Best New Technology

by Thomas Ricker, posted May 23rd 2008 at 4:00AM

Sony has certainly captured our attention under the command of Sir Howard Stringer. Prior to his March 7th 2005 appointment to the CEO position, it was hard to imagine the beleaguered consumer electronics giant having the guts to take on such aggressive risk taking adventures as Blu-ray, OLED TVs, and in its own small way, the Rolly. Now, after completing his planned turnaround and tripling Sony’s profits, Stringer has reportedly let loose with a fire and brimstone speech meant to compel the thousand-strong Sony managers gathered in a closed-door session into action. Urging them to avoid complacency, Stringer said, “I’m asking you to get mad” and be more “energetic,” “bold,” and “imaginative” at running the business. To sum things up, British-born Stringer slapped up a slide showing a fork in the road. At which point, the Japanese management team whispered, “what’s a fork?”

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We couldn’t agree more with the resounding opinion of majority of Americans surveyed by Harris Interactive regarding in-flight calls, under a commissioned study by Yahoo, . Results of the study showed that majority of Americans surveyed want mobile phone usage on airplanes restricted to the phone’s silent features - e-mail, text, and IM. 74% of those surveyed by Harris Interactive want to allow non-voice phone usage, while the rest do not want in-flight mobile phone use at all.

Although there is still an ongoing debate on whether US passenger aircrafts would allow mobile phone use in-flight, the study highlighted the fact the most U.S. consumers will not object if ever the US authorities would allow such usage.

However, 69% of the respondents said that if ever mobile phone usage will be allowed in-flight including voice calls, they want aircraft operators to provide a designated place inside the airplanes where passengers can talk on their mobile phones. Interestingly, majority of the respondents who belong in the older age brackets, and women were the ones who are more likely to agree than their younger and male counterpart.

Could this be an indication that younger and male passengers prefer to have their peace and quiet while in-flight?

Via [Into Mobile] Via [Yahoo Press Room]

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted May 23rd 2008 at 12:02PM

A criminal mastermind named Mitsuhisa Kobayashi has been arrested for a series of GPS-related car thefts in Japan. According to reports, Kobayashi was responsible for stealing eight cars in the Hyogo Prefecture, five of which he sold on the internet. The man — a former auto factory worker — used two ex-wives to rent the cars, and would then make copies of the keys and install GPS units or cellphones with GPS capabilities inside the vehicles. Kobayashi would use the devices to track the cars’ locations, then steal them once they had been moved from the rental firm. Unfortunately, his accomplices used ID’s which led the authorities right to his front door. Whoops.

[Via GPS Tracking Systems; Thanks, Rich]

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Filed under: GPS, Transportation

Pentax aims to woo the point-and-shoot digital camera crowd by releasing the waterproof Optio W60 compact digital camera that brings together a myriad of features which ought to be more than enough for most beginners as well as those contemplating to move up a notch into the DSLR world. Granted, the W60 still won’t be able to offer a performance that matches the DSLR range in any way, but at least the option of expanding one’s horizons to shoot in dry as well as wet places makes the transition period easier. The Pentax Optio W60 features 10 megapixels as well as a 5x zoom lens with 28mm wide-angle capability, and will function just fine up to 13 feet underwater for up to 120 minutes, and is hardy enough to withstand a wide variance in temperature, even well below freezing. The 5X optical zoom refraction lens never protrudes from the Pentax Optio W60, despite the fact that it can cover focal lengths from 5mm to 25mm.

Features of the W60 include a high quality movie recording mode, and Auto Picture mode, fast Face Recognition, Smile Capture, Blink Detection, an Underwater Movie mode, In the High Sensitivity Digital SR mode, the sensitivity will be adjusted automatically up to ISO 6400, while its lcd monitor comes with a 170 degree wide-angle view and Anti-Reflection coating to reduce glare.

Thanks to an improved design and construction of the shutter button and controls, coupled with reinforced, airtight joints, the Optio W60 makes underwater photography a snap and will be able to dive up to 30% deeper than other Pentax waterproof models. It complies with the JIS Class 8 waterproofing standard, while the camera itself is JIS Class 5 dustproof against dirt, sand and dust and will be able to function from 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius) upwards. For those who are interested, you will be able to pick up the Pentax Optio W60 this July onwards for $329.95, and you can choose from either Ocean Blue or Silver colors.

Source: Let’s Go Digital

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The Philips M600 is a candybar phone offering a 1.3-megapixel camera as well as the following features:

* 2-inch 220 x 176 resolution display
* microSD expansion slot
* Bluetooth
* 3.5-millimeter headphone jack
* support for MIDI / MP3 / WMA / AMR files
* USB 1.1 connectivity
* dual-band GSM / GPRS
* up to 40-hours of music playback on a single charge

Via Engadget.

Don’t know what you’re getting dad this Father’s Day? Why not pick up the MoGo mouse for him if he’s a frequent traveler who spends more time on the road than at the office (or even home)? Released more than a couple of years ago, MoGo has decided to update this special Father’s Day edition by throwing in a sticker on it that says #1 Dad. Other than that, everything else about the MoGo mouse remains the same, including Bluetooth connectivity as well as the ability to function as a Media Remote or a presenter.

The Snowflake USB Microphone from Blue Microphones look set to be the first portable professional USB microphone in the market, featuring an equally stunning look that will definitely make people sit up and take notice. Taking on the winter naming convention, it was dubbed the Snowflake being in a more portable form factor. Being a USB-powered capsule with a class-compliant design, you can be sure that the Snowflake is one true plug-and-play device which will function just fine on both the PC and Mac. It folks into a compact case that also holds a USB cable for easy transportation, and can fit into a laptop bag or pocket without much hassle. The Snowflake USB Microphone will retail for £40 a pop./$79) embodies everything Blue has become known for: stylish looks and exceptional sonic quality (TBD). Blue has combined a USB bus powered capsule with a class-compliant design to make the Snowflake truly plug and play on both Mac and PC.

Source: BIOS

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by Nilay Patel, posted May 22nd 2008 at 11:44PM

Alright, so you weren’t exactly waiting on pins and needles for Fuji to release yet another entry-level FinePix digital camera, but might we interest you in yet another entry-level digital camera with totally average specifications? We thought so. We think you’ll find the FinePix A850 offers a uninspiring 8 megapixels of image-stabilized resolution, a delightfully adequate 3x optical zoom, and a solidly-middling ISO 800 maximum sensitivity. But don’t get too excited digging change out of the couch just yet — Fuji’s not going to announce pricing on this pinnacle of yesterday’s technology until it gets closer to launch in July.

[Thanks, Mark]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

by Paul Miller, posted May 17th 2008 at 8:50PM

All your unicellular buddies are just going to love this. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is rallying a trio of student-built nanobot teams to compete at the world’s most popular sport, which will be the second time nanosoccer has accompanied the RoboCup Open. The difference with this year’s competition is that the public will be invited to watch. Of course, with a playing field the size of a grain of rice, a microscope will be used to show the crazy antics of the remote-controlled robots as they bat around nanoballs the diameter of a human hair. Sounds harmless, but just you wait: before you know it these little bots will start marrying Spice Girls and faking on-field injuries just like the pros.

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Filed under: Robots

Bratty Bonita has a new collection of laptop bag designs, and they’re pretty cute, especially if you’re into flower designs!

Their Flower Power collection is made up of Russian leatherette and embossed flower prints!

Read on to take a closer look at their designs!

Michaela Flower Power (my favorite!)

Rubina Flower Power

Leoniza Flower Power

Embossed Rosareal Flower Power

The thing I love about Bratty Bonita is you can ask them to customize your laptop bags for you (ofcourse, for a higher price). You can mix and match the designs and prints, just the way you want it.

Where to buy: Bratty Bonita
Price: Upon request.

[ Image source from Bratty Bonita ]

Tags: bratty bonita, laptop bags