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10 Cool Gadgets You Can't Get Here 232

Posted by CmdrTaco from the but-i-want-it-now dept.
molex333 writes "PC World has an article about 10 gadgets that are available in Asia but not here. It is a review of some quirky toys that the Japanese have and we don't!" Unfortunately it's one of those obnoxious stories that you have to click like 30x to read the whole thing, but there's some neat stuff.
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10 Cool Gadgets You Can't Get Here More

10 Cool Gadgets You Can't Get Here

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  • Face Bank ? (Score:2, Funny)

    by ijustam ( 1127015 )
    Everything was a phone or computer... then that thing. Asia can keep that one.

    • Re:Face Bank ? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by CastrTroy ( 595695 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @08:46AM (#22988002)
      You forgot the robot, but I guess you could categorize that as a computer. Anyway. None of this seems at all interesting. In the end, a phone is a phone, I don't really car if it's waterproof. It's a nice feature, but I wouldn't pay a premium for that. Some of the computers are just stuff you could build at home if you took your time. Like a silent computer you hook up to the TV. Or a home server that hooks up to your other computers via WiFi to be a media server. Not exciting in the least. It's nice that companies are finally starting to build these products, and release them to the masses already configured (if only in other countries). But I don't think I saw anything there I would fly to Asia just to obtain.

      • Re:Face Bank ? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by cecille ( 583022 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @09:05AM (#22988178)
        I would care if it's waterproof, even if I do have to pay a premium for it. Water death seems to claim most of my phones, and paying more for a waterproof one just means that I won't be paying for a different phone when I drop mine in the lake or leave it too close to the sink.

        What actually surprises me though is not that they have waterproof phones in Japan, but that we DON'T have waterproof phones yet here. I mean, we can make waterproof cameras that can actually be USED under water, but we don't yet have a phone that can land in a puddle and come out alive? Come on now. Of course, if the phone was waterproof then they would probably sell fewer phones. Water death is probably a good source of phone-company income. I mean, if your camera isn't waterproof and gets fried, it's feasible to just let it slide and not buy another one. Not really the same thing with a phone since you're probably stuck paying the contract anyway.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by bbk ( 33798 )
          Then again, some phones are built better than others. I accidentally ran an old Samsung phone (Sprint network) through the washing machine, and other than needing a new battery and the OLED on the outside of the cover being all messed up it continued to work fine after I dried it out.

          Many electronics can survive being immersed unless they're on when it happens. My old cell phone was particularly lucky.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mgblst ( 80109 )
          I don't see the point. All the times that I think of that I have been wet, I have never wanted to make a phone call. Even in Australia where the money is plastic so can be washed, I haven't found the need. I guess the need isn't that great. I have seen water-proof phones before, but they were pretty chunky.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by pthor1231 ( 885423 )
          It's not so much that they make cameras that are waterproof, as they put cameras that aren't waterproof inside of a huge chunky case that looks retarded in any other situation outside of you being near vast quantities of water. I'm willing to bet that a majority of people wouldn't buy a phone that was retardedly huge just because it was waterproof. Form over function for most Americans. Look at how many people bought the RAZR, and that thing was a piece of crap, functionality wise.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Detritus ( 11846 )
            It doesn't have to be huge and clunky. Many hand-held amateur radio VHF/UHF transceivers meet the mil-specs for dust, water, etc. and are not very large.

            Yaesu VX-7R [universal-radio.com] hand-held VHF/UHF transceiver.

            • I wonder if somebody has come up with waterproof wristwatches...

            • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

              by Radon360 ( 951529 )

              I'll offer one better: Marine VHF hand-helds. Many today are built to be submersible...and they're just as small as the VX-7R. Icom even has one that has a "rumble" feature which is supposed to detect when there is water on the speaker and will vibrate it to expel the water. If it works, it would be a great feature as I've noticed that the audio output level on my submersible hand-helds drops significantly when the speaker has water on it.

              That said, the Yaesus are nice, tough little units.

        • Verizon's had a waterproof phone for a while [pcmag.com] (article dated 10/2/06), called the G'zOne--my dad's got one and he's dropped it in the ocean a few times. It's the real deal.
        • You may be surprised with how many of those phones may have only been in a water coma. I mistakenly went swimming with my cell phone in my pocket and after a few days of drying, everything worked fine. The screen stayed a little foggy for a while, but that was just an inconvenience.

    • Re:Face Bank ? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Rob T Firefly ( 844560 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @08:52AM (#22988060) Homepage Journal
      Can't sleep, bank'll eat me.. can't sleep, bank'll eat me..
    • I was thinking for my kids- wow...

      (then I recalled the cabbage patch kids that ate fingers)
      however, it's available for 24.04 USD (not the fifty alluded to in the article)

    • Facebank needs a creepier face.

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by somersault ( 912633 )
        I was wondering if they do a Sperm Bank version? Obviously it would sell better if it had a less creepy face..

        That little robot dude is a great idea too :)
    • And to be more specific, they are all different ways of shoving TV, and thus advertising, at you. Excepting the Robot, which is for remote-controlling your TV... after consideration, the only one that's not about somehow getting TV to you is the Face Bank. I'm pretty sure my kids would like the face bank, but would be disappointed that it didn't also provide TV.

      Is this the limit of cool gadgetry now, more ways to show you TV (typically on absurdly small screens)? I just don't get it.

      Oh, and get off my lawn!
    • I live in Asia, you insensitive article and other clods!
  • We have impossibly kawaii (moe?) set side by side with "Takeitaway! Takeitaway! DearHeavensNo!" It's official. Japanese designers just don't know when to quit.

  • Click 30 Times? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Serenissima ( 1210562 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @08:43AM (#22987960)
    You mean click 10 times to see the top 10 gadgets?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rock217 ( 802738 )

      You mean click 10 times to see the top 10 gadgets?

      To be fair, there are 11 pages counting the intro "slide."

      So we have about 19 missing clicks to account for.

      Ok, well everytime you click to the next page you have to scroll down again to see the navigation, at least I do at 1280x1024. So that's 3 down mouse wheel "clicks" per page, so 11x3+11=44 clicks, shit too many!

      Ok I guess I can just hit Page Down instead of mouse wheeling, for the sake of argument we'll count that as a click as it is replacing a click function. That yields us 11+11=22 cl

      • Re:Click 30 Times? (Score:5, Funny)

        by gnick ( 1211984 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @09:37AM (#22988522) Homepage
        You're neglecting the word 'like' in his description. The debate should be "Are 30 clicks like 10 clicks?" I think that it's fair to say that they are - And furthermore, the approximation is appropriate. pcworld.com is an ad-supported site. I don't know about you, but I feel that it's my duty to keep ad-supported sites alive by encouraging advertisers. I always click on two links per page and purchase an item from one of the two vendors (doesn't everybody?) So...

        2 ads apiece from intro-slide + 10 gadget slides: 22 clicks
        Clicks to proceed through gadgets: 10 clicks
        Total: 32 clicks

        Of course, that neglects the clicks it took me to make 11 purchases while browsing the article, but I'd still say that 32 clicks are like 30 clicks and the approximation will help compensate for those readers that steal pcworld's content by reading it without purchasing anything advertised.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dwater ( 72834 )
      If you're accessing from a mobile phone, it doesn't give you even one link to click.

      Of course, it doesn't tell you what the 10 cool gadgets are either.

      When are people going to realise there are many mobile devices that can display web pages just fine, and stop trying to filter them? Do us a favour and just stop it, please.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Firehed ( 942385 )
      Or just scroll to the right in the thumbnail window, see that nothing looks interesting, and deny them 10 pages worth of ad revenue. Only two clicks, and one was to close the tab in my browser.

  • Raon Everun (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Zerth ( 26112 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @08:44AM (#22987968)
    The Everun looked tempting with almost twice the battery life of the eeepc at roughly similar specs, until I caught the sticker price. I'd rather just buy a second battery.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hitmark ( 640295 )
      the interesting bit about that one is that while it says korea only (more correctly south korea, but then i guess usa do not acknowledge the existence of north korea, except in its axis of evil list), i know if at least one place in europe that sells it.

      and i also know of one european that swears by its portability.

  • In brief (Score:5, Informative)

    by wombatmobile ( 623057 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @08:44AM (#22987970)
    There's a phone,
    a small pc,
    another phone,
    a vista pc,
    a voice controlled robot,
    a laptop,
    a water resistant phone,
    a hdtv usb dongle,
    a media server + handheld pc + notebook,
    and a piggy bank.
    OK?

    • Re:In brief (Score:5, Informative)

      by IBBoard ( 1128019 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @08:53AM (#22988062) Homepage
      Or, with product names:

      Panasonic Viera P905i (Think of it as the world's smallest "big-screen" TV)
      Raon Everun UMPC (Ultra-mobile PC - a micro laptop)
      Samsung 'Soul' SGH U900
      NEC ValueStar W (Vista Media Centre that's extra quiet)
      Toshiba ApriPoko Robot (This 11-inch-tall robot--which looks like the love child of a bird Pokemon and the Pillsbury Doughboy--is actually a voice-activated remote control)
      Sony VAIO G2 (super-light laptop with all the normal features)
      Fujitsu F705i
      Aigo USB Dongle (HD receiver)
      NEC LUI (LUI stands for "Life with Ubiquitous Integrated Solutions - basically a combination of media server and PDA or laptop)
      Face Bank (Wave a coin in front of the bank's eyes (actually light sensors), and it opens wide to swallow your loose change. Afterward, it looks so pleased that you half expect it to emit a contented belch)

      So, how many of those are actually things we're really missing, as opposed to just not having?
    • Yeah, I'm convinced that Japan is the world's "Sharper Image". That whole list seems to be the sort of "that's neat, kind of...." overpriced stuff you see there. Until they can make robots that can beat me in hand to hand combat after finishing a triathalon while running on batteries or a phone with a good projector in it, I remain unimpressed.

      • Until they can make robots that can beat me in hand to hand combat after finishing a triathalon while running on batteries
        What's with the double standard? Would YOU be running on batteries during triathlon? At the very least you should be required to haul your own oxygen tank if you are to demand that a robot's PSU be self-contained...
        • The thing could kill me in 3 seconds if it didn't have to worry about stamina and could carry whatever it wanted. If it had to run a triathalon first it would need to be able to move around well and not be loaded down with all sorts of kill toys, and able to run for more than 5 minutes.
        • More like you should be required to eat breakfast first.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by fm6 ( 162816 )
        The "Sharper Image" (glossy, overpriced, not particularly original) theme doesn't come from Japan. It comes from the poor PCWorld writer, tasked to create yet another "top 10" list, and straining to find stuff to fit on it.

        The big name web sites seem to be on a "top 10 binge" lately. I guess it's an easy way to fill up space and provoke reader interest. It's getting old, though.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kisrael ( 134664 )
        Yeah, on a recent 2 week vacation in Japan I was dismayed that there weren't a ton of awesome cool stuff to buy and bring back as gifts or whatever.

        The bank caught my attention, but was a bit pricey.

        Instead I got virtual bubble wrap toys for everyone, and some Mario "sounddrops".

    • In verbose (Score:4, Informative)

      by PlatyPaul ( 690601 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @08:57AM (#22988102) Homepage Journal
      There's the Panasonic Viera P905i,
      the Raon Everun UMPC [dynamism.com],
      the Samsung 'Soul' SGH U900,
      the NEC ValueStar W [nxtsound.com],
      the Toshiba ApriPoko Robot,
      the Sony VAIO G2 [dynamism.com],
      the Fujitsu F705i,
      the Aigo USB Dongle,
      the NEC LUI,
      and the Face Bank

      (links provided only to direct sale points or official corporate pages)

      And (as I'm sure someone else will point out) "not here" only holds for certain values of "here".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sm62704 ( 957197 )
      Unfortunately it's one of those obnoxious stories that you have to click like 30x to read the whole thing

      My thanks to CmdrTaco and molex333 for that warning. Thank you, kind sirs. I only get ten minutes an hour with my head not down, so again my wholehearted thanks.

      There's a phone, a small pc, another phone, a vista pc, a voice controlled robot, a laptop, a water resistant phone, a hdtv usb dongle, a media server + handheld pc + notebook,
      and a piggy bank.

      None of which I'm salivating to have. My thanks to wo
      • That little robot dude is cool though. It's just like being on the Enterprise D. You could say "on screen" to the robot and it'll turn on your TV! :D Then "Number 1, make it so" to change to channel 1. Unfortunately I only have one device that requires infra red input, but it's a nice idea..

    • Re:In brief (Score:4, Insightful)

      by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @09:10AM (#22988246)
      Which is why they are not available in the US. There really isn't a market for Gadgets.
      I can see two factors for this reason.

      Factor 1. The 0th commandment above all other. Thow shal not waste money.
      This is even shown on slashdot. Why buy a nice Apple Mac Book Pro where you can Build a Desktop that is 3 times more prowerful (5x if dont bother with the luxeries like insolated wires), it may look like it came from the wreck of the titanic, but I got a bargin out of it.

      Factor 2. Only spend extra if you can show it off. Who cares if that phone as more features and cost less then the iPhone. the iPhone looks so much cooler, when you whip it out in front of others and imeadeatly a conversation starts. You technically superior phone no one will notice. Why do you think we get the Big Screen HD TVS and no Small ones. We don't want small HD TVs we wont big ones so when people enter their house they are like wow that is a big TV.

      We tend to buy Crap Stuff for ourselfs and Nice stuff for others. If we don't attempt to impress someone else with your purchase you will get the cheapest possible, if you do attend to impress someone else then you are willing to pay a premium.

      Look at our big purchases. Homes, Cars, Clothing. We are willing to pay for things at huge markup prices just to show it off. But for things you don't show off you get what you need.

      Why is the Wii so popular (Technically weak compared to the other systems), it is designed to play with other (diverse group) people vs. the PS III which is designed for a bunch of Gammers in a basement to play with blank expressions on their face for hours.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        Why do you think we get the Big Screen HD TVS and no Small ones.
        So more than one person can see the high-definition detail at once. It's the same reason that party video games have been developed for consoles rather than PCs: until HTPCs take off, consoles are more likely to be connected to a screen that four human bodies can fit around.

      • Re:In brief (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Saint Fnordius ( 456567 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @09:45AM (#22988622) Homepage Journal
        Um... your commandments only make sense if you can quantify "use" and "waste" properly. Some of these gadgets have added value in entertainment, you do realise, or like the MacBook Pro bring enough to the table so that the investment in money beats the investment in time building your own.

        As for your second statement, well, I just haven't seen it in the real world. People really do buy nice stuff for themselves without intending to show off. We call those people "connoisseurs". Those people who really do look for the best experience in X, be it wine, or cars, or computers or whatever.

        It is folly and insulting to denigrate how others spend their money, really. We all get enjoyment from different things, and from different aspects of those things. To look down at someone as "wasting" their money merely because you personally don't see the benefit is silly.
        • Thank you for pointing the obvious to the GP.

          I bought my car because it's fun to drive.
          I bought my 30" LCD monitor because it's better for my eyes. I can put it farther, use higher resolution with bigger fonts and icons.

          And on and on.
          • Yeah I wish I'd read this comment before I bit the bait :P I should check more often to see if someone's shown a little perspective. I bought a nice HDTV too - I was initially setting out to buy a monitor, but I knew I'd probably get a PS3 or blu-ray player at some point in the future, so I decided I'd be better off just buying a TV that also doubles up as an extremely big ass monitor, and it's worked out nicely :) Something cool about sitting in a comfy chair in your living room and using your PC on a nice
        • Well lets take the the general steriotype of "connoisseurs". People who study and appreate different values in things and then talk about them at great detail to others. For these cases they still purchase the products (yes they might like them) but as a mechnism to impress other people. Lets say Computers and Slashdot. A few years ago Gentoo was in a buzz and people talked about getting a Stage 0 of gentoo installed on their system as kinda a badge of honor saying "I am not a Linux Wimp". For most of th

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kenshin ( 43036 )
        Why buy a nice Apple Mac Book Pro where you can Build a Desktop that is 3 times more prowerful

        Yes. Why buy a small, lightweight computer that you can bring everywhere with you when you can build a gigantic beast of a computer that sits at home? I suppose this reasoning only makes sense if you never leave your house.
        • Oh the section about the non-insolated wires didn't explain the fact that this was an exageration to prove a point without having to debate details. We are talking about the United States as a single market not as individuals. There are always exceptions to the rule. But when dealing with markets you need to understand the general actions of most people. Not what every once in a while people will consider.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Vellmont ( 569020 )

        Why is the Wii so popular (Technically weak compared to the other systems), it is designed to play with other (diverse group) people vs. the PS III which is designed for a bunch of Gammers in a basement to play with blank expressions on their face for hours
        I largely agree with your post, but this is one thing I don't.

        I always find it strange when someone mentions the "why is the wii popular, the technology isn't as good!" argument. No one cares about technology except people who think technology is a giant

      • Why buy a nice Apple Mac Book Pro where you can Build a Desktop that is 3 times more prowerful

        Well, 1 because I can't carry my desktop with me to my couch/bed/whatever, 2 because I don't need that much power to surf the web or even play the games I like (GTA IV, Test Drive Unlimited 2, any Half-Life 2 based game..), 3 because I don't have to deal with Windows at home if I can't be bothered waiting 4 minutes for it to startup and login just so I can play some music or check my email.. and 4 because I got it for work so I didn't have to pay for it.. and it has a cool light up keyboard (genuinely usef

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bcmm ( 768152 )
      After reading the article, I've tagged this post !cool. I suggest you all do this.

    • a voice controlled robot,

      Technically, a voice controlled universal remote. But what's brilliant about it is, unlike other universal remotes, you train it not by inputting a model number, but by saying, the TV power code is *hit it with IR from TV remote*. The voice activation is also pretty nice. If I had IR remotes hooked up to my lights already, I can see using it as a little 'intelligent house' type gizmo.

  • USB HD receiver (Score:3, Informative)

    by gEvil (beta) ( 945888 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @08:44AM (#22987980)
    I'm pretty sure there are plenty of USB HD receivers available here in the States. Maybe not that exact same model, but I've definitely seen some listed online. It seems like the biggest issue with them would be the size of the antenna, though.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Shatrat ( 855151 )
      I know you can get an ATSC (digital TV, which I assume is what everyone is trying to say when they say HDTV in this context) USB tuner from Hauppage at any Radioshack for about 60 bucks.

      I don't know if the chinese "HDTV broadcasts" are ATSC or some other similar standard but ATSC would be the only one useful here anyway.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nxtw ( 866177 )
      The nicer ones should even support unencrypted digital cable (QAM) tuning. My ethernet-connected HDHomeRun [silicondust.com] does.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by PPH ( 736903 )


      Not just the antenna size, but the broadcast protocol. We use one different from China, Japan and Europe. So a gadget on the gray market may end up being a cool looking brick.


      As far as size goes, once the obligatory DRM features are built into the USB dongle for the American market, it'll end up being a 2U rack sized box.

  • TV on mobile phones in Japan (Score:5, Informative)

    by Rakshasa Taisab ( 244699 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @08:48AM (#22988016) Homepage
    What they forgot to mention about TV on those japanese phones is that the programming _sucks_...

    Seriously, it's all game/talk-shows, news or sumo. Might as well do something else while sitting on the train in Tokyo, like watching the local girls or reading.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by ephesus ( 252335 )
      I often thought the same thing while I was in Japan. It can't possibly be as bad as Korean television though, and I see people on the subways with TV on their phones constantly.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mgblst ( 80109 )
      Surely you can get the news, maybe even business news? The only worthwhile thing I can imagine watching while mobile.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dwater ( 72834 )
      I would assume they wouldn't ship with the same programming.

      In any case, I have a similar view of programming in the US (with a couple of notable exceptions).

      You have to go to Europe to get anything decent, but really you want vod, IMO.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Hatta ( 162192 )
      To be fair, Japanese game [wikipedia.org] shows [wikipedia.org], tend to be a bit more awesome than their domestic counterparts.

  • Nothing impressive... (Score:3, Informative)

    by PortHaven ( 242123 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @08:54AM (#22988076) Homepage
    Really, I saw nothing that really stood out or impressed me.

    Okay, the bank think was cute...but I think it'd be better if the eyes could also identify a coin and track it. And if it was like "feed me, feed me...oh oh...pretty puh-lease".

    But 80% of what I saw, I'd seen equivalents before here in the U.S. (I swear Samsung makes a phone for Verizon that does both the top and side flip.)

    The Remote Robot was cute...and somewhat useful.

    But I really was disappointed.

  • In all fairness... (Score:5, Informative)

    by THESuperShawn ( 764971 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @09:00AM (#22988138)
    The "coolest" gadget on the list (also basically the one thats not a phone) isn't "available" in Asia either- unless you work for the lab that is working on it. The IR learning robot "is nesting in Toshiba's research labs, awaiting its first solo flight". Heck, I bet we have some cool stuff nesting in our labs here that you can't buy in Asia yet either.

  • e-Cigarette (Score:5, Interesting)

    by eldavojohn ( 898314 ) * <eldavojohn@gma[ ]com ['il.' in gap]> on Monday April 07, 2008 @09:02AM (#22988152) Journal
    There's a device I wanted my roommates to start using called an e-Cigarette [wikipedia.org] and I tried looking for it here in the states but ended up having to order it from China either due to the fact that they have th patent or that someone here (conspiracy!) has it and choses not to manufacture it.

    I'm shocked I hadn't heard of this before but I am really concerned for my roommates' lungs as they smoke almost a pack a day and they get very very upset when they don't have it. Plus they could probably smoke these in the house or in bars as they're just water vapor.

    A great gadget that I haven't found here. Actually, I think this could save a lot of people money (cheaper) and improve their health and duration of life.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by esocid ( 946821 )
      Just look for a vaporizer. I'm sure you can use tobacco in them in addition to its main purpose. Although the ones I've used a a little big and not meant to be portable.
  • Remember the keyboard garage [pcworld.com] in the Amiga 1000?

  • I Got One Of Those Face Banks (Score:5, Funny)

    by Skeetskeetskeet ( 906997 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @09:28AM (#22988430)
    I waved something else in front of it and now I'm stuck.....get some help please?

  • Article title: "Junk that America won't buy" (Score:4, Insightful)

    by lancejjj ( 924211 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @09:31AM (#22988450) Homepage

    PC World has an article about 10 gadgets that are available in Asia but not here. It is a review of some quirky toys that the Japanese have and we don't!
    Just because the manufacturers have determined that American's don't want to buy some of their junky products doesn't mean that American's are missing out on "great stuff".

    At the same time, the people in Asia don't have a lot of the junk sold in American stores. That's because a lot of American junk wouldn't be attractive to that market.

    Remember why Chrysler was complaining that the Japanese were not importing American cars? I wonder if the Japanese thought they were missing out on something awesome, like that 1982 LeBarron.
    • Uh.. does anyone import american cars? Okay you can get that new model Mustang, and I saw a big mahusive cadillac or something on Top Gear a few weeks ago.. but seriously, American cars tend to be like 20-50% bigger than our biggest cars, but you can get away with it because your roads are much wider. A lot of American cars handle like boats too, again because you have big wide roads, and all the intercity roads probably go in straight lines.. over here we have nice 'twisties' to negotiate.. there are motorways but even they don't just go in a straight line. I would probably fall asleep at the wheel if I had to drive across america.. :p
  • Hundreds of dollars more than Sprint's plan. Every damn month. My phone must have extraterrestrial intelligence. Or a close personal relationship with Sprint's billing computers.

    You see, in the US we're too busy fucking up basic customer service and being beholden to phone companies, the FCC and crappy near-Gray Box PC companies like Dell, who's latest and greatest innovation is to send me 2 different catalogs every week in the mail. Plus I bet we kick Japan's ass in the area of 1337 neon tubes inside our G
  • There is an alternative list: The 10 Cool Gadgets you can get here (maybe).

    I just don't get this shipping restriction nonsense - either you want to sell your products or you don't.
  • Warning: TFA uses aggressive advertisement including pop-in ads that block your view of the article itself until you close them away. And that's despite both AdBlocker and Fasterfox's flashblocker.

    That means I only looked at one page of it, and only very briefly.

    What kind of fuckup comes up with the idea of getting in the way of what your audience wants so that you can feed them something they don't?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fotbr ( 855184 )
      Someone with a degree in marketing.

      That said, I had no problems with ads on the site. (FF2 & Adblock Plus on Vista)

  • That's strange (Score:4, Informative)

    by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @10:33AM (#22989268) Homepage
    I better tell my daughter that her U900 does not exist.

    I bought her one and had it imported from a ebay seller last month. it works great on AT&T/Cingular/AT&T/Cingular/AT&T/.... as it's a quad band GSM phone and defaulted to english out of the box.

    It IS available here in the USA, you just got to find it and buy it. No you will not find one at your local costco or phone store, but then none of the good phones are ever available at a store.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by arth1 ( 260657 )
      Lumpy (12016) wrote:

      I better tell my daughter that her U900 does not exist.

      I bought her one and had it imported from a ebay seller last month. it works great on AT&T/Cingular/AT&T/Cingular/AT&T/.... as it's a quad band GSM phone and defaulted to english out of the box.

      You need to qualify that "U900" with producer, i.e. "Samsung U900", especially now with the new (ptui!) fancy (spit!) interface which prevents people from easily seeing what the parent post said.

      This is Slashdot, and the stereotypi

  • Is it me or does that Face Bank look like Nagilum [wikipedia.org].

  • Not available "here"? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by skraps ( 650379 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @10:49AM (#22989526)
    Not available "here"? As in "the internet"?

  • 30-page click-thrus are not obnoxious (Score:3, Interesting)

    by kindbud ( 90044 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @11:00AM (#22989680) Homepage
    Unfortunately it's one of those obnoxious stories that you have to click like 30x to read the whole thing...

    They're not obnoxious, nobody on /. gives a shit, they'll click through anyway. They way to get 30-page click-thrus to go away is not to apologize for them, but to stop posting them on fucking Slashdot! Until then, YOUR the obnoxious one for posting the link to it in the first place, jackass!

  • Two NES phones that you can't get in the USA - (Score:3, Informative)

    by VitrosChemistryAnaly ( 616952 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @11:11AM (#22989800) Journal
    http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/nes-slider/gionee-nes-phone-lets-you-stomp-goombas-on-the-go-268486.php [gizmodo.com]

    http://www.gadgets-weblog.com/50226711/lenovo_phone_sports_nes_emulator.php [gadgets-weblog.com]

    Why, oh why can't I get these in the US? I would love a phone that is a *good* NES emulator.

    Anyone know the best routes to get this stuff in the US?

  • Amazing! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Jesus_666 ( 702802 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @11:55AM (#22990456)
    A slide-open cellphone! An UMPC! A DVB-T USB dongle! And a set of devices designed to be used together!

    Asia truly lives in the future!


    Admittedly, the robot remote is somewhat cool, albeit impractical, but the rest of the stuff is pretty weak.

  • sigh... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Simulant ( 528590 ) on Monday April 07, 2008 @01:04PM (#22991486) Journal
    Because it's not like every /. reader doesn't already have about 5 gadget sites bookmarked.

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