BlackBerry addict? – Hotel offers detox
Posted by Jeffrey on Jun 9, 2006
CHICAGO (Reuters) – BlackBerry addicts have a crack at freedom when they check into one Chicago hotel: the manager will put the communications devices and others like them under lock and key for guests who want a break.Rick Ueno, general manager of the Sheraton Chicago Hotel, said the program which began on Wednesday grew out of his own personal BlackBerry addiction. His one-step recovery was switching to a regular cell phone.
“I was really addicted to my BlackBerry. I had an obsession with e-mail,” he told Reuters. “Morning and night. There came a time when I didn’t think it was healthy … I quit cold turkey.”
He believes guests might want to try the same thing for a day or two anyway, so they can concentrate on meetings, business and socializing while at the hotel.
Ueno said he would take personal charge of any BlackBerrys or related devices guests want to surrender and place them in his office locked up until their return is requested. There is no charge.
“I run a hotel with over 900 employees and thousands of guests. I think I’m more effective. I feel better. I sleep better. My family likes it,” he said of his post-BlackBerry life.
The popular hand-held devices, sometimes called “CrackBerries” because users become so reliant on them, are made by Canadian-based Research In Motion Ltd..
Tamagotchis seek second wave of virtual pet owners
Posted by Jeffrey on Apr 21, 2006
TOKYO (Reuters) – With straps loaded with tamagotchis around their necks, siblings Takumi and Ayaka Mochizuki traveled an hour to a Tokyo store so their virtual pets could interact with a giant tamagotchi that was on tour.“I love feeding my tamagotchi,” said Takumi, 5, looking disappointed because he didn’t have enough virtual money to buy anything for his “3-year-old” pet at the royal market, which is accessible only via the giant tamagotchi.
“I really messed up,” he said.
Ten years after the small egg-shaped devices first became a global fad, the digital pets have found homes again with a new generation of young children, who peer into the tiny screens several times a day to feed them, play with them and clean them.
Unlike the original, which suddenly disappeared after a brief run, Japanese toymaker Bandai Co., a unit of Namco Bandai Holdings Inc., is hoping a richer world of characters and cautious marketing will give it the staying power that its creators had always envisioned.
“We’ve always wanted to try to revive the tamagotchi because the craze ended so fast,” said Takeiuchi Hongo, Bandai’s 51-year-old chief tamagotchi officer, admitting that the company was caught off guard when the toy became a sudden phenomenon in the 1990s, particularly among high school girls and young women.
The latest versions in Japan, launched in 2004 and priced at about $25, come with communications capabilities so tamagotchis can meet each other and play games through an infrared sensor.
The pets can grow into adults that hold down jobs and even get married to someone else’s tamagotchi. Once the couple has babies — always twins so each owner gets a baby — the parents disappear to Planet Tamagotchi, which the children can visit via a personal computer.
A badly brought up tamagotchi pet could turn into a snake or a thief, but a diligent owner can raise up to 999 generations.
The company’s toy unit expects operating profit in the last business year to March to jump 25.8 percent to about $136 million from a year earlier on a 7.4 percent increase in sales to about $1.5 billion, helped by the popularity of the tamagotchi.
Two years after its debut, the second tamagotchi series topped sales of 20 million units worldwide this month.
Although that is half the original tamagotchi’s sales of 40 million units, Hongo considers the current business to be more stable and consistent.
Hongo readily admits that Bandai was ill-prepared to handle the explosive demand when the traditional Japanese company of fewer than 1,000 employees launched the tamagotchi in 1996, based on an idea by an executive with an insatiable love for pets.
The toy meant for young children was sought after so much that employees were banned from carrying bags with a Bandai logo for fear of theft.
What started as a simple idea for a portable virtual pet turned into a cultural icon of the digital age as countries like China and the Philippines condemned the toy as anti-social and schools around the world banned them.
Bandai couldn’t make enough tamagotchis to meet demand, and by the time they had the capacity to do so, the boom was over.
After a roller-coaster ride, the company ended up with excessive inventory and took a special loss in the business year ended March 1999 as it was forced to restructure.
“We know we can’t make the same mistake twice,” said Hongo, who now has two small children of his own. “We had no strategy back then.”
To demonstrate its resolve and its intention to make tamagotchi a permanent fixture, Bandai named Hongo chief tamagotchi officer in 2004 and conducted extensive market research before relaunch.
The company has avoided splashy advertising, choosing instead to work with publishers on children’s magazine articles featuring tamagotchi. It also carefully paced out launches of new versions and related products as it created a world around the characters.
Bandai’s tamagotchi game for Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s DS portable game machine was the first game created by a company other than Nintendo to sell a million copies in Japan, and sales of a U.S. version showed a solid start.
Bandai also offers a tamagotchi mobile phone game and has plans to begin selling a co-branded tamagotchi phone aimed at children with wireless phone company Willcom Inc., a joint venture between U.S. firm Carlyle Group and Japan’s Kyocera Corp.
According to Yano Research Institute, the electronic toys and girls’ toys segments in Japan are expected to grow slightly in the business year ended March, due almost entirely to tamagotchi-related sales, even though the overall industry is expected to decline a bit to about $8 billion.
“The girls’ toys category is traditionally a tough market because girls have so many interests beyond toys, but the market is being lifted again by innovative products in large part due to the influence of the tamagotchi,” said Rumiko Onuki, a children’s market analyst at Yano Research Institute.
Movie-Goers Getting Smells to Match Scenes
Posted by Jeffrey on Apr 13, 2006
TOKYO – A theater audience in Japan will be sniffing their noses — literally — at a new Hollywood adventure film when it opens here later this month.A new service from a major telecommunications company, NTT Communications Corp., will synchronize seven different smells to parts of “The New World,” starring Colin Farrell.
A floral scent accompanies a love scene, while a mix of peppermint and rosemary is emitted during a tear-jerking scene. Joy is a citrus mix of orange and grapefruit, while anger is enhanced by a herb-like concoction with a hint of eucalyptus and tea tree. The smells waft from special machines under the seats in the back rows of two movie theaters, which create different fragrances by controlling the mix of oils stored in the machines, company spokeswoman Akiko Suzaki said Wednesday.
In “The New World,” which opened in the United States in December, Farrell plays American colonial leader John Smith, who is said to have been saved from execution by North American Indian princess Pocahontas.
Theaters will be able to download from the Internet different scent sequences for other films, Suzaki said.
The company began a similar service for homes in Japan last year. Owners of the $620 home version can download different programs to emit smells to accompany a horoscope reading or work as aromatherapy.
Owners must keep refilling the machine with fragrant liquids. NTT Communications would not disclose how many machines it has sold.
U.S. startups have developed similar technologies before, although at least one company had to shut down during the dot-com bust.
Theaters may ask to jam cell phones
Posted by Jeffrey on Mar 20, 2006
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Movie theater owners faced with falling attendance are considering asking federal authorities for permission to jam cell phone reception in an attempt to stop annoying conversations during films, the head of the industry’s trade group said on Tuesday.Industry leaders at the ShoWest conference for theater owners want to find ways to win back crowds.
“I don’t know what’s going on with consumers that they have to talk on phones in the middle of theaters,” John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, told the ShoWest conference in Las Vegas.
Theaters are trying a number of ways to silence cell phones, from sweeps by ushers to funny fake movie trailers urging viewers to shut off phones.
Fithian said owners were considering other steps if that does not work.
“We will actually petition the Federal Communications (Commission) to remove the block” on jamming cell phones, he said.
That may be difficult, since federal law and FCC rules prohibit the use of cell phone jammers.
The industry is broadly trying to increase interest in the movies.
Motion Picture Association of America Chief Executive Dan Glickman told ShoWest that the industry is researching why and when people go to the movies and might consider an advertising campaign to encourage people to go out to the movies, just as the milk industry has succeeded with its Got Milk? campaign.
And a little-bitty thimble of popcorn, please
Posted by Jeffrey on Mar 2, 2006
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Budding Canadian film makers looking for a big break may want to think small — about 2 inches by 2 inches to be exact — organizers of Canada’s first mobile film festival said Wednesday.Mobifest producers are looking for bite-sized films that are up to 60 seconds long and produced for viewing on cellphones and other handheld devices.
“The big picture is that there’s a billion (mobile) phones worldwide and an increasing percentage of them are playing back video,” said Duncan Kennedy, president of Nownow Corp., which is producing the contest. “It’s a new distribution channel for independent film making.”
Similar festivals, for what is dubbed “short attention span theater,” have been launched in Portugal and Asia. Industry executives recently gathered at the Sundance Film Festival to predict the future of the small screen.
Mobifest already has a few entries, including one from U.S. animator Mike Browne, whose “Brokeback Chicken” spoofs Ang Lee’s Oscar favorite “Brokeback Mountain.”
“We see a lot of these submissions being funny,” said Kennedy. “We hope people are going to share these laughs together, and why wouldn’t you want to have a joke in your pocket?”
So-called “pocket films” ideally have limited dialogue, because they are played on phones and often compete with background noise, and have lots of close shots and large text and titles, added Kennedy. His year-old, Toronto-based company produces and distributes made-for-mobile movies under sponsorship and carrier deals.
Sponsored by Palm Canada, Mobifest will accept international submissions through April 30, with winners announced May 17.
Finalists will be picked by online voters, who can view films at www.mobifest.ca. Judges will then determine winners for best Canadian mobile film, best of festival, and best film shot and edited exclusively on a Palm Treo smartphone.
Award-winning films will premiere on Movieola, The Short Film Channel, and screen on Air Canada flights this summer. The festival winner also gets a mobile movie production package worth about C$1,500 ($1,327).
SnackShotz Dog Biscuit Launcher
Posted by Jeffrey on Jan 25, 2006
Gizmodo has a great piece on this useful toy for frustrated dog owners. The Frolic SnackShotz Treat Launcher is a new way to play fetch with your dog. Load up one of the specially designed Discos Flying Dog Treats into this dog biscuit pistol, pull the trigger, and boom! It will launch those babies up to 12 feet. Spot will go nuts when he sees these 100%-edible flying dog treats zipping through the air. The Discos are available in three flavors, too: Beef, Chicken, and Mighty Mint to keep your dog’s breath minty-fresh. The product’s humorously-named parent company, Dogmatic, asserts that this biscuit launcher helps to fight against pet obesity by encouraging your pet to be active. There are no specifics on how many calories each Disco contains, though—so be wary all you calorie-counting dogs. Take a look at the demonstration video of SnackShotz in action
iPod baby stroller
Posted by Jeffrey on Jan 17, 2006
Just when you thought you’d seen every iPod accessory in the known universe, scientists discover a new one. This is the iPod baby stroller. I mean, I guess it could be nice to listen to music when walking your baby, but doesn’t that kind of nix the whole baby bonding thing? Kolcraft has no care for this kind of emotional baggage, because its iBaby stroller (enough with the “i” prefix already people!) comes with a built-in iPod (no mention of which one), iPod mini adapter, holder and speakers. So get that Metallica on your playlist and crank it up for junior next time you’re heading to the playground. I’m sure the other parents will totally appreciate it.
Fido’s First Cell Phone
Posted by Jeffrey on Dec 6, 2005
Lost dog? As of next March, pet owners will be able to drop the photocopier and staple gun and pick up the phone instead. That’s when PetCell, the first cell phone for dogs, is due to hit pet-store shelves.Hung off Fido’s collar, the PetCell is a bone-shaped cell phone that will let dog owners talk to their best friend over a two-way speaker.
Developed by PetsMobility, the PetCell works with standard cellular networks and has its own number. It automatically answers when the owner punches in a code on their telephone keypad that means, “Lassie, come home!”
The PetCell will ship in early 2006 and will sell for $350 to $400, the company said.
President Cameron Robb said he got the idea for the phone while sharing a hotel room with a colleague at a convention.
“I overheard him talking to his dogs,” said Robb. “I was mimicking and making fun of it, but the reality was his wife was holding the phone down to the dog.”
The ability to track a lost pet has most dog lovers excited. The PetCell has a “call owner” button in case Rover strays. It also includes assisted GPS, or A-GPS, which works indoors, allowing dog owners to map their pup’s coordinates from any web-enabled device or by dialing a voice-enabled call center.
“When dogs disappear, it’s the first 15 minutes that are the most important,” said San Francisco dog trainer Youngblood Harris. “If your dog runs out of the dog park and you don’t see if he went left or right, (PetCell) would make life a lot easier,” Harris said.
The PetCell will also have an option called GeoFence that will alert owners whenever their dog wanders beyond preset parameters, and built-in temperature sensors to indicate if the dog is too hot or cold.
Additionally, the PetCell will support a small wireless camera, an application Robb believes could be useful in search-and-rescue or bomb-squad missions. But for patrons of doggy day care, it may become the canine equivalent of a nanny cam.
While a cell phone for pets may strike some as silly, the economic reality is not. The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association says U.S. pet owners spent an estimated $35.9 billion on their furry friends in 2005.
Sturdy and slobber-resistant, the PetCell isn’t just for dogs. PetsMobility’s parent company, On4 Communications, is simultaneously rolling out models for kids, the elderly and outdoor sports fanatics who enjoy snowboarding and kayaking.
“It’s a rugged, waterproof cell phone with GPS, so there’s a bunch of other markets for that technology besides the pet industry,” Robb said.
One obvious user is left out of this calling plan. At 3 inches long, the PetCell is too unwieldy for your average feline. Although the company is working on further miniaturization, the battery has proven to be a formidable obstacle.
Still, Robb wasn’t ruling it out. He said optimistically, “The kitties will have to wait.”
Unborn Baby IQ
Posted by Jeffrey on Oct 26, 2005
If you’ve been dying to commune with your unborn baby more meticulously, take a note from the Koreans and pick up Daeyang’s new Baby IQ, which will soon be available in the US. Cutely resembling a baby bottle, the point of this product is to amplify the sounds of your baby’s kicks, hiccups and heartbeat so you can “bond with your offspring.”You can even record all this for your baby to listen to once it’s born (supposedly, the prenatal heartbeat soothes newborns). And if you want to go the other way, you can also amplify your voice to talk or sing to your child as well as play music to them. I’d suggest staying away from Marilyn Manson and Cat Stevens. No word on when we’ll actually see it or pricing just yet, but I’m sure expectant parents everywhere are ratcheting up their baby playlists as we speak.
New iPod
Posted by Jeffrey on Oct 17, 2005
Here is the new iPod from Apple: the iPod Nanu.
New gadget to make theft of mobile phones harder
Posted by Jeffrey on Oct 14, 2005
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finnish scientists have invented a device to make it harder to steal mobile phones and laptops by enabling them to detect changes in their owner’s walking style and then freeze to prevent unauthorized use.The VTT Technical Research Center of Finland said the device, which is has patented but has yet to sell, could prevent millions of portable appliances being stolen every year.
“A device is equipped with sensors that measure certain characteristics of the user’s gait. When the device is used for the first time, these measurements are saved in its memory,” VTT said in a statement.
The gadget would monitor the user’s walking style and check it against the saved information. If the values differ, the user would have to enter a password.
“Compared with passwords and traditional bio-identification, the new method is simple: confirmation of identity takes place as a background process without any need for user’s intervention,” the researchers said.
Stanford team clinches top spot in robot desert race
Posted by Jeffrey on Oct 12, 2005
PRIMM, Nevada (Reuters) – A Stanford University team won a $2 million prize on Sunday for sending a modified Volkswagen across 132 miles of rugged desert, guided only by sensors and computers in a race the Pentagon hopes will lead to a technological breakthrough in warfare.Twenty-three driverless vehicles were sent into the Mojave Desert on Saturday in a race sponsored by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA.
After extending the race a day to allow a slow-moving robotic vehicle to finish, the Stanford University vehicle, known as Stanley, was declared the winner of the Grand Challenge with the quickest race time of six hours and 54 minutes.
Sebastian Thrun, leader of the Stanford team, said the victory was a win for the automobile’s future, predicting that all cars would one day be able to drive themselves.
DARPA sponsored the race to spur development of driverless vehicles that one day could carry water, fuel and other supplies for the U.S. military in war zones.
In last year’s inaugural race, called the Grand Challenge, every machine failed within sight of the starting line. The Pentagon decided to double the prize and hold the event again this year.
Organizers designed a more difficult course this year and an assortment of modified Humvees, sports utility vehicles, pickup trucks and dune buggies were sent into the mountains and valleys in the Mojave to navigate man-made obstacles, tunnels and a dry lake bed.
“These vehicles just haven’t achieved world records, they’ve made history,” said DARPA director Tony Tether.
One broke down at the starting line and 17 others stopped moving at various points on the course.
Four made it back to the finish line to complete the race and one, a huge six-wheeled truck called TerraMax, was stopped overnight so it could make it to the finish line.
Coming in just after Stanley were a pair of modified Humvees built by a Carnegie Mellon University team. A modified sports utility vehicle called GrayBot also finished just after sunset on Saturday.
The rugged, twisting course, about 40 miles southwest of Las Vegas on the Nevada-California border, was chosen because of its similarity to terrain where the U.S. military is currently most active.
Using global positioning satellites and inertial navigation, the vehicles were programmed to follow a pre-defined course disclosed only hours before the race. Radar, lasers and cameras mounted on the vehicles guided onboard computers that steered the vehicles around obstacles.
Battle robots could join dogs on S. Korea border
Posted by Jeffrey on Sep 26, 2005
SEOUL (Reuters) – Armed, six-legged robots may one day work alongside man’s best friend on the southern side of the Korean DMZ.South Korea will spend 33.4 billion won over the next five years to develop the robots for the heavily fortified demilitarised zone that divides the peninsula, the Communications Ministry said in a statement Friday.
South Korea envisages the robots performing roles on the battlefield now done by dogs, such as sniffing for explosives and catching intruders, the ministry said.
The robots will stand knee-high to the average adult, mounted on wheels for road missions or on as many as eight legs to get them over uneven terrain, it said. Equipped with firearms, they will be able to carry out combat missions via remote control.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry announced plans this month to reduce the number of its troops in uniform by about 25 percent over 15 years and develop more high-tech weapons systems.
North Korea maintains most of its 1.2-million-strong army near its border with the South. The two Koreas are technically still at war because the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty.
Mitsubishi banking on robot companion’s charm
Posted by Jeffrey on Sep 15, 2005
TOKYO (Reuters) – She may be a bit odd looking, what with a bright yellow face, silver arms and a positioning sensor on her head, but this tiny gal’s got charm — even if it is chip-induced.Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, say their new Internet-linked robot “Wakamaru,” unveiled on Thursday, has a friendly personality that could make her a much-loved member of the family.
“We have tried to create a robot you can have a relationship with, just like a human,” said technical team leader Ken Onishi, who said that while none of her individual features are revolutionary, putting them together in one cute package was a mammoth task.
Able to recognize up to 10 people and call them by name, the 40 inch tall Wakamaru will approach and greet family members in a gentle, feminine voice when they arrive home and offer to pass on telephone messages or read out any e-mails that may have arrived.
In the morning, she’ll glide to your bedside to wake you up with the news headlines and weather forecast, remind you of your appointments for the day and may even invite you to join her in some light exercise.
And if security at home is a worry, give her a call on your mobile phone when you’re out and check the situation through a camera mounted on her forehead.
But this kind of companionship doesn’t come cheap.
A limited edition of 100 robots goes on sale in Tokyo on Friday, at a cost of 1.575 million yen ($14,260), with a monthly maintenance charge of around 10,000 yen.
New Manicure Machine Sold in Singapore
Posted by Jeffrey on Sep 14, 2005
SINGAPORE – Want more than just glossy paint on your nails? A new machine with a camera can paint a photographed image, whether a loved one or a pet, on your nails for just 2 Singapore dollars (US$1) each.A group of Singaporean entrepreneurs on Wednesday launched E-Manicure, a machine with a camera that paints full-color images on nails in just 30 seconds. They say the resolution is good, and they can add glitter and sparkles to jazz up the image.
Surendren Apparoo, spokesman for E-manicure Pte. Ltd., acknowledged that similar machines already exist in other countries, including Japan and the United States. But he said they are mostly gimmicks, and that E-Manicure seeks to develop a regional franchise.
He said the company’s machine was smaller and lighter than others on the market — it’s about one foot wide and 2.5 feet tall — and each costs up to 6,000 Singapore dollars (US$3,570) to produce.
Several Singaporean businessmen came up with the idea after waiting a long time for their wives to finish manicures while on a trip to Thailand.
Hooligans kept at home by voice verification
Posted by Jeffrey on Sep 8, 2005
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch hooligans will be kept in check by voice verification software which will ensure they are at home rather than supporting their favorite team.The Dutch ministry of Justice wants to guarantee that fans do not break stadium bans imposed for bad behavior.
A computer with voice verification software, developed by the Israeli firm Dmatec, will call banned fans on their home phones when the match is about to kick off.
The fans have to say sentences which have been agreed in advance and the computer is able to tell if the call has been put through to a mobile phone, the ministry says.
The trial will start soon in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Arnhem for fans of the Ajax, Feyenoord and Vitesse clubs.
Mr Potato Head Darth Tater Review
Posted by Jeffrey on May 19, 2005
Here is a review of this starchy take on the star of the recent Star Wars III film. Note, no spuds were harmed in the making of this review.
Baby Translator
Posted by Jeffrey on May 9, 2005
I’m not sure if I’ll ever be convinced that the constant series of gargles, coos, whines, and wailings of babies actually do construct some cryptically hidden language, (like those SuperBaby movies) but the same people who gave us the now-infamous Bowlingual and Dream Workstop claim to have cracked the code on baby translation: not only must you analyze babies’ cries, but facial expressions and body temperature changes too. Some of the things Takara Co. researchers had to say about parenting and child-rearing might not leave you feeling particularly cozy regarding their justifications for such a device, but you can’t deny its appeal and the size of the market; especially if they can get the home version out for under $100, like they claim, and actually launch the thing soon (they’re shooting for mid-2006).The Couch Potato Tormentor
Posted by Jeffrey on Mar 2, 2005
You remember the TV-B-Gone, don’t you? Anonymously turn off any TV, just like that? Well, we didn’t think you could get a product much more amazing and enjoyable (and simultaneously obnoxious) than that, but the Couch Potato Tormentor may very well take the cake. Instead of just turning your TV off, it randomly changes the channel, or screws with the CD or DVD currently playing, or whatever. The best part is that you don’t even have to be there—once it’s programmed you can just leave it lying nearby and the Couch Potato Tormentor will just mess with your TV at random intervals.Weird accessory thing: triPod speakers
Posted by Jeffrey on Feb 28, 2005
This thing looks too weird to ignore. What you’re looking at is an upside-down iPod v4, attached to a tripod speaker set.
Not something you’ll see every day – I’m actually afraid all the disk contents will start to dribble out the poor DAP, this way. It looks fairly uncomfortable for your player as well.
I guess you can hold the iPod in your hand with this thing attached to it as well, but that would just look silly.
Manufacturer AM Tech claims this set will fit into any DAP, it’ll work on just 1 AAA battery and comes with stereo sound. Now that’s disappointing – with 3 speakers available, I expect no less than 3D sound.