Archive for July 26th, 2007
You know the drill - once you’ve captured an image with your digital camera, your friends will all clamor around to see what their mug looks like. Instead of huddling around like a football team that’s trying to make a comeback, the Samsung S700 concept takes a different route by doubling up as a digital photo frame, thanks to its integrated kick stand located behind. This smart camera doesn’t come with a myriad of buttons that dot digital cameras these days, requiring you to just point and shoot while the camera decides which is the best mode to use at that moment. Alas, this is but a concept at the moment.
More: click here…
July 26th, 2007
Industrial equipment manufacturer Yaskawa Electric has decided to expand the abilities of the Motoman robot under its employment by letting it sort mail as well as play taiko drums, making it somewhat a celebrity in the robotic world. This is the first time robots have learnt to play taiko drums, wowing crowds who were at the Kokura Gion Daiko Festival in Kitakyushu. It took a quarter of a year to teach the robots the proper rhythm, technique, and choreography for the performance. I guess even robots are more musically talented than I am, as I can’t play a musical instrument nor sing to save my life.
More: click here…
July 26th, 2007
NEC has successfully developed the first automated border control system in the world, thanks to facial recognition technology that is sensitive enough to identify folks within their vehicles. This system is currently being used at the Hong Kong - Shenzen border, aiming to boost the speed and efficiency of the Hong Kong Immigration Department. This system reads a vehicle’s license plate first, scanning the driver’s face while matching that image to that found in the driver’s license inside its database. A match results in a modern version of “Open, sesame!”. Since it only pulls a match from the owner of the current car, what happens when you have someone else driving you, or should you lend your car to a friend for the day?
More: click here…
July 26th, 2007
Japan will finally receive the Fujifilm FinePix Z100FD compact digital camera, and this is no ordinary 8 megapixel shooter. You not only get 5x optical zoom (much better than the standard 3x that comes with most entry level cameras), and face detection of up to 10 persons per shot - making this great for capturing group photos without leaving important facial details out. The Z100FD can also be used as an impromptu video recorder at 30fps. A 2.5″ LCD display wraps up the list of features, and weighing a mere 155 grams certainly makes this one camera that you won’t mind toting around in your pocket.
More: click here…
July 26th, 2007
The PIX looks like a pendant at first glance, and you aren’t too far from the truth. In fact, it isn’t any mere fashion accessory, as it comes with a LED matrix that holds up to 177 LEDs which display various animation, texts, emotions, and patterns. You can conjure up your own designs as well as edit the graphics that you want to see on your PIX. In addition, you can share PIX data with different PIX users via email and SMS. Guess this is somewhat like a artsy version of Tamagotchi, where it needs a thriving community in order to truly see its benefits. The PIX device retails for £39 and will probably make a great gift for couples who have just found each other.
More: click here…
July 26th, 2007
Lenovo has just unveiled a couple of computers in its Lenovo 3000 desktop line that are inspired by the upcoming Olympic Games. Both the silver and black Lenovo 3000 J200 and J205 tower desktops will be the first Lenovo PCs worldwide to come with the Olympic Games composite logo as a sign of its support of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The J200 computers will rely on Intel for its computing power, while the J205 desktops run on AMD-based processors. Other features include Gigabit Ethernet, an integrated graphics adapter, half a dozen USB 2.0 ports, a chassis intrusion lock, and a PC lock slot. These desktops will be released this August, with the J200 and J205 retailing for $399 and $449 respectively.
More: click here…
July 26th, 2007
Japanese certainly love their robots, and this love has been proven once again with the Halluc II robot from the Future Robotics Technology Center. Featuring eight limbs, the Halluc II comes in three different modes of locomotion, where one of them is based on the way certain insects walk. Alternatively, it can also move about on wheels like a car as well as sharing the same mannerisms like a quadrupedal mammal. The point of such a robot is to develop machines that can traverse across virtually any terrain in the future. Could this mean more mobile personal transport systems that could park even in the tightest of spaces in the future? Only time will tell.
More: click here…
July 26th, 2007
Samsung certainly isn’t going to bank on either HD format to win this war, and would be more than happy if both formats do well. This is evident by the release of its BD-UP5000 Duo HD player that does both Blu-ray and HD DVD effortlessly, handling both formats’ interactive technologies (BD-Java and HDi) with panache. Be prepared to dig deep for one though, as the BD-UP5000 Duo HD retails for a whopping $1,049. Unfortunately, at that price point Samsung has failed to include support for the forthcoming update to Blu-ray’s minimum player specifications that come into play this October 31st. The price could do with some tweaking though, as I might as well drop $499 for a PS3 and perhaps $400 more for a HD DVD player, getting more than what the $1,049 BD-UP5000 Duo HD offers for less.
More: click here…
July 26th, 2007
Here’s more quirky stuff from the far east, and this time it comes in the form of geeky-looking figurines that wear motivational headbands with thick-rimmed glasses that outline the face. Hitting them on the head will emit a response such as “I’m thinking right now!” or even spewing out a test answer, depending on the current mode they’re in. They could get pretty annoying after a while though, so take care not to give this to colleagues who have OCD lest you hear the same phrase being repeated throughout the day at a cubicle near you.
More: click here…
July 26th, 2007
Oki Japan has just introduced the Iris Authentication Middleware that adds an extra layer of security to current alphanumeric passkeys. It can be retro-fitted to current cellphones that operate on Symbian or Windows Mobile, letting the application unlock the handset after scanning the user’s irises. While there is a 0.00001% chance of registering a false positive, that figure is pretty much negligible. You’ll need to pre-register the eye to be used with the software beforehand, but that process takes up just a few seconds. Looks as though this new application will be made available in cellphones for the Japanese market. Angsty teens ought to love this feature to prevent nosey parents from prying where their eyes don’t belong. Just make sure your cellphone has a camera has at least 1 megapixel resolution as anything less than that won’t be compatible.
More: click here…
July 26th, 2007
Previous Posts
