For today’s troops in the field, Army life is all about being hitech. From night vision goggles to keeping contact with command via radio, to even GPS navigation equipment, video cameras sending live feeds and even a portable PDA that soldiers use in the field, today’s soldier uses a ton of gadgetry in the field that is eating up power in day to day operation. Batteries are heavy and with that kind of gadgetry, you’d need to carry a lot of them, or rely on equipment for recharging that would not necessarily have access to an electrical source. To that end, the Australian government is investing millions to develop an ultra light solar panel that soldiers can use to charge their tech.

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We all saw it coming. In what amounts to using the “nuclear option,” Steve Jobs made good on his on threat to brick any iPhone that has been unlocked and used outside of the AT&T service. Cupertino claims that unlocking your iPhone can cause it irreparable damage – and not the update that has probably created thousands of $700 paperweights. But is that really the case? The Giz certainly doesn’t think so. According to their investigation – including some choice words from Apple Development technicians – there were a myriad of ways to relock unlocked phones – even as easy as simply resetting certain values in the phone in the same manner that the hacker’s Sim programs have been setting them to open it up.
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In the Dog eat Dog world of the Cellular business, not even Pluto can catch a break. The House of the Mouse has announced that Disney Mobile will cease operations effective December 31, 2007. A three month warning is a nice warning to it’s customers (not even Amp’d gave more than a few days), but Mickey is going one step further by reimbursing the faithful for handsets, accessories and even downloaded music and other content purchased directly through Disney Mobile. Disney is even waiving all early termination fees for customers who’s bills are zero’d out (they’d better since they’re pulling the plug). Users are then free to port their phone number to any wireless carrier they choose.
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Palm has just released its smallest smartphone known as the Centro, and you definitely won’t expect the usual high end features that come with Palm’s releases (admit it - their line of Treos always worked up a frenzy each time they were released, only to be superceded by other notable handsets a short while later). The Centro will strangely enough, occupy the low end segment of the mobile market as Palm aims to revive its flagging fortunes by offering a (much) cheaper alternative to the highly desirable iPhone. The Centro is but a stripped down version of the Treo, being smaller and lighter, and will retail for a mere $100 - a price point that is sensitive enough to make it an impulse purchase in some cases.

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Just when you thought your multi memory card reader was complete, along comes the iMONO 39-in-1 Card Reader that is capable of reading contents off your phone’s SIM card as well. It is also interesting to note that it is compatible with the new SDHC 2.0 standard, enabling you to keep up with the times without breaking the bank. Good to note it also takes in M2, SIM, and microSD memory cards directly without the need for an adapter. The iMONO 39-in-1 Card Reader retails for just $17 from Brando.

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T-Mobile has just introduced a couple more communication devices to their stable of products that target the high end market, and they are the Sidekick LX and Sidekick Slide. The former is a cellphone cum messaging device that has its roots firmly laid in the Sidekick 3 model, boasting updated features to further help increase your efficiency when it comes to firing away text messages and composing emails on the go. One of the Sidekick LX’s strong points would be the highly crisp 32- x 240 QVGA widescreen anti-reflective display technology that was the result of taking a leaf out of Sharp’s book when it came to the Aquos line of LCD displays. Since Sharp manufactures the LX model, it makes perfect sense to throw in this useful addition into the final product - after all, it is a no brainer of a decision to do so. I can’t recall the number of times I had to find cover while walking under the sun, trying to make out what the text message was trying to convey.

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Do you still remember the Apple Newton? Yeah, it was one of the first few PDA devices that was released ahead of its time, and suffice to say, the poor little bugger hardly took off on a mass scale before it crashed and burned. Fast forward many years later to current days where even Windows software runs on an Apple, and you are faced with vicious rumors of the Newton’s return. Word on the street even has it that the Newton is not only back, but it never actually left in the first place anyway. Sources (reliable or not, that’s a different story) reveal that a secret PDA device has been under development for at least a year and a half now, and the final product will resemble a relatively larger iPhone.

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Previously, browsing Coolest Gadgets on your phone was slow, expensive and generally a pain in the butt. So today we are offering a new feature, Coolest Gadgets - Mobile Edition.

Now if you wish to get your gadget fix on the move simply point your mobile browser at coolest-gadgets.com or coolest-gadgets.mobi and we will automagically detect that you’re on a mobile connection and show you a specially designed version of the site.

The mobile version keeps images and bandwidth to a minimum with the layout being designed to fit better on the small screen.

So far we’ve tested this on a few PDAs, smartphones and various emulators and touch wood all look pretty good. However there are thousands of phones out there so it you see any problems please let us know, in fact if it works ok on your phone please tell us (you can send comments via your phone too).

At the moment we don’t have access to an iPhone so if somebody could try and test on that sleek piece of kit it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and enjoy.