Gadgets Base

A fascinating report by the United Kingdom’s version of the Federal Communications Commission paints a vivid picture of a technology-driven world right out of a Vernor Vinge novel: Bluetooth implants in your body warning doctors of impending heart attacks; wireless sensors in cars slamming on the brakes before collisions; reminders from doctors to take medications based on wireless vital sign readings.

The Office of Communications, known as Ofcom, is the UK’s independent regulator of competition in its television, radio, telecom and wireless communications industries. Its new report, “Tomorrow’s Wireless World,” features technology innovations being tested in some British cities and it already has some privacy advocates shouting about a digital Big Brother. But the tone of the report is generally positive about the role technology could play in saving lives, trimming health care costs and making travel safer and greener.

The section regarding “in-body networks” - wireless sensors that allow doctors to monitor patients’ health from miles away - uses existing radio spectrum in the UK. And while some of the transportation applications conjure up images of Onstar on steroids and the traffic scenes from Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report,” Ofcom says the technologies are already in development and could be ready for placement in cars by 2015.

All of these intelligent networks will require equally-intelligent management of spectrum, whether in the UK or in the US. It’s true that some of these developments have already been touched on in gee-whiz tech reporting by the mainstream media - if not in sci-fi novels by the likes of Vinge, Kim Stanley Robinson and Bruce Sterling - but it’s still exciting (at least for the geeks in all of us) to hear an official agency say the technology is closer than you think. So get ready for those implants; at least they’ll save you money on those Bluetooth headsets.

Read [Ofcom]

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Built in the UK’s Legoland to mark Lego’s 50th anniversary, this monster is over 100′ tall and has half a million bricks. The Lego snob in me doesn’t like the random use of colors!

via methodshop

Posted in Miscellaneous

A concerned half-sibling’s letter…

To my dear sibling Miuro,

Hi, how’ve you been doing? I heard you’re still up to your old tricks, rolling around to the tune of the music you’re playing, and displaying emoticons on your screen-face. Anyway, the reason I wrote is that I wanted to ask if you’re still mad that our dad, ZMP,got with my mum, Sega Toys, and had me? I promise I’m not so bad, Miuro, I have an emoticon-displaying screen-face too, and people tell me I look just like you! I mean, I don’t have your camera or your wireless LAN, but at a tenth of your 500 price, we have totally different markets! We’re not rivals, my dear sibling, so please come back home soon. We can roll around together to the music our docked iPods play. It’ll be fun, I promise.

From your younger sibling,

Music Robot ODO

via

It’s very seldom that we hear about Sony coming out with a flash drive product, although we know that it certainly has some data storage devices in its arsenal but these mostly belong to its proprietary Sony Memory stick duo series which are used for most Sony Ericsson mobile phone’s and the PSP. So, it is refreshing to hear about this new USB flash drive which belongs to Sony’s Microvault product line. The flash drive we’re talking about is the USM-LX high-speed USB flash drive.

The USM-LX gives a maximum read-out speed of 31Mb/s which is the USB flash drive standard, is simply fast enough to handle large files - that is store, transfer and share just about anything. Sony has also made some stride in improving this flash drive’s design by using what it calls a “Click mechanism”. This eliminates the need for a USB cap, since all you have to do to connect the USB to your machine is to slide out the flash drive’s body to reveal the USB connector. This adds some convenience to users as it makes the flash drive shorter when in use.

Another exciting feature of the Sony USM-LX flash drive is its easy-to-read LED indicator which quickly fades out when the flash drive is not being used. Other features of the USM-LX include; Windows Vista ReadyBoost compatibility, pre-installed with Sony’s Virtual Expander utility which compresses files for maximum storage capability, and plug’n play feature. The USM-LX flash drive is available in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB storage capacities.

Product [Sony]

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In a rather bizarre effort to protect sensitive company data, T-Mobile has announced that its Sarnia, Ontario call center employees will no longer be allowed to use pens, pencils, or note pads in the open. If they must used them, they are required to keep them in their locked desks between uses. Taking the new policy even further, they’ve also required that all photos and papers on cubicle walls be laminated so they can not be used to write on.

While it’s easy to understand a company wanting to protect its data, this new policy is just a bit ridiculous. If the company is that paranoid it’s a good thing the employees don’t have access to any kind of small, easily concealable electronic device that can easily accept data and transfer it quickly over the net or any way to discreetly copy data directly from their computers, Wouldn’t that be awful? I’m sure T-Mobile execs are sleeping well tonight with that knowledge.

Read [The Consumerist]

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With an official release date yet to be announced more and more details of the MSI Wind have been leaking out. The latest information puts the Wind even further into the Eee PC group as we have just learned that it will not only be available in white, but MSI has plans for a black and pink model as well.

Each of the three colors will be available in both the 8.9-inch and 10-inch displayed models. In addition to the newly discovered colors, TCMagazine is also reporting that there will be a model that will offer up to 7-hours of battery life, now that is high-capacity, lets just hope it does not add a ton of extra weight to go along with the power. Other newly released details include the webcam being 1.3-megapixels and the notebook will also have an second (empty) RAM slot available for easier upgrading. The Wind, which is still expected to be available later this quarter is expected to range in price from 299 to 699 Euros (about $460 to $1,077 US).

Via [UMPC Portal]

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I know that New Year’s a distant memory by now, but surely some of you have decided to quit smoking back in January, but failed to do so until now? Chewing tobacco doesn’t quite make the grade for you, so what about the Gamucci Micro Electronic Cigarette?

It looks like a cigarette, it tastes like a cigarette, it smokes like a cigarette, but it isn’t a cigarette, it contains no tobacco, and the “smoke” is just vapour. Containing state of the art micro-electronic technology this re-chargeable e-cigarette produces a real smoking experience without any of the deeply unpleasant side-effects of tobacco. As you inhale a tiny battery vapourizes liquid inside the cigarette producing smoke. You can insert cartridges (it comes with a set of them) that will release nicotine - or of course choose to skip the nicotine altogether and just puff away on what is virtually nothing. Of course people may come finger-wagging at you telling to put it out (it looks that real), but there’s nothing to put out.

Each £49.95 purchase comes with a spare battery and charger, and a full charge out to be able to last you for a long, long time. I wonder whether minors are allowed to “smoke” this since it technically isn’t a real cancer stick.

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