This Universal AC Adapter features 8 separate power cords designed to fit almost any cell phone (Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Apple, Motorola, LG, etc). And if your don’t see the adapter that you need, there’s a USB port for you to plug your own charging cable. According to the product specifications, you could use up to three of these adapters at a time. For best performance they recommend only using one charger at a time. The current setting for Sony Ericsson, Nokia Connectors are 5.8V; Micro USB, USB A Female socket & iPod / iPhone is 5.0V; Samsung, LG & Mini USB 5 pin is 5.3V. The entire adapter is portable too and can be powered by either a wall outlet (included) or a rechargeable internal Lithium Ion 1300 mAH battery. Cost is $49.99 and pre-orders are being accepted for shipments starting 12/31/08.

USBFever - Universal Travel Chargers for iPhone / iPod / HTC / G1

There are certain times when you might not want the person on the other end of the phone to know it’s you calling. All stalkerish thoughts aside. Let’s say you want to call in sick and convince the boss that you’re REALLY ill. You could use this to change your voice to one of 3 high tones (female), 3 low tones (low) one original and one robot-like. Maybe you want to call into a radio show without people being able to identify your voice. Sure it’s a little odd to have someone calling in with a voice disguised as a robot, but on some radio shows that might actually be the norm! See, there’s two good uses right there! There’s also a cheaper version ($19) that doesn’t include the battery.

Portable Voice Changer

Headed into New York City this shopping season? Whether you’re an occasional traveler to the city or a daily commuter, the MTA alert system is now available to provide you with the latest bulletins of transit delays and news. You can select to receive news and alerts on the following lines:

Subway
Buses (operated by MTA)
Railroads - LIRR and Metro North
Bridges & Tunnels

The service also lets you establish quiet periods when no alerts will be sent to your device - weekdays, weekends, etc. If you’re traveling on Metro North and carry an iPhone, take a look at StationStop which puts the entire schedules on your device. You can also view a mobile optimized version of the MTA site at http://mta.info (put on your reading glasses because the print is tiny and for some reason they link to PDF documents instead of mobile friendly graphics)

MyMTAalerts.com via SAI

Unfortunately for me there’s no escaping the Microsoft Office. Even though I exclusively use Google Apps for my word processing and spreadsheets - there’s always the stray client (or 100) who insist on sending an attached MS Word file to me via email. Until now I’ve had to open it on my aging Dell PC at work. Now I can update my Mac with a copy of MS Office 2008 and read away. This bundle includes MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Entourage (MS Exchange connectable), Messenger for Mac and Microsoft Expression Media for Mac. Even though the price of Office has come down, this deal still beats the cheapest Student Edition by a good $60. UPDATE: Looks like this deal has expired.

MS Office 2008 for Mac - $69.99

Want to watch $100,000 of US taxpayer money in orbit? This YouTube video allegedly shows the tool bag that slipped out of Astronaut Heidi Stefanyshyn-Piper’s mitts. There’s even an (un)official name for this orbiting bag - ISS Toobag. According to a post on Space.com, Edward Light spotted the orbitting tool bag using 10 x 50 binoculars from his backyard in Lakewood New Jersey. Is this really the tool bag? I have no idea but think of how fun it will be to show your relatives after Thanksgiving dinner.

If that doesn’t impress them, fool them with this phony Child Exchange Network or send a chill down their spine with this phony felony search which randomly reports all sorts of felons living in your neighborhood (fake).

Physorg.com

Meet the “iPhone” V126. It’s not the real deal though you may be fooled if you were to give it a quick glance. The outside case sports an Apple logo illuminated from behind by several tiny LED. Unfortunately though the 2.6″ screen which is full of lookalike icons probably won’t support touch - so it’s likely you’ll be operating this entirely by the keypad. There’s no Wi-Fi and forget about hooking this up to iTunes. It will however be great fun to pull out at parties to impress your friends.

Register - Hardware

My college roommate upgraded to a BlackBerry Storm on Monday. In light of the stinging review in today’s New York Times, I just had to pay him a visit for some hands on time with the new BlackBerry to see what all the fuss was about. As you know, the BlackBerry Storm is Research in Motion’s first try at a touch screen device. I didn’t work with it long enough to tell if there are stability issues. Speed seemed adequate, if a little laggy in places, but I still think there’s one big missing feature that hardly anyone has talked about.

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Earthcam will once again stream the 82nd New York Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade live on the Internet via their New York City web camera beginning Thursday November 27 at approximately 9:30 am EST. Streaming requires Windows Media Player. Archives of the 2007 event are hosted on their site. The biggest benefit to watching on the Web versus TV? No need to mute the happy talk from the TV hosts. A little Al Roker goes a long way although I enjoy watching to see what shade of fake orange tan Meredith Vieira had herself sprayed down with before going on the air.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2008 on Earthcam via RWW and Webware

Apple today introduced iPhone 3G Gift Cards. These can be used to partially ($25 minimum) or fully fund the purchase of an iPhone 3G at your local Apple retail outlet. Included in the price is assistance with setup of the iPhone 3G including email, Home screen and ringtone personalization.

iPhone 3G Gift Card via TUAW and Steve Rubel Twitter Feed

Have you read this BlackBerry Storm review that’s just out from the New York Times? If you’re thinking of getting a BlackBerry Storm, you may want to head over and take a look. I’m still trying to find one nice thing they say about it. Very seldom do you read a review this negative about a device. Here’s a brief excerpt that captures the tone of the entire article:

Honestly, though, you’ll probably never get that far. When you look at your typing, slow and typo-ridden, and you consider the dents you’ve made banging your head against the wall, you’ll be grateful that Verizon offers a 30-day return period.

How did this thing ever reach the market? Didn’t anyone at RIM actually try it? Or was everyone involved just too terrified to pull the emergency brake on this train?

Maybe RIM is just overextended. After all, it has just introduced three major new phones — Flip, Bold, Storm — in two months, each with a different software edition. Some quality-control problems are bound to result; the iPhone 3G went through something similar.

The company says that it’s hard at work on a bug-fix software update. Until then, maybe Storm isn’t such a bad name for this phone. After all—it’s dark, sodden and unpredictable.

NYTIMES - BlackBerry Storm Downgraded to a Depression