Archives for April 2007
Cell phones help reduce traffic accidents!
Kevin Massy, CNET.com | Apr 18, 2007
We've heard plenty of stories recently about how cell phones can visit all manner of disasters on the human race, from rendering us infertile to burning our houses down, not to mention the death and destruction that they wreak on the roads.
So it's about time we got a good news story about the world's favorite gadget. Nissan announced today that it is working on a program that will enable cell phones to communicate with their cars in order to reduce the risk of the pedestrians being knocked down. Nissan's Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) uses 3G cellular communications networks to collect GPS data on the position of mobile-phone wielding pedestrians in relation to cars on the road. If the system detects that a pedestrian is directly in the path of a vehicle, it will alert the driver of a potential accident by activating a visual or audible warning in the cabin.
The pedestrian-location system is part of a wider trial of new technologies that Nissan is conducting in partnership with Japanese wireless company NTT Docomo in Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo, so don't expect it to be available on your next Sentra. If the technology does make it to production, however, it raises some interesting questions about the idea of banning gadgets in order to protect pedestrians from traffic accidents.
Via CNET Crave
Apple iPhone's Asia availability in '08 stays
Damian Koh | Apr 18, 2007
This probably won't affect us Asian folks and it's still anyone guess when the iPhone will be available in the US. We know in June, but when?
| Editors' note:
18 April 2007--According to a Reuters report, the iPhone is on schedule to be available in the US by the end of June and AT&T's wireless unit has an exclusive US deal to sell the highly anticipated handset.
|
According to CNET News.com's Tom Krazit, the main reason the Cupertino company's latest version of Mac OS X is scheduled for a later release in October was because it had to pull engineers from the Leopard development and have them work on the iPhone instead. In a statement on the Apple Web site, the "iPhone contains the most sophiscated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on time has not come without a price--we had to borrow some key software engineering and QA resources from our Mac OS X team".
Apple also said the "iPhone has already passed several of its required certification tests and is on schedule to ship in late June as planned". According to CNET Crave, FCC certification documents for the iPhone still haven't surfaced online. The moment it does is probably when we'll have more news on a launch date.
Does that mean we still have to wait until 2008 before we can get the iPhone. Yeah, probably so.
Dell working on PDA-phone?
John Chan | Apr 18, 2007
Hot on the heels of Dell's announcement about the end of its Axim line of handhelds now comes rumor from DigiTimes that the US manufacturer is working on a new PDA handset with Taiwan-based hardware manufacturer Quanta.
According to the buzz, this new device will come with Windows Mobile 6 Professional, HSDPA and perhaps a QWERTY keyboard. It is expected to be available in Q4 2007 and will be codenamed "Fly".
It's not surprising that such a rumor would arise, as the handheld market is dominated by those with phone features, and the popularity of dedicated PDAs like the Dell Axim is declining. DigiTimes also correctly notes that Ron Garriques, former head of Motorola's cell phone division, is now in charge of Dell's consumer business.
Quanta is a Taiwanese company which produces products like notebooks and handhelds for other brands. Some of its customers include HP and O2.
When contacted, Dell did not confirm or deny the rumor, stating that they do not comment on products that may or may not be introduced.
Via Crave
Seiko Electronic Ink watch for women
Juniper Foo | Apr 18, 2007
One ring to rule them all? Seiko's Electronic Ink bracelet watch for women certainly looks like the female edition to Dark Lord Sauron's contentious piece of jewelry in The Lord of the Rings. However, while it's stylishly fashioned with a wraparound 360-degree continuous sapphire crystal, it's not all just about design. Or so Seiko would like us to know. In a bid to appeal to emotional wristwear, if the wearer is at work, the bracelet watch can be set to "efficiency" mode to make the display easy to read. In "mystery" mode, the panel expresses time in an evocative manner. Will this Seiko rule them all? Only time will tell.
See both the male and female Spectrum here
Via New Launches
Price: Expected price of US$2,000
Availability: Likely to be in limited quantities, more info here
Device: Bracelet watch
Specs: Outside diameter 75.3mm, inside 61.5mm, width 22.0mm, thickness 6.9mm, 80g
LG Chocolate MP3: Is it yummy?
Darius Chang | Apr 17, 2007
It seems LG is on a mission to eliminate the very existence of physical buttons. Moving on from phones, the touchscreen Chocolate brand is hitting its MP3 line.
The LG Chocolate MP3 Player FM37 eschews buttons. Instead, the smooth device goes for a 2.4-inch touchscreen interface with virtual buttons for all your control needs. It plays back MP3, WMA and OGG music files, with support for MPEG-4, AVI and WMV videos. It comes in black or silver, with a touted battery life of up to 20 hours.
The 2GB LG Chocolate FM37 is now available for S$269 (US$176.97), while the S$369 (US$242.76) model comes with twice as much storage.
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