The MUS-UKT17 is a crazy Japanese mouse that uses light to sterilize your hand. Hopefully, the company that makes it has no plans to release it outside Japan.
Two Finnish families coincidentally purchased identical Mediamaster units, which are used for viewing camera phone pictures on a TV set via Bluetooth. Both left the default password set, and one of the families was shocked to see their neighbor's cell phone camera pictures popping up on their TV set.
Third Matrix Movie to Open Simultaneously Worldwide
The third and last installment of the Matrix trilogy, "The Matrix Revolutions," will open November 5 at 6 a.m. in Los Angeles, 9 a.m. in New York, 2 p.m. in London, 5 p.m. in Moscow, and 11 p.m. in Tokyo, etc. -- at the exact same time in 70 countries, regardless of what the local time is. A global, simultaneous opening has never before been attempted by any movie.
AP is running a piece today about the wild and wooly world of USB, reporting that some USB 2.0 devices are actually as slow as USB 1.x gadgets (Duh! If you connect your 2.0-compatible device to a PC that supports only USB 1.1.)
Jail times are being increased by 50 percent for virus writers, data thieves and others. The expanded penalties will be handed down by federal judges November.
Japanese students will be issued GPS tracking devices so if they get kidnapped, the police can track their location. The whole system depends entirely on kidnappers not having any idea about the high-visibility program and not throwing away the gadgets after a kidnapping.
A camera branded as a "James Bond" camera looks exactly like a Zippo lighter. Opening the "lighter" turns the camera on. It can be used for "covert operations," automatically taking pictures at pre-set intervals for up to 19 days. The camera itself takes pictures at a mediocre 640x480 resolution. It even records short video clips with sound, or up to 12 minutes of sound alone.
AICN is reporting that Pixar's 2006 computer-animated film will be about a rat called 'RATATOUILLE' and will be made without the involvement of the Mouse Empire (Disney). Apple's Steve Jobs is also the CEO of Pixar.
New Mini-Cam Lets You Take Stills and Video -- At the Same Time!
The 3.2 megapixel Sanyo Xacti DMX-C1, which ships November 7, lets you take 2,048 x 1,536 pixel photographs and 30 frames-per-second MPEG-4 movies -- at the same time. The camera, which weighs just 155 grams, supports secure digital cards. It's unique shape is designed for one-handed operation. The DMX-CI connects to your PC via USB cradle. Click here for a *really* good look at it. Here's the release in Japanse with Babelfish translation.
No, not the computer industry, the auto industry. Members of the Autosar (Automotive Open Systems Architecture) initiative include car manufacturers BMW, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen as well as electronics component vendors Bosch, Continental Automotive Systems and Siemens VDO. The group says it will seek better interoperability in automotive electronics, application software and car components.
Is that a smoke detector in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me? Romanian inventors Marian Gavrila and Garbriel Patulea have come up with an idea for building smoke detectors into cell phones. They say mobile phone smoke detectors are better than standard detectors bolted onto home ceilings because they protect you no matter where you go, and because people tend to keep their cell phone batteries charged. The inventors have approached the major handset makers with their idea.
Optical disc maker Sanyo Mavic Media, a subsidiary of Sanyo Electric Co, said it has developed the world's first commercially viable disc to be manufactured from corn plastic. The company will begin accepting orders for the disks, which will come in the form of CDs, CD-Rs and CD-RWs -- and which taste great with salt and butter -- in December.
The 3.2 megapixel Sanyo Xacti DMX-C1, which ships November 7, lets you take 2,048 x 1,536 pixel photographs and 30 frames-per-second MPEG-4 movies -- at the same time. The camera, which weighs just 155 grams, supports secure digital cards. It's unique shape is designed for one-handed operation. The DMX-CI connects to your PC via USB cradle. 
