Techno Babble

Ricavision develops consumer electronic products with embedded Microsoft technology for the OEM, retail, custom integrators and hospitality markets.

The VAVE100 Universal remote control has a 2.4 inch color QVGA LCD display, features Class 1 SPP/A2DP Bluetooth and is upgradable through the built-in mini USB. It is combined with Microsoft SideShow to deliver digital information to your fingertips, and is due to be available in Summer 2008. The remote will control up to 20 different devices and has a built-in database of over 1500 brand names to simplify setting up the device.

The device has a dedicated button to activate and control Windows Media Center from Windows Vista.

Windows SideShow is technology from Microsoft that uses gadgets to extend information from your computer to other devices. Gadgets can run on a Windows SideShow compatible device (such as the VAVE100 ) and update that device with information from your computer. This enables you to view News Headlines, Weather details, email etc. directly on the VAVE100.

A white paper document introducing the Windows SideShow technology and the specification of the Windows SideShow module produced by Ricavision International Inc. is available at: WhitePaper.pdf

References

• http://www.ricavision.com/vave100.html
• http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/details/sideshow.mspx

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Tagged: Remote Control, SideShow

Do you like to pop bubble wrap?

Then why not try out this electronic version.

From Japanese toymaker Bandai, Puchi-Puchi (which is the Japanese for the sound of a little pop as well as for bubble-wrap) is a hand-held keyring attachment designed to simulate the look, feel and sound of popping bubblewrap.

After every 100 "pops" it will make a different sound such as a barking dog or door chime.

Available from a number of suppliers, I noticed it’s priced from around $15.

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Have you always wanted the ability to upload your photos directly from your camera to your PC, or online photo-album, without having to go through the hassle of connecting the camera to your PC with the supplied USB cable or removing the memory card from the camera and inserting it into a media-card reader attached to the PC?

Now you can using the Eye-Fi Card. This is a wireless SD memory card which stores images like a standard SD card but can also use your home wi-fi network to upload the images directly from inside the camera to your PC or Mac.

Once you install the Eye-Fi Manager on your PC and set up an account, images will upload to your hard drive and optionally to a specified photo-sharing website like Flickr or Picasa.

So just go out, take your pictures and switch the camera on when you’ve returned home, the Eye-Fi card will automatically start uploading the images to your computer and/or your web based photo album.

All the details are available at:

http://www.eye.fi/

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Lots of reports appearing on the web coming out from CES 2008.

I’ll note some of those that catch my eye while browsing around.

Fujitsu -  A Fabric PC, based on ideas around electronic paper, is literally a PC made out of fabric …

… reports Engadget at

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/fujitsu-intros-a-handful-of-concept-designs-at-ces-2008/

and a report from Gizmodo at

http://gizmodo.com/341138/fujitsus-fabric-pc-and-three-other-forward+looking-concepts

Further pictures and comment from Wired at
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/01/fujitsus-future.html

Talking about Gizmodo, check out their frequently updated reports on all things happening at CES from

http://gizmodo.com/tag/ces-2008/

Sony has an interesting site specifically for Sony at CES where, amongst other things, you can see some of the first pictures of their OLED television (which has an ultra slim (3mm) 11 inch screen for $2500). They’re also showing a larger 27inch version at the show

The site is worth a browse at

http://www.sony.com/ces/index.html

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A nice looking new phone, the Serenata, has recently been announced. The Serenata Music-Phone is a joint development by Samsung and Bang & Olufsen.

Bang & Olufsen’s expertise in concept development, user interface experience, acoustic sound capabilities and design skills together with Samsung’s leadership in mobile phone technology, engineering and quality have realized a new way of combining unique music and mobile experiences for consumers.

To assist the user, the display changes color depending on whether it is in Phone mode (blue) or Music mode (red). Furthermore, the large 2.4-inch color LCD display developed by Samsung allows Serenata to show album covers in an excellent resolution and facilitates on-screen navigation. Also, the innovative mobile phone features sensi-touch to enhance the usability.

Read more at

http://www.serenatamobile.com/

or visit

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/

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If you’ve not heard about it already, the new iPhone from Apple will be available in the UK from Nov 9.

With the iPhone, you make a call by simply tapping on a name or number in your address book, using only your fingers on the currently unique multi-touch display.

The embedded technology also incorporates an accelerometer device which is used to determine when you rotate the iPhone from a portrait to landscape orientation so that the display changes automatically.

Other technology includes a proximity sensor which switches off the display when you move the phone towards your ear - this also prevents accidental touches on the screen. An ambient light sensor is used to automatically adjust the brightness of the display to tha appropriate level.

Read all about the iPhone from the Apple web-site:

http://www.apple.com/uk/iphone/phone/

The phone, at a price of £269 ($536) for the 8Gb version, will be available in the UK using mobile operator O2.

O2 contracts will range from £35-£55 per month which will include unlimited use of a wi-fi network from more than 7500 hot spots. Thus, for an 18 month contract, this will cost a minimum of £900 (including the cost of the phone and local taxes).

Read about the O2 side of the deal at the O2 web-site

http://tinyurl.com/yql653

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The Apple iTouch media player. or more properly called the iPod touch, was recently released.

perhaps it can also be called the iPhone without the phone.

Some of the features include:

• multi-touch interface
• 3.5 inch widescreen display
• wi-fi web browsing

Available with an 8Gb (or 16Gb) flash drive and can store up to 1750 songs (3500), 10,000 (20,000) iPod viewable photos or 10 (20) hours of video.

The re-chargeable battery will support up to 22 hours of music playback or up to 5 hours of video playback.

Prices in the UK are £199 for the 8Gb version or £269 for the 16Gb and are scheduled to be available for shipping from the 28 September. (Prices in the US are $299 and $399 respectively).

All the details are available at

http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/

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Want to accurately model an iPod ?

Then you need precise dimensional drawings

Available from the Apple Developer Center at

http://developer.apple.com/hardwaredrivers/ipod/.

update 26 Nov 2007 - details of the dimensions for all model iPods can be obtained at

http://developer.apple.com/ipod/cases.html

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