Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 |
If a voice recording watch was mentioned earlier on, here’s a “counter-measure” to protect yourself from being recorded by other people. Use the spy detector pen. If you have a private conversation you really don’t want to be heard by third parties or be recorded in one way or another, this gadget pen will help you in finding out how safe is the environment where you are located. The bright LED at the top starts flashing as soon as a spy device is descovered in the surrounding area. It also scans for the “spy frequencies”: 900 / 1200 / 1300 and 2400 / 2600 / 3000MHz. As soon as the device gets closer to the spy (listening) device the faster it flashes. You can find out also if people have their mp3 devices in their pockets. The UV light can help you in discovering counterfeit bills. And yes, it can be used as a normal pen as well, but it can be useful to reassure you that you are not eavesdropped. The price is about $16 and can be found on Amazon or eBay.
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Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 |
 Incredibly as it may sound, some people still have music on old vinyl discs collections nowadays. Also such discs are still used by some DJs. But for the people who finally decided to keep up with the times and wish to digitalize their entire collection, here’s a solution meant to facilitate the entire process without too much effort: the USB turntable. by simply plugging the device into the USB port and intalling the necessary drivers, you can turn your old vinyl music memories into vibrant and top quality mp3 files. Oh, yes, I know RIAA will hate these gadgets but what do they know, right? It’s your recordings you’re trying to keep alive and you know that for most of those discs there is no up to date CD or MP3 version out there – there is nothing much you can do but to use such a device to keep those recordings intact for a much longer time – and the USB turntable certainly does the trick. With prices ranging from $245 to $99 on Amazon, you can select the one that suits best your interest and your budget.
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Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 |
 It is not necessary to mention how interesting it would be if you could record the coolest jokes you hear everyday, without being noticed. A lot of people resent being recorded in any way and in many countries it is illegal as well. Imagine that there is something really important you really wish to record and there’s no way if you use a classical method like – an mp3 player with such capabilities, a classic voice cassette-recorder, or even a phone (because many people will be able to notice if you point at them such a device). Again – placing such a device in the pocket is also not very effective due to the reduced range and capabilities of the embedded microphone. Here’s the solution: very few people might notice that you can use the special watch in the image above to record their voices. The tech specs include 1GB of data storage, and the recordings can be made into the mp3 or the wav format. You can record up to 500 hours and the 9-hours battery will last long enough to record the longest conversations. When the battery gets depleted, it needs only 2 hours of recharging. As soon as you finish recording you can transfer the files over the USB to the PC. This device can be used as an MP3 player because it has a socket for headphones in it. The price is about $62 on Amazon.
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Monday, January 14th, 2008 |
 Have you ever wanted to play your favourite video-games with… your head (mind)? I’m referring to the control mode, not the literal implied thinking process. OCZ presented at CES 2008 headband allows you to play computer games with your mind. Imagine that you can defeat your opponents with your mind like a genius-at-play in games like Unreal Tournament 3, by “thinking” commands like forward, back, left, right, jump and shoot. The official description given by The Tech Report team (who attended) is as follows: “The concept behind the device is, in its way, relatively simple. The headband has a trio of sensors across the front, and those sensors read electrical impulses in various frequency ranges, which equate to a number of different facial movements and—so it would seem, at least—patterns of thought. Dr. Schuette said the original interface for the headband was a simple RS-232 serial connection, and the software reading the inputs was single-threaded. OCZ has now converted the hardware to a USB connection and has developed a new, multithreaded software layer that uses DirectX to process inputs. The difference, Schuette claimed, is substantial. The DirectX input mechanism is much quicker, and the software can use multicore CPUs to handle the mathematical tasks like fast Fourier transforms needed to interpret the signals from the headband’s sensors.(…) He showed us the control panel for the device and walked us through the calibration process required for each individual wearer. The headband differentiates between a number of different actions, including the contraction of facial muscles (like jaw clenching and squinting), side to side eye movements, and alpha and beta brain wave fluctuations. OCZ’s software shows a real-time readout for each variable tracked, and one can see the values fluctuate in apparently meaningful ways as the wearer talks, moves, or responds to me making fun of how he looks wearing that funny headband.” The product will be available in a few months and it will cost around $300-400.
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Monday, January 14th, 2008 |
 It was about time some USB memory stick maker would think of such a thing – fingerprint identification! Yes, we have seen that in many schi-fi or James-Bond-like movies, but it’s time we had a go at those toys as well: TwinMos came up recently with a new USB memory stick with fingerprint identification dubbed “the Mobile Disk F2″ and it is available in capacities from 1GB up to 32GB of storage. What’s the deal with Fingerprint recognition? The advanced and precision biometric fingerprint technology encrypts data in order to protect it from unauthorised access. After plugging the F2 Mobile Disk in a USB port on a desktop unit or laptop the gently slide the finger over the sensor, will allow you to start all functions on the F2. What’s more interesting is that the security options allow the partitioning of the USB drive into “public access” areas and secure zones where only the fingerprint gives access – this allows security and sharing at the same time. Recently we’ve seen other USB stick makers that suceesed in creating 32GB drives, but this one also offers security and that is quite an important thing if used within a corporate environment where sensitive data can be stored.
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