Archive for the ‘News’ Category
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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Thursday, November 6th, 2008 |
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A couple of years ago wearing contact lenses was one of the most fashionable things that you could have done. Every teenager’s dream was to show up at important events with a different eye color if you wanted to put yourself forward. I have never had the chance to wear something like this, because my eyes are so very sensitive. But if I think about the trouble these lenses bring along, I might be one of the lucky ones.
If you’re a contact lens wearer, then you must be aware that you’re supposed to toss your contacts every two weeks or a month, depending on what type of contacts you have. The only problem is that if you wait too long, gross bacteria will grow on your lenses, and you definitely don’t want those anywhere near your eyes.
But you’re the type of person that forgets right about everything. In these modern times of pin numbers, security codes and passwords, there are lots of things to remember. Not to mention the birthdays, anniversaries and phone numbers that are all running around in our heads. It’s something like a miracle the fact that we’re still able to recall the things we need.
The Countact Lens Cases will help you avoid associated problems such as poor eyesight and eye infection. The only thing you should do is to set the duration of use for either 14 or 30 days (or any amount of days in between) and each time you change your contact lenses simply press the “Counter” button. From that moment you can free your mind and let the case tell you when your contacts have expired, through an audible beeping sound from the built-in speaker and LED display.
Countact Lens Cases come in 8 colors (red, blue, yellow, orange, purple, pink, teal and white) and are shipped randomly in packs of 4 different colors with batteries (each lasting around 3 months from first use).
Measuring 2 x 8.5 x 3 centimeters (0.8 x 3.35 x 1.2 inches), Countact Lens Cases are ideal for people with busy schedules, people who use their contacts intermittently and those who are new to wearing contact lenses. They are available from LatestBuy.com.au for $34.47.
(Source: Dvice)
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Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 |
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Now here’s a watch totally whacked out; still it’s a very fancy and expensive-looking digital watch that combines telling time with the Chinese philosophy of I Ching. I Ching is taken from the ancient Chinese “Book of Changes” and it is a form of divinatory practice involving 64 hexagrams (patterns of 6 broken and unbroken lines), which are used in a divinatory way by the throwing of yarrow stalks or coins. The philosophy based on I Ching hexagrams is a symbol system used to identify order in chance events.
The I Ching is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. The text describes an ancient system of cosmology and philosophy that is intrinsic to ancient Chinese cultural beliefs. The cosmology centres on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites, the evolution of events as a process and acceptance of the inevitability of change. In Western cultures and modern East Asia, the I Ching is sometimes regarded as a system of divination. The classic consists of a series of symbols, rules for manipulating these symbols, poems and commentary.
I’m not sure how this is made to work and how the philosophy was introduced into this mechanism, but it involves inserting a hexagram generator into the watch to help you decide your own future. It seems very confusing and complicated, because it requires an understanding of I Ching, but, after all, it’s a pretty nice looking watch.
Strangely enough, the Oracle Watch, designed by Andy Kurovets, does not tell you the current time, but will instead assist you in identifying the order of chance events via 64 digital hexagrams. All you need to do is to press the button six times and a hexagram will be generated that correlates to your future.
If you’re the irresolute type of guy and you usually manifest the tendency of procrastinating things and you’re also a fan of both high-end timepieces and I Ching, I’m pretty sure you’ll be interested in this I Ching hexagrams based accessory.
(Source Dvice)
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Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 |
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You have to admit that the urban area nowadays can easily be defined as an authentic jungle, which isn’t exactly a safe place for bicyclists. In order to make your participation to the traffic a whole lot simpler, you need all sorts of tools to keep you one step ahead of irresponsible motorists. Therefore, the Nike Hindsight gives you supernatural powers with extended peripheral vision so all these sneaky cars, so you have to be careful.
The Nike Hindsight cyclist’s glasses from designer Billy May are based on one thing and one thing only: stop cyclists from getting hurt on the roads. They work similar to bifocals except for your peripheral vision. At the extended side of each lens, there is a carefully arranged high-power Fresnel lens that captures the view to the sides of the wearer’s head and sends it into the peripheral vision. This way, riders can detect motion in a field of view beyond the normal human limit of 180 degrees. Hopefully, the extra data won’t be too distracting. But this is a very clever way of avoiding being side-swiped by a fast moving vehicle that was sitting outside your normal vision zones.
High power, diverging Fresnel zones aligned vertically distort into view an extra 25 degrees on both sides. Vision is radically distorted in the periphery, but as the eye detects only motion in that area, little clarity is lost in the process. A very clear advantage is the early warning of approaching vehicles, but a less obvious one is reducing the necessary head rotation to check behind. These glasses were designed for the use of bicyclists, but there are lots of other sports and activities where a greater field of view becomes an advantage.
These glasses remain just a concept product for the moment, but they might be expected by lots of sport-addicts out there.
(Source YankoDesign.com)
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