This Little Mermaid can explore your intestinal tract

 

What you are seeing here is the Mermaid. Yes, it is a little one, but not the one from the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale.
No, this one is an endoscopy device designed by a team of researchers from Ryukoku University and the Osaka Medical Collage, both in Japan. This two-inch long, half-inch in diameter device can be programmed to take photographs of the stomach or colon.
It can be controlled by a joystick, and can snap two photos per second. I would imagine that doctors can figure out what your digestive pain is. Just don’t ask how you get it inside of you. Let’s just say that if the doctor gives you a choice, then swallow it.

Maggie Pro 3-inch LCD Magnifier

 

I suppose that this next product is targeted at the elderly, or anyone else whose sight is depleting.
The Maggie is a handheld electronic magnifier that can magnify print or digital content up to 4x, 6x, 8x, and 11x. It is small enough to fit in a pocket with a 3-inch LCD screen, and there is a brightness control for varying lighting conditions for indoors and out.
Maggie is powered by a lithium-ion battery which can be charged via USB or wall-socket charger for about 3.5 hours of use.

Magellan has Back-Up Camera for RoadMate GPS units

 

When it comes to backing up your vehicle, not everyone finds it as easy as you do – or perhaps, you might even fall into the category of preferring to parallel park instead of backing up vertically! Well, fret not – there are devices out there in the market that will help you out of this particular dilemma, including a back up camera, but what happens when a GPS company like Magellan rolls out their Back-Up Camera companion device? This will play nice with the RoadMate safety series of car navigation units, letting you reverse and park more safely.
Working in tandem with this camera would be a Safety Series GPS navigator that will expand Magellan’s focus on safety and security the entire time you are seated within your vehicle. It will kick off whenever the Back-Up Camera kicks into high gear, helping you reverse out safely from your driveway, and will continue working throughout your entire commute with premium GPS navigation features. The time it clocks out? When you park your car without causing any damage to property around you, followed by shutting off the ignition.

Aquaskipper Hydrofoil Human Powered Watercraft

 

Ever wondered how it will feel like when you walk on water? Of course, you might not be able to live it up as with Peter, but with the Aquaskipper Hydrofoil Human Powered Watercraft , it might give you a semblance of such a feeling. This $495 purchase is not going to be made on a whim and fancy, but at least you can use it constantly without having to worry about ever rising fuel prices – simply because it is human-powered.
Made out of lightweight aircraft aluminum, it weighs a mere 26 pounds when fully assembled. Good thing you don’t need a rocket science degree to get this assembled, and if you’re smart enough to work out your own constructions using LEGO, surely the Aquaskipper Hydrofoil Human Powered Watercraft should not be a problem for you to put together. Capable of flying up to 17mph, you can basically fly across water by hopping up and down.
Just make sure you are not heavier than 250 pounds, and pass the 70 pounds mark if you ever want the Aquaskipper Hydrofoil Human Powered Watercraft to “take off”.

Panasonic sees Toughbook C1, and raises the ante with updates

Panasonic is one brand name that you can definitely trust when it comes to using a tough-as-nails notebook, thanks to their Toughbook series. Well, the latest machine from them that will fly the Toughbook flag is not new – we’re talking about the Toughbook C1, although Panasonic decided to take the vanilla model and throw in some updates to help it keep up with the times.
The new Toughbook C1 will hold the self-proclaimed record of being the world’s lightest 12.1” convertible tablet PC, where it will sport a 320GB hard drive at the very least, alongside up to 12 hours of battery life, 2GB RAM right out of the box that can be updated to 8GB and a faster Intel Core i5-2520M vPro processor which runs at 2.50GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz. Apart from that, Panasonic knows how valuable your time is to you, which is why the Toughbook C1 has a start-up time that is around 30% faster compared to its predecessor.

The Otterbox Defender Series Case for the iPhone 4 and iPad 2

 

I’m not certain why we haven’t reported on more products from Otterbox before, but I had a chance to try out the Defender Series of cases.
The Defender Series for the iPad 2 and iPhone 4 are very much alike. Each of them have a inner polycarbonate shell with a foam interior, as well as a silicone skin case. They also have snap-on covers that allow you to stand up your iDevices. The one for the iPhone 4 has a clip, and the one for the iPad 2 has something like a kickstand.
These particular cases will definitely protect your favorite iDevice from scratching, as well as absorbing shock. I find it hard to believe that these don’t protect from water, and I can see why the official sites for these products make that disclaimer.
My only complaint is that it is very difficult to get the Defender cases on and off the devices. My thought is this: the best suits of armor can’t be put on like pajamas. Don’t let what I just said put you off, as their tutorial videos are a huge help.
If you are interested in this type of protection, then you can go to the official Otterbox site and get the Defender series for the iPhone 4 for $49.95 and the Defender Series for the iPad 2 for about $89.95. I’ll let you decide whether or not this is a high price to pay for this type of protection.

Nokia 770 Tablet

Nokia are most renowned for their mobile phones but that may soon change with the up and coming release of the new Nokia 770 Internet Tablet

It runs on Linux and can be used to browse the web at broadband speed via it’s inbuilt Wi-Fi or when Wi-Fi isn’t available you could connect using any compatible blue tooth phone.
The GUI is controlled via stylus (like PDAs) which for browsing the web might work quite well as you’ll just need to drag the page around and tap links to follow them.

Nokia N9 Specifications

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
	Announced	2011, June
	Status	Coming soon

Size	Dimensions	116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm, 76 cc
	Weight	135 g

Display	Type	AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	480 x 854 pixels, 3.9 inches
		- Gorilla glass display - Anti-glare polariser - Multi-touch input method - Proximity sensor for auto turn-off - Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes
		Dolby Mobile sound enhancement; Dolby Headphone support

Memory	Phonebook	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
	Call records	Yes
	Internal	16/64 GB storage, 1 GB RAM
	Card slot	No

Data	GPRS	Class 33
	EDGE	Class 33
	3G	HSDPA, 14.4 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.7 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0

Camera	Primary	8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, dual LED flash
	Features	Geo-tagging, face detection, touch-focus
	Video	Yes, 720p@30fps
	Secondary	Yes

Features	OS	MeeGo OS, v1.2 Harmattan
	CPU	1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, PowerVR SGX530 GPU, TI OMAP 3630 chipset
	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS feeds
	Radio	No
	Games	Angry Birds Magic (NFC), Galaxy on Fire 2, Real Golf 2011; downloadable
	Colors	Black, Cyan, Magenta
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support; Ovi Maps
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.1
		- MicroSIM card support only - SNS integration - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - Digital compass - TV-out - NFC support - Dolby Digital Plus - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/WMA/FLAC player - MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player - Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), PDF viewer - Video/photo editor - Voice memo/command/dial - Predictive text input (Swype)

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1450 mAh (BV-5JW)
	Stand-by	Up to 380 h (2G) / Up to 450 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 11 h (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G)
	Music play	Up to 50 h

The Amenbo five-finger mouse

 

I suppose that “the five fingered mouse” is the best description of this device. It certainly is the most dramatic.
So let’s just say hello to the Amenbo, a five-finger input device developed by the Double Research and Development Company. As you can see, there five little mice affixed to a palm-resting device by five wire ribbons.
You can watch a demonstration after the jump to see how it works, and I can definitely see how it can greatly benefit the world of computer graphics. If you have ever worked in three-dimensional space before, then you know that the regular mouse is not enough with its two-dimensional functionality.

Rubik's Cube Speaker

 

Ever toyed around with the Rubik’s Cube when you were a whole lot younger? Surely without this thing called the Internet, most folks would have given up solving this particularly interesting puzzle. Of course, there will be others out there who would remove the stickers on the Rubik’s Cube and paste them elsewhere to show that they have ‘completed’ this puzzle. Well, kudos to them for creative thinking!
Back to the Rubik’s Cube Speaker – this little device has a bark that is worse than its bite, playing nice with all sound sources that rely on a 3.5mm headset jack. Since it can be juiced up via USB, that means there is no need for any batteries that eventually end up in the land fill somewhere. The Rubik’s Cube Speaker can be yours at an extremely cute $29.99 .

The DXG-5B1V 1080p Underwater Camcorder

 

Now that summertime is in swing where I live, I figure I am going to be going to the pool a lot with my kids. Since my wife is going to want to get it all on video, I am going to need a camera that can deal with the water.
Fortunately, DXG has the 5B1V, a HD camcorder that can go up to 10 feet deep in the water. It is rated at IPX8 grade, so it can take some immersion and some splashes.
According to the official website, it takes still pictures up to 12 Megapixels, but the box says about 16 Megapixels. At least the box and site are both consistent in saying that it shoots video at 1920 x 1080 at 30 fps.

New Gaming Mouse.

 

I’m always glad when I can get my hands on a gaming mouse, and NZXT was nice enough to send over the Avatar S for me to review.
The Avatar S has a 1600 DPI laser sensor right out of the box, and it can be adjusted by installing the drivers for 1600, 800, or 400 dpi settings. You might notice in the image how there is a blue light, which will change color when those dpi speeds are changed. It has a tracking speed of 30 inches per second, which makes the cursor quite fast.
What makes the Avatar S a “gaming” mouse is that it has five buttons instead of the usual three (left, scrolling, and right). The other two are on the left and right sides of the mouse, and, once the drivers are installed, the user can program all kinds of macros with 16KB of onboard memory.

New Bluetooth Mouse.

Verbatim is more often than not a name which we associate with flash memory as well as portable storage (remember floppies back in the day?), but here we see them branching out into peripherals such as a mouse – specifically speaking, the Ergo Mouse. Verbatim’s Ergo Mouse will take the wireless route to keep up with the times, making sure you do not end up with a tangled mess at the end of the day.
This is an ergonomic mouse that seems to cater only to right handers as you can see from the image above, so southpaws will have to look elsewhere – or just pester the folks over at Verbatim to roll out a left-handed version! Featuring a convenient thumb support (for your right hand, of course), it offers what Verbatim calls to be “the ultimate comfortable computing experience.” The Ergo Mouse has an ultra-smooth, rubberized grip and scroll wheel that were specially developed with comfort in mind, making you control your computer easily without batting an eyelid.

Skytex Tablet

I guess it is more or less a given that the iPod touch is the undisputed portable media player, taking over the regular iPod’s reign many years ago. Since the iPod hit the market and catapulted right to the top of the food chain, nothing else released since then by other manufacturers actually managed to dislodge the iPod from its lofty position. That is just the way some of the things are in the world, but perhaps things might change in the future. For the moment, even Skytex’s Primer Pocket media tablet is no match, never mind that it runs off the Android operating system from Google.
The Primer Pocket will be a 4.3″ media tablet that does blur the line between a smartphone and a portable media player. While it is far too small to be considered as a tablet, we don’t think the 4.3″ display on this without cellular capability qualifies it for being a smartphone, either, letting it remain within no man’s land, so to speak. What else can the Primer Pocket hold that might just increase your interest level in it?

Baby Bathtub

Cleanwater Baby Bathtub goes high tech with temperature reading

I would say that it is confirmed that babies, while they smell really nice, do get dirty – and often, too. Instead of throwing out the baby with the bathwater, why not make sure you keep baby smelling nice and looking clean with the new Cleanwater Baby Bathtub ? This particular device that ought to capture the attention of new parents takes the high tech route by offering a color-coded digital thermometer so that you know what temperature it is at the moment before tossing baby in – I jest, you don’t toss your kid in!
All for just $89.99 ? Sounds like a bargain, and you can always settle for the right temperature with but a glance. After all, being a new parent, surely you have many other things on your mind, so it doesn’t hurt to have some outside help, right? After all, baby’s sensitive skin would appreciate your care and concern, and each new purchase even comes with a bath sponge and rinse cup to help you get started. It will fit into most single and double basin sinks, making it appeal to most people who do not have some custom fitted, eccentric looking bathroom.

Baby Moniter

I suppose that Lorex’s LiveSense LW2401 is meant to be a Baby Monitor, but honestly, it can be a lot more than that.
The LW2401 allows the user instant video, and it comes with a camera and a 3.5 inch monitor. I got a chance to try it out, and I didn’t have to do any calibration or anything. The moment I turned the devices, they were paired.
From there, I had a baby monitor as well as any type of video monitoring for my home. I could even record the video on a microSD card, which was included in the package. The microSD card came with an adapter, as well as a USB cable for downloading to a computer.
Continue reading » Lorex LiveSense Baby Monitor

Pierre Cardin Tablet

Great – it seems that French fashion house decided that selling clothes – nay, fashion, is not good enough for their bottom line that they have decided to venture into the world of consumer electronics – the tablet here in particular. Yes sir, don’t you think that these are worlds apart? I mean, you don’t see Gucci or Versace taking such a step – either the management at Pierre Cardin are visionaries, or they have lost the plot.
Still, let us see what they are able to churn out on the electronics front other than belts and dapper shirts. Aptly named Pierre Cardin tablet PC , this is the UK’s first, where it will obviously be easy on the eyes (guess the aesthetics are influenced by their experience in the fashion line) alongside user-friendly technology that rides on the Android operating system from Google – no idea on which version it runs on though, but we’re betting it isn’t Honeycomb.