Gizmodo: honeywell

Gallery of 101 Vintage Computer Ads

Elaine Chow — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Sure, some of us remember using the Commodore 64, but do any of us recall what the ads for it were like? Boingboing has aggregated a wonderful collection of 101 classic computer advertisements by everyone from AT&T (yeah, I forgot they tried their hand in making PCs too) to Texas Instruments. Aah, to be back in a world where everything fit inside a bulky keyboard and displays were monochromatic. [Boing boing]

Spy Drones Coming Soon to the US, AT-ST Walkers to Follow Next

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:35:00 EDT

Reuters is reporting that the Miami-Dade police department will "soon" start deployment of the infamous Honeywell Micro Air Vehicles, the spy drones that will keep all you criminals and Gizmodo editors in check with forward and downward looking cameras, flying over a 100 waypoint flight plan at 57MPH, and from 10,500-foot altitude. Seeing them hovering over the skies is kind of menacing. Actually, with the right music, it's downright scary.

Contrary to our previous report, the Micro Air Vehicle is still pending FAA testing but "is expected to make its debut soon in the skies over the Florida Everglades."

Honeywell's MAVs, which are now being used in Iraq and Afghanistan, are not the only ones waiting for FAA permission. There are dozen of companies making all kinds of spy drones now, among them Cyber Defense Systems, which has a kite-sized surveillance drone that has been already flown once by the police in Palm Bay, also in Florida. [Reuters]

Miami Cops to Use Spy Drones for SWAT Team Ops

Charlie White — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:30:00 EST

Drones like the one you see in the video above might soon be used by the Miami Police Department, serving as an unmanned eye-in-the-sky that can go places where it's too dangerous for human beings to tread. Expected to be rolled out next year first in SWAT team operations, the 14 lb. vehicle is unarmed but can fly just about anywhere, and even goes up to altitudes of 10,500 feet. These particular craft were first tested by Honeywell early last year, and now the FAA has given Miami and Houston permission to use them in their busy airspaces. Cops say they're not going to be using these drones to spy on people. Yet. [WPLG, via CrunchGear]

New Honeywell HDMI Cable Heals Self, But At What Cost?

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:37:21 EDT

Honeywell, maker of all kinds of scary top-secret stuff, has just unveiled its design for a "self-diagnostic and self-healing" HDMI cable. No, this isn't like the self-healing armor that for all we know Honeywell also helped design; these new cables use a chip to correct signal as it passes through, and LEDs to tell the user what's going on.

Says David Coleman of Honeywell's CE Cable Products division:

"We've made this cable intelligent by integrating a chip into the connector that performs two major functions. First, the chip's line driver 'cures' corrupted HDCP and EDID data that can lead to serious audio and video artifacts. Second, we added 'light' in the form of LEDs embedded into the connector that let installers monitor the most critical elements of the HDMI interface for problems."

The question is, how much of a problem is corrupted data, and how much of a role do the components themselves (PS3, DVD player, cable box, TV, receiver) play in the fixing of signal? While Honeywell hasn't named its price—presumably because it will sell to vendors, not consumers—the cost will no doubt be expensive as hell.

Not only that, but the lengths of cable only go to 50 feet. That's a respectable distance, for sure, but in our testing, the possibility of problems lie in the longer distances, so perhaps Honeywell should forget about the shorter cables (there's even a 1.6 footer) and focus on 50 feet or longer.

That said, the LED concept is pretty cool: four LEDs indicate whether you have a live connection, whether there is actual video coming through and other situations that can occur. Neat, you know? But perhaps not worth the expense.

Honeywell Introduces First Self-Diagnostic & Self-Healing HDMI Cable — Revolutionary New Honeywell CURxE Light Technology Automatically Corrects A/V Signals for Corrupted HDCP and EDID Data —
PLEASANT PRAIRIE, WI, August 29, 2007— Honeywell (NYSE: HON) today announced the world's first HDMI digital cable with CURxE Light technology that automatically corrects corrupted HDCP and EDID data that would otherwise degrade high-definition picture and multi-channel audio performance.

Honeywell developed exclusive CURxE Light technology along with Spectrum Electronics' Jeff Bocaccio, one of the CE industry's most respected authorities on HDMI.

"We've made this cable intelligent by integrating a chip into the connector that performs two major functions," said David Coleman, Program Manager, CE Cable Products, Honeywell. "First, the chip's line driver 'cures' corrupted HDCP and EDID data that can lead to serious audio and video artifacts. Second, we added 'light' in the form of LEDs embedded into the connector that let installers monitor the most critical elements of the HDMI interface for problems."

"We are encouraged to see companies like Honeywell develop innovative HDMI products for the marketplace," said Les Chard, President, HDMI Licensing, LLC. "As HDMI proliferates and becomes the de facto standard for connecting home theater and PC devices, companies like Honeywell are leading the way with new applications of the technology to meet specific market needs."

AUTOMATIC SIGNAL CORRECTION
HDCP and EDID data becomes corrupted as a result of inconsistencies of hardware manufacturers' implementation of HDMI, or excess transmission distances. Working in the background, CURxE Light Technology automatically cleans the bad data to its intended dynamic range for the best picture quality. Left uncorrected this corrupt data causes dropout of the picture or audio signal, incorrect resolution, intermittent "snow" in the picture, or a pink or blue hued screen.

BUILT-IN DIAGNOSTICS
Four LEDs integrated into the cable's HDMI connector serve as self-diagnostic monitoring indicators. The four LEDs verify: Hot Plug detection, +5 Volts status, HDCP and EDID, pointing to either downstream, upstream or device problems depending on which LED fails to light. The fix may be as simple as switching inputs on the TV or can require a firmware upgrade of the DVD player, set-top box, AV receiver or other source. This first of its kind diagnostics should help installers save hours of time troubleshooting.

SUPERIOR CONSTRUCTION
To help ensure pure, crystal-clear digital audio and video signals, the new cables feature full-balanced line transition-minimized differential signaling (TMDS); 100% foil shield with 25% overlapping, combined with a 90% tinned copper braid shield; plus bandwidth-maximizing silver-plated copper conductors. The male-to-male cables are designed for HDTV 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p. Lengths range from .5 meters (1.6 feet) up to 15-meters (49.2 feet)

For more information, call (800) 222-0060, or visit www.honeywellcable.com

Honeywell HDMI Extender Keeps Your Signal Strong for Over 100 Feet

Adam Frucci — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:40:18 EDT

HDMI is the way you're gonna want to hook up your fancy HD home theatre setup. But if you're running cables at lengths of over 30 feet, you're going to need to spend tons of money on overpriced cables in order to keep the signal integrity up to snuff. Right? Well, not necessarily.

The Honeywell HDMI restorer goes between long lengths of HDMI cable and makes sure the signal stays strong and the quality is as good as possible, even at distances of over 100 feet. It's a much cheaper choice than Monster Cables, and if you're running cables in your walls it's a no brainer. At least we assume so, as pricing and availability is unknown. But hey, if it's less than like $2,000 it's cheaper than 100 feet of Monster Cable. [Honeywell]