Yesterday we got a peak at the combined power of nanotubes—technology that makes a rope-driven space elevator feasible—but what can just one do on its own? Berkeley researchers have discovered that one nanotube can be used as a tiny platform to determine of mass of a single atom.
When placed on the nanotube, the atom vibrates it ala diving board. This vibration is the key to the atom\'s mass, but measuring it proved a feat in itself. Researchers realized that by using radio waves they could overcome this obstacle and record the data.
The system could replace the mass spectrometer as the "holy grail" of atomic-level mass measurement tools. [NYTimes via KurzweilAI]
If you were going to sell radioactive cellphones loaded with tritium—from Hiroshima, Japan, no less—you should probably check to make sure that they\'re not twenty-six times the amount legally allowed. You know, just so you\'re not arrested by the cops for not having special permission from the Ministry of Science and Technology to even handle the substance. On the other hand, if you\'re making a living selling lanyards for between $47 and $61 each, we wouldn\'t blame you for begin Johnny No-Law. [Yomiuri via CrunchGear]
This cruise ship is called the Whampoa and it is stranded in a gigantic pool in the middle of Hong Kong\'s largest private housing state: Whampoa Garden. However, this Love Boat is sailing to nowhere: it\'s just a huge shopping mall full of restaurants, shops, and a hotel, built to look like a cruise ship. Looking at it up close, it really looks like one, down to the metal finish. In Google Maps, you realize how huge this thing is:
The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.
And now, the obligatory 80s reference you were all waiting for:
Love, exciting and new Come Aboard. We\'re expecting you. Love, life\'s sweetest reward. Let it flow, it floats back to you.
Love Boat soon will be making another run The Love Boat promises something for everyone Set a course for adventure, Your mind on a new romance.
Love won\'t hurt anymore It\'s an open smile on a friendly shore. Yes LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It\'s LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! (hey-ah!)
Love Boat soon will be making another run The Love Boat promises something for everyone Set a course for adventure, Your mind on a new romance.
Love won\'t hurt anymore It\'s an open smile on a friendly shore. It\'s LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It\'s LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It\'s LOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It\'s the Love Boat-ah! It\'s the Love Boat-ah!
Come on, sing it. You know you want to. Sing it! [stuff4restaurants—thanks Lola]
Here\'s how you can use the reverse concept of using AIM on your computer to directly message someone\'s phone via SMS to save money on text messaging fees for your iPhone—or any phone that has a proper data implementation of AIM. Just load up the AIM app on your phone, then send a text message to the number of the person you want to text. Example: +12125551234. Your buddy can reply to that message and you\'ll get the response on your chat window, but it\'s not as useful as it can be until the iPhone gets background messaging in September. Still, spamming Jesus with free text messages is always fun. [Max OS X Hints]
In a world where fonts are people, Times New Roman is king. But also, Wingdings is annoying and talks in gibberish, Arial Narrow is a racist, and Futura is a sexy lady from the future. How awesome is this?
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, the folks behind such innovations as the color bar test pattern, want to codify a standard for watching 3-D content in home theaters. They\'re casting the net wide to include all possible sources and displays, from over-the-air broadcast to DVDs and Blu-ray. Ars points out that Hollywood is both excited to sell you their movies again, this time in glorious 3-D, and worried about potential lost revenues at 3-D theater screenings of, say, George Lucas\'s 3-D Star Wars remake. [Ars Technica]
The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Those of you clamoring for an Apple tablet may finally get what you\'ve been waiting for. According to a MacDailyNews source who leaked wireless iTunes a week before its official announcement, we can expect a sort of "MacBook touch" in October. And the source wasn\'t light on the details, either:
Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like, but fuller-featured multi-touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X. This is why they bought P.A. Semi. Possibly with Immersion\'s haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS. Pretty expensive to produce initially, but sold at "low" price that will reduce margins. Apple wants to move these babies. And move they will. This is some sick shit. App Store-compatible, able to run Mac apps, too. By October at the latest.
In all honesty, we may have passed this story up, but we\'ve heard vague reports from reliable sources that Quanta is busy building a touch product for Apple. This latest information seems seems to complement what we\'ve heard. [MacDailyNews]
UPDATE: A post over at AppleInsider might have some more light to shed on the story. At the recent earnings talk, Apple promised a product transition by the end of September with "technologies and features that others can\'t match" at a profit margin that no one else can approach (read: cheaper stuff). The plot thickens!
It\'s always great when companies break out of their stodgy PR molds and just go for it—remember those fantastic tokusatsu Norton Fighter ads? Here we have Hitachi, no strangers to the out-of-the-box viral video, ushering us all into the "Tera Era," a magical wonderland of smiling flowers, talking bytes, hard disk actuator suns, and catchy Schoolhouse Rock jingles. The juxtaposition of traditional PR-speak on their YouTube page which looks like a clown threw up all over it ("This amazing collision of Capacity, Content and Culture") and this video, which is just another kind of PR-speak, is still pretty incredible. Check out the original "Get Perpendicular" spot for comparison below.
A new set of in-ear phones to be released in Japan later this year is claiming to be the first to have speaker drivers small enough to actually fit inside your ear canal. Usually the drivers are in the bulbous part of the buds, with a narrow hollow channel leading into the ear. JVC is claiming better sound and isolation because there\'s less room between your eardrum and the speaker. I love in-ear phones, but personally I\'m fine with giving my tympanic membranes a little breathing room. [Tech ON]
Augmented reality on cellphones is not new, but given the screen size of the iPhone, this application by ARToolWorks looks promising for both gaming and location-based applications (imagine seeing information about a place, or the live 3D reconstruction of the Roman Coliseum, by just pointing your iPhone camera). Unfortunately, given Apple\'s SDK limitations, we are not going to see this in the App Store anytime soon:
It\'s running slowly, but once Apple releases a video [API for the iPhone] SDK, performance should get to 20-30 frames/second. We\'ve all seen the awesome 3D games that can run on the iPhone, so fast AR applications will also be possible in the future, with all that multi-touch goodness thrown in as well.
Looking at the demo, and knowing the amount of coding it took for the video alone, it may slow but it feels very promising. [Artoolworks — Thanks Mark]
Apparently, the new attraction at Sony\'s Tokyo headquarters is a gigantic 200-inch display showing HD underwater footage in 3D. The footage was shot by divers in the Okanawa aquarium with a couple of high-end Sony cameras, but what we\'re really interested in is that display. What is it?
There\'s not much info that we can find online, but it\'s almost definitely not some new 200-inch TV. That sort of thing would have been wheeled out at CES to show Panasonic what\'s up. Perhaps it’s a custom job with two panels stitched together? A projection? Maybe it\'s just a really fancy aquarium that\'s gussied up to look like a display? I\'m not sure, but from the photos it looks very big and very nice. Anyone have the goods? Inquiring minds want to know. [New Launches]
WowWee, makers of fine programmable robotic toys, is stepping back a bit with the "Alive" series of animatronic beasts sporting realistic skeletons that move according to how much attention they\'re given. You can\'t load custom Java code onto this White Tiger Cub though, so if that\'s your thing, stick with the RoboSapiens or, perhaps, an equally cuddly Pleo, which has its own upcoming SDK. The cub does have plenty of movements in its repertoire though, and it\'s kind of creepy to watch.
I\'m a sucker for animatronic noises. They always make me laugh for some reason.
We\'d previously suggested a May 8th date for the much-anticipated Nokia E71 cellphone, but it looks like the actual US launch is about to happen. Rumors are that Nokia\'s Flagship Store in Chicago has already got its first shipment, and has been contacting customers on the waiting list. The dual band WCDMA phone is apparently to be unveiled at a launch party this Thursday. So if you\'re on a list, for $480 you could be clutching the QWERTY keypad, GPS-enabled device in just 48 hours. [BoyGeniusReport]
There\'s nothing particularly technologically innovative about the Beam Bed, but it uses a sunburst-shaped lighting and support system to emit a glorious glow that\'s perfect for wooing the ladies/thwarting the monsters. As we\'ve long been scared of both said species, we\'re pleased to see that the furniture market is finally catering to our insecurities with no shortage of style. Now just to find some plastic "rainburst" sheets and all of our sleeping abnormalities will be cured at last. [Lago via CribCandy]
It may be tired to bring up Minority Report, but remember the scenes in the movie where our hero gets bothered by interactive targeted advertising wherever he goes? Thanks to dear ol\' NEC, this nightmare of advert pestering may really be in our future: its new ad display panel watches its watchers with a camera, then tailors the adverts to the audience. The 50-inch plasma\'s camera and software doesn\'t quite go so far as identifying specific people, but it does guess at age and sex and then offers you the chance to grab data on the products wirelessly to a cellphone. It\'ll be demoed at Fuji Television\'s festival in Tokyo: go along and see how irritating (or not) the future of advertising may be, if you\'re interested. [Times of India via Dvice]
Either that or their agency just really loves Thomas Friedman. Anyhow, Microsoft\'s $300 million campaign to return fire after Apple\'s "Mac vs. PC" ads with our buddy John Hodgman—which, like it or not, were a wildly successful campaign and definitely helped shape the public\'s perception of Vista—has begun with this image from microsoft.com, comparing the potential realization that Vista doesn\'t suck to the debunking of the flat earth theory. It took a bold voyage to the New World by one Christopher Columbus to change everyone\'s mind on the first one—but Microsoft is hoping a little ad campaign will do the trick to clean up the gross misconception the public (and tons of Windows users) seem to have about Vista.
It makes sense that Microsoft is going for a more conceptual ad here, rather than tick off a list of everything that people should perceive Vista is good at (they already do that on the page the ad points to). I can think of a lot of other future installments, like "At one point, everyone thought witches walked among us" or "At one point, people thought they could turn lead into gold," or "At one point, people thought that it was a good idea to shit into ditches alongside the city streets." The campaign basically writes itself—why don\'t you guys give is a whirl. [ZDNet via CrunchGear]
It\'s tough to make out much from these shots, but according to their source, they are of the next PSP (the PSP model 3000). The specs include a built-in microphone as well as an updated button set that replaces the "Home" button with a PlayStation button (to more closely resemble the PS3).
Other than those tidbits, we have little more information on the alleged update other than that it could include "cellphone support." And from the looks of this back casing, it doesn\'t seem that the next PSP will be much, if any, thinner than its predecessor. [PSP China BBS via Kotaku]
Bad news for TiVo subscribers—the company is about to reach for new levels of advertising debauchery. If you thought those banners in the TiVo menu system were bad, know that the company is about to take things a big step further and invade actual television programming with Amazon as their partner. From the NY Times:
Owners of TiVo video recorders will see, in TiVo’s various onscreen menus, links to buy products like CDs, DVDs and books that guests are promoting on talk shows like “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Late Show With David Letterman” and “The Daily Show.”
That much is unrolling today. As for the future...
In the months ahead, TiVo plans to begin offering this feature to advertisers and programmers, so that the chance to buy products and have them delivered will be presented to viewers during commercials and even alongside product placements during live shows.
There was no mention of an option to opt-in to the ads.
In a completely unrelated announcement, I have two TiVo HDs for sale. [NYTimes]
Garmin has just announced a new member of the Nuvi GPS range, the 500 series. In a first for Nuvi, the rugged, waterproof 500 units are specifically designed to be multipurpose, with maps for driving, walking, cycling and boating built in. For out-doorsy types, there\'s a shaded digital elevation map option, and a dedicated compass page and tracklog. Plus the battery is a swappable 8-hour Li-ion type, so you can carry a spare for extended trips away from a power source. The 500 comes with City Navigator, and topographic maps of the US, while the 550 has highway coverage of the US and Canada, but no topographic data. The units are on show at the British International Motor show in London form today, and go on sale soon in the US for $499. Press release below.
SOUTHAMPTON, England, July 22
Garmin the global leader in satellite navigation, today announced its first multi-use nĂĽvi portable navigation device (PND) dedicated to walking, cycling, scootering, driving and boating in one rugged easy-to-use unit. The nĂĽvi 500 series comes equipped with the latest technology from Garmin including NavTeq sophisticated mapping data and the ability to accept different types of mapping including TOPO for outdoor navigation and Blue Chart cartography for marine usage.
Clive Taylor, Garmin\'s Director of Product, said, "The nĂĽvi 500 series is a true chameleon in the gadget world, it extends the use of GPS across the range, from walking to cycling to driving to boating. It\'s ideal for individuals or families who want to go and explore the great outdoors in every way they can. With the built-in compass and integrated Wherigo(TM) and Geocaching player the sat-nav\'s use is extended beyond just navigating: Users can enjoy the fun of the many family treasure hunts and adventures available online."
The new waterproof nĂĽvi 500 series combines the latest Garmin navigation technology including Hotfix(TM), detailed NavTeq mapping, millions of points of interest (POIs) and traffic avoidance compatibility, for the times when sitting in a traffic jam is not an option. In addition, the nĂĽvi 500 series comes standard with Garmin\'s popular "Where am I?" safety feature. At any time, with a single tap of the car icon, drivers can display their exact latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations, fuel stations and recovery service telephone number. In addition, with Garmin Connect Photos, users can choose from millions of geo-located images provided by Google\'s Panoramio to photo-navigate on land or water.
With one touch, the nĂĽvi 500 transitions between walking, biking, driving or boating mode;
Walking and outdoor pursuits
Ready for the great outdoors, the nĂĽvi 500 models display shaded digital elevation mapping on the 3.5" water-proof touchscreen. This series comes standard with a compass page, track log and a removable, rechargeable battery for extended outdoor use. The integrated Wherigo(TM) and Geocaching player means the nĂĽvi 500 series is ideal for getting the family to enjoy the great outdoors with the many downloadable \'adventures and treasure hunts\' available online. Optional TOPO mapping will give additional detailed maps.
- Wherigo is a toolset for creating and playing GPS-enabled adventures in the real world. Use GPS technology to guide you to physical locations and interact with virtual objects and characters. http://www.wherigo.com
- Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game where individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, the visitor may be provided with a wide variety of rewards, all a visitor has to do is ensure that if rewarded, they leave a gift for the next person who finds the cache. http://www.geocaching.com
Cycling/scootering
Where the nĂĽvi 500 series stands out is in its ability to fit comfortably on a scooter or bicycle. Its user interface is easy to control and, with directions via Bluetooth and a scooter mount as standard in select European markets or optional extra everywhere else, it\'s a great fit for getting around the busy town centres of Europe. The nĂĽvi 500 series has a rugged design with UVA/B & fuel resistant material and bright clear screen that can be seen even in strong sunlight. If the weather turns and the rain comes down, its waterproof body ensures that the turn-by-turn directions get you to your destination using the most direct route and in the quickest time.
Driving
The nĂĽvi 500 series\' intuitive interface greets you with two simple questions: "Where To?" and "View Maps." Touch the colour screen to easily look up addresses and services and get voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions to your destination. It comes preloaded with City Navigator(R) NT map data European region or individual country. It\'s packed with millions of POIs and features digital elevation maps that show you shaded terrain contours at higher zoom levels. With the nĂĽvi 500 series, you can also upload custom POIs such as \'The Good Pub Guide\' and \'Falk-Marco Polos Travel Guide\' offering thousands of great places to drink, eat and visit.
Boating
When loaded with optional BlueChart(R) g2 Vision marine cartography, the nĂĽvi 500 series is great on the water, providing detailed chart-specific information, spot soundings, inter tidal zones, wrecks, port plans, restricted areas and more. The nĂĽvi 500 is ideal for the occasional boating enthusiast who wants one navigational device for foot, car, bike or boat.
The nĂĽvi 500 and 550 for Europe come preloaded with either country-specific City Navigator NT Map Data (500) or full European City Navigator NT Map Data (550) with detailed street and topographic mapping.
The nĂĽvi 550 will be available in the UK in September at a RRP of GBP299
See the Garmin nĂĽvi 500 series on Stand N118 - British International Motor Show at ExCel, London - 23 July - 3 August 2008: http://www.britishmotorshow.co.uk
The 2008 International Design Excellence Awards are in. These are like the Oscars of the industrial design world, taking the pulse of what\'s going on, highlighting tons of weird and wonderful gadgets. We have picked the best, the weirdest, and the most wonderful, from laser liners that look like Wall-E\'s Eve evil twin, microwave containers with lids, and wall-mounted home server enclosures straight out of Star Trek, to self-propelled sprayers (like me), NYC condom dispensers/wrappers (no connection there), a "vibrating massager" that looks like an aubergine, and even a precision timing detonation system.
The Gadget: Dyno Nobel Super EZ Connector - Precision Timing Detonation System What it is: "Dyno Nobel\'s Super EZ Connectors form the attachments of a precision, non-electric, timed detonation system used in blasting. They link together shocktubes, a type of specialized fuse which burns at a rate of 7000 feet per second." Why we like it: They look like Scalextric controls. They make things explode. What is not to like.
The Gadget: Jimmyjane FORM 6 Water-Resistant, Rechargeable Vibrating Massager What it is: "Form 6 is the only rechargeable vibrating massager that is also water-resistant, making it suitable for use in the shower." Why we like it: Water-resistant. Rechargeable. Vibrator. As if anyone needed any more reasons why.
The Gadget: Geode Microwave What it is: "Geode is a high-efficiency microwave that is more intuitive, attractive, efficient and sustainable than standard models. It is composed of two parts: a base and a lid." Why we like it: It looks amazingly good—as opposed to your usual fugly microwave oven—and it\'s incredibly useful. Too bad this one is just a concept for now.
The Gadget: Hitachi Laser Liner Series What it is: "The Hitachi Laser Liner Series is ideal for the positioning of slope structures such as stairs, handrails, internal building structures, electric lighting facilities and the alignments of tile joints for outer walls or plastering." Why we like it: It looks like an evil robot. Too bad the laser can be set from "line up" to "stun" to "DESTROY HUMANS."
The Gadget: Belkin TuneStudio What it is: "TuneStudio is a compact four-channel mixer for the iPod." Why we like it: Knobs. Pointy ones.
The Gadget: Lite2go Lamp What it is: "The lite2go is a sustainably-designed household lamp that sheds the excess of packaging by eliminating it all together." Why we like it: The lamp is the package is the lamp.
The Gadget: Parruda Self-Propelled Sprayer What it is: "This (vehicle) is an upgrade from the self-propelled Parruda Sprayer launched in 2000, which incorporates technological, functional and style enhancements designed to meet the requirements of agricultural input consumers." It uses GPS, has new headlights, and increased field of vision. Why we like it: A vehicle. To spray. The cockpit, the wheels, the handrails, all looks space-age weird and that\'s why we like it. That and the fact that I\'m picturing myself driving it down the US1 from NYC to the Florida keys in one of these, spraying everyone with, humm, dunno, some kind of sprayable thing.
The Gadget: The Amphibian™ Dynamic Scuba Fin What it is: "This design allows divers to walk and climb boat ladders without removing their fins." Why we like it: So simple, and knowing the pain it is to do this, so effective. I want them. Also, it\'s called amphibian, like some of the ladies of the world.
The Gadget: The Mule What it is: "The Mule is an all-in-one stacker, transporter and portable work bench, designed for ease of use and to help increase productivity and reduce workplace injuries. It has a tough, steel-framed platform that can handle up to 350 pounds of material." Why we like it: Not to be confused by its Boston Dynamics\' relative, this Mule useful in so many ways, sturdy, and lets you get out your manly DIY instincts to abandon them two hours later, when you wake up in the hospital without three of your fingers and a major head contusion.
The Gadget: frog Light Bulb What it is: "The light bulb concept takes the form of the traditional light bulb, but one-ups it in efficiency by using a high-output LED as the light source. This prototype also uses half the power of a fluorescent while lasting ten times longer." Why we like it: We like our friends at frog design. I like this light even more, because I love the shape of the classic bulb and I would hate to see it disappear in a fashion-disco-club nightmare of minimalist LED lights.
The Gadget: Speedglas™ SL (Super Light) What it is: "Speedglas SL is a welding helmet with an auto-darkening filter to protect the eyes." Why we like it: It\'s the world\'s lightest welding helmet and it looks like a helmet I would wear while trying to battle cyber-dragons in sci-fi Middle Earth. And one more thing: Flashdance.
The Gadget: SylvanSport GO - Mobile Adventure Gear What it is: "This is a three-in-one towable vehicle that morphs from a compact, traveling profile to a rugged toy-hauler mode to a spacious and comfortable camping configuration." Why we like it: TRANSFORMERS. And apparently you can go camping with it.
The Gadget: The RidgeRunner™ What it is: "The RidgeRunner is designed to increase safety and efficiency for construction workers as they install wooden roof trusses. Placement of a truss requires a worker at the peak to align and brace it." Why we like it: Not that we are going to install wooden roof trusses anytime soon, but the heavy-duty industrial look of the RidgeRunner makes me want to start doing that now.
The Gadget: Touch Sight What it is: "Touch Sight is a revolutionary digital camera designed for visually impaired people. Simple features make it easy to use, including a unique feature which records sound for three seconds after pressing the shutter button. The user can then use the sound as reference when reviewing and managing the photos. Touch Sight does not have an LCD but instead has a lightweight, flexible Braille display sheet which displays a 3D image by embossing the surface, allowing the user to touch their photo." Why we like it: The design is simple and the idea is great, specially the Braille display sheet with embossed images. Too bad this one is just a concept too (designed by Samsung).
The Gadget: Armarac - 19\' Wall Mounter Server Enclosure What it is: "The Armarac represents the evolution of the traditional 19-inch computer rack. It is the world\'s first zero-footprint, compact, wall-mounted enclosure for computer and networking equipment." Why we like it: I want to put a few servers when I move to my new NYC apartment and I don\'t want a horrible mini-rack. Neither I would have the space. This seems like the perfect solution, it\'s smart and it will look great (even if I install it in a closet.)
The Gadget: Artengo RollNet What it is: "Rollnet makes it possible to play table tennis in apartments or outdoors, on big tables and small tables — wherever someone feels like striking up a game." Why we like it: For those of your how play table tennis, being able to do it anywhere, without a full table, the RollNet is perfect. For the rest of us, we just like the concept and the looks.
The Gadget: Bloomberg Flexible Display What it is: "This highly flexible and compact dual-head display allows subscribers to the Bloomberg Professional to easily adjust the screen\'s display height, angle, vertical and horizontal orientations for optimum use with different software tools." Why we like it: One day, displays will look almost invisible from their sides, and be configurable in any way possible. The Bloomberg Flexible Display brings that day a lot closer. >This< close.
The Gadget: NYC Condom Dispenser/NYC Condom Wrapper What it is: "The New York City Condom and Dispenser is an initiative of the NYC Department of Health, since the free distribution of condoms is an effective measure against HIV infections and unwanted pregnancies." Why we like it: Because.
As you can see, it\'s refreshing to see that great design gets applied to every single aspect of our lives. [IDEA awards]
Repurposing the design of a kid\'s toy rocket into an innovative gun may sound pretty dark, but it creates a weapon with selectable lethality. Rockets made by Lund and Company Invention of Chicago use a liquid hydrogen variable fuel-air mix to give a selectable-power launch, and now the US Army is funding research to apply the tech to guns. The Variable Velocity Weapon System uses a similar liquid or gaseous fuel-air mix in a combustion chamber to propel bullets from the rifle, which lets you set the bullet speed as non-lethal at 33 feet to lethal at 330 feet, for example. Current research VVWS are .50 calibre rifles, but the design is scalable from "handgun to howizter." Sounds like a useful addition to a soldier\'s arsenal, though I suspect there\'ll be plenty of worries of the "I used the wrong setting" type. [New Scientist]
Previously named the DS400GB, the SmartMirror is a GPS system that is mounted in place of your conventional rear-view mirror, and has a rear-facing cam input. With Navigon Mobile Navigator 6.5 inside, it\'s got "reality view", a 4-inch touchscreen, integrated speakers and Bluetooth and takes SD cards. It\'s actually got two inputs for rear-view cameras, which may be good news for the parking-skill-challenged. It sounds like a neat solution, but I\'m a little unconvinced that mounting a GPS high up there on the windscreen isn\'t actually going to distract you from looking in the rear-view mirror— after all, we know how distracting GPS can be. SmartMirror will be available August 1st for $799. [Navigadget]
It\'s the third birthday of Sony Ericsson\'s Walkman phone label, and to celebrate it\'s launching three new music-based cellphones. The W302 and W902 (left, center in the image) are both candybar cells, with the 302 having an FM radio, and 2-megapixel cam, and the 902 with a 5-megapixel cam and apparently matching the high audio quality of the W980 phone. The W595 is a slide phone with built-in stereo speakers so users can "share sounds with their friends" (read: annoy passers-by with irritating tunes) but it also has twin jacks so you can share music privately. All four phones are quad-band GSM, have "shake control," come in a selection of colors and will hit the streets at the end of the year. Press release below, which also details some new accessories like wireless portable speakers.
To coincide with the Walkman™ phone’s third birthday, Sony Ericsson has unveiled three brand new mobile phones giving music on the go to more users than ever. Best-in-class sound quality takes music on your mobile to the next level.
London July 22 - Building on three year’s experience and technology 30 years in the making, Sony Ericsson continues to lead the way in the mobile phone music arena with cutting edge music technology and unique accessories.
Today, Sony Ericsson unveils its latest innovative additions to the Walkman™ phone family: the W902, W595 and W302, and seven new music accessories. Sony Ericsson is unveiling phones and accessories with superior sound quality and pioneering features that take Walkman™ phones beyond music and expectations with fantastic extras such as great imaging and video capabilities.
“Since the launch of our first Walkman™ phone in 2005, Sony Ericsson has continued to pioneer a superior mobile music experience - and the 77 million Walkman™ phones sold to date are testament to this commitment,” says Ben Padley, Head of the Music Category at Sony Ericsson. “With this latest range of phones and accessories, we are offering high quality sound and a rich feature set that cements our position as a leader in the music phone category. We are pushing the boundaries of what people think is possible and are offering best-in-class sound quality and our most exciting Walkman™ phones to date.”
The list of pioneering and innovative features found on Walkman™ phones continues to be unmatched in the industry. Features like the music recognition application TrackID™, SensMe™, for matching your mood to the music and Shake control to change tracks with the flick of your hand make Walkman™ phones stand out from the rest.
Sony Ericsson can now also announce best-in-class sound quality and a clear audio experience from its W902 Walkman™. The W902 features the same superior sound quality as the W980, about to launch shortly, which was rated ”best audio experience” this month, in a trial conducted in Germany by TESTfactory*.
With the W902, users can listen to music the way it should be heard: true to original. It’s also a mobile phone for those that want it all, with a five megapixel camera and great video capturing and sharing capabilities, an 8GB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2) for storing more than 8,000 songs**, the W902 is a top-of-the-range device that will make you the envy of your friends.
The W595 Walkman™ is perfect for those who want to share sounds with their friends. Store and play more than 1,900 songs** through the built in stereo speakers. Plug in the in-box sharing jack to listen silently to your tunes with a friend or Bluetooth™ your sounds to Sony Ericsson’s range of wireless speakers.
The new W302 Walkman™ is packed with impressive features in an affordable no-compromise slim handset. Targeting all audiences, the phone comes complete with an impressive two megapixel camera, FM radio, TrackID™ and 512MB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2).
The next generation of accessories includes three new sets of speakers, the MBS-200, MBS-400 and MPS-100, to help music lovers go beyond the individual and play music directly from their mobile phone. Enhancing its music accessories collection Sony Ericsson has also introduced three new stereo headphones, HBH-IS800, HPM-88 and HPM-66 for the optimal listening experience.
The Walkman™ phone through history Walkman™ phone continues to chart high
• August 2005 – Sony Ericsson launches its very first Walkman™ phone – the W800 • December 2005 - Three million Walkman™ phones sold to date • April 2006 – Sony Ericsson launches its first Walkman™ phone music accessories; MPS-60 portable speakers, which goes on to sell millions of units worldwide • October 2006 – Sony Ericsson launches its first slider Walkman™ phone – the W850 which also introduces the unique TrackID™ music recognition application • November 2006 –Sony Ericsson launches the W950 Walkman™ with the biggest storage yet - 4GB • December 2006 – 20 million Walkman™ phones sold to date • February 2007 – Sony Ericsson launches its slimmest Walkman™ - the W880 • November 2007 – W910 Walkman™ phone with Turbo 3G/HSDPA launches as a complete entertainment device • December 2007 – Walkman™ phone sales hit 57 million • February 2008 – Sony Ericsson launches the W350, with Walkman™ on top and W380 with gesture control • July 2008 – W980 Walkman™ phone with clear audio experience launches
With Sony Ericsson today music is reborn. What are you waiting for? Join the Walkman™ phone family and experience music how it was meant to be heard.
For more information visit www.sonyericsson.com/reveals
The W302 Walkman™ is an EDGE/GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in selected markets in Midnight Black and Sparkling White in Q4 of 2008.
The W902 Walkman™ is a UMTS/HSDPA 2100 and EDGE/GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in selected markets in Volcanic Black, Wine Red and Earth Green in Q4 of 2008.
The W595 Walkman™ is a UMTS/HSDPA 2100 and EDGE/GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in selected markets in Active Blue, Cosmopolitan White, Jungle Grey and Lava Black in Q4 of 2008.
The W595c Walkman™ is a GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in selected markets in Active Blue, Cosmopolitan White and Jungle Grey in Q4 of 2008.
The W595a Walkman™ is a GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in selected markets in Active Blue, Cosmopolitan White, Jungle Grey and Lava Black in Q4 of 2008.
The Wireless Portable Speaker MBS-200 will be available in selected markets from Q4 2008.
The Wireless Portable Speaker MBS-400 will be available in selected markets from Q4 2008.
The Portable Speakers MPS-100 will be available in selected markets from Q4 2008
The Wireless Stereo Headphones HBH-IS800 will be available in selected markets from Q4 2008
The Noise Cancelling Headphones HPM-88 will be available in selected markets from Q4 2008
The Active Headphones HPM-66 will be available in selected markets from Q4 2008
It\'s an interesting week in the world of LEDs: on the weekend we heard about ultra-cheap ones, and today Osram (yes, the lightbulb people) has news that they\'ve pushed white LEDs to world-record brightness. By optimizing the diode, light converter and the package, their lab test squeezed 500 lumens out of a single LED at 1.4A. That\'s bright enough for projector tech, and certainly makes the single unit good for car lighting and even interior lights. At a lower, more optimal, current the 1mm-square white LED had an efficiency of 136 lumens/W which makes it about twice as efficient as standard fluorescent lamps and 10 times a normal bulb. Press release below.
OSRAM Achieves Quantum Leap in Brightness and Efficiency of White LEDs
SANTA CLARA, Calif. —(Business Wire)— Jul. 21, 2008 By improving all the technologies involved in the manufacture of LEDs, OSRAM development engineers have achieved new records for the brightness and efficiency of white LEDs in the laboratory. Under standard conditions with an operating current of 350 mA, brightness peaked at a value of 155 lm, and efficiency at 136 lm/W. In generating these results, researchers used white prototype LEDs with 1 mm-square chips. The light produced had a color temperature of 5000K, with color coordinates at 0.349/0.393 (cx/cy).
The key to OSRAM\'s success was the efficient interplay among all the advances made in materials and technologies. A perfectly matched system of optimized chip technology, a highly advanced and extremely efficient light converter, and a special high-performance package all combined to produce the world record performance results.
Potential applications for this high-performance LED technology include general illumination, the automotive sector, and any application that calls for large, high-power LEDs. These semiconductor light sources are also suitable for high operating currents. At 1.4 A, they can produce up to 500 lm of white light. This means that in the future the LEDs can also be used for projection applications as blue and green chip versions.
Dr. Rudiger Muller, CEO at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, commented: "It was the successful convergence of OSRAM know-how in different fields that led to these new records in efficiency and brightness. Starting with the light converter, we will be gradually moving these new developments into production." OSRAM has already applied for patents for the technologies that lie behind these world record performance levels
Since Osram says plans are now to move this tech from the lab into production, we can certainly expect to see LEDs in even more places in the future. [Osram]
Canon\'s AVCHD HF10 camcorder got an excellent reception earlier this year, and now Canon have tweaked it slightly into the upcoming HF11 version. The most important tweaks are doubling the internal storage from 16GB to 32GB and the addition of a 24Mbps high quality MXP imaging mode. Otherwise, most features of the camera remain the same. Similar tweaks have been made to last year\'s HG10 HDD camera, adding in the 24Mbps shooting mode, a 120GB drive and now allowing movies to be saved onto SD card whereas before it was limited to still imagery. Both cameras will be available in August for $1,300. [AVWatch]
Today\'s New York Times has a trend piece on ULPCs/Netbooks/Nettops/Subnotebooks/Mini PCs/*Insert Buzzword Here* and analysts who fear their low prices will spell doom and gloom for the PC industry. They cite the already low profit margins for PC sales as an example of what could drive computer companies into the red. Naturally success stories like the Asus Eee, and the next wave of products like the CherryPal were name dropped as potential threats, but it hardly seems time to worry.
The only concrete example in the article to warrant this concern is the aforementioned lack of profit margins, and there are still plenty of people who need more from their computers other than web browsing and micro-sized keyboards. But hey, if analysts are worried, should the rest of the world be? [NYT]
A small bunch of S60 Touch UI screens popped up today over at Mobile Royale, and they don\'t look half bad. The design has big on-screen buttons, clean design, and easy to read menus. The only item of concern is how narrow the header and footer bars are when the OS is in landscape mode. Seems like a breeding ground for repeated tapping. That said, I\'m still excited to see the rest of S60 Touch. [Mobile Royale via Symbian Freak]
We\'ve been following the story of Shaun Malone, the California teen who was clocked by an officer doing 62MPH in a 45MPH zone, and was issued a ticket for $190. He took the ticket to trial and lost, as the state brought in a GPS expert via affidavit who said that the units weren\'t that accurate. The teen appealed, however, and the same expert revised his testimony on the stand, saying the device was accurate to within 1MPH. The device in question had the capability of emailing the teen\'s parents if he ever went above 70MPH, and also logged all other speeds. These logs were used and the judge found enough reason to throw out the original conviction, and will rule in October on the matter that may have far-reaching effects. The real question now is why did the trooper\'s radar gun think the speed was 33% faster than it actually was? [Ars]
A couple of weeks ago we brought you the shocking news that your LCD HDTV probably contained a nefarious gas called Nitrogen Trifluoride (NF3) that was far more harmful to the environment than many other sources, including CO2. The Linde Group, who manufactures many of the LCD panels used in several popular LCD HDTVs, says that they\'ve tweaked their manufacturing operations to use Fluorine instead of Nitrogen Trifluoride, replacing the dangerous gas with a fairly harmless one. Kudos to The Linde Group, and let\'s hope the other manufacturers follow step. [CE Pro]
Fresh from the Optimus blog is the Optimus Pultius which shrinks the Optimus Maximus down to 15 keys, and is meant as an add-on to your existing keyboard setup. It\'s expected to be available at the end of 2008 or early 2009. No word on pricing, but hopefully a 30 year mortgage won\'t be a requirement. [Optimus Blog]
