Fashionable Frequencies
You are normally fairly safe from the world of high fashion on this web site but we just couldn’t resist bringing you news of a new fabric, called Intimacy, developed by Studio Roosegaarde’s V2 Lab. Intimacy is used in a range of garments, made from something called Smart Foil, which becomes transparent when fed with a small current. Various ways of using the fabric have been touted, including sensing the wearer’s emotions to control the degree of transparency, or remotely, via a wireless interface, with the wearer able to vary the transparency by moving closer or further away from a transmitter. Scary stuff but we can see a good opportunity for joke shops with Smart Foil trousers and Y-Fronts…
Nokia N97
The long waiting time is over and we can finally say something about the so much acclaimed N97 smartphone – the iPhone’s main rival suggested by Nokia. At first glance, besides the innovative design, the new top of the line touchscreen smartphone manufactured by the Finnish giant has been gifted with almost the same features as the older Nokia 5800 XpressMusic handset. That means it includes the same operating system, processor, HSDPA 3.6Mbps, Wi-Fi, built-in GPS receiver, and the list can go on. Still, the main things that differentiate the two handsets are the full QWERTY keyboard of N97 and the bigger touchscreen. If Nokia 5800 XpressMusic was released as the first Nokia smartphone to feature a touchscreen and an updated Symbian operating system that could go with it, the N97 should have been a piece of art from this point of view.
There were lots of bugs present in 5800’s platform and the OS seemed rather rudimentary, but Nokia managed to solve most of them by a wide sequence of firmware updates. Still, the graphical interface, as well as the basic control of the menus remained the same. This shouldn’t be that bad, but when you intend to compete with one of the most successful smartphones on the market, the iPhone, you must provide something that has at least equal value. Either Nokia managed to do that with the N97 or not, we will see in the following review, so read and judge for yourselves. Read more
Wi-Spy
Here’s a handy little utility for laptop owners. It’s called Wireless NetViewand its sole purpose in life is to show you all of the wireless networks in your immediate vicinity. But wait, I hear you cry, my PC can already do that, using the built-in Windows utility or the one installed by the wireless adaptor. All true, but this one goes a whole lot further, drilling deep into the connection or access points properties, tell you all sorts of useful things about its real time and average signal strength, signal quality, authentication algorithm, security status, channel number and frequency, MAC address and much, much more. Okay, so maybe most of this information is only of interest to geeks and hackers, but it’ll give you something to do the next time you’re stuck at the airport, surfing for a free connection.
iPhone OS 3.0 Officially Released
After a painfully long wait, Apple has finally released the much-hyped iPhone 3.0 Software Update, delivering improved functionality and tons of new features to iPhone and iPod touch users worldwide. Two days from now, the iPhone 3G S will also be available to the public. The device will “unlock” the complete set of new features available with iPhone OS 3.0.
“The new iPhone OS 3.0 is a major software release packed with incredible new features and innovations for iPhone customers and developers alike. It will keep us years ahead of the competition,” said Philip Schiller (Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing) back in March, when the company previewed the first developer beta of iPhone OS 3.0. Read more
Nokia E63 Review
The Eseries from Nokia continues to spawn new devices on the handset market, this time a cheaper version, but with enough up-to-date features to have some success. The Nokia E63 smartphone competes with its more rich-featured brother E71. If you’re looking for a business phone and do not have the amount to acquire the top of the line E71, then the new Nokia E63 can easily take its place. While there are some design and feature differences between the two, the latter is definitely excellent value for money.
Announced in November 2008, Nokia E63 was made available on the market just in time for Christmas, in December 2008. The price of the smartphone is pretty cheap compared to what it can do – 250USD. The phone was launched in three colors: Ultramarine Blue, Ruby Red and Black. Read more
WiFi to Replace Ancient Radio Waves Technology
Although these things have been around for quite some time now, I’ve only recently decided to give some more though and attention to the WiFi Radio concept, and I was pretty impressed to find out that’s it’s actually a lot more popular and widespread than I previously thought. I have never been a classic radio fan, since most radio hosts annoy me to the point that I just want to smash the radio with a baseball bat. But over the years I have tested some Internet radio stations and I can’t say I was disappointed. After Yahoo launched their new Messenger 9, I also had a brief “stint” at listening to some Yahoo music stations. Read more
First Skype Certified Videophone Unveiled
Asus, of cute little netbook fame, are at it again, this time with the world’s first Skype Certified standalone videophone. As you probable know Skype, the free PC to PC phone VOIP service has a built-in videophone facility, but it can be a bit of a pig to set up, so why not remove the PC from the equation and make it a simple one-box product, and here it is. It has a 7-inch display, there’s an integrated webcam and because it’s dedicated to the task, picture and sound quality should be as good as it can get. It works on both cabled and wireless links to your router and it has it’s own rechargeable battery, so you can walk around with it. The price, when it reaches the shops in the next few weeks will be around £220.
The batteries have been wondering about
Computer and video cards in our different types of components such as hard disk constantly renewed, but not in a big change. On the other hand, different features and peripherals as the continuous innovation and re-designed to provide again. As dependent on computers that are running around the outside of the user-friendly kind of portable devices is becoming increasingly common. That occur in technological progress can not stop stop the smart devices is causing to be indispensable. The best example of this recording, video player and camera features such as a host of smart devices. This smart device has such a kind that a single volume of seven different features can fit into. These devices are referred to as MP3 players, of course, but nice feature different products together. Read more
Fit For Purpose?
fitpc
What’s all this then? At first glance it looks like it might be some sort of wireless gadget but believe it or not it is a complete PC, and no, that’s not a giant key. It’s called Fit-PC Slim and the whole thing measures just 10 x 11 x 3cm, which isn’t much larger than a pack of 20 cigarettes. Inside the box they have managed to squeeze an AMD Geode CPU running at 500MHz, there’s 512Mb RAM, a 60GB hard drive, Wi-FI and audio adaptors plus all the usual inputs and outputs. It comes pre-loaded with Linux or XP; there’s no fan, so it’s completely silent and all it needs to run is a simple 12-volt power supply. Amazing stuff, though you might now be asking why, and I have to say that I have no easy answers, but for someone out there it’s just what they’ve been waiting for!
Wave Hello to Air Mouse
I predict fun and games learning to drive the Gyration Air Mouse but it looks like it could be worth it. Unlike an ordinary rolling ball or optical mouse this one doesn’t need a flat surface to work. Just wave it around and motion sensors inside the case tracks your movements. This information is translated by ‘intuitive’ software, which works out where on the PC screen you want the mouse pointer to go. It also responds to a range of simple ‘gestures’ that are basically shortcuts for frequently used functions, like highlighting or magnifying text. It communicates wirelessly with a small dongle that plugs into a vacant USB socket on the PC, and for good measure, it also works as normal mouse on flat surfaces, so lie back in your easy chair, wave at your laptop and it will do as it is told, probably… In the shops soon, expect it to cost upwards of £60.
