Devices Site

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 26th 2008 at 2:37PMAlthough Brent Hatch’s homegrown solar-electric whip looks eerily similar (read: just as ugly) to the SUNN solar car kit, this one was actually created without the help of any pre-packaged parts or sophisticated schematics. After his gas bill rose well over $700 a month (he and his wife have seven kids, after all), he decided to purchase a rather unsightly eight-seater bicycle and figure out a way to enable roof-mounted solar panels to power an electric motor. Nah, the top speed isn’t very impressive, and you certainly wouldn’t want to head out on I-5 with it, but it sure makes picking up the offspring from their nearby school a whole lot less painful on the wallet. Check out the video in the read link for more.

[Thanks, Dave]

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Filed under: Transportation

by Ryan Block, posted Apr 26th 2008 at 8:26AM
Not unlike the early colorized versions of the original Zune before it, the red Zune 80 looks like it should finally be ready to make its un-tattooed retail sales debut . If you’ve been considering getting loud and/or proud with your next Zune, call ahead to your local gadget stock keeper and see if they’re in.

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 26th 2008 at 10:42AMWondering just how we mere mortals were going to even give a robot enough smarts to completely overtake our societies? Oddly enough, some of that artificial brain power could come from studying the way fruit flies, um, fly. A completely bizarre flight simulator at Caltech actually plays “scenes” that flys react to, and considering that the fly is constantly held, researchers can closely examine how the insect attempts to navigate away from lines, blobs and all manners of incoming obstacles. Those working with the installation suggest that these studies could one day help autonomous robots function better, potentially taking some of the load off of our human workforce. We know, you’ve got three bold letters and a question mark running through your noggin right now — just hit the read link to see what it’s all about.

[Thanks, Dave]

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Filed under: Robots

Another day another product leak from the FCC, the latest is the Starmate 5 from Sirius, which in by itself would not be that exciting. However in this case based on a memo that switched hands from a “testing firm and the FCC authorization staff” included the possibility of the Starmate 5 supporting Sirius channels as well as XM.

“We used the satellite radio signal coming from either XM or Sirius,”

Which assuming that happens, and note as of now its just speculation as nothing official has been announced, this would be the first hybrid satellite radio receiver. Sounds like a great move, however a very risky move, while the DOJ has given their seal of approval on the merger, its still pending FCC approval which is not expected to take place until sometime late in May or possibly into June.

Personally I like the design of the Starmate, but aside from the exciting possibility of a hybrid receiver the latest coming from the FCC is just showing the standard features which would include a 5 line display, 30 channel presets and the ability to pause, rewind and replay up to 44 minutes of radio.

Via [electronista]

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We first learned about Crucial prepping SSD’s in both a 32GB and 64GB size back in early January, but at the time we were yet to learn about any pricing or a time frame for an actual release. Well it turns out the drives are now shipping and although they would make a nice upgrade for alot of notebooks on the market, their price is going to be a barrier for many folks.

The 32GB model is retailing for $800, while the 64GB is a whopping $1,500. Its a shame because the drives are the notebook-sized 2.5-inch, which means, assuming you were comfortable enough to open up your notebook, would make a perfect replacement or upgrade drive.

While the whole SSD craze is relatively new, its fair to say that with time, just like any other new technology the price will quickly fall to a more reasonable level. One thing is for sure though, given the price of the drives from Crucial, the $1,000 macbook air upgrade option seems cheap, or at least fairly priced.

Via [Wired]

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Stainless Steel Toothpicks By Wallet Essentials
In order that you can spare yourself the ignominy of all those facial contortions in a public place, these clever little toothpicks have been pioneered to spare your blushes - and keep your teeth as pearly white and sparkling as those of a Hollywood starlet.

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Plustek has rolled out its TVcam VD100 that not only functions as a standard USB webcam, it also works as a DVB-T TV tuner. This allows you to free up one USB port for other devices, since this takes up just a solitary one. Each purchase comes with the necessary software for PVR functionality, including scheduled recordings and an Electronic Programming Guide. The webcam itself touts a maximum resolution of 640 x 480, and is specially designed to clip right on top of a slim display (notebook or LCD, its your call). The Plustek TVcam VD100 measures 67.5mm x 26mm x x25.5mm and tips the scales at 86 grams. At £61, you get to kill two birds with one stone.

A few years ago, MP3 players were really popular and portable media players weren’t even really fully in the market yet. Over the past few years, many changes have taken place and video has now become a must have feature for many people. Bluetooth integration in MP3 players and portable media players would be nice, but that technology hasn’t caught on either. Ever since the iPod Touch came out, many portable media players began getting Wi-Fi as well, although it has not caught on with all devices, yet. Also coming with the ipod Touch was touchscreens. It seems that the average consumer wants good battery life, video playback, touchscreen, but above all, Wi-Fi.

In a recent study conducted by iSuppli, it seems that over the next 4 years, portable media players are set to grow steadily, but touchscreen and Bluetooth won’t be as prevalent in these devices as Wi-Fi will. If you take a look at the graph above, you can see that Wi-Fi is estimated to have strong growth, while the Bluetooth and touchscreen are not expected to grow nearly as fast or as much. As of now, only 4% of all portable media players and MP3 players have Bluetooth. I own a portable media player that has integrated Bluetooth, but the device itself doesn’t last nearly as long as it would on normal headphones, so I don’t use the Bluetooth much. iSuppli also predicts only a 4.3-percent growth in 2012, meaning a 197.1 million increase from 2007, and to 243.3 million devices in 2012. They also say that only expensive, high-end units will feature touchscreen. The interesting thing is that many portable media players that have Wi-Fi also have touchscreens. Personally, I agree with these results that I favor having Wi-Fi over Bluetooth or touchscreen. Do you agree?

Via [PMP Today]

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Safety is a top priority in any motorsports, and the same applies to Toyota who is involved in F1. The Japanese auto manufacturer has developed a computer simulation which recreates high speed accidents and their effects on human physiology. Known as Total Human Model Safety (THUMS), the FIA Institute and Toyota have managed to look into various serious injuries sustained in accidents which are difficult to measure with conventional crash-test dummies. Results from this study will be released as soon as it is completed, and it is hoped that this technology will help study high speed rear impact crashes in the FIA Formula One World Championship and Indy Racing League (IRL). Good to see drivers these days get way more protection than their predecessors ever did.

While we saw Asus first unveil the P320 a little over a month ago during CeBIT it still offers a little satisfaction to see it receive the official approval from the FCC. Sadly we are still awaiting further word on availability and price, but at least we know its coming.

The P320 is a Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional based smartphone and will feature a 2.8-inch touchscreen display, GPS, a 2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, a microSD card slot for additional storage. Aside from a solid feature set, its not a bad looking phone either.

Read [FCC] Via [Engadget Mobile]

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