Humax Unveils New PVR 9300

Sky+ is an awesome service, even if they do have those really annoying adverts at the moment. You can record most episodes of Star Trek and CSI without having to keep taking the tape out and write over the label and you can even stop and rewind live television. But we don’t all have a Sky subscription, and for those of us without, freeview and a digital PVR is perfect.

Humax is a consist producer of great quality PVRs and their latest release, the PVR 9300 doesn’t look like it will let us down either. With 320GB of internal storage you’ll be able to record at least 200 Star Trek episodes (that’s 200 hours) and twin tuners mean you can watch one channel and record two others, or record one channel and watch another with full time dilating capabilities (except fast forward).

Two versions will be available, apparently from the beginning of next month – the 320GB model we mentioned will fetch £200 while one with marginally less than half the memory (that’s 150GB in case you’re wondering) will set you back around £150.

The Humax 9300 looks pretty impressive too with a honking great big display on the front so you’ll never be stuck when you need to know the time.

Electric Lightning Electric Car Charges In Under 15 Minutes

Another day, another prototype car featuring some new fangled form of environment saving trickery up its exhaust pipe. Except, in the case of the Electric Lightning sports car, there is no exhaust pipe. It’s not a hybrid and it’s not even an electric car that requires the usual 5 working days recharge time with a 6.2 mile range on full charge. In fact, a cursory glance at the picture will tell you it’s nothing like the electric cars that we’re used to seeing.

A whole bank of rechargable lithium-titanate batteries give it a hoomphing 700bhp and extremely impressive speed figures. Because it doesn’t use the standard li-ion technology that is usually used in the process of recharging batteries, this means that it can actually be recharged in less than quarter of an hour and enjoy more than a 200 mile range.

To achieve this, however, special recharging stations (like giant iPod docks I guess) would need to be erected because our puny home electrics can’t cope with passing the necessary level of electric juice through to the car. Nothing has been planned yet, although the company responsible for the car have the idea of having Electric Lightning docks placed in supermarket stations.

It looks something, I think, like a TVR.

Ereaders And Electronic Paper

If you watched the Gadget Show on 5 the other night then you’ll have hopefully been as impressed with the e-readers as we were, and as impressed as Nigel Havers obviously was. While we, in the UK are left waiting for a decent device to be released it’s worth taking the time to look at the fantastic technology behind e-readers. Far from being miniature computer monitors, an e-reader uses e-paper instead.

The human brain struggles to read text on monitors. We read slower and comprehend less information when we read on a computer monitor than we do on paper, and the difference is actually a significant one. As well as the problems with monitor lighting, screen glare and dodgy resolutions hamper our ability to read effectively in this way.

E-readers use electronic paper, which looks and reads much more like normal paper. Plus, it has the convenience that you don’t have to carry your Dell desktop to bed with you, or lug it around in your hand luggage when you jet off on your hols.

Getting back to the Gadget Show coverage, the Sony ereader easily looked the best of the three and apparently handles better. The DRM and Sony format issue could hamper it severely though but we’ll just have to wait and see.

The iLogic Sound Hat

The iLogic Sound Hat – it must be good because it has a lowercase i preceding the word logic and that’s become one of the surest signs of high levels of cool in gadgets. This rather standard looking beanie is actually quite unique though, because it includes its own built in headphone/speaker type implements in the fold, so that they sit comfortably over your ear and enable you to listen to your iPod while you’re walking, riding your bike, catching the bus, or sitting in the front room(?).

Of course, you do need to plug your hat into your mp3 player and you may get some odd looks from those that believe you’re wearing heated earmuffs. The other advantage of the iLogic Sound Hat is that it further distorts and prevents you from forcing the unrecognisable buzzing that others have to endure when you are sit in a public space with your headphones on.

Less than £15 from IWOOT makes it something of a bargain, and we can all be grateful that the manufacturers have opted for a normal looking design with little more than what is a reasonably good looking graphic equaliser logo on the side.

The Workstation For Sleepy People

I know that a relaxed working environment is said to improve productivity, but the zero gee ergo workstation (or, as I like to call it, the Dentist’s Chair) is, I believe, taking things a little far. As a gaming station though it would be ideal, but for the rather small monitor. The laid back position can be used, it is alleged, for computing, gaming, and televisual viewing. And if you stay awake while in that position then you need to cut back on your stimulants.

The zero gee ergo workstation is still in the “looking for somebody mental enough to put money into this idea” stage and I believe it may well be there for some time. Or, at least, until the people that design Google’s office get a hold of it. It could be placed near the fireman’s pole and next to the bean bags in the meeting area.

The side console, which looks a bit like a cheap plastic in-flight cup and meal holder, is pretty much exactly that. As you’re nodding off, you can put your can of Coke and your pen down, and just let the A4 pad slip silently down to the floor.

Laptop with USB broadband modem, can of beer, sunny Saturday afternoons. Ok, maybe it does have a genuine purpose after all.

British International Motor Show

The British International Motor Show opens its doors to the public tomorrow, 23rd July and the press got a sneak preview of what was on offer – as ever, shiny new cars were the order of the day, with this years buzzword clearly being concept. Concept cars aren’t necessarily shown because they are going to be developed or put into mass production but they do usually have one or two interesting features that may well find their way into the next car model.

The Land Rover that we reported on the other day is there and, I have to say, it looks even better than in the promo picture (very low and very sleek indeed). However, it was one of numerous different concepts and new cars on display and this year’s event looks even better than usual. The order of the day was most certainly innovative green and hybrid technologies as you might imagine.

You can view more details on the motor show by looking at the official British International Motor Show website although unless I’m being particularly thick the countdown clock isn’t the most accurate because despite the show starting in earnest in about 9 hours, the clock states it’s a day and 10 hours to blast off. Minor niggle, but there you go.

Complete Control Over Your Home

The Universal Remote control; has become as big a part of many of our live’s as the items they control. With TV, DVD player, satellite TV, speakers, PVR, games console, and possibly more all requiring the essential use of a remote control it’s as much a question of saving your sanity as it is anything else and the universal remote does just that (except when you’re programming some of them, and then they are from being sanity savers).

This funky looking and futuristic device, called the HP Thync goes several steps further because it’s a home automation universal remote too. As well as controlling everything around and including the TV you can control lights, curtains, even the cooker and the washing machine – although, unfortunately, it won’t prepare the food or separate the whites from the colours.

It is alleged that the device would be simple to operate, despite offering complete power over pretty much everything electrical in your house (obviously you need the home networking kits that enable you to remotely control these various devices) and if you don’t look of the graphical touch screen interface it will have the option to completely bend it to your own will.

We’re All Slaves To SatNav

It’s reminiscent of a poor 1980’s B film but it seems that we’re being ruled by our SatNav systems nowadays. Direct Line has questioned 2,000 satellite navigation systems, sorry, I mean road users and found that 300,000 accidents have been caused by the hyper intelligent sentient beings that are masquerading as being satellite navigation systems.

Not only does this research suggest that Direct Line have by far the most accident prone drivers (2,000 respondents and 300,000 accidents? That’s 150 accidents each.) but it cites some of the most common reasons for accidents being that the SatNav told them to do it. Gems like the SatNav made people drive the wrong way down a one way street or told them to go to the wrong place should spark fear into the hearts of all of us.

It’s not the SatNav that we should fear, though, it’s the fact that these people that are seemingly devoid of intelligent thought are actually able to sit and pass their driving test. Although, come to think of it, the examiner and the SatNav do operate in a similar way. Both are apparently devoid of human emotion and bark instructions and directions throughout the route.

Funky New Wine Can Design

I know that wine in cans has been done to varying degrees of success, but if wine makers want to make their drinks trendier then they should consider these cans that are, to my mind, reminiscent of tear gas cannisters. If you’ve ever drank cheap dry white wine, then they’ll probably appreciate that it has roughly the same eye watering and nerve stunning effects too.

Apparently, it’s only a prototype because no wine producer or manufacturer has taken up the design to house their own drinks but I, for one, would be more inclined to purchase wine if it were to offer these as their chosen receptacle. As well as not being entirely dissimilar to military projectiles they also have a certain look of Calor gas cannister about them.

Apparently, as with everything nowadays, they are recyclable so they can go in the chosen container for recyclable cans in your area (it’s blue bins for us but green buckets for others down the road). You’re probably never going to see your high class tipples on the shelves of your local off licenses in these cans but I for one would welcome the move if it were to happen.

Virgin Media Helps Further Boost The Popularity Of BBC iPlayer

The success of the BBC iPlayer is, to a degree, completely staggering. Approximately 20 million people, via one method or another, download or watch BBC shows using the iPlayer in a month – or at least they do now that the service is available on Virgin Media as well as the Nintendo Wii and online.

Perhaps more astonishing is the fact that, in June, which was the first full month of Virgin offering iPlayer to their users, this accounted or around half of those figures. Realistically, Virgin Media comes a second best to Sky in terms of the number of channels it has to offer although its existing On Demand range was considered the superior. By adding the BBC iPlayer they’ve further enhanced the opportunity to catch up on shows that users might have missed or previously ignored.

The usual suspects filled the top ten places of shows that were being viewed. Among the decent ones were Doctor Who in 2nd (although it would be a lot better, in my opinion, if they got rid of Catherine Tate), Top Gear in 5th, and In The Night Garden in 9th. With viewing possibilities like that it’s no wonder it’s done so well.

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