All but the most affluent among us have likely purged the pricey Meridiist from our memories, but if you've ever wondered what exactly a £2,650 ($5,162) cellphone looks like (and really, who hasn't?), you'll definitely want to check this out. The fine folks over at Stuff were able to point their camera at TAG Heuer's exquisite handset ever-so-briefly, and while the images tell half the story, the folks handling it told the other. The chunky phone reportedly reeked of unnecessary luxury and was built solidly, but we didn't get the impression that they were champing at the bit to call this a bargain. At any rate, there are a few more shots where this one came from (that would be the read link, for the uninitiated).

For better or worse, targeted advertising isn't going anywhere. Seemingly, it's not getting any more discrete, either. NEC's Digital Signage Solution combines a camera, a large display and a FeliCa contactless IC card reader / writer in order to dole out advertisements that cater to certain demographics. The system includes the innate ability to determine "gender, generation and other attributes" of a person in order to serve up advertisements that will cause him / her to spend some dough. From there, the individual can scan their phone in order to access related content on their mobile internet browser. That's all and fine and dandy we suppose, but how on Earth do you convince busy citizens to stop by and have a look at an otherwise uninteresting flat-panel?

[Image courtesy of NEC]

Surely those rumored shots of TAG Heuer's luxurious first handset from last week are still stuck in your head, right? Go on and purge those puppies right on out, as we've got the very first press shots (more in the read link) of the now-official Meridiist to focus our attention on. Reportedly, the handset was indeed developed in partnership with Modelabs, and beyond the all-metal casing, you can also expect a sapphire crystal screen, 2-megapixel camera, multimedia player, 1.9-inch QVGA display, Bluetooth and a battery good for 7-hours of yappin' aimlessly about how pricey your new mobile is. Speaking of which, did we mention this prized piece will run you between €3,400 ($5,420) and €3,900 ($6,216), depending on customizations, when it sashays onto the scene in Q2? Yeah, ouch.

LeapFrog is virtually unchallenged in quite a few of its product lines, but that doesn't seem to be slowing them down any. The company was showing off bunches of new product at Toy Fair 2008, with most of it newly designed to hook up to the computer and help parents keep better track of what their kids are learning with all these "toys." Products like Tag -- a reading pen similar to the FLY pentop -- can tell parents what words kids are reading well, and how much time they spend with a book, while the new Leapster2 and Didj handhelds let parents track the curriculum the kids are running through -- with the Didj even allowing parents to work in custom vocabulary lists or other subjects into their kid's game of choice. Unfortunately, the LeapFrog2 suffers from same screen viewability woes of its predecessor, and both handhelds are quite chunky, but we did like the Didj's screen and software, and that $90 pricetag is quite palatable.

If you count yourself as one of a legion of the "clothes clueless," then this smart closet could be the end of your troubles. It sounds as if you'll need a wardrobe full of RFID tagged clothes for it to work -- although the specific technology isn't clear -- but once your clothes are wired sown up, your wardrobe will inform you when you "accidentally" choose the same clothes the second time you meet the same person, and will give you advice on the correct shoes to go with your outfit, among other hints. Of course, the inventors have overlooked an array of paradoxes here (if you're organized enough to set this up, you've gotta have some common sense) but we like the wackiness of the idea anyway. If the future's anything like this, we better be ready for a whole lot of patronizing machines.

[Via The Raw Feed]

Although this certainly won't go down as the first attempt to integrate cellphones into discrete marketing, Japan's largest online shopping mall operator is apparently taking advantage of the country's oh-so-superior handsets and offering up tantalizing "promotional videos" for consumers who snap pictures of ads. Rakuten is reportedly set to hand out thousands of pilot issues of a magazine, Zero90, in hopes that mobile-wielding readers will snap photos of certain articles in exchange for a free commercial intellectually stimulating media clip. While this sounds an awful lot like QR codes, the actual technology used in the pages isn't mentioned, but we do know that Japan-based Clementec is behind it -- and you thought print media had too many plugs as is.

[Via Physorg]

Keeping track of your personal pet using any means necessary is one thing, but embedding RFID chips into some 20 aquarium fishes is taking things to a whole 'nother level. Sure, we've seen RoboFish unleashed in a public aquarium and the means to care for your guppy remotely, but officials at the Underwater World in Singapore now have a much more exciting way to learn details about the animals customers see. Reportedly, the name and species (among other information) about the chipped marine animals are displayed on touchscreen displays whenever they swim by, which eliminates the old fashioned "match the picture with the fish" signs that still exist in other facilities. The project was set up over a three month period and set the venue back $19,600, but considering that the execs are thinking about risking someone's life to tag sharks in the near future, we can only assume that it's been a hit.

[Thanks, Andrew B.]

Although PanGo isn't the first firm on the block to kick out WiFi-enabled RFID tags, that didn't stop the outfit from introducing its latest active unit and aiming it squarely at you (and your officemates). Sure enough, this third-generation "asset tracking tag" touts a smaller form factor, "enhanced functionality," and extended battery life compared to ones past, but still looks to ride along with you while on employer grounds or while in the company car. The device will reportedly last "over five years" on the built-in battery, and boasts about being the "world's first" to be compatible with the Cisco Certified Extensions (CCX) tag protocol -- which is a "WiFi communication mode that enables a higher level of location accuracy for Cisco 2700 Series Location Appliance customers and the ability for the tag to provide enhanced telemetry reporting." Most frightening, however, is how close these voyeuristic liaisons are to shipping, and since your boss can place a batch order by the end of the month, you should probably keep a close on anyone trying to slip you something in your coat pocket while 'round the water cooler.

[Via DailyWireless]

As we suspected, it looks like Tag Heuer will indeed be joining the ranks of D&G, Prada, Aston Martin, McLaren, and the host of other brands out there who are joining the cellphone craze. Dial-a-Phone is reporting that the forthcoming handset should be "a completely new design," unlike the D&G RAZR which was devoid of originality save for the branding, gold finish, and dangerously high pricetag. Additionally, the Paris-based ModeLabs will indeed be crafting the design, and if all goes as planned, should be launching in undisclosed locales "within a few months." Currently, all they know is that it should be "made of stainless steel" and closely resemble many of Tag's unmistakable timepieces, and while chances are slim that the phone will actually be in a watch, be sure to hit the read link for the first wave of mockups.

[Thanks, Stokelake]

Technology makes for strange bedfellows: that's the lesson to be learnt from the partnership of YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory with the Sumitomo Osaka Cement company. The two groups have developed what they call "cyber-concrete," which is basically a lumpy soup of regular cement and RFID tags with durable coatings. The tags hold basic information about when, where, and how each part of the concrete was manufactured, allowing safety inspection teams and concerned residents alike to check how stable their building is. To aid this process, the researchers have developed a special reader that can convert this information into speech when placed on a correctly tagged wall -- so much for "the walls have ears," now they eat pollution, display images, and speak. Sumitomo is to start testing the RFID concrete soup this month, and is aiming to make it available to large construction companies in the spring of 2007. What with a recent scandal rocking the Japanese construction scene, it sounds as if this clever concrete can't come soon enough. Just as long as it's not too clever -- lets just say that we know we're bad at darts, and that we don't need no screaming walls to tell us.

Upstart Trinity Audio Group is looking to attract budget-minded music producers and podcasters with their self-titled handheld, which promises all the capabilites you'd expect from a full-fledged digital audio workstation in a package smaller than a laptop. Based around CompuLab's tiny CM-X270L module, the Trinity runs Linux along with a variety of open source audio applications, including Audacity and Ecasound, for which Trinity says it's developing its own graphical front-end. The rest of the specs seem decent enough as well: you're getting a 6.5-inch TFT running at 640x480, 128MB RAM, 20GB hard drive, built-in WiFi, two Neutrik combo jacks, and a purported four hours of battery life "under rigorous audio demands." If that sounds like just your fix, Trinity is happy to take your $1000 now and ship one whenever it's ready -- they're currently saying October.

[Via Linux Devices]