device

If you can't stand the native operating system on your portable MP3 player, you can make it rock out with Rockbox. Open-source Rockbox is firmware that represents the first step for audiophiles regaining control over how they interact with their portable devices.

Compatible with more than two dozen MP3 players, including most iPods, iRivers, and Archoses, Rockbox comes with a detailed and lengthy installation and usage guide. The last time I tried out the auto-installer I found it easier to install Rockbox by hand. Reading the manual thoroughly is a must, given the complexity and potential risk to your … Read more

Usually when clothing and technology intersect, it's for purposes of entertainment or communication, even when physical activity is involved. But the "VitalJacket" made by Portuguese company BioDevices wants the combination to focus on your health.

Rather than rely on cumbersome devices that need to be worn on the arm or strapped to the chest, this smart shirt tracks your heart rate and electrocardiogram levels with built-in technologies. The VitalJacket comes in two versions, according to Coolest-Gadgets: one that stores data on a removable SD card that can be transferred to a computer, and another that features "… Read more

About a decade ago, wireless heart monitors hooked to patients at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas went on the fritz, causing much scrambling among the building's engineering team.

The culprit, as it turned out, was interference from a nearby broadcast television station, which was testing its digital signal on the same channel where some of the medical devices operated, as detailed in the journal Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology a few years ago. The Federal Communications Commission ultimately cordoned off spectrum just for that purpose, although migrating there was largely voluntary.

Now, hospital administrators and medical device manufacturers fear … Read more

The iPhone is a mobile Internet device. Just in case you forgot, ARM wants to remind you that before the Intel Atom processor there was the iPhone and its handful of ARM processors. Yeah, it's a MID too.

Listening to Intel, a casual observer might believe that the world's largest chipmaker is single-handedly creating the class of tiny devices called mobile Internet devices or MIDs.

But ARM processors have been powering small, low-power devices since 1985. There was the Psion series of handhelds, the Apple Newton, Nintendo DS, and, today, products like the Microsoft Zune. All used or … Read more

Behind a slick interface, this program backs up all your PC's drivers in case you mess up something fierce. From registration to implementation, DriverMax works fast, runs smooth, and does even more than mere backing up.

The application is nearly flawless. Its slick button navigation takes users through the four main sections of the program: Driver Operations, Updates, Identification, and Popular Hardware. Mousing over one reveals more choices, so you can export your drivers, import drivers, or view an installed drivers report. Backing up and reinstalling an "accidentally" deleted driver was as pain-free as could be, and … Read more

You know that scene in Crocodile Dundee where Paul Hogan gets held up with a switch blade, gives a little giggle, and then proceeds to unsheathe a knife that could disembowel an elephant? That's how I feel after producing my pro-audio recorder roundup last week, only to later learn about the Sound Devices 788T.

Due in May, this truly professional-grade portable multitrack recorder will set you back a cool $5,995. For your money, you'll get eight tracks of simultaneous audio recording up to 24-bit WAV resolution; a 160GB 2.5-inch SATA hard drive; compact flash memory expansion; … Read more

Imagine us saying (in our best Jan Brady voice): "Intel, Intel, Intel!" The chipmaker managed to dominate laptop news this week thanks to the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai, where the company heavily hyped all things small, especially its next-generation Classmate PC (see our exclusive full review) and mobile Internet devices running on the new Atom chip.

For visual learners, we've got a photo gallery of mobile Internet devices from the show, and Intel has posted a video of one of these bad boys being cracked open. For the more technical types, we've also got the … Read more

You can't buy these little gadgets yet, but Intel certainly hopes that starting this summer, you'll buy them in droves.

The gadgets in question are what Intel calls "mobile Internet devices," built upon the diminutive Atom processor that was the star of the chipmaker's IDF Shanghai event this week. Pictured here is a prototype MID from Asus, best known these days for its Eee PC.

Other hardware makers that marched to the beat of Intel's marketing drum at IDF included Lenovo, LG, BenQ, and Panasonic. What they're getting their hands on is a … Read more

At the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai this week, the buzz was about the Atom processor, mobile Internet devices, and Linux. What wasn't buzzing? Microsoft.

Welcome to the brave new world of computing sans Redmond.

At IDF, there was little media focus on Intel's next-generation Nehalem chip and even less on the Centrino 2 processor--both of which will run Microsoft software.

The focus was on devices that won't necessarily or exclusively run Microsoft software: Handheld-size MIDs--shorthand for mobile Internet devices--and Netbooks. Netbooks will run both Microsoft Windows and the Linux operating systems, but the MID category … Read more