Category: Gadgets

ROB-1: Bluetooth Controlled Remote Camera From Sony Ericsson – CeBIT 05

Sony Ericsson Reveals Bluetooth Controlled Remote Camera For MobilesStraight out of the Billy Bonkers School of Barking Inventions, Sony Ericsson’s new Bluetooth controlled camera, ROB-1, lets users steer a wheeled camera around using the joystick or keypad on a mobile phone.

The yo-yo shaped device can rove around for a distance of up to 50 meters from the user, sending back a streaming video to the phone’s display.

Images can then be captured on the phone in the usual manner.

Eleven centimetres in diameter, the roaming ROB-1 can move forwards, backwards, look around corners, pivot on the spot or tilt the camera 70 degrees upwards and 20 degrees downwards.

The device’s three wheels and spherical shape make it an agile and flexible fella, with clever camera technology offering a wide field of vision.

The ROB-1 also features an ultra bright light on the front allowing shots to be taken in dark spaces.

The perambulating picture-taker comes with ample onboard memory, capable of storing lots of photos. These can then be uploaded to the user’s phone or transferred to a PC via the supplied USB cable.

Our darkly twisted minds can’t stop coming up with so many dodgy, dangerous and downright illegal uses for this sneaky, swivelling, straying camera that we’d best let Ulf Persson, Corporate Vice President and Head of Accessories for Sony Ericsson, give us the squeaky clean version:

Sony Ericsson Reveals Bluetooth Controlled Remote Camera For Mobiles“This is a great gadget for people who really like testing the latest technology first hand and having fun with new applications. Just like the Sony Ericsson Bluetooth Car which appealed to a wide range of gadget fans, we believe that ROB-1 will become the ‘must have’ Bluetooth gadget to show off to friends and family!!

The Bluetooth Motion Cam ROB-1 will be available during Q3 2005.

Sony Ericsson

DVR Sales Rise, But VCRs Still Currently Dominant

DVR Sales Rise, But VCRs Still DominantDVRs may well be the hot product in the home entertainment industry, but dusty old video cassettes still rule the roost in the US.

A survey from iSuppli Corporation reports that DVRs are still a long way from challenging VCRs as the dominant method for recording TV in US households, but strong growth is predicted through to 2009

Only 3.8 million units were sold in 2003, but sales almost tripled in 2004 to 11.0 million units.

iSuppli estimates that sales will continue to grow, rising to 16.3 million by the end of this year and 45.5 million by 2009.

CENTRIS research also found a large increase in the DVR market last year, with the number of DVR units owned by US households rising 119% to 3.5 million from 2003 to 2004.

The company noted that the increases in DVR were mainly due to consumers taking advantage of units offered with digital broadcast satellite (DBS) and cable subscription services.

DVR Sales Rise, But VCRs Still DominantHowever, take up is still very low compared to many other consumer electronics products: just 6% of all US households have a DVR, compared to the 87% with a VCR, 60% with a DVD console and 12% with Video on Demand (VOD).

The squeeze is going to be on for PC-based DVR makers and standalone players like TiVo.

Despite extremely loyal user bases and a market share currently at about 40% (TiVo dominates this with a market share between 20% and 30%), JupiterResearch is predicting that this market share will decline to 20% by 2009, with cable and DBS DVRs accounting for the remaining 80%.

These companies can offer their products very cheaply (charging only a fee for renting the machine with no extra subscription cost) and introduce consumers to an affordable DVR experience.

In an effort to maintain their market share, TiVo is planning to branch out its services early next year by allowing subscribers to download movies from the Internet to their machines, along with a partnership with DVD rental company NetFlix.

DVR Dilemma (emarketer.com)
iSuppli
Jupiter Research
Centris

Fossil Wrist PDA Watch, Much Delayed, Finally Arrives

Much Delayed Fossil Wrist PDA Watch Finally ArrivesIt’s been delayed more times than the 8:25 from East Grinstead on a leaf-strewn morning, but Fossil has finally released its super geeky Fossil Wrist PDA Palm Powered watch.

Based on the Palm OS, the Fossil wrist watch provides full Palm PDA functionality, in a case so chunky that that it could double up as a shield.

First announced way back in late 2002 with a release slated for 2003, the watch edged into vapourware territory when Fossil admitted to production problems, rumoured to involve problems with the tiny touchscreen.

In the following long silence, everyone assumed that it had gone the same way as the dodo, but it unexpectedly resurfaced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, 2005.

Remarkably very little has changed from the original specs during its two-year sojourn. The basic specs are identical, with the watch offering a 160×160 pixel grayscale LCD touch-screen, 66MHz processor, 8MB of memory running on Palm OS 4.1.

They’re hardly the kind of specs to get the geek cognoscenti running to the stores, with several innovations missing from the feature list: there’s no MP3 support, no Bluetooth, no wi-fi and no wireless updates.

Much Delayed Fossil Wrist PDA Watch Finally ArrivesThe watch itself is made of stainless steel, with a teensy weensy fold out stylus cunningly secreted in the strap buckle. Fossil have managed to fit in a USB socket and infra red port, along with three buttons and a rocker switch for onscreen navigation.

The unit has no waterproofing whatsoever, so a forgetful user doing the washing up while wearing the watch could be left with a very expensive – but utterly useless – bracelet.

Initial reports suggest that the battery life isn’t up to much cop either, with the watch struggling to survive a day with moderate usage (2 hours)

The good news is that it will run most of Palm’s immense application catalogue, although you may need a microscope to view some screens.

The watch is now available in two versions: the Fossil branded FX2008, priced at US$249.99 (£129/€188), and the Abacus branded AU5005, availably exclusively through Tiger Direct for US$199.99 (£104/€151)

Now, we like gadgets. And we like things that fit into watches. We love the idea of a wearable PDA but the more we looked at this watch the more it seemed about two years too late.

While there’s no denying that it’s an impressive feat to wedge so much technology into such a small form, it’s ten-ton, 70s-style girth makes it look as cool as a kipper tie.

Moreover, its poor battery life and lack of multimedia support suggests that it’s unlikely to score a hit with early adopters, and with smart phones offering far more functionality in a less dorky package, we can’t see this one taking off.

Fossil watches

Silicon Image: HDMI First To Computers

Silicon Image Enables PC/CE Convergence With HDMI InterfaceSilicon Image has introduced its new Sil 1390 and 1920 transmitters, chip-based platforms capable of transmitting Intel’s SDVO (Serial Digital Video Output) and HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), respectively.

HDMI is being pushed by the content industry as the ‘upgrade’ of DVI (Digital Visual Interface). Sure, HDMI offer a few more features, like integrating eight-channel Audio and HD Video carried on a single cable, and acting as a conduit to pass remote control signals around, but the main reason for enthusiastic support is HDCP.

In this ever expanding lexicon, why is HDCP important? High-Definition Content Protection keeps digital video and audio encrypted through out the digital distribution chain, up to the point it hits your eyeballs and ears. This is to stop the naughty people that might want to save the content they’re paying for (heaven forbid).

Capitalising on growing sales of Media Center PCs and the growing availability of High Definition content for PC platforms, Silicon Image’s new series of HDMI transmitters targeted at PCs are the first integrated solution designed to interface directly to the video and audio interfaces of PC platforms. Out of interest, Silicon Image is one of the founders of the HDMI standard.

Silicon Image has also introduced the SiI 1368, billed as (take a deep breath, folks) the industry’s first Digital Visual Interface High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (DVI-HDCP) transmitter designed for PCI-Express graphics chipsets supporting Intel’s Serial Digital Video Output (SDVO) interface.

All three transmitters support the full 25-165 MHz HDMI and DVI bandwidth. The SiI 1390 and SiI 1930 transmitters also support a wide variety of audio interfaces-including HD-Audio, SPDIF and three I2S channels-to ensure compatibility with a broad range of PC audio hardware platforms.

“As PC users gain access to HD content, secure content delivery on PC platforms will be an important issue,” said Neerav Shah, president of Digital Content Protection, LLC, the licensor of HDCP.

“HDCP already has the support of content providers in the consumer electronics market and has emerged as an important technology in enabling consumers to access HD content.

We expect HDCP will similarly become a requirement on PC platforms capable of receiving and playing HD content. As a contributor to the HDCP specification and having developed HDCP test protocols for its PanelLink Cinema Partners test center, Silicon Image can help enable PC platforms to access the growing volume of HD content.

With the availability of new HD content and the popularity of Microsoft’s Windows Media Center Edition (with integrated HDTV support), the market for entertainment PCs is projected to grow from 7.9 million in 2004 to 59 million in 2008.

Silicon Image Enables PC/CE Convergence With HDMI InterfaceYou may think, “what do we need another effing’ cable for?” but with more HD content becoming available, the PC market will require PCs to support HDMI or DVI with HDCP in order to access this content.

With its single cable coupling multi-channel audio and uncompressed HD video and small connector, HDMI is poised to become the de facto multimedia interface for both PCs and consumer electronics devices-enabling PCs with true entertainment and multimedia functionality.

“All the signs indicate that 2005 will mark the year HDMI gains a foothold in PC platforms,” stated Joe Lee, Silicon Image director of product marketing, PC and display products.

“Our family of new HDMI products for the PC supports our corporate strategy of enabling secure delivery of digital content on any and all platforms, including Windows Media Center and other Intel architected desktop PCs, notebooks, set-top boxes and media adapters.”

Silicon Image, HDMI Standards
Silicon Image Press Release
hdmi.org

Diffusion Group Report: Media Servers, Digital Media Adapters Reborn In Converged Platforms

Stand-Alone Media Servers And Digital Media Adapters Reborn In Converged PlatformsEvidence is beginning to amass that two of the most hyped products in the early digital home market will be lucky if they manage to reach niche market status in the next few years.

Not so long ago, people were getting very excited by media servers and digital media adapters. They were the future. And then, err, people kinda forgot about them.

So what happened?

According to new research from The Diffusion Group, it seems that despite the products being well-hyped, widely discussed and blessed with encouraging early forecasts from a number of research firms, the devices have suffered from extremely limited demand.

Moreover, the report concludes that demand for both these technologies will remain limited and that what unique functionality these solutions do offer will be quickly integrated into other platforms.

“It is not that this type of functionality is undesirable,” said Michael Greeson, President of The Diffusion Group. “The premise of networking stored digital media content to multiple devices in the home is valid, but consumers aren’t looking for separate devices to enable this experience.

Instead, the applications and benefits enabled by these two platforms will be increasingly integrated into devices with which consumers are more familiar – such as DVD players that are now evolving into DVD-recorders or set-top boxes with built-in hard-drives and integrated networking.”

“While media servers were originally positioned to be the hub of the digital home, demand for these solutions has never gotten off the ground.”

Although Windows Media Center PCs have proved more popular, Greeson asserts that this is simply down to normal PC replacement cycles rather than consumers finding anything particularly compelling about the concept.

Other media server platforms have been much less successful, although the push of high-end digital set-top boxes by cable and satellite video service providers offers a case for optimism.

“However,” says Greeson, “this is a push model, where the equipment is subsidised by the service provider in order to generate digital media service revenue, as opposed to a ‘pull’ model where consumers are so enamoured with the device that they run to the retail store to purchase one.”

When it comes to digital media adapters or DMAs, the Diffusion Group paints a gloomy picture.

Introduced a couple of years ago, the idea was to make it easy to share content from the PC to other media devices in the home, such as a TV or stereo using a DMA. But their techie-tastic appeal failed to win over punters.

“Not long ago, there were ten to fifteen companies offering DMAs,” said Gary Sasaki, a contributing analyst with The Diffusion Group and President of DIGDIA, a media consultancy.

“At this year’s CES, DMAs were hard to find. Part of the reason for the premature demise of DMAs is that their functionality appeals mostly to early-adopter or technology-savvy buyers. Additionally, and somewhat similar to media servers, the functionality of DMAs is slowly getting integrated into other more familiar product categories.”

The report suggests that we’ve got an industry in fast transition, with early, stand-alone technologies being picked clean for their useful ideas and then incorporated into more consumer-friendly converged products.

Diffusion Group

Hitachi To Boost Output Of Small Hard-Disk Drives

Hitachi To Boost Output Of Small Hard-Disk DrivesHitachi has announced that it will ramp up its output of consumer hard drives this year as it strives to take advantage of the soaring storage demands of MP3, PVR and mobile phone markets.

The move, in response to faltering enterprise demand, will see Hitachi target three key consumer segments – MP3/personal media players, digital video recorders and mobile phones.

As part of its strategy for the consumer market in 2005, Hitachi will open five Hitachi Design Studios worldwide, each one specialising in helping partners to integrate hard drives into consumer electronic devices.

The new centres – called the Hitachi Design Studios – will be scattered all over the globe (Fujisawa, Japan; Havant, UK; Rochester, Minnesota; Shenzhen, China and Taipei, Taiwan) and will open for business in April.

Hitachi intends to thrash their workers to an inch of their lives and get them to treble their output of 1.8-inch drives (used in Dell DJ music players), and double the production of 1-inch drives, as used in Apple’s iPod mini.

Hitachi To Boost Output Of Small Hard-Disk DrivesA smaller version of the current 1-inch drive, code-named Mikey, comes out later this year, with capacious 2.5-inch drives – holding up to 500GB – being targeted at makers of DVRs and home servers.

Hitachi, the world’s second-largest maker of hard disk drives after Seagate, shipped 1.3 million 1.8-inch drives and 3.9 million 1-inch drives in 2004, although posted an operating loss of 4.4 billion yen (US$42.08m/€32.06m/£22.02m) in calendar 2004, after being battered by sharp price declines.

“Hitachi`s strength in hard drives provides a strong basis from which to accelerate our CE [consumer electronics] business in 2005,” said Bill Healy, senior vice president, product strategy and marketing, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.

Hitachi To Boost Output Of Small Hard-Disk Drives“Hitachi’s intensified focus in the CE segment hard drive will mean good news for end-users as we work on developing smaller, high-capacity hard drives that are more rugged, require less power and cost less.”

Hitachi’s promise of churning out smaller, cheaper, more capacious hard drives may impact on a whole host of consumer electronic devices, with its high capacity drives offering bags more storage space for video/DVD convergence units.

Hitachi

Towerstream Successfully Tests Roaming WiFi VoIP Tests

Towerstream Successfully Tests Roaming TestsTowerStream, a US provider of fixed-wireless broadband services has announced the successful completion of Mobile Voice over IP (VoIP) over a WiFi network.

The company recently completed a one-month trial near its Middletown, Rhode Island, headquarters that allowed VoIP traffic to pass seamlessly between WiFi access points without dropping the call.

It’s now rolling out a beta test program in New York, where users will use the company’s high-speed network to ensure that TowerStream’s network provides seamless roaming and connections with VoIP, cellular and landline users.

“With VoIP’s accelerated acceptance and growth, combined with recent commitments from handset makers to include WiFi and VoIP capabilities, TowerStream will give these technologies a home to roam on,” said Jeff Thompson, President and COO of Towerstream.

“The tests we have completed demonstrate seamless hand-offs across WiFi access points and pre-WiMAX base stations combining standards-based technology to create cellular-like coverage.

Using advanced handsets, consumers will soon have access to high-speed data capabilities and enhanced voice features never seen on a mobile phone before.”

TowerStream currently delivers T1 and 100Mbps services to city businesses and intends to leverage its dense coverage to offer additional mobile services to consumers.

With no infrastructure tied to the phone company, the company boasts that its fixed wireless offering can deliver faster installations, more features and cheaper rates than wireline broadband services.

Users with any VoIP WiFi-enabled device or notebook will be able to utilise TowerStream’s network for free and make phone calls.

Consumers in New York City will soon be able to sign up for a free Beta trial of the service at http://www.towerstream.com/voip.

Towerstream

Frontier Silicon Raises $28m For DAB And Mobile TV Chip Tech

Frontier Silicon, the British company that makes chips for mobile digital television and digital radio products, has completed it US$28 million (€21m/£14.5m) investment round funding.

Irish venture capital firm ACT led the US$28 million investment in Frontier Silicon, with other participants in the venture funding round being Apax Partners, AltaBerkeley Venture Partners, Quilvest and Bluerun Ventures (formerly known as Nokia Venture Partners).

Frontier Silicon has developed two new products, the Apollo chip and Kino chip, which allow mobile phones to receive and record television programmes on their mobile phones, electronic organisers or MP3 players.

Anthony Sethill, founder and chief executive of Frontier Silicon, said that the money raised would be used for product development and marketing purposes.

He boldly predicted that half of all mobile phones would be capable of receiving television programmes within a year or so at an additional cost to the user of under $50 (€37/£26).

Frontier Silicon currently employs 60 people between its English, Hong Kong and Chinese operations and boasted a turnover of more than $30 million (€22.7m/£15.6m) in 2004.

“This latest investment allows us to aggressively target and drive market share in the emerging mobile digital television market in the same way that we have established our chips in over 70 percent of DAB digital radios,” said Anthony Sethill.

Frontier Silicon produces chips for DAB digital radios, with its customers including such industry heavyweights as Bang & Olufsen, Grundig, Hitachi, Philips and Samsung.

The company also delivered the world’s first complete system-on-chip designs for DAB digital radio as well as the world’s first Combined Digital TV and Radio Chip.

Frontier Silicon

Smartball May Help Football Goal Decisions

Smartball May Help Goal DecisionsThe International Football Association Board has agreed to trial microchip technology, which can determine whether a ball has crossed the goal line.

Football’s law-making body, comprising the four British associations and four members of world soccer’s governing body FIFA, has authorised FIFA to experiment with the system at the world under-17 soccer championships in Peru, from 16 September to 2 October, 2005.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, a strong opponent of video evidence in matches, welcomed the experiment while remaining adamant that it was not the first step on the road to introducing video replays being viewed by a fourth official.

“The board have tried to keep football with a human face and the possible errors and the only technology where the board has said yes is for goal-line technology,” Blatter said. “Now for the World Cup 2006 such a system could and should be applied when and if the results of our test are conclusive.”

Known as the “Smartball” system, the technology involves placing a microchip sensor in a ball which sends a signal to the referee whenever the ball crosses the goal line

Developed by Adidas, together with German company Cairos AG and the German Fraunhofer Institute, the Board agreed to the trial after a successful test run between Nuremburg and Nuremburg Reserves near Adidas’s headquarters.

Adidas spokesman Thomas van Schaik explained: “We are convinced in the quality of the system but we have to prove the 100 per cent accuracy of it, so that the entire football family is convinced. If not, we should not rush things.”

Goal line disputes have formed the basis of many a pub argument, with the most famous being the Geoff Hurst goal in the 1966 World Cup final – despite endless replays and lengthy analysis, it’s still impossible to be sure that the ball crossed the line.

More recently, the highly publicised Spurs ‘goal’ at Manchester United has brought the issue to the fore. Despite it being apparent to half the world and his wife that the ball had crossed the line by a metre, the referee waved play on.

Although a video replay system (like that used at cricket and rugby) would have made it abundantly obvious that the goal should have been given, football has long resisted the technology, with both fans and the governing bodies expressing the fear that it would slow the pace of the game and damage the spectacle of the sport.

Football hasn’t resisted all technological advances though, and referees currently employ a special armband, which vibrates when the linesman (or referee’s assistant, as they are more commonly known) raises his flag to signal that a player is in an offside position.

The flag and armband communicate by radio, ensuring that the referee won’t have to miss any of the action when looking for the linesman’s signals.

Although some football traditionalists will be frothing into their real ale at the prospect of new-fangled, electronic wizardly playing a part in the Beautiful Game, such innovation seems inevitable in the increasingly corporate world of international football where huge investments can hang on the balance of referee’s decisions.

International Football Association Board
FIFA
Adidas

Jens MP-120: Better Than iPod shuffle?

Jens of Sweden Takes on the iPod Shuffle , MP120, MP400, MP 120, MP 400Jens of Sweden has unveiled its latest cool digital music player which they reckon will give iPod Shuffle a run for its money.

The midnight black, cigarette lighter-sized MP-120 music player can squeeze in 300 tracks (depending on track compression) and a features a USB 2.0 port.

It is available for SEK 1344 including VAT (US$194/£102/€148), which the cheeky Jens claims will undercut the iPod Shuffle by a massive one krona (£0.07/US$0.14/€0.11).

“Steve Jobs claims users prefer to be served random tracks than choose from among hundreds of their own tunes. We don’t agree which is why we offer a player, that besides random tracks, also allows users to see and choose exactly what they want to hear. Given today’s prices I’m convinced we can sell more MP-120 than iPod Shuffle in Sweden, despite Apple’s advertising budget,” says Jens of Sweden chief executive and founder Jens Nylander.

We admit we’re fans of Jens. We used to have a Jens MP-130 which we dearly loved – using it to listen to music, carry data and record interviews with broadcast-quality clarity. Everyone we showed it to was wowed by it and we would in turn enthuse about it at every opportunity. How many products can you say that about?

Then some low-life nicked it when we were at the AtHome conference in Nice at the end of last year. It broke our hearts. If this player is anything like as good as our dear MP-130, it’s going to be a contender.

The iPod shuffle has a fundamental weakness that Apple tried to turn around as a benefit. It has no display. In our experience, when you’re randomly listening to selection of tracks from a large music collection or a collection of podcasts, you want to know the name of the tracks you like and the ones you hate. The MP-120 has a display.

Jens of Sweden’s earlier MP-400 player was offered in seven colours – as well as 24-carat gold – and with the MP-120 model, it is taking customisation one step further by allowing customers to choose their own headphones.

The MP-120 can function as USB file storage memory, and also has an OLED screen and dictaphone.

It supports MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG Vorbis music files, and the built-in lithium battery should give users about 22 hours’ playing time.

While we don’t think Steve Jobs will be losing sleep over this, we think this will have a ready market with those who don’t want to conform to the Apple mentality.

The MP-120 is now available on Jens of Sweden’s Web site.

Jens of Sweden