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water
What if Apple and Chumby Designed a Surfboard?
Thomas Meyerhoffer used to work at Apple and helped design Chumby. These days, he's reinventing the classic shape of the surfboard. Looks more like a snowboard, with that midcut radius. Or a spaceship. I like it. More » -
water
Aquawalls For Creating an Imaginary Undersea Abode
I fantasize about replacing all my windows with flat aquariums, filling them with coral and reef life (rays, lobster, clownfish), lighting them with full-spectrum bulbs and calling myself Namor. [Aquawall via BornRich] More » -
photo
What Do You Think She's Listening To?
I think she's going to get sand stuck in that thing. More » -
review
Ocean 2 Review (Verdict: A Great Phone If It Were 2007)
The Helio Ocean was an amazing phone in its day, so we were excited to see all the cool updates hitting Virgin Mobile's Helio-branded Ocean 2. Turns out, there's not much cool to be found. More » -
ocean 2
Virgin Mobile's Helio Ocean 2 Is Official, Being Launched By Britney Spears
MobileCrunch has lots of photos of the Helio Ocean 2 for Virgin Mobile, which we last saw in a spy shot a few months back. It's definitely real now. More » -
pirates
Photo: $3 Million Tanker Ransom Delivered to Pirates by Parachute
The Saudi oil tanker that has been held by Somali pirates since November was apparently freed after a $3 million bundle of cash was precision airdropped by parachute to the deck. See it? UPDATE: More » -
boats
Oculus Yacht Mimics a Giant, Man-Eating Fish
It's almost cruel of us to post about the Schöpfer Oculus, a 250-foot luxury yacht inspired by an oceanic fish. More » -
wave power
Searaser Wave Buoy Can Generate, Store Enough Power For 470 Homes
We've mentioned ocean power stations a bit recently, and now here's one with a rather different approach: It can store power for when its needed. Searaser is in prototype form at the moment, and it works by bobbing up and down as waves pass by. An underwater pump uses this motion to push water into a reservoir 160 feet uphill. And there it sits until it's simply released to power a generator. Neat stuff, particularly when the inventors say a full-sized version can power about 470 homes all by itself. [The TImes via Dvice] -
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pantech matrix
Pantech Matrix Dual Sliding Phone Has More Buttons Than Sense
Formed from the same genetic ooze as Pantech's Slide Duo smartphone and rebranded Helio Ocean handset, the Matrix is a mildly frustrating device: spec'd with the best, but dressed in the worst. An HSDPA-enabled handset with GPS, a full QWERTY keyboard in addition to a dialpad, and two cameras should have the software to leverage the hardware, but AT&T and Pantech have chosen to stick with an in-house OS rather than opt for Windows Mobile as they did with the Duo QWERTY smartphone. Still, it doesn't look like a bad feature phone for people who message more than they talk, and it's available today at AT&T stores. [Crave] -
invisibility cloaks
Water Invisibility Barrier Protects Against Tsunamis
Research into invisibility cloaks, which work by bending light around 2D objects, could end up protecting offshore rigs and vulnerable coastlines from water. Scientists at the Fresnel Institute in Marseille, France said that established cloaking principles can be applied to ocean waves, and built a 10cm model to show how carefully placed concentric pillars make objects in the center “invisible” to the sea. More » -
digital cameras
Review: Pentax W60 Waterproof Camera Catching Whale Sharks
I had the perfect backdrop to review this Pentax W60 waterproof camera while vacationing in Hawaii last week. It's 10mp, has a 5x zoom, and does HD level video, but the only reason to buy such a point and shoot is that it's rated to 13 feet of underwater depth for two hours, and is the smallest waterproof camera of its kind. It would prove to be a fortuitous addition to my travel gear, catching some great shots of some of my first surf lessons and some rare aquatic life while other tourists fumbled with crappy disposable film cams. More » -
lunocet
Lunocet Monofin Makes Man into Michael Phelps
Boy that Michael Phelps is fast. No one can argue it, he can dominate in almost any style of swim and possesses one of the best dolphin kicks in the world. That is, one of the best kicks aside from some random guy using the Lunocet monofin. Because while Phelps is able to swim at an inhuman 5 miles per hour, the average swimmer using the carbon fiber Lunocet will routinely hit about 8mph. Is it too late for us to book our tickets to Beijing? More » -
spying
Voyeur Security Drone is For Spying At Sea, Not at Your Neighbors
This helicopter mini-drone has been developed by the Navy to help it counter water-borne threats, despite its provocatively lurid name. Made by Lite Machines, the battery-powered Voyeur weighs just four pounds, stands 27-inches high and is actually designed to be suicidal. It's meant to hop out of sonobuoy tubes, patrol for threats for a while and then sink itself. Much more economical than helicopters or jets wasting fuel by attempting to ID surface targets (has the Navy's gas bill gone up at the moment too?) Plus it looks waaay more creepily sci-fi. [Danger Room] -
robofish
Autonomously Schooling Robofish Will Become Cylons of the Sea
One day in the near future, when humanity has killed off all the fish in the sea, we'll be able to replace every single on of them using the research of University of Washington UW assistant professor Kristi Morgansen. That's because Morgansen, with her 10,000-gallon UW test tank, has almost perfected an autonomous robofish, which needs only other robofish and a basic set of commands to operate wirelessly underwater. They'll be Cylons of the Sea. Like tuna, with nukes. More » -
helio ocean 2
Is This the Helio Ocean 2?
Engadget got their hands on a Helio Ocean 2 shot, and it looks quite similar to the sketch we saw on the FCC site a while back. If this is it, it's still rounded and dual-sliding like the first, but supposedly has various upgrades like a 3-megapixel camera, 1GB internal storage, 30FPS video recording and a touch-sensitive D-Pad. We're not sure how we feel about that touch sensitive part—most TS D-Pads we've used have been kinda awful—but we can't wait for the final version. [Engadget Mobile] -
cellphones
Helio Ocean 2 Hits FCC, First Impression is Same-Old Same-Old
The FCC has just leaked this image of Helio's Ocean 2. How do we know that? Well, it's carrying an OZ2 model and OZ was the alternative moniker of the original Helio Ocean. We can't tell much else from the drawing, such as whether the Mark 2 Ocean will have the dual slider of its older brother, but we can see the body design will remain true to the original. However, having been overly impressed by the original, we're sure this baby is going to kick ass whenever it does land. [FCC via Crunch Gear] -
boats
Gigayacht Actually More Like a Freaking Personal Floating Island
How big and disgustingly opulent does a yacht have to be to be considered a private island? This big and disgusting. Gizmag has a piece today on Wally's luxury yachts and their 325 foot flagship. While Paul Allen's Octopus is bigger at 410 feet, the Wally Gigayacht can be oufitted, with pools, tennis courts, mini soccer fields, or the garden you see above. And of course, room for 40 crew, 24 guests, a helipad, and two 45-foot speedboats that deploy out the back, powered by the blood of the poor. [Gizmag] -
robots
Autonomous Submarine Runs Off Ocean Water
Researchers just finished a successful field test with a robotic submarine that can autonomously study the ocean for up to 6 months at a time. While it uses battery reserves for its more fundamental navigation and communication systems, the torpedo-like glider by Webb Research Corporation and WHOi can propel itself using the temperature differences within the ocean. More » -
camcorders
Hands On with the SDR-SW20: Panasonic's First Underwater Camcorder
Camcorder Info has their hands on of the SDR-SW20 up, Panasonic's first attempt at a dive camcorder for those who like recording video in the ocean...as long as that ocean is less than 5 feet deep. (Like its direct competitor, the Sanyo Xacti E1, it is only waterproof to 5 feet.) They found visual quality to be unexceptional, since this camera uses the same image capture setup as Panasonic's low end DVD camcorder. But the easy to spot case and grippy finish earned it some points. If you're considering one of these, I suppose the correct thing to do is wait to see what the second revision brings. [CamcorderInfo] -
helio youtube 2 hands-on
Helio's YouTube 2.0 Client Hands-on and Impressions (Verdict: It's Good)
YouTube and Helio aren't strangers in the least, but compared with the iPhone's gorgeous implementation, Helio's first version was found to be a little lacking. No more. The latest release, available today, bumps Helio up onto the same tier as Apple's offering. Here's what we think.
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helio
Helio Ocean Gets Doc Viewer and Exchange 1.2 Support
Helio's Ocean is getting a free file viewer that can view Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF, plain text and html, as well as most major image formats. The Ocean is also gettting Mail for Exchange 1.2 support for calendar sync. Good to see Helio continue to evolve the handset. I hope most of this functionality is built into the next generation Ocean but I hope that it's built on something more robust and open *Android*cough than the Ocean 1's OS. More » -
cellphones
Helio Offers Unlimited Service for $99/Month, Refurbed Ocean for $99
Good news for people thinking of picking up a Helio Ocean: Helio has lowered its rates for its all-in plans, giving you all-you-can-eat service for $99 a month. It's also starting to offer refurbished phones through the Helio Refreshed service, with the Ocean now available refurbed for a mere $99. That's a pretty awesome deal for one of our favorite phones seeing it lists for $295 new. [Helio via Electronista] -
cellphones
AT&T's Dual-Sliding Pantech Duo In the Wild
The Pantech Duo, seen previously as the Helio Ocean, has just been spotted in the wild by a tipster. He takes some sample shots next to his V3xx RAZR, which should give you a good idea of how large it is in comparison. If it's as thick as the Ocean, prepare to be either appalled or flattered when your friends comment on your third testicle. [Update, added side shot] More » -
smaller is better
Sizemodo: Helio Fin vs. Ocean vs. iPhone vs. HTC Touch
Here's how the Helio Fin, the thinnest clamshell in the US, stacks up against other equally thin phones. As you can see, it's pretty much the same thickness as the iPhone, which is amazing since the Fin actually flips open. It's slightly thinner than the HTC Touch, and is dwarfed by the bulge-tastic Helio Ocean. More Sizemodo after the jump. More » -
surprises
The Helio Fin is a Magnesium-Cased Samsung Ultra Flip Phone!
Holy crap. The Helio Fin is the company's first clamshell, and is built on Samsung Ultra phone DNA. As such, it's only 11.4mm thick, and hot damn, it's the only one made of magnesium. It's also the only Helio handset to have Garmin turn-by-turn GPS software on it, although you'll have to rent it to a sick tune of $3 a day. (Bleh!) The cameraphone is a generous 3MP, however. More » -
helio
Custom Apps Now Possible on Helio Ocean (Opera Mini)
Not only is the iPhone getting its third-party cherry popped, the Helio Ocean is now running third-party apps now as well. The first proof of concept app is Opera Mini, the smallish browser from Opera that lets even lousy phones browse like a star. To get it to work on your Ocean (even though the default Ocean browser is just fine for us), just follow the directions on Heliocity. After you're done, you may want to check to see how you can support them to get even cooler apps on the Ocean. [Heliocity] -
helio
ActiveSync and Exchange Support for Helio Ocean
Helio is announcing Activesync support for the Ocean. The phone will then be able to sync calendars, email and contacts from an Exchange server. They're also doing a file viewer app that will view PDF, Word, Powerpoint and Excel docs. $10 a month for Helions with All-In service plans. More » -
cellphones
Helio Adds YouTube Features, New MySpace App
We told you the YouTube on Helio's 3G was free now, but they've gone and added a couple more features to it since Monday. First, Helio users can record videos on their Oceans and upload them to Helio Album. Why's that cool? Because if you configure your Helio Album correctly, it can push those videos to YouTube and Flickr (for pictures, we're assuming). More » -
exclusive
Helio Fights Apple with Official YouTube Over 3G (and the Genius of the iPhone's 2.5G/WiFi)
Sky Dayton, who has been quoted several times in the last week in iPhone critique pieces, is officially putting a more powerful set of YouTube features on his 3g phones. Here comes the bloodbath. This is going to be complicated to explain, so sit down and listen up.
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pop quiz
Helio Ocean: Do You Use the Keyboard or Dialpad?
We've got a bet going here about the Helio Ocean. I say Lam's a weirdo because he uses the numbers on the QWERTY keyboard to dial, and Lam says I'm a weirdo because I use the dialpad (the numbers) to dial. Both of us use the quick-lookup contacts from the start screen. More » -
delicious
Helio Ocean: The Cake
Our female-fearing cousins over at Kotaku are familiar with cakes made in the shape of their favorite things (games), but we don't often get the pleasure of eating our own gadgets. That's why this Helio Ocean cake made by a geeksugar reader is so sweet (heh). More » -
the hell is going on here
Fat Joe Reviews the Helio Ocean
What has the world come to? Why is Fat Joe trying to do our job and review the Helio Ocean? We're not going out and mackin' on the ladies and rapping it up. C'mon Fat Joe, stick to what you know! Wide scrizzle fo life. More » -
frighteningly comprehensive
Helio Ocean Roundup: All The Hot Details in One Place
If you were around last week, you saw that we got ourselves a fever for the Helio Ocean and we covered the silly out of that thing. If you want to go back and see what all the fuss was about, this is the place to find it. We've got everything you could want to know about thephonedevice that Gizmodo readers prefer to the iPhone. Walk with me. More » -
it's here
Helio Ocean Available Today, Friday May 11
Hey folks, just a quick note to let you guys know that the Ocean is going to be available today, Friday, May 11. You can get one by going to helio.com, calling 1-888-88-HELIO, or going to one of their retail stores in Santa Monica, Palo Alto, San Diego, Denver or NYC. More » -
review
Helio Ocean Feature-by-Feature Review
We've had lots of time to use, re-use, and digest every feature available on the Helio Ocean. We've done UI videos, hardware galleries, handset sharing tutorials and sync tutorials, but what you really want to know is what we think of it. Here's our review, broken down feature by feature so you can easily see the ones that matter the most to you.
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step-by-step
How to Sync Your Contacts with the Ocean
The Helio Ocean is an emailing machine, allowing you to manage a whole slew of email accounts at once. Also, Helio, unsurprisingly, would love it if you stocked up on their phones. You know, if you grabbed an Ocean for going to work and a Heat for going out at night. But what about loading your contacts up on it? Won't that take forever by hand? And what about keeping your contact info synced up between multiple devices? You don't want to have to re-enter every new number you get, do you? More » -
gallery
The Helio Ocean's Hardware Design Secrets
Along with the external hardware you'll see in the shots below, the Helio's triple decker mechanism has a special triangle-shaped spring that operates both the keypad and QWERTY. So interesting that MIT's Tech Review put the phone on its May/June cover, along with a well-written and romantic feature, Soul of a New Machine, penned by David Talbot.
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video
Helio Ocean UI Walkthrough Part 2 and 3
Since we couldn't get part 2 of our video walk-through up in time last night, we're giving you a bonus video as well! This time we go through much of the UI elements and answer questions you posted in the comments last night. More » -
clips
Helio Ocean UI Walkthrough: Part 1
Here's part one of our Helio Ocean UI walk-through. In it, we show you some searching from the idle screen, some IMing, contact searching, various apps, Google Maps, some browsing, Buddy Beacon and flipping the screen from landscape to portrait a couple of times. More »
































