Best New Technology

Posted Mar 3rd 2008 5:09PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Robots

Get ready, battlefields, as yet another iRobot is gearing up to take you all by storm. Announced today, the aforementioned outfit has received an award under DARPA’s LANdroids program which will enable it to “develop a new portable communications relay robot that is small, inexpensive, intelligent and robust.” The resulting creature will reportedly be used in “dense urban environments to rapidly deploy and maintain a vital communications infrastructure,” and better still, they’ll be tough enough to be thrown into position and intelligent enough to “autonomously detect and avoid obstacles while navigating.” Unfortunately, it seems the conclusion of said project is still a few years out, but we can already envision soldiers getting antsy to never be forced to utter “can you hear me now?” again.

[Via InformationWeek]

Posted Mar 3rd 2008 4:38PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: cellphones

Truth be told, we could sort of see this one coming — after all, why wouldn’t N-Gage developers seek to use a handset’s built-in functions to enhance gameplay? Nevertheless, the folks at Nok Nok were able to pick the brain of Will Shen, N-Gage Head of Production in North America, and found out quite a few tidbits about the future of the platform. Reportedly, Mr. Shen went so far as to confirm that it is “looking at creating games that harness the power of [a mobile’s] built-in camera, GPS receiver and any relevant skill [that it] may possess that could help inspire and execute innovative games.” Granted, location-based titles aren’t anything new in the grand scheme of things, but Shen also noted that his team is looking to “focus on innovation” rather than “gimmick gaming.” Marvelous — now let’s get this stuff rolled out en masse, shall we?

While we still have not seen any press release or formal announcement from Asus, we have found what seems to be a fairly good confirmation of the existence of the Eee PC 900. The guys over at Engadget have posted some images of the 7-inch Eee PC 701 side-by-side with the newer and larger 9-inch Eee PC 900.

As you can see in the pics the 900 seems a little bit larger, but it does not seem like enough to make a big difference. I would be interested to get a hands on with the new 900, because the current 701 is actually a lot smaller when you actually have it in hand. Aside from the obvious larger display, the trackpad seems to be a little bit bigger, which will be a welcome change.

Via [Engadget]

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Looks like those who have been looking forward to Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1 will be disappointed as rumors have it that the phone company will be pushing its release date to the first quarter, of next year, that is. This rumor could be substantiated by the fact that the P990i itself took a fair bit of time before it was released to the masses - well, better for Sony Ericsson to make sure a fully working product is released instead of rushing out a buggy version to the market. I just hope that the additional year taken to develop the Xperia X1 won’t cause it to be outdated when it hits the market then.

As a cell-phone user who was eager for a smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard, I was eager to finally try out the BlackBerry 8830.

The BlackBerry 8830 World Edition is definitely designed for business people on the go. In fact, it claims to be “the first CDMA smartphone capable of roaming globally on GSM/GPRS networks”. This means you can pretty much travel the world without having to change your phone, your phone number, or your e-mail.

I had to admit that using a BlackBerry takes a little getting used to. The 8830 has this tiny track-ball mouse for interface that is reminiscent of Atari’s Centipede video game. However, once I used the Setup Wizard, the BlackBerry opened up to me.

In a matter of minutes, I had figured out how to view my email online, and could surf the web. As a newbie to smartphones, I have quickly discovered that there are some limitations to surfing the web online with a tiny screen.

Just to reiterate a point, the blackberry 8830 is for businesspeople. There is no camera, but there is a microSD. That SD is tough to access, as a user must remove the entire battery cover to get to it. However, everything else works like clockwork once you get used to it.

As for the price of the BlackBerry 8830, it is available for $399.99 with a two-year contract from Verizon. In fact, you can even get it here for a $100 discount.

Product Page

Ask any homemaker what their biggest gripe about brooms are and they will tell you that it is the head that is not perfectly shaped and angled to clean just about any nook and cranny in the home. Enter the Quantum Reach - this unique broom is capable of doing what an ordinary broom can’t and more.

The secret of Quantum Reach is the articulating head and multiple surfaces. The head adjusts to any angle, allowing cleaning of any area: under beds or furniture, above art or overhangs, ceiling fans, HVAC vents, behind appliances, and even windows. Quantum Reach has bristles on one side of the head for sweeping and unique “T” hooks on the other side to attach Mircrofiber pads for sweeping, mopping and dusting. Quantum Reach also features a telescoping pole, which provides compact and easy storage for the consumer and lower shipping cost and reduced shelf space for the dealer. Quantum Reach provides the cleaning power of a broom, mop and duster in one easy-to-use and store tool. Quantum Reach is setting a new standard in the hard floor cleaning category.

I’m not sure if getting this as a gift for your other half is such a good idea. Still, if you’re a risk taker, the Quantum Reach broom retails for $19.99.

Posted Mar 3rd 2008 6:23AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: cellphones, Features

Regardless of the cause, we certainly like the trend of these enhanced touch-screen UIs dominating the high-end cellphone market. Now meet ASUS’ GUI slickness destined for their newest touchscreen devices including the ZX1. Starting with a Windows Mobile 6.1 core, ASUS slathers on a new customizable Multi-Home 3D interface meant to simplify access to your today screen, life and business applications. Think HTC’s TouchFlo only sexier. ASUS even threw in some “album cover flow” to the media app and the ability to more easily manipulate all your digital media with enhanced figure gestures. You can even drop everything into a visual carousel if that’s your preference. See for yourself in the video after the break.

Posted Mar 3rd 2008 6:50AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Displays

While we found Samsung’s IT solutions emphasis here at CeBIT a bit of a yawn — when executive gets up and tells you that printers are his “personal passion,” you know you’re in for a wild ride — we are glad to see that the company is sticking some of its consumer design cues into its business products. Case in point, the T-series LCDs borrow from the “crystal” style elements of the Bordeaux series, but pack in some business-friendly specifications. The SyncMaster T260 is the flagship of the series, with 26-inches of real estate, 1920 x 1200 resolution, 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 5ms response time and a DTV tuner option, while the similar T240 hits at 24-inches and brings 0.3 Watts standby power. Inputs include DVI and HDMI and D-sub. More basic displays start at 19-inches, multiple color accent options are available, and everything will be available globally in March.

Gallery: Samsung unveils T-series LCD lineup for the suits

Posted Mar 3rd 2008 5:47AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Laptops

We don’t see much of Samsung’s laptops around these parts, and it doesn’t look like the P200 is headed Stateside either, but it’s certainly a solid entry into the ultraportable market — which seems to be the new hotness these days. The laptop has been circulating in the UK since February, but is finally “official” here at CeBIT. The P200 runs on “Intel’s latest” chips, up to the Core 2 Duo 9500, and integrated graphics come courtesy of ATI’s Radeon Xpress 1250, with the laptop wringing 3.1 hours of life out of those chips with a 6-cell battery. The 12.1-inch 1280 x 800 screen is no-gloss, and includes a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam. The laptop also packs Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, Atheros Super G WiFi, 6-in-1 memory card reader, PCI Express card slot a whopping two USB ports. The whole kit weighs in at rather hefty-for-its-class 4.2 pounds, and is available in Europe today starting at € 999 ( $1,517 US).

Gallery: Samsung rolls out 12.1-inch P200 business ultraportable for Europe

My father purchased a new computer from Hewlett Packard’s direct sales website. Upon opening the box, he found one component he wasn’t expecting: A black box, about 1″ by 5″ by 5″, with an HP logo on it. It had three unlabeled coax connectors, and included no instructions. Also included was a 3-connector cable that matched the connectors on the black box, and a card inside the computer with matching connectors.

Upon finding the black box, he tried to find out what it was using HP’s website, but it is unmentioned and unpictured. We also looked at the site of Foxconn, who manufactured the device, and found nothing. Amusingly, an HP technical support representative reached on the phone was also unable to explain what the device might be.

He tried hooking the black box up to the computer to see if it would give us any clues. Nothing happened.

We spent a while googling potential answers: was it a speaker? Some kind of storage device? A power transformer or conditioner? A psychological test by HP to see if people would hook up any strange device they shipped?

Finally, fellow gadgets Page writer Matt Strebe provided the answer: Apparently it’s a MIMO Antenna. MIMO (multiple-in, multiple-out) is a new type of antenna used with the new 802.11n Wifi standard. It uses multiple antennas to improve communication. In this case, there are apparently three antennas in one black box, hence the three wires.

• Here’s another example of a MIMO antenna made by ASUS. This time the three antennas are more obvious.

So apparently HP was concerned enough about helping customers join Wifi networks that they included an external antenna… but not concerned enough to include any sort of instructions. Or to mention it on their website. Or to tell their tech support people about it.

At any rate, if you’ve found yourself with a Mysterious Black Box, go ahead and hook it up if you plan on connecting your computer to a wireless network. (No, it won’t work as a hub—it’s just for connecting to an existing network.)

Laura’s response to all of this confusion: “That’s why he should have bought a Mac.”