A feast of sight and sound

Unless you are an audiophile, speakers are one of the first components people skimp on when building a PC. After all, surfing is a "private" affair and God forbid your neighbors hear which site you've been "researching".

But for the occasional techie, PCs are more than just bits and bytes. No reason why function and beauty can't go hand-in-hand. Ugly speakers are a big no-no. For this group with exacting aesthetic standards, check out the winners of the recently concluded speaker design contest at c4dcafe.com.

Multimedia cabinet or wine rack?

Now this is what we call a home theater cabinet. Furniture with built-in speakers and other media equipment is nothing new, but this ultra-limited-edition (and curiously named) "Stringless Pleasure" stereo rack--created by architect Chi-wing Lo, according to Dvice--takes the concept to an entirely new level.

Why? Not only does it have high-end gear built into its shelves, but the system also has plenty of storage space for discs and other media--which we think could just as easily be used a wine rack.

Via Crave CNET

An LED that can go 80 years on a battery charge?

CORK, Ireland--William Henry, an applications specialist at Ireland's Tyndall National Institute, can't tell you exactly how long one of the miniature LEDs the organization has developed will emit light. But it's a long time.

The micro LED--which is significantly smaller than conventional light-emitting diodes--requires only a few billionths of an amp to operate. Thus, it can survive for quite a while on a limited power source. One of the researchers on the project had one running constantly for two-and-a-half years on his desk. Then someone damaged it while moving it around. One member of the group calculated that it could last 80 years (assuming no accidents) on the power stored in a coin-size battery.

"We can produce visible light from nanoamps," Henry said.

Miniature is the keyword in the FLAME project, which stands for "future lighting applications for miniature entities". The micro LED measures only 15 microns across, far smaller than the 300 microns of a conventional LED. (A micron is a millionth of a meter).

Smaller devices generally consume less power than larger ones. The device is also more efficient at extracting light from the power put into it than standard LEDs, which means that it also emits less heat. Although the light from LEDs tends to be cool, the back of diodes, which are chips, do get hot. Venture capitalists have been showering the LED industry with investments in the past few years because many believe the chips will replace conventional lights.
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Centro launched in Asia with new(ish) color

As expected, the Palm has launched its entry-level PDA-phone, the Centro, in our region. First announced in Europe and then later exclusively to AT&T in the US, this GSM device will be sold in a shade of white with gray numeric buttons over here in Asia Pacific. We first caught a glimpse of all the colors of the Centro from a training site for retailers and this version was one of the five shown there. So that's three down, leaving only the dark blue and red ones to be announced.

This product has been announced for Hong Kong and Singapore. In Singapore, it will go on sale on March 6, most likely to coincide with the start of the annual electronics fair here, the IT Show. At S$598, it's inexpensive for a PDA-phone if you need only the basics and can live without 3G and Wi-Fi. One thing's for sure, it's the cheapest one when compared with other touchscreen-enabled handhelds with QWERTY keyboards, so that's a plus.

Palm has not confirmed exactly which countries it will be available in but told us only that it "may be launched in more countries in Asia Pacific". Check with your local Palm office if you are dying to find out when you can get your hands on one.

How to play Transformers with your phone

It's kind of surprising that one of the big handset makers didn't come up with a Transformers phone at the height of the movie's hype last year. After all, just about every other form of gadget tried to cash in on it, from laptops and stereos to earphones and MP3 players.

Perhaps Softbank and Toshiba knew that that true Optimus Prime loyalists would appreciate such a phone regardless of the movie. But it's unclear whether hardcore fans would look past the fact that the new 815T PB handset on the Japanese market doesn't really turn into an actual Transformer, though the untrained eye might be hard-pressed to make the distinction.

Instead, the 3G handset, which has a 3.2-megapixel camera and a QVGA screen, was made for a new teen TV show called Ketai Sousakan 7, according to Akihabara News. You also have to glue a kit onto the back of the phone to get the robotic transformation. All of which, frankly, sounds like way too much work for something that would probably break pretty easily if it's treated like most other mobile phones.

Via Crave CNET

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