Logitech introduces cross-eyed XY stereo microphones for your walkman or ipod recording pleasures. The XY technique of placing two mics together, pointing in contrasting directions, gives excellent field separation while eliminating phase problems -- and it also looks pretty cool. Exactly which of those benefits Logitec had in mind when developing the LIC-WMREC03P (for Sony's Walkman) and LIC-iREC03P (for the iPod/iPhone) microphone attachments is unknown to us, but it certainly looks a fair bit more impressive than last year's LIC-iREC01. The devices have a frequency response of 20Hz to 16kHz, sport a pair of simple toggles for adjusting sound levels, offer 3.5mm and USB inputs, and come with a pair of wind socks if things get breezy -- or if they just don't look pudgy enough for you. Both are expected to hit Japan in January, each at an expected price of ¥7,980 (or about $84). [Via Akihabara News]
Just as it's starting to seem like MEMS motion sensor technology is gaining more widespread use, we're now hearing rumblings of activity from the developers of its eventual successor: NEMS (Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems). To contextualize this discussion (and to give laypeople a shot at understanding), MEMS sensors are the magic behind the Wii MotionPlus as well as a stunning tech demo recently conducted on a Toshiba TG01. The nascent nano version promises even greater sensitivity, and now scientists from TU Delft in the Netherlands claim they have successfully measured the influence of a single electron on an 800nm-long carbon nanowire. Just detecting such an event is a feat in itself, while the ability to measure its effects can be used in a huge range of ways: from transportation and medicine to ultra-sensitive gaming controllers. While accurate comparisons between the Dutch breakthrough and current generation sensors cannot yet be drawn, we can confidently say that this marks an important step toward making our dreams of playing a nanoscale piano a gargantuan reality.
Guess there's no one who haven't used a ruler which have pointings running along the edge of the ruler, but have any one saw a ruler thats digital. Yeah you have heard it correctly, designer Shay Shafranek recently came up with this new concept that adds a bit of newfangled technology to and old fashioned wooden ruler. The secret, it seems, is a line of tiny metal points running along the edge of the ruler, which can detect when you touch 'em with a pencil and display the exact measurement on the LED display discreetly hidden inside. Better yet, the ruler can apparently store measurements and add 'em up as you go along, eliminating the need for any pesky remembering or math. Of course, it is still just a concept, and there's no indication that Shafranek has any commercial plans for it just yet
[Via Technabob]
Sure, you can get a relatively compact camera with a nice built-in 10x, 15x or even 20x optical zoom, but where's the fun in that? This new so-called Avatar Digital Binocular Sports Camera, however will never be saddled with labels like "boring" or "practical". Its big selling point, as you can see, is 21x optical zoom that gets further bolstered by a blinding 40x digital zoom, all of which apparently must be managed without such niceties as auto focus. On the business end of the equation is a 2-megapixel camera with a 2.5-inch LCD, which just so happens to also double as a ful-fledged media player with a curiously familiar-looking interface. Its available to order right now for just $128 or even less if you buy'em in bulk. Never to early to start that holiday shopping.
Samsung's only real watchphone competitor hasn't even launched its product yet, so it's a little early for the marketing oneupmanship. Regardless, the S9110 is an impressive piece of kit, with a 1.76-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth, email support and MP3 playback.
Rounding out the feature list are a few watchphone necessities, like voice recognition and speakerphone, all in a package that measures in at about 12mm thick—bulkier than your average Swatch, but well within acceptable wristwear territory. The first wave of releases will be scattered throughout Europe, starting in France, where the S9110 will retail for around $650.
The most striking thing about this—as well as the LG GD910 —is that unlike pretty much every watchphone we've seen before, these might be usable on a day to day basis, granted you're willing to accept the inherent awkwardness of the watchphone form factor. No word on a stateside release yet, but import costs aren't likely to stop the kinds of dapper jetsetting gentlemen and/or independently wealthy James Bond superfans who'll be buying this thing anyway.
The bionic eye's inexorable advance continued this weekend, as doctors reported they were able to implant tiny telescopes (telescopes!) into the eyes of patients suffering from macular degeneration.Better still, for squeamish emergency room pansies like myself, this is a "brief" outpatient procedure, say the inventors at VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies.Just pop a telescope in your bad eye and you'll be avoiding home furniture by the evening. Well, after a round of intense physical therapy anyway. It seems the new vision takes some getting used to, although none of the 200 patients who tested this over the past five years reported any falling down or injury, said Dr. Henry Hudson, a retina specialist in Tuscon.
And while the devices won't allow patients to view faraway stars (not that powerful), they will allow them to see partial faces where there was once a gaping hole in their vision. "People can use it to recognize faces in a social setting," said Dr. Janet P. Szlyk. "That's a huge advance."A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel gave the tele-eyes their unanimous approval in March, and the full board is expected to give its blessing later this year. Europe is already using it.
The historians once pontificated that we'd all be cruising about in flying cars right around the year 2000, and while that whole Y2K fiasco threw us a tad behind schedule, it looks like the future may actually still be upon us. Parajet, the same company responsible for that downright unnerving personal flying machine we peeked back in '05, has now placed its long-awaited SkyCar up for pre-order. Said vehicle has evolved quite dramatically over the years, but now that dollars (er, pounds) are being dropped on it, we have to assume that the design is near final. The vehicle is completely street legal and can accelerate to 62mph in just 4.2 seconds, thus making it the world's first "usable, road-legal flying car." If you're champing at the bit to be the first on your block with one, you can drop £10,000 ($16,381) now and pay the remaining £50,000 ($81,905) just before it ships in "late 2010." Of course, we're not making any promises about it actually shipping, but that's a risk you'll have to take.
It's been a while since we've heard anything about Fujifilm's FinePix Real 3D camera, but as the twin-lensed shooter nears that scheduled September release some more details are spilling out -- including the price, which will be "around $600" at launch. Yeah, it's steep, and that's not all: to properly view the images you'll need to either shell out for special prints with a plastic lenticular lens on it or buy a special stereoscopic LCD photo frame, and none of that really screams "cheap." Honestly, our instinct would be to spend all that scratch on a good DSLR or even something like the Olympus E-P1, but there's always a chance Fujifilm's about to reveal the public's deep-rooted desire for 3D snapshots. We'll see -- anyone dying for one of these?
Looks like Samsung's elves have been busy thinking up new ways to cram a QWERTY onto all those touchscreen phones they've been selling lately: check out this patent application for a side-mounted flip-down keyboard. We're not sure if this would be comfortable, usable, or even stable, but we do know that we support any design decision that makes our phones look more like super-awesome space planes from the future.
It's not much, in fact, these screenshots are incredibly easy to fake. Still, a hastily constructed WordPress blog has been setup to host what are claimed to be the world's first screenshots of Google's new Chrome OS -- hailed as both a Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X killer or a Google FUD generator depending upon who you're listening to. As the story is told, a Google representative demonstrated a private beta build of the OS to an anonymous Acer parts supplier yesterday, presumably somewhere in Taiwan. The picture above was grabbed breathlessly while the Google rep was distracted. Highlights of the demonstration break down as follows:
- The "elegant" install on the Acer Extensa 4620Z laptop took about 10 minutes and 1 restart
- Reboots desktop-to-desktop in about 25 seconds
- It was "amazingly fast" in its stripped-down beta form
- The blue orb on the auto-hiding "Chrome Bar" along the bottom of the UI is essentially the start menu
- Navigating the file system can be done in "exploration" (like Windows explorer) or "browser" (search based) modes
- The Chrome Bar can also host a search bar if configured
- Future Chrome OS net books will feature an iconified Chrome key on the keyboard similar to the Windows flag key
Here's the new goggles featured with a 5 megapixel CMOS sensor, software - free USB connectivity which has the ability to record 720 x 480 video at 30 fps to a microSD card in it. now the chance is yours enjoy the ride under water with this evolutionary gadget.