has a range of up to 30 feet and you’ll be able to enjoy transfer speeds of up to 15MBs/second. That means you can “back up a typical CD in under 50 seconds” and store up to 300,000 photos or 750 hours of video on the Pro WX. If you’re worried that hackers will be able to take advantage of that wireless connection then rest assured that Imation came up with a new one-to-one connection which will prevent signal interception.

James Depuyd, director of technology at Imation had this to say about the new wireless drive:

Imation continues to be a world leader in delivering innovative storage products designed for our increasingly wireless world. We are now the first to provide users with a Wireless USB hard drive to continuously back up their most critical data in a unique product design. We will continue to expand our wireless storage capabilities to enable our customers to easily create, store, manage and share digital information.

The drive comes with a couple of interesting features like a low capacity/data activity indicator, built-in sleep mode and one-touch backup sync buttons that will let you easily backup all your precious information.

So how much will Imation charge for this wireless drive packed with features? The MSRP is $449.99. What do you say? Is it worth it?

iPhone apps are getting more and more niche all the  time. Dynamic Controls, a company that specializes in wheelchair control units, unveiled an iPhone app that lets wheelchair users control their electronic wheelchairs via an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Dynamic Controls unveiled the new iPhone app at the RECHARGE conference in Germany, which is a trade show for the special needs community. As you can see by the pictures above, the app displays various information like speed and heading, and allows the wheelchair user to adjust various settings on the chair, like the seating angle.

The iPhone will connect to the wheelchair via Bluetooth, IR or WiFi, or through computer mouse control. A ‘chair doctor’ feature will diagnose any problems with the wheelchair and report it to the user, as well. The app also features web access to Dynamic Controls’ website, which will feature news that appeals to wheelchair users. Remember, with the full power of an iPhone, a wheelchair user would also be free to surf other websites if they didn’t want to read about advancements in pro-grip wheelchair wheels.

Dynamic is selling an optional attachment that will secure the iPhone to the wheelchair. Dynamic’s control units will also allow for iPhones to charge off of the wheelchair’s battery. The application can be used with any existing Dynamic Controls wheelchair unit and any 3G iPhone. The iPhone app is set to be released in April of 2010.

The idea of sharing your wireless connection with other users certainly has some people a bit hesitant, especially when it comes to the security of the whole deal. I wouldn’t want anyone snooping around on my hard drives. But if the people at FON have their way you’ll be able to openly share and share alike your wireless network with any number of other users on the FON international wi-fi network. Their latest wireless router, the Fonera 2.0n, improves upon their last model with several added social networking functions as well as speedier 802.11n protocols.

FON announced today that they would release the latest iteration to their Fonera wireless router platform, the Fonera 2.0n. FON has the largest international wireless network in the world with well over 700,000 hotspots all over the planet. The basic idea is that a wireless network is created through individual wireless routers onto which other users can log on for a small fee to be paid to the router’s owner. It’s like leasing out part of your home network. Not only that, but you get access to the FON network’s hotspots wherever they happen to be so you can take advantage of other FON users, too.

The new FON Fonera 2.0n wireless router sports a host of upgrades including its enhanced social networking functionality. It’s this new feature that allows for complete integration into the most popular Web 2.0 sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube and which allows users to download content even while their computers are turned off. There is also a built-in USB port that works in conjunction with the Fonera 2.0n management software that allow users to connect to and manage external hard drives and other USB devices.

Additional features of the new Fonera 2.0n include the ability to backup files to a hard drive, access a printer or webcam from anywhere, stream music via WiFi, and convert a 3G or HSDPA dongle to wireless. Users are also free to create applications of their own on the Fonera 2.0n’s Open Source platform.

You can get the FON Fonera 2.0n in Europe and the US now where it’s priced at €79 and $99 respectively. For additional information please stop on over to www.fon.com.