The G-Core is a GPS gadget for golfers that uses the daylight-readable Mirasol technology.
(Credit: Rafe Needleman / CNET)PALM DESERT, Calif.--Qualcomm's MEMS Technologies group at Demo 09 is showing off its evolving Mirasol display technology, which is based on micro-mechanical control of a reflective material (for a real explanation, see the Mirasol site).
The pitch is that Mirasol displays take much less power than standard backlit LCDs, and are also readable in daylight. At the moment, screens on the s Mirasol-based devices look like black-and-white watch LCDs. Yes, they're visible in sunlight, but they're not very interesting. Qualcomm says faster refresh is coming, allowing video, as well as color displays.
Mirasol displays are "bi-stable," which means they retain their image with the power off. Readers may thus be forgiven for thinking Mirasol displays are a form of electronic ink, of the type found in e-book readers like the Kindle. But Qualcomm takes pains to say that the color and refresh capabilities of the technology have yet to be fully revealed, and will blow past e-ink in those areas.
PALM DESERT, Calif.--I think the most eagerly anticipated demo at Demo 09 here will be Always Innovating's Touch Book, slated for late Monday afternoon. It's yet another Netbook, granted, but it's got a cool detachable (and optional) keyboard, and a magnetic mount for sticking onto a refrigerator.
I got a quick demo video (left) with the company's CEO, Gregoire Gentil, who is French. He couldn't show me the user interface on the prototype hardware he had with him, but says it will be easy to use with big, fat American fingers (he didn't actually say that).
The product will run a Linux OS, Gentil said, and it's the first Netbook based on an ARM CPU, not the typical Atom found in most Netbooks. He says users can expect 10 to 15 hours of battery life. The product will be $299 without the keyboard, $399 with. It ships this spring, but you can preorder now.
The Always Innovating Netbook has a detachable keyboard.
(Credit: Rafe Needleman/CNET)
The back of the tablet is magnetic, so you can stick it on your fridge.
(Credit: Rafe Needleman/CNET)
The Vue is a unique, battery-powered Web cam.
(Credit: Rafe Needleman / CNET Networks)Avaak is launching its very attractive Vue Web cam system at the Demo 09 conference Monday. It's designed for home monitoring, like cameras from Panasonic, Logitech, and DLink. The kicker: The Vue cameras are tiny, light, and battery-powered. You don't have to screw them into a wall or run power cables to them. That changes a lot.
The mount for a Vue camera is a small metallic dome that you can screw or tape onto a surface. The cameras themselves have a curved base with a magnet inside so you can just stick them to the domes. You get two domes with each camera, which is supposed to encourage you to move the cams around as your monitoring needs change.
The internal battery (a standard lithium CR123 cell) in each camera is said to provide enough power for 1 million images, or about 10 minutes of video a day for a year.
The system includes a base station that you plug into your home router. The radio system the cameras use is a proprietary mesh protocol. It has a 300-foot range indoors, but the mesh technology lets you string together a network of cameras with a 900-foot radius around the hub. That's enough for most homes.
The cameras are tiny
(Credit: Rafe Needleman / CNET Networks)The control and viewing system is Web-based. In the preview demo I saw, it looked easy to set up a system, view live and recorded videos, and share a cam with others. You can also upload to YouTube.
Sounds great, but there's a snag: there's no motion sensor on the system. That makes it useless as a security solution. Sure, you can use it to see what's happening at your house right now, and you can also set the system to snap an image at regular intervals, but there's no way that Vue can alert you when someone moves into a camera's field of view.
The cameras also don't pick up sound.
Avaak CEO Gioia Messinger told me that future versions of the system will have improvements, quite possibly including sound and motion sensors. Until then, the use cases for this system tend toward novelty, not utility.
The base Vue system will be sold directly and via Amazon, for $299 with two cameras (and four mounts). A service fee of $19.95 a year (reasonable) will be charged after the first year.
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