2005¦~3¤ë2¤é

Segway Diversifies, Stays Crazy The day all six of you have been waiting for is finally here: the new line of Segways has been announced! At any rate, it seems the good folks behind the Segway have made up for the short comings of the original model by adding that consumer favorite "practicality." Take the XT for instance, with it's wide tires for adventures beyond the bike path. Or the GT model, which steers the Segway towards a purpose more suited to what we all thought when we first saw it: life as a golf caddy. In the midst of all this sensible thinking, I'm actually relieved to see the Centaur, a four-wheeled Segway that can rear up on it's back tires for optimal chasing of small children and ducks. That idea is actually pretty fantastic. We need a demo model. Segway Revs New Models [CNET] Update: Oops, the Centaur is still in demo mode, not production. Bummer. - lamb (editor@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo] 2:34:34 PM

Smarthome's IP Thermostat Smarthome's new IP thermostat lets you control the temperature anywhere in the house with just a few mouse clicks and a secure internet connection. Hold the living room hostage with the threat of your incredible weather-controlling machine! All for the bargain basement price of $398, which can be subsidized by ransom. IP Thermostat [Smarthome] - lamb (editor@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo] 2:33:38 PM

Vectrix Electric Scooter I'm always distrustful of these sort of deals, but the product looks good: Vetrix has developed an electric scooter that has a great top speed, acceleration, and range (62mph, 8 second 0-60, and 70 miles), able to be charged from a standard wall outlet in just a couple of hours. Someone has been sending out unsolicited emails to a bunch of people (including TreeHugger, it seems), claiming that Vetrix needs people to sign up on their website to prove there is enough interest to release the scooters in the US next year. That sounds a lot like both spam and pointless internet petitions all wrapped into one, but since the scooters look so great (and actually exist), I guess we'll have to forgive them. Vectrix Electric Scooter [TreeHugger] - lev (tips@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo] 2:28:30 PM

Sony Ericsson W800 and K750 Details Mobile Burn has more info on two upcoming Sony Ericsson handsets that were announced in Cannes, the W800 (the first phone to be branded as a 'Walkman,') and the K750 [right]. Both candybar phones look sort of fantastic, with built-in 2 megapixel sensors with autofocus, as well as the ability to play back music from removable MemoryStick Duo flash cards (although sadly not higher capacity Dual Pro cards). There's no word on pricing or availability on the W800 yet, but I suspect it will be a fistful of yen sometime late this year. The K750, on the other hand, should be out this quarter. Sony Ericsson's First Walkman Phone: the W800 [MobileBurn] Sony Ericsson unleashes the K750i [MobileBurn] Ravi AIM'd me to say: The 512MB IS a Pro Duo stick (256 and up are Pro). However what MobileBurn probably means is they don't support Memory Stick HIGH SPEED Pro Duo -- ie, the ones with the black and red stylings - lev (tips@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo] 2:18:36 PM

Microchip Mr. T Future generations will judge us by our works and art left behind. They will use these achievements and failures to recreate life during our time, to understand how we lived and played and dreamed. Along with our weapons of mass destruction and meaningless giant gateways the color of parking cones, they will understand that despite our zero tolerance (well, within a few microns) for jibba-jabba, we could still find it in our hearts to pity fools. Microscopic Mr. T [Non-Tech City via BoingBoing] - lamb (editor@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo] 2:17:49 PM

Synaptics Spills LG JM50 Beans If you check out this press release showing off Synaptics' new LightTouch capacitive interface solution¡Xa system that lets you run your fingers over buttons like they were all part of a larger scroll pad¡Xyou'll also be able to pick up that LG is going to announce a new hard disk-based music player, the LG JM50. It just so happens that Synaptics gives us all the details of the 5GB player, which will support: FM radio and recording, voice recording and line-input recording that supports MP3, WMA, and OGG formats. The JM50 also boasts a battery life of approximately 10 hours and will be available in March 2005 in Korea, China, Taiwan, Europe and surrounding areas. Wouldn't that make the surrounding areas, like, the rest of the world? If you've got a snap of the JM50, send it in. It sounds like an interesting player. (Thanks, Joshua!) Press Release [Synaptics] - lev (tips@gizmodo.com) [Gizmodo] 2:17:12 PM