This finger sized 1Gig USB drive seems pretty cool. They claim no software needed, just plug it in to any USB PC. Of course Mac and Linux I have no idea of they have USB drive support built in like Windows does. I would assume they do but the site says it only supports Windows so far. Still, seems like a kind of cool idea. Put it on your keychain, need to carry some data, plug it in.
Another seemingly useless product. This caught my eye because it's the first Bluetooth product I've actally seen on the shelves.
One part plugs into your notebook. The other into your cellphone allowing you to use the cellphone's modem without needed to connect a cable. Is that really so useful? First of all that plug is not small so you'd problably never leave it connected meaning when you want to use it you'd have to get it out and plug it in. Why not just plug in the regular cellphone to modem cable? On top of which it's got to use more power than a regular cable since it's got to broadcast.
Today I was in Akihabara or "Electric Town" as it's called here, buying a new hard drive for my notebook computer. I have a Sony SR−7K with a 12gig drive and I've filled it up. I love this notebook. I've got 256meg of ram and since I've had this notebook I haven't used my desktop computer for anything except burning CDs and that's only because I don't keep my portable burner connected to the notebook. I also have the 6hour battery and I carry the thing to Digtial Hollywood 3 days a week. It's great.
Anyway, I saw quite a few things while I was out. One, I can't believe the price of RAM!!! $25 for 128meg and that's for brand name memory not cheapo no−name memory.
Apple is kicking all kinds of ass here in Japan. The latest thing is the new iBook.
Unlike the old iBook which looked like a toilet lid and weighed a ton this one is only 5 lbs, looks decent and it's CHEAP!!! The cheapest one is $1300 with 64meg and a CD−ROM, Built in ethernet, built in firewire, built in modem. $1500 with a 128meg and DVD drive. That's a kick ass price. 😮
I was thinking today, I wonder if there's a market for a keyboard glove. The idea would be that it would plug into your celphone (or PDA) and let you type faster. Either by having some kind of keyboard like soft touchpad on the back of your hand (picture a biking glove) or by buttons on the inside of your fingers that you press with your thumb. I wonder if a system could be designed that was faster than typing on the phone (because typing on the phone is friggin slow). Of course it probably wouldn't sell because it would require people to learn it but, especially if it was the thumb touching the inside of the fingers style it would be one handed and really useful while riding on the train etc. I'd personally give it a try 😊
Just in case you were curious here a pictures of some of the displays at the Tokyo Display Show 2000
Today I went to an Electronic Display trade show in Tokyo that my Dad told me about since the display he's working on was there. I saw about 4 jaw dropping displays there.
I put some pictures here.
1) My dad's display, eMagin. It's about the size of my thumbnail and yet it's 1280x1024 pixels. They are using it in goggles but I guess they are going to license the technology to other companies for non−goggle displays.
2) Sharp probably had the most desirable display. 28.3 inches, 2560x2048. It KICKED ASS!!! Great contrast too.
3) Samsung had a few cool displays like 2048x1536 (wide) but it was only 19 inches.
Microsoft fan boy that I am, I looked up Windows XP Pro today. It looks like Win XP Pro is the Win2K upgrade vs Win XP Home which is the WinME upgrade. I noticed on their list that XP Pro includes CD burning built in. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I suspect I will still use some commerical burning software since I want to make different types of CDs but it does seem like it's about time that writing to a CD is part of the OS (like writing to a floppy, HD etc)
I showed my Mom the Apple Cinema Display, kind of like a hint about birthday gifts 😃 and they were running OS X on the machine connected to the display. It's kind of groovie in a way. If you want to see the main desktop in action check out a movie here.
On the other hand I'm not sure it's all a good thing. That task bar is HUGE!. It was bigger on the machine I was looking at and it bulged where the pointer was (like a magnifying glass). If you watch this video till a little more than half way though you can see the "bulge" mode.