Samsung introduced the SPH-B1300, a cellphone handset that swings both ways, acting like a clamshell for vertical viewing or swinging that screen around for horizontal viewing. Neat. That’s not the only reason it’s well-suited for multimedia, given that it handles DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), and has lots of features inside such as a built-in MP3 player and a 2-megapixel digital camera. Alas, it’s probably not going to be released outside of Korea.

Samsung’s double-flipping DMB phone [MobileMag]

From Gizmodo

 

Virginia startup GigaBeam set their sights high with their new wireless system: they’re taking on fiber. They dub the tech “WiFiber,” and are positioning the product as a replacement for fiber optic pipes in situations when they’re too expensive, too harmful to the environment, or just too slow to deploy, and they’re claiming one gigabit per second speeds to sweeten the deal. WiFiber operates in the 71-76, 81-86, and 92-95GHz frequencies to avoid interference and so that the signal is less impeded by light rain or fog than current high-speed wireless competitors. It also transmits in a tight beam to avoid overlap, but you still need a line of sight, so heavy rain can spoil your day. If conditions are right, though, GigaBeam’s signal can make it for 10 miles, and is already shooting data from the Trump towers in NY and from a few other metro sites. Unfortunately, it’s mainly for business links right now, since it’s currently $30,000 for a set of radios (but that price should drop soon).

[Via Tech Review]

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From Engadget

This isn’t a gadget—and it’s even a couple of years old—but we think you’ll forgive this weekend foray into “Oh, wow!” engineering. This bit of concrete and steel is the Falkirk Wheel, a boat lift connecting two canals near Falkirk, Scotland.

Thanks to Archimedes’ principle (floating objects displace their own weight), each water-filled caisson weighs the same amount. That allows the entire counter-balanced tip to bring boats—water and all—up or down to the next canal using just a 1.5 kilowatt-hours of energy—the same amount of energy it takes to boil eight kettles of water.

‘Rotating lock’ lifts boats, links waterways [DesignNews]
Falkirk Wheel [Wikipedia]

From Gizmodo

While strapping a fin to your back and pretending to be a shark may have been the way to scare your pool-going friends in the 20th century, it’s time to upgrade that age-old gag. Why not try the remote controlled robotic shark from Hammacher Schlemmer? This mean monster from the murky depths is two feet long and can convincingly move like a real shark. There’s a 40-foot range from the remote to the shark and the remote can even be taken underwater for even more fun. Like all good things there’s a catch: the batteries only last for 15 minutes per one-hour charge. If you want, though, you can purchase an additional battery to ease the pain a little bit. This mini Jaws will set you back about $100 and comes in either blue or red, not to mention that it can operate on one of two frequencies, enabling complex wolf pack-style missions.

Product Page [Hammacher Schlemmer via OhGizmo]

From Gizmodo

 

We can’t see too many applications that would require a four head KVM extender up to 820 feet from your workstation, but where there’s niche, there’s a product — like Matrox‘s new Extio F1400. Basically it’s a remote graphics unit that shifts your desktop experience from right next to your box to wherever the hell you want it within 820 feet, via high speed fiber optics back to the mothership. No, we can tell already this graphics system isn’t really meant for Dooming it up or anything like that, but for a desktop extension without a thin-client solution, the Extio F1400 is probably as sophisticated (and expensive) a solution as you’re gonna find.

Product page.

From Engadget

We’ve been hearing rumblings of Origami, a Microsoft concept that looks to be a smaller-than-a-tablet PC design. It might just be a media player aimed at the Sony PSP while also functioning as a tiny mobile PC. What looks to be a detachable keyboard is part of the fold-up design (that’s why they call it Origami), and it’s reportedly able to support WiFi and perhaps even 3G wireless. The skeptical among us astutely assert that when Microsoft flogs and teases something mercilessly, it turns out to be crap. Others are saying Microsoft may be trying to steal Apple’s thunder with its rumored video-enhanced iPod waiting in the wings. Either way, we may be in for a battle to see whose tiny platform is the coolest and smallest. Stay tuned.

Microsoft’s Origami: touchscreen computing,entertainment on the go? [ars technica]

[ars technica]From Gizmodo

 

Now this is more like it. After being teased by shots of Access PalmSource’s new Access Linux Platform OS running the Memo app in emulation last week, we’ve finally got some screens of the rest of the OS. This is, of course, an early prototype, so a lot can change between now and the final release. It does seem, though, that they’re coming along well, and the source article claims a developer SDK will be out before the end of the year, with the first devices appearing in 2007. Check the read link for a bit of hot ALP Minesweeper action, along with another shot of Memo in emulation.

[Via PalmInfocenter]

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From Engadget