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Wired News on magnetoresistive random access memory, or MRAM, which store data magentically and could eventually lead to instant-on PCs and PDAs that don’t lose all their data when they run out of power: MRAM is designed to eliminate several of the most infuriating artifacts of the computer age: the interminable wait for devices to…
This probably doesn’t actually work, but SK Telecom in South Korea is offering its subscribers an anti-mosquito download for cellphones that tweaks handset so they’ll emit the kinds of high-frequency sound waves that are supposed to annoy and repel mosquitos. Read
Rather than requiring a password or code, NTT DoCoMo’s new mova F505i cellphone, which comes out on Friday in Japan, uses a biometric fingerprint scanner for locking and unlocking the phone. Nice, but still not as good as those cameraphones that use face recognition technology for user authentication. Read
Article in the August issue of Wired Magazine on antigravity devices called lifters which have no moving parts and require no onboard fuel supply. They almost look like the real deal. Sounds crazy, but apparently they do work. The only hitch is that it’s not antigravity that makes them fly: What makes lifters fly? The…
Hahn Choi of TechTV loves the P5000, Fujitsu’s latest ultraportable: When Fujitsu’s P2000 launched last year, I fell in love with its looks. But odd keyboard layout, a noticeably slow processor, and weak battery life made it all glamour with no soul. It’s a good thing I couldn’t bring myself to shell out $1,800 for…
You might recall those swimming goggles with a built-in MP3 player we mentioned a few weeks ago that worked by vibrating the sound directly into the skull. Now there’s a line of headphones from GrabIT called Vonia that do the same thing using special bone conduction transducers. Looks promising, though they’re going to have to…
With the introduction of Windows XP Media Center Edition and Sony, Gateway, and others pushing their PCs as digital home entertainment hubs, Michael Rogers of Newsweek wonders whether its time for Apple to dive in and add TV tuners, remote controls, and TiVo-like recording capabilities to the Mac: From my years of covering Steve Jobs,…
Speaking of WiFi, PCStats has a beginner’s guide to setting up home wireless networks. Nothing that many of you out there probably don’t already know, but these are still pretty helpful for first-timers, especially given how much more confusing WiFi has gotten lately since the introduction of 802.11a and 802.11g. Read
Sort of a cross between a tablet computer, and an overgrown wireless PDA, the BluePAD from Greenbell is meant to be used around the house as an Internet appliance. The BluePAD isn’t a proper Tablet PC, as it runs on Windows CE .NET, and uses Bluetooth or 802.11b for connectivity, has 64MB of RAM, 64MB…
Is anyone else as nonplussed as we are about the news that McDonald’s is expanding its plan to offering WiFi in its restaurants? Overlooking the fact that the food is largely inedible, would you really want to be sitting in a McDonald’s for several hours when trying to get some serious work done? With their…
Ever since Robocop you knew this was going to happen sooner or later: a robotic fighting machine designed for urban riot control. The Gladiator Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicle, which might be pressed into service as early as 2007, is remote-controlled like one of those Predator drones, and will carry a variety of non-lethal weapons, such…
No confirmation yet, but there’s a good chance that the T608, which was killed when Sony Ericsson exited the CDMA cellphone business in North America, may actually see the light of day. The widely-anticipated T608 was to have been the first cellphone from Sprint with built-in Bluetooth, and was the subject of an online petition…
First cameraphone from Verizon. It certainly took long enough, exactly what year do the good people at Verizon think it is? 2002? They should have had a cameraphone out at least six months ago. Anyway, the LG VX6000, which has a full-color screen, an external Organic Electro-Luminescent display, and a 0.3 megapixel imaging sensor, should…
Mobile.Burn reviews the T610, Sony Ericsson’s new Bluetooth-enabled cameraphone, giving it a big thumbs down, and in turn dashing editor Michael Oryl’s hopes of finding a phone worthy enough to replace his T68i: So here I am, still without a replacement for my trusty T68i. She’s a beauty, to be sure, but the T610 and…
Review of Gateway’s new widescreen laptop, the M500S, which has a 15.2-inch widescreen display, 20-bit stereo speakers with subwoofer, a DVD/CD-RW combination drive, a 2.2GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, a 40GB hard drive, a slot for SD memory cards, and built-in WiFi. Read
A Dutch consumer group is calling for a boycott of Epson inkjet printers because a smart chip in the cartridges makes them stop working after a certain number of print runs, forcing you to buy a new one even if there is still ink left. Having chips like this make it difficult to refill the…
A couple of new laptops from Toshiba, the ultralight R100 (pictured at right), which weighs in at 2.4 pounds and has a 12.1-inch screen, a 1GHz processor, 256MB of RAM, a 40GB hard drive, and built-in 802.11b; and the M100, which weighs 4.4 pounds, and also has a 12.1-inch screen, a 1.2GHz processor, 256MB of…
One watch you really don’t want to lose: new line of Timex watches with built-in miniaturized Speedpass radio frequency transponders that with a wave of your wrist let you pay for gas at 7,500 Exxon and Mobile stations nationwide and for food at 440 McDonalds in Chicago and Indiana. Read
Apart from Sharp’s Zaurus line, you don’t hear too much about Linux-based PDAs – Pocket PCs and Palms tend to receive the bulk of the attention. We’d never heard of the company before, but G.Mate has a new Linux-powered PDA out, the Yopy 3700, which has a 206MHz processor, 128MB of RAM, a CompactFlash expansion…
As you might know, we moved servers last week and put in a new installation of Movable Type, the blogging software we use for the site. We’re still trying to iron out the remaining bugs, so if you happen to come across anything that’s not working properly, please drop me a line at [email protected] and…