Posts Tagged ‘Technology’
Optimus Tactus & Optimus Maximus
Posted on: April 5, 2009
Each of the 113 keys is a stand-alone display that shows the function currently assigned to it. Optimus’s customizable layout allows convenient use of any language — Cyrillic, Ancient Greek, Georgian, Arabic, Quenya, hiragana, etc. — as well as of any other character sets: notes, numerals, special symbols, HTML codes, math functions and so on to infinity. Production date: the end of January 2008, price: 460$.
Duofone
Posted on: April 5, 2009
No one can deny the power of 2. Two heads are supposed to be better than one. The number 2 is the smallest prime number and the only even one. It’s also the most divisible number. If that weren’t enough evidence, 2 is the number of DNA strands that make up the double helix structure. The common denominator here is the number 2 denotes cooperation and that’s where the Duofone concept begins. The Duofone looks like any other slick concept but this time, it’s not about megapixels, or screen resolution, or even smartphone abilities. It’s about putting two of them together to combine their screen real estate. It’s about sharing each other’s battery power if one is low. It’s about increasing its abilities when paired with its partner. It even looks like a couple in bed when docked to its charging cradle.
When it comes to MP3 players we’ve seen a fair few DAPs that break the mould in terms of originality (though not quite as many as those that patently haven’t) but this highly stylised MashiMaro DAP is, beyond all doubt, the most distinctive of them all.
Interestingly, its taken me over two and a half hours to hunt this down as I came across a tiny image of it on an obscure, wholly flash based Korean online store which simply refused to allow me to link through to the details (tried FF, IE, Chrome, Safari – no joy). But, having spent an age sifting through Korean stores (non of which I can understand) eventually I found it and, in all honesty, it’s been well worth the (considerable) effort.
Based on a fictional Korean character by Kim Jae In, the MashiMaro DAP, apart from its distinctive design, measures in at 54 x 38 x 38mm and comes with 2GB of onboard storage capacity and, in terms of file format support, takes in MP3, WMA,ASF,APE, WAV, ACT and OGG (the latter meaning it gets particular brownie points from us).
As is evidenced by the imagery, the MashiMaro DAP comes sans display (it’s seemingly becoming all the rage these days, isn’t it) and uses a somewhat novel means of control which basically boils down to moving it’s ears, which are lit by an integrated LED, to access navigation functionalities with the LED’s color changing between pastel blue and red hues to indicate whether the MashiMaro is playing or whether the hold function – accessed by a side mounted button – is activated.
The MashiMaro DAP comes in white, blue or the all too obligatory pink and is priced at the equivalent of around a mere $44 and, whilst, in terms of functionality, there’s little on offer here (it’s a rudimentary DAP at best) few would argue that it really is quite something else.
4GB GAME-800 PMP [Inbuilt NES/Famicom, Game Boy & Game Boy Color Emulator]
Posted on: March 29, 2009
Whilst Nintendo are still (apparently) working in the background on a virtual console for their DSi – which will allow users to play Game Boy and Game Boy Advanced titles on their DSi – along comes this inventively titled PMP, known as the GAME-800, which packs a integrated emulator allowing it to run NES, FC, GB, GBC, and MD games.
The GAME-800 PMP, which has obviously gone for the cheap and tacky look, and has positively excelled in this respect, comes with a 3.5″ 320 x 240 (QVGA) TFT LCD display, 4GB of inbuilt memory (which can be supplemented with SD cards), back mounted camera of unspecified resolution and, in terms of multimedia file format support just about ticks all the boxes (except for OGG). In fact, it’s a particularly comprehensive list comprising of MP3, WMA, WAV, APE, FLAC, RM-Audio, AMR, AAC+, RM, RMVB, AVI, WMV, ASF, MPG, MPEG, MPE, MP4, DAT, MOV, DAT, JPEG, GIF and BMP.
Add into this a TV-out connection, an onboard speaker, USB connectivity and a handy text to speech function that, to quote the product site, ‘will read out loud any TXT file in Chinese or English.’ (it adds, incidentally, ‘Other Romance languages can be read, but the pronunciation will very often be incorrect’ (sic)) and, looks aside, its reasonably hard not to be impressed with what this device has to offer.
Yes, it doesn’t quite look the part, though it does, in fairness, have an undeniable retro tinged appeal (apart from the iPhone/Touch inspired icons), but if you consider what’s on offer here and then factor in it’s price – a mere $80 – its an extremely hard feature rich PMP to criticise, however much you might want to.
Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines
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Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns
Read-to-Me: With the new text-to-speech feature, Kindle can read every newspaper, magazine, blog, and book out loud to you, unless the book is disabled by the rights holder
Large Selection: Over 245,000 books plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs available
Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise
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