© 2008 John Bentham

Are you “tech help” for your Mom and it’s driving you bonkers? “Dear, just show me how to re-size this photo so I can send it to Aunt Patti.” “Why are my photos always so dark?” “What’s this Photoshop everyone’s talking about?”

Then give yourself and your Mom a gift of a digital camera class through Panasonic’s Digital Photo Academy, a series of nationwide digital photography workshops, which is offering a Mother’s Day special so when a course gift certificate is purchased for a mother, the gift giver can attend the same class with Mom at no additional cost. This two-for-one Mother’s Day special can be purchased by calling 1-877-DP-ACAD-1 or just go to their information page at Digital Photo Academy which details the three course levels available, and view course schedules and locations, hours, and instructors. (Courses are available in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, D.C.). And no, you don’t have to own a Panasonic camera - any digital camera will do. (Though check out our Mother’s Day give-away in this week’s Popgadget Drop newsletter, where we’re giving away a Panansonic Pink Lumix digital camera for some lucky Mom, or me, if I figure out how to rig the contest.)

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No need to pack up and travel for miles just to get your surfing kicks in as long as you have the Skimboard Surfer. This nifty home-based device will bring all the fun of the beach to your backyard, as long as you own a decent-sized pool to go.

With a 26 foot (7.9m) water filled slide and a 30″ pro-quality plywood skim board, this kit will keep kids (and grown-ups who are young at heart) amused for hours. Skim-boarding, if you’re new to this great sport, is a hydroplaning technique whereby the boarder runs at speed towards a thin layer of water, he/she then drops the board onto the water and mounts it with one foot (usually left foot first), the other following in one smooth movement. The boarder will then skim along the surface of the water for as long as he/she can stay upright, and will manoeuvre the board in order to alter direction and perform tricks. The board itself is shaped like a mini surf board but is considerably thinner, as buoyancy is less critical.

The Skimboard Surfer will cost you £39.99, but that’s a small price to pay considering the amount of summer fun you’ll experience.

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AT&T recently announced the availability of its 2008 cordless phone range, with new Digitally Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) 6.0 phone systems with state-of-the-art antenna technology for maximum range and interference-free clarity hitting all official retail channels. According to Matt Ramage, vice president, product management, at Advanced American Telephones, “With this proprietary antenna technology added to our DECT lineup, consumers will enjoy an additional 45 percent of open field talk range and a 15 percent better in-home calling range for cordless phones today - an overall improvement over other DECT phones on the market. This innovative offering continues the tradition of highly reliable, best-in-class performance that consumers have come to expect from AT&T cordless phones.”

I suppose the inclusion of state-of-the art antenna technology as claimed will allow you to walk about to just any room in your home without suffering from dropped signals, unless you own this sprawling mansion and decide to head out to your very own 18 hole golf course for some action. So far an independent study done by Wyle showed that these new AT&T phones offer up to a 190 foot radius within or outside of the home, which is a 30 foot extension compared to the range offered by other DECT phones in the same market segment. These new DECT phones include the SL82118, SL82218, SL82318, SL82418 and SL82518, and will come bundled with up to five handsets. Pricign is relatively affordable, with a little bit of something for everybody, ranging from $59.95 while hitting a maximum of $129.95.

They would also function well in a small office I suppose, since they’re flexible enough to expand with up to a dozen handsets. Features include a sleek design with a simultaneous off-hook feature, enabling more than one system handset to be active on a call.

Press Release

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Remember the Nokia 6210 Navigator? Yes, the very same phone with integrated GPS. It’s officially approved by the FCC, so it’s well on its way to the target release date of sometime in Q3 2008. A full-featured smartphone running Symbian OS, the 6210 Navigator is equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera, as well as a secondary camera on the front for video conferencing.

The phone offers connectivity via a micro USB connector, and takes in microSD memory cards for additional memory. The nice part is the included self-mount car kit for this device - something amiss with the N95 and other GPS phones. It also supports Assisted GPS, and comes with on-board mp3 player and FM receiver.

Priced at US $430, check out the Nokia 6210 Navigator.
[ Source ]

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Now this is one USB hub that I definitely won’t mind seeing on my desktop - it is actualy Optimus Prime’s head that contains four USB 2.0 ports, speaking out a classic phrase each time you hook up a USB gadget, for example “Autobots, transform and roll out!”, “This is Optimus Prime - do you read me?” and “It’s time to stomp some Decepticons!” Each purchase comes with an On/Off switch to make sure it doesn’t sound off during the most inopportune moments.

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Buffalo has introduced the VH-MU01 USB phone which works great if you happen to carry out Skype conversations from your computer/notebook most of the time. Not only is it used for Skype conversations, it can also function as a Fusion IP phone. While this is out in Japan, I’m not too sure whether it will make its way to the masses but the lack of a display clearly peturbs me. Choose from either black or white colors.

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Stay connected to your cell, VoIP, or landland hands free with Plantronics Calisto Pro handset/headset. A nice device that lets you move around freely without losing your signal. If you’re in the market for a new Bluetooth headset and you happen to also make a lot of VoIP or landline calls, this is a remarkably good deal.

Calisto Pro includes a USB port that lets you connect to your PC (sorry sad Macs, the world is still an unfair place) to sync your Outlook contacts in a matter of minutes (the handset has the capacity to hold up to 200 Outlook contacts with three phone numbers each).

Excellent feature set includes:

* Works up to 300 ft away from the base
* 8 hours of talk time, or 240 hours of standby time, per charge
* Handset features a speakerphone
* Noise-canceling microphone and extended mouthpiece
* Single-stop charging base uses a Wi Fi friendly DECTT 6.0 technology for excellent call clarity, a USB port for easy Outlook contact transfers and VoIP PC connectivity, compatible with Skype and Yahoo Voice.
* Base measures 8.1″ x 6.1″ x 3″
* Handset is 4.3″ x 2.2″ x 1.3″ and weighs 4.5 oz.
* Headset is 5.4″ x 2.2″ x 1.1″ and weighs .65 oz.

Price: $248 at Amazon.

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With a smart 49.9” diagonal widescreen, Panasonic VIERA TH-50PZ85U Television is the latest sensation in the television world. Offering you 1080p HDTV with increased Native Contrast Ratio, this plasma television comes equipped with many advanced features. Get to enjoy digital cinema reality with motion pattern noise reduction only on Panasonic VIERA TH-50PZ85U Television.

Features

• Built-in SD Card Slot.
• New Anti-Reflective Filter.
• Deep Color Technology.
• 3 HDMI Inputs.
• VIERA Link HDAVI Control.

Panasonic VIERA TH-50PZ85U Television comes fitted with two high-performance speakers that provide you surround sound experience. This new television from Panasonic also features an integrated ATSC and built-in closed caption decoder. You can also sleep while watching television without worrying to switch it off by setting its sleep timer.

Price

Panasonic VIERA TH-50PZ85U Television is available at a price of $ 2499.95.

Source: Panasonic

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Watches usually aren’t specifically themed into TV shows, or anything really. They usually just perform a few special functions and some even offer things like video, music, and more. However, this new watch by Skullcandy is MacGvyer themed and will basically play music in addition to telling you the time.

If you are a hard-core MacGyver fan, it’s going to be hard to turn away from this watch. Basically, it’s like an ipod Shuffle, but only in the sense it shuffles up the music that you add to it and offers up 1GB of storage. Some other cool features are that its flash-based storage, also works as an audio recorder and has a built-in USB plug. Furthermore, it supports both MP3 and WMA audio files.

The MacGyver themed watch is currently available on the Skullcandy website, for a slightly expensive price of $200.

Read [Skullcandy] Via [Crunch Gear]

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In the UK a company called Which? carries out testing of consumer products and, for a small fee, lets you see the results giving an unbiased opinion of what products genuinely are the best to buy. Their latest test is a little different, however, and looked to see just how dirty the keyboards we use actually are.

Which? sent researchers to a typical office in London to take swabs from 30 keyboards. The results were pretty horrifying with a whole host of different bacteria found on the swabs. One of the more serious bacteria found is called staphylococcus aureus, also known as “golden staph”, that can cause skin infection and food poisoning. Another keyboard was so badly infested with bacteria it was recommended by a microbiologist that the offending keyboard be removed from use.

The same test also took a swab from a toilet in the London office, which was five times cleaner than the keyboard that had to be removed.

Satah Kidner, Computing editor at Which? commented:

Most people don’t give much thought to the grime that builds up on their PC but if you don’t clean your computer you might as well eat your lunch off the toilet … Why not give your PC a spring clean? It’s quite simple to do and could prevent your computer from becoming a health hazard.

The reason for the build-up of bacteria on our keyboards has been put down to the fact we eat our food around them. The tiny crumbs of food that fall in between the keys act as a great breeding ground for bacteria to grow on. Not washing your hands regularly, especially after visiting the toilet, was also partly to blame.

The research also asked the computer users about their keyboard cleaning habits. Just under 50% admitted cleaning their keyboard once a month, 10% said they had never cleaned it and 20% said they never cleaned their mouse either.

Read more at FoxNews.com and Which?

Matthew’s Opinion

Have any of you who use a keyboard everyday tried turning it upside down and giving it a shake? I recommend it if you haven’t just to be amazed at how much debris falls out. This is especially true if you eat at your desktop, but even if you don’t there is going to be an amount of dirt and skin fall out of it.

My cleaning regime involves shaking the keyboard on to some paper, then getting a disinfectant wipe and giving it a good scrub before letting it dry. It only takes a few minutes and makes the keyboard much more pleasant to use afterwards. I do the same with the mouse as well once every couple of weeks. It must work as I’ve never got a skin infection or food poisoning as suggested in the article.

It is more difficult for people who swap desks a lot in the workplace. You have no idea who has used the machine before you and what they ate around it. The only way to be completely safe is to clean the keyboard before first use every time you swap.

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