Gadgets Future

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 22nd 2008 at 8:25AM
No sooner did we have a chance to wrap our mitts around JVC’s Everio GZ-HD40 and Samsung’s SC-HMX20C than Canon comes out with a pair of its own. Kicking things off is the iVIS HF11 (which turned up in name back in April) — an HD camcorder with 32GB of built-in memory, an SD / SDHC card slot, Full HD recording capabilities (using the polarizing AVCHD format) and a 12x optical zoom. The iVIS HG21 (pictured after the break) relates most closely to the aforementioned HD40, as it packs a capacious 120GB internal HDD, 2.7-inch flip-out LCD and most of the same specifications as its sibling. Expect ‘em both to land next month (at least in Japan) for ¥140,000 ($1,317) apiece.

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

News has it that AT&T’s Navigator location-based service will be expanding overseas, giving bouquets to AT&T for being the first US carrier that offers international navigation capabilities. Known as the AT&T Navigator Global Edition, this service functions across 20 countries including North America, the U.S. Caribbean, and the majority of countries in Western Europe. It will also run perfectly fine within the boundaries of half a dozen Chinese cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin, and Qinhuangdao. This comes as no surprise since AT&T is an official sponsor of the US Olympic Team. The AT&T Navigator Global Edition will come with a $19.98 monthly fee and is compatible with the AT&T Tilt, RIM blackberry 8800, RIM BlackBerry Curve 8310, RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8110, Samsung BlackJack II, and the Motorola Q9h.

If you are looking for a high-image quality camera within an affordable price, then go for the new Flip Digital Video Camera. Sporting a 1.5-inch TFT display, Flip Digital Video Camera is an eye-catching camera available in three colors including pink, black and silver.

Features

• Low light sensitivity.
• Within 12 feet indoors effective microphone.
• QVGA 640 x 480 pixels video resolution.
• 2GB built-in memory.

Flip Digital Video Camera supports advanced profile MPEG4 AVI file format. It incorporates ¼” VGA CMOS Image Sensor. Flip Digital Video Camera works great on 2 AA batteries that offer a battery life of up to 2.5 hours. With this camera you get 2 years warranty.

Price and Availability

Flip Digital Video Camera is available at a price of £ 99.95. The box content of Flip Digital Video Camera comprises of Flip Digital Video Camera, TV Connection Cable, Wrist Strap, Pouch, Warranty Information and Quickstart Guide.

Source: Flip

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It has been reported that Intel’s Larrabee-based graphics card will be available to developers - either internal or “select”, in my opinion. First hardware is first used internally to validate that every chip part is working, then, the small quantities of boards are split between hardware and software teams to work out the kinks and bring the drivers up to speed. The software (drivers) was likely built using an “emulator”, which is not a fun process. Finally, when things are somewhat in order, it is possible to send boards to external developers.

If you missed it, Larrabee is Intel’s upcoming graphics processor (GPU) that will compete directly with NVIDIA and ATI.

Capable of offering you Blu-ray disc recording, Hitachi DZBD7HA is a Hybrid Camcorder model. It comes with a built-in interactive guide to instruct you how to install this product. 2.7-inch Widescreen LCD View Finder and 16:9 Widescreen recording are some other advanced features of Hitachi DZBD7HA Camcorder.

Features

• 1-Touch Easy Dubbing.
• 8 cm BD-RE/-R/DVD Drive.
• High Resolution Image Processing LSI.
• 1-Second Quick Start.

Hitachi DZBD7HA Camcorder features 30GB HDD and 5.3 mega pixel ½.8-inch CMOS Image Sensor. It also allows users to select high definition video stored on the HDD to be transferred to standard definition DVD copies using its innovative transcoding function. It also incorporates Disc Navigation and a photo capture function.

Price and Availability

Hitachi DZBD7HA Camcorder is available at a price range of $ 749 - $ 1499.95.

Source: Hitachi

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Photo from Gizmodo, story via Macdailynews

Remember that we mentioned the possibility of seeing a Mac Tablet? Well, others are also “dreaming” about something like it. It could be a fully-featured tablet with a full Mac OS X, or it could be a “big iphone” ” (remember that Atom-powered iPhone rumor?) using Apple next-gen multi-touch input surface with the patented Force Imaging Input. In any case, if this turns out to be true, it might spark a second wave of touch applications. If Apple was hugely successful at marketing a tablet, one could say that “Bill Gates dreamed it, Apple made it…”

One of the things in this year’s tour that is really making an impression on me is riders choosing to make their bike heavier.  Normally, cyclists (or any endurance athletes) strive to have nothing extra.  No cost is too big, no weight savings too small.  So when you have more and more Tour riders choosing to put a Garmin GPS and a PowerTap hub, it deserves a closer look.

I had the chance to interview Jake Jacobson, Garmin’s Senior Media Relations Specialist, who is actually in France with the Tour riders, the lucky guy.  He was gracious enough to answer my questions despite moving from town to town in the French countryside following the action.

I’ll point out here that saying Garmin’s hundreds of thousands of dollar investment in the Garmin-Chipotle team was a move into a niche market was probably not the wisest of moves for me.  Luckily, Jake didn’t hold against me and was gracious enough to answer anyway.

Gadgetell:  What does the Garmin team like most about their Edge 705?  What competitive advantage do they feel they get from this gear?

Jacobson:  The cyclists and staff of Team Garmin appreciate the options and data provided to them by the Edge 705. As David Millar and other cyclists have said on several occasions, they simply want as much information as possible and the flexibility to display it and analyze it as they see fit. And whether they’re glancing down at their power metrics during a time trial or studying their stats hours after the ride is over, Team Garmin has embraced the training and racing advantages offered by the Edge 705.

Gadgetell: Garmin’s sponsorship of a team is a pretty big move as is expanding the edge line to four units, where does Garmin see this niche headed?

Jacobson: These days, describing cycling and/or the fitness world as “niche” marketing is a bit of an understatement. During the three weeks of the Tour de France, more than 20 million roadside fans and 110 million daily television viewers are expected to watch extensive coverage of Team Garmin. Each year, cycling coverage reaches 4 billion people, a number that is sure to grow as cycling emerges as an easy and enjoyable solution to global challenges associated with the environment and health issues. Riding a bike helps you “go green” and get exercise at the same time. The benefits of GPS-based data when using the Edge and/or Forerunner products quickly become evident whether users are participating in a walk on the weekend or the world’s biggest endurance race.

Gadgetell: Historically, cycling companies and tech companies to some extent, have shunned working with other makers.  Garmin has broken this idea with the ANT+Sport wireless concept that connects the Garmin unit with other products.  Who else will be offering components that support this connectivity? 

Jacobson: Because ANT+ is an open protocol, we welcome component makers to work with us in creating compatible devices. Currently SRM, Saris and Quarq are enjoying the benefits of working with ANT+, and interest grows with each day that the Edge 705 turns heads on the Tour de France.

Big thanks go out to Jake and Garmin for taking time out of their busy Tour schedule.

Company site: [Garmin]

Photo by Jerzy Snowman

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Now, get the power to flaunt your favorite photographs in an easy to carry Coby DP-151 Digital Photo Keychain. Having a 1.5-inch display screen, Coby DP-151 Digital Photo Keychain offers an excellent display resolution of 128 x 128. This digital keychain supports formats like JPG, GIF and BMP.

Features

• Photo Slideshow Mode.
• USB Port for fast file transfers.
• Displays JPEG, GIF and BMP photo files.
• Integrated Rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

Coby DP-151 Digital Photo Keychain supports various languages like English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portugese, Polish and Dutch. Coby DP-151 Digital Photo Keychain comes fitted with a battery having a life of 2200Mah and Photo View Time of 3 hours.

Availability

Coby DP-151 Digital Photo Keychain is available in three colors; black, red and blue.

Source: Coby

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PCs don’t go down well with booze, but that idea could offer a sign of things to come as computers of the future could run using a ‘direct methanol fuel cell’ (DMFC) method that involves methanol which is then converted into an electricity to power a computer. This is in essence, a new type of fuel cell that can be refilled whenever you run out of juice, and will definitely be a greener way to running things. Imagine the positive environmental impact if all computers were to run in this manner - those folks at Energy Star would be out of a job then, and tree huggers will have to look elsewhere for victims to pick on.

Photo [85MJH/Flickr]

Forget about cellphones causing car accidents. In the UK, a ridiculous 300,000 car crashes have been caused by GPS. And, according to a survey commissioned by Brit tabloid rag The Mirror, 1.5 million drivers have swerved through traffic when following their sat-nav’s instructions a little too closely.

The list of errors caused by slavishly obeying absurd commands would be hilarious if they weren’t so dangerous: Driving onto a railway line, heading the wrong way down one-way streets, hurtling headlong into ditches, getting stuck under bridges and ignoring road signs. The instructions given to GPS users by Direct Line Insurance, which carried out the survey, are so obvious they should not need to be stated:

If a satnav gives you an instruction that is likely to endanger other road users, ignore it.

We imagine a rogue sat-nav egging the driver on to commit some awful crime: “Go on. Faster. You can get him. Run him DOWN!”

Apparently, this epidemic of stupidity will be cured by the law. Drivers causing accidents while distracted by gadgets can be sent down for up to five years under forthcoming legislation. A trifle harsh, perhaps, but people this dumb need to be removed from the public roads, if not from the gene pool.

Navigation device blamed for causing 300,000 crashes [The Mirror via The Raw Feed]