Forbes Magazine release today a list of the 30 most connected cities in the United States. They’ve surprisingly selected Atlanta as the most wired US city. I’m not really seeing it. Sure, as Forbes points out, the ATL is home to Bellsouth, Cox and Earthlink, and it might have more people with broadband per capita than any other city, but it just doesn’t feel right. I’m willing to bet that in reality, cities like San Fran, Seattle and NYC are more connected. Thoughts?
America’s Most Wired Cities [Forbes]
The age of Aquarius is finally over and now it’s time for the age of ubiquitous wireless. Y-E Data Inc., a Japanese company, is launching one of the first wireless UWB hubs in the world that turns any formerly wired device into a wireless USB device. The hub has four standard USB ports and uses a dongle to connect to the hub.
The estimated speed is about 100Mbps, which should fall considerably in real conditions. Maximum range is about 30 feet and they’re working on commercial availability here in the States. Be prepared for another format war as UWB fights ZigBee and Wireless USBM to the death in a huge, international wireless cage match.
UWB Hub coming in October [NewLaunches]
It looks like the new Sirius Stiletto 100 receiver is ready for its close-up. If you’ll remember, it has the ability to keep up to 100 hours of music (MP3/WMAs), can stream your audio via WiFi connectivity and is, of course, also a Sirius receiver.
Now we get to see it bumpin’ and grindin’ with the new Soloist speaker system from Directed Electronics. So get get your wallets ready, because she costs $399.
Stiletto and Soloist-so happy together[Orbitcast via Engadget]
I have thus far let my perverse love of timepieces go unquenched on these pages, but no longer. Here is a fancy Dreamcast Watch that opens up just like the original Dreamcast to reveal the time. Practical? No. Geek-tastic? Yes.
It’s available now for pre-order for $129 and will ship September 29. If it was every your goal to have a portable Dreamcast, this is probably about the closest you’ll ever get to it.
Product Page [Play-Asia via WristWatchReview via Gizmodo]
Creative officially launched recently the Zen Vision W that we heard about last week. The new player features a high resolution 4.5-inch, 16:9 format, color widescreen TFT display. Aside from the screen though, this player is essentially identical to the older M model.
The ZEN Vision W will be available in 30GB and in 60GB models. It will be showcased at COMDEX today and it is available in Singapore currently, with it expected to drop in the US in late September. I want one!
Creative Introduces the ZEN Vision W
Tennessee-based company Tenvera has developed a relatively affordable way to put fiber in the home (FITH). The benefit of this is clear, as fiber to the home becomes more-and-more widespread, the shoddiness of your old indoor copper wiring will be more apparent than ever. Tenvera calls its new FITH product, “System 5″ and it is estimated to be available for roughly two to three percent of the total building cost of a structure. They will be demonstrating System 5 at CEDIA in September.
Fiber in the home thanks to Tennessee’s Tenvera [Engadget]
While many of us try to take video and images with our cameraphones or webcams, the resulting footage is rarely usable and suffers from a great deal of anti-aliasing and generally messy pixels. MotionDSP has solved that problem by using special algorithms to “recreate” lost data in real time, thereby bringing almost useless low-light and compressed video into tight focus.
TechCrunch talked to the folks over at MotionDSP and discovered that the process works best on smooth, non-jerky video but, as we can see above, the improvements are immense. The product started as a military research project at UC Santa Cruz but is now available for licensing.
Startup Uses Military Tech to Fix Low Res Video [Techcrunch]
Philips announced this morning the addition of the Skype certified VOIP841 to its product line. We’ve already seen a couple of these new Skype devices, but the gravity of their introduction is only now becoming apparent.
Like the USRobotics USR9631 that we saw yesterday, the VOIP841 can function completely autonomous of a computer. Users are able to sign up for Skype service directly from the handset, which means it doesn’t even require a computer for setup.
Unlike the currently available WiFi enabled Skype phones, the VOIP841 functions over a 1.8GHz DECT frequency, making for a highly reliable signal. The phone can connect to both your Skype account and your existingland line. If users add a supplemental handset, the system is capable of simultaneously serving calls from Skype and from a land line.
I guess these could be extremely useful for users who make a high quantity of international calls, but they don’t really seem cost effective for basic users. After the cost of broadband and the fees for Skype In and Out, this service would cost at least as much as regular service. I’m sure it’ll work fabulously though and I really do admire the progress Skype is making with Internet telephony. These next-gen Skype phones will be available this holiday season.
Skype
NEC Strengthens Secure Laptop Range [BIOS Magazine]
battery recall, settlement with Creative Technologies and recent stock option irregularities, it would appear that Apple is in a rough spot.
And with HP’s stock surging, and being on the right side of the government’s new policies on tech trash, it seems as likely as ever to seize the torch of indignant righteousness from Cupertino.
Burrows is correct, however, to point out that this could also just be a seasonal irregularity for Apple. Let’s face it, HP makes calculators, Apple makes iPod. They simply don’t have the cult status that Apple does, but that’s OK. In the end, the companies are on different, but occasionally convergent, paths. HP CEO Mark Hurd is no Steve Jobs, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have his mojo workin’.
Is HP the Heir to Apple’s Halo? [Tech News World]
The oldest form of data entry on the planet is handwriting. We learn it before we learn to type. It’s not as efficient as a keyboard, but it can be done anywhere on about anything. (Don’t believe me? Check out any alley in Midtown, NYC.)
Aiptek MyNote. It’s a standard letter-sized folio that uses regular paper. But using it’s battery-powered pen/stylus combo, and it’s own handwriting tracking system, it makes 1000-lpi digital copies of each page. It stores them in it’s built-in 32MB flash RAM (expandable via an SD slot), so you can later upload them to your Windows XP or 2000 machine via USB. From there, you can replace that doodle of your boss in the shark’s mouth with a multi-million dollar idea. See, we’re making you money already.
MyNote [Aiptek]
Last week’s recalls of millions of exploding Sony laptop batteries is a blistering, literally in some case, reminder of what happens when the envelope is pushed beyond reason simply to satiate business models.
Yet-Ming Chiang, an MIT scientist and the brains behind a new battery startup, says in this interview with Technology Review that the future has non-exploding laptop batteries for us. It’s a great read for information about the high-tech batteries of tomorrow. Because with great power comes the great responsibility of not burning people’s pants.
How Future Batteries Will Be Longer-Lasting and Safer [Technology Review]
Located in Berlin, The Table of Free Voices is the fastest, most high-tech table in human history. The table jas a camera and a microphone built into each of its 112 places, allowing the responses of each individual to be recorded and saved as an individually searchable audiovisual portrait. The Table of Free Voices is 124 feet in diameter and is basically a big supercomputer. The lead programmer of Dropping Knowledge describes the table’s specs:
In terms of computing power, the Table delivers a peak performance of around 230 GFLOPS, which means that it can calculate 230,000,000,000 floating point operations per second. Packed with technology, the table features 112 Mini-DV Cameras, 112 Mac Minis with 224 Intel Core CPU cores running at 1.66 GHz, more than 36 terabytes of storage space spread over 224 individual hard drives and miles of cabling. While in recording mode, the table records 112 DV audio-video streams with a total bandwidth of over 3.8 Gigabits per second and performs a real-time h.264 compression on all 112 video streams.By the evening of September 9th, the Table will have recorded, compressed and stored almost 700 hours of video footage, as both high-quality material and in compressed, ready for streaming formats.
On top of all that, Free Voices will be transcribed and translated into numerous languages and made freely accessible to all in a variety of digital formats.
On September 9, 2006, 112 scientists, social entrepreneurs, philosophers, writers, artists and activists from around the world will come together in Berlin, Germany, as guests of dropping knowledge. They will engage with 100 questions from the global public. The questions will reflect the topics of greatest concern to the global public, emphasize under-reported issues and engage key themes endorsed by dropping knowledge in 2006.
So mark your calendars, you know, if you’re into that sort of thing.
[Dropping Knowldge]
Sony Ericsson plans to further develop its PlayNow service, which is currently only used to listen to and download ringtones. The spokesman from the Japenese-Swedish group did not give any details on how the service will be changed, or when the changes will occour, saying simply:
We are developing the PlayNow service further, it is part of our bigger music strategy.
As the prices of phones are droping as consumers demand cheaper phones, digital music is currently a key feature driving more expensive phones for manufacturers. Personally, I’m curious to see what Sony Ericsson comes up with. Maybe they’ll develop something that will finally eliminate carrying around my iPod everywhere I go.
PlayNow Development [Reuters]
The HORNMASSIVE sound system can project sound from up to 1km away, making it a great addition to musical festivals around the globe. The mobile sound system is made up of a gigantic 2000-watt steel and aluminum horn, and weighs in at a massive 2-tons, all powered from a commercial 12” speaker driver. The sound system functions as an audio input station, where users can plug-in and project, and designed to be a monophonic sound projector cleary intended for outdoor events. There you have it, a way to blast Iron Maiden for all to hear, at least in monophonic sound.
HORNMASSIVE [the cool hunter]
52-inch samsung lcd flat hdtv due within a month [Technabob via Gizmodo]
Press Release [Marketwire via The Inquirer]
Consumerist has a great exchange between the owner of a broken RAZR v3i and the Argentinean tech support team shuts her down immediately, offering to only replace it for the low-low fee of $175 – until she takes her case to the FCC, the FTC, and the Florida Attorney General’s office. The result? A new phone at no extra charge and a great AIM conversation with Consumerist’s Ben Popken.
Motorola V3i Stops Working For No Good Reason, Wants To Charge $175 [Consumerist]
. The site then crawls the web – namely a few major review sites – and grabs the pertinent scores and information.
