I travel frequently (usually every week) and though I used to work on planes, lately I’ve been reading a lot.  Thought I’d share some of the most interesting new products, businesses, ideas, etc.

 
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Voice2TXT - (1/11/08)

If you don't keep up with techie news, a couple of weeks ago AllTel announced the intro of Voice2TXT service.  If you hate dialing and pushing buttons for voicemail and feel like it's so much slower than text, this is the service for you.  It takes voicemails, converts them to text, and sends the text to your phone.  Assuming it works as well as it sounds, I'm guessing all the major providers will be offering the service soon.

 

 
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Bags from Billboards - (11/16/07)

Tucson, AZ had an artist's open studio tour this past weekend and I fell upon a terrific new green product.  The folks at Vy & Elle are recycling the PVC from billboards into  wallets, handbags, messenger bags, backpacks, totes, etc.  It seems that the colors need to be pretty vibrant to hold up and be seen from a distance so these bags are bright!  Even the black has a great sheen. Since they're PVC, I'm guessing they'll hold up to a lot of abuse.  Based upon our informal survey, they appealed to  both the men and women.  The favorite in our group was definitely, the Il Postino messenger bag with the seat belt clasp.

 

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Virtual Keyboard - (11/08/07)

At least five years ago, a friend and I were imagining the computer of the future: some tiny little object that projected the "screen" into mid-air.  Well, turns out we were close but had it backwards.  Yesterday, I discovered the little gadget that projects the keyboard. ITech makes a 3.5 inch gadget that connects via bluetooth technology to a Blackberry and 9 other product groups.  It projects a keyboard onto any flat, opaque surface.  Cost seems to be around $170 (apparently there's some fluctuation due to currency changes).  Reviews seem to be pretty high marks from those who are using it, though there are some pretty low grades from folks who can't get it set up. 

 

 

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Power-Cost Monitor -  (10/08/07)

Last December, I ripped out a page from Business 2.0 about the Power-Cost Monitor. It's a little piece of technology that attaches to your electric meter and then displays on a monitor in the house.  It shows you how much you're spending per hour and you can watch it go up and down as you run the dishwasher or the air conditioner.  

 

I recently stayed at a friend's house with one of these devices and must say I'm convinced that the studies have it right.  When you can see what it costs, people spend less.  For the first time ever I didn't turn on the lights to take a shower in a guest bathroom flooded with morning sunlight.   For every family that's ever debated what it really costs to leave the lights on and whether it's more expensive to leave them on or turn them off and on, this is this year's must have Christmas gift.

 

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HTC Advantage - Got to have it!  (6/20/07)

I own the HTC PocketPC (Windows 5.0 phone with slide out Qwerty keyboard, WIFI, camera, etc) and have been happy with it.  Now, they're introducing the Advantage.  This SmartPhone is really a mini-pc.  It runs Windows mobile 6, has WIFI, and a camera, but adds a 5 inch screen, a keyboard that can be disengaged, GPS, and 8MB built-in.  It has slots for all the standard cards and uses standard power and synch cables.  It's so powerful  that they've included  a cable for a full-sized monitor.   First hints were that it would cost $800, but now it looks like retail  will be over $1,000.  Available any minute now...

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www.FARECOMPARE .com -  great travel planning website!  (5/30/07)

I admit it.  I often use Expedia or Travelocity just to find out who flies between two cities or who seems to have the best prices, and then make reservations directly with the airlines. Because my plans change frequently and the early versions of such sites didn't permit changes, I got in the habit of looking but not booking.  Today, I stumbled on www,FareCompare.com a site that's only purpose is to provide information.

I only had a few minutes, but I like it.  It's fast and incredibly user-friendly.  Everything seems to be click-able or drag-able.  I already found three features that I like. 

1) Route maps - Tell it a city and it will show you everywhere you can fly  nonstop from there (by continent) on a map.  At the same time, a sidebar shows cheapest prices to each destination.  If you click on one of those destinations, it will give you the option to see the dates/airlines with this cheap fare. 

2) Cheapest flight finder - Tell it a city pair and it will show you a month's calendar and with cheapest possible round-trip fare on each date.  Choose the outgoing date and it will show you a new calendar for the month with the cheapest possible round--trip considering the departure date you selected. 

3) Choose your time finder - Every site lets you say what date/time you want to leave and return.  FareCompare has a slider bar (one of my favorite software tools).  So, you can expand your search an hour at a time to see how many more flights there are or whether the prices are better.

FareCompare also has information for hotels, cars, and cruises. 

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POWERCAST - Cordless Recharging (5/10/07)

I've now read the third article about this company.  Looks like they're going to be hot!  These folks have figured out how to recharge all your little handheld electronics without a power cord.  You'll just plug their transmitter into an outlet and put your stuff down within three feet.  It uses "RF harvesting" and should work on small rechargeables plus things that run on AA and AAA batteries.  Only catch is there's still no word about when it will be available for purchase.     www.powercastco.com

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HANNSPREE - FUN TV's  (1/10/07)

I just came back from a trip to Southeast Asia.  One of the interesting things I saw were HANNspree televisions.  Finally, a company that sees the opportunity for design beyond the square box!  My favorite is a television as the cargo hold of a 16-wheeler, but there's also the helicopter, fire truck, floor-standing rabbit, and a host of stuffed animals.  For the slightly more mature, there are golf, basketball, soccer, and team logo tv's.  To see them, go to http://www.hannspree.com and click on "Collections."

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HANNSPREE - FUN TVs (1/10/07)

I just came back from a trip to Southeast Asia.  One of the interesting things I saw were HANNspree televisions.  Finally, a company that sees the opportunity for design beyond the square box!  My favorite is a television as the cargo hold of a 16-wheeler, but there's also the helicopter, fire truck, floor-standing rabbit, and a host of stuffed animals.  For the slightly more mature, there are golf, basketball, soccer, and team logo tv's.  To see them, go to http://www.hannspree.com and click on "Collections."

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SOLAR POWER CHARGERS FOR YOUR PERIPHERALS (9/10/06)

Over the past year I’ve been reading about new products that incorporate solar panels in personal items to allow people to recharge cell phones, PDAs, iPods, and maybe even PCs on the go.  Today’s the first time I saw one in a store.

Reware “Juice Bags”

“Juice Bags” are backpacks and messenger bags.  They have an exterior solar panel and an interior power outlet.  The attached tag says that with direct sunlight the bag will charge a phone, PDA, digital camera, etc. in about 2 to 4 hours.  The rest of the bag is made from recycled soda bottles but it’s not slick or reflective; it has a softer, cotton-like feel.  If you don’t want the bag, you can just buy a “Power Pocket,” the panel with the outlet.
http://www.rewarestore.com/bags.html

A bug or a feature?

        The outlet is for a car charger.  The good news is that pretty much every device has a car charger.  I was hoping, though, that this sort of bag would also reduce my need for carrying lots of power cords. 

I admit to having some curiosity about Reluminati, the company behind the “Reware Store.”  A web search reveals a number of references that all include the identical language describing Reluminati as “a Washington, DC - based venture marketing company.”  The company website only says that they “include experts in engineering, solar power, wind energy, fuel cells, batteries, telecommunications, law, policy, utility and energy regulation, marketing, communications, sales, distribution and other disciplines” but doesn’t list any principals.    

 

 

BIOMETRIC ACCESS CONTROL (8/31/06)

 

Some interesting options to investigate if you’re trying to make your computer, or your data, more secure and don’t want to remember passwords:

 

Kanguru Bio Drive

 

This is a USB memory stick that uses your fingerprint to encrypt/decrypt the data.  c/net reports that it’s an improvement over some other efforts because removing the drive automatically encrypts the data when you pull the drive out of the pc And, gadgetnutz reported that he couldn’t hack it with a copy of a fingerprint. http://www.kanguru.com/biodrive.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/Kanguru_Bio_Drive_1GB/4505-3240_7-31385102-2.html?tag=sub http://www.gadgetnutz.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2

 

A bug or a feature? 

        The drive is fatter than a USB port, so it may block an adjacent USB port.  

        I was hoping that it would read your thumb as you plug it in, but the technology requires you to “swipe” your finger across the reader; I admit, though, that this may be a feature not a bug, since it may help foil those wielding fake fingerprints. 

        While it’s reported to work quite well, it has enough misreads that it prudently gives you the opportunity to set a “back-up” password.

 

IDesia

 

A new entrant in the biometrics market, this Israeli company uses people’s unique electrical output for biometric access control.  A person needs to hold a small device with both hands (or at least press a finger from each hand), presumably to create a competed circuit.  The company says access will be granted in 2 to 4 seconds.

http://www.idesia-biometrics.com/

 

A bug or a feature?

        Users may balk at needing to use both hands every time they come back to the computer.

        Based upon a test and statistical extrapolations, the company reports a high degree of confidence that the system will correctly reject non-matching biometrics.  It cannot predict perfectly correct matching results with the same degree of confidence.  During a test of 106 subjects (mixed gender and age), all 106 were registered to the system, but 4 could not subsequently obtain access.

http://www.idesia-biometrics.com/technology/statistical_report_11.04.pdf