Featured recently in Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools (edited by Steven Leckart) so you know it must be good.

Here's Rob Kieswetter's August 19, 2008 review.
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Surfer's Multi-Tool

Since I started working in the shop about four months ago, I've been using The Tool fairly regularly, mostly to tighten or install fins with the flathead screwdriver and the Allen wrench. The little hook/prong tool is solid for jamming the string used to attach a leash to a board through a surfboard's leash plug.Though the Phillips rarely gets used in surf-related application, it's still handy to have for random, non-surfing needs.To buy all these tools separately, I guess you'd spend about 30 bucks, maybe less, so it's not a huge savings. But you have to factor in the convenience of the one-stop tool shop. That has value, to me, especially on the go, in the car, and on the beach. They're not flying off the shelves at our shop, but we have had several customers specifically request them and a few folks have been impressed after seeing them in action. I rarely use wax combs, but even if I did, I actually would hesitate to use this one, get it covered in wax, then throw it back in my pocket or bag. Once you get wax all over it, next comes sand, pet hair, you name it. Then again, carrying The Tool you'll always have a comb handy. In dire straits, you could use it and deal with the sticky aftermath.
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Added Leckart, "'The Tool' is a minimalist stainless steel multi-tool intended for surfers. It has an Allen wrench, Phillips and standard screwdrivers, wax comb and a leash hook. I asked a friend who works in a surf shop in Venice, California if he'd heard of it. Turns out he uses it almost daily."

From the Corsurf (The Tool's creator) website:
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The Tool

Finally, one tool is all you need.

It has a tool to change any fin system on the market: Allen wrench, standard and Phillips screwdrivers, a built-in wax comb and an all-new "leash hook" for those micro leash cups.

The Tool is made of high-quality, non-plated stainless steel so it will not rust or strip.

The Tool also comes with a lanyard strong enough to double as a leash string for those overhead leash snapping days.

For those far away trips or your local break, never be without again.
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Full disclosure: I haven't a clue what "micro leash cups" or "overhead leash snapping days" are — but you might.

$14.99.

A South Korean businss paper has reported that Samsung is persuing SanDisk, for acquisition purposes. Both companies would not confirm or deny the report, which to me sounds like it’s on baby!

Samsung currently supplies NAND flash memory chips to SanDisk … which is the world’s largest supplier of flash storage card products. Samsung is the world’s largest manufacturer of NAND as well as DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, chips. NAND flash memory is used in digital devices such as cameras and music players. DRAM chips are used mostly in personal computers.

Samsung is no stranger to acquisitions either - last year it bought an Israeli company called TransChip, and turned it in to one of it’s R&D centres - Israel is a hi-tech leader globally, and that purchase further extended Samsung’s already mammoth scale of operations.

[Via: Cellular News]

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• SanDisk introduces 4GB Memory Stick Micro card
• Sandisk launches the US Nokia N95 8 GB before Nokia does
• Sony Ericsson handset owners rejoice - SanDisk to release 8GB Memory Stick Micro card soon
• SanDisk’s “Mobile Ultra” memory cards promise best performance ever
• Dear Samsung: You rock

We’ve talked about it two weeks ago and now it’s happening. The Sony Ericsson TM506 is now available on T-Mobile. You should be able to grab it everywhere, but the point is to use it on the mobile operator’s 3G network — that’s in case you’re lucky enough to live in one of the areas where T-Mobile’s 3G works. Aside from the 3G radio, the device sports a GPS with TeleNav support, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, music player, and a Memory Stick Micro (M2) slot. It’s available for $79.99 with a 2-year agreement and $50 mail-in rebate…

[Via: Boy Genius Report]

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• T-Mobile Set to Offer Sony Ericsson TM506 in Black and White?
• Sony Ericsson TM506 Bella hitting T-Mobile on September 3 with 3G?
• T-Mobile confirms Sony Ericsson TM506 Bella with 1700Mhz AWS 3G support!
• FCC unveils new T-Mobile 3G handset - Sony Ericsson TM506 Bella
• Did Sony Ericsson accidently out the Sony Ericsson P3?

Contrary to its name, the Air Hog Zero Gravity Micro R/C car does not defy gravity. However, the car does turn the world on its side by driving not only on floors, but on your walls too. Just flip the switch, place the car on the wall, and you can drive up, down, left and right all without falling off. You can even drive on the underside of a table if the surface is smooth enough.

So how does this little car work it’s magic? The vehicles contain a special system that works like a mini vacuum cleaner. A powerful fan creates suction to hold the car to the wall, and a special skirt around the perimeter of the car keeps the vacuum seal.

The cars come in a variety of colors and measure about 4.75″ long. They run on rechargeable batteries and should run for about 10 minutes on a single charge. Keep in mind that the remote control is infrared, so it will only work when you have line-of-sight access to the car.

You can get your grubby little mitts from UK gadget retailer Firebox for £29.95, or in the US from Amazon for about $47 USD.

I’ll be honest. The i300 passed me by on release, and when Matt asked me to check out a WM2003 device, I wasn’t exactly excited by the prospect. However, the i300 does have a few unique selling points, and you could say was ahead of its time, meaning it could be worth a look even today.

The Samsung i300

What's in the box?

As usual for Samsung, there's a box full of goodies, two batteries and even a dock included.

• Samsung i300
• AC Charger
• Docking cradle
• Standard battery
• Extended battery
• Direct USB connection
• Headset

Samsung i300 Specification:

• Dimensions : 113 x 48 x 20 (mm)
• Weight : 121 g
• Talk time: up to 7 hours
• Standby time: up to 200 hours
• Display type: TFT, 256K colors at 240 x 320 pixels
• Camera: 2 Megapixel, 1280x1024 pixels, video captue/playback, with flash
• Bluetooth, v1.2
• MP3/WMA/AAC/MPEG4 player
• Operating system: Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 SE
• Memory: 3 GB microdrive, 64 MB internal memory, expandable via TransFlash memory cards
• Tri band: GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900

General

There isn't much to see on the top of the Samsung i300, just the black iRDA 'window'.

Samsung i300 top view

On the bottom you'll find plastic cover over the proprietary Sync/Charge connector.

Samsung i300 bottom view

On the left hand side you can find another plastic cover over the proprietary headphone connector. Below there a buttons for voice recorder, keylock and volume control.

Samsung i300 left side

Looking to the right side there's yet another cover, this time it covers the MicroSD/Transflash card slot. There' also a dedicated camera button and two additional soft keys.

Samsung i300 right side

The Samsung i300 has a decent looking keypad with regular numeric pad and standard smartphone shortcut keys. In the middle is a rotating jog dial that works to scroll through the phone's menus as stored media files.

Samsung i300 keypad

Unusually, the Samsung i300 package includes a neat docking station that allows you to charge the device and the spare battery at the same time.

The Samsung i300 in its dock

Review

So why are we reviewing an older smartphone? A few reasons really. For a start eXpansys want you to buy one, but I was also interested in the retro looks of the device, and of course the 3gb “microdrive”.

3gb isn’t a great deal now with the iPhone, but then this isn’t anywhere near the cost of one. It’s was, until the Diamond, the only WM based device to have built in storage. It’s an interesting phone and is as quick as any of the devices being launched today.

The retro look comes from a mix of black and silver plastic, but feels very well built. The sides are filled with various shortcut hardware buttons, and although these make it look a bit business orientated, most are of some use.

Throughout it’s life, it has, perhaps oddly, been pushed as a consumer device (and in the marketing, you’d be forgiven for thinking the hard disk only accepts music files!). This seems a little strange to me, as its crying out to be used in enterprise. Its a true USB Stick/phone combo, and 3gb of storage, plus a decent well spec'ed phone for £70 seems good.

The i300 of course does beat the likes of Sony Walkman phones in terms of storage, but the teenage girl crowd are not going to want to carry around i300! Style wise then, it is in a niche market, but I do firmly believe it retains its use even now – especially with now stupidly low pricing - it even comes with a decent set of headphones and a headphone adapter for those wishing to use their own headphones.

i300 headphone adapter

As you might expect, music (and anything else) is easily synced to the device with a combination of Windows Media Player and ActiveSync, but unfortunately the built in speakers are pretty awful. As usual, and as most people do, using earphones improves the quality no end.

As well as the full scale hard disk, the i300 still supports external micro-sd cards, which can be hot swapped without removing the battery.

There's is sadly no way of upgrading the device from its rather old WM2003 Second Edition despite the fact that later builds of the i300 did include WM5.

The usual array of software is available on the device immediately – and Samsung have also added “Picsel viewer” which opens most Office documents.

The built in camera at 1.3meg is acceptable, but does struggle to perform at the levels expected these days. The camera button is on the right hand side of the phone, next to a button dedicated to the standard profile selection screen. This doubles up with a long press to activate flight mode. A third button applies the keylock.

On the right hand side, there is the volume rocker switch, the headphones port, and a voice control/voice recorder button.

The front of the phone is typical retro candybar looks. Screen at the top, buttons at the bottom, and the standard WM softkeys. The navigation ring is really useful though. First off its the usual 5-way direction pad, but the ring itself also spins, with a ridge to make it even easier to navigate through websites and other documents. It is also the method used to digitally zoom the camera.

I really do want to love this phone, and considering its age, its still amazingly useful and easy to use. It is big, and perhaps a bit too heavy. It just about gets away with it, because you do get something for the hassle – the hard disk. I do hope it can withstand a few heavy falls though!

The battery life is acceptable, although you will lose access to the hard disk when the battery drops to a certain level. This will at least in theory give you a little bit of extra time to get home and recharge! The package does include an extra battery that you can carry for the emergency situations.

Samsung i300 battery packs

Highlights

• Nice retro look
• 3gb memory
• High quality screen
• Decent battery life

Lowlights

• A little too heavy
• WM2003 and seemingly no WM5 upgrade available

Conclusion

For all its minor niggles, I can’t help liking the i300, despite its age, and the older OS. The 3gb storage is a really nice addon, and its what separates this from other devices of its time – and makes it a worthwhile purchase for some even now.

Review by: Mark

In this week's Gadget Lab Podcast, Dylan Tweney, Daniel Dumas, and Brian Chen talk about the newest TiVo on the block, the 1-terabyte HD XL. With 150 hours of HD content and THX certified audio, the player packs heat, but it might be a bit too pricey for regular folks. Not only that, but the massive capacity might create a wacked-out zombie, or two.

In addition, they review a strange little email-only device called the Peek. The main impression: The device is too simple for its own good, especially since every other gadget with email can also do other things. Tech-friendly grandmas would be embarrassed walking around with it.

Finally, they'll discuss the most recent lawsuit against Apple, brought on by a retired Chicken of the Sea executive (no joke). The suit states that Apple's advertising claims are not only misleading, but also false and improper for such a high-rising gadget.

Thanks for listening to the weekly podcast. If you'd like to subscribe to the feed, point your feed reader or podcast downloader to the Gadget Lab podcast RSS feed. The audio player widget above requires Quicktime (you can download it at Apple's page here).

If you prefer, you can also download the MP3 file for this episode with this link: Gadget Lab Podcast #44 MP3. Check out the previous forty-three Gadget Lab podcasts after the jump.

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #43: Nikon D90, Palm Treo Pro, Final iPhone 3G Survey Results

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #42: Palm Treo Pro, The iPhone 3G Study, and Lenovo's U110 Notebook

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast # 41: The Micro Four Thirds Photo System, Tiny Tumbleweed Houses, and the MSI Wind Mini-notebook

Gadget Lab Podcast #40: Nokia E71, New T-Mobile Sidekick, and the WinePod Wine-maker

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #39: Hidden Stun Guns in Bikes, Dr. Dre's Headphones, and Nokia's Mobile Platform

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #38: Atomic Watches, The HP 2133 Mini Notebook, and iPhone 3G Bugs

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #37: iPhone 3G Launch, GammaTech Durabook, and the Openmoko Neo Freerunner

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #36: Wired's Summer Test, JVC Everio Camcorder, and Asus' U2E Ultralight

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #35: 3D Holograms, The Image Fulgurator, and New Phone Reviews

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #34: Samsung Instinct, Toshiba's Portege R500, and the Nikon D60 DSLR

Gadget Lab Podcast #33: iPhone 3G, POV Racing Toy Cars, and the Polaroid Pogo Printer

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #32: Mini-notebook Smackdown, Olympic Speedsuits, and the Eye-Fi Catches a Thief

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #31: Dell's Mini Laptop, Nokia N96, and Fake GPS Art

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #30: The OLPC 2.0, iPhone 2.0, and Roku Netflix Player

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #29: The Lowdown on the iPhone 2.0, The Flip 2 Camera Gets Tested, and The Week's Best Reviews

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #28: Maker Faire, Samsung Glyde and Olympus E-420

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #27: Psystar, T-Mobile 3-G, and AT&T TV

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #26: The Optimus Maximus Keyboard is Released, Asus Ships a Boosted Eee PC, and The Science of Walking Barefoot

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #25: The Latest on the Psystar Apple 'Hackintosh' Story, Hybrid Cameras, and Rumors of a 24-megapixel Nikon!

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #24: Bold Predictions for the 3G iPhone, the Week's Top Reviews, and Crazy Paintball Tanks

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #23: The 2008 CTIA Conference, Product Naming Trends, and Beckham's Tacky Gadget

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #22: Motorola's Split, The Sony Crapware Saga, and More

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #21: The Wireless Spectrum Auction, HTC's Googlephone, and Evil Keyboards

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #20: Exploding Batteries, Lost Gadgets, and the Week's Best Reviews

(For links to podcasts episodes #1-19, hit the link for #20, above.)

The Wired Gadget Lab Podcast #40: Nokia E71, New T-Mobile Sidekick, and the WinePod Wine-maker

The Jetboil Personal Cooking System (PCS) has sparked a revolution in outdoor cooking. Capable of boiling two cups in two minutes at 75-80% efficiency, the PCS is twice as fast and uses half as much fuel as conventional stoves. The PCS boils up to 50 cups (12 liters) of water from only one isobutane/propane micro-canister. Such outstanding performance results from the FluxRing heat exchanger, which captures and focuses the burner’s heat instead of the heat being lost to the ambient air. Well suited to quickly heating water, the Jetboil can be used to make hot beverages, noodles, pasta, dehydrated hiking meals, soups and, of course, a nice cup of coffee (using the optional Coffee Press accessory).

Well, this is neat especially for those who love adventuring in the great outdoors, and starting a fire can be quite a hassle. It also makes for the perfect device if you want instant hot water (although there is the initial 2 minute wait), allowing to brew your own coffee almost instantaneously.

[ Jetboil Personal Cooking System copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

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