Miscellaneous

by Will Sturgeon

Blackberry, iPod, laptop, mobile phone, PDA all crammed into bags and pockets… Techies are struggling under a weight of electronic devices with mobile phones, PDAs, Blackberrys and laptops all adding to the back strain.

And although shrinking form factor and more lightweight designs may save the average techie from the grips of the chiropractor, they run a risk of costly theft or loss with hundreds or thousands of pounds worth of kit on them at any one time. They may also unwittingly pose a security threat to their own organisations.

According to silicon.com research, nearly three-quarters of respondents regularly carry at least three such gadgets about their person.

…

Techies weighed down with gadget burdenRead More »

Design News readers selected Jerry Baumeister as Gadget Freak extraordinaire for the model rock altimeter he designed

Chuck Mackey, Senior Art Director
Design News
April 4, 2005

A peek behind the scenes to show you how a Gadget Freak is created

There may be some argument as to whether Gadget Freaks are born or created. But either way, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes here at Design News to produce the Gadget Freak page for every issue.

After selecting a Gadget Freak candidate for an upcoming issue, Chief Editor Karen Field and I get together to discuss the invention and brainstorm ideas. In the case of Jerry Baumeister, we wanted an image that would convey his love of flying and a sense of his invention—a model rocket altimeter. Our ideal was to show Jerry flying through the air.

…

Gadget Freak of The YearRead More »

ANI News) London, Apr 5 : Researchers from the University of Glasgow claim to have developed “audio clouds� for controlling gadgets using movement and sound.

London, Apr 5 : Researchers from the University of Glasgow claim to have developed “audio clouds� for controlling gadgets using movement and sound.

According to the BBC, this development will allow 3D sound and movement to control gadgets. Scientists say that a mere nod of the head would enable one to change tracks on digital music players of the future.

…

Now, just a nod can control your gadgetRead More »

Hand-held gadgets could be used in the future to take 3D scans showing tissues inside the body, US scientists say.

The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners currently used for this job in hospitals are large and expensive.

But Princeton University is looking for ways to make scanners cheaper and smaller without affecting performance.

The breakthrough is down to a new way of detecting magnetic signals from water, its researchers told New Scientist magazine.

…

Hand-held gadget to scan the bodyRead More »

Associated Press
Friday, April 08, 2005

TOKYO — A “ghost detector” is the latest offering from a Japanese company that sells popular computer data storage units shaped like rubber ducks and sushi.

SolidAlliance Corp.’s portable GhostRadar beeps and flashes red lights in response to unusual magnetic waves. It also reacts to body heat and perspiration detected by a sensor where users place their thumbs.

…

Japan unveils ghostbuster gadgetRead More »

The makers of the “Stratellite” believe it will revolutionize the broadband and wireless industry — if it ever gets off the ground. Wisconsin communications company Sanswire recently unveiled its almost-finished prototype of a hard-framed, unmanned airship designed to fly in the stratosphere 13 miles above the earth and send broadband and mobile phone signals to an area the size of Texas.

“We’re shooting for satellite replacement at a lower cost,” said Leigh Coleman, president of Sanswire parent GlobeTel Communications Corp. “We believe this will change the way you communicate.” Flying above the jet stream but lower than a satellite — and one-tenth the cost at $25 million to $30 million — the Stratellite also would render land-based cell-phone towers obsolete, its makers say.

…

Robot Plane could replace cell towers and satellitesRead More »

It’s the stuff of sci-fi action flicks, but you’ll need the skill of a softball pitcher to deploy the latest high-tech surveillance gadget. It’s called the Eye Ball R1 , a wireless camera and microphone secreted in a baseball-sized casing. The Eye Ball can be tossed into a crime scene to give police watching a tiny TV screen embedded in a handheld unit a 360-degree view of what the bad guys are up to.

Besides being tossed, the Eye Ball–encased in composite rubber and weighing 1-14 pounds, about four times the weight of a baseball–can be placed on a pole or dangled on a line to let authorities peer around corners, over fences, up and down stairwells, and in attics. When tossed or rolled, the device is designed to end upright, allowing the operator to remotely direct it toward a specific target, capturing a 55-degree horizontal and 41-degree vertical field of view. It can revolve four times a minute. Operation of the personal display pad, which features a 6.4-inch color screen, is intuitive.

…

Cops Play Hardball With Latest High-Tech Surveillance GadgetRead More »

By Gordon T. Anderson, CNN/Money staff writer

If a service saves effort or time, after all, a certain breed of consumer will probably pay for it. A poll in the U.K., for example, found that a majority of those surveyed prefer to hire people to perform even simple tasks, from sewing buttons on clothing to fixing breakfast. Stateside, it’s hardly worth asking whether we would rather have things done for us than to do them ourselves. The answer is obvious. We’re all worshippers in the cult of convenience.

…

The Cult of convenienceRead More »