Time Light projection clock

The necessity to have a device that can wake you up is obvious, yet at present nobody wants to possess a simple traditional alarm clock. At least people want it to be original and perform more than a single function. That's probably the reason why Oregon Company's new gadget is so multifunctional and unusual.

The given concept was named Scientific Time Light Projection Clock. In addition to its main function, it adds a twist of colour to weather forecasting. Thus, on a sunny day the corresponding icon glows in bright red. On a rainy day, the icon is a gloomy purple. Moreover this device has a wireless sensor that indicates both the inside and outside temperatures once you place it outdoors. The crescendo alarm wakes you up gradually, and projects its data onto your ceiling, automatically illuminating when the lights go out. As far as the main features of the gadget are concerned they are the followings:

• forecasts the weather 12 to 24 hours in advance using colour-changing graphical icons: sunny – red/orange, partly cloudy – pink, cloudy – turquoise, rainy – purple, snowy - green
  
• displays and stores daily high/low memory for indoor and outdoor temperature measurements
  
• indoor temperature range: 23°F to 122°F (–5°C to 50°C)
  
• outdoor temperature range: -22°F to 140°F (–30°C to 60°C)
  
• projection feature displays Atomic time, outdoor temperature and alarm status
  
• touch key technology
  
• projection automatically turns on depending on room brightness
  
• 180° projection rotation
  
• automatically adjusts for Daylight Saving Time
  
• features crescendo alarm with 8-minute snooze
  
• features 12/24-hour format clock with calendar in 5 languages - English, French, German, Italian or Spanish
  
• LED backlight for easy viewing in lowlight conditions
  
• included sensor wirelessly transmits weather data from up to 100 feet (30 meters) away
  
• batteries included: three AAA (main unit) and one AA (sensor)
  
• dimensions : 4.78L × 4.57H × 2.29D inches

Sony unveils BRAVIA W4000-Series LCD HDTVs

Sony's unloaded a nice foursome today with its all new (but eerily familiar) W4000-Series lineup. Available in 32-, 40-, 46- and 52-inch sizes, the newest members of the BRAVIA family all feature a 1080p resolution, Picture Frame Mode, BRAVIA Engine 2, BRAVIA Sync, XMB, 24p True Cinema, USB Photo Viewer, 178-degree viewing angles, a built-in DVB-T tuner, VGA port and a trio of HDMI connectors for good measure. The 32-incher gets stripped down a bit with the omission of Live Color Creation, a 10-bit panel, PhotoTV HD, and x.v.Color -- all of which are included on the larger models. Unfortunately, Sony's keeping quiet with regard to pricing / availability, but we'd certainly keep an eye out for any strange new shelf inhabitants over in Europe.

Motorola's Z9 with GPS

AT&T is now offering Motorola's MOTO Z9. $150 (after $50 on-line discount and 2-yr contract) nabs the new slider with GPS for AT&T's rebranded TeleNav service -- now called AT&T Navigator. It's also stuffed with microSD expansion, stereo Bluetooth, and quad-band GSM with WCDMA 850/1900 supporting 3.6Mbps HSDPA data. Surprisingly, the 2 megapixel camera we saw in the early prototype last year has been whittled back to 1.3 megapixels. Come on Moto, what's 0.7 megapixels between friends?

Nokia Morph

The future of mobile phones is this: there won’t be phones as we know it. Looking at the “future” as suggested by Nokia, the concept of the Morph goes way beyond mobile phone technology. Essentially speaking, a “phone” by definition today implies more than just making calls - there is a camera function, MP3 playback and web surfing. Pretty much, by design - a computer.

The Morph is the closest thing to a portable environmental suit: more than calls, it becomes a repository for otherwise useless information like pollution levels, smell analyzers and other such things that require the use of nanotechnology. it can help us locate places and people, be worn as a fashion accessory, and be folded up into something more portable.

The funny thing is that when I re-read what I just wrote, I’m basically describing phones as they already exist today (save for the smell analyzers and pollution level thingees). Cliche as it may sound, the future is not too far away, really.

Nokia N96

Mere mortals will need to wait until the third quarter of the year -- if not longer, depend on their region and tolerance for some probable price gouging in the early going -- to get their hands on the mighty Nokia N96. On the other hand, Mobile-review apparently knows the right hands to shake and eyes to wink to get hold of a prototype unit extraordinarily early, and they're taking full advantage of the opportunity. A few hours of your time devoted to the novella of a review will net you a deep understanding and appreciation for the N96's strengths and follies, but in a nutshell, the site seems to come away with a pretty ambivalent opinion of a device that should be knocking everyone's socks off -- especially for a sticker price that'll hover in the $800 arena. Problems included a penchant for picking up dirt and fingerprints (the price you pay for a beautiful glossy face, we suppose), a cramped nav key layout with the tricky touch-sensitive Navi Wheel front and center, audio performance that wasn't bad but was expected to be far better in light of the dedicated DSP, and a "shovel"-like feel in the hand, a symptom of the phone's generous dimensions. Everyone owes the production version of the N96 a chance to show its true form when it's released later this year -- and hey, at least Nokia's got a checklist of things that need improvement in the prototype now -- so we're keeping our chins up that this'll still make the N95 8GB a proud daddy when it comes time to hand over the crown to the Nseries kingdom.