Archive for August, 2008
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Sony Japan has somehow decided to bet on LED displays for their upcoming lineup of HDTVs. I’m not sure if this means we are to see less LCDs in the near future, but at least they say the LED displays should bring considerable improvements and enhance our experience. At IFA 2008 held in Berlin, Germany, Sony announced a series of innovative products, including the slimmest HDTV and the greatest contrast ratios ever seen with a LED-based display.
Sony ZX1 is the newest LED backlit 40-inch display that is only 9.9mm thick, and weighs 26 pounds. Since it’s that slim, the HDTV doesn’t come with too many features. It only integrates 1 HDMI port, but it does come with wireless box that can send the 120Hz, 1080p display up to 1080i images over a 5GHz channel, which points out to the fact that the display could be among the first to support the WHDM standard. There is also an external port box that can be attached to the display, bringing more connectivity options, like 3 HDMI, 2 component, s-video, VGA, and even USB, mouse, and LAN ports. The TV menus will feature something similar to the Playstation 3 XMB crossmedia interface. The ZX1 will be launched in October in Japan and around Christmas in Europe.
As for the greatest contrast of one million to one, Sony announced the XR1 series of Bravia HDTVs. These will be 1920 x 1080 pixel full-HD models, featuring tri-color RGB LED backlighting for an improved color gamut, and dynamic switching backlighting tech to generate impressive contrast ratios. However, Sony says that in static mode, the displays are capable of only 3000:1 ratios, although it’s not quite clear what “static mode” means. The new displays integrate a 10-bit Bravia 2 Engine for image processing, with separate algorithms for SD and HD picture sources, 120Hz Motionflow tech to improve smoothness, plus the standard connectors and an additional USB port for connecting digital cameras. The XR1 series will include 46” and 55” displays, for around $5,500 and $6,800, respectively. These are set to hit the Japanese market on October 10, while Europe should be receiving them in early December.
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Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
You might still remember that cool mini airplane that came with a pair of visors through which you can get live video feeds from the attached camera and control the plane. Nice indeed, but it’s still a plane and can’t perform sudden movements like what you’re about to see here. Meet the Dragonfly X6 RC vehicle!
The X6 mini flying vehicle has a triple-tipped carbon fiber body with two carbon rotors on each end. The ingenious design enables it to move in all directions and perform rapid movements. It can be easily controlled indoors, as well as resist up to 18 miles per hour of wind.
According to Gzmodo, X6 also comes with a special oil-dampening mount that reduces vibrations and can be loaded with several video-capturing devices, including an HD camera, night vision camera, still camera, low light camera or thermal imaging camera. The compact flyer also integrates a GPS device which displays the exact position on the remote control’s LCD.
The designers have made it possible for the X6 to keep on flying without much hassle even when one of its 6 motors stops working. The included battery can be charged in less than 30 minutes, but provides enough power in order to enable the X6 to climb 23 feet per second, make sudden 90 degrees turns or do fly-bys at 30 MPH.
For more info plus some demonstration clips, check out the official Dragonfly page:
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Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
The guys over at Tokyo Flash seem to never run out of crazy ideas for their cryptic watches. Their new model subbed Rogue reminds us of several other watches released by the Japanese, but still has its particularities. Rogue features neon green LEDs that somehow make me think of Green Lantern.
At first, the time system may seem a bit awkward. However, you’ll be learning to read the time “in no time”, once you understand how the system works. The Tokyo Flash site gives us clear instructions on this matter: the outer ring of small dots represents minutes, every fifth dot being slightly smaller to distinguish five minute groups. The ring of large blocks represents rough minutes, the position of the gap indicating approximate minutes. The inner ring of blocks represents hours, the position of the gap in the ring showing the current hour as on a clock face. In case you can’t approximate the positions, the outer dial region of the watch includes the usual numerals to make it easier for you to read.
The Rogue watch is now available in either polished silver or black finish, and you can order one of these from the Tokyo Flash official site for $161.
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Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
The Burj Dubai is almost ready (well, they still have to put several hundred glass panes on it) and many more buildings are scheduled to be either finished or started in the remaining months of 2008. One of the latest projects that was presented to the wealthy Arabs is a pyramid-like building that is completely eco-friendly and can house no less than 1 million people.
Timelinks, a design firm based in Dubai, has come up with the design for the Ziggurat building which turn out to be a sort of self-sufficient enclave, featuring an efficient vertically-and-horizontally-running public transportation system plus all sorts of ecological energy generators.
DVice informs that Timelinks has already begun all the necessary steps towards patenting the design as well as the technology necessary to build it. The entire building is supposed to measure nearly a whole square mile, and should use a combination of steam, wind and solar-based methods in order to produce the necessary energy. “Green areas” inside the huge building could provide the small-scale city with agricultural space, so food won’t be an issue with this structure.
All the eco-friendly technologies put into the Ziggurat and other buildings are set to bring more carbon-neutral areas in order to reduce the global warming effects.
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Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
I see more and more people using Bluetooth headsets and I might get one as well for my future smartphone (might be a Nokia or a SE Xperia). Since all of the upcoming products are supposed to integrate support for the Bluetooth 2.1 standard, I could get a BlueAnt V1, which is said to be the forst Bluetooth 2.1 headset.
According to DVice, the BlueAnt V1 headset uses an advanced voice interface that lets you ask the headset “What can I say?” and the headset will answer you with a list of possible commands (pairing, voice dialing, answering calls and others). Even more so, you won’t be needing to read boring instruction manuals, as the BlueAnt V1 comes complete with audio tutorials that walk you through its functions. Check out the Sensoryinc blog to find out more about speech recognition systems.
Noisy environments can always give you a headache when using a headset, and BlueAnt was aware of this annoying issue when they included a dual microphone featuring the Voice Isolation Technology that separates your voice from background noise. You actually get a clearer voice with echo/ambient noise/windy effects cancellation.
Other features include an upgradeable firmware, three charging options (car, phone and USB) and it can pair with eight devices at the same time. Weighing only one ounce, together with its included battery that lasts five hours of continuous use and 200 hours standby, your ears are up for some nice treat.
Posted in Phone Gadgets | 4 Comments »