Its Electronica

If you want to listen to music but still be able to hear your surroundings then this is a cool solution, the Vibe Body Sound Headphones, listen to music through your bones.

The Vibe Body Sound headphones clip on to your outer ear and conduct vibrations through your skin and cartilage. Those vibrations rumble through your skull directly to your inner ear where you hear them clear as a bell. All the while, your ear canal remains uncovered, allowing the sounds from the environment access as well. Carry on conversations and never skip a beat.

They have 3 effective volume (vibration) levels, low, medium, and tectonic! Which sounds somewhat skull rattling.You can buy the Vibe cunduction headphones from Think Geek for $99.99.

Liquidus
Liquidus provides low-cost commercial advertising video production, distribution and placement to local businesses, on digital cable video on demand (VOD), online, standard TV, eTV/IPTV and eventually mobile devices, via an easy to use web interface business owners can customize the advertising video.

TubeMogul
Monetization is the greatest challenge that web video creators are facing today. Tubemogul helps video producers upload their content on multiple video websites from a single web page. In addition, it provides a set of analytics tools to track when, where, who and how often the video was watched. Users can monitor accurately how popular their videos are and share the data with their colleagues.

Visible Measures
Visble Measures tracks users behavior with online video, their tools are capable of monitoring the audience of a video clip second by second. For the demo, the CEO showed us how an advertising was ineffective as the majority of the audience stopped watching before the product was shown. Other functions include a location based audience tracking tool. Read more in my previous article

It is reported that Wireless Mobile Group (WMG) will integrate Slaspower’s wireless charging technology in the batteries of its smartphones. We can only hope that other vendors will adopt this or some thing similar that would make wireless charging more popular. Right now, it is unfortunately a small niche.

If you haven’t heard of SlashPower before, their wireless charging works by magnetic induction. It requires a module or preferably a complete integration in the device itself.

Though it would be strange for many of us to have our mobile phone talk to us, for those with disabilities, such as the visually impaired or those who are dyslexic, it would be a blessing. A company called K-NFB Reading Technology has created a new technology that allows for a Nokia N82 mobile phone to become the smallest text-to-speech reading device in history. The technology was developed in partnership with the National Federation of the Blind and Kurzweil Technologies.

The Nokia N82’s high resolution camera makes it the perfect choice to support the new technology. That’s because the technology works by having the user snap a picture of something he or she would like read. The software built into the phone then uses character-recognition to read the text back to the user. If a user is able to see the mobile phone’s screen, then the user also has the option to enlarge, read, track, and highlight the text.

What a fantastic use of technology! Best of all, the technology has been put into something many of us carry with us every day; a mobile phone. So, there is no special gadget someone who has a disability would have to buy or carry. He or she can simply pull out a mobile phone to make an area of life a little easier.

Read more from the K-NFB Reading Technology press release (pdf).

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Posted Jan 30th 2008 9:58AM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Desktops

eMachines, long known for dropping mediocre, middle of the road, inoffensive desktops, has once again busted out of the gate with two new defiantly tame PCs that will make you say “Hello.” The latest entries — confusingly named the T5246 and T3642 — share similar guts, including NVIDIA GeForce 6100 GPUs, DVD DVD±R / RW SuperMulti drives, and 6-channel 5.1 audio. The differences are more apparent where it counts, with the T5246 utilizing a 2.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ dual core CPU, 2GB of RAM, and a 400GB hard drive, while the T3642 uses a 2.6GHz Athlon 64 4000+ CPU, carries 1GB of RAM, and downsizes the hard drive to 250GB. Both systems are available now, with the T5246 clocking in at $429.99, and the T3642 listed at $349.99.

Sonic Sound Sizzlers Noise-Magnets

Just take this simple pair of oblong (football-shaped) ellipsoid magnets, separate them with your thumb, toss them in the air and they come enthusiastically together in a a mid-air collision and emit a variety of mysterious noises while continually striving to stay in perfect balance with each other.Besides being a fun toy, desk toy, or stress reliever others have found them to be useful for magnetic therapy (pain & inflammation reduction, healing enhancement, increased blood conductivity & circulation, lumbago, rheumatism, stiff joints, grounding, divination.) The magnetic field of these hematite magnets is so strong that when you place one magnet in your palm and the other on the back of your hand, they hold their position. This makes them great for therapeutically use.You will receive 4 in total 2 x Packs Also great for science experiments or just as magnetic oddities.Color: Deep charcoal / black color with an ultra smooth finish. Material: Highly polished hematite magnet material Approx. size: 5/8″ Dia. x 1 3/4″ long

Technorati Tags: Tech Toys

The traditionally white Wiimote can now be accompanied by colored brethren, thanks to the efforts of Snakebyte who decided there are more than enough white Wiimotes in the market. Looking pretty identical to the real thing, you get a dose of different colors with a slightly more stylized button design. Initial models that roll out will come in black or bright purple, although I would like to see green, red and yellow join the fray. How about a retro NES color edition? Pokemon and Animal Crossing editions? These will retail for approximately $59 a pop when they’re released early next month, which is pretty steep since you can already get a game with that kinda dough.

In a novel twist in trying to get new employment, one online startup is offering potential candidates cash for attending interviews.

Rather than going to an agency or submitting your resume to an online site, NotchUp.com would like you to use its service instead. You still submit your details, qualifications, and previous experience, but you also get to set a price for interview. Any prospective employers can then view your details and then, if interested, must pay the amount you have specified to gain an interview.

If the interview goes ahead, then NotchUp.com will pay the fee into your PayPal account minus a transaction charge of between 15-20%. The site is not second rate in its prospective employers either, with Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook all taking an interest. As for candidates, over 10,500 have now signed up as of last week, paving the way for some serious interview cash changing hands.

NotchUp.com is run by Jim Abrams and Rob Ellis who say that the site is aimed at people who are already happily employed but want to be passive in searching for a new job. If you are wondering what a good price to set for interview is, the company recommends you choose somewhere between US$200-$500 depending on your experience.

Read more at the Associated Press article.

Matthew’s Opinion

This does sound like a very good idea. I have used agencies in the past and have ended up attending a few interviews where I was clearly either not interested in the position they were offering or had totally the wrong skills.

Unfortunately with agencies, they are as interested in earning the money from placing you as they are in finding you the job you want. Employers also get annoyed with them, due to the price they charge (typically 10-30% of your salary) and the poorly chosen candidates they often send for interviews.

At least with this service, it is the employers in control. The company only sees candidates it believes will fit the job, and the candidate is better off, because even if he or she doesn’t get the position, then they have a few hundred dollars for the time.

Even if you don’t intend to sign up for the service, it’s worth a visit to calculate your interview price. Mine came back at $250.

[PMA 2008] Mustek will be rolling out its PF-A950PS digital photo frame at the PMA 2008, where it incorporates NXT flat-panel speaker technology into a 9.5″ digital photo frame for added entertainment value. Just make sure the soundtrack you choose while playing back a slideshow is not too annoying for your guests. According to Mustek, this premium audio solution brings both sound and vision together in a single integrated entertainment device, making it stand out from the crowded digital photo frame market. The NXT speakers themselves are concealed within the display, making it virtually invisible. Other features include :-

• 16:9 aspect ratio
• 800 x 480 resolution
• Compatible with SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro, xD and CF memory cards
• Supports MP3, JPEG, AVI, MPEG and XviD formats
• 128MB internal memory
• USB 2.0 port

I guess it goes without saying that with a flat panel display in your living room, you would do well to accompany it with a flat, wall-mounted speaker as well to complete the look. Paradigm’s Esprit Hybrid on-wall speakers adds that touch of class to your home, featuring multiple placement options without sacrificing sonic fineness. The speakers can be mounted on the GS-40 stand that allows it to automatically adjust sound for correct free-air frequency response to maintain superior performance - I think only audiophiles will appreciate this feature as I am not the type who measures just exactly how far my speakers should stay apart from each other. Well, I guess for the $1,099, you get some literally thumping performance with this.