Have you ever wondered how cool would it be to watch TV on the streets, on your own Sanyo LVT-WD40 PMP even if it’s raining? These guys had, and they made it waterproof just to make everyone jealous that you can view stock exchange quotes and your favorite serial in the rain. It is available in Japan and supports their digital 1Seg format (that sucks, if you’re not in Japan, right?), has a 4-inch display that plays 480 x 272 resolutions and you’d have to pay $450 to get your hands on it.One last thing. The battery runs for 6 hours.

I’m not sure how you feel about USB connectors because I know it’s a pretty common thing these days but think a little bit what would have happened if we wouldn’t have it. Would we still use serial and parallel cables to transfer a movie or some vacation pictures? I guess not since the speed is not the best.

It all started with USB 1.0 which was very easy to connect but lacked on speed. Then, USB 2.0 (which we use today) came to increase transfer rates to up to 480Mbps and though we may think that’s enough right now, HD movies development and bigger and bigger files will make it a nightmare to use.

This is where USB 3.0 comes into picture to continue the successful story of Universal Serial Bus connectors with speeds up to 10 times faster, hitting 4.8Gbps. It’s supposed to be available in stores in 2009, while we get some specs about it early 2008. Will the story go on? Will USB 3.0 be as successful as those before? What do you think?

Source: Yahoo!Tech

No, in fact I don’t call myself. I Call Me is a concept gadget that allows two way connections between a keychain and a cellphone. This devices could be very helpful when you misplace the keys. The cellphone calls the I Call Me device and vice versa when you lost your mobile.

The idea seems pretty nice, but I think is very hard to put it in production. First of all the manufacturer should consider its efficiency and utility. It might be a good solution to use radio signals between the two devices rather than a mobile network. Some mobiles have a PTT function, but the service is offered with contract. Other solution would be creating a mobile with dedicated I Call Me button that use Bluetooth or other radio waves. All in all, it is a great idea in my opinion.

via SciFi

… and I thought my mobile has a good battery. Two months in standby is almost unbelievable, but Philips has found the recipe. Its new Philips Xenium 9@9k supports 17 hours of continuous talking and an amazing 1440 hours standby time. Divide by 24 and you obtain 60 days. Speechless!

I’ve never been a fan of Philips mobiles, but this one seems interesting. Philips Xenium 9@9k is tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900)/GPRS phone. It sports a 65K color TFT display, VGA camera, microSD memory card slot and Bluetooth. No word on pricing or availability, but the cellphone can be a nice addition for those who are not impressed by fancy, shiny mobiles.

via Unwiredview

I have been pleased to hear that Asus is currently developing an eco-friendly notebook. The manufacturer tries to make 50% of its parts recyclable. That’s an amazing aim considering all that junk materials used in the production process.

The laptop called Asus Ecobook has a bamboo chassis. That we can tell for sure, but neither of the specs were disclosed by the producer. It may use an Intel Core Duo 2 processor. Although we have a photo, the product could look different after many other revisions.

via SCI FI Tech

Nokia has released the Nokia N82, as the company says “the latest multimedia computer optimized for photography, navigation and internet connectivity”. The N95’s successor, the Nokia N82 offers enhanced camera experience for photography enthusiasts along a powerful A-GPS and preinstalled Nokia Maps.

The N-series multimedia mobile phone has a powerful 5MP camera with Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss optics. Nokia claims it delivers excellent quality photos even in low-light conditions. The camera is able to record video footage at DVD-like quality.

Nokia N82 has only 2GB memory slot card, which I believe is a shortcoming for such a powerful mobile. It features Wi-Fi connectivity and supports the Ovi family of Nokia internet services, including Nokia Music Store, N-Gage games and Nokia Maps. Furthermore the A-GPS and the preinstalled Nokia Maps will help its users to navigate and to explore new places. The software includes over 15 million POI and offers the possibility to purchase additional features, such as city guides and longer subscription to the navigation.

The device is ready to sell at an unsubsidized retail price of about 450 euros (or $658).

Press release

Parks Associates, an internationally recognized market research and consulting company has made a research about Storage Opportunities for Handheld Devices. The study reveals that 99% of mobile phones have a flash memory solution. Nevertheless there will be a notable market opportunity for HDD solutions used for this type of devices. In addition, 96% of cellphones will use flash memory by the end of 2012.

We all know that flash memory provides non-volatility, fast read times, and shock resistance. It is ideal for mobile phones, portable media players or digital cameras. However the increased requirements for storage will boost the technical research for the HDD solutions. More and more consumers demand improved storage devices that can meet their needs.

“These consumers will require greater storage, and the low cost per gigabyte will carve out a market opportunity in handheld devices for HDD memory,” said Parks Associates Analyst Chris Roden.

However, Samsung demonstrated it has the know-how to built an amazing 128GB flash memory card. Consequently the requirements for high capacity multimedia devices and mobile phones will be covered. On the other hand, a little shortcoming about the flash memory cards will encourage the development of new HDD memory solutions. And that is their lifetime.

Source

Maybe you have read about Radiohead’s USB album release. Here you will read about something pretty much similar. Its a USB flash drive that contains information about wine. The idea comes from BeWine Connected, which has packed films, advices, software, information and ring tones on an unique USB flash drive.

The 1GB USB flash drive contains the wine cellar management software “Open Cellar” and a guide to the Grand Cru from the Bordeaux area and their classification. Also there is available a screensaver, a wallpaper dedicated to wine, exclusive ringtones and privileged access to the BeWineConnected Club.

The gadget has a bottle shape and has a Pontet-Canet label design. It retails for €35 and is available for online orders.

Product page

One year ago we asked ourselves if we got our eyes on a GooglePhone but I guess we all knew Google was not doing a race to produce the actual device because they would make more money by releasing their own OS with preinstalled applications.

Now we’re living in the world of the Android, which is Google’s project for the mobile phones operating system and here is the first virtual tour. Thanks to the OS emulator that was included with SDK, Engadget managed to put their fingers at work to see what we should expect from Android, in order to prepare the open source community for what will come. It looks nice so give it a shot. Here’s a small gallery bellow.

The Iqua Sun is the first Bluetooth device powered by sun light. It has a simple, modern design, but it delivers the best performances. Iqua BHS-603 Sun will make its users independent on power sources. The headset can hold up to 9 hours of talk time and has an amazing standby time of 200 hours. That means although you catch a few cloudy days there won’t be trouble.

The Bluetooth is compatible with a wide range of devices including mobile phones, PDA’s and even iPhone. Iqua BHS-603 Sun is available at Orange UK for £49.99.