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Trap Mapper
2007-09-25 18:36:00
Next time you pass a state trooper, mark the spot on this radar detector. A GPS chip inside alerts you when you near the area again. Flag chronic false-alert locales, and stray beeps disappear.Escort Passport 9500iCost - Around $450
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Marked Cards
2007-09-13 19:04:00
An e-ink-like display tracks free space on this SD memory card (for cameras and other gadgets) and lets you add a two-character label, such as initials or an ID number.A-DATA info SD cardCost -- $15–$37
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Wonder Tool Box
2007-09-05 20:29:00
For big jobs, you want the longest-lasting battery in your power tool. This meter for Milwaukee’s lithiumion batteries tells you their health before you start.Milwaukee V Technology Battery Service Reader $140
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Tap Your Laps - Zoggs Lap-Pro
2007-08-28 20:55:00
On this stopwatch for swimmers, the entire face acts as a large button for easily counting laps while underwater.Tap it to record splits and average speeds for up to 99 laps, and scroll throughthe results later.Zoggs Lap-Pro -- $50

Skate Faster with Easton Synergy 1500C hockey skate
2007-08-24 19:42:00
The 1.7-pound Easton Synergy 1500C hockey skate doesn’t sacrifice power to save weight.The fi rst-ever one-piece carbon-composite boot has no joints to rob it of rigidity, so itresponds quickly and evenly to movements from your foot.Cost - $450
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Wrist Ringer - Fossil Mobilewear Abacus
2007-08-18 20:46:00
This watch syncs with Symbian phones over Bluetooth. It vibrates when you get calls and shows callers’ names or numbers on its LCD screen.Fossil Mobilewear Abacus $250

Wonder Goggles - SKI AND SEE
2007-08-13 22:31:00
The Zeal Optics Link PPX are the first goggles that are both polarized to cut glare and photochromatic to automatically darken according to the lighting conditions. They’ll letyou see the tree—avoiding it is your responsibility.The Zeal Optics Link PPX Cost - -$160
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SIT BACK, RELAX - Self Adjusting Chair
2007-08-09 20:57:00
The chair of the future will form-fit your back, adjust itself, and possibly disappear altogetherSitting up straight is bad for you. Scottish radiologists confirmed in a study last year that a 130-degree angle of recline between torso and thighs reduces pressure on the discs in the lower back. This (and its sleek design) is why the ubiquitous Aeron chair was so ahead of its time in 1994. It deeply reclined by pivoting at the hips.But designers find that the features of chairs like the Aeron are lost on most sitters. The array of levers and knobs—recline tension, lumbar support, seat-pan depth, forward tilt—are commonly ignored by users, who only think to change the chair’s height.This neglect has manufacturers such as Herman Miller and umanscale looking toward the next frontier: a self-adjusting chair. “We’re working on a chair that will listen to who’s sitting on it and adjust itself to their weight,” says Bill Dowell, director of research at Herman Miller, which make...
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Surf Warmer
2007-08-03 19:09:00
If you prefer your winter rides in liquid form, keep your lips from turning blue with the Rip Curl H-Bomb heated wet suit. Two lithium-polymer batteries power waterproof, fiber-basedheating elements along your back to keep your core warm. Cost -- Around $700 For more info -- Ripcurl Website
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World's Most Rugged Ultra Mobile PC - Black Diamond SwitchBack
2007-07-29 21:14:00
Black Diamond unveiled the SwitchBack PC, staking claim as the world's first rugged UMPC (Ultra Mobile Personal Computer). Measuring 7.5" x 5.5" x 2", the SwitchBack is powered by an Intel Celeron M processor running at 1GHz.The SwitchBack is equipped with 1GB of memory, and is capable of running Windows XP/CE/Mobile and even Linux. Targeted at those working in extreme environments, the UMPC is available in a magnesium housing and is reinforced with rubber isolators. In fact, it is designed to meet or in some cases even exceed military specifications (MIL-STD) for shock, extreme temperatures vibration and humidity.Black Diamond SwitchBack UMPC - $3,700To extend the functionality beyond a PC, the SwitchBack is capable of taking on extendable modules, which can be anything from fingerprint reader to digital camera to GPS receiver. The UMPC features a 5.6" LCD that can be viewed even in broad daylight. It offers a 1024x600 WSVGA resolution.In order to extend the battery life, users ca...
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Office Supplies in near future - Part II
2007-07-24 21:05:00
FRIENDLY LOCKS No more fumbling with passwords, ID cards or keys. In roughly five years, your desk will recognize you by looking at your face. Hidden cameras snap photos as you walk in, compare them to a database of users, and unlock laptops, doors and personal data. To make sure new facial hair or dim lighting doesn’t throw the system off, University of Tennessee researchers and others are investigating 3-D images that focus on difficult-to-change bone structure.TRANSPARENT MONITORSGo ahead, stare out the window—it’s also your monitor. Displays can already be 75 percent transparent when turned off, thanks to thin electroluminescent fi lms called organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs. Universal Display Corporation in New Jersey and others are developing seethrough conductive materials to replace the last visible part: the grid of circuits that delivers power to pixels.SUPER HELPFUL PHONE In a project at the Palo Alto Research Center in California, phones use nearby office ca...
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Office Supplies in near future
2007-07-21 20:19:00
Papers, pens, staplers—you already have enough stuff on your desk. The people developing the next wave of office products aren’t looking to add more to your drawers.Instead they want to make the stuff you already have more useful. By taking all the small anoyances—lost papers, tangled cords, forgotten appointments—out of the workday, your new supplies will let you focus on that one big annoyance: your job.ONE PEN FOR EVERYTHINGGerman pen company Staedtler created the first pen to write on almost anything. Next: ink that chemically adapts to that surface. Staedtler is closely watching academic research into smart inks, which change to optimize molecular bonds with a surface. Paper could triggernon-bleeding ink; whiteboards might produce a dry-wipeable substance.CORDLESS POWER Snip the last cords on your desk. Wireless “power strips,” developed by Pennsylvaniabased Powercast, transmit energy from an outlet as radio waves. Add-on chips for low-power devices, such as cellpho...
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RETHINKING THE REMOTE
2007-07-17 23:29:00
A new kind of remote control scraps the buttons in favor of motion-sensitive navigation.THREE HUNDRED channels and a DVR full of recorded shows, and you’re still sifting through it all with a controller straight out of the ’80s. That’s why Hillcrest Labs designed the Loop, a remote with nary a number on it. Instead, a button brings up an onscreen guide, which you navigate with a scroll wheel. THE LOOPSIZE : 5 inches acrossWEIGHT : 5 ouncesBATTERY LIFE : About three monthsAVAILABLE : Late this yearMORE INFO : hillcrestlabs.com To select what you want to do—browse recordings, change settings—just wave the remote around to move an onscreen cursor through a series of intuitive, icon-driven menus. Accelerometers inside the controller detect where you’re pointing (a technology the company calls Freespace). Hillcrest expects to sign deals with set-top-box makers later this year, so you could get one with your next cable box. Now, ifonly they could make it easier to find in the...
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WHERE WILL GPS GO?
2007-07-12 19:36:00
MORE THAN TWO MILLION people bought GPS units in the U.S. last year, but using one still seems like a solitary experience: You show up as a lone speck on an impersonal grid. Upcoming units add more context to your surroundings. With social-networking features, 3-D images and car-to-car communication, you’ll never be lost (or lonely) again.NOWMany cellphones now have built-in GPS.And with new software on Sprint phones, you can share your whereabouts with buddies.Select their names, and your location automatically appears on maps on their TeleNav-equipped phones. If they don’t have a GPS-capable model, they’ll receive a text message with a Web link to a customized map where they can enter their address to get turn-by-turn directions to find you.SOON 2008NAVIGON 3-D MAPSTo make it easier to relate your map to the real world, 8,000 of America’s diciest intersections will appear in 3-D on Navigon’s 5100 and 7100 in July. Next year, it’s 3-D landmarks and rugged terrain—plun...

Word Wrap - PDA sized gadget
2007-07-07 19:37:00
WHEN YOU’RE FINISHED reading your e-mail or the newspaper on that big, five-inch screen, wrap it up and stow it in your pocket. Polymer Vision’s Readius, a cellular-connected, PDA-size gadget, is the first device available with a roll-up display. Instead of glass, it’s made from a plastic sheet. The company (a spin-off of Philips) concocted transistors out of durable polymers, layered with gold wires, to minimize stress when the display bends, so it can survive tens of thousands of fl exes. The screen uses a technology called E Ink, which floats pigment to the surface of tiny capsules to produce black-and-white text or images in 14 shades of gray. Adding red, green and blue capsules will give the device a color screen by 2009. And Polymer Vision expects to have a display that can refresh fast enough to handle Webpage scrolling and basic video by 2010. The Readius can store hundreds of books, magazines and songs in its four gigabytes of memory. It will debut by the end of the y...
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