Gizmo Watch

Creativity knows no bounds, and an apt example is this vase pictured above. Leave it around your décor space and no one would have the slightest of clues that it is a fully functional Blue-ray player. Showcased at the Computex 2009, Taiwan, this dragon vase is one of the finest presentations sighted on day one. The vase has a button on the neck that turns on the player and the drive pops out of the stomach. Predictably enough, the USB, HDMI LAN port and the power jack are at the bottom. Perfect camouflage!

More Images after the jump

Pocket-sized camcorders have come of age, sending 720p video capability well within the confines of a palm and to fit well in the pocket, manufacturers deserve a hail. And if that’s said then, DigiLife deserves and extra appreciation for getting to us a camcorder the DDV-JF1 with a Pico projector to project what we capture in real time. With a projection at 640 x 260 resolutions, the camcorder flaunting a 2.5-inch LCD shoots 720p videos at 30 fps. There is nothing much available on the device yet, but we are sure once it becomes real we will have long queues for its taking. So, get ready to record your adventures and monotony and bore your peers by projecting the videos.

Via: Engadget/CoolestGadget

Until a couple of years ago, the term “netbooks” wasn’t really familiar, but thanks to Asus that somewhat redeemed the term with the Eee PC and now we have a new name that might be a familiarity in the time to come - Smartbook. Introduced at Computex Taiwan, the Smartbooks are future prototypes unveiled by Freescale in collaboration with Qualcomm. The designs have been created by Savannah College of Art and Design and the sole motivation has been the future, as the designers have dared to think beyond the clamshell iterations. The one you see above is a candy apple red that unfolds and is divisible into several pieces to facilitate the usage of the mouse and keyboard. Follow the jump to see more of such stunning computing design concepts.

Projections using PDAs or other handheld devices like a smartphone weren’t quiet possible until now, but that is all going to change with the Mini Beamer. The Mini Beamer is a wonderful innovation from IOF and HYPOLED, that uses no external lighting source for projections and because of this has a minuscule size. Currently a prototype, the Mini Beamer measures 2.5 centimeters in length and has an overall diameter of 1.8 centimeters.

These numbers are so small that the Mini Beamer can be easily embedded into a cellphone. Also, this mini projector requires very little amount of energy, therefore even an integration into a device does not eat up heavily on the battery.

Adding to its successful line of Eee PCs, Asus has introduced the Eee PC T91, an 8.9-inch LED backlit netbook with swivel touchscreen, GPS receiver and TV tuner for hassle free finger and stylus input along with advanced navigation faculties and great entertainment benefits. First seen at the CES earlier this year, the Eee PC T91 measuring 225mm x 164mm x 25.2~ 28.4mm, will be made available in mood dependent black and white colors, included with a unique TouchSuite Software application for images, photo album and other adjustments.

Sony made news with its patent for a motion sensing device, and come E3, it made the headlines again with the unveiling of a motion sensing controller for the PlayStation. Dubbed the PlayStation Motion Controller, showed off to the world by CEO SCEA, Jack Tertton, it works using the PlayStation EYE Camera, quite similar to how the Nintendo Wii does, but with the difference in more precise movement detection and distance awareness.

Still far from actually being real, the motion controller is expected to be a finished product by 2010, but seeing the demonstration of the motion controller, being used in sword swinging, tank-based third-person shooting, archery, tennis and drawing, we can but wait for Sony to hurry on this one.

Via: Joystiq/SlipperyBrick

Nereus, the robotic submarine developed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, has reached the depths of the Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean on May 31, becoming only the third craft to reach the abyss in history. Resurrected to swim down to a depth of 11,000 meters, the remotely operated Nereus efficiently scaled the depth in the Mariana Trench, becoming world’s deepest-diving vehicle. Built with chemical sensors, sonar, and digital camera the sub has been surveying the deep ocean and capably releasing photos, one of which (pictured above) has been made official.

Small is colossal in this age of technological evolution for the smaller a doodad is, the more popular it gets. As always, these small speakers keep mauling the contemporaries by getting even tinier, and this time the winner is the Super Mini Cube. It amazingly measures less than an inch cube and has 0.75-inch driver and the entire package is powered by an embedded lithium battery. Plug in the USB cable and the battery is juiced up again.

A cable connector helps you pair this speaker with an iPod or other MP3 player. Although it isn’t the heaviest of things to be carried around, you can still look trendy with a carry strap. It only hurts your pocket at $10, so even if it is a blunder you hardly lose anything in the bargain.

Via: Cnet

MyVue multimedia glasses have been real impression creators over time. Taking a leaf of sorts, students at the Fraunhofer institute have developed a pair of glasses with a head-mounted OLED microdisplay. The Interactive Data Eyeglasses, as they call them, have the microdisplay embedded on a CMOS chip measuring 19.3 by 17mm, with an eye tracker included, fitted on the hinge behind the temple.

The image created on the microdisplay is projected on the retina, and with the OLEDs inclusion, the image is highly laminated and can be clearly seen at about a distance of a meter. The user can scroll through or access the data with mere movements of the eye, and enjoy the concrete info at the closet realm of their eye and privacy.

Via: Fraunhofer/Gizmodo

We all have been fascinated by the increasing trend in Android OS-based gadgetry. When Acer announced an Android based handset, we were more than enthralled and today with Acer announcing to launch a netbook based on the Google Android by Q3 this year, we have been left captivated in excitement. The first ever from Acer, the netbook running on Android OS, according to Acer’s president of IT products, Jim Wong, will be an incredibly fast machine with wireless connections and could spur even greater sales of the netbooks. While the Android smartphone from Acer is due in Q4, we’ll have to wait a bit longer to hear more on the netbook as well, because there are no details offered on the forthcoming netbook as yet.

Via: PCPro