Archive for January 10th, 2008
Baby-Travel.com invites designers, students & inventors worldwide to design a product relating to the world of traveling with babies, toddlers and their parents. Deadline 31st March 2008. You are invited to investigate the future design of the work environment! Deadline 30th June 2008.
Duncan Wilson created Otto with Manolis Kelaidis at the Royal College of Art. OTTO (Greek for ‘ear’) is a device that makes hidden sounds audible. This is achieved via a thin polymer piezoelectric contact that senses weak vibrations and plays them as a sound through an integrated speaker. OTTO can be positioned on almost any surface through a combination of suction and magnets. By placing several units on different objects, one can select and create a new sonic experience and a form of ambient music appreciation, thereby utilising our space as a multidirectional audio platform. Every object and surface in our environment has a whisper; subtle tremors and vibrations that are usually undetectable to the human ear, produced by the activity and movement of daily life. What if these sounds were audible? How would that change our aural awareness, perception of space and attitude towards objects? Would it be possible to ‘compose’ our own soundtrack using our walls and objects as a new form of instruments? Madsounds is a proposal for a different appreciation of our environment, space and objects by making it possible to identify, combine and manipulate these sounds. More projects from the RCA. Filed under: Car Tech, Cell Phones, CES 2008  Add dMedia to the list of companies that have caught WiMax fever. The company’s next-gen WiMax-based cell phone, the F200, is sure to inspire gadget lust in even the most hardened of cynics. Now that WiMax — the next-gen, wide-area wireless network — is beginning to catch fire across the globe, companies like dMedia are rushing to get innovative products to the market that will take advantage of the new mobile broadband technology. The F200 is candy bar styled phone with dual touch screens that have standard cell phone call and end buttons and a directional pad. The screens can operate independently or in conjunction with each other, meaning you can use the built in GPS on the top screen to get turn-by-turn directions, while browsing the Internet or placing a call on the bottom screen over WiMax or a standard GSM or EDGE cell phone network such as AT&T or T Mobile. In addition to GPS, the F200 features an electronic compass and a G sensor for aiding in navigation even when GPS satellites are unavailable, such as when driving through a tunnel. Of course, the phone also has the standard features you’d expect on a high end phone — Bluetooth, two-megapixel camera, etc. Pricing or launch date are not available, but dMedia claims to have a working prototype, though it was only showing a mock up at CES. Related Links:
Filed under: Audio/Video, iPod, CES 2008  Asus isn’t just in the market of making laptops and computer parts. Asus also makes an award winning line of Internet radios. At this year’s CES, the company is showing off two new members of its AIR (Asus Internet Radio) family. The AIR 3 allows you to pull in radio streams over Wi-Fi from all around the globe, without a computer. The internal database of over 10,000 streams is updated regularly, weeding out those that have fallen silent and adding new ones as they go live. The AIR 3 also has a built in iPod dock, a USB port for playing tracks off of a Flash drive, as well as weather forecasting and stock tracking widgets.  The AIR 5 is meant for a component stereo system. The screen-less Wi-Fi device has the same USB and Internet radio capabilities as the AIR 3, but also includes a hard drive for storing music locally. The included remote allows you to navigate your media and Internet streams via the LCD display. Prices were not available, but expect to see the AIR 3 in May, and the AIR 5 in July. Related Links:
Filed under: Computers  If you’ve ever been through customs, you’re probably well aware that the kind, uniformed agents can sift through your personal belongings as they please and ask you what you’ve been up to, where you’re headed, and just what it is you’re bringing back with you. Now, with more and more travelers taking their computers with them, it’s becoming more and more clear that those custom agents can look through your digital files as well. There have been a number of cases tried, most of them involving agents who have found child pornography, and in general, agents have been shown to have the right to snoop wherever they look. There is one dissenting voice, however, a Federal Judge in Los Angeles who stated that “Electronic storage devices function as an extension of our own memory.” But, his opinion was overruled in appeals, where judges opined that if the content on a machine was printed it would definitely be searchable. The waters surrounding this issue are still somewhat less than crystal clear, but it should be clear that if you plan on taking something questionable with you on your laptop as you travel abroad this summer, you should definitely think twice. From Techdirt and ‘New York Times‘ Related Links:
Filed under: Cellphones, CES, Features  While most of the US is just getting their first glimpse of the Neonode N2, we’ve got the Neonode N2.5 for you dear readers. We were assured that this engineering prototype features a heftier battery to offset complaints raised by N2 owners. The other complaint — lack of 3G data — is also solved. It will also feature A2DP-enabled Bluetooth 2.1 (yes, 2.1) when its ships (no time specified) and a big fat 3G radio of unspecified type. Thing is, this time, the N2.5 is specifically targeted at the US market with Neonde already starting to sort through the carrier quagmire in order to bring it to market. WiFi? Maybe, that all depends upon the carrier’s demands. Other than those changes, it features the same UI and touch screen technology of the tiny N2 which is fine by us. The only question now is how consumers react to it’s new chubby profile. Update: Neonode wants us to remind you that this is a prototype design. As such, you can expect revisions (particularly after they read your comments).
Filed under: Cellphones, CES, Features, Handhelds  So this is a really early version of the FreeRunner, but mad love to FIC for bringing it out for us all to play with nonetheless. The first thing you’ll notice is that it’s still sporting its predecessor’s “Neo1973″ branding, an indiscretion we were promised would be put to bed prior to the scheduled spring launch to OpenMoko’s developer community. Anyone used to toting a smartphone of average size could totally get used to carrying the FreeRunner around, which we think is probably key to the device’s success outside the enthusiast community. The current build of the software, though, is another matter entirely — it’s in a pretty raw alpha state right now and hugh swaths of core functionality appear to be missing. Then again, they’ve got a few good weeks until spring, and even then the FreeRunner will find its way into hackers’ hands before the masses; they’ve got some solid-feeling, solid-spec’d hardware here and we’re still really hopeful that the final product is going to rock.
Filed under: Cellphones, CES, GPS, Handhelds, Wireless  Let’s put aside Qualcomm’s legal woes for just a moment and turn our attention to something a little more interesting and heartwarming: awesome-looking prototype devices. The company is showing off a pair of reference designs showcasing its new Snapdragon chipset, a heap of silicon said to offer one of the best power to performance ratios in the mobile world. First up, the “Fairbanks” is Qualcomm’s idea of what a next-gen dedicated GPS unit might look like, rocking a 3 megapixel still / video camera, TV tuner, and microSD expansion |
