Sony NW-S706F: No noise, please.

Right, so Sony has come clean. The mysterious MP3 player that we spied is Sony's latest offering with built-in noise-canceling technology. According to the Sony press release, microphones situated in the 13.5 EX headphones, will capture ambient noise and the MP3 player will play an inverse wave matching the noise to cancel it out. Though that's old hat for headphone manufacturers like Sennheiser, this is still the first time we heard it implemented in the MP3 player itself.

There will be three different capacities: 1GB, 2GB and 4GB. And battery life is rated at 50 hours. That's a fair bit, but no pricing details are available.

Read more gizmos here

del.icio.us   Digg this   Yahoo MyWeb

Tekkeon Universal Portable Battery

Tech warriors who need to keep connected and running now have an elegant solution to turn to in Singapore. Asia master distributor Areva is offering Tekkeon's myPower ALL MP3400. This universal Lithium-polymer rechargeable battery pack should power up and charge virtually any portable gizmo, from your iPod to laptop, to digicam and portable DVD player. The MP3400 is capable of up to 19V, but what makes it nifty is its ability to automatically reset to the lowest setting after a device is connected. So there's no worries of overcharging your portable device, given the recent flaming laptop battery scare. The eight starter adapter plugs or tips should fit into most laptops or other electronic devices using a DC jack for charging. Though if your gadget isn't covered here, check for optional replacement adapter tips at the site.The exceptions are Dell and Apple whose adapters are different from the rest, but Areva assures that it will have the adapters for sale soon.

For an idea of battery life for each product category, click here. Also see bigger image | in use | leather cover

Price: S$219 before GST (US$137.66)
Availability: At Areva Distribution
Device: Universal portable battery
Basic specs: 15.9oz, 3.28 x 6.8 x 0.92 inches, output current 4A max, 4-hour charging time, supports multiple voltages, output power 56Wh (MP3400), includes eight adapter tips to connect to most devices, leather carrying case with belt strap, one-year warranty

Bitoy Cube100: It's hip to be cube

At 3.6 inches with a 320 x 240-pixel display, it's good enough to rank in the portable video world. With its black screen border and white facade, it reminds us of the iriver U10. However, rather than a D-Click interface, the physical controls are situated on the four sides of the player. The manufacturer claims the tempered glass surface of the screen is good enough to act as a mirror when the display is off, but we think it's probably a fingerprint magnet as well.

Video formats supported include MPEG-4 simple profile, MOV and MPEG-1. There is also MP3 and WAV codec support for audio as well as two preinstalled games. No news on its availability outside of China.

Read more gizmos here

del.icio.us   Digg this   Yahoo MyWeb

O2 Stealth to launch in late October

In a press statement released today, handheld maker O2 confirmed that the Xda Stealth will be available at authorized retail outlets in Singapore in late October. The PDA-phone is expected to retail at with a one-year local warranty. (At press time, O2 was unable to comment on the launch dates of the Stealth in other parts of Asia except for Hong Kong which is already selling the handheld.)

The O2 Xda Stealth is the company's latest PDA-phone offering with both an alphanumeric keypad and a touchscreen display. It is powered by an Intel Xscale 416MHz processor and will come with a 2.4-inch QVGA display, 192MB of ROM, 802.11b/g wireless LAN, Bluetooth v1.2 and triband GSM support.

Hands on: Sony Ericsson's Bluetooth watch

It's not the most elegant wristwatch for a cool gadget, but Sony Ericsson's Bluetooth MBW-100 timepiece held our attention for the week we had fiddling with its innovative features, from the caller ID display to the music and call controls, and an out-of-range security buzzer. Take note that this is a prototype sample. Other than that, here are our first impressions of this 007-like gizmo. For more exclusive shots of the MBW-100, click here.

Crave is...

The name says it all. Crave is our new blog about cool gadgets and other crushworthy stuff.

Drop us an email if you have tips or suggestions.

Crave for...

» Mobile Phones (826)

» Digital Cameras (451)

» Notebooks (548)

» PC & Peripherals (588)

» Handhelds (281)

» Printers (45)

» Home AV (549)

» Music & Play (457)

» Gadgets (1045)

» Future Tech (184)

Previously...

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

Subscribe to
Crave

Today on CNET |  Reviews |  Crave |  Blogs |  CNET TV |  Digital Living |  Downloads