Gadgets Base

We all know about microscopes from the biology classes or other places. They are bulky metal tools, created for magnifying something very small. The most unpleasant thing about them is that they are not portable, they are big, and it is hard to capture magnified image. Of course, there exist highly functional electronic microscopes, but they are very expensive. Portable and not so expensive version of electronic microscope could be very useful in biological laboratories or in small researches, when it is unnecessary to buy expensive fully functional electronic ones.

The Digital Mobile Microscope (FUN-300) is a gadget that comes not only for entertainment (it is interesting to look at usual things in unusual way, many dreamed about something similar in childhood), but also for small researches and educational purposes. It is so small and portable, even can be compared in size with a mobile phone or mp3 player, and can be easily kept in a pocket. Bright 1.8 inched LCD screen, showing 65k of colors, will show magnified image from a 640 x 480 VGA camera. Levels of magnification are between 5x to 90x. There are four image effects, such as gray, emboss and inverse. However, the most interesting function is split screen photo, which makes possible to compare different images from different parts of object. This gadget is powered by three AAA batteries or it can be powered via USB if desired.

Digital Mobile Microscope can greatly help in wide area of activities. For example, in counterfeit revealing - expertise can be done at place, without necessity of using laboratories for simple examination. It can be used even as a good gift to the student, because with this digital help it will be much more comfortable and interesting to explore our world, even its smallest parts. Price for this interesting device is 199 dollars.

Related:

• USB Digital Microscope
• Portable media player 4″ Widescreen
• 160-megapixel digital camera

Posted Feb 16th 2008 4:14AM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Media PCs
Onyko’s cranked out a couple slick little audio-oriented desktops and media PCs, and its latest carries the tradition on in fine form — the new APX-2 HD audiophile PC actually looks more like a high-end shelf system than a PC, if you ask us. The compact unit houses a 1.66GHz T5500 Core 2 Duo, 1GB of RAM, a vibration-isolated 500GB disk and the same digital amplifier found in the PCI-200 sound card, which bypasses Vista’s sound mixer and channels audio directly through to avoid HD Audio signal loss. Sadly, this one looks to be Japan-only, but if you’re headed out that way, you’ll want an extra couple grand in your pocket to snag one of these bad boys.

If you’re going to a place where there isn’t electricity, don’t forget to take the Eco-Media Player with you. Why? Because in order to work, it doesn’t require power or any kind of batteries.

Whenever you want to listen to some music, just wind up the built-in hand crank, and that will generate all the energy the player needs. Besides audio, the Eco-Media Player also supports video.

And to make the whole deal even better, there is an alternative way to recharge the player - via USB.

PS - includes adapter to recharge cellphones.

One minute of winding gives you up to 40 minutes of playtime.

Product Page

Via GearLog

How many times we thought that it is the worst day in our life, when we suddenly poured red wine on the new white shirt or dress? These stains are so hard to clean, and if your clothing is sensitive to detergents, only dry-cleaning will help. However, as the technologies develop, we can see that many problems that troubled generations before are solved. Today, the nanoparticles can help us do all the small or dirty work - and stain removing is one of them!

Scientists from Organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Science of Monash University had made a very interesting and useful invention - a nanoparticle coating that removes most types of stains from fabric each time you spoil it! To become “self-cleaning”, fabric must be prepared with a nanoparticle coating composed from anatase titanium dioxide - substance that is known to destroy stains, dirt and harmful microorganisms when exposed to sunlight.
One of the experiments, done in the lab, was pouring red wine on a white fabric, both on coated one and on usual unprepared one. Uncoated fabric was deeply stained after 20 hours, but coated exemplar showed almost no signs of red stain - without any actions from human side! All job is done by nanoparticles that work quietly but thoroughly.

No research can be done without problems, and one of the main challenges that scientists faced was how to bind the keratin to the titanium dioxide. It is hard to apply a ceramic inorganic material to organic fibers, such as wool, silk or hemp. Scientists admit it, but say that this limitation will be cleared soon.

The best part of it is that this coating does not alter the fabrics texture and feel, so a silk tie would still feel silky. It can be permanently bonded to fiber and will remain even after a harsh washing. So once coated shirt will be self-cleaning as long as you wear it.

This invention will be a blessing for all homemakers and moms whose children manage to get dirty after being left alone for a mere five minutes. If this concept gets mass-produced, we will no longer need detergents anymore! Moreover, no washing machines either.

Related:

• Deluxe coat with color changing LEDs
• Nano Sized Bendable Batteries - Future is Near
• Water strider robot uses water tension to move on water

Though Google’s open source mobile platform Android is poised to take mobile technology to greater heights, it will also trigger the influx of new viruses and other threats to our cellphones.

In fact, security software firm F-Secure believes that its “risks are greater than with the current platform kings such as Symbian.” Even Apple’s decision to open its door to outside developers also carries potential risks.

Even though thousands of people complain about security issues on mobile phones, only a trivial portion of the users were infected. According to a research of another software security firm McAfee, only 1 in 7 users worldwide are exposed to serious mobile viruses today.

It goes to show that every technology, no matter how brilliant, will always have some downsides. Good thing the people in the mobile world are vigilant in monitoring and developing ways to arrest these looming issues.

Read [Reuters]

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Posted Feb 15th 2008 6:30PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment
Yeah, the Apple TV (take 2) update took a bit longer than promised to actually arrive on the scene, but now that it’s available for existing ATV owners to chew on, we’re interested in hearing from its toughest critics. Rumors of Apple finally enabling some sort of HD movie / television show download service had been making the rounds for what seemed like ages, and after months of waiting for a move to be made, take 2 made its debut under the shadow of the macbook air.

Aside from finally offering up 1080p support and giving users the ability to rent HD flicks (though only some with Dolby Digital 5.1), the v2.0 upgrade changed up the look and added in Flickr integration. Granted, the innards here have remained the same, but we’re not just interested in finding out what you adore / detest about the newest update. Oh no — we’re also curious to know how you think the existing hardware is handling its new duties. Has anything slowed down? Are you still (or were you ever) satisfied with the port assortment? Have you found yourself itching to downgrade? We know, software updates as substantial as this one hardly ever never leave everyone happy, and while we’ve done some sizing up of our own in regard to HD quality, how would you like to see things tweaked for take 3?

Posted Feb 15th 2008 11:40PM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: Misc. gadgets
Following a so-called “insider’s release” last year that targeted early adopters with beta software running on final-spec hardware, Chumby has finally completed and rolled out a somewhat massive firmware update for the plush lil’ buggers that adds significant functionality — significant enough, in fact, that they’re now being sold disclaimer-free to all comers. Besides a long, what’s-what list of bug fixes, the real draw in the new firmware is fairly comprehensive support for a variety of internet radio services, a feature that previous builds technically supported but had no user interface for (they are Linux-based, after all, and totally hackable). So yeah, if a cute touchscreen with an open-source platform, Flash player, and integrated speakers is just what the doctor ordered, you can pick one up now without the worry of pre-release software getting in your way for $179.95 in black, white, or “latte.”

[Thanks, Kurt]

I’m not certain if there is a market for digital pens as yet, and I’m not certain why. When I was in high school and college, I would have given anything for something that could take my handwritten material and turn it into text.

I guess students these days are taking their laptops into class and typing the notes out. But what about mathematics classes, where diagrams and drawings are the necessity?

I had a chance to try out the Fly Fusion Pentop Computer, and while that had some nifty features, I also enjoyed the EPOS Digital Pen and USB Flash Drive. The Fly Fusion requires a special notepad to work, but the EPOS can use any paper.

All a user has to do is clip a special device onto a top of a piece of paper like a clipboard, and then use the special pen. Then the device attaches to the computer via USB and the user can download his or her drawings or writings.

The writings can be turned into text with the included software, and it is pretty good at recognizing handwriting. Of course, there are always some odd variations. The technology of digital pens isn’t perfected as yet.

However, you can get the jump on the digital pen revolution by purchasing the EPOS Digital Pen and USB Flash Drive.

Source

The money pit that is SCO seems to have gotten a lifeline this week in the form of a $100 million dollars in private investment from Stephen Norris Capital Partners (SNCP) and some of its undisclosed associates. There is apparently a restructuring plan in the works. SCO famously attempted to become profitable by suing everything that moved in the Linux world. This detestable plan ended in epic failure and SCO was almost universally reviled by the tech community. Any plans SCO might have for returning to this tactic seem extremely unlikely to succeed. Why would anyone invest in such a mess?

“We saw a tremendous investment opportunity in SCO and its vast range of products and services, including many new innovations ready or soon to be ready to be released into the marketplace,” said SNCP managing partner Stephen Norris in a statement regarding the investment. “We expect to quickly develop these opportunities, and to stand behind SCO’s existing base of customers and partners.”

SCO’s future is seriously dim. $100 million in cash will probably keep SCO alive to annoy us all for some time to come. Luckily, the end result will probably remain the same.

Read [arstechnica]

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Posted Feb 15th 2008 8:39PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Gaming
Good news for folks with a GeForce 8 GPU and lots of questions about how the recent Ageia acquisition would affect them: your current card will be receiving PhysX support. When NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was questioned in a recent conference call, he noted that the firm was currently “working towards the physics-engine-to-CUDA port,” and it could be delivered as “a software update” to every card that’s CUDA-enabled (read: all of the GeForce 8 GPUs). Sadly, the bigwig still wouldn’t say when to expect the release of the first PhysX port, but we really can’t imagine it taking too awfully long now.