Computer Gadgets New

It is quite an understandable fact that there is an obvious necessity to help the elderly. Due to their age they often get things wrong, so it’s almost impossible for them to do everything by themselves. Thus, all of us who do love them and want to keep them around for as long as possible try to use all the means in order to help them. With that in mind, the creators of the “Health Guard” concept for Nokia believe that the best way to keep them around is to track their every movement.

The new gadget designed by Marcela Kawka and Izabela Cichecka represents a two-piece monitoring station that controls (via RFID - Radio Frequency Identification - a technology that uses tiny computer chips to track items such as consumer commodities at distance) what the elderly consume: expired foods, medicine, possible allergens and nutritional information. In case some problems appear you can easily find out an exhaustive explanation for the reasons that caused them. Given concept attaches to any refrigerator and features a detachable RFID reader for trips to the local market, as well as a touch display base with easy to recognize universal icons.

As other features of the gadget are concerned a memo pad and voice recorder for leaving long messages should be mentioned. In addition to that this station has quite a high end design that would probably satisfy both young and old people.

Taking into consideration the fact that this gadget seems to be very useful, it would really help some of us.

The Philips DVDR5570H DVD player will come in two flavors - 120GB and 250GB which retail for €399 and €499, respectively. You will definitely wonder what kind of newfangled technology or features are included in this new DVD player after paying such an exorbitant price, right? Well, be prepared to be disappointed since they only contain a single tuner and has the ability to store and playback various multimedia files such as music, photos and recorded TV. At least the Philips Media Jukebox function is retained, allowing you to playback tunes directly off your USB flash drive when connected. I think it is time to move on to Blu-ray instead of remaining stuck in the world of standard DVDs.

It seems that Apple is currently working on autostereoscopic 3D hardware that aims to produce 3D images which can be viewed by everyone around without the need for special glasses or headgear. This reminds me of the 3D projection R2-D2 made in Star Wars IV, which means science fiction ideas from the 1970s have finally been caught up by modern day marvels and technology. This 3D system involves having a projection screen with a predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function. Can’t wait to see a 3G cell phone offer this feature - imagine holding a conference call with everyone else looking at you in full 3D glory.

Nokia today unveiled the Nokia N82 in stylish black.

Nokia N82 jet black multimedia computer allows you to “geotag” the images you capture - allowing them to not only be saved by date, but by location as well.

This adds to a line-up of compelling photography features, including a 5 megapixel camera, Carl Zeiss optics and a Xenon flash. The Nokia N82 gives you advanced connectivity features and makes it easy to share your discoveries, journeys and locations.

The Nokia N82 in black is expected to start shipping within weeks, with an estimated retail price of approximately 400 euros, before taxes and subsidies.
 
As one of Nokia’s leading-edge connected camera, the Nokia N82 in black captures people’s journeys and discoveries. With built-in A-GPS it even helps people to find new places by pairing  contextual information with a wide array of connectivity features such as Wi-Fi and HSDPA.
 
The gloss-black Nokia N82 is set to excite world travelers and photography enthusiasts alike. The 5 megapixel camera, powerful Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss optics, ultra-fast camera activation, autofocus with a dedicated assist lamp, fast reloading between shots and DVD-like quality video capture all ensure that special moments can be captured “picture perfect” - even in low light conditions.
 
Taking advantage of its integrated A-GPS functionality and high resolution camera, the Nokia N82 automatically tags images with capture location metadata, making it possible to view the capture location on a map either on the Internet or on the device itself. When it comes to sharing, consumers can upload their pictures or videos directly from their Nokia N82 to services like Share on Ovi, Flickr or YouTube. By installing Nokia’s exclusive and free Sports Tracker application, consumers can share their whereabouts and travel route with others on the Sports Tracker website - including the capture locations of images.

The Nokia Sports Tracker is a GPS based activity tracker that runs on Nokia smartphones. Information such as speed, distance and time are automatically stored in the application, and can be shared with others.

Posted Mar 20th 2008 12:54PM by Ryan Block
Filed under: cellphones

Our latest micro-series, Screen grabs chronicles the uses (and occasional misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with a screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

Last night’s Daily Show discussion on the nation’s impending recession prompted John Hodgman (aka PC) to bust out his Uncle Rico-esque time machine to take a peek into our collective economic future. We’re still trying to decide whether it’s richer in irony that (not unlike Jon Stewart) Hodgman an iphone, or that he pulled it out and used it upside down Charlie Sheen / Bionic Woman style. Video after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Sanyo has just rolled out its Xacti G9 MPEG-4 digital camcorder that targets beginners and newcomers to the digital video recording world. This pocket-size design is small enough for you to carry it virtually everywhere you want, and it is a snap to upload high quality video as well as high resolution still photographs to the Web in various formats, including optimized ones for instant sharing on social networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace among others. Sounds like the perfect tool to carry around if you want to record precious memories there and then.

According to Tom Van Voy, Vice President and General Manager of Sanyo’s Audio Video Division, “The SANYO Xacti CG9 is a high-performance digital video and still camera in one sleek, compact package. It offers great performance and exceptional value to those buying a camcorder for the first time and everyone who wants to easily capture their special memories and share them in a whole new way.”

Some of the features include high quality video and a 9.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, support for both SD and SDHC memory cards to further increase the amount of video able to be stored in each outing, and video recording in high quality MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format encoding technology that delivers exceptional video clarity.

Some of the other features include a “Face Chaser” function that is capable of recognizing and focusing on up to a dozen faces in each still image, the ability to capture 9.1 megapixel still images even in low light conditions, sequential photo setting that lets you snap up to 10 photos in quick succession, 5x optical zoom to get in closer to the action without doing so physically, and a 2.5″ TFT LCD display that enables you to preview all your videos and captured photos on the spot. The Sanyo Xacti CG9 is tipped to be released in the US sometime in the middle of next month, retailing for $279.99 while being available in silver or black colors.

Press Release

Electronic announced today the first details on The Sims 3. Featuring a brand new engine that has been in development for nearly three years, The Sims 3 allows you to immerse your unique Sims in an open living neighborhood right outside their door.

The initial feature-set unveiled includes the new seamless, open neighborhood, new Create A Sim, new realistic personalities and new unlimited customization. The Sims 3 will launch globally in 2009.

The Sims 3 Photos

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Posted Mar 20th 2008 7:55AM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: Handhelds, Wireless

It’s not every day that we hear about a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard device that lacks any cellular hardware whatsoever, so when we do, it’s sort of like winning the lottery except way less exciting and profitable. Enter the first volley of devices to support Motorola’s new Total Enterprise Access & Mobility initiative — TEAM, conveniently — which represent just the very front end of a whole infrastructure solution for business campuses looking to replace their desk phones with something just a little more mobile and modern. Eventually, TEAM will support true VoIP-cellular handoff, but in its initial form, it’ll be WiFi only, making these first handsets very unique indeed. We don’t have the complete picture on specs here, but they’ll support push-to-talk, text messaging, and as we mentioned, they’ll be loaded with the very latest and greatest that Windows Mobile have to offer when they launch later this year.

[Via PC World]

Now I know that solar power is renewable (at least until our sun explodes and engulfs the earth), but isn’t a solar-powered alarm clock taking things a little too far? It might be more suitable for camping purposes, but by all intent if you plan to use this at home, you’d better keep your fingers crossed that there isn’t an important appointment to meet the next morning. Better to be safe than sorry despite the manufacturer’s claim that a single day’s exposure of sunlight is more than enough to power this alarm clock for a year without being juiced up again. The solar-powered alarm clock retails for £29.99 and looks too plasticky for my liking.

It can be rather embarassing to run out of ice cubes at home whenever you’re hosting guests, which is why the Ice Cube Maker Machine is always a good idea. In just 10 minutes, this sucker is able to cough out 12 ice cubes, where that time can be used to serve more wine to your guests so that they won’t realize it before 10 minutes is over. It is capable of such speedy ice manufacturing thanks to its highly efficient compressor with a low noise level that is capable of producing up to 18kg of ice cubes within 24 hours. Available for £139.95, I am inclined to think that this consumes a whole lot of electricity.