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