Archive for October, 2007

Nintendo will be a Wii bit short for the holidays

Posted in News,Nintendo,Wii by Darrin Olson on October 1st, 2007

Reggie Fils-Amie, Nintendo America CEO, says Wii supply won’t keep up with demandSince its launch last November the Nintendo Wii has consistently been the leader in the latest-generation game console sales and has been simultaneously behind the curve in having enough consoles to meet consumer demands.

In a recent interview with the San Jose Mercury News the Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Amie admitted that the company is not likely going to meet demands through this holiday season, either.

Microsoft brings Office to the web

Posted in Microsoft,News,Services by Darrin Olson on October 1st, 2007

Microsoft launches Office Live Workspace allowing users to share office documents on the webToday Microsoft launched Office Live Workspace, a web-based service allowing users to share their Microsoft Office documents on the web. The new service allows users with an installed version of Office to upload as many as 1,000 documents to a place on the web were they can access it from different locations connected to the internet as well as share them with others.

Office Live Workspace, which is currently in beta and free to use after registering, saves the online documents in a secure environment where users can send invites to others who enter a password and view the documents. Users without Office installed on their computer can still log on and view documents online and even comment on them, but cannot edit them or add new documents.

BenQ super thin X735 digital camera

Posted in BenQ,Digital Cameras by Matt on October 1st, 2007

BenQ DC X735 cameraBenQ launches a sleek, stainless steel cased camera boasting the slimmest body in the world. The camera’s design is stylish with an air of sophistication and comes in vixen-red or midnight black to go with any attire for those who care about accessorizing with their cameras.

With the 2.5″ screen and resolution of 230,000 pixels, you’ll have a remarkable real-time evaluation of the image. Focus has been given to the interface to make it easy to pic from any of the 29 modes including beach, snow, web auction, museum, party, pet and more.

Samsung Beat compact music phone

Posted in Mobile Phones,Samsung by Matt on October 1st, 2007

Samsung Beat compact phone
For $99 with a 2-year contract via T-Mobile, the Samsung Beat music phone seems like a pretty good thing. There’s a fairly loud green speaker on the front as seen in the photo to pump out your tunes, and the phone has a pretty decent set of features for the price.

At 1.8 x 3.5 x 0.7 inches and weighing just 2.72 ounces the flip-phone is a microsize, but has a quad band frequency set with a battery that lasts up to 6 hours and decent ingoing and outgoing signals. The phone supports a 2GB microSD and comes stock with a 1GB microSD card. Take snapshots with the 1.3 MP camera, and receive vibrating alerts with Photo caller ID. For those who use it, Stereo Bluetooth wireless technology is provided for your convenience.

Nebo hands-free LED light

Posted in Flashlights by Reuben Drake on October 1st, 2007

Nebo Hands free work light hooks to your ear like a headsetThis convenient little gadget from Nebo hooks on your ear and looks similar to many Bluetooth headsets but is actually a LED flashlight that lets you keep your hands free and have a light wherever your head’s pointing.

The LED light is adjustable, fits on either ear and has two modes; one is a bright white light and the other is green allowing you to illuminate something in the dark but not loose so much of your night vision. It runs off of a lithium battery and the LEDs are said to last over 100,000 hours without getting hot (over 11 years of continuous light). It retails for about $16 with shipping.

The Serenata plays beautiful music

Posted in Bang & Olufsen,Mobile Phones,Samsung by Chetz on October 1st, 2007

Serenata mobile phone from Bang & Olufsen and SamsungOooh, it’s oh so pretty! Since we first laid eyes on it back in August we’ve gotten some additional details and images on Bang & Olufsen and Samsung’s latest love child creation called the Serenata, a music player/mobile phone that has the looks to get to the front of the line-up. It’s compatible with GSM 900, 1800, 1900 and WCDMA 2100 platforms, has 4GB of memory, handles WMA/MP3/AAC/WMA Lossless codecs, has a 240×240 2.26-inch color TFT LCD screen. You get about 3 hours of talktime from it or 280 hours in standby mode when used as a phone and as a music player up to 5 hours (when the speaker is used) or 13 hours (headset.)

The Serenata is fully compatible with MS Outlook so you can grab email, attachments and work to go (downloaded via Bluetooth of …

Squeeze beam technology

Posted in Flashlights by Chetz on October 1st, 2007

Brando Hand pressing gun flashlight has laser aim and is powered by squeezing the trigger with no batteriesAim, squeeze the trigger and see what you’re looking at. That’s the concept behind Brando’s Hand Pressing Gun Flashlight, an illuminator that comes with a red laser sighter. Aim that red dot at where you want to illuminate your beam of light and then when you squeeze the flashlight’s trigger two white LEDs wink on. The flashlight doesn’t require batteries since it uses the kinetic energy from your hand squeezing the trigger to power up the LEDs.

The official website doesn’t say too much about how many squeezes you need to give the light to work but it’s probably more than a couple. If you’re in a situation where you need steady light for a long period of time I wouldn’t recommend this flashlight for the job but for something …

Sony reveals 3mm thick XEL-1 OLED TV

Posted in News,OLED,Sony,Television by Darrin Olson on October 1st, 2007

Sony XEL-1 is a 3mm 11-inch OLED TVIt looks like Sony has come through on those OLED TV’s they’ve been touting since as far back as January. Today the company has finally unveiled information on the release of these super-slim televisions boasting 1,000,000:1 contrast.

That 3mm truly makes this new OLED from Sony the thinnest TV/monitor thing going (and probably the most fragile). Sony says the XEL-1 OLED TV with an 11-inch display will be available in Japan on December 1 going for about $1700. The new XEL-1 will have a built-in tuner, 960 x 450 resolution, HDMI input as well as USB and ethernet, two 1W built-in speakers and measures 287 × 140 × 253mm.

Is frog-inspired design the future of biking?

Posted in Concepts,Outdoors,Personal Transport by Conner Flynn on October 1st, 2007

Frog inspired bike design conceptDesigner Alex Suvajac apparently thinks so. Obviously frogs inspire him. The result is a sleek concept track bike that looks a lot like an aerodynamic racing amphibian on two wheels. It is as much a work of art as it is a bike, blending space age and technological looks with nature.

I’m not sure about leaning that far forward to hold onto the handlebars. Then again, this beauty is obviously built for speed and since “being one with nature” is obviously the theme, why not lean into it and merge with the frame. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean swallowing a bug or two along the way. As cool as this bike is, it remains just a concept for the moment. It is however, proof that nature has a lot to offer when combined with technology. Especially aesthetically.