Gadgets

Up until today, owners of Thunderbolt-equipped Macs were pretty much left to dream of the super-fast port’s potential. The only useful thing you could do with the Mini DisplayPort shaped hole was to plug in the same Mini DisplayPort monitor cable you plugged into your old Mac. Thunderbolt has been pretty boring.

Now, at last, you can buy a Thunderbolt cable from Apple.

Apple plans to launch a new iPhone in September that brings the handset up to speed with the iPad 2 tablet, according to reports.

The fifth-generation iPhone will include the faster A5 processor that debuted in the iPad 2 in April as well as an 8-megapixel camera, according to Bloomberg, who cites “two people familiar with the product.”

The rumor comes in line with previous reports that hinted a September debut for an iPhone 5 equipped with an A5 chip and 8-megapixel camera sensor.

Buzz Player is an iPad (and iPhone and Android) app that lets you stream video from pretty much any device on your network. That means you can watch movies stored on a network-attached hard drive without switching on a computer. It’s pretty amazing.

There are other solutions for streaming video to the iPad.

This big, ugly gadget is the LifePlayer, and it can change people’s lives. It’s a solar-powered five-band radio and MP3 player designed to be used as a teaching aid in the developing world. Currently, the units are being tested in Rwanda where the government has decided to switch the nation’s language from French to English. I know — crazy, right?

The LifePlayer can be run from either a removable solar cell or by turning a hand-crank. It has 64GB to store educational materials — in this case English lessons — and content can be added via a microSD card slot or by recording direct from the radio.

Do you like the clean, classic aesthetic of book-binder style iPad cases, but also crave the utility of cases with built-in stands? Pad & Quill has you covered with its new Contega, a “bookbindery handmade” case with some fancy extras.

The Contega is made from card and leather, with a wooden interior frame to hold your iPad 2. Closed, it looks almost identical to any other bookbindery case.

Move aside slate tablets and sleek MacBook Air style ultraportables. The Roll Me could be the future of mobile computing.

Er, maybe.

Roll Me is comprised of a flexible, bendable e-paper-based display that can wrap around an oblong keyboard unit. The keyboard features a hollow center that acts as cooling system when the device is in use, and stores its flexible solar panel charger when not in use.

Samsung announced Thursday morning that its latest Android tablet is slated for release next week, but initially only in Manhattan, and only in one store.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 hits the shelves in New York City’s Union Square Best Buy on June 8, exclusively available from the store for over a week. The tablet won’t roll out in wider release until 10 days later, on June 17.

Initially available in a Wi-Fi only version, the new Galaxy Tab’s price is on par with Apple’s iPad 2 Wi-Fi version.

This is Dell innovative new XPS 15z, apparently the “thinnest 15-inch PC on the planet.” Does it look at all familiar?

Let’s just say it: The 15z is an obvious rip-off of the 15-inch MacBook Pro, from the squared-and-rounded aluminum body to the black screen bezel to the upward-facing speaker grilles to the chiclet keyboard, complete with miniature arrow-keys. Head over to Engadget’s gallery and you’ll see the truth: while Dell’s own product shots hide the similarities with lighting, Engadget’s photos show just how close a clone is the Dell.

These days, the easiest way to learn what your camera does is to take it out and use it. Instant feedback shows you how different apertures affect depth-of-field, how faster and slower shutter speeds can freeze and blur the action, and how zooming your lens can affect more than just how big things are in your photos.

But back in the days of film, where a week could go by between tripping the shutter and seeing the results, something like the Camera Sim would have been invaluable. Even today, this SLR simulator is a great learning tool. It’s a Flash application that runs in your browser and lets you adjust everything that can affect the picture.

Apple and Samsung this week won awards for display technologies on their mobile devices.

Apple’s iPhone and iPad earned gold Display of the Year and Display Application of the Year awards from the Society for Information Display. Both devices received praise for their usage of in-plane switching technology, in which crystal molecules are oriented so their motion is parallel to the panel, instead of perpendicular to it.