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     Volume 6 Issue 9 | March 9, 2007 |


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Sci-tech

Samsung M55 Laptop
Just when we thought Samsung was firmly in the Blu-ray camp, they come out with a version of their M55 laptop that supports HD DVD. The machine has a Core Duo T2500, 2GB of RAM, 120GB SATA disk, 17-inch 1920x1200 screen, and it's available for around 3200 USD if you speak Korean. Is it a matter of time before Samsung releases a HD DVD standalone player? Or maybe it'll follow LG and release a dual player?

Forever Flashlight
LED flashlights are coming on the market in a flurry lately, but here's one with a difference: If you want to see it do its thing, pull its string. It has a pull cord like a Chatty Cathy, but instead of saying innocuous things it charges up the battery that powers its 5-LED flashlight. What really might make this device useful in a pinch is that you can plug your mobile phone into it and charge that up, too, just by pulling that string. It also plugs into a car's accessory outlet and an included 12-volt AC adapter. It's pretty handy if you ask me.

Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera Comes to Geneva
I have tried to imagine someone for whom the Lamborghini Gallardo would not be good enough. With the possible exception of the executive team at Ferrari, I can't think of anyone. But if you happen to be that rare person, the Gallardo Superleggera is for you. Calling it an "uncompromisingly high-performance sports car" is a radical understatement: with 10 hp more punch than the "standard" Gallardo and weighing 100 kg less, it has a phenomenal weight-to-power ratio of 2.5 kg/hp and goes 0 to 100 km/hr in 3.8 seconds - giving it, according to Lamborghini, "the fastest acceleration in its class." It shows off its engine the latest version of Lamborghini's 4,961 cm3 V10 - through a hood made of superlight visible carbon fibre and transparent polycarbonate.


Grundig B700: Smartphone With FM Radio
Hot on the heels of Grundig's Linux mobile phone comes something a little more sophisticated from the German electronics firm. Slim - just 10 mm thick - and silvery on the outside, the tri-band GSM phone has a Linux-based platform and also supports EDGE and Bluetooth. But the real wa-wo-wee-wa is that it's a PDA with a radio. No prices or availability as yet, but find out what else it's got after the jump. The PDA also features USB support, POP3 Email Push client, 100MB user memory, 2.0 mega pixel camera with flash, video recording capability and more.

Prototype Bluetooth Glove Brings New Possibilities to Gaming
Not only can this prototype Bluetooth glove act as a theoretical Wii controller, it can pretty much talk to any Bluetooth device out there. The glove is made out of standard acrylic, but has fingertip sensors that induces a current when touched together. By making different combinations between your fingers and thumbs, you could send one of a few signals to be picked up by other Bluetooth devices. Some possible uses once this thing gets to market could be Nintendo Wii air-guitar, a Minority Report interface.


RFID Embedded Shoes Stop the Thieves
The European shoe manufacturer, Reno, is doing something different to stop the increasing amount of shoplifting going on at its stores. Rather than installing more cameras, or using those ink-exploding things, Reno will be embedding RFID tags in all of their shoes. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. The RFID tags will be able to track when a cheap-o decides to stroll out with a new pair of shoes, unpaid. Upon finding the thief, a stereotypical 1920's shoemaker will come clob the person to death, retrieving the shoes (I wish). All purchased shoes will have the RFID tags deactivated at checkout.

Compiled by IMRAN H. KHAN

Source: Gizmodo Online.

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