TV-B-Gone: One function universal TV remote

When I visited Germany recently and got together with two of my gadget loving friends, I got shown a cool little universal TV remote called TV-B-Gone. Universal TV remotes can be bought anywhere and everywhere nowadays and I would not normally really class them as gadgets, except maybe the touchscreen versions. But this little remote has a twist: it only has one function: off. In 63 seconds it sends all well known TV brands off signal and therefor can switch off virtually any TV anywhere within reach. What is the purpose? Well for one just pure entertainment! If you hate soccer, imagine going to a packed sports bar and just switching off their TV’s. Or: Imagine being able to switch off your grandmothers/sisters/mothers/girlfriends TV when they are watching any given annoying program (Big Brother, several soaps and talkshows pop to my mind).
TV-B-Gone can be bought directly from the manufactures website in two different versions (European and North American/Asian) for roughly $20, as well as many other gadget online shops - just google it.

Samsung Q1 video

Being a big fan of Samsung myself, owning a Samsung R40 notebook as well as a now redundant Samsung TFT, I really love there Q1 ultramobile PC. Hugo of Uber Tablet own one, for which I am sure many people envy him, and has created some nice videos which you should see to learn about the Samsungs Q1 features.

It’s the New Smell-phone

You have a phone where you need anything. A call, a video, an MP3 player, browse the internet. But what if it gives a sweet smell? The idea sounds cool where you are almost using your mobile phone the whole day.
Japan’s top wireless operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. intoduced new models of their mobile phones and one of these are what they call the “aroma” phone. The mobile phone gives off a relaxing scent.
Sony Ericsson is the one which made the new “aroma” handset for DoCoMo, the “SO703i,” which comes with scented sheets designed to relax the users while making calls. The phone offers nine aroma choices for the consumers, each coupled with a different panel design.
It is the latest added feature to one of the company’s mobile phones. It can be for everybody most appropriate to those who are exhausted with work, who works for industries, factories and people who visit the field and jobsites.
The new phone is intended to relax the user. Imagine using a phone with the fresh scent of lemon or the fruity strawberry or the smell of a cinnamon bread!

Do You Have the Car Gadget You Need?

Carmakers and technology companies are catching on to this growing trend and offering more choices of cars gadgets such as car navigation systems, mobile MP3s, DVD systems and Bluetooth wireless communication.

With GPS on your dashboard, drivers can give turn-by-turn voice prompts. Factory-installed in-dash navigation systems feature monitors that ranges from 6.5 - 7 inches. For the commitment-wary, plug-and-play navigation systems that can mount onto the windshield or dash are available. They often come equipped with built-in speakers and antennas.
This car navigation system comes in two models, the plug-and-play and the in-dash. The plug-and-play type are cost-effective, usually portable, and some systems offer map updates via internet. On the other hand, the in-dash model is more accurate in determining speed/mileage, better-looking, and includes DVD playback.
Because many music lovers also drive, there’s a lot of interest in the plug-in and drive off. This has not escaped automakers, who are quickly expanding MP3-compatibility options, allowing them to play through the car’s radio and syncing the stereo’s audio controls to the MP3 player. They even provide a place for the player to rest — often inside the glove box. Several devices will attach to your MP3 player and transmit a radio signal to the car’s radio. Some of these options also charge the MP3 player. Another common option connects the MP3 player to a tape-deck adapter. Anyone who had a portable CD player and a tape deck back in the day should find the setup familiar.
As stated in Cars.com, factory-installed DVD systems first gained a foothold in the minivan segment — a natural connection, since they often carry the most kids. Since then, DVD options have expanded to both the front and rear of cars. They can be factory-installed to double as a navigation system or dealer-installed to feature customized options, such as satellite TV. A DVD system with multi-zone capability allows more inputs and outputs so that other devices, such as video game players, can also be used and multiple sound sources can play simultaneously.
Bluetooth allows drivers to make and receive phone calls via their cell phones but through in-car systems. Steering-wheel-mounted controls in some cars, allow drivers to more safely answer calls while driving. bluetooth simply changes the device on which your calls are received; the phone number is the same, and charges appear normally on your cell phone bill. No hard-wired connections or docking stations are necessary, and drivers can operate their cell phones either through the car’s controls or via hands-free voice activation. Some systems even automatically mute your car’s audio when a call is answered. Imagine how safe it is driving around the city or bringing your family to long distance trips.

Enjoying Movies and TV Shows More at Home

A large and good flat screen television needs a sound to match. Planning to put up a home theater completes it. Video plays a big role in creating the home theater illusion of “being” in the movie but the real job of surrounding yourself in the scene falls to your multi-channel surround sound audio system. An audio or home theater system generally includes the center channel speaker, the left and right front speakers, the surround channel speakers, and the subwoofer.
The purpose of the center speaker is to provide highly localized speaker information which is coming from the center of the screen. There’s a high correlation between what you see on the screen and where the sound comes from. The left and right speakers are to provide more lateral, but still highly localized and directed, sound. Together, the three represent the frontal face of your home theater sound experience. When there is a specific sound - the clash of swords, the shout of the main character, the click of a trigger being pulled back - the sound comes predominantly from these speakers.
Imagine that you see on the screen the soon-to-be victims of a firing squad, and from behind you, you hear the clicks of the rifles as they chamber a round. Your rear channel-driven surround sound system brings you that sensation.
Compare your old two-channel sound to the new multi-channel surround sound. Most of us are used to the old stereo sound that gives us a left and a right speaker effect. Multi-channel surround sound builds on this presentation by adding a front center speaker between the front left and right speakers and adding two surround speakers. Some versions of surround sound add two more rear speakers and side surround speakers to really enhance your surround-sound field.
As Stated in Home Theaters for Dummies, bass management is how your home theater manages the low frequency sounds. Better A/V receivers and other controller devices have several options for how you want to handle the bass sounds in your system. If you have nice tall speakers that have a very effective bass range of their own which are called full range speakers, you may decide to pass all bass frequencies to them. If you want smaller speakers that can sit on a shelf, then the bass frequencies might fall to the subwoofer, a speaker designed to play low-frequency sounds.
So it is better to understand the importance of your speakers, how digital surround differs, or how each speaker driver works. These will give better sound to watching horror movies and sci-fi flicks.

Seagate unveiled world’s fastest hard drive

The ‘worlds fastest hard drive’ as Seagate claimed was unveiled by the company on January 16. The 15,000 RPM SAS hard drive is ideal for the small systems as it takes much smaller space. Seagate has already carved a niche for itself in manufacturing and marketing hi-tech hard disc drives. The drives which are expected to come to the markets very soon also consume 30% less power than other such drive with less RPM.

The server market mainly uses 3.5 inch hard drives whereas this new innovation by Seagate will be much faster and will be of 2.5 inch in size. This fastest hard drive has been named as Savvio 15K. Gamers especially will derive much benefit from it as it is claimed to be super fast in its performance. HP is the first Company who will equip its systems with 15k drives.
Sherman Black, senior vice president and general manager of Seagate claimed that their new Savvio 15K drives are ideal for new age storing systems. With its wide arena of enterprise applications, this small giant is seen by insiders as a real revolution wherein it is possible to put in a full array of RAID6.

Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales to launch Wikiasari search engine early 2007

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, is planning a search engine to rival Google. The search engine, which is backed by Amazon, should be operational by early 2007. Amazon is the first corporate investor in Wikia, the commercial arm of Wikipedia.
The search engine will be called Wikiasari from ‘wiki’, the Hawaiian word for ‘quick’ and ‘asari’, from the Japanese word for ‘rummaging search’. Wikipedia also recently announced free hosting for community groups that do not charge for services.
Wikiasari will be based on a human judgement rather than computer algorithms. Wales claims that human judgement is better and that computer algorithm-based searches can be manipulated.
According to Wales, conventional search engine ranking algorithms lack the efficacy of human intervention. “Essentially, if you consider one of the basic tasks of a search engine, it is to make a decision: ‘this page is good, this page sucks’,”says Wales, “Computers are notoriously bad at making such judgments, so algorithmic search has to go about it in a roundabout way.” Wales also complains about poor results from mainstream search engines, commenting: “Google is very good at many types of search, but in many instances it produces nothing but spam and useless crap.”
A user-driven search engine service has a lot of potential if it is done correctly. Despite all of its problems, Wikipedia is still an extremely valuable resource and a site that I personally visit an average of three to five times a day. To compete with Google, Wikia will have to keep the advertising simple and focus on making Wikipedia’s neutral-point-of-view policy work for search rankings. If that happens, Google might have some real competition on its hands.

Coming soon, a machine to laser away your fat

Most of us often wish that some of our extra pounds could just melt away, and now it seems scientists have a solution, an X-ray machine that melts away fat is on the anvil. Although it sounds too good to be true, doctors are predicting that one day weight loss could be achieved with the wave of a laser wand.
You simply walk through an airport-style X-ray scanner which would “fry” excess fatty tissue. Three days later and five pounds would have melted away through the body’s normal purging processes.
Repeat the procedure every two weeks until you’ve reached your target weight - no dieting required. The only downside will be resizing your wardrobe, according to a review of emerging technologies published today in the British Medical Journal.
It is just one of the forecasts made by Professor Donald Combs of the Eastern Virginia Medical School, USA, that are set to transform medicine.
Among the others are “smart” nappies that can detect common childhood infections and miniature telescopes to restore vision.
He says the “startling” advances on the horizon include tiny implants that will monitor the medication needs of patients with chronic diseases. Eventually they will be linked with smart pumps implanted in the body that, when signalled, instantly deliver the correct medication.
These innovations are the inevitable outcome of technologies currently under development, he says. Devices that can sense and transmit heart and breathing rates already exist, for example the LifeShirt which is a non-invasive, continuous monitoring system woven into a shirt that collects data on lung, cardiac and other vital signs.
Prof Combs said the five key technologies for future advances are molecular medicine and biometrics, nanotechnology, wave technology, fabricators - such as biological bandages - and robotics.
He said “These technologies already have had individual and collective effects on some aspects of medicine and their influence is increasing.”
Recent discoveries on wave technology have shown that laser pulses of certain types of light wave destroy fat but do not harm other types of cells, he said.
It is also becoming possible to analyse data on a single drop of blood, urine or faeces to detect harmful bugs ranging from anthrax to influenza.
“The spread of infectious diseases would be dramatically reduced if people could be diagnosed, isolated and treated before becoming symptomatic. “For example, imagine the impact on the incidence of disease in a group of sailors if they were tested the day before their deployment on a ship’ said Prof Combs. A more visible daily application would be a smart nappy programmed to change colour when common childhood bugs are detected in urine or faeces, he added.
Another prediction is the use of miniature telescopes that restore vision for patients with degenerative eye disease. The telescopes are powered by sunlight passing through the pupils to microscopic solar battery panels attached to the retinas.
After several years the telescopes and batteries are removed and replaced with a genetic patch that turns off the overproduction of blood vessels causing the problem, and restores her normal vision.
In another scenario, Prof Combs predicts that Jane, who has high blood pressure and diabetes, has a barely visible radio frequency chip implanted just below the skin on her upper arm.
This chip simultaneously monitors and transmits data on her heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure and concentrations of blood sugar.
The data is transmitted to her GP’s surgery and to an implanted pump linked to her circulatory system and to an external reservoir of drugs that can be tapped into when necessary.
Tailor-made robotic parts could be manufactured for patients needing knee and hip replacements, for example, which are then implanted into the body.
Prof Combs says the predictions come from “30 years in health care and academic medicine” with all having the potential to “change medicine in startling ways.

E-mail can be possible health hazard

e-mail can be bad for your health. Edward Hallowell, a Boston psychiatrist, has identified a condition that he calls “attention deficit trait” (or ADT for short). Others have called it “online compulsive disorder.” Its main symptoms, says Dr. Hallowell, are “distractability, inner frenzy and impatience.”
It is caused by the sort of information overload that today’s workers are increasingly being subjected to — thanks to mobile phones, personal digital assistants and wireless e-mail gadgets such as the BlackBerry.
One study of a group of workers in California found that they could manage, on average, to concentrate on a project for only 11 minutes at a time before being distracted by an e-mail, a phone call or a colleague popping in.
However hard it is to be rude to colleagues, e-mail seems to be granted an equal level of respect: 55 per cent of another group of workers said they answer their e-mail messages almost immediately, regardless of how busy they are.
While many of us know not to open letters from bank managers or ex-wives’ lawyers when we arrive home tired on a dark evening, we don’t apply the same principle to e-mail. When planes land nowadays, nervy passengers switch on their BlackBerrys and mobiles almost as fast as they used to light up a cigarette.
Much of the superficial appeal of e-mail lies in the fact that it is impersonal, quick and brief. There is no need for the awkward eye-contact and prolonged introductions necessary in face-to- face encounters, and there is no need for the formal style and grammatical correctness demanded of a letter (although many a minute has been whiled away pondering whether to start an e-mail “Dear Fred,” “Fred” or merely “Hi,” and whether to end it with “Regards,” “Best wishes,” or simply “Tom”).
We think we can open an e-mail, deal with it promptly and move on.
We delude ourselves that the OHIO rule (Only Handle It Once) applies particularly to e-mail messages. But they have a nasty habit of coming back to haunt the sender. Like the response you didn’t want to hear: “I thought I’d copy Anne, Bill, Charley, Dick and Zachary in on this one.”
Or the time- consumer: “If you can’t make the 17th, how about any time between the 18th and the 30th?” Both are the kind of comebacks that the quick response was designed to avoid.
Recent evidence suggests that we should think more carefully about the occasions when it is suitable to use e-mail.
For one thing, e-mail messages are on the record, digitally imprinted for any future litigant to drag unshredded out of the virtual trash. Most face-to-face conversations thankfully remain off the record.
But e-mail messages differ even more fundamentally from face-to-face meetings or phone calls in that they are asynchronous — that is to say, they do not demand an immediate answer.
Asynchronous channels of communication are less efficient at sales or marketing. Companies have a far higher success rate selling by phone — be it, as is now so often the case, from Bangalore and at a supremely inconvenient moment — than they do by e- mail or by traditional asynchronous mail.
More importantly, the outcome of complicated negotiations, whether commercial or political, has been shown to be materially affected by the communications channels that are used.
Don’t (literally) sell the company down the tubes. Dr. Hallowell says that people who work in physical isolation are more likely to suffer from ADT than those who share a lively office.
He recommends that we walk away from the computer screen “every four to six hours for a human moment, a face-to-face exchange with a person you like.”

Electronic Arts unveiled Laptop-friendly Sims Life Stories

It’s really great news for the Laptop users who love to play games. The Laptop friendly video games were uncovered on Tuesday by Electronic Arts Inc. unlike many PC games; it does not require using upgraded graphics cards to play these games. ‘The Sims Life Stories’, first of these games announced by Electronic Arts (EA) is likely to be released in the first week of February.
While playing, the Laptop friendly games will enable its users to stay connected through their own email and IM.

The users also get the opportunity of creating their own Sims’ stories. Simple short-cuts and auto pause system are a few out of its many new features. ‘The Sims Life Stories’ will be followed by the release of other games by EA entitled, “The Sims Pet Stories” and “The Sims Castaway Stories”. However, it will take some more time for unveiling the last two games.

VP Head of Studio for The Sims Division, Rod Humble, was quite optimistic about the success of their newly launched game spoke high about the way it has been designed. The games he said will be a source of real entertainment for both the beginners and veteran players.

However the games will run on Laptops with Windows XP with 1.8 GHz or faster CPU and 142 or more RAM. As regards audio and video, it should be compatible to DirectX 9.0c. Pack of surprises and romance are stuffed to allure the young players. With these features in the system, its time now for ‘The Sims Life Stories’ players to jet…set….go….

Voip telephone in a mouse

I got this by e-mail from a Chinese company advertising it as “the worlds first VoIP telephone mouse”, which of course is not true.
The only problem I see with both is: what if I want to use the mouse while telephoning?
At the moment we can only really let the picture speak for itself, as nobody seems to have had one yet. I should be receiving a sample in the next few weeks and then will follow up with a review of this gadget that will do one thing for sure: make your coworkers a little bit confused and maybe even amused.

LG’s BH 100 might not support HD DVD’s iHD

It was at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), last week that LG brought forth the first player which could play Blu ray and HD DVD discs. “Total Hi Def” dual-format discs were also announced to be launched by mid-2007. The Unit capable of playing only DVD’s and not CD’s is named Super Multi Blue Player, popularly named BH 100. Expected to be priced at $1,199, BH 100 might me available around February 2005, much ahead than the date declared in the press conference at CES by LG. BH 100 is also capable of reading and writing DVDs and CDs.
LG also has plans up its sleeves to bring out a computer drive priced $1,999, which would be able to play both HD DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. At the same time it can also record Blu-Ray discs. The model named GGW-H10N will be available in the market almost around the same time when BH 100 will be available.
However, LG’s hybrid high-def player lacks support for HD DVD’s iHD. This could signal for LG because if this turns out to be a fact, then the DVD forum will in most probable cases sue LG for using the HD DVD logo falsely and claiming to perform a technology, which their devices does not support. If BH 100 is really incapable of playing HD DVD’s iHD, then access to HD DVDs interactive menus will not be possible. In that case, the movies can only be viewed straight through.

In the final go, it can be gauged that unless and until, LG comes out with some last moment innovation, then probably it would be a great blow to their credibility and the techno-savy consumers will have to remain content with the old DVD players.

Imitation of its iPhone screen irks Apple

Apple since long is characterized by defending its intellectual property right to the ultimate point. The company’s CEO Steve Jobs last week announced its much hyped product, the iPhone at CES. However, it will take a few months more fore this gadget to go on sale. This wait has probably taken on the nerves of many, who have imitated its new iPhone screen. Treo, Windows Mobile or other smart phones have got almost the same features as that of Apple’s iPhone, and some of its users have borrowed the icons demonstrated by Apple in their sets.
However, many others in the technological industry have accused Apple of being ‘notoriously litigious’. It’s no doubt a wrong move to steal Apple’s copyright icons. Being irritated by these acts, Apple sent its legal team to crack severely on those involved - including bloggers and journalists. The grievance of many in this issue originated from the fact that Apple is also applying its legal sledgehammer against those people who are reporting such cases of sheer imitation.

This act on the part of the lawyers representing Apple has irritated the media all over, for such kind of whimsical actions reads like no pictures of its iPhone could either be published in the newspapers or web without the prior permission of the Company. Insiders aired the view that such an irrational move on the part of Apple might create an obstacle on the path of the publicity of their new gadget. All those who praised Apple’s iPhone just last week at the annual Las-Vegas based The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), were really at doldrums at this move by the company.

White Blackberry launched in the US

Research in Motion (RIM) and T-Mobile have launched a new version of the Blackberry - in stylish white - called Blackberry Pearl. The new white Blackberry offers the same features as the original, most notably of course the push e-mail service offering access to up to 10 accounts, the popular IM clients for MSN, ICQ, Yahoo! and AOL Messenger as well as a HTML browser for accessing normal websites while on the move.
Not only does the Blackberry come equipped with the standard mentioned on the move business features, but also multimedia features including being able to play MP3 and ACC music files and MPEG4 and H.263 video files which can be viewed on the 240 x 260 pixel display.
Connectivity including worldwide roamingis provided by Quad GSM / GPRS as well as EDGE, as well as Bluetooth for close range connections to other devices or computers.
One of the new features included is Blackberry Maps, which enables the user to use mapping and local area functions and also interacts with other applications, making it for example possible to define maps for contacts and sending of maps via e-mail. Sadly the Blackberry Pearl does not have built-in GPS, which would turn it into a mobile office and navigation system.

Apple’s iPhone: How much will it cost outside the US?

Unless something big happens, Apple’s iPhone might already be the gadget of the year 2007 in many peoples opinion. But at what will this beauty of a multimedia-centre turned phone going to set back consumers?
As Apple announced it will be distributed in the US by Cingular at a price of 499$US (4GB) and 599$ (8GB), each with a two year contract. The price difference in the US between subsidized and non-subsidized phones is slightly to greatly less than in Europe. A few days ago Amazon in Germany started accepting pre-orders for the iPhone, costing 899Euro (4GB) and 999Euro (8GB). Amazon in the UK are not offering pre-ordering or a price yet, but have a listing offering to e-mail when it becomes available, whereas Amazon in France, Canada, Japan and China don’t know about the iPhone at all yet. But I guess the Amazon Germany price of 999Euro for the 8GB is probably going to be what you are looking at if you don’t want or can’t get a subsidized version from a service provider.

PayPal fight phishing with key fob

PayPal today announced a new optional security measure for their customers: a key fob that generates a new password every second seconds that is entered along with the traditional username and password by users.

According to a cnet news.com article, Paypal is going to introduce a trial period with customers in the US, Germany and Australia in “the next month or so”. For personal users the key fob will cost 5$ and it will be free for business account users.
The purpose behind this key fob is clearly to fight phishing attempts, which PayPal and its mother company eBay have been a large target for. Therefor this key fob should not be to interesting for people who are just slightly tech savvy and possibly slightly security aware, unless you own a business account anyway and get one for free. But it is good to see that companies which have been under attack by malicious phishers are now developing methods to fight back.

Hone your shooting without an arcade

You’ve seen it in many cop shows. There’s this room with a huge projection screen on one end, and a police officer with gun held at ready. On the screen is a movie of a man raising his hands. The cop is sizing him up, when suddenly, from behind the dumpster, another guy jumps out, levels a gun at you, and squeezes the trigger. You hear a bang, and then a buzzer signaling you’ve been shot, you dumb rookie.
Ah, but you’re no mere rookie. You have a sixth sense about you. When that second felon leaps out your finger tightens around your Glock 17’s trigger, and you hear . . . BEEP.
Practically all indoor firing simulators today use laser technology to replicate gunshots. A camera is mounted near the shooter which records everything. After you’ve done your ‘shooting’ you’re supposed to review the video which freezes the projection at the moment you fired and shows where your ‘shot’ i.e., a red dot landed.
After an experience like that, my feeling is: I could have gone to the video arcade and gotten the same high. It does not capture the feel of firing your own gun.
Unfortunately, like a video arcade shooter, laser technology firing simulators (and gas-powered recoil simulators) are only a mockery of what you will encounter in the real world. The tension, attention to precision and just plain buzz present in firing a real gun is absent.
Now the best firing simulation would be to have guys wearing body armor running around serving as targets. You would have to shoot them with squib loads tipped with paintballs or plastic bullets.
The problem with this is obvious. It’s just too much trouble. Only federal agencies and some paramilitary groups can afford to do this. Also, firing a squib (underpowered) load just doesn’t feel the same.
Enter the Canadian Academy for Practical Shooting (CAPS). CAPS is a shooting system that allows you to use live ammunition. Its motto says it all: Your gun. Your ammo. No excuses.
How It Works
Like other shooting simulators, CAPS uses a DVD player and an LCD projector to show movies of possible armed encounters. Your first hint that this one is different is the screen. It is made of paper!
Okay, so you’re standing before the screen holding a gun with live, regulation ammunition. The perp on screen whips his gun out, but you fire first. The sound of your shot is picked up by a sensor which freezes the picture. So now you and your instructor can easily evaluate your accuracy and judgment by assessing the hole your bullet made in the screen. That’s it! No computers, no batteries, no camera calibration, no laser alignment. All you have to do is patch up the hole with white tape, and you’re ready for your next encounter.
Where Can I Use It?
CAPS is usable both indoors and outdoors, provided you have a proper backstop. When used outdoors, the CAPS people suggest erecting shields to shade the screen from daylight that would wash out the projection.
In case you’re wondering whether CAPS is only good for handguns, the system comes with over 500 patrol scenarios and 70 rifle/carbine scenarios.
CAPS is a shining example that sometimes, low-tech is the best. With today’s litigation-crazy world, you can do worse than equipping your department with the most realistic firing simulator available.

The Creative Xdock Wireless unveiled

At Consumers Electronic Show (CES 2007), Creative, a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products has made one of the biggest announcements of this year mainly focused on streaming music around your home. Creative has unveiled a device the Creative Xdock Wireless, which docks an iPod and plays music beyond cd quality via Creative X-Fi Wireless Receivers. The Xdock Wireless can be directly connected to a powered speaker system or home theater to display photos and play video or music in DTS surround-sound. So, in the crowd of I-Pods Creative seems to dominate with their X-factor.
While the official launch of the product Sim Wong Hoo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Creative, said, “We designed the Creative Xdock Wireless so an iPod can easily become the audio platform for your entire home. Your iPod goes in the Creative Xdock Wireless to play music through Creative X-Fi Wireless Receivers in as many rooms as you want - all upconverted to Xtreme Fidelity.”

Creative has equipped the Xdock Wireless with an analog audio input for other MP3 players and audio devices to take advantage of the integrated audio processing. It is also provided with an USB input. Along with that Xdock Wireless is also equipped with S-Video and composite video outputs.
The Creative Xdock Wireless is available in two prototypes, one is the latest Zen Vision media player which is designed for use with iPod video, iPod photo, iPod mini, and iPod Nano, will be available for $200 and the other will be specially designed for Apple’s video-enabled iPods. The Creative X-Fi Wireless Receiver will be available for $149. Both the products will be available in March this year.

‘One Laptop per Child project’ to hit the markets very soon

With the ultimate goal of offering one Laptop per child on the planet, a US-based non-profit organization is moving ahead to cater to the technological necessities of the poorest consumers of the globe. The Laptop Computer XO is developed by One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), and looks like a toy. However, it functions are so sophisticated that to assign it a toy would be the greatest folly. It is claimed that this new laptop would require only 3 watts of power to browse the web whereas a typical modern Laptop requires 40 watts of power for the same purpose. For displaying an electronic book it is said to require only a single watt.
Though the final production of the OLPC will see the light of the day in summer of 2007, yet techno-lovers could have a glance of its prototypes on display at the current Consumer Electronics Show. Michalis Bletsas, OLPC’s chief connectivity officer, was quite optimistic about this new product and said that at present per Laptop will cost around 100 euros [USD $130]. He further said that OLPC have the plan to deliver 5 million units in their first year. It is hoped that governments in the developing country would go for this new gadget because already Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, Uruguay, and, most recently, Rwanda have consented to be a part of OLPC.

With the help of two green antennas, the OLPC Laptop can communicate with other OLPC laptops and wireless access points. Bletsas further claimed that the even when the Laptop is turned off, the the wireless routing keeps on working. Over and above, the laptop also has a video camera and built-in speakers. Due to its low price and unique features, it is hoped that OLPC will be the greatest hit in the arena of computer technology.

Technologists, The world is getting warmer.

While man is worried about ipods, big screen TVs and new cars, the world is moving towards a dreaded direction.
United States recorded last year 2006 as the warmest year on record till date. National Climatic Data Center concluded that the seven months of the last year were much warmer than normal. Also they stated that the temperature readings in the last half of December were unusually higher than normal warm weather. Earlier they had predicted that it would be the third warmest year, but the unseasonable warm weather during the last half of December got it to the first place.
Based on an analysis of readings from 1,200 weather stations, the data centre had listed the daily average temperatures of 48 states from US. They found that the total average calculated was 55 degrees Fahrenheit. It was 0.07 warmer than the earlier warmest year on record 1998. Also the mercury showed that the climate was 2.2 degrees warmer than average daily temperature. The organisation has quoted it to be the sixth warmest year on recors, all over the world. El Niño event in the Pacific is held responsible for this unusual warming. Its time we get worried about global warming.

Re-entry vehicle technology launched

Space scientists at Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) launched a rocket on Wednesday carrying a satellite designed to test re-entry vehicle technology that could be used in a future manned space mission. ISRO’s Polar Satellite launch Vehicle (PSLV-C-7) successfully launched four satellites into a polar orbit at from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.The satellites were launched into thepolar orbit at an altitude of 637 km with an inclination of 97.9 degrees with respect to the equator.
The rocket also put the first Indonesian-built satellite into space. Indonesian officials said. An official from ISRO said that the rocket carried the 1,210-pound Space Capsule Recovery Experiment, designed to test re-entry technology.
The 295-tonne PSLV attained a height of 637 km,in just 19 minutes of take from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota at 9:23 am. To accommodate the four satellites payload. The 44-meter tall PSLV-C7 carried the Cartosat-2, a 550-kg space capsule recovery experiment, a 56-kg Indonesian satellite Lapan-Tubsat and a six-kg nano-satellite, Pehuensat-1, from Argentina.G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization’s chairman said, “It is a great day for the country. We have done it and done it correctly. The mission is a success.” The initial signals indicated normal health of the satellites.
PSLV, launch vehicle of the ISRO with nine consecutively successful flights so far. PSLV has launched seven Indian remote sensing satellites, an amateur radio satellite, HAMSAT, and four small satellites for foreign customers into 550-800 km high polar SSOs, since its first successful launch in 1994. It has also launched India’s exclusive meteorological satellite, Kalpana-1, into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). PSLV will also be used to launch India’s first spacecraft mission to moon, Chandrayaan-1, during 2008. ISRO’s last mission, the GSLV FO2, had failed on July 10.
The rocket had carried the 1,210-pound Space Capsule Recovery Experiment, designed to test re-entry technology. The capsule will orbit Earth for 13 to 30 days before re-entering into the atmosphere and splashing into the Bay of Bengal off India’s east coast.It will test technology for ‘navigation, guidance and control’ during the re-entry phase which is important for studying moon mission

Sony clears the Emmy Sixaxis ‘controversy’

Sony Computer Entertainment America(SCEA) has cleared the mess it created, that Technology and Engineering Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, it had won was for the PS2 Dual Shock controller and not the PS3 SIXAXIS wireless controller, as originally stated. The confusion began when Sony had announced that the PS3 SIXAXIS wireless controller had won a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

They cleared the confusion after National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences contradicted their statement at the press conference.They said, that they would like to confirm that Sony did not win for their PS3 controller, they won for their PS2 Dual Shock analog controller. The award was presented at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on the 8th of January in Las Vegas.
Sony Computer Entertainment America(SCEA) has said that the confusion was created due to the “miscommunication.” They quoted: “In a press release dated January 8, 2007, SCEA announced we had been recognized by NATAS with a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for the Sixaxis wireless controller.Due to miscommunication between the two organisations, this information was incorrectly reported.”
SCEA also bagged several other awards includingthose for technology and innovation behind the PS3, including the CES Best of Innovations Award for 2007, PC World’s 20 Most Innovative Products Award, Sound & Vision’s Editor’s Choice Award and Digital Entertainment Group’s (DEG) Emiel N. Petrone Digital Innovation Award.
Jack Tretton, President and CEO of SCEA said. “The overwhelming consumer demand and critical acclaim for PS3 is a testament of the platform’s strength and the industry’s desire for a true next-generation entertainment system.”. The president further added: “The full potential of this powerful machine has yet to be realized - what you’ve seen so far is just a taste of what will be on the table for 2007 and years to come.”
Scea’s award winning creation PS3 is displayed at the 2007 International CES tradeshow in the Sony Electronics Booth (no. 14200). The show runs from the 8th of January to the 11th of January in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Centre.Main competitors for the PS3 are X-BOX from Microsoft and WII- from Nitendo.

SanDisk launches the, Sansa Connect Wireless Internet MP3 Player

SanDisk, the 2nd largest seller of MP3 players in the US, announced the Sansa Connect, a Wi Fi enabled MP3 player that lets consumers enjoy and recommend music from almost anywhere. The SanDisk Sansa Connect un-tethers consumers from their PCs allowing them to connect to music and online photos through any open wireless “hot spot” Internet connection.

The Sandisk Sansa Express (1GB) takes after the form factor of the latest Sansa, but replaces the color screen with a monochrome display. What’s cool is that the Express will also have a microSD card slot and thus can double as a microSD card reader. FM tuner, FM recording and a rated 15 hour battery life.
The announcement was made at CES 2007, where SanDisk is exhibiting in the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Sansa Connect provides superior sound playback and will come equipped with a microSD card slot. The expansion slot adds additional storage capacity as well as portability of music to other devices.
The pocket-able and durable SanDisk Sansa multimedia player also comes equipped with an integrated speaker for watching and listening to any content on the player with a friend. The new SanDisk Sansa View media player has 8GB of internal flash memory to store up to 33 video hours or 2,000 songs or thousands of photos. Its flash memory expansion slot allows for additional memory capacity and playback of content found on SD and SDHC cards, such as Disney Max Clips.
SanDisk Sansa View demonstrates following features : Sleek, thin pocketable design at 78.5 x 123 x 16.9mm (0.66-inch thick)Support for a wide array of video, music, and photo formatsIncluding WMV, MPEG4, DiVX 5.0, WMA, MP3, and JPEGH.264 video format at 30 fps enables high video quality and better battery lifeLarge 4-inch widescreen color displaySD expansion slot for additional memory capacitySupports SanDisk TrustedFlash cards and the new SD High Capacity cards (SDHC)Slideshow capability for photos with the ability to add background musicAV-output of audio and video content to a TV screen through a 30-pin connectorUp to 1080i with docking station or 3.5mm headphone jackIntegrated speakerSimple interface with backlit controls for easy navigationRechargeable, removable Li Polymer batteryPreloaded content, including full-length movies, short films, video clips, music and photosWorks with most download and music subscription services, including Rhapsody, MTV Urge and Yahoo! Music

iRobot Create, the first programmable robot, unveiled at 2007 Consumer Electronics Show

iRobot Create, which is unveiled at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, can pick up clutter and create designs on the floor. Thus, it provides aspiring roboticists, students and robot developers with an affordable, pre-assembled programmable robot—iRobot Create.

iRobot Create, is an affordable, programmable robot designed for aspiring roboticists, advanced high-school and college students, and serious robot developers. Create comes pre-assembled, so developers can design new robots without having to build a mobile robot from scratch. “Innovators dream of creating useful robots, but they often get bogged down with designing a mobile platform that works,” said Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of iRobot. “iRobot Create fills a need in the robot industry for a standard, durable hardware platform on which to rapidly develop new, innovative mobile robots.”
The Create platform provides access to robot sensors and actuators via an open interface. It also features standard connections for electronics and threaded mounting holes that allow users to secure their inventions to the robot, streamlining the integration of third-party electronics such as sensors, cameras, arms and wireless connections.
A slew of methods and programming languages can be used to control Create. Beginners can observe the robot’s behavior in one of 10 demonstration modes or they can program the robot directly by downloading short scripts with any basic terminal program. More advanced users can write programs for completely autonomous robot behavior in C or C++ using the iRobot Command Module. Developers can also create custom software and interact with Create using a variety of methods including Microsoft Robotics Studio, a Windows-based development toolkit.
At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), iRobot will stage ongoing demonstrations of Create at the company’s booth in the Sands Expo, No. 70415, till Thursday, Jan. 11. Attendees will also see demonstrations of Create applications, including a robot that picks up clutter and one that creates designs on the floor.
Create which is based on the core technology of iRobot Roomba, the vacuuming robot that is cleaning millions of homes worldwide, and is compatible with Roomba’s rechargeable batteries, remote control and other accessories. Create can be acquired at a retail price costing $129.99.

Kodak Launches a wide range of Easyshare digital cameras, frames at the CES2007

Kodak is providing plenty of reasons for people to visit their booth at 2007 CES. They’ve announced two new digital cameras - Easyshare V803 and Easyshare V1003 - and an entire line of digital photo frames.
In addition to the “gadgets”, they’re also announcing additional services for storing, sharing and organizing your images - their kiosks will now write DVDs, they will have an image backup service via Kodak Gallery, and they’re working on software that will be able to scan through your images to find similar faces. Their booth personnel will certainly be hopping with all of this to show off.
“As consumers look for more ways to expand their picture taking experience, the KODAK EASYSHARE 10- and 8-megapixel Digital Cameras make it fun to personalize the camera look and feel,” said Pierre Schaeffer, chief marketing officer, Kodak’s Consumer Digital Imaging Group. “Kodak continues to delight consumers by providing new ways to express themselves, enhancing the overall digital photography experience.”
Now, a new menu feature called “Maintain Settings” stores your preferred settings for flash, white balance, ISO and resolution between uses, saving you time and assuring you have the camera set up your own personal way. With the Favorites feature, you can keep your special pictures on your camera all the time for showing and sharing, without filling up your internal memory.
The Kodak Easyshare V1003 and V803 Cameras produce vibrant shots with dynamic picture quality that can be viewed on the large 2.5-inch (6.4 cm) color LCD screen.

Kodak Digital Photo Frames:

The frames are color tuned to Kodak standards and use KODAK Color Science for vibrant colors and pleasing skin tones—displaying pictures in brilliant color and crisp detail. Set up is a snap, and you can enjoy any JPEG picture, most video types (MPEG 1 and 4, MOV, AVI) and MP3 music using all the popular memory card formats (CF, SD, MMC, xD and MS). You can also source digital files from any digital still camera, home PC, Jump Drive and Flash Drive via USB 2.0. Stereo speakers are built into the frames for dramatic sound accompaniment to your slide shows.

Yahoo! has launches, Yahoo! Go : a reinvention of mobile search

Yahoo! has launched a beta version of Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0 from the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show, bringing improvements in every facet of the company’s mobile service suite. A user interface redesign and content specifically created for the mobile experience are on order for this large update.It has also announced the release of a search tool, oneSearch, that it hopes will revolutionise the mobile internet.

The tool will be part of the Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 application, which has itself only just been announced. Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 allows users to access Yahoo Mail, Flickr and Yahoo News from their mobile handsets.
One of the most interesting widgets in Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0 is search, which Yahoo! calls oneSearch. oneSearch is designed to understand the type of search the user is trying to perform, returning answers and content rather than just a list of links. While traditional search results are still present, oneSearch will return actual content grouped by relevance first, such as show times in your area when searching for a movie name.
“Yahoo oneSearch changes the mobile search game by fundamentally improving the way consumers’ access and use the internet on their mobile phones,” said Marco Boerries at Yahoo.
“It delivers a mobile-optimized search experience that understands what consumers are looking for and presents answers directly in the results - not just a list of web links to PC sites,” he continued.
The Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 beta is available for download now. It is compatible with more than 70 mobile handsets.
Yahoo has teamed up with a number of handset manufacturers including Motorola. Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 will be pre-loaded on selected new mobiles from Motorola, some of which were announced yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
“Consumers crave cool experiences on the coolest devices and the desire for seamless connectivity has never been stronger,” said Scott Durchslag of Motorola. “Integrating services like Yahoo! Go 2.0 with Motorola devices enables consumers to stay connected with the people, places and information they want, whenever they want it.”

Verizon Wireless launches V-cast Mobile Television Service

America’s second largest cell phone operator, Verizon Wireless announced Sunday it is planning a new service, V Cast Mobile TV, which will help people on-the-go to watch TV programs. The service is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2007.
With initial launch planned in several major U.S. markets, the ad-supported service will offer live content and other programming 24 hours a day from CBS, Comedy Central, Fox, MTV, NBC News, NBC Entertainment and Nickelodeon. Other content providers, including ESPN, are expected to join the lineup, the company said, which will take the total number of channels to ultimately 20.

The company will be partnering with MediaFLO USA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, to deliver the content. MediaFLO USA operates a dedicated multicast network that delivers programming in a linear format.The service will be accessible on new V CAST Mobile TV handsets through a dedicated V Cast Mobile TV key.

John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Verizon Wireless, told a news conference at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show the service is intended to provide something for everyone. It will be in a TV-format.
The company did not reveal pricing details for the service. Samsung and LG Electronics will be initially making the handsets for the service. The handsets, the Samsung SCH u620 and the LG VX9400, will also have features like V Cast Music, V Cast Video, Mobile Web 2.0SM and Get It Now capabilities. The Samsung SCH-u620 will feature a 1.3 megapixel camera with flash, Bluetooth support and enhanced speech recognition with dictation for multimedia messaging. The LG VX9400 also has Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel camera, integrated speakerphone and an external memory expansion slot for music, pictures and video clips.
Verizon Wireless already offers on-demand video clips via its V CAST multimedia network, but the MediaFLO service will be the carrier’s first live mobile television offering.