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I-Stick USB Flash Drive

These I-Stick USB flash drives are thinner than the USB socket on your PC. In fact, the Intelligent Sticks are so small they actually come with a plastic credit card-sized case for stashing two side by side in your wallet. They are so tiny I want dozens to stash in various places, or to use…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Mar 22 '04

The Humvee of Laptops

Like the surge in popularity of Hummer/Humvees after the first Gulf War, Business Week speculates that many returning soldiers may have grown too attached to their ruggedized notebooks to go back to the fragile consumer versions. While full-on military-class notebooks are out of reach for most, some ‘semi-rugged’ units with spill-resistant keyboards, hard casings, and…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Mar 22 '04

MIOX Portable Water Purifier

The MIOX water purifier is a portable unit that uses an electrical process to generate hypochlorous acid from salt, producing a solution that can purify a gallon-and-a-half in about thirty minutes. Not only should the salt and watch batteries that power the $129 device be readily available to most travelers, the purified water doesn’t have…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Mar 22 '04

Cinch Tie Fishing Tool

Frustrated trying to tie knots in his fishing line, Ken Koehler developed a simple brass gizmo, the ‘Cinch Tie,’ which allows anglers to tie any of 14 different knots in around five seconds. The Cinch Tie can be had for about $12, and comes with no promise of increasing your ability to catch fish (that…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Mar 22 '04

Boffin Builds World’s Ugliest Robot

U.K. scientist Steve Grand has developed ‘Lucy,’ a five-CPU robot that can—on a good day—distinguish between an apple and a banana. While that may not sound like an amazing feat, bear in mind that rather using software shortcuts, Lucy’s ‘50,000 neuron’ brain used trial and error to develop the skills necessary to differentiate the shapes.…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Mar 21 '04

Toshiba PDA Watch Concept

Toshiba threw a little speculation into their CeBIT presentation with this ‘Wristwatch PDA,’ a wearable computer concept (read: one marketing intern and some rendered graphics). With a wide ‘hi-definition’ display, WiFi, and Bluetooth, the Wristwatch PDA would be really cool except for one thing: it isn’t cool at all. No one wants to wear a…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Mar 21 '04

More MPx Details

Motorola has given out a little more information about their do-all MPx handset. Somewhat disappointing is the lack of a 850MHz tri-band version, since many of the U.S. GSM carriers use that frequency. The expected $930 price tag isn’t exactly a feature I was looking forward to, either. Read

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Mar 21 '04

Iomega Micro Mini USB Drive

Iomega’s newest USB 2.0 drives are certainly the smallest and most stylish I’ve seen so far. What’s even better is that they use Iomega’s Active Disk technology which allows you to install and run applications directly from the device. Read

Tech News JOSH RUBIN Mar 19 '04

9x Media Very Large Video Arrays

Here’s something that puts that Go-L four-wide monitor array we covered a while back to shame: the 9x Media X-Top and X-Wall video displays. The X-Top are custom desktop display systems that supports up to ten monitors for your very sturdy desktop. And if that isn’t enough, scratch together just under $300,000 and you can…