Toyota RIN - Concept Car

The Toyota RiN is yet another new concept car from Toyota. The RiN is mood sensing, using such tricks as making the door harder to close if it feels a slam coming on, no kidding. Additionally the concept uses biometric sensors in the steering wheel to sense a user’s mood, and seats that ensure perfect posture.

The green glass in the RiN is meant to filter out the infrared and the ultraviolet light. The way it has been designed may look bulky but inside, it’s spacious and somehow so much brighter. There are glass panels at the floor level too, heightening the open space and close to nature feel.

The RiN focuses on "increased comfort" and "serene, healthy living". Through their relationship to the vehicle, drivers are encouraged to reevaluate themselves and, furthermore, to turn their attention to society and nature, producing a healthy rhythm for both mind and body.

Promotes a healthier well-being thanks to features such as seats that help maintain good back posture and image displays aligned with the driver's psychological state that are conveyed within the meter cluster of the "mood-training" steering control.

In addition to featuring comfortable, heated seats, an oxygen-level conditioner and pinpoint humidifier, uses green glass that reduces infiltration of ultraviolet and infrared light and makes the surroundings seem brighter and clearer to increase cabin comfort.

Creates a feeling of harmony with the surrounding environment by using sliding doors with a low window that lets you view nature at ground level, as well as headlights with light distribution control that take into consideration pedestrians and vehicles coming in the opposite direction.

Uses the motif of the deep-rooted and tall-growing Yakusugi tree (a variety of Japanese cypress) for its exterior and interior design to express both "harmony with nature" and "healthy mind and body".

Contrasts deep green with beige in its interior color scheme to richen the complexions of those onboard and evoke a healthy mental and physical feeling.

Talking Japanese Watch

Now you can learn how to tell time in Japanese with this cool talking watches. Press a tiny button and you can hear the time spoken in Japanese! These talking watches are created by Tokyo-based super power Marchand de Legumes. Available in five cute colors. Priced at just USD$20 each.

USB Heated Slippers

Do you have cold feet? If yes, this is the perfect product for you. USB heated slippers. Keep warm this winter while working on your computer.




Features :

• Size(inch):9.1-9.5
• De-frosting your feet
• Warming pad for generating heat via USB port
• Plug and play
• USB powered
• Support any devices with USB port

USB Turntable

Digital music is great but isn't it a pity you can't transfer your old records on to your computer? Well guess what?Now you can take your old records and bring them into the digital era! This great gadget is able to convert all of your old records to CDs, iPod, MP3 or any other digital files. All you need to do to record your records to CD is simply plug this one-of-a-kind three-speed (33 1/3, 45, and 78 RPM) USB Turntable right into your PC.



This unique turntable allows you to convert your old vinyl collection directly to CD or MP3 quickly and easily. It plugs directly into your computer using the included USB cable. In addition, it comes complete with dustcover, and all cables are included.



It can also connect directly to your stereo receiver with the included RCA cables. All the necessary software comes with the turntable. In addition, not only can you convert your albums to MP3s or any other digital files, but the included software actually improves the quality of the recordings by eliminating some of the old pops, hisses and static they've acquired over the years. Finally, the tone arm returns to the armrest at the end of the record, just like old times.

Snap! Multicar

It's not just one car—it's two, or three or four.
This groundbreaking new sedan is made from four independently drivable pods. When attached as a single car, the side windows rotate open to allow for side-to-side interaction, with a high-fidelity microphone system for clear front-to-back conversation, as well. If the passengers want to split up, each driver enjoys either hand controls or, particularly for younger, not-yet-road-legal children, the latest in fully autonomous driving capabilities.

Apple MacBook Air - World thinnest Laptop

The new MacBook Air was announced by Steve Jobs of Apple at MacWorld. The MacBook Air is now the world’s thinnest notebook, and sure the be the hottest laptop of 2008.

Apple's new laptop, called the MacBook Air, is not quite an ultraportable but is still very small. Mimicking the 13-inch silhouette of the current MacBook line, it's .76-inch thick at its thickest part. Apple calls it the "world's thinnest notebook." Though the MacBook Air is not quite the thinnest laptop ever, it is among the thinnest we've seen (the Fujistu LifeBook Q2010 and the Toshiba Portege R500 both measure 0.8 inch thick, but neither tapers to 0.16 inch as the Air does).

The laptop features a very smooth design, hidden ports, backlit keyboard (sexy but useless) and it’s small and light weighing in at 3 pounds. In fact, the MacBook air is .16 to .76 inches thin, making the profile a wedge shape. The size is bout 13 inches wide by 9 inched deep.

Technical specs

• 5 hours of battery life with everything running
• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor at 1.6 or 1.8GHz, motherboard the length of a pencil.
• 800MHz frontside bus.
• 2GB RAM 667MHz DDR2 standard.
• 13.3-inch screen, LED backlit.
• 1,280 x 800 pixels
• Micro-DVI adapter (for DVI, VGA, composite and S-Video output)
• Intel GMA X3100 Graphics processor with 144MB RAM shared
• 1.8-inch 80GB HD or 64GB Solid State Drive (no moving pieces, but for a stunning $1,300 price increase!)
• Multitouch trackpad with gestures. Pans, zooms, rotates, etc.
• 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1.
• Optional external HD for $99, USB-bus powered.
• Full backlit keyboard.
• One USB 2.0, one audio port, one Micro-DVI

Full Technical Specifications

LEDs in your contact lenses?

Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle have developed a prototype contact lens that incorporates an imprinted electronic circuit and lights. The prototype is a step toward creating a form of bionic vision, the researchers say.

The researchers say the flexible lens is biologically safe and was worn by rabbits for up to 20 minutes with no adverse effects. Along with a circuit, the prototype contains red LEDs for a display, though it does not yet light up. The display could potentially create a surface for Web surfing in midair, flash a vehicle's speed to a driver, or immerse someone in a virtual world, the university said.

The prototype lens does not correct vision, but the researchers say that it could someday offer "visual aids" to help people with vision problems.

As the team continues to work on the basic technology, it hopes to add wireless communication capabilities and to provide power to the system using both radio-frequency techniques and solar cells placed on the lens. Genius!

Gucci LED Watch Concept

Wanna get in on all that flexible LED goodness going around these days, but hesitant because you’re fashion conscience? How about a Gucci bracelet watch with a sliding door revealing a glass LED display?

Nuno Oliveira has come up with the Gucci Bracelet Watch concept that slides open to reveal the time on a glass LED display when you need it, closing up the display in a graceful snap whenever you want it to be an elegant piece of accessory on your wrist.



Just a concept for now but you never know. . . someday.

Transparent Toaster

This transparent toaster allows you to see the bread while it is toasting so you're never surprised by toast that comes out too dark. This idea is based on a transparent heating glass technology. Although the glass does not currently get hot enough to toast bread, the vendor explained with some R&D this application may be possible. The concept was developed by the Inventables Concept Studio.

N95 smartphone received certification from the Digital Living Network Alliance

Nokia announced that its N95 smartphone received certification from the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), which means the phone is compatible with wired and wireless home electronics devices and personal computers.

Nokia's N95 8GB, which will be available in the United States in the first quarter of this year, was certified by the DLNA as a Mobile Digital Media Server. The smartphone is known for its multimedia capabilities and can be connected to other devices in the home for receiving different content, such as music, photos, and videos, according to Nokia.

For example, the N95 can be connected to a TV and photos stored on the phone can be viewed on the TV's large screen or the phone's music playlist can be streamed over a home stereo system. The content is transmitted wirelessly.

The 8GB version of the N95 began shipping in October, serving as a significant upgrade to the original 120GB N95 that Nokia first unveiled last year. With expanded memory, the N95 offers up to 20 hours of video or up to 6,000 songs, Nokia said. The phone also comes with a 5-megapixel camera, built-in Wi-Fi for accessing the Internet using hotspots in public places or enterprise wireless local area networks, and built-in GPS.

Mobile Phones Linked to Brain Tumors after Long Term Use

The United Kingdom's largest study on the safety of cellular phones has failed to rule out the possibility of long-term cancer risk, and concluded that parents should continue to limit use of cell phones by children over the age of seven and disallow it for younger children.

The Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) program was launched in 2001, with funding from the British government. The study found no evidence of a risk from short-term exposure among adults, but a "very slight hint" of increased risk among those who had been using mobile phones for more than 10 years. The data were at the "borderline of statistical significance," meaning that more research is required.

The reason for the inconclusiveness of the data may be that the study included very few such long-term users.

Some cell-phone critics have accused the study of using selective data to make mobile phones appear safer.

"Normal use of a mobile phone for a couple of minutes may not cause any health effects, but what about calls of 20 minutes?" said Roger Coghill of Coghill Research Laboratories, which specializes in studying the health effects of radiation. "There are many omissions in this report, not least important work on children, and there are biological reasons why we should have concerns about children and old people."

The Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research(MTHR) study did not conduct much research on children, both for ethical reasons and because of the presumption that research on adults could also be applied to children.

Human pharmacists replaced by robot in UK hospital

The pharmacy at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, England, has installed a robot to fill patients' prescriptions for them. According to hospital officials, the robot -- which not only fills prescriptions but keeps records as well -- will save the hospital money and its employees time.

What you need to know
• The Musgrove Park Hospital Pharmacy dispenses 160,000 items and 260,000 related supplies every year. Filling these orders is a substantial burden on pharmacists' time.

• The new robot pharmacist uses barcodes to identify and sort medication. This makes it possible for human pharmacists to spend more time with patients or refiling unused medications.

• The robot can also keep records of every item in stock, and is able to check and sort all incoming orders to keep the records up-to-date.

• Two people will double check each prescription before handing it over to a patient. The robot has an error rate of one in 10,000.

• The hospital says that the robot will save it more than 1,200 hours of staff time per year, and that it has already saved the hospital £30,000. This implies that human pharmacists are working fewer hours, rather than devoting all their newly free time to patients.

• Quote: "The new robot has revolutionised the way we work and cut the time it takes to store, find and dispense drugs." - Principal Pharmacist Mark Ashley

The Amazing Climbing Robot.

A remarkable, if slightly creepy, tree-climbing robot is being developed by robotics experts from Carnegie Mellon and several other US Universities.