Mia Kim
Articles by Mia Kim
Give Hitachi's new PC a hand
It's pretty unlikely anyone who's ever used a computer hasn't been annoyed enough to give it a rude finger gesture but Hitachi's come up with a PC that can interpret hand gestures via infrared sensor and use them to operate the computer. For instance, moving your hand in the air from left to right would scroll through document pages. Hitachi figures the system could be useful for recipe-hunting housewives with food-covered hands or surgeons who want to instant message while in the middle of cutting people open. We still think this mouse thing is working out for us just fine.
Samsung's new LCD displays
Samsung just introduced a bunch of new LCD monitors at the Asia Display 2004 conference in Korea. Samsung execs seemed most excited about their new mercury-free LED backlights because they comply with new environmental regulations but we're way more excited that they're just half as thick as previous models, brighter (they're 500 nits compared to the 250 that's average for an LCD), and have 92% color saturation level that supposedly produces colors "very close to nature". They also did away with the touch screen control panel, building it right into the LCD and thus making it even thinner still. The 17-inch and 21.3inch models were to be expected but there was also a 46" Portrait size (most likely to be used as in-store billboards) and a 2.6-inch model for mobile screens that we've mentioned before that'll give PDAs and cellphones a nice VGA resolution.
The MYMO: Baby's first cellphone
British tots are about to put their American counterparts to shame with the MYMO, a pendant-style cellphone designed specifically for the very young people. Since your toddler might not be quite ready for full dialing privileges, the MYMO has just three buttons and can only call out to up to five numbers that you program into it (though if your five-year-old already has that many people they need to call on a regular basis you might be a bad parent). And most helpfully if you don't feel like chipping them or something, the MYMO also comes with a service called Loc8tion which can help track down your child should they wander off.
Sanyo's Xacti DMX-C4 MPEG-4 Camera
While we're waiting for these MPEG-4 cameras to have hard drives so they can actually start replacing bigger tape cameras, companies still seem more concerned with making the camera itself smaller and smaller. Sanyo's new Xacti DMX-C4 still just uses SD cards for storage, but at least it does weigh less than six ounces. It also has the best specs for a hybrid photo/video ultra-portable: 4 megapixels, almost DVD-quality video (you can fit about an hour's worth on a 1GB SD card), and a 5.8x optical zoom lens. And you can get it in either "romance blue" or "active orange". Coming out in Japan next month, but this probably will make it to the US soon under the Fisher brand name.
Sharp's AX-HC1 fat-reducing microwave oven
It was getting damned difficult (not to mention messy) trying to figure out how to grill non-flat items in our Foreman Grill, so thank you, Sharp, for figuring out how to melt fat in a much more convenient (and futuristic) way. The AX-HC1 microwave oven uses "superheated steam" to melt the oil in fatty foods, resulting in up to 13% fewer calories. The shorter cook times also minimize the loss of nutrients that occur through cooking, though not sure anyone will care as much about that. The microwave goes on sale in Japan next month and Sharp plans to eventually roll this thing out worldwide.
SlingBox Personal Broadcaster
If the SlingBox Personal Broadcaster actually works, you'll be able to watch or listen to anything available on your home TV or stereo from any high-speed Internet connected device anywhere in the world. The $199 box connects to your home entertainment system and sends what's playing there out over the Internet to your computer or PDA in real time (Sony's LocationFree TV operates on a similar principle). SlingMedia says this thing will even let you watch TV from your mobile phone, but that could mean some jerky images accompanied by indecipherable audio, at least until we get to a Japanese-level of cellphoneness. [Via eHomeUpgrade]
SonoPrep ultrasonic pain relief
Ultrasonically opening up cavities in the skin doesn't really sound good, but the FDA just approved the SonoPrep, which creates "channels" in the skin to help speed up delivery of anesthetics like lidocaine. It normally takes about an hour for painkillers to work, but the Sonoprep cuts that to just five minutes, making pin pricks from medical procedures a lot more tolerable. [Via BoingBoing]
Videotonos video clip ringtones
We're sadly all too used to lagging behind Japan when it comes to stuff like Chaku-motion (video clips that play when your phone rings—the young people over there are crazy for 'em), but now Spanish company MoviStar is bringing video ringtones to the West with "videotonos", a similar service that uses video clips taken from popular music videos. There's no word yet on when video ringtones will be available in the US, but after seeing the David Brisbal sample on the MoviStar site, we're somewhat less than anxious about it. [Via textually.org]