Feel the Music 25th Oct 2005
Who says you need hearing to feel the funk? The Vibrato, brainchild of Brunel University graduate Shane Kirwin, converts music into vibrations that allow the deaf to listen to and compose music via a PC. Says its creator: “Vibrato will mean deaf children can join in with music classes in a way that would previously have been impossible.”
Continue...Kyocera Slides Out the Bluetooth Remix 28th Sep 2005
Kyocera’s taking it slow at this year’s CTIA, unveiling only a handful of new phones with narry a smart phone among them. Instead, the company’s putting its focus on entertainment with a new version of its youth-centric Slider KX5.
Dubbed the Slider Remix KX5, this handset is mostly identical to the Slider Sonic available to kids on the Virgin Mobile network, but with the significant addition of Bluetooth. The Bluetooth-enabled version demonstrates two things about the state of the mobile industry today. First, that the cell phone has truly arrived as a mobile entertainment platform (even if it does have a zillion kinks to work out). And secondly, that Bluetooth has penetrated deeply enough into American culture that even kids will use it.
The latter observation shouldn’t be news, but it is. Just last year, many analysts lamented America’s indifference to Bluetooth, pining for the gloriously wireless societies of Europe and Asia and blaming our car culture for holding Bluetooth back.
Continue...See SPOT Die 13th Sep 2005
After a shaky two-year run, it looks like the SPOT PDA watch may be headed for that junk drawer in the sky. Rumors are flying that Fossil, which makes the most successful line of watches that run the MSN Direct data service, has halted production and is struggling to sell through its final inventory.
If true, this is sad news, not just for Microsoft but for all of us who long for a really good wrist-top computer. The death of the SPOT will undoubtedly cast a lasting shadow over the entire concept of the smart watch, keeping would-be manufacturers at bay for years to come. Fossil’s WristNet line represents a substantial portion of the SPOT watch market (Suunto and Swatch both make MSN Direct watches, but they’re all hideous beyond words), and the company’s pull-out may very well scare away any potential buyers that might otherwise remain on the fence about the technology.
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