Sony Ericsson PXi

Bence Bogar must be a leftie because his SE PXi concept is a product specifically created for all lefties tho it’s flexible enough for righties too. Obviously following the current direction of SE’s P series of smartphones, the PXi is powerful while staying somewhat slim and ergonomic. The body is magnesium framing a big 3.3 inch touchscreen. The screen rotates automatically ala iPhone and is optimized for both finger and stylus input. The right side of the unit houses a jogdial and a secondary touchscreen which adapts to whatever app is currently open. The smartphone also sports not 1 but 2 card slots for all memory whores. Business functions aside, the PXi is equipped with stereo speakers and a Cybershot class 5 megapixel camera.

I don’t know much about lefties but if the PXi was created with them in mind, isn’t the jogdial on the wrong side? I’m just saying.

[PXi - mobile concept]

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Asus Aura Mobile Phone

Asus Aura, produced by Hungarian design company Egy Studio for Taiwanese vendor. It was clearly inspired by iPhone, although it has some interesting innovations addressing commonly mentioned shortcomings of Apple’s cellphone. Features of Asus Aura include - a sliding QWERTY keyboard that should make text entry much easier, 3,9 touchscreen covering the whole surface of the phone, 2 megapixel camera, microSD memory card slot, GSM, UMTS, HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. All of this in a 6mm thick package.

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PMP With Gasp! No Touchscreen

Yes someone has designed a concept in 2007 with no touchscreen! Can you believe it? It’s like they didn’t get the memo or something. Seriously tho, I believe there’s still a place for tactile or as the geeks say it, “analog” controls. Designers Mathieu Pesme and Jeff Castel embrace other ‘concepty’ technologies without drowning us in all the high tech hoopla-hype.

This PMP (portable media player) comes equipped wit an subsurface OLED widescreen and a simple dropped bevel around the bezel to wind your headphones in. Other noted design elements are the tactile control wheel and integrated stereo speakers.

[PMP]

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Creative Announces 32GB ZEN Portable Multimedia Device

Creative's new ZEN serves up 32GB of storage space

Apple may know how to tickle the fancy of portable audio enthusiasts around the world with innovative features (i.e., the iPod touch), but manufacturers like SanDisk and Creative continue to lead the way in value and storage capacity.

In late October, provided details on SanDisk's yet-to-be-officially-announced 32GB Sansa View. The tiny player can playback audio/video and features a 2.4" QVGA screen. Pricing for the player is a relatively reasonable $329.99 which rings up $70 less than an iPod touch.

Creative, not one to be left out of a capacity war, is following suit with the official unveil of its 32GB ZEN. The ZEN features a 2.5" display, an FM radio turner, a Secure Digital expansion slot for those who crave even more storage space and includes support for a multitude of file formats (WMV9, MJPEG, MPEG4-SP, DivX 4/5, XviD, MP3, WMA, Audible 2, 3, 4 and non-protected AAC).

Creative says that the built-in lithium-ion battery is good for 5 hours of video playback or up to 30 hours of audio playback.

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Robot Learns Like A Child

Robots are notoriously lousy at coping with unfamiliar situations. One of the major obstacles to having robots assist us at home is that they’re going to need to be flexible, and home users aren’t going to want to sit down and write a new servo control subroutine every time their robot needs to perform a task for which it has not been preprogrammed. The robot in the video above is able to learn via observation and replication, which is how we humans figure things out. The HOAP-3 robot, made by Fujitsu, has been programmed by Sylvain Calinon and other researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne to watch how a human performs an action, and then duplicate that action. If the robot doesn’t get it right, it can learn on the fly as a human corrects its motions, which (if you think about it) is pretty much how you were taught to write, throw a baseball, ride a bike, and so forth. I’d much rather have a dumb robot with the ability to learn than a smart robot that I can’t teach new things to, especially if the teaching process is no more complicated than a game of Simon says. Er, make that Evan says.

[ Sylvain Calinon’s Homepage ]

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Volkswagen Viseo

Marc Kirsch’s diploma project was created in collaboration with Volkswagen design in Wolfsburg Germany. A three-seat prototype car powered by an electric engine. The project was created considering the visual and conceptional influence of internationally renowned architect Santiago Calatrava. Kirsch created a vehicle that enables a higher level of comfort whilst enhancing the driving experience and promoting ecological values. The target was to create a visionary concept car, shaped and based on the Calatravian motto of “dynamic balance” through the use of new technologies.

The popular shapes used by Calatrava are recognized in the design of the Viseo concept with a large glass surface area completely covered in a flexible OLED film. This guarantees an innovative safety and communication concept allowing the vehicle to communicate externally.

Designer: Marc Kirsch

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It Was A Rock Lobster

Anytime I can get one of the best lyrics from the B52’s into a blog post, I’m there. I’m not just pulling this out of thin air tho. This multimedia device is called the Lobster and if you squint really hard, the segmented pieces sorta look like a lobster’s tail.

It’s composed of an LCD screen that acts as a base for a multitude of media modules. By snapping those modules on, you further extend the Lobster’s features. The cool thing about the segmented design is it makes a perfect arm band, that is if you add enough modules. Sneaky huh?

[It Was A Rock Lobster]

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Go Ahead And Pick A Light

Picking fruit from a tree could be a metaphor for recharging and reusing. This hollow steel tree is exactly that. It charges three pear-shaped lights that can be picked off for use. They’ll stay illuminated for an hour and when you’re out of “juice”, just put them back on the tree.

Designer: Nick Foley

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The Lamborghini Reventón

When you see a Lamborghini, you see style, elegance, power and performance. Top of the line in all it has to offer inside and out. Lamborghini has always been a car that is truly unique and one that out performs all others. With the birth of the new Lamborghini Reventon, the style, power and performance has been knocked up several notches. With only 20 being made and selling for 1 million Euro’s (tax not included), the Reventon is by far the most unique Lamborghini yet made-a true masterpiece.

Designed with the idea of modern aeronautics behind it, Reventon has style and vitality like no other car around. With its twisting design the Reventon has a seamlessly elegant movement. The carbon fiber material and the forward-facing air intakes allows for the 650 horsepower car stability, power and precision even at 340 km/hr.

Not only is the design of the Reventon extraordinary, but the coloring created just for this model is unique. A mid opaque green/grey, which in the sunlight, shows a depth to the paint of the Reventon.

The interior of the Reventon is equally stunning. With a G-force meter created solely for the Reventon, it shows the dynamic drive forces, longitudinal acceleration during acceleration and braking, as well as transversal acceleration around bends.

The Reventon has many other amazing features unique to this car. Once again, Lamborghini has shown exactly how much dedication goes into creating a super masterpiece - Style, and perfection to another classic.

[Lamborghini]

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Personalizing That Phone

Customizable face plates for electronics is all the rage right? This clamshell phone is all about user customization. The grid lattice structure holds colored pins to mimic precious jewelry. Create all kinds of designs and patterns in full pixelated isometric glory. Limited edition versions with precious metals and gems could also be created to heighten the sense of personal style and design.

Designer: Nils Siegel [Personalizing That Phone]

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Projection Mobile Phones

’s getting there, day by day, closer and closer. It’s only a matter of time before mobile projection technology makes its way into the mass market. This concept by Stefano Casanova is a Windows based mobile phone that can project your desktop to an flat surface. The micro light projector is actually integrated into the LCD so in order to activate it, you have to flip the screen down. Conceptual but interesting.

[Projection Mobile Phones]

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Futuristic Vaio Zoom

The Vaio Zoom notebook concept takes everything we know about holographic technology and squeezes it inside a thin glass form factor. When off, the screen is completely transparent and the keyboard goes opaque. Turn it on and the touchscreen holographic festivities begin. Even the mouse buttons are holographic!

It’s just a concept so there’s no info on important tidbits like tactile feedback, battery life, system stats, etc., but rest assured technologies like this are closer than you think. It may not come all at once but it’s coming.

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Merry christmas and Happy New year 2008

Merry christmas and Happy New year 2008!

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Japan's New Way of Saving: The Bank of Life

We have grown accustomed to the habit of placing our loose change in our ever dependable piggy banks. Now, wouldn't it be nice to have a bank that is "tamagotchi" in nature.

Here it is. Introducing the Bank of Life.

Upon closer inspection, users will find out that there is a virtual man waiting...

This bank holds up to a whopping 100,000 Yen.

But hold on, there's more...

He starts off living in a very shabby apartment. And as soon as you put money inside the Life Bank, he will slowly earn virtual money in the process. Soon enough, he will move to a bigger apartment, start drinking wine, have a pet, and will even get married in the process. Through it all, the person will be so rich in his virtual world that you will find out that you too will be 100,000 Yen richer.

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Superbitus money box

Problem:	Give meaning to the breaking of a money box.

Superbitus is a one-piece bomb-shaped plaster-made money-saving box. Supplied with a white marker to write the purpose of savings.

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Nokia N95 8GB Phone

With up to 8GB of built-in memory, the Nokia N95 8GB has key features of its predecessor, including a 5.1-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, built-in A-GPS, WLAN, HSDPA and an innovative 2-way slide. The N95 8GB also boasts a luminous 2.8-inch (240 x 320 px) QVGA display, so watching videos, browsing the Internet or viewing maps is a pleasure. With its expanded memory, the N95 8GB offers up to 20 hours of video or up to 6000 songs. The N95 8GB supports services like Nokia Music Store and N-Gage Games. Access millions of music tracks from the Nokia Music Store or get a sneak-peak at N-Gage gaming - live later this year. Test out games like FIFA 2007 and Asphalt 3: Street Rules. Once N-Gage goes live, users will be able to try games for free before deciding on a purchase.

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Motorola RAZR V3maxx (Ferrari Challenge) Phone

The Motorola RAZR V3maxx Ferrari Challenge offers HSDPA capability and a series of exclusive features: the Ferrari emblem on the exterior glass, the roar of the Ferrari F1 eight-cylindre engine accompanies the switching of the handset on or off, images of the Ferrari F430 engine on the mini external display and the image of the Ferrari emblem on a grey Ferrari in the internal display. The RAZR V3maxx Ferrari Challenge delivers the capability to listen to music, browse the Internet and download content at extremely high speed, all within a handset with high-end finishes, in a futuristic mix of metal and tempered glass. External touch controls allow for fast access to the music functions when the phone is closed with great elegance and simplicity.

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LG Shine Arrives to AT&T

AT&T today announced the availability of the LG Shine, a sliding form-factor device featuring a silver exterior and comes with video, music and camera features and a 2.2-inch mirror LCD screen.

The Shine is pre-loaded with AT&T's features, including AT&T Video Share, Mobile Banking, AT&T Mobile Music and more. The Shine is designed to satisfy the needs of mobile phone users who want style and glamour in their state-of-the-art mobile device and wireless service.

"Metal is back and taking on a whole new look with this season's must-have mobile phone, the Shine by LG," said Ehtisham Rabbani, vice president of Product Strategy and Marketing at LG Mobile Phones. "Consumers will be captivated by the Shine's brushed-metal body and mirror LCD, and they will be excited to find that the phone is more than just a pretty face."

Additional features on the LG Shine include a 2.0-megapixel camera with video record and Bluetooth 2.0 capability for music and voice. The body of the Shine is an elegant metal body surrounding the mirror LCD screen.

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Toyota Goes "Batty" with Hybrid Pickup Concept

Toyota gets back to its compact roots with new A-BAT pickup concept

Tech enthusiasts know that the month of January is usually reserved for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and Macworld Expo. All of the latest tech gadgets and computing products are shown at both shows -- the omnipresent iPhone made its initial bow at this year's Macworld.

January, however, is also known for the biggest auto show in the world: the North American International Auto Show (aka the Detroit Auto Show). All of the world's major manufacturers debut new production automobiles as well as concepts during the Detroit Auto Show. Toyota is giving gear heads a sneak peak at one of its show attendees in the form of the A-BAT concept vehicle.

The Toyota A-BAT was developed by Toyota's Advanced Product Strategy group and Calty Design Research. In keeping with Toyota's efforts to make every one of its vehicles hybrid-equipped by the year 2020, the A-BAT naturally incorporates the Hybrid Synergy Drive with a naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine.

The A-BAT is a unibody-based pickup a la the Honda Ridgeline -- Toyota's two production pickups, the Tundra and Tacoma, are body-on-frame vehicles. The vehicle rides on a 112.2-inch wheelbase which could indicate that the Highlander donated its platform for the A-BAT. The short hood and cab-forward nature of the vehicle also seem to indicate a transverse engine layout which further solidifies the FWD-based assumption.

"Driving from beyond the suburbs to the city is a way of life for many people," said Kevin Hunter, president, Calty Design Research "We've taken Toyota's truck heritage to a different level by envisioning a vehicle capable of maneuvering the suburbs as well as dirt roads. This compact truck is as comfortable for long commutes as it is for road trips. It can accommodate outdoor toys and home improvement supplies. Plus, customers benefit from the hybrid powertrain's low emissions and fuel economy."

Despite the unibody construction and compact dimensions -- the A-BAT is over two feet shorter than an extended cab Tacoma -- the vehicle can still accommodate the requisite 4' x 8' plywood sheet.

Toyota is looking for ways to increase the efficiency of its fleet and reduce emissions. The company came under fire when it released the massive 5.7 liter V8-packin' Tundra earlier this year, so a production version of the A-BAT would make a nice addition to the Toyota portfolio.

A unibody-based pickup with a hybrid powertrain would have the advantage of improving Toyota's CAFE average in the face of stricter government legislation and appeasing the truck community that has seen the U.S. compact truck market all but disappear -- only the AARP qualifying Ford Ranger still ranks as a "true" compact while the Tacoma, Colorado/Canyon, Ridgeline, Frontier, Dakota and Sport Trac all dance in mid-size territory.

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Lamborghini Murcielago VS Ford GT on highway

Brakes are four-piston aluminum Brembo calipers with cross-drilled and vented rotors at all four corners. When the rear canopy is opened, the rear suspension components and engine are visible.

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Panasonic Announces Ultra-thin Blu-ray Drive for Notebooks

Panasonic says the thinnest Blu-ray drive ever made will be on display at CES 2008 in January

Ardent road warriors are always on the lookout for smaller, thinner and lighter notebook computers. With Blu-ray movies becoming more commonplace the same road warriors are also looking to systems with Blu-ray drives as well.

The problem with Blu-ray drives is that the typical Blu-ray drive for notebooks is about 0.5 inches thick. The typical standard DVD drive for a notebook is only 0.28 inches thick. This represents almost twice the heft for the Blu-ray drive compared to the standard DVD drive.

Panasonic announced a new ultra-thin Blu-ray drive aimed at notebook computers and UMPC systems that measures in at only 0.37 inches thick. This new drive is capable of reading Blu-ray discs and writing to Blu-ray media as well.

The thin drive will also read and write to standard DVD and CD media. InformationWeek reports Toshiba will have an equally thin HD DVD drive as well. While Blu-ray drives that both read and write Blu-ray media have been available in notebooks for some time, only recently were notebooks touted HD DVD writable drives.

Toshiba announced new notebook systems this month that feature the first rewritable HD DVD drives. Panasonic says its new thin Blu-ray drive will be on display in January at CES 2008.

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Apple Vows to Succeed Where Botched Online Movie Services Failed

Apple to announce movie rental download program weeks after Wal-Mart cancels similar service for lack of consumer interest

Movie fans know going to the movie store isn’t always convenient and late fees are a pain. So why haven't downloadable movie rentals caught on yet? Even the infamous Enron had plans to produce infrastructure for video-on-demand libraries as early as 2000.

With the recent demise of Wal-mart's downloadable services, the time might be ripe for new blood. According to the Associated Press Apple will announce the new movie rental service next month that will work on top of its iTunes infrastructure.

The new service is not to be confused with existing movie and TV downloads on iTunes. The new service would increase content several times over, with titles from several different studios.

Apple has a much stronger user base for its iTunes service, which allowed Apple to attract its first major movie studio for the rental deal -- Twentieth Century Fox. Apple also agreed to license Fox its copy-protection scheme FairPlay, already built into Fox movie releases. This will allow Fox DVD films to be transferred to computers and iPods for playback.

For many movie fans the real viability for download services like this comes in the price per movie. If Apple can provide fast downloads of first run movies at a price within a few dollars of what the same film rents for in stores, the service should be a hit. However, if Apple and Fox price the download rentals too high the vast majority of movie fans will continue to make the trek to the movie store.

Rumors that Apple was considering a movie rental service surfaced in June of 2007. At that time the rumored price was $2.99 for a 30-day rental of a movie via digital download. If Apple offers new releases at that price the program would likely be very successful.

Wal-Mart recently nixed plans for its download movie program after it failed to meet expectations. This cancellation left those who had bought digital movies from Wal-Mart’s service hanging. The flicks can be viewed after the service was shut down on December 21, 2007, but they cannot be transferred to another PC.

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Samsung Unveils 31-inch OLED Screen

Samsung 31-inch OLED screen prototype to be displayed at CES 2008

OLED panels are the next big thing when it comes to TVs and other consumer electronics from cameras to cell phones. The OLED screen promises more compact dimensions, less power consumption and brighter images.

Small OLED screens are currently found on some cell phones and LCD TV makers are looking for larger OLED screens to use in HDTVs. Reuters reports that Samsung recently unveiled a 31-inch active-matrix OLED screen. Samsung says it will have a 31-inch OLED prototype TV on display at CES 2008 in January.

Samsung declined to comment on the commercial availability of TVs using the 31-inch OLED panel stating that the panel being available for retail purchase would depend on TV makers’ plans. With the very high cost of the Sony XEL-1, the first commercially available OLED TV retailing for over $1,700 USD, the price for a 31-inch Samsung panel equipped OLED TV is a frightening thought for many. Samsung didn’t comment on potential pricing for TVs using its 31-inch OLED panel.

Samsung says its new 31-inch OLED panel is only 4.3mm thick and uses less than half the power required of a typical 32-inch TV. The panel’s lifespan is 35,000 hours, which is the best lifespan of existing AM-OLED panels.

Exactly how many of the panels Samsung will be able to produce is unknown. Sony is limited to 2,000 of its XEL-1 11-inch OLED TVs per month because of production limits for the OLED panels.

Toshiba announced in December of 2007 that it would not be bringing its similarly sized OLED panel to market citing production cost concerns.

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Play Virtual Pool Moblie on a Palm Treo 700wx

Play Virtual Pool Mobile on a Palm Treo 700wx with wm5 Windows Mobile 5 Operating System.

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AMD Spider Phenom Computer Review

http://live.pirillo.com - We'll be giving away another computer! The old computer sent to me by AMD will be given away the day after Christmas, provided we've reached 20,000 YouTube subscribers. Th... (more) Added: December 21, 2007 http://live.pirill

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