Jenny Levine: Gadgets

I don't know if I believe this one, but it'd be pretty cool if it's real. Check out the Musit, a new digital music device that has a "continuous satellite Web link that allows for continual downloading of millions of songs in MP3 format. The Musit will allows you to enter in a song or album title, download, and play it almost instantly. With a patented high-speed wireless link to the Web, the Musit will download songs at an amazing rate of over 1MB per minute." It comes with a stylus and supposedly recognizes handwriting for input of song titles. All for under $200. (Note that the site requires Flash.) [via Mempool]

Hmmmmm....... I'll believe it when I see it, but someday, this type of device and service will be commonplace. For those of you that have heard me talk about the "heavenly jukebox" of content, this is one way it might look.

Virtual Ink Untethers Mimio Whiteboarding Product "Mimio Xi (neXt ink) is a departure from the company's four-year-old Mimio electronic whiteboarding product in that it allows users to record whiteboarding writing without a PC and with almost no setup time via wireless connectivity.... At Demo, 3Com is expected to show off a proof-of-concept module for Bluetooth that allows the data to be fed to a PC via a wireless connection, and ultimately to a corporate network. Virtual Ink is publishing the specifications and plans to develop a version for IRDA to connect to PocketPCs or Palms; the company expects that third parties will create a WiFi module." [at InfoWorld]

We have the current Mimio at SLS, and we've never been able to get it to work well enough to put it to good use. The additiobn of Bluetooth or WiFi connectivity would be a huge boost. They also need to work on the handwriting recognition, but it does have potential. It would be cool to have this type of technology available in a library's meeting room so that various groups could use it and take their notes with them on a CD or email it to themselves.

Who needs a PDA when you could have a Wearable Internet Appliance from Hitachi and Xybernaut? [via Slashdot]

Languages in the Palm of Your Hand "[Ectaco] has developed a handy pocket-sized gadget that translates English phrases into French, German or Spanish. Instead of thumbing through a dictionary, you just say a phrase in English, the device translates it and then repeats out loud in the foreign language in a robotic voice.... The device fits in a pocket with ease. It uses AA batteries and costs $249.95, which could pay for a few bulky paper dictionaries.... 'Unfortunately there is a lot of background noise here,' explained Mr Davydov. 'Usually it works 90% of the time.' " [via Bruce]

So make that a PDA/cell phone/GPS/translator combo for my Christmas list. Someday there will be white papers and articles about how to conduct reference interviews with non-English speakers using a translator device. Hey, Ectaco - if you'd like to test this out in the real world in libraries, let me know!

And speaking of Philips....

Dashboard surfing for the masses "Philips Semiconductors debuts a new chip it says will take the emerging niche of dashboard electronics beyond the realm of the luxury car. Analysts, however, are skeptical." [News.com]

I honestly believe that most Americans exposure to wireless convergence will begin in their cars.

Take Your Router for a Walk "[IXI Mobile] on Monday announced its vision for a personal network in which a small cell phone and inexpensive e-mail device connect to cellular phone networks via a miniature server and router that would reside in the owner's pocket. The server, which would be about the same size as a tin of mints, would have a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) modem to provide the connection for the cell phone and other devices.... The goal is for the whole package, including handset, server and messaging device, to sell for less than $200." [at News.com]

Yet another take on converging devices and technologies. I wonder if these can be integrated into Philips Wearable Electronics Clothing?

Also from infoSync is a screenshot of the Space Taxi pinball game mentioned in the Have Cell Phone, Will Shoot post from a few days ago . It only runs on the Nokia 9210 and Nokia 9290 phones, but my oh my is it purty. Now that's the kind of service that would make me switch cell phones and carriers, but of course it's not available in the U.S. The game is written in Java, so I can only imagine what we'll start seeing as screen resolutions, processors, and battery life improve.

BTW Meryl, these phones are supposed to be better for deaf users (as well as the rest of us) because of the larger keyboard and the bigger screen.

Too damn cool: Mitsubishi Crafts Tiny LCD "The Mitsubishi Electric engineers got around this problem by moving the light about 1 inch away from the display panel so that the image is more tightly focused on a small area of the eye. Look down to view the image and you can see it, just as normal. However, look up from the display to see something in front of you, and the image is now hitting a part of the eye away from the pupil, so it becomes invisible. More precisely, a movement of more than a hundredth of an inch in the vertical plane or a tenth of an inch in the horizontal plane puts the display out of view." [at PC World]

Again, I say eBooks, PDAs, wireless browsing... you just don't know what's going to happen.

"A company called Digit Wireless has developed a unique keyboard called the Fastap for mobile phones and devices that combines the functionality of a full-sized keyboard with the form factor of a cell phone. Very interesting..." [CamWorld]

Finally some input innovation for a cell phone. I read somewhere that kids in Finland can type faster on their cell phones than on a computer (I can find the cite if you really want it). Imagine what they'll do with this little puppy. Maybe they'll write the great Finnish novel on their cell phones.

This is why I say you can't discount eBook technology. You just don't know what someone will think up that make it better, faster, stronger. "We have the technology."

Add this to my wish list!

"For starters, the BA800 packs a mind-blowing 256MB of internal memory in a snazzy, rounded design reminiscent of the iMac. That's all well and good, but what's truly revolutionary about the BA800 is its chameleonlike casing: a layer of plasma under the device's "skin" can be set to 256 different colors! You'd think that this active color-changing technology would be a power drain, but the rechargeable battery has a life of more than 20 hours. True, this cosmetic innovation isn't as vital as some of the internal technical improvements, but we were so taken aback by this electronic chameleon that the BA800 is one of our favorite products from CES. It ships in March for $300...." [in CNET]