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Cambridge Consultants unveils WiFi RadioPro platform
Though not ubiquitous, portable WiFi radios are certainly still longed for, and Cambridge Consultants is hoping to stir up even more demand by offering up a low cost, customizable platform for theses devices to utilize. Shown originally as the Iona WiFi radio at CES, the platform has been renamed RadioPro, and it boasts a manufacturable eBOM of just $15. Furthermore, it supports over 10,000 radio stations, wireless upgrades and a flexible architecture that allows "full customization of the user interface and menus through a dedicated software development kit (SDK)." As if that weren't enough, the design also touts up to 25-hours of active streaming time on a 1500mAh battery, and if all goes to plan, we should see devices that rely on CSR's latest technology hit shelves before 2007 comes to a close.[Thanks, Rob T.]
Informance shades give athletes a heads-up display
For every gimmicky workout product that comes along like the push-up counter or talking grip master, there's also one such as the Nike+iPod or Entertrainer which actually seem to prove useful or motivational. Well you can add the upcoming Informance sunglasses from German lenscrafter Rodenstock to that list, which take your regular sports shades and tack on a tiny LED display that shows stopwatch or pulse data from a wirelessly-linked watch. Developed in cooperation with the UK's Cambridge Consultants, the display projects a 160 x 120 pixel image through a wedge-shaped prism, occupying 12% of the left eye's field of view in a reportedly unobtrusive manner when peering straight ahead. Look for actual products to hit the market sometime in 2009, for an estimated €700 to €1.000 ($990 to $1,400).
Conix One, a new four-cent inhaler that may save the world
No one likes getting injections -- we all wish for those hyposprays from Star Trek, where one little puff takes care of all your medicinal needs, painlessly. Well, we're not quite there yet, but Cambridge Consultants has just announced the Conix One, a new type of inhaler that it claims costs less to manufacture than a single syringe. The company's press release says that its "reverse flow cyclone" provides an "extremely effective deagglomeration process" (just what we've been looking for!), apparently meaning that you can absorb the drug into your lungs faster. If that bird flu does hit, we'll be stocking these faster than you can say "H5N1."
Cambridge Consultants develop NFC diabetes management device
If near field communication (NFC) is good enough for handling your money, then surely it must be good enough for managing vital health information, no? At least that's what Cambridge Consultants is promising, recently unveiling an NFC-based concept device developed in conjunction with Philips that could potentially be used by people to manage diabetes. The system consists of a wireless glucometer and an insulin pump which interact with each other to determine the proper dose of insulin by simply waving the two devices near each other, working just as well underneath clothing. And while they've focused solely on diabetes thus far, the researchers say near field communications could potentially be applied to a wide range of medicinal applications, including pain relief, asthma and respiratory care, and gastric electrical stimulation therapy, among others.
