November 12th, 2009 3:20 PM | by Christen da Costa
You’d have to have some seriously huge nards to wanna wear the Black Ops Throat Mic in public, but that’s exactly what they intend for you to do since it’s iPhone compatible. Then again, nothing is worse then the geektastic Bluetooth headsets that people wear as every day jewelry.
Like iterations we’ve seen before, this headset picks up your throats vibration/audio and transfers it to the handset via a wired connection, while a small in ear headphone sends the audio to your dome. Should work great in a convertible, though I’m not sure how palatable the $119 price tag is for most.
Well, that’s it for me, folks–my science fiction lobe has officially collapsed on me, because I was just reading about a new military project that’ll probably change the way war is fought forever.
I read about cyborg beetles.
It seems that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (or DARPA, the guys who started the Internet in the first place) have been working on a kind of “cyborg beetle” that’s been surgically altered and given all sorts of awesome mechanical doodads to engage in fighting and surveillance of the enemy. They can be controlled remotely by humans in the field, and are actually part of a much larger overall project called HI-MEMS, the Hybrid Insect Micro-Electric Mechanical Systems. HI-MEMS, if I understood correctly, will yield history’s first-ever truly bionic organism.
The article went on from there about what all they could do, but my head started swimming about the time I pictured wasps jammed full of uranium so they gave poisoned radioactive stings to their targets.
They’re the perfect soldier. Absolutely expendable. Kill as many as you please, the colony will hatch a few million more. Heaven help us when they start carrying explosives.
They’re the perfect assassin. Can you lock yourself down so effectively that even a spider can’t reach you? And a cybernetic black widow could definitely take out a target, probably without ever being noticed.
I don’t know whether to be amazed or horrified, and right now, I’m trending toward horrified.
Here we go into the twenty first century of warfare, folks, as the Airborne Boeing laser finally manages to hit a ground-based target for the first time ever!
The Air Force only a few short hours ago announced that, back on August 30th, a C-130 mounting a Boeing ATL (Advanced Tactical Laser) managed to hit a target on the ground. And, the best part? It only took Boeing thirty million dollars to pull it off! Hurray!
But frankly, thirty million is a small price to pay, as far as I’m concerned, as long as it hastens the day when I can strap a laser gun to my hip and go plinking rats at the junkyard.
Now this is pretty fly for a white guy. Until recent most iPhone translation apps were limited to text input or a phrase dictionary. Select the phrase and an audio bite would play. But what about speech-to-speech translations? Well, it’s coming, albeit to the military.
Created by a company called Sakhr, their speech-to-speech translator iPhone app can translate English to Arabic and Arabic to English in real time. The accuracy of the app, for lack of better words is remarkable and appears to have a very high accuracy rate, although I shouldn’t take the below video as a true testament since it isn’t real world testing.
As previously mentioned this app is intended for military use only, but it clearly demonstrates the power of the iPhone. Too bad I didn’t have one of these in 9th grade French class.
Hmmm…Dell’s latest rugged laptop includes Ballistic Armor in its moniker. With that said I wonder if they’ll let us shoot it with a 9mm (not a .22), like we did with the Sonim XP1? Rated for falls up to 4 feet and all sorts of extreme elements, such as blowing liquid and dirt, the Latitude E6400 XFR exceeds real world and military spec (MIL-STD-810F). On the inside of the 8.5lb box is an Intel Core2 Duo Processor, 14.1-inch 1280×800 LCD (available in touch), up to 8GB of RAM, 120GB HDD or 128GB SSD, DVD burner, NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M 256MB DDR2 Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, optional fingerprint reader, and 5-in-1 media card reader. Video and pics after the ‘leap’. …Continue reading: Dell Outs Ballistic Armored Laptop, The Latitude E6400 XFR (videos)
Not that most of us care, but Panasonic updated their Toughbook 19 and 30 today. The updates are rather blase, but should prove worthy for those hammering away in ‘the field’. So what’s new? Both laptops have received 1000 cd/m2 brightness LCDs with ‘circular polarization technology and anti-glare (AG) plus anti-reflective (AR) screen treatments to enhance screen viewability’, improved security management, 40% longer battery life, larger capacity hard drives and optional SSDs. Not that most ‘telecom’ workers perform covert ops, but just in case Panasonic has also tossed in the ability to go ‘black’ (something they call ‘concealed mode’), which basically means pushing a button shuts down a select number of illuminated components.
The Panasonic Toughbook 19 and 30 are available now for $3,749 and $3,649 respectively.
For the full run down check the press release below
Panasonic Upgrades Its Rugged Toughbook(R) 19 and 30 Mobile Laptops Delivering Improved Performance and Viewability in All Environments
Battery Life Also Improved — Now Offering Up to 10 Hours of In-Field Use
SECAUCUS, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–January 27, 2009–
Panasonic Computer Solutions Company, manufacturer of durable, reliable Panasonic Toughbook(R) mobile computers, today introduced upgrades to its Panasonic Toughbook 30 clamshell rugged laptop and its Toughbook 19 rugged convertible tablet computer. Both Toughbook notebooks incorporate 1,000 nit LCDs, circular polarization technology and anti-glare (AG) plus anti-reflective (AR) screen treatments to enhance screen viewability, further improving in-field usability for mobile workers. Additional upgrades to the Toughbook 30 and Toughbook 19 include improved security and remote management thanks to Intel(R) Centrino(R) 2 with vPro(TM) technology, expanded memory capabilities, 40% longer battery lives, larger capacity hard drives, and optional SSDs.
Working outdoors in the bright daylight or in a vehicle with sunlight streaming through the windows is a fact of life for field workers, military personnel and first responders. Having a computer screen that is bright and crisp enough to be easily viewed, while not depleting essential battery power is crucial for a mobile workforce. The updated Toughbook 30 and Toughbook 19 offer improved full sunlight-viewability by incorporating circular polarization and other technologies, including 9 to 1,000 nit LCD brightness as well as AG and AR screen treatments. Not only has screen viewability been improved, but Panasonic’s engineers have also enhanced the battery life of both devices, now delivering up to ten hours of field-usability on a full charge with the standard battery.
“For many of our users, the ability to work effectively in all conditions, from pitch darkness to direct sunlight, is critical,” said Kyp Walls, director of product management, Panasonic Computer Solutions Company. “Panasonic has always created rugged mobile devices that offer exceptional viewability in all environments. The more useable our Toughbook notebooks are, the more productive our customers can be. The Toughbook 30 and Toughbook 19 are great examples of the exceptional engineering found in all Toughbook mobile computers. This level of engineering has made the Toughbook brand so popular with users in mission-critical environments.”
Panasonic has achieved engineering milestones with the extraordinarily bright screens it has developed for its rugged notebook computers. Toughbook 30 and 19 notebooks have LCD brightness measuring at 1,000 nits — a milestone first achieved on the Toughbook 30 in 2007. Both devices also offer exceptional low nit ratings — critical for operation in low light environments where less illumination improves user safety. A nit is a measurement of light in candelas per square meter, essentially how much light is coming from the display.
New Toughbook 30 and 19 mobile computers also include a “concealed mode” which allows users to easily turn all device lights off — screen and LEDs — using a function (Fn) key, without having to power down the machine. The feature allows users to customize which attributes get turned off when the Fn key is pressed including screen, LEDs, backlit keyboards, volume, and wireless radios (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth(R), and mobile broadband). Furthermore, users can select if they wish the screen to be turned off, or just set to the minimum brightness level. The “concealed mode” feature is ideal for military and law enforcement applications and for jurisdictions requiring vehicle-mounted PCs to have their screens turned off while the vehicle is in operation.
Every Toughbook(R) notebook uses some form of AG screen treatment because, even inside, fluorescent lights may impair screen readability. Rugged units — like the Toughbook 30 and 19 — designed for use in vehicles or outdoors, incorporate more advanced AR screen treatments. All Toughbook notebooks also include individual control options for a wide range of screen brightness so users can make appropriate adjustments, depending on the ambient light in their work environment.
