Sony Ericsson W660i

April 16, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Sony Ericsson W660i
The W660i is a Walman phone introduced by Sony Ericsson. The phone is a 3G phone and benefits from higher speed transfers of data as well as the ability to make video calls. With it being in the W range (meaning Walkman) its boasting feature is music. The walkman range make excellent MP3 players. The software which runs the music side is Walkman Player 2.0.

As well as being a great phone for music the W660i has a 2 megapixel camera built in. Unfortunatly I think 2 megapixel is old now with 3.2 being popular as well as 5 megapixels on phones such as the Nokia N95. The screen runs at 176×220 pixels (TFT) and capable of 262k colours. The phone doesnt have too much memory (just 16MB) but there is support for Sonys Memory Stick Micro M2 card.

Via: TechEBlog

Filed Under: Cell Phones, Cool Gadgets

S Series Mobile – Concept

April 15, 2007 by Leave a Comment

S Series Mobile
The S Series Mobile phone is concept at the moment and looks very sleek. It appears to be made of wood combined with a stylish mobile phone screen and keypad. The keppad is not always needed as all the functions of the phone can be operated with out it, although it is there just incase you prefer that method.

No details of availability yet with it being concept, but hopefully one of the big companies can pick this beauty up. If we hear of it hitting production we will let you know.

Via: TechEBlog

Filed Under: Cell Phones, Concept Gadgets, Cool Gadgets

Polaroid Media Backup

April 14, 2007 by Leave a Comment

UMPC
The Ultra Mobile PC, or UMPC devices have come a long way this last year. Unfortunatly they do not seem as popular as the Pocket PC and Palm devices have been. The video below shows a vision of what UMPCs might be used for in the future. The integration between user and UMPC has been increased and the video attempts to show just what we might be doing with UMPCs in the next few years. Check out the navigation system in there as the 3D effect looks excellent.

Filed Under: Cell Phones, Cool Gadgets

Tiny HD Camera – The Iconix HD-RH1

April 14, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Iconix HD-RH1
The Iconix Camera is a seriously small HD camera. It measures 1.32 x 1.50 x 1.92 inches and weighs 2.5 oz. This is the smallest professional quality HD camera currently available. It was actually launched in 2006 and now Iconix are launching the RCP-160 remote control panel. The control panel is capable of connecting 6 of these cameras and gives full individual control of each camera.

With resolutions going all the way up to 1080p these small cameras have many great uses for professionals. Capturing movies for television is one main application that these cameras are currently used for. Being able to control 6 at once allows greater felixbility for the user.

Via: SlashGear

Filed Under: Cool Gadgets

Sony Vaio G Laptop – A Winner

April 14, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Sony Vaio G
Sony have been in the laptop market for years producing ultraportable and very slim devices. The VAIO G model is no exception. What stands out first is the weight of the laptop. It is just 1.98 pounds. To get this weight so low it is built out of carbon fibre and has a small form factor, is very sleek and looks the business. The laptop as mentioned above is ultra portable which has a 12.1 inch screen. The small screen does not sacrifice too much resolution though and it can still display an acceptable 1024 x 768 which is still a very popular screen resolution and very common among 15 – 17 inch monitors.

The processor comes in 2 types. First is an Intel Core Solo U1300 running at 1.06GHz and the second option is a U1400 running at 1.2GHz. Memory can be increased up to 1.5GB which is DDR2 type memory. The harddisk can store 80GB of data and there is a built in DVD burner. This size of laptop is aimed at the frequent traveller who wants power, but small size to carry around. The VAIO G does just what it should. Communications comes through 802.11a/b/g wireless and for security there is a built in biometroc fingerprint reader.

Via: TechEBlog

Filed Under: Cool Gadgets, Laptops

Oracom UB-890 Portable Media Player

April 13, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Oracom UB-890 Portable Media Player
Oracom have created the UB-890 PMP. It is a PMP with a max storage of 4GB. It has a nice LCD display, FM tuner, voice recorder and supports the major formats. Other features are games, clock display, recorder, alarm as well as being able to view e-books. Overall this device packs a number of useful features in to its body and looks like it will be a great little seller. Transferring files is done via USB 2.0 which allows high speed transfers making sure you are not hanging around waiting for your audio and video to be transferred. Check out the video below.

Via: TechEBlog

Filed Under: Cool Gadgets, Displays

Nakamichi Lumos Portable DVD Player

April 13, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Nakamichi Lumos Portable DVD Player
The Lumos Portable DVD player looks quite stylish with its sleek black frame. The screen is a 7 inch LCD which is widescreen running at 1440 x 234 pixels. This allows it to deliver top notch images. As well as being able to take DVDs the system has an SD card slot allowing images and video to be played direct from the card. Formats supported are MP3, VCD, SVCD, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and CDR/RWs. Also the player features dual anti shock so this player can be used on the move.

No price is available yet.

Via: BornRich

Filed Under: Cool Gadgets, Displays

The Best Holographic Displays

April 13, 2007 by Leave a Comment

LeahHolagram
Over the last year I have written about several holographic displays and it got me wondering which is best and which shows the most potential. For those Starwars fans you will remember the famous scene of R2D2 projecting Princess Leah in to the air with a message playing. Since seeing that when I was a kid the thought of a fancy 3D or holographic floating display has fascinated me. The displays I am writing about today are what is actually available today and built and not just theory.

Sega Hologram
Lets start with a little bit of an oldy… The first I remember was made with a clever use of mirrors and it was produced by SEGA and was named SEGA Hologram. The game was called Time Traveller. The unit was a large white case with a black shiny screen laying horizontal in the machine. While looking at it the smart use of mirrors gave a 3D holographic effect in which it shows the characters walking on top of the screen. Game play sucked, but it still made me spend money just so I could control the characters who appeared right in front of me.
Sega Hologram

Fog Screen
Fog Screen was introduced in 2002 and interactivity was added a few years later. Fog Screen works with non-turbulent airflow which keeps the display crisp and clean. A projector with a 4500+ ANSI lumen rating is then used to project the image on to the fog. This allows the viewer to walk through the screen unharmed and is ideal for creating interesting and eye catching displays.
Fogscreen

Heliodisplay
A few years later (around 2005) the Heliodisplay was revealed by io2technology. The unit displays the image on to a virtual screen as it were, which creates a thermal differential in the air which then allows the air to pick up the projection. Well, that is my explanation of it 😉 As well as being a screen the Heliodisplay can be moved around as it has optical sensors built in which can detect the slightest movement of your hand or an object with in the picture. This allows a large 3D display to be more interactive which works well at trade shows.
HelioDisplay

Video

True 3D
Next in line is True 3D which uses yet another method to display its image. This time the use of lasers is needed which fires to intersect each other. This generates small amounts of plasma which in turn light up to display an image. This seems like a dangerous way of getting 3D to work and suddenly the Helio seems like the safer option to me. True 3D at the time of writing the original article last year was capable of displaying 100 dots per second.
True 3D

Video

Vizoo Holographic Projector
The next screen has been used by Lexus in New York. The Vizoo allows for a complte 360 viewing angle and can accomodate large screen sizes. Unfortunatly the video of the Lexus is now off line due to copyright reasons. It did show a Lexus on display in a show window which was made interactive. The 3D image could then be rotated around by the user to help customise their life size model of the car they want to buy.


The Hole – video powered by Metacafe

Although the images are not 100% clear, these are all great advances in holographic/3D type screens.

Which is the best? I guess it all depends on what you intend to use it for. Looking at the True 3D version you might need to be more careful as plasma is used which indicates it is hot. For me, the simplicity seems to land on the Heliodisplay. But as each of these is in excess of 5 figures then I think it will be a while yet before they are available to the consumer.

Filed Under: Cool Gadgets, Displays

Sony OLED Displays – Just 3mm Thin

April 12, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Sony OLED Display
OLED displays are gaining more traction and we now see them in some mobile phones, MP3 players and the Optimus keyboard. Sony have managed to create an OLED display that is just 3mm thin. It has a resolution of 1024 x 600 which is not bad at all. As can be seen in the picture above and below, this is a serious piece of kit.

The picture below is of a 9mm version and this boasts a 1000000:1 (1 million to 1) contrast ratio and is capable of full High Definition at 1080p (1920 x 1080). These are great steps forwards in to display technology. Price is unknown and it is unlikely we will see much of these displays for the next little while as it appears that they still costs a lot of money to make. As soon as they are more widely available we will let you know.

Sony OLED Display

Via: OhGizmo

Filed Under: Cell Phones, Cool Gadgets, Displays

USB Battery Charger – The Energizer USB Duo

April 12, 2007 by Leave a Comment

EnergizerUSBDuo
Energizer are well known in the battery market and have been creating batteries for as long as I can remember. They have created a new type of rechargeable battery which is named the USB Duo. The duo indicated 2 different options and with having USB in the name it probably isnt that hard to work out what it does. The USB Duo charger is capable of charging batteries via USB or a regular wall socket. To move in to the more technical world they also have created some software which allows you to watch the batteries charge on the screen of your computer. Now I can think of a million more interesting things to do, but I guess they are catering for all types of users 🙂

The charger comes in 3 colours which are red, yellow and blue and it costs $14. It is capable of charging both AA and AAA type batteries. 2 AAA batteries are included with the charger.

This device reminds me a little of the USB Cell although I think this version is far more flexible.

Via: Gizmodo

Filed Under: Computer Gadgets, Cool Gadgets

Clevo Laptop Graphics Card

April 12, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Clevo Laptop Graphics Card
We covered the Clevo 20 inch laptop the other day and it got me thinking more about the actual hardware it utilises to run that massive screen and keep the nice WSXGA+ LCD (1680 x 1050) resolution. The Clevo laptop graphics card actually comes in 3 different options. These are…

* Dual /SLI nVIDIA GeForceTM Go 7900 GTX (G71M-GTX) High performance
* Dual /SLI nVIDIA Quadro FX 2500M high performance graphic chip
* Dual /SLI nVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX(G71M-UU) high performance graphic chip

Those 3 cards are some seriously good kit and especially for a laptop. The 7900 GTX is capable of shifting 38.4GB/s of memory bandwidth and the 7950 GTX can shift 44.8 GB/s. The FX 2500M is capable of shifting 38.4GB/s also. Being able to shift all that data so quick makes these cards and laptop ideal for 3D graphics. As well as 3D graphics these clevo laptop graphics cards are capable of XHD (Extreme High Definition) which allows you to play the latest 3D games in high definition with out the frame rate loss. As well as this you can watch High Definition movies which are displayed using NVIDIAs PureVideo technology.

Before reading up on the graphics card for Clevo I was just expecting some onboard shared memory card. I was mistaken. Before you run out and buy one of these nice laptops take in to consideration that the Quadro FX 2500M has different specs to the Go 79xx series cards.

One last item to mention is the Clevo laptops are not the only 20 inch screen laptops to use these graphics cards. They actually build the chassis and companies like Alienware, Sager and VoodooPC customise them to suit their needs.

Filed Under: Cool Gadgets, Displays, Laptops

Delphi Real Time Traffic Kit

April 11, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Delphi
Traffic sucks and especially when you need to get to your next appointment on time. Delphi have created a real time traffic kit which works on their Nav200 system. Services that I have heard about in the past from TomTom for example, require a subscription. With the Delphi traffic kit you have a one time cost to activate it and then no additional fees. This isnt bad and well worth looking in to if you are more of a casual GPS user.

Via: Fosfor

Filed Under: Cool Gadgets, Tech News