Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment

While the Claro TV fights off the dimness so often associated with watching front-projection in broad daylight, and Planar’s Xscreen claims to work without the gargantuous pricetag, now there’s yet another firm in the mix of miracle-working screens. Germany’s DNP has unveiled the Supernova Flex Screen, which claims to deliver “ten times” the contrast and “double” the brightness compared to standard screens when used in daylight. Available in both fixed and retractable versions, and in widescreen sizes up to 120-inches (100-inches for 4:3 versions), the Supernova is reportedly compatible with all LCD, DLP, and LCoS projectors. It also sports an “ultrafine” .0065-millimeter pitch along with a “high-contrast filter” that allows the projected image to be reflected by the screen while it absorbs incidental light from other sources. While we’ve no idea how much DNP plans to charge for this daylight-friendly device (nor if it actually works as claimed), we shouldn’t have to wait around too much longer to find out.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Digital Cameras

For everyone out there who’s trying to save their pennies for that new PS3, but still wants a good deal, you may want to give this new Sanyo S50 a looksie, given that the €100 ($127) camera brings loads of solid features at a very low cost. What’s packed inside that metal case? Well, a 5 megapixel CCD, 2.5-inch screen, 2x optical zoom and a f/2.8 aperture in wide and f/4.0 in zoom for starters. Beyond that, the software has an “extensive preview mode”, allowing you to create a slideshow — pretty rare for such an inexpensive camera. If that wasn’t enough, Sanyo’s happy to provide a little mirror adjacent to the lens, in case you feel like turning the camera on yourself to capture your own beautiful visage. Sadly, though, you can only get one at a Ringfoto Gruppe dealer in Germany — the S50 will drop exclusively in Deutschland sometime this month.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Digital Cameras

As much as we love shiny new toys, there’s something to be said for the elegance of polished wood. At the Photokina exhibition in Germany, Olympus recently wowed everyone with a Japanese cypress encased camera. Olympus issued a press release with a great number of details about the wood, and included photos of how the wood was carved — but unfortunately neglected to tell us what kind of hardware resides in this hardwood. We’re betting that Olympus is holding off on releasing further info until it can develop a way to convert its pristine images into equally stunning Japanese woodblock prints.

[Via FarEastGizmos]

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Read – Press release
Read – DPR’s hands-on preview

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

[Via networked_performance]

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Filed under: Orange, MVNOs, Misc

Obviously the Netherlands is not a country you want to fire up a cell phone service in and try a “let’s please everyone” approach; with over 40 virtual operators (including mobile giant Orange) battling for business, it’s a tough nut to crack. easyMobile found out the hard way; launched just last year, the company consistently missed sales targets and simply couldn’t attract customers away from other providers. Maybe it was because the easyGroup was too busy focusing on their empire of other startups, or maybe easyMobile just tried to be something they weren’t by mimicking Orange. Either way, a notice on their official website has informed current subscribers that service will be halted on August 1, 2006 and for them to be seeking another carrier. While they’re still striving in Germany and the UK, there’s no doubt the markets are saturated, and we’re fairly certain this won’t be the last MVNO shuttering in 2006.

[Via The Register]

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Filed under: Transportation

Filed under: Robots

In an effort to remind other countries developing fully automated combat forces -- like the US, India, and South Korea -- that "ve Germans are not all smiles and sunshine," the European powerhouse held its first Grand Challenge-like competition this week, where autonomous robots brought in from around the continent showed off their driving, surveillance, and urban warfare skillz. It's actually a bit misleading to call the first European Land Robot Trial (ELROB) -- which was hosted by the German army, or Bundeswehr. in the town of Hammelburg -- a competition, as participants were not eligible for any prizes or supply contracts, and even had to pay their own expenses, all in the hope that the 1,000-or-so venture capitalists and foreign military attaches on hand would take notice of their technology. Both amateur and professional roboticists entered their creations (which curiously, were required to house a small animal) in one of two obstacle courses designed to simulate either combat driving or building infiltration -- tasks which were made even more difficult due to the fact that mission specifics were not revealed prior to the event. Although Germany has yet to even appropriate a portion of its budget to research in this area, military officials are optimistic that robotic support vehicles will be deployed to the armed forces within five years.

[Via Hindustan Times]

Filed under: Robots

Sure, RunBot might not be a true runner yet, since it still keeps one foot on the ground at all times. Also, it's only fastest for its height, managing a swift 3.5 leg-lengths per second, besting the MIT's four times taller Spring Flamingo, which runs at comparably sluggish 1.4 leg-lengths per second. All that being said, RunBot currently holds the world record for fastest bot on two legs. The RunBot's German and Scottish creators attribute its speed to the fairly simple design, which only senses when a leg is on the ground and when a leg swings forward. RunBot merely experiments with whichever leg motions keep it upright and keep it going fastest, and the bot can accelerate up to three times its original speed with its "learnings." So far the RunBot can only walk in circles, since it's attached to a boom in the center of a room, but the developers say they're at work on a freestanding version, which shouldn't be too tough because the boom has little influence on the RunBot's walking. Be sure to check the read link for video of the bot in all of its herky-jerky glory.

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, O2, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

By now we’re all pretty well versed in what we can expect from HTC’s Excalibur in the many incarnations it’s due to begin taking, but it looks like O2 Germany will be among the first to have the honor. Dubbed the Xda Cosmo, this slim if bulbous looking portable doesn’t yet appear to have a date affixed to O2′s intentions for release in Deutschland. It does look like the marketing materials are well underway though, so we hope it shouldn’t be too much longer before you’ll pull this sword from the stone.

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