Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Alereon to Kick Wireless USB Ass Worldwide
11:51PM Seamus Byrne | 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? More »
Opera Takes On iPhone With Mini 4 Beta Browser
11:49PM Seamus Byrne | 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 cute but dorky video that totally rips on the iPhone for being expensive and, I guess, in all other ways quite similar to Opera’s little wunderbrowser. Hey, are they even using the same New York Times page in their promo image above? – Wilson Rothman Product Page [Opera] More »
Joost to be Embedded in TVs, Cellphones, Set-top Boxes, Bagel Toasters
11:22PM Seamus Byrne | Internet TV software Joost doesn’t want to lose any positions in the infinite video wars. They want to move out of the PC box as soon as possible and that’s why they are getting ready to embed their software in TV sets with Internet connections, cellphones, set-top boxes and any other “future device” they could get their hands on. More »Radical Ceiling Fan Blade Mocks Nature
11:21PM Seamus Byrne | 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. – Charlie White
Product Page [Sycamore Ceiling Fan, via Treehugger] More » 
SIM2 HT3000E 1080p is Cool but Pricey
10:37PM Seamus Byrne | Here’s the new HT3000E 1080p DLP projector from home cinema gourmet house SIM2. Beyond looking great in Darth Vader’s private screening room, the HT3000E comes with a technology called Unishape, which modulates the light intensity according to the image content “with millisecond precision, similar to a waveform generator.” Jump to see what this means for image quality, its price and one image of its back. More »
Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 Uses 2.4GHz Tech
10:36PM Seamus Byrne | 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. AU: No local announcement has been made on this set of desktop hardware. In fact, we’ve just got word on the Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 ($249.95) and the Wireless Laser Desktop 4000 ($129.95). Local hardware pricing and info is found here. -SB More »
Top 5 Water-resistant Phones
8:53PM Seamus Byrne | 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. galleryPost('waterphones', 8, 'waterphones'); More »
JetPacks You Can Buy Now, Reviewed Head-to-Head
8:05PM Seamus Byrne | 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.–Brian Lam Jet Packs Finally On Sale: How to Buy Your Rocket Belt [Pop Mechanics] More »
Rumour: Flash Zune to Come In 4GB & 8GB Flavors
7:32PM Seamus Byrne | Zunescene is proclaiming that the unannounced Flash Zune, code-named Draco, is set to come in a Nano-like 4GB & 8GB variety. That is all, thank you.– Ben Longo “Draco” to Store 4GB or 8GB of Flash Memory [Zune Scene] More »
