Mobile Technology
Toshiba Methanol Fuel Cell MP3 player
September 18, 2005 Toshiba’s rapidly developing expertise in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) technology has been regularly reported in Gizmag over the last year or two, - when the portable power revolution begins, and batteries begin to give way to miniature fuel cells, Toshiba will be one of the significant global contenders. This week the Japanese giant announced that it has developed two prototype direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) units and begun tests to validate their operation with mobile audio players. Each unit integrates the DMFC that Toshiba announced in June 2004 (the world's smallest), bringing its practical use a major step closer. Read More
The Garmin nuvi is your handheld travelling companion
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September 13, 2005 The Garmin nuvi is a Personal Digital Travel Assistant that combines a GPS navigator, language translator and travel guide capability, an MP3 player, an audio book player, a currency and measurement converter, a world clock, and a digital photo organizer -- all in one device the size of a pack of cards . One day, no doubt all the functionality we could ever wish for will be available in one device, but until then, companies such as Garmin will continue to recognise market opportunities for suites of functionality that are very compelling to a thin, vertical market – in this case travellers. Read More
Commercially branding laptop computers; marketing tool and anti-theft deterrent
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September 13, 2005 If you've never thought of your laptop computer as a way to distinguish yourself, your company or organization from another, this article might help. Laptop Design USA has been launched to commercially brand laptops with companies and organizations' colors, logos and trademarks. More than 15 million laptops were sold in the U.S. each year, with laptop theft running at half a million units. Most countries mirror high laptop sales and extraordinary theft rates – by turning your computer into an ambassador for your company, you also create a significant theft deterrent. Read More
JASJAR: the phone laptop
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The Jasjar is a Windows Mobile 5.0 device offering VOIP, 3G, GSM, GPRS and Wi-Fi and a host of dynamic multimedia services, being touted as a laptop phone. It has a 180 degree swivel screen and a choice of PDA/Notebook mode via the touch sensitive screen or laptop mode using the QWERTY keyboard. The 640x480 VGA screen is ideal for viewing and working on documents, managing email or simply browsing the internet. Read More
Apple Introduces diminutive iPod nano
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September 8, 2005 Apple today introduced the iPod nano, a miniscule yet full-featured iPod that is thinner than a standard #2 pencil and comes with a colour screen and Apple's Click Wheel. The iPod nano is available immediately in white or black in a 4GB model priced at just US$249 and a 2GB model priced at just US$199. The most fashionable and wearable iPod ever, the iPod nano features optional accessories including lanyard headphones, which integrate the headphone cables into the lanyard, so users can wear their iPod nano around their neck without dangling headphone cables. "iPod nano is the biggest revolution since the original iPod," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iPod nano is a full-featured iPod in an impossibly small size, and it's going to change the rules for the entire portable music market." Read More
4.0GB from Toshiba’s 0.85-Inch Hard Disk Drive
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September 8, 2005 Toshiba continues to push the envelope on small form factor storage with its latest market introduction, a multi-gigabyte hard drive that is 0.85 inches in diameter.It was in June that we announced Toshiba had cracked the 2 GB barrier with its .85 inch hard drive so we guess it was about time they announced another breakthrough – at IFA this week, the Japanese company announced that the same drive has now been increased to 4 gigabytes capacity.
Only a quarter the size of a 1.8-inch hard disk drive and about the size of a postage stamp, the 0.85-inch HDD will boost the functionality of a new generation of products, including mobile phones, digital audio players, PDAs, digital still cameras, camcorders and more. Read More
Motorola ROKR: mobile phone with iTunes
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September 9, 2005 Motorola's iTunes phone looks set to be one of the big sellers of the coming Christmas season and Motorola has been quick to seize the moment by producing a star-studded advertising campaign. The campaign brings together a host of past and present music legends including Madonna, Little Richard, The Bravery, Iggy Pop, Biggie Smalls, Ahmir, Common and Beethoven, in a screen-first, directed by a new breed of Hollywood filmmaker, Jesse Dylan. The new phone, dubbed ROKR enables music lovers to transfer up to 100 of their favorite songs from the iTunes jukebox on their Mac or PC to their mobile phone. The Motorola ROKR features easy-to-use menus, simple navigation and playback, and the ability to simply switch from listening to music to talking on the phone and back again with the push of a dedicated music key. See inside for links to the new commercial. Read More
Charge 2 Go – one AA battery equals another 3 hours of talk time
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September 7, 2005 The Charge 2 Go is a reusable cell phone charger that accepts a AA battery and gives up to three hours of additional talk time – and at US$24.99, it’s an insurance policy that most people can afford as AA batteries can be found anywhere in any part of the world. The tiny aluminium charger comes in silver, blue, red or black and sells with a variety of connectors to fit most popular cell phone models.
READIUS ‘Rollable Display’ pocket e-Reader concept at IFA 2005
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September 5, 2005 After many years of R&D in rollable displays, Philips revealed its Concept Readius at the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) in Berlin, Germany last friday. Philips Concept Readius is a prototype of a connected consumer device for business professionals unwilling to sacrifice readability, mobility, performance, or weight in a pocket-sized, e-reader concept. The Readius is the world’s first prototype of a functional electronic-document reader that can unroll its display to a scale larger than the device itself. With four gray levels, the monochrome, 5-inch QVGA (320 pixels x 240 pixels) display provides paper-like viewing comfort with a high contrast ratio for reading-intensive applications, including text, graphics, and electronic maps. Using a bi-stable electrophoretic display effect from E Ink Corp., the display consumes little power and is easy to read, even in bright daylight. Once the user has finished reading, the display can be rolled back into the pocket-size (100 mm x 60 mm x 20 mm) device. Read More
Purdue University creates new method to drive fuel cells for portable electronics
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September 1, 2005 Engineers at Purdue University have developed a new way of producing hydrogen for fuel cells to automatically recharge batteries in portable electronics, such as notebook computers, and eliminate the need to use a wall outlet. The findings were presented last Sunday (August 28) during the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., and also will be detailed in a peer-reviewed paper to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Combustion and Flame. The researchers developed the new method earlier this year and envision a future system in which pellets of hydrogen-releasing material would be contained in disposable credit-card-size cartridges. Once the pellets were used up, a new cartridge would be inserted into devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, notebook computers, digital cameras, handheld medical diagnostic devices and defibrillators. Read More
Samsung Unveils Its New Satellite DMB Phone
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August 26, 2005 Samsung continues to drive the DMB phone market using its base in high-tech Korea as a testing ground for its products which are then aggressively marketed to the rest of the world – exactly the same way the Japanese did bfore them and the rest of the world is hoping it might be able to do at some point in the future. In this particular case, it’s the launch of its fourth satellite DMB phone (model: SCH-B250) following the release of the B100, B130 and B200 we wrote up a month ago. Samsung's new B250 boasts a more compact design and improved features while maintaining the basic product concept of previous DMB phones, which supports horizontal viewing. The B250 is also the smallest Samsung DMB handset yet. The B250 is a folder type with pivotal LCD screen which rotates 90 degrees into landscape mode. Read More
Ambulance of the future Concept
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August 26, 2005 An ambulance of the future concept vehicle was unveiled at EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Expo in New Orleans yesterday. American Medical Response (AMR) and American Emergency Vehicles (AEV) showed their second-generation prototype which was jointly developed as part of research on providing advanced care to patients and improving safety in the ambulance industry. The first prototype debuted last year and travelled coast-to-coast, with hundreds of paramedics and EMTs inspecting the vehicle and providing detailed feedback for the development of a second model. The vehicle on display this weekend at EMS Expo is the result of the research undertaken with the first vehicle. Read More
SIRIUS Wearable Satellite Radio with MP3 announced
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August 25, 2005 SIRIUS Satellite Radio has announced the debut of its first wearable satellite radio, the SIRIUS S50, which allows users to capture and store up to 50 hours of SIRIUS content, or a mix of SIRIUS programming and MP3/WMA files, enabling listening on the go. The SIRIUS S50 measures a diminutive 48 x 99 x 12 mm (1.9 x 3.9 x 0.7 inches), and includes a full colour display, sleek black exterior and voice-assisted channel navigation. When attached to a home dock, car dock or executive docking station, the SIRIUS S50 provides easy access to live content, and captures and stores both scheduled and unscheduled SIRIUS programming. This feature allows users to listen to SIRIUS' unique programming anywhere.The SIRIUS S50 is scheduled to be available at retail in October for a suggested retail price of US$359.99. Read More
Palm and Audi collaborate on automotive communications tools
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August 23, 2005 Palm and Audi have announced their collaboration in a new generation of communications solutions designed to improve safety and convenience for drivers: easy and totally integrated hands-free calling inside the car. Using built-in Bluetooth short-range wireless technology and the Palm Treo 650 smartphone, drivers of 2006 Audi A6 and A8 vehicles can make and receive calls totally hands-free using the car's MMI (Multi Media Interface) console, voice-recognition interface or steering-wheel controls. Read More
iPorter xSD offers a secure key-ring flash memory card holder
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August 21, 2005 The iPorter xSD offers a new way to store and manage your Flash Memory Cards with two significant distinguishing features over other card holders - the diminutive size and the simple fact that it works as a keyring, meaning that it’s convenient and close-at-hand at all times. As well as being more mobile and smaller than the competition, it can fit more styles of cards than most other cases. Anything from SD, xD, miniSD, Mem-Stick Duo, MMC, RS-MMC, trasflash, and even phone sim cards. A lot of Sony PSP users are apparently getting interested in the case, because their PSP games come on memory stick duo's, which fit very nicely in the iPorter xSD case where it can be attached directly to their PSP, Camera, Phone, MP3 player, keys, bag, back pack, etc. Read More
The Boston Audissey: The MP3/iPod Walking Tour of Boston
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August 21, 2005 The MP3 player began its surge of global popularity based on its ability to play high quality music in a portable form factor and we estimate 20 million MP3 players will be sold globally in 2005. Interestingly, the rise of the MP3 player has also caused the birth of podcasting and now we’re seeing peripheral and associated markets dependent on the MP3 player begin to emerge – such as downloadable personal trainers and now downloadable audio tours. Last week Audissey Guides announced the release of The Boston Audissey, an MP3/iPod compatible walking tour through one of America's most legendary cities. Combining a downloadable and printable on-line map, the tour combines haunting sound effects and musical scores with fourteen different Bostonians narrating the tour through 27 sites with vivid accounts of historical events that happened at each spot. No doubt there'll be more interesting uses of the MP3 player but we like this idea and the implementation. Read More
Sony's Latest Flash-Based Walkman 'Bean' Players
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August 19, 2005 Expanding on its line of Walkman digital music players, Sony Electronics has announced a new series of flash-based devices. Bright and colourful, the compact NW-E300 Beans sport a sassy design and are available in 512 MB and 1 GB capacities with a built-in FM tuner. They also feature the long battery life, quick-charge function and brilliant displays people have come to expect from Sony Walkman digital audio players. Read More
The intelligent coffee drinker's mug
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August 17, 2005 Have you ever wondered what possesses human beings to heat liquids to boiling point and then systematically pour them on the second-most-sensitive area of their body? It’s what Jolex, the inventors of the Brugo travel mug calls the “perfect temperature zone” for drinking coffee, soup, tea – the most common liquids we use in a travel mug – and it’s estimated to be between 150 degrees and 170 degrees Fahrenheit (65-75 degrees Celsius). It’s the point at which the aroma and flavour are greatest, but it’s an elusive zone and one that heated liquids are only in for a short time. By using a simple “tip and sip” motion, BRUGO transfers sip-sized amounts (one fluid ounce) of the hot beverage to the temperature control chamber, where it immediately reaches this “perfect temperature zone.” Only the liquid in the chamber is cooled and only this liquid exits the sip opening. A seal keeps the remaining coffee at its hottest and most aromatic. This inventive system eliminates the need for coffee drinkers to blow on their beverage, add ice to it, or wait for it to cool. Instead, they have immediate access to their hot beverage, and they can enjoy it longer at its peak freshness and flavour. Read More
Tiny device combines Wi-Fi Hotspot Finder with access point
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August 14, 2005 With its ease of use and full featured capability, the ZyXEL AG-225H Wi-Fi Finder is an ideal tool for consumers to detect hotspots, provide a secure wireless connection and share wireless access with others. The AG-225H gives users detailed information about security, SSID and signal strength, and it detects all 802.11a and 802.11b/g access points, including 802.11-compatible MIMO and Pre-N networks on both 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands. By displaying detailed information about the access points it locates, the US$99 AG-225 provides a great tool for security professionals to monitor the environment for any unsecured access points.
GN Mobile Qualifies World's First Bluetooth 2.0 Headset
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August 11, 2005 GN Mobile, a division in GN Store Nord and the global leader of hands-free communication products for the mobile consumer market, today announced that the company has qualified the world's first Bluetooth headset to Bluetooth version 2.0. This achievement marks the fourth consecutive time for GN to qualify a Bluetooth headset to the latest version of the Bluetooth standard. GN was also first to qualify a Bluetooth headset to versions 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2. The qualification confirms GN's leadership in Bluetooth technology development and widely recognized Bluetooth technology expertise. Read More
Innovative new traffic visualisation tool to debut in Northern California
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August 11, 2005 Northern California (USA) news service News10 Sacramento is about to debut the most innovative traffic tool the market has yet seen called “Beat the Traffic”. “Beat the Traffic” is cutting edge 3-D traffic displays that offer the viewer a look at traffic from a completely different angle. One of the most exciting things “Beat the Traffic” will provide is travel forecasting. The system computes historical traffic information and will predict how long it will take to arrive at a destination. Travel forecasting can tell you what time on a Friday before a major holiday that traffic will start backing up! This will help viewers save time when planning events and trips. Read More
The $20 cell phone is on the horizon
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August 10, 2005 Approximately 80 percent of the world's population has wireless coverage, though, only about 25 percent subscribe to wireless services due largely to the cost of mobile phones. This represents a huge opportunity for delivering mobile services to large sections of the world's population. In India alone, roughly 11 percent of its total population has telecom connectivity with a mobile subscriber base of 58 million. All of which makes Texas instruments latest cost-effective single-chip cell phone solution very significant – available in less than 12 months time, the chip will reduce the cost of manufacturing cell phones by around 30% and as Texas Instruments (TI) Chairman Tom Engibous announced, “the $20 cell phone is on the horizon.” Read More
Creative's Magnesium 30GB Zen Vision MP3 Player with 3.7 inch Hi-Res Colour Screen
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August 5, 2005 Another MP3 player? Well yes, but the Zen Vision has a magnesium casing and comes with a 3.7-inch SharpPix high-resolution 640x480 262,144-colour screen for photo viewing and digital video playback. Featuring a transflective screen that provides excellent image and video quality even in bright sunlit conditions, the 30GB Zen Vision is "the business", at least for the next week or two. Available in either pearl white or black, the diminutive Zen Vision measures 4.9 by 2.9 by .8 inches and weighs 8.4 ounces and will cost US$399.99 which makes it good value compared with an iPod, heh! Read More
Popkomm’s annual ‘Innovation in Music and Entertainment Awards’
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August 4, 2005 With a goal of providing a global showcase for the best new business ideas, the brightest entrepreneurs and the hottest startups in the music, media and entertainment technology sectors, the ‘Innovation in Music and Entertainment ’ (IMEA Awards) held at international music and entertainment business show Popkomm have never been more interesting or relevant. The fourteen finalists for the Popkomm-IMEA Awards, which will be conducted on the first day of Popkomm 2005 in Berlin on September 14th, include a stunning array of digital entertainment ideas and initiatives. Our article is hyperlinked to all 14 of them. Read More
Lightweight fold-up solar charger for AA Batteries
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August 3, 2005 Thanks to the proliferation of handheld devices, the population’s battery addiction is growing at an alarming rate while we await fuel cells or some other way of keeping our MP3s, handhelds and PVRs working within our lifestyle needs. Rechargeable batteries make a lot of sense in the meantime, and now a new fold-up solar charger might make life a little easier for at least some of us. The PowerFilm AA Foldable solar charger is ultra lightweight, thin, and recharges batteries in a highly effective manner in varying sunlight conditions while optimising charging time and protecting batteries from over-charging. It recharges 2 AA rechargeable (NiMH or NiCad) batteries in four hours or four batteries in eight hours, weighs less than 4 extra batteries and folds to pocket size. The military version is already on the market and reportedly a big favourite with soldiers in remote locations. Read More
Wireless Traffic Report Application from Palm
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July 29, 2005 While there is more information readily available than at any other point in history, there is not much information that is really need-to-know-NOW. Sitcom TV, indeed 95% of the entertainment delivered by real-time wireless audio and video services (formerly known as television and radio) can be painlessly time-shifted, even archived , until a convenient slot in your schedule appears. In the grand scheme of information that is time-critical, there’s news, sport, weather and traffic reports with the latter two high on the list of things you don’t know that can hurt you. In 2003, 51 US urban areas experienced more than 20 hours of delay per rush-hour traveler – 20 hours of wasted existence. Traffic reports have traditionally been one of the stronger drawcards of morning television and rush-hour radio but as wireless information services become more sophisticated, we’ll be able to see exactly what the situation is on the roads between here and there on our handheld. Which is why Palm’s announcement of Traffic for Treo Smartphones is important – it’s a glimpse of the wireless connected future – and it’s available in ten cities now: Atlanta, Baltimore/DC, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. Read More
Laptop harness holds any laptop in perfect position to entertain passengers in the rear seat
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July 30, 2005 Now here's a fabulous idea - a harness that holds any laptop in a near perfect position to entertain children in the rear seat of ANY vehicle. If you have a laptop with a DVD player, buying one of these US$24.99 harnesses means you now have a back seat entertainment system. The CradleVue laptop computer travel harness suspends any laptop between the two front seats of nearly any vehicle, installs in about one minute and is fully adjustable to accommodate nearly any size or make of notebook computer in sport utility vehicles (SUVs), mini vans, cars, and trucks with integrated or adjustable headrests. The product is made of nylon webbing, tent-quality bungee-like shock cord, hook and loop fastening, and is sewn to rigid quality standards. Read More
Mobile phone reliability survey names the most reliable mobile phone
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July 28, 2005 While the mobile phone manufacturers continue to upgrade functionality and our phones have a shorter and shorter lifespan, one of the issues which never seems to get much attention from the media are the defect rates of mobile phones – the frequency that mobile phones need repair. Obviously, this is a jealously guarded secret amongst manufacturers but one of the world’s most respected telecommunications magazines recently did some research on the subject, polling 12,000 people who reviewed 38 models of mobile phone. Sagem turned out to be the most reliable brand with NEC and Samsung filling the placings. And the most reliable individual model of mobile telephone on the market is … Read More
Samsung Launches Satellite DMB Phone that Slides and Rotates
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July 27, 2005 Samsung Electronics is the world’s most valuable consumer electronics brand and the future looks incredibly bright for the Korean manufacturer, having recently overtaken Sony as the number one consumer electronics brand in the prestigious Business Week/Interbrand “Best Global Brands” report. In the five years since the annual ranking of the 100 largest global brands was first produced five years ago, no other global brand has risen as much in brand value -- 186%, to $14.9 billion, by the end of 2004. What’s this got to do with a new mobile phone? Everything! Samsung has recognised the opportunity to leverage off the universal recognition offered by being a leading player in handset production as the world adopts the mobile phone and it has hitched its star to the inevitable rise of the convergence device. Samsung’s latest offering which went on sale in Korea yesterday is arguably the most advanced phone in the world at this point in time, and the world’s 14th largest company is posturing quite clearly that it will continue at the forefront. This latest satellite DMB phone with a unique “slide and rotate” form factor. Samsung’s B200, which was first unveiled at MIPTV/MILIA in Cannes, France last April, is the most recent addition to its growing line-up of satellite DMB phones. Read More
Archos AV700 18cm Personal Video Recorder
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July 15, 2005 Personal Video Recorders have not exactly set the world on fire at the rate everyone expected given the public’s acceptance and indeed embrace of the MP3 player. Indeed, one could be excused for wondering why PVR sales are sluggish. Is it the inability of the retailers and manufacturers to communicate the killer functionality, the high pricing of most PVRs or that the general public is having trouble wrapping its collective brain cells around the personal entertainment centre concept, time-shifting ad infinitum. Accordingly, it will be interesting to see how well Archos’ new AV700 fares with its release this week in the company’s home market of France, and availability over the coming fortnight in most foreign markets (United States, United Kingdom and Australia). The AV700’s biggest selling feature is the 18cm (7 inch) wide screen and the 100 Gigabyte drive capable of storing 400 hours of video and/or your entire MP3 collection. It isn't cheap, but you want one .... don't you! Read More
Ten years old today - a revolution in a decade!
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July 14, 2005 Today is the tenth birthday of the MP3 – the file format that has reached ubiquitous usage in every language on the planet was named on this day, July 14th, 1995 by researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. The audio team at Fraunhofer decided to use “.mp3” as the file name extension for their new audio coding technology (replacing “.bit”) following an internal poll and soon MP3 became the generally accepted acronym for the ISO standard IS 11172-3 “MPEG Audio Layer 3.“ And the result is now history - over 80 million MP3 players will be sold worldwide next year.
France Telecom offers ''Big Screen'' Video EyeWear to Mobile Phone Users
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July 10, 2005 France Telecom's wireless unit, Orange SA, will soon roll out a new mobile video service that will let cellular phone subscribers view TV, movies, photos and broadband Internet content with a big screen viewing effect using video eyewear from MicroOptical. MicroOptical's video eyewear contains two Kopin full-colour, QVGA-resolution (320 x 240) CyberDisplay 230K microdisplays. The sleek eyewear allows users to privately view large-size video or pictures equivalent to a 12-inch screen as seen from three feet away, yet simultaneously view their surroundings thanks to the small size of the frame and MicroOptical's patented optics which allow the user to see around the screen. Read More
iRiver's miniscule U10 PVR and multimedia player
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July 8, 2005 Iriver has shown its latest range of flash-memory based audio and multimedia players in Korea and one of the more interesting amongst the expected bunch of smaller, larger capacity devices was the U10, a tiny flash-memory based multimedia player which appears to be all screen when it’s not in its TV connectivity cradle. Now it may be all screen, but there’s still not much to the device – the 2.2-inch QVGA landscape screen is only 320 x 240 pixels, so you’ll still need a vivid imagination even if you have recorded your favourite TV show. Read More
Fujitsu Triples Charging Capacity of Fuel Cells for Mobile Phones
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Tokyo, July 6, 2005 Fujitsu today announced its co-development with NTT DoCoMo of a prototype high-capacity micro fuel cell and the prototype development of an external recharger for FOMA handsets. For the prototype micro fuel cell device, the concentration of the methanol fuel used was raised from 30%, the concentration used for the companies' previous fuel cells, to a remarkably higher concentration of over 99%. This enables the prototype device to charge up to three FOMA handset batteries with just 18 cc of methanol. Read More
The first self-playing digital audio book
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July 2, 2005 The first self-playing digital audio book was announced this week, and although there was no huge fanfare, the moment was a significant one as it’s the first time that electronic media of any form has been sold complete with the player. FindawayWorld is developing a range of digital audio consumer products and the first product to market is the Playawaywhich will be sold pre-loaded with premier content from leading publishers and authors. Designed in conjunction with IDEO, one of the industry's leading product innovation and design firms, Playaway can be expected to take an immediate chunk of the audio book market as it offers the ability to go straight from the shelves to your ears without the need for downloading or another audio player as it is entirely self-contained. Playaway is expected to announce an array of licensing deals with content creators, publishers and authors in the near future. Read More
