With 2011 almost over, it has been a tradition by Google in cooperation with NORAD to track Santa’s whereabouts. Today, more than ever is it more enticing and exciting to track Santa’s flight as Google offers more ways of doing. This tradition of tracking Santa on Christmas Eve can now be done through Google Earth, Google Maps and on the NORAD Santa site using not only your computer’s desktop browser but on your mobile phone as well. To track’s Santa tomorrow simply point your mobile phone’s browser to www.noradsanta.org and that’s it, find out whether dear old Santa did really have a use for Siri on his iPhone 4S and managed to perform his duties and obligations to the billions of kids worldwide.

Additionally, you can track Santa via the following Google services:

• On Google Maps – visit www.noradsanta.org and see where Santa is heading next and you can even track him down through the “Santa cam videos” situationed worldwide
• Google Earth plug-in – things have changed, you can now even track Santa’s whereabouts in 3D
• On Google Maps for Mobile - no matter where you are and what you’re currently doing, you can now track Santa on your mobile phone
• On Social Media – Follow Santa’s whereabouts through Facebook, Twitter and of course Google+
• On YouTube – That’s right, Santa tracking now has its own YouTube via the NORAD Tracks Santa YouTube channel

Via [Official Google Blog] ]]> http://www.technologytell.com/gadgets/87196/google-and-norad-santa-tracking-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.technologytell.com/gadgets/81274/e-gear-and-verbatim-are-giving-away-a-350-prize-pack-find-out-how-you-can-e/ http://www.technologytell.com/gadgets/81274/e-gear-and-verbatim-are-giving-away-a-350-prize-pack-find-out-how-you-can-e/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:34:31 +0000 Robert Nelson http://www.technologytell.com/gadgets/81274/e-gear-and-verbatim-are-giving-away-a-350-prize-pack-find-out-how-you-can-e/ more »]]>

We imagine that most readers would be happy to win some stuff. More specifically, win a prize pack worth more than $350. That being said, E-Gear and Verbatim have partnered up and are having the Mobile Lifestyle Giveaway. And nicely done, not only is entering rather simple, but it also gives you the latest digital copy of E-Gear Magazine. As to what is included in the prize pack — a Store ‘n’ Go Car Audio USB Drive, TUFF-’N'-TINY USB Drive, Store ‘n’ Go USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive, Wireless Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard, and the Mini Wireless Slim Keyboard & Mouse. With that, click the ‘via’ link below to read more about the goodies that you could win along with the fine print and perhaps most important — the entry form. Good luck.

Via [E-Gear]

The weekend is once again upon us and what better thing to do than sit back and do nothing for a minute or so. Well, in reality we are planning to sit back and do nothing for much longer than a minute, however just to get that relaxing started — here is the latest animated video from Zepto Labs. And for those who do not recognize that name, they are the ones behind the popular Cut The Rope games. That being said, this video comes titled “Om Nom Stories” and is 1 minute and 19 seconds in length. Enjoy, the video and your weekend.

Via [YouTube]

Huawei sent us a review unit of the their soon to be released Android smartphone called the Huawei Honor (U8660). To tell you frankly I wasn’t expecting anything much about this phone. I thought it was just another Android smartphone which will offer minor upgrades to other previously released Huawei smartphones. But I was wrong. I mean, can you call a phone packing an 8MP HDR-capable back-facing camera, large 1900mAH battery, 1.4GHz processor a mid-range device? Definitely not. So after using the Huawei Honor for almost a week now, here’s what we have to say about it.

Hardware

Compared with one of Huawei’s previously released smartphones, the Ideos X5 which we had the honor of reviewing before, the Huawei Honor did away with the classic look and matte finish on the back part. What you’ll have is a white, glossy back panel which mimics look of the white iPhone 4S.

Up front is a 4-inch, FWVGA capacitive touch screen which is said to be featuring a 16M 16:9 true color HD display. True enough, the Honor’s display quality is not too far from the Samsung Galaxy S II’s Super AMOLED screen. The phone display web pages and text quite clearly and sharp. The only gripe about the phone’s display size is that it’s a bit narrow or maybe I was just accustomed to the larger screen of my SGS II.

On the upper portion of the display you’ll find the phone’s earpiece and the 2.0MP front-facing camera and the notification LED on the top right corner. Below are touch sensitive keys for search, back, home and menu options. At the back you’ll find the 8MP HDR-capable camera, LED Flash and speaker grille. While on the sides are the familiar buttons such as – volume rocker, 3.5mm jack, power on/off, and USB port.

Software

The Huawei Honor that we received is running Android Gingerbread OS version 2.3.6. Previously, it was announced that the phone will run Android 2.3.5 and we’re not sure which version will be running on the final version of this device. Anyway, comparing Android 2.3.5 against Android 2.3.4 running on the SGS II, I can say that there’s not that much different between the two. You’ll still get almost the same speed and performance when using and switching between apps.

The Huawei Honor also comes with Gyroscope for better gaming. Unfortunately, as mentioned the phone’s screen is a bit on the narrow side so, displaying games can be quite limiting.

The phone is also DLNA-certified, which means you can share photos, music and videos with other DNLA devices that you own. The other apps are pretty much standard and you can grab anything you like from the Android Market.

Usability

As mentioned the Huawei Honor comes with a large-capacity battery. This additional points for the points usability and performance. The device’s battery life is simply fantastic, lasting up to almost 3 days on a single charge with regular usages of the phone’s functionality. If you’re like me who is annoyed by the SGS II’s battery consumption, the Huawei Honor simply beats the SGS II to the punch.

Performance, speed and overall usability of the Huawei Honor is pretty decent. You’ll experience no lag or errors while using it. For the past couple of days, I have yet to experience app crashing while using the device.

The devices 8MP camera is pretty outstanding as well. While the front-facing one for video chat is pretty decent as well.

Final Words About the Huawei Honor

Huawei may not be as popular and as much celebrated as the smartphones of Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Apple and other major manufacturers, but it is not to say that the company is not capable of coming out with a very good, highly-advanced Android smartphone. The Huawei Honor is a living example of what Huawei’s capabilities are when it comes to manufacturing Android smartphone. The Huawei Honor is one, very good smartphone that should make Huawei proud. The only thing left now is whether Huawei is bent on releasing the Honor in the United States and for how much. Hopefully, the price range would be competitive or better yet, very affordable.

Product [Huawei Honor]

We here at Gadgetell just wanted to take a moment and wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. And where that is leading to is this — our regular news coverage will be halted for today so the crew can spend some quality time with family. Plus, no news posts means that you, the reader, will be able to spend some time away from the computer with your family. Seems to be a win-win.

Happy Thanksgiving, and we look forward to rejoining with all of you tomorrow.

Thanksgiving has arrived here in the US and that generally means one few thing — people take some time out. Or maybe more accurately, they spend some time with family and/or friends and eat lots of food. And generally watch some television as well. Anyway, while we certainly would not argue that there are much more important things that we could be thankful for (aside from tech and gadgets), the writers here at Gadgetell have come forward with just that — the tech they are all thankful for. So without further adieu, here is what they all had to say;

JG Mason

This year, I am thankful for the genius behind Evernote.  As I returned to an office-setting after working from a home office for many years, I am finding my iPad with Evernote to be a huge benefit.  From note taking during far-too-long-meetings to idea cataloging while on the go (via iPad, iPhone, desktop app or just website), I am finding so many good uses for Evernote.

Folks are actually calling me organized for the first time in my life.

Shawn Ingram

This Thanksgiving I’m thankful for my late 2009 13-inch MacBook Pro. This machine has been my main workhorse for two years now. It replaced my 2006 15-inch MacBook Pro, and has served me through the end of college last year and my first two CES events (along with various other trips through the past two years). With Lion it’s starting to show it’s age a bit, but it still keeps going despite the workload I throw at it. Sure, it can’t play Skyrim like my desktop PC, but I can’t imagine doing most of my work without it.

Jeremy Hill

I’m thankful for the cloud. I can’t count how many times I needed to access a file when I couldn’t use the machine that created it. When my PS3 died, I had my save files sitting peacefully in Sony’s cloud. When I want to start writing  something on my phone before finishing it up on my computer, I’m using Google’s cloud. If the unspeakable were to happen to my hard drive, I have physical backups and digital backups of all my treasured files in the cloud. The cloud follows me around wherever I go and makes my life easier. To me, that’s what technology is all about.

Natesh Sood

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my new laptop and smartphone that I purchased for college.  My new laptop is the HP Pavilion dm4-2070us in a steel gray finish.  It runs Windows 7, 2.3GHz Intel i5 core processor, 6GB of RAM, 14 inch display, and a 640GB hard drive.  Tech specs aside, I am thankful for this laptop because I got a quality machine at an affordable price (given my student discount).  I carry it to a few classes and the battery always lasts me throughout the day.  Its vibrant screen allows me to watch videos or read through powerpoints at ease.  In addition, its processor speed and RAM are enough to keep up with my many tasks which includes playing music through Spotify, Facebook, email, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, etc.  

Secondly, I purchased my first smartphone this past September from T-Mobile: the LG G2X.  It runs on a 1GHz dual-core processor, Android 2.3, features a 4.0 inch touch screen display, 8GB of onboard memory, 512MB of RAM, 4G connectivity, 8MP rear facing camera, and a VGA front facing camera.  Like most smartphone owners, my G2X accompanies me everywhere and helps me stay connected through Facebook, email, Twitter, text, and voice.  In addition, it is always nice to catch some tunes between classes using Pandora or Google Music.  Having always written a lot about the Android platform, it’s nice to finally be an owner of an Android smartphone.  

Arnold Zafra

I’m thankful for Google+. Despite some flaws, Google+ finally gave us a “more serious,” fruitful and more sensible social networking site. While Google+ maybe too similar with Facebook and Twitter, the good thing about it though is that you can completely ignore it and then use it again later without missing a beat. And yes, there are lesser trolls in Google+ than the other two social networks.

Tarun Kunwar

I am grateful for my Canon Rebel T1i simply because it allows you to take fantastic stills while remaining pocket-friendly. With a relatively short learning curve, this D-SLR camera has changed the very way I look at photography (no pun intended). And with the addition of a few lenses to my line-up, my pictures dazzle friends and colleagues. I would have never grown such an appreciation for photography through point-and-shoot cameras. When I think about it, it’s

Almost funny how such a fulfilling  hobby grew out of a $600 investment.

And as for myself (Robert Nelson), I am going to go out on a limb here and say — location tracking and health related goodies. Sure, that may seem a bit strange for some, especially that first one but hear me out. I am a distance runner and triathlete and both of those types of things help me in my training and eventually in achieving my goals. The location tracking is items such as Runkeeper (my long term favorite), though there are quite a bit more. This app will run on a variety of devices and will allow me to track all the necessary details to see what is working and what is not working. It offers a look at items such as distance, time and calories burned. Heck, it even plots my courses on a map and shows other goodies like elevation. Of course, I live about a half mile from the Gulf of Mexico in Florida so my elevation tracking is pretty much at- and just below sea level.

In addition to the Runkeeper and those similar services, there are also the others such as the Fitbit and recently announced Jawbone UP. Personally I have not gotten into these as much, however they are becoming more part of my routine and for that I am thankful because again, they allow me to track things and see what is working and what it not working. Bottom line, location tracking services and health related gadgets are helping me feel better while still running longer than many consider sane. And for that I am thankful.

It looks like a game that we spend more hours playing than we care to admit as a child has come available for Android. That game, The Game of Life. That being said, it looks like it is time to grab your Android device and spend some time doing nothing. Well, doing nothing constructive anyway. Yup, the release of The Game of Life for Android has prompted another Weekend Fun post. Anyway, the game is currently available in the Android Market (link below) and will set you back $4.99. Seems a small price to pay as compared to what we may have shelled out for the original board game version. Heck, who are we trying to lie to, we still have (and sometimes play) the original board game version. According to the details coming from the Android Market listing, here is what you can expect;

Give life a whole new spin on Android!

Anything can happen in THE GAME OF LIFE! Play with up to 3 friends as you navigate animated tokens through winding roads and lush landscapes with easy touch controls. Live on the edge or play it safe. LIFE is better than ever on Android!

PASS ‘N PLAY
Share THE GAME OF LIFE with up to 3 friends on one device.

MAKE CHOICES, GET PAID, OR LOSE IT ALL
Land on “Life Spaces” and gain tiles worth big bucks – or pay huge fines. Collect “Share the Wealth Cards” and retire in style.

Enjoy endless hours of replay fun and re-create your LIFE each time you play!

Via [Android Market] and [EA.com]

Facebook is obviously doing everything it can to be like Google+. Do you think this is a good idea? Many Facebook users don’t. The recent layout changes, which completely redesigned the newsfeed and added a real time, Twitter like ticker, enraged many users and quickly prompting calls to boycott and a flurry of petitions. If you use Facebook, how do you feel about the changes and the fact they are trying to copy everything unique about Google+? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Product: Toddy Cloth
What: A cloth to clean your touchable gadgets
Why: You’ve got oily skin, sauce on your finger, or smears bug you
How much? $9.99 or $19.99 for a 3-pack
Where: Target, Best Buy and Toddygear.com

I scoff at cleaning things. I don’t use things to clean my sunglasses. I lose most of them and pay them no attention. Keeping that in mind, I know exactly where my Toddy Cloths are.

The reason is simple: it works. Rather than pushing the smudge around (like 99% of all the others I’ve used), the Toddy Cloth takes it away. Where does it go? I have no idea, all I know is the darn thing works and works well. In fact, it works better than the $9.99 cloth has a right to.

I have a Toddy Cloth in my desk drawer. There’s nothing more embarrassing than showing your awesome iPad off to a colleague smeared with smudges. A quick wipe and it looks like it fresh from the box.

I also keep a Toddy Cloth in the car. Besides wiping of the smartphone for navigational duties, the cloth is great on the windshield. There’s nothing worse than staring at a smear or reminding yourself you need to clean the inside of the windshield someday.

Toddy Cloths are launching at big retailers like Target and Best Buy in some very fashionable colors. Check them and out and you won’t be disappointed.

Gadgetell rating: 5/5

Product Page: [Toddygear]

What is being reviewed?

Up for review today is the Dell Latitude E6520, a 15 inch notebook that (if you ask us) is sporting a rather nice overall look and feel. The Latitude E6520 brings specs to include 2nd generation Intel Core processors, up to 8GB of RAM, a 15.6 inch display, Windows 7, a spill-resistant keyboard and overall rugged design.

Disclaimer: This Dell Latitude E6520 noteboook was provided to Gadgetell for the purpose of this review.

The specs

While these will certainly change depending on the amount of customizing you choose, here is what the base model Latitude E6520 (priced at $729) will ship with;

• 15.6 inch HD (1366 x 768) Anti-Glare LED display
• Intel HD Graphics 3000
• 2.10GHz Intel Core i3-2310M processor
• 2GB RAM
• 250GB (5400RPM) hard drive
• 6-cell battery
• 8x DVD optical drive
• Windows 7 Home Premium

And as for the unit that we tested, that arrived packing a 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-2520M processor with 4GB of RAM and running Windows 7 Professional.

My thoughts

Having spent a few weeks with the Latitude E6520 we are finding ourselves impressed. But perhaps a bit more important, some non-techie guests that have stopped by the office have also commented on the notebook. Overall the reaction from us as well as others has been positive. The E6520 is a sturdy feeling notebook, which most likely comes as a result of having a MIL-STD 810G tested Tri-Metal design. According to Dell, the notebook has a “highly durable anodized aluminum display back, a tough powder-coated base, reinforced steel hinges, a magnesium alloy internal frame and zinc alloy latch.” According to us, it feels like it will take quite a bit of abuse before it breaks — not that we would suggest or endorse abusing your laptop. Furthermore, they keyboard comes as spill-resistant and the display has a protective seal and bumper for added protection. In short, it is nice to have something that does not feel fragile, or like you are going to break it.

Otherwise, speaking other than the processor, RAM and version of Windows — the E6520 is pretty nicely equipped. The notebook has Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity as well as HDMI, VGA, firewire and several USB ports. And nicely done, of those several USB ports, you can find one on the right side, one on the backside and one on the left side. There is also a headphone jack (on the left), an SD card reader (on the front) and a hardware switch to turn the Wi-Fi on or off when not needed to save battery power.

The E6520 is sporting a hardware volume up/down and mute key which sit above the keyboard. And speaking of the keyboard, it comes (as one would expect on a 15 inch notebook) as full sized. But perhaps a bit more to the point, it is a full sized keyboard that also has a separate numeric keypad sitting on the right side. As for the trackpad, that was there with two-buttons. The trackpad and buttons seemed to be of good size and had good response in use. But coming as something that ThinkPad users will like, there is also a finger mouse that sits in between the G, H and B keys with three buttons just below the space bar. The keyboard itself felt pretty nice to type on, the keys feel solid and are fairly sensitive in that you do not need to mash in super hard on them.

Aside from the keyboard and port layout, of which that later is super important, especially for those times you want to plug in an external mouse and need a right side port for a right handed user. And vice versa, for the lefty as well. The notebook itself stood in for what we needed and more. It performed well for both work and play related tasks and that suggests that the techie and non-techie audience should be right at home. After all, we are talking about typing, editing some images, editing some home video, listening to music and watching video. And for the music and video, it came as a mix of streaming content as well as locally stored content. But again, the notebook we tested had a solid processor and a decent amount of RAM, and Mac users can say what they want about Windows, but Windows 7 Professional is more than enough to get the job done. The display offered a nice viewing experience for web video, and the occasional movie and thanks to the internal DVD drive, we were able to watch a regular DVD as well as streaming from Netflix.

The bottom line

While we are not necessarily fans of the overall size of the notebook in terms of portability, that is something that would arrive with any 15.6 inch notebook. Not to mention, we suspect that plenty of notebook users rarely if ever take their computer outside of home so in that respect, the larger display and nicer keyboard are welcomed. That aside though, having the Latitude E6520 in house for a few weeks, we have to say that we are certainly impressed. Of course, with an Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM we sort of expected it to perform well, but speaking in terms of the notebook itself — the look, overall design and build quality — lets just say that Dell has done well with this model. That leaves the big question; Would we shell out any of our hard earned cash towards the purchase of Dell Latitude E6520 notebook? Without question, and taking that a step further, we also would not hesitate to offer a recommendation should a friend of family member find themselves looking for a notebook with a 15.6 inch display.

Product [Dell Latitude E6520]