Hi-tech Frontier

Lighting Iron: You can 'see' how hot the iron is When you are using a conventional iron, is there any way to exactly know how hot your iron is? How do you know if your iron is hot enough to apply or enough cool to touch after using it? Lighting Iron is a conceptual iron design by Gowoon Jeong that can indicate how hot the iron exactly is. For example, when ironing some silk, the iron should be at a lower temperature and Lighting Iron can indicate this by showing pink light. On the other hand, cotton may require a higher temperature and in this situation, the iron will show dark red color which means it’s hot enough. Gowoon Jeong is a graduate student at SADI (Samsung Art & Design Institute) who is currently looking for full-time job and freelance projects. His specialties are industrial design, exhibition design, and interior design.

Samsung new SPF-87H and SPF-107H photo frames While second monitor status isn't a first for Samsung's picture frames, it's nice to see the functionality be extended to this latest lineup, the "Touch of Color" SPF-87H and SPF-107H. Otherwise the 8-inch and 10-inch frames are pretty basic on features for the most part, including 1GB of internal storage, an internal rechargeable battery and a multicard reader in a 0.9-inch thick form factor. The folks at Digital PictureFrame Review had no luck getting the SPF-85V to work as an external USB display last time around, so hopefully Samsung has tightened up its software in that regard -- though we're not expecting Mac support of such functionality in this century. At least the price is right: in Taiwan the 8-inch frame, which is available globally this month, will go for NT$3490 (about $103 US), while the 10-inch version goes for NT$5290 (about $157 US) and will hit stores in May.

XCM debuts Rumble Joystick and KO Adapter for PlayStation 3 Hot on the heels of XCM's Dominator joystick comes an even more irresistible iteration, making those that took the plunge in January inevitably jealous. The newfangled Rumble Joystick for PlayStation 3 isn't terribly different from the original... save for the fact that this one shakes, rattles and rolls, of course. Described as the world's first PS3 joystick to rumble natively, this bugger also packs four memory buttons for programming all sorts of sick, twisted macros alongside independent Rapid Fire and Turbo buttons. Moving on, we've got the all new XO Adapter for PS3, which adds support for macros, Rapid Fire and Turbo to any vanilla Dual Shock or SIXAXIS controller. There's no mention of pricing for either, but we suspect that'll change in the near future (like, real soon, given that they'll be shipping in under a month).

Dell XPS 625, 630 with liquid cooling option Dell's XPS 625 and XPS 630 gaming desktops may be known for one of the best price-to-performance ratios around, but it looks like Dell isn't ignoring those primarily concerned with performance, and it's now added a liquid cooling option to both models that should please the overclockers out there. That comes in the form of an Asetek liquid cooling system, which should be considerably more quiet than the standard fan-based system, while also keeping the system nice and chilly. Just be prepared to shell out an extra $120 on top of the $899 and $1,099 base price for the 625 and 630, respectively, and wait until late this month for the liquid-cooled systems to actually ship.

Sanyo Gorilla PND It's been a while since we heard anything from Sanyo on the Gorilla tip, but according to the company the venerable PND will see three new models hit the scene on April 24. These bad boys will feature two gyro (velocity) sensors and an acceleration sensor, allowing the device to keep an accurate account of your location -- even when GPS reception poor. If that isn't enough for you, the new Gorillas sport an 8GB SSD (twice that of their predecessors) and an optional rear view camera for your vehicle. Prices have yet to be set in stone, but it's believed that the NV-SD730DT, featuring a 7-inch LCD display will fetch ¥90,000 ($899), while the NV-SB540DT (5.2-inch display, plus tuner for real-time traffic updates) and NV-SB530DT (the 5.2-inch model, sans tuner) will run for ¥70,000 ($700) and ¥65,000 ($650) respectively. No word yet on a Stateside release.

Mio C523 V2 navigator Not that it's impossible to find a GPS for motorcyclists or anything, but your options are certainly limited. Mitac's Mio branch is looking to give hog and crotch rocket riders one more alternative with the 4.3-inch C523 V2, a somewhat varied version of the 2007 original. The included "rider mode" supposedly enables motorcycle riders to not spend as much time glancing at the screen, though we suppose the tweaked interface could still work for folks in traditional motorcars. Crazily enough, the unit also supports 1seg digital TV tuning in Japan, though we wouldn't recommend checking out your favorite programming whilst dodging those much, much larger automobiles whirring around you. Pricing is set for ¥44,800 ($446), but there's no indication of when (or if, even) this will head stateside.

Brando delivers gaggle of wacky USB hubs Oh Brando, will your wonders ever cease? The company famous for making our days with random, wacky, off-the-wall gizmos has just unloaded a small cadre of new USB hubs, all of which are delightfully eccentric and totally destined for neglected desks the world over. From the Clippy-approved USB Happy-Kid 4-Port Hub to the reading light-infused iteration, there's a hub for practically anyone looking to get more USB devices connected to their PC. Check 'em all out below, and don't feel like you have to pick just one, regardless of what your savings account is saying.

XCM's $84.99 Cross Fire Adapter for Xbox 360 We can't say for sure why you'd want to use a PlayStation 3 controller with your Xbox 360, but if you somehow prefer the Batwing over something that's actually comfortable to hold, there's this. XCM -- who just recently debuted its Rumble Joystick and KO Adapter for PlayStation 3 -- is today shipping its Cross Fire Adapter for Xbox 360. As we insinuated earlier, this device enables users to connect a PS3 controller, original Xbox controller (Duke!) or wired Xbox 360 controller to one's Xbox 360 console so you don't have to mod your controller to enjoy the spoils of Turbo Fire. Get your order in right now over at Extreme-Mods for $84.99.

Verizon's Exilim C721 We'd totally expected the long-rumored C721 to bow at CTIA last week (come to think of it, those guys had a pretty weak show all told), but alas, we're still waiting for some sort of confirmation that the thing even exists. The 5 megapixel cameraphone -- which gets blessed with Casio's Exilim branding on account of its relatively serious shooting power -- has now popped up over at BuyWirelessNow under the PCD heading, suggesting that the company will be brokering the deal between Casio and Verizon for the new model as it has done in the past. It's a slightly clearer picture of the phone than we've managed to see in the past, but seriously, it's just five megapixels, guys -- let's get this one out before eight becomes the norm, yeah?

HTC Touch Diamond: $299.99 on contract It seems the rumblings and rumors were true -- every last one of them. HTC's now-aged Touch Diamond is indeed hitting Verizon Wireless this month, bringing with it the same 2.76-inch touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, TouchFLO interface and Windows Mobile 6.1 OS that we've seen ad nauseum on carriers around the world (though it does boast a microSD card slot). We're pretty baffled by the immensely large $299.99 on-contract sticker (after $70 mail-in rebate), and honestly, we just don't see VZW moving too many of these before a price drop. In fact, are you even giving this a second thought?

LG FreeSat LCDs LG is ready to ship its line of LCDs with integrated FreeSat tuners starting this month. The 1080p LF7700 series comes in sizes from 32- to 47-inches and includes 100Hz Trumotion in the 42- and 47-inch versions, with a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and invisible speaker design. Don't think a TV would hit the market today without the green tag, these claim to use 69% less power, thanks to the integrated light sensor. The cheap ones start at £700, even with BBC HD and ITV HD beckoning lackluster UK buyers may choose to wait for the 200Hz LH5000 models due later this year.

MCE 8x internal Blu-ray burner for Mac Pros Here's some perspective: when MCE first released its internal Mac Pro Blu-ray burner, it boasted 2X speeds for a hefty $699 price tag. Cut to present day, when the new generation of the drive that's a noticeably faster 8X Blu-ray read / write and 16X DVD±R/W, all for a hair under $400. Works with Adobe Premier Pro, Final Cut Pro and Roxio Toast 10 Pro ... but if you want to play studio Blu-ray movies, you'll have to either dual boot Windows or wait until some indeterminant time when Apple adds BD support for OS X.

Motorola's QUE100 MicroEncoder We were pretty excited to see analog TVs disappear from store shelves; delays in the analog shutoff aside, it was a big move in the right direction. But wouldn't you know it, there's a niche market that still legitimately needs to move video around to analog-only endpoints -- security cameras, commercial distribution systems and MDU (multiple dwelling units) setups, for example. Users of such systems who haven't stocked up on analog sets will be glad to know Motorola's got them covered with the QUE100 QAM MicroEncoder. The svelte rack-mountable units will soak up 2, 4, 8 or 12 (depending on model) standard definition MPEG-2 video feeds along with their audio and put them all into a single QAM output that can be tuned on those newfangled digital tuners.