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Fujifilm has unveiled its 10 Megapixel FinePix Z200fd. Only 19.8mm thick, the cam has a 5x Fujinon optical zoom lens, 52MB internal memory plus xD-Picture card, SD and SDHC compatibility, and a 2.7-inch high resolution screen. It also has dual image stabilization, face detection technology, VGA movie capture, PictBridge for direct printing, and the new mode of Folder Select for categorization. No price has yet to be announced, but availability is expected this fall.
Read More 
| Fujifilm
This week, the Japanese brewing company Sapporo Holdings announced that it was creating a new “space beer.” They will be using the third generation of barley grain that had been stored on the ISS in 2006 for five months. Okayama University biologist Manabu Sugimoto, who teamed with Sapporo, claims that humans may have to grow their own food on extended space missions. While there is enough grain to make about 100 bottles, there are no plans to market it. We expect to see it on eBay by its due date in November.
Read More | Yahoo News
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Panasonic has certainly gone out of its way to promote their new Evolta (Evolution + Voltage) AA battery cell. They sent a 5 oz. robot climbing up a rope suspended from the Grand Canyon for almost 7 hours on a pair of them and earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as “the longest-lasting AA alkaline battery cell.” If the 6.7-inch blue bot, also named Evolta, looks familiar, it was designed by robotics scientist Tomotaka Takahashi. Although the batteries are about 15% higher than the competition at $5.40 for four, they are already doing so well in Japan that Panasonic plans to send them overseas later this year.
Read More | Post-Bulletin
Latest Gear Live Videos
Segatoys’ new Private Ocean features their popular Healing Motion therapy as well as three other modes. The gadget plays soothing music while more than 100 underwater creatures swim around. It also displays the time fish style and you can hook up your MP3 player, adjust the light that varies between 4 different colors, and boogie to such tunes as “Under the Sea,” ala the Little Mermaid and Sebastian the crab. At a size of 190 x 118 × 91mm, run the Private Ocean by its AC adapter and hook up earphones for some private time through its 3.5mm stereo mini-jack. So far only available in Japan, the MSRP is $199.99.
Read More | AudioCubes
Drivemocion Rear Window LED Sign
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Transportation, Videos,
Next time someone cuts you off on the highway, show them how you really feel with Drivemocion. The LED sign uses emoticons and animated messages to let others know what you are thinking. Stick it on your rear window with a suction cup and control it by remote up front. Powered by 4 AA batteries, the company claims they will last up to 4 months, unless you have a lot of road rage. There are 6 different types available for £24.99 to 29.99 (~$60.00, ) including one that uses words and another that uses a certain digit as the ultimate display of anger.
Read More | Drivemocion
Thanko Solar MP4 Player
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Movies, Music, Portable Audio / Video, USB,
Thanko’s MP4 player comes with a green bonus. A detachable solar panel will keep the entertainment coming, at least as long as the sun shines. One hour of charge will give you 15 minutes of video. In case of a cloudy day, use its USB connection to charge for about 5 hours. The 4GB player has a 220 × 176 pixels LCD screen, SD card support, built-in FM radio, mono speaker, voice recording, and a couple of games. Thanko’s offering carries a price of ¥9,980 ($96.00.)
Read More | Far East Gizmos
Traxdata MultiMediaDrive
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies, Music, Storage,
Traxdata has unveiled their new MultiMediaDrive for instant playback of movies, songs, or images. It also functions as an external hard drive. Compatible with most televisions, it can transfer computer files through its USB 2.0. Plug into any audio and video interface to get HD without missing out on quality. The device comes with its own remote and cables, and supports MPEG-1, MPEG-2, DivX, Xvid, MP3, WAV and JPEG, as well as both FAT32 and NTFS file systems. Contact Traxdata for pricing.
Read More | New Launches
Unboxing Live 037: TokyoFlash Pimpin Ain’t Easy watch
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Clothing, Features, Videocasts,
If there’s one thing we like about Japan, it’s how their wicked cool technology meshes with their interesting pop culture preferences. We think the Pimpin Ain’t Easy watch from TokyoFlash fits into that category. In fact, just about every TokyoFlash watch meets that criteria. They go out of their way to come up with some of the most interesting ways of telling time that we’ve seen. In this episode, we give you the rundown on the Pimpin Ain’t Easy watch. It features 72 LED lights, which make it nice and bright. The time is read by reading the hours on the left hand side, and the minutes on the right. It takes a little getting used to, but it’s definitely an attention-grabber.
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We would love to do more animation if we could get the hang of Adobe or afford the software. We found a beta site recently, Animasher, that can make even the most incompetent into an instant cartoonist. You drag and drop objects around the frame, add background, text, music, special effects, and/or speech. Adjust them individually for time and placement, save, and voila! You got
animation. We wonder if ATHF started this way.
Read More | Animasher
The Bent Festival in New York City recently celebrated its fifth annual event and was attended by both newbies and experienced benders. For those who have never heard of them, benders take items such as 80’s Casio Keyboards and TI Speak & Spells and turn them into musical instruments.
“Circuit bending is a really great entry point for people into electronics,” says Mike Rosenthal, a graduate student in NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. We think it is a dandy way of recycling, although we must admit we played with our Speak & Spell as much as our kids did, and don’t know if we could watch the transformation.
Read More | Scientific American
