Home  -  Back Issues  -  The Team  -  Contact Us
     Volume 6 Issue2 | January 19, 2007 |


   Letters
   Voicebox
   Chintito
   Newsnotes
   Cover Story
   View from the    bottom
   Musings
   Straight Talk
   Special Feature
   Human Rights
   Music
   Lifestyle
   Trivia
   Reflections
   Dhaka Diary
   Sci-tech
   Health
   Book Review
   Books
   New Flicks
   Write to Mita

   SWM Home


Sci-tech

Introducing the iPhone

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs unveils a new mobile phone that can also be used as a digital music player and a camera, a long-anticipated device dubbed an "iPhone." at the Macworld Conference in San Francisco, California. The "iPhone" will be ultra-slim -- less than half-an-inch (1.3 centimetres) thick -- boasting a phone, Internet capability and an MP3 player as well as featuring a two megapixel digital camera, Jobs said.

Concept Umbrella Plays Music for Some Reason

In theory having an umbrella that can play music would be nice, especially with clever touches like fast forwarding and rewinding by twisting the handle. But think about it… how long do you ever hold an umbrella open at any given time? Enough to listen to one song? Maybe two or three?
Furthermore, I might just not know how to use umbrellas or just have a habit of buying the cheapest and crappiest umbrellas available. It doesn't seem like the most reliable place to stick fancy electronics. I'll just keep my iPod, thanks very much.


Belkin Makes Ipod Into Recording Studio

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 equaliser.
Why you'd want to record your next indie music hit onto a 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.


Tip N' Sip Cools and Warms

Adevice cooling and warming at the same time? This can't be safe for the universe, but the Tip N' Sip does it. Unlike the USB cooler and warmer we saw earlier, this device keeps the coffee/tea/whatever piping hot below and cool on top for safer drinking. The "tip" comes into play because you have to tip the mug to fill the top chamber with liquid for quick cooling. Just don't use a large straw with this device, because then it will eliminate the entire purpose of the Tip N' Sip mug and make you look like a moron.

Dubai Getting an Undersea Hotel for Rich Abyss Fans

Dubai, a place that represents what happens when a few people have way, way too much money, is soon going to be home to Hydropolis, the world's first underwater luxury hotel. Costing nearly $590 million to build, the 220-suite hotel should be completed in December. I don't know about you guys, but every movie I've seen about people living underwater ends with aliens arriving or a giant squid attacking. I'll stick to staying on dry land, thanks.

Tree House Refrigerator Design for the Certifiably Insane

This refrigerator design concept is more weird than it is beautiful. Its midsection is like the trunk of a tree, and it has five container/cabinets arrayed around it that resemble tree branches. Push a foot switch and the motorised main section opens. You can store pieces of fruit in its branch-like modules, and when you take out, say, an apple, it feels like you're picking it off a tree. There's one box that resembles a birdhouse where you presumably refrigerate eggs, plucking them from their nest when it's time for breakfast. Maybe this design concept is good for a laugh, but this can't be very efficient. We'd rather have our refrigerator built-in style, and big enough for plenty of junk food.

 

Compiled by IMRAN H. KHAN

Source: Gizmodo.com

Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2007