SIMFi Transforms Any (SIM) Phone Into a Wi-Fi Hotspot [Cellphones]

First, the Eye-Fiadded Wi-Fi to any camera with an SD card. Now, the Sagem Orga SIMFi does something similar. It's a SIM card that adds Wi-Fi capabilities to cellphones...Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities, that is.
Just like the Eye-Fi, the SIMFi runs its own integrated software, meaning there shouldn't be any special setup on your phone. You pretty much just plug it into a phone and you're good to connect a laptop, or any other Wi-Fi device, to the internet at 3G speeds.
But whether or not the SIMFi is coming to market under its own branding is unknown. For the time being, it may just be a proof of concept that's being shopped around to interested entities like AT&T or T-Mobile. You know, so someone can charge you an extra monthly fee for the thing.
[Gizmodo via Sagem Ogra via SlashGear]

WiLink Crams Wi-Fi, GPS, FM Transmission and Bluetooth Into a Single Chip [Wireless]

Texas Instruments says that their WiLink 7.0 is the first chip with four wireless radios in one: FM transmission and reception, GPS, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. What does this mean for you, gadget lovers? In theory, a wholalot goodness.

Texas Instruments claims that mobile gadgets using this chip would be able to do all those four functions for less money—30 percent less—in less space—50 percent—and consuming less energy than the current alternatives.
[Gizmodo via PR Newswire]

RCA Airnergy Charges Gadgets with Nothing But Wifi Signals [Chargers]

Forget PowerMats and wireless charging and the like, because the Airnergy wi-fi signal harvester is my new front runner for the future of gadget charging.
It's not exactly new tech, as ohGizmo notes, but it's the first application that's of any real use to consumers. Put simply, Airnergy takes the energy created by wi-fi signals and stores it in a rechargeable battery. At CES, the device was able to charge a BlackBerry from 30% power to full power in about 90 minutes.


Pretty handy, and supposedly available this summer for $40. Not too shabby, and very appealing considering how ubiquitous wi-fi hotspots are these days. Very simple, somewhat cheap and incredibly useful if it works are advertised—by far one of the coolest things I've seen come out of CES this year. [OhGizmo]

Asustek announces WiMAX enabled E-Books coming soon

Asustek will be launching an e-book reader in the near future that will combine wi-fi with WiMAX mobile technologies as soon as the end of 2009. Asustek will most likely release the reader under the extremely popular EEE name here in the U.S. Looks like the predictions back in August were right.
Information is somewhat sparse at this time, but we do know that Asustek has made WiMAX hardware before, for companies like Clearwire, so that part of the technology isn’t new to them. Of course, Asustek frequently produces hardware and sells it to other vendors for re-branding, so we might see this technology under another brand name. We can probably expect Asustek to price their reader in the range of Amazon and B&N, in order to be competitive. One thing for sure, it’s turning out to be a good year for e-book readers.
[CrunchGear]

New Wi-Fi Direct to Connect Gadgets Without Routers [Wireless]

Coming mid-2010 there will be a new Wi-Fi standard that will allow any Wi-Fi gadget to connect wirelessly with each other without having to go through a wireless router. The best thing: It will only require a software update.
The new standard is called Wi-Fi Direct and—unlike Bluetooth—the technology will enjoy exactly the same speed and range as Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi Alliance—which includes Intel, Microsoft, and Apple—says that it will automatically detect and hitch any device equipped with Wi-Fi within a 300 feet range, from computers to cameras to TVs to printers to anything in between. All peer-to-peer.
The Wi-Fi Alliance and everyone else—including myself—are pretty excited about this. So excited that they are planning a big advertising campaign to make people move to it. And since it will only require a downloadable software patch, you can expect the technology to become ubiquitous pretty fast.
Farewell, Bluetooth. It was not a pleasure to meet you. [Gizmodo via Wi-Fi Alliance]

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Samsung SCH-W880: The Digital Camera that Can Call [Digital Cameras]

You don't fool us, Samsung. With its camera mode dial and dedicated shutter button, your 12 megapixel Samsung SCH-W880 with HD video recording, and 3x optical zoom looks a lot more like a real compact camera than a phone.

Apart from its clearly camera design, the Samsung SCH-W880 comes loaded:
• 3.3-inch AMOLED WGA screen.
• UMTS/HSDPA connectivity.
• Wi-Fi
• GPS
• Bluetooth
• Slot for microSD cards.
• HD video at 30fps
• Macro mode.
• Xenon flash.
We haven't tried yet, but this looks like the first cameraphone that can actually satisfy the photographer/Peeping Tom in us. [Gizmodo via Samung Hub via HDblog via Engadget]