Archive for February, 2007
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Wednesday, February 28th, 2007Filed under: Peripherals
We must’ve brushed right past this thing while we were drooling all over those new phones at 3GSM, but Eleksen recently introduced a new fabric keyboard, and this one has a bit of a twist to it. Along with being rather diminutive, the QWERTY keyboard can be flipped over on the fly to use specific function keys on the opposite side, such as media controls and a numeric keypad. That’s pretty much the whole story here, no word yet on price or availability, but we’re looking forward to taking this one for a spin (literally) whenever it does show up on the market.
[Via TRFJ]
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Adobe To Take Photoshop online
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007Martin LaMonica and Mike Ricciuti of CNET report:
Hoping to get a jump on Google and other competitors, Adobe Systems plans to release a hosted version of its popular Photoshop image-editing application within six months, the company’s chief executive said Tuesday.
Can Google be far behind? It’s already Web-enabled Picasa for sharing…
Tags: photoshop, image, edit, adobe, [...]
Zune firmware update 1.3 due for mid-March
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
It takes a certain amount of spirit to be a Zune user in the first place, so when the few, the proud discovered odd bugs in their precious “social” DAPs, and then learned that Microsoft was not only not fixing these problems, but not even confirming a fix was in the works, you can imagine the outcry was rather vocal. Well, the Zune Insider blog has finally spoken up on the subject, and is promising a 1.3 firmware update around March 20th to fix the most obvious of problems, such as Zune Marketplace content skipping, FM tuner battery drainage, and syncing hassles. Unfortunately, the other vocal half of the social, the ones with few bugs, but a whole lot of feature requests, is going to get shafted with this update — still no wireless syncing, still no podcasting, still no transmogrifier. At least Microsoft has confirmed those requests, and says the Zune team is “working on making Zune better,” and not just blowing all the Zune cash on hip-cool ads.
[Thanks, Mike]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
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IO2 Technology intros floating M3 Heliodisplay screen
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007Filed under: Displays
We’ve seen some pretty far-out display creations, and while some are admittedly more useful than others, having our own Star Wars-esque floating display has been a dream for quite some time. Thankfully a company is bringing the idea to life and to more markets than ever before, as IO2 Technology has unveiled a new 3D Heliodisplay worldwide. While the mid-air projector, as it’s so aptly dubbed, had been seen a time or two before, the new M3 / M3i boasts “an improved tri-flow system for increased image stability and uniformity,” enhanced brightness and clarity, a 1,024 x 768 resolution, 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratios, 2000:1 contrast ratio, VGA / S-Video / composite inputs, USB, NTSC / PAL compatibility, and “significantly quieter operation” to boot. Marketed to the uber-wealthy and board room runners who’d like to teleconference on a free-space device (and blow the minds of clients), the basic M3 is available for a stiff $18,400, while the M3i — which also serves as a “computer input device for cursor control in a desktop environment” — will set you back $19,400.
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
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Local Search : User Recommendations Make Your Business Money
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007Today I made plans to go out tomorrow evening to a Thai restaurant in Tampa, my new hometown. I’ve only been here 3 weeks and have been driving by many different Thai places around town, but am not really sure which one to go to.
I could always just pick one out of the phone book, [...]
RFID staples, omnipotent pens to grace offices of the future?
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless
We already know just how snazzy your office’s bizhub will be in a decade or so, and we think we’ve even got your desk and kitchen nailed down too, but a recent brainstorming in Popular Science brushed a few less sensational, albeit quite intriguing, office mainstays for 2017. Although we’ve got a few years yet before we can definitively say whether or not these folks will pull a psychic-AT&T on us, but if Swingline has its way, the traditional red stapler that continually jams and collects more dust than it does anything else will be quite controversial. Sure to enrage pro-privacy employees who’ve already been unknowingly chipped with an RFID tag upon agreement to come on board, the staples of the future could actually contain micro-RFID tags; these chips could then be traced to find out just how long it really sits in one’s “to do” stack, or if “inexplicably missing” really means “intentionally destroyed.” As cruel as we know that sounds, at least you can pen all the curses you wish on even the most ink-resistant material in your manager’s suite, as the future-generation Staedtler pen is being designed to “write on almost anything by optimizing molecular bonds with a surface” in order to produce the right mixtures needed to adhere to a given medium. Of course, the transparent monitors that will come with your 2015 upgrade kit will effectively kill your ability to surf Engadget while being guarded by the plastic backing of your current LCD, but the face recognizing desk locks should at least keep Gary from snagging your chocolate when you’re out on break. Click on through for a few more mockups of tomorrow’s office gizmos.
Continue reading RFID staples, omnipotent pens to grace offices of the future?
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
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Sharp upgrades its Internet AQUOS lineup
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007Filed under: Desktops, Displays, Home Entertainment
It’s always a little bit difficult to take TV / Internet combinations too seriously — we’ve seen the idea flounder oh so many times before — but Sharp seems to be in it for the long haul with its Internet AQUOS line, and they’re bringing forward a refresh in March. The new PCs are running Vista and are designed to work with the D10 series of TVs. The LCD-32D10, LC-26D10 and LC-20D10 LCDs naturally come in 32-inch, 26-inch and 20-inch sizes, with black, white and red casings to choose from, but unfortunately resolution tops out at 1,366 x 768 pixels. The PCs, which hook up to the LCDs via FireWire, allow DVR functionality without actually turning the PC on, but can also handle IPTV, shopping, internet browsing, DVD playback and plenty of other PC functions. The top of the line PC-AX120S includes a 400GB HDD for DVR, along with a 250GB drive for PC use. The AX120S runs a Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, Vista Home Basic and will sell for 240,000 yen ($2,010) in April. If that’s too fancy for you, the PC-AX80S and PC-AX60S will be out in March, with 250GB / 80GB HDDs, Celeron M410 1.46GHz processors, 512MB of RAM and 170,000 yen / 150,000 yen pricetags ($1,423 / $1,256). No word on LCD prices, but we’re sure you’ll be paying a hefty premium on that end as well for the privilege of surfing the nets from your couch.
[Via Impress Watch]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Software Patch Makes Car More Fuel-Efficient
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007A car wastes energy almost continuously. Whether it is running in first, second, or a higher gear, there is only one position of the accelerator that guarantees optimal performance. Accelerating a little less or a little bit more can cause considerable loss of energy. John Kessels has designed a way to save energy by enabling [...]
Pentagon plans ultrasonic curtain to muffle loud tanks
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation
Although Macroswiss’ giraffe pole could certainly lend our soldiers a hand in peeking across enemy lines, someone with a good bit of execution authority would rather we take a more direct approach to encroaching on the baddies. A Pentagon-based budget layout has revealed plans for an “ultrasonic curtain” to be constructed in a presumed attempt to “significantly” muffle vehicles and loud machinery in order to get our troops closer to foes without being noticed. While the actual construction plans aren’t entirely laid out, the device will purportedly use “directed ultrasound technology to enable the capability to significantly reduce sound emissions from large scale tactical military hardware,” and they hope to lower noise by “at least 30-decibels” in order to allows troops to operate in close proximity to the enemy without being detected aurally. Of course, cracking trees and unforeseen sneezes could still remain a problem, but there are already plans in place to “validate the theoretical models in laboratory settings,” estimate the power required to sustain such a sound shield, and to design a finished product that can cover “a truck-sized vehicle.” Sadly, it doesn’t seem that this project will be integrating the invisibility cloak already discovered, so a flurry of bubble boy jokes is bound to arise.
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Buffalo introduces d-pad-equipped mouse
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007Filed under: Peripherals
While it likely won’t replace your gamepad anytime soon, Buffalo’s latest optical mouse here should at least bring some of that familiar video game flavor to your more mundane, scrolling-related computing tasks — although you’ll have to decide for yourself if that’s an improvement or not. Apart from its newfound four-way action, however, the mouse is about as garden variety as they come, with an 800 dpi resolution and, well, two buttons and a cord. On the upside, it does come in your choice of silver or black, and it won’t put much of a hurt on your wallet, demanding just 3,320 Yen (about $28) when it streets in Japan next month.
[Via Impress]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
