Although sometimes I get the impression my cats are clever enough to open a tin of cat food by themselves, they can be rest assured that if I ever suffer a disability that prevents me from reaching down to stock up their food bowls there is a device that will ensure that they are still well fed.
Ray Dinham from Somerset in England has invented the DinnerUp, a device to raise and lower pet food bowls - yes your fido will still be well fed too. The DinnerUp can be attached to a either a wall or kitchen unit and by using a handle you can raise or lower a tray.
It’s refreshing to see in this day and age a device that is exceedingly low-tech - the DinnerUp has no ‘Intel Inside’ stickers on it - yet solving a problem for some many people. In fact the DinnerUp has been shortlisted for an award at the annual disability show, Naidex held in the UK.
This is what I call innovation. Back in my day we used a blackboard and chalk but it seems that future generations won’t have to get their hands dirty. This digital drawing board it’s not only clean and easy to use, as you can se it acts as a environment with predefined rules. Besides being cool this is a huge help when teaching physics classes or when you need simple animations to show your point.
Though it might take a while until we see this kind of hardware in the schools near you, it’s sure that technologies like this or derived from it are going to make our life better. What do you say about it?
The new concept Nokia 888 is design by Tamer Nakisci, the Nokia Design Award, winner. And I say the award is well earned as you as you can see in the movie below. The phone is fully flexible and can take any shape, it’s even designed to ‘remember’ certain shapes ( some sort of presets), for example you can send a message to your boyfriend/girlfriend and make his/her phone take the shape of a heart.
Besides you can use the phone as a bracelet, make it turn into a clip-shape to carry it easily or make it ‘wave’ when somebody calls you. To do all this the battery is liquid-based an the display is flexible and servers as a touchscreen. With these features the phone will serve as a GPS device, PDS, alarm clock, electronic wallet and many more.
It all looks nice and high-tech but this is just a short preview of what technology has in store for us, phones like this won’t be on the market for at least a couple of years if not more.
We all know that the long expected iPhone was announced under a price of $499 for the 4GB model and $599 for the 8GB one. Chris Seibold from Apple Matters analyzed the expenses of owning an iPhone, and the results multiples the cost of the phone by 5.
In case you want to review the list yourself, or in case you’re thinking of purchasing an iPhone, here it is.
Cingular (AT&T) service: $39.99 (450 min) to $199.99 (6000 min) Bluetooth earpiece: $50 Data package: $20-$50 Getting out of your current contract: $200.00 Car charger: $40 Case: $50
So for a two years contract, he evaluated the expenses all the way up to just a bit over $3,000, all the expenses included. Please do read that again. $3,000. So the iPhone is going to cost a bunch but it will be worth it; the complaints about the virtual keyboard and the comparisons to the Newton are specious. If the iPhone functions half as effortlessly as it did in the Steve Jobs demo, the experience will be worth every penny.
“Wow, the iPhone is going to cost a ton; that is more than Steve Jobs makes in a millennium! Of course, no one would buy an iPhone if the total cost was demanded up front so, thankfully, Cingular will let you pay for the thing in monthly contractually obligated payments. It can’t possibly be worth the thousands just for the glory of using an iPhone, can it?“
Unless you have been wandering around with a bucket on your head, you have probably seen that Apple launched a heavily debated campaign last Christmas, trying to prove you once more the multitude of reasons why you’d need a Mac. However, the PC fought back, and the battle continues. This is overall a quite interesting concept and many people have tried to follow.
I have found this funny comic strip that is trying to represent the differences between an iPhone and a Smartphone and which I will be reproducing further. I’m looking forward to hear your comments. Read the rest of this entry »
We’re in February already, and with less than two weeks left until Valentine’s Day, you’re probably starting to think about appropriate presents for your love ones. We browsed the web for you and gathered a few widgets and gadgets that would be perfect as presents. Therefore, move chocolate and flowers out of the way and make room for these three beauties.
1. An engraved iPod
After seeing what you should engrave on your iPod an what you shouldn’t, come to think about it, the back of its case is the perfect place to share a few love words. The worst part is that if you want to make such a surprise to your beloved valentine, you’ll have to hurry up and place your order before the 6th of February. Since there are still enough days left, my suggestion is to think well, because once it’s engraved, it’s there forever.
I’m positive that even the most excentric valentines will appreciate this.
2. Heart shaped USB flash disk
Now this is not very practical in every day life, since its capacity does not exceed 32MB, but it can be a perfect present that can literally hold some of your precious moments (pictures) together. It’s a perfect addition to the key chain.
As you can see in the picture, the USB heart can split into two parts, revealing the USB connector. By default, it comes in a sweet tiny box, will make everyone think it’s a simple plastic decorative heart. They can’t be more wrong than that.
3. USB-powered desk photo frames
I believe this would actually look nice on my desktop, near the LCD. It’s obviously configurable, you can easily insert the picture(s) of your loved one(s). Nothing unusual so far. Some photo frames. But why the USB connector? Well, the gadget is powered by 7 color LEDS and power either via USB or three 1.5v batteries.
Yes, it is cool, despite the fact that it doesn’t rely on gadgets, and stuff that we seem to rely on nowadays. The only bad thing is that it’s not real, yet. It is the product of an ingenious designer called Rune Larsen. If the name rings a bell, he is the same person that designed the Tiny phone - the one not much larger than a toothpick. But, despite the earlier version, this is much more realistic when it comes to building it. There’s much more room for the battery, microphone, antenna, and the other essential stuff you can find inside a phone.
According to the inventor, the phone is equipped like a 1996 one (I wish I had one of these back in 1996). It is 5.5 centimeters tall closed, and 9 centimeters open.
In a world dominated by the arrival of the iPhone, I must say that, given the choice, I’d buy one of these in a heartbeat, just for the fun of having it. Here are some other photos of the older phone (Tiny Phone), and the Eclipse Phone. (click to enlarge).
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