Want Honeycomb on your TV? You can take your chances with a Google TV-enabled set from Sony, or you can get the full Android experience by adding a connected tablet to your HD mix — if Istanbul-based Ardic gets its solution out the door, at least. The Turkish company’s prototype uses a 10-inch Android Honeycomb-based tablet to power a 65-inch LCD with 1080p support for basic gestures, like pinch and zoom. The display currently has two touch sensors, but a version with four sensors is on the way, which will bring multi-touch support. The tablet is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 2 SoC, and includes 1GB of RAM, 16GB of flash memory, dual cameras, HDMI, USB, microSD and 3G and WiFi connectivity. A dock enables instant connectivity with the OEM TV, including HDMI for video and audio, and USB for touch input (a wireless version is in the works as well).

The devs customized Android to support 1080p output, and it appears to work quite seamlessly, as you’ll see in the embedded video. And this isn’t simply another goofy demo or proof of concept — the Turkish company is in talks with education and enterprise customers and hopes to bring this setup to production as a more power- and cost-efficient smart board alternative. The company eventually hopes to offer displays in a variety of sizes, which will all be powered by a pocketable device, such as a smartphone, but watch in wonder as the 65-inch proto we have today struts its stuff in the video after the break. Read more…

Compact pack rifles are usually designed to be carried for emergencies, and this ultra lightweight aluminum and carbon fiber model, from Mountain View Machine & Welding, will greatly improve your chances of survival since it can also be transformed into a telescoping fishing rod.

Weighing in at just under a pound, the .22 caliber single-shot bolt-action rifle is not only light and easy to carry, but the use of aluminum and carbon fiber make it weather resistant too. When you’re hungry, or when the local wildlife decides that they are, you don’t want a little rain to get in the way of putting this to good use.

The rifle breaks down into two main components in just a couple of seconds, making it easier to stash in a backpack. And with the addition of a reel screwed onto the pistol grip, and a rod that extends from the stock, you’ve got yourself another survival tool in the same $425 package. Let’s see your corkscrew-packing Swiss Army knife do that.

Motorola’s just officially unveiled Motoactv, its very own music and fitness device. The little running mate sports a 600MHz processor, runs Android and weighs a healthy 35 grams. It’ll apparently track your heart rate, and log running, walking and cycling statistics, and packs GPS to track your exercise routes. The Nike+ competitor is unsurprisingly sweat and waterproof and can hold up to 4,000 songs. It also offers FM radio and audio “coaching,” which updates on pace and distance, for those who need a little inspiration in their routine. Moto’s also outing a pair of accompanying Bluetooth headsets, the SF700 ($149) and SF500 ($99), which will be sold separately. The Motoactv will set beat-bumping runners back $249 or $299 for 8GB and 16GB, respectively.

“Great looking books.” That’s what Amazon is promising to deliver with Kindle Format 8 (KF8) — a new, HTML5-based file format for Kindle books. According to the company, KF8 will allow publishers to produce picture books, comics and graphic novels with greater ease, thanks to the platform’s rich formatting capabilities and design elements. In fact, this format brings more than 150 new formatting tools to the table, including fixed layouts, nested tables, sidebars and Scalable Vector Graphics, among others. It should be noted, however, that audio and video are not included on the list of supported HTML tags and CSS elements. At first, content creators will only be able to use KF8 for the Kindle Fire tablet, though Amazon says it’ll gradually expand to its entire lineup of devices and apps “in the coming months.” No word yet on when KF8 will become available as an update to Amazon’s Kindle Publisher Tools suite, but you can find more details at the source link, below.

SOURCE via Amazon

Since the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, Japanese companies have been focusing their efforts on creating products that can be useful in an emergency. And since batteries can be vital when a power grid’s been knocked out, Sanyo has been working to improve their shelf life.

On a full charge, their latest rechargeable nickel-metal hydride AA and AAA Eneloop batteries will retain up to 70% of their capacity after sitting unused for five years. And if you abandon them for just a year, they’ll have only lost about 10% of their charge. Improvements that come courtesy of a change in the crystal lattice structure of the hydrogen storing alloy. Exciting stuff! Sanyo has also managed to increase the numer of times the new Eneloops can be run down and charged back up. About 1,800 times, a 20% increase over the previous generation. They also come fully charged from the factory, exclusively with solar power, so they can be used straight out of the package. Available come November.

SOURCE via Panasonic

Launched on Friday September 30th, Gibson’s brand new Firebird X guitar is the pinnacle of electronic guitar technology. The Firebird X really goes to show how far technology has gone in improving music production. With its very own software editor, an integrated robot that automatically keeps the guitar in tune and third party application support, this guitar does it all.

Firebird X owners will be able to create tweaks and edits to just about every aspect of the guitar thanks to its integrated software, fulfilling the exact needs of the musician. Developers will be able to make use of the guitar’s third party application support to further realize the potential of the guitar.

In addition to being able to modify the sound of their guitars to the liking via a computer or laptop, Firebird X owners will also have all of the standard onboard effects to keep them rocking. The Firebird X comes standard with onboard effects such as distortion, reverberation, EQ and compression.

Gibson says its guitar is like “the world’s best legal sports car in looks, feel and performance”. Seeing as how only 1800 will be made, each one costing $5570, we wouldn’t expect anything less.

SOURCE via CNET

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos today took to the stage at a press conference to unveil not one but three brand new cheap-as-chips Kindle e-readers. We all know that the company is also launching a Kindle tablet today, but for those of us that can’t get past our love of e-Ink displays, Amazon is not leaving us behind.

The new lines of Kindles start at $79, with the new entry-level Kindle representing a refresh from the old Kindle 3. Measuring in at less than six ounces and 18 percent smaller than the old model (just the body, the display is still a 6-inch job), this one has just three buttons and sports a sleek and sexy design. It seems this model will be a Kindle + Special Offers deal. You might remember when the Special Offers Kindle was launched by Amazon earlier this year. If not, it’s basically a heavily discounted, ad-supported Kindle. The ads on the new Special Offer Kindle are local and classy, appearing as unimposing screensavers, so don’t worry about your reading being interrupted by annoying pop-ups.

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As difficult as it may be to see, radiation can be a scary thing, especially for expectant mothers. Electromagnetic radiation can be very dangerous in the early stages of pregnancy as it can hinder the growing abilities of embryonic cells. To prevent such dangers, there are a handful of radiation shielding clothes out there, but nothing really provides information about what radiation, if any, is actually present.

Thanks to the Care Bracelet concept designed by Gang Wang, pregnant mothers will be able to get a grasp on the levels of radiation nearby, keeping them informed of any potential dangers. The Care Bracelet looks like an ordinary fashion accessory but will be able to warn and remind pregnant women about any possibly dangerous environments they may be venturing into.

The device is equipped with a radiation detecting chip, micro motor and thermal energy conversion module that allows it to change colors and vibrate depending on nearby radiation levels. When the bracelet is green, it means that the area is healthy. In areas where radiation may be present, the bracelet vibrates and turns pink until the wearer leaves the polluted area.

Although most expecting mothers are probably smart enough to avoid standing in front of the microwave or curiously green glowing substances with danger signs all around, you can never be too safe with a baby on the way!

SOURCE via Designbuzz

SanDisk has launched a USB-based storage device that promises to store your photos for up to 100 years. The company also introduced several additional cards and USB drives.

As part of a new suite of retail products introduced on Wednesday, SanDisk revealed the Memory Vault, a USB-based storage device that promises to preserve photos for up to 100 years. The device reportedly utilizes SanDisk’s Chronolock technology which incorporates “key elements of advanced solid-state storage to create a proprietary memory management solution.”

“SanDisk already offers great image-capture products, and we’ve built upon that expertise to create a new category of image-preservation products,” said Tim Sutton, senior product marketing manager, SanDisk. “The Memory Vault allows parents to preserve photos of their daughter’s first steps alongside videos from her wedding and then pass those images down for generations to come.”

According to SanDisk, the Memory Vault is now available in two capacities: 8 GB for $49.99 and 16 GB for $89.99. Requirements include a USB 2.0 port, and operating systems including Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS X v10.4.11 or above.

Read more…

Way back when, animated characters were voiced by anonymous folks with great pipes. These days, you need A-list celebs to sell pixelated fish and other playthings. The disembodied and slightly stilted voices of navigation systems appear to be going the same way, and Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson is the latest talent to contribute his voice to giving directions – ironic, considering he’s made his disdain for GPS clear in the past.

According to the UK’s Daily Mail, TomTom will unveil a device next month in which the famously ornery BBC star will advise you to execute handbrake turn – going all, well, Clarkson, when you miss your offramp. If he ever gets to be too much, apparently the unit will allow you to get directions from The Stig, which we expect will sound like not getting any voice directions at all.

SOURCE via Dailymail