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Touch screen phones like LG's Prada, Samsung's Armani, and some other big seller seem to drive home the point that touch screens are here to stay, and are likely the future of the phone market. Typing accuracy isn't exactly the easiest feat when your digits hit the screen, since your fingers obscure part of the image. Mitsubishi Research Labs has a solution to provide the elegance of a touch screen interface without obscuring the screen. It calls it the 'transparent interface.' Rather than poking at the front of a screen idly, researchers placed sensors at the back … Read more

As if recent laws haven't made smokers feel like pariahs already, now they may have to start punching a timeclock too.

The "SmokeScreen" is a fingerprint-reading system that tracks smokers as they leave a building to sneak a cancer stick or two. Made by a U.K. company called IDScan, it's being targeted at clubs to monitor the comings and goings of patrons who presumably have paid their cover charges but are in dire need for a quick fix outside. Red Ferret says savvy club owners could even promote it as a status symbol, an "… Read more

If programs were people, the sleeker, trimmer-looking Camtasia Studio 5 would be the guy or gal who, after emerging from a months-long stint with a personal trainer, has now stretched out on the sand to enjoy the response.

Behind the scenes, TechSmith's Camtasia team has been pumping serious iron into a handful of new features for each of Camtasia's major recording, editing, producing, and playback functionalities. The final result is a more robust screen recording and producing app that's gained significant muscle without added fat. While there are still some flaws to work out, Camtasia Studio 5 offers streamlined performance for the same price as its predecessor--$299 new; $149 to upgrade.

Here's a look at the new and enhanced features in order of appearance.… Read more

It's nice to see that Neiman Marcus is keeping up with the times. For decades the luxury goods peddler's famed Christmas catalog featured such decidedly Old World items as private islands for sale. But in recent years it's gotten the tech bug, at least where gold and diamond gadgets were concerned. And now it's truly proving its digital mettle--with an "Interactive Media Wall" from Perceptive Pixel.

While not quite an entire wall, this screen will nonetheless make an impression on visitors at 8 feet wide and by 3 feet high. Especially when you encourage … Read more

CHIBA, Japan--The iPhone won't be the only finger-flicking phone on the market for long.

Sharp Electronics is showing off a touch screen at Ceatec, Japan's big tech trade show taking place here this week just outside of Tokyo, that lets you control the interface with finger swipes. Just as with Apple's iPhone, you can flick to shrink the size of images, blow them up, and scroll left to right or up and down. The device is called the "system LCD with embedded optical sensors"--not quite as catchy a name as iPhone.

But it's … Read more

There's a funny thing about technology: It's supposed to make life easier, but things just seem to get more complex as time goes on. Still, that's the price you must pay when fanaticism drives you to collect a terabyte of music.

In those extreme cases, something like the Qsonix Q110 may be one of the few solutions to keep life in order (at least as much as can be expected). This touch-screen music management system not only takes care of your archives but can also control four zones independently with their own tunes, volume and other settings, … Read more

Monday's New York Times highlights one of my growing pet peeves: increasingly invasive on-screen ads and information that are invading all manner of TV programs. The article ("As the Fall Season Arrives, TV Screens Get More Cluttered") explores some of the supposed reasons behind the trend, which runs the gamut from "bugs" (channel logos) and on-screen data dumps (news and financial market tickers, scoreboards), to--in my opinion, the top annoyance--"snipes" (animated ads, for either upcoming programs or sponsored products).

On news, financial, and sports programming, I'm a lot more forgiving of … Read more

On Monday night, just about everybody involved in online video in New York headed to a remotely located loft space in the post-industrial West Chelsea neighborhood for the Gotham edition of the NewTeeVee Pier Screenings, hosted by Valley blogebrity Om Malik of GigaOm and the rest of his blogger crew. Well, they weren't actually on a pier, but the event space had a great view of the Hudson, so we'll let that count. Spotted were folks from Mogulus, Vimeo, GroundReport, and a handful of well-known broadcast brands, as well as sponsors Metacafe, Next New Networks, and Blip.tv.… Read more

Don't you hate that bulky projection screen? Or are you running out of shelf space for your DVD collection? Here's an Italian way of killing two birds with one stone from designer Matteo Ragni.

The Livit "Fly" is an unassuming-looking shelf system which hides a projection screen. It comes in 4:3 aspect format with a screen size measuring 1,700 x 1,280mm and is available in four different colors.

(Source: Crave Asia)