Apple Patent Describes iPod UI "Pushed" to Other Devices

An Apple patent filed in May 2008 describes a way of pushing whatever UI Apple wants to non-Apple hardware, for consistency's sake. That non-Apple hardware could include car stereos or something like the Chumby One (which has iPod functionality, but with a lookalike UI). It's a nice idea for Apple, but could be tricky given the myriad different hardware that might want to take advantage. What if the hardware has a resistive touchscreen, or a shitty processor? Might it just be better to use a custom interface for iPod integration? Regardless, it's in Remainders because it's not really that unexpected or interesting in its implications. [MacRumors]

Philips Announces Very Pretty Pro LCD Line

Philips' new high-end LCD line looks pretty fantastic, with two important caveats. First, let's drool a little: The two models (40- and 46-inch) have a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 1ms response time, 5 HDMI ports (not sure why you'd need that many, but whatever) and a 200Hz refresh rate, with a nice brushed-aluminum look. Now, the caveats. First, they're UK only, and second, they're prohibitively expensive at about $3,000 and $4,100, respectively. Still, drool-worthy. [Engadget]

NYTimes Columnist Proposes Boycott of "Pro-Communist China" Bing

NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has proposed a boycott of Microsoft's Bing search engine due to its supposed pro-Chinese-government censorship of search terms like "Dalai Lama" and "Tienanmen" when searched in simplified Chinese characters. In English and other non-Chinese languages, the results you'd expect from "Tienanmen" show up, but in Chinese, apparently it returns sanitized results (no massacre, in that case). Since I'm not really sure how to type simplified Chinese characters on an all-Amurrican MacBook Pro keyboard, I haven't tested it myself—but if true, it's a little underhanded on Microsoft's part, although certainly paling in comparison to, you know, the Chinese government. What's odd is that Google's Chinese search also returns censored results, but "to a much lesser extent," so I guess it's okay. Weird stuff. [TechFlash]

Ooma Adds New Handsets and International Plan

Internet phone company Ooma began shipping its new Telo handset as well as offering a very cheap international calling plan (500 minutes for $5 per month). Ooma, for those who don't know (I assume this includes everyone) varies from other VoIP services like Vonage by cutting out the monthly fees, instead packing them into a fairly expensive set-top box, at $250. So this international plan requiring a monthly fee is a big deal for them, but it winds up in Remainders because I honestly had not even heard of Ooma until this morning. Oops. [Electronista]

The company is testing the implementation of their lighting technology alongside their medical technology in Ambient Experience suites across the world.

And luckily, the other 9 modes appear far more serene than the "Australia" theme in our lead shot. Patients, in fact, are allowed to choose their own color palette, along with accompanying sounds and video that will surround them during procedures. In fact, this media environment can be so relaxing (or simply distracting) that it was said to reduce sedation needs by 28% in one Chicago-based study.

Actually, on second thought, that pink freaks me out even more than the red. [Philips via CNET]

I don't know if they are military-grade or not, but their retrofuturistic blender, food processor, juicer, hand mixer, and stab mixer look like they can blend, process, juice, mix, and stab giant extraterrestrial cockroaches without getting a scratch. Their prices go from $210 to $570, with a five year general guarantee and 15 years guarantee for the motors. In other words: You and your spouse will have to fight for them at one point. [Appliancist, Appliancist and Appliancist via Unplggd]

Using Philips' software, you preload your fitness goals (the amount of daily activity you're aiming for) onto the device. Then, as you go about your day with the monitor in your pocket, its series of opaque dots will begin to glow green.

With each 15% you finish of your daily quota, this makeshift status bar fills that much more.

If you're as addicted to watching status bars complete while doing mundane tasks like downloading or copying files as I am, the device could lead to straight-up dangerous levels of exercise—especially since the meter leaves space for overflow should you give, say, 115%.

The Activity Monitor currently sells for $80, plus you'll need to pay a $12.50 fee every month, which also gets you personalized advice from a real person. And Philips tells us that they have a lot of custom algorithms to detect movement much better than a regular accelerometer, like the difference between running and jogging and doing housework and so on. If only Philips also sold a Wallet Monitor that could track their petty nickle and diming that turns us off to an otherwise promising device. [Philips via ubergizmo]

The oddly-named Rationalizer looks like a reasonably simple, if bizarre, product: A bracelet that probably detects clamminess and pulse, and wirelessly sends that data to an LED-laden bowl. The bowl turns red (red is always bad, you guys) when "stress" levels are too high, and the important businessman who's wearing this contraption knows he needs to stop day-trading or whatever and have a glass of water. It's still in the conceptual stage right now, but it's far along enough for Philips to make a hilariously overwrought teaser. Check it out here. [Philips via Engadget]

It's a simple idea, but I like the design: Soft cushion on the bottom, flat hard surface with nice built-in speakers on the top. Girl on spandex not required.

Spandex is never a good idea.

Each new Aurea will be bundled with this pod-style slider that we're only telling you about because it's a bit different than most. When closed, it's reminiscent of a first-gen iPod. When open, it feels like a cellphone aimed at tweens. And that ball at the top? No, that's not a speaker intended for your ear. It's the power button.

So we're gonna need a modder to dig into this thing with some Skype hardware or at least our MP3 collection from 2001—shouldn't be hard, it's basically a 4-hour loop of Lady Marmalade. [Philips]

This Philips non-spherical-biosphere is a self-contained farm for that produces hundreds of calories of various food sources a day. Its five-level design breaks down like this:

Levels 1 and 2: Plants
Level 3: Algae
Level 4: Fish and Shrimp
Level 5: Organic Waste

From what we can tell, the system is designed to cascade nutrients from the top to the bottom (back to the top). Optical fibers capture and redirect light to the plants during the day, while methane capture from organic waste can power lights at night. The algae create oxygen for the fish.

And while maybe we'd entertain the idea that this biosphere would actually work, it's only a matter of time before a cat scales the top just shatter a mix of waste and shellfish all over the floor.

Here's a clip of the Biosphere, along with a few other interesting Philips food concepts.

[Philips via Design Probes and RSR via TrendsNow]

The device is intended for roadside use by law enforcement agencies and includes a disposable plastic cartridge and a handheld analyzer. The cartridge has two components: a sample collector for gathering saliva and a measurement chamber containing magnetic nanoparticles. The particles are coated with ligands that bind to one of five different drug groups.

After 90 seconds, the device delivers its verdict on a color-coded readout. That's a lot of fancy technology to tell you that the naked, toothless guy trying to escape from the ghosts chasing him is probably high as a kite, but Philips, the company behind the tester, hopes to have the device in Europe by the end of the year. If it is successful, I would imagine that a US launch would not be far behind. [Technology Review via DVICE]

The Philips 56PFL9954H Cinema 21:9 uses the same aspect ratio of most movies out there, which means that it eliminates the black bars while watching a Blu-ray title. And while every single consumers electronics expert in the UK is raving about the amazing quality of this 8.3-million-pixel TV set, the Philips Cinema 21:9 still has to do zooming to make the movie to fill its 1080-pixel vertical resolution. In other words: It looks great, but it's still not perfect. [Daily Mail]

Their PowerSensor function works independently of the operating system, and basically allows you to save energy: Everytime you go away from your computer, the monitor will dim and reduce its power consumption by 50%. Hopefully, this simple but great technology will become a standard feature in every monitor in a not-so-distant future. [PocketLint]

As I said above, color e-paper boasts and chest thumping from the Philips camp is nothing new. However, this current concept (and really, this is still another pipe dream concept for now) uses a completely new technique that preserves screen resolution by literally turning the traditional pixel model on its head.

For some background, existing e-ink tech in devices like Sony's Reader and the Amazon Kindle use electrophoresis. This technique sees white particles suspended in a dark liquid. When an electric field is passed through them, they get happy, more vertically up and down, and you can read Stephen King on your Kindle.

But those crazy Philips folk in Amsterdam vaulted over all that and implemented "in-plane electrophoretics" so that they could move multi-color bits about horizontally, not vertically. The result could very well rival LCD screens someday:

Each pixel is made up of two microcapsule chambers: one containing yellow and cyan particles, the other, below, containing magenta and black particles. Within each microcapsule, one set of colored particles is charged positively while the other is charged negatively.

By carefully controlling the voltages at electrodes positioned on the edges of the pixels, it is possible to spread the colored particles across the pixel or remove them from view altogether by hiding them behind the electrodes, says Lenssen. This means that different shades of color can be achieved by controlling how many of each group of colored particles are visible. To create white, all of the particles are simply shifted to the side to reveal the white substrate beneath the two microcapsules.

There's more all all this in our fine Giz Explains feature about the absence of a "perfect" eReader, which you should check out.

Which leads to the inevitable caveat. This tech is "in its infancy," not ready, and about three years off, if not more. In the meantime, Amazon would like you to save the newspaper industry by giving them a $500 donation (ed. Note - Last line inspired by Mark Wilson's Twitter feed.) [Technology Review - Thanks, Ron]

It uses hundreds of little OLED screens to create a kind of funhouse mirror from the future, reflecting back whatever is in front of it. Cool stuff.

[Fubiz via NotCot]

It's true, you'd fill up the entire Philips Ultra-Widescreen with picture on a 2.40:1 movie, but you're just exchanging having black bars on the top and bottom when you're watching movies with black bars on the side when you're watching TV. You don't actually "miss" any of the action.

But still, that's a pretty awesome video, and that's a slick looking TV. [Philips Cinema and Beam.tv - Thanks Dave!]

The original concept was already solid. The main body consists of a small trimmer and a shaver, which you can then add one of three plastic guards onto to vary the length of your human forest. The new design keeps the side trimmer and the shaver face intact, but adds a new dedicated trimmer head, plus two attachments with five lengths each.

Shaving with the main head is essentially unchanged. You can maneuver and 'Tokyo' drift around corners to get in close without doing damage to sensitive areas. If you like looking like a gigantic, ugly baby then that's the tool to use.

If you don't want your logging to go all the way to the stump, there's the new trimmer head. This, my generously follicled friends, is where the action is.

Cutting through swaths of hair like small arms fire through decayed zombie flesh, the trimmer takes at most two passes to undo what 11 years of nature prepared your body for. It's painless, not too noisy and much more sanitary than using the same trimmer you use on your beard.

So the only question you need to ask yourself is whether you want the original, which retails for $30, or the updated version, which hits you for $50. People that are "sometimes" shavers, those that are closer to space aliens than apes on the evolutionary scale, can make do with the $30 BG2020. But those "people" that would cause Alec Baldwin to exclaim, "that's one hairy dude," need to splurge on the upgraded Bodygroom BG2030. Anyone who has to look at you naked will thank you. [Philips BG2030 and Philips BG2020]

Philips senior scientist Paul Lemmens and a team of researchers have devised a jacket—but sorry dudes, no matching pants—that augments your emotions with gentle nudges, squeezes and taps. The point? To cause "a shiver to go up the viewer's spine and creating the feeling of tension in the limbs," Lemmens told IEEE Spectrum, on the eve of the World Haptics Conference where he's presenting the jacket.

Lemmens says that during a Bruce Lee fight scene, the jacket can pulse with the gu-goong gu-goong gu-goong of an elevated heartbeat. (All good, until you remember that Bruce Lee's heart rate never went above 42 beats per minute his whole life.)

The jacket's versatile fondling techniques come from 64 actuators, clustered in groups of four along different parts of the torso and arms—eight in each sleeve, for instance. They are low-powered enough to be run on two AA batteries for an hour, but hopefully they'll make room for more batteries, since the average movie is over 2 hours, including trailers. The signals to pinch your arm, tighten your chest, or sooth your back would come from the film itself, kinda like how those D-Box motion chairs follow pre-determined cues that are synced with the action on the screen.

I'm willing to buy into the argument that a little more physical interaction would heighten my emotional appreciation of a movie, but I just can't help feeling it's the premise of a corny but terrifying episode of The Outer Limits? [IEEE Spectrum]

Fitting in a standard bulb socket, the mercury-free Master LED bulb sips just 7W while burning up to 45,000 hours, or about 30x the length of a normal bulb. It's actually already available in parts of Europe (we can't spot a price, anyone out there know? UPDATE: About $50-$70), but with the proper retail availability, I could see an LED light with this form factor exciting the mainstream US public, couldn't you?

Philips also has a few other models coming that you can check out at the link. [Philips via Core77]

Happy birthday! 1979-2009.Thirty years. Pretty amazing that it's been that long since those crazy Dutchmen at Philips spun the technology off of laser discs as part of an optical digital audio disc demo in Eindhoven.

Of course, the CD didn't immediately take off right then and there. It needed a little help from Sony, which worked with Philips to get the format standardized. The standard they named Red Book, which included everything from playing time (initially 60 minutes), to the disc diameter to sampling frequency. Put simply, the collaboration worked out, and Red Book was a success. In the book The Compact Disc Story, Philips reps lauded the task force they established with Sony. The CD that team created was "invented collectively by a large group of people working as a team," Philips said. If only Apple and Microsoft could say the same, no? Oh, the things they could build.

Gushing and my bloviating aside, it wouldn't be until October 1, 1982 that Billy Joel's 52nd Street became the first CD album released. It was conveniently released in Japan alongside Sony's brand new CDP-101 Compact Disc player. The album (and more importantly the medium it was pressed upon) changed history, as more compact disc players were introduced into the market beginning in 1983. The music CD would reach its zenith with The Beatles "1" (30 million in sales), before beginning its eventual and inevitable fall to the Mp3 in the mid-2000's (in 2008, for example, CD sales dropped 20%).

Related to that point on Mp3s is copy protection. Or, to be more accurate, the CD's complete and utter lack of copy protection of any kind.

When the Red Book was finalized, the standard made nary a mention of copy protection. Other than an anti-copy clause in the subcode, there was nothing. In fact, if a company tried to market a copy-protected CD (no ripping, copying, etc), as many did in 2002, Philips said the discs would not bear the official Compact Disc Digital Audio logo. It's great that Philips did this, because as is the case with many "protected" forms of media today, these non-standardized CDs were anti-consumer; they often did not work in a variety of CD-ROM drives or standalone players. And yet Lars Ulrich was silent. Baffling, but true, and definitely an interesting parallel to today's debate about digital rights management and piracy.

As was noted by Blam today in an email to me about this anniversary, Red Book's active attempts to keep copy protection from the spec was incredibly forward thinking at the time. You definitely didn't see it in the infamous anti-consumer Extended Copy Protection (XCP) debacle at Sony Music BMG. Remember that ol' chestnut? Ironic that the creator of the original standard would be somehow involved in one of the most egregious CD-related abuses of consumer trust, no?

But back on point. The CD is 30. It changed tech and gadgetry pretty substantially. Even as it enters the twilight of its existence, we geeks have a lot to be thankful for, and there's still plenty to learn from that copy of What's the Story Morning Glory you have under your coffee mug right now. [Wikipedia]

That's because the costs of licenses for people to make Blu-ray stuff will drop as much as 40 percent, since manufacturers won't have to talk to all three companies to get the rights. So a license under the cheaper regime would be about $9.50 for a read-only Blu-ray device and $14 for a burner, while discs will run 11-15, from read-only to re-writeables.

It won't result in incredible price drops—probably not enough to spur a sudden rush on Blu-ray right now—but it should help push Blu-ray players even further past the $199 mark that became the bar over the holiday season, and every little bit cheaper with content helps, given how much pricier discs are typically then movies on DVD.

How cheap do you need movies to be before you go Blu-ray? [Electronista]

While there are no specific products or implementation announcements at this time, Sony and Philips reached a middleware licensing agreement that will allow amBX "to bring amazing light, rumble, sound and air movement experiences to [PS3] users." A licensing agreement may not sound like a big deal, but when you're talking about advanced peripherals that need very specific driver/code support, they simply couldn't appear on a console without being sanctioned. Hopefully we'll see some interesting PS3-specific amBX peripherals shortly.

amBX ANNOUNCES TOOLS AND MIDDLEWARE LICENSE FOR PLAYSTATION®3
4th February 2009 - Redhill, UK - amBX today announced that it has concluded a Tools & Middleware License agreement for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) with Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI).

Originally conceived and developed for the PC by a UK team within Philips Research, amBX is a technology that delivers real-world sensory experiences - using light, colour, rumble and even air flow - through licensed amBX peripherals, to the virtual worlds of video games, music, movies, Internet and TV entertainment. The Tools & Middleware License agreement with SCEI will allow amBX to develop its ambient experiences technology beyond the PC market and into the worldwide game market.

"This is a major milestone in the development of amBX as a ubiquitous standard for entertainment sensory experiences," commented Jo Cooke, Chief Marketing Officer, amBX. "amBX has already proved incredibly popular and successful within the PC games, music, movies and apps markets and the Tools & Middleware License agreement with SCEI will allow us to bring amazing light, rumble, sound and air movement experiences to game users."

amBX has already licensed the technology to many content developers and publishers in the gaming sector and the amBX developer program has recently launched a new, free SDK to allow many more hardware and entertainment developers to add this innovative technology to their products. A support forum also provides advice and best practice information as well as a complete toolbox that will unlock the most advanced features of amBX at www.ambx.com.

Like we pointed out before, this TV is only practical for movies; and even then, some movies that weren't filmed with big old Panavision 70mm film still very well might show up in something closer to 16:9, so we can't say this will completely rid letterboxing from your life. If that's on your bucket list.

Details are still pretty shady, but the Megawhat TV folks are estimating it'll run around £3,000 (around $4,275) and be released in the Spring (in the UK). [Pocket Lint]

Or even watching the large number of films that aren't filmed in 2.40:1? If all you watch is big-budget blockbusters (2.40:1 is the aspect ratio of Panavision 70mm film), then this will be great for your rich-guy home theater.

But if you're thinking about watching HDTV (native aspect ratio of 16:9) or any of the many, many thousands of films shot in less-than-21:9, you'll have to throw some letterboxes on the side. You won't even get to enjoy those IMAX scenes from Dark Knight in their glorious full-frame beauty. But if you never take Iron Man out of your BD deck, this is the TV for you. Philips is looking at a Spring '09 release, with more details coming next month. [Philips via GadgetVenue]

We've previously covered the Samsung HDTV sets that are scheduled to make an appearance in 2009, but this super svelte one wasn't on the list, meaning it's most likely prototype fodder for the "thinnest HDTV" category that will surely get an exercise at CES 2009 this week.

The current record holder for thinnest HDTV is Philips with its 8mm prototype LCD, which was shown in Berlin last year at the IFA electronics show. Sony, on the other hand, takes the prize for having the thinnest retail television, a 9.9mm set that's already on store shelves. For more on the thinnest of the thin and their insane asking prices, check out Wilson's review of the top three on the market today. Of course, there's always the XEL-1 OLED set from Sony, at 3mm, if these are too thick for you.

Note: Pic is NOT of the rumored Samsung HDTV. [PC World]

Last year, we published the 100 year timeline of the Times Square New Year's Ball. Now we've updated it with Philips' and New York's newest, most dazzling time ball ever. (Click image for big version.)

The 2009 New Year's Ball is 12 feet in diameter and weighs in at 11,875 pounds. It will blind you with 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDs—that's roughly triple the 9,576 LEDs that the ball had just last year—shining 16 million possible colors through 2,668 Waterford Crystals.

And despite these barely fathomable numbers, the new ball is 20% more energy efficient than last year's.

To celebrate the century-old tradition (and appease the tourists), the new ball will stay on display all year long in Times Square. So does that mean we can get drunk and celebrate in the streets all year, too? (Yes, yes it does.) Happy New Year! [Times Square Alliance]

The Price: $250

The Verdict: I'm pretty sure it works. Unlike normal things we review, which can (for the most part) be expressed quantitatively, a device that raises your mood is by nature, subjective. But this little blue clock has noticeably eliminated my seasonally-created low energy, low mood and a general sluggishness in the past few weeks.

The goLITE is supposed to be placed about 15 degrees off center to where your attention is—the monitor, in our case. You use one of the four brightness settings for somewhere between 15-30 minutes (or more if you like) every day in order to simulate the missing sun. The light works through your eyes, which explains why it needs to be in your field of view. Even at the lowest setting, this thing is bright as hell, so avoid looking directly at it.

Whether or not I'm actually feeling better because the blue light's rays are working or it's just me and the placebo effect wanting myself to feel better, I don't know. But there are other reviews out there that say that it works. And I believe this does. My energy is up, I don't feel as depressed, and as a result, I don't feel like I'm trudging through the day.

The $250 price tag may seem like quite a bit to pay for something you only use 30 minutes a day, but think of it like this. We buy electronics all the time in order to give ourselves and emotional boost; the goLite is one that's actually designed for that purpose. [Light Therapy and Amazon]

The GoGear Luxe comes with Bluetooth and a microphone, allowing the listener to switch between other Bluetooth devices, such as your phone with just one click. It will also display caller information if the listener is currently on a phone call, in addition to displaying music information on a LCD strip. Estimated with a 10 hour battery life, the GoGear Luxe will be available in January, costing $89 for the 2GB version or $99 the 4GB version.

Enjoy MP3 and WMA music on the move with the latest additions to Philips GoGear personal music players – the Raga, Spark and LUXE flash audio players. These stylish, new USB 2.0 devices provide fast and easy music and data transfer. Simply load your device with songs and plug in a pair of headphones for up to 30 hours of listening time.

The new GoGear LUXE features integrated Bluetooth® connectivity so it can switch between your favorite tunes and phone calls with a single click. The LCD strip displays track details and caller information so you never miss a beat.

Access even more music on the go with the Rhapsody™-enabled Go Gear Spark. Its 1.5-inch color display allows for easy navigation and viewable album art.

The GoGear LUXE and Spark feature FullSound™, a digital audio algorithm patented by Philips. FullSound refines audio output by performing 10 million operations per second to analyze and re-compute the music signal before it is sent to the speaker.

[Philips at Gizmodo]

By letting his friends at Philips Color Kinetics take the reigns ol' North Dumpling is now fitted with energy sipping LED lighting inside and out. This resulted in in-house energy consumption dropping by 70%, and ensures his on-site replica of stonehenge gets the dramatic splash of nighttime green and purple it so clearly deserves (total energy reduction was to 50% when all of the new colored outside lighting is factored in). Still, it was enough to take the island entirely off the grid; Kamen produces all of his own juice with wind and solar power.

While this could be a strong indication that Kamen is going Blofeld and that one of North Dumpling's mountains could soon be shaped into his facial likeness, it's a cool real-world demonstration of the benefits we could soon reap when LED lighting drops into the realm of affordability for people who don't own their own islands. Check out more photos at: [Bits]

I'm tired of this. This sense of permanent discomfort with the technology around me. The bugs. The compromises. The firmware upgrades. The "This will work in the next version." The "It's in our roadmap." The "Buy now and upgrade later." The patches. The new low development standards that make technology fail because it wasn't tested enough before reaching our hands. The feeling now extends to hardware: Everything is built to end up in the trash a year later, still half-baked, to make room for the next hardware revision. I'm tired of this beta culture that has spread like metastatic cancer in the last few years, starting with software from Google and others and ending up in almost every gadget and computer system around. We need a change.

Take the iPhone, for example, one of the most successful products in the history of consumer electronics. We like it, I love mine, but the fact is that the first generation was rushed out, lacking basic features that were added in later releases or are not here yet. Worse: The iPhone 3G was really broken. For real. Bad signal, dropped calls, frozen apps. This would have been unthinkable in cellphones just five years ago. They were simpler, for sure, but they were failure proof. Today's engineering and testing is a lot more sophisticated. In theory, products can't go out into distribution with such glaring problems undetected.

Another recent example is my iMac 24, which had the infamous video card problem out of the box. How can a machine with such an obvious problem—instantly detected by the user base—be sold like that? The same happened recently with Nvidia video boards. In fact, graphic cards—being always in the cutting edge of technology—are perfect examples of beta hardware being sold as final hardware, with many released with beta-quality drivers and requiring firmware patches.

From that to the now-universally-accepted Blue Screen of Death, from buggy Blu-ray players to the Xbox 360's red ring of death and PS3's bugs, even from kitchen ovens to faulty DSLR cameras, the list of troubled products is endless. Just this week, the eagerly anticipated BlackBerry Storm launched to mixed reviews, in part because of its crashy, apparently unfinished software.

On the other side, my parents have a Telefunken CRT TV and a Braun radio from the '70s which are still in working condition. They were first generation. They never failed. Compare that to my first plasma TV from Philips, which broke after less than a year of use. Mine wasn't the only one. The technology was too young to be released; it was still in beta state. Philips wanted to be the first in the world with a flat TV and beat the competition, so they released it. This probably wasn't a good move: Today, Philips' TV business is struggling, and is nonexistent in the US. Meanwhile, my Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Apple IIe from the 1980s still work like they did from day one, perfectly.

For sure, today's products are far more complex than those of 20 or 30 years ago. But back then, the manufacturing was also a lot worse. It was less automated, often purely manual, and imperfect. Today, in a world where automated factories run 24/7, there's less chance of error. Yet still, there are countless problems in the final products, and those problems affect every unit in an entire model line. In the age of manufacturing perfection, there are still major recalls concerning products that burn or break.

Clearly, the problem is the development process and the time to market, with product cycles shortened and corners cut to keep a continuous stream of cash flowing in. The rush to feed these cycles with increasingly more complex engineering seems to be at odds with shortened development and quality assurance processes, resulting in beta-state first-generation products. This beta culture, the same one that already plagues the web, breeds people who are willing to accept bugs in the name of cutting-edge gear.

Who's to blame? Google and their web apps? Apple and their iPhone 3G problems? Microsoft and their countless buggy versions of operating systems and the Xbox 360's RROD? Philips? Sony? Samsung? LG? We all are. The manufacturers, who are driven by a thirst to expand and satisfy their shareholders at all costs. The consumers, who are so thirsty to drink in the shiniest, newest technology that they are willing to sacrifice stability. And the press too, who pours more gasoline onto the consumerism bonfire by writing glowing reviews and often minimizing things that are simply not acceptable.

Personally, I'm tired of all this. But I'm mostly tired about the fact that it seems that we all have given up. Tired because now we see "upgrades" as an opportunity to protect our investment, but in reality, it's laziness and a poor job on the manufacturer part that we have accepted without questioning. Instead of calling foul play and refusing to participate, we keep buying.

That's the key: We have surrendered in the name of progress and marketing and product cycles and consumerism. Maybe those are good reasons, I don't know, but looking at the past, it feels like we are being conned. Deceived because the manufacturers of electronic products have taken our desire to progress faster and even embrace the web beta culture as an excuse to rush things to market, to blatantly admit bugs and the rushed features sets and sell the patches as upgrades.

Maybe the recession will put some order in this thirst of new stuff and change the product cycles. As the economy slows down, people will think twice before buying the latest and greatest; they'll keep older hardware for longer. Then, manufacturers will have to rethink their product lines, and lift their feet from the accelerator, which will result on slower cycles and better products. Maybe that's our ticket for better electronics that actually make sense.

Or maybe... maybe that will be another excuse for the manufacturer to cut even more corners and keep lowering prices so that consumers keep spending and ending up with worse products than we have now.

It'll pause your tunes automatically when a call comes in, so be careful about singing along with that hot new Britney Spears track when your mom calls. Due to come out in Singapore next month, it's priced at S$139, or $94 USD, or 4 cans of beans PEC (post-econopocalyptic currency). Oh, and it's really, really sparkly. [PMP Today]

Dare I say it, but his moving portrayal of a son dealing with his father's pube-trimming prejudices nearly brought this reviewer to tears. Not only that, his performance as a small hairy French man nicknamed "Little Monkey Boy" was truly heartwarming. If web-based advertising campaigns for male grooming devices were eligible for Oscars, my vote would already be cast. Hit the link to see the videos for yourself. And if you have a tale to tell, you can submit your own manologue. Who knows, your work could become Callen's next masterpiece. [Philips and Bodygroom]

Philips labels them "relationship care" gizmos, which kind of deflects attention away from the gadget details: multiple vibration modes (up to 120Hz) and intensities, a wireless charger base/storage case which avoids the need for battery replacements, they make a "soft purring sound," and are ergonomically designed. Silliness aside, it looks like Philips has really thought about these things, and priced them accordingly: the Warm Intimate Massager is around $140 in the UK, while Dual Massagers (his and hers) are $160 as is the unisex version.

Philips' carefully-worded press release below.

London, United Kingdom – Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG, AEX:PHI) today announced the launch of a new category of ‘Relationship Care’ with the introduction in the UK of a range of products designed to enhance couples’ sexual well-being. These products will specifically target a new and previously unaddressed market of consumers in the 35-55 year age group who are open to using intimate accessories. Philips will sell its ‘Intimate Massager’ range in the UK through selected high street retailers i.e. Boots, Selfridges of London and www.Amazon.co.uk.

“Today’s product launch is exciting as Philips enters this new market with a unique offering for consumers’ personal well-being,” says Sheila Struyck, Head of Market-driven Innovation and Category Leader for Relationship Care within Philips’ Consumer Lifestyle sector. “This is an attractive market opportunity that Philips is in a unique position to pursue. We have the expertise in health and well-being, a strong track record in product design, a deep knowledge of consumer marketing, as well as a brand shown to lend credibility and appeal to this product category by addressing our target market in an accessible way.”

The category is being launched following extensive market research. In the UK, research showed that 35% of adults would consider using an intimate accessory with their partner if it were designed for couples rather than being meant for individual use. Furthermore, studies showed these adults would be more likely to try such products if they could buy them through more accessible and – what consumers perceive to be – less embarrassing retail channels.

The first product launch from the Relationship Care category is a range of ‘Intimate Massagers’. These have been designed to be tasteful and stylish in their look and feel, creating an appealing product for consumers that can be sold by mainstream retailers. Philips’ Intimate Massagers are also the first non-penetrative stimulators designed for partners to use together.

In commenting on the launch of Philips’ new range of Intimate Massagers, Simon McCandlish, Commercial Director for Healthcare from Boots said: “People come to Boots because they trust us to provide excellent healthcare products and advice. We believe that a healthier love life can improve overall health and well-being – and our customers have told us that they would like to buy these products from us. Both Boots and Philips are brands that stand for quality, reliability and trust. Our joint objectives are to provide High Street access to a range of products designed to enhance the love lives of UK consumers.”

Following the UK launch, Philips expects to introduce its range of Intimate Massagers in other European markets in 2009.

The launch of this new category reinforces Philips’ strategy as a health and well-being company to build market leadership positions in high-growth, high-margin businesses. For 2008, Philips estimates the value of the market for Relationship Care – a new and previously unaddressed market - to be approximately EUR 70 million for the UK and approximately EUR 280 million for Western Europe, with growth rates between 5% and 15%.

Philips’ new Relationship Care product category will form part of Philips’ Health & Wellness business unit within the company’s Consumer Lifestyle sector.

Ponies reminds us that we've seen this somewhere before.

Honestly, it never ceases to amaze me the amount of stuff these kind of general consumer-oriented companies make. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

Essence is quite cool, designed to hang on walls.
Comes with a 4m cable and a self-leveling hanging thingie on the back.
2ms response time, 100 mHz. It's made of brushed aluminum.
It also comes with a 2 x 15w sound bar, which can be detached for those people who want a home theater.

Now Philips guy is talking about Cinema One.
An all-in-one home theater system the size of a soccer ball.
Comes with DVD, iPod dock, integrated speakers with surround sound.

They have a new LCD TV.
Heir of the Aurea.
Beautiful, very small frames
They are doing a show-and-tell video now.

Talking about their new backlighting tech
LUX backlit. LED-based.
An array of LEDs in the back with 128 segments
For a 2,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio.
The segments are controlled individually.
The black level, they claim, is better than plasma TV.
Ambilight is included, and brushed aluminum.

There's also a new generation of Aureas.
But we don't know yet about it coming to the US.
They are talking about how much people love Aurea.
Now they are talking about Active Crystals.
I don't get this Active Crystal thing, but Miss IFA is going to be modeling them later...
So I'll be there like shareware.

Now talking about Internet radio.
New Streamium system.
Compact stereo system, with 160GB hard drive.
Nice design.

New MP3 player looks like the unholy son of an iPod and a Zune.

New alarm clock, second generation of that alarm clock that wakes you up with light. Obviously, they haven't been out drinking with me at night. No way I'm waking up with light.
It's called the Wakeup Light.

And that's a wrap.

DENVER – Philips Electronics marks the 10-year anniversary of its industry-setting Pronto home control line with the launch of its newest touch screen panel, Philips TSU9800, at this year’s CEDIA Expo in Denver, Colorado.

Philips TSU9800 Pronto Control Panel merges functionality and design, featuring a stunning 6.4-inch VGA color screen and a premium docking station that offers ambient lighting, and the option to completely hide all cables when used in a board-room setting, or coupled with the optional wall mounting plate. The high resolution display is the largest in Philips Pronto line, providing exceptional readability and a control panel designed for maximum comfort, efficiency and ease of use.

With a vibrant display, extended control and personalized performance, Philips TSU9800 builds upon Philips award-winning innovation in home controls. It can control audio/video servers, provides feedback information such as album/DVD art and song information and allows for intuitive and convenient content browsing with a rotary wheel.

“As Philips continues to expand the Pronto line, we add features that simplify user interaction with the system,” said Glenn McImail, Vice President, Philips Peripherals and Accessories. “Philips TSU9800 gives customers a faster and smarter home control system with new features geared to make central home control an easier and more pleasant experience.”

Besides the rotary wheel, Philips TSU9800 comes with just the right amount of hard buttons and cursors for the most used functions such as volume and channel switching. With the added benefit of a reliable one-touch control system for your home, it offers the latest in technology through its advanced infrared learning and sending circuitry, which has the ability to learn and send virtually any infrared code in the AV market.

Also new from Philips is ProntoEdit Professional 2.0. With this advanced PC-editor, custom installers can promptly create any customized form of configuration and/or user interface. This latest version includes many new features including:
• Flat user interface with full drag and drop functions,
• Single-page view allowing easy access to various building blocks,
• Quick start wizard that allows any installer to set up a project with three easy steps
• Revamped page view that incorporates the latest graphical tools to simplify transitioning from portrait to landscape and from QVGA to VGA.

With the added feature of ProntoScript, Philips TSU9800 gives users the option to realize full two-way communication via RS-232 and/or WiFi/IP with third party equipment and selected ProntoScript Partners. Philips TSU9800 is also fully compatible with extenders RFX9400 and RFX9600.

Available in September of 2008, Philips TSU9800 will retail for $2,399 and is available through authorized custom installation distributors across the country and at authorized Pronto dealers and retailers. Philips’ line of award-winning Pronto control panels starts at $499.

[Philips]