RviroS Latest Gadgets and Technologies

They said it couldn't be done. When we first wrote about the almost invisible tree house to be built in Sweden by Tham & Videgard, 899 commenters thought it was computer-generated eye candy, impossible to build, and death for birds.

But the architects built it, one of six units in a "Treehotel" which recently opened 40 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. The four-meter glass cube looks as spectacular in reality as it did in the rendering. Kent Lindvall, co-owner of the TreeHotel, has been quoted as saying: "Everything will reflect in this -- the trees, the birds, the clouds, the sun, everything. So it should be invisible nearly in the forest". And for the birds, According to Designboom, Lindvall says that a special film that is visible to birds will be applied to the glass. 

 The units are constructed from sustainably harvested wood and have electric radiant floor heating and "a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly, incineration toilet"

Losing weight is an uphill task for obese individuals, because the catch behind maintaining a diet schedule is to keep yourself motivated on not taking extra calories for weeks together. Lack of motivation is where the difficulty lies; it is here that people often lose control – but with the Autom, a robotic coach for your assistance, you’ll never think of extending your hand toward that extra bit of food. Autom is a tiny robot, and he's getting closer than ever to availability. His whole job? To coach you to lose weight... that's right, Autom is a dieting robot. You start off by entering the details of your diet, fitness level, and exercise into Autom's databank, and then he sits on your countertop and has daily 'conversations' with you -- which we assume are full of a lot of reassuring aphorisms and 'go get 'em' talk. Developed by Cory Kidd (who built the first iteration by hand) while studying at MIT, Autom is set to go into trials in the US sometime next year with a major insurance company. Now, we're all for healthy living, and everyone knows we love robots, but we're inclined to take a pass on Autom... if only because we can't stand to hear the truth 100 percent of the time. If you hit up the source link, you can see a video of the little guy in action. A video of an earlier version of Autom is after the break.

 Head mounted displays still have something futuristic about them, and Brother’s offering, the so-called AiRScouter, is no exception. The company today unvieled [press release in English] the newest version of the HMD, which was first shown to the general public in 2008 (and once again in 2009). Back then, the AiRScouter was unnamed and had a different design. In fact, the device is still in prototype stage and labeled by Brother as “Retinal Imaging Display”. Brother expects the AiRScouter to be mainly used for augmented reality applications. The new version offers better image quality than the previous one and allows to attach a micro camera. The AiRScouter is expected to be ready to be tried out by attendees of the “Brother World JAPAN 2010″ expo that will be held in Tokyo in September. Brother says it will “launch” the device in fiscal 2010, which (in Japan) ends in March 2011.

As our demand for power intensifies with our need for better consumer electronics, companies such as Brother Industries Ltd need to develop a new power source that will last much longer. That’s where new vibration-powered generators come in – they look like normal batteries, all you need to do is shake them to charge.  The faux-batteries are from Brother Industries, and inside the AA and AAA-sized shells you’ll find a capacitor and an electromagnetic induction generator. Shaking them will charge the capacitor enough to juice low-power gadgets. The example given is remote control, which needs around 40 to 100mW of power. The battery can put out up to 180mW, so while you won’t be using these to power a camera-flash, a quick shake to get the TV remote going again would work just great. In fact, you could just build this in to a remote and forget the batteries altogether.  Preserving of environment is quite important nowadays and we have seen many gadgets that can help us with that. We already know that disposable batteries are a bad solution because they can be toxic for the environment. With these new rechargeable batteries, they may help us preserve the environment whilst at the same time creating power.

Pandigital’s award-winning line of scanners have been acclaimed for their ease-of-use and excellent performance. The scanner does not require any expensive or confusing software and employs a new twin-roller feeding system to ensure that the photos are scanned evenly each time. Further optimizing the quality, images are scanned at up to 600 optical dpi for resulting scans that have a crisp and clear 3800x7200 24-bit color depth resolution. In addition to being able to scan images onto the included SD memory card, the scanner accepts other popular memory cards (SD, MS, MS Pro, MMS, XD) and can also be connected directly to either a Mac or PC computer via its mini-USB port. Weighing in at less than a pound at only 13.79 ounces and measuring only 10.59(L) x 1.73(H) x 2.32(D) inches, the Pandigital Personal Photo Scanner/Converter is incredibly portable and can be taken nearly anywhere to quickly and simply preserve images. Pandigital is making it easy for consumers and business professionals to scan photos and documents as large as 8 ½ x 11-inches directly to an SD card with its new Pandigital Personal Photo Scanner/Converter. The scanner doesn't require a PC—users simply plug it in, insert their photo, and scan photos onto an included SD card with the touch of a button. The Pandigital Personal Photo Scanner/Converter can also be connected to a MAC or PC via miniUSB. The scanner supports other popular memory card formats including MS, MS Pro, MMS, and XD as well. The scanner is quite portable, weighing just 13.79 ounces and measuring 10.59 x 1.73 x 2.32 inches. Scanning and digitizing your photos and documents has never been fun.  Even with the advent of one-button scanning you still have to wait for the software to load, the hardware to do its thing, and then properly categorize and file away your precious digital memories.  However, Pandigital has found a better way.  Their new Personal Photo Scanner/Converter will write photos and documents directly to your portable memory without the “middle man” (software) getting in the way.

 

The fan is called the Dyson Air Multiplier and resembles the design of a magnifying glass. In the base is an brushless electric motor which pushes air upwards into the loop where it is amplified 15 times. The air seeps out of the ring and is actually an extension of the AirBlade technology the company developed for its hand dryers a few years ago.

In terms of throughput the Air Multiplier can generate 405 litres of air a second, but is also highly adjustable allowing you to get just the right level of air flow unlike standard fans that usually just have a few preset  speeds. The other big advantages are it is much safer due to a lack of fast moving blades and is much easier to keep clean. Noise levels are also thought to be minimal when compared to standard fan designs.

 Razer collaborates with gamers to develop, manufacture and market cutting-edge gaming peripherals utilizing proprietary technologies that give gamers the competitive edge. We reinvented the computer gaming industry by bringing this competitive edge to gamers when professional computer gaming was in its infancy. In the mid 90s, with the advent of networked gaming and competitive first-person-shooter (FPS) games, gamers found that their legacy peripherals were inhibiting rather than enhancing their gameplay.

In 1999, the Razer Boomslang™, the stuff of gaming legends, was launched after much research. Featuring an unprecedented precision of up to 2000 dpi when other mice maxed out at 400 dpi, the Razer Boomslang, powered by proprietary opto-mechanical technology, offered up to five times the accuracy of other gaming mice. It came as no surprise when professional gamers widewide such as Jonathon “Fatal1ty” Wendell and Sujoy Roy readily adopted the Razer Boomslang as their gaming mouse of choice. In just two years, more than 100,000 Razer Boomslangs were sold by Christmas.

The next quantum leap came with the unveiling of the Razer Diamondback™ in San Francisco at the Grand Finals of the World Cyber Games 2004. The Razer Diamondback™ was the world’s first 1600 dpi optical gaming mouse. Powered by Razer Precision™, the Razer Diamondback was the first gaming mouse ever to sweep all the major gaming awards available at that time. It also outclassed an entire genre of gaming hardware to be awarded the highly coveted Gamespot's Gaming Hardware of the Year 2004 accolade. The Razer Diamondback was considered the de rigueur gaming mouse of its prime with most of the leading gaming professionals adopting it as their weapon of choice.

Having led the technology arms race and overpowered competitors, Razer once again stamped its authority in gaming technology in the fall of 2005, by launching the Razer Copperhead™.

Sporting the world's first 2000dpi laser sensor in a gaming mouse, the Razer Copperhead scored another world first by being an “intelligent mouse,” possessing 32kb of onboard memory powered by Razer Synapse™. It is also the fastest mouse today, utilizing a full speed USB bus when other mice are still low speed USB devices, and is up to 8 times faster in terms of data polling.

Shortly after the Copperhead, the Razer Tarantula™ was launched. It is the first definitive keyboard created for Gamers by Gamers, featuring anti-ghosting capabilities, 32kb of onboard memory powered by Razer Synapse, 10 programmable gaming hot keys and an optimized Hyperesponse™ gaming key-top with fully replaceable keys. The Razer Tarantula was launched at CES 2006 (Las Vegas) and immediately was a finalist in the Best of CES Show.
   
The realization that gamers also need excellent positional audio and crisp acoustics led to the launch of the Barracuda™ HP-1 and AC-1, Razer’s initial foray into audio. Hot on the heels of the Barracuda, Razer unveiled the Razer DeathAdder™ towards the end of 2006. Featuring a 3G Infrared sensor, 1800dpi and easily 2.25 times faster than conventional mice, the DeathAdder also has a response time of 1000HZ/1ms and 5 customizable buttons.

Right about then, Microsoft and Razer decided to co-develop and co-brand Microsoft’s next generation of gaming peripherals, culminating in the Microsoft|Razer Habu gaming mouse, and the Microsoft|Razer Reclusa gaming keyboard.

Further diversifying the product line for gamers, it was in the Spring of 2007 when Razer and THX announced a partnership on next generation audio products. With that, the Razer Mako™ was announced at CES 2007, Las Vegas, and garnered Wired Magazine’s ‘Most Innovative of CES.’ The Razer Mako is in a class of its’ own, with an  innovative downward firing design eliminating distortion from the ‘desk-bounce’ phenomenon, which creates a rich, omni-directional soundstage with a broad and uniform response pattern.

Undoubtedly, Razer is the worldwide leader in terms of professional gaming peripherals. While we are light years ahead of our competitors in terms of technology, design and ergonomics, we are not resting on our laurels but are developing other key products and peripherals with the gamer in mind to bring that competitive edge to gameplay that Razer is synonymous with.

Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, Razer collaborates with gamers to develop, manufacture and market cutting-edge gaming peripherals utilizing proprietary technologies that give gamers the competitive edge. Razer products have earned critical praise and won multiple awards from around the world for their precision, sensitivity, usability and distinctions in product design. Engineered to near perfection, Razer’s reputation of being the leader in gaming peripheral technology is embodied in every single Razer product.

I've never thought liquids can be made as armor. But British scientists have, and they say liquid armor is better than ordinary Kevlar.

They're calling it "bulletproof custard" because once struck, its molecules lock together to create a denser surface. According to the scientists who've developed it, the liquid armor works by absorbing the force of the bullet strike and responding to it by becoming much thicker and more sticky.

Introducing our revolutionary new rechargeable battery - the USBCELL. This NiMH AA cell can be used like a normal battery and can be recharged simply by plugging into a USB port. With over 15 billion Alkaline batteries made and thrown away each year - wasting resources, C02 and creating toxic Landfill - USBCELL offers a eco-friendly alternative as can be re-used hundreds of times as no charge adaptor or cable is needed, saving you money, hassle and waste. Buy USBCELL today. 

USBCELL re-usable batteries aim to help save you money, hassle as well as reduce battery waste. From Feb 1st 2010 in the UK it becomes law for stores to help more with collection and recycle batteries - and elswhere in Europe with the EU batteries Directive. Similarly in the US - RBRC and Call2Recycle are trying to help reduce global batterty waste - which amounts to over 15 billion batteries in landfill each year. That's enough rubbish alkaline batteries to create a column of batteries to the moon and back. USBCELL batteries help as can be recharged hundreds of times from USB ports on computers, laptops, games devices, hubs or in regular charger - so you don't need to find/carry one. 

The genuine-article Google Phone is finally here. The Nexus One. In the modern climate of hyped (and over-hyped) smartphone launches, Google's official entry into the phone-sales game has excelled in a department where many find difficulty: generating legitimate excitement. Of course, long before the name Nexus One or the recent bounty of pictures and details existed, the very concept of a "Google Phone" had been ingrained in the public conscience, predating even the Open Handset Alliance and Android itself; the company dabbled in the concept of direct sales through its offering of the Android Dev Phones 1 and 2 (alias Ion), but this time, it's a public retail ordeal, not a couple of one-off developer specials. The device, a Snapdragon-powered, HTC-built phone looks -- on paper, at least -- like the ultimate Android handset, combining a newly tweaked and tightened user interface with killer industrial design. A sleek, streamlined phone that can easily go toe-to-toe with the iPhone 3GSs, Pres, and Droids of the world, powered by the latest version of Android (2.1 "Flan," if you're counting), and hand-retooled by Google.

 

If you are England's number 1 fan, then you obviously  must got this pint-sized footie enthusiast. The very picture of your Eng-er-land obsessive, his merry chanting and dancing will have you in stitches. He's kitted out in an England shirt (of course) and fabric jeans, and when you press his button he'll wave his scarf back and forth while shouting out one of a variety of chants. Best of all is, he won’t be arrested for acting like a hooligan just in case the German tanks steamroll over the Three Lions, for we will look towards the 5-1 victory. 

      Amongst his vocal arsenal are 'God Save The Queen', the dulcet 'Ere We Go', and many other similarly terrace-worthy chants. It's a bit of fun, but still a nice way to show a little bit of patriotism as the World Cup dawns on us.