Archives for October 2009

Piano Stairs Motivate People to use Stairs

October 8, 2009 by 7 Comments

Piano-StairsWhen going anywhere where you’ll find a staircase next to escalators you will find that most people use the easy way where they don’t have to do much work. For this reason the Piano Stairs were trialled to see if adding a bit of fun in to a staircase could tempt more people in to using the steps.

The creators made each step play a different note on a piano so that when people walk up or down they go from the high end of the keyboard to the lower octaves or vice versa. The camera capturing people showed a 66% increase in people using the stairs once they were made a bit more fun. Check out the video below to see it in action. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cool Gadgets

Pressure Sensitive Keyboard Innovation Contest Results

October 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment

SafeLockAbout a month ago, Microsoft gave out 40 pressure sensitive keyboards to international teams who were each charged with the responsibility of making something cool and useful out of them. The keyboards were to be used as part of a competition to create the most innovative use for the said keyboards.

SafeLock

The results are now in and some of the teams have come up with some fantastic results. In first place for the “Most Useful” category was the team (Jeff Allen and John Howard) who created Safelock. Safelock uses the pressure sensitive keyboard to track not only what your password is, but how you type your password. The system biometrically authenticates a user based on an eight character password but also tracks four attributes about each of the keystroke which includes, flight time, hold time, maximized pressure and a curve fit to measure pressure over time. By working this way your password gets another secure level meaning that if someone knows what your password is they are very unlikely to know exactly how you type it. Check out the video below. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Tech News

Dell Adamo XPS Revealed

October 7, 2009 by 1 Comment

AdamoXPSIf you are looking for a crazily thin laptop then check out the Dell Adamo XPS that was revealed today. Unfortunately it was just a brief showing with no technical specs revealed. From looking at it, it appears to be razor thin and makes even a MacBook Air look fat.

Hopefully some official technical specs will be revealed soon to show what’s in the stupidly thin casing that you see pictured here. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Laptops

LG 2TB NAS – N2B1D Revealed

October 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment

LG-N2B1D-2TB-NASLG have revealed a 2TB NAS drive named the N2B1D. The NAS has a smaller capacity then the previous N4B1 model. This version stores up to 2 TB of data vs the 4GB of the previous model. The NAS also has a blu-ray drive.

Inside the device you’ll find 2 harddrive slots along side the blu-ray drive. With it being a NAS you can easily hook it up to your home network so that any computer on your network can access contents if you so wish.

Power wise the unit has a power consumption of 44W and the noise levels are below 25dB making it run fairly quiet. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Computer Gadgets

Sharp AQUOS LX Series Launching in November

October 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment

sharp_led_aquos_003Sharp are due to launch a new range of LED based HDTV’s. The Sharp AQUOS LX series will come in 4 sizes with models starting at 40″ going up to 46″, 52″ and 60″ in size.

Sharp claim that the new TV’s will have a contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1 as well as a decrease of up to 30% in power consumption. The TV’s use LED backlight technology to help achieve the power saving and 2M:1 contrast ratio.

Sound output is provided by Du Bass ARSS 6 speakers that are arranged in a 2.1 channel setup. Just the larger of the screens will support this (46″ and above). [Read more…]

Filed Under: Displays

LBook T9 MultiTouch Tablet Planned for March 2010

October 7, 2009 by 3 Comments

lbook-pc-tabletLBook are planning to launch their new Windows 7 powered multitouch tablet next year. The LBook T9 is an ultra-thin tabletPC that will cost somewhere between $350 – $375 when launched and have some fairly good specs too. The screen will measure 8.9″ and have a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels.

The unit will be powered by an Intel Atom Z530 1.6Ghz processor and it will pack in 2GB of DDR2 memory. For storage the T9 will have a 120GB HDD and for connectivity it will have both WiFi and Bluetooth as well as optional 3G support. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Laptops

Dell Android Phone going to the US

October 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Dell-Android-mini3i_2The Dell Mini 3i that was reported recently as going to China only now appears to be moving to the US also in the next few months.

The Mini 3i will be shipping in the US and will be aimed at competing with other Android handsets from companies such as HTC, Samsung and Motorola who are quickly making a mark in that territory.

When Crunch Gears tipster had a play with the Mini 3i it was reported that the phone was cheap and plasticky but it is expected that the phone will be spruced up when it makes it to the US. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

Foxconn to Ship 300K+ Apple Tablet’s Q1 2010

October 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment

apple-tablet-conceptDigiTimes are reporting that Foxconn are going to be making the Apple Tablet PC with shipments starting 1st quarter of 2010.

Initial shipments from Foxconn would be in the 300,000 – 400,000 range according to DigiTimes sources. The device will feature a 10.6 inch display that will come from Innolux Display and we have also heard that the main focus of the device will be moved over to e-book functionality rather than music.

Battery life is expected to be good and the device supposedly will have quick internet connectivity along with an easy to use interface. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Laptops

Amazon Kindle goes Global

October 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment

feat-screen-kindlestoreIf you visit the Amazon.com home page today you;ll be presented with news that the Kindle is going global. First off the note explains that the Kindle will drop $40 in price for the normal US version which cost $299 and is now $259. This version of the Kindle will only be capable of downloading e-books while in the US. However, a second version of the 6″ e-book reader is also due out that will allow you to use the Kindle in other countries for downloading books. It will cost $20 more than the standard 6″ model at $279, but will be capable of downloading books in over 100 countries around the world.

It’s a good move forwards for Amazon and will be welcomed by users I suspect. By allowing users to download where ever they are will allow those away from the US to still be able to get new content when they want it. However, there is a downside… [Read more…]

Filed Under: Computer Gadgets

HTC HD2 Now Official – Coming this Month

October 6, 2009 by Leave a Comment

htc-hd2-coming-this-month-0After a lot of speculation, HTC have now confirmed that the HTC HD2 is now official and that it will be coming to UK networks this month. The HD2 will run Windows Mobile 6.5 and have a massive 4.3 inch touchscreen display that will support multitouch and have a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels.

The HD2 will also use the HTC Sense user interface on top of Windows Mobile 6.5. Pocket-Lint say not to get too excited about that though as it seems very similar to TouchFLO that other HTC devices have running Windows. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

LG Rumor 2 Going to Virgin Mobile USA

October 6, 2009 by 3 Comments

LG-Rumour-2An announcement from Virgin Mobile USA has revealed that the LG Rumor 2 is going to their network. The Rumor 2 has a full QWERTY keyboard that slides out that makes it ideal for messaging and email.

The phone also has Bluetooth as well as 3G connectivity Update: No 3G on this phone. Also, GPS can be found in the phone making it quite a handy device should you want to use navigation.

The great news is that the phone will cost just $129.99 without a contract. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

Windows Mobile 6.5 Review

October 6, 2009 by Leave a Comment

startmenu_01Gizmodo managed to get their hands on a new Windows Mobile 6.5 device for review this morning and although they were hoping to give it a raving review, they were let down by a mobile operating system that seems to be just patching over a few things on the previous 6.1 version.

First problems seemed to be with the start menu that according to Giz you cannot organise the way you want it easily. Instead, you need to tap on an icon and hit a menu telling it to jump to the top. You then need to go through each icon moving it to the top in the correct order to get the menu system looking how you want it. It’s only a small problem, but as it’s 2009 you’d kind of expect more. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones