Links 2 the Future

Saturday, January 15, 2011

10 ultra-thin gadgets you could slice bread with from CES

CES 2011 might have been all about the tablets and 3D's strong push into consumer electronics, but what really made our jaws drop were the amount of gadgets that were just razor-thin. These days, measuring in at an inch or two is considered wispy.

That won't be true sometime very soon. Everything will be mere millimeters thick.

We saw the future of electronics and now you can too.

(Click on any image below to see it larger.)

1. Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc

The Xperia Arc is a mere 8.7mm at its thinnest point. Featuring a gigantic 4.2-inch (854 x 480 resolution) multitouch screen, an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash powered by an Exmor R mobile sensor for super low light photos, the Arc is anything but lacking in tech specs. The Arc is the merging of beauty and brains. Big hands off to Sony Ericsson for doing its homework.

2. LG Optimus Black

LG's Optimus Black was supposed to be the world's thinnest smartphone, that is until the Xperia Arc dethroned it nary a day later. The Optimus Black is 9.2mm at its thickest point and 6mm at its tapered corners. Packed with a super bright 4-inch NOVA display, the Optimus Back is a beautiful slab of portable screen-gasm.

3. Samsung ZX310 9 Series Notebook

Samsung's ZX310 isn't only thin at 16.3mm, but its Duralumin body is also twice as strong as aluminum. Not only is the ZX310 thinner than Apple's MacBook Air, it's also super beefy spec-wise. This super thin notebook runs Windows 7, has an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, 256GB SSD, can handle up to 8GB of RAM boots up in 12 seconds. How's that for blazing fast and insanely thin?

4. LG E2289V LED-Backlit Monitor

Pictures really can't do the 21.5-inch E2289V full HD 1080p monitor any justice. This is the world's thinnest monitor available. Yes, most of the monitor's innards are stuffed into its blocky base, but who cares when its LED-backlit screen is so bright and gorgeous.

5. Samsung D7000 and D8000

My hatred for bezels is unparalleled. Samsung's finally heard my cry, releasing the D7000 and D8000 HDTV. The D7000 and D8000 has a bezel that's so thin it's almost a crime. At just 5mm thin, media on the 40 to 60-inch LED-lit panels almost "floats" in mid-air. Colors looked so sharp, our eyeballs almost bled from staring at awe.

6. LG Xnote P210

We already knew the Xnote P210 had the "world's thinnest notebook bezel," but seeing it in person only made us realize how much space a notebook wastes with that worthless border. That one-inch thick border around the MacBook Air looks terribly ugly compared to LG's.

7. Samsung 3D Blu-ray Player

Touted as the "world's thinnest 3D Blu-ray player," Samsung's 23mm thin 3D Blu-ray player makes even the PlayStation 3 slim look like a bloated cow. As an Internet-connected player, the 3D Blu-ray player does double duty, connecting your favorite web services such as FaceBook, Twitter, YouTubeand converts regular Blu-ray discs video into 3D in real-time.

8. MoGo Mouse TM100

MoGo's no stranger to thin mice. The TM100 is the next logical step for the 5mm thin mouse. Unlike the old model, the Bluetooth MoGo Mouse is now fully compatible with most Windows 7 and Android-based tablets. If you think this mouse is too flat, think again. A latch that flips down on its rear elevates the thin mouse, providing a comfier mousing experience.

9. Planon Slimscan

Measuring at only 2.28mm, the SlimScan is about the same thickness as three credit cards stacked on top of one another. Images can be scanned at high-resolutions of up to 300 dots per inch (DPI) — perfect for business cards, receipts and notes. The best part is that the SlimScan is so slim it can fit in your wallet.

10. MoGo Talk XD2 for iPhone 4

MoGo is two for two in this thin-gadgets round-up. The Talk XD for iPhone 4 is the "world's thinnest Bluetooth," and who would disagree with its wafer-thin 5mm body. An included iPhone case can stow away and charge the ear dongle when it's not in use. Now that is conserving space!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

7 crazy tech demos you had to be at CES to see

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Despite all the cool gadgets and concepts we do report on from CES, it's amazing how many crazy things we just don't have time to cover. After all, we're only human. Each year, there are heaps of wild tech demos that are probably never seen by anyone who's not at the show, and while a lot of them a very cool, some of them have a little more than their share of craziness about them.

Here's a few of the weird things you probably didn't see unless you were there — and oh, we're going to hand an award to each one, just for fun.

Click on any image to see it enlarged.

1. Least Appropriate Underwater Demo

This SSD from Toshiba is playing back HD video while submerged in a fish tank full of water. A couple of the components had an off-the-shelf coating sprayed on them, but it's mostly just the bare drive, chugging along quite happily underwater. While Toshiba doesn't recommend that you actually do this, they did point out that electronic components are quite durable, and often times if you get something wet, you can just let it dry off and it'll be fine.

Via Toshiba

2. Most Questionable Use of an Otherwise Incredible Technology

This is a tank of regular water with some kind of mystery ingredient added to it. Lasers shoot up from the bottom of the tank and hit pinpoint spots in the water, causing whatever secret sauce is in there to fluoresce green. I have no idea how it works and the guys at the booth weren't saying much, but it's pretty amazing to watch. It's just a shame that it's being used to draw little men and spirally things and seems destined for the novelty display market.

Via Burton

3. Least Like Darth Vader While Also Being Sort Of Like Darth Vader

I guess it must be hard to teach people how to spray paint stuff, because a company called VRSim has created a virtual reality spray painting simulation that can teach the skills without all the mess. The helmet contains some VR goggles and an accelerometer, which allows you to move around a virtual scene as you move in the real world. The spray gun works in the virtual scene too, and your instructors can watch to see how terrible of a job you're doing. Change that spray gun into a Lightsaber, though, and your training program is guaranteed to be ten times more popular.

Via SimSpray

4. Most Difficult to Take a Picture Of (Runner Up)

These speakers from Greensound Technology are made from big sheets of glass that vibrate to produce sound. Those holes cut out of them that you can't really see in this picture aren't for decoration; they're actually used to tune the glass so that it reproduces sounds more accurately. A set of two speakers and a sub (which isn't made of glass, for obvious reasons), will run you between $10,000 and $20,000.

Via Greensound Technology

5. Most Difficult to Take a Picture Of (Winner)

Snapkeys is an invisible keyboard application with only four keys, two for each thumb. It's designed primarily for typing on tablets, which makes sense based on the way you type with your thumbs when you hold a tablet in two hands (think texting on your phone). The company says that once you get the hang of it, the predictive text system makes you better than 90% accurate. You really have to see it to believe it, but, yeah.

Via Snapkeys

6. Shiniest, Blackest, Flattest, Most Reflective, and Most Slablike

Sony wants you to know that their 'Monolithic' TV concept is designed to look incredible even when you're not watching it. It does look pretty incredible, I'll give them that, but the damn thing is so reflective that you can't tell whether you're actually watching it or not.

Via Sony

7. Don't Point That Thing At Me Award

Sometimes, one Taser is just not enough. And sometimes, ten Tasers is just not enough either. The Taser Shockwave system can remotely unleash three waves of six Taser cartridges each, and if you're the sort who appreciates ~~overkill~~ overincapacitation, you can stick more than one system together to make absolutely sure that nobody bothers you. Currently the system is only available to the military and law enforcement, so you'll just have to go back to single (or triple) shot consumer Taser systems to keep those damn kids off your lawn.

Via Taser

CES 2011: World's Largest 3D 1080p LED TV

Here is a short view of the biggest 3d TV on the planet. Its super thin and the picture looks great.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Become 10X's stronger with this Exoskeleton

Cyberdyne's HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) exoskeleton is designed to augment the strength of the wearer by a factor of up to ten. The suit senses when you want to move your legs, and then it moves them for you, supporting both its weight and yours as it walks around with you in it. Primarily, it's designed for the elderly who may have problems walking, but it's adaptable to many different tasks.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Sony shows off OLED VR goggles

This virtual reality headset is just a technology demo from Sony, but it's easy to imagine that one day in the not so distant future, this will be how we all experience portable 3D entertainment.

Besides looking über futuristic, Sony's "virtual 3D cinematic experience" head mounted display (aka 'Headman') sports some fairly impressive specs. The tiny OLED screens inside are head HD resolution (1280 x 720), and the headphones integrated into the sides of the goggles are outputting high quality simulated 5.1 channel surround sound.

Since there are two separate displays, the goggles can create 3D scenes by presenting each of your eyes with a slightly different image. This is how your eyes see the world anyway, so once you get used to it, it's a much more natural way of experiencing 3D. It's also a plus that the design of the goggles blocks out all your peripheral vision and any ambient light, helping you relax into the experience, and the effect is something like sitting at the back of a very dark and private room containing a big screen TV.

Sony has no plans to make the goggles into a product, at least not right now, but I can see this being a pretty awesome portable entertainment device. I'd love to bury myself in one of these every time I'm on a bus or a plane, and it would be a handy thing to be able to whip out when conversation gets boring at the dinner table, too.