Hybrid Batteries Last Twice as Long, Charge in Seconds

Some new batteries have been created by a company called ioxus that are capable of running a gadget for twice as long as a regular battery on a single charge. To add to that, the batteries have a charge time of just 90 seconds allowing you to easily charge them minutes before you need to go out somewhere.

If you charge the batteries for 20 seconds you get a partial charge when compared to the full 90 seconds.
It is expected that when launched, these particular batteries could power household gadgets such as kids toys, drills and other items around the house that use smaller types of batteries.

There is a trade-off though as the batteries last around 20,000 cycles which is a lot less than the "millions" of cycles possible with rechargeable batteries. But, with this being a different step in how batteries work, we are confident the company will up the number of cycles over the coming years.

ED Lights serve for an Energy Efficient Planet

We all want to cool our planet, we all wanna be a part of “Global Cooling” and fight “Warming”. Nowadays more products are released which is eco friendly than its previous version. Most of the electronics gadgets now use “Green” components which can be recycled later and serves the purpose without any harm to our environment. One such product is “LED Lamps”. An LED lamp is glorified for its energy conservation compared to its predecessors CFL and Incandescent.   A study by Carnegie  Mellon and Osram gives us a good insight into this and it helps us to defend the controversies.

First point is 98% of energy consumed by LED is emitted out as light and only 2% is used for light production. Next point is lifetime, an LED lamp is observed to have a lifetime of 25,000 hrs, where as a CFL has only 10,000 hrs. An incandescent lamp serves the humans for only 1000 hrs, so it needs 25 incandescent lamps to equate 1 LED lamp. This clarifies LED’s are more energy efficient and we can cut down energy consumption by 25 times (old days @ incandescent times). At present an LED may produce upto 30lumens/watt and research shows that in near future upto 150lumens/watt is possible. A comparison of energy consumption in KWH shows that an incandescent lamp consumes 24 times that of an LED and a CFL consumes 3 times of an LED. So LED proves its efficiency again here and underlines its stand to serve an energy efficient planet. AS of now LED’s are much efficient as CFL’s and we hope LED will overtake this position as LED lighting technology is still on its way to full realisation and a lot of promising research is going on in this area.

Note: This article is written by Mr. Sam Mathew who is an author of Circuits Today

HP Brings New Set Of Gadgets For You

including a revamped MediaSmart Receiver, a slim PC, multimedia notebook, storage, and monitors.

MediaSmart Receiver x280N

Hewlett-Packard continues to emphasize both traditional PC technology along with newer, crossover consumer electronics--all of which center around the explosion of media in the home. The latest innovation: The $300 HP MediaSmart Receiver x280N, which streams music, photos, and video from one (or several) Windows systems to any HDTV, in HP's bid for a piece of the digital media adapter pie. This media streaming box works as a Windows Media Center Extender; it also has an HP Pocket Media Drive bay and two USB ports, so you can also store and access content without streaming from a PC. The unit connects via ethernet and 802.11 a/b/g/n; and has HDMI (up to 1080p), component video, and digital audio outputs.

MediaSmart TVs Get Smarter

HP may not be the first name you think of for TVs, but the company is the first with connected TVs. HP has refreshed its MediaSmart TVs: All models are now 1080p, connect via ethernet and 802.11 a/b/g/n, and have built-in extenders for Microsoft's Windows Media Center (you can access multiple online services via this connectivity, including downloading movies from CinemaNow). The included remote control can handle up to four entertainment devices; the TVs now have three HDMI ports. The 42-inch SL4282N will sell for $1900; and the 47-inch SL4782N will sell for $2400.

Data Saver: New MediaVault

The HP MediaVault line gets a much-needed boost with this user-expandable storage system. The mv2100 and mv5100 series are aimed at homes and small businesses, respectively (the former, a two-bay unit, tops out at 500GB; the latter--a multibay unit referred to as the Media Vault Pro--comes in 1TB and 1.5TB versions). The Linux-based network-attached storage devices pack a Marvell processor for improved performance, and both models borrow features from HP's MediaSmart server (such as securely sharing images via Photo WebShare and easily accessing music via iTunes server).

$1000 PC Packs Blu-ray, Too

Not so long ago, Blu-ray Disc playback was a premium feature on a PC. The HP Pavilion Slimline s3330f PC--the most interesting of HP's three PC announcements here at the Consumer Electronics Show-- comes in at under $1000, and delivers a dual-format Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD drive (which might be useful for those of you with HD DVDs lying around). The space-saving s3330f is notably slim--HP says it's a third of the size of an ordinary PC tower. Even so, this model still manages to squeeze in a Pocket Media Drive bay. The unit also comes with a digital TV tuner, plus an Nvidia GeForce 8500 card with HDMI out.

Amped-Up Mobile Graphics

The HP Pavilion HDX series notebook gains a major upgrade: The option of integrating 512 MB Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTS graphics. This top-of-the-line mobile chipset from Nvidia--announced in late November 2007--should provide significantly better frame rates for gameplay, to the point that previously unplayable games may now be enjoyed in a notebook PC (Alienware has already announced it will use this chipset in notebooks due out this quarter). Another first: The HDx now has a 20.1-inch WUXGA XHD Ultra Brightview display. Plus, this model also now supports both Blu-ray and HD DVD.

Monitors Add HDMI

HP's two new monitors, the 22-inch w2207h and the 24-inch w2408h continue the trend towards high-def by adding HDMI connections (in lieu of DVI; VGA remains). Pictured above, the 24-inch w2408h Vivid Color monitor should boast improved image performance over previous models, according to HP.

WowWee's New Robots

From in-home surveillance robots to flying battle bots, WowWee is showing more than 20 new robots at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas. Here's a sneak peek at the company's 2008 robot lineup.

Rovio, the Home Survellance Robot

The $300 Rovio has a video camera, microphone, and Wi-Fi capabilities on board. The three-wheeled omnidirectional robot can stream video from its camera to remote locations with a broadband-connected Windows PC or smartphone. The robot is WowWee's first foray into remote home surveillance and "telepresence."

Rovio Recharging

Rovio can maneuver on its own; it doesn't have to be supervised continuously by remote control. The robot stores information about the location of furniture and various objects in the home to avoid collisions, and can cruise around on its own when prompted. It will even retreat to its docking station (pictured here) when it needs to recharge its battery. Rovio is slated to hit stores this fall.

FemiSapien: The Female of the Species

WowWee is also targeting some new robots at women and girls. FemiSapien is a female humanoid robot that dances to music it "hears" via its onboard microphone, and can control other robots in WowWee's lineup. The $100 robot reacts to voice commands and even human touch. It is scheduled for release in late summer.

Tri-Bot Tells Jokes

WowWee's popular Robosapien line moves to the next generation with Tri-Bot, a three-wheeled omnidirectional robot, also scheduled for release in the summer. Tri-Bot boasts animated eyebrows to go along with its joke-telling skills. The $100 robot also has a motion-sensitive remote control that allows the user to steer it simply by tilting the remote.

FlyTech BladeStar Soars (Indoors)

The FlyTech BladeStar is a helicopter-like flying robot that can either be controlled via remote or set to autopilot. Its onboard sensors prevent it from colliding with other objects. Its "Dogfight" accessory allows two BladeStar owners to engage in aerial combat. BladeStar, priced at $50, will be available exclusively at Target starting in February.

Mr. Personality -- Your Robotic Buddy

Boasting a color LCD screen for a face, WowWee's Mr. Personality robot is designed for laughs. It tells jokes, plays games, and you can even update or revamp its personality traits by downloading your selection and loading the changes into Mr. Personality with a USB connection. Priced at $250, Mr. Personality is scheduled to be available this summer.

Citizen VIRT - First Bluetooth Wristwatch

Citizen VIRT

The Citizen VIRT Bluetooth watch (W700) communicates with your mobile phone and displays incoming calls. With vibration and light flashing you get notified that a call comes in.

A small organic EL display is used to display name of the caller if the phone has an entry for it.
Another very useful feature of the Bluetooth watch is that it notifies you if you leave your phone behind.

The design of the world’s first commercially available Bluetooth watch is a bit too industrial for my taste. The display is way too small and it is too thick with close to 15mm.

The Citizen VIRT is charged with a contact-less charging station similar to the ones the SPOT watches are using. The battery life of the Citizen Bluetooth watch is about 5 days.
Measurements of the watch are 40.0mmx42.4mmx14.6mm and the weight is 55g.
Citizen will offer a black and a silver model starting July 7th. Citizen talks about a limited release of 5,000 pieces and the price is still open.

Iqua 603 SUN - Bluetooth headset

You will not have to charge your Bluetooth headset again!! Well, the Iqua 603 SUN is a earbud-style headset, complete with a world first - a solar panel to keep it juiced up, as long as the sun's shining that is. It'll stay working for 200 hours without the sun or will let you talk for up to nine hours. The headset comes with a one button control call function such as:

• answering
• ending
• redialing a call
• the voice dialing function which switches a call between the phone and the headset.

The Gateway XHD3000

With a stunning ultra-high-resolution 1600P wide screen image, the 30-inch Extreme HD Display has an integrated Silicon Optix Realta® HQV® video processor that takes video to an entirely new level of detail and clarity. The display also provides world-class convenience and usability as it can be easily connected to virtually any video device via its range of inputs including HDMI, dual-link and single-link DVI-D, VGA, component, s-video and composite interfaces, with1600P upsampling of all video sources.

The video processing chip set powers the Gateway XHD3000 with amazing 1600p HD video for optimal clarity, smoothness and accuracy with 16.7 million colors. The video processor performs one trillion operations per second for enhanced image quality. Support for up to six simultaneous video inputs, such as desktop and notebook computers, Xbox 360™, Sony PlayStation® 3, Nintendo® Wii™, Blu-Ray®, TiVo®, DirecTV®, HD-DVD and more.

Some other features:

• Advanced 3D sound
• 8 high-performance speakers
• Remote IR control capability
• 2 headphone outputs

Sony's Cybershot T2

Memory cards have always been a pain. Sony is now out with its new Cybershot T2 peeper boasts a huge 4GB internal memory.

You needn’t delete your pics from the camera after every trip you go for like you normally do cause of the this camera can hold plenty of photos. Here are some of the features of the camera:

• 2.7-inch touchscreen
• 8.1 megapixels
• Anti-blur tech
• An HD output

The camera comes in black, blue, green, pink and white.

Lg's home technology

Convert your house into a whole new dream house by using the LG's home technology which is out with its HomNet system. It helps in packing sensors into every room and internet connections into every device. Here are a few amazing things the HomNet can do for you:

• close the curtains
• control your heating
• lights
• air conditioning
• Unlock the front door

All this can be done using touch-screens around the house, a web browser on any PC or Mac, or your mobile phone