Doug Aamoth…

Hey, now THAT’S a good idea. This $99 2GB SD memory card has built in wireless.

You pop it in your camera, take some photos, and it automatically uploads (via your Wi-Fi connection) those photos to one of 17 online photo websites including Shutterfly, Snapfish, Photobucket, Facebook, Picasa, and, of course, Flickr.

Best of all, it works in any digital camera that supports SD cards. I don’t know how they crammed all that into a tiny card but, hey, I’m just a guy with a keyboard.

It’s available now at a variety of stores. Hot damn, I’m getting one.

Eye-Fi [Company Website] via Wireless-Watch.com

Um. I don’t get it. Maybe I’m not as fashion forward as the rest of the world but these don’t look like jewelry to me. LG has launched its “jewelry concept design” line of Shining Stone UP3 S2 digital audio players, which feature “high quality material and the metal body of the five colors including black diamond, crystal silver, ruby red, pink topaz, and sapphire blue.”

Still kinda looks like an MP3 player that you wear around your neck. They’ll come in 1-, 2-, and 4-gigabyte capacities and support MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF, FM radio, voice recording, and feature a 65,000-color OLED display. Oh, and they’re only available in Korea. Sorry.

LG to launch ‘Shining Stone UP3 S2′ with a jewelry concept design [AVING]

ZDNet has an article about how, because of the iPhone, “rivals have to generate some kind of cool factor.” And the uncoolest of them all? Verizon. The article’s author, Larry Dignan, gives three examples of Verizon’s recent shift in strategy.

1. According to a Wall Street Journal report, “Verizon Wireless is in advanced talks with Google about using the search giant’s mobile operating system for its handsets.” The operating system is open source, which will theoretically allow Verizon to offer less expensive phones and it’ll give Google access to a large user base and, in turn, serve up more ads.

2. Verizon has all of a sudden “dropped its complaints about the FCC’s rules over the upcoming 700 MHz auction.” While the Wall Street Journal has been unable to connect Verizon’s change of heart to its talks with Google, this could be seen as a sign that Verizon has decided that it’s “better to play ball than fight the inevitable freeing of wireless phones.”

3. Verizon’s gotten a bit more aggressive with their phone lineup by releasing somewhat-exciting handsets like the BlackBerry Pearl, Juke, Venus, and Voyager.

Dignan goes on to note that…

“These developments are quite a sea change for Verizon Wireless. Among wireless carriers the innovators on phones and new technology have been T-Mobile and Sprint. There’s a good reason for that: Both are smaller than AT&T and Verizon Wireless and need to roll the dice to get bigger.”

I think this is a good move on Verizon’s part and, let’s face it, its only other choice is to go it alone. AT&T probably isn’t going to hop on the Google bandwagon any time soon and Sprint and T-Mobile both look like they’d welcome a partnership with Google, according to the above-referenced Wall Street Journal article. If Verizon were the odd man out, it’d basically have to whip up a very stellar team of software developers and start carrying some bleeding-edge hardware to stay competitive.

How the iPhone changed Verizon Wireless [ZDNet]

Microsoft’s Zune Home AV Pack is expected to retail for $99.99

Just in time for the November 13th launch of Microsoft’s next batch of digital music players will be a virtual cornucopia of accessories like docks, speakers, armbands, cases, FM transmitters, docks, and more docks — more than 60 new products in all.

Microsoft will also be offering its own accessories, including…

• Zune Home A/V Pack. [see above photo] Power your home stereo with your Zune. Pack includes Home Dock with three faceplates to accommodate each Zune device, a wireless remote, an AC adapter and composite audio-video output cable. (ERP $99.99)

• Zune Dock Pack. Give your Zune a convenient home when it is connected to your computer or charging. Home Dock with three faceplates to accommodate each Zune device and AC adapter. (ERP $49.99)

• Zune Car Pack. Take your music with you on the road. Redesigned FM transmitter/charger and dashboard grip pad. (ERP $79.99)

• Zune Cable Pack. Get connected to your computer, your stereo or your TV. Sync cable, composite AV output cable and audio cable. (ERP $39.99)

• Zune Premium Headphones. Take your listening experience up a notch with these high-quality headphones. Included with the Zune 80GB device. (ERP $39.99)

• Zune Leather Case. Dress for success and protect your Zune in the process. (ERP $39.99 and $49.99)

• Zune Sync Cable (ERP $19.99)

• Zune AC Adapter (ERP $29.99)

Microsoft’s partner program has expanded to include these 23 accessory manufacturers; Agent 18, Altec Lansing Technologies Inc., Belkin International Inc., Case-mate, Digital Lifestyle Outfitters (DLO), Directed Electronics Inc. (Polk Audio), Dual Electronics Corp., GPX, Griffin Technology Inc., Golla, iHome, Incipio Technologies, Integrated Mobile Electronics Corp., , Kicker, mStation Corp., Memorex Electronics, Monster Cable Products Inc., Skinit, Speck, Targus Group International Inc., VAF Research, Vaja Corp., and zLive (DPI, Inc.).

So plenty of good stuff to choose from if and when you pick up your new Zune in the next couple of weeks.

Microsoft Announces Availability of New Zune Accessories at Retail [Press Release]

Nokia’s push into consumer GPS devices is a good thing, if you ask me. Nobody asked me, but whatevs. This GPS system has been approved by the FCC and is slated to begin selling in Europe by the end of the year.

Will the Nokia 500, like Akeem Joffer, be coming to America? The answer is uncertain. One thing that is certain, however, is Nokia’s “definitive agreement” to swallow up GPS software maker Navteq, so expect to see a fair amount of GPS devices from Nokia in the near future.

The 500 features a 4.3-inch touchscreen, support for 16GB SDHC cards, and can handle video, audio, photos, and connects to your mobile to function as a Bluetooth speakerphone. It’s expected to retail for around 300 EUR ($433 US).

FCC Approves Nokia 500 Auto Navigation GPS [MobileWhack]

This, my friends, is a poorly named product. But you know what they say; you can’t judge a donut making machine by its ridiculous hyphen-happy name.

Aside from the name, the Dough-Nu-Matic can have you shoving a delicious miniature donut into your mouth in less than 60 seconds. You’ll have a whole pile of them in under six minutes — a dozen, to be exact. “Just add dough and the Dough-Nu-Matic does the rest.”

I don’t know much about how donut dough is made or if you can just buy a big fat sack of donut dough at Sam’s Club, so any extra effort on that front might be a deterrent. Still, if you have $130 to spare and easy access to dough, this is the gift that keeps on giving. 

Dough-nu-matic [SkyMall] via Popgadget

Best Buy is now in the video hosting game, thanks to UK-based Mydeo. Mydeo is basically a service that allows you to upload your videos to it and then share them with friends, loved-ones, and hangers-on.

The monthly fee for the service is based on the length of your videos, not the file size. Plans start at just under $7 per month or $63 per year for 100 minutes of video, which is limited by a maximum length per clip of 30 minutes and 5,000 total views per month.

If this service is supposed to be easy to use, the fact that files must be uploaded in WMV format is an odd choice. Even more bewildering is that the site suggests that you download SUPER Video Converter to convert your files to WMV format. Nothing against SUPER. I love SUPER, but it isn’t going to be easy to use for novice video enthusiasts.

Maybe I’m missing something here but it seems like those who are savvy enough to know how to upload their own videos would use something similar to YouTube and those who weren’t savvy would need something even EASIER than YouTube. This doesn’t look nearly as easy as YouTube, plus it costs money. I understand what they’re trying to do — it’s just pretty rough around the edges right now.

bestbuy.mydeo.com via Reuters

This is an interesting device and, as fate may have it, a device I’ve been waiting on for quite some time now.

It’s basically a Bluetooth speakerphone that clips to your visor and outputs sound to your car’s stereo. You can use it for calls but, even better, you can use it for audio. So if your phone or MP3 player does Bluetooth, you can stream your tunes directly to your car stereo without any wires.

Sound quality is going to be THE make-or-break feature for this device, since FM transmitting is still a little shaky. It uses a feature called “StationFinder” that supposedly finds the cleanest open FM station in your car, so hopefully it’ll put out some clean sound.

The Motorokr T505 will be available in the first quarter of 2008. Pricing has not been set, but I’d hope that it would come in at or less than $100.

Motorokr T505 Bluetooth In-Car Speakerphone and Digital FM Transmitter [Fareastgizmos.com]

Now I’ve officially seen it all. The Golfsmith Star Trek Enterprise NCC-1701 costs $130 and there are only 1701 available, which is probably 1700 more than there are golfers who are big enough Star Trek fans to buy this and use it on the course.

It actually looks like a decent putter thanks to the weight-balancing warp speed tube thingies. Maybe I’ll pick one up someday, if only to freak out the establishment a little.

Boldly go 18 holes with the Star Trek Enterprise putter [Tech Digest]

Geek fight! Apparently some people at Rockstar (the company behind the Grand Theft Auto series) “spazzed out like little babies” at a parody in the new Simpsons game where Bart wants to play a game called Grand Theft Scratchy.

“They’re supposed to be rockstars…That’s not a big Rockstar move, to be afraid of The Simpsons making fun of their game,” said Simpsons game writer Matt Warburton.

Another Simpsons game writer, Matt Selman, also said the following…

“The game begins with Bart wanting to play a game called Grand Theft Scratchy. Of course this is a parody of Grand Theft Auto. And Marge immediately takes it away from him. She tries to clean up the town and stop the game from being distributed in Springfield because Marge is against video game violence. She uses horrific violence to stop video game violence…in a video game.

That’s called irony…The people who make Grand Theft Auto, they spazzed out like little babies.

We couldn’t get our game out in time, so we’re afraid that the gamers — who are not morons — are going to get confused by an Itchy and Scratchy poster of Grand Theft Scratchy – they’re going to think that’s the same thing as Grand Theft Auto…

EA lawyers are afraid to use the name Grand Theft Scratchy in promoting the game…[Rockstar’s] games are full of satire, lame attempts at parody… basically putting the words sixty-nine in wherever they can find it…”

Wow! Selman added that he’s actually a fan of the GTA series but managed to slip in one last barb; “Their games are amazing. Trust me, I’ll be the first person in line to play Grand Theft Auto 4…in five years when it comes out.” Hay-oh!

Rockstar “Spazzed Out Like Little Babies” Says Simpsons Game Writer [GamePolitics.com] via Wired