Nokia Touch Phone Coming Soon

Nokia has, at least, confirmed that they will be releasing a touch screen phone, although in all honesty that’s not exactly a surprise is it? They’ve also failed miserably to let anybody in on the finer details of said release, instead choosing to keep us in the dark until the last possible minute, the gadget release way it would seem. It’s time like these when we rely on rumour and conjecture to get us giddy and excited (or not) about a new product.

The Nokia Tube, which is the phone’s codename, is believed to be a 3.2” touch screen that buzzes when you press the “buttons” on the interface. Officially, that’s called haptic feedback and is meant to inform you that you have indeed pressed the faux button.

Allegedly, it will include a 3.2mp Carl Zeiss camera with dual flash, and the XpressMusic model is believed to include GPS, an audio jack, and even TV-Out.

Nokia has repeatedly declined to confirm or deny any of the rumours stating simply that their “first touch device will be aimed solidly at the ‘mid-range’ or ‘volume’ part of the market. This device will be competitively spec-ed - especially considering the price point and will be announced in a few months.”

New Google Rival Is Cuil

A new search engine, called Cuil, has been announced and while these things generally pass by fairly quietly it has been the talk of the virtual town for several reasons. Like every new search engine it has the bold, and seemingly unrealistic, remit of toppling Google from their ever more impressive throne as the masters of search.

The main developer behind Cuil is one Anna Patterson, whose technology was purchased by Google four years ago. They purchased her search technology in a bid to improve their own results, but Ms Patterson left Google two years ago in order to concentrate her efforts on the Cuil venture.

Apparently Cuil indexes over 120 billion pages on the Internet, which is approximately treble the figure that Google itself can boast. And, if you don’t believe that size is the most important metric, then you may also be pleased to hear that it uses different indexing technology, displays results in a different manner, and more importantly, it won’t be storing any data about the way its users search the Internet or any of the pages or searches they have visited or conducted.

You can take a look at Cuil (pronounced Cool, in case you were wondering) at www.cuil.com – alternatively, you could always Google it.

The Super I Sobot

The Japanese are streets ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to creating miniature robots for the sake of pleasure (you can try to claim they’re educational but we all know the truth) and the iSobot is one of the latest and probably greatest miniature powered humanoid form robots to grace these shores. At a little under £200 from IWOOT, it also represents one of the more affordable options especially considering the range of functions and commands it offers.

Equipped with 19 IICs (Integrated Circuit Chips), 17 servo motors, and 2 LEDs it is one highly developed little piece of kit, and it really is quite little standing marginally more than 16cm tall.

All that electronic goodness enables the I Sobot to perform a huge range of activities. Not only will it learn and respond to voice commands but it will perform basic human movements, mimic martial art fighting moves, and even exercise on your behalf.

It also offers a Radio Control unit with LCD monitor that enables the user full and surprisingly simple control over the unit. He has 200 movements pre programmed as well as over 300 words and phrases to really impress you with.

Buy your I-Sobot today

 
 
 

My Beating Heart Pillow

The heart can actually be persuaded to beat at different rates through little more than the power of suggestion. If your body senses what it deems to be a heart beat that is beating slower than your own then it may make some form of attempt to replicate that rhythm. Working on this principle, coupled with our almost Freudian longing for the mother’s womb, the beating heart pillow is the ideal stress buster/relaxation pillow.

It emits a heart beat under relaxed conditions and encourages anybody that is willing to hold it tightly and longingly to their chest to become equally relaxed. OK, so it sounds like a right load of rubbish, and to be honest the design means it’s unlikely to really take off. Perhaps if it actually looked like a beating heart it would sell to more men.

There are two sizes of beating heart pillow, a small and large with prices up to £25 depending on the dynamics you would like. The only problem is, don’t let it run out batteries while your heart is mimicking it and keeping its pace or you might never wake from your relaxed state of slumber.

Radio Listening Figures Down

It may not be that surprising to learn that radio listening has reduced in the UK. After all, we have more and more access to a greater range of multimedia devices. The car, which was probably the last bastion of radio listening, has undergone similarly major changes with stereos that enable users to plug in their mp3 players rather than tune the radio to Radio 1.

What is perhaps surprising is that 89% of the population still listen to the radio at least once a week and nearly 18% of these listeners use a digital form of radio (11% use DAB radio). However, all in all, the number of DAB radio owners has remained steady with no further growth. Only 2% listen to the radio on the Internet.

The BBC now accounts for 55% of all listeners, just short of one half of the population but breakfast shows were the biggest losers in the latest statistics. Bearing in mind the increased popularity of the BBC iPlayer service there’s a reasonable chance that they’re losing evening radio listeners to their own online TV service.

The Green Dance Floor

Innovation is going to be key to our fight against climate change and some individuals and companies have definitely got it while others are left watching in bemusement. Club4Climate is a one such innovative idea; founder Andrer Charalambous has had the unique idea of using the motion created on dance floors to generate electricity, which can then be used in part to provide power for the club.

The entire project is based around improving clubbers’ energy consumption and diminishing the negative effect on the environment. Organic beverages and waterless urinals (most clubs in my area are not only waterless but urineless too) will be combined with a wind turbine, solar power generator, and a piezoelectric dance floor.

The dance floor converts the motion of clubbers into a usable form of energy to power the pumps, lighting and other electrical devices. It does this through a combination of ceramics and quartz crystals. Any energy that is left over from the sustainable devices will then be fed back to the grid so that it can be used by houses and other buildings in the area.

Club4Climate even provides free entry to anybody that can prove they walked or cycled to the venue – sweaty armpits, windswept hair, and that kind of thing must presumably be the method of proving it.

It puts a whole new perspective on carbon footprints.

The New CherryPal C100 Cloud Desktop Computer

The CherryPal C100 isn’t just a darn cheap desktop costing just $250 (£125) it’s also being pushed as a cloud desktop computer because rather than having all the necessary software stored on the computer itself, it is stored (in the clouds) an an online server that is automatically accessed whenever the computer turns on. This unique online environment potentially offers a number of excellent benefits, although does require an Internet connection to even use the PC.

The cloud computer could offer increased security. There should never be any need to download and install software, and pretty much everything is stored online. This means that hackers and malware authors cannot easily gain access to your computer and, even if they can, there’s nothing for them to find.

Because all of the operating system and other software is stored online and not on the hard drive, this could do away with log on issues, installation problems, and general software problems.

The biggest potential drawback we can see is Internet connection reliability. A poor connection would mean poor performance of the software while any Internet downtime would basically make the computer inaccessible. Perhaps in countries where a reliable network is achievable it might work, but I think the technology would be a struggle here in the UK.

The Champagne Cork Parachute

What’s the perfect accompaniment to a nice, classy bottle of champagne? It’s a pink and grey, reusable champagne cork parachute obviously. Because, you know how annoying it is when you can’t find the cork. Fortunately, though, with the reusable cork parachute you never need worry about any nasty cork accidents apparently (if anybody has had a nasty cork accident, we’d really rather not hear details – and definitely no pictures).

To make it even classier, the parachute comes with its own rather fetching gold, plastic rocket container. As soon as the cork reaches adequate height and is ready to begin its apparently danger filled traverse back down to earth (or any object in the way of the earth), the parachute will deploy and the cork will flutter elegantly and, above all, safely back down to the ground.

Seriously, I don’t think you’re going to see these at the next wedding reception you visit and Lewis Hamilton is probably quite unlikely to crack open his winner’s bottle of bubbly having spent a minute attaching his parachute. But, if this is the kind of thing that floats your boat, or even if you do happen to have unmentionable (please) first hand experience of the nastiness of corks then you can pick one up for less than a fiver at IWOOT.

New Online Security Technique To Help Beat Internet Threats

Online security experts are, in part, using the Google PageRank technology to help produce a more intelligent and subsequently more effective spam fighting and Internet security system. The technique, known as “Highly Predictive Blacklisting” has been under research and development for over a year and more accurately predicts the type of attack and attacker that is likely to target a particular network. By using this prediction, security software can then more effectively deal with any potential incoming threat.

There are essentially two primary threats that are difficult for any size network to counteract – brand new threats only recently released into the wild and small threats that have attacked very few networks. HPB will create what is essentially a super black-list that combines the benefits of the Global Worst Offenders List (GWOL) and compares smaller networks to determine the likelihood of an attack being made on a network even by new threats.

Anything that can be done to improve online security and the ever increasing amount of spam that all email users regularly receive is good news. The problem, usually, is that as quickly as a new security technique is announced, hackers and other malware authors have found a method to bypass the security release essentially rendering it useless.

The Gyroxus Gaming Chair

Game chairs have never really been my thing, which is quite peculiar really, because gaming most definitely has. They never look quite as comfortable as the old fashioned armchair with arm rests, and coffee table for drinks. And, to be honest, the sub woofers on the TV will generally do the trick for most games.

Then, there’s the seeming lack of comfort; they just don’t look very comfortable. Perhaps sitting with your knees tucked under your chin as though you’re assuming the crash position is the best gaming position available but I can’t see it. As such, the new Gyroxus looks even less appealing than other chairs – it looks decidedly like it’s made out of an old Volvo boot lining.

However, the Gyroxus full motion gaming chair will move seamlessly through every duck, twist, and bend that you make and work in perfect tandem with the movements of your body… apparently.

None of us would like to admit it but I fear we all duck and sway when we’re playing and as long as you don’t suffer from an acute form of motion sickness, the Gyroxus could be your thing. Until I get given one for the scientific purposes of reviewing, though, I shall continue to dislike the very concept of a gaming chair and dream of owning a Lazy Boy gaming chair.

If I’m completely missing the point do tell me.

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