Mobile Devices

by Ryan Block, posted May 8th 2008 at 6:19AMWe’re a little ambivalent about robots performing surgery autonomously and unattended, but there are clearly cases where it’d be beneficial, and it seems like an inevitable future. Duke researchers working on robo-doc lab feasibility studies announced this week a proof of concept using 3D ultrasound mapping to enable machines to “see” what they’re doing. The first test procedures have focused on use of those ultrasound transducers in catheter-based procedures using fluoroscopy, so it sounds like we’ll still have a few years before we say ahhh for a machine.

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Mother’s Day is coming and Verizon wants to help you out.  Now you can get the Samsung Juke in a trio of colors absolutely free of charge now through 5/11 for yourself or for Mom.  Maybe Mom is more the email type: the blackberry Pearl 8130 is now just $99.  And you can reap free overnight shipping on internet orders.

Of course, both options require a 2-year activation and a fee of $35 ($25 for FamilyShare plans).

Product [Verizon]

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Back in January a new ad-based P2P music service launched with a lot of fanfare. That service was called Qtrax, which claimed to have already signed up with all the major record labels. It turned out they hadn’t, leaving them with a service lacking in the key asset it needed – music.

Over 3 months later and Qtrax finally seem to be making some progress. Universal Music Group (UMG) has entered into a digital distribution licensing agreement with the company. The deal sees Qtrax get access to UMG’s back catalog while UMG gets another revenue stream from the music it controls.

Qtrax allows you to listen to music completely free just by installing their application. In return for free music Qtrax then sell sponsorship and display advertising to users through searches and while downloading new music. It is from this revenue the company is able to pay the music studios for the use of their artist’s music.

Read more at CNET and the Universal Music Group press release

Matthew’s Opinion

So that’s one down and a long way to go before the service can offer all the popular music people want access to. Getting one music company on board is an achievement though, and it should make for less of a barrier when enticing the other labels to join as well.

The false start back in January was a major stumbling point, but it is said there is no bad publicity. I bet quite a few people recognize the name Qtrax because of that incident.

The service is still in beta, but could become quite a popular destination for music lovers if it manages to secure more music. Qtrax also has to be careful not to make the adverts or sponsorship deals too intrusive otherwise people will get annoyed and stop using their application.

Our personal choice for low-cost, well actually free Windows anti-virus has been AVG for a long time now, which as you can imagine is directly related to the price. There are lots of great alternatives and I cannot or will not attempt to tell you which is the best, however if you are looking for another alternative to AVG, that you can also get for free, check out Microsoft OneCare 2.0, which currently is free after rebates. Amazon is offering OneCare 2.0 for $30 along with a $30 mail-in-rebate, which will in turn lower the cost to $0. Similar to other subscription based services, this $30 will offer one-years worth of protection, after which it will have to be renewed.

Product [Amazon] Via [jkOnTheRun]

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If you like the color orange and like to see IT geeks beating up on zombies, secret agents, ninjas and aliens, head on over the Forefront site.  There you’ll find a free public beta download of the integrated security software that was released quietly last month.

Code-named “Stirling”, this public beta secures clients, server and networks.  “Our goal with Stirling is an integrated client, server and network edge, all managed through a simple intuitive console,” said Ryan Hamlin, GM of Microsoft’s Access and Security Division.

Microsoft touts the beta as comprehensive, integrated and simplified.  The site works hard to demonstrate “normal” IT employees defending their systems.  Kinda cute and clever; with funky music to boot.

Microsoft expect the full bells and whisltes version to be released in the first half of next year.

Product Page [Microsoft]

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This is one of those coolest gadgets that just screams of irony. Yes, what you see in the photo is true: the Marine Catcher is one of those claw games that lets you catch a pair of claws. The water on the bottom isn’t there for a challenge, but to protect the prize: a lobster.

As far as I know, this Marine Catcher can only be found in Osaka, Japan’s Namba district. I’m not certain how much yen a player has to insert for this crustacean gamble.

In case you are wondering, the machine has a plastic bag in case you actually catch one of these lobsters. That’s good, because I wouldn’t want one of these lobsters squirming around in my backpack.

I can’t help if the lobsters will soon develop the same mentality of the squeeze toy aliens from Toy Story. I can just see these lobsters saying: “The claw, it moves. I have been chosen, I go away to a more buttery place.”

This is one of those times in my life where I am grateful to be human. I wouldn’t want to find myself in a trap, then in a claw game, then in a hot tub that kills me slowly as I let out a loud scream. I think the best way I can honor lobsters everywhere is not to take part in this ritual.

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The Canon Selphy CP770 looks more like a toy for kids than a serious printer, and perhaps it was designed to target such a market. It comes with an integrated storage case and carry handle that makes it a snap to tote around, basically turning the Selphy CP770 into a printer-in-a-bucket. You get the following features with each purchase ;-

• Easy to use design - simple user interface and button layout
• Integrated storage solution with carry handle (CP770 only)
• 2.5” angled color TFT LCD
• Direct printing from most popular memory card formats
• Long lasting 100 year prints
• Auto Image Correction with Face Brightness optimization
• Auto Red-Eye Correction
• My Colors functionality
• Wireless printing via IrDA and optional Bluetooth adaptor

While portable hard drives are getting cheaper and cheaper by the day when it comes to data storage, there is always the convenience of a DVD burner as you pass a few GBs worth of data to a friend for keepsake (mostly videos). For folks rocking to a notebook without an optical drive, perhaps the IO-DATA DVRP-U8XLE DVD Burner could be considered the next time you drop by your local computer store? This USB-powered DVD dual-layer burner comes with 4x burning speed for DL discs while standard DVD-R media can be burned at 8x speed. It is also highly portable, measuring a mere 138mm x 143mm x 21mm and tipping the scales at 380 grams.

If you’ve been a reader of CG for sometime, you’ve surely seen an assortment of ways to charge your gadgets in an eco-friendly fashion. Most of the time, these green gadget chargers are powered with a hand crank, which is fine for conventional purposes, but there are some circumstances that might lead to this method not being as effective as others.

For example, what if you happen be an amputee? With both upper limbs lost in some freak factory accident. Or maybe you’re just too lazy to sit around and churn a hand crank when you can be doing something more productive. This Pedal Powered Gadget Charger is a hands-free method for charging up your devices when you have better uses for your hands.

Besides the fact that you have an alternative way of powering up your gadgets without the use of much of an electrical output, the Pedal Powered Gadget Charger is sure to help you work up a sweat as well. Not only will you be adding a super charge to your device, but you’ll be pumping the blood through your veins and increasing your overall health and energy. And you can still always use your hands to crank the pedals if your legs are feeling a little too much like jello.

While it might not be a pleasant bike ride through a park on a sunny day, the added incentive of charging your device while earning some self-imposed brownie points for both your new found fitness / green power tool is all the drive you need to pick up your very own. You can grab a pedal charger for ¥14,800 ($141/£71/€91 equivalent) and stage your own Tour De France of eco-friendliness right in your own home.

Product Page via TFTS

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Skydigital of Korea has introduced two new PC cases in its home country, featuring premium LCD displays as well as 120mm dual fans to help keep the proceedings within cool. You get an LCD display that pretty much resembles a car audio system with either mode - Tune-UP or Lucid, where the former comes in a black pearl color while the latter features two tone black and silver colors. Each will retail for slightly less than $50, so if you want to build a new PC from scratch with an affordable yet stylish PC case, you can’t really go wrong with these offerings from Skydigital.