Motorola Motoactv: an alternative to iPod Nano

Motorola introduced today a device that can be used as mp3 player and monitor a range of parameters of your body. Motorola Motoactv is a device for people who take regular vigorous physical activities.


There are many watch-like gadgets, some even features telephony functions, but for some reason these gadget-watches never managed to be succesful. Apple has started a new trend because the iPod Nano was originally designed to be just a cheaper and more compact version of the conventional iPod. Instead, because of its small size, it has received addition accessories from other manufacturers that upgrade it to the status of multimedia watch.

Motoactv is a gadget that has a screen 1.6-inch touch screen and 600 Mhz processor. The watch features hardware and touchscreen buttons. Since the device is intended mainly for athletes, there will be situations where you get sweaty or get fingers wet and using the touch screen could be difficult. For this purpose, Motoactv has two dedicated buttons. The first one brings activates the screen and the second leads to the music player.



See price and more features here

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iPhone 4S vs. Samsung Galaxy S II Drop Test

Folks at squaretrade.com tested the new iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S2. It seems it's not about the looks, because one of these smartphones is more durable than the other.

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iPhone 4s - Siri Demonstration

One of the main improvements of iPhone 4s is Siri, the personal voice recognition assistant. Named the "virtual slave" Siri wants to be a soft voice recognition software. Well, it's more than that. Siri is programmed to recognize words and sentences using an intelligent prediction module. This allows the iPhone 4s to complete simple and advanced task given by voice commands.

For example, you can search the web using certain words, search places near you, definition, you can set an alarm, a note, you can dictate a text message to your friends.

Until recently, Siri was a standalone application but due its success, Apple acquired the company in April 2010. One thing that many forget to mention is that since the time of 3GS, Apple have implemented a voice recognition commands software that (although not perfect) worked. Siri is just the next logical step in voice recognition software for smartphones.

more voice commands:

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Wireless Glove Controlled Electric Mountainboard

Wireless Glove Controlled Electric Mountainboard was invented by Andres Guzman-Ballen , a Computer Engineering alumnus and incoming ECE graduate student at UIUC.

The student manage to control his mountain board using his wireless glove.
 Here is what he used on this project:

• SparkFun flex sensor to control board's speed
• op-amp used to control to change in current
• microcontroller to convert analog to digital signal
• NRF2401 Transceiver to send data
• microcontroller placed on board to convert data to a PWM signal - in order to change the RPM on board
• a kill switch located near the thumb to make the board fail-safe
• safety semaphore

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Verizon phones starting at a penny

Verizon Phones price dropped at a penny via Amazon

We are living hard times. You are holding back on making banging purchases and calculating your pennies for the moment. It seems that Amazon understand this, and for a limited time, they have made all Verizon Wireless phones almost ... free by dropping the price to merely a penny.

• Ultra-fast, 4G-enabled smartphone running Android 2.2 with 4.3-inch multi-touch Super LCD display
• GPS for navigation and location services
• 8-MP camera; 1.3-MP front-facing camera for video calls; HD 720p camcorder; Bluetooth stereo music;
• 1400 mAh rechargeable battery with long lasting life
• microSD expansion; HTML web browser; corporate and personal e-mail

• 480 x 800 4" WVGA capacitive touch screen
• rear camera - 8 megapixel
• Android 2.2 operating system
• Full HTML Browser with support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1
• the smartphone comes with a Pre-Installed SIM card that are both CDMA and GSM Capable.

 

• 1 GHz single-core processor, 1 GB internal memory,
• 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus, capture video in HD 720p resolution, front-facing VGA camera for video chats.
  
• Android 2.3 OS

• Android 2.2 operating system (Froyo) with over-the-air upgrade capability for future OS releases
• 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and auto focus, HD 720p video capture capabilities (1280 x 720 pixels)
• 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, 32 GB pre-loaded microSD memory card with support for other optional cards up to 32 GB, 2 GB internal memory
• 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with capacitive multi-touch capabilities, proximity sensor, and light sensor (480 x 800 pixels)

image and information sources: Amazon

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Panoramic Ball Camera

The Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera is equipped with 36 camera phone modules. Presented at Emergint Technologies demonstration at SIGGRAPH Asia 2011, the camera captures a full panorama image when it reaches the highest point of its flash. The photos can be transfered to a standard PC and can be viewed with a specialized software that comes with the camera. You can move freely on the panorama image, focusing on every detail.

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Samsung Galaxy S II cost $ 2 in Australia

The smallest continent in the world is also the site of a real war between Apple and Samsung. Galaxy Tab 10.1 has just been banned from sale in Australia. Samsung retaliate in his own way.

They opened a store near an Apple Store and sold Samsung Galaxy S II at minuscule price: $2. Altough the offer is valid only for the first 10 people entering the Samsung store, the price is unbeatable. No wonder why a queue was formed. Folks moved out of the Apple Store and the iPhone 4S draftps to the South Korean company's shop.

Personally, I find the strategy desperate and I have long-term concerns regarding Samsung.

By the way, Samsung Galaxy S II will soon receive a software update that will change the way the menu shows the applications and will feature desktop multi-customizable screens. There seems to be a movement to get rid of some accusations brought by Apple.

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