Best New Technology

If you were impressed by the LG watchphone, take a look at General Mobile’s newest addition, the GM500 phone. This marvel was shown off recently at the CeBIT 2008 and works on triband GSM (900/1800/1900MHz) networks. While there is obviously nothing as fancy as 3G or Wi-Fi, you do get GPRS, Bluetooth, and USB support along with a 1.5-inch OLED touchscreen. There is 128MB of space with no word on expansion and a host of applications including a stopwatch, world clock, calendar, and voice memo functions. It can play MP3’s, although with only 128MB of memory we are not sure anybody would be too enamored by this idea, but with its A2DP Bluetooth stereo profile, might as well load up some good ones to listen to on the go, right? There are no details about its pricing or availability yet but the question still remains: Are you ready to play Dick Tracy?

Via [MobileBurn]

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Posted Mar 12th 2008 11:26AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Displays

What’s that, you ask? No, it’s not a miniaturized version of Samsung’s LN40650T HDTV. Rather, it’s the firm’s 19-inch 953BW — the oh-so-sexy $239 addition to its SyncMaster lineup. Said monitor boasts a 1,440 x 900 resolution, 300 cd/m2 brightness and a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, and it’s joined by the 20-inch 2053BW ($299), 22-inch 2253LW ($319) and 22-inch 2253BW ($349), all of which feature a 1,680 x 1,050 resolution and two-millisecond response time. Each unit also possesses an HDCP-compliant DVI port, intelligent MagicColor controls and a piano-black glossy finish that you’ll likely have a hard time keeping free of dust and fingerprints. The best news, however, is that the whole lot is available right now.

[Via Electronista]

Politicians are usually behind the times when it comes to technology, something confirmed by former Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski when he stated something that we have known for years: The internet is for porn.

In a stunningly ludditic speech, the non-cellphone using Kaczynski condemned plans by his party to allow voting via the internet.

I am not an enthusiast of a young person sitting in front of a computer, watching video clips and pornography while sipping a bottle of beer and voting when he feels like it.

Quite brilliant (and a fair description of my average day). In fact, Kaczynski seems so out of touch that he doesn’t even realize that internet connected voters are pehaps the most savvy out there. Quite the opposite in fact: “[They are] the easiest group to manipulate, to suggest who to vote for”.

As an aside, does anyone else find it odd that the technophobic Kaczynski shares a surname with the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski? Just sayin’.

Internet for pornography, not voting-Ex Polish PM [Reuters]

Posted Mar 12th 2008 1:10PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Desktops

Intel hasn’t convinced you yet that its upcoming Atom processors will be dirt cheap and pregnant with promise? Well the company has a new definition on the table to see if you’ll reconsider. Intel is talking up a new “NetTop” concept of desktop PCs ranging in price from $100 to $299 — the desktop counterpart to the Eee PC, if you will. Naturally, Intel plans for those desktops to be powered by its own Diamondville processor, but also has other plans like solid state storage, no system fans or CPU socket, optimized power supply unit and “cost optimized OS solutions.” The machines will run on Linux or Windows, and Intel projects 60 million of ‘em will be sold a year by 2011. Those crazy, cash-addled dreamers.

Posted Mar 12th 2008 5:04PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Gaming

We’re not exactly clear on how Gibson’s legal team managed to license all those brand names and guitar designs to Activision for this many Guitar Hero games before realizing that the company maybe-sorta had a patent on the idea, but here we are: Activision filed a lawsuit yesterday asking the US District Court for Central California to invalidate a 1999 Gibson patent on “simulating a musical performance,” because apparently Gibson’s bugging them about it since January. Wait, just January? Seriously, people, you’d have thought this would’ve come up by now. Anyway, Activision says that Gibson is still a “good partner,” just that it “disagrees with the applicability of their patent and would like a legal determination on this.” We’re sure it would. Gibson’s patent apparently involves playing an instrument of some kind along with a pre-recorded concert while wearing what is described as a “3-D headset,” so there seems to be some overlap, but we’ll see what the court says — something tells us explaining Guitar Hero to the judge is going to be relatively amusing.

Update: On reading the patent, Gibson’s system is designed to be used with a “musical instrument” — and no matter what the Guitar Zeros have to say, we don’t think Guitar Hero controllers really qualify. It’ll definitely be interesting to see what the court has to say about that, no? [Thanks, Matt G.]

Disclaimer: Nilay’s a lawyer and a decent Guitar Hero player, but he’s not your lawyer, and none of this is legal advice or analysis.

Read - Article on lawsuit
Read - Gibson patent

Problem 1: You have to walk miles to fetch water and then carry it all the way back home. Problem 2: The water isn’t clean anyway. The Aquaduct solves both of these in one go. Cycle to the water, fill up the rear tank and then cycle home. A pedal powered pump draws the water through a carbon filter and sluices it into the front tank, ready to drink.

The Aquaduct, designed by IDEO, won first prize at the Google/Specialized sponsored Innovate or Die contest. It’s a concept that might never make production, but the idea is neat, if flawed. Water is heavy, and sloshing water could destabilize a bike.

Also, the only essential part is the carbon filter. Everything else could be hand built by residents of the developing nations this is pitched at. It could, however, prove to be a good business tool: Imagine being able to buy, cheaply, guaranteed fresh water from a mobile vendor.

Aquaduct by IDEO [DeZeen via Oh Gizmo!]

Will robots take over the world in the future? It sure sounds like it. They might be docile servants for now, performing domestic tasks such as vacuuming our homes while clearing out gutters and cleaning swimming pools, but surely they will one day decipher the secrets of the human mind and take advantage of our weaknesses the more room and space we give them. Take the MindMentor for instance - this online robot psychologist is the first of its kind in the world, and clients will pay a minimal €4.95 per hour. Developed by a couple of Dutch psychologists who specialize in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), the system has gone through its baptism of fire with tests on 1,600 clients all over the world, and 47% of them have responded positively that they are satisfied after only one session. I wonder whether the troubles of these satisfied folks are too simple to solve, or the MindMentor is THAT good.

The RoboCoach in MindMentor will welcome you initially, asking you to loosen up. Once both of you are acquainted with one another, the RoboCoach will continue interacting with you, trying to analyze your problems while providing a workable solution. The two pyschologists who devised MindMentor said, “Some psychologists thought it was impossible - and some still think so - but it actually works. People solve their problems and attain their life goals with MindMentor’s help. Results from tests showed that MindMentor was able to solve the problems for 47% in just one session, a score that any real life psychologist would be proud of.”

MindMentor is not a lone ranger as it has several ‘colleagues’ to work with. It asks smart questions which address the unconscious mental resources of the client. His two colleagues are RoboRorschach who deals with projective testing while ProvoBot (an expert in provocative humor) will help provide a solution or new take on a situation within an hour’s time.

Source: Primidi

I’m coming off the Death Flu 2008. During my time of holding my bed down, I watched a lot of my Season One box set of Star Trek (the Original Series). Classic, buff Captain Kirk swaggering all over the galaxy with his ever-present Science Officer Spock and his impudent eyebrow cocking. Great stuff. The gadgets were awesome too.

Imagine my glee when I saw on Think Geek that they sell the Star Trek Classic Communicator! This is better than that time when I got that Tribble! From the website:

Now you too can talk to the Enterprise no matter where you are. Just flip up the grill, and you’ll be greeted with the lights and sounds you’ve come to know and love. But not content with mere beeps, the UFP has packed this replica with voice clips from the actual series. Delight as you hear Mr. Spock ask you if you want an armed party beamed down and thrill as you call the Enterprise and hear Bridge here, Captain. So equip yourself with the Communicator that futuristically prognosticated the invention of the cell phone, and get ready for a communication . . . from the stars.

* Full-size replica with lights and sounds straight from the TV show.
* Moving moire pattern.
* Awesome “Hailing Function” - press a button, close the grill, and 5 seconds later the Enterprise will be calling.
* Flip open metal grill.
* Over 20 sound effects and phrases, including “Spock here, Captain.” - “Scotty here, Captain.” - “Transporter room ready to beam up.” - and more!

Although it sadly does not come with your own USS Enterprise, you can show off your Trekkie cred with this awesome gadget for only $29.99.

[Think Geek]

Acer claims that they will roll out a new concept design for a notebook PC tomorrow, with the new style touted to bring about a major change to an existing design. I suppose this new concept will see Acer’s new 16″ and 18.5″ media notebooks play a bigger role, where they will ship with widescreen 1080p displays to complement the Blu-ray drive. Upon hearing that, you can be sure that these new notebooks won’t be easy on your pockets, with prices starting from $1,900 upwards. High end machines are likely to carry dedicated graphics cards, top-of-the-line Intel Core 2 Duo processors and plentiful RAM. Hold on to your seats people, tomorrow ain’t too far away.

Posted Mar 12th 2008 5:56AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Laptops

That friends, is Acer’s teaser for a new “notebook PC concept” set for release in New York later today. We’re not sure what it is, but it’s not very often that the unveiling of a concept device (which may or may not be manufactured) warrants a press event hosted by a company’s president. In this case, Acer’s Vista-hatin’ prez, Gianfranco Lanci. Whatever it is, that hint of a multi-media, touch controller is not something we’d expect to see on their Eee PC killer.

[Thanks, Daniel]