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Japan's LED-stacked cubesat will burn Morse code into the heavens
If you thought cloud writing was cool, then how about a message from space burnt into the night sky? A group of unassuming cubesats recently left the comfort of the ISS and joined Earth's orbit -- among them was FITSAT-1 (aka Niwaka), a four-inch-cubed Japanese satellite covered in high-powered LEDs. Its mission is to broadcast the message "Hi this is Niwaka Japan" in Morse code, using bursts of intense light to draw dots and dashes across the heavens. FITSAT-1 was originally planned to appear only over Japan, but a flurry of interest means it'll be touring the globe, starting next month. It'll also find time for its studies, beaming VGA images snapped with an onboard camera back to Earth, to test a high-speed data transmitter. While its creator, Professor Takushi Tanaka, has said the Morse broadcast has "no practical aim," we think it would make a good emergency beacon for natural disasters (or, more worryingly, alien invasions). FITSAT-1 will try and fulfill all requests for appearances, but it can't control the weather, so you'd better hope for a clear night if it visits your part of the world. If you're as excited as we are to see it in action, bookmark the source links below, which should be updated with its orbit schedule in the near future. And, even if you don't speak Japanese, the video after the break will give you an idea of what to expect.
Hot Wheels Video Racer has a VGA camera under its hood, confirms that kids have it all
Damn kids these days and their cool tech toys! We know we sound cranky, jealous, and old, but how are we supposed to react to Mattel's new Hot Wheels Video Racer? Yep, just as the headline reveals, everybody's favorite matchbox car is now home to a VGA video camera that can capture 30 to 60 frames per second and a .95-inch LCD that allows you to play back that recorded footage right on the belly of the tiny vehicle. While a short clip of the Video Racer flying off a self-made jump may be pretty awesome, Mattel will also include protective cases so those wild and crazy kids can mount the cam to a skateboard or helmet. Disappointingly, the small car only houses 512MB of storage, which can only hold 12 minutes of video, but at $60, Mattel also includes a rubberized mini USB to USB cord for connecting the cam to a Mac or PC and child-friendly editing software. The Video Racer won't actually peel out until the fall, but we managed to take a few shots of the little thing this week and nab some video of it while at CES. Hit the break for that video and start saving that allowance! %Gallery-114785%
Nokia 6103 Bluetooth-equipped clamshell available from T-Mobile
Customers looking for a no-nonsense clamshell that does Bluetooth on the cheap now have a new option from T-Mobile in the form of Nokia's dual display-packin' 6103. This tri-band flip phone, which is a followup to the company's 6101 "Buttons for Humans" model, doesn't offer much in the way of features -- besides Bluetooth, all that's notable here are the FM radio and VGA camera -- but you can pick one up for the low low price of $70 after rebates. [Thanks, supes]
Pink SLVR L7 available through Cingular
While not quite as hot as the $75,000 diamond-encrusted version, Cingular new pink SLVR L7 will surely find a market among the hoards of people that seem addicted to devices in that most feminine of colors. Even though its sporting a different shade, this model has the exact same features as the black L7 -- iTunes, Bluetooth, EDGE, MicroSD, and a VGA cam -- and costs the same too, priced at $199 with a two-year service agreement and pledge of eternal loyalty to Cingular/AT&T Wireless.
Verizon's CDM-8945 musicphone reviewed
It's a little bit of a stretch to call the EV-DO equipped CDM-8945 from Verizon a musicphone, since it doesn't even have external music buttons, but you can use the phone's fast connection to snag songs off of the V Cast Music store at $1.99 a pop, (with a $15 monthly subscription) so we guess it counts. But even with that fast connection, PC Magazine thinks this phone is too much for too little, since the phone can range in price from $180 to $300, yet doesn't even have Bluetooth. They found the UTStarcom phone to be fairly solid, with decent reception and audio quality, but the 4.5 hour talk time wasn't so hot, and the speakerphone doesn't work when the phone is shut, making car-based conversations even more difficult. PC Mag calls the 176 x 220 color screen "thoroughly average," and the VGA camera isn't going to win any awards either. At least there is a TransFlash memory slot for storing downloads, and you can use the 2.5mm jack for a wired headset, though if you want to get music off of Windows Media Player you'll need a $30 kit with a USB cable and stereo headset