E-Ink's newest segmented display cells are 40 percent thinner and may be cut to any desired shape. The first device to feature them is a wireless key fob from Delphi.
The SDC products are simple digit, icon and alpha-numeric displays, offering exceptional readability in a paper-thin form factor that uses minimal battery power. The new SDCs are 40% thinner with a wider operational temperature range and increased flexibility for repetitive 3-D bends or 2-D conformable solutions. Applications include consumer electronics, PC-accessory, display smartcards, capacity indicators, electronic shelf labels, signage and communications applications. The SDC displays use the same E Ink Vizplex™ technology that is shipping in popular electronic book devices such as the Amazon Kindle, SONY Reader and iRex iLiad.
This sounded radical until I remembered all those old-skool LCD watches, and those handheld games where the crystal elements were shaped like a race car or a karate man.
Press Release [E-Ink via Electronista via Gizmodo]
Slim is in, and so is small. If not, how else can one explain the phenomenal sales of the Asus Eee PC despite lacking the necessary firepower to run all sorts of common desktop applications? Granted, the Windows XP-powered Eee PC 900 will be beefier and can handle more common tasks with ease, but I digress. MSI has not forgotten about the ultra small desktop market, introducing a spanking new energy saving compacy mini-ITX full system known as the Titan 700. It almost works flawlessly out of the factory, but you do need to purchase an operating system before it is able to run. Also, I would advise you having some sort of monitor ready beforehand (CRT or LCD, it is your call but seriously speaking, who still uses the former unless there is really no choice?) if you want to get up and running the moment the MSI Titan 700 arrives at your doorstep.
The Titan 700 sports some pretty interesting components within, with a VIA CN700 processor running the proceedings on a 8237R+ chipset. In addition, you will also be furnished with a slim DVD burner and a 2.5″ SATA hard disk drive that remains cool and quiet in comparison with a regular drive. It measures a mere 3.1 liter in size, which is really, really tiny, allowing you to place it just about anywhere on your desk (or under it, for that matte) or in your office/home as you like. After all, being black in color makes it easier to blend in with its surroundings.
MSI will be selling its Titan 700 for £235 a pop, which is an extremely decent price if you aren’t into hardcore gaming or heavy processing. After all, if your computer usage is restricted to merely emails, watching YouTube videos, and catching up on news on your favorite websites, then you can’t really go wrong with the MSI Titan 700.
Source: BIOS
Pressy idea: Educational Toys
It seems like companies are always looking for new and innovative ways to advertise. Sure, in the old days they could get away with the usual ads in magazines and on TV and radio. However, these days you’ll see advertisements in movies, video games, on your coffee cups and just about anywhere you can imagine. One area that is largely untapped is the sky. However this device aims to change that.
We’ve all seen the Goodyear blimp hovering over sporting events, but thats really all we see in the way of sky-high advertisements. This machine churns out a logo made of specially formulated soap bubbles. These floating logos (called Flogos) range from 24 to 48 inches in size, and will hold their shape for a great distance. Depending on weather conditions they can travel 20-30 miles and reach altitudes of 20,000 feet. Environmentalists need not worry, these bubbles are 100% safe.
Source: OhGizmo
Pressy idea: Educational Toys
With summer rolling around pretty soon, it is just about right for pesky bugs to start making their annoying appearance as well, especially at night. While spraying some sort of insect repellent is a pretty neat idea, why not take the fight to them instead of remaining a pacifist? After all, didn’t the old proverb use to go, “He who runs away, lives to fight another day”? The Bug Bag aims to ensure that no insects will be able to run away and do the horizontal tango with another of its own species in an effort to procreate. It accomplishes its task by simply frying them with a powerful electric shock. Now I am sure that there will be some curious folks around who will want to feel just how much of a pain it is, let me just ay that there is more than enough juice to send a sharp sting down your finger when you touch it while turned on. Future Jackass directors, take note!
Each time a bug carelessly flies or touches the “strings” of the Bug Bat, it will most definitely go straight to insect heaven as your ears pick up the electric crackle of death. Retailing for less than $20 a pop (they go for much cheaper in third world countries), these gizmos are pretty useful if you plan to spend an evening out on the patio with a loved one, especially in light summer clothing which don’t do much good against mosquitoes. I also find this to come in pretty handy in the kitchen, as it will definitely make short work of the common (but annoying) house fly as they congregate around your newest culinary creation while calling all and sundry to check it out..
Any of you plan to pick up this nasty Bug Bat? It would make a pretty cute Mother’s Day present if mom spends plenty of time in the kitchen, with the occasional complaint about insects making their way there.
Source: Gizmag
Pressy idea: Educational Toys
Hello Kitty phones appeal to only a niche market, but strangely enough this niche market is huge to say the least. What we have here is slightly different from other Hello Kitty offerings as it comes with a separate pair of speakers, presumably for you to better enjoy your tunes with friends and family. This GSM 900/1800 handset measures 90mm x 49mm x 15mm and tips the scales at 75 grams, boasting a talk time of up to 150 minutes and up to 5 days of standby time, although I don’t think the latter two figures are indication of real world use. It features a shake function found on selected Sony Ericsson handsets, where a single shake will change MP3 tracks. Other features consist of a 2.2″ 260k color display and a 1.3 megapixel camera. No idea on how much this will cost though.
Source: Gizmodiva
Pressy idea: Educational Toys
I’ve never been much of a drinker, so the strongest thing you’ll usually find me drinking ins Mountain Dew. I don’t drink fancy coffees or teas, so I don’t normally have issues with spoons. However, if you’re wanting to eliminate this pesky utensil from your drinking routine, this cup would be the perfect way to do just that.
This unique cup uses a floating mechanism, which is supported by a ceramic ball that rests at the base. When you shake it, the ball and float move about to mix up your drink. When you go to take a sip, you’ll find both objects resting gently out of the way at the bottom of the cup. Unfortunately this only appears to be a concept device.
Source: GearFuse
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A New York woman used .Mac's Back to my Mac remote login feature to take shots of the man who stole her laptop.
Duplaga immediately signed on to another Macintosh computer and, using a feature called “Back to My Mac,” was able to gain access to her missing laptop remotely. She could see that that the person who had her computer was shopping for beds, Mr. Jackson said. Then it occurred to her that she could activate a camera on her laptop and watch the thief live.At first, the photo application revealed only a smoky room and an empty chair, Mr. Jackson said, but then a man sat down. Ms. Duplaga, again using remote technology, typed in the command to snap a photo. “When you take a picture with that computer, it shows a countdown, and when it does, this guy figures out what’s going on,” Mr. Jackson said. “It all clicks for him, and he puts his hand up to cover the lens, but it was too late. She had already taken the picture.”
Edmon Shahikian, 23, of Katonah, and Ian Frias, 20, of the Bronx, were arrested and charged with being completely stupid.
Stolen Laptop Helps Turn Tables on Suspects [NY Times]
From OS NewsA few days ago, Marc Balmer, OpenBSD developer, received an email from an OpenBSD user. The email claimed that SAMBA would crash when serving files off an MS-DOS filesystem. Balmer got into contact with a few SAMBA developers who claimed that SAMBA uses a special workaround in order to function properly on BSD systems: the code for reading directories in all BSDs was flawed.
Understandably, Balmer's first reaction was disbelief. "Of course my first reaction was to blame Samba," he writes. Despite his initial reaction, he decided to dig deeper into this case, and he uncovered a bug that had been sitting in the code of all BSDs (including Mac OS X), including a lot of old releases. He confirmed the bug was already in 4.2BSD, released in August of 1983.
The 25 Year Old BSD Bug [OS News]
Sign language is a great method for the deaf community to communicate, but unless everyone around you is fluent in the visual language, it won’t be much help for communicating with the non-disabled. You could always develop a system of lip reading and writing your answer on a notepad or something, but then the years you spent learning sign language are all for naught.
Recently shown at the Meeting Of The Minds expo at Carnegie Mellon University Center, a prototype gadget called the HandTalk was displayed for the first time. The HandTalk is a wearable glove device which can detect motion and gestures done when using sign language, and translate these movements into audio played through the users cellphone or other mobile device.
The HandTalk runs in correlation with the Gesture Recognition Platform for Deaf Users, developed by Bhargav Bhat, Hemant Sikaria and Priya Narasimhan. The platform was recently coded into a special mobile software application which can so far only detect around 32 words. But they hope to provide the software with a vast vocabulary soon.
The HandTalk glove works using a built-in sensor along with flexor strips on each digit. A chip detects the precise position of each digit in relation to the other and translates the positioning into words. The design team plans on integrating pressure sensors and accelerometers to help expand the devices vocabulary.
The device is apparently pretty inexpensive to produce. The designers of HandTalk plan to have more extensive testing for the device once the glove is expanded with the needed technology, which should be pretty soon.
Event Page via TechPin
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The Google Recycled Mini Wireless Mouse is definitely one of the cuter peripherals I have come across, and it adds to the ‘fun’ feeling that the company offers even while at work. This diminutive piece of hardware comes with a Wi-Fi dongle stored on it, and has an 800 dpi resolution while being made out of recycled plastic. It will come in blue or red colors, and the $19.20 mouse even ships in recycled packaging to keep those green advocates quiet. Perfect in keeping in line with the company’s “Do no evil” mantra.
Product Page via TRFJ
Pressy idea: Educational Toys
