Consider this a cautionary tale against trying to fix your iPod or your iPhone yourself. Recently, a guy over in Sussex (like the European Sussex) tried fixing it. And he’d checked online, and discovered that the repair process was not what you’d call difficult. So he started in, and got the first couple of screws out, but discovered that that glass face plate wasn’t exactly the easiest removal in the instruction set. So he goes at it with a knife.
You can about imagine what happens here, but let’s just say: explosion, glass shards, eye.
You can connect the dots from there.
So he got himself to the hospital and discovered he’d damaged the protective layer covering his eye. Now he’ll be wearing an eye patch for the next several weeks, and imagine the shock and horror he felt upon coming home and seeing the shattered iPhone, right where he left it.
How do you impress all the folks that have seen their fair share of Microsoft Surface tables? Simple, you build your own version that is about twice the size and displays the visual representation of the EM Spectrum. The Ideum MT-50 touchscreen table is available in an 86-inch and 100-inch sizes and is currently on display at the Space Chase Gallery at the Adventure Science Center.
If you’ve got any kind of interest in e-readers, then you know they can be a bit pricey. But the jetBook-Lite from ECTACO is looking to change all that by selling for $149.95.
The jetBook-Lite is officially, as of this writing, the cheapest e-reader device on the market.
Now, when you get a low-cost device like this, naturally you give up a few things. Tops on the list is 3G wireless connectivity and color secondary screens.
However, what you DO get is support for pretty much any ebook format on the face of the earth, including eReader DRM from Barnes and Noble. Plus, you also get support for multiple languages and a built-in dictionary, a rotating screen that can handle portrait or landscape mode, and last but not least, and incredible twenty three hours of run time on the strength of four AA batteries.
sI’ve seen products in the past like the game thumb to help cut down video game sores, but this is the first I’m seeing about a pair of glasses that help your eyes blink during times of extended screen viewing or book reading.
When your eyes are focusing on a screen they automatically blink less, causing them more strain and dryness. The Wink Glasses from Masunaga Optical force your to blink no matter how hard you fight the urge.
If you go 5 or more seconds without blinking, the transparent liquid crystal sensor attached to the frame of the glasses turns the lenses opaque, “naturally” making you blink. After you do so, the glasses reset and clear.
At a price of $445, I can’t imagine any insurance would that cover this item.
So remember just yesterday, when I was getting all poingy happy about the half e-reader / half netbook hybrid? Well, I think I may have just beat that level of awesome but in a totally different direction. Today I’m talking about the Kohjinsha PA, a combination netbook and tablet PC.
No, seriously–this sucker has a 4.8″ WSVGA touchscreen, 1.33GHz Atom CPU, 512 meg of RAM and a 32 GB SDD. The battery is slated to run for 7.5 hours, and it even comes with an SD slot and a 1.3 MP webcam, all in a netsurfing portable tablet PC.
I am profoundly impressed by this, even though my chances of ever using such a device are so slim as to approach zero. I draw like a cat with a pen in its mouth after ingesting large quantities of peyote, so a tablet PC to me is almost less than useless. But still, I’m impressed–and the price is pretty impressive too.
If you want one of these bad boys, you’ll have to shell out a whopping $758 in Japan. Preorders are going on, and the prices range between $867 and $921.
Are you still searching for that LCD screen to double as a window in your dungeon of a bedroom? Search no more. Samsung today announced an 40-inch LED backlit LCD TV that is just 3.3mm thick (that’s 0.12992126 inches), which is so thin you’ll barely notice it on your wall. And amazing it produces a full HD picture, a 5000:1 contrast ratio and 120hz refresh rate. While I’m super confident that it’s ridiculously expensive, Samsung has yet to release that info.
Today I’m going to introduce you to a truly awesome gadget that you can’t possibly get your hands on before Christmas unless you know somebody or can shell out epic bribes.
We’re talking about the eDGe, and this little beauty is worth the $490 you’d shell out for it for one very good reason: it’s a netbook and an e-reader. All at once. That’s right, it’s BOTH.
It’s WiFi enabled and looks vaguely like a Nintendo DS that you hold constantly upright, like an actual book. It runs on Google’s Android system, joining a growing family of same, and can serve all the functions of both a netbook (send email, instant messages, surf the web, run apps, write notes and so on) and an ereader (it’s got a 9.7 inch E-ink e-paper display on one side and a 10.1 inch LCD screen on the other, just so you know what side gets what)
Their creator, Virginia’s Entourage Systems, has started taking preorders for the devices, so you can sign up for them now.
Sony kicked out the DPP-F700 today, a new LCD photo frame that has a built-in printer for producing 4×6″ 300×300 dpi glossy photos on the fly. Front and center is a 7-inch 800×400 LCD with a 16:10 ratio, supported by 1GB of on board memory, a memory card reader and editing system that allows for small picture touch ups. You can expect the DPP-F700 LCD Photo Frame this coming January for $200. …Continue reading: Sony’s DPP-F700 LCD Photo Frame Allows You To Print Photos On The Fly
We’ve talked about the Argus II once before back in March, so this will be an update. Seems that a test group of thirty two blind folks got implanted with Argus IIs, got their cameras and set out to see if they could actually see anything. The early results are actually very promising, with many of the recipients now able to see shapes and lights.
One recipient, an optical scientist turned lawyer named , who had been sightless for thirty years prior to his receiving an Argus II system, went from thirty years sightless to being able to make out a door in front of him. Sure, the whole system is pretty low-resolution right now, but that’s how these things start out. Got to have a cathode tube system before you can get the 1080p plasma, you know.
The company that makes them, Second Sight Medical Products, is trying to get approval to market the devices, which are slated to cost $100,000 each. Here’s the interesting question: will any insurance plan cover this?
October 20th, 2009 11:11 PM | by Christen da Costa
Barnes and Noble came clean about their e-reader device today, and yes, it’s called the Nook. And like the leak said the device sports a 6″ e-ink screen for actually reading the books (or magazines) as well as a 3.5″ color touchscreen for perusing Barnes’ ebook store. If you’re game, you can preorder the device today for $259 (the same price as Amazon’s 6″ offering) and it should ship as early as 11/30, which is a bit late for the whole bum rush of holiday sales.
As for wireless delivery of books you can jack into any available WiFi connection, or suck them down over AT&T’s 3G connection. Built-in storage caps out at 2GB, which is good for about 1,500 books, but you can expand that to a whopping 16GB via microSD card slot. Taking a cue from Apple, it looks like the battery is non-removable and will achieve up to 10 days of page turning action before you need a recharge, which takes about 3.5 hours.
Size wise were looking at a .5″ thin, 4.9″ wide and 7.7″ long, which makes it a bit fatter than any of Amazon’s Kindles and a bit shorter and narrower than their 6″ versions.
For all you Android fans out there you’ll be glad to here the Nook has joined the ranks, the first e-reader to sport the OS. To get another leg over Amazon they’re letting users lend e-books for up to 14 days to other Nook users and their store currently boast over 1 million titles that start at $9.99.
While my vote is still out on the Nook until I get a hands on, the color touchscreen is a huge draw, but might prove more gimmick than anything else. Kindle does have a physical QWERTY keyboard, but since I’ve never tested one I can’t speak to its actually usability.
