by Darren Murph, posted Apr 11th 2008 at 7:31AM
Be still, our hearts! Judging by a post (penned in Russian) over at the studio’s Livejournal, we could be seeing a number of Art Lebedev retail outlets popping up over the next year and change. From what we can glean, (more) B&M locations could surface in a plethora of Russian cities (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, etc.) along with one in New York (!). Granted, we get the impression that the “stores” may resemble holes-in-the-wall within other establishments (rather than dedicated structures), but we ’spose only time will tell. Camp out for the next edition of the Optimus Maximus right here in the Big Apple? Why, of course.

[Thanks, Dmitriy]

• Read
• Permalink
• Email this
• Comments (20)

Filed under: Misc. gadgets

»read more from "Art Lebedev taking wares to brick and mortar"

Big Things! Comdex 1996 was filled with things that were the wrong size. My apologies to the company who had this booth. I have no idea who you are, but your displays were cool. I think it might be Compaq’s PDA, but I’m not sure. If you know, please tells us in the comments.

This is a big version of a handheld PDA. Windows CE was announced that year, so there were lots of compact PCs running Windows CE. The battle between Windows CE, the Apple Newton and Palm Pilot started that year and here we are twelve years later with no clear winner between them, although my personal favorite right now is Apple with their iphone.

Ah, to sit down. We were all so tired that year that any place to sit down was a welcome respite. These seats looked like huge computer keys, so I snapped a photo of them. It looks like it was a booth for Fujitsu. Where are they now? They are still making notebook PCs and Tablet PCs. You can find them here:

• FUJITSU : Fujitsu Computer Systems -

Tune in next week for the continuation of Comdex 1996.

»read more from "Comdex 1996: Day 4"

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 11th 2008 at 8:28AMSo, how do you go about impressing the world after busting out a few systems based around the “fastest chip on Earth?” By getting us all worked up for a little thing called racetrack memory, that’s how. Far from being the first memory technology that runs laps around the DIMMs we’re relying on today, IBM researchers are suggesting that this iteration could enable users to store substantially more data at a lower cost and be available in around a decade. Put simply, the gurus working the project have discovered a way to overcome the prohibitively expensive process of manipulating domain walls in magnetic storage, essentially making a long-standing approach entirely more viable. If you’re totally in nerd heaven right now, we assure you, checking out the explanatory video waiting after the jump is a must-do.

[Via BBC]

• Read
• Permalink
• Email this
• Comments (24)

Filed under: Storage

»read more from "IBM’s racetrack memory dashing towards commercialization"

If you can afford the luxury TAG Heuer phone, there’s still another option, the CE168. It looks like the Nokia 8800 Luna. The case is embedded with blings and it comes with 2.0 inch display screen with 240×320 resolution, 1.3-megapixel, Bluetooth connectivity and support MP3 and MP4 playback. It is running on GSM 900 / 1800 MHz network. The CE168 luxury phone is going to cost you only $210.60. More pictures after the break.
[ Source ]

»read more from "CE168 Affordable Luxury Phone"

According to the bi-annual Internet Security Threat Report from Symantec (.pdf), identity thieves aren’t getting nearly as rich off of your stolen or “misplaced” data as they used to. As the AP reports, the sheer glut of personal information being pilfered these days, combined with a falling U.S. dollar and fierce competition among identity hawkers, has driven the prices for such stolen data down to “bargain-basement levels.”

Researchers say that internet fraudsters are therefore doing what any self-respecting salesman would do: offering volume discounts. Currently, some stolen credit-card numbers are begin sold in batches of 500 for as low as $200. That’s 40 cents for each number, less than half the price observed during the first half of 2007, according to the report.

What’s more, “full identity” packages, which include a working credit card number, a Social Security number and a person’s name, address and DOB, are going for as little as $100 for 50, or $2 apiece. Now that’s a bargain.

Because of the falling U.S. dollar, and (I’m guessing) a population racked with debt, European identities also tend to be worth a lot more than the American equivalent.

[AP via Techdirt] Photo: Flickr/y_ordan

»read more from "Your Stolen Data Is Worth Nothing"

When you were a kid, did your parents always hassle you about turning off the lights when you left a room? Well now that you have your own place, you probably understand exactly why they would tell you that. What’s more is that you also likely have a lot of gadgets around your desk that still use power even when you’re not using them. This is why Watt Stopper created the Isole IDP-3050.

This rather ordinary-looking power strip is designed to save power by shutting off gadgets when you aren’t around. The small wired box is actually a passive infrared sensor which will kill power to most of the outlets when you aren’t around.

Two of the outlets are not controlled by the sensor, which would be ideal for plugging in your PC. You can also program how long it will wait before shutting off power. It can be anywhere from 30 seconds to 30 minutes. It will likely take a while for your investment to pay off though, this power strip will set you back $90. Either way, you’re saving the environment, right?

Source: Crave

»read more from "This power strip turns off unused gadgets"

This stunning device is an all analog digital watch, named the Meccanico DG. At the top is a traditional analog dial, but the lower section comprises rolling tubes to form an LED-style digital display. Both show different time zones, and the description in maker de Grisogono’s press release shows why this is being called the “worlds most complicated Mechanical Digital/Analog watch”.

The all mechanical mechanism contains 651 components, including 23 tiny cams to drive the “digital” display. While we don’t know the price, we do know that there will be just 354 Meccanicos made; 177 in Titanium and 177 in white gold. And you know what? My usual aversion to bling has gone out the window. This thing is amazing, even in the CAD rendering you see here. Stay tuned for real photos when the Meccanico is launched at the Baselworld show in Switzerland.

All Mechanical Digital - The MECCANICO dG by de GRISOGONO [Watchismo Times]

Previously on Gadget Lab

Giant Digital Clock in Berlin Art Museum

»read more from "Stunningly Beautiful Watch Has Mechanical “Digital” Display"

If you’ve been doing your part for the environment by transitioning from regular light bulbs to energy-saving fluorescent lght bulbs, you might be interested to know that you can get energy-saving light bulbs that do more than just provide light. Kitchen Contraptions spotted this 15 watt ionic bulb, which produces 60 watts of ight and contains an ionizer that cleans the air around the bulb. The claim is that the ionic technology picks up airborne particles that contaminate your room and cause odors. The bulb provides 10,000 hours of lighting, 10 times longer than standard light bulbs.

There’s been controversy over the last few years about whether ionic air purifiers are effective. You might recall the lawsuit filed by Sharper Image against the publisher of Consumer Reports, claiming product disparagement relating to negative reviews of Sharper Image’s Ionic Breeze Quadra air purifiers (the suit was dismissed), and the class action suit against Sharper Image by consumers (which was settled in 2007).

Putting aside the debate over how effect ionic air purifiers are, it’s an interesting idea to make air purification a secondary function of a light bulb, since you have at least one bulb in every room of a house.

Sold for $14.99 each at Amazon..

»read more from "Energy saving, air purifying light bulb from Viatek"

Researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, IL, have managed to improve lithium-ion batteries to make them last longer, be more reliable and safer.

The improvements come from a change in the materials used to manufacture the battery. First of all, safety has been improved. Today’s lithium-ion batteries contain cobalt oxide electrodes, which when overheating occurs produces oxygen, reacts with the solvent in the battery and increases the overheating further; occasionally leading to the laptop fires we have all seen on YouTube. The researchers have managed to replace some of the cobalt oxide with maganese oxide, which is more stable and therefore cuts the risk of this happening.

Reliability improvements come in the form of an increased number of charges. This was achieved by replacing some of the metal oxide in the electrode with electro-chemically inactive material to form a composite. The composite does not store energy and makes the battery more stable meaning it survives more charges and does not degrade the amount of charge available after many charges have occurred.

A side effect of the use of the composite is the battery can also hold up to 30% more charge. This is because the inactive materials allow more lithium to be used for storing energy within the battery.

These improved batteries may be making their way into laptops fairly rapidly as a licensing deal has already been done with Japanese company Toda Kogyo. They manufacture around 30 million batteries a year making the chances high they will be in laptops sooner rather than later.

Read more at TechnologyReview.com

Matthew’s Opinion

This is a different breakthrough to the one reported in December last year where researchers increased the capacity of a lithium-ion batteries 10x. In that case the anode had been created with silicon instead of carbon, where as in this case it is the lithium and metal oxides that are being altered. Combining this breakthrough and the silicon anode should theoretically take the storage capacity even higher.

There is no suggestion that the changes made will have an impact on price. However, if I was a manufacturer of laptops and started recieving batteries that gave a 30% increased charge time I would be marketing it as soon as possible. New models carrying the batteries may appear and vendors may try and charge a premium for them.

The fact the update to the battery design offers better safety and reliability means they will hopefully start getting used across the board fairly rapidly. Other battery manufacturers will be forced to license the tech as vendors will be asking for the increased safety, reliability and charge time as soon as one of their rivals gets a shipment.

I am still looking forward to the day I can hover over the battery meter on my laptop and it reads “30hrs remaining”. Whether that will happen any time soon is anyone’s guess, but these incremental breakthroughs help get us there.

»read more from "Laptop batteries get more reliable, safer and 30% energy boost"

I forgot to post on that one, but it’s never too late to talk about an interesting gadget: The Van Der Led WM2 Cellphone Watch is the first one that looks good enough to be usable. I believe that they should continue to refine the design (make it simpler, more minimalist) but it is going in the right direction. What’s in it?

* 1.3” Display (260k colors)
* 1GB of user storage (music, videos)
* USB connection
* Bluetooth

It should be on the market next week, and don’t forget that a Bluetooth headset is necessary.
[ Source ]

»read more from "Good-Looking Van Der Led WM2 Cellphone Watch"