There’s nothing fun about wearing a medical device on your person 24/7, so Belgian nanotech specialist IMEC is trying to minimize the discomfort of those folks with heart conditions who require constant monitoring. Still several years away from a commercial release, the company’s flexible, wireless electrocardiogram patch — also capable of serving as a dedicated heart rate monitor — sends ECG or EMG (muscular) data in a continuous stream to either a PC or data logger for later downloading. The 175mAh battery is said to last an entire day in regular mode or several days when collecting only heartbeat data, a boon to the active lifestyle crowd for which this product is intended.
If you have been eagerly anticipating the release of the LG VX10000 “Voyager” from Verizon, you will be happy to know that a full spec sheet has leaked onto the web. A recent hands on revealed some interesting details like an external touch screen, QWERTY keyboard, and an HTML browser —but the spec sheet elaborates with features like: internal and external displays with 400 x 240 resolution, 240 minutes of talk time and 480 hours of standby, QVGA video resolution, and more. There is even a list of available accessories. The phone launches November 21 for $299 after $50 rebate with 2-year contract. For the full details on the Voyager specs, hit the following PDF link. [Spec Sheet PDF via Phone News]
Verizon Wireless has new INpulse plans that offer pay-as-you-go options to suit virtually any lifestyle. Rates start from as low as $0.02/minute for voice calls and text messages. These plans are known as INpulse Core, INpulse Plus and INpulse Power. No monthly fee is required, but customers are charged based on a daily access fee on days of use only. These new plans are available from November 1 onwards. This won’t be a gimped service, as customers can still access all 2.1 million songs in the V CAST Music library, purchase ringtones, ringback tones, Mobile Web 2.0, games and other applications via remaining funds in their INpulse accounts. For more detail of each individual plan, read on after the jump.
The iPod Touch form factor has just “benefitted” from yet another cloning effort, and this time we have a nameless device up for your perusal. This touchscreen-based PMP comes with a 2.8″ display, MP4 video support and MP3, WMA and WAV audio playback, an integrated FM tuner, dual headphone plugs, a miniSD memory card slot, an e-book reader, USB connectivity and a (presumably) 8-bit game emulator to boot. It relies on the Wolfson WM8750 sound chip to decode your audio, and thankfully it uses the standard 3.5mm headphone jack. This 2GB PMP will retail for $199.95. At that price point, would you settle for something that is more established or venture into the unknown?
Youths have Facebook, MySpace and Friendster social networking sites to keep up with the latest on each other, while folks over 50 often scan the obituaries before they even lay eyes on the headlines in the morning paper. Saga Zone aims to change all that, launching an Internet social networking site ala Facebook and MySpace, catering to those who have crossed the half century mark. Since its inception four months ago, Saga Zone have 13,000 users with the oldest person being 87 years of age. Saga Zone also features forums on various subjects such as dealing with grandkids, gardening tips and even relationship advice - that ough to get the notion out of young whippersnappers that oldies are all but fizzled out when it comes to romance.
iSkin has further expanded the iPod accessory market with its Cerulean F1+TX stereo Bluetooth device, making it one of the handful of companies that offer a premium quality Bluetooth 2.0 solution. The Cerulean F1 and TX were sold separately previously, but iSkin is making both available in a single package this time for a wireless iPod experience. It is compatible even with the recently released iPod Classic, nano, Touch, and iPhone. You can also use it with the WiFi killing Leopard OS thanks to the latter’s A2DP support. The Cerulean F1 is capable of bonding with a TX-equipped iPod and can be connected to a compatible cellphone simultaneously for greater flexibility. The F1 comes with basic music controls including volume adjustment, track cycling and pause playback. You can pick up the Cerulean F1+TX online for $189.99.
Blue Frog hopes to raise the innovation bar where iTV is concerned with Impulse, its programming overlay text-to-screen application on LATV Netwroks’ affiliates throughout the US. Impulse will hold the distinction of being the first Adobe Flash-based overlay application in the industry that integrates seamlessly with most broadcast and cable environments. This turnkey product enables broadcast stations and cable programmers to engage and entertain their viewers with simple to use text-to-screen technology. To date, the two most popular programs on LATV Networks, “Videos Por Favor” and “Videos a la Cart,” will take advantage of Impulse’s innovative technology followed by other programs later. Viewers get to “chat” with one another via SMS sent from their cellphones. More reasons to sit in front of the idiot box, eh?
In this digital day and age, everything around is slowly but surely turning ditching their analog ways. Case in point - the Wayfinder Electronic compass. This 21st century update to an age old contraption is said to boast digital accuracy and a backlit LCD display, enabling you to view it even in the darkest of nights. Additional features include an analog clock face that syncs with atomic time broadcasts, an altimeter, a barometer with 12-24 hour weather forecasting capability, and a lithium battery. It costs $89.95 and surely isn’t worth your money, since the traditional compass is (relatively) more lightweight, waterproof and shockproof than this, and it doesn’t run out of batteries when you need it most.
Asus has just unveiled the HR-0205T Optical Disc Drive that caters to the hardcore entertainment fan, featuring high definition movie playback, multi-functionality and quiet operations. The Asus HR-0205T Optical Disc Drive operates at a mere 23.7dB for DVD playback while HD DVD playback stands at 21.1dB - significantly lower than leading competing models. It supports 2.4X HD DVD ROM/2.4X HD DVD ROM(DL)/2.4X HD DVD-R Read, 5X DVD±R/ 5X DVD+RW/ 5X DVD-RW/ 5X DVD±R (DL), 15X CD-R/ 15X CD-RW; and 15X DVD-ROM/ 15X CD-ROM Read formats, enabling the user to support virtually any type of disc media. In additon, the HR-0205T can use a PATA-SATA adaptor for high-speed and stable read capabilities. No word on pricing though.
If you’re not exactly down with the state of e-voting in the US (and you really shouldn’t be), the Election Assistance Committee (a federal oversight committee that now has reign over certifying e-voting machines) wants to hear about it and what you think of their recently proposed guidelines (PDF, 600 pages).
Ostensibly they’re designed to improve notoriously non-existent security, but they were drafted in part by reps from voting machine companies. One place to start, besides simply saying the machines should be more secure and add paper trails, would be to push for them to use open source code, according to some researchers. Regardless of what you think, you have 120 days to let ‘em know. And you should, even if you aren’t registered to vote (like me) so maybe at least someone else’s vote will be worthwhile. [EAC via Threat Level]
If you have been eagerly anticipating the release of the LG VX10000 “Voyager” from Verizon, you will be happy to know that a full spec sheet has leaked onto the web. A recent 
Youths have Facebook, MySpace and Friendster social networking sites to keep up with the latest on each other, while folks over 50 often scan the obituaries before they even lay eyes on the headlines in the morning paper. 
In this digital day and age, everything around is slowly but surely turning ditching their analog ways. Case in point - the Wayfinder Electronic compass. This 21st century update to an age old contraption is said to boast digital accuracy and a backlit LCD display, enabling you to view it even in the darkest of nights. Additional features include an analog clock face that syncs with atomic time broadcasts, an altimeter, a barometer with 12-24 hour weather forecasting capability, and a lithium battery. It costs $89.95 and surely isn’t worth your money, since the traditional compass is (relatively) more lightweight, waterproof and shockproof than this, and it doesn’t run out of batteries when you need it most.
If you’re not exactly down with the