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Jabra's $200 Solemate portable Bluetooth speaker wants to kick the Jambox aside
If you looked at the photo above thinking Dr. Martens got into the portable speaker game, you're not so far off. Jabra's taken its Bluetooth headset know-how and blended it with a footwear-inspired design to create its first portable speaker, the $200 Solemate. At first glance the shoe theme does seem a bit silly, but don't let that fool you as this Bluetooth 3.0 speaker packs some notable specs -- especially pitted against the Jawbone Jambox. Available in black or white, the features rubberized casing that's shock- and water-resistant, and can be supplemented with an included waterproof soundbag (similar to the Braven 625). Taking it a step further, the unit actually has a "heel tab" for carrying purposes and a replaceable sole, which also serves as a storage point for a handy 3.5mm cable. %Gallery-163767% Moving on to its less quirky features, at the front you'll find a duo of acoustic tweeters separated by a subwoofer with a passive bass radiator on the back -- all together they pump out up to a whopping 120dB of volume. On top are two volume buttons, along with a multifunction button for commanding calls and enabling its Voice Guidance feature. Lastly, the right side houses two indicator lights (battery and Bluetooth), a power and pairing switch, a 3.5mm jack and a micro-USB input for charging and direct digital audio connection. According to Jabra the unit is "about the size and weight of a water bottle," and you can expect to get around eight to ten hours of use per charge. We'll be giving you our in-depth impressions of the speaker before long, however, the Solemate will be up for pre-order today at the likes of Best Buy and Amazon, and set to release on September 2nd if you're already interested. Check out the press release after the break for more details in the meantime.
Ricoh outs rather rugged, water-resistant G700 point and shoot
Ricoh's released a new point and shoot, the G700. This little camera's water and dust resistant, it will supposedly withstand a drop of up to 2 meters, and its resistant to chemicals such as ethanol and hypochlorous acid, so shooting pics of the chemically-driven, zombie-infested apocalypse shouldn't be much of a challenge. Other than that, you've got a 12.1 megapixel sensor, a 5x optical wide-angle zoom lens, a 3-inch color LCD, and password protection. You know, so the zombies can check out your shots! This baby will be released on September 10th in Japan, but as of yet, there's no word on pricing or a US release.
Casio Exilim G EX-G1 hands-on
Casio's Exlim G EX-G1 certainly managed to turn a few heads when it was announced back in November, with it introducing a new angular design to complement its status as the "world's thinnest shock-resistant camera." Add to that the promise of being freezeproof, waterproof and dustproof, and you just know this is one we had to check out first hand. As we're happy to report, the $299 Exlim G definitely feels solid and substantial from the moment you pull it from its packaging, although all that shock-proofing and weather-proofing does come with a few minor inconveniences compared to a standard point-and-shoot. The first of those is that the battery compartment requires a special tool and some pretty nimble fingers to open and, secondly, the two extra side protectors that provide even more ruggedness require that you first remove some very tiny screws from the camera and then attach the protector with some slightly longer screws (Casio thankfully provides a few spares). Once you've got things set, however, the camera should easily survive life in a pocket or backpack during even your most arduous travels -- and take some decent pictures and YouTube-ready video, to boot. Be sure to check out the gallery below for our extensive hands-on look at the camera, and check back later for some sample shots and additional impressions once we've had a chance to really put the Exilim G through its paces. %Gallery-81346%
Corsair Flash Survivor GT 8GB escapes torture test unscathed
We've seen some mighty rugged flash drives put to the test in our day, but Corsair's Flash Survivor GT 8GB managed to withstand a well-planned and carefully executed attack on its life like none that have come before it. This soldier of a USB drive not only performed great when tested against more fragile alternatives, it somehow escaped sans injury after being submerged in a pool, cooked in boiling water for ten solid minutes, and being creamed with a hammer numerous times. The torturers expected the CNC-milled anodized aircraft-grade aluminum housing to hold up fairly well under duress, but even they were utterly amazed at how invincible this thing really seemed. The $130 drive earned a much deserved 10 out of 10 rating from the flabbergasted review crew, and while we're not quite sure if it could withstand a nuclear attack like one of its competitors, it can apparently live through just about anything that you yourself could.[Thanks, Rodger]
The CF-to-SATA hard drive adapter
While we've already seen that a four-barrel SD-to-SSD adapter will run you a stiff $258.50 sans flash cards, users who can't seem to find a good use for those CompactFlash cards that used to rule to roost in your recently replaced Nikon D70 finally have a solution. The much more reasonable CF-to-SATA hard drive adapter simply takes any CompactFlash I/II card and snaps it into the 2.5-inch SATA HDD slot on the bottom of most lappies. The device then allows the CF card to be recognized as an "ordinary hard drive" which can even be "configured as a boot device" without any additional drivers. Moreover, it supports DMA and Ultra DMA modes, and is said play nice with just about every flavor of Windows dating back to 3.1, Linux, and OS X operating systems. The best bit, however, is the attainable price, as we could certainly see ourselves forking over $35.99 just to see how a CF boot drive would really effect performance.
MyGuide Splash S navigation system shows off at CeBIT
Joining the array of GPS systems showing off at this year's CeBIT is MyGuide's Splash S, which doesn't really strive to be different outside of its tethering abilities, but gives us all one more option in the saturated 3.5-inch GPS market if nothing else. Encased in a rugged enclosure that can purportedly resist shocks and extreme temperatures, this navigation system touts a 320 x 240 resolution screen, 300MHz Centrality Atlas II processor, handsfree Bluetooth capability, 64MB of built-in RAM, integrated RDS / TMS traffic information receiver, an SD / MMC card slot, rechargeable Li-ion battery, music / video playback, an image viewer, and a copy of Windows CE to run the show. Per usual, no details regarding price or availability were divulged, but feel free to click on through for a few more snapshots.[Via NaviGadget]
