Capella Microsystems has announced a revolutionary, never seen before chip that promises to extend the battery life of cameras, notebooks, phones and anything else with a screen.

How does it perform this wonder? The chip measures both proximity and ambient light, dimming a display when it is dark and switching it off when the user’s head obscures the screen. You know, like the iphone has done for a year, and my Nikon D60 has done since I bought it. And the keyboards on MacBook Pros have done for several years.

To be fair to Capella, this is the first time that both functions have been combined in a single chip, but the tone of the press release sounds like something from Apple. Remember Apple? The company which made the iPhone, the first device to combine a phone, a music player and a web browser?

Press release [Reuters]

Photo [Mike Caine/Flickr]

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Talk about going green - the GreenPix Zero Energy Media Wall might be really huge, comprising of thousands of solar photovoltaic capture cells attached to a grid of glass panels, and yet it won’t sip a single drop of electricity from the power grid. After all, it is fully self-sustainable and was specially constructed to wow visitors to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, being situated in the Xicui entertainment complex located near the site of the games. If only other large screen displays in huge metropolitan areas will use the same kind of display as well - think of just how much cash the local municipal council will be able to save. Taxpayers will be happier as well since they know their money can be redirected elsewhere.

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You probably just read the title and started wondering what “EarClick” is. I’ll get to that shortly. I had a chance to review the Flamingo Headphones from CellPoint recently and put it through its paces.

The Flamingo is a unique pair of audio headphones that employs a mechanism that CellPoint calls EarClick, which they also use in some of their other products, like their Bluetooth headsets.

EarClick is essentially a rubberized node (see photo) that in combination with the speaker in the headphone snaps or ‘clicks’ securely into your ear. I’ve not seen anything quite like this before and it works like a champ.

As long as you pick the right sized EarPads (and there are plenty to choose from - 6 sizes), these headphones are very comfortable even with a great deal of activity. I tested out the Flamingos quite a few times at the gym for over 30 minutes at a shot (including sessions on the elliptical and treadmill) and never found myself needing to adjust them. I have now found my new favorite pair of headphones for the gym as my other pairs needed constant adjustment for a snug fit that shut out as much of the horrible gym music as possible. Now while the Flamingos won’t do quite as good a job as in-ear headsets like Shure’s EC line, it is still a remarkably good fit.

While the EarClick technology is very cool and in my case, important, these headphones wouldn’t be usable if the sound quality was lacking. It wasn’t. Now these are essentially in-ear headphones, so you’re not going to get quite the bass or even as good a range as a set of over-the-ear cans (my favorite home and air travel pair is the Audio Technica ATH-ANC7). However, I was pleasantly surprised at how good these sounded. It does have a 9mm neodynmium driver, and I didn’t feel the need to mess around with the EQ in my mp3 player or even on my home system.

Overall, I highly recommend the Flamingos, particularly if you’re physically active and like some music while working out.

Posted in Miscellaneous

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The Engineers at Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana seem to have a death wish. And it’s usually associated with rocket powered flight. Fresh off their James Bond-esque rocket jet pack design, TAM has announced the design of a rocket powered helicopter backpack which will enable rotor driven Rocketeers to jump into the sky and head anywhere in total freedom. Or kill themselves in a spectacular event only director John Landis could appreciate.

Dubiously named the Libelula, the helicopter backpack has tiny rocket motors in its rotor blades which not only eliminates the torque associated with helicopters with conventional tail rotor assemblies that stabilize flight, but also enables the system to be compact to wear on a pilot/soldier’s back for instant takeoff from anywhere. The rockets are tiny, about 1-1/2″ in diameter by 10″ long but they pack a alot of punch providingthe rotor with more than 2200 lbs of lift.

It’s only in the conceptual design phase at the moment (thank heavens), but should it reach the testing phase, it’s easy to see how this, like it’s rocket pack cousin, could have special forces applications. Attention Brocolli family, isn’t it time Bond flew in something like this again?

Hat Tip: D’VIce

Turning is accomplished by shifting the pilot’s center of gravity and turning a small weather van like rudder in the opposite direction.

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Anyone who has bought a Creative MP3 player that uses a hard disk over the past seven years is entitled to a discount on a replacement product. That is the outcome of a lawsuit settlement Creative has agreed to, which affects all qualifying products sold to customers in the U.S.

The lawsuit was brought about because it was deemed that the storage capacity quoted on Creative’s hard drive products was misleading. That is because, like a lot of other hardware manufacturers, they use base 10 notation rather than base 2 notation to calculate the size.

There are two discounts available to customers. The first is 50% off the cost of a new 1GB mp3 player and the second is 20% off any Creative product purchased at www.us.creative.com. By accepting the claim you are also agreeing not to sue the company over the misleading storage size of your original product.

Read more at PC Pro and the Creative settlement information website

Matthew’s Opinion

If you own one of the qualifying products and don’t mind owning Creative gadgets again then you should be taking advantage of this. The 50% off a 1GB player is pretty pointless unless you either have a very small music collection, need a player for sports, or as a “my first MP3 player” for a child. The 20% off anything option is therefore the claim I expect most people to choose.

Unfortunately for other hardware vendors that ship products with hard drives, the settlement by Creative sets a precedent. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see other lawsuits start to appear for other companies. We also can’t forget the Creative lawsuit was only brought about in the U.S. but they are a company operating globally so could face the same action in other countries around the world.

This likely isn’t going to cost Creative a huge amount of money other than lost profit on the products discounted. Other manufacturers, such as hard drive vendors, may not be so lucky and Seagate has already offered a 5% rebate due to a similar action. With profit margins already squeezed a settlement like this would mean they are offering discounts that push products below cost and there would be significantly more products to claim against I suspect.

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Anyone notice how “on it” local newspapers and local TV are about reporting iPhone rumors now?  There was a spot on last nights news on the Fortune rumor about the ultra-low price (that I debunk here) and today there is a piece on how bloggers are feeding the fire about new colors, new dims and GPS.  Guess they didn’t want to miss the hype the second time around.

So, you’ve got an iPhone now or have decided to snap up the iPhone 2 (which I suspect they will call iphone Air - haha).  What problems are you going to face?  Here is what we have so far:

AT&T. History has shown that if you have a current AT&T contract, you won’t be signing up for another two-year tour.  Indeed, as upgraders from the lower memory iPhones who jumped at the chance to get to 16GB know, it was awkward, but AT&T kept their word and allowed them to upgrade without incurring two more years.  If you are new two AT&T, grab a seat and get comfy; your next stop is two years away.

Software.  Using iTunes to sync your iPhone makes this process of moving data to the new device rather simplistic.  Everything should transfer over to the new with ease.  Contacts, history, applications (if any -non-jailbreak of course), preferences etc, should all make the jump to the new device without incident.

Accessories.  If these images are anything to judge, we can expect a new arrangement of ports (possible for GPS?).  The new version is supposed to be slightly thinner (which is logical) so cases, holsters or other might not fit so well.  Incase, Belkin and DLO have to stay alive somehow…

Life. While I can’t promise you life will be any better with an iPhone 2 vs. iPhone 1 (sorry Apple), I can promise you’ll have a hard time getting the Kool-aid stain off your mustache…

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The blackberry Curve will be available from Verizon as of May 9. We saw the official announcement come from Verizon back in late-March, but at the time it was just left as “coming in May.” Well those few waiting Verizon customers can now let out a sigh of relief as its finally been given a date.

The Curve will be available online only beginning on May 9 and hit the retail stores just a few days later on May 12. A two-year agreement along with $270 (after a $50 mail-in-rebate) will put one in your hand, or $439.99 with no agreement.

Via [Gizmodo]

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While these images seem realistic, they could be a mix of just about anything from a Photoshop job to simply being an iphone knock-off. One thing that is for sure is that these next-gen 3G iPhone rumors and sightings are not going to stop until the official announcement comes.

The latest sighting consists of two images and comes courtesy of iPhon.fr, who claim that they cannot verify the source of the images, so take them for what they are worth. Whether real or faked, they certainly look a little more in the ballpark than the last “leaked” image that turned out to be nothing more than a new back piece being sold in Hong Kong.

Luckily June, the rumored release date is somewhat close, lets hope we can put these rumors to a rest. Of course, that just means another will pop up. Keep reading for one more pic, this time of the backside…

Read [iPhon.fr] Via [Engadget Mobile]

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Remember the Hitachi 1.5 UltraThin LCD HDTVs you saw at CES earlier this year? Well the 1.5 Ultra thin series has now been released in the US in two separate model ranges. First up is the Hitachi Directors series X, and the Hitachi Ultra Vision V series. We will be talking about the X series / directors series here.

The 1.5 ultra thin sets had a huge amount of attention at CES and rightly so, they are just 1.5-inches thick or thin. The Director’s Series Models will be avaliable in four sizes, from 32-inches to 47-inches. On the larger end, we have the 47-inch Hitachi UT47X902, 42-inch UT42X902, and 37-inch UT37X902, all with a 1920×1080 pixel full 1080p HD resolution, 120Hz Reel120 technology and two year warranty.

On the smaller end of the Hitachi X series, we have the 32-inch UT32X812, and UT32X802. The former features the 120Hz Reel120 technology, while the latter does not. Both have a 1366×768 resolution and 2 year warranty. The unrivaled thinness also comes with a great 360 degrees design that is appealing all around. All come with an optional audio video center.

Prices and release dates are as below.

• UT47X902 | $4,699, September
• UT42X902 | $3,699, May
• UT37X902 | $2,999, April
• UT32X812 | $2,299, August
• UT32X802 | $1,999, March

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