Minibot - friend of pain haters

Researchers from Ritsumeikan University and the Shiga University of Medical Science have successfully developed a miniature robot prototype that can be freely controlled when inserted into a patient's body through an incision. This extremely tiny robot will be able to perform medical treatment or capture images of affected areas without causing any discomfort to the patient. This minibot is encased in plastic and measures a mere 2cm in length and 1cm in diameter. It can be controlled by applying an external magnetic field near the patient. Hopefully the minibot will soon be advanced enough to perform treatment within the body in order to prevent the need for any surgery.

(c) www.ubergizmo.com

For the pig in everyone-the Piggy Vacuum

Feel the need to flaunt your pig-like traits? Now you can buy a vacuum that declares it to the world. It’s a little handheld vacuum shaped like a pig and powered by batteries. This means if you were brave enough you could carry this in your car.

My sister has this thing for pigs, I’ve never understood it, but she has pig everything. I generally try not to ask because it makes her happy and anything that can make a 13 year old happy is a friggin miracle. Odds are at some point she is going to find this and add it to her already massive collection, I guess if it makes her clean her room more my Mom would be ecstatic.

Personally, I think the only people who should own one of these are very young girls. It you are above the age of 20 it’s just not right. If you would in fact like to make a girlie in your life happy these only cost $16.

(c) www.slashgear.com

Pantech PX-500 EVDO Card

Real road warriors know that Wi-Fi’s coverage can’t be relied upon for professional purposes. The Pantech PX-500 is a PCMCIA card that can connect your laptop to Sprint’s 3G network and let you access your emails and data in a much wider area when compared to WiFi.

Once plugged, the card will stick out from your laptop by 1.2 inches. It’s not a lot, but I certainly recommend removing the card when packing your computer in its bag. At the end of the card, the antenna can be raised up to get a better signal, but in our tests, we saw no difference on reception.

The software is very easy to install and should not take more than 5 minutes. A connection icon will appear on Windows’s desktop and a simple click on the “Go” button will connect the user to Sprint’s network.

Let’s go to the crunchy part: performance. When Sprint’s EV-DO (3G) network is available, the connection gets a (real-life) speed* of 480 kbps downstream and 115kbps upstream. It feels like the basic DSL speeds that we were getting on DSL a few years ago, except that the latency is quite high: 330ms with the EV-DO connection, compared to 33ms with DSL. That translates into a less “reactive” browsing experience. Even though WiFi is much faster, I don’t think that it can be relied upon at the moment. EV-DO’s coverage is much wider and the Pantech PX-500 will get you online anywhere a Sprint wireless signal is available.

(c) www.ubergizmo.com

Spy-stick keeps an eye on your kids

Let’s face it, you can’t trust your kids.  Give them an inch and they’ll take your credit cards, laptop and cellphone and run up huge charges on pay-per-view sex sites.  So thank the sweet mother Bertie that fear-fuelling companies like CYBERsitter are around, with their remote tracking USB SnoopStick.

The SnoopStick is a two-pronged approach to monitoring your children.  First off, you plug it into the family PC and install the software client; CYBERsitter promise that it’s completely invisible, so tech-savvy junior can’t spot it.  Then, while you’re out sipping gin with your friends and have a sudden Spidey-Sense tingle that your daughter is chatting with a sex offender, you can plug the SnoopStick into your friends’ computer and it instantly connects online with the home PC.

Then you can monitor both sides of IM conversations, check what sites are being viewed, even send pop-up messages to warn your XXX-hungry son that his saucy-surfing days are numbered and you’re about to log him off.

The full feature list is pretty scary:

• Monitor all web site access.
• Works with all browsers and web enabled programs.
• Monitor both sides of all “instant messenger” communications.
• Works with all popular IM programs.
• Monitor all email access (SMTP, POP3, IMAP) to see who and when emails were received from and sent to.
• Monitor activities in real time, or retrieve activity logs from recent activity.
• SnoopStick records everything, whether you are monitoring in real time or not.
• Store up to 12 months of activity logs directly on your SnoopStick.
• All program modules are updated completely automatically so you always have the latest version.
• Send the user a pop up message alert. A good way to tell them they’re busted!
• Turn off/on Internet access with the SnoopStick locally or remotely.
• Set allowable times for Internet access.
• Prevent users from using certain types of Internet programs.
• Block access to specified ports.
• Block access to web sites.
• One click “Block Social Networking” option instantly blocks access to sites like MySpace.com.
• Completely secure. Only your SnoopStick can access your computer or change the settings you have chosen.
• Works with Windows 2000, XP, 2003, and is Vista ready.

Thank goodness you don’t have to teach your children good internet sense or supervise them any more, you can rely on $59.95 gadgets like this instead.

(c) www.slashgear.com

Maxtor Fusion 500GB Review

The Maxtor Fusion is a Personal Web Server that looks like an external hard drive connected directly to your Ethernet network. I said “looks like” because it’s not just a hard drive: it’s a little computer that acts as silent file/web server.

In the past, such devices where annoying to setup but Maxtor did a good job with the Fusion. The setup program detects the IP address of the unit and brings you to an administration page from which the user can set the IP address, port and even configure a dynamic DNS service, which is handy when the device is connected to the internet with a dynamic (changing) address.

Our 500GB unit can be connected to external USB drives for backup purposes – because it’s never safe enough (most people learn the hard way). I wish that the Maxtor Fusion cannot be accessed by a USB or Firewire connection, this would have been great for the administrator when copying hundreds of gigabytes to populate the drive. I suppose that most users could simply use a Gigabit Ethernet connection, even if it’s much slower *in practice* than Firewire.

The administrator can create individual accounts and let users upload and share their files. Each user has a private and a public area and it is even possible to create “micro-links” – a direct URL to a file hosted on the Maxtor Fusion. That’s nice if you want to share a single file or if you want to link to it from your web page.

The good news is that the Fusion has a graphics user interface (GUI). The bad news is that it needs some work. The GUI doesn’t resemble any well known user interface and most people that I’ve created accounts for did search for simple things like saving a file from the Fusion to their local hard disk. A customizable home page would also be great!

I find this device to be very convenient for the tech-savvy user and small-businesses that want to share files but don’t need enterprise-grade security. In my opinion, the Maxtor Fusion is not ready for the average consumer: some knowledge of TCP/IP (network protocol) is necessary to do the setup and this could be a problem for many users. Opening a port in the firewall or in the router could be challenging as well. I can’t blame Maxtor for this, because TCP/IP was simply not designed to be used by consumers. IPV6 might solve some of that by removing the need for routers and network address translation (NAT).

The Maxtor fusion is a good product that lets people share files without leaving their main computer on. The user interface could use some improvements, but it should not stop you from considering using it.

(c) www.ubergizmo.com

The nurian Z1 from Hanuribiz does e-dictionary one better

by Paul Miller

The category of "electronic dictionary" was already stretched to its limits with all that MP3, game and video functionality manufacturers have been stuffing in, but it looks like we've officially advanced beyond any sort of reasonable definition with this here nurian Z1 from Hanuribiz. For starters, the 5-inch LCD display and Windows CE 5.0 should give you a decent hint that this thing isn't all about the dictionary action -- though there does happen to be English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean dictionary content on board. The unit can handle Flash content, MP3, video, games, PIM functions and even wireless internet. Probably the closest thing to this Z1 in size is HTC's decked Advantage handheld, so if you're looking for a more spacious keyboard, fine with CE 5.0, and can settle for about half the sexy, you can pick one of these up for 500,000 KRW, about $533 US.

(c) www.engadget.com

FoxFury LED Headlamps

by Evan Ackerman

FoxFury, well known for making seriously professional LED headlamps, is now offering models designed for personal use. Not only do FoxFury headlamps feature an array of 24 (!) LEDs, the LEDs themselves are customized to maximize lighting for different applications. The standard Outdoor model (shown above) uses a combination of white and green LEDs to provide better vision, since the human eye is most responsive to green light (which is one of the reasons that green lasers look so bright). Other versions are optimized in other ways… The scuba version, for example, uses blue and green LEDs, since marine life is most sensitive to red light, and you don’t want to scare the fishies.

The headlamp itself is rugged and waterproof, with recesses to protect the LEDs. It provides a 45 degree field of illumination at 430 candlepower, giving you a good view out to 150 feet. Some versions even have an ambient lighting sensor to help preserve the batteries; it takes 4 AAs and should run 8 hours at full blast. The Signature versions will set you back $169.99.

(c) www.ohgizmo.com

Apple TV -- now due mid-March

Looks like the Apple TV took a little longer to put the spit and polish on than Apple initially thought. According to Apple PR Director of Mac products Lynn Fox, "Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected, and we now expect to begin shipments mid-March." Odd, being that Apple first showed this thing off last Fall -- and bummer for everybody waiting for their product. But you'd rather have it right than have it all crappy-wrong-first-gen, no? That was the silver lining for Vista's delayed launch, anyway.
P.S. -For those who just got a pang of sadness on what you're missing out on, maybe these pics of the Apple TV we took at Macworld 2007 will cheer you up.

(c) www.engadget.com

Even Jedi Masters get wet in the rain

Even Master Yoda would have been unable to create a Force Shield over his head indefinitely to prevent the rain on Dagobah from wetting his coat. Hence, the existence of the Lightsaber Umbrella that helps keep pesky Sith Lords at bay as well as fulfilling its greater mission - keeping the owner dry as a bone. This umbrella's spine features the illuminating properties of an LED flashlight that is bound to thrill and excite the whole legion of rabid Star Wars fans. Even if you can't tell the difference between a Wookie and a Stormtrooper, there is no harm in owning one of these $41 babies.

(c) www.uberzimo.com

Even Jedi Masters get wet in the rain

Even Master Yoda would have been unable to create a Force Shield over his head indefinitely to prevent the rain on Dagobah from wetting his coat. Hence, the existence of the Lightsaber Umbrella that helps keep pesky Sith Lords at bay as well as fulfilling its greater mission - keeping the owner dry as a bone. This umbrella's spine features the illuminating properties of an LED flashlight that is bound to thrill and excite the whole legion of rabid Star Wars fans. Even if you can't tell the difference between a Wookie and a Stormtrooper, there is no harm in owning one of these $41 babies.

(c) www.uberzimo.com