20050930

New Memory Format


Just what the world needs, another memory card format....
Sony Corp and SanDisk Corp. Friday announced a smaller Memory Stick card format, called Memory Stick Micro, that is designed to be used with mobile phones.


The Memory Stick Micro measures 15 millimeters by 12.5 mm by 1.2 mm, that makes it significantly smaller than the Memory Stick Duo card format, which measures 31 mm by 20 mm by 1.6 mm, the companies said in a joint statement . They will begin licensing the new card format starting next week, the statement said

See the original press release.

Handhelds & Medicine


The use of handhelds in medicine has been a hot topic over the last few years. Docs jumped on the PDA band wagon with the original Palms; their size was just about perfect for their white coats.
Palm pilots and other hand-held computers were originally designed as personal organizers but they are becoming increasingly popular with doctors, medical students and even patients to improve the quality of care and safety.

"The most commonly used clinical application is drug reference, so far. But it has gone beyond just looking up drugs and dosages and running interaction checks," Dr Daniel Baumgart, of the Charite Medical School of the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, said in an interview.

While drug references are good, the "killer app" would be a "paperless chart" that could be accessed at the bedside, by multiple providers simultaneusly. Add in X-rays, drug interactions, and lab data, and this has some real potential to improve patient care, as well as efficiency and cost savings. While this was tried in a few places, this was before WiFi networks were affordable. Now that the hardware has caught up, there is some real potential for deployment here. At the very least, the nurses won't have so much trouble reading the doc's handwriting!

Wirleless Bluetooth Headphones Tested


Several companies have announced wireless headphones lately. The one thing holding me back is I really don't need anything else to charge around the house. Otherwise, it sounds like a great product, with long range.
The Logitech Wireless Headphones for MP3 ($129.99 list) join the growing number of Bluetooth-enabled audio headphones on the market. These headphones support the Bluetooth 1.2 profile and come with a wireless receiver, a charger, a short audio cable extender, and extra earpads. They provide good sound quality over a wide coverage area and are a snap to use and operate. They're also comfortably light at 3.2 ounces. We feel the Logitech Wireless Headphones are a very good option for home, office, and portable use.

See some more info here.

WiFi Camera Ships


We haven't seen much innovation lately at Koday, but I hope the prior film giant is reversing the trend.
AFTER a few months of delay, Kodak has finally shipped its first digital camera with Wi-Fi.
Provided you are in Wi-Fi range, you can now email snaps to your computer without having to plug anything in.

Everything wireless lately is quite hot. A WiFi camera means that you could be emailing your pix of your vacation back to friends and family in real time! some additional info is here.

$100 Laptop For Developing Nations


Now, I don't normally get too excited about bargain basement hardware. But it is nice to see innovation in this price range.
Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Labs, has been outlining designs for a sub-$100 PC.
The laptop will be tough and foldable in different ways, with a hand crank for when there is no power supply.

Professor Negroponte came up with the idea for a cheap computer for all after visiting a Cambodian village.

While the hand crank and rubberized case are unique, the notebook is planned to have a 500 MHz processor, WiFi, flash based storage, and USB ports x4. For $100, I might buy one! Actually, they will not be available for purchase by individuals, and you can read more details here.

20050929

Not so fast....


I'm sure this will be another flop. Who wants to buy music that only plays a player that uses micro SD cards? This makes CD's look affordable.
Memory chips are supposed to be commodities. Especially the flash memory chips that SanDisk makes for storing digital photos, music files, camcorder videos or other content. But the Sunnyvale company will unveil today a new kind of chip, contained on a storage card, that it hopes will set its brand apart and usher in a new era for enjoying portable entertainment.

The chip design company is introducing TrustedFlash, a memory chip with built-in security that prevents illegal copying. That could help calm the tension between the entertainment industry that wants strict controls on intellectual property and technology companies that want digital content to be freely transferable to cell phones, music players, computers and other gadgets.

Car to come with iPod Nano...


Now, here's a new car option that will sound great!
FM transmitters, cassette adapters: those are so last year. Heck, even buying your DAP separately from your ride is like, totally last week. Thanks to Volkswagen, you can now save yourself a trip to the big box retailers, with the newly-announced iPod/VW Fox combo package. Even better than getting fries with your burger, the iFox package, as it’s being called, comes complete with a VW-branded 2GB iPod nano, a dock to attach it to the Blaupunkt Calgary MP3 radio, and of course that wiley old Fox with an “iPod Inside” logo (hello, Intel legal?). VW is only offering 500 of these bad boys, and since all prices are in Euros, we kinda doubt they’ll send one our way.

Apple Secretly Upgrades Some Minis


I'm expecting more than a few returns as folks go fishing to find the better model...
The company confirmed to CNET News.com that it has started offering machines that in some cases have improved processing powers and other enhancements. However, Apple is not labeling the new machines in any special way, so buyers have no way of knowing if they are getting the more capable models.

"Some Mac Mini systems may contain components that slightly exceed the published specifications," Apple said in a statement. "There are no changes to the published specifications or part numbers."

Apple would not confirm the exact specifications of the enhanced systems, but enthusiast site Think Secret said that some models were shipping with 1.5GHz processors, up from the current 1.42GHz, as well as a faster DVD burner, more video memory and improved Bluetooth wireless abilities.

USB VOIP Hardware


Many users are saving their cell phone minutes and calling cross country with applications like Skype and Google Talk. However, when you're away from your main computer, you're out of touch. Now with a USB device, that's about to change.
The folk at Mplat have released a new VoIP USB flash memory stick with inbuilt mic and speaker which will allow you to make plug and play Internet calls on any PC. Just walk up, plug in and make your MSN, Google Talk, SIP or Skype calls using the on-board software. Comes with Skype voicemail software as standard.

20050928

DVD-R DL Media Tested


While there has been attention this week on super drives that support DVD-RAM, the last new standard is still being implemented. DVD-R DL media is just becoming available.
Conrexx Technology B.V. / RITEK Europe (NL) were kind enough to send us some of their latest media – the Traxdata DVD-R DL 4x, before the official European release. And in this article we are going to take a look at this media and test its performance with various DVD-R DL writers and also test the media compatibility with DVD standalone devices and other PC DVD devices.

In CD Freak's testing, only the LiteOn 1693S was able to burn the media at full speed, with a decent quality scan. The Benq 1640 couldn't do anything with the disc, and the Pioneer 110 burned it at 2x, which is half speed. Be warned therefore that there are compatibility issues with this new standard, and it needs some more maturity.

NEC 4550 Review


NEC makes some excellent DVD writers, and now they're coming out with a "super drive." A few days ago, I reported that the new trend was that the DVD drives could write to the DVD-RAM standard. Now, we have another example of this trend.
To sum it all up, this is what we would say: Although the NEC ND-4550A is a very new drive, and no firmware updates are yet available. This drive performs extremely well. Reading performance is excellent and writing performance on the tested media is very good. DVD-RAM support read/write is also a very welcome addition.

While the full report is pending further testing, the early signs are that this drive should be a very strong writer.

DVDRW's Compared


Although they don't test for write quality, this is still a useful look at the current crop of DVD writers. The Plextor 716A is aging gracefully. As one of the 1st 16x writers released, it still leads the pack. With a recent firmware upgrade, it can handle both plus and minus varieties of dual layer media!

Podcasting For Dough



This Podcasting thing is starting to take off in a profitable way. Podcasts are often amateur radio shows, that get downloaded to an MP3 player. They often have a tight focus, and a weekly schedule. well now, they're getting sponsors in this new, niche format.
Consider the vast variety of approaches that have cropped up since Apple's iTunes upgrade this summer started delivering thousands of new listeners to podcasters who once toiled in obscurity.

GrapeRadio podcaster Brian Clark is now gulping down about $1,000 a week from sponsors of his show for wine hobbyists. Grant Baciocco of the fiction serial The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd sells show-themed buttons and T-shirts and offers guest-voice roles for $50.

Josh of Josh in Japan is asking for PayPal donations from fans of his tales of expatriate life, though so far only $14 has rolled in. And Jimmy Diggs uses his Vegas-based Daily Noise as a traffic generator for his internet radio site, LVRocks.com, where sponsors pay for banner ads.

It sounds like its easy to strike it rich with some luck, or just as easily fizzle away in obscurity! If you want, you can go to the source to check out some podcasts.

20050927

Nano Screen Woes


The iPod Nano, their newest player, has been impressing folks since its intro about a month ago. Now, the delicate screen is getting it some bad press. Folks are complaining that the screen scratches very easily, ruining the device in a short time.

Some owners of Apple Computer's new "impossibly small" iPod Nano are starting to wonder if the device is also impossibly delicate.

The most widespread complaint about the otherwise highly praised device seems to be that the color display screen gets scratched extremely easily.

Nano owner Brian Cason posted one of 250-some threads in response to a recent post on Apple's discussion board about screen scratching.


Apple was ignoring the whole thing in typical big business fashion, until a website about the problem popped up. Apple seems to be paying attention now. Isn't this what the internet is all about- bringing folks with similar interests together?

This may be the big story on the net this week, and the opening that Sony & Creative have been waiting for!

DVD-RAM Drives Coming


I'm starting to see a trend. For years, DVD-RAM was the forgotten cousin of recordable DVD's. Only LG's DVDRW drives could record to DVD-RAM. Furthermore, the discs were more expensive, and had slower write speeds compared to DVD+RW discs, not to mention write once media.
BenQ Japan today announced the specifications of BenQ's first SuperMulti DVD writer, the DQ60. Besides writing DVD-RAM at 5x speed the DQ60 also supports 16x/8x/8x DVD+R/RW/DL, 16x/6x/8x DVD-R/RW/DL and 40x/24x CD-R/RW.

This announcement by Benq follows LiteOn's announcement to introduce a similar "super drive" next month. There have been some stalwart fans of DVD-RAM throughout the years, touting its ability to error check its write to ensure reliability of data. DVD-RAM may be finally coming into its own; stay tuned.

20050926

P2P Lives!


Forget Napster...this Tor thing is wireless networking peer to peer communication! Why do I think your local cable company won't be so hot for this one.
Tor is a toolset for a wide range of organizations and people that want to improve their safety and security on the Internet. Using Tor can help you anonymize web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications that use the TCP protocol. Tor also provides a platform on which software developers can build new applications with built-in anonymity, safety, and privacy features.

Done correctly, this could extend a wireless network's range considerably.

"Screw the nano"


Someone should remind him that nobody likes a "sore loser."
"Screw the nano," said Zander. "What the hell does the nano do? Who listens to 1,000 songs? People are going to want devices that do more than just play music, something that can be seen in many other countries with more advanced mobile phone networks and savvy users," he said.

Bluetooth Headphones


This is becoming a popular segment. I've seen Bluetooth headphones released from both Plantronics, and Logitech as well in the last month. If you want quality audio, and don't have room for a 5.1 speaker set, this is a great and affordable alternative to look at.
Wireless Cables, Inc. has announced the release of its AIRcable HiFi Headset, which lets users listen to streaming music from their PCs via a wireless Bluetooth® USB "blade" that requires no setup or installation. The lightweight, cable-free and hands-free design provides maximum comfort for office workers, travelers, or home users who want to tune into their personal music or videos. In addition, the AIRcable HiFi Headset serves double-duty as a convenient cell phone headset.

New Pocket PC Released


The "big news" with this handheld release is the new OS: Windows Mobile 5.0.
So the HP iPaq rx1950 we’ve been catching glimpses of for a while now is finally officially out, and without much (or any) fanfare — HP simply listed the device on its site by way of “launch.” As noted previously, it looks a lot like the h4150 and, in fact, the two are bordering on identical. The rx1950 will be running Windows Mobile 5.0 on a 300 MHz processor, sport 32MB RAM/64MB ROM, SD/SDIO slot, and a 3.5-inch display. Notably, it’ll have WiFi but no Bluetooth. The biggest differentiator here is the price which, at $300, is quite a bit less than its predecessor went for back in its heyday.

Upcoming holiday shopping...


They are already anticipating what the hot products will be come December. I agree that the TV's, DVD recorders, and music players will be popular. When are cell phones going to saturate?
As the run up to the end-of-year shopping season begins to build steam, the competition is starting, and this year looks like it will be dominated by flat-screen TVs, digital video recorders, cell phones, and digital audio players.

20050923

eMachines Making Windows Media PC


You know it has hit the mainstream when low ball manufacturer eMachines is making it. A Windows Media Center PC is what I'm referring to.
The T6520 Desktop PC provides a cutting-edge entertainment and gaming experience. A 64-bit processor and PCI EXPRESS graphics ensure amazing performance when playing the latest 3D games and running advanced digital-media applications. Get the power and functionality you'll need to enjoy the ultimate multimedia experience, all at a surprisingly affordable price.

With a 64 bit 3400+ processor, a gig of RAM, a 200 GB hard drive, a DVDRW drive, and a PCI graphics card, this is one hot machine for $600! While this a lot of hardware for the $$$, I'd like to point out that there is no TV tuner, so this is not much of a media pc in the end. With the money saved, you can add one for the full experience. One more example of buyer beware.

Now I've Seen It All...


Well almost. Frustrated travelers now have a place to get together. The internet is all about bringing folks together with similar interests. But a whole site devoted to airline food? Browse through thousands of pix from frustrated travelers who took a snapshot before consuming their airline fare. The next time you fly, and you see the guy next to you taking a picture of his tray, you'll know why. Picky eaters of the world unite!

Jeeves to get pink slip...


Ask Jeeves is looking for a broader audience, and is going to axe Jeeves to do it. The search engine will need a new name, of course.

I guess the concept of job security can finally be laid to rest once and for all. I mean, if you have a site called “Ask Jeeves”and you are Jeeves, you figure you are pretty set in the job department. Not so, my innocent friends. Barry Diller shelled out $1.85 BILLION in May 2005 for the search site, but has decided to give Jeeves the boot. The reason, people were confused. I guess we don’t know what pasty, fat butlers are. (They actually tried a Jeeves makeover to slim him down and tan him - hoot!)

Use your computer in bed...




Why not get comfy while using your computer? I've included 2 prototypes for the final product.
I can’t remember for the life of me where I found this link, but here it is. Those crazy kids at Thanko are at it again with this computer desk that lets you use your desktop computer in bed. Sure you could use your laptop, but where’s the fun in that? Plus apparently you get better posture with a full-on keyboard and monitor layout. It’s currently going for about 19,800 Yen ($178 USD), and is most likely a Japan-only product. Which is too bad, because I’m for any invention that lets me be lazier than I already am.

New Palms Coming


Palm, while not doing too well lately, has some new PocketPC fighters in the queue. The LifeDrive concept of using a tiny hard drive in a handheld is too strong to limit it to just one model. WiFi support is also long overdo as it is a lot more useful than Blutooth to most users.

The translation is a bit rough, but Mobile-Review has it on authority that the Palm TX, a new LifeDrive, and a new Zire (the Z22) are due for announcement in October. According to them, the TX will stand downwind from the flagship Tungsten T5, featuring only a 312MHz processor and 128MB of flash memory, but it will indeed have Bluetooth and WiFi—which more or less jibes with what we had on the topic before, though their quoted price of $450 doesn’t sound quite right. Apparently the Z22 will sport specs similar to the Z31, including a 200MHz processor and 160 x 160 color screen for about $130 US. Oh yeah, and the LifeDrive will have a version bundled with Philips earphones, Pocket DVD Studio Lite, and MM Player on sale this holiday season. Well, alright then.

Video Games & College


Plenty of students spend lots of time playing video games. Now their hobby and obsession, can become their major!
Animation I, Cognition & Gaming and Computer Music are being offered as part of the year-old minor in game studies at RPI, one of dozens of schools that have added courses or degree programs related to video gaming in recent years.

RPI, which plans to offer a major in the field next year, graduated 27 gaming minors in its first year and expects a jump this year.

Which school will be the 1st to offer a doctorate in video gaming?

DVD Recorder Review


These set top DVD recorders are predicted to be THE hot item this holiday season (as well as the iPod stuff). Read my convoluted tale of woe, of how I found the right discs for this machine. I also subjected the written discs to quality scanning with some surprising results. I hope I can get some other machines to review in the future, although I'm not sure where I would put them.
For the budget user, looking to replace their VCR, it is an acceptable choice. The write quality is average, and the machine is easy to program and use. I also like that it can play MP3/WMA music files, and JPG pictures adding to the functionality of the device. Hopefully, others will benefit from my experience. It took me two months from the time the VCR broke until I had the Ilo up and running. For DVD Recorders to become a mainstream household electronic device, these compatibility issues need to be resolved. I doubt most users are willing to invest that much time into such a device. These compatibility issues also account for why there are so many boxes in the store that have been returned

20050922

Cheap LCD's Soon


Those sleek flat panel monitors are all the rage. Why don't more folks have one? Well, the price has been too high for some. The LCD's are just more expensive, but perhaps some cheaper prices are up ahead.
Consumers may still enjoy sharply lower prices of flat panel monitors and LCD TVs during the Christmas peak selling season, because oversupply of panels is bigger than expected, a survey found on Wednesday.

20050921

What's Google Up To???


Earlier this week, I noticed that Google was giving away some little piece of software to make wireless networking more secure. I thought this was a little odd of the search engine giant, but now it's starting to fit.
Google, the online search leader, confirmed Tuesday it has begun a limited test of a free wireless Internet service, called Google WiFi.

The existence of the Wi-Fi service, which offers high-speed connections to the Internet over short distances, is confirmed by public pages on the company’s Web site and was first reported in a Silicon Valley newspaper in July.

It's currently limited to a Pizza Parlor, and a gym, both near their corporate HQ's, as well as in a shopping square in San Fran.
In July, the San Jose Mercury News reported that in exchange for using the free Google WiFi service, customers would be required to load a copy of Cisco’s secure network software and Google’s “toolbar” program on their laptops.

My guess is they're giving away the access to get more search engine business and clicks. Beware though: big brother, your name may be google.
Perhaps this will turn out to be a bidding war for giving away free Wifi access when Microsoft enters the fray!

Dell Introduces iPod Shuffle Fighter


Dell introduced the DJ Ditty yesterday, a new iPod Shuffle fighter. As opposed to Apple's offering, this one has a screen, which most experts consider to be a feature (except Steve Jobs). It's equally fascinating that Dell's same 1/2 GB of storage holds almost twice as many songs as Apple's same capacity player. How did they encode the songs- 16 kbps/mono setting, quality equal to a dial tone?
The DJ Ditty weighs 1.29 ounces and its 512 megabytes of storage can hold as many as 220 songs, Dell of Round Rock, Texas, said in a statement. The device, which has a 1-inch screen for managing playlists, starts at $99.

By contrast, the 512-megabyte version of Apple's shuffle, which also costs $99, stores 120 songs; a 1-gigabyte version sells for $129 and holds 240 songs, according to the company's Web site.

20050920

Super DVD Burners Coming


With the Blu-Ray and HD DVD next generation burners stalemated in a format war, LiteOn is looking to fill the gap. I'm not sure what makes them "super"- LightScribe support, faster write speeds, DVD-RAM support? Stay tuned.
Lite-On IT plans to begin production of 16x Super-Multi DVD burners next month, the second such maker in Taiwan, following BenQ, which started shipping such burners in August, according to local industry, sources.

Lite-On IT will adopt chipsets supplied by MediaTek and pick-up heads (PUHs) made by Japan-based Sanyo Electric for the production of the burners, the sources said.

Logitech Remote Review


For $249, don't lose this one in between the sofa cushions.
Remote control is hardly a perfect science. Combine the functions of thousands of remotes speaking various languages into strings of commands operating at different speeds, and you’ve got a constantly evolving database of complicated codes and communication. The only universal remotes I’ve seen that worked flawlessly are expensive touchscreen-based remotes requiring hours and hours of painstaking programming. Custom installation pros can charge $2,000 or more for the service.



At $249, the Harmony 880 offers a good alternative. It offers easy setup, distinguishing features and a patient toll-free customer support team as backup. The more complicated your system, the more important the latter will be, but I found the tech support friendly and helpful each time I called.



On the down side, I don’t like having to plug my remote into an outlet. It’s not convenient and just adds another unwelcome wire to the living room.



I appreciate how much work has gone into the Harmony process. I have my work cut out for me to tweak the custom buttons to my satisfaction, but Harmony has the tools I need to make it happen. The Logitech Harmony 880 is a leap ahead of many other universal remotes on the market.

Take your computer with you...


It looks like this U3 is going to be the next "big thing" in portable storage. Leave your notebook at home, and take on of these with you.
KINGSTON AND SANDISK both announced U3 compatible memory sticks.
To explain. U3 is basically a profile on the go standard for putting your life, specs and settings on the stick itself, and carrying it around with you. Plug it into any computer, and you are "off and running" just where you left off on the last PC you plugged in to.

Nice article expands on the topic here.

20050919

Smarter Flash Drives


While some tech savvy folks have been loading applications that run from their USB flash drive, now it's hitting the mainstream. The drives are priced at about the going rate, so these included applications are added value.
Memorex today announced its U3 smart Mini TravelDrive™, the first in Memorex’s family of TravelDrive portable storage devices to offer built-in U3™ support that transforms USB flash drives from simple storage devices into USB smart drives. Memorex’s first U3 smart drive hosts a personal workspace of not only a user’s data and files, but also software programs, personal preferences, passwords and settings, and the means for managing them — all in a highly secure and stylish device. The new metallic “platinum” Mini also features many of the signature characteristics of Memorex's award-winning line of USB TravelDrives, including a slim design; cool, blue LED status indicator; reinforced aluminum lanyard connector with lanyard; ergonomic gripping area; and more.

BTC MP3 Player


I've had a BTC DVD drive before, and been less than impressed. I can only imagine what this thing can do. On the other hand, the specs look pretty impressive.
BTC's newly announced SG106 digital music player has all the features that a consumer could wish for: its fashionable appearance, small dimensions and scratchproof aluminum surface finish will surely entice many consumers. With a storage capacity of 6GB, which is larger than most competitors' products, the SG106 is capable of providing virtually endless listening pleasure. This high quality digital music player supports the most popular compression formats and allows users to save and listen to about 1500 songs in MP3, WMA ,WAVor OGG format. Besides playing back from the memory the player also features a built-in stereo FM receiver that gives users the opportunity to listen to and record FM broadcasts!

Gmail Drive


You know when you log into Gmail, it has that 2+ GB of storage space ticker? Well, most of us don't get that much spam. Here's a neat idea, and maybe even more convenient than a USB flash drive. After all, you can't lose this!
The two gigabytes of storage you get with a Gmail account seems like an enormous waste of space for just e-mail. You're not likely ever to fill it; were you to come close, Google would no doubt have doubled the space by then. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to use some of that storage for something other than mail?

Well, you can. A free piece of software and the know-how to change a few Gmail settings are all you need to turn your Gmail storage into a virtual hard drive you can access any time you're connected to the Internet.

20050918

Two Billion Phones!


Now that is A LOT of phones worldwide. I'm wondering it that counts all the outdated phones we all have in our drawers!
THE TOTAL number of mobile phone connexions globally has gone past 2 billion over this weekend, according to Wireless Intelligence. It took 20 years to reach the first billion but a mere three years to add the second billion.

20050917

Fill 'er up!


Want longer power for your MP3 player? This is an innovative, albeit, somewhat radical approach.
Toshiba today unveiled its latest fuel cell prototypes, this time targeting Flash- and hard disk-based MP3 players. The test units are integrated into the players rather than attached to them externally.

Don't expect to see the players or the fuel cells on sale any time soon - even Toshiba now reckons they won't see commercial availability until 2007 at the earliest.

I just hope this thing doesn't leak, or this could get messy.

20050916

If at 1st you don't succeed...



The so-called "gaming mouse" has evolved into a niche product. Gamers always demand the latest and best computer stuff, so why would they use a mouse designed for office tasks. Logitech has some great gaming mice out, at a premium price. Microsoft decided to join the party, but their attempt seems to fizzle.
Microsoft has, in general, made pretty good mice. This is one of its worst. It's as if someone in the marketing department saw all these gaming mice in Best Buy and CompUSA from Logitech and Razer and decided Microsoft needed to make one, so they took it upon themselves to design the whole thing themselves. It seems obvious that no gamer ever really tested this thing. The mouse is not comfortable to hold, doesn't move nearly as smoothly and accurately as other laser-powered mice, is too lightweight, and has terrible side button placement. The surface is shiny and smooth in a way that looks kind of neat in photos, but becomes annoyingly slick if your hands get a little sweaty in an intense gaming session.

Wireless Vital signs



Who says monitoring has to be invasive? This little patch can find out the essentials, and wirlessly send the info to your MD. Now only if the blood drawing was this painless.
Patients will attach this patch to their arm, and it will wirelessly transmit blood pressure, heart rate and blood oxygen levels to a handheld. (The data can also be transmitted by wire.) The handheld, in turn, will transmit the data to a doctor. The device is a prototype now, but it may go on the market next year.

Nanotechnology Robot


This robot is really small. These are timid steps, in a whole new area of technology.
"It's tens of times smaller in length, and thousands of times smaller in mass than previous untethered microrobots that are controllable," said designer Bruce Donald of Dartmouth University. "When we say ‘controllable,' it means it's like a car; you can steer it anywhere on a flat surface, and drive it wherever you want to go. It doesn't drive on wheels, but crawls like a silicon inchworm, making tens of thousands of 10-nanometer steps every second. It turns by putting a silicon 'foot' out and pivoting like a motorcyclist skidding around a tight turn."

Designing the perfect Lego set...


Now users can design their own Lego project, and buy the right parts directly from the source itself. No more piecing together multiple sets until they end up in a big jumble of parts in some carton!

Users of Lego Factory and Lego Digital Designer can design their own customizable models using the 3D modeling software. Users have figured out a way to modify the software that allows them to build the models in a more cost-efficient way.


Ready to try it? Here's the link. You can also view some projects by fellow Lego builders. Now this is progress!

Car + Computer = Carputer


If you've been yearning to digitize your driving experience, this is the long weekend project for you. Actually, it may take a couple of weekends when you see what these guys are up to.
Building and integrating a complete PC media center into your car is a substantial investment in time and money. It also takes significant planning, particularly for builders who want to fabricate OEM-style designs that blend into the factory dashboard aesthetic. Wiring diagrams reveal how complex these projects can get.


See some excellent commentary on this here.

20050914

1st LiteOn LightScribe Drive


LightScribe is the slick technology of "writing" a label onto the top of special discs. Only a few drives support it. Up until now, in the States, you had to buy an HP drive to be able to do this. Now LiteOn debuts a drive supporting LightScribe. The rest of the specs are state of the art. I hope that this brings this neat technology to the mainstream masses.
Lite-On SHW-16H5S specifications
Write speed
DVD+R DL 8x (Z-CLV)
DVD+R/RW 16x (CAV) / 8x (Z-CLV)
DVD-R DL 4x (CLV)
DVD-R/RW 16x (CAV) / 6x (CLV)
CD-R/RW 48x (CAV) / 24x (Z-CLV)
Read speed
CD/DVD-ROM 48x (CAV) / 16x (CAV)
LightScribe Labeling
CD-R/DVD+R 1.6x
Access time
CD/DVD-ROM 160 ms / 160 ms
Buffer size 2 MB

Yahoo Email Overhaul


Yahoo is making some changes to their email system. This may be in response to the Gmail (Google) approach. "New & Improved" is great, but expect some glitches.
YAHOO HAS started testing a version of its free e-mail service on real customers.
A chunk of the current e-mail accountholders will be shifted over today, although Yahoo is not saying who the guinea pigs are, although it is expected that there will be about a million of them.

The overhaul is being touted as the most extensive since Yahoo began offering free e-mail accounts eight years ago.

Supposedly, you'll be able to read your emails right from the inbox without having to switch back and forth. Computer mice are rejoicing everywhere!

iPod Nano Stress Test


You've got to love a site that would destroy a new Nano in the name of science.
The iPod nano is clearly intended to be Apple's new best-selling iPod product, as the iPod mini used to hold that title but no longer exists. And honestly, given all of the improvements that the iPod nano has seen over the mini and even regular-sized iPods, we can see it hitting that point in the very near future as Christmas decorations start showing up in stores sometime in mid-October.

Diehard iPod users who have gigs upon gigs of music will probably still avoid the nano because of its relatively small storage capacity in comparison with standard iPods. After all, the gap between the highest-end iPod nano and the lowest-end iPod is rather large—4GB vs. 20GB—but of course, with only a US$50 difference between the two, this strategic spacing is right out of Apple's playbook. However, iPod shuffle users and previous (or even current) iPod mini users may be very tempted to get an iPod nano now, given all of the new and shrunken bright & shiny features.

Or, if you're like us, you're one of Apple's most favorite customers of all: iPod adders. No matter what you already have, you'll want to add an iPod nano to your collection.

The nano is nearly perfect; it is amazingly small and packs almost all of the features of the iPod photo and a few more. If it weren't for its lack of Firewire, lack of compatibility with older accessories, and no current support for video output, I don't think we'd hesitate to give the nano a perfect ten. Those shortcomings drop the iPod nano's score a couple of points to a solid eight.

20050911

Third New Disc Format On Drawing Board




I think that Microsoft has too much money in their coffers, and doesn't know what to spend it on first. On Friday, I posted about their plan to get into monthly TV Guide services for DVD recorders. Now, with Blu Ray and HD discs in a battle to be the next thing in optical storage, Microsoft jumps into the fray. And just when Samsung was announcing a drive to unite the two competing formats.

We might have to agree with the poster here and realise that with Sony, Toshiba and their two blue-laser high definition formats fighting for acceptance, a red laser HD format will only serve to muddy the waters for the average Joe. Ironically, it's this very squabbling that has created the opening for the FVD format. In addition, the process is different enough from current red laser processes, compression and decoding techniques that the general consensus is it is not subject to normal royalty rights for DVD. This would allow the local producers of optical discs and drives to enter the global market (China alone is a huge market) without paying royalty costs to the big international formats.

Just for comparison, the FVD format will be able to produce first-generation discs with a storage capacity of 5.4GB for single-layer discs, and 9.8GB for double-layer discs. The ITRI has more information and a nice table to compare FVD to DVD on this page, if you would like to read the complete specs.


And to make matters one step worse, this FVD standard only has marginally more storage than current DVD's. If we're going to go buy new toys, it should be for more than 0.7 GB more in the single layer ones, and 1 gig for the double layers.