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(Credit: Tech On)

Don't you hate it when your TV remote runs out of juice? Or when your clicker gets totaled by a battery leak? NEC and Soundpower Corporations' new battery-less remote control may be the solution. This technology is based on three key components:

• Vibration power generation that harnesses energy created by clicking a remote button
• A microprocessor that transmits and receives data in varying bandwidths
• A power supply controller that drives the electronics with minimal electricity

It will probably take some time for this technology to mature, but both companies are planning to promote its adoption in the consumer electronics market as early as 2011. That said, do we have to click such remotes furiously just to get them running fresh out-of-the-box?

(Source: Crave Asia via Tech On)

Sometimes a gadget comes along that sweeps you off your geeky feet. Also, it's not very often that a curiously upholstered SUV comes along and crashes into the podcast like a wrecking ball. Today we bring you all of the above in one episode.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

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Japan's NEC takes aim at interpreters with head mounted projection device

GelaSkins

If Japan-based NEC has its way, people who act as language translators could one day be replaced with head-mounted displays that project translations onto a retinal display. Come again?

(Credit: NEC)

The Tele Scouter system is composed of an eyepiece with a front-mounted camera and a mic that picks up conversations and sends the data to a small computer worn on the user's waist.

The computer then transmits information to a remote server, which does the heavy processing work converting the foreign speech to text, translating it, and wirelessly sending it back to the tiny eye display for viewing. That seems like a whole lot of work to get to, "He said, 'Welcome to my country!'" but we'll roll with the idea for now.

Truth is we could use a translator to help us make complete sense of the English on NEC's product page, but we do know the TeleScouter isn't ready to show up at the U.N. just yet (or maybe ever).

Instead, NEC initially plans to market the device as a wearable hands-free display that could be used to show engineers and on-site and off-site technicians high-resolution user guides and manuals while they install or repair equipment.

In another workplace use, it could let a single expert simultaneously deliver text, video, and audio messages to multiple personnel--in real time.

NEC says it expects to start shipping the Tele Scouter next year, with a system that could serve a staff of 30 costing around 750 million yen ($8.16 million). Despite such exorbitant pricing, the company is aiming to sell 1,000 systems in three years.

How do you say, "We're intrigued, but we'll believe all this when we see it" in Japanese?

(Credit: NEC)

(Via Gizmag)

See? The black hardly shifts from this angle...

(Credit: Josh P. Miller/CNET)

You gotta love a good Super Patterned Vertical Alignment (S-PVA)-based display, don't you? Well, you're obviously not required to love them, but with their deep blacks, good viewing angles, and, for the most part, accurate colors, they certainly make it difficult to dislike them.

Case in point: the NEC MultiSync P221W is a 22-inch, $390 S-PVA display that includes the aforementioned perks of most S-PVAs.

A monitor needs to have more than just great performance, however, to justify its price. Extra features and connection options can work wonders toward a monitor's overall worth. With Dell recently lowering the price of its feature-rich, 24-inch UltraSharp 2408WFP to $450, can the 22-inch NEC be expected to compete?

Check out the review to find out. Also, be sure to take a look at more monitor reviews with new ones added every week.

The light!!

(Credit: NEC)

Energy-efficient computer monitors are seemingly the new black. With each new press release vendors never fail to mention how much power their products use, or more specifically, don't use. Nothing wrong with that, really; I'm just usually skeptical of manufacturer's claims. Which is why CNET does its own power efficiency testing. Check out our green guide to get a glimpse of the lengths we go through.

In keeping with the latest trend, on Thursday, NEC announced three new "energy-efficient" computer monitors. I put "energy-efficient" in quotes 'cause, you know, I've yet to actually test them.

The monitors include the 19-inch AS191 (4:3 aspect ratio), 19-inch widescreen AS191WM and 22-inch wide-screen AS221WM.

According to NEC, each monitor consumes up to 48 percent less energy than their predecessors, their predecessors being previous versions of the Accusync line I'm guessing.

The AS191WM and AS221WM also include ECO Mmdes, which in past NEC monitors has basically capped the monitor's brightness at about 50 percent.

Other features included in each monitor:

• VGA and DVI connectivity
• Up to 1000:1 contrast ratio
• 5ms fast response time
• Touch integratable (AS191WM and AS221WM only)
• Down-firing speakers with headphone jack (AS191WM and AS221WM only)

The AS221WM will begin shipping in October 2009 with an estimated street price of $249. The AS191 and AS191WM will begin shipping in November 2009 with an estimated street price of $199 and $189. Good to see NEC is keeping the prices relatively low.

The displays will ship with a standard three-year parts-and-labor warranty, including the backlight.

Today we're taking a look at two very different monitors. The first is the Dell ST2310, a very bare-bones and low-priced ($179 right now) monitor with purportedly, low power consumption. Look for a full review of the ST2310 later this week. For now, check out the shots.

Second up is the NEC P221w. Kind of the antithesis of the ST2310. Where the ST2310 sacrifices features for price, the $490 NEC throws in tons of features like pivot, rotation, and screen height adjustment. Not to mention a S-PVA panel that delivers much wider viewing angles than the Dell is capable of. Don't look for a full review of this guy before next week at the earliest, though.

Dell ST2310--photos

NEC MultiSync P221W photos

All glory to the Hypnotoad!

(Credit: NEC)

You know, I'd almost forgotten they still make these. When i say "these," I'm of course referring to standard aspect ratio monitors. With the advent of wide-screen 16:10 and now 16:9 monitors, the last three to four years has seen 4:3 and 5:4 monitors go the way of the Dodo.

NEC seems determined that we don't forget standard aspect ratios and in September will be releasing the 19-inch MultiSync EA190M. According to NEC, the display is designed for "a variety of business environments, government applications, and education users."

Just what government applications are we talking about here? In every episode of "24" I've ever seen, everyone uses wide-screen, 24-inch Dells. This monitor must be for less well-funded government divisions.

According to NEC, the EA190M consumes 50 percent less energy and contains 50 percent less mercury than traditional LCD monitors. It has a one-touch button to go into EcoMode. This most likely puts a cap on the brightness since a display's brightness is the main determining factor for power consumption.

Here are a few other features of the EA190M:... Read more

The EA231WMi knows how to render frogs.

(Credit: NEC)

As a follow-up to a monitor we recently reviewed, the NEC MultiSync EA221WM-BK, on Tuesday NEC announced the 23-inch NEC MultiSync EA231WMi.

The EA231WMi is a 16:9 aspect ratio monitor with a few notable improvements over the EA221WM-BK. First off, the new display uses an IPS-based panel as opposed to the TN panel the EA221WM-BK used. Also, the EA231WMi is the first NEC desktop display to feature a DisplayPort connection.

DisplayPort is a rare, but powerful connection that has been heralded as the future of digital monitor connections.

Additionally, the monitor includes a one-touch button for Eco Mode and features an ambient light sensor.

Here's a short list of additional features:

• 4-way ergonomic stand (110mm height adjust, pivot, tilt and swivel)
• Carbon footprint meter for tracking of carbon savings
• DisplayPort, VGA, and DVI connectivity
• Integrated four-port USB 2.0 hub
• Down-firing built-in speakers with headphone jack
• Built-in carrying handle

The EA231WMi will begin shipping in August 2009 with an estimated street price of $379. The display ships with a standard three-year parts and labor warranty, including the backlight.

The P2210 is a low-priced 22-incher with features up the DVI port.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

No, I don't mean 22-inch rims. I mean monitors, silly. Why the heck would I be talking about 22-inch rims on Crave? Hmmm, I guess I could be a spy from Car Tech, in which case talking about 22-inch rims wouldn't seem so out of place.

Alas, no. As much as I'd like to be an Antuan Goodwin, a Wayne Cunningham, or especially a Cooley, I'll have to settle for boring little old me. Talking endlessly about aspect ratios, color temperature, and bezel widths.

Monitors are really just smaller TVs. Interest in TVs has never been higher and yet, I have to point out on a constant basis where to find monitor reviews (right here ----> Monitor review POWA!!)

Enough about my life and on to the things that fill my life. This week I took a long, hard look at two 16:10, 22-inch monitors, and I've decided that one is actually better than the other. Earlier, I featured both the Dell P2210 and NEC MultiSync EA221WM in slideshows.

Now they each have full reviews on the site. The NEC MultiSync EA221MW and the Dell P2210. Read them now, and remember, monitors are people too. Electronic people.