In a world desiring “more, quicker” the new Surface Tabletop displays being shown to AT&T customers might be the beginning stages of “just what the PhD ordered”.
A new type of kiosk is being employed, one which allows users to bring a particular product box to the kiosk whereby a bar code reader scans the device and then begins to interact with the customer. Information about the product is displayed and a type of touch-screen navigation is used to go through the data.
The touch-screen simulation is handled by specially mounted cameras which “watch” the user’s motions.
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The Sims Is A Global Cultural Phenomenon In 60 Countries And 22 Languages Thanks To Players of The Sims Everywhere That’s the headline of The Sims’ (a label of Electronic Arts) press release today, celebrating 100 million units sold around the world. As my little girl, Mackenzie, is addicted to Sims and owns EVERY game, starting with the first one sold in 2000, I figure EA could spread the joy and send us a royalty check. Sixty percent of gamers are girls, and EA was one of the first companies to clue into this. By allowing users to create their own characters and worlds, it’s created a wonderful virtual world for my baby. She loves designing new houses and cities for her lucky Sims family. (Read the full post about ‘Sims sells 100 million units — and owes me money’…)
by Darren Murph, posted Apr 18th 2008 at 7:57AM Seen enough of Sony’s 3-millimeter thin OLED TV? Nah, we reckoned not — and even if you’ve grown somewhat accustomed to that sleek 11-inch exterior, opening this pretty boy up gives you a whole new perspective. The camera-toting cats over at bunnie:studios managed to happen upon a live XEL-1 tear down while perusing the floor at the Embedded Systems Conference, and sure enough, they succeeded in capturing the momentous event and were kind enough to host up a smattering of high-resolution images to prove it. Anxious to see what Sony could possibly fit inside of this thing? You’re just one click away from finding out.[Thanks, Andrew]ReadPermalinkEmail this10 CommentsFile (Read the full post about ‘Sony’s XEL-1 OLED TV splayed in high-resolution’…)
How much storage does one really need when they’re on the road? For some, the 2GB drive in an Asus Eee PC is plenty to get them by while traveling. However, others need to store massive files, be they audio, video or some other massive pieces of data. Those people will want to look towards the new Asus M70 for their mobile computing needs. This massive 17-inch laptop is the first of its kind to sport a whopping 1 terabyte hard drive. That should hold a few PowerPoint presentations for you. Of course storage space isn’t the only thing this laptop has going for it. You can choose from a range of high-end Intel Core 2 Duo chips (T7500/T7700/T8100/T8300/T9300) an ATI Radeon HD3650 with 1GB of VRAM and Blu-ray support. (Read the full post about ‘Asus announces M70 notebook with 1TB hard drive’…)
Nokia’s N95 8GB has just received a new firmware update, hitting v20.0.016 this time round while offering a few bug fixes as well as optimizations. Some of the main changes include the inclusion of Automatic Screen Rotation thanks to the built-in accelerometer as well as support for more Bluetooth headsets. The built-in browser and WiFi connectivity also received some bug fixes, so in theory it shouldn’t crash that often any more. I must say Automatic Screen Rotation is a small touch, but a nice one to have after experiencing it on my Canon PowerShot 720iS. (Read the full post about ‘Nokia N95 Automatic Screen Rotation’…)
The Guardian is reporting that according to a study by the industry group British Music Rights, 95% of 18-24 years old engaged in what it calls “home copying” which refers to things such as making copies of CD’s and MP3 files. The study reported that 2/3rds of that group copied five CD’s a month for their friends. Is this something new? Not really. Anyone who grew up in the 80’s probably has fond memories of making mix tapes with their double deck boom boxes, or by using their stereo systems to copy LP tracks onto cassette, and when the VCR came out, people eagerly copied and traded tapes of their favorite shows and music videos. Is sharing bad for the music industry? (Read the full post about ‘Illegal copying is nothing new to kids’…)
What happens when there isn’t anyone in the vicinity to call the doctor when you’re experiencing a medical emergency? The uBOT-5 is here to help, featuring a couple of arms that can pick up tiny objects, knowledge of using a stethoscope and dialing 9-1-1. Sensors placed next to its video screen head also helps it detect if somebody has fallen down or not. It costs approximately $65,000 to build one of these in the lab, but a mass-produced version might cost a couple of thousand (an estimate only) compared to $1,500 one pays for a part-time, human in-home caregiver each week. uBOT-5 also reminds folks to take their medication, pick up packages as well as perform cleaning chores. (Read the full post about ‘Robots Dial for Help’…)
HP’s upcoming iPAQ 900 series smartphones has managed to arrive in the hands of the FCC, and that indicates in all probability a (near) future release of the smartphone in the US. No idea on which carrier will win the favor of offering this handset, but AT&T is a pretty safe bet. I wonder whether all the previous delays of this smartphone’s release will affect sales, since the specifications will surely be less modern compared to a few months’ back. Tags: home theater, home cinema, consumer technology, digital (Read the full post about ‘FCC unveils HP iPAQ 900 Series’…)
Maxell has something nice for folks who are looking for a lightweight yet rugged hard drive in the form of the Field Tough Media solution. It hooks up through a bi-directional USB or eSATA adapter to a shoulder-mounted camcorder and will be able to deliver 10-bit, 4:2:2 master-quality video and native full HD video. The current form factor allows the Maxell iVDR solution to store up to 160GB worth of data with a transfer rate of 540Mbps. It will still function fine even if you drop it from heights of 1.2m, courtesy of its hardened plastic shell and specially designed shock isolation system. Q2 will see the 160GB drive hit the market, while a 250GB version will follow in Q3. (Read the full post about ‘Maxell Field Tough Media Solution’…)
As the memory capacity of devices gets doubled and tripled with every passing day, the smile across space hogger’s faces broadens. This one’s got just about the memory to ensure that you stop whining. memory, but style too. It isn’t everyday that we come up talking about something as cool as a 64 GB NAND Flash Memory. Can you imagine the wonder of your device you iphone will be once it will have this Flash in it. We can dream about having phones with massive storage capacities in the form of flash memory itself. It’s all for the taking! The 64 Gigabit NAND Flash Memory by Samsung is something worth a wait. The announcement has really got me restless. (Read the full post about ‘Samsung’s 64 Gigabit NAND Flash Memory’…)
