It’s an email device. That’s it. That’s all it does and like the tagline “simply connected,” it don’t get much simpler than this. Meet Peek. I’ve spent the past month using it as my exclusive go-to email device. Tho I have an iPhone, did the Peek meet my standards? Hit the jump to read my review

If you couldn’t tell from the pictures, it’s thin - very thin. The build is surprisingly sturdy and the rubberized face lends a sense of robustness in hand. The 2.5″ screen isn’t the brightest or color dense but it gets the job done. The UI is pretty straight forward all controlled by the jog dial and back button on the side. If you’re familiar with Blackberries, you’ll feel right at home. The keys are raised and rubberized too. They’re clicky which is good but require a bit too much pressure to depress for my liking. The battery is removable but all you need is the supplied mini-USB a/c adapter to charge it.

You can only set up one email account, in my case I used GMAIL which sync’d beautifully. It can read attachments but beware, you’ll have to tag specific messages to save, otherwise old messages get deleted to make room for new ones. Receiving email was instantaneous and this is where this thing SHINES…

Wireless service comes with the Peek. You read right. No contracts, no limits, or caps. Just $19/month and your ready to go. Awesome right?

What we liked:

• Slim, consumer friendly looking device
• Easy to use
• Built-in themes
• Affordable monthly service
• 3 colors to choose from
• Only $49.95

What could be improved:

• Interface is slow at times
• Scrolling with the jog wheel isn’t accurate
• Battery life is short, lasts about a day and a half
• No email sorting, no junk filtering
• Screen color should be more dense for photo attachments
• 8MB memory too small

The Peek isn’t for everyone, especially if you already have a smartphone, but I don’t think pros are the Peek’s target market. This is for that friend or family member who wants their email on the go without all the complexities of a smartphone, contracts, and UI quirks. At $49, it’s a steal.

Company: Peek [ Buy It Here ]

My family is as dysfunctional as the Chairs for the Dysfunctional by Alice Wang. All of us are quirky personalities and the five chairs in the series go perfectly well with our mindsets. For instance the Skilled Tilter is designed for those who tilt their chairs and my son does just that (and falls off very often)! An integrated spirit leveler attached to the side lets us see how tilted he is. For tall, successful people like my husband the Equality Seeker is apt. The chair can be customized so that he sits at the world average sitting height of 140cm.

The Constant Shaker is what my daughter is, you know girls can never sit still in one place, they gotto keep moving all the time. This chair includes a calculator that computes the amount of calories burnt when one fidgets or shakes. Girls will love this!

Status Announcer: that’s who I am; the social butterfly who constantly needs to update her status on FB and Twitter! This chair allows me to update my status like I do on my online profile.

There is always room for guests in my house, which is why I have saved the best seat for you: The Silent Farter. If you come stocked up on beans, I’ll know coz the chair will amplify each and every single fart you stink out.

Designer: Alice Wang

The Collapsible Crutch is designed for nearly all users regardless of their height. The design also increases the load bearing capacity of the crutch. Perhaps the biggest improvement are the collapsable shafts making storage less of an issue when moving in/out of vehicles. They’re still unwieldy looking but if I can sit down in a movie theater or restaurant without awkwardly resting my crutches to the side, I’m all for it. 

Designer: Jonathan C. Smith

Today Sony announced the world’s smalles HD camcorder. The new model will be called Sony HDR-TG1 and it records video in full HD resoultion (1080i, not 1080p though). The camcorder will be out in June and the asking price will be around $900. Full press release after the break.

Full press release from Sony:

SONY ROLLS OUT WORLD’S SMALLEST FULL HD CAMCORDER JUST IN TIME FOR YOUR SUMMER VACATION

SAN DIEGO, Apr. 2, 2008 – The new pocket-sized Sony HDR-TG1 Handycam® camcorder’s weighty high-definition capability will appeal to vacationers who prefer to “travel light.”

This diminutive camcorder weighs in at only ten ounces. It has an ultra-portable body measuring just 1.3-inches wide by 4.7-inches tall by 2.5-inches deep.

It is a full-featured camcorder that can record 1920 x 1080 HD video and 4-megapixel digital photos directly to Sony Memory Stick PRO Duo™ or PRO Duo Mark2 media cards. Its size and full recording capability makes it the world’s smallest full HD camcorder.

Another bonus for any traveler is the camcorder’s durable titanium body and premium hard coating that makes it highly resistant to scratches and quite fashionable.

It ships with a supplied 4GB PRO Duo Mark2 media card so it’s ready to go straight out of the box and you don’t have to make space in your travel bag for extra discs or tapes.

“Sony was the first to introduce a travel-sized camcorder with 8 mm technology in the 1980’s, and it revolutionized the travel and electronics industries,” said Kelly Davis, director of camcorder marketing at Sony Electronics. “This new model is a great example of our expertise in miniaturization, as well as advanced imaging technologies with features like face detection.”

Face Detection for the Best Possible Picture

This new model incorporates face detection technology for both video and still images, a technology also shared with select Sony Cyber-shot® digital cameras. It can identify up to eight faces in the camcorder’s 2.7-inch touch panel LCD screen, and automatically adjust focus, exposure, color control for natural-looking skin tones, and when photos are taken, flash control.

The model also allocates more encoding bits to a detected face during the encoding process for the best possible picture when people are the subjects.

Not Just Another Pretty Face
The camcorder features advanced video and audio technologies with simple, intuitive operation. It is equipped with a high-quality Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® 10x optical zoom lens and 2-megapixel ClearVid™ CMOS sensor with Exmor™-derived technology, engineered to minimize picture noise.

The camera’s BIONZ™ processing engine also features noise reduction capabilities in addition to fast processing speeds. This engine powers the model’s dynamic range optimization feature, which automatically adjusts under- or over-exposed areas in a picture. These technologies together produce high-resolution video and photos with natural color reproduction and rich details.

Audio is recorded in Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel surround sound and features a built-in zoom microphone, delivering clear recordings of your subjects along with the video.

Designed to be the perfect travel companion, the HDR-TG1 camcorder will ship with supplied accessories in May for about $900. There is also an optional travel kit (Sony ACC-TCH5) that includes a battery, travel charger and pouch for about $100. Plus, there is a custom-fit case (Sony LCM-TGA) with brushed metal accents available as an accessory for about $50.

Here is a fantastic photo taken in 1983. It features a home office built on Atari equipment. Be sure to check out the Return of the Jedi promotional glass set in the top left corner. Lovely.

BangfoAtarisdesk.jpg [boingboing.net]
via [digg]

I am pretty sure you have seen a couple of easter eggs hidden inside software, games or a DVD. Here is a list of the 101 coolest easter eggs (at least if you should trust IT Security Editors) and it is quite fun to just browse through it.

101 coolest easter eggs [itsecurity.com]

The hybrid has a 10 megapixel CMOS sensor that is on par with point and shoot DSCs, but it can record in 1080i at bit rate of 24Mbps on SD/SDHC cards. The Everio X can take stills at up to 9 mega-pixels, and is equipped with a 5x optical zoom lens with a 3.4 f-stop aperture. JVC has included the now standard, face detection and optical image stabilization features that will entice lovers of bells and whistles. Newer add-ons like a 20x slow-motion feature may attract some niche buyers. As with many of the new goodies showing up at PMA this week there's no indication of street price or release date.

Both sides of the keyboard sport a USB port that is enough to power a mouse, but doesn't supply enough juice to recharge an iPod. The new mini Apple Keyboard is now standard on all Mac desktops except for the mini, which traditionally doesn't ship with input devices anyway. People who spend 10 hours a day crunching numbers will be glad to know that the extended version with numeric pad can be optionally configured without costing an extra dime.

These two companies intend to bring its WSR601 single-chip WUSB to their products. This is another word of saying private branding Wisair's Wireless USB adapter set reference design that was picked up by Cables Unlimited earlier. Wisair's solution yields decent wireless performance, but it still lacks USB audio and video support for it to become a killer product USB geeks have longed for.

Other recent releases from competitors like Sandisk look to combine that function backup+flash drive functionality into a single device. The Voyager Port allows you to use any drive that you want and not have to find a specific one and constantly manage the space on it. The concept is very similar to the ClickFree Transformer cable from a few weeks back but is bundled with NovoBackup 10. The Corsair Voyager Port should be on the market in a few weeks in the $20 range.