ErgoClick™ Mouse Clicking Device

From the official website:

Mouse without lifting a finger.
The ErgoClick uses your left palm to perform left, right and double click actions - simply by shifting the weight of your palm.

The ErgoClick is ideal for people who suffer from trigger finger or simply find clicking the mouse to be a painful aspect of their computer interface. Now you can use your left palm to click, while using a traditional mouse in your right hand for cursor control, just as before.

ErgoClick™ Features:

Why use the palm?

When you click your mouse (usually with your index finger) you are using the flexor muscles in your hands, which are used to make a fist (or curl your fingers toward the palm). The extensor muscles are used to open your hand, or extend / uncurl your fingers. The average computer user needs to click their mouse (in a typical 8 hour shift) several thousands times in a day. This can lead to the flexor muscles becoming much stronger than the extensor muscles, which will make the muscles in your hands and arms more subject to fatigue and can lead to RSI related injuries including "trigger finger".

Description of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

What is Trigger Finger?
Trigger finger involves the tendons in the hand that bend the finger. The tendons connect the muscles of the forearm with the bones of the fingers. Each tendon is covered by a slick lining or sheath. When you bend your fingers, the tendons glide back and forth.

When the tendon sheath becomes inflamed, it swells and may develop a knot or thickening in the tendon. The knot passes through the sheath as the finger bends, but gets stuck as the finger straightens. This causes further irritation and results in a vicious circle of irritation, swelling, catching and more irritation until finally, the finger locks in a bent position.

How Does it Work?

The palm of the right hand is used to position the pointer on the screen (1 on the diagram at right) as always with your mouse, trackball or other pointing device. The palm of the left hand is used only to click (2 on the diagram at right). With a slight movement of your palm you can generate clicks and double-clicks (only a single click is needed for Double Click) By using the palm to click rather than the fingers, your hand can maintain a relaxed neutral supported posture, and by simply shifting the orientation of your palm slightly you can generate clicks. This product works best with a compact keyboard to maximize the desktop space immediately in front of the user.

Where are the Buttons?

Button 1: Left Click
Buttons 2 and 3: Double Click (you only need to click once)
Dial 4: Click Force Adjustment Dial.



How Hard is the Button to Press?
The ErgoClick has a unique feature which is not available in any other keyboard or traditional mouse currently on the market - an adjustable clicking force. You can adjust the actuation force of the button from 30 grams to 300 grams, creating as light or as strong a touch as required. Even at the lightest force setting of 30 grams, the click sensation provided is highly tactile and responsive.

Specifications
Width: 2.5" Wide
Depth: 3.5" Deep
Height: 1.5" High

Price: $65.00

Source Kinesis-Ergo.com

(The Ultimate) Multimedia Chair!

Plug your stereo, home theater, or game system into this chair and you’ll be surrounded with rich, lifelike audio that will enhance your experience of any recorded concert, movie or video game.


Sound comes from the two 50-watt speakers built into the headrest, while the chair’s tactile sound transducer—the same technology originally used in multimillion dollar USAF flight simulators and theme park rides—converts low-frequency sounds into vibrations. Even without the volume turned up loud, you’ll actually feel the shudders of cinema car chases, the recoil of video game weapons, or the booming bass of symphony recordings.

A powerful 300-watt amp is hidden in the chair base, and a side panel has separate volume and vibration controls, as well as a headphone jack. The comfortable chair surrounds you with a cockpit-like feel thanks to soft suede microfiber upholstery, high-density foam cushioning, and a sturdy hardwood frame.

Swivel base. Quick assembly with no tools. Plugs into AC; UL listed. Charcoal. Imported. 39 1/2” H x 33 1/2” W x 32 1/2” D. (115 lbs.)

Source Hammacher.com

Venzero ONE 8GB MP3 Player

Venzero has announced their Venzero ONE 8GB MP3 player. The unit comes with a USB port, a 2-inch color display and a song recognition feature. It can play all the popular music formats, along with video and pictures. On top of that, it has a built in RSS news reader.

Venzero One MP3 Player


The MP3 player is supposed to go on sale before the end of June of this year, 2006, and be priced around $289.

The Perific Ergonomic Mouse

The high-performance Perific Mouse™ brings you variation, comfort and flexibility in every day computer work. By combining ergonomics and cutting edge design Perific is a wireless optical mouse that you easily can adapt to your workplace. Variation in work posture minimizes the risk for repetitive strain injuries -- with this in mind, the Wireless Dual Mouse™ allows you to switch between different work postures. Use it as a traditional desk mouse, or explore the benefits of off-desk usage. The Wireless Dual Mouse™ is the latest in wireless input devices. It offers you all the functionality of a traditional mouse and so much more.

The Perific Mouse:


The Perific mouse™ is two mice in one. With the shell in place, you have a regular wireless mouse. Remove it, and you gain a whole new range of ergonomic and practical benefits. Hold it anyway you want. The smoothly sculpted grip-friendly shell and finger-free inner mouse leaves the choice up to you. The trackball frees you from the desktop and the wireless connection is just that: wireless.

Here are some Perific ways to use your new mouse:
• As a standard desktop mouse
• Held in both hands, resting in your lap, leaning back in your chair
• As a trackball on your desk
• Held in one hand, free of the desktop, in any way that feels comfortable
• Worn on the hand, for rapid but strain-free switching between mouse and keyboard
• Features scrolling wheel and double right and left buttons
• Connected via USB port – no special drivers required
• Charged via USB port – no external power source required
• Can be used when charging (small cord from base unit)
• Can be adjusted to fit user’s hand
• Removable shell is easy to detach/attach

Perific Mousepad Retail Price: $129.99
For more information check here

New Cameras from BenQ

BenQ unveiled on Tursday two new additions to its digital camera classic line-up, the BenQ DC C530 and C630 with 5 and 6 Megapixels respectively.

The compact cameras features alarge 2.4-inch TFT LCD screen and 480x234 high resolution and a 3X optical zoom. The BenQ DC C530/C630 is available in four colors: red (as seen above), blue, black, white and silver.

The DC C530/C630 features several settings that enhance the simplicity and functionality of making pictures.

The BenQ DC C530/C630 features a shake-free function allowing the user to take clear and precise shots without any distortion.

Both cameras also boot the High ISO Portrait function (ISO 800~1000) which enables users to take ambient photos indoor and in dimmed light environments without the need of using flash.

In addition, the Auto Exposure Bracket (AEB) allows the user to take three continuous photos with different exposure value (EV) to get the best shooting condition for the best picture quality results.

The BenQ DC C530/C630 will be available on the market in April.

Playstation 2 Price Lowered

After the rumors, it is now official! Sony announced yesterday it is cutting the price of the PlayStation 2 by $20 in the U.S.

The price drop was widely expected, coming ahead of the planned November launch of Sony's new PlayStation 3. Console makers mormally use this strategy in an effort to keep consumer demand high as it races to complete its next generation console.

To date, the Sony has sold some 101 million consoles since its appearance in 2000 and over a billion game titles. It also enjoys a 56 percent market share in the U.S., which is the double of its nearest competitor, Nintendo.

Sony PS2:

It also remains the most popular platform in every major market, including North America, Europe and the PAL markets, and Japan and Asia.

"While we continue to innovate and design groundbreaking new products, we remain dedicated to our long-term vision for the PlayStation 2 platform," said Kaz Hirai, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America in a statement.

A spokesman for Sony UK said the company had no plans to follow suit in the UK where the console is priced at 104.99 pounds.

He told the BBC News web site that the PS2 was "very competitively priced" and Sony preferred to rely bundles to attract consumers.

Sony plans a large marketing blitz to promote the new pricing structure for the console that will begin on April 27. Print ads will appear in Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer, with online ads beginning the same day on sites such as AOL.

Opera 9 Beta Browser Released Today

The first public beta of Opera 9 web browser was released today, following a second technical preview of that was released about two months ago.

Opera 9 includes a feature called "widgets," which are small web applications such as newsfeeds or games that reside in a window on a user's desktop. It also comes with the BitTorrent file-downloading software built in, meaning users don't have to start that software as a separate application.

"There are no big feature changes in the beta version. The main difference is that the beta version is stable enough for people to use as their primary browser," said Tor Odland, a spokesman for Opera. A complete list of features is available here.

The software may still have some vulnerabilities in it, however, and Opera recommends that users backup their files in case any problems occur on their machine.

The software can be downloaded for free here. It is available for all major operating systems including Windows and the Mac OS, Odland said.

The final version of Opera 9 is due out in the next few months.

World's First 50-inch 1080p Plasma Monitor from Pioneer

Pioneer today announced a 50-inch 1920 X 1080 HD Plasma monitor employing new "HD P.U.R.E. Black Panel" technology, which creates a 1080p native resolution with more than 2 million pixels on a 50-inch screen.

In addition to the advantages to plasma displays, such as high contrast, and high resolution for motion pictures, the PDP-5000EX offers the advantage of 1080p high definition, capable of reproducing high-quality images.

The smaller the screen size, the more difficult it is to create a 1080p plasma display panel. To overcome the challenge, Pioneer has developed a "Crystal Emissive Layer", which can boost the luminance efficiency and discharge speed of a PureVision plasma panel. Other technologies include the "Direct Color Filter," "Flex Clear Drive" that Pioneer has accumulated over many years.

The PDP-5000EX:


The PDP-5000EX is equipped with two HDMI terminals and a DVI port, which are digital inputs necessary for high-end monitors, to support diversified high-definition digital video contents and digital output devices. The HDMI terminals support signals of 1080p (60/50/24 Hz). In addition, they enable full-time 10-bit processing throughout, from signal input to video display.

Pioneer will launch the Pioneer PureVision PDP-5000EX in early June, 2006 in Japan at the suggested retail price of 1,050,000 yen ($8,922.50).

Main specifications

Power consumption in use/standby: 410 W/0.3 W
Screen size: 50 inches
Effective screen size: 1104 mm (W) x 621 mm (H)
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Number of pixels: 1920 (H) x 1080 (V)
Surround: SRS WOW (SRS/FOCUS/TruBass)
Actual maximum audio output: 13 W + 13 W (JEITA), 8 ohms
Dimensions: 1282 mm (W) x 750.5 mm (H) x 98 mm (D)
Weight: 39.8 kg
Power supply: AC100V 50/60 Hz

I/O terminals
Video input 1: DV1
Video input 2: HDMI
Video input 3: HDMI
Video input 4: Component/RGB (BNC)
Video input 5: S2
Video input 6: Composite (RCA)
Audio 1 to 6: RCA (x6)
SR+ terminal : 1 each for input and output
Speaker output

Accessories: Remote control, Owners' manual, etc.

Pioneer also announced that it will introduce two new plasma TVs. The 50-inch PDP-507HX and the 42-inch PDP-427HX plasma TVs will be available in early June, 2006 in Japan at a suggested retail price of 600,000 yen ($5,096) and 480,000 yen ($4,077) respectively.

Seagate Announces First Perpendicular 3.5" Hard Drives

Seagate today announced its Cheetah 15K.5 hard drive, the first 3.5" hard disk based on perpendicular technology. The drive offers a 300 gigabytes capacity and promises 30% more performance.

Company Logo:


Perpendicular recording technology lets the Cheetah 15K.5 deliver twice the capacity of 15K drives currently available.

Perpendicular recording is perhaps the most significant near-term step in the evolution of hard drive technology. The method is similar to the longitudinal recording used in today's drives in that it relies on magnetically charged particles for data storage.

In today's drives, the north and south poles of the magnetic particles run parallel to the disc but in the new method they are arranged perpendicular to the disc, as the name suggests. The result of this new arrangement is that each particle occupies a smaller area of the disk's surface and so more particles can be crammed onto the disk. This is measured as the areal density.

Seagate Barracuda Disk:


Seagate is now shipping the Cheetah 15K.5 to leading OEM Customers. The Cheetah 15K.5 will be launched to the Distribution Channel later this quarter.

Its 15K RPM and fast seek times deliver the fastest time-to-data, resulting in 30 percent more I/O's-per-second and more than 20 percent faster response times than typical 3.5-inch 10K RPM drives, according to Seagate.

The Cheetah 15K.5 is available in a choice of 3 Gb/sec Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), Ultra320 SCSI, and 4 Gb/sec Fibre Channel interfaces with capacities of 73, 147, and 300 gigabytes. It delivers a Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) reliability rating of 1.4 million hours at full duty cycle.

Panasonic and Square-Enix team up

Matsushita, owner of Panasonic, and Square Enix will develop technology to deliver games, music, movies and other digital content to a wide range of consumer electronics devices, according to vnunnet.com.

Panasonic logo:

Square Enix is the Japanese game developer behind the popular and long-running Final Fantasy series of video games.

The two companies will cooperate to make Square Enix's SEAD (Square Enix Application on Demand Engine) software work on UniPhier-based products including mobile phones, car navigation systems and flat screen digital TVs,.

The hardware will be based on further development of Matsushita's existing UniPhier single chip media processor and the system will allow them to deliver the same content to multiple platforms with different capabilities, the web site claims.

Square Enix logo:


Panasonic announced various UniPhier-based products last year, such as a video camera and car navigation system.

"I believe the collaboration with Square Enix to be the best alliance for the future as they not only own an attractive p ortfolio of digital content assets, but also have excellent technologies in 3D graphics and embedded software," said Dr. Susumu Koike, Matsushita's executive vice President for research, in a press release.

"Square Enix aims to become an integrated digital content and service provider in the ubiquitous network era. Panasonic is the best partner for building a seamless content platform on digital consumer electronics," added Square Enix President, Yoichi Wada.

"We seek to distribute content for digital consumer electronics as well as game consoles. We believe this collaboration will enable our two companies to provide new and highly accessible forms of entertainment to our customers through an integrated hardware and content usage model."

World's Thinnest LTPS TFT LCD for Notebooks

Toshiba Matsushita Display announced today the world's thinnest 12.1-inch wide-format low-temperature Poly-Si (LTPS) TFT LCD for Mobile Notebook PC Applications.

Poly-Si (LTPS) TFT LCD:


The Japanese joint venture between the 2 biggest Japanese PC manufacturers, presented a 12.1" Poly-Si LCD with LED backlight technology that is only 2.9mm thick, while its weight is only 183g. This type of screen will be used in laptops, and it's currently the thinnest on the market.

TMD is working on the LTPS technology, which combines the advantages of LED backlighting systems with ultra-thin glass substrates in large size LCDs.



The panel achieves a brightness of 300cd/m2 which is 50% higher compared to the company's current product. Its aspect ratio is 16:10 (Wide XGA), which is suitable for watching DVD movies or TV programs.

The new displays are on exhibit at Display 2006 booth #1-02 at Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan from April 19-21, 2006.

Basic specifications:

Display Size: 31cm (12.1 inches)
Max Resolution: 1280?800 (16:10)
Dimensions: 270.5mm x 180.0mm x 4.50mm (H x L x W)
Brightness: 300cd/m2
Weight: 183g

RIM to Launch Blackberry in China

Maker of BlackBerry, Research In Motion (RIM). announced on Wednesday it will be launching its wireless email service in China by the middle of the year with China Mobile cellular carrier.

BlackBerry 8700:

China represents a huge revenue stream for RIM. Besides the fact it is the world's largest telecommunications market, Hong Kong-based China Mobile carrier is the world's number one cellular carrier in terms of subscribers and holds two-thirds of the market in the country.

"Our talks with China Mobile are going very well. We are working very closely with them and a deal is expected very soon, probably by the middle of this year," Asia Pacific Vice President Norm Lo told Reuters in an interview.

Lo also said RIM would launch a BlackBerry device that uses third-generation (3G) mobile technology in the second half of this year, possibly in the July-September quarter.

The Ontario, Canada-based company expects to launch its BlackBerry wireless email service with another 100 telecoms providers globally this year, including over 10 carriers in the Asia Pacific region, Lo said, but refused to give any further details.

RIM already offers the BlackBerry service with over 160 carriers in more than 60 countries worldwide. In Asia only, it has signed agreements with 21 telecoms providers in 11 markets.

Last month, the company agreed to pay U.S.-based patent holding company NTP $612.5 million to settle a four-year legal battle which had threatened to shut down the BlackBerry service in the U.S.

Acer new 20" Laptop

Acer introduced last week the new Aspire 9800, a new notebook series with a 20-inch LCD screen.

The new notebook is equipped with an Acer 20.1" CrystalBrite colour TFT LCD display (WSXGA+ resolution of 1680 x 1050) featuring Acer CrystalBrite technology and is powered by NVIDIA's GeForce Go 7600 graphics card with up to 256MB video memory.

The Aspire 9800 offers digital PC Television through the Integrated analogue and digital TV Tuner and Video and VoIP communication. It is powered by Intel Centrino Mobile Technology Duo platform and features Acer?s Empowering Technology with Acer Arcade entertainment suite.

It aslo features a DVI-D connectivity and includes an HDD of up to 240GB. For the optical drive, users can choose between a slot-loading DVD-Super Multi double-layer drive or an HD-DVD drive. The labtop furthermore sports a 5-in-1 card reader that supports the most common card formats.


Acer's new notebook series integrates 3-Watt speakers and a 4-Watt subwoofer and Dolby Digital Live which allows it to be hooked up via a single digital connection to a Dolby Digital-equipped audio/video receiver or digital speaker system.

The 20" labtop additionally comes with WLAN (with Acer InviLink 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED solution, supporting Acer SignalUp wireless technology), WPAN with built-in Bluetooth 2.0 module, LAN connection with Gigabit Ethernet cards and standard connectivity through the integrated 56K ITU V.92 modem.

Finally, the Aspire 9800 series comes with Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition or Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition preinstalled.

It is reported as having a price of about $2,600.

Shaky hands? Get the new Sony Cybershot Digicam!

Sony is building up its arsenal of anti-blur, digital still cameras to help people who are out on the town win the fight against blur with the introduction of the new 7.2-megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-T30 model.

Sony DSC-T30 front view:

Equipped with double anti-blur protection, you can press the DSC-T30 model’s Super Steady Shot® optical image stabilization and high-sensitivity mode buttons in seconds, and reduce the chance of taking a blurry picture the very first time – especially in low-light conditions.

The Super Steady Shot technology minimizes blur caused by shaky hands, while the new camera’s high light sensitivity (ISO 1000) mode reduces blur resulting from shooting at faster shutter speeds. There’s even added defense with Sony’s Clear RAW™ noise reduction system, which kicks in to counter picture noise associated with high-sensitivity shooting.

Armed with features for optimal shooting and sharing, the new camera with its Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® 3x optical zoom lens combines power, portability and distinctive playback. Its slide show with music function is ideal for viewing on the camera’s three-inch, Clear Photo LCD Plus™ screen.

Sony DSC-T30 back view:

Sony’s ultra-fast Real Imaging Processor™ circuitry increases the camera’s efficiency for quicker start-up, faster shot-to-shot times, higher-quality movie capture, and longer battery life. Its supplied InfoLithium® battery provides plenty of power – up to 420 shots per full charge. That’s nearly double the performance of previous T-series models.

The camera has 58MB of internal memory, just in case you forget your memory card. Its capacity can be expanded up to two gigabytes, however, with an optional Memory Stick Duo™ media card.

The Cyber-shot DSC-T30 camera will be available next month for about $500 at Sony Style retail stores and at authorized dealers nationwide.

Check DPReview for more...

New Google "service"

Google has started offering a collection of software for FREE on its website. It is called Google Pack and its basically a great collection of "essential" software for your computer. You can customize the package before downloading it in case you already have some of the software installed on your computer. The Google Pack service is in BETA, but seems that everything is working ok.



Included in the package are:

Google Earth - 3D Earth browser
Picasa - Photo organizer
Google Desktop - Desktop companion
Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer - Search toolbar
Google Pack Screensaver - Photo screensaver
Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar - Web browser
Ad-Aware SE Personal - Antispyware utility
Norton Antivirus 2005 Special Edition - Antivirus utility
Adobe Reader 7 - PDF reader
Google Talk - Voice and IM application
Google Video Player - Video player
RealPlayer - Media player
GalleryPlayer HD Images - Images
Trillian - Instant messenger

For more info check the official site

The time is...NIXIE!

What’s a Nixie tube? The first step to conquer the world..in retro mad scientist style!

Wikipedia explains:

"A nixie tube is an electronic device for displaying numerals or other information, in the form of a glass tube containing multiple cathodes and a wire mesh anode, filled with neon and often a little mercury and/or argon (a Penning mixture, for lower striking voltage) at a small fraction of atmospheric pressure. Although it resembles a vacuum tube in appearance, its operation does not depend on heating of a cathode to cause it to emit electrons (the thermionic effect). It is therefore called a cold-cathode tube, a form of gas filled tube, a variant of neon lamp."

Sounds scary doesnt it?

Have you ever seen one? NO? Thats why we are here!
Lo and behold!

The nixie clock by Ryan Brooks:

...
Awesome...

The first HD-DVD player in the world is here...

Ladies and gentlemen...let the drums roll...let the curtains fall... and let us present you with the world's 1st HD-DVD Player.

External view of HD-XA1 (not exactly small and compact!)

According to Toshiba, the HD-XA1 is backwards compatible with standard DVDs and allows you to enjoy your existing collection of DVDs. Standard HD-DVDs have a capacity of 30 GB vs the 4.7 GB of current DVDs.

Player with front cover pulled on:

The player is region free, even though it is believed that that might not last long :) so get yours while you can!

Toshiba HD-XA1 remote control:


It's on sale in Japan, and its suggested retail price from Toshiba is around 800 $.
Later this year there will be another model (light version), priced at 500 $, code HD-A1.
For technical specifications check the Toshiba website.

SONY's new 20" monitor..with a twist..

It's a bird!..it's a plane!..NO!..It's a dual role monitor by SONY!

Sony electronics new 20-inch PC/TV display comes with a 16:9 aspect ratio and 1680 x 1050 screen resolution, model code is MFM-HT205 and it follows the prior release of the 17-inch MFM-HT75 and 19-inch MFM-HT95 PC/TV displays. All HT-series LCD PC/TV displays include built-in NTSC television tuners and feature the ability to watch TV or DVDs in full widescreen mode, picture-in-picture or picture-and-picture formats while multitasking with desktop PC applications.

Sony MFM-HT205:

Specs, as seen on the official report:

Response times of six milliseconds;High brightness (470cd/m2);Contrast ratio of up to 1600:1;
Viewing angles (170°/170°);Two 3-watt stereo speakers, a 5-watt subwoofer and SRS Labs' WOW™ 3D audio technology.

The displays are Mac and PC compatible.

According to SONY, the HT205 display will be available in April for about $900.

For more check Sony's website

Optimus! keyboard. The future is here.

Just when we thought that we have seen it all in the keyboard arena, Optimus from www.artlebedev.com enters the game. And let me tell you, this is the keyboard that Optimus Prime would have used! :)


Optimus is a keyboard that features OLED keys, that means that each key is a mini-panel that changes its image according to the current usage of the key (Gaming, Word Editing, Image Editing etc.)


Confused? Take a look:


Block of keys on that is meant for switching between programs or modes:




Quake:



Need more eye candy? Check the official site. According to them, the keyboard will be available this year.