Operation Gadget

Month: December 2004

  • Game Boy Helps Reduce Anxiety in Children Before Surgery, Study Says

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteResearchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey performed a small study indicating that pre-surgery anxiety in children between four and 12 years old was reduced when they were given a Game Boy to entertain themselves. The study results will be presented by Dr. Anuradha Patel at a…

  • “Hacker’s Favorite DVD Player” in Stock at Amazon.com

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteMartin O’Donnell pointed out this Tech Bargains article reporting that the Philips DVP642 DVD/CD/MP3/DivX Player is in stock at Amazon.com. Tech Bargains calls the DVP642: … currently the hacker’s favorite DVD player. Plays downloaded movies. DVD, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD, MP3-CD, MPEG-4, Picture-CD and DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x, AVI. … as…

  • 64M Memory Card Offered with Purchase of Digital Camera by Amazon.com

    Reading Time: 2 minutesAmazon.com had a sale going on digital cameras that ended this week. They replaced that promotion with a new one– if you buy a digital camera from them, you get a free 64-Megabyte memory card that’s compatible with the camera or you get a discount on a larger-capacity memory card. The biggest…

  • 3-Megapixel Mobile Phone Camera Module Coming Soon from Panasonic

    Reading Time: < 1 minute3-Megapixel Camera Module from Panasonic: Can you believe how small this thing is? [ Photo: Panasonic ] Panasonic announced the development of a 3-megapixel digital camera module for use in mobile phones. The module is only 8.63mm thick so it can easily fit in mobile phones that are still on the…

  • Peet Shoe Dryer Improves Performance of Boots and Skates

    Reading Time: 2 minutesPeet Shoe Dryer: Makes it easier to put those boots or skates back on your feet by drying them faster than they’d dry by themselves. [ Photo: Amazon.com ] Some of you know that I officiate high school and college ice hockey in my spare time, when I’m not writing for Operation…

  • Motorola A630 “Guaranteed to Amaze Your Friends,” Says Mike Langberg

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteMike Langberg of The San Jose Mercury News just finished reviewing the Motorola A630 for his Tech Test Drive column and he likes it. He says that the A630 will amaze your friends primarily because of its size and the fact that Motorola has crammed so many state-of-the-art features into such…

  • Electronics Outselling Books According to Amazon.com

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteIn Amazon.com‘s monthly newsletter to Amazon Associates (websites that have joined Amazon’s e-commerce affiliates program), the company reported: In a recent survey of 10,180 Consumer Reports readers, Amazon.com received the highest rating for overall electronics buying experience. Those surveyed evaluated 20 retailers and gave Amazon.com top marks for our great prices…

  • Burton Headphone Beanie Reviewed by The Gadgeteer

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteA few companies have tried to make clothing and accessories gadget-friendly. The results have been mixed, particularly when the item actually includes electronics. Butron is trying its hand with the Headphone Beanie, a winter hat with embeded headphones. The Gadgeteer published a surprisingly favorable review of the Headphone Beanie, saying: Sound…

  • S’mores Nativity Set May Be Taking the Theme a Bit Too Far

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteS’mores Nativity Set: The Holy Family as marshmallows. [ Photo: Santa’s Depot ] Kathleen and I have a number of S’mores ornaments made by Midwest of Cannon Falls. Most of them are things like a marshmallow man dressed as a doctor or a marshmallow man in a halloween costume. Over the…