Bointec NR413-SA : world's longest run time mobile hotspot router

Bointec portable battery powered wifi Router for 3G USB modem 6 hours run time!

now priced from $85 USD and shipping world wide from Conics

Panasonic J9 compared to the Panasonic S9 Toughbook, video

Panasonic J9 compared to the Panasonic S9 Toughbook. Youtube video below, and now shipping from Conics.Net

New Panasonic J9 Toughbook mini review CF-J9 video

New Panasonic J9 Toughbook now available from Conics.Net mini review CF-J9 video

Sharp Android IS01, English tested and reviewed

Sharp IS01 now shipping from Conics.Net

Onkyo TW117A4, TW217A5 and TW317A5 in Japan from October

Onkyo has announced Three Windows 7 Tablet PC for sales in Japan from Mid October.
Each powered by Atom CPU with 1GB RAM and a 10.1" or 11.6" wide multi-touch screen.
We should get some for review soon, until then here are the press release photos:

Onkyo TW117A4 Windows 7 Tablet PC 10.1"
with 160GB HDD, Atom N450, 1GB RAM

Price from approx. $620 USD at Conics.Net
with English Windows 7







Onkyo TW217A5 Windows 7 Tablet PC 10.1" touch screen, 32GB SSD , HDMI out
Atom Z530 1.6GHz US15W chipset, 1GB RAM

Price from approx. $740 USD at Conics.Net
with English Windows 7




Onkyo TW317A5 Windows 7 Tablet PC 11.6" multi-touch screen, 32GB SSD ,
Atom N450 1.66GHz 82801HBM chipset,
Broadcom HD graphics accelerator chip for 1080p playback. HDMI out

Priced from approx. $870 USD at Conics.Net
with English Windows 7

Video of the saruSURF roll-up-SUP® Inflatable Stand Up Paddle Board

sarusurf lent us their roll-up-SUP® Inflatable Stand Up Paddle Board for a review. We should have the review in a week or two but I can tell you so far it is by far the best inflatable paddle board we have ever ridden. (and we have tried 3 other popular brands) The 7.5" standard fin makes all the difference as it rides, tracks, and maneuvers like a "real" hard stand up paddle board. Plus they put a lot of rise in the nose rocker as well as the tail rocker. In fact its so easy to pack, setup, and ride that I like it better than my hard SUP. Below is the sarusurf promo video to give you an idea of what it is like:

RunCore Xapear SSD, RFID access and remote GSM erase - SSD Remote Kill

Video Review of the RunCore Xapear SSD, RFID access and remote GSM erase. Get your computer stolen or confiscated and you can activate a Remote Kill and erase all your sensitive data.

Toshiba W100 unboxing + review PALW100MNG Dual screen UMPC

We've finally got our grubby paws on the Libretto W100 for our unboxing and review:




Available now , shipping world-wide from Conics.Net

Honda Fit Hybrid Japanese Pricing + Date Announced

Honda Japan has finally released the price and sales date for the new "Hybrid Honda Fit". I was holding off on buying one of these when they were announced last year - I'm glad I did.

Prices will start at around 1.59 million yen (approx. $18,500 US). With the government rebates applied I assume... this is only 300,000 yen ($4650 US) more than the gasoline model.

From what they posted on JapanToday, the new model will get approx 30Km/L (up from the current 24Km/L). Japan sales date should be October 2010, US sales later in 2011.

Toyota has also announced a compact hybrid for the Japan market in 2011, price also around 1.5 million yen.

Enerv8 PowerTread : create power from Speed Bumps

NZ company Enerv8's PowerTread creates energy from cars driving over it.

The PowerTread is to be installed in series, in place of current speed bumps (aka "judder bar" in NZ speak!).

Like speed bumps, the device slow cars down, but transfers the kinetic energy to electricity - enough to power 18 homes or a small shopping mall - so they say.

With the help of investors in Singapore, the NZ company hopes to deploy PowerTread soon in a few shopping mall car parks in Singapore.

3NZ TV news video here (warning: they have NZ accents :) )

via Engadget

Video of the new Panasonic C1 Convertible Tablet PC with Core i5 CPU

PC Watch Japan has a hands one with the new Panasonic C1 Tough Book Tablet. This is probably one of the best convertible tablet PC now available as it has a fast Core i5 2.4Ghz Intel CPU, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM with the MyLets model, 250GB HDD, and most importantly, Panasonic's Tough Book construction.
This 12.1" inch 1280x800 LCD tablet come with a unique hot swappable 2 battery setup that allows over 12 hour battery life. Along with all the usual connectivity features, Bluetooth, Wifi a/b/g/n, gigabit Ethernet, the C1 can be configured with both WiMax and 3G.
We loved the touchscreen and digitizer pen setup giving the best of both worlds. It comes bundled with Windows 7 64bit with the tablet features enabled. Panasonic also have included its own software that allows you to do your own notations to web pages, etc.
The C1 is not cheap coming in at over $2000 USD but these are designed for business, and offer the best quality, still made in Japan construction.
Lots more pictures at PCwatch
Available at Concis.net

Video of Toshiba NEW Dual Screen UMPC libretto W100 coming to Japan this August

Toshiba's NEW Dual Screen UMPC libretto W100 coming to Japan this August. Toshiba has resurrected there Libertto series in a big way with the new dual screen W100 which looks a lot like the recently canceled Microsoft Courier.
While sporting two 7" capacitive touch screen displays (1024x600) one of the displays also doubles as a keyboard and mouse pad. Thankfully Toshiba passed on the anemic Atom CPU for a dual core CULV 1.2GHz Intel Pentium U5400 processor, as well as 2GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD and Windows 7 Home Premium. Prices in Japan is set at about 120,00 YEN (about $1300 USD). Other features are an accelerometer, 1x USB 2.0 port, 802.11abgn wifi, WiMax, Bluetooth, Webcam, and a microSD card slot. It sizes up at 202×123×25.4mm and weighs in at 699grams. While we are happy that they are using the CULV CPU the battery life is reported to be only about 2 hours with the standard battery and 4 hours with the large.
More pictures below and more info at PC Watch
Conics.net is taking pre-orders now.

Double Solar Cell Efficiency with Quantum Dots

Quantum Dots may one day lead to a Doubling of Solar Cell Efficiency. Popular Mechanics has an interesting articular about how new research by the Department of Energy shows that Quantum Dots can double the efficiency of solar cells. Researchers have shown that it's possible to harvest lost energy before it escapes from standard inefficient solar cells in the form of heat, meaning that engineers could one day develop next-generation solar cells with efficiencies of up to 66 percent. The research, funded by the Department of Energy, is described in the June 18 edition of the journal Science.

Study author Xiaoyang Zhu at University of Texas at Austin said the group used nanoscale crystals of a compound called lead selenide which is a semiconductor, meaning it absorbs light energy within a certain range of energies. But semiconducting nanocrystals, also known as quantum dots, exhibit very different properties than their larger silicon counterparts. Most importantly they can hold on to a hot electron for a longer period of time, stretching out the amount of time it takes for the electron to cool instead of losing them to heat.

Once a hot electron is confined within a quantum dot the researchers chose titanium oxide, a well-studied compound known for its ability to accept new electrons to pull the electron out from the dot. Then the team arranging the lead selenide quantum dots and titanium dioxide in such a way that their chemical interactions would induce electron transfer.

Not only was the transfer successful, it was also very fast. However, the process is very difficult to accomplish meaning a long road for commercialization.
More details at Popular Mechanics.

Acer Stream Android 2.1 smartphone @ Computex 2010

Acer Stream Android 2.1 smartphone @ Computex 2010

Flightstrap review #1 : using on the train (media player holder)

Flightstrap review #1 : using on the train (media player holder)

Inventec Dr eye Android Dictionary / MID [Computex 2010]

Inventec "Dr eye" Dictionary / MID running Android.
Retail cost approx $300 USD

Innovision Labs HoloAD, 3D advertising at Computex 2010

Innovision Labs HoloAD, 3D advertising at Computex 2010

Sharp PC-T1 Netwalker Ubuntu 5" tablet MID review

Sharp PC-T1 Netwalker Ubuntu 5" tablet MID review

Panasonic CF-F9 Toughbook unboxing video + overview

Panasonic CF-F9 Toughbook unboxing video + overview. The F9 comes with an Intel i5 2.4 Ghz M520 CPU, 250GB HDD, and up to 8GB RAM. Unique handle and Optical drive make this notebook get noticed. It is remarkably light weight at 3 pounds for a 14" and offers a 9 hour battery life.
Available at Conics.net

Video overview of Gigabytes upcomming Convertable tablet PC the M1125

Video overview of Gigabytes upcoming Convertible tablet PC the M1125 at the Computex Taipei 2010 trade show. Expected for release in August, the 1125 will ditch the ATOM for the much more powerful Intel ULV Calpella Processor. No word on whether its an i5 or i7 core. Stand out features are a capacitive 11.6 1366 x 768 screen touch screen supporting multi-touch, two USB 3.0 ports, Easily upgradeable with a single door access, 3G antennas built in for connectivity, and a brushed aluminum finish. Tried to nail down a price point but all we could get was between $500-$1000.

Sony has released a video of a 4" Rollable OLED Display

Sony has demonstrated a 4" Rollable OLED Display at the at the SID 2010 International Symposium. While only a prototype the 432 x 240 pixel resolution display supports 16M colors while exceeding 100nits brightness and a 1,000:1 contrast ratio.
No word if or when this will ever come to market but pencil sized cell phones can't be too far in the future.
More at PC Watch (in Japanese)

Take That McDonalds - Lotteria Tower Cheese Burger With 10 Patties

Fast food chains in Japan somehow love to create “heart-attack inducing” hambugers as promotion (Windows 7 Whopper and Mega Tamago). Now its Lotteria turn and they are allow customers to stack their Tower Cheese Burger 「タワーチーズバーガー」with 10 pieces of patties for 100 yen each.

Essentially, you’d start off with a 160 yen cheese burger and create a monstrous burger seen above which weighs a little more than half a kilogram (579 grams).
Actually it’d be cool if you had a large family, then you can just order one really large burger and share it together for a satisfying meal.
More at alafista.com

More details in Japanese with pictures here.

Badass All Metal Rubber Band Gun and Rubber Band Machine Gun!

Bad-ass All Metal Rubber Band Gun and Rubber Band Machine Gun!

“Mezamashi TV” did this short feature on a guy who makes fancy rubber band guns out of metal. It is all in Japanese but you get the idea of these bad ass rubber band guns just by watching the video. Some background:
His day job involves metal working, so he has the knowledge needed to make some pretty bad-ass rubber band guns. His most advanced weapon is a rubber band machine gun, which fires off 30 rounds in about 2 seconds (it takes much longer to load).

He says that his hobby sometimes causes trouble at home, since his wife doesn’t like finding rubber bands strewn about the house in random places.
More video at JapanProbe

New and updated Sony VAIO P will be launched May 22nd

New and updated Sony P will be launched May 22nd. Sony has updated it P series with slightly faster CPU, Accelerometer, and flashy new colors. In addition Sony has added an optical mouse pointer and mouse buttons to the bezel of the screen. The specs remain essentially the same with the fast CPU offered a Atom Z560(2.13GHz) over the 2Ghz model in Japan. It comes with the same 8" 1600x768 screen, SSD options, and dimensions as the previous model.
Sony has designed software that uses the new accelerometer as a way to navigate the browser by tipping the the computer to the right you can go forward a page and tipping the computer to the left you can go back a page. The accelerometer also adds more precise GPS functions and the addition of a software compass.
Pricing is the same as the previous model. Sadly, Sony has changed the colors to retro 1980 Neon with shocking pink, Neon Orange, and Neon Green colors. There is also a real Alligator skin model available directly from Sony style.
Much more at PC Watch but grab your translator as its in Japanese.And videos by PC Watch Here

Pictures of the new AU IS01 Android clam shell tablet phone

Pictures of the new AU IS01 Android clam shell tablet phone. AU will introduce a 5" clam shell Android touch phone in June. No word on pricing but this item will only be available in Japan. Here are the specs:
Size: 83 × 149 × 17.9mm
Weight: 227g
Communication Systems: CDMA 1xEV-DO Rev.A (CDMA 1X WIN)
Talk time (3G/CDMA): 310 minutes
Standby time (3G/CDMA): 200 hours
Charging time: 210 minutes (AC),230 minutes (DC)Display About 5.0 inches, 960 × 480, New Mobile ASV LCD touch-screenOS: Android OS 1.6
CPU: 1GHz Snapdragon
Memory card: microSD / microSDHC Card
Wireless LAN (IEEE802.11b / g)
GPSBluetooth 2.1 + EDR

Lots more pictures at Impress Watch

Inexpensive Metal Catalyst gets Hydrogen from Water

A team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California, Berkeley devised a high-valence metal they're calling Mo-oxo for molybdenum-oxo (PY5Me2). The catalyst requires no additional organic additives or solvents, can operate in neutral water (even if it's dirty) and works with sea water -- meaning we could literally be looking at oceans of cheap energy. Best of all: Mo-oxo is about 70 times cheaper than platinum. The research is still preliminary and the Berkeley team is just getting into some of the more exciting chemistry. They're looking for additional similar metals that might generate hydrogen gas at even higher efficiency, so by the time this kind of tech is commercialized we may have found an even better catalyst. Hydrogen would command a key role in future renewable energy technologies, experts agree, if a relatively cheap, efficient and carbon-neutral means of producing it can be developed.
Read all the details at Science Daily

Shorter Space Voyages with new Plasma Rocket

Shorter Space Voyages with new Plasma Rocket. Known as Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), a new plasma rocket is being developed to one day transport astronauts to Mars in 39 to 45 days -- a fraction of the six to nine months the trip would take with conventional chemical rockets. Shorter travel time greatly reduces astronauts' exposure to potentially deadly cosmic and solar radiation, currently a show-stopper for human missions to Mars.
VASIMR technology, which uses radio waves to ionize propellant, such as argon, xenon or hydrogen, and heat the resulting plasma to temperatures 20 times hotter than the surface of the sun creating thrust. In place of metal nozzles to control the direction of the exhaust, VASIMR uses magnetic fields.
Houston-based Ad Astra Rocket Co., which has raised millions of dollars from private investors, reached a significant milestone last year when it successfully operated a demonstrator VASIMR at full power in a vacuum chamber.
Ad Astra plans to launch its flight version VASIMR to the space station in 2014. As a backup, they intend to manufacture two engines in case a launch accident or other major problem prevents the first from reaching the outpost.
Once the engine is safely installed outside the station, the spare could be tapped for a new missions.
Much more at DiscoveryNews

Sony Z11 with Core i7 2.66GHz CPU, 4x 128GB SSD in RAID 0 test drive!

Sony Z11 with Core i7 2.66GHz CPU and upto 4x 128GB SSD in RAID 0 (Quad RAID)... we took some for a test drive.

unboxing video and some "testing" / playing Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 (COD MW2)
as you'll see from our videos, this is a very impressive Sony Laptop.

Meet the sausage meat iPhone stylus!

OK, it's winter, you're cold, don't want to take off your gloves... but still want to use your iPhone...

South Korea has the answer!
CJ Corporation's sausages have similar electrostatic properties to human fingers - allowing them to be used as a stylus with the iPhone's capacitive touch screen.

brilliant!

source: gearfuse

GScreen dualscreen laptop, coming May 2010?

Kohjinsha's already selling the DZ and (under the Onkyo brand) DX , but what if you need more than those 2x 10" LCDs, you want 2x 17" and a beefier i7 CPU - and have a fatter wallet :)

GScreen will start at about $2895 USD, the company reports it will be shipping from March 2010.

more at engadget

PhotoFast G-Monster2 : Sandforce 1500 controller

Coming first in 100GB and later available in 50, 200 and 400GB sizes.

Max read speed is quoted as 260MB/sec, but the most interesting point is the random write speed of " upto 75MB/sec " !

At the heart of the new G-Monster is the SandForce SF-1500 controller, so as you'd expect this is not a budget SSD... price for 100GB starting at 74,800 YEN ($830 USD!!) . We can't imagine what they'll ask for the 400GB... [you'll have to wait till March for that one]

for more, over to Photofast
a few benchmarks there

Onkyo DX unboxing and mini review

Unboxing:

Mini Review:

computer supplied by: Conics.Net

Official Google Blog: A new approach to China

Google to China : I play your silly games, why did you piss in my shoe ?!

(image source)

more on it here:
Official Google Blog: A new approach to China