technology

Looking for a little (or a lotta - depending upon your neighborhood or level of paranoia) extra security.  You know, something that’ll help you sleep better at night?  These infrared cameras are as perfect for the job as Tiger Woods is for his.

The Four Wireless Infrared Day/Night Color Cameras and Receiver transmit a great color picture in normal light conditions, but at low or no light conditions, they automatically become infrared cameras.

Yet unlike many other infrared cameras, these cameras are completely wireless! This makes them not just good general cameras, but also perfect for use as a day-time or night-time baby monitor.

Click through the link above to learn more. The list of features goes on for a country mile.

This 19″ Dell 1901FP DVI/VGA LCD Monitor (Silver/Black is “easy on the eyes” in more ways than one. It actually makes computing a better experience for the eyes.

Features such as a 0.294 mm dot pitch, 1280 x 1024 maximum resolution, and four USB ports makes this a highly desirable monitor. Click the link below to learn more. Monitors don’t come any sweeter.

19″ Dell 1901FP DVI/VGA LCD Monitor (Silver/Black)

The ideal companion to ride shotgun!  The Navtour NT-147 3.5” LCD Color Touch Screen Portable GPS  is a compact, portable, color GPS navigation system that features a stereo MP3 music player, picture viewer, and voice recorder making it the perfect sidekick for your next trip across town OR out of town.  It brings everything but Starbucks Coffee.

From the Website:
The Navtour NT-147 Portable GPS Navigation System  features a built-in, precision 12-channel GPS receiver with a unique swivel antenna for enhanced reception, easy to use menus that makes navigation a snap and turn-by-turn audio and visual cues with voice prompting! It also includes a 1 GB SD card preloaded with detailed maps of the United States!The NT-147 sports a large 3.5-inch high resolution color TFT touch screen display for optimal viewing and features a stereo MP3 audio player and a full-featured picture viewer, allowing you to listen to music and display JPEG photos stored on your SD card!The built in microphone lets you record memos and reminders while on the road while its built-in alarm clock notifies you of important events! With its amazing features, this Navtour NT-147 Portable GPS Navigation System is the ideal navigation device for you! Order now!

I haven’t totally made up my mind yet about this one. It’s the Portable Rotary Phone from SparkFun Electronics. It’s a cellphone…I promise…come on, I wouldn’t lie to you.

It’d make a pretty cool conversation piece, I guess, and an utterly original Christmas gift for someone worth the $500 - but, ummm, can you say clunky?

The Portable Rotary Phone supports tri-band GSM, has a SIM card slot and boasts a rechargeable battery. It would be good for a few laughs and, if you’re into getting lots of attention, I can pretty much guarantee this little guy will get it for you.

See SparkFun Electronics for more info.

According to company spokesman Noriaki Tobita, a prototype Wellness mobile phone from Japan’s NTT DoCoMo Inc. gives people a hassle-free way of keeping track of their health. It can take your pulse, check your body fat, time your jogs, assess your stress levels, tell you if you have bad breath, and even give you a pep talk. (After being told to exercise, that I’m stressed, and that I have bad breath, I’m going to need more than a pep talk, but thanks anyway.)

Kidding aside, this sounds sweet. The phone was unveiled this week at the CEATEC electronics show outside Tokyo. It has an inbuilt motion sensor that detects body movement, so it can calculate how many calories you’re burning.

The sensor can tell whether you’re walking, running, climbing stairs, or resting, and counts the calories accordingly to tally daily totals, Tobita said.

“It’s with you wherever you go, like a portable personal trainer,” he said.

From the AP (HIROKO TABUCHI, Japan):

Like Nike Inc.’s +Nike technology, the handset also keeps track of jogs, letting users set targets and keeping track of time, distance, and calories burnt — all while listening to music through headphones.

Hold the phone with outstretched arms, and it turns into a mini body fat calculator. A sensor at the top of the phone takes your pulse from your fingertip.

Worried about bad breath? Use the phone’s breathalyzer. After Tobita blew on a tiny hole on the side of the handset for about three seconds, the screen flashed, “Not too bad.”

The Wellness phone, developed by NTT DoCoMo and Mitsubishi Electric Corp., also asks questions to assesses stress levels and offers advice.

When the busy spokesman answered “Yes” to a series of questions — including “Do you feel lethargic?” and “Do you go to bed after midnight?” — a message appeared on the screen warning he was under a lot of stress.

“Don’t worry, tomorrow’s a fresh new day,” the phone then flashed. “Keep your chin up!”

NTT DoCoMo is still testing some of the phone’s other technology, including a function to keep track of meals and calculate calorific intake, as well as a networking capacity to let users share data, Tobita said.

Japan has some of the world’s most advanced cell phones, enabling users to surf the Web, check in at airports and play motion games.

DoCoMo has not set a release date or price for the Wellness phone. The Tokyo-based company’s phones are not sold overseas.

All Handhelds

Okay, the title may be a little harsh - after all, they aren’t that ugly (especially the Furby). They just aren’t quite as handsome as some of the other tech-licious products. There. Now that I’ve spared their feelings, somewhat….

The monstrosity above (and the velvet gloves come off) is the Microsoft Zune Player from 2006. Touted as the “iPod Killer,” the Zune Player featured great sound and an integrated music store/manager. It didn’t have iPod’s sex appeal and it also never had a shot.

For the top 10 Ugliest Tech Products in History, click the link. Don’t snicker at the Furby though, he’s sensitive.

One of my favorite things to blog about is great web sites. As a web publisher, I spend a great deal of time online. A great, great, great deal…. Oh, let’s be honest, sometimes I walk out the back door of my home and am overwhelmed by life’s graphics - all the non-pixelating blues and greens. Pretty. And eveything’s so big - like the biggest monitor on the planet. It’s a lot to process, so I hustle back to my computer.

From this vantage point, I love a great web site. It’s, I assume, like finding a new neighborhood to ride your bike through or finding a new mall to hang out in.

I recently came across just such a site: Test Freaks.com. This is an amazingly well done web site with a usefulness factor that’s through the proverbial roof. Test Freaks tests a variety of products and provides the following for each:

• The Test Freak Rank - on a scale of 1-10. For example, the Nikon D300 Digital Camera earned an 8.
• Expert Reviews - the Nikon D300 Digital Camera, for example, has 23 expert reviews available on the site. Each product has a variety of reviews done by experts for you to sort through. These experts are people from the media or connected, in some way, to the product being reviewed. Basically, people who have done their homework so you can use their cheat sheets!
• User Reviews - the Nikon D300 Digital Camera has an impressive 29 user reviews. Again, these are people who have first hand experience with the product in question. Invaluable!
• Forum Threads - This one really amazed me. Test Freaks has a forum where users post their experiences with the countless products that are up for review. The product’s individual page links, not only to the different reviews, but to the forum threads, as well.
• Pictures from all Angles - Each product has had a photography session, of course, and the outtakes are all posted for your viewing pleasure.
• Manufacturer’s Description
• Best Prices
• Video Reviews!
• And a lot more in the works…

People have put a great deal of work (and continue to put a great deal of work) into this web site and it shows. Head over Heels to Test Freaks.com right now and have a look around. Find a product you’re interested in buying and search it out.

Then, bookmark the site so you can return to it again and again.