Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Saturday, November 29th, 2008 |
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Even if everyone in my country says that we’re passing through a transitional period for some time now, this doesn’t seem to reflect on the streets, where some of the most expensive and luxurious cars of the world can often be seen, being quite common nowadays. I remember the times when having a BMW was one of the most exciting news you could ever give to your friends and family, and why not, to your envious neighbors. However, today nothing seems to impress anymore, because BMWs are almost everywhere.
And if you don’t get to see the cars, because in many cases the whole point of buying such a vehicle is just another way to impress people, as they can’t really afford having them on streets, but parked deep in their garages, you will surely see the keys.
But what about a multifunctional key, that not only sets your car going, but also pays for the dinner you’ve just had with a bunch of friends. BMW Group Research and Technology came up with a prototype for a multifunctional care key that is designed to enable payments.
Hans-Jörg Vögel, project manager at BMW Group Forschung und Technik, said that “as part of our research project we first integrated a security chip into the key casing, which communicates across short distances by radio with a card reader”. Therefore, this is a very quick and convenient way, not to mention secure, for you to make electronic payments for whatever you might consume.
Another audacious purpose of the BMW team is to make the key work in other areas, such as the transport systems. This means that the integrated chip will also store electronic tickets for bus, train and air travel.
If you think about it, this credit card function does more than just paying your restaurant bill. To be more precise, the key is this way personalized and linked to a certain person. This means that the person who holds the key can benefit the secure in-car access to all sorts of personal information. That is possible because the key is actually the authorization the driver needs for online access to his personalized Connected Drive services inside a BMW.
This is a very clever key, alright, that does everything in order to make you happy, remembering the individual settings and automatically adjusting, for example, the seat and mirror positions. I could bet all my money on the fact that you’d like to have something like this in your pocket. Oh yeah, you’d need also a BMW in your garage!
(Source: Dvice)
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Monday, November 24th, 2008 |
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I had a friend back in college who loved keychains so much that you could call her obsessed. I can understand all sorts of passions and I can be tolerant concerning right about everything. But come one, keychains? However, I somehow got deep inside her reasons and I went so far that I started to enjoy her desire to purchase all sorts of wacky keychains.
This one I am going to talk about is something that she would very much like, I dare to suppose. It’s true, it’s kind of difficult to find them a relevant utility, not to mention multiple useful functions. Still, this little guy may be small, but he comes with many useful items. Therefore, the keychain it’s also a universal remote control, a bottle opener and a flashlight for emergencies.
First of all, for all of you out there who use to misplace their existing TV remote controls, this gadget will come in handy, as it’s a functional universal remote control that it’s compatible with your TV with the basic functionalities such as switching on and off the TV, turning the volume up and down, and switching channels. It’s the perfect device if you want to make fun of your friends when they’re watching their favorite shows. On the other hand, this could also be used as a back up when you manage to lose the remote. And you have to admit that unexpected things happen all the time, such as finding your remote in the bathroom and wondering who the hell hid it there.
Whenever the lights suddenly go off or during emergency, the keychain also doubles as a flashlight which will help you find your way out. This is an obligatory feature for every keychain that is trying to pass itself off as useful. The final extra that comes built into this flashlight is a bottle opener.
The device is tiny in size, so that you can attach it to your keys and bring it along anywhere you go. Just think about those awful trips you have all the time, when staying in hotels where you can’t find a remote control for the TV or there is no bottle opener for your beers.
Measuring approximately 66 x 44 x 10 millimeters and weighing 26 grams, the keychain is powered by one CR2032 button cell. If you’re interested in purchasing the device, you can always go to SourcingMap.com and grab it for $5.99.
(Source: coolest-gadgets.com)
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Monday, November 24th, 2008 |
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A high tech company has designed and developed a new innovative electronic key chain LCD device that gives parents the possibility to monitor how their teens behave in traffic or the family car is being driven by whoever might be handling the wheel. RookieDriver.Net, an online provider of teen driver safety products, markets the Lemur Autovision created by Root Four Imagination.
Therefore, the device is meant to increase road safety. But only if it’s used correctly, I suppose. The Lemur Autovision is a snap to install in just about any vehicle and it helps you get a clearer picture on your driving, recording important information like speed, distance and brakes. This is a great way for parents to review such data after their kids have taken out the family car for a spin and to be able to better advise the younger ones on picking up life-saving pointers when driving. And you must admit that this is a quite interesting innovation, as speed, inexperience and distraction are key risk factors in most teen accidents. From the moment a teen backs out of the driveway, the Lemur Autovision electronic keychain is capturing driving data.
Not to mention the fact that there is no need for you to download data to a personal computer, as it’s all there, in the palm of their hand.
“A quick review of the data collected by the keychain with their teen driver provides parents an opportunity to positively reinforce good driving habits, or take appropriate action to modify poorer ones”, said Corinne Fortenbacher, the president of RookieDriver.Net. “And, it gives teens an opportunity to show they are responsible drivers”.
”The main focus is that the teenager is aware – that their parents will be aware; therefore they won’t drive recklessly in the first place, because they want the car next weekend”, said Maurice Tuff, the president of Root Four Imagination. “It is a preventative device, not a catch-you, tattle-tale device”.
”In terms of trust, yeah, we’ve been asked that question a lot”, Tuff added. “We’ve got to go beyond trust. We’ve got to go to safety; we have to save our children. Parents don’t consider reviewing a teen’s school report card as spying, or a breach of the parent teen trust relationship, so why worry about a device that reports on their driving performance? The consequences of poor driving habits can be fatal by comparison”.
Some of the features available on the Lemur Autovision include: real-time feedback, reports speed, distance, brakes, convenient keychain LCD, easy to install, affordable – no monthly fees and Tamper Proof and PIN protected.
If you’re interested in such a device, you can pick it up for $99.95 and must be used responsibly in order to be somehow useless when it comes to cutting down the number of road accidents and fatalities.
(Source: coolest-gadgets.com)
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Friday, November 14th, 2008 |
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Technological progress is absolutely stunning nowadays and that’s why when a new device comes out in the market, it’s sometimes difficult to know what these ingenious manufacturers are offering to you. For example, the concept of a digital photo frame also becomes quite vague as they start to have more and more applications attached to them.
Take the Keian Japan P71-A2-JP, a box-like photo that can act as a printer, audio player and even the option of adding an external hard drive. Keian Japan plans, therefore, not to just replace your boring digital photo frame, but also your printer and audio player.
The printer function is maybe the most interesting of them all. Imagine, for example, having a friend over, and he or she looks at your 7-inch screen with a 480 x 234 display. If your guest wants to take one of the photos with him or her, the only thing you should do is to hit a button and he or she will receive a 100 x 150 millimeters sized photo with 300 dpi resolution.
Yes, you got it right, this is a photo frame that actually prints photos. What will they think of next? MP3 file support, for example, but, if we remember it well, this has already been done on other digital photo frames. One thing that is new and we haven’t seen on other digital photo frames is the option to add on an external hard drive. I mean, a SDHC card reader is a more common feature, or an option to take photos off of a memory stick. Actually, the Keian Japan P71-A2-JP has that feature as well.
Therefore, this could be considered just the beginning of a new age of digital photo frames that can do more than just view photos.
(Source: coolest-gadgets.com)
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Friday, November 7th, 2008 |
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You don’t have to be some kind of a specialist to know how important the light is to a person and the effect it has on one’s daily mood. More than that, severe underexposure to light leads to things like winter blues and cabin fever. In order to make things right, you can always grab a 500 watt halogen lamp and point it at your face, blinding yourself to everything else.
Philips released a couple of days ago the goLITE BLU, a natural and convenient way to offer quick relief from seasonal mood-related problems. With the end of Daylight Saving time many Americans are affected by the increased darkness and experience what is known as the winter blues. The symptoms of the winter blues are lethargy, lowered mood, problems sleeping, carbohydrate cravings and weight gain.
The Philips goLITE BLU is a new therapy light which was meant to be safe, simple and effective, a perfect solution in order to face the winter blues and overcome it. Scientific research shows that light therapy has a great effect on improving mood and energy, because it regulates the internal body clock or circadian rhythms (the body’s 24-hour cycle of activity and sleep related to light). “The body clock is stimulated by blue light like the blue found in the summer sky. In the winter we get less of this light and so many people suffer from the winter blues”, says Dan Adams, a research manager at Philips Home Healthcare Solutions.
Moreover, the light therapy can be used to beat the winter blues so that you don’t need to resort to all sorts of drugs or artificial stimulants. Results are to be felt within a couple of days with as little 15 to 20 minutes of use per day. “The goLITE BLU represents significant improvements in portable blue light therapy”, says Adams. “Science has shown that to stimulate the body clock we don’t need intense white light. This is because a person’s body clock can respond up to two times greater to blue light than to white light and white light is 50 times more intense. Our Bluewave technology, which is incorporated into the goLITE BLU, dramatically reduces the overall intensity of light as compared to bright white therapy devices and can help minimize potential side effects such as eyestrain, glare and headaches”.
The new goLITE BLU is provided with some innovative aesthetics and advanced features that are meant to provide a comfortable user experience, such as: a soft and comfortable light that eliminates the harsh glare and contrast problems associated with traditional light therapy products, a wide viewing field to enable the user to perform routine activities such as reading, eating, watching television or computer work while using the device, a sleek design that makes the device so very easy to use, pack and store and backlit touchscreen controls that are also simple to use and program, which can be used to adjust light intensity. The goLITE is held up by a nifty magnetic stand that hangs on the back when being transported.
Measuring 5.3 x 5.5 inches and weighing only 12 ounces, the device comes with an integrated clock and timer, rechargeable battery and protective storage case for convenient transport from home to office or while traveling.
The suggested retail price for the goLITE BLU is $279 and can be purchased from LightTherapy.com and from other leading online retailers.
(Source: gadgets.boingboing.net)
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