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Alereon to Kick Wireless USB Ass Worldwide
Posted by Seamus Byrne at 11:51 PM on June 19, 2007
Alereon is a Texas chipmaker that's talking big, saying it's come up with a little processor that cranks out ultra wideband (UWB) goodness in frequencies that can be used the world over. That means wireless USB using the chip's ultra-wide band frequencies might just be able to operate at speeds equivalent to USB 2.0. The catch? The signal can only travel about 10 feet, but the good news is it consumes very little power.
Haven't we already seen some of this wireless USB technology?
There are many reasons that you could call the Opera Mini 4 Beta an assault on the iPhone's Safari browser. New features include:
• Overview mode empowers people to browse their favorite websites
• Zooms in and cleanly focuses on the content you want (as seen in Opera's Wii browser)
• Dynamically changes size of text and images, to read without a lot of scrolling
• A virtual mouse to make it easy to scroll in any direction
Another reason is the 
Internet TV software Joost doesn't want to lose any positions in the 
We've been doing the ceiling fan thing all wrong for all these years. Turns out the best design for a fan blade is to twist it into the shape of a seed pod from a Sycamore tree. Spin it around at just 70 to 130 revs per minute, and you get the same airflow as a regular fan cranking its heart out at twice that speed. We're also digging its weirdo looks, too.
You can get these in Australia, but expect this technology to spread far and wide before too long. Someday all fan blades will be made this way. Hey, somebody, pick up this blade design for a PC case fan, and then half the RPMs will equal half the noise. 
Here's the new HT3000E 1080p DLP projector from 
Take the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, cut the cable, throw in a Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 and then add 2.4GHz wireless connectivity to both, and you have the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000. If you like that gullwing design of the keyboard, this might just be a perfect fit for you.
Take the jump for more info, another pic and US pricing information.
The summer is here and InfoSync has reviewed the Top 5 best water-resistant, ruggerized phones. They tested the Verizon Wireless G'zOne Type-V and Type-S and Nextel's Motorola i880, ic502 and ic402. They are all good and do their job reasonably well. After reading their report, we know exactly what cell we would like to take to the beach.
Did you know that not one but two JetPacks are for sale right now? Pop Mechanics puts em to the test in the July issue. The Tam Rocket Belt costs $250k, flies for 30 seconds and has a top speed of over 60mph. The JetPack H202 goes 70mph, flies 33 seconds and is a bargain at $155k. Both weigh over 100 pounds, include lessons with the purchase price and are powered by hydrogen peroxide.
Next year, Jet Pack International will release a model with 19 minutes of flight that runs on Jet-A fuel, however.
Here's more Samsung cellphone porn for us to drool over. Three Korean-only-for-now luxury models just released today, the SGH-E950, E840 and J600. The SGH-E840 in the image is allegedly the thinnest slider in the world at 0.41 inches (10.6mm), even thinner and shinier than Posh Spice. They come loaded with features and a new twist to their keypads.
NPR the experts on all things tech ... decided to check out whether one could clean off a disgusting bacteria laden keyboard, simply by placing it in the dishwasher for a normal cycle. So they did just that, tossed a keyboard in cord and all and then pushed the start button.
The result? Success.
As 
If you're looking for a way to cool down your laptop without hijacking another USB port or wall outlet, then Cooler Master might have just the thing for you. Rather than bolster your machine's existing cooling solution with extra fans, the clever design features an adjustable tilt which exposes the laptop's underside and provides better overall airflow.
We've been testing the CODEX laptop cases for the MacBook and MacBook Pro for about a week now and it's actually quite good if you need something to carry your machine—and only your machine—from place to place.
The cases are coated in "Viscotex", which feels like a combination of vinyl and plastic and has a brushed metal look to it. There's a detatchable handle and a little holder for your IR remote, and can actually be used as a case while your laptop's in use.
The product page calls this Pistol Clock a desk clock, but who are they kidding? Something small enough to fit in the palm of your hand isn't a clock, it's a pocket-watch. Which means you're going to be carrying this around to banks, airports, police stations, post offices, churches and elementary schools to whip out and show off. 
In a mainstream blow for HD DVD, 
Judging from our own (lousy) experience with voice dialing over Bluetooth headsets, this Darfon model with its own built-in dialpad may just be a great idea. That is, until you actually think about it for more than 10 seconds.
If you're going to use a dialpad on your Bluetooth headset, you're going to have to take it off your ear. And if you take it off your ear, what's the difference between punching in numbers there and punching in numbers on your actual phone, which presumably has a much better dialpad for dialing? 
We're not sure how useful motion sensing controllers are for Xbox 360 since none of the games are, you know, designed for it. But if you're into keeping up with the Sonys in the world, Talismoon's Tilt Board mod will bring motion detection to your Xbox 360 controller.
The tilt board costs $US39, and requires you to actually solder seven wires and install the thing inside your controller yourself. If you're not comfortable with that, we'd suggest you skip this. And to Talismoon? You should sell these things pre-installed if you want more than just a few hundred nerdy customers.
It's tough to look classy when you're drinking wine out of a cask. It just screams cheapness, not to mention a complete disregard for the feelings of your taste buds. That didn't stop some crazy Danes from trying to come up with a way to make boxed wine a bit classier.
The VinUno is a boxed-wine dispenser made of polished steel and lacquered wood. It's even got a cooling mechanism inside to keep that white wine chilled, but such fineries jack the price up to a whopping $US132. Dude, people who spend that kind of money on wine gadgets don't drink boxed wine. Think about your audience here, will ya? 
If you love or hate Apple, you have to read this New York Magazine feature wondering whether or not the iPhone is set to be a success or a case of "imperial overreach". It's not nice, and I felt a little bad reading it.
John Heilemann, associated with Wired , formerly of The New Yorker and The Economist, is the heavyweight writer. His piece is headlined as a critical and dramatic takedown, leading with a mean poke at Dear Leader's age. But unlike the majority of polarized opinion pieces on the iPhone, it is dense with fresh quotes from insiders and executives that must have been fed truth serum before interviewing.
It's likely the deepest unofficial magazine piece you'll find on the iPhone and Apple. And with that might come mis perception, if not subtle fanboy bitterness at being denied official access, but also, 3rd party side of the story you wouldn't find in a Time or Newsweek kiss up piece.
YouTube has just unveiled YouTube Remixer, a piece of online software that allows users to do some basic video editing using an Adobe Premiere back end. You can stick videos together with basic cuts or with transitions, add graphics and text or put in some backing music.
It's nothing that a serious video editor would be caught dead using, but if you want to add some silly hats to the video you made of you and your friends jumping off your parents' roof onto a pile of mattresses, now's your chance. Look for YouTube to be cluttered with terribly edited montages and videos with terrible prop jokes in the near future. 
If Joker fetishist Mark Wilson had his way, the movie would be called Joker Begins: With Some Batman. He can take his purple mascara and his 
Still intrigued by Palm's ode to TV's most famous mobster/family man? Then we've got some 
We just got our hands on one of the first Philips Norelco Cool Skin Model 840 razors, set to release in July. With its streamlined blue body and gray trim, along with its tripleheader cutters mounted atop a crazy looking stalk, this is a razor whose appearance is quite different from any we've ever seen.
Since we're long-time electric razor users around here, we'll be able to compare this $79.99 Cool Skin directly to Norelco's earlier models, seeing if its design is just a pretty face or if it can actually outperform its predecessors. Blade users, this may not interest you much, but if you like electric razors, you'll want to hear about what it's like to use this new Cool Skin product.
Seeing as the MacBook Pro already got their Santa Rosa CPU upgrade, there's no reason why Apple's desktop iMacs wouldn't get theirs soon as well, but AppleInsider is claiming the refresh will come sometime around mid-to-late summer. That's end of July into mid-August, for those of you unfamiliar with what months summer consists of.
AI is saying Apple will release radically changed 20-inch and 24-inch iMacs, possibly those brushed metal ones we were talking about earlier this month. The 17-inch model, however, seems to be ignored and may be dropped entirely. 
For those of you who haven't heard of The World, it's an enormous project going on in Dubai. Where they will construct islands, that as a whole will resemble the different parts of our planet.
And today they announced that the design of their first continent is complete. The official name of the area is OQYANA (what?), however you and I would know it better as Australasia. It will be composed of 20 islands spanning 1.8m square feet, and will be the closest to Dubai's mainland, giving it the best views and easiest access to the real world.
We seem to say this every time Dubai announces a crazy engineering endeavor, but as soon as we're done learning Arabic we are so moving there. It's like they ask the coolest 5-year-old what kind of buildings they like, and then build them.
Transcend just announced a shiny new addition to its JetFlash USB lineup in the form of the V90. Available in sizes up to 2GB, the drives start at $27.99 and come in either a mother-of-pearl finish or a fiberglass weave over metal. With the included long chain, the drive can be worn as a necklace and should be a nice workaday alternative to that that 
To follow up on our own 
Those sneaky Germans over at NokiaPort just got their hands on what looks to be a Nokia 7900 shot, complete with specs. If you can get past the weird triangular dialpad (a result of Nokia letting their second string designers have at it?) there's a 1.3-megapixel camera, 1GB internal memory, QVGA display, quad-band GSM and a Series 40 UI.
It's also a nein for Wi-Fi, FM Radio and external memory, but it's a ja for Bluetooth, Handy-TV (?), and MP3/Video playback. Looks like a low to mid-range phone to us. 
This weekend in Korea a robot acted as the Master of Ceremonies in a wedding, confirming to family members of the bride that the whole thing was a mistake and she should have married a police officer instead of a robotics engineer.
The robot, named Tiro, spoke in a "sweet female voice" as to not creep people out more than necessary, and wasn't the only bot involved in the ceremony. Others lead guests to their seats and "performed," whatever that means. The couple now holds two world records: the first marriage MC'd by a robot, and the dorkiest wedding ever. Congrats, you crazy kids.