Archives for March 2005
DirtSurfer hybrid skates
Juniper Foo | Mar 30, 2005
It's always amazing to see what thrill seekers come up with for the ultimate adrenalin rush. The DirtSurfer, which seems to be a combo of the skateboard and TrailSkate, was tagged "skateboard-on-steroids" by CBS Television for good reason. Since the two-wheeled inline design mimics the surf- and snowboard's movements, extreme sports fans will enjoy the free-flowing fluidity and much faster speeds of the DirtSurfer. As for moi, solid ground is always good.
Click to see enlarged image | dirtsurfer in action
Price: US$820
Availability: Really Cool Toys
Device: Extreme sports skates
Basic specs: Two inline 20-inch wheels, 28mm diameter frame, alloy, high strength solid (with 15mm nuts), DeckGrip black skateboard style non-skid, brake patented new calf-lever operated V Brake system.
Internet Urinal
Juniper Foo | Mar 29, 2005
LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) General Manager Ronald F. Deaton said today that LADWP will respond swiftly to the recommendations of an independent analysis of the Sept. 12 power outage that affected some 700,000 electric customers throughout the city.
"LADWP management and staff are seriously evaluating each recommendation of this report and we will take corrective actions as expediently as possible," Deaton said. "Our primary concern is to do everything possible to ensure that an incident such as the Sept. 12 outage is not repeated," Deaton said.
LADWP commissioned the report at the request of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Board of Water and Power Commissioners to investigate the causes of the outage and identify key areas for improvement in power system grid operations, preparation and planning to prevent a similar event from occurring. LADWP delivered the final report today to Mayor Villaraigosa, the City Council, and Water and Power Commissioners, and posted the report on its website, www.ladwp.com. The report was prepared by Pasadena-based engineering firm, Electric Power Group (EPG), selected through a competitive bidding process.
The independent report is consistent with a report prepared by LADWP for the Mayor and City Council within 10 days of the incident. The EPG report, however, cites additional findings and recommendations for avoiding such problems in the future.
To ensure the autonomy of EPG's investigation and analysis, the consulting team had full access to personnel and records, Deaton said. The EPG report is based upon interviews, logs, inspections, and records.
"EPG would like to thank the LADWP management and staff for their complete cooperation and open access to personnel, data and information," said Jim Dyer, EPG project manager for the independent analysis.
The event occurred while LADWP workers were installing new protective relay equipment for a 230/34.5 kilovolt (kV) transformer at Receiving Station-E (Toluca substation). The work was part of a system-wide Substation Automation Program to upgrade the distribution protective relays at 179 substations in the city. Prior to the Toluca work, upgrades had been installed successfully at 22 other LADWP substations.
The report recommends process changes in contracting engineering work, quality control, training, and work practices. In addition, the report recommends changes in electrical equipment, controls, and the need to complete a power-system wide design review.
For more information, the report is available online at
www.ladwp.com, or call LADWP Corporate Communications at 213-367-1361.
Jackito-Tactile Digital Assistant
Juniper Foo | Mar 28, 2005
The Jackito-TDA or Tactile Digital Assistant's been around for a good nine months. So there's no fear it'll make good on its promise to oust the PDA which is still very much alive. That said, the TDA is a pretty nifty handheld device in that it does away with the stylus and relies solely on the very tactile use of fingertips and thumbs to operate the menus. Developed by French firm Novinit, the Jackito sports two simultaneous touch points on opposite ends so you can input data with just your thumbs, which is much faster than a stylus. Or so the company claims, since none of us at CNETAsia has had the good fortune to play with one. While it comes preloaded with 20 applications, we're not sure what kind of third-party software exists out there which supports its 3ActilOS operating system.
Click to see with battery here
Price: From US$600
Availability: Jackito Web site
Device: Finger touch-sensitive digital assistant
Basic specs: Black-and-white ultra-contrast, seven specialized low-frequency processors running in parallel, 2.5MB SRAM, 16MB NOR Flash, 4.5-inch color QVGA LCD with 320 x 240dpi and landscape orientation, 4 standard connectors + 2 memory cards slots + 2 internal bus interface, Multi-Task, Multi-Windows, Real-Time, Tactile-Object Oriented, 5.5 x 3.1 x 0.63 in, 5.2 oz, single AA battery
Flip Flap Rippletone
Juniper Foo | Mar 24, 2005
Gadget Buzz will take a short break over the Good Friday vacation, returning on Monday to bring you more updates to the gizmo scene. But before that, one of our fav Japanese toy makers Tomy appears to be going potty over the life cycle of a plant. Having rolled out the Flip Flap (two giant leaves that flap under a light source) and the Flu Fleur (a flower which responds to sound), it's about to unfurl the bud-shape Rippletone. This "blooms" under solar power, and even glows in the dark. Just watch that your cat doesn't take a swipe at it.
Click to see the Rippletone packaging
Price: 1,890 yen (US$17.80)
Availability: This month, though it's likely to make its way down to shops in Singapore
Device: Solar-powered desktop accessory
Basic specs: In a choice of Passion Orange, Mint Green or Ginger Brown, three movements
microSD
Juniper Foo | Mar 23, 2005
This season's style appears to be the micro, with SanDisk being the latest to adopt the micro label, transiting its less-familiar TransFlash series to the microSD name. Size-wise, it stays at 11 x 15 x 1mm, which is almost half the size of the already tiny miniSD. Sneeze and you'll lose it. Happily, the microSD will be backward compatible with SD- and miniSD-enabled gizmos, and of course, the TransFlash format. Let us hope the microSD can support far more than the T-Flash's current 512MB, and that it won't burn a mega hole in consumer's pockets to go micro. [Note that no official image has been released by SanDisk at press time. Hence, this image of the microSD may or may not be the final iteration.]
Price: N.A.
Availability: Q3 2005
Device: Flash memory media
Basic specs: N.A.
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