Apple has filled up their special deals section with refurbished MacBooks and MacBook Pros. As you may already know, I am a big fan of refurbished goods. Especially with companies that have excellent support, like Apple. The range of available MBs and MBPs cover the entire spectrum. You can save up to $550 on the MBPs and up to $200 on the regular MBs. Shipping is also free and the laptops all include one-year warranties. – Travis Hudson
Also, could rolling all of these out mean the Core 2 Duo MacBooks on are the way? I hope so.
Asus showed off its latest group of LCD monitors, and these 20" (MW201U) and 22" (MW221U, pictured above) displays are more versatile than most, equipped with HDCP so you can watch that DRM-ridden video content of which you are so fond in all its full-rez HD goodness.
Helping that along is 1680x1050 resolution, bringing you all that HD glory in a not-quite-fitting 16:10 aspect ratio. One of the 20-inch LCDs, the PW201, even includes an integrated 1.3-megapixel webcam. Gamers will like all of the monitors' 2ms response time, too.
If Asus can keep their prices down, these just might be an appealing bunch of flat panels. – Charlie White
Every gadget freak knows of them, and usually despises them. Yes, extended warranties. Every Sam, Joe and Bob salesman at your favorite consumer electronics store is trying to hock one to you. The Washington Post took a very in-depth look at extended warranties, the numbers, and what they mean for the consumer.
Warranty Week, an industry publication, last year estimated that of the $15 billion in premiums charged consumers in 2004, $7.5 billion went straight into the pockets of the stores that sell warranties as their cut.
This is an excellent read for anyone who has purchased, or even been haggled into buying an extended warranty. Hit the jump to let us know what you think of extended warranties, find the linkage to the Washington Post article and vote in our poll about extended warranties.
NTT DoCoMo is currently working on a cellphone that delivers block rockin' ringtones in 5.1 surround sound. Why would somebody ever want 5.1 on a cellphone? Well the real question is why wouldn't somebody want 5.1 on a cellphone?
Okay, this has a little more application overseas where the DMB television runs free on cellphones, but still, wouldn't regular stereo sound be sufficient? That is bound to suck the battery dry in addition to annoying everyone on the train. This prototype phone is currently on display at CEATAC. – Travis Hudson
The PlayStation 3 (or is it PLAYSTATION 3?) isn't even out yet, but that hasn't stopped Logitech from announcing the upcoming availability of its ChillStream controller for the increasingly divisive gaming console. Making use of "exclusive, patented technology" (a tiny fan), the ChillStream is able to pump up to 3.41 cubic feet of air around your leathery hands every minute, thus "chilling" them.
The ChillStream controller will hit stores at the system's launch in November and will retail for $39.99. You can spend $40 on a controller with a fan inside to keep your hands dry or just keep a towel or napkin nearby. Your call. – Nicholas Deleon
EQO today announced a new version of its EQO Mobile software, and this is a big rev, letting you send and receive instant messages from your cellphone. Now you can use IM services including AOL AIM, ICQ, GoogleTalk, Yahoo! IM, MSN Messenger, Jabber and Skype, from just about any cellphone.
Social networkers on services such as MySpace, Friendster, Tagworld, Hi5, Xanga and Multiply will dig this latest version, too, where now they can exchange web-to-phone, phone-to-web and phone-to-phone text and picture messages, with click-to-call (mobile VoIP) and click-to-IM features.
EQO for Skype was already cool, introduced earlier this year, which lets you make Skype calls from your cellphone. But now this new cellphone instant messaging feature is a huge step forward. Those greedy cellphone service providers are going to hate this. – Charlie White
USB flash drives are no longer mired in the dull grays thanks to Transcend's Jetflash V60. The drives are available in four colors, with each color corresponding to a different storage capacity: orange is 512MB, blue is 1GB, red is 2GB and green is 4GB. As is becoming common nowadays, the drives come with basic security software; one program even is able to lock your PC from prying eyes and wayward fingers alike.
Ok, that's all well and good, but Transcend makes one incredible claim in promoting its Jetslash V60: "Now everyone can transfer to a paperless society." Yes, Western civilization was just waiting for the V60 to appear in order to be convinced that a paperless society was viable.
There's no price listed, but if you're in the market for a new USB flash drive in pretty colors, this is probably a safe bet. It is just a hunk of flash, anyway. – Nicholas Deleon
You may still be reeling from that jarring alarm that scared you out of bed this morning, so here's a concept from Philips that could change all that, an alarm clock with a soft light that fades up over a half an hour. You can adjust its ultimate brightness, and we're assuming there's some kind of alarm at the end of that cycle, just to make sure you're awake.
Philips says this simulates a natural wakeup with the sunrise, when sunlight gradually begins to peek through your closed eyelids. That sends signals to your brain to stop producing melatonin, that sleep-inducing hormone that sometimes seems to kick in at the most inopportune times. The clock will be available in France this month, and everywhere else in 2007.
This is not the first time we've seen this idea; the Progressive Wakeup Alarm Clock you've seen here on the Giz does basically the same thing with light, aromatherapy and sound effects. Both clocks sound good to me, one who's always looking for the best way to gradually make that transition from sweet slumber to harsh reality. – Charlie White
Sony's MDR-NC22(JE) noise-canceling earphones might be able to get you some peace and quiet, and if what Sony says is true, they're able to take 75% of all that ambient noise out of your life. It's an apparently potent package, powered by one AAA battery that gives you 50 hours of running time. Sony says the thing is 39% smaller than its predecessor, too.
Just sticking earphones in your ears will reduce that ambient noise considerably, but if these babies really can cut out 75% of that cacophonous din that is everyday life in the big city, sign us up. The phones are set for a Japan rollout, but if they're as quiet as Sony says they are, we should be seeing them stateside before too long. – Charlie White
The first pictures of Cowon's upcoming P5 portable media player have hit the Web. (For some reason, Cowon has decided to go with a male model to market its player. I guess that makes sense since girls just love to play with electronics, right?) The P5 will sport a five-inch touch screen and will feature a DMB antenna. DMB? You know what that means: Korea-only, folks. It'll run on Windows CE, which usually means that it'll runs dog slow. Time will tell.
Also of note is that the P5 is essentially a souped-up version of the upcoming A3, which will run Linux (hooray!) The A3 is the successor to the year-old A2, but with a better CPU.
Both the P5 and A3 should hit Korean retailers in Q4. Five-inch touch screen? Does that mean Apple is playing catchup now? – Nicholas Deleon
Although it has a deserved reputation for being an effortlessly clean place, Japan sometimes stinks to high heaven, especially in those packed commuter trains clichéd movies like Lost in Translation go to town on (metaphorically, y'know?).
The problem, you see, is the working-himself-to-death salaryman and his delicate morning fragrance of bitter coffee, cheap aftershave, Seven Star cigarettes and —of course— the stench of last night's sake marathon. What to do about this national scourge? There's a service that can help.
The plague of kuse oyaji (stinky old men) is apparently so bad now, a company called Menza has opened a "Grooming Quick Support Service" to offer on-street personal advice in downtown Tokyo. After using Menza's cell phone website to find the nearest support station, worried road warriors can have everything from armpits to halitosis checked by pros for just ¥200 (US$1.70). Once through their ritual humiliation, customers get high-fived back into that sweaty old rat race. Bleh. – Jonny Hiratsuka
As gig 4,632 on its comeback world tour, Napster hit Japan late last night when the company opened the first subscription music download service ever seen by those under-privileged Japanese people.
Napster has teamed up with local music retailer Tower Records to bring the all-you-can-eat deal in two flavors. Napster Basic for ¥1,280 (US$10.80) a month allows for the usual three PC deal, while another ¥700 gets you Napster To Go permission to offload tracks to portable players, including cellphones, but not iPods of course.
But there are plenty of snags, not least of which are the total lack of Mac support and the use of Windows Media 10 files that are DRM-ed to hell and back. – Jonny Hiratsuka
Don’t get too excited just yet but there is reason enough for a little cheer: ringtone sales are falling. Sales of Crazy Frog and the rest of the demented ringtone offerings for mobile phones have started to decline for the first time ever.
The end of the UK ringtone boom is over according to industry watcher MusicAlly, which thinks the market will fall by a good 20% this year. The madness reached its peak last year, with ringtone sales growing from £34.8m in 2000 to £177.3m in 2005. This year, sales will drop to £143.5m and will hit just over half that - £78.8m - by 2011. The reasons: mobile music piracy and controversial hidden subscription charges for ringtones.
So, if paid for ringtones are on the way out, what other phone-related nonsense will replace them? All suggestions welcome.-Martin Lynch
While I can’t be sure that society is breaking down I am sure that there’s a lot more hi-tech home surveillance and gimmicky security gadgets on the market.
From being able to dial-up your camera system for a quick peek at your empty house, to Sonic Super Ears and the CyberEye, home surveillance has gone mental. So, what can £40 get you?
How about the Flash Memory Home Security DVR from geek heaven, Maplin. It’s a DVR that you hook up to your CCTV that records still time-stamped images or video of burglars – or your midnight visits to the fridge - directly to SD Cards. It has built-in motion detection so forget crawling slowly. Said cards can then be watched via your PC or burned to CDs. –Martin Lynch
DVD recording towers are commonplace in certain businesses but like most technologies they have their less upstanding supporters too. DVD pirates love them and with high-def movies on the way, they'll be rubbing their grubby little hands right now becuase Blu-ray solutions are starting to arrive.
Microboards Technology has launched what it claims is the first multi-drive Blu-Ray system with both duplication and recording functionality. The CopyWriter Blu-Ray will be used for recording and duplicating stored multimedia and data content and uses standard BD-R and BD-RE (rewriteable) discs up to 25GB.
The price for a 10-recorder system is just over £10,000 while the 4-recorder version costs around £5,000. Don’t expect speedy back-ups though since this is first-gen tech so its 2x at the most. The system will also record and duplicate DVD-R discs. –Martin Lynch
We covered the Dark Blade aluminum and stainless steel case here and here last year, when it was still in its infancy. Gianluca, the case-modder, has finally completed this thing after more than a year's worth of hard work during which his wife divorced him, his kids died from malnutrition and his boss fired him from using company time to build this case (only two of those things are true).
Check out the final product and tell us you wouldn't pay good money for one of these yourself? Click the image to see the full version. – Jason Chen
Holy negligible weight, Batman! This Fujitsu e-Book reader weighs so on this side of nothing, it's hardly heavier than an actual piece of paper. Hell, it's lighter than most paperback books.
Hopefully structural integrity was sacrificed too much in making this e-Book reader so light. Because even though e-Books have the word "book" in it, they don't take well to being folded in half. – Jason Chen
Undoubtedly fake, this mockup of the Zune with WiFi headphones not only gets the thickness of the Zune wrong, but the whole concept of WiFi headphones is a bit weird and impractical. Imagine losing yet another pair of headphones because someone bumped into you on the street, not to mention where the power source for the headphones are going to come from.
Combine the 9V battery from your kid's RC racer and a LED-based candle and you get something that feels at home in a fancy restaurant as well as on your dining room table. Just a design for now, but these 9-volt candle dealies are pretty sweet, and we'd love to get our hands on a few here for Romance Thursdays here at Gizmodo HQ.
If you want one, email Richard Lawson at richl[at]forpeople.co.uk. – Jason Chen
A useful video to reference whenever you want to dismantle your PSP, either to install some hardware mod or to find out where all those little Loco Rocos go after you turn it off. Note that this will void your warranty (obviously), so unless you're at least a little bit skilled with electronics assembly/disassembly, leave it to a professional. – Jason Chen
Great for CAD apps, Google Earth, and that old game Descent, this M-3D1UR mouse lets you move and rotate on the x, y and z-axes with just one hand.
The mouse has the regular scrollwheel along with three separate joystick-like knobs positioned left, top, and right of the wheel so that you can move around in the three axes. For greater precision in both fragging and house design, it offers 400, 800, 1600 and 2000 dpi resolution.
At a price of 12,800 yen (£55), it's pretty affordable too. Who cares if teenage boys buy this to rub the knobs like nipples? – Jason Chen
Just when Blockbuster had blacklisted me for never rewinding, this genius company has released a gadget that will solve all of my problems. The DVD rewinder will rewind DVDs. The Centripetal Velocity Spindle will ensure that you are never charged for forgetting to rewind.
This is absolutely real, and honestly it would make a good gag gift for that DVD collector. Then you two can roflmaonade all the way to the moon, or something. Twenty bones. – Travis Hudson
Although Ashcraft is in Japan, we could hear his tears drop loudly on his stained MacBook Pro all the way here across the Pacific here in California when he read Miyamoto say that the Wii is "basically a GC".
We've upgraded our development tools to new versions but, you can still use GC programs as they are. With that in mind, I thought we could remake GC titles for the Wii and modify them to work with the Wii remote so that they're more fun to play.
Since the hardware is pretty much the same, they're charging you again for the same device, just Wii-ified with the awesome controller. As much as we hate paying for the "same thing" more than once, we're still going to, since it's the Gamecube++. And because we never bought a Gamecube in the first place. – Jason Chen
Geeks.com has a boatload of old Apple iMacs with prices beginning at $58. The computers themselves, which range from 333MHz G3s to PowerMacs to 700MHz G3s aren't that useful as actual computers anymore, but it could be a nice addition for that nostalgic Apple fan, or they could be good for mods like an iMac ashtray or iMac fishtank.
Jump to see the list of Macs and prices (with links to buy, of course).
Dell, Apple, Lenovo, IBM and Toshiba have welcomed Fujitsu with open-arms to the battery recall club. This is an exclusive club that decided to use Sony batteries in their laptops which inadvertently causes big ba-da booms.
Fujitsu will be recalling 287,000 batteries (hit the jump to see if your Fujitsu is on recall notice). When will it end?
This Japan-only goodie is a desktop speaker system that flashes its cube-ness to the beat of your sound source.
Sounds rather gimicky, useless, and I bet annoying after a day or two. What gets me interested in this gadget is the potential for futuristic Rubik's cube action. Now that chinese kids can solve the original Cube in like 11 seconds, don't you think it would be sweet to reinvent the game where the colored squares change every 30 seconds? Me neither. I'm terrible at these things. You?–Brian Lam
This is the Lumax VR-T and DR-t device. It is a body monitoring device that can do a wide variety of other tasks, including sending text messages. So that text message you just received isn't your friend asking you to go to the bars, it is actually your heart, informing you that it is about to stop functioning.
This device actually only sends messages to the physician in emergency cases, and in all other cases the doc can log into a website and check the body stats via the Lumax ICD. In addition to the communication features, this ICD has a defibrillator that can send shocks through your body when needed in emergency situations. Hell I can't even get my phone to send text messages correctly half the time, and now my body will be able to. – Travis Hudson
The Over-Ear Book Light is simply that, an over the ear, Bluetooth-style headset that is just a flashlight. It is a little less discreet that most personal book flashlight, but it aims wherever you are looking. So, lets say you are trying to read Everybody Poops inconspicuously, but coincidentally your partner rips one and you look over, suddenly they will be blinded by the flashlight and wake up to see you reading some inappropriate literature. It's your own fault for trying to secretly read Everybody Poops to begin with. The Over-Ear Book Light is available for £15.
Nice invention, and you can even wear it in public to look like a trendy Bluetooth headset wearer. – Travis Hudson
If you thought cubes were so last-century, take a look at this Yamaha NX-A01 portable cube speaker that's just 3.3 inches high. It uses an optional Yamaha Bluetooth receiver to let you listen to wireless audio from cell phones or PCs, and it's punching plenty of power for its size, driving 4 watts each into two channels. It's £65, and its TRX-RO1BT Bluetooth receiver is also £65.
This is one great-looking speaker, and weighing 11 ounces, it's packing some serious magnets inside. The company quotes a frequency response of 90 Hz to 20 kHz, and if it's anywhere near that number, it'll sound sweet. Too bad that pricey Bluetooth receiver isn't internal or included. – Charlie White
So is this finally it? Is this the real-time language translator that will make talking with people in a foreign language as easy as it is in science fiction films, where it seems like everyone speaks English? Maybe. Sharp and IBM introduced this hand held device that the companies say can translate Japanese to English and vice versa in real time. It's set to ship at the end of this year for around £250.
This is not the first real-time handheld language translator, in fact there's one called the Talkman that works with the Sony PSP, and the military has been using similar technology since 2003. But this one could be a step in the right direction. We're looking forward to the day when these devices are the size of a hearing aid. – Charlie White
First off, where does Wolverine get off inventing their own words? Prosumer is just a fancy combination of professional and consumer. This PMP has a 3.6-inch screen, 80GB or 120GB hard drive, TV-in and an FM radio. It can also accept memory cards via the 7-in-1 card reader. Prices for this lametastic (see I can make up words too) PMP begin at £200.
Seriously, what makes this PMP any more professional than any of the other hundreds of PMPs out there? Wolverine should be ashamed of themselves for 1. Taking the name of a badass Marvel character and 2. Trying to pass off this ESP as a greater-than-average, professional PMP. – Travis Hudson
Philips takes the LCD photo frame to the next level, where it showed a prototype of its latest model that trumps its previous frame by a few orders of magnitude. This one automatically changes the picture when you turn the frame, and has a feature that we've been waiting for, the ability to send pictures to it via email. It also has a touchscreen for easier editing, and lets you expand pictures across two or more frames.
Now if Philips could just match the feature set of the now-defunct eStarling frame, which could not only receive photos via email but was WiFi-enabled, this would be a sure-fire hit. The eStarling could even play back a Flickr set that you could refresh from afar. C'mon Philips, make yours wireless, too. – Charlie White
We've seen Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo both inside and out, and now you can actually plunk down £9 million for a ride in it, blasting you and five of your closest friends 63 miles into space. SpaceShipTwo is expected to start launching paying passengers into space in 2008.
The latest Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog of exotic gifts is offering the trip, which includes four nights of winding down apres spaceflight at Richard Branson's private retreat in the British Virgin Islands.
Someday in the not-too-distant future we'll laugh at this £9 million price tag, but for now, maybe we could get Neiman Marcus to donate a charter spaceflight as a Gizmodo contest prize. But then, some of our commenters don't have to be in space to be weightless. No, no, I'm not talking about you. Commenters, what should it take to win the trip? – Charlie White
Pioneer is currently working on the Penguinbot, designed to sit on your car's dashboard and warn you of upcoming traffic lights, chide you for your constant speeding and blurt out other assorted admonitions. It's in the prototype stage, and Pioneer even plans a feature that reminds you that you're wandering around aimlessly, as if you didn't already know that.
Just what we need, another nagbot. It would be about five minutes until this little guy found his final resting place just behind my right rear tire as I backed out of the driveway. No thanks, Pioneer. – Charlie White
The Renault Twingo may look like a Geo Metro on the outside, but on the inside it is teched out head-to-toe roof-to-tire. It has two iPod docks! Two! Besides the two iPod docks, it also has a 15-inch screen, in-car PC, USB connection, internet connection and an eight-can cooling device. Did I mention that it has two iPod docks? My pants just got a little tighter.
Check out more coverage of the Twingo from our autoblogging cohorts, Jalopnik, here. – Travis Hudson
Tired of the old ball and chain complaining that the TV's too loud? Short of reminding her who pays the bills, you could opt for the TV Hear, a wireless speaker that hooks up to your TV that you control independently of the TV's speaker. Or, in English, you can have the TV's speakers down to near inaudible levels while your TV Hear is as loud as you want it to be. Not a bad idea, especially if you and the Mrs. are on separate beds. (Of course, a pair of wireless headphones would do the trick as well, but that's not nearly as fun.)
The TV Hear works within a 10-meter (33-foot) radius of a TV and is available now for £40. It's a fun idea to be sure, but I question paying £40 for a mere speaker. I doubt it even goes to 11. – Nicholas Deleon
In the biggest twist of the year, including last year, it has become official that our good friend Stevey Jobs will be delivering the keynote address at this year's MacWorld. MacWorld is Apple's own little show that happens every January right after CES. Why is this important? Well, every other time Jobs has given a keynote, it usually results in some new, awesome products. Last MacWorld was the Intel-based iMacs and MacBook Pros.
What new, fabulous release will happen this year? Well there are three possibilities we are all hoping for: an iPhone, a true video iPod and/or Core 2 Duo MacBooks. I'm personally hoping for the latter, I need to upgrade my old Dell laptop, everyday I wonder if it is going to go all arsenic on my ass. – Travis Hudson
Every gadget freak knows of them, and usually despises them. Yes, extended warranties. Every Sam, Joe and Bob salesman at your favorite consumer electronics store is trying to hock one to you. The Washington Post took a very in-depth look at extended warranties, the numbers, and what they mean for the consumer. 
NTT DoCoMo is currently working on a cellphone that delivers block rockin' ringtones in 5.1 surround sound. Why would somebody ever want 5.1 on a cellphone? Well the real question is why wouldn't somebody want 5.1 on a cellphone?
The PlayStation 3 (or is it PLAYSTATION 3?) isn't even out yet, but that hasn't stopped Logitech from announcing the upcoming availability of its ChillStream controller for the increasingly divisive gaming console. Making use of "exclusive, patented technology" (a tiny fan), the ChillStream is able to pump up to 3.41 cubic feet of air around your leathery hands every minute, thus "chilling" them. 
The first pictures of Cowon's upcoming P5 portable media player have hit the Web. (For some reason, Cowon has decided to go with a male model to market its player. I guess that makes sense since girls just love to play with electronics, right?) The P5 will sport a five-inch touch screen and will feature a DMB antenna. DMB? You know what that means: Korea-only, folks. It'll run on Windows CE, which usually means that it'll runs dog slow. Time will tell.
Don’t get too excited just yet but there is reason enough for a little cheer: ringtone sales are falling. Sales of Crazy Frog and the rest of the demented ringtone offerings for mobile phones have started to decline for the first time ever. 
DVD recording towers are commonplace in certain businesses but like most technologies they have their less upstanding supporters too. DVD pirates love them and with high-def movies on the way, they'll be rubbing their grubby little hands right now becuase Blu-ray solutions are starting to arrive. 
Geeks.com has a boatload of old Apple iMacs with prices beginning at $58. The computers themselves, which range from 333MHz G3s to PowerMacs to 700MHz G3s aren't that useful as actual computers anymore, but it could be a nice addition for that nostalgic Apple fan, or they could be good for mods like an iMac ashtray or iMac fishtank. 
Philips takes the LCD photo frame to the next level, where it showed a prototype of its latest model that trumps its previous frame by a few orders of magnitude. This one automatically changes the picture when you turn the frame, and has a feature that we've been waiting for, the ability to send pictures to it via email. It also has a touchscreen for easier editing, and lets you expand pictures across two or more frames.
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
