Touchscreen electronic-paper reader

Touchscreen electronic-paper reader

This week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, e-reading company Skiff is previewing its new electronic reader. At a quarter of an inch thick, the Skiff Reader is the thinnest device of its kind. Not everything about it is small, however; its 1200 x 1600 pixel, 11.5-inch screen is the largest and highest-resolution consumer e-reading display yet.

Perhaps its biggest boast, however, is what that display is made of – Instead of rigid, fragile glass, the Skiff Reader’s display utilizes a thin, flexible sheet of stainless-steel foil. Developed by LG specifically for Skiff, the touchscreen foil-display promises an e-reader that will be much more durable than anything currently available.

In the US, connectivity will be provided through Sprint’s 3G wireless network, although the Skiff Reader will also work with WiFi. Users will be able to purchase periodicals, books and other reading materials from the online Skiff Store. Given that Skiff is owned by Hearst Corporation, a media giant in the truest sense of the word, there should be a lot to choose from.

Skiff has optimized its e-reader for newspapers and magazines, and has been working on ways of supporting the key design qualities of the publications it carries; things like layout, graphics and typography will retain their unique look on its screen, allowing the “personality” of the publication to show through. That, in turn, will hopefully attract advertisers and subscribers. By combining innovative technology with connectivity and advertising opportunities, Skiff is creating an ecosystem that is essential to the survival of its product. “Skiff’s goal is to connect publishers and marketers with consumers,” says Skiff president Gilbert Fuchsberg. "We will accomplish this by delivering engaging reading experiences that consumers will value, and a business model that respects publishers’ needs.”

The Skiff Reader should be available online, and through US Sprint dealers, later this year. There’s still no word on price. Even if you don’t buy the reader, Skiff is working on making its digital store and client software accessible to a variety of other devices, including smartphones.

First mobile interactive projector

Light Blue Optics unveils Light Touch: a 10-inch touchscreen pico projector based on lasers (video)

Light Touch is an interactive projector - WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity enable seamless device to device communication and applications that connect to the internet for rich functionality such as streaming multimedia and social networking. (Photo: Business Wire)

Light Blue Optics Unveils Light Touch™ - An Interactive Projector That Turns Any Flat Surface into a Touch Screen

**Company launches first mobile interactive projector, opening up new opportunities for touch-sensitive displays**

**Light Touch™ creates a 10” display, incorporates touch technology and runs Adobe Flash Lite, creating an exciting new application platform**




Light Touch™ incorporates LBO’s proprietary holographic laser projection technology (HLP™), creating bright, high-quality WVGA resolution video images that are always in focus. HLP™ enables extremely wide throw angles, resulting in large images being created at close proximity to the projector’s aperture. HLP can also correct for distortion and optical aberrations in software, enabling novel table-top projection. A unique optical architecture delivers a Class 1 laser safety classification making HLP™ and devices that incorporate it eye safe.

Light Touch™ includes an infra-red touch sensing system that transforms the projected image into a virtual 10” touch screen. The user can control the projector and interact with multimedia content and applications simply by touching the projected image. Light Touch™ runs Adobe Flash Lite 3.1, leveraging a large existing developer community and enabling the rapid development of innovative applications. WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity enable device to device communication and applications that connect directly to the internet such as social networking, multimedia sharing and electronic point of sale. Light Touch ™ is equipped with 2GB of onboard Flash memory and has a Micro SD card slot that supports up to 32GB. Light Touch™ can be wall powered or battery operated, with a run-time of 2 hours before recharging is required.

Light Blue Optics’ CEO, Chris Harris said “At LBO, we believe that today’s consumer is no longer a passive viewer of multimedia content. People expect to engage, interact and share content and our first product enables them to do that in new and exciting ways. The opportunities for Light Touch™ extend beyond consumer electronics into retail spaces, the workplace and the home - profoundly changing the way people interact with multimedia content and the built environment. By enabling such diverse and compelling use cases, LBO aims to become the world’s leading supplier of miniature projection systems.”

Source: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/LightBlueOptics/

The Gibson Dusk Tiger: Robot guitar technology moves to v2.0

The Gibson Dusk Tiger: Robot guitar technology moves to v2.0

Gibson is pushing forward in its quest to build the most technologically advanced guitars on the planet, undeterred by many guitarists' disdain for its Robot Guitar technology and recent design choices. The New Dusk Tiger is an evolution of the Dark Fire, and it maintains and expands upon the Dark Fire's ability to tune itself in seconds and produce a huge range of tones. While it's a fully analogue instrument, the Dusk Tiger can be plugged into a PC to change tone, EQ and tuning settings to provide a range of customisation and gig setup options that simply dwarf the capabilities of any guitar that's come before it. Pity, then, that behind that glowing Master Control Knob it's packing a face only a mother could love!

In January 2008, Gibson introduced its Robot Les Paul, the first production guitar to incorporate the jaw-dropping ability to tune itself - and that was followed ten months later by the Les Paul Dark Fire, which updated the robot tuning mechanism and added an inbuilt piezo pickup to give players a broader range of tone options and the ability to produce sounds that range from fully rock electric almost back to the sound of an acoustic.

The latest model to be announced is the Dusk Tiger, which builds on the abilities of the Dark Fire but also concentrates on more intuitive controls. It's more of an evolution than the revolution Gibson's marketing department are touting it as, but it's still a significant step forward from previous models.

Following on from the Dark Fire's promise of delivering "every imaginable guitar sound," one of the Dusk Tiger's new features is the ability to plug the guitar into a PC and create new customised tone presets, blending a range of sounds from all the pickups, including the piezo, and setting 4-band parametric EQ on each pickup to achieve the perfect sound.

All this is achieved using fully analogue signal processing, despite the advanced digital interfaces.

Once you've designed your new tone, you can then assign it to a spot on the Master Control Knob (MCK) and sync it back into the guitar where you can access all your tones quickly and easily on the fly. The same knob also controls the Robot tuning system.

The excellent Robot tuning technology not only lets you tune your guitar within seconds at the press of a button, but allows you easy access to a broad and customisable range of alternate tunings through the MCK. It's as impressive as ever, with a re-string mode to set the tension on new strings, and another mode designed to help you set your intonation in seconds. It's also quicker than on previous models.

The Neutrix combination jack on the Dusk Tiger lets you use either a standard guitar lead or a low-impedance lead, which allows you to run a longer or lower quality cable without loss of signal quality or tone.

New rechargeable batteries

The Dusk Tiger ships with rechargeable batteries similar to those you'd use in a compact digital camera. They last longer than the old batteries (around 500 tunings instead of 200) and can be swapped out quickly if you keep a spare.

Computer Communications

Every Dusk Tiger ships with a tailored copy of Ableton Live 8, a popular live looping/recording package, and the ability to run the guitar straight into a PC or Mac through FireWire or Roland GK-13 compatible Midi cables.

The Dusk Tiger's marblewood/mahogany body and design don't seem to be winning it many new fans at this stage - but design's a subjective thing, and importantly, Gibson seems committed to pushing this usable technology through its top-end guitar range.

At around US$4600 and with a limited run of 1000 expected to be made, the Dusk Tiger is available now at Gibson dealers. More information at the Dusk Tiger minisite:

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Dusk-Tiger/Next-Generation.aspx


Source: http://www.gizmag.com/gibson-dusk-tiger-robot-guitar/13700/

Sense concept plays with your emotion

Sense concept plays with your emotion

We often think that machines are cold and unfeeling devices, making their decisions based on logic and logic alone (those who watched Terminator Salvation ought to be able to relate), which is why we rely on our feelings to churn out more human-like devices, as in the case of CD&I Associates with their Sense concept.

The Sense concept is a wireless device which is touted to offer a “more emotional connection between users and experiences” using touch and smell. This would mean users will be able to experience haptic, thermal and olfactory sensations whenever they indulge in games, sit through a movie or even shop online, thanks to a tactile hand sheath and flavor-ink printed output.

I’m not too sure about the flavor – would you like to taste your own blood in your mouth after getting pummeled to a pulp by your opponent in Street Fighter IV? How about having a go at Left 4 Dead, only to smell bile and other offending scents which might lead your wife to think you’re secretly harboring a skunk at home.

Still, this concept ought to be commended as CD&I Associates wants to elevate everyday experiences like shopping, gaming and watching media online to a whole new level thanks to their wireless sensory aid.

The system, with its tactile, heated sheath will be able to stimulate nerve receptors in the hand that in turn recreates the pressure, temperature, roughness, softness, or hardness properties of an object that is currently being viewed. Of course, there is a whole lot of work to be done here since the developers will need to encode the smell, touch and taste variations of multiple subjects being viewed, which is an extremely tedious task to say the least.

Half a dozen flavor cartridges will feature in the Sense, where it is capable of mimicking basic flavor types including bitterness, sweetness and saltiness among others. They are also toying with the idea of including seven more wax cartridges with micro emanators to reproduce different types of smell. All in all, the Sense concept looks and sounds like something just for the rich – I would much rather spend my money purchasing an ink cartridge for my printer instead of refilling these flavor and wax cartridges. What about you?

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com

New Concept Makes PCs More Aesthetically Appealing, Literally Greener

New Concept Makes PCs More Aesthetically Appealing, Literally Greener

New PC concept from designer Luis Luna make the desktop appear more appealing visually,and give it the ability to offset at least a small amount of the CO2 it produces during its lifetime. The design gives a smoother look to the desktop as a sleek circular package. The center of this circle has a cavity to hold some soil, and provide enough ground to grow small plants.

The idea is to make the CPU a decorative piece and secure it with the idea of going green. Having a bit of greenery on the desk is never a bad thing, and it will also help keep the user charged with the idea of saving the environment. The small plant growing on the PC may not have a marked effect on the environment, or even be enough to completely offset the CO2 emissions related with the system. But it will be able to reduce a tiny amount of CO2, and with a large number of computers going green, it could have a marked effect, simply because of the numbers involved.

Source: http://www.greenpacks.org

HTC Working With Google On a Chrome OS Tablet

HTC Working With Google On a Chrome OS Tablet

Everyone is clamoring about tablets these days —ourselves included— so it is not too surprising that Google and HTC are reportedly working together to join the fray with a Chrome OS Google Tablet.

Smarthouse, an Australian publication, reports that HTC and Google have been collaborating "for the past 18 months" and have produced "several working models of a touch tablet," including one outfitted with Google's Chrome OS.

We wrote on why a Google Tablet would be a good idea last month, and with the Apple Tablet discussion reaching a fever pitch, it's harder and harder to get excited about a Chrome OS netbook from Google.

Having collaborated on the Nexus One, a smart phone that impressed us with its design as well as its hardware, HTC and Google partnering on a tablet seems like a promising prospect. But will it "compete head on" with Apple's tablet as Smarthouse claims? Probably not.

From what we know, it seems like Apple is putting as much effort into its tablet's content as it is into the gadget itself. We've written extensively on how an Apple tablet could redefine newspapers, textbooks, and magazines. In the last case, we've already salivated, more than once, over concepts for how magazines might evolve in a multi-touch future. Add that to Apple's recent acquisition of Lala, a move that likely points to a cloud-based future for iTunes, and the reports that Apple is trying to secure TV show subscription packages for the iTunes store. Admittedly, not a whole lot is certain about Apple's tablet. But you start looking at all of those pieces and how they might fit together around one device, you can easily envision a gadget that is focused on streaming the stuff you read, the stuff you listen to, and the stuff you watch.

It's hard to foresee a future in which a Google Tablet tries to go head to head with Apple on the content level. That's not to say, however, that there aren't some compelling things that could be offered by a Google tablet. As the launch of Google's Chrome OS made clear, they're looking toward a future with a multitude of devices that can access the Internet quickly, cleanly, and cheaply. A Google Tablet could be just the thing to realize all of those goals. When we tried out the JooJoo tablet, we saw how a well-designed tablet for consuming web content could work well. A Chrome OS tablet by Google would likely work the same way, keeping typing to a minimum and offering a literal hands-on web surfing experience. [Smarthouse via Business Insider]
Source: http://gizmodo.com

Philco PC – Gorgeous retro PC

Philco PC – Gorgeous retro PC



This Philco PC harks back to the very stylish Philco Predicta TV from the 50’s, old pre-war typewriters and just a dash of steampunk. It’s just a concept at the moment, produced by SchultzeWorks Design. The design is being shopped around to manufacturers so maybe we’ll see these in the not too distant future. More pics here.[Via Yanko]

The design of the “Philco PC” was inspired by the 1954 design classic Philco Predicta, as well as an eclectic mixture of modern minimalism, the steampunk movement, and antiques. As lead designer Dave Schultze explains, “The result is a design aesthetic that blends multiple elements of the familiar, but with some surprisingly fresh styling that just so happens to house a state-of-the-art Windows 7 PC.”

(Source: redferret.net)