Release your inner action hero with the latest in tiny, Invisio Bluetooth headsets from Nextlink, as used by SWAT teams and Special Forces.
They won’t help make you tough or able to jump through windows and shoot bad guys in slow motion whilst in mid-air, but they will be as discreet a Bluetooth headset as you can get.
The Invisio G5 is touted as the world’s smallest wireless headset, measuring 3.3cm long by 1.6cm wide and weighing just 6g. The G5 is worn using what’s called a Soft Spring, which matches the contour of your lughole for comfort and ease of use with glasses. Talktime is rated at 4 hours and standby at 150 hours.
The protective case does more than stop it being crushed too - it charges the headset on the go. It costs £80.
There’s also the entry-level Invisio B3, again using Soft Spring, and rated at 6 hours talktime and 170 hours standby. It costs £30.-Martin Lynch
[Nextlink]
mobile phone bluetooth headset
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As if you didn’t already know, the quality of broadband in the UK is patchy at best and the support customers get, nothing short of criminal.
According to the latest JD Power survey, 2007 UK Broadband Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study, customer satisfaction is down on last year with customer complaint calls outnumbering customer support calls - 52% to 48% - for the first time.
Worse, the average time each broadband customer spends on ‘Hold’ is a staggering 17 minutes, waiting to get technical support from their supplier.
“The 2007 study finds that call waiting times continue to increase when customers contact their ISP, with customers now waiting an average of 17 minutes before initially speaking with a representative,” said Caspar Tearle, director of service industries research at J.D. Power and Associates. “Complaints to customer service departments have risen again in 2007, and now outnumber customer service-related questions for the first time (52% vs. 48%). With customers of most suppliers paying from their own pocket for these calls, these high levels of complaints come as no surprise.”
The only upsides are that broadband is now cheaper, averaging £21.10 per month, down from £25.91 in 2006, and the average speed has increased from an average of 3.5Mbps in 2006 to 4.87Mbps.
I imagine that’s ‘quoted’ speed, not ‘actual’ speed because I know lots of folk – including me – who are not getting anywhere near those rates. Are you?-Martin Lynch
broadband online PC internet
[JD Power]
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You may remember the innovative Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard from Russian designer, Art Lebedev. You may also remember that it took longer than a round trip to the moon on a firework to arrive and, that it cost an eye-watering £790.
Yes, £790 for a keyboard. It must be the festive season of goodwill in Russia though because Art has announced some ‘budget’ versions of the OLED keyboard. Now you can get one for just £230, although for that you get just one measly OLED – the Space Bar. This is what Art says on the site:
We now have four differently priced configurations.
Beginner's kit with one active OLED space-bar (really useful to display the language used) is ~460 US$.
Advanced user's kit with 10 left-side OLED keys sells for 599 US$.
Pro user's keyboard with 47 active keys is just 999 US$.
And a superman's keyboard with all the 113 keys having OLEDs is 1564 US$, just as it has been.
Those who choose any of the configurations with passive keys (passive = without any display inside) will be able to upgrade at anytime to the active keys.
Single and 10-pack OLED sets will be available for pre-order soon. We'll have to spend some time with a calculator to figure out the best offerings. On average, one OLED key will sell for around 15 US$.
They new configurations are promised for February 2008 which means they’ll probably be ready next July.-Martin Lynch
[Optimus Maximus]
gadgets keyboard oled
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The V&A Museum in London is renowned for its collection of over 8,000 dolls but it’s latest addition is sure to cause a bit of a stir. Why? Because it’s virtual.
The latest doll to be inducted into the collection is Imagine Babies, an interactive game from Ubisoft for the Nintendo DS console. It is being presented as the “most recent development in playing at looking after babies in the Childhood Galleries”.
Catherine Howell, Collections Officer at the V&A Museum of Childhood commented: "We are very pleased to welcome Imagine Babies into the collection at the Museum of Childhood. We are always looking to expand our range of artefacts to provide visitors, both young and old, with a wide range of toys to experience. Imagine Babies on the Nintendo DS provides an interesting crossover between two areas of our collection - babies and computer games."
The collection opens to the public on December 7th and you can find out more here.-Martin Lynch
games dolls museum console
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Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
