Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays

Just in case you′re not kosher with covering up your entire wall with a 32-inch digital photo frame, Smartparts is also introducing an entirely more reasonable frame at Photokina. The 8-inch SPX8WF packs the same 802.11b/g support as its (much) larger sibling, enabling it to integrate nicely with Windows Live Photo Gallery and display customized RSS feeds. Also of note, this little bugger comes with its own unique e-mail address which is hosted on Smartparts servers. What for, you ask? In order to send out any of your loaded images to friends who you think care, that’s what for. As for specs, you’ve got an 800 x 600 resolution LCD, multicard reader, 512MB of internal memory and a real wood frame. Check it this November for $149.99.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays

There comes a point in a digital photo frame′s life in which it grows beyond being “just a simple digiframe.” For Smartparts′ SP3200WF, that time is now. This 32-inch monstrosity is easily the world’s hugest WiFi digital photo frame, packing a 1,366 x 768 resolution, natural wood frame with espresso finish, an SD / MS / CF multicard reader, RF remote support, and the ability to play back slideshows, videos, PDFs and even PowerPoint files. Furthermore, it’s among the firm’s first to integrate with Windows Live Photo Gallery, and the built-in RSS reader keeps your eyes occupied when the snaps grow stale. Too bad there aren′t any video inputs (and a price to ponder).

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Handhelds

Oh, fabulous day! The new iRex Digital Reader is pretty much what we expected: a 10.2-inch, Lithium Ion battery-powered, black and white e-ink device that still leaves us hungry for that snazzy reader that Plastic Logic has coming down the pipe. Geared towards business users, prices start at a hefty $649 for the Digital Reader 1000, and if you want a stylus thrown in — you know, something else to lose — be prepared to spend $749 on the 1000S. Still, the big daddy 1000SW — with WiFi, Bluetooth and that 3G data connectivity — adds some new functionality that will be welcome, though it’s hard to say who’s breaking off $849 for those aforementioned features.

[Thanks, Matthew]

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Original post by Joseph L. Flatley

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Wireless

We’d heard Lexar and Eye-Fi were getting snuggly back in January, and look at that — nine months later the Lexar Shoot-n-Sync WiFi SD card has arrived on our doorstep. The 2GB card is basically just a Lexar-branded Eye-Fi Share, so you pretty much already know how it works — you shoot, it uploads — and it’s even the same $99 price, so yeah, yawn. Hopefully these two will do something a little more interesting now that they’ve gotten used to working together. Lexar also kicked out a number of other cards, including a new 4GB Memory Stick Micro M2 card, a 16GB Platinum II 60x SDHC card, and a 16GB Platinum II 80x CompactFlash card — no pricing or availability on any of those yet, but we’d expect them soon.

[Via Gearlog]

Read - Shoot-n-Sync
Read - Platinum II cards
Read - M2 card

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Wireless

Just when you thought you were doing your buddy next door a favor, turns out leaving your WiFi router open to the public is the first step in staging a terrorist bombing — who knew? The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) reckons the country just isn’t ready for that kind of responsibility, seeing as how email over WiFi is all the rage for transmitting instructions to fellow terror-ees these days. The aim is now to limit WiFi net access to authorized persons only. Man, just imagine what they’ll do with WiMAX. In other news, the pencil sitting next to you could be used to poke your eye out if you’re not careful.

[Via The Economic Times]

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Original post by Stephanie Patterson

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video, Wireless

It all seems so socially apropos: the more pedestrian Zune is to McDonalds what the oft pretentious iPhone is to Starbucks. Through a partnership with Wayport Inc., Zune users will now receive free wireless access to the Zune Marketplace (only, no browser remember?) from more than 9,800 McDonald’s “restaurants” across the US. Also announced are new on-line exclusive colors to join the blue Zune 16GB. Available in red, pink, and green only through Microsoft’s refreshed Zune Originals site.

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Wireless

We love the smell of a “world’s fastest” or “world’s largest” claim in the morning. This time it’s a team of researchers led by Ernesto Ciaramella at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa Italy, saying they’ve developed the “world’s fastest WiFi.” Their network beams data at an amazing 1.2Tbps over a few kilometers, more than enough to share your entire Kurosawa collection faster than you can say “Yojimbo.” So, performance claims are valid, but we′re not sure about that “WiFi″ part. Data was transmitted using Free Space Optics (FSO), blinking lasers or LEDs that act like fiber optics without the fiber. This means line-of-sight connections only, so if you get frustrated when concrete walls hamper your WiFi downloads imagine how you’d feel if a little puffy cloud killed all your torrents. So, fastest wireless? Check. Practical solution for high-speed wireless communications? Not so much.

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Original post by Tim Stevens

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

In the never-ending quest to make even the smallest devices on Earth a touch smaller, a talented team of MIT engineers have developed a method for creating and installing microbatteries, which could eventually power a plethora of diminutive devices including “labs-on-a-chip and implantable medical sensors.” It’s bruited that this is the first time in which “microcontact printing has been used to fabricate and position microbattery electrodes and the first use of virus-based assembly in such a process,” and while you′d likely have to be a colleague to even digest that, the take away is that these gurus are one step closer to generating battery-powered Scrubbing Bubbles. And your shower could use ‘em.

[Via PCMag]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Wearables

Mama always said you′d regret slouching one day, and while you′ve still got a few decades left before ultimately determining whether the sage-like advice was right or wrong, why take chances? The iPosture does the same thing as wearable posture reminders that we’ve seen in the past, but this one does so in a much more discrete fashion. The diminutive nano-sensor detects when your angle deviates just three degrees from the optimal position for greater than a minute, after which it emits a warning to straighten you out. Users insistent on keeping it crooked can turn the device off by powering it down, removing it or flinging it furiously into a wall. Life’s next big nuisance will be shipping soon for $99.95.

[Thanks, Eric]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Far from being the first LED-infused floor we’ve seen hipsters and hippies break dance and boogie down on (respectively), Sensacell’s latest contraption still manages to stand out by bringing back memories of when mouse trails really were the coolest thing about an operating system. Flashbacks aside, the installation — which is currently at the entrance to the Comunitat Valenciana in Spain — possesses over 1,000 interactive modules, each of which include capacitive sensors and a LED lighting system. The integrated tech enables it to recognize when someone is walking over it and consequently light up as if to leave an eye-catching LED trail of their path. Can you imagine how many hours days you could entertain an ageless kid with this? Video after the jump.

Continue reading Video: Sensacell′s interactive floor shows trail of LED footprints

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

The latest in nanowire research has a crew at the University of California, Berkeley creating the very first integrated circuit “that uses nanowires as both sensors and electronic components.” By utilizing a so-called “simple” printing technique, the researchers were able to create a batch of uniform circuits that could one day serve as image sensors. According to Ali Javey, an electrical-engineering professor at the institution, the goal is to “develop all-nanowire sensors” which could be used in a wide array of applications, and the benefit of using ‘em is their exceptionally high level of sensitivity. In due time, the gurus would like to make everything on the circuit printable, though we have this strange feeling we won’t be seeing any actual results from all of this for years to come.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Transportation

Though we’re hesitant to believe something this fantastic could actually be implemented in real life, word on the pavement has it that Audi is currently running a pilot program that informs motorists “how fast to drive to catch a green light.” Over in Ingolstadt, Germany, 50 traffic lights have been equipped with sensors that beam information to specially equipped whips the network of “smart” signals not only “adapts to traffic patterns to deliver optimum light switching,” but gives drivers a heads-up in order to get ‘em through lights and cut down on idling / pollution / road rage. We can just hear those red light camera appeals now: “But judge, my car told me to do it!”

[Image courtesy of NOLA]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Transportation

Okay, the science nerds in the audience didn’t exactly let us know that we’ve entered the age of commercial superconductors, but apparently Sumitomo Electric has built a Toyota Crown Comfort that’s powered by a superconducting engine. Cooled by liquid nitrogen to -200&deg C, apparently all this madness nets you an extra 10% gain in distance over regular battery-powered motors. In other words: totally, completely worth the near comical impracticality.

[Via Uber Review]

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Original post by Ryan Block

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Screen grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

Though we′re breaking slightly from our typical Screen Grabs format (movies, TV), we could never live with ourselves if we didn’t share these shocking gadget appearances from Metal Gear Solid 4. That’s right, despite being on some kind of deadly spy mission, Solid Snake will find time to bro down with a fifth-generation iPod (above), while some lovely cohort of his dials up for pizza on a Sony Ericsson W62S clamshell. More pics after the break.

[Via iLounge / CellPassion]

Continue reading Screen Grabs: Metal Gear Solid 4 gets iPod and Sony Ericsson product placement

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Wireless

It looks like your future digital camera could have considerably more wireless options than built-in WiFi or an Eye-Fi card, at least if Sony Ericsson has its way. As Unwired View reports, the company has filed a number patent applications that detail its plans to add various wireless connectivity options to digital cameras, including GSM, CDMA, and WiMAX, in addition to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. That would apparently come both in the form of wireless cards built into the cameras themselves, and in the form of wireless adapters or docks that would attach to the camera, with some dedicated flash memory also thrown in for storing settings for Flickr and the like. Of course, there’s no indication as to when we can expect to see such cameras and, as Unwired View points out, the idea itself may not be the most patentable, but you can sign us up for any connectivity option that doesn’t involve a tangled mess of cords in our gadget bag.

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Original post by Donald Melanson