Cool iPhone Keyboard Dock
This new gadget is a great addition to the office if you have an iPhone, allowing you to dock your iPhone into the full sized keyboard and use the Smartphone as an input device alongside the traditional keyboard. It’s called the CompuExpert Wow-Keys full sized keyboard and it will work on both Macs and PCs. In addition you can also get an app for the iPhone allowing you to control your computer with a variety of hotkeys.
Though not revolutionary I think this is a welcome addition that will add convenience for many users, especially for the office oriented techie. What’s more the Wow-Keys also act as a normal dock, allowing you to charge your phone and to connect it to iTunes at the same time. You can even use the keyboard to control the iPhone if you get tired of tapping away at a touch screen all day, I know I sometimes do! It is unfortunate however that the keyboard can’t connect to a computer wirelessly. The product will ship on the 24 May and it costs just under $100.
[Pictures via Mashable]
iPad 2 3D Display
As we recently reported, the new iPad 2 has been mounted with a front facing camera. Apart from allowing individuals to video chat with ease, Apple also gave developers access to the camera in the hope that they create new and exciting apps and games.
With such access a team of researchers at the Grenoble Informatics Laboratory in France have recently developed a 3-D style interface for the iPad 2. The researchers use the camera to track the user’s gaze, allowing the iPad to change the image on the tablet’s display to shift its perspective. They call this a “spatially-aware mobile display.”
Ultimate Mobile Office
As the global business world is becoming increasingly dependent on electronics and internet, business travelling can often be difficult when trying to run a fully mobile office in remote places. This is one of the difficulties this cool concept mobile office aims to solve. This custom mobile power station was designed and built by DIY-er Vin Marshall, who assembled it from a few photovoltaic cells, a Sun Xtender PVX-560T battery, and several other easy to access off-the-shelf parts.
According to the creators, the setup will give your laptop about five additional hours of battery life and full internet access, allowing you to be truly mobile with your office. The idea seems great, not least because it solves a real need and is relatively cheap and easy to build. That said, aesthetically I think the concept needs a bit more work!
New spin on the mobile phone – how simple is too simple?
This phone was designed by the Dutch creative agency John Doe in Amsterdam. It is therefore aptly named John’s Phone, and it is touted as the world’s simplest phone. There are no frills, the only feature available is calling, no text, no camera and no choice of ringtones! The idea behind it is that the use of the phone would be simple and intuitive, requiring no explanation whatsoever.
The phone is available in 5 different colours, and it comes unlocked thereby allowing any sim-card to be accepted. The phone is priced at €79.99, and has a standby battery life of over 3 weeks.
The phone seems to be targeted at senior citizens, children and people who just can’t handle the technology overload and complexity of many phones today. I for one would never be able to use such a phone, what with my iPhone 4 permanently glued to my palm. Although, I’m interested to know whether other people would actually find such a phone useful, would you?
Biosphere Home Farming Concept by Phillips
This farming system is called the Biosphere Home Farming Concept. It was designed by the people at Philips, who call the concept a completely interdependent system. This means that there is no input from an external source, but rather that each specific section relies on another part for its continued operation. The concept has the potential to provide households with not only the food they require to eat, but also provide fresh hydrogen, heat and gas. These can be used for other useful purposes, everything from lighting your home to nourishing your plants.
It must be said that this is a stunning concept, one which not only looks great but also fulfils a very tangible problem society is faced with – namely the lack of self-sufficiency. Sure, this will hardly make you totally self sufficient, but it could go some way towards the right direction. Let’s hope that green ideas like this start to be made into reality, and with heavy hitters such as Phillips behind them, this may well be sooner rather than later.
Skype Video Calling for iPhone
Skype has just announced the addition of video calling for the iPhone Skype app. The app has been updated and is a very popular free app in the Apple App Store, working on the the iPhone, iPad and iPod devices which connect over WiFi or 3G connections. The front and rear camera on the iPhone 4 makes this a great tool for conducting business calls on your iPhone.
Is it better than Apple’s FaceTime? Facetime requires a WiFi connection, but Skype supports Skype to Skype video calls over both WiFi and 3G, and works equally well over both connections. FaceTime also requires that both parties be on an iPhone, but Skype only needs a Skype account, allowing you to connect with desktop users along with your iPhone friends. What are your views on the new Skype app?
CES 2011 – Las Vegas
With around 2,500 companies exhibiting and other 120,000 attendees, it’s no surprise that CES is the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow. This year it will be held in Las Vegas between the 6-9 of January. Many companies take CES as an opportunity to reveal and announce new and innovative products they hope to bring to the markets in future, and so we can expect some titillating announcements made very soon. We will keep you updated of the best and worst of CES 2011 as it unfolds, but until then here is a video from Elliptic Labs which has developed a very cool new way of interacting with technology. They are due to demo this product at CES 2011, and essentially it is a touchless, gesture-based interface for tablets and mobile devices. It works by using what the company calls Ultrasonic Touchless Input, graphing hand movements using echolocation.
Office Rail Design Concept
Invensys Rail is a company based in the United Kingdom which produces high-tech railway control and communication solutions. They recently briefed 3Sphere, one of the UK’s leading office design firms, to do some designing for their new offices. 3Sphere is known for working on the locations of the likes of Guardian News, Santander and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. They developed numerous concepts for Invensys to consider, chief among which was the speculative feasibility project seen below. The idea was to incorporate a diesel train simulator and railway turntable in the middle of the office! As you can see this is a very futuristic office design which shows creativity and the ability to think outside the box, all characteristics which Invensys as a business looks to incorporate. The project was never implemented; one can only hope that one day Invensys will see it through to completion.
The Media:Scape by Steelcase
The media:scape was developed to improve the sharing of ideas within a group of people working collaboratively, allowing them to access and share information quickly and efficiently. As most collaborative work spaces support a leader-led presentation of information, Steelcase attempts to break these barriers down and make co-working more seamless and natural. This is done by merging furniture and technology, requiring one only to connect a laptop to the integrated touch pad. From then on you can display information on any of the displays set up with the simple touch of a button.
media:scape also has the capacity to include HD videoconferencing, further boosting collaboration ‘by transforming meeting rooms, connecting distributed teams, and sharing information seamlessly in dynamic new ways’.
To see how it works in action, check out this short video:
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