Archive for October, 2008
Sunday, October 26th, 2008
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There are lots of iPod-compatible devices and accessories, there’s no doubt about it, due to the widely spread preference shown by lots of people towards Apple’s very well known product. Consequently, you can find on the market some cool docks for an Apple iPod, but this one designed by Jean-Michel Jarre has to be the best so far. The new speakers created by the French artist, the electronic music guru, one of the artists who have changed the contemporary music in ways few others ever could, are designed to deliver high-quality sound for the true audiophiles.
You probably know that once you own an iPod you either love it or hate it and for those who love it, the Aerosystem Speakers by Jean-Michel Jarre give you the opportunity you were waiting for in order to put your gadget up on the pedestal it so richly deserves. It’s interesting how companies and artists, as well, know how to take advantage of those customers who are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for speakers.
The artist confessed that he “imagined a range of concept-products built in a very unique design and with the optimum technologyâ€. This means that, from conception to production, Aerosystem relies on the latest technologies, finest materials and innovations. The loudspeaker system it can be easily used with iPod 4th generation (color display), iPod 5th generation, iPod mini, iPod nano or the Pod touch.
This device is undeniably stylish. And it’s aimed at the top-end of the dock market, since it’s specifically designed to deliver high-quality audio. The Aerosystem is a floorstanding loudspeaker system boasting a cylindrical design made from ultra-resistant glass for a non-resonant performance and a solid sound at high volumes. As far as the amplifier is concerned, you can find it in the base of the towering structure and it comes with a high-tech sound processor that works hard to restore the highs and the lows that have been lost in the MP3 encoding process. The subwoofer boasts a 45W max RMS power while the midrange and tweeter array adds some more 20W. This way, the Aerosystem is a powerful enough loudspeaker.
Each floorstander takes around 60 days to be fabricated after you order it. Moreover, you can now choose between several finishes such as black, mirror, Lady (bright pink) and Alien (bright green). Having already installed 3.5 mm stereo Aux In Jack, the device can be used with pretty much any sound source. In addition, some other audio arrays have been built on it, in 2.1 and 5.1 configurations for more demanding settings.
These speakers are already on sale in France, retailing for €450 ($580). Let’s just hope that they come to the rest of the world also!
(Source Dvice)
Posted in Sound Gadgets | 1 Comment »
Saturday, October 25th, 2008
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I’m very worried about this world we live in today. Not only because there’s an unjustified importance given to the way people look like, but also because we have the tendency of strictly following whatever others might say. It’s not an entirely wrong attitude, but when it comes to making decisions against our health, the problem should be reconsidered. As a matter of fact, you know what they say: birds of a feather flock together. And when you don’t identify yourself with a certain pattern, whether you feel like stepping back, as your position is a little bit uncomfortable, or you are sent away by others.
This is what happens when you start paying too much of attention to your silhouette, reaching the point where you’re something like a calories-counter maniac. Yes, weight is important, and when it isn’t, it should be, but the only thing you have to avoid is to turn it into an obsession.
However, if you’re interested in every device that hits the market which can make your life lighter, than take a short look at the IC3 concept. Designed by Alex Schulz, the concept consists of a computerized shaft with three interchangeable eating apparatuses: fork, spoon and knife. The fork analyzes composition such as fat, protein, sugars. The spoon, on the other hand, measures weight, while the knife takes temperature readings. Combining this info you obtain a detailed report on what you’re eating, helpful to those with diabetes and nutritional deficiencies. The IC3 concept was on display at the Designparcours Munich 2008 exhibition.
From 28 February until 9 March, 2008, the Designparcours Munich presented 20 young designers with the chance to show their products, ideas and concepts to the general public within the framework of an exhibition. Since 2002, the contest has served as an interdisciplinary forum for design in Munich. Once a year, designers in all disciplines and international partners from the business and cultural arena seize the opportunity to respond to the given Designparcours’ topic at over fifty locations in Munich.
As you’re already accustomed to, the IC3 concept is, well, still a concept, so there is no word on price and availability yet.
(Source YankoDesign)
Posted in Kitchen Gadgets | No Comments »
Friday, October 24th, 2008
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Wizcom’s Quicktionary TS brings us back, spiritually speaking, to some certain artifacts of the 1990s. You must remember the times when a handheld text scanner the size of frying pans was dragged across the page in order to scan it? This successor is much the same thing, but now has a more focused purpose – it looks up words and tells you what they mean – and is only (only?) the size of an adult forearm.
It’s not the first time to see such an electronic language translator, and while this device is surely useful to some people, I think this Quicktionary TS model goes a little bit overboard. When it comes to its features, there are no complaints, as the 400 dpi scanner built into the tip of the pen allows you to scan single words or full lines of text which are then displayed on the high-resolution LCD screen complete with detailed definition, such as idioms and phrases. Most Quicktionary TS products provide audio pronunciation for selected languages, so it allows the user to hear the words spoken back so that you can familiarize yourself with the correct pronunciations.
In addition, the LCD display is a touchscreen, so you can access the dictionary functions by manually typing in words or phrases via an on-screen keyboard. But the device is a little bit… oversized, as it has a relatively normal-sized human adult hand, which is pretty much.
Anyway, the Quicktionary TS is an ideal tool for anyone in need of multilingual support, such as students, travelers, researchers and business people. This electronic language translator features some advantages that might catch your eye. First of all, it allows you to stay focused on your reading while the Quicktionary TS helps you interpret your text quickly and easily. Not to mention it allows you to save all the time you would have spent searching through paper dictionaries or typing into electronic dictionaries. More than that, you can take this handheld text scanner wherever you go, being small, portable, designed to fit in your pocket, and you can practice your vocabulary using the included word games.
There is a Quicktionary TS German that has the following additional special features: a sophisticated algorithm that identifies the 2 elements of a split verb in any given sentence, a unique algorithm that divides compound words into their corresponding dictionary entries and a German spelling support that includes the 2005 spelling reform.
As far as the Quicktionary TS Chinese Simplified is concerned, it includes: English and Chinese Simplified OCR (optical character recognition), bi-directional translation, a unique algorithm that divides Chinese Simplified strings into their corresponding word segments and a handwriting recognition with an additional input method using the stylus to insert Chinese and English characters.
The Quicktionary TS is available from the Wizcom Technologies online store for $189.95.
(Source gadgets.boingboing.com)
Posted in Office Gadgets | No Comments »
Friday, October 24th, 2008
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It is obviously that lately, the prices at which High Definition camcorders with hard drive storage type has dropped considerably, and one of the newest models released on the market at a very attractive price is Canon VIXIA HG20. I, personally, have been waiting for a good solution for recording video on the go in HD format with a camera model providing its own storage capacity. Sony’s camcorders were the first to wake my interest, but after having a bad experience with one of its digital photo cameras, I decided to see what other solutions the market has to offer, so now I have the chance to know more about Canon.
VIXIA HG20 was announced in August and released at a retail price of $949, together with other 2 models, one with Dual Flash Memory and the second one with HDD.
It is a high-end camcorder capable to record videos in High Definition at 24Mbps bit rate, which is the highest speed provided for the AVCHD format, essential for having greater details especially for when filming moving subjects.
Canon HD video camera with hard drive records on the 60GB HDD up to 22 hours of High Definition content in LP Mode, which can be transferred on an SDHC memory card for watching the videos on a High Definition TV, after the card is inserted into a card reader .
To achieve high quality imaging, Canon’s digital video camera features Genuine Canon 12x HD Video Lens, Canon’s 3.3MP HD CMOS Image Sensor for Full HD, Canon’s DIGIC DV II Image Processor to enhance colors and clarity, the fast and accurate Instant AutoFocus, and SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization.
In addition, key features of the new Canon HD video camera with hard drive include 24p Cinema Mode for film-like videos, 30p Progressive Mode for videos optimized for the Internet, Superb Shooting Control, Mini Advanced Accessory Shoe, intelligent Li-Ion battery, 3.1MP picture capture, HDMI connectivity, manual audio level control for the microphone, and the Pixela ImageMixer 3SE Video Editing Software with support for Blu-ray DVD burning.
Practically, on the 60GB HDD space you can record up to 45 hours and 15 minutes of video in 1440 x 1080 resolution, or 11 hours and 5 minutes of video at 1920 x 1080 resolution.
It is maybe the best HD video camera with hard drive recording available at this price.
(Via Testfreaks)
Posted in Cam Gadgets | 2 Comments »
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
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Ooook! I’ve heard of all sorts of phobias, but I’ve never imagined that there is one for every little thing that has the nerve to just exist in our environment. At a first glance through an alphabetical list of phobias, I felt some cold shivers going down my back. On second thought, it ended a hilarious activity, trust me!
Now, what do you say about ablutophobia? Did you just say you have no idea about such thing? Wait for my explanation and you’ll probably die laughing, because, so that you know, there are people on this earth who are afraid of washing or bathing. Isn’t it unbelievable? Moreover, I’d dare to add that this is actually shocking, not to mention outrageous. If, on the other hand, you experience on a regular basis the fear of insanity, of going crazy someday and losing control over you mind, then there’s a word for you also: agateophobia. I’ve heard people saying they hate garlic, due to its not-so-very pleasant smell, and I couldn’t agree more with them, even if I don’t blame those who love it. But come on, what’s with this nonsense? How can anyone be afraid of garlic? Well, I don’t know how, but someone considered this problem and gave it a name: alliumphobia.
I told you, reading about these fears it’s a crazy, but at the same time funny way of spending time. But there’s one phobia I (hopefully) will never experience: fear of opinions, aka allodoxaphobia.
However, this is why I shouldn’t be so surprised when hearing that some people are horrified by germs. Cross contamination can often happen in the kitchen and some residual germs can not only taint the taste of a good meal, but also make someone sick in the process. So it’s very important to kill the little buggers any way that you can. And the Germ Eliminating Knife Block is a very useful tool to insure that food preparation is as safe as can be.
This device uses safe UV-C light, meaning the same technology used in hospitals to kill surface bacteria on instruments, in order to eliminate 99.99% of food bacteria and viruses from cutlery in 20 seconds. The ultraviolet bulb sanitizes knives up to 8 ¾-inch long from tip to bolster, killing pathogens like salmonella, listeria and staphylococcus to help prevent cross contamination and food-borne illness. In addition, the UV treatment also dries the knives directly in the block since the heat from the UV-C bulb is hot enough to evaporate any residual moisture.
You can program the device to turn on automatically every three hours or to sanitize knives as soon as they are inserted in the block. The durable ABS plastic block has five slots to accommodate chef’s, serrated and pairing knives, and a wide opening that holds kitchen shears or a honing steel.
The Knife Block plugs into AC and measures 9.5 x 10.25 x 6-inch. If you’re interested, then go to Hammacher Schlemmer’s official website, where you can grab this little germs exterminator for $90. This is the fastest way to heal your germophobia, or the sharpest, as you prefer.
(Source coolest-gadgets.com)
Posted in Kitchen Gadgets | No Comments »
