tech/net jottings

USB radio

AVerMedia USB Radio is a radio via USB1.1 controller with recording function. Just one step - plug and play, you can listen to the latest music and save your favorite programs as MP3 format directly into hard disk of your PC or laptop. Section repeating and controlling of playback speed function help you learn any language.

• Listen to FM radio via USB on your PC
• Windows application for audio capture and playback
• Record FM Radio directly as MP3 Format
• Language-learning function -----You can control the playback speed of recorded MP3 file
• All channel scan
• Favorite Channel Editing/Naming
• Recording Scheduler ¡V Presetting Recording Time
• Supports playback MP3 file on your PC
• Choosable recording quality modes

AVerMedia, via engadget

Samsung SPH-2300: 3.2 megapixel cameraphone

engadget

Griffin PowerWave

Not news, but still a great find:

The PowerWave USB Audio Interface & Desktop Amplifier is a powerful and extremely flexible computer audio tool. With it you can record any mic or line input into your computer. Record your entire album collection to make CDs or MP3s. Hook-up a mic and musical instrument and turn your computer into a recording studio.

But the PowerWave is also an integrated desktop amplifier. Use it to connect any set of home speakers to your computer. PowerWave makes a great compact amp for your MP3 player. It even enables the use of Apple Pro Speakers™ with any USB enabled computer. Flexible input, exceptional output, and amplifier power in one beautiful device, the PowerWave.

Griffin Technology

Is the PDA dying?

Interesting post on Ars technica, greeting the news that Toshiba may be about to follow Sony's example and leave the PDA market.

Part of the "dead or dying" view of the PDA market depends on the definition of a PDA. While the current PDA market continues to stabilize, the PDA-sized computer segment is just now taking off. Full-featured, Windows XP-based units are generating quite a buzz, even if their prices are quite the buzz kill. ... The market is transforming as miniaturization marches on, and people learn through experience what their own mobile needs are. Sure, some would say that SmartPhones will rule the roost, but you can't do too much work on a SmartPhone (not even a Treo). I'm telling you, it's all about rollable displays.

RFID-Enabled Phones

Some major cell phone manufacturers are preparing the release communication devices incorporating RFID technology that they hope will change the way consumers buy products, services and use their credit cards. According to a new report from ABI Research, within a few years, users of cell phones and other handheld devices will use near field communication (NFC) to access services and buy products simply by holding their own device close to another one.

NFC technology uses short-range RFID transmissions that provide easy and secure communications between various devices. That means that, for example, making a reservation could be as simple as holding your phone close (less than 20 centimeters) to a poster or advertising billboard. Without ever dialing a number or speaking to anyone on the phone, you’d be able to purchase concert tickets, book hotel rooms and make other types of reservations and have these transactions charged to a credit card using account information stored in the handheld device or phone.

These transactions can be done without user configuration. In other words, the RFID tag inside the device will automatically connect, via the cellular connection or through NFC-enabled Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to the appropriate Web site so you can learn about the product or service, transfer content such as audio or video files, or carry out a commercial transaction.

smartmobs

USB Audio to FM

Think of it as your very own radio station on your desktop. Using Aurius you can listen to any audio your computer can generate ... from movies to music ... through any FM stereo in your house. It combines the best of USB Audio with a high quality FM transmitter ... all in one package!

The Aurius also has a separate stereo line out so that you can use it with any powered speakers or stereo. And best of all, it's simple to set up and operate; just install the software, plug in one cable, and you're ready to go.

engineeredaudio

"TiVO" DAB radio

• DAB digital radio for more stations and digital-quality interference-free sound
• Pause, rewind and record live radio
• Record to a memory card or to an external MiniDisc, tape or computer
• Alarm, sleep and up to nine timer record events based on DAB time signal
• Display shows scrolling artist, song title, news, sports results and more

Optical discs: life and care

Links via Fred Langa:

• NIST report (pdf) into handling and care of CDs and DVDs;
• NIST one page (web-based) reference guide;
• GCN article on storage lifetime of CDs and DVDs.

Portable USB drives

Fred Langa (InformationWeek) on the USB drive revolution:

There are three main types of compact, portable USB-drives. The smaller-capacity variants tend to be sealed units about the size of a normal adult thumb--hence the common name: thumb drive. (One specific brand of this kind of drive goes by the trade name "ThumbDrive," but we're using the term generically--as in "thumb-sized drive.") These units have no moving parts, and emulate the operation of a disk drive via solid-state electronics and memory chips that retain data even when the power is removed.

The midrange variants are generally two-piece units consisting of a "media reader" device into which you can insert postage-stamp-sized memory chips; the electronics in the reader let the PC access the memory chip as if it were a hard drive.

The upper end units use no emulation: they are sealed or semi-sealed units that contain an actual miniaturized hard drive (see this example) that's also only the size of a postage stamp.

There's considerable overlap among these groups in terms of features and capacities, but each type of device is aimed at a specialized purpose. Let's take a closer look, starting with thumb drives, whose features serve as a foundation for all three types of devices ...

'Teleportation' — but not as Spock knows it

Scientists have performed successful teleportation on atoms for the first time, the journal Nature reports. The feat was achieved by two teams of researchers working independently on the problem in the US and Austria. The ability to transfer key properties of one particle to another without using any physical link has until now only been achieved with laser light. Experts say the capability to do the same with massive particles like atoms could lead to new superfast computers.

This development is a long way from the transporters used by Jean-Luc Picard and Captain Kirk in the famous Star Trek TV series. When physicists talk about "teleportation", they are describing the transfer of "quantum states" between separate atoms. These would be such things as an atom's energy, motion, magnetic field and other physical properties. And in the computers of tomorrow, this information would form the qubits (the quantum form of the digital bits 1 and 0) of data processing through the machines.

BBC News

60GB iPod

Toshiba Corp. is planning to launch a 60GB version of its 1.8-inch hard disk drive in the coming months and has already found a customer in Apple Computer, the company said Wednesday at the Computex 2004 exhibition in Taipei.

.... Demand for more drives for the company's iPod digital music player is one of the driving reasons behind a planned expansion of drive production from 800,000 units per month of combined 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch drives to 1 million by the end of this year, according to Lee. The company is also seeing a large amount of interest in the drive from companies looking to produce similar portable digital music players or more advanced devices that can also play video, she said.

Yahoo! News via engadget

Xkey

KeyComputing:

Xkey is a pocketable USB personal server that enables employees to work from any PC - complete with the critical applications, corporate data and security they need for productive work. Xkey is an ideal solution for companies that want to let their office-based employees extend their workday from home - without the burden (physical and financial) of a dedicated laptop. Xkey is architected for the needs of corporations. It is the only solution that synchronizes with Microsoft® Exchange servers from any PC, and addresses the security requirements of corporate IT departments.

Disgo:

Xkey is a company-issued USB appliance that provides a total “work from home” solution. Entirely self-sufficient, Xkey incorporates a powerful microprocessor, a database, an application server, an Exchange client, a crypto engine, plenty of storage and an embedded SSL VPN for maximal security. All this functionality is packed into a key-size device that is as easy to use as a floppy disk. Users simply plug Xkey into their PCs, type in their passwords, and begin working.

via engadget

The UK website (currently under construction by data-supplies.com) will be www.xkey.co.uk.

Video phone: coming of age?

... the first consumer-focused, jitter-free and delay-free, TV-quality video phone called the Ojo. WorldGate has proved that consumers can make video calls anywhere around the world, as the company made its first international Ojo call to Taiwan back in February. In addition, WorldGate recently announced a distribution deal with telecomm partner, Motorola. WorldGate will be the exclusive provider of video phones to Motorola, who also will be the sole distributor of Ojo video phones. Ojos will be available to consumers in the fall. Ojo operates on any standard broadband or DSL Internet connection. Could this be the next big killer app for broadband?

GigaOm

Text via the internet

Chatterbox is aiming to lower the cost by sending the messages over the Internet, bypassing your carrier’s toll system in the process. Anyone with a GPRS phone or PDA can download the software, which works by sending the message as data over the phone’s Internet connection to their servers and translating it back to the receiving phone. The software was originally developed for the deaf (one of the owners is deaf herself), who can rack up sizable monthly bills ...

engadget

See, too, this BBC link: 'Low-cost texts to tempt deaf users'.

$70 wireless router set to start a revolution?

Robert X. Cringely, via Status-Q:

One of the cheapest Linux computers you can buy brand new (not at a garage sale) is the Linksys WRT54G, an 802.11g wireless access point and router that includes a four-port 10/100 Ethernet switch and can be bought for as little as $69.99 according to Froogle. That's a heck of a deal for a little box that performs all those functions, but a look inside is even more amazing. There you'll find a 200 MHz MIPS processor and either 16 or 32 megs of DRAM and four or eight megs of flash RAM -- more computing power than I needed 10 years ago to run a local Internet Service Provider with several hundred customers. But since the operating system is Linux and since Linksys has respected the Linux GPL by publishing all the source code for anyone to download for free, the WRT54G is a lot more than just a wireless router. It is a disruptive technology.

A disruptive technology is any new gizmo that puts an end to the good life for technologies that preceded it. Personal computers were disruptive, toppling mainframes from their throne. Yes, mainframe computers are still being sold, but IBM today sells about $4 billion worth of them per year compared to more than three times that amount a decade ago. Take inflation into account, and mainframe sales look even worse. Cellular telephones are a disruptive technology, putting a serious hurt on the 125 year-old hard-wired phone system. For the first time in telephone history, the U.S. is each year using fewer telephone numbers than it did the year before as people scrap their fixed phones for mobile ones and give up their fax lines in favor of Internet file attachments. Ah yes, the Internet is itself a disruptive technology, and where we'll see the WRT54G and its brethren shortly begin to have startling impact. ...

If you have a WRT54G, here's what you can use it for after less than an hour's work. You get all the original Linksys functions plus SSH, Wonder Shaper, L7 regexp iptables filtering, frottle, parprouted, the latest Busybox utilities, several custom modifications to DHCP and dnsmasq, a PPTP server, static DHCP address mapping, OSPF routing, external logging, as well as support for client, ad hoc, AP, and WDS wireless modes.

If that last paragraph meant nothing at all to you, look at it this way: the WRT54G with Sveasoft firmware is all you need to become your cul de sac's wireless ISP. Going further, if a bunch of your friends in town had similarly configured WRT54Gs, they could seamlessly work together and put out of business your local telephone company.

That's what I mean by a disruptive technology.

Satellite Broadband doesn't work

Bad news for satellite broadband: News Corp is pulling the plug on its satellite-based Internet service. Hughes Electronics had embarked on an ambitious plan to deliver broadband to consumers and businesses using satellites made by Boeing. Seems News Corp executives have doubts about the financial viability of the plan. ... News Corp’s decision says one thing loudly and clearly: the economics for large scale satellite Internet service are not right.

GigaOM

Camphones going auto-focus

Infosyncworld (via Unmediated):

Atsana Semiconductor and the briefly-named 1 have formed a partnership to deliver auto-focus-capable cameras to mobile phone manufacturers.

The new camera technology, dubbed "Helimorph", is able to function within the confined space of a mobile phone because it differs from traditional focus technology. Most auto-focus cameras use electromagnetic transducers, which are bulky and power-hungry. The Helimorph, by contrast, is an actuator made out of a new piezoelectric ceramic material called PZT that changes shape when voltage is applied. That material is shaped into a helical structure, so that a small change in shape gets magnified into a large movement. That movement realigns the camera lens for optimal focus.

Instant purchasing

Japanese Mediastick combines smart barcodes and super-camera phones to facilitate instant purchases

The SEE-HEAR-BUY trend shows no signs of slowing down. This month's shining star? Japanese Mediastick, which will soon enable consumers to shop by simply snapping a (mobile phone) picture of the object of their desire.

How does it work?
• Participating etailers display Mediastick's special barcode next to their products (whether in magazines, newspapers, TV commercial or even on websites).
• Consumers snap a picture with their camera-enabled mobile phone, then send the pic to a dedicated Mediastick phone number.
• Mediastick's technology extracts the barcode, figures out what product needs to be purchased, sends the customer's details to the etailer, who bills and ships, using the customer's billing information on file with the mobile phone operator.

OK, this sounds complicated, but on the front end, the only thing a consumer needs to do is snap and send, then wait for delivery. To users, the service will be free: Mediastick will take a cut from the etailers' revs. As the technology only works with a new, high resolution camera-phone, not expected to hit the Japanese market full-force before early next year, roll out will initially be slow. Trials start this month, with one of the key partners being NTT, whose high-resolution camera phones, the SH505i and F505i, both with barcode decoders, support the service. (Sources: CNet, Springspotters.com, LookJapan, NikkeiBP.) springwise.com

Wi-Fi Internet radio tuners

British start-up Reciva is currently pitching its standalone Net radio receiver to a variety of consumer electronics companies, ISPs and network providers, while Cisco's WLAN subsidiary, Linksys, is preparing a new version of its Wireless B Media Adaptor that can pump your favourite online stations into your living room.

... The Linksys Wireless-B Music System operates along similar lines, but like its predecessor can also stream music and photos from a Windows XP PC to your hi-fi and TV, respectively. Unlike the original Media Adaptor, the new version contains its own stereo speakers and display unit, so it can operate as a standalone device. The device only supports MP3 and WMA. It can also tie into Real Networks' Rhapsody service, for which users will have to pay extra, though Linksys will bundle a free trial. It too can "tune into thousands of Internet radio stations from over 100 different countries around the world". Linksys has yet to reveal pricing or availability for the device. The Register

New iPod attachments

via engadget:

iTalk, a new voice recorder attachment for the iPod (third-generation models only — no mini, either) from Griffin, which comes with a built-in speaker and a jack for connecting an external microphone.

... a new digital camera link (is) coming out that’ll let you transfer photos directly from your camera to your iPod using a USB cable.