World's First Scented Car Tires January 7, 2007
READ MORE Gadgets
If you thought the only way to make your kebab-smelling car smell better was by using some silly tree-shaped air freshener, then think again. Kumho Tires in the US has announced the first scented car tires. Why, is another question but here’s the info.
The ECSTA DX tires are the result of a year of research and release “an alluring aroma” for those of you that dislike the smell of black rubber. They have been treated by heat-resistant oils in scents starting with lavender, with neroli (orange) and jasmines to follow.
The tires are, unsurprisingly, aimed at female drivers none of which I know like crawling around a car on their hands and knees smelling rubber.-Martin Lynch
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Samsung’s Double-Sided LCD January 7, 2007
READ MORE Digital cameras , Gadgets , Home Entertainment , Mobile phones , Peripherals , Portable Media
For when one LCD s just isn’t good enough, Samsung has unwrapped the world’s first double-side LCD panel.
The small, widescreen 2.22in display is on show here at CES 2007 and can show different images on both sides. Right now, most double-side LCD panels can only show the reverse image of what is on the front. It uses Samsung's new double-gate, thin-film transistor (TFT) architecture. The double-sided LCD has two gates that operate each pixel instead of one, so the screen on the front can display different images than the one on the back. It measures 2.6mm thick and 2.22in wide, with QVGA (240 by 320 pixels) resolution and brightness values of 250 nits for the front and 100 nits for the rear display.
Due in the first half of 2007, this very thin breakthrough could herald a radical design change in the kind of mobile devices we end up carrying around in 2008.-Martin Lynch
news technology gadgets mobile phone display LCD
UK TV Viewers Want IPTV: Just Not Really Sure What It Is January 7, 2007
READ MORE Broadband , Home Entertainment , Online , TV
There’s a lot of noise about watching telly when you want to over the Web but the whole IPTV drive seems to be three parts fluffy marketing to one part actual delivery.
Tiscali is now throwing its few pence worth into the IPTV hat by claiming that most Brits really want IPTV. Of course, that’s those Brits that understand what IPTV stands for, which is not a lot. In a survey to back up its own Homechoice broadband TV offering, 17 per cent said they are already watching on-demand TV, while 63 per expressed their desire to. Many believe traditional programming from broadcasters will have to change or die.
Neal McCleave, managing director of media services for Tiscali UK said:
“There is obviously a big demand already among British consumers for the freedom and choice IPTV will give them, even if they don't know the jargon yet. Conventional broadcasters should heed the warning and will need to adapt significantly in the coming years to retain their market share.”
That probably explains why the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV are all doing - or about to do - broadband TV then.-Martin Lynch
news technology gadgets TV online broadband
LG LFD 790 DVD Microsystem: Chocolate Sibling? January 7, 2007
READ MORE Digital Audio , Gadgets , Home Entertainment , Peripherals
This microsystem from LG has a touchscreen and piano black finish that reminds us so much of the LG Chocolate phone. Like its Chocolate bro, it also stinks on ice, mainly because its touchscreen buttons seemed a little faulty during the demo.
The LFD 790 is essentially a glorified DVD player. It looks good, it supposedly sounds good with its two stereo speakers (no sub) capable of pumping out 600 watts. Don't fret, iPod owners, the LFD 790 can also link up with the iPod via USB and even display the menus on the connected television. No word on pricing or availability, but this Gizmodoian is thinking late 2007 and an outlandish price point (think $500 plus). – Travis Hudson
news technology gadgets audio music LG
Asus XG Station is World's First External Laptop Graphics Card January 7, 2007
READ MORE Laptops
We're
all for overengineered upgrades for the PC. This dock is like a magic
shoehorn that'll let you use a top line desktop gaming card with a
laptop. That's like jamming an 18-wheeler's diesel engine under the
hood of your civic. One laptop, paired with an EN7900GS graphics card,
gained a 9-fold jump in speed. yes, those numbers are without context,
but we're almost talking double digits. Forgive me if I'm excited.
It connects the two via the laptop's express card slot, and the 3D card's PCI express interface. The dock also has USB ports, a headphone jack, and that luscious LCD that shows PC stats like GPU clock speed, temp, master volume, and FPS.
Asus XG Station [via Far East Gizmos and Crave]
Asus W5Fe Sports SideShow, Huge Ass January 7, 2007
READ MORE Laptops
The cover-mounted external display, SideShow, makes its debut in Asus's
12" W5Fe notebook, which sports Vista from the get-go to support
SideShow. It actually runs off of an independent operating system which
can be fired up without turning on the rest of the notebook, and while
it's ostensibly for displaying info on the go, it also provides
opportunities to screw around without committing to a full-blown
notebook setup, given that it can be used to play Solitaire and other
simple distractions. Of course, you still have to pull the notebook out
of your bag, so we're not sure exactly how useful it is.
Product Page [Asus]
Parrot Makes 7-inch Bluetooth Photo Frames - Because They Can January 7, 2007
READ MORE Gadgets
Bluetooth
is French company Parrot's Raison d'etre, and while they haven't
pursued all the options yet - like Bluetooth-enabled cheesburgers, they
have managed to squeeze radios into many other doodads.
Today they debuted their latest Bluetooth-equipped picture frames
with colorful 7-inch, 720-by-480-pixel screens -- a huge improvement
over the squinty-small 3.5-inch frame they introduced last summer. The
7-incher has 128MB of built-in memory - enough for 500 photos, they
say. And it includes a sensor that adjusts screen brightness according
to the room lighting. The only thing it doesn't' have is frickin' slots
for memory cars --which is the most important feature on a digital
frame.
Parrot says you can load photos from a "Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, digital camera, laptop other storage device." Well, few cell phone pics are going to show up well on such a large screen. And there is exactly one Bluetooth-enabled digicam -- Kodak's V610 - which takes pictures that are slightly better than those from a cell phone. Wireless transfer from a computer is kinda cool. But if you could pick just one wireless technology, why not the near-ubiquitous Wi-Fi? (Check in tomorrow for news of such a product.)
On the plus side, the frame is quite plush-looking, with the choice of handsome black or tan leather finishes. These will be available when the frame goes on sale this spring for $249. And Parrot says it will offer more styles later this year.
Belkin Makes iPod Into Recording Studio January 7, 2007
READ MORE Digital Audio
This is a bit of a head-scratcher, but Belkin has gone to the trouble of building a mixing board that records music onto Gen 5 iPods (those that support video). The TuneStudio is the first four-channel mixer for iPods, claims Belkin (and we're inclined to believe it, since the idea never even occurred to us). It supports 16-bit, 44-kHz audio, and each channel has a three-band equalizer.
Why you'd want to record your next indie music hit onto an easily losable, low-fi handheld with a fragile hard drive instead of onto a nice Mac or PC computer is a mystery. And if you do, make sure your iTunes is set for manual synching, or else it will erase your precious creations whenever you dock the iPod.
Anyway, it's a swank-looking device, judging by Belkin's artist rendering. The TuneStudio goes on sale this summer, for $180. – Sean Captain
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