Tech Gadgets Reviews

Knowledge is potential power - it all depends on how you leverage it to your advantage. When it comes to the battlefield, having first hand information of everything is decisive if you want to secure a victory, so surveillance and espionage has always played a very big role. This 6″ robotic spy plane, also known as COM-BAT, uses a low-power miniaturized radar and a very sensitive navigation system to help it find its way through the dark - just like how a bat does. It’s small size translates to limited battery power, but its beauty lies in the fact that it scavenges energy from solar, wind, vibration and other sources to help keep its battery juiced up. Being able to run indefinitely (if all conditions are met) makes this a formidable tool to provide significant and sustained information that could help turn the tide of the battle in war.

Adding to our growing fascination with text scanners comes a device that promises to help out researchers looking to collate a lot of data for reports. This small, handheld scanner is called the Dixau from Korean company Unichal. This digital text scanner uses a camera to literally read along with its reader, not only scanning the text from a book but the cool part is that it will then reference online searches from Google, wikipedia, and even dictionaries to give the reader a more complete picture of the story or text entry they are attempting to study. Imagine writing a dissertation about a historic even and the Dixau brings along Wikipedia entries to the party.

Legal researchers may find it a very helpful tool in trying to go through myriads of files, case books, even testimonies where having an extra set of eyes which can also pull up supporting or refuting data in near real time. And scholars who seek to study scripture, historical texts, or even newspaper reports can also benefit as the Dixau would then provide additional text references to give more enlightment from the text at hand.

If you could get it in the U.S., it would run about $90. However, the Dixau may cause copyright lawyers to freak out as it can cause obvious copyright issues. But the good of the device itself should outweigh the concerns of an overly litigious group of individuals seeks to lock down their intellectual property.

Hat Tip: D’Vice

This text-scanning device alleviates you of the stress you have to go through trying to remember a word in the dictionary, or figure out what the heck that science magazine is talking about.

The Unichal Dixau is a text scanning device which has the capacity to transfer the text you’re scanning to your PC screen. On screen, the text is now complete with info taken from Google search results and Wikipedia, so you won’t have to spend the day wondering what a certain term means. For merely 45, the Unichal Dixau is a bargain. Too bad we’re not sure if it works with English, as it’s released in the Korean market.

via

There is nothing quite like sitting down in front of a fireplace during winter to keep yourself toasty, but this wall-mounted fireplace adds a touch of elegance to your pad no matter where you live. Known as the Safretti Gaya fireplace, it ensures that a billowing torch-like flame is placed on your wall. While it looks nice, the manufacturers have also ensured it to be safe since this alcohol-burning fixture emits a mere 7.1kW of heat with every liter of fuel used in an hour. I suppose something as beautiful as this will cost you more than a pretty penny.

To take a 3D picture, you need two lenses. So what do three lenses get you? Still just 3D, sadly. The Chinese made 3D World is just like an old fashioned TLS (Twin Lens Reflex) camera, with separate lenses for viewing and taking the photograph, only it has an extra lens to put another image on the film.

Specs are exactly what you’d expect from a medium format film camera: pedestrian. The top shutter speed is 1/500 sec, it uses decidedly old-school silicone diodes to meter light and everything is proudly manual. And I want one. The 1970s sci-fi aesthetic coupled with that steampunky center cog which keeps the lenses in sync makes this a beautiful, if impractical, gadget. Right now, the 3D World website is down, but the company has another, slightly less retro model available for $1600.

Product page [3D World via Oh Gizmo!]

I don’t live in a very large city, so I’m not worried about getting mugged on the street for my ipod or anything. That’s just not something you hear about where I come from. Big cities, however, tend to be a different story, which causes some people to carry stun guns for protection. If you’re looking for something small to carry around, you might be interested in The Runt.

While it is as small as the name implies, this little stun gun packs quite a punch. It’s roughly the size of a pager (do people still use those?) and has either 350k, 650k or 950k volts. What’s nice is that these little guys won’t break the bank. You’ll pay $40, $50 or $60 respectively.

Source: UberGizmo

BenQ wants to define a new lifestyle trend in the design of computer hardware. And as an opening salvo, BenQ has released the 24-inch V2400W widescreen LCD. Fresh from receiving the iF Design Award, which is given to elite computer companies for their outstanding design, the BenQ V2400W gives a sneak peek at BenQ’s newly evolved Kinergy Design, that almost mimic a B-2 stealth bomber.

BenQ claims the V2400W LCD as the thinnest 24-inch widescreen LCD, with only 2.44-inches at its thickest point. This measures more than 21% of the next thinnest lcd monitor available in the market today. It has blue-LED and touch controls that adds to its elegant appearance. And how about durability? Was this not taken for granted in place of design and aesthetic features? Definitely not, as the LCD’s stand can fully support the 24-inch widescreen and even provide flexibility for adjusting viewing angles. This was made possible by the precise torque and friction applied between the metallic parts of the hinges.

For its technical features, the BenQ V2400W’s HDMI with HDCP, DVI-D and VGA inputs gives future-proof HD connectivity and compatibility. The LCD monitor uses BenQ’s Senseye+photo Human Vision Technology. What this simply means is that the displays vividly realistic and true-to-life color.

The BenQ V2400W has five preset modes, dynamic, photo, standard, movie and sRGB. Each of these modes represents the different types of media that users would want to display on the V2400W monitor. Adding some more spice into the display capabilities of the V2400W is its being NTSL-compliant and its exceptional 4000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio. This intensifies display of black colors to new levels even revealing dark details clearly and precisely. Finally, the BenQ V2400W utilizes the Advanced Motion Accelerator Technology (AMA) which enhances response time to a super-fast 2ms GTG. This enables the display of video in crisp, clean detail without blur and ghosting.

The BenQ V2400W will be available by the end of March in China and other parts of Asia. European and North American release follows sometime in April. Keep reading for a few more images of the BenQ V2400W…

Read [BenQ Press Center]

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If you are like me, you have an Outlook Calendar for work and Google Calendar for your life.  Often, I find the need to have the two mix and I am far too lazy to enter everything in twice.  Now you don’t have to.  Google announces their download Sync helper to add your Google Calendar to your Outlook Calendar with lots of options.

First a couple of warnings: one, the link below is an executable that will download the sync software to your machine.  Two, your shared calendars will not sync, only your primary (its a bit of a downer for me).  Other than those, Google has really thought this out as you’ll see next.

The first step is to download the program.  Visit here and select “save file”.  Click “ok” of your awareness to the fact that it is an executable and if you like agree to Google’s terms.  The program will now install on your machine and bring you to the image shown above.  Here is where it gets fun.

Google’s sync client allows you to:

• Sync 2-way (your appointments show up in both calendars)
• Sync 1- way (Google appts to Outlook or vice-versa)
• Sync every X number of minutes.

I really like that the solution does not require you to manually sync every time you wish to get updated.  The client will sync the latest changes as you wish.
For you OCD types, 10 minutes is the minimum interval for syncing.

The program puts an icon in the tray for you to let you know when the syncing is occurring.  You can access the settings by right-clicking on the tray icon.

Go to the download: [Google] read more [Google]

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Posted Mar 17th 2008 11:49PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Transportation

Remember a few dozen years ago when we heard the first batch of 100 Tesla Roadsters had sold out? Us neither, but we’re assuming those were heady days. Since then we’ve seen delays, setbacks and untimely retirements, but Tesla Motors claims it finally has the car under production, and is naturally taking orders for the 2009 run — 900 cars have been reserved so far. Despite the concrete language in this press release, we’ll believe it when these silent beasts start hitting the road. And run our cycling-asses down.

The Original Cushtie Pillow - Pink
An announcement: after exhaustive testing we have found the softest pillow ever, The Cushtie. Its secret: thousands of spongy polystyrene micro-beads, housed within a soft stretchy skin. Caution: may cause drowsiness.

See price