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Our glimpse into the future of gadgets foretold of a monitor in a keyboard, a desk that 'reads' whatever's placed on it (including the temperature of your coffee!), and the iPhone getting a long overdue app addition
Ah, Eee PC, what budget wonders will you cook up next. Wait a minute, this is actually pretty damn innovative. Asus has managed to squeeze in an iPhone-sized touchscreen onto the end of a rather thin keyboard. The result is a novel new way of surfing the net, controling media, and staying in touch while you’re in the bathroom. The 5-inch, 800x480 capacitive touchscreen runs in conjunction with an Atom chipset embedded in the keyboard. It’s also capable of running Skype and MSN, making an ideal addition to your TV room. Not much else is known about the Eee Keyboard but strangely, it's due out later this month.
Rather than being a completely stripped-down eco-gimmick, the Crest actually sports some competitive features like FM radio, MP3 ringtones, a flashlight, and a nifty ‘fake call’ feature to get out of those oh-so-awkward blind dates. The phone will also feature region specific features, such as in Southeast Asia where it utilizes profile screening for bikers to allow only incoming calls from selected contacts for a safer ride.
Tired of governments and farmers lording their eco-friendly wind energy over you? Well, now you can fight back! The EarthTronics miniature wind turbine will be hitting store shelves this fall under the name ‘Honeywell Wind Turbine’ (the name change is due to a licensing partnership with EarthTronic’s signed with Honeywell). Unlike tradition, large scale turbines, this diminutive household model does away with the clunky gearbox and using the wind to instead turn magnets located around the frame. This reformed design, called a “direct-drive” does away with many of the complications associated with traditional design by reducing the number of components and moving parts. The 2-kilowatt turbine can start producing energy with windspeeds as low as 2-mph and can generate up to 2,000 kilowatt-hours per year (weather permitting of course)
In a recent interview with Ars Technica, strategy director for the U of M solar team Alex Dowling discussed some of the progress that’s taken in solar racing over the years. One major advancement he cited was in overall body design. If someone put together a photographic timeline of solar racers you’d see a definitive evolution from bulky shapes to streamlined curves. Dowling notes that this is due to the relative lack of power designers were able to cull from the sun in the early years. And so, in lieu of wind-splitting shapes, solar cars were designed to capture as much sunlight as possible. But as efficiency improved and the amount of power increased, solar cars began adopting aerodynamic bodies to cut down on drag. The result is what Dowling calls the “rolling poptart” with the driver positioned in a bubble amidst a wide, streamlined vehicle.
Meet the iPhone 3GS, last year’s iPhone after 365 days of a Russian-theme Rocky IV workout. Leaner, meaner, and speedier.
Faster Processor
The all-new built-in processor is, according to Apple, twice as fast as the previous generation, capable of loading message and web pages in less than half the time. What’s more, the added speed comes with a boost in efficiency, giving the 3GS battery more staying-power. The added efficiency means on a single charge you get:
- 12hrs talk time on 2G
- 5hrs talk time on 3G
- 300hrs standby
- 5hrs of 3G internet use
- 9hrs of Wi-Fi internet
- 30hrs of music, 10 hours of video
From Tremont Electric, the PEG is a 9x1.5 inch portable kinetic energy converter, enabling users to harness the expenditures of humdrum activities such as walking down stairs and stepping into the elevator. And unlike many kinetic chargers, the PEG need not be strapped to your body to generate electricity. According to Tremont Electric, the PEG can function simply by being placed in a purse or backpack. Though, for better results, you can also strap the PEG to your leg while you bike or your wrist while you play Wii.
“If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to get some shelter or you Wi-Fi may fade away.” Or so the lyrics might have gone had Scott McKenzie and Mick Jagger visited modern day San Francisco. The city that keeps on taking charge has built their first bus shelter that takes charge of those solar rays and turns them into router-powering kilowatts. The bus shelters have roofs made from thin film solar panels integrated into 40 percent post-industrial recycled polycarbonate material. Meanwhile, the rest of the structure is composed of recycled steel, among other things. Besides powering wireless routers, the solar panels will energize LED lights and an intercom. Any and all excess power will be fed directly into the SF power grid.
Take one part rave, one part motion capture, and one part controller. Let incubate in a Sony lab for untold months. Then at E3 2009 reveal two controller ‘sticks’ with glowing purple orbs atop them. Cue up some live-action demo footage and prepare for some ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs.’
Yes, I gave into the allure of Xbox’s E3 Press Conference. With rumours of previously exclusive titles coming to the Xbox (360 owners were offered instead of a port, a brand new Metal Gear game) as well as anticipated sequels (Forza 3 and Crackdown 2 made appearances) it was hard to resist. But Microsoft already had me, hook, line and sinker when they refused to quell rumours of a motion tracking device similar to that of the Wii. Hours into the press conference yielded only trailers and live-gameplay, leaving me curious if all the peripheral-hype was for naught. But then Xbox finally revealed the cards they’d held close to the chest. Now, keep in mind that I waited a good while after watching the live footage to write this article, just to let the hype run its course. So when I say the following I do so moderately sober from the euphoric effects of the Xbox marketing rhetoric; what Microsoft has here has the potential to revolutionize home entertainment.
The oft-rumoured upgrade has finally been officially confirmed by Microsoft as the first touchscreen entry into the Zune music player line up. The 3.3” 16:9 widescreen OLED screen will provide that oh-so-marketable capacitive interface, bringing multi-touch to Zune aficionados at a 480x272 resolution. So, what makes it HD?
