USB Pencil Sharpner

USB This, USB That, USBx, USBy........the list is growing and this is getting weird day by day and one recent example is USB Pencil Sharpner. I really don't understand the purpose but it's definitely fun. This connects to USB and flashing light shows that your pencil is actually sharpened.
Specifications :
USB powered for office/home user.
Shinning flash LED shows in process.
USB powered with low power consumption.
No software/drive needed for installation.
Tray can be removed for easy cleaning.
Size : 80 x 70 x 76 mm
Weight : 156 gm

Costs $17

Skype for Free

Skype has now promised free VoIP to landline calls for residents of US and Canada till the years end. This allows for free phone calls through their service for calls made within the US & Canada. Most likely a promotion based move this free trial is trying to attract new customers in the long run. Well they've gotten my friend Aaron to try it out and so far he loves it so its working. All that you need is a relatively fast internet connection, the free Skype software and a microphone. Further reading into this I have learned it's actually called "SkypeOut" and the trial is guranteed till the end of 2006 but may extend beyond that.

Standalone Security Package from Microsoft

Microsoft finally ventured into standalone security software. Microsoft will start selling its latest security offering "OneCare" from 1st June. This has Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, Backup and firewall.
This is going to cost $49.95 to protect three computers per year.
Both Symantec and McAfee are preparing all-in-one software packages that aim to do the same as OneCare.
I've downloaded the 90 days demo and will be evaluating tonight and will compare with both McAfee and Norton Anti-Virus and will post my results by morning or after a day.

Fuel Cells almost closer to replace Li-Ion Battery

Here I go again...I've been telling people the basic difference between Toshiba and other laptop/handheld companies. Toshiba always innovates and rest follow. See the example of first Wi-Fi PDA, Libbero and HD-DVD. Toshiba does it again by showing the prototype of fuel cell for which it was working for last four years.

Electronics companies are promoting fuel cells as an environmentally-friendly and convenient alternative to traditional lithium ion batteries.
Instead of storing power, fuel cells generate electricity by breaking down methanol via an electrochemical process. The cells can be recharged by topping them up with methanol from a cartridge. Recent demo showed that the technology is just around the corner.

At the touch of the button the fuel cell instantly provides power. Toshiba says this will be enough for 10 hours of computing. A program developed by Toshiba shows exactly how much fuel is left. This is far more useful than the tiny battery mark and percentage on the toolbar.

Ambient Information

At first it looks like a ball. It's basically a wireless communication device that can be connected to any online data source--your stock portfolio, the National Weather Service, company servers--and programmed to change colors as information changes. you can use the Orb to check the results of software tests that are run overnight. If the Orb is green, you know right away that the tests worked. If it glows red, the tests failed. You don't have to waste time reading log files or searching through e-mail clutter for the results. Setting up the Orb is really easy. You register the device at Ambient's website, where there's a menu of "channels" you can choose from and a simple set of instructions if you want to customize it. You can make your Orb radiate any color you want.
You can check this at http://www.ambientdevices.com/

Nintendo sets price for Wii

Industry experts were sure that Nintendo will pitch its console's price lower than its competitors and that's what happened on Friday. Nintendo's Wii gonna cost us $250 or a bit less than that.
The company added it aims to sell six million machines by March 2007.
PS3 will be in the range of $499-599 and XBOX 360 costs $299.

Yahoo and ebay sign a deal

Just the day google signed the deal with Dell, Yahoo signed the deal with ebay to sell branded ad on ebay and Yahoo will use ebay's paypal service to offer payment for various yahoo owned services.
What a day....

Google and Dell in software deal

Yesterday, google signed a deal with Dell and all dell PCs will be shipped with google's product line preinstalled on it.
This is a serious threat to Microsoft but Microsoft did the same to root out Netscape and many other such products.
Google promised that this is just the first step and many more news are bound to come in coming months.

Samsung's Hybrid drive

Samsung is planning to unveil their hybrid drive next week. The drive is called a hybrid hard drive, because it includes flash memory storage space apart from the usual magnetic disk storage. The flash memory acts as a storage buffer, holding data until it's full and only then writing the data to the disk.
This cuts down on the amount of disk activity as the new drive spins only a few seconds every 10 or 20 minutes which means battery life is extended by between 8 percent and 10 percent, according to Samsung's measurements.
There are also performance benefits, because data stored in the buffer can be read by the PC much faster. On boot-up a computer with a hybrid drive should start between 8 seconds and 25 seconds faster, Samsung said.

Two prototype versions of the drive will be on display at Microsoft's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in Seattle next week. The prototypes will have either 128MB or 256MB of flash memory. Samsung expects to begin delivering sample drives to customers in the third quarter and to start shipping in volume in January next year.
Microsoft is building support for hybrid drives into Windows Vista under the name ReadyDrive.
It's one of a number of technologies the company is building into the new operating system to help improve system performance. These include ReadyBoost, which allows a removable flash memory device to act as system memory, thus providing an instant memory boost without having to install new RAM boards, and SuperFetch, which preloads frequently used applications into memory to improve system responsiveness.

Acer ready to offer best of both the world

We always knew that Acer was planning to come out with Blu-ray laptops but just came to know that Acer is planning to release laptops with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD both.
This is an unofficial news but coming from reliable source so find it worth posting here.

Dawn of .mobi domain

This week .mobi domain is launched which is intended for sites that offer mobile content.
The first limited phase, which lasts a week, is for members of the world's various mobile phone industry groups to grab a .mobi domain for themselves. Almost 3,000 companies are expected to apply during this phase of the rollout.
The main period for trademark owners begins on 12 June and runs to 21 August. The landrush phase, in which anyone can apply for a .mobi domain, will begin on 28 August.
Unlike other registries, the organisation behind .mobi, MTLD, is imposing standards on all those operating mobile domains to ensure they can be accessed easily by as many handsets as possible.
Neil Edwards, head of MTLD, said the hope was that by imposing standards on operators of .mobi domains it hoped to make sites easier.

Finally XBOX 360 is here

Wait is over guys!!!
XBOX 360 is being launched in India sometime before Diwali and pre-order will start in June for which Microsoft has tied up with Diwali and offering a 10% discount and will be sold at Rs. 19,990/-.
The company would set up 1,200 retail centres across seven cities, including four metros, in the country. The Xbox system would have 20 titles at the launch and henceforth, seven to 10 titles would be added to it every month.
Microsoft has extended its global partnership with MTV and Samsung in India for the launch.

Now it's Dreamweaver's turn

It's been a long history that Microsoft kills competition, this way or that way but end result is always the same that Microsoft becomes the number one in the domain.
Microsoft had promised to change web designing also which was ruled by Macromedia or Adobe Dreamweaver. Microsoft had long been working on this which was code named as Quartz. Finally Microsoft has announced first Community Technology Preview of its tool which is now called as Microsoft Expression.
It'll have two more tools but since those are dependant over Microsoft Vista OS so Microsoft will not be releasing those before 2007.
Microsoft will be phasing out FrontPage which was acquired by Microsoft in early 1996 when it bought Cambridge, Massechusetts-based Vermeer Technologies but its features will be made part of Web Designer and SharePoint Designer 2007, which will be part of the upcoming Office 2007 suite.
The software will let designers work in drag-and-drop environments while producing underlying code in the Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML).
Users will be able to exchange the XAML code with developers creating business applications, portals and services for Windows Vista.
Expression Web Designer will include reporting and management tools. Designers can get reports on whether Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) on a site are resulting in errors, whether the site is accessible to handicapped Web users and how many errors users of older Web browsers are encountering when viewing the site.
The suite will include the following design and development tools:

Graphic Designer: It offers features similar to Adobe’s Photoshop and Illustrator tools. Expression Graphic Designer provides output in a variety of industry-standard graphic formats (such as JPEG and PNG) for incorporation into Visual Studio projects, and designs can be saved as XAML, the markup language that describes user interface elements and media for the Windows Presentation Foundation. It is on to its fifth test release now.
The suite will include design and development tools:[b]Graphic Designer[/b]: It offers features similar to Adobe’s Photoshop and Illustrator tools. Expression Graphic Designer provides output in standard graphic formats (such as JPEG and PNG) for incorporation into Visual Studio projects, and designs can be saved as XAML, the markup language that describes user interface elements and media for the Windows Presentation Foundation.
Interactive Designer: It is for building multimedia user interfaces. Interactive Designer shares the same project files as Visual Studio, and can pass both XAML and VB.NET/C# code back and forth between the applications so that designers can design the look, feel and behaviour of the user interface. Developers can add functionality and build and deploy. The software is in testing now.
Web Designer: This one is a competitor to Adobe’s Dreamweaver for producing Web sites. Web Designer draws on site functionality and Web services created in Visual Studio, and both products can be used collaboratively between designers laying out pages and developers building back-end functionality. ASP.NET 2.0 code and controls are fully compatible, and the design preview surface within both products is identical so that designers and developers can work on the same solution and build the better end-user experiences.

You can goto official site at http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.mspx to find out more and continuous details.

Bluetooth Mirror Car Kit

A Bluetooth mirror car kit that hides in your rear view mirror. The rearview mirror, which is larger than most car mirrors, bolts on to your existing mirror offering you information such as caller ID without the worry of taking your eyes off the road for too long. The mirror also has a built in speaker and microphone and features echo cancellation, pairing for up to three Bluetooth-enabled devices and supports both headset and handsfree profiles. The company, Qool, is even promising 200 hours of standby time and 10 hours talk time between recharges.

Credit Card in your cellphone

Convergence....it's finally happening and happening in India. When I was coding for smartcards sometime back in 1999, one of the guy in Singapore used to tell me that they were working on three in one smartcard which will work as your data storage, your mobile phone SIM and your credit card. Now in India, we have at least two in one where we can use our mobile phone as credit card. The service is actually available from ICICI Bank but on a skeletal basis in Mumbai and Delhi only.
Christened ‘M-Cheque’, the service virtually transforms a cellphone into a regular ICICI Bank credit card. The bank recently forged a technical partnership with Mumbai-based ‘A Little World’ and roped Airtel as its telecom service partner.
Here’s how it works. At the point of purchase, the shopkeeper takes your cellphone number and sends an SMS to ‘A Little World’ in encrypted format. Since A Little World has an extensive cellphone database of all MCheque clients, it forwards the encrypted SMS to ICICI Bank.
The bank, in turn verifies your credit limit and fires another SMS through ‘A Little World’ to your cellphone requesting confirmation. Once you do that, you can walk away with your product. The entire chain happens in a jiffy! “M-Cheque is simple and can go where no credit card has managed to go so far. It may be used to pay for groceries, coffee, dosa, pizza, and even a movie ticket. The facility can be used to buy cheap products worth as low as Rs 10 using the mobile,” says B Madhivanan, General Manager, Retail Assets Products Group at ICICI Bank.
“The swiping machines provided by banks cost between Rs 9,000 and Rs 11,000, while nearly every merchant establishment owner, including tiny ones these days, own a mobile phone. This translates into a huge possibility for shops as they can easily accept mobile phone-driven credit purchases at a minimum cost,” he adds.
ICICI Bank has started the project with 50 merchants establishments each in Delhi and Mumbai. At present, some 1,000 cellphone users are availing of the facility. Cellphones, however, need to have a 32K SIM card to operate the M-Cheque service.

New Networking Features in Windows Vista

While surfing the net for Windows Vista's cool features, I came across this very detailed site
www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/network/evaluate/new_network.mspx

I'm sure that you'd love the insight details about Vista's networking features.

Nice as a Gadget but fails at the real purpose

www.samsung.com/uk/products/mobilecomputing/ultramobile/np_q1_v000suk.asp

In a bid to crack the crowded market for hand-held computers and music players, Microsoft and two electronics companies, Samsung of Korea and Asus of Taiwan, plan to unveil an ultralight tablet computer on Thursday that melds a laptop and media player into a thin, new device.

Samsung’s device, the Q1, will use Microsoft’s Window’s XP Tablet PC Edition operating system. It is a product of Microsoft’s so-called Origami project, an effort to shrink and redefine laptop, while bolstering company’s software sales for new hand-held devices. Asus will also produce a version.

“This is basically a small but powerful laptop computer that is also a sophisticated entertainment device,” said Patrick Pavel, a Samsung product manager for Germany .

The Samsung device is a flat black rectangle that weighs £1.7, has the dimensions of a DVD box (about 9 inches by 5 inches) and is one inch thick. The viewing screen is 7 inches diagonally.

Despite the calculated secrecy surrounding , Microsoft’s Origami project the company has dribbled out bits of cryptic information on an obscure website for a month that suggest the debut of a new mobile device experts were skeptical that the new tablet computer would make inroads against devices like the BlackBerry and the iPod.

Andy Brown, an analyst in London with IDC, a research firm, said “converged devices” like Samsung’s Q1 faced an uphill battle to win over consumers, who are more likely to favour traditional laptops with keyboards or tiny MP3 players than dual-purpose machines.
While Microsoft dominates the desktop and laptop markets with its Windows operating systems, it trails the Symbian group led by the mobile phone makers Nokia, Ericsson , Motorola and Siemens for software on smart phones.

The growth prospects are not really strong,” he said. “The main problem for most is that they fall in between what consumers are looking for.” Representatives of Microsoft , Samsung and Asus discussed the new devices but declined to release further details.

First Blu-Ray Laptop will be from SONY

Sony Corp will release the first laptop capable of playing, editing and recording next-generation, high-definition videos in the Blu-ray DVD format.

Sony, which led the development of the Blu-ray format, said on Tuesday the new VAIO AR Premium model will be available this summer for $3,500. Besides the Blu-ray DVD drive, the entertainment-oriented notebook computer features a 17-inch (43-centimeter) display, an integrated TV tuner, and Microsoft Corp's Windows Media Center Edition operating system.

Blu-ray is one of the two competing high-definition DVD formats that display video in 1080p, the sharpest in high-definition quality. The other next-generation format is HD DVD.
Toshiba Corp, one of the HD DVD format's main developers, last week introduced the first laptop to play HD DVD discs. But unlike the Sony laptop, the $3,000 Toshiba laptop's HD DVD drive cannot record or edit in high-definition.

Sony's new laptop will be among a number of other Blu-ray compatible products Sony plans to begin selling later this year.
Adding to a growing crop of ultra compact notebooks in the computer industry, Sony is also introducing a laptop that weighs 1.2 pounds (0.54 kg) and is 1.5-inch (3.8-cm) thick.
The VAIO UX Micro PC features the Windows XP operating system, a 4.5-inch (11.4-cm) screen, a slide-out keyboard, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technologies, and built-in cameras. It will be available in July at $1,800, Sony said.

Babybot

The world is changing, Dr. Hiroshi says that very soon it'd be difficult to recognize who's a robot and who's a human and that's what we call Android Science. He's already done it by creating Repliee.
There are robots being used to simulate medical teaching for newborn delivery so we have pregnant robots also.
We already have moving and working robots.

Before I could breathe easy that everything is there already in robotic form but the lifecycle of robot will always be the same i.e. it will always be programmed to do certain stuff which it'd execute but they can never grow in size and can not go beyond an extent BUT............
Scientists have developed a robot that learns to interact with the world in the way a human baby would. The robot called Babybot has been created by roboticists from Italy, France and Switzerland. ADAPT (Artificial Development Approach to Presence Technologies) first studied how the perception of self in the environment emerges during the early stages of human development. The developmental psychologists tested 6 to 18 month-old infants. The robot experiments with objects and learns how to use them.
The robot, which could provide researchers with fresh insights into biological intelligence, consists of a torso, a pair of cameras for eyes and a grasping hand. Its work can also have applications in robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine perception. It has an in-built desire to physically experiment with objects on the table in front of it and an ability to assess different forms of interaction and learn from mistakes. For example, if the robot fails to grasp an object securely, it tries a different strategy next time. An unbidden skill developed by Babybot was the ability to roll a bottle across the table. The scientists found that the robot - programmed to be curious about objects - learned quite a bit from things placed in front of him on a highchair-like table. Its “brain” is actually a cluster of 20 computers, running several neural networks. This is software that mimics a biological neural system and learns in a similar way – by establishing and altering the strength of links between artificial neurons. By adjusting the neural network software and observing the robot’s learning behaviour, the roboticists can test different neuroscience models.
The researchers used what they called "synthetic methodology," which is basically how you learn by building something, a process of trials and errors. And they also looked at how babies were interacting with their environment. Says Giorgio Metta of Genoa University in Italy, a member of the research team, the goal is to build a humanoid two-year-old child, which will have all of Babybot’s abilities.
The next step is to build a fully humanoid version that's open source in both software and hardware. The project called Robocub will see the engineers refine their robot so that it can see, hear and touch its environment. Eventually, it will be able to crawl, too.

Nokia SU1-B Digital Pen

There was one news on the air few months back which shook most of us. It was a paper leak case in India's most reputed medical institute's entrace examination but what shook me was not the paper leak thing but the technology used for it.
The guys had used Digital pen which scans and stores upto 100 A5 pages which can be sent to any bluetooth device or can be sent as MMS..
One such pen I used yesterday and it was simply awesome experience and my mind started working on all the things which are possible using the pen but I'm talking about only the positive possibilities.
I used Nokia SU1-B Digital Pen which connects wirelessly to compatible mobile phones, connects to a compatible PC via USB cable, it also has up to 2 hours writing time, 3 LED indicators and vibration alert indicate pen and send status, uses changeable ink cartridges, works as a normal pen on non-digital paper, charges in its stand when connected to a compatible Nokia charger or with a compatible Nokia travel charger

Nokia Digital Pen Specifications

• Type Designation: SU-1B
• Weight: 1.35 Ounces
• Dimensions: 149mm x 23mm x 20mm, roughly 5-7/8" x 7/8" x 13-1/16"
• Memory: 1MB (100 Letter size pages)
• Bluetooth Compliance*: Meets specification 1.1. Supports General Access (GAP), Serial Port (SPP), Object Push (OPP), and Dial-Up Networking (DUN) profiles.
• Recording Time: Up to 2 hours Standby Time: Up to 10 hours (cap off)
• Operating Temperature: +40°F to +120°F Battery: Rechargeable Li-Polymer, 180 mAh
• Compatible Nokia Chargers: ACP-8, ACP-12, LCH-12
• Sales Package Contents: SU-1B Digital Pen, DT-2 Connectivity Stand for Digital Pen, ACP-12 Travel Charger, USB cable, MMS pad, notepad, Ink refills, PC application on CD, User's Guide Connectivity Stand for Digital Pen

Future is here

I still remember that I was promised some earth shattering technologies years back in 2002 (I guess) that I'll be moving around with my PDA and I'd be able to type in the air (read without keyboards) or stroking the tables and the letters would appear on my PDA. It always felt like a scene from a sci-fi movie but I knew that it was not impossible.
Now it's here in the form of Bluetooth laser Virtual keyboard which emmits laser and projects a keyboard on any flat surface so it definitely looks facinating and geeky when you use it and it projects a full blown keyboard on the surface and you can type and will be surprised that it makes key click sound on every click.

It features:

• Connects to PDAs Smartphones and Computers using Bluetooth
• Projects a full size keyboard onto any flat surface
• Allows the convinence of regular keyboard typing in a tiny form factor
• Rechargeable battery lasts for 120 minutes of continuous typing
• Tiny size only 3.5 inches high
• Compatible with PalmOS 5, PocketPC 2003, Windows Smartphone, Symbian OS, and Windows 2000/XP. Limited Mac OSX Support.

Well, it's available at my favorite shop i.e. thinkgeek.

Here comes Palm 700p

Palm 700p Palm 700w
Another phone from Palm..... It looks like 700W except few buttons adjustments, pixel depth and smily kinda look of the phone.

• Phone Type: CDMA (850/900) and EVDO Compatible. If EVDO is not there then phone falls to 1xRTT.
• Dimension: 5.08" x 2.28" x 0.89" inches (129 x 58 x 22.5 mm)
• Weight: 6.4 ounces (180 g)
• Processor: 312 MHz Intel XScale
• Memory: 128 MB non-volitile (NVFS) but 60 MB is available for users.
• Internal Application Memory Space: dbheap-10MB and dbcache-18MB
• Camera: 1.3MP with 2x Zoom, video at 352x288 resolution (non-camera version also available)
• Slot: SD Memory slot with FAT32 and upto 2GB support
• Wireless: Still no WiFi (Dammmm), Bluetooth 1.2, IrDA
• Software: Palm OS Garnet operating system v5.4.9

In software, they have better title bar, better icons, shortcuts, separation of software installed on main and SD memory, voice recorder is built in, Documents to Go V8 is built in, AV streaming built in (EVDO comaptibility allows this using the power of Kinoma), Pocket-tunes for MP3, Blazer 4.5 for Browsing and VersaMail which has support for POP3, IMAP, gmail, yahoo and AOL.

You can use this phone as wireless modem using bluetooth and USB. USB also charges the phone so no worries for draining out the battery while using as wireless modem.
While dialing phone asks to add the number as new number or append in existing contact.

Celebrating 10 years of Palm

This year we are celebrating 10 years of first Palm release. In March 1996, Palm Pilot 1000 was released which boasted 160x160 monochrome LCD Display, 128 KB Memory and was powered by Motorola 68328 Processor.
It had no backlight and it could only be connected to PC using serial port i.e. no IrDA also.
I have always been a follower of Palm's technology and my first PDA was a Palm M500 which had 8MB Memory and monochrome display and then I bought Treo 600 and Treo 650 before shifting to my current phone O2 XDA Exec because Palm itself moved to Windows platform despite of their own user friendly, simple and robust Palm Operating System.

IBM Software helps users reading skills

IBM will give schools, libraries and community centers free access to a new website that allows young children and adults with limited English to practice reading aloud, the company announced Wednesday.
The website uses newly developed speech-recognition software that "listens" to readers and helps correct errors.
The Reading Companion program initially will be available to 62 schools and non-profit organizations.
IBM anticipates making it available for free next year to anyone with Web access, a high-speed Internet connection and a microphone headset.
The program primarily is intended for children ages 5 to 7 and adults who are learning to read English.

What is HDTV

I was reading documents about HDTV and came across this page which has some very good details about HDTV. Please check http://www.theindychannel.com/technology/1455530/detail.html and I'm sure that most of your doubts about what this technology is all about will be clarified.

The world misses you today Mr. Edsger

We miss you on your Birthday Mr. Edsger Dijkstra!!!!

You'll forever be with us as an inspiration to do constructive things in life, to think logically and to think everything analytically.
Our salute to the father of Modern Programming!

Human Like Robot

When the world was talking about humanoid robot and making movements which show the body joints etc (no offence Mr. Mark Tildon, I'm still a big fan of your Robosapien), Prof Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University was creating absolute human replica robot.
Prof Hiroshi named his robot Repliee.
Repliee has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner.
She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe.
Professor Hiroshi says one day robots could fool us into believing they are human.
Repliee Q1Expo is not like any robot you will have seen before, at least outside of science-fiction movies.
She is designed to look human and although she can only sit at present, she has 42 actuators in her upper body, powered by a nearby air compressor, programmed to allow her to move like a human.
We have found that people forget she is an android while interacting with her. Prof Hiroshi Ishiguro "I have developed many robots before," Repliee Q1Expo's designer, Professor Ishiguro, told the BBC News website, "but I soon realised the importance of its appearance. A human-like appearance gives a robot a strong feeling of presence."
Its head could move in nine directions and it could gesture with its arm. Four high-sensitivity tactile sensors were placed under the skin of its left arm that made the android react differently to differing pressures.

New Yahoo Mail Beta

Yesterday I was amongst the lucky ones who got access to New Yahoo Mail Beta. When I entered my password, I was welcomed and asked if I wanted to give it a try or switch to the regular stuff. Could I say No to see something for which world was waiting for long (ever since Yahoo acquired Oddpost). I immediately gave it a try.

The loading was quick, look was familiar (like Outlook Express) and it supported drag and drop (Mails can be dragged to any folder, I know our very own rediff has this functionality for some time but yahoo was fancy and robust). Though the entire process was not smooth bcoz when I double clicked the mail, I got message Operation Failed but it was ok when clicked once but I can forgive them as it was BETA.

I tested this in Firefox and IE and amazingly it worked great on both browsers. RSS is also a part.

Childcare robot

NEC developed a childcare robot PaPeRo which is capable of recognizing and verbally communicating with people, sending images by mobile phone, playing games ans singing along with others.

Some salient features are face recognition. It uses stereoscopic vision made possible by the two cameras in its eyes, to know the distance between it and others and it adjusts this distance. Once it recognizes the face, it calls the person by name. Other feature is that it uses voice recognition and synthesizing technologies and it can converse with people. It has 8 microphones and a noise canceller to improve and stabilize its voice recognition in noisy environment. One more feature is touch sensors, PaPeRo has 9 touch sensors (4 on head and 5 on body), one of the coolest feature is that PaPero has a built-in mobile phone. When parents call, PaPeRo locates the child and start playing with him/her. Parents can watch their kids playing and even talk to the kids.
PaPeRo detects objects using ultrasonic sensors so it moves without running into things. It uses its camera for measuring the movable path range.

It comes with PaPe sack which if worn by kids, makes PaPeRo accurate in understanding where the kid is and better understand what kid is saying.
PaPeRo can listen to the several people at the same time.

With all these cool features who won't want to own one.

Express youself with your TV

I really wonder why I never thought in that direction? I always wanted to give my house a new look and I thought of changing curtains, paints, chairs and other stuff to suit my appeal but never thought of TV as my expression but one company Hanspree Inc. thought in that direction and changed the way people look at the television.


With the tag line "Find Yourself", company is pitching itself to prove that these televisions are meant to be bold declaration of your individuality, pride and personal style.

Technically also the product is of superior quality as the television's Super Picture Engine technology combines Application Specific Integrated Circuit technology with the most advanced Directional Correlation Deinterlacing (Genesis Microchip Inc) with progressive scanning, digital noise reduction and 10 bit video processing technologies resulting into consistent color tone, clear contrast values, natural, lifelike details and excellent viewing from a variety of angles even in lo light conditions.

Company has sporty, fantasy and fashion styled televisions.You can check the range at http://www.hannspree.com/

AIBO Died, GENIBO Born

I may call it reincarnation of my favorite AIBO but to own this new stuff I'll need to wait for at least another year. Korea based DASATECH (www.dasatech.co.kr) has recently demonstrated their upcoming robo puppy: Genibo (Genius Robot). They didn't close any price for it.
If we go by the video then genibo will have louder bark, blue LED eyes, a snout based camera and it will be able to interact with other Genibos too.
Click here to watch the video.