GITweekly

Yeah I know – whinging foreigner. And what a stupid title – The top 5 tech products that are USA only. But here’s the thing. We listen to tech podcasts that chat endlessly about the next great thing and we, in Australia for example, sit back and imagine experiencing these new wonders – making plasticine models* of these new gadgets to stop the tears.

So which are the great new gadgets and tech wonders that are making GITweekly so sad due to their absence:

Google Voice

Originally called Grand Central, Google Voice, was acquired by the mighty G some time ago. It gives the user one phone number that rings any one of your phones based upon the time of day or the callers ID.

You could have your Google Voice number call your business line only in business hours. It would then call your mobile for the hour or two that you’d be spending in the car driving home. And after hours the phone at home would be your point of contact.

You can even make sure that if your sworn enemy rings it’ll send him straight to voice mail. You’d then get an email transcription of the conversation Mr Enemy had with your recorded voice. Sweet.

Personalised greetings for your voice mail is also a bonus. Blow a kiss to your better half at the end of the message or tell your boss that you’re busy slaving away.

The Latest Android Mobile Phones

Tech podcaster Leo Laporte appears to have fallen out of love with the new iPhone 4 in favour of the new offering from Motorola called the Droid X.

This tech marvel features an 8 mega-pixel camera (with flash) that lets you use it as a high def camcorder and output that video via a home theatre style HDMI connection. Or you could just watch that footage on the huge 4.3″ screen.

If you’re in need of an internet connection for your laptop when on the run – turn on the Droid X’s Wi-Fi access point and experience the convenience of a 3G internet connection sans the extra USB adaptors.

And lastly you needn’t worry about iPhone app envy. The Android marketplace is more than well stocked with all of the big apps and many more.

Streaming Video Courtesy Of The Roku Box

Sure we’ve got Foxtel and Telstra’s T-Box as well as iiNet’s FetchTV but we sure as heck don’t have Roku. For US$90, at the moment, you can score yourself a magic little box of fun that outputs high definition streamed video via HDMI cable to your big screen TV.

With a channel list as long as a really long arm, you’d be hard pressed to find nothing to watch. From our favourite video podcast channels like Revision3 and the TWiT network to offerings from Major League Baseball and the Netflix movie provider. Nice.

Pandora Music Streaming

When we talk about the premier online music service I keep hearing Pandora this and Pandora that. But that’s not music to my ears because they can’t stream the tunes to Oz**. Dammit.

Plug in what music artist you want and from the speakers will appear all of the musicness you little heart could desire. Free (unlike Last.fm). Or pay a little extra for some extra features.

You can listen to Pandora on your iPhone, iPad, or other smart objects. This makes streaming music through your phone to your car stereo an option – it sure as heck beats carrying your whole CD collection with you.

The USA Gets Everything First

Such is life I suppose. From the new iPhone and iPad to all of the other great techs and services, the good old US of A gets the cream of the crop first. That’s what they get for being 10 times the population of Australia with 10 times the buying power.

Good on’em I say. Let them try it all out first and we can all learn from what they find. Done.

What would you like to see in Australia?

We’d love to hear from you.

Cheers.

* Not true. Promise.

** Shifty proxy shiftyness doesn’t count!

As much as I despise the sites that cut and past press releases as content I must admit I was a little tempted when I received this one.

It came from the producers of one, if not the, best iPhone apps available. Runkeeper.

Runkeeper, if you’re at all interested, tracks your running/skiing/walking/cycling via GPS. It maps your routes and stores them online for later viewing. It also tells you how many rolls of fat you’ve just excised by calculating the calories you’ve combusted. To do the calorie calculation it takes into account your current weight (that you’ve plugged into their website). Nice.

Thats where the latest press release comes into its own. They’re trying to flog Withings Scales. What’s interesting about these scales is that they’re connected to the interweb through the marvelous black magic of WiFi.

Why is this interesting?

Although a tad gimmicky and entirely cool,stepping onto these beautiful looking scales sends, through the ether, the mass-ful details of your gelatinous assets. This instantly updates Runkeeper’s calculations without you having to log into their site and manually fiddling. Absolutely sweet.

Like I said this may be a little gimmicky but anything that promotes a reduction in coronary artery disease is fine by me. It could be quite the motivator.

Check out our technical drawings of the system below: