By Chief Gizmateer
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

There are rumors from Mac Rumors concerning a possible 2007 launch of a Mac Tablet PC with Docking Station. In fact, Smarthouse AU claims that Apple actually has a working prototype Mac Tablet in their labs now!

The target for the Mac tablet will be for home and education markets rather than the enterprise market according to the following quote:

The Mac tablet has been designed to handle third party applications such as home automation software that will allow users to control lighting, audio, entertainment devices and security feeds. It also acts as a full blown PC has wireless linking for a new generation of Wireless Hi Fi speakers that are currently being tested by Apple.

If the rumor is true… what will be the actual tablet be able to do? Will it be a computer that runs specific apps for the home (home automation, home theater, etc…) or will it be a full-fledged computer?

Source: Gizmos for Geeks

By Chief Gizmateer
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Remember when TiVo released their HME Software Development Kit a year ago? Ever wonder what applications have been created for the SDK? DVR Playground current is running an article about Apps.tv and other HME software created:

Apps.tv recently released a new Amazon product browser which is available via a subscription on the apps.tv server.

Last year, TiVo released an SDK (software development kit) encouraging developers to engineer new and unique software for use on TiVos as HME applications. Some innovative and useful applications such as a Stock Viewer, TrafficCam Viewer, and a Netflix RSS Reader to check on your Netflix account.

Apps.tv was created and developed as a way to manage the many applications that can be built using HME on TiVo DVRs.

What application would you want developed?
Source: DVR Playground

By Chief Gizmateer
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

In case you’re just waking up from a Tryptophan-induced sleep from eating turkey on Thanksgiving, the Geeks are up to number 6 of our “12 Gizmos of Christmas” feature where we count down to the most popular gadgets of the holiday season. Our sixth most popular wished for gizmo this year are cell phones. Cell phones come in all flavors with many features ranging from doubling as an MP3 player, digital camera and even include GPS and WiFi capabilities.

We chose three popular smartphones this year and tried to pick three cell phones from different camps including Treo 700, BlackBerry Pearl, and the Sidekick 3 Smartphones.

My only question is… are smartphones related to regions of the country? While I’ve traveled around I noticed more Treo’s in the northeast and upper midwest, Blackberry’s seem prevalent in the mid-atlantic states through the south and the SideKick3 is the smartphone of choice for the left coasters. Am I on to something or just off base?
Source: Gizmos for Geeks

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

With some prodding by parents and teachers, many schools in the UK are changing from wi-fi networing in their schools to standard cable networking, due to health concerns.

At the Prebendal School, a prestigious preparatory in Chichester, West Sussex, a group of parents lobbied the headteacher, Tim Cannell, to remove the wireless network last month. Mr Cannell told The Times: “We listened to the parents’ views and they were obviously very concerned. We also did a lot of research. The authorities say it’s safe, but there have been no long-term studies to prove this. Source: Times Online

We Say: Despite the fact that arguments about radiation of this type as well as cell phone radiation and other low-level radiation are often poo-pooed, I agree that long-term studies are lacking, so why not err on the side of caution? Since the parents are the ones paying for these networks, if that’s what they want, why not?

Quote honestly, I’d prefer to go all cabled in my home as well, but mostly for speed and reliability reasons … wi-fi cannot beat hard-wired networks in those areas.

By Chief Gadgeteer
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Even with the advent of cheaper video cameras, digital cameras mainly for pictures are still very popular, as is evidenced by the number of new models still being produced. We imagine that one day you may not go out looking for separate products. We apologize to all photographers for our silly forecasts. Anyway, this year, we’ve picked 3 cool digital cameras with Canon getting 2 entries: Canon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera, Canon PowerShot SD600 6MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom, and Sony DSC T10 (7.2 Megapixel).

Source: Gizmos for Geeks

By Chief Gadgeteer
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

For those of you taking a break from the Thanksgiving festivities, let us bring you up to speed on the latest in the “12 Gizmos of Christmas”. #8 in the list is Portable Video players. Out of the 3 we feature, I’ll bet you can guess what 2 of them are. Let me give you a hint: the companies that make them hate each other. Now, let me give you a bigger hint: the 3 players are the Archos AV 604 WiFi Mobile Digital Video Recorder, Apple’s 80GB iPod Video (v5.5) and Microsoft’s Zune 30 GB Digital Media Player. Perhaps next year, you’ll be watching the Lions football game on one of the next versions of these devices that supports streaming video over the Internet…

Source: Gizmos for Geeks

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

At least it’s not more batteries! But Unhappy post-Thanksgiving Day for Sony as yet another recall occurs.

Sony has said it will recall eight models of its Cyber-shot digital cameras after finding a defect in the liquid crystal display screen. The problem is caused by a glitch with the image sensor, which may mean the screen does not display images correctly, Sony said. The company would not say how many cameras were affected. Source: BBC News

We Say: Although this article didn’t have a number, a separate AP report indicated it might be as low as 4,000. Still, more bad publicity, right? The models covered are: DSC-F88, DSC-M1, DSC-T1, DSC-T11, DSC-T3, DSC-T33, DSC-U40 and DSC-U50.

WKRP Thanksgiving Turkey Drop

We Say: Happy Thanksgiving!