Space-age design: The mPower Emergency Illuminator is set to hit stores in March, 2010.

(Credit: mPower)

Flashlights are becoming more and more sophisticated, as well as rather expensive. Case in point: the upcoming mPower Emergency Illuminator, which made its press debut this week at an event in New York. Designed by the Porsche Design Studio to be "a stylish product with emergency utility, it will cost somewhere between $250 and $300 when it comes out in March of 2010.

Aside from the fetching design, the mPower Emergency Illuminator boasts some innovative battery technology. One battery "tube" stores two CR123 batteries, while the other has what's called an OnCommand Reserve Battery that the company says has a minimum 20-year shelf life and will deliver "power on command when and where you need it."

mPower Emergency Illuminator flashlight photos

While the special reserve battery isn't rechargeable and will wear down if you use the flashlight a lot, it will never degrade just sitting around in its tube. In other words, you could never turn this torch on for years, and it would still work the moment you need it--according to mPower. Replacing the backup battery will cost you around $25, though that price may go up with inflation over the years.

It's also worth noting that the flashlight has a built-in USB port for charging cell phones and other gadgets. If there's juice available from the CR123 batteries, your device will draw power from them; if not, it will charge up via the backup battery.

Comments? Would you rather have this model or the battery-free LED quick charging flashlight from 5.11 Tactical?

You're obviously incredibly fortunate if you are helped in a life-or-death situation, but being on the giving end of such emergencies is very satisfying, too. Now, with Pocket First Aid & CPR, you can make sure to be ready the next time you are called upon to save someone.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

Pocket First Aid & CPR was created by the American Heart Association in collaboration with Jive Media.

It's is a 65MB application (so make sure you install it via iTunes or a Wi-Fi connection) that features hundreds of pages of text and illustrations, with topics ranging from CPR and choking to bites, bruises, burns, seizures, and diabetic emergencies.

The app also features detailed and high-quality video demonstrations showing how to respond in critical first-aid situations. These include instructions for taking care of someone who is choking, giving CPR, responding to seizures, and treating cuts and wounds.

I personally like the section about choking and breathing problems, as those are common emergencies that require immediate assistance.

It's important to note that the application is not designed to be used in an emergency, but rather is something for you to study during idle time. Unlike the Human Atlas app that requires an active Internet connection to use, Pocket First Aid & CPR works completely offline, thus making it a useful time-killer during a long flight.

The app also comes with a section in which you can enter personal medical information, such as emergency contacts, allergies, current medications, and insurance information, for quick access in an emergency. The information is stored on your individual phone only and is deleted if the application is removed from the phone.

Pocket First Aid & CPR works with iPhones and iPod Touches and is available at Apple's App Store for $3.99. That price will be entirely justified the first time you are able to take the lessons in this app and successfully apply them. Saving a life: priceless.

ICE Lite puts your emergency info in app form. But will anyone find it?

By now you've heard of "ICE," right? The idea is to add an "In Case of Emergency" entry to your phone's address book and fill it with emergency contacts, important medical info, and the like. That's so rescue workers have an easier time helping you should the unfortunate need arise.

ICE Lite is ICE in app form. It contains just two screens: one with personal info (name, address, phone number, etc.), and one with emergency-contact info.

There's room for your emergency contact person's name, relation, and phone number, along with separate fields for your physician and pharmacy. But that's it. You can't list more than one emergency contact, and there's no room to list any existing medical conditions or medications.

The 99-cent ICE Premium adds screens for allergies and medications, but I still think it comes up short.

What's more, it's debatable whether an emergency worker would ever spot the ICE app, even with its bright red-cross icon, as they've been trained to look specifically in the address book. Granted, you could put a note there directing them to the app, but that seems counter-productive.

Of course, there's no harm in having both. Let's face it, when your life hangs in the balance, there's no such thing as too much information.

Dell notebooks will be available in retail stores in India for the first time, the company said Tuesday.

The company hinted that it would make this move last week, saying it planned to increase its presence in China and India, two of the world's biggest emerging markets for computers. Dell already has a relationship with one of China's largest retail chains, Gome.

Some Inspiron notebooks will be sold through Indian retailer Croma.

(Credit: Dell)

In the announcement, Dell said it plans to offer Inspiron desktops and notebooks, and XPS notebooks through Indian electronics outlet Croma. Dell has a presence in India, but prior to this announcement, only via direct sales channels where customers could call or order a PC online.

The move to make its PC available in retail stores follows a strategy the company began laying out almost a year ago when it first announced it would offer some PCs through Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. Since then the Texas PC maker has added U.K. electronics retailer Carphone Warehouse, Bic Camera in Japan, Gome in China, Staples, and Best Buy.

(Credit: Base-X)

You're block captain of the neighborhood watch, a hurricane is barreling through your ward, and FEMA is still looking for its waders. But this time you're prepared.

That's because you're packing the Base X Suitcase Operations Center, a set-up for a 4- to 10-person emergency response team that puts you immediately in charge. The SOC is a self-contained wireless visual information powerhouse, according to Base X.

(Credit: Base-X)

The system can be completely contained in three rugged cases and deployed anywhere, holding everything you need to access the Internet via Ku satellite or a commercial wireless card. Keep track of your minions while getting your message out, complete with real-time video of the situation (PDF).

Included are video display systems, wireless projectors, Panasonic Toughbook laptops, wireless cellular router, DMZ port, DHCP support, auto negotiation, and firewall protection--everything you need to get the attention of Sean Penn and Spike Lee. Just make sure you bring your own boat.

(Credit: Sony Ericsson)

As Sony continues to search for the right formula to reclaim its crown in music-playing electronics, one of its newest products may be taking a cue from its roots: the portable radio.

Sony Ericsson is coming out with an attractive new line of phones later this year that include built-in stereo speakers and radios, as well as some unremarkable camera and Bluetooth features. Unfortunately, the radio doesn't seem to receive digital broadcasts--it's just a standard AM/FM, as this is a low-end handset destined for India and other emerging markets.

(Credit: Sony Ericsson)

That's really too bad, because portable digital radios seem to be going through something of renaissance where design is concerned, especially in Europe, with some resembling transistor models from the '60s--an era that was the equivalent of Sony's Golden Age of Radio.

Tom Merritt shows off Bug Labs' modular gadget on the CNET Stage.

In a year when several of our colleagues felt underwhelmed by the products on display at CES, the emerging technologies category provided some much-needed excitement for the year to come.

Our Best of CES winner, the Bug Labs platform, generated buzz among both CNET editors and readers with its mix of open-source hardware and software, plus an innovative pricing scheme that encourages early adoption. Though we have no doubt the product will at first appeal to tinkerers and hobbyists, we're intrigued by the prospect of a future filled with modular gadgetry.

Other technologies to catch our attention seemed to come straight out of The Jetsons: the Starry Night Sleep Technology Bed promised to cater to our every desire for leisure and entertainment; the Creative InPerson moved us one step closer to a portable videophone; and Pioneer's "Extreme Contrast Concept" showed us a future filled with currently unfathomable picture quality, thanks to its ability to produce absolute blacks.

This year's show also brought a number of consumer applications based on technologies originally developed for the government or military. The SpeechGear Compadre software suite provides instant translation of text, speech, and images. BigStage face-mapping technology has been introduced as a way to automatically create realistic avatars. And 3DV's ZCam uses next-generation 3D imaging to control video games and other interfaces through body movement and gestures.

For a glimpse of more products set to drive consumer electronics in 2008 and beyond, check out all our posts on emerging technologies.

(Credit: OLPC)

With the dust-up this week about Intel leaving the fold of OLPC, it got me to thinking: Will One Laptop Per Child become the TiVo of PCs for emerging markets? In other words, they spark the revolution but gain relatively little from it.

TiVo of course almost single-handidly created the DVR category and market. Their technology was very well executed, they created a user experience that is still unparalleled in terms of ease and joy of use, and with continual roll-out of innovative capabilities that kept stretching the definition of the product.

But ultimately their business model proved insufficient to the task of dominating the category that they had created, and the superior user experience and features were not enough to compete with the "good enough" offerings sold with monthly subscriptions from cable and satellite providers. If "great design" were all that mattered in making a product succeed, by all rights TiVo would own the DVR market, but sadly that is not the case. The fast followers have largely taken over the market.

OLPC has many of the same traits: Tightly integrated user experience, innovative design and features, and a rather shaky business model that is hard to see how it will scale well. Ultimately OLPC's legacy is likely to be similar to TiVo's too: it sparked the market and brought attention to it in a high profile way. But others with more clout, better understanding of the business imperatives, and the distribution and manufacturing muscle to back it up will in the long term come to dominate. Creating a platform of ingredients, rather than trying to be the all-in-one marquee solution, is probably going to be the winning strategy, as it has been with DVRs.

OLPC has had partnerships to help build out their capabilities, but the bickering as described by Charles Cooper is emblematic of the strains that occurred with TiVo and its early service provider partners. There is the dance of each wanting to dominate, and each waiting for the tipping point when it makes more sense to go it alone. In OLPC's case, as with much of the effort's history, it is happening embarrassingly publicly.

Let's hope that these fast-followers don't take the lazy way out and just sell cheap PC's, but instead design them based on a rich and deep understanding of the cultural needs of the children, teachers and schools who will use them. Ideally these will appear out of the cultures themselves (similar perhaps to the Asus eee PC), and given the globalization of design and engineering capabilities there's no reason why that couldn't happen.

It's not the amount that counts--it's the first few milliliters.

That's the word from Helen Lee, an associate professor at the University of Cambridge, who invented the FirstBurst, that device you see in her hands. It captures the first part of a male patient's urine sample and seals it off into a tube. Those initial milliliters are the ones doctors need for testing. Lee hopes to see the device get shipped into emerging markets to help health professionals. (She has also invented a device for rapidly testing for chlamydia.)

Helen Lee and the FirstBurst

(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET Networks)

The FirstBurst testing has been fairly rigorous. Her group has set up a simulated bladder in a lab that can hold about as much liquid as someone who drank seven beers. Lee has also conducted tests at a local pub. They set up a curtain and asked for volunteers. You need to do real life testing, after all, she said.

"It doesn't matter if you are left handed or right handed," she said. "One of the real surprises has been that men have just as many problems with aim as women do."

Lee was invited to Buckingham Palace to receive and award and met Prince Philip, who had a number of questions too, particularly about the direction for approaching the device. No word on if he actually tested it.

Lee, who has also started a company called Diagnostics for the Real World to help commercialize the device, was in San Jose, Calif., this week to receive an award from the Tech Museum of Innovation.

The FirstBurst (the name just sort of came up in a conversation once and stuck) can't be used to avoid stops on a road trip, she emphasized. It only catches the first few milliliters. It's a question she gets a lot.