Company devises umbrella that forecasts rain
A U.S. company has developed an umbrella that does more than just keep you dry when it is raining — it tells you when it’s going to rain.
Ambient Devices, which specializes in integrating Internet information into everyday products, has devised an umbrella with a built-in radio receiver in its handle that receives weather data for 150 U.S. locations from forecasting site Accuweather.com via a proprietary wireless network.
If the forecast is for rain in the next 12 hours, the umbrella’s handle lights up. Soft, intermittent pulses mean you can expect light rain while a very rapid, intense pattern signal thunderstorms ahead.
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UK launches CO2 car rankings Web site
(Reuters) - Britain’s Department of Transport has launched a Web site designed to let new car buyers choose the most environmentally friendly vehicle for their needs.
The “Best on CO2″ site uses a ranking system devised with What Car? magazine.
The site, on www.dft.gov.uk/ActOnCO2, allows buyers to search models by category, transmission and fuel type and to be given a list of the lowest CO2 emitting models.
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Extreme Cooling Devices - Freeze Your CPU
There are a lot of computer cooling devices and methods available to the computer geek or performance addict. From the simple air moving coolers that have been around from the first built computer to the exotic thermoelectric systems, there is a cooling method and device for every situation and computer system. Most traditional cooling methods and systems have the big disadvantage of keeping the hardware part they are supposed to cool at a very close point to the room temperature that particular hardware is in. If the room temperature is low, everything is fine and the traditional air cooling system is doing a very good job for a small amount of money (most air cooling solutions are pretty inexpensive), requiring maintenance only from time to time (dust is the ultimate enemy of all cooling solutions). Imagine now that you are using your computer in a those hot summer days, in a sunny room where the temperature reaches 30° Celsius and the air cooling system
that served you so well in the colder days of winter and spring is now suddenly struggling to keep your processor, chipset and video card from going up in flames.
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It’s All About Fire and Speed
While there are a number of cross platform standards designed for data transfer between different kinds of devices, there are only two that gained worldwide acceptance and are now used in almost all computers and a number of peripherals. One of these two standards is the USB and the other is the FireWire standard. Just like USB, FireWire is not a new addition to the computer world as it has been developed by engineers at Apple Computer more than 10 years ago. From the start, it was intended as a cross platform method of transferring data using high speeds. The technology was presented to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE for short) and in December 1995, the first official FireWire standard called IEEE 1394 was released, supporting data transferring speeds up to
400Mbps.
Nowadays, the original standard (IEEE 1394) has two new additions, complementary standards that basically increase the data transferring speeds: the IEEE 1394a and the IEEE 1394b. Under the latest FireWire standard (IEEE 1394b) devices support hot-swapping and data transferring speeds of up to 800Mbps. According to the 1394 Trade Association, cited by the site IT Business Net, “by the end of 2006 more than 510 million 1394-equipped devices (such as computers, hard drive, and televisions) will be available worldwide with FireWire as the transport mechanism for high-quality audio, video, data, and control. That’s estimated to double over the next 24-36 months”.
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Toshiba Is Raising The Bar
The Japanese computer hardware maker and system integrator Toshiba raised its profits and revenue forecasts for the coming months after the company enjoyed a very good quarter with strong sales that translated into high revenues. During the first quarter of 2007 the net profits of the Japanese company reached the mark of 126.8 million Euro from just 24.9 million Euro for the same period last year. Those rising profits were backed up by a 15 percent increase in sales (reaching 10.2 billion Euro) and by an operating profit rise to 130.5 million
Euro.
According to the news site ENN the computer hardware and general electronics maker raised its expectations and forecasts for the net profit that may be achieved to 246.3 million Euro for the first half of the fiscal year. This means a considerable increase from the April projections and forecasts that were expecting only a net profit of 61.6 million Euro. At the same time, according to new projections, sales are expecting to surge from 21.6 billion Euro to more than 22.2 billion, while operating profits are expected to reach a solid 431.2 million Euro, much more than the initial estimate of 246.3 million.
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Fujitsu LifeBook N6460 Notebook
The Japanese computer hardware manufacturer and system integrator Fujitsu announced the latest laptop in the LifeBook mobile computing family. The Fujitsu LifeBook N6460 is intended as a middle level between a laptop and a fully fledged desktop computer system or a place where the traditional high computing power of a desktop system meets the mobility of the laptop.
Apart from
the rich hardware configurations available, users may select their own preferred operating systems and experience the power of the Microsoft Windows Vista (Home Premium, Business and Ultimate) that “makes finding information, staying connected, and interacting with your PC easier and more secure. Using, organizing, and sharing photos, video, TV programs, and music becomes a part of your everyday life. With Windows Vista operating system, balancing your checkbook, doing homework, watching a movie, listening to music, or playing a game is a better and more enjoyable experience”, according to the Fujitsu site.
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Change Windows Vista Default Programs
In Windows Vista, users can effortlessly manage the programs that the operating system uses by default. Not happy with what Vista’s built-in components have to offer? Then you can simply change the platform’s default applications to the third-party programs you prefer. Vista features the Default Programs feature tucked away under Control Panel in the Start Menu. Opening it will bring up a window designed to permit you to “Set your default programs,” “Associate a file type or protocol with a program,” “Change AutoPlay settings” and “Set default programs for this computer.”
Via the first option, you can configure a program to be the default for all the file types and protocols it supports. Clicking on “Set your default programs” will present a list with a collection of applications associated with the various most common tacks such as Internet browsing, media playing, text editing and email and image viewing. Here you will be permitted to select the default browser, picture viewer, media player, text editor and desktop email client. Microsoft’s own Windows Calendar, Windows Contacts, Windows Mail, Windows Media Player, Windows Photo Gallery and Internet Explorer 7 can be thrown into the background if you wish to use alternative solutions.
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Gaming console: Not a tough choice
I’m guessing the guy who wrote this article is not a gamer. Anyway, any gamer will tell you that the only factors in buying a games console are:
Cost: Can I afford it and is it value for money?
Games: Do I like the games available, or do they have games I want scheduled for release in the future. Memory, hardware, menu etc don’t ever enter the equation.
No gamer is going to buy a console just because it has a “devilishly slick look” and would look nice in the entertainment unit.
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Verizon’s V CAST Mobile TV shows X Games
Verizon has collaborated with ESPN and MediaFLO USA for their V VAST Mobile TV to showcase ESPN channel that shows all the actions and excitement such as live competitions and behind the scenes coverage and commentary directly to the mobile device.
The FLO TV service is also available through V CAST Mobile TV with other channels CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, FOX Mobile, MTV Music Television, NBC 2Go, NBC News2Go and Nickelodeon.
Viewers are offered to watch ESPN’s rally car races with the opportunity to see the race from the driver’s perspective. Live coverage of the event along with practices and qualifying, daily “Best of X Games” segments are also available.
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War for the wireless world
Canadians anxiously awaiting the arrival of Apple Inc.’ s iPhone are in for a bit of a shock: they may need to move to Rwanda to afford it. That’s because the hotly anticipated device is an Internet-connected mobile multi-media device first and a phone second, and as such requires large amounts of wireless download capability, the kind for which providers such as Rogers Communications Inc. and Bell Canada Inc. currently charge an arm and a leg. Embarrassing as it is, all this wireless data is cheaper almost anywhere else, including some African nations.
That has Apple, and another large and deep-pocketed technology company, search giant Google Inc., hopping mad — and vowing that they’re not going to take it anymore.
With demand for the iPhone bordering on rabid, Apple is daring to call the shots with wireless carriers. Google, meanwhile, has pledged billions of dollars to buy wireless airwaves in the United States in an effort to shake up what it sees as a cozy oligopoly. Apple and Google see the status quo in North America as holding back the spread of mobile Internet usage, and thus their own growth, so both are moving to fundamentally change the business. Given the gargantuan market capitalization and brand power of both companies, industry experts say a wireless future ruled by Apple and Google — not the likes of AT&T Inc. and Rogers –is imminent.
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