Best New Technology

The Casio G-Shock G5500C takes the green route, featuring Tough Solar Power (whatever that means), Shock Resistance and a Water Resistance of up to 200 meters. I like the white resin band that makes it ooze with class, although you’ll probably need to clean the underside regularly of dirt and grime in order to maintain a pristine appearance. You will be able to choose from three colors - red, green and white. No idea what you would do with four daily alarms though, but a countdown timer, an automatic light and world time in 48 cities round off the list of features for this $120 watch.

Nokia N96 with 5 megapixel,Carl-Zeiss optics and dual LED flash is the phone I would like to buy for myself.

N96 has a built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS support plus 3.5mm headphone socket for audio, TV-Out in SDTV resolution and DVB-H receiver.

I will be honest the GPS, the camera and the headphone socket will be very useful, but I have no idea what to do with the TV-Out.

The phone also have expandable microSD memory, which is great. And it works with Sybian Series 60 operating system (updated to 3rd edition FP2 standard).

One of the main reason I want a Nokia N96 is the Camera. 5 MP, 2592×1944 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, video(VGA 30fps), flash and secondary VGA videocall camera. The pictures with that camera will be great.

Another important reason is I always loved Nokia Mobile Phones since I had my first phone a Nokia 6150.

It was a great phone.

Stand-by and Talk time for N96 are good. Stand-by UP to 220 h and Talk time Up to 3 h 40 min.

I have decided from what shop to buy my phone. The shop will be Mobile Phones online mall, but they are currently awaiting the launch of the Nokia N96, so I wait also.

Posted Mar 13th 2008 4:43AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Robots

Finally, after a scourge of sissy, beer serving robots we meet our maker. Vstone’s Black Ox stands more than 7,000 feet tall and brings a Tokyo-sized lust for human meat sacks. Gigantor, you never had a chance. Ok, ok, he’s only a foot and a half from the floor but those 20 movable axis points and fierce fighting skills should deliver hours of entertaining torment for your pet, kids, or pet kids. Check the video after the break while we wait for an official price and release date.

[Via Impress]

High-tech lock maker Kwikset has announced the SmartKey. Its banner feature is anti-bumping technology, which supposedly makes the lock un-pickable (bumping is about the quickest and easiest way to break a lock, involving a hammer, a dummy key and, well, that’s it).

But we don’t care for the security so much as the convenience. The SmartKey lock can be re-keyed by the owner. You put in your old key, hit a “learning” button inside the lock and then swap in any key. That key is now paired with the lock. Very neat, and very easy, allowing a single key to be used in a multitude of locks. The downside? Let’s just say you might want to keep a spare.

Product page [Kwikset via Apartment Therapy]

YouTube is getting yet another medium to deliver its online videos to viewers. TiVo announced it has reached an agreement with YouTube to deliver videos from the website to TiVo DVRs. Those with TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD boxes that are broadband connected will be able to take advantage of the service later this year.

TiVo has made a number of moves to take advantage of its boxes support of a broadband connection. Back in July of last year, the company announced an arrangement with Amazon and its Amazon Unbox service, which allows subscribers to rent or purchase movies for viewing through their TiVo boxes. That news was followed up in October with the announcement that TiVo had struck a partnership with Rhapsody to offer access to its music subscription catalog through a TiVo box as well.

Sure, there are other DVR solutions out there besides TiVo. Still, the company is doing a good job of differentiating itself from other solutions by integrating a number of broadband services into its set-top boxes. TiVo is also trying to get viewers away from their computer so they can depend more on their TiVo box for online content. That’s what makes this partnership with YouTube such a good one, since YouTube is a common destination for folks online.

Read more from the TiVo press release.

The robuCAB vehicle from France is a ‘4-seats automated people mover’ that was constructed from a 4-wheel drive electric chassis and complemented with an on-board computer. This vehicle does not need any driver as it follows the kerb while carrying a number of embedded systems. A camera will always keep an eye on the path edge, while another device tracks the angle and direction of the kerb whilst the rest take control of gearing and acceleration. Each robuCAB will move over a pre-defined circuit that holds a series of sensors below the ground, so they can’t move about independently. How would you feel stepping into a driverless taxi? I hope that such vehicles will come with safety cameras within, as you never know when you might get mugged while inside since there isn’t any human element to act as a deterrent.

Do you think that your display cabinet needs a little bit more ‘oomph’ in the display department? Maybe the LED spotlight here can help.

No need to cut a hole in the wall or hire an electrician—you can put this battery-powered, 6-LED spotlight anywhere! Use to illuminate a dark corner or highlight a piece of art. Adjustable head lets you aim the beam precisely where you want it.

Priced at $14.95 each, this is definitely the solution if the missus is extremely particular about drilling holes in her furniture.

Overview

Stay connected with your friends and family with the high-resolution video and clear sound using the advanced Philips Webcam 1.3 MP SPC1000NC. Use Philips Webcam 1.3 MP SPC1000NC and enjoy the 5-mega pixels and high quality images for online chatting and other purposes. Its 60 frames per second lets you create natural-looking and full motion videos for video chatting and high quality home monitoring. Fitted with wide-angle lens, this webcam gives you an 80-degree field of view.

Features

• Precision glass optics.
• Face tracking.
• 5x digital zoom.
• Built-in digital directional microphone.

Get an improved image quality with the precision glass optics of Philips 1.3 MP SPC1000NC Webcam . You can change the real-life background with the virtual background using the webcam software. Enjoy chatting and surprising your friends using the ten themed frames around your face with Philips Webcam 1.3 MP SPC1000NC.

Box content

The box comprises of Philips 1.3 MP SPC1000NC Webcam and a user’s manual.

Price

Philips 1.3 MP SPC1000NC Webcam is available at a price of $ 39.99.

Source: Philips

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While I’ll be the first to admit that a blanket of any sort can’t really be considered a gadget, unless perhaps it has built-in speakers or something. However, this Slanket was designed with gadget lovers in mind.

I try to keep my house on the cool side, which means from time to time I’ll find myself on the couch with a blanket trying to work. I enjoy doing this, except that it takes forever to get the blanket situated so that only my head and hands are uncovered. That’s where the Slanket comes in.

This giant 60” x 95” blanket has two rather large sleeves through which you can put your arms, leaving only your hands exposed. This makes it much easier to read, type or do whatever it is you do when you’re wrapped up in a blanket. It comes in 6 different colors and will set you back $49.99.

Source: Gearfuse

There’s a small chance we might have another lithium-ion battery recall on our hands. This time the product affected is not a laptop. Instead, it’s the well known iPod nano. To be fair to Apple, a single incident involving an ipod nano in Japan is being investigated by the trade and economy ministry, according to an Associated Press article.

According to the report, it seems that an iPod nano shot sparks while charging. The ministry is categorizing the incident as a fire. That’s probably a fair categorization considering the chance that the sparks could have started a fire if the right combustibles were around. Luckily, nobody was injured in the incident.

If you consider that large numbers of iPod nanos have been sold, you have to be a little hesitant before you believe that Apple might have a full fledged crisis on its hands. After all, this could be a simple matter of one defective battery or an after-market battery being used in the iPod nano causing the issue. In the end, it’s another black eye for lithium-ion technology. It’s also a situation I am sure Apple will be quick to get to the bottom of before rumors begin running out of control about the iPod nano catching fire all over the place.

Read more from the Associated Press article.