Gadgets and New Technologies

Hopefully you look your age. Because if you don’t — and NEC’s new age-and-sex detecting display becomes the advertisers’ tool of choice — you’re going to feel mocked everywhere you go. NEC’s recently announced display utilizes a miniature camera to detect a person’s age and sex so it can play specific commercials targeted at whomever it scans. Just imagine: A rather young-looking 25-year-old walks in front of a television screen in a mall, and suddenly the TV starts playing one of those obnoxious "Trix are for kids!" commercials. That’s more humiliating than being carded for a video game at Best Buy (which happened to me, sadly). (Read the full post about ‘Creepy Advertisement Displays Detect Your Age, Sex’…)

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While I’m convinced that the universe is far too large of a place to not have tons of other living beings, I think that some of the alien abductions we hear about are nothing more than then result of an over-analytic imagination and/or dreaming. The dreaded Greys have become a household term because of pop culture. And more often than not, it’s the Greys which are doing the abduction. Coincidence? And while you might not experience an abduction without a imagination gone wild, you can still feel like your sleeping experience is non-terrestrial. The Beam Bed is designed to shoot out an array of light beams from under your sleeping surface. (Read the full post about ‘Beam Bed: Sleeping Encounters of the Third Kind’…)

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The people behind WordPress have announced that a new app is now available on Apple’s App Store that lets you blog directly from your iPhone. The App will work with all WordPress.com blogs and any self-installed WordPress 2.51 or higher blogs.

According to the FAQ, the following known issues still exist:

Read more about the WordPress for iPhone application at iphone.WordPress.org.

Joel’s Opinion

When the App Store first launched I noticed the absence of an application that would let you blog from your iPhone to WordPress.

(Read the full post about ‘Blog to WordPress from your iPhone’…)

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A new service which allows users to stream live video to the web has transitioned from an invitation only service to a public beta. Qik allows users who have a supported mobile device to upload video directly to the Qik website in addition to social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Orkut. The company plans on unveiling new features to the website through the end of July.

Qik allows users to create groups or communities to stream their videos to; in addition to creating events which includes the ability to invite others to join them. Users can create profiles on Qik have the ability to comment on videos and marking their favorite ones.

(Read the full post about ‘Stream live video from your mobile phone with Qik’…)

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Sony Ericsson wants to rock on with you by announcing the W595 Walkman phone that packs a pretty hefty punch when it comes to portable entertainment. That doesn’t mean you need to throw out your ipod or Zune yet, but it makes for a great secondary portable media player replacement. Some of the features and specifications of the W595 Walkman consist of :-

• Walkman player
• Memory Stick Micro memory card slot
• Share jack and stereo speakers
• Bluetooth connectivity
• TrackID and SensMe
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• 2.2″ LCD display

There will be three variants available for the W595 line, and they are the UMTS/HSDPA 2100 and GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 W595, the GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 W595c and the GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 W595a. (Read the full post about ‘Sony Ericsson W595 Walkman Phone’…)

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TiVo and Amazon will be collaborating with one another so that folks will be able to go shopping on TV via the TiVo remote control. This new feature is known as Product Purchase, enabling TV advertisers to market products available on Amazon.com via any broadcast or cable network, any TV show, or through any of TiVo’s extensive interactive advertising features. After making the necessary selections, you can then check out your Amazon.com shopping cart. More ways for you to spend money unwittingly despite leaner economic times? I’m not too sure whether this is a good idea (pocket-wise) or not, but it sure as heck is innovative. (Read the full post about ‘TiVo and Amazon Team Up’…)

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Not actual photo It might be the “race to the bottom” that Sony had feared: the netbook market is getting hot (if that wasn’t obvious), and with major players like Dell & HP jumping in, Sony has little choice but join the fight. Digitimes reports that Foxconn Electronics (a contract manufacturer) is “set to manufacture the notebook for Sony”. While not everyone agrees with the scope of the work to be done by Foxconn (build the whole thing, or only provide the components), there’s little doubt that major Japanese manufacturers are going to enter this market. And I bet that they will overwhelmingly choose Intel’s Atom as their processor of choice. (Read the full post about ‘Sony to enter ultra-low-cost laptop market’…)

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One of the things in this year’s tour that is really making an impression on me is riders choosing to make their bike heavier.  Normally, cyclists (or any endurance athletes) strive to have nothing extra.  No cost is too big, no weight savings too small.  So when you have more and more Tour riders choosing to put a Garmin GPS and a PowerTap hub, it deserves a closer look. I had the chance to interview Jake Jacobson, Garmin’s Senior Media Relations Specialist, who is actually in France with the Tour riders, the lucky guy.  He was gracious enough to answer my questions despite moving from town to town in the French countryside following the action. (Read the full post about ‘Gadgetell’s Tech on de Tour: GPS on bicycles interview’…)

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Jackets are just meant to keep the chills out during those cold days, but this one from Xara does more than that - it is capable of carrying your iPod in style while offering full controls on the left sleeve while your iPod remains snugly tucked away in a hidden pocket, protected by an internal zipper. An easy-to-use earphone cord management system within the jacket removes any problems involving tangled wires that might arise while you’re warming up with your favorite tunes playing via the iPod. You will be able to pick up the Xara iPlay iPod Warm-up jacket for $100 in both men’s and women’s fit. Too bad it ain’t compatible with the ipod touch and iphone. (Read the full post about ‘Xara iPlay iPod Warm-Up Jacket’…)

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Don’t eat these, they’re not dessert. These are USB Flash drives from Brando. They come in fruit shapes (watermelon or strawberry), BBQ (chicken wings or roast pork), fast food, and biscuit designs. To be honest the BBQ ones look pretty nasty (not pictured) but the fruits (pictured above) look pretty tempting. Priced at $28 each, each drive kicks you with 4GB of storage. Keep these little sneaky USB thumb drives away from your kids! [ Source ] (Read the full post about ‘Brando Delicious USB Drives’…)

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